Updated Pharos Website Under Construction

A new Pharos website is in development.
For news and updates after April 2022, please visit:
www.pharosvancouver.com

Pharos' Annual Spring Musical Event April 25th: Drómeno!

 Please join us April 25th at 7:30pm for Pharos' annual online musical event.

Pharos: The Hellenic-Canadian Cultural Society Presents

A Free Concert Evening of Music and Conversation with 

Drómeno

Tonight’s concert will feature the music of Epirus performed by Seattle’s Govetas family: Christos (clarino and vocals), Ruth (accordion and vocals), Eleni (violin) and Bobby (percussion), joined by Nikos Maroussis on guitar. Drómeno specializes in the regional folk music of Northern Greece, as well as classic Rembetika, and is highly regarded in Greek music and dance circles. We are delighted to welcome them live via Zoom for Pharos’ annual April musical event.

Join us:

April 25th at 7:30pm PST

On Zoom: Meeting ID 639 0599 8130 | Password: 640528

Direct Link: bit.ly/pharos2021zoom

This 42nd Season of Pharos is generously sponsored by Eleni Korkidakis-Fyssas in honour of her late husband, and good friend of Pharos, Apostolos Fyssas.

Jan 31 @ 7:30pm PST: Free Talk - Mistress of Ships: The Harbour City of Naukratis in the Nile Delta

 Please join us on Monday, January 31, for a free lecture via Zoom.

"Mistress of Ships: 
The Harbour City of Naukratis in the Nile Delta"

With Dr Megan Daniels

UBC Department of Classical, Near Eastern, and Religious Studies

Zoom Link | Meeting ID: 639 0599 8130 | Password: 640528

A sound-only connection to the talk may be made by calling: 778-907-2071 (Vancouver)

One of the early excavators of the harbour city of Naukratis in Egypt, William Flinders Petrie, called it “the Greek Hong Kong and Birmingham in one. . . It is perhaps the most valuable site for Greek archaeology of the historic period that will ever be found.” At Naukratis, whose name means "Mistress of Ships", early excavators uncovered numerous temples to Greek and Egyptian gods, and discovered a vibrant locale of cultural and commercial exchange. In this talk I'll discuss the site, the history of research, and my own interests on the role of religion at this site in uniting peoples from all around the eastern Mediterranean in common worship.

A video recording  will be available for viewing for 30 days following the lecture.

The link will be circulated shortly after the presentation.

This 42nd  Season of Pharos is generously sponsored by Eleni Korkidakis-Fyssas in honour of her late husband, and good friend of Pharos,  Apostolos Fyssas

Nov 29 @ 7:30pm PST: Free Talk - Behind the Curtain of Myth: The Power of Greek Tragedy Under Communist Rule in Serbia

Please join us on Monday, November 29, for a free lecture via Zoom.

"Behind the Curtain of Myth: The Power of Greek Tragedy Under Community Rule in Serbia"

With Jelena Todorovic

UBC Department of Classical, Near Eastern, and Religious Studies

Zoom Link | Meeting ID: 639 0599 8130 | Password: 640528

A sound-only connection to the talk may be made by calling: 778-907-2071 (Vancouver)

This talk will explore how ancient Greek mythological tragedy provided a safe place for social and political criticism inside the communist apparatus of Serbia. We’ll discover the unique value that Serbian authors shared for Greek antiquity and intercultural exchange, and what we can learn from that continuing inspiration today.

A video recording  will be available for viewing for 30 days following the lecture.

The link will be circulated shortly after the presentation.

This 42nd  Season of Pharos is generously sponsored by Eleni Korkidakis-Fyssas in honour of her late husband, and good friend of Pharos,  Apostolos Fyssas

 

October 25, 2021 @ 7:30 pm PDT
Free lecture via Zoom

Prof. Hector Williams with Dr. Richard Spratley
The Orpheus Legend in Art and Music

Orpheus, the Greek hero whose songs could charm both gods and wild beasts and coax the trees and rocks into dance, has achieved an emblematic status as a metaphor for the power of music - and the power of love.  His legend has resonated through the millennia, giving rise to sculpture and vase paintings in the ancient Greek world, dozens of representations of him with animals in the Roman, and a few even in early Christian art as well as many works of Western art literature, dance, music, and film.  In Pharos’ opening presentation of its 42nd season, Hector Williams will look at Orpheus in Greek and Roman art and Ric Spratley will take you a quick tour of five centuries of Western Orphean music, dance, and more.

