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28th Annual Christopher Roberts Lecture 2

October 24, 2026

James Romm is an author, reviewer, and the James H. Ottaway Jr. Professor of Classics at Bard College in Annandale, NY.

James Romm

He specializes in ancient Greek and Roman culture and civilization. His reviews and essays have appeared in the New Yorker, the Wall Street Journal, the London Review of Books, the Daily Beast, and other venues. He has held the Guggenheim Fellowship (1999-2000), the Birkelund Fellowship at the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Writers and Scholars at the New York Public Library (2010-11), and a Biography Fellowship at the Leon Levy Center of the City University of New York (2014-15). His most recent books are Plato and the Tyrant: The Fall of Greece’s Greatest Dynasty and the Making of a Philosophic Masterpiece (W. W. Norton, 2026); Demosthenes: Democracy’s Defender (Yale University Press, 2025); and How to Have a Life: An Ancient Guide to Using Our Time Wisely (Princeton University Press, 2022).

Lecture 2

Philosophers in Politics: The Riddle of Seneca the Younger.

Saturday, October 24, 2026
2:30 PM Weiss 235

Concert to Follow with Dickinson Music Faculty

Hosted by the Classics Department.

Further information

  • Location: Weiss 235
  • Time: 2:30 pm - 4:00 pm Calendar Icon
  • Cost: Free