Events
We present a lively programme of events to provide an insight into Greek life and its personalities, past and present. Enjoy our talks, awards, panel discussions, private exhibition tours and occasional food and wine tastings.
Special Tour of the British Museum's Cypriot Reserves
By kind permission of the British Museum, we have been given an opportunity to gain special access to the British Museum’s Cypriot reserves of limestone sculptures, which will be visited at close quarters. The event will take place on Friday 31 January at 10am (GMT) at the British Museum on Great Russell Street and will last for approximately 90 minutes. Tickets are free but are strictly limited by number. The tour is available for League members only. We have written by e-mail to all members inviting them to register for tickets. If you are a member and have not received an e-mail from us, please contact us here. Please do not turn up to this event if you do not have a confirmed ticket.
The ‘Second Phanar’: Constantinople Greeks and Ottoman Sultans, 1821 to 1914
Image: Alexander Mavrogeni, Ottoman minister to the United States 1887–96, Prince of Samos 1902–04
A lecture by Philip Mansel, co-hosted by the Anglo-Hellenic League and the Levantine Heritage Foundation.
Abstract: After the revolution of 1821, some Greeks continued to serve Ottoman Sultans in such positions as doctors, bankers or photographers to the Sultan, tutor to his sons, or as diplomats. The Oecumenical Patriarch, who had anathematised the Greek revolution of 1821, continued to be part of the Ottoman hierarchy. Members of the Aristarchi, Mavrogeni, Mousouros and Zarifi families, among many others, preferred to live in Constantinople and serve the Sultan, rather than to reside in the kingdom of Greece. Abdulhamid II (1876–1909) had a Greek doctor named Spyridon Mavrogeni, a Greek banker Giorgios Zarifi whose nephew’s memoirs will be quoted, while the Hamidiye mosque beside his palace at Yildiz was designed by his Greek architect, Nikolo Vasilaki. The title of Prince of Samos could be awarded by the Sultan to Ottoman Greeks as a reward for their services, as the titles of Prince of Wallachia or Moldavia had been awarded to Phanariots before 1821. The nineteenth century was an age of multinational empires as well as nation-states. Many people preferred the former to the latter.
About the speaker: Dr Philip Mansel’s books include Constantinople, City of the World’s Desire (1995), on the Ottoman capital between 1453 and 1924, and Levant, Splendour and Catastrophe on the Mediterranean (2010), on Smyrna, Alexandria and Beirut after 1600. Both books have been translated into Greek. More recently, he published Aleppo: The Rise and Fall of Syria’s Great Merchant City (2016). Dr Mansel is a founding committee member of the Society for Court Studies and the Levantine Heritage Foundation, and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the Royal Society of Literature. He is currently working on The Power of Courts, a history of Europe in 1814–1918, from the perspective of its ruling dynasties.
This lecture will take place in person only. To register, click here.
Prof. Islam Issa, "The Alexandrian Dream"
The League’s annual event in Greece will take place in Athens in partnership with the British School at Athens. Prof. Islam Issa, whose book Alexandria: The City that Changed the World (London: Sceptre, 2023) won the Anglo-Hellenic League Runciman Award 2024, will speak about ‘The Alexandrian Dream’.
Alexandria was created from scratch, not through war or geographical division. The power of vision and the will to dream were key to the city's conception and the formation of its subsequent character. As it maintained its position as a trading centre, transport hub and knowledge capital, millions of people — from powerful rulers to simple labourers — have been attracted to the Alexandrian Dream, whether by moving to its shores or by reminiscing on an imagined Alexandria.
There will be opportunities for Q&A after the lecture. A wine reception will follow.
Islam Issa is an award-winning British-Egyptian author, broadcaster and curator, named by the BBC as ‘one of the UK's most significant new thinkers’. He is Professor of Literature and History at Birmingham City University, has written several academic books and curated internationally renowned exhibitions. As well as contributing to the Guardian, New Statesman and Times Literary Supplement, he has presented and featured in television and radio documentaries on the BBC and Netflix.