Join Zoom Meeting https://ubc.zoom.us/j/63905998130?pwd=UDdmaVpzN0Y0MzYyd0VVZWVxMzdLdz09 Meeting ID: 639 0599 8130 Passcode: 640528 A sound-only connection to the talk may be made by calling: 778-907-2071 (Vancouver) A video recording  will be available for viewing for 30 days following the lecture. The link will be circulated shortly after the presentation. This 42nd  Season of Pharos is generously sponsored by Eleni Korkidakis-Fyssas in honour of her late husband, and good friend of Pharos,  Apostolos Fyssas

Fall 2021

Pharos will be presenting two online lectures via Zoom. The link will be posted closer to the date of the first lecture. 

October 25, 2021 @ 7:30 PDT 

Prof. Hector Williams with Richard Spratley 

The Orpheus Legend in Art and Music

 

 November 29, 2021 @ 7:30 PST by Zoom 

Ms. Jelena Todorovic, UBC

Greek Myth/Tragedy in Central and Eastern Europe, especially Serbia 

April 2021

Monday 26 April, 2021 at 7:30 PDT, via Zoom
Mark Hamilton, Journalist & Musician

Musical Traditions of Crete

The music of Crete has a long, rich history that continues to develop and grow today. We’re going to explore the diversity of Cretan music, aided by music-lovers and musicians in Canada and on the island of Crete, and we'll try to answer a couple of questions: Is music really as important as it seems to Cretans? Why has it continued to to thrive when some other regional musics have been frozen as folkloric tradition?  

Mark Hamilton  is well known at Pharos as the man behind the guitar in several previous musical evenings.   He is a former journalist and university instructor of journalism and a (very) amateur musician, with a particular love for much of the music of Greece, especially Cretan music and early rebetiko. He has taken an online class in Cretan singing with Evgenia Toli-Damavoliti and is studying Cretan laouto with Giorgos Xylouris.  The photo shows Mark getting the vibe  in the Nikos Xylouris Museum in Anogeia, Crete.

This presentation is generously sponsored by the Cretan Association of BC

Join Zoom Meeting19:30 PST, 

Monday April 26,2021

https://ubc.zoom.us/j/63905998130?pwd=UDdmaVpzN0Y0MzYyd0VVZWVxMzdLdz09

Meeting ID: 639 0599 8130
Passcode: 640528

A sound-only connection to the talk may be made by calling:
1-778-907-2071 (Vancouver)

A video recording  will be available for viewing for 30 days following the lecture.
The link will be circulated shortly after the presentation.

This 41st Season of Pharos is generously sponsored by Nick and Maria Panos.

March 2021

March 29, 2021 @ 7:30 pm PDT
Free lecture via Zoom

Dr. Dimitri Krallis
Director of the SFU Stavros Niarchos Foundation Centre for Hellenic Studies and Associate Professor of Byzantine History at Simon Fraser University

Romioi one day, Greeks the next: Reading 1821 through a Byzantine Prism

We often forget that the people who rebelled against the Ottomans in 1821 saw themselves as Romioi (Romans). At that time few in Greece would have called themselves Hellenes. In fact, most of those Hellenes were Romioi who lived outside Greece proper.

So, what does this fact mean? To understand that we need to look to Byzantium and its legacy. In doing so, the revolt of 1821 acquires a new significance, because it emerges not simply as a struggle for the independence of a Greek nation, but rather as the rebirth and baptism of the Romioi as Greeks.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://ubc.zoom.us/j/63905998130?

pwd=UDdmaVpzN0Y0MzYyd0VVZWVxMzdLdz09
Meeting ID: 639 0599 8130Passcode: 640528

A sound-only connection to the talk may be made by calling:778-907-2071 (Vancouver)

This Lecture is Sponsored by the Hellenic Canadian Congress of B.C. in Memory of Professor André Gerolymatos, first Chair of Hellenic Studies at SFU.

The 41st Season of Pharos is generously sponsored by Nick and Maria Panos

February 2021

 Ancient Chorus, Modern Voices:
Antigone and Phaethon on Film

Dr. Hallie Marshall, Assistant Professor of Theatre Studies, 
UBC Department of Theatre and Film
with
Dr.  C.W. Marshall, Professor of Greek, UBC 
Department of Classics, Near Eastern and Religious Studies.

