Talk on the ‘New’ Greece Since 2004 Olympics Scheduled Oct. 23
Contact: Jay Bregman, 581-1918; George Manlove, 581-3756
ORONO — A public talk by an Amherst College professor of classic studies on the “new” Greece since the 2004 Olympics is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 23 at the University of Maine.
Professor Rebecca H. Sinos will present “The New Greece: Historic Site Improvements Since the 2004 Olympics,” a public talk and slide show, at 7:30 p.m., in the D.P. Corbett Business Building, Room 100. A reception in the atrium lobby outside the lecture hall will follow.
Sinos’s research interests focus on “places where ancient Greek texts and the evidence of archaeology intersect,” she says. She has published articles on lyric poetry and the traditions of song that poets worked from, in addition to the reconstruction of the ritual occasions for song. She also will provide first-person perspectives on Greek archaeology and Greek art, literature, culture, ceremonies and monuments.
At Amherst, Sinos teaches all levels of ancient Greece, including Greek history, mythology and religion, and an occasional Latin course.
She has coauthored a book, “The Wedding in Ancient Athens,” which reconstructs the wedding ceremony from the evidence of vase paintings, in addition to literary and other textual sources. Sinos continues her work in the area of the Greek tradition of wedding songs, ancient and modern, and studies frequently in Greece.
Sinos’s appearance on the Orono campus is being sponsored by the Departments of History, Modern Languages and Classics, the Honors College and the Classic Club at UMaine. Sinos also is scheduled to work with members of the UMaine Classics Club on plans for its upcoming travel-study course to Greece.
“She’s distinguished in the field,” says Jay Bregman, professor of history, who helped arrange Sinos’s appearance at UMaine. “She has spoken here before.”
Sinos’s lecture will include perspectives on the roots of Western civilization, especially classical Athens, the world’s first democracy, which is particularly relevant to our own democratic experience, Bregman says.
“I think this talk will be accessible to a broad audience,” he adds.
The talk is free and open to the public.