Join Dr. Nanno Marinatos and Dr. Michael Cosmopoulos in a presentation of old and new excavations at Messenia, Peloponnese.
Nanno Marinatos: “A rich unplundered tomb from Messenia”
1500 BCE Nanno Marinatos, daughter of the Greek Archaeologist Spyridon Marinatos and Head of the Classics and Mediterranean Studies Department at UIC, will present an old excavation of her father from the early 1950s in Messenia, Peloponnese. This (largely unpublished tomb) was left plundered and has therefore yielded treasures of extraordinary craft and beauty: gold and bronze items, daggers of luxury, mirrors and swords. It deserves full examination since it rivals the material recently found by American colleagues near the Palace at Pylos and surnamed by them the “Golden Warrior Griffin Tomb” (see New York Times, National Geographic, and January issue of Smithsonian).
Michael Cosmopoulos: “Under the sceptre of Nestor: The Mycenaean capital of Iklaina”
The systematic excavations at the site of Iklaina in the region of Pylos have brought to light a major capital city of the Mycenaeans (Ca. 1600-1200 BC). Massive Cyclopean walls, monumental buildings decorated with skilfully executed wall paintings, advanced urban infrastructure, and the earliest known records of state bureaucracy in Greece, challenge our current knowledge about the origins and organization of states in Greece. In this illustrated lecture, Professor Michael Cosmopoulos will present the exciting archaeological discoveries at Iklaina and discuss their significance for Mycenaean society.
NANNO MARINATOS
Nanno Marinatos has been full professor at UIC since 2001. Her research focuses on the civilization of Minoan Crete and Thera (Santorini) (c. 1500 BCE), a topic on which she has published nine books and almost 100 scholarly articles; she has also published on the ancient historian Thucydides on whom she is currently working. She has given lectures in the USA and Europe and this year is giving the prestigious Neubergh Lecture at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. The current lecture is dedicated to the effort to promote the Archaeological Foundation of Greece which has helped sustained excavations since the founding of the Greek Nation. (http://archaeologicalfoundation.org/)
MICHAEL COSMOPOULOS
Michael Basil Cosmopoulos is an anthropologically trained classicist and archaeologist specializing in ancient Mystery Cults, Social Memory, and State Formation in ancient Greece. He is Professor of Greek History and Culture and holder of the Hellenic Government-Karakas Foundation Endowed Professorship in Greek Studies at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He is the director of the excavations of the Athens Archaeological Society at Iklaina in Pylos; a Fellow of the Academy of Science (St. Louis); an elected member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts; and a National Geographic Society Explorer.