In 2018, in collaboration with the film company Barefaced Greek, we made a short film of the “Ode to Man” from Sophocles’ Antigone with twelve UBC students. This talk will screen that film and discuss the process of undertaking this kind of practice-based research with students as part of a study abroad course to Greece. It will also discuss our next project, a film of the Dawn chorus from Euripides’ fragmentary tragedy Phaethon, to be filmed on the island of Naxos in May 2022. 

Monday February 22, 2021 at 7:30 PST

The lecture will be streamed live on Zoom: Non-Pharos members may register to receive the link by sending an email to:  PharosVancouver@gmail.com

A link to a video recording for later viewing will be circulated following the lecture. 

Next Pharos Lecture: Monday March 29, 2021 @ 19:30 PST: Speaker TBA

This 41st Season of Pharos is generously sponsored by Nick and Maria Panos

January 2021

 

Mothers, Prostitutes or Sex Goddesses?

Nude Female Imagery in Greek Sanctuaries

Dr. Megan Daniels

UBC Department of Classics, Near East and Religious Studies

Monday January 25, 2021 @ 7:30 PM PST via Zoom (Details below)

The iconography of the nude  female in the ancient world spans an area from Iraq to Spain over a period of more than 2000 years. It emerged within Mesopotamia in the third millennium BCE, and spread across western Asia in royal, domestic, and funerary contexts. In the Greek world, this imagery appeared between 800 and 600 BCE, a time known as the “Greek renaissance” following the Bronze Age collapse. Modern-day scholars highlighted this period as a time when the Greeks looked to the more venerable Near East for artistic inspiration, the so-called Orientalising period, and explained the nude female through the lens of Orientalism. Scholars working in the Near East and Egypt, on the other hand, explained this imagery through recourse to a generic “fertility/mother goddess” and through misogynistic attitudes towards female nudity. In this presentation I examine how the Orientalising and fertility paradigms have coloured our interpretation of this imagery. I offer a new interpretation that attempts to move beyond artistic influence and generic fertility deities and into the realm of the shared ideologies between Greece and western Asia represented by this imagery. In doing so, I blur distinctions between “west” and “east” and reconsider the shifting relationships between humans and their gods in the Iron Age.

This lecture is presented jointly by Pharos and The Archaeological Institute of America (Vancouver Society)

This 41st Season of Pharos is Generously Sponsored by  Nick and Maria Panos

This lecture will be streamed live on Zoom: Non-Pharos members may register to receive the link by sending an email to:  PharosVancouver@gmail.com

A link to a video recording for later viewing will be circulated following the lecture. 

Next Pharos Lecture: Monday February 22, 2021 @ 19:30 PST

Speaker TBA

 

October and November 2020

 

The Church of Hagia Sophia

Professor Hector Williams, UBC
Monday October 26, 2020 @ 19:30 PDT 

The church of Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom) was the greatest church of the Byzantine world.  Built by the emperor Justinian between AD 532-537 it served for nearly a thousand years as the centre for Orthodox worship in Constantinople.  After the Ottoman capture of the city in May of 1453 Mehmet II made it the most important mosque in the city and so it remained until it officially opened as a museum in 1935. Its design influenced great Ottoman mosques like the Selemaniye and the "Blue Mosque". The talk will present the history, architecture and mosaic decoration of one the greatest religious buildings in the world and talk about its possible future after its conversion back into a mosque by the Erdogan government this summer.  The speaker first visited the church in 1969 and has been there at least eight times

How Ancient Greek Music Won Hearts and Minds

Professor Michael Griffin, UBC with

Theodore Koumartzis, Luthieros, Thessaloniki

Monday November 30, 2020 at @ 19:30 PST

This unique meeting of Pharos will explore the work of the Koumartzis family, based near Thessaloniki, to reconstruct the Ancient Greek lyre and kithara. We’ll listen together to living examples of classical Greek music, ranging from the Epitaph of Seikilos—arguably the oldest surviving written music in the world—to improvisational reconstructions on the Greek modes; and we’ll have time to experiment with a replica lyre. The talk will include an interview with Theodore Koumartzis, luthier and musician, and a discussion by Michael Griffin of the implications of music in the philosophy of Plato and Pythagoras—particularly the power of music to cultivate our hearts and minds.

