The journey to another person’s mind and giving others access to our own are central to human relationships, including leadership. Yet doing so is challenging, as evidenced by sharpening ideological divisions and escalating conflicts around the globe. Here we will explore reasons for these challenges, from the excess use of social media to changes in educational priorities, the current state of awareness of cultural diversity, and the rise of AI. We will use examples from Odyssey and elsewhere to tackle issues such as empathy, vulnerability, and sharing and examine how practicing along these lines may brighten the future of leadership.

Norman Sandridge is an Associate Professor of Classics at Howard University and a co-founder of Kallion Leadership, a non-profit dedicated to leadership development through the study of the humanities. He holds undergraduate degrees in physics and mathematics and graduate degrees in Latin, Greek, and Classics. Currently he teaches courses on global leadership development, democratic leadership, and political theory. His research interests include leadership and the emotions and leadership development through the humanities.

The Eastern Roman Empire, also known as Byzantium, is among the most misunderstood, even maligned, civilizations. It is also difficult to study and its history is written once every generation or less. Our speaker for this event has just published a new history where he presents a new and unexpected Byzantium as emerged from recent research. Turning the tables on narratives of decline and fall, the lecture will focus instead on why this state lasted so much longer than its rivals and why it causes so much anxiety among western Europeans. Its claims to both the Hellenic and Roman traditions lie at the heart of the problem.

Anthony Kaldellis is a Professor of Classics at the University of Chicago. His new history of Byzantium titled “The New Roman Empire” was recently published by Oxford University Press. Professor Kaldellis has also published books and articles on historiography, classical reception, political ideology, and ethnicity, in addition to many translations of medieval Greek texts. In 2019, he launched the podcast “Byzantium & Friends” in which he interviews colleagues from around the world on current research on the topic.

The Modern Olympics are the largest and most successful international event in the world. However, a little more than one century after their founding in Athens in 1896, the reasons for their revival have been largely forgotten. In this lecture we will see why it is crucial that we pay attention to this modern revival. As our lecturer will argue, religion lies at the heart of this story: ancient Greek religion, early Christian religion, and modern religion as well. What we will see is that Hellenism, viewed as a vast archive of cultural experience, also provides a spiritual foundation for modern internationalism and cosmopolitanism.

Professor Ruprecht is the inaugural holder of the William M. Suttles Chair of Religious Studies at Georgia State University, where he also serves as the Director of the Center for Hellenic Studies. Ruprecht's work traces ancient Greek ideas in subsequent cultural periods in the realms of art, eros, democratic institutions, and much more. His most recent book is Reach without Grasping: Anne Carson's Classical Desires (2022). He is currently working on Marvelous Mixing: A Cosmopolitan History of Crete; and The Renaissance Sappho: Fulvio Orsini's Carmina Novem Illustrium Feminarum (1568). For his work bringing classical Greek ideas to modern-day scholarship and culture he has been granted the Gold Cross of the Order of the Phoenix by the President of the Hellenic Republic.

Whether they arrived as archaeologists, anthropologists, soldiers or scholars, Anglophone writers over the past century have reacted in myriad ways to the beauty of Greece, its history and its complex political and human realities: From the sensuality of Henry Miller to the school-boy enthusiasm of Patrick Leigh-Fermor and from the hedonism of Lawrence Durrell to the Orthodox spirituality of Philip Sherrard and the political engagement of Kevin Andrews. The genteel art of travel writing has been replaced by the voices of authors like Sofka Zinovieff and Alicia Stallings who have made Greece their homeland. Greece is no longer the exotica to be admired from afar, but an evolving reality whose hopes and fears have to be shared in order to be understood.

Bruce Clark will be presenting and a live discussion will follow.

