Upcoming events
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Tue05Dec20232:30 pmBlandijn Faculteitszaal
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Tue12Dec20232:00 pmBlandijn room 0.2Show content
In my talk I will discuss some minor deities (demons) of the Indo-Iranian pantheon such as Gandharva(s) and their possible Indo-European parallels outside Indo-Iranian. In particular, I will focus on some features of Njörðr and other Nordic Vanir gods in order to show their structural similarities with the Gandharva(s), foremost, their importance for such issues as sexuality and fertility. Special attention will be paid to the etymology of the names of these gods. I will further demonstrate that this comparison may shed some light on the anthropogonic views of the Proto-Indo-Europeans and to figure out how they envisaged the origin of humankind and the role of (minor) gods in this emergence of humans.
Past events
Event Information:
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Thu10Dec2015Blandijnberg 2
Shakespeare Forger and Cretan Liar : Puzzling over William Henry Ireland
Show contentJack Lynch (Rutgers University): Shakespeare Forger and Cretan Liar : Puzzling over William Henry Ireland
I discuss the challenges of using bibliographical evidence to tell the truth about someone who was almost always lying. Most of our evidence about the life of William Henry Ireland is books and manuscripts that have passed through his hands -- but he was such a compulsive and pathological liar that anything he said must be doubted and anything he touched is suspect. The result is a strange version of the Cretan Liar's Paradox, in which we're forced to glean the truth from documents that refuse to give it.