The lecture will be in English

By registering you will be able to submit your questions through Q&A on Zoom.

** Guests attending Cotsen Hall events are required to wear a mask and to present valid COVID-19 vaccination certificates or certificates of recovery (valid for 180 days) along with ID.

 

 

About the lecture:

 

Horses have long played an intrinsic role in human society, and this was certainly the case inancient Greece where they were a living embodiment of wealth, status, and prestige. Images ofhorses gallop, snort, and prance their way through the artistic record, and references toequinesare found throughout the textual tradition. The pervasive presence of this animal inthe literary and visual culture of the Greek world attests to their symbolic and economicsignificance, butwhat if we dig a bit deeper? What can we discover about the horsesthemselves and their interactions with humans, and how canwe use this to build a moredetailed understandingof the importance of this animal?This talk willlook at the horse as aliving artifact byexploringsome ofthe ways in which we can use experimental archaeology,practical experience andequestrianknowledge,as wellcomparative studiestoreconsiderdifferent ideas and theoriesabout ancient horses and horsemanship in order to build a morecomprehensivepicture ofequines and equestrianism in the ancient world.

About the speaker:

Carolyn Willkes is Assistant Professor in the Department of General Education at Mount Royal University.  She received her Ph.D. in Greek and Roman Studies from the University of Calgary.  Her research focuses on horses and equestrianism in the ancient Mediterranean, Central Asian, and Near Eastern worlds, with a particular interest in the practicalities of training, husbandry, and equestrian traditions. To accomplish this her work blends together academic scholarship and hands-on, practical experience with horses. She is the author of The Horse in the Ancient World: From Bucephalus to the Hippodrome (Bloomsbury 2016) as well as numerous articles and chapters on different aspects of ancient horsemanship, cavalry, and equestrian sport.