Judith M. Barringer
Tuesday, October 27, 2009 at 4:30 P.M.
Yale University, Phelps Hall, Room 407
Sheldon H. Solow Lecture

Before the construction of the Temple of Zeus beginning in c. 470 B.C., the Altis or sacred area at Olympia was dotted with military and athletic victory monuments, along with one major temple, treasuries, the ash altar of Zeus, the hero shrine to Pelops, founder of the Olympic games, and the terminal portion of the racetrack or stadion. Military victory monuments that existed before the temple’s construction clearly outline and leave room for the later structure although no earlier structure existed on this portion of the Altis, and we have no indication of how this area was used prior to the construction of the building. Why were these monuments placed as they were, and oriented eastward, facing away from the ash altar? Why were Trojan War themes deployed for two of the most prominent of them, and what meaning did such myths have at Olympia? This lecture explores these questions and offers some answers that demonstrate clear links to the rituals and activities that occurred at this Panhellenic site.

Judith Barringer is Professor of Greek Art and Archaeology with the University of Edinburgh. She holds her degrees from Yale (M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D.) and George Washington University (B.A.), and has held positions at SUNY New Paltz, Yale, Vassar, Trinity College, Bard College, and Middlebury College. Her areas of specialization are Greek art and archaeology, and Greek history, myth, and religion. Her main publications include Art Myth and Ritual in Classical Greece (Cambridge, 2008), The Hunt in Ancient Greece (Baltimore and London, 2001), and Divine Escorts: Nereids in Archaic and Classical Greek Art (Ann Arbor, 1995). She has received numerous awards and fellowships, and was the 2007 Gertrude Smith Professor at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens.

Lecturer's Curriculum Vitae

To be supplied at later date.

Return to Top

Return to 2009-2010 Lectures Page