Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies

Maria Kaliambou (Ted and Elaine Athanassiades Post-Doctoral Fellow, Program in Hellenic Studies)
Respondent: William Gleason (Department of English)
Scheide Caldwell House, Room 10

Greek popular literature has circulated in print form since the introduction of typography in the fifteenth century, but it was the nineteenth century that saw a remarkable flourishing of the popular book, which has become ever since a stable and highly visible element of Greek publishing activity. This workshop will examine the ideological background of popular literature, as well as the role it played in the preservation and adaptation of oral culture, in the context of the history of the book in Greece. The re-framing and re-production of oral material into printed popular literature follows certain patterns. Based on the evidence of nineteenth and twentieth century popular booklets of folk and fairy tales, this presentation will investigate if and how oral material was transformed, adapted, or just imitated in popular books and whether, conversely, popular literature became part of the local oral tradition. The patterns of re-contextualization of oral material into popular print, and vice versa, involve a dialogue between oral and written literature.

Maria Kaliambou received her first degree in History and Archaeology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (1997), and her Ph.D. in Folklore Studies/European Ethnology at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich (2005). Her dissertation on "Home - Faith - Family: Transmission of Values in Greek Popular Booklets of Tales (1870-1970)" has been awarded the "Lutz Röhrich prize" in Germany. Maria Kaliambou was a post-doctoral fellow at the University Charles-de-Gaulle Lille 3, France (2006). Her research interests range over folk narrative (with a specialization in folktales), Greek and international popular literature, history and theory of folklore studies, Southeast European cultural studies, and European philhellenism. She has worked on academic and cultural projects in Greece and Germany and has taught introductory courses at the department of Folklore Studies/European Ethnology, University of Munich. [Last Updated 2006]

Yuliana Boycheva (Institute of Art Studies, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences; Visiting Fellow, Program in Hellenic Studies)
Respondent: Slobodan Ćurčić (Department of Art and Archaeology)
Scheide Caldwell House, Room 103

Many extremely valuable monuments of medieval liturgical embroidery have been preserved in the various collections of museums and churches in Bulgaria - among them the famous epitaphios of Andronikos II Palaeologos, the epitaphios of the Despot of Yanina Izaous Buondelmonti, the katapetasma with Crucifixion from Virgin Peribleptos in Ohrid, etc. In this paper these religious objects will be presented not only for their quality as products of religious art, but also as objects with specific ritual and symbolic functions. It is these functions that lead to the gradual formation of the iconographical paradigms of embroidered scenes on the various sorts of liturgical veils (aer, aer-epitaphios, epitaphios, katapetasma). Moreover, attention will be brought to the significance of these objects as historical sources, since their manufacturing and donation reveal interesting aspects of the political and religious life of medieval society.

Yuliana Boycheva received her undergraduate degree and an M.A. in the History of Art from Lomonosov Moscow University (1992). Since 1997 she has been working as a Research Fellow at the Institute of Art Studies, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. In 2003 she completed her Ph.D. dissertation on "Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Liturgical Veils (aeres and epitaphioi) in Bulgarian Churches and Museums." In 2003-2004 she continued her research at the University of Athens with the support of the Hellenic State Scholarship Foundation (I.K.Y.), and in 2005 she was awarded a research scholarship from the Maison des Sciences de l'Homme in Paris. Her research interests focus on the relationship between objects, texts, and images in Medieval Christian Art. She is currently preparing a book on Byzantine and post-Byzantine liturgical textiles, while at the same time she is working on a wider project concerning the perception of liturgical veils in Byzantine and post-Byzantine iconography. [Last Updated 2006]

Andreas Lyberatos (Mary Seeger O'Boyle Post-Doctoral Fellow, Program in Hellenic Studies)
Respondent: Molly Greene (Department of History)
Scheide Caldwell House, Room 103

The Chalikov family occupies an exceptional position, not only in the history of the city of Plovdiv during the nineteenth century, but also in the narrative of the Bulgarian national "revival." This paper will present the various aspects of this influential family’s activities, such as, economic ascendancy, social and political ties and networks, political action, and ideology, in the context of the socioeconomic, political, and ideological environment of early nineteenth century Balkan society. It will be argued that, as a highly representative example of this complex and contradictory environment, the Chalikov family does not, in many respects, fit the stereotypes that the homogenizing rhetoric of national ideology has forged for them.

