Loving Greece in Rome: Hellenic Culture in an Age of Empire

In celebration of the bicentennial of the Greek Revolution, the Classics and Mediterranean Studies Department at the University of Illinois Chicago, under the auspices of the Embassy of Greece in the USA and in collaboration with HALC, the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago, and the Consulate General of Greece in Chicago, is pleased to present “Philhellenism through the Ages,” a two-part series that will explore the impress and influence of Hellenic culture from antiquity to the present. In part one (February-May), four online conversations with scholars will lay an intellectual and historical foundation for the very idea of Philhellenism and its varied expressions in the past, to think ultimately about how it played a key role in the formation of the modern Greek state.

In the first conversation, “Loving Greece in Rome: Hellenic Culture in an Age of Empire,” Young Richard Kim will discuss with Mary Boatwright, Professor Emerita of Classical Studies, Duke University, the impact of Greek culture on the Romans, especially on the emperors Nero and Hadrian, and how Philhellenism in the Roman Empire elicited complex and at times contradictory responses among the Romans. The same might be said of attitudes toward the Greeks in the time of the Revolution.

This Facebook Live conversation will include a time of Q&A from the audience. Please join us on Sunday, February 7, 2:00 PM (Central). For more information, visit www.facebook.com/hellenicleaders