The Fred Winter Collection

Olympia, Leonidaion, panoramic view of remains (Professor Fred Winter, 1966)

Canada honoured 14 individuals for their contributions to Canada-Greece relations; the Canadian Embassy in Athens has moved; A New Government

At the beginning of the summer, now almost three months ago, Canadian Ambassador Robert Peck invited 14 individuals along with their family members and friends to a special ceremony at the new Chancery of the Canadian Embassy in Greece in Halandri, north of Athens. On the occasion of Canada Day, July 1st, the Embassy of Canada honoured on June 29^th individuals who had made important contributions to Canada-Greece relations. Ambassador Robert Peck awarded “Maple Leaf Citations” and a special West Coast aboriginal (Haida) silver-plated ladle in a handcrafted red cedar box to each honoree drawn from the world of business, academia, education, the arts and the Canadian expatriate community (https://business.facebook.com/CanadainGreece/posts/391718757705143).

Five of those recognized have had close relationships with the Institute through our Athens Friends Association. They are Constantine Katsigiannis, Don Matthews, Ian Miller, Efthalia Constantinides and the late Ion Vorres. They were part of the group which kept the Institute going in the dark months in the mid-1990s and provided funds for the purchase of our first apartment on the third floor at Dionysiou Aiginitou 7.  We have worked with Professor Mary Koutsoudaki (University of Athens) and with Kathryn Lukey-Coutsocostas (Friends of Canada) to create events for our Friends Association. Further, Chris McClinton is a regular attendee at our lectures and events. Vassilis Sakellaris (TourGreece and the Official Representative for Air Transat) donated my transatlantic airline tickets for my first lecture tour in Ontario and Quebec two years ago. And finally, I too was recognized for the Institute’s programs and archaeological research in Greece over almost four decades.

The ceremony concluded with Ambassador Peck announcing officially that his posting to Athens will end this fall. While expected after four years as ambassador Jonathan and I as well as the Institute are saddened at his imminent departure. Robert Peck has been an active, enthusiastic and strong supporter of our mission in Greece and our activities. Much of what we have accomplished in public outreach over the past four years – both here in Greece and in Canada – has been facilitated by his active lobbying, skillful diplomacy and financial support. Sas efharistoume therma!!!

At the reception afterwards, the honorees and their friends told stories and remembered those not present who had made significant contributions to bringing Canada and Greece closer and to fostering close relationships with individuals from both countries. It was an appropriate way to celebrate Canada Day in advance!

New Canadian Embassy in Halandri

In late June the Chancery of the Canadian Embassy in Athens moved from its familiar location at Gennadiou 4 in Kolonaki to Ethnikis Antistaseos 48 in «lower» Halandri, an inner suburb of Athens. It is next to the Embassy of Japan. The new Embassy is accessible by various bus and trolley routes from central Athens. What I saw of the new premises was impressive! By going to the Embassy’s website, www.greece.gc.ca, you can learn how to get there and how to contact the various departments.

A New Government

Life in Greece for the past three months has been dominated by the prolonged and tense negotiations of the previous leftist Sy.Riz.A. government with the so-called “institutions” over what became the third Memorandum of Understanding, the imposition of the asphyxiating “Capital Controls” in early July, the Referendum that followed on to “Grexit” or not, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ last minute signing of the new Memorandum, the mutiny of the “Left Platform” of his party over this abandonment of their “Thessaloniki Program” from last September which ensured their election on January 25^th, and, finally, the calling of the snap national election which was held on September 20^th with Sy.Riz.A. coming out on top over Nea Demokratia and seven other smaller parties but not with a majority in the Parliament. The previous coalition of Sy.Riz.A. with the right wing Anexartitoi Ellines party was immediately renewed to create a slim ruling majority of 155 seats out of 300. Given that they coalition is the same, as well as most of the ministers and deputy ministers (some in different ministries), many in the social media have called this new government just a government shuffle by election. All of this has been the “Amphipolis of 2015”, at least from a TV programming point of view!  The Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sport has been separated once again from Education and Religious Affairs as it was in the previous government. The new Minister of Culture is Aristeidis Baltas. He was the Minister of Education before this shuffle. We look forward to working with him and his team in the Ministry.

While all of these political and economic developments were happening the Greek islands in the eastern Aegean were increasingly overwhelmed by refugees and economic immigrants coming from Turkey by any means possible (too frequently with tragic results) to escape the fighting and terror in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. Later the various squares and parks in central Athens have become a temporary, crowded open-air way station on their intended journey to northern Europe and a hoped-for new life.

After a difficult winter, spring and summer, the consensus here is that what Greece needs now is mature leadership, stability, the implementation of the mandated reforms, development and optimism.