Andreas Lyberatos received his first degree in Philosophy from the University of Athens (1993) and his M.A. in Modern European History from the Victoria University of Manchester (1995). He specialized in Modern Balkan History, first at the University of London (School of Slavonic and East European Studies) and then at the Institute for Balkan Studies of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. His doctoral dissertation (University of Crete, 2005) is a study of the socioeconomic, political, and ideological processes which led to the formation of national parties in nineteenth century Philippoupolis/Plovdiv. Recently Andreas Lyberatos has been doing research on the Greek community of Varna. As member of a joint project of the Institute of Mediterranean Studies, Rethymno, Crete, and the Institute for Balkan Studies (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences), he published the bilingual (Greek and Bulgarian) catalogue of the Greek Archives of Varna (V. Todorov and A. Lyberatos, Katalogos ton Ellinikon Arheion kai ton Syllogon Ellinikon Vivlion tis Varnas, Sofia, 2006). His research interests include the emergence of Balkan nationalisms, the relationship between nationalism and religion and, more broadly, the processes and experiences of socioeconomic, political and ideological "modernization" in the Balkans during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. [Last Updated 2006]

Johannes Hahn (University of Münster; Visiting Fellow, Program in Hellenic Studies
Respondent: Brent Shaw (Department of Classics)
Room 103, Scheide Caldwell House, Princeton University
Cosponsored by the Program in the Ancient World

The transformation of the Roman Empire to a Christian one represents the fundamental historical development of Late Antiquity. From Constantine to Justinian (312- 565 AD), public institutions and society experienced dramatic changes. Many of them focused on the late Roman city as the basic unit of social and political organization. But how can we measure the intensity and impact of this complex process on public life - a process that took place in many hundreds of cities all over the empire? Among possible criteria, this talk will consider the building of churches as a key indicator of the Christianization of the Late Roman city. It will be argued that the Christian monumentalization of the city was a remarkably diverse and, in most cities, a surprisingly late phenomenon. It was only generations after Constantine that Christian buildings began to dominate the appearance of some, though by no means all, cities. This conclusion stands in stark contrast to the picture drawn in our written record, which overwhelmingly derives from Christian authors. Thus, larger questions arise about the dynamics of the Christianization of the late antique world, in particular about its driving forces and inherent limits.

Johannes Hahn  is Professor of Ancient History and Director of the Seminar für Alte Geschichte and of the Institut für Epigraphik at the University of Münster. After studying Philosophy, History, and Archaeology in Munich, Heidelberg, Oxford, and Berlin, he received a first degree in Philosophy (M.A., 1982, Freie Universität Berlin). From 1982 to 1992, he was Fellow at the Seminar für Alte Geschichte, Heidelberg University, where he received his Ph.D. and his Habilitation in Ancient History in 1986 and 1993 respectively. In 1993, he was made a Research Fellow of the Pädagogische Hochschule Erfurt, and in 1993-95 became the Deputy Chair in Greek History at the University of Cologne. During 1995-1996 he was Heisenberg-Scholar of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Freiburg University. His research interests cover both Greek and Roman history, with the main focus being on the Roman Empire and Late Antiquity. Particular interests are social and cultural history, and recent research has been concerned with the history of religion (especially Judaism and Christianity) in the Roman Empire. Publications include a book on the political philosophy of John Locke (1984), a monograph on philosophers in Roman society (1989), a book on Alexander in India (2000) and a major study of religious conflict between Christians, Jews, and pagans in Late Antiquity (2004). [Last Updated 2006]

