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Lecture by Žarko Tankosić

Date: 
Wednesday, November 16, 2016 -
19:30 to 20:30
Location: 
Canadian Institute, Dionysiou Aiginitou 7
Event Description: 

Dr Žarko Tankosić (Higher Executive Officer, The Norwegian Institute at Athens), “A Community at the Crossroads: Prehistoric Southern Euboea and the Aegean in Light of New Survey Data”

In my talk I focus on southern Euboea (Karystia), which is a part of the Aegean that has been largely overlooked in models put in place to explain the prehistoric Aegean island colonization and maritime interactions. The data show a lively area, whose inhabitants were fully immersed into the prehistoric maritime koine, at least during the Final Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age. They also paint a picture of the region at the crossroads, bridging the insular world of the Cyclades and the Greek mainland.

Here, I outline several issues plaguing our understanding of the Karystia’s place in the prehistoric Aegean and address them using evidence from the area. In the process, I also engage with broader topics, such as identity, community, insularity, and connectivity Moreover, I present new results from the recently completed Norwegian survey project in the Karystia.

Type: 
CIG in Greece

Lecture by Jacob Heywood

Date: 
Wednesday, November 2, 2016 -
19:30 to 20:30
Location: 
Canadian Institute, Dionysiou Aiginitou 7
Event Description: 

Jacob Heywood (Ph.D. Candidate, School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, The University of Melbourne), “Cretan Larnakes: Towards an Understanding of Syntax in Late Minoan III Funerary Iconography”

The Late Minoan III period on Crete (ca. 1430-1100 BCE) was characterised by substantial socio-political discontinuity and island-wide change following the decline of the Minoan palaces. Alongside an array of other developments in material culture, the period was marked by a clear shift in mortuary practices, which included the expansion and re-invention of the pre-existing tradition of burial in clay funerary containers known as ‘larnakes’. Unlike funerary receptacles from earlier periods, many LM III larnakes are adorned with rich painted compositions. These draw upon a wide range of floral, faunal, cultic, and geometric motifs, many of which were already well-established in Cretan iconographic traditions. Despite having received a great deal of scholarly attention, the exact symbolic significance of larnax decoration remains difficult to interpret, particularly given its typically abstract nature.   

This talk investigates the value of a systematic ‘syntactic’ approach to larnax decoration as a means of establishing a more solid foundation for its iconographic interpretation. The identification and quantification of the specific symbolic associations and patterns characterising the use of individual larnax motifs may permit a more thorough understanding of the fundamental visual structures through which meaning was generated. A greater knowledge of this syntax can aid ongoing attempts to assess the possible funerary meanings associated with LM III art, as well highlight in more detail the relationship between the sudden development of larnax iconography and the processes of socio-cultural change occurring on Crete during this period. In particular, an analysis of syntactic patterns can assist in demonstrating how familiar Minoan symbols- for example the horns of consecration and double axe- were adapted to serve new mortuary functions as larnax adornments, and the extent to which this use is consistent with that of both earlier and other contemporary artistic contexts.

Type: 
CIG in Greece

Book Presentation/Reading by W. Ruth Kozak

Date: 
Wednesday, October 19, 2016 -
19:30 to 20:30
Location: 
Canadian Institute, Dionysiou Aiginitou 7
Event Description: 

Book Presentation/Reading by W. Ruth Kozak, “Shadow of the Lion: The Fields of Hades”

Shadow of the Lion: The Fields of Hades is Volume Two of an epic story set in the aftermath of the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the bloody Wars of Succession which follow. W. Ruth Kozak’s novel seethes with conflict and dramatic tension as the Successors begin to battle over Alexander's territories.  The joint-kings arrive in Pella just as the Regent is dying and has named Polyperhcon his successor. This sets Kassandros into a rage and he departs to Athens where he stirs up animosity between the Athenians and Macedonians and tries to enlist support from some of the Successors. Meanwhile, the royal women vie for control of the throne. Alexander's 18-year-old niece, Adeia-Eurydiike, wife of  Arridaios, leads her faction in a civil war against Olympias, Alexander's mother. Caught up in the strife and palace intrigues, Roxana tries to protect her son.  The boy, Alexander IV (known by his Persian name, Iskader, tries to understand his role and struggles to survive. The story ends on a climax of a true Greek tragedy, the end of Alexander's dynasty, fulfilling the novel's theme of "How blind ambition and greed brought down a world power."

