Rachel Kousser to Deliver the Herman Ward Taylor, Jr. Lecture in Classics The classicist and art historian’s talk on Alexander the Great will be held March 4 on W&L’s campus.

By Emily Innes
February 27, 2025

Rachel Kousser, professor of classics and art history at City University of New York’s Brooklyn College and Graduate Center, will deliver the Herman Ward Taylor, Jr. Lecture at Washington and Lee University on March 4 at 5 p.m. in Northen Auditorium in the Leyburn Library. Her talk is titled “Alexander the Great: What New Research Tells Us and Why He Still Matters.”

Kousser’s lecture is free and open to the public. The event is sponsored by W&L’s Department of Classics.

In her lecture, Kousser will explore why Alexander the Great, who lived more than 2,300 years ago, continues to fascinate us today. Drawing on exciting new research and integrating diverse perspectives to show this larger-than-life figure as never before, Kousser will examine his storied greatness and what made him stand out in an age of ambitious, competitive and brutally effective political leaders.

The lecture will question what makes Alexander the Great relevant to today’s world, what we can learn not only from his successes but also his failures and mistakes, and how we can reconstruct the untold stories of the people who made him what he was. Kousser will also offer a behind-the-scenes look at her research process, key discoveries and writing journey.

Kousser’s research interests include Greek and Roman art and archaeology. She focuses on the Greeks’ creation, transformation and destruction of monuments; the representation of gender, sexuality and power in the classical era; and the place of Greek art within the globally interconnected ancient world. Kousser has received fellowships from the National Endowment of the Humanities, the Getty Research Institute and the Center for the Advanced Study of the Visual Arts. Her recent book, “Alexander at the End of the World” (2024), is a riveting biography of Alexander the Great’s final years and his ultimate goal to reach the end of the world.

Kousser received her bachelor’s degree in classics and art history from Yale University and her Ph.D. in art history from the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University. She joined The City University of New York’s faculty in 2004 and currently serves as the executive officer of the classics program at the Graduate Center.