19 Jan 2016

January + February 2016



Monday January 25, 2016, 7:30 pm
Upper Hall, Hellenic Community Centre
Journey to the End of the World: The Mani Peninsula in Antiquity
Chelsea Gardner, UBC Classics, Near East and Religious Studies


Piracy, Feuds, and Patrick Leigh Fermor - all of these are commonly associated with Mani, the southernmost projection off of the Greek Peloponnesos. A beautiful, barren peninsula with a tumultuous history, Mani is famous for its wild inhabitants and rugged landscape, but little is known about this region in antiquity. This talk showcases the peninsula in a new light, presenting recent research into the people who lived there throughout antiquity, and some of the most spectacular archaeological finds the peninsula has to offer.

(Note on the picture:  This Byzantine Church in the Mani charmingly incorporates grave markers from antiquity in its  construction.  Sadly, since this photo was taken in 1989, the carvings have been stolen)




Monday February 29, 2016, 7:30 pm
Upper Hall, Hellenic Community Centre
The Cyprus that was:  photography as witness.  John Lindros and the Swedish Cyprus Expedition, 1927-1931
Dr. Birgitta Lindros Wohl, California State Northridge


Dr. Wohl will present images taken by her father, architect to the Expedition, which are parallel to the archaeological and scientific work but of a different spirit.  They represent a personal, youthful enjoyment of an environment sometimes felt as exotic, a world observed both with wonder, precision and ethnographic interst.  The landscapes, villages, homes and people of Cyprus of the early part of the last century bring back a world today both distant and close.