On Artemis II launch day, Alex Purves waxes poetic about the moon
The classics professor connects today’s lunar mission to questions that inspired ancient Greek scientists
UCLA College
Alex Purves
| April 1, 2026
The moon has always held a special influence on humanity and, even before we existed, on our planet. So it’s no wonder that our relationship with our closest cosmic neighbor continues to evolve and inspire us all, whether we’re scientists, students or simply stargazers.
In honor of today’s Artemis II mission, the first crewed mission to the moon in more than half a century, the UCLA College interviewed three faculty members — including classics professor Alex Purves — to get their perspectives on what makes the moon so important to us all.
Purves, whose scholarship focuses on Greek literature from the archaic and classical periods, was asked what comes to mind when she thinks about the moon.
“I feel a sense of awe,” she said. “And I think about early Greek philosophers and scientists and how they sought to understand entities that they couldn’t actually travel to. It’s interesting how we are still asking the kinds of fundamental questions of what the relationship of the world and universe are to our lives that fifth-century researchers were.”
In an accompanying video, Purves reads from a Homeric hymn to the moon: “And next sweet voiced muses, Daughters of Zeus, well skilled in song, tell us of the long-winged moon.”
Also featured in the video are David Paige, professor of Earth, planetary and space sciences, who is the principal investigator of the Diviner instrument on NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter; and Bharat Venkat, an associate professor with appointments in the Institute for Society and Genetics, history and anthropology.