25th Annual Dorothy and Alan Buchan Lecture
Professor Naoíse Mac Sweeney: ‘Ancient Greek Origin Myths: Horrible heroes, pugnacious prophets and deviant daughters’
Wed 5 Nov 2025 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM
Lecture Theatre 2, Sir Bob Burgess Building, University of Leicester, Leicester LE2 6BF
(Parking is available in the adjoining Freemen’s Common Multi-Storey Car Park, 11 Putney Rd, Leicester LE2 7TF)
To celebrate the quarter-century of our keynote event, alumni, students, staff and guests are warmly invited to this year’s Buchan Memorial Lecture, delivered by Naoíse Mac Sweeney, Professor of Classical Archaeology at the Institute of Classical Archaeology in Vienna, and former Leicester colleague. The lecture will be followed by a drinks reception and a chance to meet the speaker.
Naoíse writes: ‘The origin myths of ancient Greek cities are colourful, rich, and diverse. Wandering heroes, grumpy prophets, Amazonian warriors, and half-human snake-men are just some of the civic founders claimed by different Greek cities at different points in time. The sheer variety of these stories (while very exciting!) can make it hard for us to interpret them, and to understand the role they played in ancient Greek society. Why did some Greek cities embrace monstrous or semi-human founders? Why did some prefer to celebrate a female ‘founding mother’ rather than conforming to the norm of a male ‘founding father’? Did cities in some parts of the Greek world favour certain types of origin myths, while cities in other places preferred others? In this lecture, I shall present some of the results of a five-year European project to collect Ancient Greek origin myths, identifying some of the patterns and trends that are beginning to emerge for this data.’
The event is free of charge, but those attending in person are strongly encouraged to apply for a ticket to ensure a seat in the auditorium and place at the reception.
See further details and book tickets here.
Online attendance is possible and a Teams link can be found here. You do not need to apply for a ticket if you wish to attend online.
Enquiries: SHAC@le.ac.uk