SFU: Hellenic Studies: Greece Field School 2020

Greece , Europe Past Program Interdisciplinary

SFU's Hellenic Studies Program has partnered with Douglas College to bring a group of lucky undergraduate students to Greece for a field school in May and June 2020.

Students will spend three weeks at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Centre for Hellenic Studies at Simon Fraser University, in lectures and orientations getting to know the faculty and each other as they prepare for their intellectual adventure.

Students will spend three days in the Greek capital of Athens, home of democracy, philosophy, and theatre. Athens is home to some of the world's richest museums (the Archaeological Museum) and is the site of the Acropolis, Parthenon, and Acropolis Museum, where ideas of democratic sovereignty, imperialism, classicism, and cultural appropriation can be fruitfully explored.

Students will then travel to the Aegean island of Lesvos, where you will stay for three and a half weeks. The island of Lesvos is the third-largest in Greece and has played host to important developments in Greek history and culture since antiquity. Home to Archaic era poets Alcaeus, Arion, and Sappho and the historian Theophrastos, the island was known in antiquity as a place of refinement. Lesvos experience Roman, Byzantine, Genoese, and Ottoman rule, and was host to the legendary pirate admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa.

Finally, students will journey to Greece's fascinating northern capital, Thessaloniki, for the final few days of the field school. For millennia, Thessaloniki has been the crossroads of the southern Balkans. It is the city in which St. Paul proclaimed he would spread the message of Christianity to Europe; the home of the impressive 8th century Church of St. Sophia; the site of the medieval struggle between the Byzantines, Venetians, and Ottomans; and a place that bears the scars of the 20th century's most painful history, from the Macedonian Struggle, to the First World War, to the Nazi occupation and the Holocaust.

All in all, students will have the opportunity to live and learn in a space filled with history and beauty. Students will interact with its landscapes, people, and monuments and enrich your understanding of our world at the edge of Europe, where East and West merge to create the heady mix of Greek culture.

For additional details, visit the Hellenic Students page or if you are a Douglas student you can view the Douglas College page for more information.

Field School Director: Dr. James Horncastle, profile here.

This Field School consists of 10 SFU Units. 

  • HS 216-3: War and Society: An examination of some of the key themes in the history of war and society
  • HS 277-3: History of Greek Civilization (B-HUM): An online survey of Greek civilization, Mycenaean Greece to the twentieth century
  • HS 307-4: Selected Topics in Hellenic Studies: The study of issues related to Hellenic Studies not offered in regular courses. For a more detailed description, please refer to the syllabus here

Location: Simon Fraser University

Dates: 

February 28 - March 11: Mandatory Canvas Program
March 12: Pre-Departure Orientation Session

Dates: May 11 - 29, 2020

You will spend three weeks at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Centre for Hellenic Studies at Simon Fraser University, in seminars and orientations getting to know the faculty and each other as they prepare for your intellectual adventure.

Location: Athens, Greece
Dates: May 30 - June 2, 2020
Places: Acropolis; Parthenon; Agora; Archaeological Museum; Delphi Museum; Hosios Loukas Monastery; Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center

You will spend three days in the Greek capital of Athens, home of democracy, philosophy, and theatre. Athens is home to some of the world's richest museums (the Archaeological Museum) and is the site of the Acropolis, Parthenon, and Acropolis Museum, where ideas of democratic sovereignty, imperialism, classicism and cultural appropriation can be fruitfully explored.

Location: Island of Lesvos, Greece
Dates: June 2 - 25, 2020
Places: Skala Sykamnias; Vareltzidaina Mansion; Leimonos Monastery; Mytilene; Molyvos; Valley of the Waterfalls; Mt. Lepetimnos

You will then travel to the Aegean island of Lesvos, where you will stay for three and a half weeks. The island of Lesvos is the third-largest in Greece and has played host to important developments in Greek history and culture since antiquity. Home to Archaic era poets Alcaeus, Arion and Sappho and the historian Theophrastos, the island was known in antiquity as a place of refinement. Lesvos experienced Roman, Byzantine, Genoese, and Ottoman rule, and was host to the legendary pirate admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa.

Location: Thessaloniki, Greece
Dates: June 25 - 28, 2020
Places: White Tower; Arch of Galerius and Rotunda; Aristotelous Square; Hagios Demetrios

Finally, you will journey to Greece's fascinating northern capital, Thessaloniki, for the final few days of the field school. For millennia, Thessaloniki has been the crossroads of the southern Balkans. It is the city in which St. Paul proclaimed he would spread the message of Christianity to Europe; the home of the impressive 8th century Church of St. Sophia; the site of the medieval struggle between the Byzantines, Venetians, and Ottomans; and a place that bears the scars of the 20th century's most painful history, from the Macedonian Struggle, to the First World War, to the Nazi occupation and the Holocaust.

All in all, you will have the opportunity to live and learn in a space filled with history and beauty. You will interact with its landscapes, people, and monuments and enrich your understanding of our world at the edge of Europe, where East and West merge to create the heady mix of Greek culture.

* All destinations are tentative and subject to change due to weather, availability or other unforeseen factors