Islam Issa’s award-winning Alexandria: The City that Changed the World was praised by Prof. Judith Mossman, the chair of the 2024 Runciman judges, as ‘a little like the city it describes: teeming, sprawling, full of life and sunshine, learned and above all a place for many cultures to meet and mingle. It is a wonderfully personal history by an Alexandrian which celebrates the fertility of the city’s hybrid personality, the continuing relevance of its Hellenic origin and its unique contribution to the world. It’s a joyous read, full of fascinating detail, and a gentle humour.’
This event will take place in person at the BSA (6pm EET) and online (6pm EET / 4pm GMT).
To register to attend in person, click here.
To register to watch the livestreamed Zoom webinar, click here.
A recording of the event will subsequently be uploaded to the BSA’s internet archive.
This event is sponsored by the Athanasios C. Laskaridis Charitable Foundation and the A. G. Leventis Foundation.
Britain, Cyprus and the Fall of the Greek Junta
With a combination of diplomats and academics, the League will mark the fiftieth anniversary of the invasion of Cyprus and the fall of the regime of the Greek Colonels. We will focus on how opinion in Britain interpreted these events, and their legacy, and their impact on British government policy and strategy. The events of 1974 were a landmark with many different dimensions: a tragic conflict and division in Cyprus, a transition to democracy in Greece, and a strategic juncture for Western powers in the region. Fifty years after these events, we explore what we have learned and what remains in question. This event takes place in partnership with the Hellenic Observatory Centre of the LSE. The event will be hybrid, taking place online and at the LSE.
Part One: Eyewitness to history
In conversation with Sir Roger Tomkys (British Embassy in Athens, 1972-1975) [video].
Part Two: Interpreting 1974 and its consequences.
Dr. Konstantina Maragkou (LSE/ Newcastle). Author: Britain, Greece and The Colonels, 1967-74: A Troubled Relationship
Dr. Eirini Karamouzi (Panteion/ Sheffield). Senior Lecturer in Contemporary History. Author, Greece, the EEC and the Cold War, 1974-1979.
Prof. Neophytou Loizides (University of Warwick). Professor in International Conflict Analysis.
Chaired by Prof. Kevin Featherstone (LSE). Professor Emeritus and Chair-designate of the Council of the League
Panel discussion and contributions from the audience.
The event will take place in person at the Shaw Library of the LSE and by a livestreamed Zoom webinar. Prior registration is necessary for each. Entry is free. A reception will follow for those attending in person.
To register to attend in person, click here.
To register to watch the livestreamed Zoom webinar, click here.
Arlene Holmes-Henderson: “The teaching of ancient Greek language and culture in UK schools: celebrating recent successes”
In this talk, Professor Arlene Holmes-Henderson will provide an insight into the teaching of ancient Greek language and culture in UK primary and secondary schools. The last decade has seen a range of initiatives which have boosted the study of the ancient Greeks in British schools, with support from policy frameworks, museum partners and philanthropic funding. Professor Holmes-Henderson will share statistics showing the geographical ‘hot spots’ and ‘cold spots’ for the study of the ancient Greeks at examination level and will showcase the most popular resources used by classroom teachers. She identifies stories of success while making recommendations for future research and investment.
Arlene Holmes-Henderson is Professor of Classics Education and Public Policy at Durham University where she holds a British Academy Innovation Fellowship. After studying Classics at Oxford, Harvard and Cambridge, Arlene qualified as a schoolteacher and taught in high schools for more than a decade before returning to academia. Arlene has conducted international comparative research in the USA as a Fulbright Scholar, in Australia as a Churchill Fellow and in New Zealand as an Erskine Fellow. She is Vice-Chair of the Universities Policy Engagement Network with national responsibility for Arts and Humanities and is an expert advisor to international governments, parliaments and assessment agencies. She was awarded an MBE for Services for Education in the King’s Birthday Honours 2023. For more information, see Arlene’s website and follow her on X @profarlenehh.
This event will take place by Zoom webinar and will be free to all who watch it. Up to 500 places are available. Registration in advance of the event is necessary. To register your place, please click here and complete the registration form. The event will be recorded and subsequently uploaded to our YouTube channel.