Lydia Kallipoliti (School of Architecture, Princeton University)
Respondent (Christine Boyer, School of Architecture)
Scheide Caldwell House, Room 103

Takes Zenetos, architect and cybernetician, describes 'Electronic Urbanism and the City of the Future' as a gargantuan experimental project sprawled vertically from the dreary haze of a city whose basin topography would trap smog, like a spider web soon to capture the entire planet. The project is 'gargantuan' in the sense that it delivered a highly composite total vision for a future city, spanning from the formation of satellite cities in air zones above the oceans, to specially insulated uniforms with interactive pneumatics and earplugs that its inhabitants would wear in order to 'educate' their space. There are clear connections between this project and the space program, as well as with suspended megastructure projects. However, 'Electronic Urbanism' delivers a much more convoluted and distressing vision, in a dramatic search for a 'home' that was nowhere to be found in the psychological turmoil of postwar Greece. The City of the Future was originally conceived as spatially detached, hovering above Athens. Over he course of time, it became mentally detached, leaving the formation of space to the mind that would inform and remold space through its neural systems. In his late writings immediately before his deliberate death, Zenetos projects the mind as the new computer, a control processor for space-making; he ultimately projects the city as a closed system, with an unpredictable itinerary based on brainpower.

Lydia Kallipoliti is a practicing architect, currently enrolled in the Ph.D. program in the history and theory of architecture at Princeton University. She holds a Diploma in Architecture and Engineering from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and a Master's degree in computation and building technology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her dissertation focuses on recycling material experiments by the American counterculture, at the intersection of cybernetic theories and the space program. Kallipoliti was the recipient of the 2006 Lawrence Anderson Award for the creative documentation of architectural history and is now working on the design of diagrams and open rule-based systems through the use of programming languages, using as primary resource, material experiments documented in instruction manuals by the 1970s counterculture. She has been awarded the Marvin E. Goody prize for the creative use of materials. Her design work has received three awards in international architectural competitions, and has been exhibited at the Venice Biennale, the Royal Institute of British Architects, the Biennial Miami+ Beach, the Byzantine Museum of Athens, the Biennale of Young Greek architects, the Madrid ARCO, the 5th National Exhibition of Greek Architectural Work and the 'Non-Standard Praxis' digital design conference. [Last Updated 2006]

Alexander Mazarakis-Ainian (University of Thessaly; Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation (USA) Visiting Scholar)
Scheide Caldwell House, Room 103
Program in Hellenic Studies and Program in the Ancient World Lecture

Ten years have elapsed since the publication of Alexander Mazarakis-Ainian's From Rulers' Dwellings to Temples: Architecture, Religion and Society in Early Iron Age Greece. Since then, many new discoveries have come to light and a significant number of studies have been published. The aim of this lecture is to bring together and make a critical reassessment of all this new data. The talk will cover the evidence deriving from ongoing excavations at Oropos, Attica, directed of Alexander Mazarakis-Ainian, as well as that from other important recent excavations of early iron age sites in Greece. Discussion will focus on the organization of settlements and sanctuaries and will deal with matters such as the architectural layout and organization of settlements, "intra mural" burials and their significance, early temples and their function.

Alexander Mazarakis-Ainian is Professor of Classical Archaeology and Chair of the Department of History, Archaeology, and Social Anthropology at the University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece. A specialist in the archaeology and architecture of early iron age and archaic Greece, he directed (1996-2003) the excavations of the early iron age metalworking site at Skala Oropou, Attica, under the auspices of the Greek Archcaeological Society. Since 2002 he directs the University of Thessaly excavation of an archaic-to-hellenistic sanctuary at the ancient capital of Kythnos. He is the author of From Rulers' Dwellings to Temples: Architecture, Religion and Society in Early Iron Age Greece (Jonsered, 1997) and Homer and Archaeology (in Greek; Athens, 2000). [Last Updated 2006]

