Southern Greece
Nakassis to explain how tranquil area is robust for classical study
MONMOUTH, Ill. — The 2015-16 edition of Monmouth College’s archaeology lecture series will kick off Sept. 28 at 7:30 p.m. with a lecture by Dmitri Nakassis, associate professor of classics at the University of Toronto. Sponsored by the Monmouth College classics department, in cooperation with the Western Illinois Society of the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA), the free lecture will be held in the Pattee Auditorium, on the lower level of the college’s Center for Science and Business. Titled “The Road Less Traveled By?,” Nakassis’s lecture will examine the history, archaeology and landscape in southern Greece. At first glance, the tranquil valleys and mountain passes of the western Argolid give the appearance of being a rather isolated and unremarkable region. In reality, says Nakassis, the fertile area is crisscrossed by ancient roads and dotted with ruins that testify to its importance to the major powers of Greece from classical antiquity to the Ottoman Empire. Nakassis received his master’s degree in Greek and a Ph.D. in classical archaeology from the University of Texas. He completed his undergraduate work in classical archaeology at the University of Michigan.