Mythical Mothers, Monsters, and Mesopotamia - Dr Louise Pryke - Zoom

Despite the antiquity of the topic, motherhood in Mesopotamia has received little attention in modern scholarship. Yet mothers are extremely important cultural figures throughout many periods, with numerous heroes of Mesopotamian epic depicted having close connections to their mothers. Maternal figures often play a pivotal role in myths, and historical kings as well as legendary ones are shown to value their mother’s guiding wisdom. In this talk, we consider the connection of motherhood, wisdom, and protection in Mesopotamia, and discover that even quasi-divine heroes who cut pathways through mountains and battle giant monsters cannot succeed without the support and wisdom of their mothers.

Dr Louise M. Pryke is a research associate at the University of Sydney. She is the author of several books including Ishtar (2017), Gilgamesh (2019), and Wind (2023).

Marguerite Johnson is a cultural historian of the ancient Mediterranean, specialising in sexuality and gender, particularly in the poetry of Sappho, Catullus, and Ovid, as well as magical traditions in Greece, Rome, and the Near East. She also researches Classical Reception Studies, with a regular focus on Australia. In addition to ancient world studies, Marguerite is interested in sexual histories in modernity as well as magic in the west more broadly, especially the practices and art of Australian witch, Rosaleen Norton. She is Honorary Professor of Classics and Ancient History at The University of Queensland, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.