WAA April 5, 2019 Lecture

7:30 pm, Lienhard Hall, 3rd floor, Pace University, Pleasantville, NY

Astronomy and the Ancients: A Classical Journey through the Stars

Matthew McGowan, Fordham University

This lecture offers a historical survey of astronomy and astronomical texts from the classical period through the renaissance including Homer, Plato, Aratus, and Copernicus. It considers the science of astronomy in light of its relation to literature and philosophy, in particular to Stoicism.

Matthew McGowan is a classical philologist with research interests in Latin literature and ancient scholarship. He has published broadly on a variety of Greek and Latin topics and his books include Ovid in Exile (Brill, 2009) and Classical New York: Greece and Rome in Gotham (Fordham University Press, 2018). He teaches a wide range of courses, from classical myth to Latin prose composition, and regularly leads tours where Latin can be found: Rome, Paris, the NY Botanical Garden, and the Bronx Zoo. He was President of the New York Classical Club (2009-2015) and is now Vice- President for Communications and Outreach for the Society for Classical Studies (2016-2020).

Free and open to the public.

Pre-lecture socializing with fellow WAA members and guests begins at 7:00 pm!