Georgia Irby is an intellectual omnivore whose research focuses primarily on the History of Science in Greek and Roman antiquity, especially cartography. She has published on Roman army religion, Greco-Roman astrology, alchemy, and cosmology. She is particularly interested in how “science,” broadly defined, is presented in Greek and Roman literature (especially epic and tragedy). Forthcoming studies include “The Politics of Cartography and Aeneas’ Shield,” which examines the politicization of mapping in monumental contexts (for example, on the shield of Achilles in the Iliad and the shield of Aeneas in the Aeneid) and “Soldier, Ethnography, and Climate,” which explores Greco-Roman ethnographic prejudices and the widely held belief that courage and climate are related: the ancients believed that men from warmer climates have a paucity of blood that renders them afraid of being wounded and, therefore, poor soldiers; men from cold climates have an overabundance of blood which they are not afraid to shed — thus they are rash and “courageous.” She is currently editing a two volume Wiley Blackwell Companion to Greek and Roman Science, Medicine, and Technology which explores not only discrete “traditional” (modern) disciplinary topics (such as Mathematics, Optics, Geology, and even “Evolution”) but also the interstices of science, technology, and medicine as rooted within the historical, cultural, and philosophical contexts of Greek and Roman society as well as the robust process of transmission and translation of Greek and Roman science from antiquity into the Renaissance. She has taught freshman seminars on Greek Cartography, topics courses in the History of Greek Science, and a Latin Language course on Roman Science.
Professor Irby also has a strong interest in the Classical Tradition and the re-purposing and re-interpretation of Classical Mythology which remains a universal symbolic language, surviving, perhaps not so surprisingly, in popular music. Artists from all genres of modern “pop” music have explored or exploited imagery and characters from Greek mythology: Tori Amos, Sting, the Who, David Bowie, Cream, John Cale and many others. This strand is woven into her lectures on Greek and Roman mythology (CLCV 205; she has also developed a similar thematic “soundtrack” for Roman Civilization and her Freshman Seminar on Greek Cartography). In addition, she has informally explored the themes and motifs established in Greek epic as they endure in modern literature, including the works of Tolkien, the Harry Potter series, and The Wind in the Willows. And she remains riveted by comparative mythology, which she also explores with students in CLCV 205.
Though merely an amateur sailor, Professor Irby also has a strong interest in nautical history and the art of sailing. Her own experiences on the Godspeed at Jamestown Settlement have enriched her research and will, she hopes, also enrich her opportunities for collaboration in the new curriculum across the campus.
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