LEXINGTON COMMUNITY EDUCATION presents The Fiveash Legacy Lecture

This evening’s event is part of The Fiveash Legacy Lecture series. The Fiveash Lecture Series is inspired by, and intended to keep influential, the teaching tradition and legacy of Dr. Michael Fiveash, a long time and beloved Latin and Classics teacher at Lexington High and Lexington Community Education. The series is coordinated by Lexington Community Education and is intended to honor Michael's teaching legacy by hosting talks that focus on the Humanities and Classics.

From King Frederick II of Palermo to Caliph Mamun of Baghdad, ruling circles in the medieval world were keenly interested in the Hellenistic philosophical and scientific writings of Late Antiquity (500s C.E.), writtenin Greek and Aramaic. By the time the Renaissance was underway these ancient works had become part of growing corpus of writings on political theory, ethics, and medicine written in both Arabic and Latin. Why were communities and governments from medieval Europe to the Middle East so interested in the Aristotelian-Neoplatonic curriculum of the ancient world? What does this shared interest tell us about the boundaries between Western and non-Western civilizations?

Ali Humayn Akhtar is a historian of government, religion, and economy. His research is geographically comparative and connects the histories of Mediterranean Europe, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and East Asia. Dr. Akhtar is a professor of Classical and Medieval Studies at Bates College.

This event will be held on Thursday, May 10 at 7:00pm at the Lexington Depot. The cost of the event is $10.00. Pre-registration is strongly recommended by contacting Lexington Community Education at 781 862 8043.