PROFESSOR DOVA INTERVIEWED ON THE ORIGINS OF MENTORSHIP

Professor Stamatia Dova, Director of Classics and Greek Studies at Hellenic College, was a recent guest on Episode 205: Dynamic Duos in the podcast series Imaginary Worlds, hosted by Eric Molinsky, an award-winning public radio reporter and producer. This podcast is offered under the auspices of the Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University. 

The first of a two-part episode, Dr. Dova’s interview is part of a larger program that explores the role of mentors in fantasy genres with special emphasis on the relationship between superheroes and their protégés. Dr. Dova spoke about Mentor, the character in Homer’s Odyssey who helps Telemachus, Odysseus’ son, to assume his role as son and heir. She traced our contemporary concept of mentor back to Mentor in the Odyssey, the first mentor in Western literature, and answered questions about the character’s connection to Athena, Odysseus’ own mentor. She also shared highlights from her research on Mentor, which was published by the Center for Hellenic Studies at Harvard University. Her article is available at:

https://chs.harvard.edu/stamatia-dova-kind-like-a-father-on-mentors-and-kings-in-the-odyssey/