Homer, Mapping and Mnemonics, with Jenny Strauss Clay @ClassicsConfidentia1

Classics Confidential Jenny Strauss Clay is famous for her work on Homer, the Homeric Hymns and Hesiod, with a focus on how these archaic Greek hexameter poems maps out an epic cosmos. But today she will talk about a different kind of mapping, based on what has been labelled the "spatial turn" in Classical studies. Her recent book, Homer's Trojan Theater, exploits digital technology, cognitive mapping and mnemonics to analyse visualization in Homer, especially in relation to the Homeric battlefield. (For the accompanying website to the book, go to: http://www.homerstrojantheater.org/.) She has continued in this direction with a new project investigating Homer's Catalogue of Ships (Iliad 2) as a cognitive map, which promises to revolutionise the way we think about Homeric poetry and geography (http://ships.lib.virginia.edu/neatline-exhibits). But first of all she broaches the controversial topic of writing in Homer...
An interview for www.classicsconfidential.co.uk

updated 11 years ago

Homer, Mapping and Mnemonics, with Jenny Strauss Clay

Classics Confidential 2013-03-25 | Jenny Strauss Clay is famous for her work on Homer, the Homeric Hymns and Hesiod, with a focus on how these archaic Greek hexameter poems maps out an epic cosmos. But today she will talk about a different kind of mapping, based on what has been labelled the "spatial turn" in Classical studies. Her recent book, Homer's Trojan Theater, exploits digital technology, cognitive mapping and mnemonics to analyse visualization in Homer, especially in relation to the Homeric battlefield. (For the accompanying website to the book, go to: http://www.homerstrojantheater.org/.) She has continued in this direction with a new project investigating Homer's Catalogue of Ships (Iliad 2) as a cognitive map, which promises to revolutionise the way we think about Homeric poetry and geography (http://ships.lib.virginia.edu/neatline-exhibits). But first of all she broaches the controversial topic of writing in Homer...
An interview for www.classicsconfidential.co.uk

Virtual Rome, with Matthew Nicholls

Classics Confidential 2017-07-06 | Dr Matthew Nicholls (University of Reading) talks to Anastasia Bakogianni (Massey University) about his innovative virtual 3D model of ancient Rome

Classical Reception in the Poetry of Yannis Ritsos, with Demetra Demetriou

Classics Confidential 2017-06-22 | Anastasia Bakogianni (Massey University) and Demetra Demetriou (Open University Cyprus) discuss the poetry of Yannis Ritsos and his creative receptions of tragic heroines like Electra and Ismene.

The reception of ancient Greece in modern Greek poetry, with Dimitris Tziovas

Classics Confidential 2017-06-20 | Professor Dimitris Tziovas (Birmingham) discusses the reception of ancient Greece in modern Greek poetry with Anastasia Bakogianni (Massey University).

The Reception of Ancient Greece in Modern Greek Poetry, with Roderick Beaton

Classics Confidential 2017-06-02 | Professor Roderick Beaton (KCL) talks to Anastasia Bakogianni about the reception of ancient Greece in modern Greek poetry and in particular the work of George Seferis.

Global History, East Africa and the Classical Tradition, with Carla Bocchetti

Classics Confidential 2017-03-06 | Video by Henry Stead: youtube.com/user/Wilburforce
Featuring Carla Bocchetti (IFRA) Phiroze Vasunia (UCL) and Dan Orrells (KCL). To learn more about the research underpinning this video, you can freely access the special issue “Global History, East Africa and the Classical Traditions” of Les Cahiers d’Afrique de l’Est n°51: November 15, 2016 at IFRA Nairobi.
Follow this link to read the volume: http://ifra-nairobi.net/1067
You can read more about the Congolese classicist and philosopher Valentin-Yve Mudimbe in The Mudimbe Reader (edited by Pierre-Philippe Fraiture and Dan Orrells, University of Virginia Press, 2016). More details of research by Dan Orrells, Phiroze Vasunia and Carla Bocchetti will be available soon on the Classics Confidential website (www.classicsconfidential.co.uk)

Multilingualism and Diversity in Antiquity, with Rachel Mairs

Classics Confidential 2016-06-23 | The ancient world was incredibly diverse, and many different languages were spoken. To learn more about ancient languages, CC’s Anastasia visited the URE Museum at the University of Reading to talk to Dr Rachel Mairs (reading.ac.uk/classics/about/staff/r-mairs.aspx) about her work on the Corpus of Ptolemaic Inscriptions project based at Oxford University (http://www.csad.ox.ac.uk/CPI/).
Watch our interview to learn more about the different languages spoken in the streets of an ancient Egyptian city!

