UTSA hosts classics symposium on language, myth, society in ancient world

UC Berkeley's Maurizio Bettini

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By Kris Rodriguez
Public Affairs Specialist

(Nov. 3, 2010)--The UTSA Department of Philosophy and Classics and the College of Liberal and Fine Arts will host the second Brackenridge Classics Symposium, "Language, Myth and Society in the Ancient World," Nov. 5-6 in the University Center Retama Auditorium (2.02.02) on the UTSA Main Campus.

Free and open to the public, the symposium will feature presentations from 10 of the nation's top scholars studying the fields of language, myths and societies.

Maurizio Bettini, a leading European scholar in Latin literature and ancient Roman culture, will present the keynote speech at 4:30 p.m., Friday, Nov. 5 in the University Center Retama Auditorium (2.02.02). Bettini holds an appointment in the Department of Classics at the University of California at Berkeley.

Other scheduled speakers include Keith Dickson, Purdue University; Stephen Scully, Boston University; Kate Brassel, Princeton University; Katherine Wasdin, Rutgers University; and Cristiano Viglietti, Universita degli Studi di Siena.

"This symposium will allow our students to see how the ideas they learned in their classes can be applied in many different ways," said Joel Christensen, UTSA professor of philosophy and classics. "Bettini's work focuses on the ways that myth and literature are integral to society. The way we talk about myth and literature can have an impact on understanding the function of society."

As founder and director of the Center for Anthropology of the Ancient World in Siena, Italy, Bettini heads a center which promotes scholarly collaboration among classicists, historians, anthropologists and culture theorists. The center hosts a group of scholars whose collaboration at numerous conferences, workshops and seminars has garnered international recognition.

An author of more than 200 books, essays, articles and stories, Bettini has served as editor or co-editor of six Italian literary publications. He has done presentations at conferences and seminars in seven countries. Bettini earned a doctoral degree in classics from the University of Pisa in Italy and completed post-doctoral fellowships in Heidelberg, Germany, and at the Harvard Center for Renaissance Studies.

The UTSA Department of Philosophy and Classics brings together award-winning faculty with expertise across the fields of philosophy, humanities and classical studies. The department offers a major and minor in both philosophy and classics, and minors in religious studies and humanities.