The New Golden Age of Oral Historical Storytelling

A FREE PUBLIC LECTURE

December 14th at 6pm, EDT

with Alex Petkas

Most Classical texts were written for oral cultures and aural enjoyment – though they are rarely enjoyed in that way today, especially in the original languages.  But the media-tech driven cultural revolution of podcasting is ushering in a new age of orality.  For better or worse, reading is down, listening is up.  As the noise increases exponentially, are the classics doomed?  The answer is, of course, “it depends.”  Our speaker, Alex Petkas, is the producer and host of The Cost of Glory, a new podcast retelling Plutarch’s Parallel Lives.  In his talk he will present on some of the opportunities and pitfalls of this new age, as well as some of the particular challenges with translating Plutarch’s stories to this new medium.

About our Speaker

Alex Petkas is a former Classics scholar turned media entrepreneur.  He holds a PhD in Classics from Princeton University.  He taught at the University of California, San Diego, and California State University, Fresno. He has published research on many subjects, including classical Athenian oratory, late ancient rhetoric and education, and epistle writing.  His research on the ancient media technologies of writing (especially letters) led him to take an active interest in the Classics in modern New Media.  His years of experience teaching at Paideia’s Living Greek in Greece program led him to a particular interest in the oral nature of classical texts.  His day job is in marketing.