Traditionally, scholars of ancient Greco-Roman culture have focused narrowly on the lives of elite Greek and Roman men, failing to capture the experiences of non-elite men, women, slaves, and the indigenous populations that came into contact with Greeks and Romans. In fact, these groups together composed the majority of the ancient populations. This project asks if archaeological evidence related to food can illuminate how indigenous peoples reacted to Greek and Roman colonization. It takes as its case study the ancient site of Jerash (in what is modern-day Jordan), which during the second century BCE to the second century CE experienced a period of rapid growth, development, and colonization from the Greeks and then Romans. To answer the research question, the project collects and analyzes data from existing archaeological reports, focusing on food infrastructure such as market facilities and items associated with feasting and banquets across nearly all social strata. It then puts this archaeological evidence into dialogue with recent scholarship on colonialism in the ancient Greco-Roman world. The preliminary results of this research provide evidence of indigenous populations responding to colonization by assimilation. For example, excavated burial goods related to drinking parties are similar to those found elsewhere in the Greek world, and the food market is similar to Roman food markets of previous centuries. These findings, though not comprehensive, show that Greco-Roman practices related to food, introduced into ancient Jordanian culture during colonization, remained even after the period of colonization. Further work includes expanding the data set, as additional scholarship concerning floral and faunal remains from Jerash is forthcoming. 

Astrology, the prediction of events from the movements of stars and planets, has grown from Mesopotamian omen-literature to the astrology of Hellenistic and Roman periods, and strangely enough it has endured even into the modern day. In this project, by drawing on scholarly analyses of the intellectual and religious context of astrology (Barton) and the worldviews of the non-elite (Toner) I examine how astrology was interwoven into the political, intellectual and social framework of the ancient world; and how the authority of astrologers was both supported and challenged by the polyvalence of their discipline, as well as their ability to connect to individual consultees. As for ancient sources, the Astronomica of Marcus Manilius, composed as a didactic poem in the early first century CE, shows how astrology was understood and used by the elite. It considers astrology in a broad theoretical context, encompassing a wide array of astrological concepts. He also illustrates the historical period in which he writes, under the new Principate of Augustus, by using astrology to legitimate Augustus's self-made status as princeps. On the other hand, other works such as that of Dorotheus of Sidon concern the more practical side of astrology. He is less concerned with theory and more with specific horoscopes, and better depicts the sorts of questions and concerns clients of a variety of social status would have had. Finally, skepticism toward astrology in antiquity is best rendered in Cicero's On Divination and Sextus Empiricus's Against Professors. These critiques and others, however, were directed less at astrological theory and more at its practitioners. By coming to understand how ancient peoples viewed astrology as both an intellectual discipline and a practical tool, we can better understand their cultural conception of the universe and in the process provide a useful comparison to similar institutions today.

The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries saw a profusion of archaeological discoveries in Egypt which led to the period being dubbed the 'Golden Age' of Egyptology. While much of this archeological activity is tremendously important and well-known, less known yet equally significant are the personal histories of those present in Egypt during this time. The letters of Helen Winlock, wife of the Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Egyptian Expedition, provide an intimate window into daily life and thought in the context of early twentieth century excavations. From bugs in the food and exploding furniture, to racially prejudiced observations of the locals and the difficulty of finding formula for a newborn child in the desert, each of Helen's many letters sheds light on the quotidian and mundane aspects of life in this often-sensationalized period. Her writings demonstrate the intersectiosn of race, gender, and colonial power in this time and place, as Helen's comments about herself, other women, and other peoples around her demonstrate the complicated politics of knowledge in this 'Golden Age' created and maintained. As a research intern in the Emma B. Andrews Diary Project, I have transcribed dozens of Helen Winlock's letters. Working from scans of the original handwritten letters, my role in transcribing these letters is a foundational first step in the process of creating digital editions of these documents, which will include versions encoded in XML, following Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) guidelines. This will facilitate the investigation of the archive using computational methodologies. Our team includes faculty, students and librarians from multiple departments across the University of Washington. This interdisciplinary and collaborative digital humanities project seeks to make a wide range of unpublished or inaccessible primary sources from the period freely available to scholars in an online format. 

 The Svoboda Diaries Project (SDP) works with personal diaries written at the turn of the 19th century, capturing over 40 years of the life, politics, and landscape of Iraq through the unique lens of a British steamship employee, on which there exists minimal literature. Undergraduate interns transcribe these diaries and develop open-source tools to make the texts available in a variety of formats and for a variety of audiences, from researchers to the general public. This project builds on fifteen years of work through the University of Washington. This research, in particular, is part of an iterative design process originating in 2019 with the launch of the project’s current website. In order to design and create a more accessible and useful website, the purpose of this user study is twofold: (1) to identify user groups and possible uses for the SDP’s online resources; (2) to test usability on SDP website features for better user experience. Student researchers employ two tactics, user interview and usability testing. We first interview academic professionals to identify their research and pedagogical needs from digital humanities projects such as the SDP, and then record their experience navigating the SDP website through a set of tasks intended to facilitate usability assessment. These research methods act as a critical process and device that can provide detailed user feedback to the team for further development of the website. With this user study, the SDP team aims to better promote the usage of primary source historical documents for a global audience.

This project examines what legal writings from ancient Rome reveal about the political ideology, social values, and power dynamics in Roman history. I focus on these concepts through analyzing selections from two sets of speeches given by Cicero, a politician, loyal proponent of the Roman Republic, and philosopher educated in both Latin and Greek. Additionally, I explore the scholarship on Roman legal history to provide supplementary cultural context. The sociopolitical climate of the late Roman Republic was tumultuous. Near the beginning of Cicero’s political career, he gave a set of orations, In Catalinam, to the Senate that accused Catiline of conspiring against the consuls. Much later, Cicero tried to keep the Republic alive after Caesar’s assassination and accused Mark Antony of being disloyal to Caesar by wanting to create an empire. This urge to defend the Republic prompted Cicero to write his Philippicae to attack Mark Antony. These orations ultimately resulted in Cicero’s death, as Mark Antony wanted, and the Republic ended. My research compares Cicero’s In Catilinam 1, 2, and 4 and Philippicae 4, 5, and 14: both sets involve murder plots, denunciations of powerful men, and the senatus consultum ultimum decree for Republican emergency. Specifically, I analyze how Cicero uses oratory to convince the Senate to declare Catiline and Mark Antony as public enemies. This process reveals elements of Roman sociopolitical culture, such as values, threats, and legal procedures, and follows these differences in this short, but crucial, time period in Roman legal and governmental history. Furthermore, it demonstrates the complexity between the government and the conflicting political ideologies during the late Roman Republic. Thus, through detailed analysis of these selected passages and their wider contexts, I explore how the Catilinarian and Philippic orations use references from Rome’s earlier history to adapt to, and reflect, their particular moments.