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There are a lot of Greek myths about death! Sarah Iles Johnston will tell us all about them, starting with why the Greeks told myths and how the myths offered insights into difficult topics, including death. She will look closely at three myths about death that focus on female figures: Persephone, the queen of the dead; Erigone, a woman who died before she had a chance to marry; and Iphigenia a woman who, according to one version of her myth, never died at all. She'll be asking how these myths expressed—and to some degree challenged—social expectations for women. Persephone is compelled to marry the king of the dead against her will be manages to win an influential position for herself within his kingdom. Erigone chooses to die, and in doing so arranges her death in such a way that her ghost has power over the people who drove her to suicide. Iphigenia is sacrificed by Greek soldiers who were told by the goddess Artemis that they must do so in order to win the Trojan War—but at the last moment, Artemis relents and makes Iphigenia her eternal companion, which grants Iphigenia authority over many aspects of women's lives. Each of these females "dies" insofar as she leaves the normal world, but as their myths show, each manages to gain something important as well. Audience discussion and questions and answers are welcome.
Sarah Iles Johnston is the College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor of Religion in the departments of Classics and Comparative Studies at The Ohio State University. She is the author of five scholarly books on ancient Greek religion and myth, including, most recently, The Story of Myth and from 1999, Restless Dead. She is also the editor of a number of volumes on ancient Mediterranean religions, including Religions of the Ancient World: A Guide (2004), which introduces readers to eight major ancient Mediterranean religions, including Judaism and Christianity. In 2023 she published her first trade book, Gods and Mortals: Ancient Greek Myths for Modern Readers, which retells 140 myths in an engaging style while remaining true to the ancient sources. Her second trade book Arachne's Threads: Why Myths Mattered to the Greeks and Still Matter Now, will be out in late 2026. At Ohio State, Johnston teaches classes on ancient Greek myth, Greek religion, magic in ancient Greece and Rome, and a variety of other topics. She lives in Worthington with her husband and dog, just around the corner from her son and his family, and is a huge fan of her town
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