About the Course
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CLA 3901 - Ancient World Study Trip
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Trip from May 27 to June 13, 2020
About the Tour
Although less famous than the classical Greek civilization of the fifth century BC, the ancient Greek world reached the height of its power and influence in the Hellenistic era. Inaugurated by Alexander the Great, this was a world of large kingdoms and grandiose capitals. Within these metropolises, the old Greek gymnasia were transformed into centers of higher education whose libraries sought to collect all human known knowledge and whose classrooms developed the empirical scientific method. The Hellenistic period looked both East and West: the Macedonian kings who inhabited Vergina and Philippi looked to mainland Greece for models on which to organize their society. However, once Alexander led them East, they came to be influenced just as much by the highly advanced civilizations that existed on their borders. As a conduit for eastern trade and as the gateway to the Greek motherland, Asia Minor became immensely wealthy and was symbolic of the new era as the cities of Ephesos and Pergamon emerged as true metropolises and centers of Greek culture. Their ruins now form some of the greatest archeological sites from the ancient Greek world. Like the Hellenistic world, both northern Greece and modern Turkey look East as well as West. Thessaloniki has a significantly more cosmopolitan feel that the rest of Greece, while the rich traditions of Turkey are influenced as much by the Middle East as they are Europe. Thus a journey from northern Greece down the west coast of Turkey is a unique experience, enticing in its contrasts; no other place on the Mediterranean seems so familiar and yet so exotic all at once. This will be the second time Professor Serrati of the University of Ottawa and Professor Russell of John Abbott College have led a group of students on a historical and archeological trip to Turkey and represents their fourteenth consecutive student trip to the Mediterranean. All site tours shall be led by Professor Serrati. He has published numerous scholarly works on the archeology and history of Asia Minor and the Hellenistic world.
For more information, contact:
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Dr. John Serrati ( Classics and Religious Studies) -[email protected]