Monday October 31, 2016 @ 7:30
Graham Butler, UBC
Scythian
Archers: Athens’ Technicolour Police Force
Classical
Athens had a peculiar ‘police force’. They imported a troop of enslaved
Scythians, brightly costumed warrior nomads from north of the Black Sea, and
tasked them with maintaining order in assemblies and arresting criminals. These
slaves could even lay hands on freeborn citizens. This lecture examines who
these Scythians were, when and where the Greeks encountered them, why Athens
allowed to slaves the authority of ‘policemen’, and why Athens tapped the
distant Scythia for this labour.
Monday
November 28, 2016 @ 7:30
Hector
Williams, UBC
Cleopatra:
the Queen and the Legend
Cleopatra
VII, last queen of Ptolemaic Egypt, and one of the most famous women in
history, continues to fascinate. This illustrated talk of her life and
times will also look at the legends of a femme fatale which have grown up
around her over the centuries.
