Members

Members: The Greek East Programme is directed by Dr Garth Fowden, Director of Research. Other members include:

Apostolos Bousdroukis, Assistant Researcher
Christina Kokkinia, Associate Researcher
Kalliopi Kritikakou, Functional Scientific Personnel
Evangeline Markou, Assistant Researcher
Antigoni Zournatzi, Senior Researcher

HISTORY

            The Greek East Programme implements one of the KERA's basic aims since its foundation, namely the investigation of how Hellenism evolved in the East during Antiquity.

            The Programme started out in 1980 as the Palestine Programme directed by I. Meimaris and concerned with the history, archaeology and epigraphy of Palestine, (Roman) Arabia and the Sinai peninsula in Late Antiquity.  K. Kritikakou has worked on the programme since 1985, and P. Bougia was employed from 1987 to 1990.  Later, the Palestine Programme was merged with G. Fowden's Greek and Roman East Programme (which started in 1985).  Τhe united programme extended its coverage into the wider Roman East, Sasanid Iran, early Islam, and the history of religious and philosophical thought.

            Since 2003, the Greek East Programme has acquired new members who have enriched the coverage of its region, especially as regards the Greek world's relations with Achaemenid Iran (A. Zournatzi); regional studies of Cyprus (A. Zournatzi, E. Markou, and contributions from M.B. Hatzopoulos), Asia Minor (C. Kokkinia), Syria-Mesopotamia (A. Bousdroukis), and Egypt (M. Malouta, post-doctoral fellow 2010); as also the intellectual history of Late Antiquity (Elizabeth Key Fowden, post-doctoral fellow 2002-04, 2006-07).

            The Greek East Programme is evolving into a significant centre for research on an enormous period of time and geographical area.  Certain aspects of this field have been systematically investigated by scholars outside Greece, but interest within Greece has been limited.  We are concerned with the spread of Greek culture in the East from the Archaic period until Late Antiquity, its role within the Roman Empire, and its interaction with other traditions in Asia Minor, the Semitic areas and Iran.  We are also concerned with the role of Hellenism in the formation of Christianity and Islam.  Through our work, Hellenism can be better understood as a major factor in identity-formation not only in the Hellenistic and Roman worlds, but also in Byzantium, in Arabo-Iranian civilization and by extension in the Ottoman realm as well.

            Τhanks to its geographical position and its distinctive history, Greece has been able to develop privileged research initiatives in various regions of the Middle East.  The Programme's activities form part of a dense collaborative network with many states in the area.

ACTIVITIES 

From its foundation, the KERA gave special weight to the study and publication of corpora of inscriptions, and the Greek East Programme is no exception.  Corpora have already been published for Palestine (Palaestina Tertia) and  the Cibyratis (Northern Lycia), and epigraphy is the common denominator for many other lines of research we are pursuing.  We are also particularly interested in the numismatics of Cyprus and Achaemenid Iran, and the papyrological sources from Egypt.  At the same time we aspire to produce general surveys and synthetic works, as for example the chapters on Late Roman paganism in the authoritative Cambridge Ancient History.

            Currently, research is being carried out in the context of the Greek East Programme on the following subjects, among others:

-  The history, archaeology and epigraphy of Roman Palestine and Arabia, with emphasis on Third Palestine and particularly Zoora (present-day Ghor es-Safi in Jordan), for which the Palestine team is preparing:

1)A corpus of the Judaeo-Aramaic inscriptions (I. Meimaris and K. Kritikakou, in conjunction with Dr Sebastian Brock, Oriental Institute, Oxford);
2)A study of the history of early Byzantine Zoora, in the light of recent archaeological and epigraphical discoveries (K. Kritikakou in collaboration with the Department of Antiquities of Jordan).

-  The role of Greek philosophy in the formation of early Islam (G. Fowden).
-           Historical periodization, with particular reference to the relation between Islam and the world of Late Antiquity (G. Fowden).
-   The relations of the Greek world with Achaemenid Iran, with special reference to Cyprus.  Part of an attempt to encourage Irano-Greek scholarly discussion in collaboration with the Cultural Centre of the Iranian Embassy in Athens and the Centre for Archaeological Research of the Cultural Heritage Organization of Iran - a dialogue which began in 2006 with the holding of the first international conference on "Ancient Greece and ancient Iran: Cross-cultural encounters". (A. Zournatzi)
-  Cypriot numismatics and epigraphy (in collaboration, respectively, with the Cyprus Numismatic Project at Edinburgh University, and the corpus of Cypriot-syllabic inscriptions of the first millennium BC under the aegis of the Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin / Universite de la Sorbonne - Paris IV / Universita degli Studi di Napoli, Suor Orsola Benincasa / ΚΕΡΑ) (Ε. Μarkou).  
-  Asia Minor, especially Lycia, in the Roman period, with particular reference to the monuments and epigraphy of Boubon in N. Lycia, in collaboration with Heidelberg University (C. Kokkinia).
-   The relations of the Roman administration with the cities of the Greek East, and the role of Greek literary culture in communications between Roman governors and Greek cities (C. Kokkinia).
-   The history of the Seleucid Empire and its institutions, with special reference to Greek inscriptions (A. Bousdroukis).
-   The history of the city of Antinoopolis in Egypt, from its foundation under Hadrian until the Arab conquest (M. Malouta).

            As can be seen, the Programme is in a strong position to participate in the broad international dialogue about the spread of the Greek city and of Greek culture, and the fate of both in Late Antiquity.  Our shared reflections on the ancient city (which has also been one of the many concerns of our founder, Professor M.B. Sakellariou) emerged in the course of our separate researches.  We are few and the field is enormous, but we have already published significant contributions on the history of the cities of Palestine, Lycia and Syria.