The end is near, but not the adventure

As my time in Athens inches closer to the end, I must reflect on the last three months and what I have been able to accomplish. I came to Athens in mid-September from my much smaller home town. I first heard of the Canadian Institute in Greece internship program at my university back in my first year and was ecstatic at the idea of being able to live and work in Athens for 3 months. When that time came for me to apply at the end of my third year, I was more than delighted for this amazing opportunity to start.

Working at the Canadian Institute, my main task was to archive a group of old institute files. I worked tirelessly though my 3 months to digitize all the files and organize them into a consistent manner that would provide easy accessibility for any future researchers. This often included the rearrangement of several files and the redistribution of many documents. I ended this major project by physically archiving the documents within the Institute’s archive room and keeping a digital record of all documents and their location. Along with my archive project, I was also responsible for some small maintenance tasks of the Hostel and administrative tasks and errands in assistance to Jonathan. This mainly included laundry, running errands, and delivering and picking up packages. I was also responsible for the food and beverages at the Institute events.

The shock from coming from a small city to the hustle and bustle of the large city of Athens quickly wore off as I became more comfortable with the city through my own exploration. The city’s metro was easy to use and the bus system carried to me areas beyond the reach of the metro. My first goal while in Greece was to become as familiar with the city as possible and I accomplished this through many evening and weekend visits to the major and minor sites and museums of Athens. I was able to the visit the Acropolis, Hadrian’s Arch and Library, Temple of Olympia Zeus, both Agoras, Panathenaic Stadium,  the Aeropagus, Lycabettus Hill, Filopappou Hil, Kerameikos the National Archaeological Museum, the Byzantine and Christian Museum, the War Museum, the Acropolis Museum and all the minor museums within all of the sites.

My second goal while in Greece was to visit some of my favorite sites outside of Athens that I had spent years learning about in my classes. I was thankful that the Bus Company KTEL was easy enough to use as it was my primary source of transportation outside of Athens. I was able to travel to Mycenae, Nafplio, Delphi, the sanctuary of Asklepios Epidavrous, Aegean, Ancient Corinth, Cape Sounion, Eleusis and the Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore, and Crete to see Knossos. I was almost able to complete my very long list, but three months is not long enough to travel around an entire country. At least it gives me incentive to return to beautiful country.

During my time in Greece I have also spent my time in Athens attending lectures at the other international Institutes, volunteering at the Weiner Lab at the American School of Athens, visiting the cinema to watch the latest movies, eating at the many cafes and taverns, and visiting the main shopping areas like Syntagma Square, the flea market and tourist districts, and the several shopping malls. I have used this experience to educate myself on the archaeological community within Greece and the country as a whole. This entire experience has been eye opening, unforgettable and very enjoyable. I am very excited and hopeful to return in the future.

Sarah Cozzarin,
Wilfrid Laurier University intern, autumn-winter 2017

The Fred Winter Collection

Assos, stone vaulting in theatre (Professor Fred Winter, 1982)

"From Maple to Olive" is out! Kala Xristougenna kai Kali Xronia!

Over two very warm days in early June, 2017 the Canadian Institute in Greece celebrated its 40^th anniversary with a Colloquium entitled, From Maple to Olive. Twenty-two of the papers as well as an anecdotal history of the Institute were submitted for inclusion in the proceedings. After a long and meticulous editing process, with Jonathan in the lead, the printer delivered the final product, 514 volumes, to the Institute on Monday morning. So we are very proud to announce that the 10^th iteration of the Publications of the Canadian Institute in Greece monograph series is now published, just 18 months after the occasion.

On Wednesday, January 31^st at 7:30 pm in the Library of the Institute we will launch officially the publication of this volume, From Maple to Olive. Proceedings of a Colloquium to Celebrate the 40^th Anniversary of the Canadian Institute in Greece. On this auspicious occasion Professors John Bennett (Director, British School at Athens) and Giorgos Varvouranakis (Professor, University of Athens) will offer their assessments of the merits of the contributions and on the significance of the research on which they are based for Greek archaeology.

After the book presentation (copies of which will be on sale at a very special price) we will cut our Vasilopita for 2018. Who will find the flouri in her piece??? So save the date!

