Wednesday 27 September | 7-8pm
When Poseidon sends a tempest to stir up the Aegean, four titans of the ancient world find themselves stuck on a rapidly sinking ship... Who will stay and who will be thrown overboard?
Watch in awe as four top classicists go head-to-head in this compelling and hilarious debate. Each make the case for why a famous character from antiquity should be thrown overboard. In short, they attempt to convince you that their character is the most odious villain from the ancient world. Find out who is consigned to the watery depths!
The debate is hosted by Classics for All Chairman Jimmy Mulville and Dr Emma Greensmith (St John’s College, Oxford).
We are honoured to count Professor Tim Whitmarsh, Dr Gail Trimble and Dr Adrian Kelly and Professor Naoíse Mac Sweeney among our distinguished speakers.
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Speakers:
Professor Tim Whitmarsh speaking for Hadrian
Professor Tim Whitmarsh is the Regius Professor of Greek at the University of Cambridge. He has published widely on Greek literature and culture, his books including Ancient Greek Literature, Beyond the Second Sophistic and Battling the Gods: Atheism in the Ancient World. He has appeared frequently on the BBC, and in the national press.
Dr Gail Trimble speaking for Romulus
Dr Gail Trimble is Fellow and Tutor in Classics at Trinity College, Oxford. She is completing a large-scale commentary on Catullus 64 for Cambridge University Press. Her research focuses on Latin poetry, especially its formal aspects, and she has co-edited a volume on metalepsis in Classical literature. While a graduate student at Corpus Christi College, Oxford she was briefly famous for her performance on University Challenge.
Dr Adrian Kelly speaking for Oedipus
Dr Adrian Kelly did his undergraduate and Master’s degrees in Melbourne, before coming to Oxford in 1998 to do his DPhil. He held teaching posts at Magdalen, St Anne’s and Balliol, and the Fulford Junior Research Fellowship at St Anne’s (2003–5) before returning to Balliol as a Tutorial Fellow in 2008. He has recently been editing the Cambridge Companion to Sappho (which is almost done) and trying to find time to work on a commentary on Iliad XXIII for the Greek and Latin Classics series published by Cambridge University Press.
Professor Naoíse Mac Sweeney speaking for Helen
Professor Naoíse Mac Sweeney is Professor of Classical Archaeology at the University of Vienna. Her prizewinning research focuses on migration and identity in the ancient Greek world, as well as the intersections of heritage and modern politics. Her most recent book is: The West: A New History of an Old Idea.
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