Mortality: Facing Death in Ancient Greece

FAIN: EH-50360-13

Regents of the University of California, Santa Cruz (Santa Cruz, CA 95064-1077)
Karen Bassi (Project Director: March 2013 to March 2015)

A four-week institute for twenty-five college and university faculty to study the history of mortality in ancient Greek culture.

All human beings are faced with the fact and consequences of their mortality. It can even be said that all forms of human culture are a defense against death. The University of California, Santa Cruz proposes a four-week National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute to investigate the history of mortality in ancient Greece. This history is a significant object of investigation in its own right and the basis for comparative study, across cultures, disciplines, and historical periods. The Institute will bring twenty-five college and university teachers together with graduate students and experts in relevant fields to examine a broad range of literary sources, visual and archaeological remains, and historical periods, ranging from the 8th to the 3rd centuries BCE in Greece. The Institute's goal is to collectively develop a multidisciplinary history of mortality in ancient Greece as the basis for rigorous and innovative teaching and scholarship in the Humanities.