Please visit us in Scheide Caldwell House, room 103.
Event Flyer

Please visit us in Scheide Caldwell House, room 103.

Department of Art & Archaeology Lecture
Alicia Walker (Washington University; Visiting Fellow, Program in Hellenic Studies)
106 McCormick Hall
Event Poster

Thalia Dragonas (University of Athens; Member, Hellenic Parliament)
Anna Frangoudaki (University of Athens)
Scheide Caldwell House, Room 103

Sponsored by the Department of Sociology and the Program in Hellenic Studies

George Karamanolis (University of Crete; Visiting Fellow, Program in Hellenic Studies)
Respondent: Anthony T. Grafton (Department of History)
Scheide Caldwell House, Room 103

Given the importance of classical Greek in the formation of Renaissance humanism, the role of Byzantine Greek intellectuals (such as Chrysoloras, Argyropoulos and Bessarion) in Renaissance culture has often been rightly emphasized. There has been much less interest, however, in the role that later Greek intellectuals played once Renaissance humanism became a mature movement. Figures like Mathaios Debaris, Leonicos Thomaeos, Iason Denores, Maximos Margounios, Frangiskos Portos and others, hardly ever appear to qualify as humanists, although they were engaged in projects similar to those of Bembo, Poliziano, Crusius, Erasmus, or Zabarella. Such projects included preparing editions of classical authors, composing Greek and Latin epigrams, or taking part in contemporary theological and philosophical debates. This paper argues that the refusal to name these later Greek intellectuals "humanists" stems from unjustified assumptions. Their intellectual profile can only be appreciated if we realize that they too are guided by the ideals and trends of Renaissance humanism.

George Karamanolis (gkaraman@princeton.edu) is lecturer in Ancient Philosophy in the Department of Philosophy and Social Studies at the University of Crete. He studied Classics in Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (B.A. and M.A.), Late Antiquity at King’s College, London (M.A.), and Ancient Philosophy at Oxford (D.Phil.). From February 2003 to October 2004 he was fellow of the Centro per lo studio dei papiri ercolanesi in Naples. His research interests lie especially in Hellenistic philosophy and the philosophy of Late Antiquity. In his doctoral thesis he examines the debate among Platonists in late antiquity concerning the merits of Aristotelian philosophy (published as Plato and Aristotle in Agreement? Platonists on Aristotle from Antiochus to Porphyry, Oxford 2006). He is co-editor with Anne Sheppard of Studies on Porphyry (London 2007), and is engaged in the edition of a Herculaneum papyrus of Chrysippus, On Providence. He is currently researching the status of ethics in ancient philosophy.

Anthony T. Grafton (Department of History)
Location: McCormick Hall, Room 101
Sponsored by the Council of the Friends of the Princeton University Library and co-sponsored by the Program in Hellenic Studies.