CANE Summer Institute
The Classical Association of New England Summer Institute (CSI) brings together students, educators, and lifelong learners for an intensive week of lectures, mini-courses, reading groups, professional development workshops, and special events. Each institute considers the literature, history, and arts of the ancient Mediterranean world, and how we engage with those cultures today.
CSI Returned for 2025!
After the suspension of the 2024 edition of CSI, an ad hoc committee was formed to find a new home for the institute and to try and relaunch a more sustainable model for 2025 and beyond. For now, CSI 2025 will be a virtual offering.
We hope that you can join us once again this summer for a learning and intellectual experience that is unique in America, with our mini-courses, lectures, workshops, and reading groups. In addition, with the broadening of the International Baccalaureate and Advanced Placement Latin Curricula, we have courses and lectures geared both towards new author focuses, like Pliny the Younger, as well as options for teachers to introduce students to Latin work that isn’t in the typical Latin class canon.
About CSI
The Institute was founded in 1983 by Edward Bradley, Phyllis Katz, and Matthew Wiencke of Dartmouth College and Gloria Duclos of the University of South Maine. After being based at Dartmouth from 1983 until 2011, the institute moved in 2013 to Brown University, under the leadership of Jeri DeBrohun, and continued to convene there through 2022 (save 2020 and 2021). In 2025 the Institute moved to Stonehill College, which we hope will be its next long term home.
Past CANE Summer Institutes
- July 7-11, 2025, Virtually via CANE Zoom
- “The Time of Monsters”: Discord, Collapse, and Renewal in the Ancient World
- July 10-15, 2023, RISD and CANE Zoom
- “Classical Antiquity”: A Global Phenomenon in Local Contexts
- July 11-16, 2022, Brown University and CANE Zoom
- Maiores a(n)d Posteriores: Imagining “Classical Antiquity” into the Future
- July 13-15 and 20-22, 2021, Virtually via Zoom
- Power and the Individual in the Ancient Mediterranean World
- July 8-13, 2019, Brown University
- E Pluribus Unum
- July 9-14, 2018, Brown University
- Empires Ancient and Modern: Reactions to Imperial Power from Athens to the Americas
- July 10-15, 2017, Brown University
- The View from a Distance: Perspectives on the Greeks & Romans from across Space and Time
- July 11-16, 2016, Brown University
- Quid Sub Sole Novum? Imitation, Innovation, and Creation in the Ancient World
- July 13-18, 2015, Brown University
- Exegi Monumentum. Creating the Everlasting in the Ancient World
- July 14-19, 2014, Brown University
- “On the Shoulders of Giants:” Greco-Roman Giants and their Modern Emulators
- July 15-20, 2013, Brown University
- America’s Founding Fathers and the Classics of Greece and Rome
- July 11-16, 2011, Dartmouth College
- Spectacles in and of the Ancient World. spectatum veniunt, veniunt spectentur ut ipsae.
- July 12-17, 2010, Dartmouth College
- “Not Athens But the World.” Why America is Still Listening to Ancient Voices
- July 6-11, 2009, Dartmouth College
- Expanding the Map: Cultural Exchange and the Peripheries of the Classical World.
- July 7-12, 2008, Dartmouth College
- Revolution and Reaction: Radical Changes and Continuities in the Ancient World
- July 9-14, 2007, Dartmouth College (25th Annual)
- Beyond Antiquity: The Legacy of the Classical World
Please note that lectures and courses at the institute are given in English; participation in the institute does not require knowledge of the ancient languages. CANE welcomes interested individuals who are new to the study of the ancient Mediterranean world and its modern legacy to attend the Institute, as well as graduate and undergraduate students. Participants may board on site or commute to campus for the week.
Questions? Please contact Mark Wright, the director of the CANE Summer Institute, at summerinst@caneweb.org.
CANE Summer Institute 2025
"The Time of Monsters": Discord, Collapse, and Renewal in the Ancient World
July 7-11 | Virtually via CANE Zoom
The Italian political theorist Antonio Gramsci believed that he lived at a junctions of history, a sort of time he memorably characterized as being marked by the by the death of an old order, the struggle of the new to be born. He termed this intersection the time of monsters, where various morbid symptoms appear.
