egalvis@princeton.edu
I’m a Classics major with certificates in Humanistic Studies and European Cultural Studies.
Role(s) held in the Humanistic Studies Program
Humanistic Studies Certificate Student, Humanities Mentor
Activities I participate in on campus
Humanities Mentor, Petey Greene Tutor, Students for Prison Education and Reform (SPEAR) Member, and Outdoor Action Leader
Why I decided to study the humanities
A love for reading, across literature, philosophy, history, and poetry.
What I have gained from studying the humanities
I have been able to engage with questions about the influence, interpretation, and manipulations of art and ideology across different geographies, in antiquity and today. The HUM sequence in particular has also given me a better appreciation for the intersections of religion and literature as personally and culturally significant. Most importantly, studying the humanities at Princeton has been a great source of community with students and faculty across disciplines and has pushed me to think about my own preferred methodologies more critically.
Independent work
My junior independent projects have looked on different problems of mythography and close reading of literature in ancient Greek texts and their reception. My first junior paper focused on alternate possibilities for cosmogony within Hesiod’s Theogony, and my second paper looks at Neil Gaiman’s penultimate volume of The Sandman as a reconstruction of the myths of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter and the Oresteia that challenges the established hierarchies at play within the myths.
HUM Sequence fall break trip
I went on the fall 2018 trip to Rome through HUM and studied different Mithraea (cult sites for the god Mithras) that became Christian chapels as Rome transitioned from polytheism to Christianity. The goal of the project was to look at how spaces of worship change during shifts in religious ideology. The trip was a uniquely valuable experience that let us experience the city alongside our hardworking and incredibly knowledgeable professors outside of the classroom, and I look back on it as one of the highlights of my Princeton experience.
