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12th Annual Platsis Symposium on the Greek Legacy

Sunday, September 29, 2013
12:00 AM
Palmer Commons, Forum Hall and reception in Atrium

Presentations will include:

Inventing the Minoans by Dr. Kenneth Lapatin, Associate Curator of Antiquities, The J. Paul Getty Museum.  

Even if Arthur Evans (1851–1941) was not the first to discover the Minoans, it might still be argued that he invented them.  Others had explored the prehistoric civilizations of the Aegean before him and much knowledge has been gained since his death but his synthetic vision of ancient Crete remains pervasive: a peaceable island kingdom spreading civilization across the Mediterranean through extensive mercantile networks. Is this a convincing reading of the ancient evidence or the imposition of preconceived notions, many of them formed at the height of the British Empire?

Minoan Monotheism: was Sir Arthur Evans Right by Nanno Marinatos, Professor and Head, Department of Classics and Mediterranean Studies, University of Illinois at Chicago.  

In the period between the two great European wars, the British archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans produced a revolutionary theory: Minoan religion was monotheistic. What exactly did he mean by this word? Was he right or wrong? The majority of scholars are skeptical about Evans’ theories but the excavations at Akrotiri, on Thera (Santorini) have fully justified his model of monotheism. Recently restored paintings of murals show that one goddess is the dominant deity and she is most definitely a Minoan one.

 

Platsis Symposium Student Essay Prize:
Undergraduate students are invited to compete for the Platsis Symposium Essay Prize.  To enter the competition, attend the 2013 Platsis Symposium on the Greek Heritage.  The topic of discussion will be the “Minoans”    is it possible to interpret the past without imposing our own concerns and prejudices on it?  Would we want to if we could?  How do we keep from simply imposing our views on history?  Write a short response paper responding to one or both talks, between 500 and 1000 words, about how the symposium was meaningful for you or changed your thinking (or did not).  

Submit your essay as a pdf to Sandra Andrade; asandra@umich.edu.  Put your contact information in the email but not on the essay; essays will be read anonymously.  Prizes of up to $250 dollars will be awarded for outstanding essays, and there will be up to six awards.  All prize-winning essays will be published on the website of the Department of Classical Studies.

Submissions are due October 4, 2013.