Swansea Summer Seminars: Myths and Politics – Thomas Alexander Husøy & Maria Pretzler.

This summer we are bringing together a group of international scholars to talk about connections between myths and politics from antiquity to our present time. This topic links the interests of a number of staff members and PhD students here at Swansea, and we are delighted to welcome scholars from all over the world for an exchange of ideas and approaches.

Please join us on Mondays, 5pm (UK Summer time, GMT +1).

Write to mythsandpolitics@gmail.com to join our mailing list, and you’ll receive the meeting link every Monday.

Myth and Politics from Antiquity to the Present Time

International Summer Seminar series hosted at the Department of Classics, Ancient History & Egyptology at Swansea University.

Mondays 5pm, June – September 2020

• 8^th June.

Ryan Denson (University of Exeter) ‘I shall Sink Your Ship and Make you Food for the Fish; The Ancient Fear of Being Devoured by the Sea.’

• 15^th June.

Andrej Mozhajsky (Moscow State Pedagogical University) ‘The Myth of the War of the Seven and the Political Topography of Pausanias.’

• 22^nd June.

Olivia Kinsman (University of Bristol) ‘Feminist Myth-Busting: When Ancient Characters Become Feminist Icons.’

• 29^th June.

Thomas Alexander Husøy (Swansea University) ‘Asopus, Trophonius, and Pan; Local Identities, Deities and Genealogies.’

• 6^th July.

Helen Lovatt (University of Nottingham) ‘W. E. B. Du Bois’s Quest of the Silver Fleece; Argonautica as Politics and Politics in the Argonautica.’

• 13^th July.

Maria Pretzler (Swansea University) ‘Why Can’t Peloponnesians all be Dorians? The Trouble with Uniting a Region with a Complex Mythical Past.’

• 20^th July.

Ryan Strickler (Australian National University) ‘Byzantine Heroes and Monsters: Greek Mythology in the Court of Heraclius (r. 610-641).’ (lunchtime due to time zones).

• 27^th July.

Stephen Harrison (Swansea University) ‘Dynastic Mythology and Legitimacy in the Achaemenid and Seleucid Empires.’

• 3^rd August

Melissa Beattie (Independent Scholar) ‘What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?! Use and Representation of Romanites by Contemporary British Media and Culture.’

• 10^th August

Kalypso Nicolaïdis (University of Oxford) ‘Making Myths Matter: How ancient mythology can help us navigate today’s politics.’

• 17^th August.

Goran Đurđević (Capital Normal University, Beijing) ‘Myth from Your Hand: Myths, Reflections and Mirrors in the Roman Empire and Qin-Han China.’

• 24^th August.

Signe Barfoed (University of Oslo/Reading) ‘Myth and Identity Creation in Kalydon, Aitolia; Boar-hunts, Warrior Ethos, and the Origin of the Pan-Regional Sanctuary of Artemis Laphria.’

• 31^st August.

Diego Piay Augusto (University of Oviedo) and Patricia Argüelles Álvarez (University of Salamanca) ‘Rethinking the Hero: Mythification of the Power of the Possessors of the Hispanic Villae through the representation of Hercules.’

• 7^th September.

Borja Antela-Bernárdez (Autonomous University of Barcelona) ‘Argead Beastmasters: Animals, Myth, and Royalty.’

Best Regards

Thomas Alexander Husøy & Maria Pretzler.