Scottish Neo-Latin, with Gesine Manuwald

Classics Confidential 2016-05-22 | CC’s Anastasia caught up with Professor Gesine Manuwald to talk about ‘Neo-Latin’. Gesine explains why Latin continued to be widely used in post-classical times and talks about a project she is involved in which aims to re-evaluate Scottish Neo-Latin poetry.

Living Democracy, with Paul Cartledge

Classics Confidential 2016-04-26 | This week Professor Paul Cartledge tells us all about his excellent new book 'Democracy: A Life'.

A Revolutionary Persians, with Gonda Van Steen

Classics Confidential 2016-04-20 | In the second interview filmed on location in Cyprus, CC’s Anastasia caught up with Gonda Van Steen (http://classics.ufl.edu/people/faculty/steen/). Gonda talks to us about a forgotten adaptation of Aeschylus’ Persians, infused with the revolutionary spirit of the Greek War of Independence (1821-32).

Ancient Greek History as Twentieth-Century Spectacle, with Gonda Van Steen

Classics Confidential 2016-03-07 | In the third War as Spectacle interview CC’s Anastasia talks to Gonda Van Steen (http://classics.ufl.edu/people/faculty/steen/) about her chapter for the collection (http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/war-as-spectacle-9781472522290/). Gonda explains to us the hist(o)rionics of 1967-74 and how the Greek dictatorship repackaged ancient history as a series of propagandistic spectacles for mass consumption.

Talking about ancient Greek and Roman drama, Part Two

Classics Confidential 2016-02-13 | How do we react to modern productions of ancient drama? What makes us sit up and take notice at the theatre? Anastasia Bakogianni, Paula James and Tony Keen in conversation.

The Eumenides Project, with Vayos Liapis and Maria Pavlou

Classics Confidential 2016-02-10 | Filmed on location on the beautiful island of Cyprus, CC’s Anastasia talks to Vayos Liapis (http://ouc.academia.edu/VayosLiapis) and Maria Pavlou (http://ucy.academia.edu/DrMariaPavlou) about the Eumenides research project (http://eumenides.ouc.ac.cy/). Vayos and Maria tell us about the project’s investigation of the reception of ancient tragedy in modern Greek poetry and theatre, which inspired a conference at their institutional home, the Open University of Cyprus (http://receptionconference.eventzilla.net/web/event?eventid=2139053883).

Talking about ancient Greek and Roman drama, Part 1

Classics Confidential 2016-02-08 | How do we react to modern productions of ancient drama? What makes us sit up and take notice at the theatre? Anastasia Bakogianni, Paula James and Tony Keen in conversation.

Exploring Byzantine History, with Maria Mavroudi

Classics Confidential 2016-01-26 | Maria Mavroudi is Professor of History and Classics at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research focuses on the interaction between Byzantium and the Arabic-speaking world, translations from Arabic into Greek, and the transmission of science (especially its occult variety) during the Middle Ages.
This month, she visited Istanbul for the opening of a new research centre at Boğaziçi University, delivering an inaugural lecture on “Byzantine Philosophy and Science at the Court of Mehmed The Conqueror”.
This interview for Classics Confidential was filmed the day after the talk, and introduces us to some of the most important debates about Byzantine historiography and heritage."

Classical Mythology on Television, with Amanda Potter

Classics Confidential 2016-01-02 | CC’s Anastasia caught up with Dr. Amanda Potter, Visiting Research Fellow at The Open University (http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/classical-studies/potter.shtml) to talk about viewer reception. Amanda tells us about her innovative doctoral research project, which focuses on audience response to the reception of Greek and Roman myths in two television shows; Xena Warrior Princess (1995-2001) and Charmed (1998-2006).

A Dea Nutrix Figurine from Baldock, with Gil Burleigh

Classics Confidential 2015-11-25 | In 1988 archaeologists discovered an extraordinary 4th-century AD infant burial in the town of Baldock in Hertfordshire. The finds included a clay figurine of a nursing goddess - the so-called 'Dea Nutrix' - who is depicted sitting on a throne with two babies on her lap. Gil Burleigh was part of the team who found the statuette, and in this film he talks us through her iconography and possible meanings.

The Archaeology of Hitchin, Hertfordshire, with Keith J Fitzpatrick-Matthews

Classics Confidential 2015-11-24 | ...

Classics Week at Hitchin Girls School!