Katie Lentakis Memorial Fund Award Ceremony and Lecture 2024
We are pleased to announce the annual award ceremony and lecture for the Katie Lentakis Memorial Fund Award 2024. The Award is given annually by the League in memory of Katie Lentakis, for many years a stalwart of the London Greek community and a longstanding Vice-Chair of the League. The competition is open to final-year undergraduates at King’s College London for an essay on a Greek subject.
The ceremony will be an opportunity to applaud and, we hope, meet the winner of this year’s competition. In addition, the Department of Classics at King’s College London will be awarding the annual dissertation prize of the Society for Platonic Studies.
After the two ceremonies are over, the annual Katie Lentakis Memorial Fund Lecture will be given by Prof. M. M. McCabe with the title “Socrates in Prison”.
Mary Margaret McCabe (‘MM’) works on ancient philosophy, on ethics and on epistemology: her most recent book is Platonic Conversations (OUP 2015). She is Professor of Philosophy Emerita and Fellow of King’s College London, a Fellow of the British Academy, and Honorary Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge. In 2022-3, she was the President of the Aristotelian Society and the Honorary President of the Classical Association; she was previously President of the Mind Association (2016) and the British Philosophical Society (2009-12). She has been a visiting professor at Princeton University and Yale University; in 2017 she gave the Sather Lectures at the University of California at Berkeley, and in 2024 she will give the Hägerström Lectures at the University of Uppsala. MM is a co-founder and the Chair of Trustees of the charity Philosophy in Prison, which provides and supports philosophical discussion for prisoners in the UK (www.philosophyinprison.com).
This event will not be livestreamed or recorded.
If you with to attend, please register online here.
This event is organised jointly with the Centre for Hellenic Studies at King’s College London.
Anglo-Hellenic League Runciman Award Ceremony 2024
We are delighted to invite you to attend The Anglo-Hellenic League Runciman Award Ceremony 2024, under the joint sponsorship of the Athanasios C. Laskaridis Charitable Foundation and the A. G. Leventis Foundation, and in partnership with the Centre for Hellenic Studies at King’s College London.
Since 1986, the Award has rewarded annually the best book or books published the previous year in English about some aspect of Greece. The Award this year goes to the winner of the best book published in 2023.
You are warmly invited to join us at our award ceremony, at which our chair of judges, Prof. Judith Mossman, will announce the winner. The winner will attend the event and speak about the winning book. The keynote speech will be given by Prof. Alexander Lingas on ‘Recovering the Lost Voices of Hagia Sophia’. The event will be hosted and addressed by Dr John Kittmer, chair of the Council of the League, and Prof. Gonda Van Steen, director of the Centre for Hellenic Studies. A reception will follow.
Because of the attendance at our event of a VIP, we ask that all guests take their places in the Great Hall of King’s College London no later than 6.50pm.
It is also possible to watch the event live online by Zoom.
Attendance in person and viewing by Zoom are free but you must register for either in advance.
To reserve your place(s) in the Great Hall at King’s College London, please register here. You must register no later than 12 noon on Friday 14 June.
To reserve your place(s) to watch online on the Zoom webinar, please register here. You may register until the start of the event.
A recording of the event will be posted live on our YouTube channel in the days after the ceremony.
Alexander Lingas, Music Director and founder of Cappella Romana, is Professor Emeritus of Music at City, University of London, and a Research Fellow of the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies (Cambridge, UK). He formed and directed the Byzantine Chant Ensemble for the Coronation of Their Majesties King Charles III and Queen Camilla in 2023. His present work embraces not only historical study but also ethnography and performance. In 2018, His All-Holiness, Bartholomew I, Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch, bestowed on him the title of Archon Mousikodidáskalos. Having been Spring 2023 Artist in Residence at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in Yonkers, New York, he has returned there during 2023–24 as Professor of Music and Associate Director of its Institute of Sacred Arts.
Annual General Meeting
Notice is hereby given that the Annual General Meeting of The Anglo-Hellenic League will take place at 5pm on Monday 17 June 2024 in the Council Room of King’s College London (Strand Campus). The meeting is for members only. Details of the agenda and how to register for attendance have already been sent by e-mail to members. If you are a member and have not received information about the AGM please contact us at info@anglohellenicleague.org.