Kales Yiortes

Today, at noon, we will close for our annual holiday recess. We will reopen on Monday January 8^th at 9:00 am.

Jonathan and Amelie will celebrate the holidays in darkest Yorkshire. Sarah has already returned to Ontario to be with her family and friends. Chris and his family will enjoy here their first “Greek Christmas”. While we are closed, their guest blogs will appear to keep you up to date on what they did these past three months. Metaxia, Romanos and I will have a quiet holiday with family in Athens.

Τις καλύτερες ευχές για το νέο έτος!
David Rupp
Director

The Fred Winter Collection

Pergamon, SE Fountain, rebuilt (Professor Fred Winter, 1982)

The Fred Winter Collection

Pergamon, Traianeum under restoration (Professor Fred Winter, 1982)

The formative years of contemporary Greek prehistoric archaeology

Modern textbooks and handbooks focusing on the art, architecture and archaeology of Greece are full of references to the results and finds from excavations conducted at a number of prehistoric sites in the two decades between the end of the Greek Civil War and the Junta. For a number of reasons projects organized by the foreign archaeological schools and institutes were in the forefront of this research on the Bronze Age and Neolithic period. Excavations by two of them, in particular, the American School of Classical Studies at Athens (ASCSA) and the British School at Athens (BSA), were among the most significant for the development of Greek “prehistoric archaeology”. These, with few exceptions, were led by individuals from the famous ”Interwar Generation”, who have become the “greats” that we speak of today in reverence.

On Monday, December 11^th Dr. Rania Balli, (archaeologist, Ph.D. University of Athens) will give an illustrated lecture entitled «Η δράση της Αμερικανικής και της Βρετανικής Σχολής την εικοσαετία 1947-1967».

Dr. Balli will argue that this was a very crucial period in Greek archaeology, for many reasons, just after the end of WWII to the dictatorship of the colonels. Her lecture is based on the very rich archival material stored in the libraries of the ASCSA and of the BSA which is useful for revisiting the excavations, and also for the personal testimonies of the important archaeologists from that period. The life and work of major American and British archaeologists who worked in Greece during this period will be traced, as well as their contributions to the evolution of the prehistoric archaeology in Greece.

The American archaeologists who were active in prehistoric archaeology were Carl Blegen (Palace of Nestor at Pylos) and John Caskey (Lerna in the Argolid and Ayia Eirini on Kea). The work of the British archaeologists is represented by the most important excavators of the two decades, i.e. Alan Wace (Μycenae), Sinclair Hood (Εmborio on Chios and Knossos on Crete), William Taylour (Aghios Stephanos in Laconia), Hugh Sackett and Mervyn Popham (Palaikastro, Crete), George Huxley and Nicolas Coldstream (on Kythera) and Colin Renfrew (on Saliagos).

Through the correspondence of these important archaeologists of the period and other archival material light will be shed on their work, their contributions to the evolution of prehistoric archaeology in Greece and, in general, their participation in the many sociopolitical issues that affected postwar Greece.

The lecture in Greek will be at 7:00 pm in the Library of the Canadian Institute in Greece. The public is welcome to learn more about the “personalities” who shaped Greek prehistoric archaeology 50 to 70 years ago.

Cordially,
David Rupp
Director

The Fred Winter Collection

Sardis, temple of Artemis, original pronaos and cella from W with alter W doorwall in foreground (Professor Fred Winter, 1982)

The Late Bronze Age I Settlement at Ayia Irini: Cycladic? Minoan? Or Both?

One of the recurrent themes in research in the prehistoric period in the Aegean basin is the nature and the extent of the cultural and economic influence of the proto- and neo-palatial Minoan culture of Crete on the islands of the Cyclades, on the islands and coastal littoral of the eastern Aegean and on the southern Peloponnesos. Were the artifacts found in these locations the result of direct or indirect trade, or produced there by itinerant crafts specialists from Crete, or the possessions of resident Minoans. Maybe a combination of these? Then there is evidence of Minoan-style architectural features and layouts as well as external and internal decorative styles. Was all of this evidence for what has been termed “Minoanisation” the result of some form of local acculturation via frequent trading contacts or indications of residents (seasonal and/or permanent from Crete?

