Panel discussion Panel 2: Translation and the Magnitude of Historical Figures: Michalis Ganas and Translation Co-hosted with Aiora Press in Athens Chair: David Ricks Panel: John Stathatos, Vassilis Letsios, Joshua Barley Chair: David Ricks Unusually among modern Greek poets Michalis Ganas (1944-2024) was not a translator. Yet his poems have had a second life in many languages, […]
Annual Open Lectures 2026 London Please join us for the Annual Open Lectures of the British School at Athens on Tuesday 3rd February at 6 pm which will be held at the Great Hall, King's College London, Strand, WC2R 2LS. A reception will follow from 7.30pm to 8.30pm. The following lectures will be […]
The translator of Athens Tales with the city in the background, photo credit: Andrew Spyrou Friends of the BSA Greece lecture Joshua Barley, ‘Athens Tales’ Book Presentation Recently published by Oxford University Press, Athens Tales is an anthology of Greek writing about the city, from the late nineteenth century to today. The book brings together […]
Panel discussion Panel 1: Translation and the Magnitude of Historical Figures: Homer, Lorca and Seferis Co-hosted with the Cyprus High Commission in London Chair: Gonda Van Steen Panel: Dimitra Kotoula, Andry Christofidou-Antoniadou, Jennifer Kellogg, Afroditi Athanasopoulou Dimitra Kotoula: ‘The Smile of Astyanax: Working with Homer’ My contribution to this workshop consists of posing questions, rather […]
Philippos Margaritis, A Greek Lady, c.1855, Th. Theodorou Collection Book presentation Victorians and Modern Greece: Literary and Cultural Encounters The event will feature three talks presenting the book Victorians and Modern Greece: Literary and Cultural Encounters recently published by Routledge in the British School at Athens—Modern Greek and Byzantine Studies Series. The volume examines the […]
International Symposium Celebrating 200 Years of Mary Shelley’s The Last Man Mary Shelley’s third published novel, The Last Man (1826), tells of a great plague which exterminates the human race at the end of the twenty-first century, just as the Greek Revolution reaches its long-postponed conclusion with the conquest of Constantinople. In what many critics […]
Delphi © Prof. Lin Foxhall. UK Friends' lecture Professor Lin Foxhall (University of Liverpool), "Re-imagining ancient Greek landscapes" Abstract: Ancient Greek landscapes were both like and unlike those we see today. Landscapes are dynamic and change over time, sometimes very rapidly. The human relationships within local communities linked together a variety of urban and rural spaces […]
The west pediment of the Parthenon after Cyriac of Ancona Visiting Fellow Lecture Dr Lorenzo Calvelli (Ca' Foscari University of Venice), "A View from Athens. Reassessing Cyriac of Ancona’s Vita and Commentaria" Abstract: This lecture will explore the manuscript tradition and the discoveries of Cyriac of Ancona, the fifteenth-century Italian humanist, merchant and traveller who […]
Fitch-Wiener Seminar Dr. Richard Thér (Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Hradec Králové, CZ), "Structural and Surface Analysis as a Key to Pottery Forming Techniques" Abstract: The aim of the lecture is to present the current developments in the possibilities of qualitative and quantitative analysis of ceramic body structure as well as vessel […]
Rhamnous, photo: E. Harris UK Friends' lecture Professor Edward Harris (Durham University), "A New Approach to the Attic Countryside: Markets in the Demes" Abstract: In Aristophanes’ Acharnians (33-36), Dikaiopolis expresses his nostalgia for the good old days in the Attic countryside when no one ever used the word ‘buy’ and the land produced everything he […]
William Barlett, Rhodes, with the channel between the Islands and Asia Minor (1836), Wikimedia Commons Panel discussion Archaeology in the Ottoman Aegean: Consuls – Culture – Commerce How did local communities contribute to archaeology in the 19th and early 20th centuries? What were the connections between Ottoman officials, international diplomats, and competing curators? And what […]
BSA/SPBS lecture Dr Vicky Manolopoulou (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice), "A Landscape of Fear and Hope: Perceptions and Responses to Environmental change in Byzantine Constantinople" How did the environment shape landscape experience in Byzantine Constantinople? This talk explores aspects of the environmental history of the city by focusing on environmental emotion; it discusses how the […]