Maurizio Isabella (Queen Mary College; Visiting Fellow, Program in Hellenic Studies)
Respondent: Jennifer Pitts (Department of Politics)
Scheide Caldwell House, Room 103
Cosponsored by the Program in Italian Studies

The Greek War of Independence represented a crucial moment in the development of Italian patriotism. While a whole wave of revolutions had failed in Italy and Spain between 1820 and 1823, the endorsement of the Greek cause provided Italian Romantics with the opportunity to assess the problem of self-determination in a broader international context. The talk will focus on an important but overlooked aspect of early Italian liberalism and Philhellenism, namely its engagement with a radical re-imagination of the whole political geography and map of civilisation of the Mediterranean. The writings of Ugo Foscolo, Giuseppe Pecchio, Alerino Palma, Gianbattista Marochetti and Alfio Grassi, engaged with the views of British radicals, French liberals and Saintsimonians on Empire, international relations, and civilisation. Furthermore, they discussed the emancipation of Greece and Italy in the context of the imperial ambitions of England and France, a critique of the Congress system, and the earliest discussions on the dismantling of the Ottoman Empire. This workshop will highlight the hostility of the Italian patriots to the English "colonial" attitudes towards Greece, arguing that the most important legacy of these debates was the development of a Kantian vision of international relations and a form of cosmopolitan patriotism which dominated in the Risorgimento, at least until 1848.

Maurizio Isabella is Lecturer in Modern European History at Queen Mary College, London. He was educated at the University of Milan, where he studied Italian literature and Modern History. He then went on to earn a Master's degree in European Studies at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, where he also obtained his doctoral degree in 1998. After a internship at the European Commission, he worked for five years in Brussels, first as Assistant to the Secretary General of UNICE, the representation of European Industry to the European Institutions, and then as consultant and political analyst advising companies and trade associations on European policies. In 2004 Maurizio Isabella was a visiting scholar at CRASSH, the Centre for the Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities at Cambridge University. He has been Research Fellow at Birkbeck College, London, where he has taught Modern European History. [Last Updated 2006]

John Haldon (Department of History and Program in Hellenic Studies)
Alessandra Ricci (Department of Art and Archaeology)
Scheide Caldwell House, Room 103

Avkat (ancient Euchaita), also called Beyözü in Turkey today, is an important late Roman and Byzantine site, with a possible Bronze age and Hittite site adjacent and a number of Seljuk monuments in the area. The site and its hinterland lie in the district of the small town of Mecitözü, within the province of Çorum. The project (a joint operation with a number of European universities) offers the opportunity to conduct a detailed survey of the site, its hinterland, the regional communications network, as well as to reconstruct the ancient landscape by exploiting archaeological and paleoenvironmental evidence for land-use and food-production, from the Bronze Age through the early modern period. As a multi-disciplinary undertaking, the project will from the beginning develop a GIS (Geographical Information Systems) database, and will also offer the opportunity to learn about these, as well as basic and more advanced field survey and geophysics techniques, including the use of GPR (ground penetrating radar) and magnetometry. The project is cosponsored by the Departments of History, Art and Archaeology, and Near Eastern Studies; and the Program in Hellenic Studies.

John Haldon is Professor of Byzantine History and Hellenic Studies at Princeton, and is currently working on eighth- and ninth-century iconoclasm, as well as issues of logistics and resource distribution in medieval societies. He is Director of the Avkat Region Project and of the International Medieval Logistics Project. [Last Updated 2006]

Alessandra Ricci is currently completing her Ph.D. in Art and Archaeology at Princeton, with a dissertation on ninth-century Byzantine architecture and cultural politics. She has lived and worked in Turkey for the last ten years and is currently director of the Küçük Yalý excavation (a middle Byzantine monastic site) and associated archaeological park development. She is Associate Director of the Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations at Koç University, Istanbul. [Last Updated 2006]