Ellen Renton: ‘What Athena Saw When Tiresias Looked: Greek Myth and Contemporary Poetry’

An online webinar for the British Museum’s Hidden/revealed event series on Friday 5 February.

According to ancient Greek mythology, the goddess Athena blinded Tiresias as a punishment for him watching her bathe, and then gifted him the ability to see the future by way of compensation for her actions. At this event, poet, performer and theatre maker Ellen Renton shares her own interpretation of the myth, which sees the stories of both Athena and Tiresias reimagined in poetic form from feminist and disabled perspectives respectively.

The poems and accompanying film, created with support from arts commissioning programme Unlimited discuss the contemporary relevance of the myth in relation to topics of consent, blindness, and the origins of disabled stereotypes. Ellen will be joined by classicist and archaeologist Dr Jane Draycott to discuss some of the themes in her work. She will also perform other work that touches on these themes in an exploration of what it means to grow up as a girl, what it means to be visually impaired, and what it means to be looked at.

This event includes live captioning provided by Stagetext and delivered by MyClearText. Register here.