Recently, Stockton University, in collaboration with the European University of Cyprus, hosted an international conference in Nicosia, Cyprus. This conference was the brain-child of Stockton University’s own Dr. David Roessel, who has worked on this project for several years. The first lecture in the fall series of the Classical Humanities Society of South Jersey (CHSSJ), on September 23, was about the work put into the organization of the conference by students and faculty and the subsequent excursions across the Western coast of Cyprus around the excavation site at Polis-Chrysochous.

The organization and manning of the conference was done by both faculty and students of Stockton including, Dr. Lisa Honaker, Dr. David Roessel, Dr. Amy Papalexandrou, Dr. Tom Papademetriou, Ciara Barrick, Sean McCullough, and many more. The conference began with an opening in front of the Famagusta Gate. The opening was then followed by lectures and presentation of papers from students and professors from across the world, including Dr. Rain Ross on “Developing Community through Dance in Lebanon” and Dr. Christina Morus on “Imagining Dubrovnik”. At the end of the conference, everyone experienced Cypriot culture through music and art.

The students shared their experiences in Cyprus at such places as the site in Polis-Chrysochous, Kykko Monastery, and Petra tou Romiou (the legendary birthplace of the goddess Aphrodite). The consensus of the students was awe and a sense of actually being at the places that most only read about in books. The only thing I can relate their experience to is going to a museum and imagining the sea of time flowing back to when a certain item was used and who would have used and imagining that the item in front of you was used millennia ago. Stockton’s time in Cyprus ended with the group discussing several classical works, like Aristophanes’ comedies and the Aeneid, over dinner. At the end, Sean McCullough rightly explained to us that “nerds are great to have dinner with.”