The Institute’s Fall Lecture Program and the Foundations of Prehistoric Archaeology in Greece

The Institute’s long-awaited fall lecture program this year will be concentrated within the month of November. It is broad-ranging both in terms of periods and of themes. All lectures start at 7:30 PM.

LH IIIB pottery from Tsoungiza in the Corinthia

On Thursday, November 1st. Dr. Mary Dabney will speak on “Consumerism, Debt, and the End of the Bronze Age Civilizations in the Eastern Mediterranean.” Dr. Dabney, a Research Associate in the Department of Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology at Bryn Mawr College and a Senior Research Associate at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, is a new resident of our chaotic city. Her interest in this topic grows out of her study of the Late Helladic settlement of Tsoungiza in the Nemea Valley and its relationship to the nearby center at Mycenae at the end of the Bronze Age. She puts that relationship into the larger context of the Eastern Mediterranean in the 13th century BC, with a particular emphasis on economic factors.

Painting of the liberation of Mytilene, November 8, 1912

The lecture of Professor Emeritus Hugh J. Mason (Department of Classics, University of Toronto) is on Wednesday, November 14th. His topic is, “November 8, 1912 and Other Events in the Harbours of Mytilene.” The talk will discuss the circumstances surrounding the liberation of Lesvos one hundred years ago, including the purchase of the warship "Averoff" that made possible Greek dominance of the Aegean, and the association of liberation with the Feast Day of the Archangel Michael. Famous visits to the harbours in Antiquity and a possible one at the end of WW II will also be discussed.

Julia Shear in situ

Finally, on Wednesday, November 28th, Dr. Julia L. Shear will give her lecture on the subject of, “An Inconvenient Past in Hellenistic Athens: The Case of Phaidros of Sphettos.” Dr. Shear is a Senior Research Associate at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. Dr. Shear will provide a case-study of what happens when the past, and the Hellenistic Athens’ dominant narrative about that past, become inconvenient in the present when dealing with the aggressive Macedonian kings in the mid-3rd century BC. Who was Phaidros of Sphettos?

Drawing of the Treasury of Artreus by John Hawkins, 1795

Lecture on the Foundations of Prehistoric Archaeology in Greece
The discoveries and excavations of the Heinrich Schliemann, Christos Tsountas and Arthur Evans in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were built on the foundations of earlier explorations and studies. Dr. Nektarios Karademos (Aigeus) will speak to the Association of Friends of the Historical Archive of the Hellenic Archaeological Service about the Europeans and English travelers in the 18th and earlier 19th centuries whose investigations throughout the Aegean basin enabled the later development of a true prehistoric archaeology in Greece. These include Jean-Baptiste Lechevalier, William Gell, Edward Dodwell and Karl Hoeck. The lecture in Greek, based on archival research, is entitled, «Ανασκáπτπντας το παρελθόν της αιγαιακής προïστορικής αρχαιολογíας (από την Αναγένννση μέχρι και της πρήτες αρχαιλογικές ανασκαφές στα τέλη του 19ου αιώνα)». It will be given on Monday, October 22nd at 6:30 PM at the Historical Archive on Psaromiligkou 22, Kerameikos/Pysrri.

So there are lectures for every taste on the immediate horizon! We look forward to your presence!!!

Cordially,
David Rupp
Director