SCOTTISH  HELLENIC SOCIETY
GLASGOW

SYLLABUS 2009-2010

Please note that the meetings on 12 October and 8 February are on a Monday. The venue for the meeting on 8 February is the Wolfson Medical School Building, University Avenue.

MONDAY 12 October 2009
Joint Meeting with the Classical Association
Ms Charlotte Higgins (Journalist and Author)         Barack Obama: the Debt to the Ancients

TUESDAY 10 November  2009
Mr Nikos Vallianos (Aberdeen)         Sea Turtles in Greece and the work of ARCHELON

TUESDAY 15 December 2009
Scottish Evening
Professor Willy Maley (University of Glasgow)        Cypriots, Patriots and Scots: Nationalism and Internationalism in the International Brigades

TUESDAY 5 January 2010                "Vasilopitta " evening at the      
                                                                   Konaki Greek Taverna

                                                                    
MONDAY 8 February 2010
‘John Karkalas Lecture’        
Professor    Vivian Nutton (UCL)                Whither ancient Greek medicine?  
   

TUESDAY 16 February 2010
Mr Nikolaos Anagnostou (Glasgow)           Engineering in the Ancient World    - the                                   Antikythera Mechanism

TUESDAY 9 March 2010
Dr Stephanie Winder (University of Edinburgh)         Callimachus on the Rue Lepsius

   
TUESDAY 20 April 2010
AGM
Ms Jackie Dennett (University of Glasgow)       21st Century Museums in Athens, Greece

SPEAKERS’ BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES  

When Barack Obama fought his successful election campaign, much was made of his powerful, moving, oratory. Guardian chief arts writer Charlotte Higgins, author of Latin Love Lessons and It’s All Greek To Me, analyses the president’s speeches to reveal just how many tricks he learnt from ancient rhetorical technique, ponders what Aristotle would have made of him, and asks if he deserves to be compared to Cicero.

Mr Nikos Vallianos, a Post-Graduate research student at Aberdeen University, has worked as a volunteer with ARCHELON, a charity which tries to conserve the turtles which nest in Greece.  He will talk about the sea turtles in Greece; the problems they face, what ARCHELON and others do to help them; and what we can all do to help.  He will also show a documentary about the daily work and life of volunteers at the conservation projects. 

Professor Willy Maley writes: Recent books on ‘national’ contributions to the International Brigades such as Spanish Thermopylae, by Paul Philippou Strongos, and Homage to Caledonia, by Daniel Gray, raise questions about the relationship between global and local conflicts, and between internationalism, imperialism and nationalism.  This presentation will review some recent literature on the Spanish Civil War and look at the lasting legacies of that conflict.

"Vasilopitta" Evening at the Konaki Greek Taverna.  We will follow the Greek custom of celebrating the New Year with the vasilopitta (= St Basil's cake).  The cake contains a coin, and the person who gets it will have good fortune throughout the rest of the year!

Professor Vivian Nutton, who teaches History of Medicine at UCL, will give the inaugural ‘John Karkalas Lecture’.  He writes: Western medicine traces its ancestry back to classical Greece. Even if today’s medical science and medical practice are very different, Hippocrates and the Hippocratic Oath are often invoked, and popular ideas on health continue to reflect Greek concepts.  But researches over the last twenty years, including the (re)discovery of forgotten writings, have drastically changed the traditional picture of ancient Greek medicine, and of its role in the development of a Western medical tradition.  Rethinking Greek medicine is a challenge for today’s historians.

Mr Nikolaos Anagnostou has a background in electrical and computer engineering.  He writes: Discovered in a shipwreck off the coast of the Greek island of Antikythera, the mechanism is considered to be the first known analogue computer, created approximately two thousand years ago.  The device continues to fascinate and puzzle scientists and engineers, as artefacts of such complexity were not thought possible at that point in history.  The presentation will provide an introduction to the Antikythera mechanism, focusing on the latest findings of the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project, a joint team studying the artefact, comprising scientists from Great Britain, Greece and the US.

Dr Stephanie Winder.  The synopsis of Dr Winder’s talk is not yet to hand but she will be talking about the poetry of C P Cavafy.  The synopsis will be put on the Society’s web-page when it is received.

Ms Jackie Dennett, a Postgraduate student in of the Department of Archaeology and one of our Executive Committee members, writes:  There are almost constant archaeological excavations in the city of Athens and an abundance of artefacts retrieved from them.  What does the city of Athens do with the vast quantities of moveable, and sometimes not, archaeological artefacts retrieved from these excavations?  Of the solutions that Athens has turned to, one has been to display, often in situ, the archaeology within the city’s metro stations giving free access to all, resident and visitor alike, while more traditionally exhibiting material at the new, purpose-built, Akropoli museum.  This talk will look at these two methods of displaying the archaeological artefacts discovered within the vast city of Athens.  It will look at the type of archaeology displayed, public opinion by both residents and visitors on the effectiveness of the displays and what the visitor/resident can learn from them.  Does the archaeological body of Athens have particular aims in mind when setting out the displays within the metro stations?  What are the future plans for archaeological exhibitions beyond the two discussed here?  In this context we will also look briefly at the renewed interest and campaign to return the Parthenon marbles to Athens and the Akropoli Museum.