6th Annual Research Workshop – Program and abstracts

Christos Tsironis (Department of Theology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), CHS Fellow in Comparative Cultural Studies in Greece 2018–2019

Humanities and Social Studies in the AI Era: Raising Questions Where Answers Are Generated Massively, Instantly, and Performatively

The accelerating development of artificial intelligence (AI) systems propels hopes for addressing long lasting humanity challenges, and concerns about the impact of algorithmic transformation. Humanities and Social Sciences constitute a distinctive field for the study of cultural evolution, as well as for critical reflection on the premises and outcomes of human creativity and its various manifestations.

Contrary to assumptions of drastic decline or even disappearance, the challenge facing the Humanities and Social Sciences is to redefine their role within emerging conditions without becoming marginalized, to become agents of action and strategic planning rather than being confined to a reactive stance. In this vein, the talk examines current challenges, principles of AI ethical alignment, academic risks and debates, and new research perspectives, drawing on history, social theory, archaeology, linguistics, theology, and cultural studies. The analysis focuses on how disciplines dedicated to the study of human cultures and social organization can carry out their role in a world of instant, mass scale, performative production of answers and data. The reflective and critical approach to the human biosphere, which raises questions on mind and enriches human thought with curiosity and creativity, remains the core element of the sciences that directs our attention to the human condition. What, then, is the role of the Humanities and Social Sciences in the AI Era?

Aphrodite Vlachou (Independent Researcher), Early Career Fellow in Hellenic Studies 2026–27

Hieroi Topoi, Cults and Votive Offerings in Sparta during the Early Historical Period: The Evidence from the Sanctuary of Apollo Amyklaios

Our knowledge of the sanctuaries and cults of the early historical period (900-600 BCE) relies largely on the abundance of votive offerings dedicated by worshippers to the gods in a cycle of gracious returns. During this period, sanctuary architecture remained simple and written sources were limited, making votive offerings one of the principal forms of evidence for reconstructing cult practices and ritual traditions.

Bronze dedications were particularly widespread during the 8th and 7th centuries BCE, as reflected in the rich assemblages from major cult places, among them Olympia and Delphi. Similar patterns of dedication can also be observed in the major Spartan sanctuaries, such as those of Athena Chalkioikos and Artemis Orthia, reflecting collective religious activity, shared perceptions regarding the distribution of wealth, as well as the development of networks of communication and exchange.

Earlier and more recent excavations at the sanctuary of Apollo Amyklaios on the hill of Agia Kyriaki at Amykles have brought to light a significant number of bronze votive objects. Jewellery, bronze tripod cauldrons, figurines, and items of weaponry appear at the sanctuary as early as the 9th century BCE, confirming its prominent role in the religious life of Sparta and the wider region.

Androniki Oikonomaki (School of Philology, Epigraphy and Papyrology Laboratory, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), CHS–Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Fellow in Hellenic Studies 2017–2018

«…ΕΓΡΑΦΕ ΜΕ». Rupestral Graffiti in the Archaic Aegean: Digital Documentation and Interpretive Approaches

The presentation focuses on Archaic rupestral graffiti, both pictorial and verbal, dating from the late 8th to the 6th century BCE. Ongoing research has brought to light remarkable evidence from the early phase of alphabetic writing in several regions of the Aegean, both on islands such as Thera and Crete, and on the mainland, especially in coastal areas of Attica. Largely private in character, these texts illuminate everyday practices beyond formal or official epigraphic records and challenge the assumption that literacy was limited to the polis or to an aristocratic, sympotic elite. Their variety is especially revealing: visitors’ or pilgrims’ graffiti, signatures of carvers, erotic messages, and various figural representations, such as ships and footprints, offer a glimpse into aspects of contemporary society that literature scarcely records. The distinctive character of these graffiti, together with the difficulties involved in locating them and their poor state of preservation, make the application of new digital methods, such as Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI), laser scanning, and geolocation, essential for their documentation, study, and, ultimately, their preservation for both scholars and the wider public.

As a case study, the presentation discusses ongoing research conducted in collaboration with the Ephorate of Antiquities of Lassithi at Cape Samonion, modern Kavo Sidero, in eastern Crete.

