Professor Tim Parkin at the Department of Classics and Archaeology at the University of Melbourne will launch the 2020 Greek History and Culture Seminars offered by the Greek Community of Melbourne, with a lecture entitles “The Briefest of Wonders: the Colossus of Rhodes’ on Thursday 5 March 2020, at the Greek Centre.

Shakespeare has Cassius speak of Caesar bestriding the narrow world like a Colossus under whose huge legs we petty men walk. So, what do we know of the original Colossus, the third-century BC statue of Helios erected in the harbour of the city of Rhodes? How, where and why was it built, and what became of it? In this illustrated talk I shall attempt to bring this short-lived wonder back to life and consider why, despite being so short-lived, it looms so large still in modern imaginations.

Tim Parkin joined the Classics and Archaeology department at the University of Melbourne in 2018 as the inaugural Elizabeth and James Tatoulis Chair in Classics. Before this he had spent over eleven years as Professor of Ancient History at the University of Manchester (UK). He is a New Zealander by birth who was awarded a D.Phil. at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar and who, since 1989, has worked in universities in New Zealand, Australia, and the United Kingdom, as well as spending 14 months in Germany as an Alexander von Humboldt research fellow. Tim's teaching covers both Greek and Roman history and classical languages. His main research is in ancient history, particularly Roman social, cultural, and demographic history. Among his publications are Demography and Roman Society (1992), Old Age in the Roman World: A Social and Cultural History (2003), Roman Social History: A Sourcebook (2007), and The Oxford Handbook of Childhood and Education in the Classical World (2014). He is currently working on, inter al., ancient sexual health, in particular sexually transmitted diseases.

The Greek History and Culture Seminars enter their tenth year. The success and appeal of the Seminars in the Greek and Australian communities exceeded all expectations and precedents.

The Seminars are offered free of charge by the Community with the financial support of organizations and individuals. If you would like to contribute to this endeavor, you can choose one or more lectures from the 2020 Seminar Program and offer $ 100 per lecture. Donation money is used to cover the operating expenses of the Seminars.

When: Thursday 5 March 2020, 7.00pm
Where: Greek Centre (Delphi Bank Mezzanine, 168 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne)
Program: greekcommunity.com.au/seminars