‘Tombs. Eulogies. Death Masks. Triumphal processions. One expects to encounter these words in a history of the ancient Greco-Roman world. But in the nineteenth-century, Americans performed similar rites to commemorate the lives and legacies of popular president-generals. Why did Americans use rituals from more than two millennia earlier to commemorate their own heroes?’ UVA PhD candidate Stephanie Lawton will discuss this question with reference to the celebration of George Washington’s life, and the commemoration of his death, at our first OxEARS of the new academic year.