Assistant Professor of Classics Jeffrey Easton presented a paper at the Classical Association of the Middle West and South Annual Meeting in Champaign-Urbana, IL. The paper explored evidence from a set of eight Latin inscriptions which highlight a form of lateral social mobility among subaltern Romans. The paper suggests that while cases of extraordinary vertical social mobility tend to draw the most scholarly attention, cases involving incremental, multi-generational upward social and economic advancement represent a far more common experience for most Roman families.

Visiting Assistant Professor of Classics Jeffrey Easton presented a paper at the Fourth North American Congress of Greek and Latin Epigraphy in Chicago on January 8-9. The paper “An (Almost) Unspeakable Office,” explored a textual crux in a public Latin inscription of the early Roman Empire to reconsider the nebulous world of administration and distribution of civic and military authority in the early and middle Roman Republic.

Visiting Assistant Professor of Classics Jeffrey Easton was invited by the editors of the peer-reviewed journal, Phoenix, to review a new book on the Roman dictatorship by Mark B. Wilson (2021, University of Michigan Press). The book provides a much-needed update on this ancient office through analysis of written texts, epigraphic documents, and modern theoretical approaches. Easton’s review is published in the current issue of Phoenix (Volume 75, Spring/Summer 2021, pp. 171-4).

Visiting Assistant Professor of Classics Jeffrey Easton presented a paper at the joint Society for Classical Studies/Archaeological Institute of America Annual Meeting in New Orleans. The paper, entitled ‘What’s in a Name: The Ferrarii and Roman occupational associations in the Bay of Baratti and central and southern Spain,’ analyzed a group of Romans with a rare family name to better understand the socioeconomic experience of workers involved in the lowest levels of the metalworking industry.

Visiting Assistant Professor of Classics Jeffrey Easton was appointed to the Ladislaus J. Bolchazy Pedagogy Book Award Subcommittee of the Classical Association of the Middle West and South. Each year the subcommittee selects the recipient of the award, which recognizes a distinguished new book on classroom instruction in classical languages and culture.