The history of the ancient mediterranean broadly is characterized by points of collapse and discord—the Seven Against Thebes; the Bronze Age collapse with its mysterious roving Sea Peoples; the stasis in Corcyra; the fall of the Athenian Empire; the collapse of Alexander’s kingdoms into the wars of the Diadochoi; the ruinous civil wars in the first centuries BCE and CE in Rome, the calamitous third century crisis of the Empire; and the ‘fall’ of the western part of the Empire—as well as renewal, such as the restoration of democracy after the thirty tyrants of Athens; the rise of Ptolemaic Egypt; the Pax Augusta; the rise of Constantine and New Rome. Between this collapse and renewal are the chaotic interstices where contingency, fortuna, and tuche run rampant: think of those aforementioned thirty tyrants, the bloody rule of the second triumvirate, or Cleopatra VII’s reputation in Rome after her dealings with the triumvirs.
This suggests to us a number of questions. How do Greeks and Romans (and others) figure collapse? What metaphors and images do the Greeks, Romans (and others) use? How do Romans theorize civil war, and how much do they owe to the Greeks? In the aftermath, how are these collapses and discordiae remembered and memorialized, or forgotten and marginalized? What goes into building a new order? How does one make the old new and the new old? Further, what counts as a “monster”, and to whom? What functions do these “monsters” serve? What passions and ideologies must be arrayed to make a fellow civis into a hostis, or even a monster? What forces must be arrayed to create the reverse, as society tries to rebuild? Finally, to look to our own times, are we approaching a “time of monsters” for humanities and higher education at large?
John Higgins, UMass Amherst and Trinity College
The Beast of the Apocalypse: Nero and Christians
Is Nero the Beast of the Apocalypse? How did he get to be associated with metaphysical evil? Why did his contemporaries expect him to return after death (some with dread and some with hope)? We will examine Nero (the Beast) in the context of three events: the Great Fire of 64 CE, the construction of the Domus Aurea, and the subsequent persecution of the Christians. Our sources will include the Roman historians Suetonius and Tacitus, and early Christian writings, both biblical (the Apocalypse) and patristic (Eusebius and Augustine). The view of Nero in our own times is largely created by his portrayal in cinema, so we will finish with a look at how beastly he appears in several modern films.
Colin MacCormack, Smith College
Heroism and Monstrosity in Apollonius’ Argonautica
Perhaps uniquely among ancient epics, Apollonius’ Argonautica (~3rd c. BCE) has confounded readers with what to make of its heroic characters. Beset by desperation and disaster, and prone to infighting and unjust acts, the crew of the Argo seem a far cry from the heroes of Homer’s Iliad, none more so than their leader, Jason. Alternatively read as an opportunistic scoundrel, a suave pragmatist, a pitiful weakling, and every shade in between, the nature of Jason’s heroism has been a central debate in Argonautica scholarship for decades. Opposite the male Argonauts are the mortal and immortal women who aid, delay, or otherwise affect the quest. Foremost among them is Medea, whose love and sorcerous interventions ensure the Argonauts’ success, yet also drive her towards dark and terrible ends. Together, Medea, Jason and other characters paint a complex and multivalent portrait of epic heroism, one which at times veers towards the monstrous.
This course will explore the heroes, gods and monsters of Apollonius’ Argonautica and how they address, reflect and complicate ideas of heroism and monstrosity. In addition to close-readings of the text itself, we will consider Apollonius’ poetry against literary models from earlier epic and tragedy, the contemporary cultural and political climate of Ptolemaic Egypt, as well the later works it would inspire from writers like Vergil and Ovid. All readings will be in English, with Greek (and Latin) texts available (and encouraged).
Christina Hotalen, UMass Amherst
“The Construction & Destruction of Memory in the Severan Period”
The United States has had a long history with police brutality, ever since the 1700s
when policing was known as “Slave Patrols” in its earliest form. The murder of George Floyd in the spring of 2020 brought police brutality into national focus with mass protests breaking out across all fifty states. During these protests, statues and public monuments honoring figures associated with white supremacy (most notably the Confederacy) were vandalized, torn down, or removed (officially or impromptu), leading to fierce debates about statue removal and how such removals erase history. In a scathing response, the Trump Administration issued an Executive Order stating that the “selection of targets reveals a deep ignorance of our history” and that those who wish to remove them are intent on eliminating history (June 26, 2020).
Condemning and negating an individual’s memory and existence is not a modern
invention, but one that has precedence in the Roman world. Damnatio memoriae,
officially sanctioned or spontaneous, was invoked against “bad” people, with emperors and members of the imperial family being susceptible to this cancellation and condemnation. In a society where few were literate, images and representations of the emperor and his family were important in the dissemination of imperial propaganda. Spontaneous condemnations by military or civic populations involved desecrating a condemned individual’s likeness. Disfigured portraits were powerful expressions of a population’s contempt for monstrous individuals, a trend that started towards the end of the Severan Dynasty (193-235 CE) and continued well into the third century.
