For the 7th time, Classics Day returned to campus bringing the community together to learn more about the ancient Greek and Roman world last Saturday.
Attendees got to explore, learn, and get involved with the multiple examples of how Classics intersect across different disciplines such as Art, Computer Science, English, Music and Physics.
“Last time we made this was my freshman year, and it’s a lot of fun to put together,” said Logan Serpette, a senior Classics major. Serpette’s table was at had three therapy dogs, a Doberman and two Shetland sheepdogs, for attendees to interact with. “Hecate has always been my favorite deity for as long as I knew about Greek mythology and the leader of dogs…So I made a tie into that for our little activity to bring therapy dogs.”
Freshman Lahna Schroeder participated in a Classics’ SOfIA project this summer which in part learned about cheese & garum, a fermented fish sauce used in the ancient world. “You can’t have classics without the staples of the ancient world,” said Schroeder. She said that the activity was a great way for everyone to see what was eaten and used back in the ancient world. This cheese was the main source of protein and calcium because not everyone had meat on their table.
Another freshman participant in the same SOfIA project showcased their work with ancient Roman concrete in mosaics. “Roman concrete has been around for 2,000 year,” said Michael Beckett, “… it has quicklime as well as pozzolana, which is volcanic ash in it…when the concrete cracks, water seeps in, or comes into contact with dissolved limestone, the concrete creates new concrete that fills those cracks,”
The event reached beyond the college itself with participants such as the Warren County Library, Warren County History Museum, University of Illinois, Knox College, and Augustana College.
“I’m coming back as an alum to the next one,” said Serpette.
