CAMS is the study of cultures that arose and flourished around the Mediterranean basin (including Egypt, Greece, Rome, Anatolia, Israel, Mesopotamia, and North Africa) from ancient Mesopotamia (ca. 4000 BCE) to the end of Greco-Roman antiquity (ca. 600 CE). CAMS investigates the whole scope of the ancient Mediterranean world and trains students to interpret the linguistic, historical, and archaeological evidence of its cultures.
The Department of Classics & Ancient Mediterranean Studies (CAMS) at Penn State is devoted to fostering an environment of diversity, equity, and inclusion for all who study the ancient world. As an open and welcoming academic community, we embrace a view of the ancient Mediterranean and its legacies as the common heritage of all people, regardless of gender, color, race, nationality, religion, age, ethnicity, or sexual orientation.
In keeping with our conviction that scholarship on antiquity benefits from a multiplicity of voices and perspectives, CAMS supports diversity in research areas, classroom activities, and above all in its membership, especially among groups historically under-represented in the field.
We affirm Penn State’s commitment as a public institution of higher education to effectively serve the members of our communities at all levels – on campus, across the state, and beyond – and we welcome the input of our students, colleagues, and friends as we pursue this goal.
Meet the newest member of the CAMS faculty: Dr. Hannah Smagh specializes in Greek archaeology and the material culture of Greek religion. She has excavated at several projects in the Mediterranean, including Samothrace, Corinth, and the Molyvoti, Thrace, Archaeological Project in Greece and Selinunte in Sicily. Her research interests include gender, identity, and ethnicity in the Mediterranean world, slavery in the ancient world, Greek urbanism, cultural exchange, and digital humanities. Her current book project focuses on the practice of religion in the Greek house. Welcome, Dr. Smagh!
Congratulations to Sarah Castleberry, the spring 2022 Anthropology student marshal! She is graduating with B.A. degrees in Anthropology and Art History, with a minor in Latin. Sarah sang advanced choral repertoire with Penn State Oriana Singers in the Penn State School of Music for six semesters. She also spent three weeks in Rome after her freshman year through the Department of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies’ Study Tour of Roman History and Archaeology and studied abroad in Perugia, Italy, last fall. After graduation, Sarah will return home to Connecticut to work as a field archaeologist at Heritage Consultants, LLC for the summer and then plans to find anthropological or museum work near Boston, Massachusetts, next fall.
We are happy to announce that Dr. Michael Beshay will be joining the CAMS faculty in the Fall of 2022. Dr. Beshay writes: “I’m a scholar of religions of late antiquity who specializes in the history of early Christianity. My research centers on several interconnected topics, including the development of authoritative traditions; their transmission and reception in diverse artifacts and across confessional boundaries; the significance of ritual and “magic” for the production of novel religious idioms; and the legacies of so-called “heretical” Christians within the beliefs and practices that emerge as “Orthodox.” I explore these dynamics relative to the ritual traditions surrounding the Virgin Mary and King Solomon–two prominent figures whose authorities span multiple religious communities and represent layers of cultural innovation and conflict.”
Sponsored by the Department of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies and the Jewish Studies Program
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