This seminar will focus on the construction and deconstruction of memory as a political tool in the Severan period. What kind of message would a disfigured portrait leave on a viewer? Were populations justified in taking out their anger towards the emperor and his family? How would citizens have reacted to the damnationes memoriae of a co-emperor murdered by his brother, who is now sole emperor? What does it mean when women are on the receiving end of such damnationes memoriae?
Christopher Richards, Colby College
The Image of Medusa in Western Art History: Frontal, Fanged, Furry
Is there a monster more iconic than Medusa? From Ovid to Freud, archaic pottery to Monsters Inc., Medusa has fascinated people for millennia. As one art historian writes, she is “radical difference” and “the absolute Other.” This course traces the long visual tradition of the gorgon through a series of key case studies. We begin with Medusa’s earliest depictions in apotropaic gorgoneia, where she appears fully monstrous—frontal, fanged, and furry. Next, we examine her transformation into an alluring yet dangerous foreign maiden in Classical Greek ceramics. Tragic Roman representations in sculpture and the Metamorphoses follow, leading to a study of post-antique responses in illuminated Ovide moralisé manuscripts and Caravaggio’s baroque paintings. This New England based course concludes close to home with Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, organized around an ancient mosaic of Medusa and designed by a rather Medusan foundress, often deemed monstrous by her contemporaries.
The guiding thesis of this class is that artworks are made not to be looked at but to gaze, captivating and transforming viewers. Medusa, as both subject and symbol, provides a striking and reflexive entrée to this dynamic. Each session pairs historic visual materials with modern critical perspectives, including Freud’s psychoanalytic reading of Medusa, feminist essays in monster theory, Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s Black critique of Western art history, and Hakeem Adewumi’s queer reclamation of the monster. By examining Medusa’s shifting image, we will explore the power of the gaze and the cultural construction of monstrosity across time.
Coming Soon!
Greek Reading Group
Mary Grace Lewis, Boston College/Brown University
Latin Reading Group
Christopher Churchill, Sturgis Charter Public School
Monday at 4:30 PM
Craig Jendza, Denison University
Tuesday at 4:30 PM
James Patterson, Yale University
Wednesday at 4:30 PM
Molly Jones Lewis, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Thursday at 4:30 PM
Christopher Richards, Colby College
Friday at 4:30 PM
Kathleen Coleman, Harvard University
Registration Information
- All are welcome: Participation in the institute does not require knowledge of the ancient languages. CANE welcomes interested individuals who are new to the study of Classics to attend the Institute as well as graduate and undergraduate students.
- Enrollment in CSI requires membership in CANE. Your registration for CSI 2025 is not complete until your membership status has been verified. As you register for CSI, please join or renew your membership. The link brings you to the membership page of caneweb.org, which also outlines all the benefits of membership. Choose regular membership ($50) or student membership ($15). Thank you for your support of CANE!
- Registration periods: The regular registration period runs until May 31st. The late registration fee will be waived!
- What tuition covers: one morning and one afternoon mini-course, plus optional participation in professional development workshops, and Greek & Latin reading groups. Virtual tuition is $540. Lectures are free, open to the public, and will be available both in person and virtually via livestream.
- Both mini-courses must be in the same instructional mode: either in-person or virtual. Workshops and reading groups will accommodate both in-person and virtual participants. CANE welcomes people under 18 years old in the virtual format only.
- Workshops and reading groups: professional development workshops and Greek and Latin reading groups are offered to CSI students. Workshops run Tuesday-Friday. Reading groups run Tuesday-Friday.
- In-person participants may choose to board at Stonehill or to participate as day students. Registrants who wish to participate in the in-person program must be at least 18 years old by July 7, 2025.
- Deposit: A non-refundable $250 deposit is due at registration. The balance is due by June 1 for all registrants.
- Accommodation requests: All CSI facilities are handicapped accessible. Please indicate your need for special accommodations for mobility, auxiliary communication aids, dietary needs, or other forms of assistance in a note with the registration form, or in an e-mail to the CSI Director Mark Wright (summerinst@caneweb.org).
- Code of conduct: By registering for the CANE Summer Institute, participants promise to abide by the CANE Code of Conduct.