The following material was placed on the web by Prof. Sienkewicz of Monmouth College, If you have any questions, you can contact him at toms@monm.edu.
The Monmouth College Department of Classics presents the fourteenth annual Bernice L. Fox Classics Lecture Always Something New From Africa: Ancient Africa and its Marvels
by Professor Kenneth Kitchell University of Massachusetts at Amherst |
Brief Lecture Description / Time and Location /
More Detailed Lecture Description / About the Lecturer /
Monday, October 12, 1998
7:30 P.M.
Highlander Room
Stockdale Center
Monmouth College
In this illustrated talk Kitchell offers an overview of the image of Africa in the art, literature, and minds of the ancient Greeks and Romans. He focuses, in particular, on the inhabitants of the continent, both real and mythical, and deals not only with elephants, rhinoceri and monkeys but also with fabulous races of deformed and unique human beings such as the bogey-woman named Lamia, African demons, and self-healing hippos. He examines fantastic stories about how to catch a crocodile and why lions have successively fewer children with each litter. Kitchell uses these tales to show how the ancients could use oral tradition critically. They were entertained by these fantastic tales but were able to distinguish between the facts and fiction.