Cordially,
David Rupp
Director

The Fred Winter Collection

Messene, Arkadian Gate, details of masonry in various parts of the circular courtyard (Professor Fred Winter, 1966)

 

Happy Fall! and Welcome to CIG, Sarah and Vicki!!!

The autumn season has arrived and CIG has been up and running now for three weeks after our August recess. September brings many things to Athens and Greece (besides the national election this Sunday). One of them is the arrival of our Institute Fellow and our Wilfrid Laurier University undergraduate intern.

Since the beginning of the month our Neda and Franz Leipen Fellow, Sarah Nash, has been familiarizing herself with the Institute and its many activities. An Ontario native with her BA and MA degrees from Wilfrid Laurier University, she is a doctoral candidate in Classical Archaeology in the Department of History and Classics at the University of Alberta. A talented linguist, Sarah has archaeological field experience in Ireland, Wales and Italy besides travelling widely in Europe.  Her doctoral dissertation is an examination of the identification of Graeco-Roman historical women with queen Omphale of Lydia, in an attempt to account for the diverse connotations of these associations.  Although much of the material culture addressed in her thesis is Roman Imperial, and so merits evaluation in this particular social context, the genesis of the iconography and connotations evoked by such images lie firmly in the Hellenistic era. During her nine-month tenure as CIG Fellow she intends to conduct intensive research on her topic and commence the writing of her PhD dissertation. Sarah plans to participate in a number of conferences, where she will present the work-in-process and other related topics to the academic community. One of these appearances will be as a lecturer in the Institute’s Winter/Spring Lecture Program! During the 2015/2016 academic year Sarah will be assisting me in digging through the Institute’s archives and adding content to the CIG Portal to the Past.

Another Ontarian, Victoria (Vicki) Newson is a fourth-year Classical Archaeology student in the Department of Near Eastern and Classical Archaeology at Wilfrid Laurier University. She is no stranger to Greece as she dug in 2013 at the American School of Classical Studies’ excavations at the Minoan town of Gournia in Crete and this summer participated in the Western Argolid Regional Project’s pedestrian survey northwest of Argos under the aegis of the Institute.  She has also dug on a pioneer site in Ontario and volunteered in Israel.  After graduation Vicki hopes to pursue an MA in Underwater Archaeology with emphasis on trade in the eastern Mediterranean in the Bronze Age. An outstanding student she is also an active athlete. The Pamela and Gerald Schaus Scholarship supports each autumn the undergraduate intern from Wilfrid Laurier University. During her three-month tenure this fall she will be assisting us in sifting through our archives, organizing material in them and scanning documents and imagery.

So when our Fall Lecture Program and Friends’ Events start next month you will have a chance to meet Sarah and Vicki and to welcome them warmly to the Athenian archaeological community.

Cordially,
David Rupp
Director

The Fred Winter Collection

Delos, Poseidonasts of Berytus, general views and details of the reconstructed columns of the Courtyard (Professor Fred Winter, 1966)

Maple + Olive = CIG @ 40

As I’ve pointed out many times in this venue, there are seventeen foreign archaeological schools and institutes that are recognized by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture which can conduct archaeological fieldwork and related research in Greece. The Canadian Institute in Greece is proud to be a member of this important international community of researchers and scholars. In 1976 the then Canadian Archaeological Institute at Athens (CAIA) was granted official foreign school status by the Ministry. Our first fieldwork project at Khostia in western Boeotia started in 1980 under the direction of Professor John Fossey at McGill University. Also in 1980 we opened the doors of CAIA in Athens at Odos Gennadiou 2a with Hector Williams as the Director.  And the rest as they say is, archaeology……………….!!!

To mark the auspicious occasion of the 40^th anniversary of our official recognition as a foreign archaeological institute we are organizing a two-day Colloquium in Athens for June 10^th and 11^th, 2016. Entitled, “From Maple to Olive: A Colloquium to Celebrate the 40^th Anniversary of the Canadian Institute in Greece”, the Colloquium will highlight the many important contributions that our nineteen Institute fieldwork projects have made in advancing our knowledge of Greek archaeology and historical studies throughout Greece, ranging from the Lower Paleolithic period to Early Modern Greece.

In June we announced a “Call for Papers” for submitting paper proposals for inclusion on the Program. The deadline for the submission of a paper title and the associated abstract is fast approaching as it is September 30^th.

