Adult Programs

Carlos Reads offers an opportunity to read great works of literature related to the Museum's collections and exhibitions in an informal, small group setting with distinguished members of the Emory faculty as a guide. Previous Carlos Reads groups have read Plato's Symposium, Herodotus' Histories, the Qur'an, and Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children, among others. Sign up to read and discuss one book, or many.

Carlos Reads discussions meet on Monday nights, unless otherwise noted, at 7:30 pm in the Board Room on the second floor of the Museum. Prices vary according to the number of sessions and always include the cost of the book. Registration is required for each club by calling 404 727-6118 or emailing ehornor@emory.edu.

During fall semester, participants will have the opportunity to read and discuss the following books:

Mondays, October 22, 29 & November 12 & 19
Madness and Delusion in Euripides
Over four Monday evenings, Emory Classics professor Peter Bing explores themes of madness and delusion in four works by Euripides — Herakles, Helen, The Bacchae and, the satyr-play Cyclops.
Fee: $45 for Carlos Museum members; $65 for non-members, and includes the cost of the books. THIS PROGRAM IS FULL AND NO ADDITIONAL RESERVATIONS CAN BE ACCEPTED

Monday, December 3
Prometheus Unbound
Power and Force, a man-friendly Titan, and a girl with cow's horns on her hear provide the cast of Prometheus Bound, possibly the oldest surviving Greek tragedy. Associate Professor of Ancient Mediterranean Studies Sandra Blakely, explores Aeschylus' use of the tortured Titan and the frenetic girl to ask perennial questions: is technology a gift? can man evolve? are absolute rulers absolutely awful or is there hope for a more just political system?
Fee: $20 for Carlos Museum members; $30 for non-members, and includes the cost of the book. THIS PROGRAM IS FULL AND NO ADDITIONAL RESERVATIONS CAN BE ACCEPTED

Mondays, January 28, February 4 & 11
Lucretius' On the Nature of the Universe
Garth Tissol of Emory’s Department of Classics leads readers through Lucretius’ On the Nature of the Universe.  This is a chance to become familiar with the Roman poet’s philosophical and scientific poem, which lies behind the recent success of Greenblatt’s The Swerve.  With fervid conviction Lucretius expounds the atomic theory of Epicurus, demonstrating that understanding the laws of nature will enable human beings to overcome the fears and anxieties that trouble them, such as the fear of death.  False opinions and vain desires, he maintains, keep peace of mind from us.  A remarkable self-help treatise, expressed in stirring verse, Lucretius’ work aroused controversy in his time and later by his view of the soul (it is mortal) and the gods (they do not take an interest in our affairs).  We will read On the Nature of Things in the fluid and accessible translation of Ronald Melville.
Fee: $45 for Carlos Museum members; $65 for non-members, and includes the cost of the books.
THIS PROGRAM IS FULL AND NO ADDITIONAL RESERVATIONS CAN BE ACCEPTED

Monday, February 25
Letters From a Peruvian Woman
Karen Stolley, Associate Professor in Emory's Department of Spanish and Portuguese, leads readers through an eighteenth-century French best-seller, Françoise de Graffigny's Letters from a Peruvian Woman. First published in 1747, Graffigny's epistolary novel tells the story of the Inca princess Zilia, captured by Spanish conquistadors only to be rescued and taken to France by a dashing French ship captain. Zilia's letters to Aza, the Inca lover from whom she has been cruelly separated, bring together sentimental fiction, a brilliant critique of French society, an early feminist argument, and eighteenth-century European ideas about Amerindian civilization. Fee: $20 for Carlos Museum members; $30 for non-members, and includes the cost of the book.

Mondays, April 1, 8, & 15
Thucydides' The Peloponnesian War
At the end of the 5th century BCE, Thucydides the Athenian claimed that his account of the war between Athens and Sparta was written as a “possession for all time.”  Indeed his text continues to this day to provoke discussion about a wide range of issues, from the nature of historical inquiry and narrative to the realities of human nature and the possibility of human justice. Cynthia Patterson of Emory’s History Department, with assistance from W.R. Connor’s classic narrative commentary Thucydides, leads readers through this powerful and influential text.
Fee: $55 for Carlos Museum members; $70 for non-members, and includes the cost of the books.

Public Tours: Members of the Museum's Docent Guild lead public tours of the permanent collection and special exhibitions every Sunday at 2:00 p.m. Tours begin in the Rotunda on Level One of the Museum.

Docent-led tours are available for groups of ten or more by appointment. Please contact Nina West by phone at 404-727-0519 or by email at nwest@emory.edu to schedule a tour for your group. Please call at least two weeks in advance. For special needs tours, please contact Julie Green by phone at 404-727-2363 or by email at jgree09@emory.edu.