CIG on YouTube and “The Wild Country East of Dikte”

Another barrier to your access to CIG lectures has been breached!!! Our talented and ever-tinkering ICT volunteer Chris Stewart has brought CIG lectures to YouTube. We now have our own YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFJEoGzs3NPPdo-2qa1vNKA .

While at the moment there is only Catherine Parnell’s lecture from last year, “Barbarian Cleavers or Greek Swords? Portrayals and Perceptions of Curved Swords in Ancient Greece", we look forward to a larger selection in the coming year. Don’t forget that you can watch the lectures via live-streaming from our website while they are being given, and this will include the Open Meeting on May 21st.

A Book Launch Tonight on Minoan Archaeology
This evening, the 19th, at 7:00 PM in the Danish Institute at Athens (Chairefontos 14 in Plaka) there will be the launch of the volume edited by Metaxia Tsipopoulou entitled, Petras. Siteia. 25 years of excavations and studies (Monographs of the Danish Institute at Athens vol. 16, Athens, 2012). The speakers at this presentation will be Dr. Rune Frederiksen (Director, Danish Institute at Athens), Dr. Tsipopoulou (Director emerita, National Archive of Monuments, Hellenic Ministry of Culture; Director of the Petras excavations) and Prof. Jan Driessen (University of Louvain, Belgium; Director, Belgian School at Athens). Prof. Driessen, a noted specialist on a variety of Minoan topics and the excavator of Sissi on Crete, will give the main lecture entitled, “The wild country east of Dikte: Contextualizing Minoan Petras”.

To prepare for the presentations you can check out the Petras website at: http://www.petras-excavations.gr. A disclosure is warranted here. Not only have I excavated at Petras, I am also a contributor to the volume among other things. The attendees will be treated to the delicious products of the Siteia region at the reception afterwards.

Cordially,
David Rupp
Director

The Fred Winter Collection

Xanthos Letoon, decorated outer end of vaulted passage under cavea of theatre. (Professor Fred Winter 1978)

Crete as seen through the lens of Venetian period maps

The Venetian hegemony over Crete from the 14th through 17th centuries left a lasting imprint on many areas and aspects of the island. It was also spawned many maps. The humanistic foundations of the Renaissance and of the Enlightenment influenced what was depicted on these maps. Thus, they represent an important source of information on the economic and the ideological history of the last two centuries of Venetian rule.

On Monday, April 15th, at 6:30 PM Dr. Kostis S. Christakis (University of Crete) will deliver a lecture for the Syllogos Filon tou Istorikou Archeiou tis Archaiologikis Ipiresias in Greek on the cartographic representations and the historical narratives of Crete in the 16th and 17th centuries. Dr. Christakis’ abiding interest in this topic originates in his extensive personal collection of these maps.

The lecture will be held at the Historical Archive building of Hellenic Archaeological Service at Psaromylingou 22 on the border between the Kerameikos and Psyrri. The Theseion train station is nearby. The public is most welcome to attend!

Cordially,
David Rupp
Director

The Fred Winter Collection

Girl posing with ruins (Professor Fred Winter 1971)

Ex Oriente Lux in Early Iron Age Greece and Save the Date

The last lecture of the Institute’s Winter/Spring Lecture Program will take place this coming Wednesday, the 10th, at 7:30 PM. The lecture will be given by a former Homer and Dorothy Thompson Fellow of the Institute (2001/2), Dr. Alison Barclay. She is now a professor of Classics at Saint Mary's University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The title of her lecture is, “Centre and Periphery: Intercultural Relations in the Eastern Mediterranean, ca. 900-600 BCE”.

“The period from ca. 900-600 BCE is an important one in the development of ancient Greek culture and scholars rely heavily on archaeological remains to reconstruct and interpret the processes of change in this period. Thus, the artistic motifs and the artifacts they decorate are essential vehicles for examining the transmission and, in particular, the reception, of new elements that appear in the artistic repertoire of early Greece at this time – many as a result of expanding intercultural contacts with the Near East and Egypt. These artifacts are also important for tracing the internal diffusion of foreign ideas and their Greek adaptations within the Greek world. One model for interpreting the effect of these interactions is the concept of centre and periphery. While this model is a good starting point for an analysis of artistic and social historical changes during the period, it is just a starting point. To even begin to understand the processes of reception – not only what, but how and why these new elements were used – one has to move beyond this model to a more context-based approach. Established indigenous traditions, social, political and economic trends, ideological structures, economics, and communicability all affect how, why or whether new elements will be incorporated into the receiving culture. It is the analysis of these factors together with the reception of the artistic motifs that give us the greatest insights into the choices, and to some degree the motivations, made by merchant, politician, poet and artist.”

Save the Date!
It is that time of year again and our Annual Open Meeting date is now set! It will be Tuesday, May 21st at 7:00 pm at the Italian School in Makriyianni. Shortly I will provide more details on the Invited Lecturer and the topic.

Cordially,
David Rupp
Director

The Fred Winter Collection

Portrait of Photographer (Professor Fred Winter 1968)

Find your Own Ancient Mediterranean Princess!

This Thursday, at 6:30 PM the Athens Association of Friends of the Institute will meet at the main entrance of the Museum of Cycladic Art at Neophytou Douka 4 to start a guided tour of the much talked about “Princesses of the Mediterranean at the Dawn of History” exhibition [link to previous blog on topic].

“The exhibition presents 24 examples of ‘princesses’ from Greece, Cyprus, Southern Italy, and Etruria from 1,000 to 500 BC, and over 500 artefacts. Royal ladies or princesses; priestesses or healers; women of authority or knowledge; local women, who stood apart from the rest; other women, who accepted and adopted the cultural traits of different societies or of the men they married in their homeland – local or foreign men – or even those women, who for reasons of intermarriage, traveled from one place to another, are the women this exhibition examines. Through their stories, one can distinctly perceive how these women played a contributing role in broadening the cultural horizons of their time, including their involvement in the development of the archaic Mediterranean culture.” The Exhibition has been so popular that it has been extended to May 8th.

There are still a few of places left. To reserve one of them please by Thursday at 1 PM at the latest, either call Jonathan at: 210 7223201 or email him at: ad@cig-icg.gr. Each participant will be charged €3.50 for the tour.

Come and join us for a stimulating exhibition with many objects not seen in Greece before.

Cordially,
David Rupp
Director