Classics Dept. Visiting Scholar James Romm Lectures on Greek Myths

The PEA Classics Department welcomed James Romm, the James H. Ottoway Professor and Director of Classical Studies at Bard College, to campus last week as the first of its four Visiting Scholars this school year. Romm delivered a four-part lunch seminar titled “The Edges of the Earth in Greek Myth and Legend” and an evening lecture about the ancient Greeks’ perception of  “The Ocean” in science and mythology, open to all interested students and faculty.Romm, who received his B.A. from Yale and Ph.D. from Princeton, specializes in Greek history, literature and culture. He has published multiple books including an introduction to Herodotus and a study of the death of Alexander the Great. Classics Department Chair Matthew Hartnett spoke to the value of the Visiting Scholar program, established in 2011 with the support of the Behr Fund. “What we hope our students get from these seminars is a sense of what Classics or ancient history or archaeology looks like in real life, and how what they are learning in their classes connects to a wider field of learning and, in fact, to what it means to be human,” he said.Romm’s research broached topics that were accessible and interesting for everyone, according to Hartnett. “We were delighted to have Professor Romm with us because his work crosses disciplinary boundaries and because he has a knack for communicating well with broader audiences,” he said.While Romm is not a PEA alumnus himself, the namesake of Romm’s professorship at Bard graduated from Exeter in 1955. “Ottoway spoke to me about how Exeter was a turning point for him,” Romm said. “He said really great things about the school, and I wanted to see it for myself.” Romm’s lunch seminars explored the different ways in which ancient Greeks depicted civilizations beyond the scope of their knowledge in literature and mythology, covering the Hyperboreans and Arimaspians in the far north, Ethiopians and the River Nile in the far south, dog-heads and monsters in the far east and new worlds in the far west.After examining this theme in his earliest scholarly work, Romm recently returned to the topic using a four-part approach. “I immediately thought of the North, West, East and South directions on the compass,” Romm said.An overarching thread through his series was how the ancient Greeks, when faced with the unknown, were compelled to come up with creative theories about their place in the world—a kind of imaginative landscape that is no longer necessary with today’s mapping and satellite technology. “People today can very easily know where we stand in the world. That wasn’t the case for the Greeks,” Romm said. “I wanted students to think about what that was like.” Prep Priya Nwakanma appreciated Romm’s insights, saying, “I thought it was really interesting that [the seminars] gave a perspective of the world that [the Greeks] would’ve seen at the time.”Hartnett admired Romm’s notion that such myths could be interpreted as manifestations of human nature. “I think one of the most interesting takeaways from Prof. Romm’s seminars was the idea that the monsters and creatures that we humans imagine inhabiting the spaces beyond our perception really tell us about how we view ourselves,” he said.Senior and Kirtland Society co-head Kevin Xu similarly noted that Romm’s seminars encouraged him to reflect on the nature of human understanding. “I think the curiosity about what lies beyond our knowledge is a universal experience, and [Romm’s] presentation showed how the Greeks combined scientific knowledge and myths to make sense of their place in the world,” Xu said.Upper and Kirtland co-head Charlie Preston added that this topic, while not commonly discussed, “raises deeper questions about why such a civilization would come up with these stories and what misunderstandings led to them.”Preston continued, “For thousands of years, humans have been interested in the unknown frontier, from the ancient Greeks all the way to modern astronomers. Dr. Romm guided us through the earliest curious explorations of that unknown frontier.”Romm believes this analysis of mythical knowledge is timely in light of current interest in questioning and dissecting facts. “The lectures explore how because the Greeks had such little information, they had to distinguish between truth and fiction. And with the rise of ‘fake news,’ that is becoming more and more relevant in today’s political climate,” he said.Outside of his lectures, Romm participated in Latin and Greek classes throughout the week, chiming in during discussions with valuable insight on classical texts. Preston recalled how approachable and proximate Romm was throughout his visit. “Though I was a little nervous in having [Romm] observe my awful translations in Greek class, he discussed the text with us and it felt like he was another student at the table,” Preston said. Romm was impressed by the collaborative learning environment he witnessed during class visits and downtime with classics students. “I really noticed the effect of the Harkness pedagogy in the classroom,” he said, emphasizing that mistakes were corrected not by the teacher, but by peer students. In addition, Romm noted the remarkable diversity of PEA’s classics student population, describing it as a hopeful, inspiring sight. “Classics has traditionally been a very white, male-dominated profession. Diversity not only draws more people into the field, but it also broadens the perspectives in the scholarship,” he said.Romm believes he himself gained as much from his Exeter visit as the classical wisdom he imparted. “Even outside the classroom, there is a certain rapport between students and faculty here, which I admire. I am thinking of ways to take this collaborative spirit back for when I am teaching at Bard,” he said.