LeMhai Baity selected student marshal in CAMS
Congratulations to LeMhai Baity, our spring 2023 Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies student marshal in Penn State’s College of the Liberal Arts!
LeMhai is the daughter of Regan Mckinney-Baity and LeMorris Baity of Akron, Ohio. A Paterno Fellow and Schreyer Scholar, she is graduating with bachelor of arts degrees in Anthropology and Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies. At Penn State, LeMhai worked in Professor Jose Capriles and Laurie Eccles’ Radiocarbon Lab, Professor David Puts’ Behavioral Endocrinology and Evolution Lab, and the Matson Museum of Anthropology. She was also a member of Lambda Alpha PSU, the central Pennsylvania chapter of the Archaeological Institute of America, and Penn State Archery Club. After graduation, LeMhai plans to attend graduate school at a university abroad to pursue a master’s degree in classical archaeology.
CAMS/AFR/AFAM 497: Greece, Rome, and Africa
TuTh 3:05-4:20
Prof. Mathias Hanses
Explore African cultures in the Ancient Mediterranean! This brand-new class examines Egypt, Carthage, and Nubia in interaction with Ancient Greece and Rome. Join us as we explore both the ancient primary evidence and the modern discourses that have excluded, and at times reintegrated, African cultures in studies of Ancient Mediterranean history.
Dr. Hannah Smagh hired as Assistant Teaching Professor
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!
Welcome, Dr. Michael Beshay!
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.”
