This year, Classics @ Brown held our fourth annual Button Badge Competition!  We asked all undergraduates in Classics courses to create a design that they felt represented Classics at Brown University.  Each year, the chosen image will be printed on button badges as a fun way to show appreciation for the department and identify their fellow classmates. Catherine Nelli and Srinaath Perangur, both class of 2023, co-created this year’s winning design. Each received a $75 gift card to the Brown University Bookstore. 

Below is the design inspiration Catherine and Srinaath submitted with their image:

This design seeks to unite all three major languages of the Classics Department at Brown. It depicts the symbols of the goddesses of knowledge in the Greek, Roman, and Sanskrit traditions. The owl is the mark of both Athena and Minerva, the Greek and Roman goddesses of wisdom and learning, while the white lotus is a symbol of Sarasvati, the Hindu goddess of knowledge and education. The design is simultaneously an owl with lotus wings and a larger lotus in the shape of an owl. This is a nod to how the Sanskrit and Greco-Roman classical traditions are inextricably bound, both linguistically and intellectually. The double-image also represents how the Classics Department at Brown groups these three traditions together and how the dissemination of knowledge and learning is influenced by this grouping.

Congratulations to Catherine and Srinaath on their beautiful and thought-provoking design!