Ancient Studies

Adria Haluszka

Classics Instructor

Degrees

Ph.D., The Ohio State University, 2010

Research Interests

My research interests include epic poetry and religion in the ancient Mediterranean world. I am particularly fascinated by the study of magic, divination, and mystery cults. I consider how depictions of marginal figures, such as magicians and witches, shape cultural ideas of “Otherness.” I also analyze how ancient authors from Homer to Ovid present interactions with divinity, in conjunction with how ancient magical practitioners approached the gods in the Greek Magical Papyri, in order to show that although practitioners of magic often incorporated novel practices, the core of their rituals is based on a solid understanding and working of how interactions with divinity were understood in civic religious practices. My current work applies recent advancements in semiotics and cognitive theory to the use of sacred images in the Greek Magical Papyri.

Recent Courses Offered

Language Courses:

• Latin Literature: Nature and Environment (LA 201E)
• Ovid, Metamorphoses (Latin 202/210)
• Vergil, Aeneid (Latin 202/210)
• Love in Latin Elegy and Epic (Latin 202/210)
• Plato, Ion and Euthyphro (Greek 201/210)
• Euripides, Medea (Greek 201/210)

Classics and Ancient Studies Courses:

• Gods/Heroes/Monsters of Epic (AS 242H)
• Magic in the Ancient World (AS 303H)
• Classical Mythology (CL 200H)
• Greek Tragedy in Contemporary Film & Literature (CL 261H)
• Ancient Greek History (CL 242H)
• Roman History I: Romulus to Caesar (CL 243H)
• Roman History II: The Roman Empire (CL 244H)
• Rome: Soldiers, Slaves, and Emperors (CL 272H)

On-Campus Winter Term Courses:

• Divination 101
• Rome on the Big Screen

Selected Papers and Publications

• Haluszka, Adria. “Crowns of Hermanubis and Hearts of Magnetite: Semiotic Fusion and Ascription of Power in the Magical Papyri.” Paper presented at “Cultural Plurality in Ancient Magical Texts and Practices,” a conference organized as part of Heidelberg University’s Cluster of Excellence: “Asia and Europe in a Global Context: The Dynamics of Transculturality,” Heidelberg, Germany, September 2014.
• Haluszka, Adria. “Sacred Signified: The Semiotics of Statues in the Greek Magical Papyri,” Arethusa 41.3 (Fall 2008): 479-494.
• Haluszka, Adria. “The God Inside: A Case Study of Magical Statues.” Paper presented at “Sacred Images in the Ancient Mediterranean,” a conference co-sponsored by the Centro Antropologia e Mondo Antico, Universita degli Studi di Siena and The Ohio State University’s Focus Program in Mediterranean Religions and Cultures, Sienna, Italy, June 2006.
• Haluszka, Adria and Sarah Iles Johnston. “Of Bellies and Jars: Containing Demons In and Out of the Body.” Paper presented at the conference “The Spirit Within: Divine and Demonic Possession in the Ancient World,” Chicago, IL, March 2005.