Willamette University

Classical Studies

Mary R. Bachvarova

Mary R. Bachvarova

Education

2002

  • Ph.D. with Honors, University of Chicago, "From Hittite to Homer: The Role of Anatolians in the Transmission of Epic and Prayer Motifs from the Near East to the Greeks," (Committee: Shadi Bartsch (head); Harry A. Hoffner, Jr.; Calvert Watkins (Harvard University); Christopher Faraone)

1997

  • M.A., University of Chicago, "The Treatment of hakāra in the Classificatory Systems of Sanskrit Grammarians"

1993-2002

  • Graduate Student in the Committee on the History of Culture, University of Chicago

1990-1992

  • A.B. in Classics: Greek and Latin, Magna cum Laude, Harvard University/Radcliffe College

1980-1984

  • Trinity School, New York City

Publications

Articles and Book Chapters

2010

  • "The manly deeds of Hattusili I: Hittite admonitory history and didactic epic," in Epic and History, eds. K. Raaflaub and D. Konstan. Waltham, Mass: Blackwell. 66-85.

2009

  • "Suppliant Danaids and Argive Nymphs in Aeschylus," in Classical Journal 104.4: 289-310.
  • "Hittite and Greek Perspectives on Travelling Poets, Texts and Festivals," in Wandering Poets in Ancient Greek Culture: Travel, Locality and Panhellenism, eds. R. Hunter and I. C. Rutherford. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 23-45.

2008

  • "The Poet's Point of View and the Prehistory of the Iliad," in Hittites, Greeks and Their Neighbors: An International Conference on Cross-Cultural Interaction Held at the Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory University (Sept. 17-19, 2004), eds. B. J. Collins, M. R. Bachvarova and I. C. Rutherford. Woodbridge, Conn.: Oxbow Press. 95-108.
  • "Sumerian Gala Priests and Eastern Mediterranean Returning Gods: Tragic Lament in Cross-Cultural Perspective," in Lament: Studies in the Ancient Mediterranean World and Beyond, ed. A. Suter. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 18-52.

2007

  • "Actions and Attitudes: Understanding Greek (and Latin) Verbal Paradigms." Classical World 100: 123-33.
  • "Oath and Allusion in Alcaeus fr. 129," in Horkos: The Oath in Greek Society, eds. A. H. Sommerstein and J. Fletcher, Exeter: Bristol Phoenix Press. 179-88, 258-64.
  • "Suffixaufnahme and Genitival Adjectives as an Anatolian Areal Feature in Hurrian, Tyrrhenian and Anatolian Languages," in Proceedings of the Eighteenth Annual UCLA Indo-European Conference, Nov. 3-4 2006, eds. K. Jones-Bley, M. E. Huld, A. Della Volpe, and M. Robbins Dexter. Washington, D. C. Institute for the Study of Man. 169-89.

2006

  • “Divine Justice across the Mediterranean: Hittite Arkuwars and the Trial Scene in Aeschylus' Eumenides." Journal of Near Eastern Religions 6:123-53.

2005

  • "The Eastern Mediterranean Epic Tradition from Bilgames and Akka to the Song of Release to the Iliad." Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies 45: 131-53.
  • "Relations Between God and Man in the Hurro-Hittite 'Song of Release'." Journal of the American Oriental Society 125:1-13.

2004

  • "Topics in Lydian Verse: Accentuation and Syllabification." Journal of Indo-European Studies 32: 227-47.

2001

  • "Successful Birth, Unsuccessful Marriage: Using Near Eastern Birth Incantations to Interpret Aeschylus' Suppliants." NIN: Journal of Gender Studies in Antiquity 2: 49-90.

1997

  • "The Literary Use of Dialects: Ancient Greek, Indic and Sumerian," in CLS 33: Papers from the Panels on Linguistic Ideologies in Contact, Universal Grammar, Parameters and Typology, The Perception of Speech and Other Acoustic Signals. eds. K. Singer, R. Eggert, G. Anderson. Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society. 7-22.

PDFs available upon request

Co-Edited Book

2008

  • Anatolian Interfaces: Hittites, Greeks and on Cross-Cultural Interaction Held at the Sept. 17-19, 2004), eds. B. J. Collins, M. Woodbridge, Conn.: Oxbow Press.

Forthcoming Book

  • From Hittite to Homer: The Anatolian Background of Greek Epic, Cambridge University Press.

Teaching

Spring 2012

  • Greek 232: Intermediate Ancient Greek II: Homer
  • Latin 232: Intermediate Latin II: Ovid and Lucretius
  • CLAS 250 (TH, Writing-Centered, No Seniors): Greeks, Romans and Barbarians

Fall 2011

Spring 2011

  • Greek 132: Beginning Ancient Greek II
  • CLAS 260 (IT): Gender and Sexuality in Ancient Greek Society
  • Classics 496 (Writing-Centered): Senior Seminar (1 hour per week independent study)
  • Greek 390: Rapid Reading of Greek Prose Authors (3 hours per week)

Fall 2010

  • Greek 131: Beginning Ancient Greek I
  • Greek 231: Intermediate Ancient Greek I: Prose
  • Freshman Colloquium: The Journey to the Self: Narrative and the Hero
  • Classics 496 (Writing-Centered): Senior Seminar (1 hour per week independent study)
  • Greek 390: Independent Study (1 ½ hours per week)

Talks

  • "Pittei's Birth Ritual and the Cow-Maiden of the Moon-god: Bricolage and Borrowing," at the 222nd Annual Meeting of the American Oriental Society, Boston, March 16-19, 2012.
  • "Further parallels in Greco-Anatolian disappearing god rituals: The Hittite kurša hunting bag and the Dios Kōidion (Fleece of Zeus)," at the American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, San Francisco, Nov. 21, 2011.
  • "Hurro-Hittite Narrative Song as a Bilingual Oral-Derived Genre," at the Eighth International Conference of Hittitology in Warsaw, Poland, September 5-9, 2011