The Colloquium in Memory of Frederick Elliot Winter was a Resounding Success!

At the colloquium

Just a week ago the two-day CIG Colloquium entitled, “Meditations on the Diversity of the Built Environment in the Aegean Basin and Beyond” took place at the Italian Archaeological School in Athens. A large and diverse crowd attended from the foreign schools and institutes as well as many Greek colleagues from the Ministry of Culture and from Greek universities. As we learned from various speakers Professor Frederick Elliot Winter had a broad range of interests in Greek architecture spanning from the Geometric through the Hellenistic periods. Rune Frederiksen, the Director of the Danish Institute at Athens, carefully analyzed in his Keynote Address how Winter's pioneering approach fifty years ago to the careful, in person study of Greek fortification systems and association of this evidence with developments in military strategy has set the agenda for present research. Both established scholars and graduate students gave papers. The level of the research, analysis and interpretation was exceptionally high.

David Rupp, Peter Burch, Mary Winter, Gerald Schaus

Frederick Winter the person and, especially, the father and husband was brought alive to the audience by his daughter Mary. Her warm, and often humorous reminiscences, supported by ample family photographs, heightened our awareness of what he accomplished under much different circumstances than today. A number of the speakers who knew him in various capacities shared their insights into his big personality, wide ranging interests and loyal collegiality. The family's interest in the past has not lapsed, as his grandson Peter Burch is starting a doctorate in Anglo-Saxon archaeology and history at the University of Manchester. Peter was at the Colloquium and thought that many of the approaches used to study Greek architecture could be applied to his period as well.

At the reception

The scholars who gave papers had ample opportunities at the breaks, over lunch, at the reception at the Swedish Institute, and at the concluding dinner to confer with their colleagues working on similar material. The interventions by the other attendees added richness to the discussions. Visits to each other's sites were arranged and references were exchanged. The papers will be published in the Institute's monograph series within the next two years. Ideas for our next Colloquium in 2014 or 2015 have already started to be discussed!

Without the hard work over the past year of Jonathan Tomlinson, and the assistance of our York University summer intern Laura Beaton, this productive Colloquium would not have taken place. The generosity of the Canadian Embassy and its Ambassador, Robert Peck, of Matti and Nicholas Egon and of Matthew Maher is gratefully acknowledged and much appreciated.

Those who did not attend missed a good one!!!

Cordially,
David Rupp
Director