The Thomas E. Leontis Lecture in Modern Greek Studies was established in 1987 by the Board of Trustees of The Ohio State University with gifts from Dr. Thomas E. Leontis. In 1995, Anna P. Leontis made additional gifts in memory of her late husband to create the Thomas E. Leontis Endowment in Modern Greek. The purpose of the endowment is two-fold: first, to serve as a catalyst in the Modern Greek Program at the University in generating a keener awareness of the importance of Greek history and culture, especially since 1204; and second, to bring annually to the Ohio State campus a distinguished speaker of international reputation who will contribute to the cultural growth of the University and the community by offering new ideas and historical and cultural interpretations of important past and current situations. In addition to the lectureship, the endowment supports regular conference activities.
Previous Lectures in the Series
- 2023 Peter Jeffreys: “The Other Cavafys: The Creative Aspirations of John, Aristides and Paul"
- 2021 Sakis Gekas: "Islands on Fire: Fighters, Pirates, Slaves in the Greek Revolution"
- 2019 Jonathan Hall: "Chasing the Shadows of the Past in Late Ottoman and Early Revolutionary Argos"
- 2018 Esther da Costa Meyer: “Found in Translation: Neoclassicism in Havana”
- 2017 Brian Joseph: “Modern Greek Confronting its Past: Archaism and Innovation in Language”
- 2016 Stathis Gourgouris: "Culture in Times of Crisis, Crisis as Culture"
- 2015 Dimitri Gutas: "Posthumous Hellenisms in Byzantium and Early Islam: A History"
- 2014 Dimitris Tziovas: "The Future of the Past: Antiquity and Modern Greek Culture"
- 2013 Artemis Leontis: "Self Fashing and Greek Revivals: The Case of Eva Palmer Sikelianos"
- 2012 Louis A. Ruprecht, Jr.: "The Modern Olympics: As Greek Revival and as Greek Religion"
- 2011 Dan Georgakas: ‘Humor and Ethnic Image in American Film: The Greek Americans”
- 2010 Charles Stewart: "Dreaming in a Time of Financial Crisis"
- 2009 John Matthews: "From Byzantium to Constantinople: the Legacy of a Graeco-Roman City"
- 2008 Dr. Vassilios Lambropoulos: "The Tragedy of Hubris in Modern Drama"
- 2007 Fani Mallouchou-Tufano: "Restoration Work on the Athenian Acropolis (1975-2007)"
- 2006 Peter Trudgill: "Two new nations, four languages: liberation, independence and language conflict in Greece and Norway"
- 2005 Paul Magdalino: "The Shared Culture of Byzantium and Islam"
- 2004 Thomas W. Gallant: "Toward a Social History of the Greeks"
- 2002 Gail Holst-Warhaft: "Stopping for Melisma: The Spirit of Greek Poetry and Music"
- 2001 John Chioles: "The Storytelling Daughters of Danaos: A Look at Recent Writing by Greek Women"
- 2000 Constantine E. Michaelides: "Piracy and Vernacular Architecture: The Aegean Archipelago in post-Byzantine Centuries"
- 1999 Maria Todorova: "Identity or Destiny? Reflections on the Balkanness of Greece"
- 1998 Robert Nelson: "Looking in and into Byzantium: The Logic of Byzantine Icons"
- 1997 Renée Hirschon: "Silent Landscapes, Lost Memories: Hearing the Voice of the Asia Minor Past in Contemporary Greece"
- 1996 Michael N. Lykoudis: "Classicism and Modern Culture: The Art and Politics of How We Build and Live Together"
- 1995 Peter Green: "The Hellenic Crucible: Myth, Tradition, and Ideology in the Greek Literary Revival"
- 1994 Nanos Valaoritis: "The Post-Colonial Intellectual and the Nation-State"
- 1993 Charles Moskos: "The Social Construction of Identity: Greek-Americans in a Multicultural World"
- 1992 Michael Herzfeld: "The History of Fate and the Fate of History: Greek Reflections on a Global Theme"
- 1991 Robert Browning: "The Elgin Marbles: A Case History"
- 1990 Margaret Alexiou: "Renaissance on the Margins: Cretan Poetry and Drama, c.1400-1669"
- 1989 William V. Spanos: "The Hellenic Investment of Modern Humanist Education"
- 1988 Alexander Nehamas: "Nietzsche and the Greeks: Philosophy and the Search for Cultural Paradigms"