[Usyd_Classics_Events] CAH seminar 26th October Elizabeth Stockdale

[Tamara Neal]

Dear Friends of Classics and Ancient History,

We are delighted to invite you to the final presentation of Semester 2, 2026 in our Classics and Ancient History research seminar series.

Date 26th October 2026 (Monday, 12.15pm UTC+11)

Venue V. Gordon Childe Boardroom, Madsen Building Level 2.

Zoom link https://uni-sydney.zoom.us/j/81493879684

Chair Tamara Neal


Dr. Elizabeth Stockdale

Shepherds in Homeric Epic: An examination of ποιμήν, its cognates, and the significance of gender.

Shepherds in Homeric epic have been examined in relation to imagery (Freeman 2015), as a comparative concept between Greek and Sumerian texts, (Griffin 1992), and as a shepherd of people in Greek and Mesopotamian texts (Haubold 2015).  This paper aims to focus on the use and meanings of the word ποιμήν, and its cognates, as found in the Homeric narratives. It will argue that there are two main distinctive meanings of the word: the first being a shepherd  (which includes the concept of being a herdsman, and also specifically a goatherd), and the second being a shepherd of the people. When ποιμήν means ‘shepherd of the people,’ it is applied to leaders and chiefs such as Agamemnon and Menelaos. Predominantly it is a word that is applied to male figures in both the Iliad and the Odyssey. However, there is one instance where the word is applied to female figures, and they are divine: the goddesses who are ‘shepherds’ of the cattle of Helios in the Odyssey. This is a unique usage in Homeric epic and therefore will be examined as a third different meaning in the Homeric corpus.
Freeman, Jennifer Awes. "The Good Shepherd and the enthroned ruler: a reconsideration of imperial iconography in the early Church." The Art of Empire: Christian Art in Its Imperial Context 2015: 159-196.
Griffin, Jasper. "Theocritus, the Iliad, and the East." The American Journal of Philology 113.2 1992:189-211.
Haubold, Johannes. "Shepherds of the People." In Greek and Mesopotamian Perspectives: Rollinger, R.–Dongen, E. van (Hg.), Mesopotamia in the Ancient World. Impact, Continuities, Parallels (Melammu Symposia 7) 74.1059. 2015:245-254.


Bio
Elizabeth Stockdale is an Honorary Associate of the Department of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Sydney. Recently she was a Visiting Researcher at Girton College, University of Cambridge. Her first book, Female Agency and Virtue in the Odyssey, published by Routledge in 2026, has been nominated for the Runciman Award with the Anglo-Hellenic League, UK. She is currently working on a book concerning Helen in Post Classical Greek literature and Latin literature.

We look forward to welcoming you at this seminar.
Tamara

----------------------------------------
DR TAMARA NEAL FHEA | Senior Lecturer in Ancient Greek (Education Focused) | FASS Academic Advisor | Accredited University-wide Peer Reviewer of Teaching<https://canvas.sydney.edu.au/courses/16284/pages/12-dot-1-peer-review-of-teaching-module-overview>
President Classical Association of NSW<https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/pVYtCWLVXkUx9xNwgS6fkZso5Fs9?domain=classics.org.au>
Classics & Ancient History | School of Humanities│Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences
THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY
[cidimage001.png at 01D70E99.9CD0BE30]  I acknowledge and pay respect to the traditional custodians of the land (the Cammeraygal and Gadigal of the Eora Nation). It is upon their ancestral lands that I live and work.
I support the University of Sydney Pride Network

CRICOS 00026A
This email plus any attachments to it are confidential. Any unauthorised use is strictly prohibited. If you receive this email in error, please delete it and any attachments.
Please think of our environment and only print this e-mail if necessary.




-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.sydney.edu.au/pipermail/usyd_classics_events/attachments/20261019/07e8b871/attachment-0001.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 311 bytes
Desc: image001.png
URL: <http://mailman.sydney.edu.au/pipermail/usyd_classics_events/attachments/20261019/07e8b871/attachment-0001.png>