Dr. Janice Siegel

Degrees Earned:
1994 Ph.D. Comparative Literature, Rutgers University (Latin/Greek/Provençal). Dissertation:
"Child-Feast and Revenge: Ovid and the Myth of Procne, Philomela and Tereus"
1984 M.A. Comparative Literature, Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri (Latin/Greek)
1983 B.A. Comparative Literature, Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri (Latin/French)

 Study Abroad:
1994: NEH Summer Seminar for School Teachers: “Ovid’s Metamorphoses: Myth in its Physical and Poetic Landscapes.” Location: Spetses, Greece. Director, Dr. Fred Ahl
1995: American School for Classical Studies at Athens Summer Session II

Hampden-Sydney College Faculty Appointments:
Professor of Classics (2026 – present)
Associate Professor of Classics (2009 – 2026)
Assistant Professor of Classics (2006 – 2009)

Dr. Siegel teaches all levels of Latin from grammar study to advanced reading and analysis, classical literature in translation (survey courses, genre studies, themed classes), etymology, classical civilization and culture (including mythology, classical art and architecture, archaeological sites, special topics), classical reception (especially courses such as Mythic Elements in Television and Film, Mythic Heroes in Film, and Screened Odysseys), and general education courses including Western Culture and Global Cultures.

Dr. Siegel also enjoys taking students off-campus to go to plays, musicals, museums, arboreta, etc.; to attend Classics association meetings geared to students; and to study Classics in Greece (and Turkey) on May Term Study Abroad trips (most recently in 2026).

Visit www.drjclassics.com to enjoy illustrated lectures that teach how ancient Greek literature, art, architecture, history, politics, philosophy, social history, religion, mythology, archaeological sites, material culture, and the local topography all reveal not only the inter-connectedness of this rich culture but also how and why it has remained relevant, accessible and so very influential throughout the millenia, even to this day. Please be patient as some areas of the website may be off-line as the site is currently being updated.

Selected Publications of Peer-Reviewed Scholarship:
Siegel, Janice. 2023. “Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy: A Kinder, Gentler, More Modern Heracles.” Thersites, Journal for Transcultural Presences and Diachronic Identities from Antiquity to Date (Vol. 17: Classics and the Supernatural in Modern Media): 143 – 182.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol17.253

Siegel, Janice. 2020. “Undertones of Apuleius’ Cupid and Psyche in Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth.” In Cupid and Psyche: The Reception of Apuleius’ Love Story since 1600, edited by Regine May and Stephen Harrison: 415 – 432. De Gruyter.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110641585

Siegel, Janice. 2007. “The Coens' O Brother Where Art Thou? and Homer's Odyssey.” Mouseion, The Classical Journal of Canada 7 (6): 213 – 245.
Project MUSE, https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/mou.0.0029.

Siegel, Janice. 2005. Tennessee Williams’ Suddenly Last Summer and Euripides’ Bacchae. The International Journal of the Classical Tradition 11 (4): 538 – 70.
JStor, https://www.jstor.org/stable/30222012

Siegel, Janice. 2001. “Peter Greenaway's The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover: A Cockney Procne. In Classical Culture and Myth in the Cinema, edited by Martin M. Winkler: 233 – 257. Oxford. Reviews in: BMCR 2001.12.13 (link), Amphora 2.1 (2001) (link), and Gymnasium 110.5 (2003): 518 – 20.

Peer-reviewed scholarship accepted and scheduled for publication in 2027:
Siegel, Janice. Mythic Tropes in Star Trek’s “The Lorelei Signal” (The Animated Series 1.4, 1973).” In Star Trek and the Ancient Past, edited by Amy Norgard and Natalie Swain. (Edinburgh).

Dr. Siegel’s teaching and research interests often coincide, one huge benefit of teaching at a small liberal arts college (SLAC) like Hampden-Sydney. Exploring such fascinating material with interested, engaged students often inspires ideas that lead to further research, a process which in turn often leads to further discoveries that can be shared with others through publication.