In Late Minoan I there is evidence for a major route of travel from Crete through the southern and western Cyclades, the so-called “Western String” as seen at Akrotiri on Santorini, Phylakopi on Melos, and Ayia Irini on Kea. At some point I predict that the harbor at Ios will be added as a stopping point on this chain. The 'Western String' model articulated by Jack Davis in a seminal article in 1979 in which he argued that Minoan economic and political influence spread along this westerly group of the Cyclades to exploit commercial potential, especially the copper and silver at Lavrion in southern Attica. This is one of the approaches available to investigate spheres of interaction or relationships between individual communities.

On Wednesday, December 6^th Rodney D. Fitzsimons (Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, Trent University) will give an illustrated lecture entitled “Taking a Seat at the Minoan Banquet: An Architectural Approach to the Minoanisation of the Aegean Islands”.

The dissemination of “Minoanising” cultural traits throughout the Aegean in the latter half of the second millennium BC has long been of interest to archaeologists working in this region of the ancient world, with recent scholarship stressing the active, rather than passive, role played by the indigenous inhabitants of the various territories participating in this process. While much emphasis has rightly been placed on the adoption and adaptation of the wide range of “imported” artefactual, artistic, administrative, and technological cultural traits throughout the region, comparable changes in the built environment that resulted from the same phenomena of “Minoanisation” have received relatively little attention to date beyond basic enumeration. In his lecture Professor Fitzsimons seeks to address this lacuna in current scholarship, using as a starting point the Northeast Bastion at Ayia Irini on Kea, where a new Minoan-style banquet hall has recently been identified. He will then reassess the evidence for and the significance of the adoption and adaptation of Minoan-style architectural motifs elsewhere in the southern and eastern Aegean. The focus of Fitzsimons’ study will fall not on the ultimate origin of “imported” architectural elements, but rather on the significant changes that the adoption and adaptation of such motifs wrought on the local physical, cultural, and sociopolitical landscapes.

This Institute Lecture will take place in the Library of the Institute starting at 7:30 PM. Please join us for the lecture and then afterwards help us welcome the holiday season.

Cordially,
David Rupp
Director

The Fred Winter Collection

Notion, views of the precinct of the temple of Athena (Professor Fred Winter, 1982)

The Fred Winter Collection

Lakonia, Kyparissos, ruined apse of Ay. Petros church (Professor Fred Winter, 1982)

Battling for the Archaeological Heritage of Macedonia in WW I

War produces all manner of collateral damage in its wake. One area often overlooked when considering the consequences of armed conflict is the fate of cultural heritage in a war zone. The interventions of the German and Italian occupation forces during WW II in archaeological sites, museums and private collections in Greece are reasonably well-known. What is less well-recognized is what happened to the antiquities in the war theater in northern Greece during the First World War.

On Monday, November 20^th Dr. Eleftheria Akrivopoulou (archaeologist/museologist at the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki will delve into this murky topic in her lecture entitled «Άσπονδες συμμαχίες: οι Μακεδονικές αρχαιότητες κατά τον Α' Παγκόσμιο Πόλεμο».

Dr. Akrivopoulou will point out that the arrival of large numbers of the multinational troops of the Entente in Thessaloniki during the First World War resulted in a significant boost to the economic, commercial and artistic life of the city. A number of infrastructure projects changed its aspect as well.

Archaeological research should be included within this framework according to Akrivopoulou, as among the British and the French troops stationed in Macedonia there were some emblematic figures of European archaeology, who conducted site mappings, excavations and publications.

The Allies and the Greeks fought among themselves for these antiquities, and this was a struggle for supremacy on Greek soil. This culminated at the end of the war, when a large number of antiquities was transported to the Louvre and to the British Museum, where they have been housed ever since.

A series of unpublished documents from the Historical Archive of the Archaeological Service as well as from the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki shed light on hitherto unknown facts concerning Greek archaeology and its goals during this very chaotic period. They also help to link together the Greek national narrative with contemporary European archaeology.

