Best-selling author Victoria Hislop will be in conversation with John Kittmer (Chair, Anglo-Hellenic League) about her passion for Greece and the role that Greece plays in her writing, including her latest book Those Who Are Loved. Spaces will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. RSVP at Kate Smith: bsa@britac.ac.uk  This event is organised in collaboration with the Anglo-Hellenic League.  

Moderator: Dionysios Stathakopoulos, King’s College London. Dionysios Stathakopoulos has been teaching at King's College London since 2005. He read Byzantine and Medieval History at the University of Münster and received his PhD from the University of Vienna. He is a social historian of the Byzantine world and has published widely on epidemics and famines, the practice and practitioners of medicine, charity, poverty and remembrance. His latest book is A Short History of the Byzantine Empire (2014), recently translated in Greek, Turkish and Estonian.…

  THIS EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED DUE TO THE SPREAD OF COVID-19.   Friends x SPBS Annual Lecture James first studied Cypriot fortifications when pursuing a master’s under Prof. Allen ‘Castles’ Brown at KCL. He only returned to this interest for his second doctoral thesis (Cardiff University 2010), supervised by Prof. Denys Pringle, which he developed into a book – The Fortifications of Cyprus under the Lusignans 1191-1489 (The Cyprus Research Centre, 2012). The monograph focuses on the Lusignan period but necessarily considers what came…

Dr Charlotte Van Regenmortel (Groningen)

Annual Garden Party

HE Kate Smith (British Ambassador to Greece), "Gennadios in London" Ioannis Gennadios was an exceptional figure of Western diplomacy.  Living in London for a period spanning seventy years he penetrated into British customs and character always remaining a great Greek patriot. From 1862, when he first set foot in London to 1932, when he died there, Gennadios shared his time between London and Greece and lived all the excitement and drama of British and Greek history from the eve of…

Prof. Michael Scott (University of Warwick), "The View from the Aegean: Greek perspectives on a global ancient world" We are used to thinking about Greece in its hey-day as well connected to - and its inhabitants keen explorers of - a wide Mediterranean world. We know well the stories of particular Greeks who ventured further afield, bringing Greek influence to central and southern Asia, as well as exploring as far as Britain to the West. But, by the time of…

Prof. Paul Cartledge (University of Cambridge), “Thebes: the (nearly) lost city of Ancient Greece” The city of Thebes in ancient Greece has too often been 'forgotten' - for various reasons. But actually there were two ancient cities of Thebes, not just one: the City of Myth (Kadmos, Oedipus and co) and the City of History (e.g., Epameinondas). The latter has been more often forgotten than the former! This short talk, based on a recent book, will seek to introduce both…

Image: Statue of Bishop Germanos of Old Patras at the Monastery of Agia Lavra, Kalavryta.    2021 will mark the bicentenary of the outbreak of the Greek Revolution, or War of Independence. As that anniversary approaches, this talk takes a long view, beginning with the European settlement reached at the Congress of Vienna in 1814-15, known as the ‘Concert of Europe’, and continuing with the disappearance of multi-national empires and their replacement throughout the continent by the nation states that…

This event is very popular; please join early and wait for it to start. If you are unable to join, please follow the livestream on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/britishschoolathens   Abstract: In conversation, award-winning historian and author Bettany Hughes shares her research and journeys in the field to track down the archaeology, history and mythical impact of the goddess Aphrodite and Venus through time and across continents. Asking what the Goddess of Love really represents she investigates evidence from the…

The webcast will include five speeches, and a unique opportunity for attendees to interact with four presidents of IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions) and the President of the Association of Greek Librarians and Information Specialists, who will be “present” at the same event to share their knowledge. -Christine Mackenzie, IFLA President 2019 to 2021, from Australia -Barbara Lison, IFLA President-elect 2019-2021, Director of the Bremen Public Library in Germany -Gloria Pérez-Salmerón, IFLA President 2017-2019, from Spain -Donna…

Image: Self Portrait, 1946-7, oil on canvas. Private collection. Image courtesy of Christies, copyright John Craxton Estate.   Born into a bohemian family in London, the painter John Craxton (1922-2009) was a nomad who yearned to live and work in Greece. He achieved his goal from 1946 and enduring joy coloured his ensuing pictures. Long best known for Patrick Leigh Fermor book jackets, Craxton is the subject of a new biography from Ian Collins and Yale University Press. The author…