Salem, Va. – A lecture at Roanoke College next month will prove that life during wartime hasn’t changed for thousands of years.

On Feb. 5, Dr. Kurt Raaflaub will discuss how the ancient Greek play “Lysistrata” explores the centrality and effects of war to ancient Athenian society, in his lecture “Lysistrata and War’s Impact on the Home Front.”

Written by Aristophanes, “Lysistrata” is an ancient Greek comedy that follows the women of ancient Greece as they go to extraordinary measures to end the Peloponnesian War. Similar to the desires of soldiers’ loved ones today, these women were driven by the desire to have their husbands return home from war.

Raaflaub is a professor emeritus of classics and history at Brown University in Providence, R.I., whose focus is the social and political history of the Roman republic and classical Greece.

He has written and edited more than 20 books and more than 100 journal articles and book chapters. He has served as the keynote speaker for numerous lectures and seminars worldwide, including Germany, Greece and Australia.

Dr. Jason Hawke, an assistant professor of history at Roanoke College, sought Raaflaub to speak at Roanoke after hearing him lecture at the University of Washington. Hawke and Raaflaub developed a professional relationship, and Raaflaub peer-reviewed Hawke’s book, “Writing Authority: Elite Competition and Written Law in Early Greece.”

“He is a phenomenal public speaker and one of the most active and respected scholars in the field of early Mediterranean history,” Hawke said of Raaflaub. “While at Roanoke, Dr. Raaflaub will be giving us an ancient perspective on the issues we are very much dealing with today in terms of how perpetual warfare impacts and influences a democratic society.”

Raaflaub’s lecture will begin at 7 p.m. in the Colket Center’s Pickle Lounge.

Check out other Roanoke College events in February:

Coffee Shop Talks: The Economics of Health and Healthcare

Thursday, Feb. 7, 8 p.m., Mill Mountain Coffee and Tea, Salem

Dr. Alice Kassens, economics professor at Roanoke College, will discuss the economics of health and healthcare. Roanoke College’s Coffee Shop Talks provide a relaxed forum for discussion and inquiry on a wide range of topics. Each one-hour talk consists of a short presentation, followed by questions and discussion.

Why World Peace Is Possible and How We Can Achieve It

Tuesday, Feb. 12, 7:30 p.m., Colket Center Wortmann Ballroom

Paul Chappell, a West Point graduate and former Army captain who served in Iraq, will discuss the myths that perpetuate war and how we must wage peace in order to solve our national and global problems of the 21st century. His talk is the keynote lecture for the Roanoke College Honors Conference.

Part African-American, Asian and Caucasian, Chappell is author of several books, and he is the peace leadership director of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation in Santa Barbara, Calif.

Theatre Roanoke College: “Rabbit Hole”

Wednesday, Feb. 20 – Saturday, Feb. 23, 7:30 p.m., Olin Theater, $7/$5*

Tickets available at www.roanoke.edu/tickets or by calling (540)375-2333.

Note: Limited on-stage seating

Becca and Howard have a picture perfect family until an accident turns their world upside down. “Rabbit Hole,” winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize, follows the couple as they look for a pathway out of darkness and back into the light of day. This play, by David Lindsay-Abaire, is recommended for audiences of high school age and up.

Eboo Patel and the Interfaith Movement

Tuesday, Feb. 26, 7:30 p.m., Colket Center Wortmann Ballroom

Eboo Patel is founder and president of the Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC), which is a Chicago-based organization that strives to build the interfaith movement or the acceptance of all religions. He will speak, while other IFYC staff member will facilitate workshops and trainings.

These training sessions will help inspire and better equip campus leaders to promote a vision for interfaith efforts at Roanoke College.

In addition to his accolades and speaking engagements, Patel is also the author of the books, “Sacred Ground: Pluralism, Prejudice, and the Promise of America” and “Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation,” which won the Louisville Grawemeyer Award in Religion. He is also a regular contributor to the Washington Post, USA Today, Huffington Post, NPR and CNN.

Jazz & Wind Ensembles Joint Concert

Thursday, Feb. 28, 7:30 p.m., Olin Theater

The Roanoke College Jazz & Wind Ensembles will perform under the direction of Dr. Joseph Blaha.

Art Exhibition: Roanoke Reef and “Phenomenal Indicators”

Friday, Jan. 25—Monday, March 4, Olin and Smoyer Galleries

The Roanoke Reef is a collaborative project merging the talents of contributors from Roanoke College, the Roanoke Valley and beyond. This community endeavor is a nexus project that combines art, math and science in order to create crocheted structures that mirror natural coral reefs. This is a satellite of the worldwide Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef Project, created by Margaret and Christine Wertheim of the Institute for Figuring in Los Angeles, Calif.

Incorporated in this exhibition will be “Untitled (Symbiosis),”created byAmanda Agricola and Mateo Marquez.  This is an interactive installation that explores the concept of long-term mutuality between two or more biological entities. These reciprocal interactions are the basis of a vital coral reef, as well as a fundamental link in the development of ourselves. This installation goes beyond the basic biological correlation and enters into the contemporary, creating a balanced amalgamation of beings and technology.

Craig Voligny’s exhibition “Phenomenal Indicators” will showcase work from the artist’s 2010-2011 Fulbright Program exhibition“Meridians and Parallels: Painted Abstractions of the Kenting Reef,” held at the National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium in Taiwan in 2011. Along with his Fulbright work, the artist will include new work that focuses on decomposing trees, fungi and plants as natural climate models. In this exhibit, decomposing logs with fungal blooms, algae expelling coral colonies and representations of species long relegated to historical imagination are depicted as hybrid interpretations between natural representation and a developing scientific aesthetic.

Roanoke College, a classic liberal arts college in Salem, Virginia, combines firsthand learning with valuable personal connections in a beautiful, undergraduate setting. Roanoke is one of just seven percent of colleges nationwide with a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s oldest and most prestigious honor society. The Princeton Review lists Roanoke as the 18th most beautiful campus in its “Best 376 Colleges” 2012 guidebook.

Follow Roanoke College on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. For additional information, call the Roanoke College Public Relations Office at (540) 375-2282.

Submitted by Roanoke College