The role of actresses in the Roman world

By: Natalie Pistole
Contributing Writer

On one of the coldest nights this year, students, faculty and some others made the trek to the Morgan Room in Poling Hall to listen to a speaker. John H. Starks, Jr., talked to this crowd at Monmouth College on Monday Feb. 5 at 7:30 p.m. about a topic many people are unaware of: the demand for actresses in the Roman world.

Starks graduated from Washington and Lee College and has a Ph.D. in Classics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. While at the University of North Carolina, Starks wrote a dissertation on actresses in the Roman world, which is what his lecture focused on Monday night.

Beginning his speech by saying, “Yes, there were actresses in the ancient world!”, Starks took the crowd of a variety of people back in time as he described a list of different actresses such as Galeria Copiola or Theodora from the Roman world. His presentation included colorful slides where he read quotes from different actresses from ancient Rome, explaining each quote in his own words as he went. Freshman Annie Lane said this of Starks’ presentation: “I thought it was very educational, and he [Starks] portrayed Roman life as it really was. He incorporated how women acted in society and basically didn’t give any frills about Roman life.”

Whether it was the true-to-life approach Starks had for his topic or just the new information he gave, Starks managed to keep the crowd interested the entire time. His ties to the world today throughout the speech really intrigued members of the crowd of all ages. As Janeve West, professor of communication and theater arts at Monmouth College, said, “His presentation was incredibly interesting. It brought up a lot of information I didn’t know was out there. I loved how he drew connections between theater and the social world. It was also great to see lots of students there.” As any teacher would be, West was happy to see her own students there and as a “thanks” for coming, she offered extra credit to those who attended.

But students and teachers were not the only ones impressed by Starks’ performance. Thomas Sienkewicz, Capron Professor and chair of the Classics department, was also impressed by Starks’ presentation, saying, “I found Professor Starks’ talk on actresses in the ancient world to be fascinating. I would be interested in comparing notes with him because I have done some work on the lives of the ‘women’ of gladiators in the Roman Empire.”

While the actresses of Rome may be ancient history, you can bet that Starks and his presentation are not. Judging by the way he kept the audience intrigued the entire time and of the compliments acquired from the head of the department, he will indeed continue to entertain audiences with interesting facts.