You can preview video examples of Luthieros’ musical instruments in action:

• “Journey”, Aphrodite Patoulidou and Theodore Koumartzis: https://youtu.be/vpv2Va_6zTc
•  ύμνος στη μούσα Καλλιόπη και τον Απόλλωνα, Thanasis Kleopas: https://youtu.be/Y8Hpyov3Tt8 

This lecture will be streamed live on Zoom: Non-Pharos members may register to receive the link by sending an email to:  PharosVancouver@gmail.com

A link to a video recording for later viewing will be circulated following the lecture. 

Next Pharos Lecture: Monday January 25, 2021 @ 19:30 PST

Speaker TBA

These lectures will be free online zoom presentations. To subscribe, sent an email to PharosVancouver@gmail.com

March and April 2020

MARCH and APRIL PRESENTATIONS CANCELLED DUE TO COVID-19

Jewelery in the Byzantine World: A New Reading

Dr. Georgios Makris,
UBC Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory
Monday March 30, 2020 @ 7:30 pm  Cancelled

Upper Hall, Hellenic Community Centre
4500 Arbutus Street, Vancouver, BC

In their conscious effort to communicate their complex identity, social status, and cultural values, the inhabitants of the Byzantine empire often buried their dead with a wide variety of dress accessories. By bringing together jewelry found in excavations in Greece and Turkey and artefacts from museum collections around the world, Dr. Makris will  investigate the pervasive significance of jewels in Byzantium from the tenth through the twelfth centuries CE. 

Traditional Greek Folk Dances of Thrace, Epirus, and Pontos

Dimitrios Kontogiannis with

Diaspora, Tharros, and Zefyros Dance Ensembles

Monday April 27, 2020 @ 7:30 pm  Cancelled

Upper Hall, Hellenic Community Centre

4500 Arbutus Street, Vancouver, BC

In celebration of 40 years of Pharos' contributions to Greek culture in Vancouver, dance groups from the Greek communities of the Lower Mainland (Hellenic Centre, East Vancouver, & Surrey) will present a programme of dances from three different regions of Greece: Thrace, Epirus, and Pontos. This variety of dances provides a glimpse into the rich diversity of Greek cultural traditions continuing today.

January - February 2020

Charms Without Arms 
The Story of the Venus de Milo

Prof. Hector Williams,
UBC Classics, Near East and Religious Studies
Monday January 27, 2020 @ 7:30 pm

Upper Hall, Hellenic Community Centre
4500 Arbutus Street, Vancouver, BC

The Aphrodite of Melos (better known as the Venus de Milo from her French name) is one of the most famous statues in the world. Found by a Greek farmer in April of 1820 on the Cycladic island of Melos she was purchased by the French ambassador in Constantinople and given to King Louis XVII of France for the Louvre Museum where she has been ever since. Along with the Mona Lisa and the Winged Victory of Samothrace she is one of the three great treasures of that institution. The talk will present the statue and the complex history of its study and reception over the past 200 years.

Greeks in Vancouver:  Stories and Photos

Sophia Kasouli-Milobar

Vancouver Public Library

Monday February 24, 2020,7:30 pm

Hellenic Community Centre

4500 Arbutus St., Vancouver,  BC

Three years ago the Hellenic Community of Vancouver and the Vancouver Public Library partnered to collect and preserve photographs and stories of Vancouver’s Greek Community. VPL Librarian and Hellenic Community member Sophia Karasouli-Milobar was involved in the Hellenic Stories of Vancouver project from the very beginning. Sophia will present some highlights of the photographs and stories contributed to the project and take us on a quick tour of the history of the Greeks in Vancouver.

Fall 2019

The Greek Gods in the 21st Century

Dr. Michael Griffin

UBC Classics, Near East and Religious Studies

Monday 28 October 2019 at 7:30 pm

Upper Hall, Hellenic Community Centre

4500 Arbutus Street, Vancouver, Canada

Are the Greek gods thriving in the 21st century? In this talk, we'll explore the enduring appeal of figures like Zeus, Athena, Artemis, and Apollo in modern story, art, and ideas. Setting out from fiction, film, and games, we'll also investigate the legacy of the Greek gods in our philosophy, psychology, and science, and the value—and challenge—posed by the vision that Homer and Hesiod sang into being more than 2,500 years ago.

Now it is time for the gods to step out of inhabited things…

And to knock over every wall in my house...