Classics Confidential 2015-11-17 | An interview with the school's Head of Classics, Katharine Rowe. For www.classicsconfidential.co.uk

Lived Ancient Religion, with Georgia Petridou and Jörg Rüpke

Classics Confidential 2015-09-22 | ...

Tragic Anti-War Spectacles, with Anastasia Bakogianni

Classics Confidential 2015-09-12 | CC’s own Anastasia is interviewed by Sonya Nevin about her work for War as Spectacle (http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/war-as-spectacle-9781472522290/). Anastasia tells us how Greek tragedy was co-opted by film director Michael Cacoyannis to oppose war and violence in his Euripidean cinematic trilogy (Electra, The Trojan Women and Iphigenia).

With grateful thanks to Sonya Nevin and Steve K. Simons for all their help.

Images: © The Michael Cacoyannis Foundation (http://www.mcf.gr/en/)

Watch our interview to discover more about how these Euripidean dramas were adapted for the silver screen!

Greek Hoplites March Again, with Sonya Nevin

Classics Confidential 2015-09-09 | CC’s Anastasia catches up with Sonya Nevin (http://roehampton.academia.edu/SonyaNevin) to discuss two Panoply (http://www.panoply.org.uk) animations featuring Greek hoplites. Sonya talks to us about the spectacle of Greek warfare and how she and Steve K. Simons sought to bring it to life again. To learn more about Panoply’s work animating ancient warfare read Sonya’s chapter in War as Spectacle (http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/war-as-spectacle-9781472522290/).

With grateful thanks to Steve for all his help.

Watch our interview to discover more about how Greek hoplites fought, what they wore and the rituals associated with ancient warfare.

Classics and Childrens Literature, with Helen Lovatt

Classics Confidential 2015-09-07 | This week on Classics Confidential, Dr Helen Lovatt from the University of Nottingham tells us about her exciting project on Classics and children's literature. Why is it so important for us to study children's books with classical themes? Find out by watching our interview!
ps. Which classically-themed books did you love reading as a child? Share your favourite titles in our Facebook group, or in the Comments section on our website www.classicsconfidential.co.uk.

Encountering Ancient Greece and Rome at the Crystal Palace, with Kate Nichols

Classics Confidential 2015-08-25 | Meet Dr Kate Nichols, author of Greece and Rome at the Crystal Palace, Sculpture and Modern Britain, 1854-1936 (OUP, 2015: http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199596461.do). She talks to CC about the display of ancient Greek and Roman art and architecture in this period and how Victorian ideas about classical antiquity still shape our thinking today.
Watch out interview to discover why there were three versions of the Parthenon frieze at the Crystal Palace!

Meet the Director of the Institute of Classical Studies

Classics Confidential 2015-08-19 | CC’s Anastasia met Professor Greg Woolf (http://www.icls.sas.ac.uk/about-us/staff) to talk about his new job as the Director of the Institute of Classical Studies. Located in Senate House at the heart of Bloomsbury in London the Institute (http://www.icls.sas.ac.uk) and its world-class research library (http://www.icls.sas.ac.uk/icls_library) is a meeting place for all things Classical. As Greg reveals to us the main objective of the institute is to bring people together, so come join us!

Plutarch and Tolstoy, with Alexei Zadorozhny

Classics Confidential 2015-07-19 | The Russian writer Leo Tolstoy was an avid reader of the Greek and Latin classics. In this interview, Dr Alexei Zadorozhny of the University of Liverpool tells us how and why Tolstoy drew on the work of the Greek historian Plutarch in his great novel War and Peace, which he was writing in the 1860s.

The Future of the Humanities, with John Paul Russo

Classics Confidential 2015-07-05 | Professor John Paul Russo of the University of Miami (http://www.as.miami.edu/english/people/#d.en.17664) discusses the challenges facing the Humanities today. John Paul revisits this key issue, the subject of his book The Future without a Past: The Humanities in a Technological Society (University of Missouri, 2005). What role can the Classics play in this struggle?

Join the debate by watching our interview.

Greek Tragic Heroines in Later Literature, with Mihoko Suzuki

Classics Confidential 2015-06-30 | What is the appeal of Greek tragic heroines for later writers, particularly women authors?

During a visit to the University of Miami CC’s Anastasia Bakogianni met up with the Director of the Centre for the Humanities Mihoko Suzuki to learn more.

