A workshop organized by:

Prof. Andrea Rotstein (Department of Classical Studies, HUJI)

Prof. Maijastina Kahlos (IIAS fellow, University of Lisbon, University of Helsinki)

Mr. Dmitry Ezrokhi (Department of Classical Studies, HUJI)

Tuesday, 19 March 2024, Feldman Building, Givat Ram Safra Campus

To many of us the events of the last months have affected the way we read ancient Graeco-Roman texts. Triggers seem to emerge everywhere. Female hostages in myth and historiography, the hero’s rage of epic poetry, voices of both friends and enemies, fallen warriors and ransacked cities, they all feel too close to home. Perhaps our professional approach has blurred the fact that the same texts that we read with the distance required for research, have for generations also been faithful companions in times of loss?

On Tuesday, 19th March, 2024, scholars and students from Israel and abroad, will gather to share reflections on texts that have become particularly meaningful in the light of recent events. How does the experience of deep communal sorrow affect the way we read texts we’ve known forever? Can ancient Greek and Latin texts help us cope with the realities of sorrow? Do they in any way provide guidance when going through impossible moral situations? And is it proper to search for comfort in the objects of our research?

This workshop will provide an opportunity to reflect on the relevance of the Classics here and now.

Morning: Hebrew Sections

9:45   Gathering

10:00 Session 1

Welcoming words by Yitzhak Hen (Director of the Israel Institute for Advanced Studies)

• Andrea Rotstein (HUJI Department of Classical Studies):

“Reading Classics in Times of Crisis”

• Gideon Manelis (HUJI Department of Classical Studies)

“Cicero’s Speech in Lucan’s De bello civili”

• Dmitry Ezrokhi (HUJI Department of Classical Studies):

“To Grieve like Galen: Unexpected Lessons from Galen’s On Avoiding Distress”

11:05 Coffee Break

11:35 Session 2

• Ohad Katz (HUJI Department of Classical Studies):

“Acharnians by Aristophanes (a Selection)”

• Yoav Rinon (HUJI Department of Classical Studies):

“Rage and Revenge in the Iliad”

12:30 Lunch Break

Afternoon: English Sections

13.30 Session 1

Welcoming Words by Yitzhak Hen (Director of the Israel Institute for Advanced Studies)

• Andrea Rotstein (HUJI Department of Classical Studies):

“Reading Classics in Times of Crisis”

• Dmitry Ezrokhi (HUJI Department of Classical Studies):

Report on morning Hebrew session

• Deborah Gera (HUJI Department of Classical Studies):

“An Encounter between Enemies in Book 24 of the Iliad”

• Ariadne Konstantinou (Bar Ilan University, Department of Classical Studies):

“Healing in the Odyssey, healing with the Odyssey”

14.50 Coffee Break

15.20 Session 2

• Marco Vespa: (HUJI Department of Classical Studies):

“Humanitas at Stake in Late Republic Rome”

• Maijastina Kahlos (IIAS fellow, University of Lisbon, University of Helsinki):

“The Glory that is Classics”

• Concluding Remarks

(Workshop will end by 16:30)

For registration – click HERE