Classics

Michael is a lifelong Badger, having received his B.S., M.A., and Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin. He is teaching Bowdoin for the third of four years, with a "hiatus" spent teaching at the University of Richmond.  He has taught Ancient Greek, Roman History, Greek Civilization, and Latin of all levels, including advanced courses on Ovid, Seneca, and Roman Biography.   This fall he is teaching Introductory Latin and Advanced Latin: Roman Tragedy. In the spring he will continue the Introductory Latin sequence and will teach Mythology, which will center on the incredibly influential and entertaining world of Greek myth and story-telling.  Additionally, he is directing two honors projects:  a student's re-imagined production of Aristophanes' Acharnians, and a philological examination of Tacitus' characterization of the Augustus' successor, Tiberius.

He specializes in Greco-Roman historiography, with a particular focus on literary and ideological filtering in historians of the principate. He has published articles on Odyssean elements in Plutarch, the failure of Plato to educate a tyrant, and an article on exiles in Plutarch is forthcoming.  Two other projects, on Tacitus' Agricola and Plutarch's portrait of Alcibiades, are near completion. He continues to work on a book project entitled Epic Lives which investigates the moral and philosophical themes at play in Plutarch's use of Homeric models, especially Achilles and Odysseus, in his parallel biographies.

This year he will also host Latin Table (O Mensa Latina) Thursday afternoons from 1 to 2 pm in Mitchell North in Thorne.