On November 10, 2025, UC San Diego’s Center for Hellenic Studies welcomed Dr. Alyson Melzer, an assistant professor in Classical Studies at the University of Indiana Bloomington, as a guest speaker for a talk entitled “Tragedy you Seem to See: Ancient Literary Receptions of Fifth-Century Theater.” Grace Koumaras, co-president of Pandora Forum at UCSD, sat down with Dr. Melzer before her talk to learn more about her journey in the world of Classical Studies.

A crochet recreation of the Flora Fresco found in the Villa Arianna in Stabiae near Pompeii.

I was inspired to make her for two reasons:
1. because she's a nostalgic figure for me, and
2. because she, unknowingly, was my first exposure to the world of mythology.

Thousands of years ago in Athens, a temple was built.

Dedicated to the godly patron of the city, Athena, the Parthenon was an architectural marvel and a reassertion of Athenian identity. However, when the British found particular interest in the monuments of Ancient Greece, the statues of the Parthenon were carted off to Britain, and have infamously been kept within the British Museum through law.

Under the comfort of the cot’s duvet,
   the dreamy guitar chords pervaded the cavern and ebbed
   like the neighboring cove.
Echoes, acoustics, and amplification alike, 
   each breath and note suspended by the anticipation of drifting into another afternoon slumber.
Entombed in layers, sheets, and garments alike–
   an almost mummified girl protected by her pillow and canopic 
stuffed animals.