Pre-Modern Seminar No 37: Camilla Asplund

On Monday November 3rd PhD Camilla Asplund Ingemark
from Åbo Akademi University in Turku, Finland, will give a talk called:

“Of Apes and Wet-Nurses: Reading the Implicit in an Ancient Roman Story”

The seminar will take place in the library of Skandinavistika (Ülikooli 17, 3rd floor, room 305) at 18.15.
 

Camilla has sent us a short presentation of her lecture:

“In this seminar I will present an analysis of a story recorded by the Ancient Roman author Aelian (165/170–230/235 AD), dealing with the disastrous consequences of the imitative capabilities of apes. In this quite brief narrative, an ape observes a wet-nurse bathing a baby and tries to do the same, but as the ape takes boiling water for the baby’s bath, the story does not end well. I will discuss Ancient Greek and Roman conceptions of apes and nurses, and attempt to interpret the potential meanings of the story for a Roman audience. I suggest the story is an analogue of modern stories of untrustworthy babysitters, and that the fears they express could to some extent be the same: it is dangerous to leave your offspring in the hands of someone other than yourself.“

Everybody is welcome!