CLASSICS PRESENTS... Speakers' Programme 2019-20
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Queen’s Classics faculty and students lead and participate in archaeological projects around the Mediterranean. Several Classics Department awards have been created to help students participate in archaeological excavations or conduct research in international locations.
In celebration of International Archaeology Day, Classics will be honouring our student excavators with a special event. Come learn about our travel awards, hear stories from last year’s recipients, and meet other archaeological enthusiasts.
Monday, October 21
5:30 - 7:00pm
Watson Hall Rm 517
Refreshments will be served
Fall 2019
Thursday, September 19th - from 5:30-7:00pm Mac Corry Hall Rm D214
Dr. Arlene Allen, University of Otago, New Zealand
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Perhaps encouraged by the success of the Hercules movies of the late 1950s and early 1960s, in 1963 a children’s cartoon series was launched on television stations across Canada and the United States staring a very ‘ripped’ Hercules, who spent each episode rescuing someone from imminent danger—including the stereotypical damsel in distress! In this paper I offer an in-depth study of the influence that the so-called ‘peplum’ movies appear to have had on the depiction of The Mighty Hercules’ namesake as well as the storylines in relation to the social concerns of the early to mid-1960s.Monday , September 30th - from 5:30-7:00pm Watson Hall Rm 517
CAC Central Tour Lecture
Dr. Brendan Burk, University of Victoria, British Columbia
Department of Greek and Roman studies
The Golden King: Midas of Phrygia and the Myths of Wealth in the Greek Imagination
This talk focuses on the topic of extreme wealth and the quasi-historical figure, King Midas, who ruled the Phrygians in central Anatolia during the 8th c. BCE. King Midas of Phrygia is nearly synonymous with his ‘golden touch’, and the popularity of this wealth myth surely derives from its cautionary ending: be careful of what you wish. The lesson, that with great wealth can come great difficulties, was as popular in the ancient world as it is today. Greek and Latin sources for the legends associated with King Midas range over hundreds of years: Herodotus, Aristotle, Arrian, Ovid from the Classical world. Post-Classical sources also focus on Midas, such as Chaucer, John Dryden, and Nathaniel Hawthorne, in addition to modern re-tellings of the story. All have contributed to the general impression we have of this once great and wealthy king getting what he wished for from the gods and suffering from it mightily.
A wide variety of sources on King Midas are included in this talk, including archaeological research at his capital of Gordion in central Anatolia, iconographic evidence in Greek art, literary sources of Greece and Rome, and Near Eastern texts that preserve a record of the historical figure from the late 8th century BC. It also examines similar wealthy figures in the Greek imagination. Image: An Attic red-figure stamnos depicting the satyr Silenus being led before the seated King Midas. c. 440 BCE attributed to the Midas painter. (1851,0416.9 British Museum, London)