About the speaker

Bruce Clark worked as an international-news journalist for more than 40 years, with postings in Paris, Athens, Moscow and Washington, D.C. Born in Northern Ireland in 1958 and educated at Cambridge University, he has always had a strong interest in the ancient and modern history of Greece. His book “Twice A Stranger” – an account of the Lausanne Convention on Population Exchange and its consequences – won the Runciman Prize in 2007. In October 2021, he published “Athens: City of Wisdom” – a narrative history of the city from pre-historic times to the present day. Between 1982 and 1986 he was the first expatriate correspondent posted to Greece by Reuters. He later made many reporting trips to Greece for the Financial Times and the Economist. He has been an active participant in the environmental initiatives of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. In September 2022 he was awarded the Golden Cross of the Order of Phoenix for services to Greek culture and history.

Recent and gathering developments in the Middle East bring to the forefront concerns that precious cultural and religious monuments, some with enduring functionality like churches, are abandoned, altered, or destroyed in the hands of states espousing different religions or cultural heritage. The task of preserving these monuments under these circumstances can be truly herculean. What are the specific issues facing heritage organizations and advocates and what may be some of the solutions to this major problem?

To address these questions, SPGH hosted a panel discussion with Professor Elizabeth Prodromou, Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center, Dr. Flora Karagianni, Director of the European Center for Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Monuments, and Professor Evangelos Kyriakides, Director of the Heritage Management Organization. Dr. Vassilis Koliatsos, Chairman of the Board of SPGH, moderated the panel.

Just a year and a half after the conversion of Hagia Sophia, the most emblematic church-monument of Orthodox Christendom, to a mosque, by the Turkish government, the event is all but forgotten. Soon thereafter, another jewel of Byzantine architecture, the Chora Church, was also converted. Although Greeks and Christians around the world initially protested, their response was short-lived and had no effect. The problem directly speaks to the issue of the fate of world monuments in the hands of nations and heritages different than the ones that created them. More importantly, the subdued response points to a larger problem: a potential identity crisis for Hellenism.

Joining us to address the problem is Professor Elizabeth H. Prodromou, Faculty Director of the Initiative on Religion, Law, and Diplomacy at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. She is a Co-President of Religions for Peace, and is nonresident Senior Fellow and Co-Chair of the Working Group on Christians and Religious Pluralism in the Middle East, at the Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom. Professor Prodromou served as Vice Chair and Commissioner on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (2004-2012) and also a member of the U.S. Secretary of State’s Religion & Foreign Policy Working Group (2011-2015). Her research interests focus on geopolitics and religion, as well as democratization and religious pluralism, with particular focus on the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East.

After the success of our two prior events exploring lessons from history and geopolitics in the formation of modern Greek identity, SPGH is pleased to announce the third event of our 1821-2021 series in which we will explore the continuity of Greek identity in the legacy and enduring role of ancient, medieval and modern monuments.

In this lecture event Sharon Gerstel will discuss her long-term project concerning the restoration of an 11th-century village church in Vamvaka, Mani. The study of the church presents a fascinating history that starts in the ancient world and ends in the present day. What does this church mean to a community over time, and how do we, as modern visitors encounter and appreciate such buildings, which are frequently locked? Are they relics of the past, or do they hold some greater meaning for our understanding of Greek culture and identity through the ages?

Sharon E. J. Gerstel is Director of the UCLA Stavros Niarchos Foundation Center for the Study of Hellenic Culture, professor of Byzantine Art and Archaeology in the Department of Art History at UCLA, and the George P. Kolovos Family Centennial Term Chair in Hellenic Studies. Trained in art history, religious studies, and archaeology, Gerstel’s work investigates ritual, art, and material culture as well as acoustics and cultural heritage. As an archaeologist, Gerstel has been involved in numerous excavations in Greece, both as a field director and as a ceramics specialist. Her ongoing research focuses on acoustics, architectural design, and chant in medieval churches. She has also worked intensively to preserve medieval buildings in Greece, particularly in rural settings. For her contributions to the promotion of Hellenic Culture, she has recently been named a Commander of the Order of the Phoenix, one of Greece’s highest honors, and has also been naturalized as a Greek citizen.

