BURSAR REPORTS FROM THE CONFERENCE HERCULES: A
HERO FOR ALL AGES, LEEDS 24-6 TH 2013
DELEGATES SUPPORTED BY CLASSICAL ASSOCIATION
BURSARIES
Katherine Lu (CUNY)
There are many ways in which I benefited from attending the conference, and my deepest thanks go to the Classical Association for enabling me to attend. This was the first time I've presented on a topic in reception studies, and it was a wonderful experience for me. I learned a great deal from seeing other scholars' approaches to contemporary media, and I now think that I would like to teach an undergraduate "Classics and Film" course in the future. In terms of my research, I focus on Heracles' heroic disasters in classical Greek literature, and I was particularly inspired by the "Vice and Virtue" plenary panel. Until now, I haven't made much of Prodicus' fable, and I found the panel's discussions of how the episode is used in the postclassical era very stimulating. I now think that exploring notions of Virtue and Vice in greater depth will help me frame my own analysis of Heracles' praiseworthy and problematic use of violence.
Olga Vassilieva-Codognet (EHESS, Paris)
Taking part in the ’Hercules: A Hero for All Ages’ conference that recently took place in Leeds
(24 th -26 th June 2013) was for me both a great pleasure and a beneficial opportunity. I truly enjoyed the infinite variety of a seemingly plain topic and the interdisciplinary perspective of a conference which brought together neophyte students and experienced scholars from all over the world: classicists, medievalists, neo-Latinists, modernists and art historians. Among the numerous interesting conference sessions, I particularly appreciated ‘Hercules and the
Christians’ (possibly because my own talk was somehow related to the theme) and ‘Hercules in
France’ (especially Marc Bizer’s fine presentation of Du Bellay‘s Regrets and Jon Salomon’s extraordinary opera films). Regarding the plenary sessions, Karl Galinsky’s methodological remarks will not be lost on me, as is the case of Emma Stafford’s intriguing sixties Italian movies – I will definitely try and find the ones with Sylva Koscina and Sylvia Lopez! Very interesting and very unusual (at least for me) was the non-academic evening activity, viz. the
Wife of Herakles projection and discussion. But a conference is more than the mere absorption of new knowledge: it is also an occasion to meet old friends and new people. Regarding the former, I discussed with great pleasure with my emblematist colleague Alison Adams, and regarding the latter, I was delighted to make acquaintance with Eva AnagnostouLaoutides − I hope we will be able to organize something together in the near future on wine and libations in
Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Finally, I would like to say a word about Marian Maguire: I met and sympathized with her before knowing who she was and I hope to remain in contact with this most remarkable artist.
Alexandra Eppinger (Heidelberg; half bursary)
Attending the Hercules conference in Leeds inspired me to not only continue my own research on the ancient incarnations of
Hercules but also to start looking for a suitable subject matter to explore regarding his reception in later ages. The conference could thus be the starting point for doing some research of my own on the reception of antiquity, which is a field I had not previously worked in. I have gained valuable insights into many aspects of the reception of Hercules as well as new perspectives
Alexandra chairing Eva
Anagnostou-Laoutides in the
Hercules and the Christians panel. on the ancient hero that will be incorporated into my PhD thesis on Hercules in Late Antiquity which I am currently revising and preparing for publication. In that sense, attending the conference directly benefited my thesis and the final form it is probably going to have in print.
The conference also offered me the important opportunity to meet people working in the same field and exchanging ideas, maybe even with a view to collaborating on future projects

within the framework of a hopefully-to-be-established network of Hercules scholars.
Conversations with another attendant, Cary MacMahon, also led me to consider getting a more in-depth knowledge of late antique textiles and working more extensively on examples with
Hercules motifs than I had done previously, thus maybe establishing a new research interest for me. Furthermore, I have certainly benefited from the chance of chairing a conference session for the first time, since I now know what is involved in that and how to manage an introduction and discussion in a foreign language and foreign academic culture.
