Scott Scullion's career as a classicist was nearly derailed by a “statistics-generating principal with a white belt and shoes.”
The head of his school in Toronto cited waning student interest as a reason to cut the school's Latin classes, even before Scullion had a chance to enroll.
But Scullion persevered, arranging for private tutoring with Lorne Smith, the man who would launch his career.
Scullion, associate professor of classics, will deliver the faculty colloquium on Tuesday, Oct. 30 at 12:30 p.m. in Hale House.
Scullion's first mentor was orphaned by World War I and left disabled by a childhood bout with polio, both of which had the effect of centering his life on family and teaching. “He knew vast quantities of ancient poetry and recited it by heart,” Scullion recalls.
Scullion eagerly took Latin and Greek with Smith, and the teacher took a special pride in his pupil's progress especially since Scullion had come along after the school had decided to gut its classics program.
And it was Smith, and later Albert Henricks at Harvard, who instilled in Scullion a love of the classics and an ability to instill in students the art of independent critical thought. “Too often we have that as an intellectual goal, but we are too busy with fact cramming,” Scullion says of his courses in Latin and Greek. But the real opportunity to teach independent critical thought comes in the GenEd lecture courses, he says, adding that students respond well to the challenge.
Scullion's talk is titled “Nothing to Do With Dionysos: Greek Tragedy and Religion,” based on research he did last year at Oxford University. Scullion will discuss the traditional argument that tragedy and comedy are connected with Dionysos (commonly known as the god of wine, women and song) with origins in religion. Scullion argues that tragedy and comedy come out of literature and poetry, not religion.
A buffet lunch will precede the talk at 11:30 a.m.
Scullion, at Union since 1989, is chair of the classics department. He holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Toronto, and master's and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard University. He specializes in Greek literature and religion.