After the success of our spring event exploring lessons from history in modern Greek identity, SPGH is pleased to announce the second event of our 1821-2021 series in which we will explore the so-called “geopolitical” dimensions of modern Greek identity.

Although geopolitical issues, in the broader sense, are relevant to the entire Greek diaspora, they are nowhere as important as in mainland Greece, whose very existence has depended, and continues to depend, on bloody struggles for survival and territorial integrity in an increasingly aggressive geographical environment. Remarkably, many of Greece’s neighbors that were historically opposed to the creation of modern Greece, especially Turkey, define their own identity based on their perpetual hostilities with the Greeks, dating back to the 12th century.

But an identity is not only forged by struggle, it is also affected by one’s chosen community: Greek integration within larger organizations, especially the European Union, poses its own challenges and raises very important questions about modern Greece.

Joining us to explore this crucial topic is Dr. Kostas A. Lavdas, Professor of European and Comparative Politics and Director of the Graduate Program in International Relations and Strategic Studies at Panteion University in Athens. Dr. Lavdas has had distinguished careers in both the UK and the United States and his work on European politics, comparative foreign policy, transatlantic relations, and applied political theory has been published extensively in several languages. He has also been very active in the current public geopolitical debates in Greece focused on Turkey and related issues.

There are few events that bring to the fore the issue of identity as sharply as a revolution. And few events that test an individual or national perception of identity as critically as threats to one’s existence or sense of honor. This year, Hellenism is recognizing the 200-year anniversary from the start of the great Greek revolution of 1821. At the same time, it is grappling with the implications of increasing geopolitical tensions with Turkey, such as the conversion of Hagia Sophia to a mosque and the status of the Aegean being called into question.

In response to these events that speak to core issues of heritage, SPGH is launching a series of events exploring a modern meaning of Greek identity, starting with a panel discussion on history. History, much like monuments, music and literature, is not only a reflection of who we are but also leaves traces in our collective memory, thus shaping our current understanding of the world and presaging the future.

Our distinguished panelists are Professor Anthony Kaldellis, Chair of the Department of Classics at Ohio State University, Ancient and Byzantine history scholar, and regular faculty at SPGH events; and Professor Roderick Beaton, former Koraes Professor of Modern Greek and Byzantine History, Language and Literature at King's College London, who is the author of the must-read “Greece: Biography of a Modern Nation”.

With current focus on the living aspects of heritage, SPGH and the Modern Greek Studies Program of Georgetown University present the work and experiences of Eva Kosvyra, a young Greek architect who has been living and working in the rocks of Meteora, a unique geographical phenomenon in Thessaly, Greece, whose very name means "suspended in the air" and is the site of a complex of Greek Orthodox monasteries second in importance only to Mt. Athos.

Ms. Kosvyra, a native of the region, begun by studying the construction of the first Meteora hermitages as a graduate student and progressively became one with not only the geographical and architectural, but also the spiritual realities of the site that she calls "so exposed yet also so protected."

SPGH and Georgetown's Modern Greek Studies Program welcome the opportunity of sharing in the experiences of a person who has born and raised near a treasure of Greek heritage, made a career centered around the monument, and who is becoming herself part of the monument's life and everlasting narrative.

SPGH hosted a research-informed discussion with Mr. Thodoris Georgakopoulos on demographics, climate change and other major forces that will shape the population and physical environment of Greece in the next decades. The presentation and discussion were based on findings from studies conducted by the Greek think tank DiaNEOsis.

SPGH was founded in the mid1970s with the initial charge of preserving the Greek physical and cultural environment on the belief that preservation of the Greek heritage is intimately linked to the preservation of Greece. The issue remains critical to our mission.

Christopher King, a music collector and scholar and a Grammy-winning producer from southern Virginia shared his transformational encounter with Ηπειρωτικά μοιρολόγια (laments from Epirus) and his falling in love with the music and people of the land. He also talked about the connection of these northwestern Greek “blues” to American southern blues and discussed his recent book “Lament from Epirus” with SPGH Chairman Dr. Vassilis Koliatsos and members of the audience. He played many rare examples of southern blues music and demotika from the original 78 rpm discs for the audience.

