What happens when religion and state clash and neither party backs down? What happens to the individual when society breaks down in the face of such disharmony? Euripides' Bacchae is a haunting tragedy about the destructive conflict between the capricious god, Dionysus, and the irreverent Pentheus. Through an array of theoretical lenses which form a dialectical kaleidoscope of language, identification, and aesthetics, in this faculty-student roundtable, Zina Giannopoulou (Classics, European Studies, Religious Studies) and Ria Singh Thakur (Comparative Literature) consider the play's climactic episode of Pentheus’ death as the site of an event horizon of subjectivity where neither language nor pleas for mercy afford a reprieve.
Those interested in ancient Greek are especially encouraged to attend, but knowledge of the language is neither required nor expected. All are welcome!
Image credit: Jesús López Vargas