Classics Expert to Give Talk on the Evolution of the Alphabet at Holy Cross

WORCESTER, Mass. – John Peradotto, Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus at the State University of New York at Buffalo, will give a talk, titled “The Greeks Revolutionize the Alphabet” on Thursday, Sept. 30 at 4 p.m. in room 519 of the Hogan Campus Center. The event is free and open to the public.

Peradotto’s lecture will examine the non-alphabetic system used by the ancient Greeks and their subsequent adaptation of the Phoenician alphabet. He will focus in particular on how the adaptation addressed problems associated with its Phoenician predecessor and how the new alphabet’s superior analysis of the spoken language put reading skill within anyone's reach, thus laying the groundwork for democracy. He will also address the fact that the New Testament was written not in Hebrew, but in the Greek alphabet, which was a major factor in the speed and relative ease with which Christianity spread.

The Andrew V. Raymond Chair of Classics at the State University of New York at Buffalo from 1984 – 99, Peradotto most recently served as Benedict Visiting Distinguished Professor at Carleton College in 2003. He is the author of Classical Mythology: An Annotated Bibliographical Survey (1973) and Man in the Middle Voice: Name and Narration in the Odyssey (1990), as well as numerous articles and reviews on Greek myth, epic and tragedy. Peradotto has delivered over 100 invited lectures on these and other topics at more than 50 universities and colleges and at meetings of professional associations.

Peradotto co-founded the classical journal Arethusa and served as its editor-in-chief from 1975 – 1995. In 1990 he was elected President of the American Philological Association.