The lecture is sponsored by the ΣΥΛΛΟΓΟΣ ΦΙΛΩΝ ΤΟΥ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΚΟΥ ΑΡΧΕΙΟΥ ΤΗΣ ΑΡΧΑΙΟΛΟΓΙΚΗΣ ΥΠΗΡΕΣΙΑΣ as part of its 2017/2018 Lecture Program. It will be held in the Library of the Institute at 7:00 PM on Monday, the 20^th. The public is welcome to attend and to learn more about yet one more episode in the 20^th century of international squabbling over another country’s cultural heritage.

Cordially,
David Rupp
Director

The Fred Winter Collection

Ephesos, rebuilt façade of the Celsus Library (Professor Fred Winter, 1982)

Conundrum: Can "Democracy" Co-exist with "Imperialism"?

The current state of the concept and the daily practice of democracy in the modern world is a subject of much debate, in some quarters at least. The contentious issues of imposing democracy in nation-building exercises, the appearance of “managed democracies”, and the role of the social media in informing and educating the body politic, among others, are front and center of current debates. Of course, the modern democracy is not, in fact, the same as the ancient Athenian democracy in its purest form. That is the direct rule of all (isonomia) of the people (demos) where each citizen has equal political and legal rights. We have representative democracies. As is well known, Athenians defined citizen as meaning males over 18 born of an Athenian father and mother. Athenian women, adolescents, free resident aliens and slaves had no political rights. The self-interest of the Athenian demos as determined by the assembly (ekklesia) did not grant these democratic rights to other contemporary polities, except the right of power to install sympathetic democratic regimes there.

On Wednesday, November 15^th Professor Nanno Marinatos (Professor, Department of Classics and Mediterranean Studies, University of Illinois at Chicago) will give a lecture at our Institute entitled “Thucydides and Pericles: Democracy and Empire”. In this lecture Professor Marinatos will address the conundrum of the practice of imperialism within the context of democracy.

Pericles has been traditionally identified with Athenian democracy but has also received criticism about the imperialism of Athens from modern historians. The issue is indeed complex since democracy contradicts tyranny over others. The problem is solved if one analyses Thucydides' own opinion. He is shown to be a partisan of Pericles and presents him as a political pragmatist who had a deep understanding of human nature, on the one hand, and the benefits of justice, on the other.

The lecture will take place in the Library of the Institute at 7:30 pm. Where do you stand on this thorny contradiction? Come and see if Professor Marinatos can convince you of the validity of her thesis.

Cordially,
David Rupp
Director

The Fred Winter Collection

Alabanda, bouleuterion, exterior face of entrance wall (Professor Fred Winter, 1982)

Boiotia Antiqua

A recent development in Greek archaeology are regional archaeological conferences on recent fieldwork organized by the regional universities and ephorates. These occur from every year to every two or three years. Macedonia and Thrace, Thessaly and Crete are the largest of such conferences.

This past Sunday, October 29^th, in Thebes the Ephorate of Antiquities of Boiotia of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sport organized its first such conference. As the conference title indicates, «Παλαιές ανασκαφές, Νέες Προοπτικές. Το έργο της Εν Αθήναις Αρχαιολογικής Εταιρείας και των Ξένων Αρχαιολογικών Σχολών στη Βοιωτία πριν τον Β΄ Παγκόσμιο Πόλεμο και η πρόσφατη επαναδραστηριοποίηση τους στην περιοχή» the focus was on presenting overviews of the older excavations conducted by the foreign archaeological schools/institutes and the Archaeological Society of Athens as well their recent ones. Dr. Alexandra Charami, the Director of the Ephorate and Dr. Kyriaki Kalliga, her assistant, planned this most interesting initiative. The Institute knows them both well as Charami is our synergatis at ancient Eleon and Kalliga is her representative to the project.

Since the later 19^th century the German Archaeological Institute, the French School of Archaeology, the American School of Classical Studies, and the British School, along with the Archaeological Society, all have conducted various excavations and other investigations. Not being a specialist of Boiotian archaeology, much of this research I was not aware of before Sunday. I had the honor of presenting an overview of what research Canadians had undertaken since the 1960s.

While our Institute is a relative newcomer to the Boiotian scene, in terms of fieldwork starting in 1980, Canadian interest in ancient Boiotia started in the 1960s. Paul Roesch, Albert Schachter, John Fossey (all from McGill University), and Robert Buck (University of Alberta) using the ancient sources and the epigraphical record studied Boiotian history, political institutions, religious cults, prosopography, leaders and generals. John Fossey along with Richard Hope Simpson (Queens University) and Duane Roller (then Wilfrid Laurier University) engaged with topographical studies and non-systematic Bronze Age site identifications.

