David A. Bell, Sidney and Ruth Lapidus Professor in the Era of North Atlantic Revolutions; Professor of History, Princeton University, “The Greek Revolution in the Age of Revolution”

  David A. Bell is a historian of early modern France, with a particular interest in the political culture of the Old Regime and the French Revolution. He attended graduate school at Princeton, where he worked with Robert Darnton, and received his Ph.D. in 1991. From 1990 to 1996 he taught at Yale, and from...

Anastassios Antonaras, Head of Exhibitions, Communication and Education Department, Museum of Byzantine Culture, Thessaloniki | “Documenting Diversity in Thessaloniki and Its Hinterlands: Three Archaeological Stories”

by Zoom

This lecture examines the diverse population that lived in Byzantine Thessaloniki and the surrounding area through three case studies: a young girl with African religious beliefs who lived in the late 3rd century, a Slavic lady of the late 8th century, and a group of archers from the 14th - 15th century who were trained...

Vassilis Lambrinoudakis, Professor Emeritus of Classical Archaeology at the University of Athens | “The Sanctuary of Asclepius at Epidauros: New Finds Rewrite the Function and History of the Most Important Sanatorium in Antiquity”

by Zoom

The unexpected finds during recent excavations in the sanctuary of Asclepius at Epidauros shed new light on the origins, cult, and function of Asclepius, the main Divine Healer of the Graeco-Roman world. An amazing ground-floor building that features α peristyle and basement hewn into the rock was excavated at the Tholos, the famous classical circular...

Stavros Vlizos, Associate Professor, Ionian University, and Vicky Vlachou, École française d’Athènes | “New Evidence on a Spartan Religious Center: The Sanctuary of Apollo Amyklaios at Sparta and the Current Research Project”

by Zoom

The Sanctuary of Apollon at Amyklai (Sparta) was inextricably associated in antiquity with the celebrated festival of the Hyakinthia. Ancient literary sources describe salient aspects of the festival and the cult that was centered around the tomb of the hero Hyakinthos and the altar of Apollo in two succeeding stages that never overlapped each other....

Maureen Connors Santelli, Associate Professor of History, Northern Virginia Community College | “The Grassroots Mobilization of American Philhellenism”

by Zoom

Popular support for the Greek Revolution in the United States garnered national attention at a level unparalleled to any other international event in the early 19th century. Early Americans supported the Greek cause because they felt a strong, sympathetic tie with the ancient Greeks and because they had a long-standing distrust for the Muslim World....

Mara Verykokou, “1821: The Collectors’ Choice.’ An Exhibition Commemorating the Greek War of Independence from an Original Viewpoint.”

by Zoom

Benaki Museum curator Mara Verykokou guides us through an exhibition that includes more than 300 objects related to the Revolution of 1821 and the movement of Philhellenism in Europe and America from four important private collections: Nikitas Stavrinakis and Evangelias Stavrinaki, Petros Vergos, Apostolos Argyriadis and Stéphan Adler. We shall be asked to decide whether...

Spyros Kizis, “PAPADOPOULOS 100: Exhibiting a Century of Greek Entrepreneurship and Taste.”

by Zoom

2022 marks one hundred full years in operation for the biscuit and food manufacturing company E.J. PAPADOPOULOS S.A. Through the items of the Historical Archive of the PAPADOPOULOU Company—one of the most complete and best-organized archives of a Greek company—the Benaki Museum presents for the first time all the important aspects of the hundred-year history...