Votive relief with Pluto, Persephone and Demeter (4th-3rd cent. B.C.) in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens on 22 July 2018, courtesy of B. Cassell Upper House Seminar Ben Cassell (BSA/King’s College London), "The Aiora and Thesmophoria: Cognitve, embodied and psychological approaches" Abstract: Recent years have seen an increasing application of models derived from the […]
The British School at Athens as a member of the Committee for the Support of Libraries (CSL) co-organizes the International Conference “Designing Belonging: Libraries as Inclusive and Open Public Spaces” which will take place on 1 and 2 December 2025 at the National Library of Greece premises at Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center. The detailed […]
Ilenia Cipollari performing with Musarc, photo by Yiannis Katsaris Artist Researcher in Residence event Ilenia Cipollari (BSA/University of the Arts London), "Sounding the Archive: Fragments in Emily Penrose’s Own Voice. British School at Athens, 1887–2025" Sounding the Archive is an intimate hybrid performance-lecture inspired by the travel diaries of historian Emily Penrose during her time […]
Remembering Colin Renfrew: a life’s work on the Cyclades and beyond Friday 21 November 2025, 19:00 Location: Archaeological Society at Athens, 22 Panepistimiou Str, 106 72 Athens, Greece This event will be recorded but will not take place as a live hybrid presentation. A video recording will be released in due course on the BSA […]
Fitch-Wiener Seminar Dr. Marek Verčík (Institute of Classical Archaeology, Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague), "Collapse – Transformation – Rise? Dynamics of Environmental Changes between the Balkans and the Aegean in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages" In-person only Contact: For any enquiries, tel.: 213-000-2400 (133), Email: infoWienerLab@ascsa.edu.gr
Sinclair Hood as BSA Director (1954-62). © BSA Visiting Fellow Lecture Professor Nicoletta Momigliano (University of Bristol), "Mal d’Archive/Archive Fever (some reflections on Sinclair Hood’s archive at the British School at Athens)" This lecture presents some reflections stemming from current research on the Royal Road excavations that were carried out by Sinclair Hood at Knossos […]
The Portara Gate, Palatia islet, Naxos, photo: R Levitan UK Friends' lecture Dr Rebecca Levitan (King's College London), "The Naxos Quarry Project: New Insights on the Archaic Marble Quarries and Monuments of Naxos, Greece" Abstract: In the early history of marble working in the Mediterranean, few locations have been more influential than Naxos, an island […]
NHRF/ICS/BSA Lectures in Classics series Professor Polly Low (Durham University), "Towards a new history of ancient Greek empire(s)" Abstract: Can we talk of 'empire' when studying the behaviour of Greek states in the fifth and fourth centuries BCE? Does using this terminology clarify or obscure our understanding of how states and individuals behaved, and how […]
Greek Friends' lecture Dr Angela Paine, "Healing Plants of Greek Myth" There are numerous references to plants used by goddesses and gods to heal or enchant, within Greek Myth, and the names of many of these plants have been incorporated into the Latin binomials that are used to identify them. The first physicians began to […]
*PLEASE NOTE* the conference is now fully booked for in-person attendance. Please register to attend online via webinar. The programme is subject to change - please refer to this webpage for the most up to date version. Conference Mountains of Greece: Heritage narratives from the past for a sustainable future This special two-day conference at the British […]
In-conversation Writing Greece: An evening with Sofka Zinovieff and Julian Hoffman Neither Julian Hoffman nor Sofka Zinovieff are originally from Greece and yet they've both devoted a large part of their careers to writing and thinking about this country. Between them, they've explored it in novels, nonfiction, short stories, podcasts and essays. One lives in […]
Join us for the first Fitch Wiener Lab Seminar Series of the academic year. Magda Giannakopoulou (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens & National Center for Scientific Research Demokritos) will give a talk: "Copper and lead-silver production on EBA Sifnos: an archeometallurgical and archaeological approach"