A performance by the Greek Music Ensemble, (led by Dr. Panagiotis Liaropoulos of the Berklee College of Music) honoring the songs of acclaimed Greek composers Manos Hadjidakis and Mikis Theodorakis, held at Georgetown University's Lohrfink Theater. 

A Panel Discussion with Mr. Efthimios Mitropoulos, President Emeritus of the UN International Maritime Organization, Dr. Diane Cline, Associate Professor at the George Washington University, and Dr. Alexandra Papadopoulou of the Institute of Mediterranean Studies in Rethymno, Crete.

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*This event was made possible due to the generous contributions of the following sponsors: John Chandris, DIANA Shipping and Ecolibra.

A musical lecture by Panagiotis Liaropoulos of the Berklee College of Music, at the Cosmos Club

​A talk by Professor Thomas Jenkins from Trinity University.

Lecture by Prof. Marina Lambraki-Plaka at the Center for Hellenic Studies

Lecture by Prof. Marina Lambraki-Plaka at the Sulgrave Club

Panel Discussion on Crisis Hellenism with Professor Anthony Kaldellis from Ohio State University and Professor Thanos Veremis from the University of Athens and the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP) 

Reflections on the Greek Brain Drain, a lecture with Professor John Ioannidis from Stanford University. VIDEO recording: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

A panel discussion with John Peponis, Georgia Tech School of Architecture, Costis Toregas (view presentation), George Washington University, Vassilis Koliatsos, Johns Hopkins University and Apostolos Doxiadis. Moderated by Charis Lypiridis, The World Bank.

This extraordinary panel covered with the life and work of Constantinos Doxiadis, a legendary Renaissance Greek who transformed modern architecture and foreshadowed the importance of networks. SPGH brought the topic to the attention of the DC community as part of a series of events on modern Greek identity. The thought and impact of Constantinos Doxiadis (1913 –1975) on contemporary settlements is difficult to be compared. His ecumenical vision and practice provides a reference in planning for development, globally and in Greece. The creation of Islamabad, the design of Georgetown D.C. waterfront area, his landmark catalogue on the “Sacrifices of Greece in WWII”, his various WBG assignments, the Order of British Empire recognition and the Aspen Award for Humanities, describe only indicatively the multi-facet size of his work. On Thursday November 5, 2015 at the historic Sulgrave Club SPGH brought together a distinguished panel that will discuss the significance of Doxiadis thought and achievements, in the context of an ecumenical identity for Greece.

What can Byzantium teach us about the crisis in Greece? While “rule by debt” is a mostly modern phenomenon, the deeper anxieties, aspirations, and suspicions that Greeks feel when dealing with western Europe were largely set in place during the last centuries of Byzantium, between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries. In this lecture, Professor Kaldellis provided a historical context and trace the lives of prominent Byzantines of that time, illustrating their difficult choices and the complex reactions of Greek culture to the forces of Europe and Islam that were squeezing it from either side. Conversely, the West too oscillates between admiring and distrusting Greeks, from Byzantine times to this day. 

Anthony Kaldellis is a Professor of Classics with a PhD in History from the University of Michigan (2001). Raised in Athens by an American mother and father from Mytilene, he came to the US to study physics, but ended up a Byzantinist in Ohio. Professor Kaldellis has written extensively on many aspect of Byzantine history, literature, and culture. His work has focused on the reception of the classical tradition, including authors (Procopius of Ceasarea), genres (Ethnography after Antiquity), identities (Hellenism in Byzantium), and monuments (The Christian Parthenon). His most recent monograph proposes a new, Roman interpretation of the Byzantine political sphere (The Byzantine Republic: People and Power at New Rome). He has also translated many Byzantine texts, most recently the histories of Prokopios, Michael Attaleiates, and Laonikos Chalkokondyles (the last two for the Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library).

