Society for Ancient Studies
The NYU Society for Ancient Studies (SAS) is a cross-departmental graduate student collaborative seeking to foster an interdisciplinary community of scholars with interests in the ancient world at New York University and the surrounding area. Our members include Ph.D. and M.A. students from Classics, Hebrew & Judaic Studies, ISAW, the IFA, and Comparative Literature. In seeking to cultivate a community of young scholars, we endeavor always to provide spaces to promote the ideas and voices of our graduate students.
We organize several events throughout the academic year in service of our mission. We host guest lectures by noted scholars, both from NYU and the region, with interdisciplinary interests in the study of antiquity; organize an annual graduate student invited lecture; an annual interdisciplinary undergraduate conference on the ancient world; and sponsor panel discussions featuring conversations between professors and graduate students.
We welcome anyone interested in ancient studies to join our mailing list and attend our events. If you are interested, email us at NYUniversitySAS@gmail.com, or reach out to us via Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.
SAS Organizing Committee
Kimi Adler (Ph.D student, Classics) studies Roman archaeology with a focus on religious pluralism in the Roman Eastern Mediterranean. She is particularly interested in the spread of the cult of Isis under the Flavian Dynasty. She has excavated with the Agora Valley Project (Summer 2024 and 2023) and the Gabii Project (Summer 2022).
Shiro Burnette (Ph.D student, Institute of Fine Arts) researches the movement of peoples, ideas, and practices across the Mediterranean in the 1st millenium BCE. He is particularly interested in how this affects architecture and its adornment across North Africa. His work in archaeology has considered sites in Sanam, Pompeii, Herculaneum, Selinunte, and Rome.
Mal Main (Ph.D student, Classics) primarily works on Neronian literature, especially the tragedies of Seneca the Younger. They are also interested in Translation Studies, sexuality, and application of queer theories of time to Roman literature. Outside of Classics, they are a prolific actor and director of Shakespeare.
Ricarda Meisl (Ph.D student, Classics) researches the interconnection between democracy, masculinity, and corporeality in Classical Athens and the reception of Greece and these phenomena in modern times. She is furthermore interested in material culture, public humanities, and museum studies and has worked on excavations and in museums in Greece, Turkey, the UK and Austria.
Poppy Steel Swayne (Ph.D student, Classics) is primarily interested in Greek tragedy and Greek and Roman New Comedy, as well as cognitive approaches to these and their ancient reception in Greek and Latin literature. She also has interests in Middle Egyptian and Akkadian.