Second Annual Graduate Student Conference
 Boston, Massachusetts
Saturday, March 20, 2010

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The department of Classical Studies at Boston University announces its second annual graduate student conference to be held on March 20, 2010. Guy M. Hedreen, Professor of Art at Williams College, will deliver the keynote address.

The purpose of this colloquium is to investigate hybrid literary and artistic figures and forms. We are interested in exploring the (broadly defined) chimeras of the ancient world, that is, creatures, cultures, and genres that incorporate multiple and diverse sources. We want to examine the complex identities of ancient chimeras and the many shapes in which they appear. What roles do they play in visual and literary narrative? How do artists employ and exploit their liminal nature? What qualities do artists combine and why? How do a chimera’s eclectic elements conflict with one another and how do they work together in a unified whole? What generic conventions exist to inform an audience’s reception of these figures, and what is the evidence? We encourage submissions in the fields of ancient literature, history, religious studies, law, archaeology, and philosophy as well as from other disciplines outside of but pertaining to Classics.

For further information, please contact the conference coordinators, Sophie Klein (sophiek@bu.edu) or Michael Wheeler (mikhaw20@bu.edu).