Georgios Tsolakis (Independent Scholar), CHS–Institute for Historical Research Joint Fellow in Hellenic Studies 2025–26

Following in the Footsteps of Your Ancestors: Family Tradition in the Greek Polis from the Classical to the Imperial Period

This book project examines the political, social, economic, and legal significance of ancestry and family tradition in the Greek polis from the Classical to the Imperial period. Drawing on literary, epigraphic, and archaeological evidence, it explores how Greek families constructed, transmitted, and adapted ancestral memory across generations. The project argues that family tradition functioned as a form of social and political capital embedded within the broader structures of the polis. Through genealogies, onomastic practices, funerary monuments, statues, and honorific decrees, elite families reinforced their status and shaped collective civic memory. Particular attention is given to the interaction between familial tradition and three major historical developments: the intervention of external powers, the rise of euergetism, and the oligarchization of local societies. Combining theoretical approaches drawn from cultural memory studies and Bourdieusian habitus with a large epigraphic dataset of more than 1,800 inscriptions, the study demonstrates that invocations of ancestry were not merely rhetorical conventions but dynamic mechanisms through which Greek communities negotiated legitimacy, authority, and civic identity over the longue durée.

Konstantinos Fakkas (Department of History and Archaeology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens), Early Career Fellow in Hellenic Studies 2026–27

Claudius and Greek Culture: From Upbringing to Imperial Ideology

For thirteen years, from 41-54 CE, Emperor Claudius ruled the Roman world, succeeding his nephew, Caligula, following a court conspiracy that unexpectedly brought him to the imperial throne. To many of his contemporaries, he appeared to be a weak and indecisive ruler, vulnerable to the ambitions of his wives and the influence of powerful freedmen. Modern scholarship has long since revised this image, recognizing Claudius as a capable administrator of the Roman state under whose reign significant reforms were implemented both in the central administration and in the provinces. However, the importance of his long-standing relationship with Greek culture in shaping his political outlook and imperial ideology has not been sufficiently emphasized. This presentation examines this relationship from four perspectives: first, the influence of the early imperial milieu on the formation of his personality; second, the influence of prominent Greek friends and officials; third, his relations with the Greek world; and, finally, the incorporation of Hellenistic models into his style of governance.

Christos Frosynakis (Department of Philology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens), Pre-doctoral Fellow in Hellenic Studies 2026–27

“Show, Don’t Tell”: The Character Building of Laocoon in Quintus Smyrnaeus’ Posthomerica

This study investigates the narrative techniques of Quintus Smyrnaeus’ Posthomerica Book 12 that align with the contemporary “Show, Don’t Tell” principle, prioritizing implicit character portrayal over explicit narrator exposition. Focusing on the Laocoon episode (PH 12.388-485), the research analyzes how the technique of narrative mirroring and linguistic allusions construct a character of great mental resilience. Through the use of shared diction, Laocoon’s physical agony is contrasted with Ajax’s egoistic rage (PH 5.321-32), highlighting the former’s superior sense of duty and mental fortitude. Concurrently, his altruistic persistence stands in sharp contrast to Sinon’s deception and the instinctive abandonment of their children by the Trojan mothers, presenting a distinct model of self-sacrifice. The deployment of specialized medical and Homeric vocabulary intensifies the perception of pain for the diligent reader, while the final transition from vocal defiance to a deafening silence underscores the hero’s total psychological collapse and tragic culmination. Ultimately, this episode emerges as a sophisticated composition that rewards the well-versed reader, effectively bridging the gap between ancient poetic techniques and modern narratological approaches.

Angeliki Oikonomou (Department of Philology, University of Ioannina), Pre-doctoral Fellow in Hellenic Studies 2026–27

Embodied Paths: Feet on the Ground and the Power of Ritual Gait

This study seeks to explore the significance of movement of the human body in the ritual practices of the corpus of the so-called “Greek Magical Papyri” (PGM), with particular focus on the contact of the foot with the ground. By examining distinct and non-normative manners of walking, such as backward gait, the study seeks to shed light on how bodily movement through space operates as an embodied ritual practice that shapes the practitioners’ ritual experience and contributes to the efficacy of ritual process.

The PGM corpus is of great importance for the study of embodied experience, since it contains highly detailed ritual prescriptions for the performance of ritual acts, a feature that is unique for the Greco-Roman world. Across these texts, references to walking, standing and especially backward walking are frequently repeated ritual patterns and reveal the ritual centrality of the feet. These ritual instructions are examined alongside literary and comparative evidence from Greek and Egyptian traditions. More specifically, in considering how and in what ways backward gait shapes the practitioners’ experience, this study is aligned with theories drawn from the field of Cognitive Science of Religion (CSR). Central to the analysis, among other approaches, is the concept of Embodied Cognition, which allows us to understand ritual movement not merely as an act with symbolic meaning, but also as a form of knowledge enacted through the body. To sum up, by focusing on gait, and particularly backward walking, this interdisciplinary study aims both to highlight the significant role of controlled movement through space and to explore how bodily engagement with the ground constructs meaning, shapes perception, and creates forms of embodied memory.