A brand-new field of air. —Rilke

Now it is time for the gods to step out of inhabited things…
And to knock over every wall in my house...
A brand-new field of air. —Rilke

Edward Lear’s Greece

Richard Spratley,

President Pharos

Monday 25 November, 2019 at 7:30 pm

Upper Hall, Hellenic Community Centre

4500 Arbutus Street, Vancouver

English author, poet, botanist and landscape painter Edward Lear (1812-1888) is best known today for his nonsense rhymes and limericks.  However, in the mid-nineteenth century he travelled widely in Greece, Italy and the Middle East and his travel writings and sketches offer a fascinating insight into life in these areas.  We will follow Lear’s travels in Northern Greece – then part of the Ottoman Empire – and share with him the trials of an eccentric English Gentleman in  a very wild and uncivilized landscape.

Pharos Spring 2019

Monday January 28th, 2019 @ 7:30 pm

Upper Hall, Hellenic Community Centre

4500 Arbutus Street, Vancouver

Katherine and James Huemoeller, UBC
The Greek city of Morgantina, Sicily

The elite houses and monumental city centre of Morgantina in central Sicily have been the subject of archaeological research for more than sixty years, but there’s plenty of life in Morgantina beyond the agora.  James and Katharine Huemoeller will present on the recent excavations of the Contrada Agnese Project: American Excavations at Morgantina in a neighborhood west of the agora, where we can get a glimpse of ordinary life in the Hellenistic city.

Katherine is Assistant Professor of Roman History in the UBC Department of Classical, Near East and Religious Studies; she is currently working on a monograph on the sexual dimension of ancient Roman slavery.  James is principal of JIM Architecture, adjunct professor at UBC’s School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, and Project Architect and Geospatial Director for the Excavations at Morgantina.

Monday February 25th, 2019 @ 7:30 pm
Upper Hall, Hellenic Community Centre
4500 Arbutus Street, Vancouver

Jonathan Vickers, UBC

The Olympic Games: Past and Present

In his Pharos talk, Dr. Vickers will discuss three important factors in the birth of Greek sport and their influence on modern athletics, covering ground from the ancient Olympics to the modern Games. His focus is on the athletic body and its symbolism, the social importance of athletes and the glory of their victory, and the legacy of ancient Greek ideals in today's sporting world."

Dr. Vickers is a Lecturer at UBC, having previously taught at Trent University in Peterborough (ON) and Mount Allison University in Sackville (NB). His research interests include ancient sport and spectacle, the body in Greek culture, and ancient performance and entertainment. He is currently preparing a monograph on ancient Greek acrobatic performance and the rich social meaning expressed by representations of the acrobatic body in action. 

Monday March 25th, 2019 @ 7:30 pm
Upper Hall, Hellenic Community Centre
4500 Arbutus Street, Vancouver

Hector Williams, UBC

Attika: the land of the Athenians

Athens was the largest city state of ancient Greece and her rich territory in many ways made possible her greatness.  The talk will visit different parts of Attika from the sea battered cliffs of Sounion at the south to the heights of Mt. Parnes in the north and present the many sanctuaries, rich silver mines, marble quarries, and rural estates.  90% of the population lived in her territory, areas often neglected by the millions of tourists who visit the city each year.

Monday April 29th 2019 @7:30 pm

Upper Hall, Hellenic Community Centre

4500 Arbutus Street, Vancouver

A Musical Evening With

Yannis Fyssas and Friends

Σιγανά. Σιγανά: Ballads of Greece 1939 to 2018, 

Yannis  will present an eclectic collection of Greek songs spanning Entehna, Rembetika and Laika from 1939 to 2018, performed in the intimate setting of the upstairs hall in the Hellenic Community.  Σιγανά. Σιγανά (Sigana, Sigana) roughly translates as "softly, delicately" which describes the ideal environment to hear and enjoy this music.   He will be joined by musicians Natalia Pardalis – Piano; Mark Hamilton – Laouto / Baglama; John Mavrogeorge – Guitar / Vocals; George Yioldassis – Bouzouki / Vocals and Kostaki Roumeliotis - Drums / Percussion

Pharos October+November 2018

Monday October 29, 2018 at 7:30 pm
Upper Hall, Hellenic Community Centre
4500 Arbutus Street, Vancouver, BC