W. Ruth Kozak is a Canadian travel journalist with a strong interest in history and archaeology. A frequent traveller, Ruth lived for several years in Greece and instructs classes in travel journalism and creative writing for the Vancouver School Board. The novel was extensively researched in Greece, with the support of Classical scholars, the Greek Ministry of Culture, the Society of Macedonian Studies (Thessaloniki), the Finnish and Norwegian Institutes in Athens and with research undertaken in the Gennadius Library and the British Library in London

Type: 
CIG in Greece

Lecture by Thomas G. Chondros

Date: 
Friday, October 7, 2016 -
19:00 to 20:00
Location: 
Hellenic Community Meeting and Reception Centre, Ottawa
Event Description: 

Thomas G. Chondros (University of Patras), "Reconstructing the Trojan Horse"

Type: 
CIG in Canada

Lecture by Thomas G. Chondros

Date: 
Tuesday, October 4, 2016 -
19:00 to 20:00
Location: 
Desmarais Building, University of Ottawa
Event Description: 

Thomas G. Chondros (University of Patras), "Deus-Ex Machina - Reconstruction in the Athens Theatre of Dionysus"

 

Type: 
CIG in Canada

International Colloquium

Date: 
Friday, June 10, 2016 - 09:30 to Saturday, June 11, 2016 - 19:45
Location: 
Scuola Archeologica Italiana di Atene, Parthenonos 14
Event Description: 

"From Maple to Olive: A Colloquium to Celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the Canadian Institute in Greece"

 

PROGRAMME

FRIDAY 10 JUNE

09.30–10.00    Registration

10.00–10.45    Welcoming Remarks

                        R. Angus K. Smith (President, Canadian Institute in Greece)

                        H.E. Keith Morrill (Ambassador of Canada to the Hellenic Republic)

Maria Andreadaki-Vlazaki (General Secretary, Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sport)

10.45–11.30    Keynote Address

From Maple to Olive: Canadian Fieldwork and Research Transforming the Archaeologies of Greece

David W. Rupp (Canadian Institute in Greece / Brock University)

 

11.30–12.00    Break

 

Session I

Chair: Jane Francis (Concordia University)

12.00–12.20    Kiapha Thiti: the pottery from the earliest phase of the acropolis (Final Neolithic-Early Bronze Age)

Margarita Nazou (Ghent University)

12.20–12.40    Kamares Cave and the early, ritual landscape of South Central Crete:  Diachronic changes in cave rituals

Loeta Tyree (ASCSA)

12.40–13.00    Of Bulls and Banquets: James Walter Graham’s Contributions to Minoan Archaeology and their Lasting Influence

D. Matthew Buell (Concordia University)

13.00–13.20    Using Archaeological Science to Reconstruct Mycenaean Burial Practices

R. Angus K. Smith (Brock University), Mary K. Dabney (Bryn Mawr College), James C. Wright (ASCSA)

13.20–13.40    Discussion

 

13.40–15.00    Lunch Break

 

Session II

Chair: Lucia Nixon (Wolfson College, Oxford)

15.00–15.20    Looking back in time: Three decades of research into the prehistory of Southern Euboea

Tracey Cullen (ASCSA), Lauren E. Talalay (University of Michigan), Žarko Tankosić (Norwegian Institute at Athens), Donald R. Keller (ACOR), Markos Katsianis (Aristotle University Thessaloniki)

15.20–15.40    Fact or Fiction? Lithics-only Prehistoric Sites in the Karystian Plain in Light of New Evidence from Southern Euboea

Zarko Tankosic (Norwegian Institute at Athens)

15.40–16.00    The Mytilene Project

Hector Williams (University of British Columbia)

16.00–16.20    Archaic Imported Fine Wares from Canadian-Greek Excavations on the Lower Town Site at Mytilene

Gerald P. Schaus (Wilfrid Laurier University)

16.20–16.40    Discussion

 

16.40–17.10    Break

 

Session III

Chair: Alexis Young (Wilfrid Laurier University)

17.10–17.30    Un complexe commercial à Argilos

Jacques Perreault (Université de Montréal)

17.30–17.50    Notes sur un Groupe de Cratères Archaïques d’Argilos

Martin Perron (Parks Canada Agency)

