Approaching the Unknown: “They Saw It With Their Own Eyes”

Relying on those who “saw it with their own eyes” is one way of approaching the unknown. This conference will explore the diverse range of ways in which writers and thinkers from the medieval and early modern periods sought to face the challenge of the unknown: the scholarly, intellectual and literary processes by which they evaluated, diagrammatised and represented what lay beyond their own line of sight. The epistemological challenge of describing and understanding places and ideas beyond the horizon of first-hand knowledge is tackled in a wide variety of texts and contexts. Travel narratives aim to represent the far-flung corners of the earth. Religious texts explore the limits of human existence and experience. Literary texts offer another range of strategies for making the unfamiliar familiar. Furthermore, like Mauro’s map, the sixteenth-century Carta Marina produced by Olaus Magnus is a landmark in cartographical accuracy, and yet nevertheless its seas are populated by monsters (as in the image below). The mythical imagination thus offers another cultural approach to representing the unseen. These various texts offer a variety of strategies which may support or contest the epistemological claims behind Mauro’s statement: “they saw it with their own eyes”.

Organized by the Mellon post-baccalaureate students in post-classical Latin: Matthew Aiello, Lillian Datchev, Kai Dowding, Timothy Glover, Christa Lundberg ,Kate Perl; and Professor Robert Gurval Department of Classics.

Co-sponsored by the UCLA Center for Medieval & Renaissance Studies and the UCLA Department of Classics with generous support  from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Advance registration not required. No fee. Limited seating.