1. Introduction: murderous games

First lecture of Professor Dame Mary Beard's Gifford Lecture series

Event details

Date: Monday 6 May 2019, 5.30 - 6.30pm

The lecture may be followed by questions.  Latest finishing time is 7pm.

Venue: The Gordon Aikman Lecture Theatre, George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9LH 

Lecture abstract

This lecture introduces some of those moral and ethical dilemmas in studying the classical world, asking how we understand remote ancient cultures that have come to stand both for the pinnacle of "civilisation" and for the nadir of corruption and cruelty. Choosing the gladiatorial games as one case study, it takes aim at the sense of moral superiority that we so often display in the face of some of antiquity's worst "crimes". 

Lecture video

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