Events organised by the Press Office in Zagreb - 2008
1 December 2008 - Ninth Aegean Seminar
On the 1st of December 2008 at 18.30, the Ninth Aegean Seminar took place at the Atrium of the Croatian State Archives, Marulić Square 21, Zagreb. The speaker was Jack Davis, the director of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens and the Blegen professor of Greek Archaeology at the University of Cincinnati.
Prof. Davis has a long career of both teaching and practicing Aegean Archaeology. Having completed his PhD on fortifications of the Bronze Age site of Ayia Irini on the island of Kea, he first spent fifteen years teaching at the University of Chicago and then moved to the University of Cincinnati. In 2007 he assumed the position of the director of the American School at Athens; once his 5-year term is over, prof. Davis intends to continue teaching at Cincinnati. The list of excavations that he supervised or directed in Greece is long, and involves impressive sites such as already mentioned Ayia Irini, then Knossos, Nemea, Phylakopi, and finally Pylos. Over the past few years prof. Davis has also been excavating at the ancient Greek town of Apollonia in today’s Albania.
The title of prof. Davis’ lecture was “The Palace of Nestor at Pylos: New Investigations, New Discoveries”. After a general introduction about this site and its overall importance in Bronze Age Greece, prof. Davis moved on to presenting results of a project that he commenced in 1997 and which involves studying of unpublished material from the basements of the Hora Museum near Pylos. This material comes from Blegen’s excavations of Nestor’s palace and involves exciting new discoveries, such as new fresco-fragments, the most significant of which is a recently reconstructed fresco of an archer. Other work of Davis’ team in Pylos includes archaeological survey of the city around the palace and computer reconstructions of the palace rooms.
In addition to H.E., Ms Ourania Arvaniti, the Ambassador of Greece, the lecture was attended by numerous other diplomats, journalists, academics and prominent figures of the croatian society as well.
The director of the Archaeological Museum of Zagreb, the directors of two classical gymnasia, and a large number of students were also present.
20 October 2008 - Eight Aegean Seminar
On the 20th of October some 300 people gathered in the European House, Jurišićeva 1 Street, Zagreb, for the Eighth Aegean Seminar, organised yet again by the Press Office of the Greek Embassy in Croatia and the Department of Archaeology of the University of Zagreb. Our distinguished lecturer was John Bennet, professor of Aegean Archaeology at the University of Sheffield, United Kingdom. Prof. Bennet is well known to scholars and students involved in a study of the Linear B script. His specialty is, more precisely, unification of archaeological and textual data in order to reconstruct a history of a certain region. A region that prof. Bennet is mostly interested in is Messenia, where a legendary Bronze Age kingdom of Nestor used to be, with a capital at Pylos, today the second largest archive of Linear B tablets. In addition to his scholarly work on Messenia, prof. Bennet actively participated in the archaeological survey of the area. His other archaeological projects were located on the islands of Kea, Kythera and Crete. Most recently prof. Bennet’s interests extended to the archaeology of Ottoman Greece.
The title of prof. Bennet’s lecture was “River of Song: Homer, Archaeology and Linear B”. The lecture started with a brief account of Greek prehistoric archaeology, mostly focusing on Schliemann's interpretation of stories recounted in the Homeric epics. The decipherment of Linear B in 1952 confirmed the essential inaccuracy of the Homeric picture of the Aegean Late Bronze Age, yet elements in the language of the Linear B documents suggested a deep history for oral epic. Prof. Bennet therefore suggested that oral performance is a key factor in understanding both social practice in the Late Bronze Age and the link the Homeric epic formed between pre-historic and historic times in the Aegean.
In addition to a large number of students and professors from the Department of Archaeology and the Classical Gymnasium, the lecture was attended by numerous members of the Diplomatic Corps, the ambassadors of Greece, Portugal and The Nederlands included.
21 April 2008 - Aegean Seminar series lecture in Zagreb
As part of the ongoing Aegean Seminar series of lectures held in the Zagreb, a lecture on the “Golden Prehistoric Treasures of the National Archaeological Museum of Athens” was delivered on April 21st by Greek archaeologist, specialist in Mycenaean Archaelogy and Curator of the Prehistoric Collection at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, Dr. Papazogolou-Manioudaki.
The lecture began with a brief history of the National Museum and its Prehistoric Collection, followed by a photographic tour of its most famous exhibits - mostly made of gold, hence the title of the lecture. In addition to the golden masks, vessels and weapons from Mycenae, Dr. Papazoglou-Manioudaki presented the finest examples of Linear B tablets, finely decorated pottery and imports from Egypt, Asia Minor or the Levant, while the final part of the lecture was devoted to the Theran frescoes exhibited on the upper floor of the Museum.
Members of the diplomatic corps, academics, students and journalists were amongst the audience.
4 February 2008 - Classical Music Concert in Zagreb
A concert of classical Greek music, performed by the Croatian Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Swiss-born conductor Robert Selitrenny, took place at the "Vatroslav Lisinski" Concert Hall in Zagreb, on 4th February 2008.
The event - which featured Greek (solo) pianist Dinos Mastroyyanis and was attended by approximately one thousand people - was organised by the Press Office of the Greek Embassy in Zagreb.
The program consisted of compositions by Yannis Konstandinidis (Dodecanese suites no. 1 & no. 2; three Greek dances - Tzamikos, Tzakonikos, Syrtos), by Mikis Theodorakis (Elikon - a concert for piano and orchestra; Symfonietta for piano, flute and orchestra), and by Nikos Skalkotas (five Greek dances).
