The different ways in which classical myth, and ideas of the mythic, intersect with different fields of thought comes under the spotlight at Bristol University this week.

Experts from universities in Britain, Europe and the U.S. will meet to discuss the ways in which different forms of science and scientific knowledge (such as evolutionary theory or cybernetics) appeal to myth when declaring themselves as science.  The work of writers as diverse as Aristotle and Francis Bacon, Nathanial Hawthorne and Homer will be discussed at a three-day conference entitled Myth and the New Science.

The conference will include a number of talks by academics from the University of Bristol.

Dr Miriam Leonard from the Department of Classics and Ancient History will look at the final work of Sigmund Freud, Moses and Monotheism, and examine the central role that the reception of the ancient world has played in the development of the Freudian theory of history. 

Dr Genevieve Liveley, also from the Department of Classics and Ancient History, will speak on how Darwin’s theory of evolution has affected the way we read myths about monkeys and men. 

Dr Liz Potter from the Institute of Greece, Rome and the Classical Tradition will focus on the treatment of myth by Greek historians in the 18th and 19th centuries.  She will also set these historians in the context of other 19th-century attitudes to myth, considering the use of Greek myth by poets, literary and social critics and the interest taken not only in the Greco-Roman pantheon but also in Celtic, Norse, Icelandic, Asian and American myths.

Dr Ika Willis, based in the Department of Classics and Ancient History, will ask what happens to the writing of history when writing is displaced by new recording technologies such as film and phonography.

In his plenary address, Professor Stephen Bann from the Department of History of Art will consider the role that myth plays in two highly influential contemporary works: Roland Barthes Mythologies and Hayden White's Metahistory.

Dr Ellen O’ Gorman, the conference organiser, said: “Our last conference, on classical myth and feminist thought, was a great success and the proceedings were published as a book entitled Laughing with Medusa.  We hope this year’s conference will be equally rewarding and are delighted to welcome experts not only from Bristol and elsewhere in the U.K. but also from France, Greece and the U.S.”

The conference takes place from Thursday 27 July to Saturday 29 July at the Burwalls Centre for Continuing Education, University of Bristol.

Bristol Institute for Research in the Humanities and Arts (BIRTHA)