Ancient Athenian Finances, with David Pritchard

Classics Confidential 2015-06-16 | Dr David Pritchard of the University of Queensland (http://hapi.uq.edu.au/dr-david-pritchard) returns to CC to talk about his latest book, Public Spending and Democracy in Classical Athens (http://utpress.utexas.edu/index.php/books/pritchard-public-spending-democracy-classical-athens). David’s book settles a 200-year-old debate about the funding priorities of Athenian democracy. His book calculates the real costs of religion, politics, and war in order to demonstrate what the ancient Athenians valued most highly. Join us as we ‘follow the money’ in ancient democratic Athens.

Caesars Strokes and the Fate of an Empire... with Francesco Maria Galassi and Hutan Ashrafian

Classics Confidential 2015-05-11 | This week CC went to London's Hammersmith Hospital to talk to the authors of a new study published in the journal Neurological Sciences. Medical doctors Francesco Maria Galassi and Hutan Ashrafian tell us why they think that Julius Caesar suffered from a series of mini-strokes in his later life - and why we should discount the conventional retrospective diagnosis of his illness as epilepsy.

Teaching the Classics through Performance, with Mary-Kay Gamel and T.H.M. Gellar-Goad

Classics Confidential 2015-04-29 | CC’s Anastasia Bakogianni talks with Professor Mary-Kay Gamel of the University of California, Santa Cruz and T.H.M. Gellar-Goad of Wake Forest University about the advantages of using performance to teach classical texts.

Rap Music as a Tool for Teaching Thorny Ancient Topoi, with T.H.M. Gellar-Goad

Classics Confidential 2015-04-21 | CC’s Anastasia Bakogianni talks with T.H.M. Gellar-Goad, based at Wake Forest University (
http://wfu.academia.edu/ted), about using classical themes reflected in modern music in his teaching practice. Ted tells us how he took advantage of his students’ familiarity with rap songs to facilitate their study of difficult topics such as gender, sex, and rape in Roman elegy, satire and comedy.

Bringing Homer’s Iliad to life with Antony Makrinos

Classics Confidential 2015-02-18 | Returning to UCL’s Department of Greek and Latin Anastasia Bakogianni talks with Dr Antony Makrinos about his initiative to organize a summer school devoted exclusively to the study of Homer.

Exploring Roman Dress, with Ursula Rothe

Classics Confidential 2015-01-14 | This afternoon we filmed an interview with Dr Ursula Rothe, Baron Thyssen Lecturer in Classical Studies at The Open University, about her research on Roman dress. What did people in the Roman provinces wear? How did dress styles change over time? And why do we tend to refer to ancient clothing using the term 'dress' rather than 'fashion'? Watch our interview and find out all about this fascinating topic!

The Literary Epigram, with Chris Carey and Maria Kanellou

Classics Confidential 2014-12-28 | Professor Chris Carey and Dr Maria Kanellou join CC’s Anastasia Bakogianni at UCL’s Department of Greek & Latin to talk about the literary epigram. They tell us about this ancient literary genre, its form, origins and evolution from archaic Greece to Byzantium.
The epigram dates back to the introduction of writing in ancient Greece. As a literary genre it flourished not only in Greece, but in Rome and it persisted through to the Byzantine world. The genre’s ability to adapt to new circumstances and to respond to developments in other literary genres ensured its success. Literary epigrams cover a wealth of subject matter and offer a vast tonal range. Maria and Chris share with us their thoughts on their favourite type of epigram. Maria tells us about her study of erotic epigram, while Chris explains the many functions of funerary epigrams.
Maria and Chris talk to us about how literary epigrams were produced and consumed. From performances at symposia, where guests strove to outdo each other by crafting the best epigram of the evening, to reading a collection in the comfort of one’s own home the literary epigram continued to be popular with a variety of audiences. Maria and Chris testify to the appeal that these short poems have for modern readers.
Maria and Chris also tell us about two international conferences designed to promote the study of the literary epigram. Last year’s Greek Literary Epigram: From the Hellenistic to the early Byzantine Era (11-13 September 2013) and the Palladas and the New Papyrus (4-5 September 2014), which will bring together a number of experts to discuss the discovery of a new papyrus containing fragments from about sixty epigrams by Palladas of Alexandria dated to 4th century AD.
Follow this link to watch our interview, and to learn more about this protean literary form and its evolution. From Greek courtesans as pirate ships, to a jilted lover begging a lamp for aid, the literary epigram has much to offer. Join us to find out more!

