Araceli Rizzo, “Sea-ing Double: A Comparative Study of Artistic and Literary Depictions of Fishermen in the Hellenistic Period”
In this paper, I will examine depictions of fishermen in Hellenistic visual art and literature as a means of assessing perceptions of and attitudes towards fishermen. Initially, I will discuss the physical traits attributed to fishermen, and how they interact with those of other stock groups (such as old nurses and enslaved individuals). Next, I turn to literature and consider how these depictions of fishermen may have been shaped by common perception.
In visual arts, Hellenistic fishermen are shown, unsurprisingly, as a bit worse for wear. The tough life of a fisherman is shown to have taken its toll through such features as protruding ribs, hunched shoulders, and sun-weathered faces. In bodily composition, fishermen are far from idealized, and perhaps more comparable to a depiction of an enslaved person than a wealthy elite. The circumstances of the body, however, are not analogous to those of an enslaved person. Fishermen are not subject to the same miniaturization, conspicuously closed bodily positions, and visible exhaustion as are enslaved individuals. They are instead ascribed a higher degree of visual dignity in their costuming and body language.
In literature, similar sentiments are made clear. Fishermen, while not young and beautiful by any stretch of the literary imagination, are often depicted as strong and reliable as a result of their toil. While still subject to bucolic imaginings, the fishermen earn a depiction of physical sagacity rather than beautiful youth, unlike the archetypal shepherd boy.
Ultimately, this combined art historical and literary analysis of depictions of fishermen produces one cohesive image. Fishermen, while universally understood to live physically trying lives at sea, and to suffer aesthetically for it, were a category of stock figure unique from any other. They were shown with a respectable yet unenviable sort of dignity, unparalleled in depictions of any other typified group.
About the Presenter
Ari is a third-year student in the Classical Studies Ph.D. program at Columbia University. In her studies, Ari is most interested in exploring the Hellenistic world through an interdisciplinary method, with an emphasis on archaeology and material culture to work with topics typically studied through a historical approach, such as economics and interconnectivity. Her MA thesis focused on production and trade through study of Rhodian amphora stamps, with the ultimate goal of answering questions regarding the purpose of amphora stamps. Moving forward, she plans to continue working with material culture (especially amphoras and numismatic material) and data-driven analysis as a means of exploring the Hellenistic economy and the way that it was uniquely impacted by the highly interconnected nature of the Hellenistic world. In the summers, she works with the Pella Urban Dynamics Project.
Meghana Gella and Nellie Carbone, “The Sea in Catullus 63: An Expanse of Transformation”
This paper argues that Catullus 63 reconfigures thalassocracy by presenting the sea not as a sphere of political or naval power, but as a liminal force whose sovereignty operates as an agent of identity and ritual transformation. While thalassocracy traditionally denotes mastery over the sea, Catullus presents the opposite dynamic, with the sea itself exerting mastery over Attis in their gender dysphoric state. Catullus’ sea operates less as a traversable threshold, but rather as the ritual medium through which Attis’ identity is unmade, recast, and ultimately contained.
The poem’s structure emphasizes this inversion. Catullus pointedly omits the actual voyage to Phrygia, positioning the sea not as a narrative event but functioning as the threshold whose crossing initiates transformation. Upon disembarking (Phrygium tetegit), Attis enters a liminal state that destabilizes gender, agency, and social identity; the shoreline symbolizes the irreversible boundary between Attis’ former and present life. When Attis later attempts to return, Cybele’s lion is dispatched directly to the coast line, not merely to frighten him but to prevent Attis’ re-crossing.
The poem’s ring composition reinforces this structure – it begins and ends at the shoreline, underscoring the sea as the liminal boundary that enables transformation and rendering return unattainable. Formally, the Galliambic meter mirrors the sea’s destabilizing force. Its syncopated, wave-like rhythms underscore Attis’ frenzied motion and psychological disintegration, formally aligning bodily movement and change, mental disruption, and the movement of the sea. Thus, the meter mirrors the rhythm and function of the sea. By using the sea as the ritual agent that initiates, governs, and restricts Attis’ gender metamorphosis, Catullus 63 offers an alternative model of thalassocracy – a maritime sovereignty not of military or imperial power, but of ritual power and coercive transformation.
About the Presenters
Meghana Gella graduated from UCLA in 2025 with a double major in Economics and Classical Civilizations. Meghana is a current Post-Baccalaureate student at Columbia University. Her current research interests are in subaltern studies and Greek meter. During her time at UCLA, Meghana taught a course titled “Women and Love in Greece and Rome”, which focused on how patriarchal perspectives shaped representations of women in antiquity and the challenges of ethical and empathetic modern reception. In her spare time, she enjoys drawing, painting, knitting, skateboarding, and spending time with her goldendoodle, Mansi. Meghana believes in equal opportunity and education for all students and that there is no place for discrimination in academia.
Nellie Carobene graduated from NYU in 2024 with a B.A. in Classical Civilizations. She is currently a Post-Baccalaureate student at Columbia University. Her research explores the social and cultural dynamics of the ancient Mediterranean through material culture, with particular attention to religion, personal identity, and cross-cultural exchange. Nellie has excavated at sites across the Mediterranean and has worked since 2023 at the Lyktos Archaeological Project with ISAW/NYU, where she excavates in Sector D, the Archaic cemetery. She is also deeply interested in cultural heritage research and questions of preservation, provenance, and the ethics of antiquities stewardship. In her free time, she enjoys reading, knitting, and going on walks with her two terriers, Harry and Phoebe.
