Grace Funsten Adjunct Assistant Professor of Classics

Ever since I was in college, I have been fascinated by ancient poetry and the link it provides us to the distant past. Now, in both my teaching and research, I try to further my engagement with Greek and Latin poetry by grounding it in the material culture and social realities of its time. This approach not only helps us to better understand the writings of people who lived in a world very different from ours, but can also help us to think critically about our own era.

My research focuses on Latin poetry, ancient gender and sexuality, and Roman gravestones, which has also led me to study ancient pets and Latin gravestones for animals. I have published articles about implied love spells in Ovid’s Heroides, Latin poems about erectile dysfunction, and the gravestone of a dog from ancient Rome named Margarita. My dissertation, “En versus facio: Rewriting Augustan Elegy in Latin Epitaphs, Maximianus, & Louise Labé,” examined imitations of Propertius, Tibullus, and Ovid in later periods. I’m looking forward to bringing my work on Roman elegy into the classroom at Davidson this spring when I teach Latin 322!

Before moving to Davidson, I taught Latin, Greek, and classical studies courses at the University of Washington and spent a year in Rome as a 2022 Rome Prize recipient. Roman elegy often sets its stories in Rome during Augustus’s reign, so I’m excited to share what I know about the ancient city with my students.

When I’m not at work, I enjoy knitting, playing Dungeons and Dragons, and hanging out with my two cats.