Main epigrams referred to in this interview:
Antipater of Sidon AP 7.218
I hold Lais, who exalted in her wealth and purple dress
and in her amours/ with the power of Eros, more delicate than tender Cypris,
the citizen of sea-girt Corinth,
more sparkling than the white water of Peirene,
the mortal Cytherea, who had more noble suitors
than the daughter/ bride of Tyndareus,
plucking her charms and mercenary favours.
Her very tomb smells of sweet-scented saffron,
her skull is still soaked with fragrant ointment,
and her anointed locks still breathe a perfume as of frankincense.
For her the Foam-born tore her lovely face,
and sobbing Eros groaned and wailed.
If she had not made her bed the public slave of gain,
Greece would have pains for her as for Helen. (trans. K. Gutzwiller, slightly altered)

Asclepiades AP 5.7
Lamp, Heracleia swore three times in your presence
that she would come, and she hasn’t come; lamp, if you are a god,
take revenge on the deceitful girl; whenever she has a friend at home
playing with him, extinguish yourself and give (them) no more light. (trans. W.R.Paton, modified)

Paulus Silentiarius AP 5.272
I press her breasts, our mouths are joined, and I feed
in unrestrained fury round her silver neck.
However, I have not conquered the whole ‘Foam-born’ yet; I still toil pursuing
a maiden, who refuses me her bed.
Half of herself she has given to Paphia and half to Athena,
and I waste away between the two. (trans. W.R.Paton, modified)

Meleager AP 5.204
No longer Timarion, the once hollowed fast-sailing ship,
can endure the rowing of Aphrodite;
but the back is curved like a yard-arm on the mast,
and the greying forestays are loose,
and the relaxed breasts are loose like hanging sails,
and she has a wrinkled belly because of the tossing,
and below the whole ship is completely full of bilge-water, and the sea
overflows the ship’s hold, and her knees tremble.
Wretched is whoever will sail still alive across the lake of Acheron
having mounted the old twenty oared-galley. (trans. W.R.Paton, modified)

Classics Outreach at Oxford, with Mai Musié

Classics Confidential 2014-12-18 | What do Oxford Classics students do after they graduate? This was one of the questions that we asked Mai Musié, Outreach Officer for the Faculty of Classics, when we caught up with her earlier in the autumn at the Festival of Ancient Tales. Mai was at the festival promoting the Classics Outreach programme, which offers a wide range of activities for schools from taster days and cross-disciplinary days to talks and workshops. If you are a teacher/parent/student and interested in what the largest Classics faculty in the world has to offer, please do get in touch with Mai by email at outreach@classics.ox.ac.uk.

ps. Mai is also part of the Classics in Communities project - we'll ask her to tell us about that next time!

Roman Fragments, with Gesine Manuwald

Classics Confidential 2014-12-07 | Returning to UCL’s Department of Greek and Latin Anastasia Bakogianni talks with Professor Gesine Manuwald about her work on fragments from early Roman tragedy. Gesine tells us about some of the challenges, as well as the rewards, of working with this fragmentary evidence.

Some questions will always remain unanswerable, but Gesine reveals that the fragments offer us an insight into an earlier stage in the development of Roman drama. These plays were not simply translations of their Greek models, but underwent a process of ‘Romanization’. Dramatists like Ennius hoped to use these new versions of Greek drama to win over their Roman public and to secure more commissions. Gesine talks about the popularity of Roman drama, which was enjoyed by all sections of society.

Join us to find out more about the Roman versions of tragic heroines such as Andromache and Medea!

Herodotus on Thermopylae, with Chris Carey

Classics Confidential 2014-11-19 | Anastasia Bakogianni joins Professor Chris Carey at UCL’s Department of Greek and Latin to talk about his forthcoming commentary on Herodotus’ Book 7. A highpoint in Herodotus’ Histories, the subject of this book is the inexorable march of the Persian forces against Greece, which culminates in the famous battle at Thermopylae. Chris’ commentary will join those of a number of other eminent scholars currently working on Herodotus’ Histories for Cambridge University Press’ Green and Yellow series. To find out more about this exciting project and the other titles already available, follow this link: http://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/classical-studies/classical-literature/series/cambridge-greek-and-latin-classics
Chris describes Herodotus’ account of the battle as a ‘riveting story of courage and treachery’. He talks about the recent resurgence of interest in Herodotus’ Histories and how new scholarship is uncovering hidden depths in the work of this less well-explored ancient author. For Chris, Herodotus’ Histories is the book he would choose as his Desert Island pick, simply because every time he returns to it, he discovers something new in Herodotus’ account of the Persian Wars.
Follow this link to watch our interview, and to learn more about Chris’ personal journey in the footsteps of Xerxes and how it deepened his appreciation of Herodotus’ abilities as the narrator of a famous story. Join us to discover more!

