Public evening lecture by Professor Dr Laura Carrara (Greifswald/Pisa)

The lecture deals with the literary representation and thus with the cultural processing and mental symbolisation of earthquake events in the ancient Mediterranean - then as now one of the most seismically endangered areas on earth. Using the written tradition in Greek and Latin, the lecture will examine the interpretations, re-functionalisations and coping strategies that this "extraordinarily normal" - to borrow a phrase from the historian Edoardo Grendi - has undergone in society and art over the centuries, from classical times to late antiquity. The lecture thus also provides relevant comparative material for our own reflection on the contemporary concept of catastrophe, crisis and conflict.

Laura Carrara studied Classics at the University of Pisa and at the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa. She received her doctorate from the University of Ca' Foscari in Venice in 2012 with a thesis on Greek theatre (drama remains an important focus of her research). Her doctorate was followed by an eight-year postdoctoral phase at the University of Tübingen, the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities and TU Dresden. In November 2019, she returned to her alma mater in Pisa thanks to special funding from the Italian Ministry of Culture in favour of excellent young female emigrant academics. After completing her habilitation, she has been Associate Professor of Greek Language and Literature at the University of Pisa since November 2022 and has also headed the international affairs section of her department. The internationalisation of research, teaching and academic life is a key concern for her. In the academic year 2025/26, Laura Carrara is a Senior Fellow at the Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg Greifswald.

Moderation: Professor Dr Susanne Froehlich