I first started coming to Greece in the summer of 2014 and never could have imagined that, 10 years later, I would still be travelling here for work. Thanks to the Elisabeth Alföldi-Rosenbaum Fellowship, I am now able to live in Athens for the first time, enjoying the beautiful city throughout the year. In September 2024 I began my stay at the Canadian Institute to finish up my doctoral research on “festivals and regional identity in Hellenistic Thessaly”, which has been aided greatly by the resources of the CIG, and the many contacts I have made as a CIG member.
The purpose of this fellowship being to complete my dissertation, I have spent many hours in the libraries of the foreign research institutes around Athens. In addition to the CIG, I have been able to conduct work in and browse through libraries such as the Blegen of the American School and the library of the British School. In addition to the many hours of research spent in these libraries, I have also been able to expand my research network by attending lectures at the various archaeological schools and institutes, with particular focus for the Greek Religion Seminars at the Swedish Institute in Athens and the TEXNH lectures at the Netherlands Institute in Athens. I am greatly looking forward to the upcoming semester, as the University of Thessaly in March will hold the 8th annual conference “Αρχαιολογικό Έργο Θεσσαλίας και Στερεάς Ελλάδας” (ΑΕΘΣΕ). I look forward to attending again to solidify connections with other scholars working on Thessaly and hearing all about the new discoveries in the region.
My research seeks to understand the role of festivals in identity-formation processes during the Hellenistic period in Thessaly and attempts to answer the question of how festivals served to connect communities within the region as well as the wider Greek world. My research adds to our regional knowledge of the role of religious festivals in the increasingly internationalized Hellenistic world. This research centers on a comprehensive assessment of Thessalian religious festivals and their interplay with identity formation on a local, regional, and international scale, which serves as an important comparison for other regions in this time period. The dataset for this research primarily involves inscriptions, but also archaeological evidence such as theatres and sanctuaries.
There is nothing more inspiring for someone working on Ancient Greece than having the opportunity to walk the streets of Athens, seeing all the ancient remains you have spent your life studying and imagining yourself walking the footsteps of those you study. In between all the work in libraries, I have managed to take research trips as well as more leisurely trips to broaden my knowledge of Greece. This has included travelling around the Peloponnese focussing on many of the sites that held the ancient Panhellenic festivals, as this comparanda connects particularly to my research. Other trips have included exploring Attica more broadly, as well as daily walks around Athens, and the occasional hike up Mount Hymettos.
This first semester has more than lived up to my expectations. In addition to academic opportunities, I have also made many personal connections and friends from around Athens, with Red Lion nights really helping to meet those from other archaeological schools. As I fly back to Edmonton for the holidays, I can happily reflect on the first semester of Alföldi-Rosenbaum Fellowship and look forward to the upcoming term!
Καλά Χριστούγεννα και Καλή Χρονιά!
Adam Wiznura, Elisabeth Alföldi-Rosenbaum Fellow 2024-2025