References
His journey tracing part of Xerxes’ route and its impact on his work on the commentary was also the subject of Chris’ lecture delivered at the AGM of the Hellenic Society in 2014. To find out more follow this link: http://www.hellenicsociety.org.uk/sphs-lecture-agm

Food for Thought...with Zena Kamash and Lisa Lodwick

Classics Confidential 2014-10-10 | The 'Food for Thought' project had a stall at the Festival of Ancient Tales, and we caught up with Zena Kamash and Lisa Lodwick for a quick chat at the end of the evening. Their project explores the links between food and memory in both the past and the present, and (as Zena explains at the end of the interview) they would love to hear about YOUR food-related memories. You can find out more on the project blog, as well as liking the project on Facebook and following it on Twitter @notjustdormice.

Barbara Bell (and Minimus) at the Festival of Ancient Tales

Classics Confidential 2014-10-08 | Barbara Bell wrote the first Minimus book 20 years ago, and since then this wonderful Latin guide for children (with illustrations by Helen Forte) has sold 147,00 copies worldwide. In this interview Barbara tells us about the past, present and future of Minimus and the Primary Latin Project, and shares some very welcome news about the future of ancient languages in UK primary schools.

Tom Holland at the Festival of Ancient Tales

Classics Confidential 2014-10-07 | We caught up with author Tom Holland just before he gave his talk at the Festival of Ancient Tales on Friday, and asked him about how he had first become interested in Classics. You'll hear Tom talk about his childhood passions for Asterix and dinosaurs, and his new book about the Roman Emperors!

Caroline Lawrence at the Festival of Ancient Tales

Classics Confidential 2014-10-05 | One of the first people that we bumped into at the Festival of Ancient was writer Caroline Lawrence, who told us about her new book THE NIGHT RAID, and shared her love of the city of Naples. Follow this link to watch our interview!

Festival of Ancient Tales - Introduction

Classics Confidential 2014-10-04 | Yesterday was the long-awaited Festival of Ancient Tales at the East Oxford Community Classics Centre. Over the next few days we'll be posting a series of interviews with speakers and participants, but for starters here's a short introductory chat with the festival organiser, Lorna Robinson. Thanks to everyone who appears in the video - it was really great meeting you all at the festival!

Acting the Amazons, with Laura Martin-Simpson

Classics Confidential 2014-10-04 | Classics Confidential recently went to London to chat with actress and classicist Laura Martin-Simpson about a new theatre production based on ancient stories about the Amazons, ICONS. In 2013 Laura founded Blazon Theatre together with director Rachel Bagshaw, and they were awarded an Arts Council England Grant for the initial stages of research and development for a play about the Amazons. In this interview, Laura talks about some of the ideas and themes explored in the play, and gives us some behind-the-scenes glimpses of Blazon's collaboration with writer Paula B. Stanic and others. You can follow us on Twitter @classicsconfide for updates about this production.

A Cuban Electra, with Konstantinos P. Nikoloutsos

Classics Confidential 2014-09-27 | In the last interview recorded after the Greeks and Romans on the Latin American Stage conference CC’s Anastasia Bakogianni talks with Konstantinos P. Nikoloutsos (http://www.sju.edu/about-sju/faculty-staff/konstantinos-p-nikoloutsos-phd) about a Cuban reception of the myth of Electra. Virgilio Piñera reconfigured the ancient story of the tragic heroine by drawing principally on Sophocles’ play, but also on the versions of Aeschylus and Euripides as well as on modern receptions of the tale, to create his own Electra Garrigó (1941).

Konstantinos tells us about Piñera, the first playwright to situate Electra in a Cuban setting and to make radical changes to the ancient plot. Piñera tried to create a new national theatre for Cuba by going back to the origins of the art form through recourse to Greek drama rather than perpetuating the models of the Spanish colonial past. Konstantinos talks about the play’s hostile reception when it premiered in 1948, but he also tells us how, on account of the
Revolution, subsequent performances of Electra Garrigó gradually established Piñera as a major Cuban playwright and encouraged other dramatists to turn to Greek drama for inspiration.

Follow this link to watch our interview, and to learn more about the radical changes that Piñera made to the ancient story. Join us to discover why one critic described the play as ‘a spit ball thrown at Olympus’.

