Lecture
Dinos Kogias, “Souvenir of Kütahya: Imprints of History on Kütahya Pottery (late 19th-early 20th century)”
by ZoomThe decorative repertoire of the pottery produced in Kütahya, a town in western Turkey and a major ceramic center in Ottoman times, has been influenced by events of modern history, such as the Balkan Wars, the Ottoman Constitution of 1908, and the Greek-Turkish War (1919-1922). Τhe purpose of this lecture is to contribute to our...
Takis Mavrotas, “Theofilos: ‘The Evzone of Painting'”
by ZoomThis lecture, co-sponsored by the Embassy of Greece, will be introduced by Her Excellency Alexandra Papadopoulou, Ambassador of Greece to the United States The acclaimed folk artist Theophilos represents the tradition of Greece and its people. Born in ca. 1870 in a village close to Mytilene, his father was a cobbler while his mother, Penelope...
Evangelia Balta, “Karamanlides: Rum Orthodox Turkish-Speaking Anatolians before and after the Population Exchange (1923)”
Opening remarks by Her Excellency Alexandra Papadopoulou, Ambassador of Greece to the United States. This lecture focuses on the language, social history, and culture of the Rum Orthodox population that lived in Asia Minor and the urban centers of the Ottoman Empire. Among these were Orthodox Christians who spoke Turkish as their native language. Like...
Maria Pantelia, “Preserving Greek Literature from Homer to Solomos”
Opening remarks by Her Excellency Alexandra Papadopoulou, Ambassador of Greece to the United States. For almost three millennia Greek literature has been preserved in a variety of different media, encompassing inscriptions on stone, papyrus rolls, medieval manuscripts, and, most recently, digital formats. It is a checkered history. Natural disasters, accidents, wars, political and religious upheavals...
Roderick Beaton, “Asia Minor in the Life and Work of George Seferis”
by ZoomA Celebration of National Poetry Month In May 1944, at the height of a new crisis facing the Greek government in exile during World War II, which he served as a high-ranking diplomat, George Seferis confided these thoughts to his Alexandrian Greek friend Timos Malanos: ‘It might surprise you if I tell you that the...
Eleni Kefala, “Strangers No More: Constantinople, Tenochtitlan, and the Trauma of the Conquest”
by ZoomThe Byzantines had long dreaded the year 1492. According to their calculations based on the Scriptures, it would bring the end of the world. In an eerie stroke of irony, they were right in their fears. Even though they were slightly off in the timing of the fall of Constantinople into the hands of the...
The Valerie Estes Memorial Lecture and Performance: “Echoes of the Great Catastrophe: Re-Sounding Anatolian Greekness in Diaspora,” by Panayotis (Paddy) League
Royce Hall, 314 UCLAIn this talk, Professor Panayotis League explores the legacy of the “Great Catastrophe”—the death and expulsion from Turkey of 1.5 million Greek Christians following the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922—through the music and dance practices of Greek refugees and their descendants over the last one hundred years. Drawing on original ethnographic research conducted in Greece (on the island...
Johanna Hanink, “Bones, Stones, Trees, and Roots: On the Enduring Urgency of Karkavitsas’ Archeologist (1904)”
by ZoomHow does a novella written more than one hundred years ago help to illuminate pressing issues in Greece today? Karkavitsas’ Archeologist, an allegory for the contestation of antiquity’s role in Greek modernity, was published at a time when Greece’s ancient past was emerging as a modern national industry. Major excavations were tied to the establishment...
Roger Michel, “Phidias Unbound: How Robot-Generated Replicas Could Solve the Parthenon Marbles Quandary”
by ZoomThe Parthenon Marbles, commonly known as the Elgin Marbles, were removed from the ancient Acropolis of Athens in 1801 by Lord Elgin, British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. Carved by the sculptor Phidias, they were eventually sold to the British government in 1817 and are housed in the British Museum. Public debate about repatriating the...
Byzantine Studies Conference
LuskinWe welcome the Byzantine Studies Association of North America (BSANA) and participants to the 48th Annual Byzantine Studies conference at UCLA! Most conference activities will take place at the Luskin Conference Center and Hotel on the UCLA campus.
The East Has Set: A Tribute to the Smyrna Catastrophe
William and Jane Bristol Civic Auditorium 16600 Civic Center Dr, Bellflower, CA, United StatesIn commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Catastrophe of Smyrna, this evening event includes a discussion about historical aspects and music of Asia Minor played by an ensemble led by oud-player Dimitri Mahlis.
Evita Arapoglou, “Asia Minor Hellenism: Heyday – Catastrophe – Displacement – Rebirth”
by ZoomIn this lecture, part of the Hellenic Together 4.0 series held in collaboration with the Benaki Museum in Athens, exhibition curator Evita Arapoglou leads us through "Asia Minor Hellenism: Heyday - Catastrophe - Displacement - Rebirth." This program is supported by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF). About the Exhibit Visitors to the exhibition begin their...