‘Boots everywhere!’ (pantāi krēpides): so a lady of Sicilian descent describes the unaccustomed crowding of Macedonian citizens in the streets of Alexandria (Theocritus, Idyll 15.6). Shoes and sandals, no less than more conspicuous items of clothing and attire, can be distinctive markers of ethnic, social and economic status; and Greek poetry offers a discursive space where talk of footwear takes on a significance that extends beyond the merely decorative. What you wear on your feet reflects the kind of person you are; and poets, from Homer to the Hellenistic poets, exploit footwear’s significance for both comic and serious effect.
“Pantāi krēpides: shoe-talk from Homer to Herodas” is the title of the next Dialogos lecture organized by the Netherlands Institute at Athens, to be given by Dr C.L. Caspers Classicist (Murmellius Gymnasium Alkmaar), on Friday, May 29, 2015 at 7.00 p.m. This presentation offers a comprehensive discussion of ancient Greek poetic talk about shoes, slippers and sandals, as well as a sample of iconographic representations.
Venue: Netherlands Institute at Athens Makri 11, Makrygianni (metro Akropoli), Athens.
