New Publication

May 27, 2025: Volume Six of the “Oxford History of the Archaic Greek World” is out, which contains my lengthy contribution on Thebes and Boiotia. Thanks to the editors Paul Cartledge and Paul Christesen for including me into this project. OHAGW also serves as huge inspiration to its sequel, “Oxford History of the Classical Greek World”. Of the latter, Volume One has been handed over to the press for production, stay tuned for more!

Diversity Dialogues in Classical Studies

May 25, 2025: Join us for our annual event in the Archaeological Museum. This year’s topic is “Power and Privilege in Classical Studies. Voices from South America” — a round-table conversation with Juliana da Hora (São Paulo), Julián Gallego (Buenos Aires), and Sarah Albiez-Wieck (Münster). The discussion is moderated by Emilia Bachmann and Cornelius Breulmann.

Epichorios

May 20, 2025: Gudrun Klebinder-Gauss (Austrian Archaeological Institute), “The Westkomplex at Kolonna. New Perspectives on Society, Ritual, and History in Early Classical Aegina”

18:00 s.t. via Zoom, sign up here for access.

Epichorios

April 29, 2025: Robin Rönnlund (Gothenburg), “The Palamas Archaeological Project and the Excavations at Vlochos. New Archaeological Discoveries from Western Thessaly”

18:00 s.t. via Zoom, sign up here for access.

Special Exhibit in Athens

April 25, 2025: Visit to the special exhibit Kykladitisses. Untold Stories of Women in the Cycladies, on show in the Museum of Cycladic Art - it’s a must see, truly terrific!

New Article

April 4, 2025: Hans Beck 2025. “The cursus honorum before the cursus honorum. Debunking the lex Villia annalis.” In F. Pina Polo (ed), Cursus honorum. Pathways to Rank and Power in the Roman Republic. Zaragoza: 37-52.

Department Director

April 1, 2025: For the purpose of public record keeping, my new term as Director of the Ancient Historty Department runs from April 1, 2025 to March 31, 2027.

New Zealand and Australia

March 22 to April 9, 2025: String of lectures at the Universities of Auckland and Sydney: master class on federalism and conflict resolution, arts scholars talk on Persian War commemoratios, and public presentations on “Belonging in/to Lakonia. New light on the Spartan Perioikoi” and “Raiders of the lost village. The sanctuary and settlement of ancient Amyklai”.

This has been a truly memorable tour. Cordial thanks to my hosts in Auckland - Jeremy Armstrong, Maxine Lewis, Deborah Montgomerie, and of course Alex McAuley - for their outstanding hospitality, insightful conversations and academic exchanges, fruitful meetings with students and the wider public alike. Thanks also to Mareike Schmidt from DAAD Auckland for advice on program lines that will allow us to intensify contacts in the future. Ngā mihi to all!

Sydney: awesome as ever! Thanks to Julia Kindt for her inspiration and hospitality (a new collaborative project will be announced shortly), to Ben Brown for inviting me to the USydney seminar series (really appreciate your festive gear to honor my visit!), and to colleagues and students who joined the session.

New Book

February 27, 2025: Situated at the crossroads between Athens, Boiotia, Megara, and Salamis, Eleusis was exposed to the changing fortunes in a connected world. From the Athenian perspective, Eleusis marked the fringes of their territory. From everybody else’s point of view, it was a destination or a gateway: to Athens, the Saronic region and the Aegean, Central Greece, or the Peloponnese. In the midst of these itineraries, the Eleusinians had their own ideas about the world writ-large. Beyond Mysteries: the Local World of Ancient Eleusis (eds. Hans Beck and Sebastian Scharff) delves into the local horizon of the site, its agents and stakeholders, the stories that moved them, and the places where interactions took place. Beyond Mysteries is published as volume 199 in Brill’s Religions in Graeco-Roman World series.

New Book

February 6, 2025: Volume release of “The Roman Republic and Political Culture. German Scholarship in Translation,” edited by Amy Russell and Hans Beck, with translations by Kathrin Lüddecke and edited by Zara Chadha.

The book is published with CUP as part of its Classical Scholarship in Translation Series, edited by Renaud Gagné and Jonas Grethlein.

This one has been a truly collective effort. Thanks also to Eylihan Ayhan whose design skills have helped to whip up the Arringtore!

Epichorios Double Feature

January 21 and 28, 2025: Epichorios lectures by Søren Handberg (Oslo) on Kalydon and Jenny Wallensten and Jesper Blid (SIA Athens) on Hermione - looking tremendously forward to it!

Lectures start at 6:00 pm Berlin time, sign up on Epichorios website for zoom codes.

Workshop in Athens and Field Trip to the Piraeus

January 13, 2025: Epichorios Research Day in the British School at Athens, organized with Sam Gartland from the University of Leeds: Ancient Greece - Epichoric Reflections

The epichoric trait of Greek culture has been highlighted in recent years. Indeed, it has been claimed that Greek history is epichoric history. This is a good time to take stock with the term and its implicit concepts and paradigms. Far from a mere synonym for ‘local’, we seek to gauge the deeper meaning and usage of epichoric.

Our gathering in the BSA addresses these questions by means of a round-table conversation. Participants include Emma Aston, Christy Constantakopoulou, Sophia Nomicos, Nikolaos Papazarkadas, Oliver Pilz, and Jenny Wallensten.