Talk by Prof. Tim Whitmarsh (Cambridge)

Prof Whitmarsh will speak on the topic “The Greatest Stories Ever Told: Reading Pagan Myth in Constantinople” on Wed 17 April, 6 pm in MB0302.

The talk is hosted by the Lincolnshire Branch of the Classical Association. Attendance is free, but please register here: https://tinyurl.com/4dd87j8x

Abstract: Why was there an explosion of Greek poetry on pagan themes in Christian late antiquity? Why did Greeks write new epics on Christian themes?

This talk explores the paradoxical literary world of Constantinople, where even as bishops and emperors were clamping down on theological heterodoxy, super-sophisticated poets were creating powerful new forms and exploring dangerous topics like pagan theology, untrammelled eroticism and the centrality of play to human societies.

Speaker bio: Tim Whitmarsh is the Regius Professor of Greek at the University of Cambridge. He has published widely on Greek literature and culture, especially on the culture of Greeks under the Roman Empire, and on religion and atheism in the ancient world. He has written a number of books, including Battling the Gods: Atheism in the Ancient World (2015), Dirty Love: The Genealogy of the Ancient Greek Novel (2018), and Rome’s Age of Revolution: Christians in a Classical World (2024). He has appeared frequently on the BBC, and in the national press.

All welcome!

Story submitted by Giustina Monti
gmonti@lincoln.ac.uk