Josiah Ober, professor of classics and human values at Princeton University, will deliver the Silbey-LaFeber Lecture in History at Cornell today, April 25, at 4:30 p.m. in Goldwin Smith Hall Lecture Room D. Ober's lecture, "Tyrant-killing and civil conflict, an Athenian political debate in texts and images," will focus on democratic dissent and the way in which public monuments reflect democratic values. The talk is free and open to the public.
Ober writes and teaches on both ancient history and on contemporary political philosophy. His forthcoming book, A Company of Citizens (Harvard Business School Press), applies ancient democratic ideas to modern business practices.
"Professor Ober is the leading expert on the origin of democracy in ancient Greece," said Barry Strauss professor of classics and history at Cornell. "He is devoted to reviving Greek ideals of participatory democracy in today's world," Strauss said of Ober.
Ober also is the author of Political Dissent in Democratic Athens: Intellectual Critics of Popular Rule, Mass and Elite in Democratic Athens: Rhetoric, Ideology, and the Power of the People and Demokratia: A Conversation on Democracies, Ancient and Modern (all from Princeton). He also has won various high-prestige academic fellowships and honors and has lectured around the world.
The Silbey-LaFeber Endowment, named in honor of Cornell history professors Joel Silbey and Walter LaFeber, is dedicated to bringing top scholars to Cornell to meet with undergraduates. While on campus, Ober will have lunch with undergraduates and also attend a sophomore seminar in classics and history.
For more information about Ober's Cornell visit, contact Strauss via e-mail at bss4@cornell.edu.
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