A CELEBRATION OF CRETE

Stone Age, Bronze Age, Homeric Age

The GSU Center for Hellenic Studies is pleased to announce that we will be hosting an academic pre-party in support of the Atlanta Pan-Cretan glendi, which will take place on Saturday, January 30, 2016.

To that end, we have invited two noted Cretan archaeologists: Dr. Thomas Strasser of Providence College (Providence, RI); and Professor Anastasia Tzigounaki, Director of Antiquities for the Greek Ministry of Archaeology’s Cretan Ephorate (Rethymnon, Crete).

Professor Strasser will speak about exciting new evidence of Paleolithic and Neolithic settlement on the island of Crete. He will discuss his excavations at Plakias and Damnoni, where evidence of early hominid habitation going back more than 200,000 years has been unearthed. This work has already significantly altered our understanding of early hominid migration out of Africa.

Professor Tzigounaki will offer an overview of what we now know about the three major “palatial” periods in Bronze Age, or Minoan, Crete. She will discuss new discoveries from her excavations at Kalo Chorafi, near Mylopotamos, in order to highlight some of the distinguishing features of this remarkably sophisticated Bronze Age culture—in art, in political administration, in seafaring and more.

The Director of the Center will offer a summary of the presence of Crete in the Homeric poems, focusing primarily upon the suggestive notion that Odysseus’ preferred lie in the Odyssey makes him out to be a pirate from the island of Crete. These Homeric reflections will take us beyond the ancient world, right up to the Hellenistic and Roman periods.

This panel discussion will take place in the 8^th floor Conference Room at 25 Park Place on Friday, January 29, 2016, from 1:00-5:00pm.

The schedule of events will be as follows:

12:30-1:00pm: Reception and Greetings

1:00-1:15pm: Welcome, The Honorable Giorgos Panagiotidis, Greek Consul of Atlanta

1:15-2:15pm: Thomas Strasser, Crete in the Stone Age: Crete before Minos: The Stone Ages of a Rough and Rugged Island”

2:15-2:30pm: Break

2:30-3:30pm: Anastasia Tzigounaki, Crete in the Bronze Age: “Minoan Civilization: Insights from a New Excavation at Kalo Chorafi, Mylopotamos”

3:30-3:45pm: Break

3:45-4:45pm: Louis A. Ruprecht Jr., Crete in the Homeric Age: “How the Place of Mixing Became a Place for Monsters”

A wine reception will follow the panel, in a location TBA.

We hope that you will be able to join us for this exciting event, and to celebrate the unique richness of the island of Crete. Please share the attached flyer with friends and colleagues.

The event is located with walking distance from the Five Points and Peachtree Center MARTA stations. Parking is also available in a number of public lots located on Auburn Avenue and Peachtree Center Avenue, NE, all within two blocks of the 25 Park Place Building (nearby parking locations).

We hope to see you there!

Sarah Y. Levine and Louis A. Ruprecht Jr.
The GSU Center for Hellenic Studies