Τhe Programme "Studies in Hellenic Culture" of the Open University of Cyprus (OUC) is organizing the current semester the 5th Cycle of the Lecture Series in Late Antiquity with general title: “When our world became Christian”. The upcoming fourth lecture of the Series is entitled “‘What will you lose if I laugh?’: Comedic Shows, Urbanity and Christianization in Late Antiquity”, and the invited speaker is Dr. Richard Lim, Professor of History at Smith College in Massachusetts, USA. The online event will be held on Thursday, 28 March 2024, 19:00 (GMT+2), and will be broadcasted live through OUC’s eLearning Platform (eClass) at the web link: https://shorturl.at/kBIOW. Convenor of the Lecture Series is Associate Professor Georgios Deligiannakis, Programme "Studies in Hellenic Culture". The Series is supported by the Student and Alumni Union of the Programme and the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation.
Registration Link: https://forms.office.com/e/RTfi7Fd8Kn
What roles did comedic shows continue to play in Roman society with the rise of Christianity in Late Antiquity? Why were they opposed by some Christians when, at first sight, the art of making people laughter may appear less likely than gladiatorial combat, chariot races and pantomimic dances to cause offense among the religious? In this talk, Prof. Lim will explore the nature of comedic theatre and the performances by mimes in particular, their reception by various segments of the Late Roman population and what this tell us in regards to the relationship between Christianization and Roman urban culture.
Richard Lim is Professor of History at Smith College in Massachusetts, USA. He studied at the University of California at Berkeley and Princeton University. His dissertation was on Public Disputation, Power and Social Order in Late Antiquity. Besides the social and cultural history of philosophical and religious debates in Late Antiquity, he has been investigating aspects of the historical encounters between Christianity and the Roman public spectacles of the theatre, amphitheatre and hippodrome, including how they gave rise to the category of ‘secular’. His recent works include an article on ‘“Talk of the Town”: Sociability, the Culture of Spectacles and Religiosity in Roman and Late Roman Metropolitan Cities’, and, with Asuman Lätzer-Lasar, a chapter on ‘The Festive City’ for the Cambridge Urban History of Europe. His work has also followed the recent ‘Eurasian turn’ in Late Antique studies and is currently completing a project on ‘The First Official Contact between Rome and China?: a Roman Embassy to the Han Emperor’s Court in A.D. 166’.