Our first permit for a fieldwork project (1980 – 1983) was given to John Fossey for the intensive survey and test excavation at ancient Khorsiai or modern Khostia in southwestern Boiotia. Duane Roller in 1985 conducted a topographical and architectural survey at ancient Tanagra in southeastern Boiotia. After a hiatus of over 20 years Canadian archaeologists returned to Boiotia with the creation of the Eastern Boeotia Archaeological Project (or EBAP). Their first phase consisted of an intensive survey of a research zone to the east of Thebes between 2007 and 2010, with an emphasis on the presumed site of ancient Eleon. This was done as a synergasia with Dr. Vassilis Arvantinos. Since 2011 they have been excavating with Dr. Charami at ancient Eleon with significant results. Many people in the audience had not realized how involved Canadian philologists and archaeologists over the past 50 years have been in revealing ancient Boiotia. As always one sees colleagues and meets other archaeologists.

In attending the conference I was able to visit again the new Thebes Archaeological Museum. Its extensive and comprehensive collections ranging from the Paleolithic through early modern periods are displayed in an excellent fashion make it a must visit, by all means! It is also less than 90 minutes from central Athens by car! Afterwards one can explore on foot the excavated remains of the Mycenaean Palace of Kadmos scattered around the modern town of Thebes.

We look forward to the next Boiotian archaeological conference!

Cordially,
David Rupp
Director

The Fred Winter Collection

Lakonia, Kyparissos, the little chapel of Ayois Charalambos (Professor Fred Winter, 1982)

Body Politics in Archaic Greece

Many western countries are now facing an epidemic of obesity in all age, gender and socio-economic groups. The causes behind this disturbing phenomenon are diverse. How individuals in the society react to their own weight issues as well as to those who appear “overweight”, if not obese, runs the gauntlet from very positive to very negative. In our era of “political correctness” and the general acceptance of a wider range of personal choices, a neutral discussion of “fatness” seems impossible. As often is the case, the consensus of each society is that their particular situation is unique in human history. Well, then are we the first to grapple with the issue of fatness?

On Wednesday, November 1^st Professor Emily K. Varto (Department of Classics, Dalhousie University) is going to dispel our cultural chauvinism on this topic in her lecture entitled "The Politics of Fatness in Archaic Greece".

Prof. Varto’s lecture will explore how modern narratives that imbue fatness with personal and communal ethical significance compare to ancient narratives of fatness, particularly in archaic Greece politics. Through examining art and poetry, she will explore how fatness was not exactly a marker of elite status, but was a metaphor of the abuse of status with economic, social, and moral consequences for family, community, and state. Although elitism was central to the significance of fatness in archaic Greece, so were ideas about uncontrollable appetite, lack of restraint, and communal harm familiar to us from modern narratives about obesity and socio-economic class.

The lecture will be held in the Library of the Institute starting at 7:30 PM. It will be live-streamed as well.

No matter what your body type may be you are most welcome to attend and learn more about the antithesis of arête in archaic Greece!

Cordially,
David Rupp
Director

The Fred Winter Collection

Herakleia, arched secondary gate (Professor Fred Winter, 1982)

World War II and the devastation of the cultural heritage of Crete

The harsh occupation of Greece during the Second World War by German and Italian forces and the atrocities inflicted on its inhabitants are well known. What is less well documented are the contemporaneous assaults on the cultural heritage of the country. This latter phenomenon is a topic that has received very limited attention by researchers. The archaeologist Giorgos Tzorakis (doctoral candidate at the University of Crete) has investigated this broad topic in the context of what happened on Crete between 1942 and 1944. In his lecture on Monday evening, October 23^rd, entitled «"Εν μέσω της μενομένης καταιγίδος...". Οι αρχαιότητες της Κρήτης στη δίνη του μεγάλου πολέμου (1941-1944)», he will share his findings on this dark period on “To Megalonisi”.

