[Usyd_Classics_Events] History Seminar Series 2026, 16 June: Billy Kennedy

[Ben Brown]

Dear All,
Dr Billy Kennedy will be speaking next Tuesday (12.30-2pm, Morven Brown 310) in the History Seminar Series at UNSW on the Socratic Antisthenes. See below for the details.
best, Ben

[UNSW]


HISTORY SEMINAR SERIES 2026

All are welcome to attend

Antisthenes' Ajax and Odysseus: an early attempt in prose at ethopoiia (characterisation)?



[cid:c0e5b6dd-1c3a-4803-a6c8-4e778a4d132e]

Speaker: Billy Kennedy, UNSW



This paper offers a fresh translation, and interpretation of the purpose and meaning, of Antisthenes’ Ajax and Odysseus. These are the only two complete fragments of his work to have survived, despite the fact that he was the closest companion of Socrates and a prolific and much-admired author in antiquity. On the rare occasions that Antisthenes’ Ajax and Odysseus have received scholarly attention they have generally been interpreted either as epideictic pieces, or as somewhat awkward representations of his own philosophical views. I will attempt to show here that they were, in fact, a rather brilliant exercise in ethopoiia (ἠθοποιΐα), ‘characterisation’. That is, they created through speech an appropriate representation of an individual’s character and moral position. With these speeches, Antisthenes was contributing to an elite discourse whereby an old aristocracy, beleaguered by radical democracy, was attempting to define some moral high ground to stand on and to defend that position.




Dr Billy Kennedy is is Lecturer in Ancient History at the University of New South Wales. He lectures on the history of Ancient Greece, Rome, and Ancient Egypt. His research interests include the values, culture, and discourse of the elites in Classical Greece. He is particularly interested in Antisthenes’ role as an innovative prose author and is working on an edition of his literary fragments with a commentary.





[cid:3387de6b-be80-457b-9f71-b98691d7e303]

16th June 2026

[cid:0c53c94d-d4f5-47c4-90c5-c06a28f24b87]

12.30pm-2:00pm

[cid:063e6155-3ed1-49cb-8c2b-a793fe9baed9]

Please note that this will be a hybrid event, held in person in Morven Brown 310 as well as online. Lunch will be provided to attendees.

Zoom link here<https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/V0I-CWLVXkUPrwEXnI6fLcoUmrV?domain=unsw.zoom.us>





Enquires: Thomas Lalevée: t.lalevee at unsw.edu.au or Zoe Smith: zoe.smith1 at unsw.edu.au



School of Humanities and Languages, Faculty of Arts, Design & Architecture

Ph +61 2 9348 0406

Follow Us

[UNSW Facebook]<https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/LHyyCXLW2mUqE7QDLfVhncWr3bp?domain=facebook.com>

[UNSW Instagram]<https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/XKUjCYW8NocNVo7pyf9i5cxIXEA?domain=instagram.com>

[UNSW LinkedIn]<https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/Oc3FCZY1NqiDKn68WCyswcBlqqh?domain=linkedin.com>

[UNSW Twitter]<https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/NiXvC1WLPxckJw4BQSYtKcVhPew?domain=twitter.com>

[UNSW WeChat]<https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/QKZ4C2xMQziR5oYZDtMuJc5gAkQ?domain=international.unsw.edu.au>

[UNSW Weibo]<https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/ufJmC3QNPBiGDYk9rSYCRcQx2AM?domain=weibo.com>

[UNSW YouTube]<https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/6YLnC4QOPEim4AV9wHNFjc4UW75?domain=youtube.com>

[UNSW TikTok]<https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/u56uC5QPXJixkYJprS4H5ckbERj?domain=tiktok.com>

Copyright © 2020 UNSW Sydney. All rights reserved. CRICOS Provider Code 00098G







This email and any files transmitted with it may contain confidential information. If you believe you have received this email or any of its contents in error, please notify me immediately by return email and destroy this email. Do not use, disseminate, forward, print or copy any contents of an email received in error.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.sydney.edu.au/pipermail/usyd_classics_events/attachments/20260609/82485769/attachment-0001.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image.png
Type: image/png
Size: 208447 bytes
Desc: image.png
URL: <http://mailman.sydney.edu.au/pipermail/usyd_classics_events/attachments/20260609/82485769/attachment-0011.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image.png
Type: image/png
Size: 523 bytes
Desc: image.png
URL: <http://mailman.sydney.edu.au/pipermail/usyd_classics_events/attachments/20260609/82485769/attachment-0012.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image.png
Type: image/png
Size: 1186 bytes
Desc: image.png
URL: <http://mailman.sydney.edu.au/pipermail/usyd_classics_events/attachments/20260609/82485769/attachment-0013.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image.png
Type: image/png
Size: 1371 bytes
Desc: image.png
URL: <http://mailman.sydney.edu.au/pipermail/usyd_classics_events/attachments/20260609/82485769/attachment-0014.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image.png
Type: image/png
Size: 2187 bytes
Desc: image.png
URL: <http://mailman.sydney.edu.au/pipermail/usyd_classics_events/attachments/20260609/82485769/attachment-0015.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image.png
Type: image/png
Size: 1865 bytes
Desc: image.png
URL: <http://mailman.sydney.edu.au/pipermail/usyd_classics_events/attachments/20260609/82485769/attachment-0016.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image.png
Type: image/png
Size: 2490 bytes
Desc: image.png
URL: <http://mailman.sydney.edu.au/pipermail/usyd_classics_events/attachments/20260609/82485769/attachment-0017.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image.png
Type: image/png
Size: 3165 bytes
Desc: image.png
URL: <http://mailman.sydney.edu.au/pipermail/usyd_classics_events/attachments/20260609/82485769/attachment-0018.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image.png
Type: image/png
Size: 1705 bytes
Desc: image.png
URL: <http://mailman.sydney.edu.au/pipermail/usyd_classics_events/attachments/20260609/82485769/attachment-0019.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image.png
Type: image/png
Size: 1672 bytes
Desc: image.png
URL: <http://mailman.sydney.edu.au/pipermail/usyd_classics_events/attachments/20260609/82485769/attachment-0020.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image.png
Type: image/png
Size: 1168818 bytes
Desc: image.png
URL: <http://mailman.sydney.edu.au/pipermail/usyd_classics_events/attachments/20260609/82485769/attachment-0021.png>