Areas of primary interest for the papers:

1. Topics and studies relating to the archaeological fieldwork conducted under the aegis of the Canadian Archaeological Institute in Athens / Canadian Institute in Greece with permits from the Hellenic Ministry of Culture;
2. Research achievements resulting from study permits conducted under the aegis of the Canadian Archaeological Institute in Athens / Canadian Institute in Greece and issued by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture;

Other potential areas of interest for the papers include:

1. Topics and studies relating to Greek archaeology and architecture, sculpture, epigraphy, Aegean basin ceramics, numismatics, physical anthropology, ecofactual studies, scientific analyses, Byzantine studies and Post-Byzantine studies by scholars based at Canadian universities as well as by Canadian researchers with positions at universities outside of Canada.
2. Studies relating to the life and professional work of Canadian archaeologists, classicists and/or early travelers who were pioneers in Canada in the study of Greek culture in its broadest sense;
3. Studies relating to the founding and to the early years of the Canadian Archaeological Institute in Athens.

Our 40^th anniversary Colloquium this coming June will be a significant occasion in the Institute’s ongoing development. We are seeking as a broad spectrum of papers as possible to showcase the amazing breadth and depth of the research that has been conducted under the aegis of the Institute over only four decades. The work of Canadian scholars pursuing research in Greece will also be recognized.The papers given at the Colloquium will be published in the Publications of the Canadian Institute in Greece series.

You have had all summer to think about the topic of your paper. So now is the time for you to send your paper proposal to us! With just over two weeks to go, don’t delay and be left out of the program on this celebratory occasion!!!

Cordially,
David Rupp
Director

The Fred Winter Collection

Gla, the main gate (Professor Fred Winter, 1966)

Eleon 2015

The Eastern Boeotia Archaeological Project continued work at the site of ancient Eleon in the village of Arma for six weeks, beginning June 1, 2015. Our site has material from the Mycenaean (Late Bronze) Age, the Archaic-Classical Greek periods, and the later Medieval Byzantine-Ottoman periods. It is run with volunteers and students, many of whom are from the University of Victoria and Wellesley College (USA).  At our full extent our team numbered 35 this year.

The aim of our work this season was to complete the excavation of an unusual structure we started to uncover last year – what we call the ‘Blue Stone Structure’, or BSS for short, because the walls are capped with blue-gray limestone blocks. Fortunately, or unfortunately, we discovered this year that the BSS is in truth VERY large and we have still not completed its excavation, even after six weeks of focused work. We are, however, able to say with certainty what the BSS is – it is an early Mycenaean (ca. 1700-1600 BC) rectangular burial enclosure which was covered by an earth mound that has somewhat eroded. This enclosure demonstrates active commemoration of the dead by the earliest Mycenaeans at Eleon. Inside we have excavated burials of great importance, but with very few grave goods. The mound remained visible through Eleon’s history and seems to have been venerated by the ancestors of the deceased. Buildings of the late Mycenaean (ca 1150 BC) period are constructed around the burial structure, not on top of it.

Remarkably, the Blue Stone Structure and other Mycenaean structures remained visible and significant in the Archaic and Classical age (ca 5^th c. BC) as well. A new group of Greeks came to the site at this time and left female figurines and well-painted miniature cups along an elaborate ramped entry way, which was the culmination of a path framed by the site’s massive polygonal wall.

This unique construction is made of huge stones, each perfectly cut for its place in a semi-circle of nearly 100 meters. This wall was another focal point of our research in 2015. We found that the foundations for the wall were perhaps more impressive than the wall itself, going nearly 4 m in height.

The wall’s skillful construction is remarkable because Eleon is not a significant Greek polis (city-state) and it does not have a prominent role in any of the historical texts from ancient Greece. Although Homer does include Eleon in his Catalogue of Ships (Iliad, 2:500), with Eleon leading the contingent of Greeks who set off to fight the Trojan war, in later sources we hear about Eleon only in connection with certain individuals. In particular, a seer or prophet named Bakis is said to come from Eleon.

This short summary of our results leaves out much of what makes our project special – that is, the people with whom we work. Our Canadian and American students were truly exceptional this year – dedicated, cheerful and resilient. Our staff of experts were focused, professional and dedicated to making our project as good as it can be. The Canadian Institute in Greece, as always, provides great support for our research. We are also very grateful to the Canadian Embassy for inviting us to a pool party at the ambassador’s residence, and to Ambassador Peck himself, for his hospitality and for his personal visit to the site earlier this month. Finally, we also must note that, as a synergasia, we rely on our Greek partners based at the Thebes Museum for intellectual and administrative advice and collaboration. As government employees of the Greek state, our colleagues are faced with many challenges and uncertainties, and this summer they likely faced the most difficult time of their professional lives. Through it all, however, our partners were able to look beyond political and economic turmoil and were focused on one of Greece’s most valuable resources, its incredibly rich cultural history. We are sincerely grateful for the generosity they have shown in maintaining our partnership.

Brendan Burke & Bryan Burns
University of Victoria & Wellesley College

The Fred Winter Collection

Brauron, rebuilt corner of the stoa, with polytriglyphal frieze (Professor Fred Winter, 1966)