Roman Syria Mosaic depicting a rooster, AD 450–550 Gift of Professor and Mrs. Meyer Abrams Cornell University Johnson Museum of Art
Although many mosaics enriched the floors of Roman buildings, much like carpets, they were sometimes placed on walls as well. This mosaic is believed to have originated in an early Christian church in Homs, Syria. In Christian iconography, roosters symbolize Christ’s resurrection because they are the first to greet the dawn.

Giving Day, 16 March, 2023

Please help the Cornell do even more by supporting us today – it’s quick and easy.

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The growth rings inside a juniper tree, combined with isotope records, helped researchers pinpoint a likely culprit for the collapse of the Hittite Empire: three straight years of severe drought, approximately 1198–96 BC, in an already dry period.
The growth rings inside a juniper tree, combined with isotope records, helped researchers pinpoint a likely culprit for the collapse of the Hittite Empire: three straight years of severe drought, approximately 1198–96 BC, in an already dry period.

Medieval Studies faculty member, Sturt Manning, published in Nature

Manning and Jed Sparks combined the capabilities of their respective labs, the Cornell Tree-Ring Laboratory and the Cornell Stable Isotope Laboratory (COIL), to scrutinize samples from the Midas Mound Tumulus at Gordion, a human-made 53-meter-tall structure located west of Ankara, Turkey.

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Keynote Public Lecture: Kisha Supernant

Kenote Address

Frontiers in Archaeological Sciences 3: Rethinking the Paradigm conference keynote lecture is on Saturday, October 8, 2022 at 7pm and is open to the public.

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Reconstruction and Repossession in Rome’s Early Medieval Charitable Hostels Gregor Kalas (University of Tennessee, Knoxville)

Medieval Studies lecture announcement

Reconstruction and Repossession in Rome’s Early Medieval Charitable HostelsGregor Kalas (University of Tennessee, Knoxville)Tuesday, May 3 | 4:45 ESTGuerlac Room, AD White HouseRome's xenodochia, or hostels for foreigners, operated as charities sponsored by aristocrats prior to the year 600 CE. This talk examines the reuse of ancient...

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MSSC 2022 Consuming the Middle Ages Poster

2022 MSSC: Consuming the Middle Ages

The 2022 Medieval Studies Student Colloquium, "Consuming the Middle Ages," will be held virtually on Zoom on Saturday, April 23rd, starting at 10:30 AM EDT. Our keynote speaker is Dr. Cord Whitaker (Associate Professor of English, Wellesley College), speaking at 3 PM EDT on The “Ubermensch” and the “Race Man”: W. E. B. Du Bois and the...

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Randle publishes in Bright Lights

Second-year Medieval Studies graduate student Ryan Randle has published a provocative piece, “Medieval Arthuriana Was Always Scary, but Not in the Way You’d Think: On Sir Gawain and The Green Knight,” in the Bright Lights Film Journal. Highlighting the oft forgotten terrors of sexual violence in medieval Arthurian literature, a far cry from the...

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Alice Wolff
Alice Wolff

Wolff publishes in Weed Science

Fourth-year Medieval Studies PhD candidate Alice Wolff is lead author of an article recently published in Weed Science (Cambridge University Press), “In the Ruins: The Neglected Link between Archaeology and Weed Science.” Alice and her co-authors chart new interdisciplinary avenues for research at the intersection of archaeobotany and weed ecology...

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participants at a 2019 Cornell summer workshop on historical music notation examining medieval musical sources from the Kroch Library's Rare and Manuscript Collections

Giving Day, 16 March, 2022

Please help the Cornell Medieval Studies Program do even more by supporting us today – it’s quick and easy. Just visit this link on March 16 to make your gift. Every little bit helps! Diex vos sait, sæl og blessuð, السلام عليكم, and hello from the Medieval Studies Program at Cornell University! It’s been awhile… Our gradual reemergence from this...

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‘Deeds rife with physical nastiness’: book examines violence in Icelandic sagas

In “Violence and Risk in Medieval Iceland: This Spattered Isle,” Oren Falk, associate professor of history in the College of Arts and Sciences, considers the medieval Icelandic sagas as case studies in the violence general to the human experience, arguing that violence, “both perennial and contemporary,” serves as a technique for dealing with...

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Medieval Studies Fall Lecture Series, 2021

Fall Lecture Series, Fall 2021 Schedule

Medieval Studies Fall Lecture SeriesAll lectures begin at 4:30pmTuesday, 19 October, Guerlac Room, AD White House            Nicole Marafioti (Trinity University), “Crime and Sin in Early English Law”Tuesday, 9 November, Kaufmann Auditorium, Goldwin Smith Hall            Sam Barber (Cornell University), “The Early Medieval Palace as...

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Medieval Literature Lecture Series, 9 September 2021. Lectures by: Mary Dockray-Miller, Carissa Harris, Nahir Otaño Gracia

Save the Date! Medieval Literature Lecture Series: Thursday, September 9, 2021

On Thursday, September 9th, Professor Mary Dockray-Miller (Lesley University), Professor Carissa Harris (Temple University), and Professor Nahir Otaño Gracia (University of New Mexico) will speak in a joint virtual lecture and discussion in the final instalment of the Medieval Literature Lecture Series. The titles of their lectures are:Carissa...

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Greenlee

Slippery Character

Have you ever wondered how much it would cost to pay a year of Cornell endowed tuition entirely in eels? No? Well, one recent doctoral alum has. And he can tell you, too: a whopping 213,024.John Wyatt Greenlee, PhD ’20, knows his eels. The medieval studies grad calls himself the “Surprised Eel Historian” on Twitter, where he shares eel-related...

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