Classical World Lecture: The Shipwreck of Odysseus

Saratoga.com -

How do Greek vase painters represent their myths ? Usually we have clues, such as traditional iconography or labels to tell us who is who and what is what.

For Greek vases of the Geometric period, however, this question does not have easy answers.

At tonight's lecture, Professor Jeffrey Hurwit considers an eighth-century Greek vase that used to be considered a painting of the shipwreck of the Homeric hero, Odysseus. Has the painter depicted a mythological scene or a generic scene of everyday life ? How do we know ?

Professor Hurwit suggests that the Geometric imagery in fact defies simple categorization and exemplifies the variety and originality of early Greek art. Professor Jeffrey M. Hurwit is a leading scholar of ancient Greek art.

He received a combined A.B.-M.A. degree in Classical Languages and Literatures from Brown University in 1971 and a Ph.D. in Classical Art and Archaeology from Yale University in 1975. A full professor at the University of Oregon since 1990, he holds the title of Philip H. Knight Professor in Art History and Classics.

The recipient of many prestigious awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, Professor Hurwit is the author of numerous works on the art and civilization of Archaic and Classical Greece. Among the more influential of his publications are the articles ? Reading the Chigi Vase ? [Hesperia 71 (2002), 1-22] and "The Kritios Boy: Discovery, Reconstruction, and Date" [American Journal of Archaeology 93 (1989), 41-80], and his books The Art and Culture of Early Greece (Cornell University Press, 1985,) The Athenian Acropolis: History, Mythology, and Archaeology from the Neolithic Era to the Present (Cambridge University Press, 1999), and The Acropolis in the Age of Pericles (Cambridge University Press 2004).

Now in its 14th year, the Classical World lecture brings to campus a teacher-scholar renowned for interdisciplinary contributions to the field of classical studies.

Lecture at Palamountain Hall Davis Auditorium

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