View over the acropolis
of Athens and Mount Lykavitos
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.
Theatre
at the archaeological site of Pleuron
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.
Theatre A’ in Larisa,
Thessaly
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.
View over the Thessalian
plains
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.
Christmas lights at
Syntagma square
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
