Take a minute to explore the highlights of 2019 at the CHS!
Decoration of Gregory Nagy with the Commander of the Order of Honor by H.E. the President of the Hellenic Republic
In January 2019, H.E. the President of the Hellenic Republic, Professor Prokopios Pavlopoulos, bestowed on Harvard University Professor of Classical Studies and Comparative Literature & Director of the Center for Hellenic Studies Gregory Nagy, the title of Commander of the Order of Honor, in recognition of the worldwide breadth of his research, his contribution to the field of Classics, and his support of the Hellenic cultural heritage. Professor Nagy’s emblematic studies on Homeric epic, which have ranked the professor among the top Homerists in the world were underlined by the President of the Hellenic Republic during the ceremony. Professor Nagy in reply to the President expressed his gratitude and his commitment to promoting the global heritage of Hellenic culture.
Epic | Illustrations by Gareth Hinds at CHS Washington
On display from July 2019 onwards, this exhibition features watercolor illustrations from Gareth Hinds’s graphic novel adaptations of the epic poems, The Iliad and The Odyssey. Hinds uses traditional and digital media to create vivid depictions of the action and emotion in each epic. His dynamic color palettes and careful details differentiate the numerous gods and heroes. This exhibition presents his work in pencil, digital pencil, and watercolor, before word balloons and sound effects were added digitally for print publication.
Events at CHS Washington
Over the past year, a series of events have taken place in Washington, DC as part of an initiative to expand the conversation around ancient Greece to other disciplines and to non-specialists, and to promote broad engagement in the study of Hellenic culture:
– Anthropological Writing as Activism, a discussion with Michael Herzfeld and Manuela Pellegrino
– A Prehistory of Post-Humanism? Antiquity and Anthropology Today, a roundtable organized by Manon Brouillet, Cleo Carastro, and Charles Stocking
– The Classical is Political with Donna Zuckerberg, Jonathan Hsy, and Caroline Stark
– Leadership in the Humanities, organized by Kallion Leadership
– Delphic Festival Preview, co-organized with the Isadora Duncan International Institute and the Ecumenical Delphic Union
CHS Fellowships
CHS Fellowships have changed much throughout the years and while always keeping at their core subdisciplines within the scope of Hellenic studies, such as philology, history, and philosophy, they have expanded to include politics, ancient science, Greek art, literature by other cultures and so on. Interdisciplinarity and collaboration are two key aspects of the fellowships. Additionally, since 2012, there is more flexibility in terms of residency’s duration which can be from 4 to 16 weeks, making a huge impact in allowing space in the program for scholars whose responsibilities may not allow them to be based on-site. CHS Greece has helped tremendously in raising the profile of CHS in Europe and in particular in Greece, by bringing more fellows from Greece to DC.
CHS Fellowships have also brought to Greece a number of research opportunities, with the most recent expansion of the program in 2019 aiming to support Greek and Cypriot researchers whose work requires continued access to material on site. Based on Professor Nagy’s vision and throughout his tenure, CHS DC and Greece have meticulously continued to build and encourage a network of researchers in Greece and around the world.
CHS Greece towards a greener future
In October 2019 the Center in Greece became one of Harvard’s certified Green Offices. The Harvard Green Office Program is implemented by the Office for Sustainability and is designed to guide staff members through the process of creating a more sustainable workspace, underlining the importance of individual disposition and action for the achievement of sustainable development. In the months before achieving the Leaf One certification of the program, the Center in Greece adopted new habits and pinned down related practices that were more or less already in place. Ultimately, all steps taken have led to a better understanding of practices, and contribute to transforming the university and the society into a sustainable community, whether in Cambridge or abroad.
Enhancing Harvard community’s presence in Greece
A multitude of new programs, workshops, fellowships, and other activities addressed to members of the Harvard community and beyond, have been launched in 2019 and are about to start in 2020. Creating synergies and joining forces with other Harvard units has always been a priority for the Center in Greece, along with its role as an important nexus for the network of international offices operated by Harvard around the world.
Kosmos Society
In 2019, Kosmos Society continued organizing and hosting the “Online Open House” and “Book Club” events. The community also focused on language. There are several ancient Greek learning groups along with the Odyssey, Iliad, Herodotus and Pausanias translation groups. For the language gatherings, one needs to be a Kosmos member so we encourage everyone to join in the conversation and become members.
In 2019, the community planned an intensive, collaborative workshop to create a revised translation of the Trojan Women of Euripides that tracks Core Vocab words in the same way as the Sourcebook of Primary Texts in Translation used in the HeroesX MOOC.
On behalf of the entire CHS team, may all your wishes for the New Year come true!