For more information on the reception of Greek and Roman drama in Latin America, see the special issue of Romance Quarterly 59.1 (2012):
http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/vroq20/59/.VA9PXsavvF

A Puerto Rican Lysistrata, with Rosa Andújar

Classics Confidential 2014-09-24 | In the second interview following the Greeks and Romans on the Latin American Stage CC’s Anastasia Bakogianni is joined by Rosa Andújar, A.G. Leventis Research Fellow in Greek at UCL (ucl.ac.uk/classics/staff/fulltimestaff/RosaAndujar/index) to talk about a unique Puerto Rican reception of Aristophanes’ Lysistrata. In Francisco Arriví’s Club de Solteros (The Bachelors’ Club, 1953) the Lysistrata paradigm is reversed and it is the men who are on sex strike.

Rosa tells us how she came across this fascinating reception case study while researching the afterlife of Greek drama in the Spanish speaking Caribbean, the subject of her next book project. Arriví radically recast an earlier version of the play after coming into contact with the work of Aristophanes, while studying in New York on a fellowship. Like Aristophanes himself, Arriví rewrote his play several times over the course of his career adding further layers of engagement with the ancient comedy.

Rosa contextualizes the play in the turbulent times in which it was written and tells us about the risqué revolutionary subtext that only a Puerto Rican audience would have picked up on at that time. She reflects on how Arriví’s play evokes ancient ideas, but also makes us rethink the way Aristophanes’ Lysistrata has been received in modern times. There is no war in the plot of Club de Solteros, only the battle of the sexes, thus reminding us that the anti-war interpretation of Aristophanes’ comedy is a modern assessment that does not do justice to the richness of the ancient play.

Greeks and Romans on the Latin American Stage, with Rosa Andújar and Konstantinos P. Nikoloutsos

Classics Confidential 2014-09-21 | The organisers of the Greeks and Romans on the Latin American Stage conference (www.ucl.ac.uk/classics/events/ConferenceJune2014) Rosa Andújar (University College London: ucl.ac.uk/classics/staff/fulltimestaff/RosaAndujar/index) and Konstantinos P. Nikoloutsos (Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia: http://www.sju.edu/about-sju/faculty-staff/konstantinos-p-nikoloutsos-phd) join CC’s Anastasia Bakogianni to talk about the reception of classical drama in Latin America.

Until recently, little was known about Latin American responses to Greek and Roman drama. Rosa and Konstantinos tell us what originally drew them to this fascinating topic, and how the idea for the conference was born. The complexity and diversity of Latin American performance reception demands an interdisciplinary approach, so Rosa and Konstantinos brought together a number of specialists in Classics, Spanish-American, Luso-Brazilian, and French-Caribbean literatures, and Theatre Studies. Rosa and Konstantinos explain what classicists can gain from an engagement with Latin American receptions.

Rosa and Konstantinos discuss what is distinctive about Latin American receptions of classical drama. During colonial times, the region lacked a coherent educational infrastructure in the Graeco-Roman classics, such as the one installed by the British in their colonies. Rosa argues that this gave Latin American dramatists more freedom to receive and approach the ancient plays in a rich variety of ways, since they were not burdened by a larger mediating history of receptions that stood between them and the work of the ancient playwrights. Konstantinos tells us about the emphasis Latin American receptions of Greek drama have placed on female characters such as Antigone, Medea and Electra. Medea the witch, for example, has often been associated with voodoo practices; Antigone has often been portrayed as a freedom fighter opposing the many dictatorships that ruled Latin America in the twentieth century, thus putting ancient masks on present troubles. The ancient past haunted Latin American dramatists as it did their counterparts in Europe, North America and Africa, but these ancient shadows fell on Latin America in very distinctive and unique patterns.

Follow this link to watch our interview, and to learn more about this exciting new chapter in the study of the afterlife of Greek and Roman drama. Join us to discover more about Latin American responses to classical drama!

This interview was filmed by kind permission at UCL’s Department of Greek and Latin.

