18 Nov 2008

Pharos November 24, 2008

The Apogee of Byzantine Monumental Art

Professor Maria Panayotidi
University of Athens


Sponsored by the SFU Hellenic Studies Program

The Lecture will begin at 7:30 pm

1 Oct 2008

Pharos, October & November 2008

Archaeological Survey of Ancient Sikyon

October 27, 2008 at 7:30 pm
Matthew Maher
UBC Department Classical, Near East & Religious Studies

Ancient Sikyon, now buried beneath the modern village and fields of Vasiliko, is located on a triangular plateau on the south shore of the Corinthian Gulf. While ancient literary accounts and limited excavation have yielded some of the city’s secrets, it is the efforts of the Sikyon Survey Project, which this paper will address, that are responsible for bringing much of the rich history of this city to light, and for placing Sikyon in its rightful place among the first cities of ancient Greece.


Note: Starting October 27, 2008 Pharos Lectures will begin at 7:30 pm


The Road Less Traveled – Undiscovered Greece

Postponed 'til February 2009


November 24, 2008 at 7:30 pm
Richard Spratley, President Pharos

Ric and Lynda Spratley have been visiting Greece for over twenty years – twenty years in which the country has undergone profound change. This slide presentation will be a nostalgic view back over those trips, of things that are timeless as well as some that have vanished forever. We will visit islands off the path of cruise ships and villages tour buses can’t reach while probing into far corners of familiar places. And, of course, there will be music and red poppies!


Pharos October 28, 2008: Matt Maher


Archaeological Survey of Ancient Sikyon


Matthew Maher
UBC Department Classical, Near East & Religious Studies


Ancient Sikyon, now buried beneath the modern village and fields of Vasiliko, is located on a triangular plateau on the south shore of the Corinthian Gulf. While ancient literary accounts and limited excavation have yielded some of the city’s secrets, it is the efforts of the Sikyon Survey Project, which this paper will address, that are responsible for bringing much of the rich history of this city to light, and for placing Sikyon in its rightful place among the first cities of ancient Greece.

1 Aug 2008

Pharos Schedule: 2008/09

Dates for the 2008/09 Pharos season are:


2008: October 27th, November 24th


2009: January 26th, February 23rd, March 30th, April 27th, May 25th.

1 Jun 2008

Pharos June 11, 2008: Andre Gerolymatos


The Battle for Kosovo & the Balkans: Past, Present and Future

Prof. Andre Gerolymatos, Chair Hellenic Studies, Simon Fraser University

1 May 2008

Pharos May 26, 2008 - Hector Williams


Greeks on the Nile: 3500 years of Greco-Egyptian Contacts
Professor Hector Williams, University of British Columbia


This special lecture, jointly presented by Pharos and the Hellenic Canadian Congress of BC, will kick off Greek Heritage Month, 2008.
A wine and cheese reception will follow the lecture.
(Alexandria, Ancient Greek Egypt, terracotta face of a smiling youth.)

2 Apr 2008

Pharos April 28, 2008 - Bill Maranda



The Making of Raja Edepus in Bali
William Maranda


A film created to document the staging of a Balinese version of Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex as it was performed at the Bali Arts Festival in July 2006. It discusses the beginnings when Nyoman Wenten, Chair of World Music at CalArts and William Maranda, Vancouver playwright, first agreed to meet in Bali in August 2005.

The film takes us from Mr. Wenten’s house in the village of Sading, where the chorus was adapted for Kecak (monkey chorus) , and Legong (dancing chorus) , to Singapadu where wooden masks were carved, and costumes made.
..
Twenty-eight hours of tape were shot from which Hans Goksoyr or Vancouver has edited a wealth of film imagery into a beautiful documentary.

13 Feb 2008

Pharos Lecture 25 February 2008


An Unknown Legacy of Synthesis: The Greeks and the Persians

Dr. Kaveh Farrokh
Langara College




The talk will first focus on Xerxes' reasons for embarking on his failed expedition to Greece, notably the “Unfinished Business” of his father Darius the Great (i.e. retribution for Sack of Sardis, defeat at Marathon), apprehension over possible Future Greek raids into Achaemenid-ruled Ionia, and the need to assert Imperial authority (esp. after the failures of Darius against the Greeks just ten years before in 490 BC). The role of the anti-Athenian Greeks inviting Xerxes to invade as well as the (largely ignored) Greco-Achaemenid Economic rivalry in the Aegean will also be discussed. The seminar will lay heavy emphasis on the constructive aspects of the Greco-Persian relationship, one example being the benefits received by Greek scholars of the time. The Greco-Persian Synthesis in arts and architecture in the ancient Ukraine (i.e. Bosphoran Arts), Calabria & Southern Italy as well as Eastern Anatolia (Pontus, Cappadocia-Commagene) will be examined along with examples of Persian artistic and architectural influences upon Greece and vice-versa.


Born in Athens, Greece, Kaveh Farrokh, is of Ossetian and Azeri descent. A graduate of UBC, he has published many papers and several books on Persian history and related topics.


8:00 pm, Upper Hall
Hellenic Community Centre
32nd & Arbutus, Vancouver
All Welcome