Much of the criticism on Euripides’s Hecuba is focused on the character of Hecuba as victimized mother who rightfully avenges her son’s death and those who argue for Hecuba’s moral deterioration over the course of the play’s two main movements, sacrifice and revenge. This talk departed in a new direction by analyzing how the historical and political background informs the key themes of the protection due prisoners of war and the treatment of the vanquished. Viewed against the Athenian empire’s policies in the 420s BCE, Hecuba focuses on the obligations of the strong toward the weak and of masters toward slaves, lending the lead character’s voice to the perspective of the vanquished, the subaltern, the colonized subject. The use and abuse of charis (favor) anchors the political interpretation of the play within the contemporary public discourse on empire. Supplication and xenia (ritualized friendship) that are based on reciprocity and the exchange of favors offer the framework for extending politics to an understanding of the motives and psychology of Hecuba’s gruesome revenge. 

Angeliki Tzanetou is Associate Professor of Classics  at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and has served as Director of Graduate Studies and Co-Director of the Modern Greek Studies program (2008-2011). She received her B.A. in Classics from the University of Athens and her M.A. in Classics and Ph.D. in Classical Philology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  She previously taught at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.  She is the author of City of Suppliants: Tragedy and the Athenian Empire (University of Texas Press 2012) and co-editor with Maryline Parca of Finding Persephone: Women’s Rituals in the Ancient Mediterranean (Indiana University Press 2007). Among her forthcoming publications are two volumes of essays, Gender, East and West, co-edited with Maryine Parca, to appear as a special volume ofClassical World and a volume of essays on interdisciplinary approaches on Greek and Roman Drama which will be published as a special issue of Illinois Classical Studies (40. 2 [2015]).  She has published articles on ritual and gender in drama and on tragedy and politics. She is currently at work on a new book on motherhood and subaltern voices in Athenian tragedy

Viewings at the Embassy of Greece including the following speakers/presenters: 

• Anna Missailidou (Archaeologist, Ephorate of Antiquities of the Chios service of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture): Nea Moni of Chios and its Influence on the Architecture of the Island 

• Cristina Stancioiu (Assistant Professor of Art & Art History, William & Mary College): The Mosaics of Nea Moni 

• Manolis Vournous (Architect, Mayor of Chios): The Medieval Architecture of Chios: Villages and Fortifications 

• Ilias Smyrnioudis (Production and R & D Manager, Chios Mastiha Growers Association): The culture of the Mastiha: History, Tradition, and Economic Impact

A lecture by Professor David Konstan, Professor of Classics at New York University.

David Konstan is Professor of Classics at New York University and has been a Professor of Classics at Brown University. Among his books are RomanComedy (1983); Sexual Symmetry: Love in the Ancient Novel and Related Genres (1994); Greek Comedy and Ideology (1995); Friendship in the Classical World (1997); PityTransformed (2001); The Emotions of the Ancient Greeks: Studies inAristotle and Classical Literature (2006); A Life Worthy of the Gods: The Materialist Psychology of Epicurus (2008); Before Forgiveness: The Origins of a Moral Idea (2010), and, most recently, Beauty: The Fortunes of an Ancient Greek Idea (2014), published by Oxford University Press in the Onassis Series on Hellenic Culture.  He is a past president of the American Philological Association, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and Honorary Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities

A lecture with Mary-Jane Deeb, Chief of the African and Middle Eastern Division at the Library of Congress.

