Abstract

Recent decades have seen a rapid development in comparative studies of ancient Greece and early China, reflecting an ever-increasing realisation for the need of a cross-cultural engagement with the classics. But what benefits does a comparative approach bring to the study of the ancient world? What are the methodological challenges and how should one go about comparing? This talk addresses these questions and shows how this up-and-coming area of research has great potential in creating new sets of questions for anyone who is interested in cross-cultural categories.

Jingyi Jenny Zhao is currently the Lloyd-Dan David research fellow at the Needham Research Institute and Darwin College. She has been undertaking comparative work on ancient Greece and China for much of her research career, and is co-editor of the forthcoming CUP volume titled Ancient Greece and China Compared”