17.50–18.10    Adventurous Speculation about Kle(on?) and an Owl at Argilos

Mark L. Lawall (University of Manitoba)

18.10–18.30    Architectural Energetics and Archaic Cretan Urbanisation

Rodney D. Fitzsimons (Trent University)

18.30–18.50    Discussion

 

SATURDAY 11 JUNE

09.00–09.30    Registration

Session IV

Chair: Maria Papaioannou (University of New Brunswick)

09.30–09.50    The Palaeolithic Quarry and Stone Tool Workshops of Stélida, Naxos: New Light on Early Humans in the Aegean Basin

Tristan Carter (McMaster University), Demetrios Athanassoulis (Hellenic Ministry of Culture), Daniel Contreras (Aix-Marseille Universite), Justin Holcomb (Boston University), Danica Mihailović (Belgrade University), Nikolaos Skarpelis (University of Athens), Kathryn Campeau (McMaster University), James Feathers (Washington University)

09.50–10.10    Mycenaean Eleon and Eastern Boeotia during the Bronze Age

Bryan Burns (Wellesley College), Brendan Burke (University of Victoria), Alexandra Charami (Hellenic Ministry of Culture)

10.10–10.30    Archaic and Classical Eleon in Eastern Boeotia: Canadian Excavations from 2011-2015

Brendan Burke (University of Victoria), Bryan Burns (Wellesley College), Alexandra Charami (Hellenic Ministry of Culture)

10.30–10.50    The Defense Network in the Chora of Mantineia

Matthew Maher (University of Winnipeg), Alistair Mowat (University of Manitoba)

10.50–11.10    Athens and the Sikels in the late fifth century BC

Spencer Pope (McMaster University)

11.10–11.30    Discussion

 

11.30–12.00    Break

 

Session V

Chair: Tristan Carter (McMaster University)

12.00–12.20    To Argos: Archaeological survey in the Western Argolid, 2014-2015

Dimitri Nakassis (University of Toronto), Scott Gallimore, (Wilfrid Laurier University), Sarah A. James, (University of Colorado Boulder), William Caraher (University of North Dakota)

12.20–12.40    The Stymphalos Project

Hector Williams (University of British Columbia)

12.40–13.00    The Examination of Selected Motifs on Votive Offerings of Jewellery from the Acropolis Sanctuary, Stymphalos: Towards a Greater Perspective of Cult

Alexis Young (Wilfrid Laurier University)

13.00–13.20    Contributions to Canadian Maritime Archaeology: Harbors, Urbanism, and Ideology in Asia Minor

Lana Radloff (University at Buffalo, SUNY; ASCSA)

13.20–13.40    Discussion

13.40–15.00    Lunch Break

 

Session VI

Chair: Sheila Campbell (University of Toronto)

15.00–15.20    From sherds to slope: Interpreting survey data at Kastro Kallithea in Thessaly

Laura Surtees (Bryn Mawr College), Margriet Haagsma (University of Alberta), Sophia Karapanou (Hellenic Ministry of Culture)

15.20–15.40    Kastro Kallithea: the analysis of ceramics from a Hellenistic townhouse

Colette Beestman-Kruyshaar (University of Amsterdam), Margriet Haagsma (University of Alberta), Sophia Karapanou (Hellenic Ministry of Culture)

15.40–16.00    Home away from Home: Canada's Contribution to Greek Domestic Studies

Craig I. Hardiman (University of Waterloo)

16.00–16.20    Negotiating Identities: Material Expression of Cults in Perrhaibia

Gino Ruggiero Canlas (University of Alberta)

16.20–16.40    Cultural Landscapes and Resources in Sphakia, Crete: A Diachronic Perspective

Lucia Nixon (Wolfson College, Oxford), Jennifer Moody (University of Texas at Austin)

16.40–17.00    Discussion

 

17.00–17.30    Break

 

Session VII

Chair: Gerald P. Schaus (Wilfrid Laurier University)

17.30–17.50    Roman Influence on Greek Sphakia

Jane Francis (Concordia University)

17.50–18.10    The Leukos Survey Project: A Small Early and Middle Byzantine Harbour

D. J. Ian Begg (Trent University), Michael C. Nelson (Queen’s College), Todd Brenningmeyer (Maryville University), Amanda Kelly (University College Dublin)

18.10–18.30    The Digital World of Greek Archaeology: Terrestrial Laser Scanning

