Arts & Sciences Events

Location

Boswell Hall (formerly Morton Hall), Room 314
100 Ukrop Way
Williamsburg, VA 23185Map this location

The Lemnian princess Hypsipyle is a fascinating character in two epic poems of the late first century CE, the so-called Flavian period, Valerius? "Argonautica" (2. 1-427) and Statius? "Thebaid" (5. 1-498). While the Lemnian women, maddened by the vengeful goddess Venus, kill their husbands and children, Hypsipyle secretly rescues her father Thoas, by engaging in fake rituals. In this lecture, Prof. Panoussi will focus on these rituals and argue that they are instrumental in casting Hypsipyle as an agent whose power can shed light on Roman ideas vis-?-vis the construction of gender, male and female, in the Flavian period.