February 20, 2006—Erich S. Gruen, professor of classics and history at the University of California, Berkeley, will present Oberlin College's annual Charles Beebe Martin Classical Lectures series at the end of this month.

This year marks the 79th anniversary of the series, established at Oberlin in honor of Charles Beebe Martin, professor of classics and classical archeology from 1880 - 1925. The series is free and open to the public and includes an opening night reception after the lecture on February 27.

"Identity Theft: Cultural Appropriations and Collective Identity in Antiquity" is the title of the 2006 series. Gruen will explore national identity and multiculturalism in the Hellenistic and Roman worlds, an important emerging area of classical scholarship that he has delineated in several significant books including Diaspora: Jews amidst Greeks and Romans.

The lectures are "Fictitious Kinships" on Monday, February 27 at 7:30 p.m.; "Foundation Legends," on Tuesday, February 28 at 7:30 p.m.; "Cultural Appropriation and Approbation," on Thursday, March 2 at 7:30 p.m.; and "Embracing the 'Other' " on Friday, March 3 at 4:30 p.m. They will be held in the Craig Lecture Hall of the Oberlin College Science Center, 119Woodland St.

"Professor Gruen has been enormously influential in the field of ancient history," says Thomas Van Nortwick, Nathan A. Greenberg Professor of Classics at Oberlin. "He also is a distinguished teacher and an important force in the profession of classics in the United States."

The scholar holds a B.A. degree in history, Greek, and Latin from Columbia; a B.A. degree with First-Class Honors from Oxford University in Ancient History and Philosophy; and a Ph.D. from Harvard in Ancient History.

He has been a member of the faculty at the University of California at Berkeley since 1966 and has served on the faculties of the University of Colorado, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Princeton University, Cornell University, University of Minnesota, and Harvard University.

His many scholarly awards and fellowships include a Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford University, two Guggenheim Fellowships, and a National Endowment for the Humanities Senior Fellowship.