Dr Shanshan Bai (Sichuan University & Groningen University) will speak to us on Spartan Memory of the Persian Wars in the Leonidea Under Rome

The Centre for Spartan & Peloponnesian Studies at the University of Nottingham and the Municipality of Sparti are pleased to invite you to this week’s Sparta Live! webinar, which will take place on Thursday 17 October, 5pm (BST) / 7pm (EET)

Dr Shanshan Bai (Sichuan University & Groningen University) will speak to us on Spartan Memory of the Persian Wars in the Leonidea Under Rome

Summary of talk

The Leonidea festival was celebrated annually in honour of Leonidas and Pausanias, Spartan heroes of the Persian Wars in Roman Sparta. The Spartan king Leonidas had been the chief commander at the battle of Thermopylae, and was praised by many literary sources. In contrast, the regent Pausanias, who was a commander at Plataea, did not enjoy the same favourable reputation, since he was ruined by crimes such as secretly returning Persian captives and adopting undesirable customs from Persian barbarians. Why did the Spartans honour a hero who did not win the war alongside a figure widely considered a wrongdoer in the Persian Wars under Roman rule? Building on the concepts of cultural memory from Jan Assmann, this talk examines the establishment of the festival, juxtaposition of Pausanias and Leonidas, and argue that Sparta reshaped its collective memory, particularly that of Pausanias, by associating him with Leonidas in the festival to promote its ancient glory and uphold the imperial ideology.

Attendance to the webinar is free but you must register in advance via this link: https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/83eee808-fe1b-4d45-986d-7072fb0529b4@67bda7ee-fd80-41ef-ac91-358418290a1e

The event will also be broadcasted live via https://manimedia.gr/

We look forward to having you attend the event.

Please kindly forward this invitation to anyone in your networks who might be interested in attending.

Dr Chrysanthi Gallou

Associate Professor of Archaeology

Director of Research & Knowledge Exchange, REF Coordinator, and Impact Lead, Department of Classics & Archaeology

Director, Centre for Spartan & Peloponnesian Studies

Department of Classics & Archaeology

School of Humanities

University of Nottingham

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