Current book-length research projects in progress:

• Teaching Greek and Roman Mythology with Television and Film (under contract)
• Just Vengeance: The Centrality of the Procne Episode in Ovid’s Metamorphoses

Current articles under review or in preparation:

• The Poetics of Disempowerment in Ovid’s Procne
• “By Fire and Sword”: The Evolution of a Literary Topos in the Roman Tradition
• The Wizard of Oz: A Modern Argonauticafor Children of All Ages
• Meta-Didacticism in Ovid's Poetry
• Elegiac Aspects of Ovid’s Metamorphoses
• Tennessee Williams’ Classical Allusions

Potential areas for student research:
Intertextuality in Literature, Literary Analysis, Mythic Tropes, Classical Receptions in Art and Literature, Comparative Literature

• 2024: The Wizard of Oz: A Modern Argonauticafor Children of All Ages Revisited” in the 'New Epic Modes: Screens and Beyond' panel of the Celtic Conference in Classics. Cardiff, Wales.
• 2023: “Sirens in Space: The Lorelei Signal (Star Trek: The Animated Series 1.4)” in the "Star Trek and the Ancient Past" panel at the Antiquity in Media Studies (AIMS) Conference (virtual)
• 2023: “Comedic Adaptations of Classical Drama’s Child-Feast Vengeance Theme in Screened Media” in the Ancient Drama/Modern Media panel of the Celtic Conference in Classics. Coimbra, Portugal.
• 2022: “del Toro’s Hellboy: A Kinder, more Human Heracles” at the Classics and the Supernatural in Contemporary Media, Brading Roman Villa. Isle of Wight, UK.
• 2018: “The Narcissism of the Gods” in the 21^st Century Popular Classics panel at the 11^th Celtic Classical Conference (CCC). St. Andrew’s, Scotland.
• 2017: “Home is Where the Heart is: Orphic Aspects of What Dreams May Come.” Film and History Conference. Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
• 2017: “By Fire and Sword: The Evolution of a Literary Topos.” The Israeli Society for the Promotion of Classical Studies. Haifa University, Israel.
• 2016: “Undertones of Cupid and Psyche in Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth.”The Reception of Apuleius’ Cupid and Psyche from 1600 to Today. University of Leeds, UK.
• 2016: “Philomela’s Ungentlemanly Caller.” Classical Association of the Middle, West, and South (CAMWS). The College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA.
• 2013: “The Cyclopic Reavers of Joss Whedon's” Swords, Sorcery, Sandals and Space: The Fantastika and the Classical World. A Science Fiction Foundation Conference. University of Liverpool, UK.

• 2006-2026 (every year except 2020-23): Summer Faculty Research Grant (H-SC)
• 2020-2023: Elliot Associate Professor of Classics (H-SC)
• 2015: Mellon Grant for Western Culture Course Development (H-SC)
• 2007: Bortz Teaching with Technology Award (H-SC)
• 2005-06: Loeb Classical Library Foundation Research Grant (Harvard University)
• 2003: Website Development Grant from the Classical Association of the Middle, West and South (CAMWS)
• 1999: Violet B. Ketels Award for Excellence in Teaching in and Extraordinary Service to the Intellectual Heritage Program at Temple University
• 1999: Website Development Grant, Public Programs funding from Classical Association of the Atlantic States (CAAS)
• 1996: Residential Summer Scholar's Program at the Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, D.C. (Harvard University)
• 1995: American School for Classical Studies at Athens (Greece) Summer Session funded by a Fulbright Scholarship (from UARK) and the Adelaide E. Hahn Scholarship from the Classical Association of the Atlantic States (CAAS)
• 1994: National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Summer Seminar in Spetses (Greece) funded by a Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation Travel Grant
• 1989: Excellence Fellowship from the Graduate School, Rutgers University

In her 20 years at Hampden-Sydney College, Dr. Siegel has several times served as Chair of the Department of Classics (most recently 2023-2026) and served on many faculty committees including Promotion and Tenure, Faculty Affairs, Professional Development, Honors Council, International Studies (also Chair), Student Affairs (also Chair), Grievance (with extensive Title IX training), as well as any number of ad hoc Faculty Committees when called to do so. She has also enjoyed serving as an academic advisor to new students and majors, as well as being past Advisor of the Classics Club and H-SC’s Beta Theta chapter of Eta Sigma Phi, the National Classics Honor Society.

Dr. Siegel has also provided distinguished service to the wider discipline of Classics. For twelve years, she researched and wrote "Audio-Visual Materials in Classics," a c. 100-page catalogue listing thousands of items. Every two years, a new version of this document was published in the academic journal Classical World in a special volume entitled Texts and Technology: Resources for Teachers, Special Survey Issue (in 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, and 2012). A searchable database programmed by a H-SC student was populated with the same data and until Dr. Siegel retired as editor, H-SC hosted this free resource on its webserver.

In addition to serving on the Editorial Board of Classical World, Dr. Siegel has also been active as a member of innumerable committees in Classics associations at both the regional and state level; an anonymous peer-reviewer of submissions to Classics journals in which she has published; peer-reviewer for the National Endowment of the Humanities Fellowship; previewer of books for publishers; and proofreader and judge of student contests for the Classical Association of Virginia.