Lauren Caldwell

During the Roman Empire, the art of gem carving or intaglio provided a way to characterize one's self, family or acquaintances. This summer, three Wesleyan students with an interest in classical studies worked with a Roman intaglio collection previously owned by J. Pierpont Morgan (father of J.P. Morgan) at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford. As interns, Maria Ma '17, Margot Metz '18, and Emma Graham '19 collaborated on documenting and cataloging about 200 intaglio gems, which made the collection accessible to a wider audience of scholars and museum visitors. The gems were hidden from public view for decades. "It's so exciting that our students had the opportunity…

“Bubbletrapper” is the goddess of bubblegum and is always nice — except to bad guys. “Bubblegum is her weapon,” said Marrisaana, a fifth grader at MacDonough Elementary School in Middletown. “When she’s mad, she traps bad guys in a bubble.” On Feb. 19, Marrisaana and four other classmates participated in Wesleyan’s WesMyth program, which provides fifth graders at McDonough with an introduction to Greek mythology. The program, taught by Wesleyan student volunteers, is held for one hour every week throughout the academic year. On this particular day, the WesMyth participants created their own Greek gods and goddesses based on mythical creatures they’ve studied in…

Lauren Caldwell, assistant professor of classical studies, is the author of a new book titled Roman Girlhood and the Fashioning of Femininity, published by Cambridge University Press in December 2014. Elite women in the Roman world were often educated, socially prominent, and even relatively independent. Yet the social regime that ushered these same women into marriage and childbearing at an early age was remarkably restrictive. In the first book-length study of girlhood in the early Roman Empire, Caldwell investigates the reasons for this paradox. Through an examination of literary, legal, medical and epigraphic sources, she identifies the social pressures that tended…

Lauren Caldwell, assistant professor of classical studies, presented a paper on rhetoric and paternal authority in the Roman Empire at the conference "Lire la déclamation latine," Feb. 14 at Université Paris IV - Sorbonne. She also gave a lecture on Roman ideas about justice and natural growth at "Ancient Law, Ancient Society: A Conference in Honor of Bruce W. Frier," Oct. 26, 2013 at the University of Michigan.

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In an Aug. 24 op-ed for The Hartford Courant, Lauren Caldwell, assistant professor of classical studies, says that U.S. Senate candidate Todd Akin’s reference to women being able to consciously prevent conception during rape is relying on “facts” presented by the ancient Roman physician Soranus of Ephesus in the Second Century, A.D. Caldwell also says, “The next time I teach my course, I will be able to bring in the example of Rep. Akin to illustrate the ways in which 'medical understanding' continues to be used with the aim of social control,” which was also an objective of Roman rulers in…

Lauren Caldwell, assistant professor of classical studies, received a faculty grant for course development in Middle Eastern Studies from the Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language Program of the U.S. Department of Education. Caldwell, whose research specialties include Greco-Roman medicine, used the grant for summer travel to the Wellcome Library for the History of Medicine, in London, England, and to Cambridge University. The grant allowed Caldwell to consult the Wellcome Library's substantial collection of texts on ancient and medieval medicine. "The transmission of the writings of Galen, the most famous of Roman imperial physicians, into medical theory in Baghdad in the 8th and 9th centuries is a key moment in…

Students Catalog Roman Gems during Museum Internship

Children Learn about Greek Mythology through Student-Led WesMyth Program

In New Book, Caldwell Investigates Roman Girlhood and the Fashioning of Femininity

Caldwell Presents Paper on Paternal Authority at Conference in France

Fine Arts Expert Discusses Patronage in Rome with First-Year Seminar Students

Caldwell’s Op-Ed: Akin Uses Science of Ancient Romans

Caldwell Receives Grant from U.S. Department of Education