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Shawn D O'Bryhim Professor of Classics

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Education

  • University of Texas at Austin -  Ph.D. in Classics, 1987-1991
    ​Dissertation: The Amathusian Myths of Ovid’s Metamorphoses 10.

  • University of Texas at Austin -  M.A. in Classics, 1985-1987

  • Ball State University - M.A. in Latin, 1983-1985

  • Ball State University - B.A. in Secondary Education, 1979-1983

  • American Academy in Rome -  Summer, 1991

  • American School of Classical Studies at Athens -  Summer, 1984

Publications
WORK IN PROGRESS

  • Translation and introduction to Plautus' Mercator for a compendium of ancient comedy (ed. S. James), University of Wisconsin Press.

  • "The Identity of Ipsithilla (Catullus 32)."

BOOKS

  • A Student's Commentary on Book 10 on Ovid's Metamorphoses. (Wiley Blackwell 2021).

  • Beginning Latin: The Complete Course (Create Space 2018). 

  • Ancient Comedy: Translations and Interpretations of Four Representative Plays (editor and contributor; University of Texas Press, 2001.

CHAPTERS

  • "Stock Characters and Stereotypes," forthcoming in D. Dutsch and F. Franko, ed., Blackwell Companion to Plautus.

  • “Tragedy and Comedy in the Roman Participatory Context,” in The Blackwell Companion to Greek and Roman Politics, ed. Dean Hammer.  (Oxford 2015) 446-58.

  • "Menander's Dyskolos," in Ancient Comedy: Translations and Interpretations of Four Representative Plays (University of Texas Press 2001).

ARTICLES
  • "Claudius' Slippery Humiliation (Suetonius, Claudius 8)." Forthcoming in Classical Quarterly.
  • "Mutilating Demipho in Platus' Mercator," Classical Quarterly (2019) 453-5. 
  • "The Marriage of Knemon in Menander's Dyskolos," Classical World 112.4 (2019) 279-82.
  • "The Bee Omen at Vergil, Aeneid  7.64-8,"  Mnemosyne (2017) 1-4.

  • "Egnatius as Dux Gregis (Cat. 37 and 39)," Classical Philology 113.3 (2018).

  • "Catullus' Mullets and Radishes (c. 15.18-19),"  Mnemosyne 70 (2017) 325-30.

  • "The Economics of Agalmatophilia," Classical Journal 110.4 (2015) 419-29.

  • "Arachne's Victory," New England Classical Journal 41.4 (2014) 288-302.

  • “Conveying Knemon (Menander, Dyskolos 758),” Classical Philology 109 (2014) 263-6.

  • "Reconsidering Catullus' Sparrow (c. 2-3)," Latomus16 (2012) 101-13.

  • "Malodorous Aemilius (Cat. 97)," Classical Philology 107 (2012) 150-6.

  • “Truth from Fiction in Catullus’ Gellius Poems,” Classical Bulletin 85 (2009) 1-9.

  • “Phoenicium in the Wax (Pl. Ps. 20-37),” Mnemosyne 63 (2010) 635-9.

  • “Myrrha’s ‘Wedding’ (Ov. Met. 10.446-470),” Classical Quarterly 58 (2007) 190-5.

  • “Adonis in Plautus’ Pseudolus,” Classical Philology 102 (2007) 304-7.

  • “Catullus 23 and Roman Comedy,” Transactions of the American Philological Society 137 (2007) 133-45.

  • “An Oracular Scene from the Pozo Moro Funerary Monument,” Near Eastern Archaeology64 (2001) 67-70.

  • “The Ritual of Human Sacrifice in Euripides’ Iphigenia Among the Taurians,” Classical Bulletin 75.1 (1999) 23-35.

  • “Ovid’s Myth of the Cerastae and Phoenician Human Sacrifice on Cyprus,” Rivista di Studi Fenici 27 (1999) 3-20.

  • “The Sphere-Bearing Anthropomorphic Figurines of Amathus, Cyprus,” Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 306 (1997) 39-45.

  • “Hesiod and the Cretan Cave,” Rheinisches Museum für Philologie 140 (1997) 95-6.

  • “The Deities on the Kotchati Sanctuary Model,” Journal of Prehistoric Religion 10 (1996) 7-14.

  • “A New Interpretation of Hesiod, Theogony 35,” Hermes 124 (1996) 131-9.

  • “Hercules’ Gesture at Ovid, Metamorphoses 9.210,” Rheinisches Museum für Philologie135 (1992) 383-4.

  • “Hannibal’s Elephants and the Crossing of the Rhone,” Classical Quarterly41 (1991) 121-5.

  • “Ovid’s Version of Callisto’s Punishment,” Hermes 118 (1990) 75-80.

  • “The Originality of Plautus’ Casina,” American Journal of Philology 110 (1989) 81-103.

