Students Explore Greece with Study Abroad
Evan Shannon (Haines-Morris and Poikilia scholarships)
This summer I attended the American School of Classical Studies at Athens (ASCSA) Summer Seminar II “Alexander to Actium: The Archaeology of Hellenistic Greece,” led by Professors Thomas Rose and Jake Morton. We toured nearly all of mainland Greece, visiting 37 archaeological sites and 18 museums. The program included 20 students from diverse backgrounds, including undergraduate students, graduate students and professors.
One of my primary interests within classics is disability studies, particularly in relation to current academia and classical reception. I found great value in seeing archaeological evidence for sanctuaries to Asklepius, god of healing, as well as in observing how museums chose to organize and present the evidence. My favorite sites were the Nekromanteion and the Sacred Oak of Dodona. These sites have persisted in ritual and public interest, and I find the continuity across the ages beautiful.
My participation in the ASCSA seminar was partially funded by the Society for Classical Studies’ Frank M. Snowden Jr. Undergraduate Scholarship, with additional support from a Haines-Morris Travel Scholarship and a Poikilia Scholarship from UT’s classics department. As a first-generation, low-income student, I have always dreamed of studying abroad, but it wasn’t until this summer that that dream was actualized.
Ben Smelser (Haines-Morris scholarship)
This summer, I was extremely fortunate to participate in the excavation of the Megalos Peristeres cave in Crete under the direction of Professor Thomas Strasser of Providence College, Rhode Island. The cave was only a few kilometers away from the University of Crete in Rethymno, and I was lucky enough to get to know some of its students. Crete was absolutely stunning, and the culture was rich and beautiful. I will never get over the views of the mountains every morning when I woke up, and the sunsets of the Aegean Sea towards the end of the day.
Digging in a cave was quite the experience. My major is in classics, and I study mainly the Iron and Hellenistic Ages. However, the goal of this dig was to find evidence of late Pleistocene to early Holocene humans in support of the theory that those early humans inhabited Crete. This was my first excavation, so I really didn’t know what to expect; little did I know digging in caves is hard because of the difficulties differentiating stratigraphic levels. The soil was rough and rocky, and honestly, it was hard to determine different soil compositions. However, we managed to get it done.
The best part of the experience was the people I got to work with and learn from. Professor Strasser and the co-director, Assistant Professor Miriam Clinton, taught me so much about the practice of archaeology as well as the subject of prehistoric humans. The students were phenomenal, and we are still friends. I very much thank the UT classics department for giving me a Haines-Morris Travel Scholarship to make this experience happen.