Mark Roblee
Mark Roblee works on the intellectual and cultural history of Late Antiquity, particularly the intersection between religious and philosophical thought. He was trained at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (PhD, 2019), Holy Names College (MA, 1991), and Wesleyan University (BA, 1987). Before joining the History Department at UMass, he was a visiting faculty member at Assumption College, Worcester, MA. Mark chairs the Five College Faculty Seminar in Late Antiquity and is currently writing a book about reading, imagination, and personal divinity in Neoplatonic and Hermetic literature. As a public historian, he wonders about the presentation of antiquity, "numinous objects," and why people love old things. As an advisor, Mark helps students build a bridge from their academic experience to meaningful work and lifelong learning in the world.
Research Areas
Late Antiquity, ancient Mediterranean world, public history, philosophy of history, world religions
Publications
“‘A time will come…’: Catastrophe and Epistrophe in the Latin Asclepius.” Religious Studies and Theology 41, no. 2 (2022):203–221.
Review of Praying and contemplating in Late Antiquity: religious and philosophical interactions. Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum, 113, edited by Eleni Pachoumi and Mark J. Edwards, Bryn Mawr Classical Review, July 2020.
https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2020/2020.07.45/
"Divination is Divinization: The ancient Egyptian ph-ntr oracle and the 'Mithras Liturgy' in late antique Graeco-Roman Egypt," Cult Practices in Ancient Literatures: Egyptian, Near Eastern and Graeco-Roman Narratives in a Cross-Cultural Perspective. Proceedings of a Workshop at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York, May 16-17, 2016. ISAW Papers 18, edited by Franziska Naether (2020). http://dlib.nyu.edu/awdl/isaw/isaw-papers/18/
Review of The Realness of Things Past: Ancient Greece, and Ontological History, by Greg Anderson, Bryn Mawr Classical Review, October 2019. http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2019/2019-10-03.html
"Performing Circles in Ancient Egypt from Mehen to Ouroboros," Preternature: Critical and Historical Studies on the Preternatural Volume 7, Number 2 (2018): 133-153.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5325/preternature.7.2.0133
Mark Roblee and Jane Gronau, Reconstructing Antiquity: A Guide to Teaching with Objects (Mount Holyoke College Art Museum 2012)
Courses Recently Taught
Ideas that Change the World
Introduction to World Religions
History and Its Publics
Reimagining Historic House Museums
From Here to Career for Humanities and Fine Arts Majors
World History
Western Thought to 1600