The Marston Lecture Est. 1991

The annual Marston Lecture at Seattle Pacific University is presented by the faculty member appointed to the C. May Marston professorship, named in honor of C. May Marston, whose influence extends back to the earliest years of Seattle Pacific.  During a remarkable 45 years as a faculty member, Dr. Marston instilled a love for language through her classes in Latin, Greek, French, German and English. The quintessential scholar, Dr. Marston was a methodical drillmaster whose sharp sense of humor, deep concern for students and simplicity of faith won over many a reluctant intellect..

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The 2013 C. May Marston Lecture

Reading the Persian Empire

Owen Ewald, C. May Marston Assistant Professor of Classics

Tuesday, February 5, 2013, 2 p.m.

Demaray Hall 150

Owen Ewald, Ph.D., grew up in Washington, D.C., a city with abundant Greco-Roman-inspired architecture.  After reading historian J. David Bolter's work Turing's Man, he studied Latin for 17 years, Greek for 13 years, and some Sanskrit.  He received a doctorate in classics from the University of Washington in 1999, and his dissertation explored Roman historiography.  His articles on ancient funerary practices, ancient roads, and Vergil's rhyme schemes have appeared in Athenaeum, Bryn Mawr Classical Review, and Harvard Studies in Classical Philology.  Dr. Ewald has taught Latin, Greek, classical literature, ancient history, and art history at Seattle Pacific University since 2001 and was named to the C. May Marston Professorship in 2005. 

In the 2013 C. May Marston Lecture, Dr. Ewald will examine Persian realities and representations in ancient and modern literature. Although Persia was one of the largest empires in human history before its conquest by Alexander the Great, it remains an enigma. Since few Persian documents have survived, we see Persia mostly through the eyes of others, especially its Greek subjects, such as the Histories of Herodotus, or Greek opponents, such as the sources for Arrian’s Anabasis. Modern novels such as Stephen Pressfield’s Gates of Fire and Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis have also taken up the challenge of depicting ancient Persia. Professor Ewald will juxtapose modern and classic literature to bring to life this neglected classical civilization.