Marie Spartali-Stillman (1844-1927): ‘A pearl of a woman’
A zoom webinar with former Minister Counsellor for Cultural Affairs at the Embassy of Greece, Dr Victoria Solomonides-Hunter, on the Anglo-Greek Pre-Raphaelite Movement artist who set the London artistic scene ablaze in the last quarter of the 19th Century.
A guided tour of "John Craxton: A Modern Odyssey", led by Ian Collins
We were delighted to offer to our members and supporters a guided tour of the exhibition John Craxton: A Modern Odyssey at Pallant House Gallery in Chichester.
The Significance of the Lausanne Treaty: International Dimensions
Join us for a screening of the documentary film Venizelos: The Struggle for Asia Minor at 4pm, to be followed at 7pm by papers and a panel discussion, chaired by Bruce Clark, on the Lausanne Treaty and the Exchange of Populations. Great Hall, King's College London. In partnership with the Centre for Hellenic Studies, King’s College, London, and the Association of Constantinopolitan Greeks in the UK.
An Evening of Anglo-Hellenic Art & Poetry
Our annual event in Greece took place in Corfu under the auspices of the Corfu Literary Festival, in the gardens of The Municipal Gallery of Corfu at the Old Palace in Corfu Town. Over 100 people gathered to hear the 2023 and 2023 Runciman Award winners, A E Stallings and Ian Collins, read extracts from their award-winning books, together with poems inspired by the poet, Yannis Ritsos, by David Harsent. A reception, hosted by the British Embassy, followed.
The Anglo-Hellenic League Runciman Award 2023
A prize of £10,000 was awarded to the winner on Monday 19 June at a well-attended ceremony in the Great Hall of King’s College London.
Professor Kevin Featherstone in Conversation
Prof. Kevin Featherstone, Director of the Hellenic Observatory at the LSE, gave the annual Katie Lentakis Memorial Fund Lecture at King’s College London, following the award of the prize. In discussion with Dr John Kittmer, Chair of the League, he tracked the ins and outs of the Greek political scene during his academic career.
Yannis Ritsos: new English translations and visualisations
A fascinating talk at King’s College, London, on the Greek poet, Yannis Ritsos, given by David Harsent, Chiara Ambrosio, David Ricks, Gonda Van Steen and Dr John Kittmer, including a tribute to Edmund Keeley, translator of his work.
The Wound of the World: Readings and Discussion
A talk at King’s College, London with Konstantinos Alsinos, author of a new crime novel, Η πληγή του κόσμου (The Wound of the World), in discussion with Prof. Gonda Van Steen, Koraes Professor, about his novel. Actors, Kyriaki Mitsou and Dimitra Bakalyianni, read from the book in Greek, with translations into English provided.
Prespa, a Crossroads Place: On the natural and human communities of the transboundary lakes region
In front of a large audience at the Hellenic Centre, London, the environmentalist and author, Julian Hoffman, gave an illustrated talk on the ecological and environmental significance of the Prespa Lakes and the complexity of a region that straddles Greece, North Macedonia and Albania.
Edinburgh as the Athens of the North
In front of a large audience at the Hellenic Centre, Dr Iain Gordon Brown, FSA, FRSE gave a richly illustrated lecture about the concept and reality of Edinburgh as the ‘Athens of the North’.
Alexander the Great: The Making of a Myth exhibition tour
A fascinating private tour of the British Library exhibition for League members and supporters led by Dr Peter Toth, Curator of Ancient and Mediaeval Manuscripts.
In Conversation with Prof. John Bennet (University of Sheffield)
Chair of the League, Dr John Kittmer, was in conversation with Prof. John Bennet, former Director of the British School at Athens at the Hellenic Centre, London about his work at the School and his research interests.
The Marvellous Journey of Theodore of Tarsus
Using fascinating manuscript evidence, Prof. Michael Wood, University of Manchester, told the story of Theodore of Tarsus (c.602-690AD) and his comrade Hadrian the African (630/7-710AD), who introduced Greek culture to England in the seventh century in ‘one of the most important educational programmes ever undertaken in Britain’. At the Hellenic Centre, London.