Eitner Lecture with M. D. Usher, "Journey to the West: Buddhists in Ancient Alexandria"

Reception: Stanford Archaeology Center (500-106). Appetizers and drinks provided from 5:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Talk description: The recent discovery of a Buddha statue in Berenike---the first West of Afghanistan---confirms the presence of Buddhists in Hellenistic Egypt. This talk argues that the Therapeutae, a monastic community of men and women described by Philo of Alexandria in On the Contemplative Life---long thought to be Jewish---were actually Buddhist.

Short bio: M. D. Usher is the Lyman-Roberts Professor Classical Languages and Literature at the University of Vermont. He teaches and writes on topics related to the environment, agriculture, traditional crafts, sustainability, utopian thinking, ancient philosophy, and oral art forms. He has just completed a biography of Plotinus for Princeton.

The Lorenz Eitner Lectures on Classical Art and Culture publicize classics and classical scholarship to a wider public. The series has been endowed by Peter and Lindsay Joost, great friends and benefactors of Stanford Classics, in honor of the late Lorenz Eitner, director of Stanford’s art museum, now known as the Cantor Center, in the 1960s-80s. He also chaired what was then the Department of Art and Architecture and was a distinguished expert of French Romantic painting, and the author of a dozen books on art and art history. In naming these annual lectures after him, we honor the memory of a renowned scholar, teacher and writer who oversaw the expansion of our art museum to a leading regional art collection.

This event is also sponsored by the Stanford Archaeology Center.

This talk will not be available on zoom and will not be recorded.