Mary-Jane Deeb joined the Library of Congress in 1998, and became Chief of its African and Middle Eastern Division in 2005.Among her many activities there she led a Library of Congress mission to Baghdad in November 2003 to assist with the reconstruction of the National Library of Iraq; and in 2004 she was part of the Librarian of Congress team that visited Iran. Before joining the Library of Congress she was the Editor of The Middle East Journal, and Director of the Omani Program at The American University in Washington D.C. She has also taught at Georgetown University and at George Washington University. She received her Ph.D. in International Relations from the School of Advanced International Studies of the Johns Hopkins University in 1987. Deeb is the author of Libya's Foreign Policy in North Africa, and co-author with M.K. Deeb of Libya Since the Revolution: Aspects of Social and Political Development. She has also written over one hundred and fifty articles, book chapters, and book reviews, for numerous publications including Current History, International Journal of Middle East Studies, Muslim World, Mediterranean Quarterly, The Library of Congress Information Bulletin, and in a number of encyclopedias such as Encyclopedia Britannica, and Encyclopedia Americana. Deeb worked for the United Nations Economic Commission for Western Asia, UNICEF, AMIDEAST, the US Agency for International Development in Beirut,She is a frequent media commentator, and has appeared on the Lehrer News Hour, John McLaughlin's One on One, CNN, ABC World News and CBS Evening News, and been quoted by The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time Magazine, The Christian Science Monitor, The Los Angeles Times, and others. She is and is listed in the Marquis' Who's Who in America since 1997. She also writes mystery books, including Cocktails and Murder on the Potomac (2000), Murder on the Riviera (2004), A Christmas Mystery in Provence (2004), and Death of a Harlequin (2012).

Mussolini’s unprovoked attack on Greece in 1940 met with defiant resistance and, to everyone’s amazement, led to the first victories against the Axis in WWII. In the wake of a shattering German invasion in April 1941, however, Italian troops came to occupy the greater part of Greece. The traumatic experience of the occupied population (one in ten Athenians died of hunger) and the ultimate fate of the Italian forces at the hands of the Germans is now remembered mostly through the distorting prism of fictionalized books and movies. The true story is more dramatic, and is worth telling.

Athanasios (Thanasi) Moulakis, President Emeritus of the American University of Iraq, was born in Athens. He studied Classics and Political Science in Germany where he received his PhD. He taught at German Universities, the London School of Economics, and the European University Institute in Florence. Coming to the US he taught at UCSD and St John’s College, Annapolis before becoming founding director of the Herbst Program of Humanities for Engineers at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He later assumed the direction of the Institute for Mediterranean Studies at the University of Lugano, Switzerland. In 1996 he was Fulbright Professor of Philosophy at the University of Jena. In 2008 he became Chief Academic Officer and Acting President of the American University of Afghanistan and subsequently President of the American University of Iraq in Sulaimani. He has published widely on political thought, educational policy and international affairs. In 1996 his book Beyond Utility. Liberal Education for a Technological Age received the American Association of Colleges and Universities’ prize for the best book on liberal education. He is a regular contributor to the monthly Άμυνα και Διπλωματία (Defence and Diplomacy) of Athens.

A lecture by Dr. Gary Vikan and Dr. Vassilis Koliatsos.

A talk by Jason Felch, Investigative Reporter at the Los Angeles Times.

A lecture by Greg Nagy, Ph.D., Director of Harvard's Center for Hellenic Studies.

A lecture by Professor Athanasios Moulakis.

A lecture by Patrick Lee Miller, Professor of Philosophy, Duquesne University.

A talk by David Konstan of NYU, and John Rowe. Workman Distinguished Professor of Classics and Comparative Literature, Brown University.

A lecture by Paul Cartledge, A.G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture at Cambridge University.

A reception and discussion celebrating the close of our 2008-9 lecture series at the home of President Anna Lea. Special guest, Dr. Athanasios Moulakis, spoke about his experiences in Afghanistan and the way ancient Greek culture continues to influence the area.

A presentation by His Excellency Alexandros Mallias, the Ambassador of Greece.

A talk by author Scott Huler, based on his recent book.

A lecture by Prof. Carl Richard of the University of Louisiana.

A seminar on "Faith and Reason" with Mary Lefkowitz, author and Professor Emerita of Classics at Wellesley College, and writer/journalist Tom Lange. Introduced and moderated by author/playwright Sophy Burnham.

Strobe Talbott, president of the Brookings Institution and former Deputy Secretary of State, on his new book.