Ioannis Fappas (Department of History and Archaeology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), CHS Fellow in Hellenic Studies in Greece 2016–2017

Large-Scale Engineering Works and Landscape Management during the Mycenaean Period (14th-13th Centuries BCE) in Boeotia and the Argolid

The capacity to mobilize and deploy substantial numbers of people and resources for the construction and maintenance of large-scale engineering works was a defining feature of the centralized administration of the Mycenaean palatial centers at the height of their power during the fourteenth and thirteenth centuries BCE. Among the most notable examples of such undertakings are the drainage works of the Kopais basin in Boeotia and the dam of Tiryns in the Argolid. These projects not only constituted long-term investments on the part of the local palatial authorities, but also transformed the surrounding natural landscape, bringing about significant environmental changes within their respective regions. This paper offers a brief presentation of these works in relation to the alterations they effected upon their surrounding environment. It further examines how the scale, scope, and lasting impact of these interventions on the landscape contributed to the preservation of their memory in the mythological traditions and historical narratives of later periods.

Gerasimos Trasanis (Department of History and Archaeology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens), Pre-doctoral Fellow in Hellenic Studies 2026–27

Mountain Archaeology and Fortified Sites in Grevena from the Iron Age to the Roman Period

For a long time, our understanding of ancient settlements and spatial organization was based primarily on extensive excavations of major urban centers in the Greek world that were historically well documented. In contrast, regions situated outside the main urban and economic networks of antiquity, especially those characterized by rugged landscapes, limited archaeological research and sparse written sources, have often been overlooked in scholarly discussions.

This presentation will examine the relationship between fortified sites and mountain landscapes, paying particular attention to routes, visibility and accessibility in the Grevena region in western Macedonia, from the Iron Age to the Roman period. Particular emphasis will be placed on the methodological challenges of the research, as well as on the contributions of surface documentation, topographical observation, spatial analysis and digital tools.

The aim is to explore the character, function, spatial distribution and interrelationships of these fortified sites, shedding light on their role in local and supra-local social, political and economic dynamics. This approach highlights the potential of mountain archaeology to shed light on lesser-known aspects of ancient Macedonia and demonstrate how the landscape contributed to the formation of local identity.

Faidon Moudopoulos-Athanasiou (Barcelona Supercomputing Center), Early Career Fellow in Hellenic Studies 2026–27

The Sacred Forests of Northwestern Greece: Bridging Landscape Archaeology and Environmental History

The sacred forests of Zagori and Konitsa, inscribed in Greece's National Registry of Intangible Cultural Heritage, are living witnesses to a system of managing the commons dating back at least to the 17th century. The dedication of trees to Christian Saints led to the preservation of centuries-old woodlands, rich in biodiversity, while their association with archaeological sites, such as ruins of settlements and chapels, is not uncommon. Despite their significance, these forests entered the archaeological literature only recently, while they are threatened today by the contemporary expansion of woodland over abandoned agropastoral land. The presentation focuses on the epistemological challenge of studying a living, continually evolving phenomenon through archaeological tools, and on the dialogue between material remains and oral traditions. These forests are thus elevated to sites of archaeological inquiry, bridging landscape archaeology with environmental history in a mountainous region where archaeology remains scarcely studied.

Ioannis Nakas (Independent Researcher), Early Career Fellow in Hellenic Studies 2023–24

The Maritime Cultural Landscape of Roman Epirus: Harbors, Anchorages, Settlements, and Networks from the Delta of the Thyamis to the Ambracian Gulf

The unique natural configuration of ancient Epirus and its location at the verges of Classical Greece had made it a somehow underdeveloped and, until much recently, an archaeologically unexplored region. One of the least known areas has been the coastal zone, despite its importance as a gateway towards the hinterland and as part of commercial networks of the Ionian and Adriatic seas, especially during the Roman period. The investigations of the last decades on the coasts of northwestern Greece have provided plentiful new data on the maritime cultural landscape of the region, with a great number of sites discovered and excavated, along with new evidence concerning the ancient coastal geomorphology.

These datasets have not been viewed within a maritime context, a gap that this research seeks to address. Material from the archaeological record, written evidence, as well as geophysical data concerning the configuration of the coast during the period studied are combined in order to reach a holistic understanding of the maritime cultural landscape, focusing on coastal settlements, harbors and anchorages between the 2nd century BCE and the 4th century CE and the role they played both at a regional as well as a Mediterranean-wide level.

