Dan Berman, "Local Myth, in Thebes and on Campus”

Talk Description: This talk explores the concept of “local myth,” often contrasted to “universal” or “Panhellenic” traditions of mythic discourse, in several contexts. I begin with a focus on Theban mythography to test the boundaries and utility of “local myth” as an analytical category. Moving from Ancient Greece to the current-day university campus, I bring this examination of the interplay between “local” and “universal” discourse to bear on the national discussion (mythology?) around liberal education. With a glance at the foundational myth of Temple University, my own institution, I argue that the local/universal categories can help us sort out contrasting claims for the relevance of the humanistic educative model, and possibly furnish a path to more powerful arguments for its critical importance.

Short Bio: Dan Berman is Professor of Greek and Roman Classics and Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies at Temple University. His interests include archaic and classical Greek poetry and myth, mythography, Greeks in the Roman world, and topography and ancient geography. His most recent book, Myth, Literature, and the Creation of the Topography of Thebes (Cambridge 2015) explores how Greek mythic texts construct and represent the urban environment of Greek Thebes. He has published articles on the Greek mythographers, Aeschylus, the city of Thebes, the Dirce spring, and related subjects, and also one on herdsmen in Theocritus. He has served as Vice Provost since 2017.

This talk will not be available on zoom and will not be recorded.