Divine Might: public lecture by Natalie Haynes

Bestselling-author Natalie Haynes returns to the University of Melbourne after her first sensational visit in 2019, and she returns to the world of Greek myth she so wittily explored in Pandora’s Jar. Now she turns her focus onto Olympus itself – not on the gods, who have had far more attention than they deserve over the millennia since these stories were first told, but on the goddesses!

Here we meet Athene, who sprang fully formed from her father’s brow (giving Zeus a killer headache in the process), goddess of war, guardian of the city named for her and sacred to her, and provider of wise counsel. Here too is Aphrodite, born of the foam (or, as some sources say, sperm released from a castrated Titan’s testicles), the most beautiful of all the Olympian goddesses, dispensing desire and inspiring longing – but with a nasty line in brutal punishment for those who displeased her. And then there is Hera, Zeus’s long-suffering wife, whose jealousy of his repeated dalliances with mortals, with nymphs, with other goddesses, led her to wreak elaborate and often painful revenge on those she felt had wronged her. Well, wouldn’t you?We also meet Demeter, goddess of the harvest and mother of the hapless Persephone; Artemis, the huntress, virgin goddess of childbirth (Greek myth is full of confusion); the Muses, all nine of them; wide-bosomed Gaia, the earth goddess; and Hestia, goddess of domesticity but also of sacrificial fire.

Natalie Haynes is a UK writer and broadcaster. She has recently been hailed as the UK’s great muse! She is the author of novels The Amber Fury, shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize; The Children of Jocasta, a feminist retelling of the Oedipus and Antigone stories; A Thousand Ships (shortlisted for the Women’s Prize), a retelling of the Trojan War from an all-female perspective and Stone Blind a re-telling of the Medusa story (long listed for the Women’s Prize); and non-fiction books The Ancient Guide to Modern Life and Pandora’s Jar about the women in Greek myths. She has written and presented ten series of the BBC Radio 4 show, Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics. In 2015, she was awarded the Classical Association Prize for her work in bringing Classics to a wider audience.

Natalie’s visit to the Univerity of Melbourne in 2019 was the largest public event the Faculty of Arts hosted that year, and people are still talking about it. And Natalie has been a big fan of Melbourne ever since – and now she is returning for one very special evening. Don’t miss her Divine Might!

Image of Natalie Haynes, credit James Betts

Cover of Natalie Haynes‘ new book: “DIVINE MIGHT: Goddesses in Greek Myth“

Enquires: shaps-events-admin@unimelb.edu.au