Orpheus Crosses the Atlantic: Native American Knowledge of Ancient Greece and Rome

FAIN: FEL-257803-18

Craig Williams
Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois (Champaign, IL 61801-3620)

A book length study of Native American writers that examines the reception of European classical education and knowledge in colonial New England.

My book tells the hitherto untold story of how Native American writers have used their knowledge of the languages, literatures, and cultures of ancient Greece and Rome. The centerpiece consists of my translations and interpretations of a small but rich body of texts which have never before been published as a corpus: letters and poems written in Greek and Latin by American Indians in colonial New England. Aiming to make them accessible both to scholars and an interested public, I place these texts in the context of allusions to Greece and Rome found in a variety of Native-authored English-language essays, poems, and novels, allusions which themselves have not yet been studied as a body. My book makes a significant new contribution to the field of classical reception studies, and will enrich our understanding of the complexities of Native American writing over the centuries.

Associated Products

“Orpheus in Massachusetts: A Native American Transformation of Greco-Roman Antiquity.” (Book Section)
Title: “Orpheus in Massachusetts: A Native American Transformation of Greco-Roman Antiquity.”
Author: Craig Williams
Editor: Johannes Helmrath
Abstract: In a letter he wrote in Latin in 1663, an American Indian student at Harvard College named Caleb Cheeshahteaumauk thanks his "honorable benefactors" and begins with the ancient Greco-Roman mythological figure of Orpheus. In this article I first give the Latin text of the letter and my English translation, and then analyze the text in depth, reading it as a complex expression of both change and continuity at the pen of a young Wampanoag in a turbulent colonial situation, and as an illustration of several ways in which Greco-Roman antiquity has been transformed over the centuries.
Year: 2020
Publisher: De Gruyter
Book Title: Antike ohne Ende: Erschließung von Rezeptionskonzepten antiker Texte

“Calling the Muses to Oklahoma: Native North American Writers on Greco-Roman Antiquity.” (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: “Calling the Muses to Oklahoma: Native North American Writers on Greco-Roman Antiquity.”
Abstract: Annual Bonnycastle Lecture
Author: Craig Williams
Date: 3/29/19
Location: University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, Manitoba (Canada)

“Calling the Muses to Oklahoma: Native American Writers on Greco-Roman Antiquity.” (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: “Calling the Muses to Oklahoma: Native American Writers on Greco-Roman Antiquity.”
Abstract: As part of public "noonhour presentation" series, I presented some of the findings of my project.
Author: Craig Williams
Date: 9/25/19
Location: Center for Advanced Study, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

“Ere Egypt and Rome Were Born: Native American Writers on Greco-Roman Antiquity.” (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: “Ere Egypt and Rome Were Born: Native American Writers on Greco-Roman Antiquity.”
Abstract: Public lecture, especially aimed at an undergraduate audience, at which I presented some of my findings.
Author: Craig Williams
Date: 9/16/19
Location: Wabash College, Crawfordsville IN

“Ere Egypt and Rome Were Born: Native American Writers on Greco-Roman Antiquity.” (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: “Ere Egypt and Rome Were Born: Native American Writers on Greco-Roman Antiquity.”
Abstract: Public lecture, primarily aimed at an audience of undergraduate students, in which I presented some of the findings of my project.
Author: Craig Williams
Date: 10/3/19
Location: Gustavus Adolphus College, St Peter MN
Primary URL: http://https://news.blog.gustavus.edu/2019/10/07/classics-hosts-lecture-on-native-american-writing/

“Ere Egypt and Rome Were Born: Native American Writers on Greco-Roman Antiquity.” (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: “Ere Egypt and Rome Were Born: Native American Writers on Greco-Roman Antiquity.”
Abstract: Public lecture, audience primarily consisting of undergraduate and graduate students as well as faculty, in which I presented some of the findings of my study.
Author: Craig Williams
Date: 10/4/19
Location: University of Minnesota, Minneapolis MN

“Whose Antiquity? Ancient Greece and Rome in Native American Autobiographical Writing.” (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: “Whose Antiquity? Ancient Greece and Rome in Native American Autobiographical Writing.”
Abstract: Morphomata Public Lecture Series
Author: Craig Williams
Date: 05/04/2020
Location: Online (hosted by University of Cologne, Germany)
Primary URL: https://www.morphomata.uni-koeln.de/mediathek/veranstaltungsvideos/index.html

“Adopting an Antiquity: Native Writers of North America on Greco-Roman Antiquity.” (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: “Adopting an Antiquity: Native Writers of North America on Greco-Roman Antiquity.”
Abstract: Public lecture series "Everyday Orientalism"
Author: Craig Williams
Date: 10/07/2020
Location: Online (hosted by University of Toronto)
Primary URL: https://everydayorientalism.wordpress.com/?s=Williams

“We’re Just Poor Indians: Personal and Family Histories.” (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: “We’re Just Poor Indians: Personal and Family Histories.”
Abstract: Online talking circle Undoing the Privilege of Writing facilitated by Lee Maracle (University of Toronto)
Author: Craig Williams
Date: 02/16/2021
Location: Online

“Native American Writers, Greco-Roman Antiquity, and Indigenous Survivance: Some Contemporary Voices.” (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: “Native American Writers, Greco-Roman Antiquity, and Indigenous Survivance: Some Contemporary Voices.”
Abstract: Keynote address, "Indigenous Studies and Classics in Conversation"
Author: Craig Williams
Date: 03/23/2021
Location: Brooklyn College CUNY, New York NY

“Decolonization, Indigeneity, and Greco-Roman Antiquity in North America.” (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: “Decolonization, Indigeneity, and Greco-Roman Antiquity in North America.”
Abstract: Contribution to round-table discussion “Decolonizing Classics? Un dibattito tra Nord-America, Regno Unito e Europa.” Online series Titubanti testi. Binomio di lettura,
Author: Craig Williams
Date: 06/24/2021
Location: Online

Decentering Greco-Roman Antiquity: Samson Occom, William Apess, and Native American Survivance.” (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Decentering Greco-Roman Antiquity: Samson Occom, William Apess, and Native American Survivance.”
Author: Craig Williams
Abstract: Paper at panel on "New Trends in Early American Classical Reception”
Date: 01/08/2022
Conference Name: Society of Classical Studies, annual meeting

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