BSA Fundraising Event Lecture and Wine-tasting The Friends' Committee of the British School at Athens is pleased to share the details of the wine-tasting fundraising event taking place on Tuesday 21 October 2025 at 5.30pm, at Westminster Cathedral Hall, Ambrosden Avenue, London, SW1P 1QW. Please refer to the attached Information leaflet. The event cost is £76 per […]
Athens Archaeology Festival 2025 Join us on the 18th October 2025, between 11:00 and 16:00 in the beautiful grounds of the British School at Athens for a FREE day of exploration, creativity, and hands-on learning. This year’s theme is Myths & Mysteries! Step into the past through interactive activities, live screenings, and inspiring workshops. A wide range of organisations will […]
Christina Nakou: creating a mosaic, courtesy of the artist In-conversation Mosaics: an enduring imprint of materiality. Christina Nakou in conversation with Rebecca Sweetman Based on the ancient technique of mosaics, the conversation between the Director of the BSA Prof Rebecca Sweetman (expert on ancient mosaics) and Visual Artist Christina Nakou approaches concepts such as making, […]
Poetry Readings: Michael Marks Awards Ben Verinder (Environmental Poet of the Year 2024) and Professor Paul O’Prey (winner of the Publisher Award 2024 - Dare Gale press) The BSA is delighted to host the Michael Marks Awards and its winning poets who stay at the BSA for a week as part of the programme. This […]
Temple of Athena Nike on the Athenian Acropolis, reconstruction © John Goodinson UK Friends' Lecture Professor David Gill (University of Kent), "Cleon’s Victory at Sphacteria and the Temple of Athena Nike on the Athenian Acropolis" Cleon’s dramatic victory at Sphacteria in 425 – with its unprecedented capture of 292 Spartan hoplites – was a transformative […]
EARTH WATER FIRE 2025 The Thrapsano Cultural Association, the Centre for the Study of Modern Ceramics and the British School at Athens are organizing in co-organization with the Region of Crete, with the collaboration of PLOYGOS and under the auspices of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and the Municipality of Minoa Pediada the four-day cultural festival EARTH WATER […]
Women Transcending Boundaries: Over a century of scholarship, fieldwork and friendship across the British International Research Institutes - at the British Academy Summer Showcase 2025 Look out for our digital history of women archaeologists, ‘Women Transcending Boundaries: Over a century of scholarship, fieldwork and friendship across the British International Research Institutes’, on display at The […]
Reconstructing the 1936 British School at Athens (BSA) exhibition: A Workshop on the Study of Pre-World War II Archaeological Exhibitions using Archival Materials Organisers: Andrew Shapland, Renée Trepagnier, Amalia Kakissis, and Charlotte Townsend With the growth of the museum studies discipline and the interest in archival and archaeological collections in museums and heritage organisations, the […]
Daskalio Cave, Kalymnos, Photograph © Stathis Klimis Online Friends' Lecture Dr Maria Mina (University of the Aegean), “Sacred caves outside Crete: Daskalio Cave on Kalymnos and its connections to Minoan ritual practices” Abstract: We know from archaeological studies that occupied caves diachronically held prominent positions as visible landmarks or as nodal points in exchange networks […]
source: ekathimerini "The role of the Diaspora in Greek American relations, 1974-2024” Chaired by: Professor Eirini Karamouzi (American College of Greece/University of Sheffield), Dr Lamprini Rori (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens) Discussants: Professor Alexander Kitroeff (Haverford College) & Professor Constantinos Arvanitopoulos (Panteion University) Abstract: The paper will explore the diaspora as an actor seeking […]
Michael Frede Annual Michael Frede Memorial Lecture Professor Eyjólfur Kjalar Emilsson (University of Oslo), “Idealist, dualist or something else? Plotinus on the status of the sensible world” Abstract: In this paper I shall discuss Plotinus’ views on causation of and in the sensible sphere—by “the sensible sphere” I mean the physical world around us. The […]
August Schörgendorfer’s photos of Villa Ariadne and the excavations at Knossos. Source: © A. Schörgendorfer’s photo album Annual Bader Archive Lecture Dr Georgia Flouda (Archaeological Museum of Heraklion), “Adventures in the Archives: Reconstructing archaeology in Nazi-Occupied Crete” Abstract: This presentation explores the institutional and political context of the Wehrmacht’s Kunstschutz (‘Art Protection’), established in 1941 […]
Upper House Seminar Dr Alessandra Ricci (Koç University), “How did it begin?: The Institutionalization of Byzantine Studies in Turkey and Sir Steven Runciman” Abstract: It was probably sometime in 1941 or early 1942 when İzmet İnönü, the second president of the Turkish Republic, summoned the minister of national education, Hasan Ali Yücel who confirmed - […]
Pottery from the Cyclades: an interdisciplinary approach Dr. Edyta Marzec, British School at Athens In-person only
image: German gun-emplacement at Thessaloniki with its communication trench lined with Jewish gravestones. Photographed by the British Army in November 1944. Author’s archive. Upper House Seminar Dr Roderick Bailey (University of Oxford), "Anglo-American attitudes to the protection of Jewish cultural heritage in Thessaloniki, 1943-46" Abstract: During the Second World War, more than four-fifths of Greece’s […]
image: The Mani Promontory in the Southern Peloponnese. CORONELLI, Vincenzo. Description géographique et historique de la Morée ... , Paris, Nicolas Langlois, MDCLXXXVII Online Friends' lecture Elias Kolovos (National Hellenic Research Foundation), "How the Ottoman traveller Evliya Çelebi set foot on the Mani Peninsula, but left in a hurry... Ottoman imperial administration in the […]
image: Funerary inscription for Domitia Saturnina Apollonis (Corinth 8.1.134), source: American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Corinth Excavations Upper House Seminar Dr Laura Nastasi (BSA), "Language Set in Stone: Graeco-Latin Bilingualism and Writing Culture in Roman Corinth" Abstract: The commonly accepted view about Corinth in the Roman period is that the foundation of a […]
image: Hotel Formentor, Mallorca by bemhuesca, used under CC BY SA 2.0 The Centre for the Study of Modern and Contemporary History in conjunction with The British School at Athens Everyday Life Under Dictatorship in Southern Europe: Intimacy, Sociality, and Loneliness Speakers: Prof Kate Ferris (University of St Andrews), Dr Huw Halstead (University of Edinburgh), and Dr Yannick Lengkeek (University of Birmingham) Respondent: Dr Daniel Knight (University […]
The Research Centre for Greek and Latin Literature of the Academy of Athens and the British School at Athens are delighted to announce the lecture: Professor Tim Rood (Oxford), ‘The Greek Palimpsest: Alfred Zimmern at the British School at Athens, 1909–10’. The lecture will take place at the East Hall of the Academy of […]
Publication Presentation R.L.N. Barber (ed.), "Phylakopi, Melos, 1896-99. The finds in the National Archaeological Museum, Athens, BSA Suppl. Volume 53" The National Archaeological Museum and the British School at Athens cordially invite you to the presentation of the two-volume publication R.L.N. Barber (ed.), Phylakopi, Melos, 1896-99. The finds in the National Archaeological Museum, Athens, BSA Suppl. Volume […]
Upper House Seminar Dr Artemis Papatheodorou (The Metropolitan Museum of Art), "The Ottoman laws on antiquities in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries" Abstract: In the long nineteenth century, the Ottoman Empire promulgated not one but four regulations on antiquities: the first one in 1869, the second one in 1874, the third one in 1884 […]
Elderly olive trees growing on the edge of an agricultural terrace, Kythera, photo: Dr Valasia Isaakidou PLEASE NOTE: new date - Mon 25th March 2025 Hybrid Friends' Lecture Professor Paul Halstead (Professor Emeritus, University of Sheffield), “The importance of olive growing and oil exports in Archaic-Classical Athens: the contribution of 'citizen science'” Abstract: Scholars have […]
Upper House Seminar Lady Marina Marks in conversation with Bruce Clark, "The Uses of Oppression: The Ottoman Empire through its Greek Newspapers, 1830–1862" Lady Marks and Bruce Clark will discuss the research for her recently published book The Uses of Oppression: The Ottoman Empire through its Greek Newspapers, 1830–1862 (Harvard University Press, 2024). Abstract: During […]
Artemis holding two long torches, 4th century B.C., Megara. National Archaeological Museum of Athens. NM 4540. Photo by George E. Koronaios (22 July 2018) via Wikimedia Commons, shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence. Visiting Fellow Lecture Dr Theodora Jim (University of Nottingham), "Thinking through Greek and Chinese gods from a comparative perspective" Abstract: Contrary to […]
Presented By Fitch Laboratory, BSA and Wiener Laboratory, ASCSA Speaker(s) Dr. Andreas Karydas Institute of Nuclear and Particle Physics of the National Center for Scientific Research "Demokritos" Location ASCSA, M. H. Wiener Laboratory Seminar Room 54 Souidias st., Athens 10676 Contact For any enquiries, tel.: 213-000-2400 (133), Email: infoWienerLab@ascsa.edu.gr
Course Keynote Lecture Prof. Konstantinos Georgiadis (University of Peloponnese) "The Revival of modern Olympic Games: from Zappas to Coubertin" As part of the course: History and Philosophy of the Olympic Games: understanding ancient ideas and communicating modern ideals. https://www.bsa.ac.uk/courses/history-and-philosophy-of-the-olympic-games/ Prof. Konstantinos Georgiadis - University of Peloponnese, IOA Dean Member, IOC Commission for Olympic Education Vice-President, International Society […]
Annual Open Lectures 2025 London Please join us for the Annual Open Lectures of the British School at Athens on Tuesday 18th February 2025 at 5.30 pm which will be held in-person only at the British Academy, 10-11 Carlton House Terrace, London, SW1Y 5AH. credit Kostas Mantziaris The following lectures will be presented, with Professor […]
Annual Open Lectures 2025 Athens Please join us for the Annual Open Lectures of the British School at Athens on Thursday 13th February 2025 at 7 p.m. which will be held in-person only at the Archaeological Society (Lecture Hall), 22 Panepistimiou Street. The Work of the British School at Athens in 2024 […]
Annual Open Lectures 2025 Thessaloniki Please join us for the Annual Open Lectures of the British School at Athens on Tuesday 11th February 2025 at 7 p.m. which will be held in-person only. The lecture will take place in the Cast Gallery of the Faculty of Philosophy, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. The […]
Upper House Seminar Dr Jan Sienkiewicz (University of Cambridge/British Museum/BSA), "Islands Between Palaces: The ‘Mycenaean’ Civilisation Reconsidered" Abstract: According to the dominant scholarly narrative, after the collapse of the Neopalatial civilisation, the Aegean societies underwent the so-called ‘Mycenaeanisation’, as the regional centre of cultural, economic, and political influence shifted from ‘Minoan’ Crete to the ‘Mycenaean’ […]
The remains of the two castles at Torone, photo by Teddy Catling Hybrid Friends' Lecture Dr Pamela Armstrong (University of Oxford), "The Two Castles of Torone" Abstract: Torone sits on a headland at the southern tip of the Sithonia peninsula in the Chalkidiki on the north coast of Greece. From the headland it is […]
Joint BSA-CHS Panel ‘Poetry between Languages: Writing and Translating Poetry in English and Greek’ This hybrid panel session, to be held on 20 January 2025 at the British School at Athens, takes as its starting point With Signs Following (Reading: Two Rivers Press 2024) the newly published poetry collection of David Ricks (Professor Emeritus, King’s […]
BSA Friends' lecture Professor Nikos Daskalothanasis (Athens School of Fine Arts), "Το πρώτο ίδρυμα καλλιτεχνικής εκπαίδευσης στην Ελλάδα: η ιστορία της Ανωτάτης Σχολής Καλών Τεχνών της Αθήνας" Please note: the lecture will take place in Greek Abstract: The aim of the lecture is to reconstruct the history of the first educational artistic institution of the […]
Fragment of an inscribed tribute list, 425-4 BCE, image credit: the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Fletcher Fund, 1926 Upper House Seminar Dr Edward Jones (BSA Macmillan-Rodewald Student / Oxford University) "The function and significance of inscribed accounts in Classical Athens” Abstract: In this lecture, Edward Jones explores the Classical Athenian habit of inscribing administrative […]
image: Islam Issa gives his prize-winning address at the Runciman Award Ceremony 2024, © Julian Anderson BSA / Anglo Hellenic League lecture Professor Islam Issa (Birmingham City University), "The Alexandrian Dream" BIO Islam Issa is an award-winning author, broadcaster and curator, named by the BBC as ‘one of the UK’s most significant new thinkers’. He […]
image: Technopolis City of Athens (June 2022), Long Run Productions, commissioned by Gordon Davies, courtesy of Technopolis City of Athens | Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International Online Friends Webinar Dr Gordon Davies (Cambridge Museum of Technology), "Filming Archaeology in Hellas: Technopolis City of Athens (and beyond)" ABSTACT: Experience a different side of Athens in a series […]
