Elliott Piros

Lecturer of Classics and Archaeology Loyola Marymount University

  • 1 LMU Drive CA

Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts

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Loyola Marymount University

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elliott dot piros

Biography

I am a social historian of Rome, working mostly with literary and epigraphic evidence. I am interested in how people in the Roman world experienced economic and legal abstractions. My current book project, entitled Kin and Coin: Materialities of Kinship in the Roman World, examines the effects of monetization and commodity production on kin-making practices over a roughly five-hundred-year period of Roman life. I am also working on a project on generic images in Roman poetry and their relation to pantomime dance.

I have developed new courses on Roman law, ancient oratory, and ancient astronomy and astrology. My teaching practice centers around immersive experiences, critical fabulation, and fundamentals of humanistic inquiry.

Education

University of California, Los Angeles

PhD

Classics

2019

University of Puget Sound

BA

Classical Languages and Literature

2012

Event Appearances

Purple Motion: Pantomime Dance in Martial's Epigrams

SCS 2025  

“Full of awareness and life”: The Body of Marius Gratidianus in the Literary Tradition

CAMWS 2024  

Meta-paranoia in Aelius Aristides’ hieroi logoi and two films by Todd Haynes

ACLA 2022  

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Courses

CLAR 2265 Ancient Oratory

This course teaches students the methods of persuasion applied to speech by ancient Greeks and Romans, collectively known as rhetoric. Students learn how ancient institutions and social needs shaped the development of key forms of public speaking, and examine the development of rhetorical theory in antiquity, and the social value of rhetoric and its relation to philosophical truth. Students learn how to analyze and critique, as well as enact rhetorical strategies. This course thus gives students the resources to become more deliberate and thoughtful consumers of media as well more capable advocates equipped with the necessary tools for careers in media, law, business, politics, education, and more.

CLAR 2270 Ancient Astronomy

An introduction to astronomy and astrology in ancient Babylonian, Greek, and Roman civilizations. Students learn ancient theories and conduct hands-on experiments using models of ancient astronomical devices. This course also explores the legacy of astronomy after antiquity, especially in Islamic, Jewish, and Christian contexts, as well as the transmission of celestial knowledge down to the present day.

CLAR 3250 Law and Life in Ancient Rome

An immersive introduction to the pluralistic legal system of ancient Romans and the role law played in daily life in antiquity. Students learn ancient legal thinking, explore actual and hypothetical legal scenarios, enact mock trials to learn ancient trial procedure, and replicate ancient styles of speech making. This course also gives students a comprehensive survey of legal systems and traditions of jurisprudence in historical and contemporary societies, preparing them for careers in law and related fields.

Articles

Tamquam Favus: Queer Kinship and Monetary Value in Petronius' Cena Trimalchionis

The Routledge Handbook of Classics and Queer Theory

Elliott Piros

2023-09-29

This chapter examines the impasses and paradoxes of queer kinship in the fragmentary novel Satyrica by the Roman author Petronius.

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The Materiality of Monetary Value in Martial’s Epigrams

Classical Antiquity

Elliott Piros

2021-10-01

This paper examines representations of money in the epigrams of Martial. I argue that Martial’s poetics are deeply influenced by some of money’s economic functions.

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