[Usyd_Classics_Events] REMINDER: USYD Classics and Ancient History Seminar March 17: Anthony Hooper

[Ben Brown]

Dear Friends of Classics and Ancient History,

We are delighted to invite you to the second presentation of Semester 1, 2025 in our Classics and Ancient History research seminar series.

March 17th (Monday, 12.15pm UTC+11) in the VGCC Boardroom
Zoom link: https://uni-sydney.zoom.us/j/83159864939

Anthony Hooper (University of Wollongong)

Epic kleos as a Model for Immortality in Plato

How do we become immortal? On the face of it, the matter seems clear enough: just don’t die! But while such an answer can’t be faulted on the grounds of pithiness and simplicity, living forever is not always the most practical, or potentially even desirable option. There is another thread of thought which appears in contemporary reflection on immortality, which traces its roots back to the ancient world, which presents another possibility: we might secure immortality by employing our productive capacities. On this account, by producing artefacts which outlast us, we might ‘live on’ in the world long after our individual lives have come to and end. Not just any production will do, of course, but it is a familiar enough claim in regards to great monuments, works of art, and even certain philosophical productions. But can such a conceit pass philosophical muster, and transcend mere metaphorical operation?
This paper pursues a defence of the model of immortality-via-production pursued by Plato in his Symposium. My innovative manoeuvre is to pursue hitherto unrecognised epic entanglements of Diotima’s account. My focus is the extended passage of 208c1-209e4, in which Diotima offers various examples of erotic productivity to justify her claims that the artefacts which result from this process - either children or poetic and philosophical logoi - serve to furnish their producers with immortality. I suggest that, in this passage, Diotima situates her account of immortality-via-production in an established tradition of post-mortem fate which I refer to as the ‘kleos tradition’, which finds its foundational expression in the Iliad and the Odyssey. In doing so I argue that Diotima develops a plausible and defensible account of immortality on her own criteria, which touches on matters of memory, narrative, honour, recognition, and social identity, among other important issues.

Anthony Hooper is Lecturer in the School of Liberal Arts at the University of Wollongong. His central research interests is the intersection of ancient philosophy and literature, with a focus on exploring these points of contact in Plato. He is the co-editor of the volume, Aspects of Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Greece, and the upcoming volume, The Draw of Thaleia: Plato and Comedy in the Socratic Dialogues.

For further information please reply to this email off-list.

All best, Ben
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