Classics Symposium: "Martial and Mythological Landscapes of Greece"

Being There: Martial and Mythological Landscapes of Greece

4:30 – 5:30 pm
“Mourning, Monuments, and Memory: Reading Ancient Greek Battlefields"
Matthew A. Sears, associate professor, classics and ancient history
University of New Brunswick

This talk will focus on the experience of visiting the battlefields themselves, both today and in antiquity. To what extent were trophies, inscriptions, major topographical landmarks, etc., meant to be seen by ancient Greeks? Are we to imagine visits to battlefields as a regular occurrence? If so, how would a nearby battlefield, or one far away but with important significance for one's city, affect one's view of war, citizenship, and the state?

6 – 7 pm
“Musing on Mountain Landscapes in Central Greece”
Betsey A. Robinson, associate professor, history of art
Vanderbilt University

Thinking across ongoing work and recent explorations of Greek mountains and fountains, Professor Robinson will turn to central Greece to consider the great ranges of Helikon, Parnassos, and Chelmos, their prodigious water sources - Hippokrene, Castalia, and the Styx – and other wonders (coral atop Helikon, July snow on Chelmos). Myth mixes with religion here; eyewitness accounts contrast with the reputation and abstracted qualities of these landscapes.