The Politics of Persuasion, with Kathryn Tempest

Classics Confidential 2014-08-19 | In the last interview recorded at the University of Roehampton CC’s Anastasia Bakogianni talks to Dr Kathryn Tempest (http://www.roehampton.ac.uk/staff/kathryn-tempest) about her work on ancient rhetoric. Kathryn talks about her fascination with ancient oratory, and in particular the forensic speeches of Cicero. Her interest arose organically out of her previous work on the Attic orators, which then got her thinking about their impact on the work of the Roman politician. Her book Cicero: Politics and Persuasion in Ancient Rome (http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/cicero-9781472530561) was published in 2011 (reissued as a paperback in 2013).
Kathryn tells us how her work on the Roman orator led her back to Hellenistic oratory. She talks about the debt that Roman orators, like Cicero, owe to this now largely neglected era in the evolution of ancient rhetoric. Different types of oratory were used in different periods, but the art of rhetoric continued to flourish and evolve in response to contemporary circumstances and specific needs. If you would like to learn more, you might be interested in the collection that Kathryn co-edited with Christos Kremmydas entitled Hellenistic Oratory: Continuity and Change (Oxford University Press: 2013 http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199654314.do).
Kathryn is currently working on a book about Marcus Brutus, Caesar’s friend who was involved in the plot to kill him. She tells us about the challenges involved in dealing with the historical evidence that survives about this famous Roman, who was viewed both as a hero and an anti-hero.

The Imagines Project, with Marta García Morcillo

Classics Confidential 2014-08-09 | The fourth interview recorded at the University of Roehampton was filmed in the beautiful gardens surrounding Grove House. CC’s Anastasia Bakogianni talks with Dr Marta Garcia-Morcillo (http://www.roehampton.ac.uk/staff/Marta-Garcia-Morcillo) about the Imagines Project (www.imagines-project.org).

Marta tells us about her work for this international network dedicated to the promotion of classical antiquity in the visual and performing arts.

Marta talks about the network’s conferences, organised every two to three years. The Imagines Project’s work is showcased in a collection that Marta co-edited together with Silke Knippschild entitled Seduction and Power: Antiquity in the Visual and Performing Arts (2013: http://www.bloomsbury.com/us/seduction-and-power-9781441177469/).

The inspiration for this edited collection came from the network’s 2010 conference that explored this theme.

Marta also tells us about the network’s forthcoming conference Sailing in Troubled Waters: The Ancient Mediterranean and its Legacy in the Performing and Visual Arts. The fourth Imagines conference will be held at the University of Algarve, Faro (1-4 October). Marta talks to us about the network’s commitment to working with artists. In Faro this will take the form of a special mural produced as a means of exploring the conference theme in art.

Follow this link to watch our interview, to learn more about the Imagines Project and to hear our discussion of why classics matters today.

The Imagines Project on Twitter: @ImaginesProject

Classical Ladies in the Garden, with Rosemary Barrow

Classics Confidential 2014-08-02 | Outside once more, the location of the third interview recorded at the University of Roehampton is the back of Grove House overlooking the grounds of Froebel College. CC’s Anastasia Bakogianni talks with Dr Rosemary Barrow about four classicising statues that preside over the gardens of this neoclassical house. They are personifications of the Four Seasons and add another ‘classical’ touch to the decorative scheme of Grove House.

Rosemary focuses on the semi-nude ‘Autumn’ and the tantalisingly covered ‘Winter’ and talks about the popularity of such representations in the nineteenth century. She tells us how the female nude came to be so closely associated with classical antiquity in this period and how this trend is reflected in the Grove House statues.

Hercules transplanted to a Georgian house, with Susan Deacy

Classics Confidential 2014-07-22 | Moving the conversation indoors, the second interview recorded at the University of Roehampton was shot in the Adam Room located inside Grove House. CC's Anastasia Bakogianni talks with Dr Susan Deacy (http://www.roehampton.ac.uk/staff/Susan-Deacy) in front of a chimney-piece featuring the 'Choice of Hercules'. Susan tells us how she came to be interested in this representation of the classical mythical hero and what it reveals about his reception in eighteenth-century English culture.
Susan explains how Hercules' choice between a life of pleasure and one devoted to virtue was understood in this period and how this is reflected in its portrayal on the panel in Grove House. Susan's work on this topic is part of the larger Hercules Project (http://www.leeds.ac.uk/arts/homepage/401/hercules_project), based at the University of Leeds, whose aim is to explore the long and rich reception history of Hercules. Susan also discusses the continuing appeal of mythological figures such as Hercules and Athena and how they have transformed the environment we live in.
Follow this link to watch our interview to learn more about this fascinating chimney panel featuring Hercules, and how this interactive piece of neoclassical art invites the viewer to re-enact the mythical hero's choice.
To learn more about Susan's work on the Hercules panel follow her blog: http://owning-myth.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/virtue-and-vice-or-pleasure-on-carters.html
The photos of the chimney-piece are reproduced by kind permission of Marina Vorobieva. For more information see: http://smartlondon.net