Maria Papaioannou, Peter Dare (University of New Brunswick)

18.30–18.50    The Cistercian Monastery of Zaraka in Arcadia

Sheila Campbell (University of Toronto)

18.50–19.10    Discussion

19.10–19.30    Presentation of the forthcoming monograph:

Sheila Campbell (ed.), “The Cistercian Monastery of Zaraka in Arcadia” (Publications of the Canadian Institute in Greece, No. 9)

19.30–19.45    Closing Remarks

R. Angus K. Smith (President, Canadian Institute in Greece)

20.00               Dinner for Speakers

Type: 
CIG in Greece

Book presentation by Alex Pattakos and Elaine Dundon

Date: 
Wednesday, May 18, 2016 -
19:00 to 20:00
Location: 
Hellenic Meeting and Reception Centre, Ottawa
Event Description: 

The OPA! Way – Finding Joy and Meaning in Everyday Life and Work.  A best –seller book presented by Alex Pattakos and Elaine Dundon, cofounders of the OPA! Way and the OPA! Center for Meaning.

Type: 
CIG in Canada

Open Meeting & lecture by Margriet Haagsma

Date: 
Wednesday, May 18, 2016 -
19:00 to 20:30
Location: 
Danish Institute, Herefontos 14A
Event Description: 

David Rupp (Director), "The Activities of the Institute 2015-2016"

Margriet Haagsma (University of Alberta), "Dwelling in contested lands: the Classical/Hellenistic Settlement at Kastro Kallithea"

Type: 
CIG in Greece

Lecture by Cindy Lee Scott

Date: 
Sunday, May 8, 2016 -
14:00 to 15:00
Location: 
R303 Paterson Hall, Carleton University, Ottawa
Event Description: 

Cindy Lee Scott (Objects Conservation (Private Practice) CLS Conservation Services Ltd.), "From the Ground to the Shelf – The Role of Conservation in the Archaeological Process"

Type: 
CIG in Canada

Lecture by Sarah Nash

Date: 
Wednesday, March 23, 2016 -
19:30 to 20:30
Location: 
Canadian Institute, Dionysiou Aiginitou 7
Event Description: 

Sarah Nash (Neda and Franz Leipen Fellow, The Canadian Institute in Greece; Ph.D. candidate, Department of History & Classics, University of Alberta), “Portraits of Romans as Hercules and Omphale”

It was not uncommon in antiquity to depict men and women in the guise of mythical figures. The choice of Hercules and Queen Omphale of Lydia, however, cannot be explained in such a straightforward manner. The ancient texts tend to characterize Omphale as a dominant and even “emasculating” woman, whose contravention of patriarchal values is epitomized by cross-dressing and exchanging gender roles with her slave – or ‘captivated’ lover – Hercules. Moreover, the comparison of historical figures to Hercules and Omphale is in every instance defamatory. Given the prevalence of this negative portrayal of Omphale in the textual sources, it is quite striking to find portraiture depicting Roman matrons as the nude queen with Hercules’ lion skin and club. The primary research objective then is to assess how Omphale becomes reconciled with the model of the chaste and obedient Roman matron in commemorative contexts.

In assessing what images of Hercules and Omphale evoke for Roman viewers, scholars traditionally defer to the literary sources, which has only cast the images in a negative light, or even as Augustan counter-propaganda against Marcus Antonius and Kleopatra. We must, rather, evaluate these images in their own terms and social context. Semiotic analysis allows us to situate images of Hercules and Omphale within the Hellenistic iconographic tradition of “disarming love”, as yet another expression of the power of Eros. Moreover, I find theories of identification valuable in exploring how Hercules and Omphale become for the Roman viewers an exemplum felicitatis, or model of happiness in their private lives. By readdressing three main categories of evidence – namely, domestic frescoes, tableware and objects of personal adornment – I intend to offer concrete instances in which the Romans evidently wished to relate to Hercules and Omphale, a trend which culminates in the mythological portraiture of the late-first to third centuries CE. In terms of the portraiture itself, I argue overall that Hercules and Omphale – as a symbol for 'the power of eros’ – were suitable models for spouses in an era which witnessed first of all a positive re-evaluation of eros in marriage, and secondly of andreia (i.e. ‘manliness’) in women, both of which contributed to harmonia between husband and wife.

Type: 
CIG in Greece

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