Emily Katz Anhalt Lecture—Enraged: Why Violent Times Need Ancient Greek Myths

In this lecture based on her new book, Enraged: Why Violent Times Need Ancient Greek Myths, classics faculty member Emily Katz Anhalt reveals how three masterworks of classical Greek literature can teach us, as they taught the ancient Greeks, to recognize violent revenge as a marker of illogical thinking and poor leadership. Rage may be a natural reaction to insult, injury, or injustice, but Homer, Euripides, and Sophocles demonstrate the foolishness of celebrating those who indulge in violent rage. These time-honored texts emphasize the costs of our dangerous penchant for glorifying violent rage and those who would indulge in it. By promoting compassion, rational thought, and debate, Greek myths help to arm us against the tyrants we might serve and the tyrants we might become. Light refreshments will be served. Copies of Enraged: Why Violent Times Need Ancient Greek Myths will be available for sale.

Emily Katz Anhalt teaches classical languages and literature at Sarah Lawrence College. She received her PhD in classical philology from Yale University and has also taught Greek mythology, classical languages, and history at Yale and at Trinity College. The author of Solon the Singer: Politics and Poetics, Anhalt lives in Guilford, CT. This event is part of the Inaugural Year series Democracy and Education: Join the Conversation.