A talk by Judith Hallett of the University of Maryland.

A lecture by Prof. Jennifer Hockenberry of Mount Mary College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

A talk by Prof. Sanford Lakoff of the University of California at San Diego.

A lecture by Dr. Neil Kerwin, President of American University.

A talk by Tom Holland, BBC Radio presenter and author of the recent book, "Persian Fire."

A lecture by Nancy Sherman, Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University.

A lecture by Stephen Miller, author of the recent book: Conversation: A History of a Declining Art.

A discussion with Prof. Gonda Van Steen of the University of Arizona, and Prof. Frank Romer of East Carolina University.

A lecture by Prof. Judith Herrin of King's College London.

A lecture by Dr. Jonathan Shay, psychiatrist at the Veteran's Administration Outpatient Clinic in Boston and author of the groundbreaking books "Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma," "Undoing of Character and Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming", and "Homer on Military Leadership."

A lecture by Prof. Athanasios Moulakis, scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center.

A seminar co-sponsored by Opera Lafayette of Washington, D.C., and featuring Herbert Golder, professor of classics at Boston University, music historian Nizam Kettaneh, and Ryan Brown, conductor and artistic director of Opera Lafayette.

A talk by Peter Bien, Professor Emeritus of English & Comparative Literature at Dartmouth.

A lecture by Richard Rubenstein, Professor of Conflict Resolution and Public Affairs at George Mason University and author of many books, including "When Jesus Became God," and "Alchemists of Revolution."

A lecture by Richard Clogg, University Research Fellow of St Antony's College, Oxford, former Professor of History at the University of London, and author of books on the history of modern Greece.

A lecture by Paul Cartledge, professor of Greek history at the University of Cambridge and internationally renowned authority on both Athens and Sparta. 

Presentation of the Play of Jason & the Argonauts by the Synetic Theatre, followed by a panel discussion with Professor Gregory Nagy, director of the Harvard Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington D.C., and Paata Tsikurishvili, Artistic Director and founder of the Synetic Theatre.

A joint lecture by Kay Redfield Jamison, Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University and author of several national best sellers, and Vassilis Koliatsos, M.D., Associate Professor at Johns Hopkins University.

A lecture by Guy MacLean Rogers, Professor of Classical Studies at Wellesley College.

A lecture by Jeffrey Reiman, William Fraser McDowell Professor of Philosophy at American University and author of many books & articles on philosophy and criminal justice.

A lecture by Willie Lewis, author of "Snakes: An Anthology of Tales," a collection of humorous and imaginative essays by well-known authors from Rudyard Kipling, D.H. Lawrence, John Steinbeck, and Tom Wolfe to Jim Lehrer, David Barry and many more. Ms. Lewis was introduced by Ms. Susan Eisenhower, chairman of the Eisenhower Institute and author of Breaking Free, Mrs. Ike, and many publications on foreign policy.

A lecture by Clive Foss, professor of history at Georgetown University and author of many publications on dictatorships, including Juan and Eva Peron and Fidel Castro.

A lecture by Mary Lefkowitz, Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Wellesley College.

A seminar held at Georgetown University and co-sponsored by the International Initiatives Office of the Provost at Georgetown University. This seminar examined the creation and decline of the Athenian, Roman/Romaic, Ottoman and British empires.

A evening highlighting "The Meaning of Classical Theater Through the Ages" with prominent theater directors Michael Kahn, artistic director of the Shakespeare Theater, and Joy Zinoman, artistic director of the Studio Theater, and renowned classicist and former SPGH chair Bernard Knox.

A benefit to raise funds for the Seeds for Classics program, hosted by the Embassy of Greece in Washington, D.C., and featuring the critically acclaimed Violins of Lafayette ensemble, which performed the Orpheus cantata.

A symposium co-sponsored with the Modern Greek Studies Association, dealing with modern Greek history and literature, at Georgetown University.

A lecture by Peter Bien, professor of English and Comparative Literature at Dartmouth