ExL takes as its theme the Socratic call to “the examined life.” Through readings and lectures, our goal is to encourage teachers and students to nurture the search for wisdom and the ultimate power of principled thinking.
Much like the 2021 offerings, the 2022 Examined Life Seminars featured new lecturers and presenters. Our semester runs from January through May with the Study Tour of Greece scheduled annually during the local April school vacation.
After a zoom intro meeting, our first presentation was a conversation led by Dr. Theo Theoharis on the Oedipus Trilogy. We used as our seminal text a new translation of The Oedipus Trilogy by Sophocles, translated by Brian Doerries, published by Vintage Books, a division of Penguin Random House (2021).
Oedipus is the most famous and influential figure from the canon of Ancient Greek Tragedy. This is almost entirely due to the first play in which he appears, Oedipus Tyrannos. In this class, we examined how the other two plays in the cycle, Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone round out the thematic elements, and the story line initiated in the first play, especially the enigma of innocence mixed with guilt and how that relates to the incest in Oedipus line, and how that incest pollutes social order, especially governance of Thebes. Civil war, usurpation of the throne, suicides of a betrothed pair–all these disasters are dramatic presentations of the metaphysical problem giving rise to them all–the relation of fated destiny to humanity’s freedom, or perhaps more accurately, it’s idea of freedom.
In February, Stephen Guerriero, ExL Resident Scholar, moderated a conversation with Flint Dibble, currently the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Fellow in the School of History, Archaeology, and Religion at Cardiff University. Dr. Dibble, an archaeologist who studies animal bones from the ancient Greek world, has focused his research on foodways in ancient Greece. He touches on topics of urbanism, climate change, religious ritual and everyday life. His goal is to make real archaeological research accessible to everyone. And in the process, show why archaeology still matters today. @FlintDibble
Anticipating our scheduled Study Tour visit to the excavations at Corinth, in early March we enjoyed a conversation with Eleni A. Gizas (Steinmetz Family Foundation Museum Fellow, ASCSA, Corinth Excavations) and Dr. Ioulia Tzonou (Associate Director, Corinth Excavations). Ancient Corinth is the American School’s longest running excavation. The excavation team has documented the history of the site and its territory from the Early Neolithic period (ca. 6,500 B.C.) to the modern day. The ancient city center, where St. Paul preached and which is toured by more than 150,000 visitors annually, is dominated by impressive Greek, Roman, and Byzantine monuments. In addition to their training program in excavation techniques and procedures, the ASCSA has recently embarked on an ambitious outreach program for school audiences in the U.S. and Greece and a comprehensive program of heritage management. The school produced an award winning video TWELVE DECADES OF DISCOVERY: AMERICAN SCHOOL EXCAVATIONS AT CORINTH which can be found on their website https://www.ascsa.edu.gr/.
In late March and for the first time since 2019, we were able to meet in person at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, for a personal tour of the newly opened Behrakis Galleries, featuring the Museum’s rich trove of Ancient Greek and Roman artifacts.
Our fifth gathering focused on a modern day drama adapted from Robert Fagles’s acclaimed translation—An Iliad telescopes Homer’s Trojan War epic into a gripping monologue that captures both the heroism and horror of war. Crafted around the stories of Achilles and Hector. In language that is by turns poetic and conversational, An Iliad brilliantly refreshes this world classic. What emerges is a powerful piece of theatrical storytelling that vividly drives home the timelessness of mankind’s compulsion toward violence. We were honored to be joined by co-playwrights Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare for an in-depth conversation about the play from inception to stage.
After all Fellows had returned from Greece and the Study Tour, the 2022 semester ended with a conversation with Jason Felch, an investigative reporter with the Los Angeles Times. In 2006 he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Investigative Reporting for exposing the role of the J. Paul Getty Museum and other American museums in the black market for looted antiquities. Before meeting with Mr. Felch, we enjoyed reading his book Chasing Aphrodite: The Hunt for Looted Antiquities at the World’s Richest Museum by Jason Felch and Ralph Frammolino, pub-lished by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (2011). Jason stays on top of the latest news about looted antiquities. He also has a blog, which is linked in his Twitter bio @ChasingAphrodit.
Planning is underway for another fresh and interesting slate of speakers to join us in 2023. If you would like get more information about the program and the Study Tour of Greece, please reach out to us at exlteachgreece@gmail.com.