Dafni Argyri (Independent Researcher), Early Career Fellow in Hellenic Studies 2026–27

Aristotle’s Concept of Organic Matter and Its Role in the Biological Functions of Living Beings

Within Aristotle’s well-known hylomorphic framework, every living organism is considered as an animated composite of matter and form. Due to their emphasis on the role of the Aristotelian soul as a means to explain the most important life-related phenomena, modern scholars often overlook the fact that Aristotle’s biological works are full of detailed descriptions of the physiological mechanisms that are involved in the occurrence of the vital functions of living beings. These descriptions reveal the important role that Aristotle assigned to organic matter and to its presupposed qualities for the explanations of the biological processes involved in phenomena such as dreams, digestion and reproduction.

The study investigates the distinctive features of organic matter according to Aristotle, and the way in which they are preserved after the formation of such matter into parts of plants and animals in order to contribute to the activation of various capacities at the level of living organisms. The research focuses primarily on the fourth book of Aristotle’s Meteorology, a work that examines the secondary qualities of “homogeneous bodies”, that is, the stuff which constitutes the body parts of compounds that are living beings (things like flesh and bone).

Ermioni Prokopaki (University of Chicago), Early Career Fellow in Hellenic Studies 2025–26

Plato and Aristotle on the Intersection of Epistemology and the Philosophy of Mind

The research focuses on the conception of the human capacity for truth-telling. Plato’s Theaetetus argues that unless we can see clearly that the capacity for judgment is teleologically structured with an aim for the truth, we will not be able to defend the coherence of the concept of knowledge against the threats of relativism. Looking at an under-examined passage of the Theaetetus, the study argues that Plato uses the concept of the future as a misnomer for the notion that our judgments are necessarily subject to truth-conditions because they inherently aim at the truth. In doing so, it explains that Plato does not conceive of the knower as a kind of seer, as it is often thought.

Turning to Aristotle’s De Anima, his treatise on the soul or mind, which is conspicuously inspired by the Theaetetus, the study argues that the mechanics of judgment outlined there fail to show our capacity to be oriented to the truth, primarily due to the role of phantasia (imagination) and Aristotle’s assumption of logical atomism.

Michail Marinis (Department of Classical Studies, Masaryk University), Early Career Fellow in Hellenic Studies 2025–26

Below the Word Level: Morphological Borrowing and Structural Constraints in Greek-Turkish Contact

In language contact literature, it is widely accepted that lexical borrowing occurs much more readily compared to the borrowing of grammatical structures (e.g., Marinis 2015, Marinis forthcoming, Matras 2007, Thomason 2010). The present paper explores the transfer of linguistic material and grammatical patterns at the morphological level. The centuries-long and intensive contact between Greek and Turkish serves as an ideal “laboratory” for observing these phenomena. Specifically, the study examines the integration of: (a) sublexical elements at the left edge of the morphological structure (e.g., kara-kata-citrin-os ‘very yellow’ < Turk. kara biber ‘black pepper’), (b) derivational suffixes at the right edge (e.g., paʎa-tzi-s ‘junk dealer’ < Turk. kapı-cı ‘doorman’, ipurji-lic-i < Turk. bakan-lık ‘ministerial status’, mustaka-li-s ‘mustachioed (man)’ < Turk. Atina-lı ‘Athenian’), as well as (c) a peculiar case of borrowing an inflectional paradigm in Cappadocian Greek (atropos-ja.PL-ju.GEN < Turk. insan-lar.PL-ın.GEN ‘of the people’). Based on a systematic analysis of the above data, the study re-evaluates the structural factors that promote or, conversely, inhibit the borrowability of morphological material and morphological structure.

George Kotzoglou (Department of Mediterranean Studies, University of the Aegean), CHS Fellow in Comparative Cultural Studies in Greece 2018–2019

Subject (Pseudo-)Prolepsis Constructions in Greek, Turkish and Arabic

The existence of syntactic constructions in which the subject of a subordinate finite clause is assigned accusative case by the matrix verb, as in sentence (1), poses a challenge to the standard theory of Case, according to which Case assignment across clausal boundaries is possible only to subjects of infinitives, as in English; see (2).

(1) Δε θέλω [τον Γιάννη να με κοροϊδεύει].
‘I don’t want John to make fun of me’
(2) I expected [him to pass the exam].

Structures such as (1), which recall traditional subject-prolepsis constructions, have been analyzed in syntactic theory in several different ways: as instances of Exceptional Case Marking (ECM), pseudo-Exceptional Case Marking (pseudo-ECM), Hyperraising/Hyper-ECM, Reanalysis, among others.

In the present paper, we comparatively examine the main syntactic properties of such constructions in Greek, Turkish and Arabic, identifying points of convergence and divergence among these languages. We observe that the phenomenon under investigation, despite surface similarities in its manifestation across the languages considered, appears to be subject to parametric variation and to derive from distinct underlying structures in each language.