Francesca Richards (Durham; half bursary)
Attending Hercules: A Hero for All Ages was an extremely valuable experience for me on a number of levels. I was kindly invited to chair the panel which was directly relevant to my own research on classics and children's literature, which being such a new area of study, means that any opportunity to meet other researchers in the field is useful. This panel enabled me to compare possible methodologies and approaches to the subject, which is critical at a time where publications are at a stage when they are in the pipeline, but not yet published. Outside of this panel too, papers demonstrating wider practice in reception theory and ideas of heroism have left me with some ideas of new directions for my own work. One meeting with another delegate could (very likely, it seems) lead to a small breakthrough in my own work, on something which I had been struggling with for a while! My research covers a wide breadth of material and there were more relevant panels than I could physically make it to - I very much look forward to catching up on some of the papers I missed as part of the Virtual Delegate facility, and indeed, listening again to some of those which I attended.
DELEGATES SUPPORTED BY HELLENIC SOCIETY BURSARIES
Filipa Medeiros (Coimbra)
I presented a paper about the use of the herculean figure as a political emblem during the 18th century in Portugal and fortunately I realized that was one of the most interesting topics discussed during the event.
As Professor Galinsky has shown, Hercules' image has been adapted even by contemporaneous leaders and people should be more aware of that propagandistic mechanisms. It was a great opportunity for me to improve my English and get in touch with some inspiring research and educational projects developed in Leeds. On the other hand, the thematic diversity of the meeting and the methodic debate after the sessions made me understand the importance of the cheerful academic discussion. In what concerns my individual research, the participation on the event brought me the opportunity to listen many specialists related to Ancient Culture and one of the most respectable teachers of emblematic studies. Their comments on my paper helped me to draw a better iconographic perspective and I hope this was just the beginning of a larger learning/collaboration. This important experience could not have been possible without the support of The Hellenic Society and the help of Emma Stafford, to whom I send my best regards with gratitude.
Efstathia Athanasopoulou (UCL)
I would like to thank the Hellenic Society which gave me the opportunity to present and attend the Conference Hercules: A
Hero for All Ages which was excellently organized thanks to the
Herculeian labours of Emma Stafford and Eleanor O’ Kell at the
University of Leeds. I was particularly benefited from Prof.
Galinsky’s speech on the way that memory studies can inform reception studies. I was also interested in finding out that there were different ways that the lion skin could be worn at different periods each one with new semantic connotations. Furthermore, I was very happy to discover that Heracles can be a medium for exploring the reception of classics outside the class and the elite in the 19 th c.
England. I was also fascinated learning that Voltaire, as did later Freud with Oedipus, engaged in a double dialogue with the hero using him a) a medium for fighting against religious

superstitions and b) as a mythical figure to model himself upon. The different readings of the
“Labours of Hercules (2006)/(2007): 12 lithographies and 8 etchings” by the artist herself
(Maguire) and the classicist (Hawes) initiated a fruitful dialogue concerning the uses of reception as a methodological tool. Finally, this fascinating conference functioned for me as a spring board for further research on the following topics: a) the reception of Heracles in Late
Antiquity and Byzantium, b) the use of Hercules in 20 and 21 st century: is he a hero for the theatre or the cinema and c) the reception of Heracles in the postcolonial world. Dear Hellenic
Society, I am in debt.
DELEGATES SUPPORTED BY A ROMAN SOCIETY BURSARY
Katy Barrett (Cambridge)
What a very brilliant opportunity it has been to take part in the Hercules:
A hero for all ages conference. As an art historian working on the eighteenth century, this has been an invaluable opportunity for me to learn about the figure of Hercules in the classical world as well as a whole host of more recent receptions. I have found the interdisciplinary nature of the conference particularly useful for thinking about my work from different perspectives and for opening potential avenues for future research. Particularly, in terms of my work on representations of actors,
I've been grateful to talk to drama historians who I would not otherwise have met. I've been struck, likewise, by the depth of historical receptions of Hercules that this conference has highlighted and which help immeasurably to put my work in context.
For full details of the conference, and a general report, see the website
(http://www.leeds.ac.uk/arts/news/article/3583/report_on_the_conference_hercules_a_hero_for
_all_ages_leeds_24-26th_july_2013).
Emma Stafford
University of Leeds
17/7/13