Ancient Exchanges
About
Ancient Exchanges is an online journal devoted to literary translations of ancient texts. We are at once Exchanges’ younger sister and its centuries-old ancestral kin. Founded in Fall of 2019 by Adrienne Rose in collaboration with Aron Aji, the journal is supported by the University of Iowa’s Department of Classics and MFA program in Literary Translation.
Ancient Exchanges as a journal with a global perspective. We welcome submissions of translations from all languages, and particularly encourage submissions that prioritize the literary over the literal: translations that are contemporary and poetic, rhetorically arresting, aesthetically delightful, creative, adaptive, transformative, innovative, experimental, and multi-modal.
We hope Ancient Exchanges will transform the ways in which we read, teach, and find meaning in ancient literature through the means of translation. With a global scope, we seek to publish works that engage antiquity in ways that challenge traditional beliefs about what areas of study are valued as classics, including who gets to study and translate them. We hope Ancient Exchanges will appeal to emerging translators as a venue from which to sound their voices, and we particularly welcome submissions from people with perspectives that are innovative and underrepresented in Classics, including those working outside of academia.
Meet the team
Adrienne K. Ho Rose — Editor-in-Chief
Adrienne K. Ho Rose is an interdisciplinary scholar, translator, and writer. Her academic work focuses primarily on Latin, Greek, and Classical Chinese languages and literatures with special emphasis on the poetics of retranslation, experimental, intersemiotic, multimodal translation practices, east-west cross-cultural literary studies, translation and humanitarian crises, and world literatures. She is also interested in book arts and the intersections of material culture and reading. From time to time, she writes a column on translation, poetry, and Classics for the Society for Classical Studies’ blog
Lily Hart — Managing Editor
Lily Hart is pursuing her Master's in Classics at the University of Iowa, with an expected graduation date of May 2027. She looks forward to continuing her study of Roman invective poetry and comedy, as well as ancient Mediterranean art history and Latin pedagogy. In addition to serving as AX managing editor and podcast host, she writes a new issue of "Populi: a Very Roman Zine" each semester.
Luke Perez — Web and Art Editor
Luke Perez is a graduate student at the University of Iowa currently writing their dissertation on the transmission of text and gendered image in the manuscripts of Prudentius' Psychomachia. Luke also works in Digital Humanities where they are creating an online digital, and open-access, edition of the illustrations in the manuscripts of the Psychomachia, showing how the images have changed as they were redrawn and passed down in the Medieval world. Luke's other research interests include Latin love elegy and Medieval glossing practices.
Jordan Jones — Podcast Consultant
Jordan is the Director of Special Projects with the Office of Innovation and oversees a variety of creative media projects that expand the public’s access to university-level learning in informal and engaging ways. Jordan also serves as the Director and Managing Editor for Bible & Archaeology, published by the University of Iowa, which explores the lands, civilizations, and archaeology of the Bible. Distributed through YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify, Bible & Archaeology breaks down the division between academic and public space, allowing everyone to learn from top thinkers without the cost, exclusivity, or pressure of traditional academic settings.
Jordan holds a PhD in Classics from the University of Iowa. He holds B.A.s in English and Biblical Studies from William Jessup University and a MATS with an emphasis in Biblical Studies from George Fox University.
Jordan’s academic research interests focus on ancient Israel and the broader ancient Mediterranean textually and archaeologically, with specific interests in both the production of memory and identity in the ancient Israelite household and the development of Phinehas traditions.