The Online Conference Thermopylae 2500 - 21/11/2020, (Online)
2020 marks the 2,500th anniversary of the Battle of Thermopylae and the death of King Leonidas, an event that was memorialised in Sparta during the yearly Leonidea festival in Roman times. Now, it is celebrated with an issue of 735,000 commemorative €2 coins. Viewed as a heroic battle, the story of Thermopylae has inspired creative responses as varied as David's Leonidas at Thermopylae (1814), Cavafy's Thermopylae (1901), and Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Odyssey (2018). There has always been a great deal of myth-making when it comes to Thermopylae. Yet many of these myths are actively malicious, or have been appropriated for malicious ends. From the use of 'MOLON LABE' and Lambda-emblazoned shields by contemporary extremist groups, to the use of Sparta as a form of legitimisation for Nazi ideologies, we might ask, can or should the teaching of Thermopylae (covered by many core undergraduate modules) be separated from these issues? Representations of Thermopylae in art, literature, and modern media, and the appropriations of Thermopylae by extremist groups have all historically been underrepresented in studies of the reception of the Thermopylae and Leonidas. This conference seeks to mark the 2,500th anniversary of the Battle of Thermopylae by critiquing the cultural constructs of Thermopylae across a range of modern, historical, and ancient societies.
FECHA/DATE/DATA: 21/11/2020
LUGAR/LOCATION/LUOGO: Online (Zoom)
ORGANIZADOR/ORGANIZER/ORGANIZZATORE: Emma Aston; Paul Cartledge; Lynn Fotheringham; Chrysanthi Gallou; Katherine Harloe; Stephen Hodkinson; James Lloyd; Helen Roche; Naoíse Mac Sweeney
INFO: web - thermopylae2500@gmail.com
INSCRIPCIÓN/REGISTRATION/REGISTRAZIONE: Deadline: 16/11/2020
Se ruega enviar un email a /please contact/si prega di inviare una email a secretary@hellenicsociety.org.uk
PROGRAMA/PROGRAM/PROGRAMMA:
General running order:
Each panel will have a 5-minute introduction with the contributors and their topics. There will then be a 20-minute breakout group session for participants to discuss the papers and approach some general questions presented in the introduction. This is followed by a 25-minute panel discussion and Q&A session, and then a 10-minute break ahead of the next panel. Panel chairs TBA.
PANEL 1: ANCIENT RECEPTIONS (PART ONE)
9.00-10.00
Matt Thompson: “The Spartan Contribution to the Myth of Thermopylae”
Amelia Brown: “Memorials of Glorious Defeat: Ancient Monuments for the Battle of Thermopylae”
Ellen Millender: “Thermopylae as Teacher?: Didactic Spectacle and the Bolstering of Spartan Socio-Political Structures in the Aftermath of War”
Roy van Wijk: “A Lost Local Memory. Thermopylai, the Battle of Delion and the Thespian Polyandrion”
John Hyland: “Persia’s Thermopylae and the Iconography of Triumph over Greeks”
PANEL 2: ANCIENT RECEPTIONS (PART TWO)
10.00-11.00
Murray Dahm: “Thermopylae and the 300s”
François Santoni: “The memorial game of Thermopylae in the Roman war against Antiochos III”
Elisabeth Slingsby: “This is (Not Quite) Sparta: Pseudo Parallels in ps-Plutarch’s Parallela Minora”
Olivier Gengler: “Intertextual battles of Thermopylai: Memory and identity in Roman and Late Antique Greece”
PANEL 3: THERMOPYLAE AND MODERN HISTORY
11.00-12.00
Martina Gatto: “Lycurgus and Leonidas in Nazi German Ideology and Historiography”
Matthew Sears: “The Devil Can Quote Scripture: the use of Thermopylae by Anticommunists from Göring To Marshall”
Maria Kalinowska & Ewa Janion: “Thermopylae in Modern Polish Culture: The Ideal of Voluntary Sacrifice and its Contestations”
Catherine Muñoz: “Be a good Panamanian, be like Leonidas”
PANEL 4: THERMOPYLAE AND POPULAR CULTURE
12.00-13.00
Vale Sebastián: “Mort Cinder: Space For Dialogue. The Battle of Thermopylae In Argentinean Comics”
Tony Keen: “‘The whole of Greece is waiting’: The depiction of international relations in movies about Thermopylae”
Amanda Potter: “The Heroism of Women: The female experience of the battle of Thermopylae in Xena Warrior Princess episode ‘One Against an Army’ and Steven Pressfield’s novel Gates of Fire”
LUNCHBREAK
13.00-14.00
PANEL 5: TEACHING THERMOPYLAE
14.00-15.00
Pandeleimon Hionidis:” Between Palamas’s “Live, our glorious homeland” and Cavafy’s “Never betraying what is right”. Teaching Thermopylae in a Modern Greek Literature class”
Anneka Rene: “Teaching Leonidas at Thermopylae at Secondary Level”
FINAL GROUP DISCUSSION
15.00-15.30
There is no charge for attending the Thermopylae 2500 Conference but please consider making a donation to the Hellenic and Roman Library. The Library Fundraising Campaign continues and all donations, however small, are important in helping us to continue to run the Library. You can donate easily online here: