Past Events – British School at Athens
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October 2017
November 2017
December 2017
January 2018
February 2018
Dr Stacey Prickett, “Dancing nations at the Athens Festival: cultural diplomacy during the Cold War”
March 2018
April 2018
May 2018
June 2018
September 2018
Storytelling Performance of the Odyssey by Hugh Lupton and Daniel Morden
Storytelling Performance of the Odyssey by Hugh Lupton and Daniel Morden (co-organised with The Danish Institute at Athens)
Find out more »October 2018
Book launch: Armand Marie Leroi, “The Lagoon: how Aristotle invented science”
Prof. Armand Marie Leroi (Imperial College London), "The Lagoon: how Aristotle invented science" Video
Find out more »Dimitris Papanikolaou, “Critically queer and haunted: on how (not) to do the history of Greek (homo)sexuality”
Prof. Dimitris Papanikolaou (University of Oxford), "Critically queer and haunted: on how (not) to do the history of Greek (homo)sexuality" ABSTRACT - Developing a history of modern Greek queer emergence and homosexual subcultures has always been a challenge. While for many outside Greece the country has always been quite queer anyway (and for many travelers, queerly available), for non-Greek institutions the possibility of a Greek queer history was for decades an unthinkable undertaking. The lecture will put both these views…
Find out more »MANIAS: modern desires for Greek pasts
A panel discussion with Prof Liz Prettejohn (York), Prof Nicoletta Momigliano (Bristol), Dr Katherine Harloe (Reading), Dr Andrew Shapland (British Museum), and Dr Alexia Petsalis-Diomidis (St. Andrews). Why do we engage with the Greek past? Building on the recent BSA publications of Cretomania (2017) and Hellenomania (2018), this panel brings together specialists on Greek material culture to discuss modern responses to the Greek past. Topics that will be explored include modern versions of the Iliad and the Odyssey, engagements with…
Find out more »Philip Mansel, “Alexandria, from Mohammed Ali to Farouk: the rise and fall of a royal capital”
Dr Philip Mansel (author and historian), "Alexandria, from Mohammed Ali to Farouk: the rise and fall of a royal capital" Dr Philip Mansel considers the modern history of Alexandria between 1805 and 1952 from the point of the dynasty which ruled it, the House of Mohammed Ali, rather than from that of its Egyptian or Greek inhabitants. Governor of Egypt, under the Ottoman Sultan from 1805 to 1849, Mohammed Ali came from Kavalla in what is now Greece and had…
Find out more »November 2018
Phiroze Vasunia, “The Prose of the World: Hegel, Plutarch, Herodotus”
Prof. Phiroze Vasunia (University College London) in collaboration with the National Hellenic Research Foundation and the Institute of Classical Studies In many cultures, prose comes after verse. Masters of Greek prose such as Herodotus and Plato were acutely self-conscious of the poets and poems that preceded them and they sought to fashion a medium that would hold its own against the great verse compositions of the past. In the ancient world and later, numerous theories were put forward to explain…
Find out more »Lorrice Douglas, “The Value of Fragments”
Lorrice Douglas (BSA Arts Bursary holder 2017/18), will give a talk on "The Value of Fragments" Lorrice is an artist and researcher at Chelsea College of Art, University of the Arts London. She will be talking about her recent residency at the British School at Athens, raising the particularities of entering the archaeological scholarly community as an artist and how those two worlds meet: 'I am surrounded by specialists in ‘the past’, literally at every turn. This is very exciting for me.…
Find out more »Leandro Fantuzzi, “Revisiting the origin of the Punic Amphorae from Corinth’s ‘Punic Amphora Building'”
Dr Leandro Fantuzzi (Fitch Laboratory, British School at Athens), “Revisiting the origin of the Punic Amphorae from Corinth's 'Punic Amphora Building'. New evidence on trade networks between Classical Corinth and the Punic West”
Find out more »Polyxeni Adam-Veleni, “Thessaloniki, a Metro-polis through the centuries”
Dr Polyxeni Adam-Veleni (Director General of Antiquities and Cultural Heritage, Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports), "Thessaloniki, a Metro-polis through the centuries" During excavations of the Metropolitan Railway in modern Thessaloniki, significant antiquities in seven stops emerged. A new, unknown until now, town nearby, an unknown Roman cemetery of a rich village, many burials in the eastern and western necropolis of ancient Thessaloniki, while in two central stations, in the heart of the ancient and the modern city, have revealed many…
Find out more »December 2018
Evangelia Kiriatzi & Maria Duggan “The British School at Athens and the work of the Fitch Laboratory: linking Britain and the Mediterranean”
Evangelia Kiriatzi (Fitch Lab Director, BSA) & Maria Duggan (BA PDF, Newcastle & BSA), "The British School at Athens and the work of the Fitch Laboratory: linking Britain and the Mediterranean" Dr Evangelia Kiriatzi will first provide an overview of the history and operation of the British School at Athens and its role in promoting and facilitating multi-disciplinary research collaborations between Britain and Greece. Dr Kiriatzi will also present the work of the Fitch Laboratory as a leading hub for science-based archaeology and a centre…
Find out more »Lorrice Douglas, “The Value of Fragments”
Lorrice Douglas is an artist and researcher at Chelsea College of Art, University of the Arts London. She will be giving a talk on her recent residency at the British School at Athens, raising the particularities of entering the archaeological scholarly community as an artist and how those two worlds meet.
Find out more »Dimitris Plantzos, “Mind the gap: revisiting Greece’s national “sites of trauma”
Prof. Dimitris Plantzos (University of Athens), "Mind the gap: revisiting Greece’s national “sites of trauma”
Find out more »Edyta Marzec, “Provenance and Technology of Hellenistic Colour-coated Ware Pottery from Nea Paphos on Cyprus”
Dr Edyta Marzec (Post Doctoral Research Fellow, BSA Fitch Laboratory), "Provenance and Technology of Hellenistic Colour-coated Ware Pottery from Nea Paphos on Cyprus"
Find out more »January 2019
Translations. Modern Greek literature through a translator’s lens
Translations. Modern Greek literature through a translator's lens - Prof. Roderick Beaton (King's College London), Prof. Patricia Barbeito (Rhode Island School of Design), Prof. Dionysis Kapsalis (poet, Director, National Bank of Greece Cultural Foundation), Alicia Stallings (poet and translator), Aris Laskaratos (Founder, Aiora Press)
Find out more »Dimitris Plantzos, Classical Encounters: Past and present in contemporary Greece
Professor Dimitris Plantzos (Associate Professor, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens), "Classical Encounters: Past and present in contemporary Greece" (How does Greece's famed Classical antiquity shape the country's present? Why is this happening? And what is its impact on the forging of modern Greek socila and cultural identities? Dimitris Plantzos will explore these questions using telling examples of current interaction with the Classical past)
Find out more »Sevasti Triantaphyllou, “Bodies on fire: tracing the practice of burning the human remains in the prehistoric Aegean through macroscopic and analytical methods”
Dr Sevasti Triantaphyllou (Assistant Professor, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), "Bodies on fire: tracing the practice of burning the human remains in the prehistoric Aegean through macroscopic and analytical methods"
Find out more »Rosemary Jeffreys, “Gilded wreaths from Phoinikas, Thessaloniki”
Ms Rosemary Jeffreys (University of Oxford), "Gilded wreaths from Phoinikas, Thessaloniki" Ms Jeffreys will present some unpublished gilded wreaths from Phoinikas, Thessaloniki, which date to the second quarter of the fourth century BC. These wreaths are in an extraordinary state of preservation, having been placed in a sealed cist grave, in which even some textiles were preserved. She will tell us what is known of the woman buried in one of the graves, as well as what she has discovered…
Find out more »February 2019
The Work of the School in 2018 and lecture by Colin Renfrew and Michael Boyd “The sanctuary on Keros and the settlement of Dhaskalio in the light of recent research”
The Work of the School in 2018 by Professor John Bennet (Director, BSA) and lecture by Professor Lord Colin Renfrew and Dr Michael Boyd (University of Cambridge) "The sanctuary on Keros and the settlement of Dhaskalio in the light of recent research"
Find out more »Gerald J. Conlogue, “Field Radiography: Non-Traditional Applications of Medical and Industrial Radiography”
Professor Gerald J. Conlogue (Bioanthropology Research Institute, Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut), "Field Radiography: Non-Traditional Applications of Medical and Industrial Radiography"
Find out more »Judith Barringer, “The message is in the medium: White-ground lekythoi and stone grave markers in Classical Athens.”
Prof. Judith Barringer (University of Edinburgh), “The message is in the medium: White-ground lekythoi and stone grave markers in Classical Athens.” Video
Find out more »The Work of the School in 2018 and lecture by Roderick Beaton “Ο Λόρδος Μπάιρον και η Ελληνική Επανάσταση: από τον θρύλο στην πολιτική πραγματικότητα”
The Work of the School in 2018 by Professor John Bennet (Director, BSA) and lecture by Professor Roderick Beaton (King's College London) "Ο Λόρδος Μπάιρον και η Ελληνική Επανάσταση: από τον θρύλο στην πολιτική πραγματικότητα" - The heroic legend of Byron’s voluntary self-sacrifice is well known. But what was his real contribution to the Greek struggle for independence? This talk sheds new light on what Byron really did from the moment when he arrived at Missolonghi on Christmas Eve 1823…
Find out more »The Work of the School in 2018 and lecture by Roderick Beaton “1919: Venizelos’ Asia Minor policy revisited”
The Work of the School in 2018 by Professor John Bennet (Director, BSA) and lecture by Professor Roderick Beaton (King's College London), "1919: Venizelos' Asia Minor policy revisited" - One hundred years ago this year, in on 2/15 May 1919, Greek troops landed in Smyrna. For many the event was a vindication of Venizelos’s policies and a prelude to the fulfilment of the ‘Grand Idea’ of expanding the Greek state to include the entire Greek nation in the east. The…
Find out more »March 2019
Dr Ruth Macrides, Byzantium and Modern Greece in Scotland
Dr Ruth Macrides, Byzantium and Modern Greece in Scotland
Find out more »Professor Sarah Broadie, “What has Plato’s Divided Line to do with his Sun-image of the good?”
Professor Sarah Broadie (University of St Andrews), "What has Plato's Divided Line to do with his Sun-image of the good?" We know from the text that there is a close connection, but Plato leaves us with the task of working out exactly what it is. The explanation involves (of course) the so called dialectical method, presented in the context of the Divided Line. One of this method's distinctive marks is that it operates with, or from, a ‘non-hypothetical starting point…
Find out more »Ο Sir Arthur Evans, ο Μεγάλος Πόλεμος και η ειρήνευση του μινωικού πολιτισμού
Ο Sir Arthur Evans, ο Μεγάλος Πόλεμος και η ειρήνευση του μινωικού πολιτισμού ( British School at Athens, Upper House, workshop between 3.00 pm - 6.15 pm and at 8.30 pm the concert will take place at the Olympia Municipal Music Theatre Maria Callas)
Find out more »Sarah Broadie, “Putting mathematics in its place in Plato’s Republic”
Professor Sarah Broadie (University of St. Andrews), "Putting mathematics in its place in Plato’s Republic" The discussion will centre on two questions: (a) what to make of the inferiority of mathematics to dialectic (the main locus for this is the Divided Line in Book VI)? And (b) what is the real purpose of the mathematical education laid out in Book VII?
Find out more »Angela Trentacoste, “Of cattle and connectivity: investigating the morphometric change in ancient livestock”
Angela Trentacoste, “Of cattle and connectivity: investigating the morphometric change in ancient livestock”
Find out more »April 2019
Ricardo Fernandes, “Integrating isotopic, archaeological, and historical evidence for high-quality reconstruction of past human lifeways”
Dr. Ricardo Fernandes, (Head of Radiocarbon Lab, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History Research Associate, University of Oxford; Associate Professor, Masaryk University), Integrating isotopic, archaeological, and historical evidence for high-quality reconstruction of past human lifeways (diet, nutrition, mobility, and chronology) from the Greek Bronze Age to the collapse of the Roman Empire
Find out more »Gonda Van Steen, “Adoption, Memory, and Cold War Greece”
Professor Gonda Van Steen (King’s College London), "Adoption, Memory, and Cold War Greece"
Find out more »Jonathan Hall, “Chasing the shadows of the past in Late Ottoman Argos.”
Prof. Jonathan Hall (University of Chicago), “Chasing the shadows of the past in Late Ottoman Argos.”
Find out more »Christina Ichim, “Dying to connect: a mortuary approach to southern Aegean connectivity in the middle and late Bronze Age”
Christina Ichim (BSA Richard Bradford McConnel Student / PhD candidate, UCL), "Dying to connect: a mortuary approach to southern Aegean connectivity in the middle and late Bronze Age"
Find out more »May 2019
The British School at Athens and its work in 2018
The British School at Athens and its work in 2018 - Speakers: John Bennet, Huw Halstead and Daniel Knight
Find out more »Glynis Jones, “The origin and spread of agriculture: what do the plants have to say? “
Prof. Glynis Jones (BSA Fitch Visiting Fellow / University of Sheffield), "The origin and spread of agriculture: what do the plants have to say? "
Find out more »Colin Macdonald, “Tradition and Innovation in the Protopalatial and Neopalatial Architecture of Knossos”
Dr Colin Macdonald, "Tradition and Innovation in the Protopalatial and Neopalatial Architecture of Knossos”
Find out more »Charlotte Van Regenmortel, “Warriors into workers: Military service as wage labour in the Late Classical and Early Hellenistic periods”
Charlotte Van Regenmortel (BSA Macmillan-Rodewald Student / PhD candidate, University of Leicester), "Warriors into workers: Military service as wage labour in the Late Classical and Early Hellenistic periods"
Find out more »Ioanna Moutafi, “Another Keros mystery: exploring the unusual burial choices at the Early Cycladic island of Keros”
Dr Ioanna Moutafi, "Another Keros mystery: exploring the unusual burial choices at the Early Cycladic island of Keros"
Find out more »Celeste Farge, “The Society of Dilettanti’s Second Ionian Mission: William Gell’s journals at the British School at Athens and the British Museum”
Sketchbooks and journals from the Ionian Mission © Trustees of the British Museum Celeste Farge (British Museum), "The Society of Dilettanti's Second Ionian Mission: William Gell's journals at the British School at Athens and the British Museum" William Gell (1777- 1836) - Classicist, traveller and topographer - was famously referred to by Byron as ‘Rapid Gell’. Aside from his numerous books, Gell produced unpublished manuscripts, hundreds of sketches, maps and finished drawings (including impressive panoramas of Athens), and wrote copious…
Find out more »Petrie, Pendlebury, and Hogarth in Greece and Egypt – A panel discussion
Petrie, Pendlebury, and Hogarth in Greece and Egypt - A panel discussion Flinders Petrie, John Pendlebury, and David Hogarth - in their excavations at Naukratis, Amarna, Ephesos and Knossos - developed ground-breaking archaeological approaches during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This discussion explores the connections between these pioneers and their archaeological institutions - how the BSA and EES shaped their work and their modern legacies within these institutions. Topics to be explored include Petrie's idea of the museum…
Find out more »Popular Music of the Greek World Conference
The diversity of Greek music is apparent from the rich variety of local traditions and from the richness of urban popular music both established and emerging. This conference aims to explore and evaluate that diversity, and its causes, from broader musical, sociological and artistic perspectives. This is of great value in itself and also sheds light on the ethnomusicology of better-studied aspects of Greek music such as Rebetika, which also features as one of the subjects of the conference. The Organising…
Find out more »Lambrini Rori, “Political violence in crisis-ridden Greece. Evidence from the radical right and the radical left”
Dr Lambrini Rori (BSA Early Career Fellow / University of Exeter), "Political violence in crisis-ridden Greece. Evidence from the radical right and the radical left"
Find out more »Chryssanthi Papadopoulou, “Exorcising Fear: Ritual Performances in Classical Athens”
Dr Chryssanthi Papadopoulou (BSA Assistant Director), "Exorcising Fear: Ritual Performances in Classical Athens"
Find out more »George Boys-Stones, “The Rationality of the Stoic God”
Professor George Boys-Stones (University of Durham), "The Rationality of the Stoic God"
Find out more »Vayia Xanthopoulou & Ioannis Iliopoulos, “Assessment of the clayey raw material suitability for ceramic production in Northern Peloponnese”
Vayia Xanthopoulou & Ioannis Iliopoulos (Department of Geology, University of Patras), "Assessment of the clayey raw material suitability for ceramic production in Northern Peloponnese"
Find out more »June 2019
Onyeka Igwe, “Being Close to, with or Amongst: other ways of Knowing the Archive”
Onyeka Igwe (BSA Arts Bursary Holder/London College of Communication), "Being Close to, with or Amongst: other ways of Knowing the Archive"
Find out more »Margaret Mountford, “Papyrology: is anything new under the sun?”
Dr Margaret Mountford (Chair, Egypt Exploration Society), "Papyrology: is anything new under the sun?" Dr Margaret Mountford will present a brief introduction to the famous Oxyrhynchus papyri, their contents, and their initial excavation. The lecture will take a closer look at a number of ancient texts that suggest people’s preoccupations have not changed much over the centuries.
Find out more »Annual Garden Party
Annual Garden Party
Find out more »July 2019
Earth Water Fire, Celebrating Cretan Pottery from Antiquity to the Present
Earth Water Fire, Celebrating Cretan Pottery from Antiquity to the Present The Thrapsano Cultural Association is organising a series of cultural events centred on Cretan pottery, in collaboration with the British School at Athens (Knossos Research Centre) and the Centre for the Study of Modern Ceramics - G. Psaropoulos Foundation, co-organised by the Region of Crete with the participation of the Herakleion Ephorate of Antiquities and the potters of Thrapsano PROGRAMME THURSDAY 11-7-2019 (Village square) 20:00: Opening 20:30: Official speeches…
Find out more »August 2019
Erotokritos: για μια αγάπη άδολη
The British School at Athens (Knossos Research Centre) and the Knossos Cultural Association are organising a cultural event on EROTOKRITOS, the romance composed by Vincenzo Cornaros in early 17th century Crete. The romance consists of 10,102 fifteen-syllable rhythmed verses and its central theme is the love between Erotokritos and Aretousa. It constitutes a classic example of Greek Renaissance literature. The event includes a lecture by Professor Marina Detoraki (University of Crete) on Erotokritos and Venetian Crete, a recitation of selected…
Find out more »Amica silentia lunae
The Knossos Research Centre of the British School at Athens warmly invites you to attend Amica silentia lunae, the “Friendly Silence of the Moon”, an evening of music and poetry at the Villa Ariadne, at 21:00 on Sunday 18 August. Please ensure you arrive by 20:45. This free event is part of the August Full Moon series of events organised by the Ministry of Culture and Sports at archaeological sites and monuments open to the public. Classical and modern pieces…
Find out more »September 2019
Ann Eldridge: Monemvasia: People, Place, Presence
Ann Eldridge: Monemvasia: People, Place, Presence
Find out more »Craftspeople Mobility in the Archaeological, Historical and Ethnographic Record – A Comparative Perspective from the Aegean
Craftspeople Mobility in the Archaeological, Historical and Ethnographic Record – A Comparative Perspective from the Aegean PROGRAMME ABSTRACTS
Find out more »Peter Thonemann: “An eternal memorial of goodwill towards their kinsmen”: Abdera and Teos after the Third Macedonian War
Prof. Peter Thonemann (University of Oxford): "An eternal memorial of goodwill towards their kinsmen" :Abdera and Teos after the Third Macedonian War Abstract: One of the most extraordinary ancient Greek inscriptions ever discovered was unearthed in 2017 at the excavations of the Ionian city of Teos in Asia Minor. It records, in thrilling and moving detail, the assistance provided by the Teians in the repopulation and rebuilding of their daughter-city, Abdera in Thrace, after its sack by the Romans in…
Find out more »October 2019
Maria Andreadaki-Vlazaki, “Sacrificial rituals in the Mycenaean palatial centre of Kydonia (Khania, Crete)”
Maria Andreadaki-Vlazaki (Hon. Secretary General, Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports), "Sacrificial rituals in the Mycenaean palatial centre of Kydonia (Khania, Crete)" Kydonia, the most important ancient city in Western Crete, traditionally one of the three cities founded in Crete by Minos, occupied the Kastelli Hill in the centre of the Old Town of Khania. Its name appears on the Knossian Linear B tablets
Find out more »Robert Pitt: ‘Early British Travellers to Athens and the Hunt for Inscriptions: Some Overlooked Epigraphic Manuscripts of the 17th and 18th Centuries’
Robert Pitt (CYA): ‘Early British Travellers to Athens and the Hunt for Inscriptions: Some Overlooked Epigraphic Manuscripts of the 17th and 18th Centuries’
Find out more »Philip Kenrick: Cyrenaica: A Greek Pentapolis – but so much more
Dr Philip Kenrick: Cyrenaica: A Greek Pentapolis - but so much more
Find out more »A. Hobbs, Plato’s Republic, Ladybird Expert Series – 34
A. Hobbs, Plato’s Republic, Ladybird Expert Series – 34 Plato's Republic addresses questions of urgent concern in these troubled times. How can we prevent democracies being subverted to tyrannies by cynical demagogues? How can we protect truth from fake news and 'alternative facts'? And, ultimately, why do humans form societies and what is needed for them to flourish? In this event Professor Angie Hobbs will read extracts from her recently published Plato's Republic: a Ladybird Expert Book, discuss why and…
Find out more »Dancing with the Bull: Sir Arthur Evans and the palace of Knossos
The excavation of Knossos, one of the most important sites of the ancient world, is inextricably linked with Sir Arthur Evans. Evans discovered the ruins of a monumental complex and the remains of a hitherto unknown civilization, formulating the prevailing view of it. Inspired by Evans’ work, artist Teresa Valavani has created a collage collection entitled Dancing with the Bull: Sir Arthur Evans and the palace of Knossos, to be exhibited in the garden of the Knossos Research Centre of…
Find out more »Dr Polyxeni Adam-Veleni: ‘Θεσσαλονίκη: μια μεγαλειώδης μητρόπολη της Αρχαίας Μακεδονίας’
Dr Polyxeni Adam-Veleni (Director, General Directorate of Antiquities, Hellenic Ministry of Culture & Sports): 'Θεσσαλονίκη: μια μεγαλειώδης μητρόπολη της Αρχαίας Μακεδονίας'
Find out more »Onyeka Igwe: Scenes from the BSA Archive
Onyeka Igwe is the 2019 BSA Arts Bursary holder and returns from a residency in Athens to share her encounters with the archive. Igwe researches the colonial imagination, its knowledges and influence on the archive and then uses a methodology, critical proximity, to create moving image works that attempt to activate archive material in other ways. She will share poetic snatches of her experiences at the BSA as well as outlining the methodology that roots both her artistic practice…
Find out more »Dr Matthew Skuse: The nature of cult activity at Perachora
This BSA Ambassador event was organised in collaboration with Newcastle University where Dr Matthew Skuse (St Andrews) will present 'The nature of cult activity at Perachora'. After the paper we will be heading to Pani's Café (61-65 High Bridge, NE1 6BX) for dinner. If you would like to join us, please email Joseph Skinner (Joseph.Skinner@newcastle.ac.uk) by 12pm on Wednesday 16th October.
Find out more »