Michael Griffin, UBC

Exploring Socrates and the Buddha

Socrates of Athens and Siddhartha Gautama are regarded as founders, respectively, of European philosophy and Buddhism. They were also near-contemporaries, who taught by lively question and answer, upended many of the cultural assumptions of their time, and established traditions of scientific and religious inquiry that would last for millennia. In this talk, I’ll explore some of the similarities and differences of these philosophers and their continuing influence today


Monday November 26, 2018 at 7:30 pm

Upper Hall, Hellenic Community Centre
4500 Arbutus Street, Vancouver, BC

Maxwell Cameron, UBC
Aristotle, Practical Wisdom (Phronesis) and Democracy

Aristotle believed that those who occupy public office should possess the character and judgment—what he called “practical wisdom” or phronesis — to figure out the right things to do in a particular situation, and to do it in the right way and for the right reasons. Drawing on his recent book, Max Cameron argues that we need practical wisdom more than ever as we grapple with populism, polarization, hyper-partisanship, and the decline of civility in politics.

Pharos April 2018

Monday April 30, 2018 at 7:30 PM
Upper Hall, Hellenic Community Centre, 4500 Arbutus Street, Vancouver
An Evening of Poetry and Music

Phillip Resnick - Poet, Kate Gerson - Clarinet, Erika Gerson - Percussion,  and Laura Blumenthal - Santouri   

Poems about Greece ~ Music from Greece

Phillip Resnick, a political scientist by profession, began writing poetry as a young man in Montreal.  His marriage to Andromache resulted in numerous stays in Thessaly – in Volos and in a village on adjacent Mt. Pelion - and rekindled his poetic inspiration.  He has published several collections of poems, many of which deal with his Greek experiences and memories.  For Pharos, Phillip will read an assortment of his Greek-themed poems, including several from his just-published book, Passageways.  Musicians Kate Gerson, Erika Gerson, and Laura Blumenthal are members of the Vancouver-based band Musiki Parea which specializes in traditional Greek and Turkish Music.  They will present musical interludes with songs from Epiros and Macedonia.

Dalaras Tribute Concert

Sunday March 18, 2018 @ 8:00 pm
Rio Theatre, Commercial and Broadway

Yannis Fyssas and Vancouver's Dalaras Tribute Band present an evening of wonderful songs by Yiorgos Dalaras. 

The concert will feature live guitar, bouzouki, violin, baglama, Cretan lauto, clarinet, flute, saxophone, hand percussion and vocals backed by tracks recorded live in Greece especially for this evening's performance.

The pre-recorded backing tracks include exotic middle Eastern instruments such as the oud, kanoun, santuri, lyra, Turkish clarinet, Greek bouzouki, tzoura, baglama, and various metallic and wood percussion instruments.

This is not to be missed!  For tickets and more information click on the following link:

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/dalaras-tribute-an-evening-at-the-rio-greek-music-tickets-41300501913?aff=erelexpmlt

March 2018

Monday March 26, 2018 @ 7:30 pm
Upper Hall, Hellenic Community Centre
   
 Siobhán McElduff, UBC
Female Justice:  Getting Revenge on Terrible Men in Ancient Greece

Pericles told the men of Athens that the best thing for a woman was not be spoken about, either in blame or praise; the women of Athens surely had other ideas. This lecture will look at how, in a time long before #metoo, women in ancient Greece tried to speak up about and against abuse and injustice, even in societies that were hostile to their voices.

January+February 2018

Monday January 29, 2018 @ 7:30 pm
Upper Hall, Hellenic Community Centre

Hector Williams and UBC Debate Society
Debate: Should the British Museum return the Parthenon Marbles to Greece?

The fate of the Parthenon (Elgin) Marbles has been controversial for over 200 years.  On January 29, 2018 four (unbiased) members of the  UBC Debate Society, Aaron John, Arth Gupta, Reid Marcus, and Archie Stapleton. will debate the pros and cons of this contentious issue.   To set the scene Hector Williams will give a short overview of the carvings and their significance within Greek culture.  This is certain to result in a lively discussion.

Monday February 26, 2018 @ 7:30 pm
Upper Hall, Hellenic Community Centre

Justin Dwyer, UBC

Dynamic Humour in the Golden Age of Athenian Comedy

Humour, a quality that is intimately tied to distinct identities and human relationships, has real value in informing our understanding of ancient Athenian society.  This lecture will explore elements of humour in Athenian comedy by tracing the development of this rich and diverse genre from its Archaic origins through the high period of Athenian drama in fifth and fourth centuries BCE.