Modern Greek Program

The Thomas E. Leontis Lecture

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The Speaker

Information Forthcoming.

The Lecture

Inaugurated by Constantine the Great on May 11, 330, the city of Constantinople became the center of the amalgamation of Greek culture, Roman administrative tradition, and the Christian religion by which we characterize Byzantine culture. This illustrated lecture will examine the earliest phases of this process. It will describe the historical circumstances in which Constantinople was established, and show how Constantine used the physical resources of Graeco-Roman Byzantium as the basis of the urban development of his new city. With a view to the work of Constantine's imperial predecessors at the site and to contemporary patterns of urban planning in the Roman empire, it will present the city as an example of late Classical urban culture, upon which the heavily Christian culture of the Byzantine period was grafted, more by Constantine's successors than by himself.

The Lecture Series

The Thomas E. Leontis Lecture in Modern Greek Studies was established in 1987 by the Board of Trustees of The Ohio State University with gifts from Dr. Thomas E. Leontis. In 1995, Anna P. Leontis made additional gifts in memory of her late husband to create the Thomas E. Leontis Endowment in Modern Greek. The purpose of the Endowment is two-fold: first, to serve as a catalyst in the Modern Greek Program at the University in generating a keener awareness of the importance of Greek history and culture, especially since 1204; and second, to bring annually to the Ohio State campus a distinguished speaker of international reputation who will contribute to the cultural growth of the University and the community by offering new ideas and historical and cultural interpretations of important past and current situations. In addition to the lectureship, the Endowment supports regular conference activities.

Previous Lectures in the Series

• 1988 Alexander Nehamas: "Nietzsche and the Greeks: Philosophy and the Search for Cultural Paradigms"
• 1989 William V. Spanos: "The Hellenic Investment of Modern Humanist Education"
• 1990 Margaret Alexiou: "Renaissance on the Margins: Cretan Poetry and Drama, c.1400-1669"
• 1991 Robert Browning: "The Elgin Marbles: A Case History"
• 1992 Michael Herzfeld: "The History of Fate and the Fate of History: Greek Reflections on a Global Theme"
• 1993 Charles Moskos: "The Social Construction of Identity: Greek-Americans in a Multicultural World"
• 1994 Nanos Valaoritis: "The Post-Colonial Intellectual and the Nation-State"
• 1995 Peter Green: "The Hellenic Crucible: Myth, Tradition, and Ideology in the Greek Literary Revival"
• 1996 Michael N. Lykoudis: "Classicism and Modern Culture: The Art and Politics of How We Build and Live Together"
• 1997 Renée Hirschon: "Silent Landscapes, Lost Memories: Hearing the Voice of the Asia Minor Past in Contemporary Greece"
• 1998 Robert Nelson: "Looking in and into Byzantium: The Logic of Byzantine Icons"
• 1999 Maria Todorova: "Identity or Destiny? Reflections on the Balkanness of Greece"
• 2000 Constantine E. Michaelides: "Piracy and Vernacular Architecture: The Aegean Archipelago in post-Byzantine Centuries"
• 2001 John Chioles: "The Storytelling Daughters of Danaos: A Look at Recent Writing by Greek Women"
• 2002 Gail Holst-Warhaft: "Stopping for Melisma: The Spirit of Greek Poetry and Music"
• 2004 Thomas W. Gallant: "Toward a Social History of the Greeks"
• 2005 Paul Magdalino: "The Shared Culture of Byzantium and Islam"
• 2006 Peter Trudgill: "Two new nations, four languages: liberation, independence and language conflict in Greece and Norway"
• 2007 Fani Mallouchou-Tufano: "Restoration Work on the Athenian Acropolis (1975-2007)"
• 2008 Dr. Vassilios Lambropoulos: "The Tragedy of Hubris in Modern Drama"
• 2009 John Matthews: "From Byzantium to Constantinople: the Legacy of a Graeco-Roman City"