Constanze Güthenke (University of Oxford)
"False Pretenses — the Anxieties of Nineteenth-Century American Classical Scholarship"
Abstract: What is a professional classicist, in America? In this talk, Güthenke will look to the nineteenth century to disrupt some of the notions of a stable centre, and draw attention to overlapping anxieties that shaped the experiences, intellectual practices, and research interests of a professionalising discipline: anxieties about language, about specialisation, and about (un)freedom and (il)legitimacy. Güthenke will talk about the experience of study abroad, forms of cultural belatedness and confidence, as well as the role of confidence men, with a detour through Basil Gildersleeve’s reading of Lucian.
Tuesday, September 8, 2026, 3:00 PM – 4:15 PM.
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, Boylston 237, Harvard Yard, Cambridge, MA.
Inger Kuin (University of Virginia)
Harvard Classics Lectures
In the first two centuries CE, inhabitants of the Roman Empire of all persuasions considered going through
life without gods, or without recognition of divine interference, as a potential feature of human psychology
deserving serious attention. Many saw it as a threat both to the well-being of individuals and to the socio ethical fabric of communities, while for some it was their own lived experience and a wholesome outlook
worth propagating. Atheism and disbelief were understood to be integral components of the over-all
phenomenology of belief systems and ways of life that could not be ignored.
In my paper I will present from my research project in progress which aims to produce the first
book-length study of atheism in the mediterranean in the first and second centuries CE. Earlier research on
atheism and disbelief in antiquity has focused either on classical Athens, or taken a diachronic approach
covering both the Greek and Roman periods. My project combines a narrow synchronic focus with a
uniqu…
Event Series: Harvard Classics Departmental Seminar Series.
Tuesday, September 22, 2026, 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM.
HARVARD UNIVERSITY; Barker Center 133.
Robin Osborne (University of Cambridge)
"Dionysos and Theater in Ancient Athens"
Estelle Shohet Brettman Memorial Lecture
Tragedy and comedy in Athens were performed at festivals of the god Dionysos, but even in antiquity the connection between drama and Dionysos was unclear. Recent scholarship has been skeptical of any link. Making use of neglected visual evidence for Athenian ways of thinking about Dionysos, revisit this question and think further about what connects the gods to the acts by which they were worshipped. Changes in the nature of the Dyonisiac imagery found on Athenian pottery—including drinking cups in MFA the collection—indicate the ways in which Dionysos was conceived of as the god who presided over individuals in their personal and peculiar situations, not simply as members of civic or other groups.
Ticket Information
Free. To order tickets by phone, call 1-800-440-6975 ($6 processing fee applies); to order in person, visit any MFA ticket desk.
Thursday, September 24, 2026, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM.
MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS BOSTON, Harry and Mildred Remis Auditorium (Auditorium 161), 465 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA.
For more info visit www.mfa.org. Odysseus Returns: Reflections on Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey
Sponsored by the Mahindra Humanities Center and the Center for Hellenic Studies.
Featuring a panel discussion with Emily Greenwood (Harvard University), David Elmer (Harvard University), and Jie Li (Harvard University), moderated by Robin Kelsey (Mahindra Humanities Center).
Tuesday, October 13, 2026, 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM.
HARVARD UNIVERSITY; the Thompson Room, Barker Center, 12 Quincy St, Cambridge, MA 02138.
Rex Wallace (UMass Amherst)
Event Series: GSAS Workshop "Indo-European and Historical Linguistics”.
Thursday, October 22, 2026, 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM.
HARVARD UNIVERSITY; Boylston Hall 335.
Michèle Lowrie (University of Chicago)
"Caesar, Carmen, and the Rule of Law.".
Event Series: Mahindra Humanities Center Seminar: Classical Traditions and Receptions.
Tuesday, October 27, 2026, 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM.
HARVARD UNIVERSITY; TBD.
Book Celebration
Harvard Classics Lectures
Celebration in honor of Leah Whittington’s book, Antiquity Made Whole: The Renaissance Continuation of Ancient Literature.
Event Series: Mahindra Humanities Center Seminar: Civilizations of Ancient Greece and Rome. Event Series (if not listed): The Early Modern Workshop at Harvard University.
Tuesday, November 17, 2026, 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM.
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, Thompson Room, Barker Center, Cambridge, MA.
For more info visit emworkshop.fas.harvard.edu. Harry Saunders (Harvard)
Event Series: GSAS Workshop "Indo-European and Historical Linguistics”.
Thursday, November 19, 2026, 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM.
HARVARD UNIVERSITY; Boylston Hall 335.
Zachary Rothstein-Dowden (Harvard)
Event Series: GSAS Workshop "Indo-European and Historical Linguistics”.
Thursday, December 3, 2026, 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM.
HARVARD UNIVERSITY; Boylston Hall 335.