RIP Karl Galinsky 1942-2024

Karl Galinsky talking about Herakles at the Hercules Project's 2013 conference at Leeds.

The Hercules Project is very sorry to learn of the passing of Prof. Karl Galinsky, emeritus Floyd A. Cailloux Centennial Professor of Classics at the University of Texas, Austin.  While he has become particularly well known for his work on Roman cultural memory, including his direction of the project Memoria Romana: Memory in Roman Civilization, we are indebted especially to his early volume The Herakles Theme: the adaptations of the hero in literature from Homer to the twentieth century (Rowman and Littlefield 1972), which was far ahead of its time in examining the influence of Greek and Latin literature on later cultures, before Classical Reception Studies had become a sub-discipline in its own right.  The Hercules Project's four volumes all take inspiration from The Herakles Theme, and we were lucky enough to have been able to include a chapter by Prof. Galinksy, 'Herakles Vajrapani, the Companion of Buddha', in Herakles Inside and Outside the Church (2020).  That was based on the paper with which he opened our first conference in Leeds back in 2013, and more recently he contributed to a joint Classical Association-Society for Classical Studies panel which showcased the Hercules Project at the SCS conference in San Diego in 2019.  Not only was Prof. Galinksy a great scholar, but he was an absolute pleasure to work with - always very quick to respond, wearing his learning lightly, and cordial in every exchange.  He will be greatly missed.

A brief obituary can be found here