New Hampshire
Classics Week Celebration 2007
Schedule of Events


Click here or on icon at right for a printer-friendly version of the NHPTV broadcast schedule and listing of campus events for Michael Wood.

Date

Event

Locations updated 04 October 2007


October 2007

NH Gov. Lynch declares the beginning of Classics Week (October 21-27) in the state.


Tuesday, October 23, 2007

5:00-6:00pm, NHPTV Meet and Mingle with Michael Wood,
Memorial Union Building, Wildcat Den, UNH, Durham

NHPTV invites you to meet Michael Wood prior to his Tuesday evening lecture. The gathering is scheduled from 5:00-6:00pm at the Wildcat Den in the MUB (Memorial Union Building). The Den is located one floor below the Strafford Room lecture hall.

6:30-8pm, public lecture, "The Golden Fleece: Legend, History, and Geography"
Memorial Union Building, UNH, Durham. Strafford Room

The legend of Jason and the Argonauts is one of the greatest Greek myths, told and retold for nearly three thousand years, right down to Hollywood. The story of the expedition to seize the Golden Fleece was already famous in Homer's day. But where does the tale come from? How old is it? And what was the Golden Fleece? Recently Michael Wood retraced the route of the mythic Greek expedition to Georgia in the Caucasus. In this lecture he looks at the various retellings of the tale and their expansion to accommodate geography as the ancient Greeks colonized the coast of the Black Sea and South Russia. Remarkable new archaeological finds at Jason's palace of Iolkos in Greece are combined with fascinating recent discoveries about the Aeolian roots of Greek epic poetry before Homer, and the Anatolian roots of the Golden Fleece legend--a legend adopted by the Greeks during the 'orientalizing revolution' of the tenth-eighth century B.C.


Wednesday,October 24, 2007

7-8:30pm, public lecture, "The Trojan War: Legend and History"
Memorial Union Building, Strafford Room, UNH, Durham

Recently the subject of a Hollywood epic with Brad Pitt, what is the truth behind the tale of Troy? Was there a real Troy and a real Trojan War? Did Helen of Troy really exist? Over 20 years after his groundbreaking TV series Michael Wood returns to the story taking in the first incredible discoveries made in the 1870s by Heinrich Schliemann (using unpublished photos), down to the current excavations which are throwing dramatic new light on the tale. Also discussed in this lecture will be the latest work on a Bronze Age archive of diplomatic letters found in Turkey which may contain first hand evidence for a real Trojan War.

8:30-9:00pm, reception hosted by Classical Association of New England,
Memorial Union Building, Wildcat Den, UNH, Durham


The Classical Association of New England invites you to a reception following this evening's lecture. Meet one of the world's foremost filmmakers and historians, Michael Wood, in the Wildcat Den, one floor below the Strafford Room lecture hall. Free and open to the public.


Thursday, October 25, 2007

12:40-2pm, public lecture, "In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great: New Light on the Greek Invasion of Asia"
Memorial Union Building, Strafford Room, UNH, Durham

A lecture about history and the Classics. Ten years after his epic TV journey in the footsteps of Alexander the Great, with the help of stunning images and video, Michael Wood looks over some of the great events of Alexander's expedition, in Egypt, Iran, Central Asia, Pakistan and India, with new material drawn from a dramatic journey into Northern Iraq made last summer with US forces, on which he was able to pin down for the first time the site of the greatest battle of the ancient world.

7:30-9pm, public lecture, the annual John C. Rouman Classical Lecture, "The Point of the Classics: The Enduring Image of Greece" Memorial Union Building, Granite State Room, UNH, Durham

A lecture about the continuities of Greek culture from the deep past to the modern age, and its continuing relevance to us all.

9:00-10:00pm, reception hosted by College of Liberal Arts, Memorial Union Building, Granite State Room Foyer, UNH, Durham

Dr. Marilyn Hoskin, the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, cordially invites you to a reception for Mr. Wood in the Granite State Room Foyer immediately following the annual lecture. Free and open to the public.


Friday, October 26, 2007

5pm, Tenth Anniversary Dinner
New England Center, Great Bay Room, University of New Hampshire, Durham

Remarks by Michael Wood and other Distinguished Guests at award-winning culinary arts center of the university in celebration of the decennial anniversary of the lecture series. Following the dinner, the Hellenic & Near Eastern Musical Society Orchestra will give a concert. Open to public. Tickets $30 each; purchase deadline Monday October 8, 2007. Contact Thelmas Sidmore of the L.L.C. Dept. at the University of New Hampshire (603-862-3522) or any Rouman Classical Lecture Series Advisory Board member for tickets.


For more information, contact Thelma Sidmore, Secretary of the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures (L.L.C.) at the University of New Hampshire (University of New Hampshire, Department of L.L.C., Murkland Hall, 15 Library Way, Durham, NH 03824, tel. 603-862-3522, tss@cisunix.unh.edu). Event information updated as additional details announced.


(Updated 14 October 2007)

Hosting of webpages sponsored by Hellenic Communication Service, the Christos and Mary Papoutsy Charitable Foundation. For more information, contact the Classics Program at UNH or Hellenic Communication Service (PO Box 710, Rye Beach, NH 03871; helleniccomserve@papcoholdings.org).