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Visiting Artists: Mnemosyne Initiative with Albert Bonay and Zachery Dietrich

Mnemosyne – Traversing Boundaries on Meandering Routes of Memory The Hermes Group …the statue not yet a statue, the plate not yet pressed… ‘The Hermes Group’, an ongoing project by Albert Bonay and Zachery Dietrich, explores the histories, legacies, and impacts of Mediterranean presences. An alchemic mixture of printing processes (which are made dysfunctional) are shifted to sculptural language. Travel from the edges of the Mediterranean are played through the… Read more

Programs & Events News

Visiting Artists: Mnemosyne Initiative with Anna Gillespie

Mnemosyne – Traversing Boundaries on Meandering Routes of Memory Salvage My Mnemosyne project is called Salvage, because I am attempting to salvage memories from the past and use materials salvaged from old buildings to portray a fragmentary memory experience. It is not my intention to share my specific personal memories, but it is my aim to be true to those memories. By letting the work speak for itself I hope to… Read more

Programs & Events News

Recap: Rohan Sikri on comparative philosophy

Gestalten: A Resource for Comparative Philosophy? Written by Ryan Harte The Center for Hellenic Studies would like to extend their greatest thanks and appreciation to all of those who participated in the third meeting of the Comparatism Seminar. We would also like to thank Professor Rohan Sikri (University of Georgia) for his talk, “Gestalten: A Resource for Comparative Philosophy?” Sikri proposed Gestalt theory as a fruitful approach to comparative work,… Read more

Kosmos Society, Live Stream

Oral tradition as rhetorical resource in the Old Slavic translation of Digenis Akritis

9 April 2021, 11:00 am ET

We are excited to welcome Robert Romanchuk for an Online Open House entitled “Oral tradition as rhetorical resource in the Old Slavic translation of Digenis Akritis.” The event will take place on Friday, April 9 at 11:00 a.m. EDT and will be recorded. You can watch the live-streaming on the Center for Hellenic Studies YouTube Channel. To get ready for the event, you might like to read:… Read more

Programs & Events News

Recap: Michael Puett on the study of religion

Rituals and Revelations Re-thinking Comparative Approaches to the Study of Religion Written by Alba Curry The Center for Hellenic Studies would like to extend their greatest thanks and appreciation to all of those who participated in the second meeting of the Comparatism Seminar. We would also like to thank Professor Michael Puett for his talk, which offered a way out of the powerful criticisms of comparative work leveled by, for… Read more

Book Chapter

Chapter 7. Kurt A. Raaflaub, Freedom for the Messenians?

Chapter 7. Freedom for the Messenians? A note on the impact of slavery and helotage on the Greek concept of freedom Kurt A. Raaflaub 1 In 371 the Thebans defeated a Spartan army at Leuctra and destroyed the myth of Spartan invincibility. [1] In the winter of 370/69 Epameinondas led an army of Thebans and allies into Lakonia, devastated parts… Read more

Book Chapter

Part III. Structures. Chapter 8. Thomas J. Figueira, The Demography of the Spartan Helots

Chapter 8. The Demography of the Spartan Helots Thomas J. Figueira The size of the Helot population under Spartan control in the classical period has not often been the focus of separate studies, although it has been an issue very often addressed in general appreciations of Spartan society and political history. Until recently, the estimates of Helot numbers have had an impressionistic coloration, serving to… Read more

Book Chapter

Chapter 9. Walter Scheidel, Helot Numbers: A Simplified Model

Chapter 9. Helot Numbers: A Simplified Model Walter Scheidel The actual size of the Helot population at any particular point of Spartan history will forever remain unknown. The best we can hope for is a rough estimate of the number of Helots the klêroi of Lakonia and Messenia could have supported alongside a given number of Spartiates and their families. In the absence of ancient statistics,… Read more

Book Chapter

Chapter 10. Stephen Hodkinson, Spartiates, Helots and the Direction of the Agrarian Economy

Chapter 10. Spartiates, helots and the direction of the agrarian economy: towards an understanding of helotage in comparative perspective Stephen Hodkinson This paper is a first step in a project designed to study Sparta in comparative historical perspective, ancient to modern. [1] Modern thought has often followed ancient Greek and Roman sources in portraying Sparta as an exceptional society, somewhat different… Read more

Book Chapter

Conclusion. Chapter 11. Orlando Patterson, Reflections on Helotic Slavery and Freedom

Chapter 11. Reflections on helotic slavery and freedom Orlando Patterson This rich collection of essays tackles many vexing questions in the study of Spartan helotry and it would be rash of me—a professional interloper—to attempt a comprehensive commentary. I will, instead, focus on three issues which, as the specialists themselves here acknowledge, may benefit from a comparative perspective. These are: the problem of the nature of… Read more