Alexander the Great at the Tomb of Achilles by Giovanni Paolo Pannini ca. 1730 (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
When Alexander the Great visited ‘Achilles’ tomb’ near Ilion/Troy in the fourth century BCE and ordered it to be made more conspicuous in the landscape, with what confidence could he do so? When Pausanias identified for his readers the location of the sanctuary of Herakles in Thebes, how could he be so sure?
This paper offers some reflections on what Jan Assmann has termed ‘cultural memory’. Taking three case-studies–in the modern world, the landscape and seascape near Cape Byron, New South Wales, and, in the ancient world, the ‘tombs’ of the great heroes of the Trojan War located near the Hellespont and the cityscape of Thebes–I explore how susceptible cultural memory is to distortion. I show how stories from the past may be mis-remembered, re-interpreted, and subtly (or less subtly) re-worked over time, as local populations, responding to present circumstance and present need, construct explanatory scenarios for what is before their eyes.
Save the Date
Monday 1 February 2027
6.30pm – 8.00pm
Venue TBC
The University of Sydney
About Professor Elizabeth Minchin
Elizabeth Minchin is Emeritus Professor of Classics at the Australian National University. Her research focuses largely on the Homeric epics and the landscapes of the Greek world. She has published two monographs, three edited volumes, and many book chapters and articles.
