TALK: Divine Eyes

About the talk:

In Antiquity, seers formed the bridge between humans and gods. As charismatic professionals, they interpreted divine messages in public or private rituals. They made use of signs and oracles. This talk explores a number of archetypes of famous and infamous seers and their practices from Greek mythology and history.

For this talk, we are joined by Emilie van Opstall, who is a classicist specialising in storytelling in Antiquity and the Middle Ages. As well as teaching at VU University Amsterdam, she is also a writer and documentary-maker.

Every year, we organize exciting talks with artists of the festival, scientists, and experts in various disciplines. This year, the subjects we have chosen are informed by the theme of the Seer: the dark side of one’ s psyche, seeing the impending future, and pondering what happens behind the veil of death.