The destruction of the antiquities on Crete were documented in summary fashion at the time by the then Ephor of Antiquities and Director of the Herakleion Museum, Nikolas Platon. The extent of the violence against this rich cultural heritage by both German and Italian soldiers and officers is palpable and was fully confirmed after the war. It included the pillaging of private and public archaeological collections, the damaging or the obliteration of archaeological sites and monuments as well as numerous unsupervised “archaeological excavations” throughout the island. Such a short period of opportunity, but so much damage.

This lecture is the first in the 2017/2018 Lecture Program of the Syllogos Filon tou Istorikou Archeiou tis Archaiologikis Yperesias. It will be held in the Library of the Canadian Institute in Greece starting at 7 PM on the 23^rd. The public is most welcome to attend.

Cordially,
David Rupp
Director

The Fred Winter Collection

Herakleia, Joan, village kids and flowers in front of school (Professor Fred Winter, 1982)

Imagining the Virgin Mary in Late-Antique and Early Medieval Egyptian Christianity

One of the many areas of research that the members of the Institute have focused on over the past 40 years is Byzantine art, monasticism and culture. The Institute Lecture this coming Wednesday, October 18^th by Prof. Sabrina Higgins (Assistant Professor, Stavros Niarchos Foundation Centre for Hellenic Studies, Simon Fraser University) will expand this horizon to include Egypt from the 3^rd to 11^th centuries CE. The intriguing title of her lecture is “Imagining the Virgin: The Intersection of Space, Monumentality and Marian Iconography in Late Antique and Early Medieval Egypt (Third to Eleventh Centuries)”.

Prof. Higgins’ lecture will contextualize the iconography of the Virgin Mary within the framework of Late-Antique and Early Medieval Egyptian Christianity. It will situate the creation of a visual culture associated with the Virgin within its historical parameters, particularly highlighting the relatively late appearance of Marian imagery on the chronological axis of Christian Art, and will examine the unique spatial considerations for the placement of these images. In doing so, the lecture will trace the diachronic appearance of particular Marian iconographies, while also interrogating whether particular images were localized to specific areas within ecclesiastical and monastic settings.

The lecture, the first in our Fall 2017 Lecture Program, will be held in the Institute’s Library at 7:30 pm. We look forward to seeing you there!

Cordially,
David Rupp
Director

The Fred Winter Collection

Miletos, foundations of Roman Agora Gate (reconstructed in Pergamon Museum in Berlin) (Professor Fred Winter, 1982)

The Fred Winter Collection

Didyma view of temple from SE (Professor Fred Winter, 1982)

Ruth Kozak Times 3!

For our Athens Friends’ Association we have this coming Wednesday, October 4^th the third book presentation and reading by the Vancouver-based travel journalist and author W. Ruth Kozak. Previously when Ruth was in Athens she gave us a dramatic reading from Blood on the Moon, the first book in her historical novel trilogy, Shadow of the Lion. This epic trilogy is about the aftermath of the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the bloody contests among his Successors to rule the vast empire he created. Last October she gave us a preview of her second work.

The second volume, The Fields of Hades, which was published last fall, picks up where the story left off. This novel seethes with conflict and dramatic tension as the Successors begin to battle over Alexander's territories. The joint-kings arrive in Pella just as the Regent is dying and has named Polyperhcon his successor. This sets Kassandros into a rage and he departs to Athens where he stirs up animosity between the Athenians and Macedonians and tries to enlist support from some of the other Successors. Meanwhile, the royal women vie for control of the throne. Alexander's 18-year-old niece, Adeia-Eurydiike, wife of Arridaios, leads her faction in a civil war against Olympias, Alexander's mother. Caught up in the strife and palace intrigues, Roxana tries to protect her son Alexander IV (known by his Persian name, Iskader). The boy tries to understand his role and struggles to survive. The story ends on a climax of a true Greek tragedy, the end of Alexander's dynasty, fulfilling the novel's theme of "How blind ambition and greed brought down a world power."

The presentation and additional readings from Ruth’s second novel will take place in the library of the Canadian Institute at Dionysiou Aiginitou 7, Ilisia (ground floor) starting at 19:30.

Cordially,
David Rupp
Director

The Fred Winter Collection

Cape Zoster, temple of Apollo: views to cella and pronaos from adyton (Professor Fred Winter, 1982)