In a vivid scene of the Iliad, the Trojan king Priam, as he observes the battlefield from the walls of the city, unexpectedly asks Helen, who has been abducted by his son Paris, to identify several of the Greek warriors that have come to Troy in order to liberate her. Helen proceeds to name and to briefly describe the men in question. What is unexpected about Priam's inquiries is that we are in the tenth year of the Trojan War, so that Priam ought to recognize the heroes to whom he draws Helen's attention. The puzzling dialogue between Helen and Priam has already been elucidated through comparison with an episode of the Sanskrit Mahabharata, in which an abducted princess named Draupadi, an Indian equivalent of Helen, similarly identifies at her captor's request her would-be liberators, who are hot on their heels and therefore visible.
This lecture will elaborate the comparison by introducing into the discussion an arguably feminist version of the same myth from medieval Irish literature?a crossroads of tradition and innovation?in which the captured woman, Blathnat, empowers herself by defiantly rejecting the comparable role that her abductor expects of her and by subversively manipulating the circumstances of her liberation to her advantage.
The Department of Classics and Humanities at SDSU presents the 47th Annual Burnett Lecture in the Classics with Dr. John McDonald, Stepsay Family Postdoctoral Fellow in Classics. His talk is subtitled "How to liberate an abducted woman in Greek, Sanskrit, and Irish myth."
Admission/Cost: FREE
Age limit: 18+
Location:
San Diego State University
Parma Payne Goodall Alumni Center
San Diego State University
5500 Campanile Drive
San Diego, CA 92182
Monday, May 1 - 3:30 PM to 4:30 PM
For more information, please visit: www.sdsu.edu
This lecture will elaborate the comparison by introducing into the discussion an arguably feminist version of the same myth from medieval Irish literature?a crossroads of tradition and innovation?in which the captured woman, Blathnat, empowers herself by defiantly rejecting the comparable role that her abductor expects of her and by subversively manipulating the circumstances of her liberation to her advantage.
The Department of Classics and Humanities at SDSU presents the 47th Annual Burnett Lecture in the Classics with Dr. John McDonald, Stepsay Family Postdoctoral Fellow in Classics. His talk is subtitled "How to liberate an abducted woman in Greek, Sanskrit, and Irish myth."
Admission/Cost: FREE
Age limit: 18+
Location:
San Diego State University
Parma Payne Goodall Alumni Center
San Diego State University
5500 Campanile Drive
San Diego, CA 92182
Monday, May 1 - 3:30 PM to 4:30 PM
For more information, please visit: www.sdsu.edu
