Institute of Continuing Education (ICE)
This lecture describes how Victorian painters used the classical body to express a complex and often conflicted notion of male desire, and how such images still inform the imagination today.
Professor Simon Goldhill is Director of CRASSH, the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities, which promotes interdisciplinary research and innovation at the University of Cambridge. He is also Professor in Greek Literature and Culture, and Fellow and Director of Studies in Classics at King's College, Cambridge.
Professor Goldhill has published widely on Greek literature and culture, and is a regular broadcaster on radio and television. His recent books include Who Needs Greek? (Cambridge 2002), which is partly on Victorian classics; Love Sex and Tragedy (London and Chicago 2004); and The Temple of Jerusalem (London, 2004). He is Director of the Cambridge Victorian Studies Group, and is particularly interested in the role of Greek and Roman culture in the Victorian imagination.
The Madingley Lectures take place at Madingley Hall, home of the University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education (ICE). This lecture series, given by eminent speakers across a wide range of subjects, is an important part of ICE's commitment to public engagement.
© 2025 University of Cambridge