NEW YORK – There are few more spectacular examples of the impact of cultural institutions than the restoration of the Stoa of Attalos that crowns the Athenian Agora. The trustees, staff, and friends of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, which rebuilt the Stoa, recently gathered in Manhattan for a fundraising dinner, where they also learned about its recent projects, and its bright future.
The event, which also constituted the inaugural lecture of the new “Conversation with the American School” series and featured renowned archaeologist John McK. Camp II, was pre-empted in a sense by the New York Times.
Scholars and laymen alike were abuzz all week over the school’s recent archaeological find, the completely undisturbed tomb of a 3500 year-old Mycenaean warrior near Pylos.
Long-time stalwarts and new friends were welcomed to the dinner and the latter appreciated the brief overview of the history and work of the school which “strives to maintain and enhance its position as the preeminent center for the study of the Greek world from antiquity to the present day,” according to its website ascsa.edu.gr., scholars, sponsors and promotes archaeological fieldwork, provides resources for scholarly work, and disseminates research.
In 1992 the Malcolm H. Wiener Archaeological Laboratory was established, permitting scholars to analyze human and animal and other materials. The construction of a separate building for the lab is among the School’s numerous ongoing and planned building projects.
The extension of the West Wing of the School’s Gennadius Library is underway, as is the digitalization of its holdings, and fundraising has begun for the renovation of the Loring Hall dormitory.
Trustees and members of the School’s Board and the Library’s Overseers were asked to rise and among those acknowledged were School Director James Wright and Gennadius Library Director Maria Georgopoulou, as well as the staff in Greece and in Princeton, NJ.
Camp’s talk included a fascinating review of the ongoing excavation of the Poikile – “the painted” – Stoa, which he called the world’s first public art gallery. The Poikile was named for the paintings it contained for hundreds of years, not for its decoration. It was the most public building in classical Athens, Camp said, which is why the philosopher Zeno set up shop there with his followers, hence their being labelled Stoics.
Through decades of digs in the Agora many later buildings were cleared to get to the ancient levels of remains. Over the next few years, three more will be removed, clearing the entire Stoa Poikile site and generating much excitement.
During the dinner former school members Morgan T. Condell and Jake Morgan spoke of the importance of the school in their lives on a number of fronts – they are now engaged to be married, a development possibly catalyzed by “the true Greek hospitality” Morgan said they experienced.
Camp preceeded his talk by noting he would like to have received matchmaking fees for the weddings the school generated during his tenure which began in 1966 on the Athenian Agora excavations.
He also mentioned the importance of the School in developing another area of human relations – those between Greece and the United States, while others noted that the both the scholarly and construction work of the School are positives force during difficult times for Greece.
The ASCSA is charged by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Tourism with primary responsibility for all American archaeological research, and seeks to support the investigation, preservation, and presentation of Greece’s cultural heritage.
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