  • “Nestor: Wit or Windbag at Metamorphoses 12,” The Augustan Age 8 (1988) 49-53.

ENCYCLOPEDIA ENTRIES

  • “Plautus” in the Encyclopedia of the Ancient World, ed. Thomas J. Sienkewicz (Salem Press, 2001).

REVIEWS

  • Review of L. P. E. Parker, The Songs of Aristophanes, Classical Outlook 75.4 (1998) 2.

PATENTS
  • Ken Krebs and Shawn O'Bryhim, Portable Copystand for Enhancing Ink/Parchment Contrast (US patent issued 2017).
CREATIVE WORK
  • Up in Smoke; a musical adaptation of Menander's Dyskolos with a small-group course on adapting Menander. 

  • "Catullus 10 as Film Noir," Tellus 6 (2015) 9-10; literary translation.

  • The Messengers (Create Space 2010); novel.

  • FUBAR: The Musical (2007); a musical adaptation of Plautus' Amphytryo with students in a course on performing ancient comedy. 

  • “Catullus 43,” Plume 9 (2006) 10; literary translation.

  • “Catullus 7,” Plume 8 (2005) 2-3; literary translation.

  • “The Polymetric Chorus from The Frogs,” Plume 8 (2005) 22-7; literary translation.

ELECTRONIC PUBLICATIONS 
  • Shawn O'Bryhim and Ken Krebs, "Peering beneath the surface of Ancient Manuscripts," Scientific American blog, July 10, 2017.
  • UV image and analysis of Cod. Heid. N.F. 12 Gregorius Papa, I. Homiliae in Evangelia 10.-11. Jh.
Presentations
CONFERENCE PAPERS

  • "Egnatius as Dux Gregis (Cat. 37 and 39)," Classical Association of England and Wales 2015.

  • “Visual Rhetoric in Ovid’s Myth of Arachne (Ov., Met. 6.70-102),” Classical Association of England and Wales 2014.

  • “In the Footsteps of the Greek Agamatophiliacs,” Desiring Statues: Statuary, Sexuality and History, Conference at the University of Exeter, April 26-7, 2012.

  • “Truth from Fiction in Catullus’ Gellius Poems,” Truth, Fiction, and Reality: An Interdisciplinary Approach, Katowice, Poland 2008.

  • “The Economics of Agalmatophilia,” American Philological Association 2007.

  • “The Astronomical Significance of the Tellus Relief,” Classical Association of England and Wales 2006.

  • “Catullus 23 and Roman Comedy,” Classical Association of the Atlantic States 2005.

  • “Adonis in Plautus’ Pseudolus,” Classical Association of England and Wales 2004.

  • “Changing Roles in Plautus’ Pseudolus,” Classical Association of the Middle West and South 2004.

  • “An Oracular Scene from the Pozo Moro Funerary Monument,” American Schools of Research Annual Conference 1999.

  • “The Ritual of Human Sacrifice in Euripides, Iphigenia Among the Taurians,” Classical Association of the Middle West and South 1998.

  • “The Deities from the Kotchati Sanctuary Models,” American Schools of Oriental Research, Central States Annual Meeting 1996.

  • “The Sphere-Bearing Anthropomorphic Figurines of Amathus, Cyprus,” American Institute of Archaeology 1994.

  • “Dance, Old Man, Dance: Torturing Knemon in Menander’s Dyscolus,” Panel on New Comedy, Novus et Antiquus Conference, Committee for the Advancement of Early Studies, Ball State University, 1994.

  • “A Reassessment of Ovid’s Myth of Pygmalion,” Classical Association of the Middle West and South 1992.

  • “Pygmalion’s Gifts: Ovid’s Knowledge of Cypriot Cult,” Classical Association of the Middle West and South 1991.

  • “Hesiod and the Curetes,” American Philological Association 1990.

  • “Ovid’s Myth of the Propoetides,” Panel on Ancient Prostitution, Classical Association of the Middle West and South 1990.

  • “Hannibal’s Elephants and the Crossing of the Rhone,” American Philological Association 1989.

  • “A New Type of Contaminatio,” Classical Association of the Middle West and South Southern Section 1988.

  • “Nestor: Wit or Windbag at Metamorphoses 12,” Classical Association of the Middle West and  South 1988.

  • “A Goat by Any Other Name: Naming the Senex in Plautus’ Casina,” Classical Association of the Middle West and South 1987.

  • “The Humiliation of the Senex in Plautus’ Casina,” Classical Association of the Middle West and South 1986.

INVITED PAPERS

  • “For the Love of a Statue,” Mary Washington College Eta Sigma Phi Lecture 2012.

  • “Ballio Moves Uptown: Social Mobility in Plautus’ Pseudolus,” Hollins University Latin Seminar 2001.

PATENTS 
  • Ken Krebs and Shawn O'Bryhim, Portable Copystand for Enhancing Ink/Parchment Contrast (US Patent issued 2017).