On May 10th, The Knockturnal attended the third installment of the Thalia Potamianos Lecture Series, Greece: Futures at Saint Bartholomew’s Church in New York City.
The evening was presented by The American School of Classical Studies at Athens, the Gennadius Library and Phokion Potamianos, whose goal is to share the impact of Greek culture on the world. The lecture was delivered by Oxford scholar Dr. Peter Frankopan, who penned the recent bestseller, The Silk Roads: A New History of the World. He was introduced by Glenn Lowry, the director of MoMA, who is an expert on the art and culture of the Near East. Dr. Frankopan is the Stravros Niarchos Foundation director of the Oxford Center for Byzantine research and this lecture focused on the legacy of the Byzantine Empire, especially outside of Greece. The Gennadius Library hosted the event. The Gennadius Library is housed at the American School, Athens and was founded in 1926 when Joannes Gennadius gifted a 26,000 volume collection of rare books, bindings, research materials, manuscripts, archives, and works of art relating to Hellenism and neighboring cultures from late antiquity to the present.
Two highlights of the collection include early editions of the Iliad and the Odyssey. Dr. Frankopan explained how the demise of the Byzantine Empire did not spell the end of its cultural impact; rather, its conquest by the Ottoman Turks drove many Greek scholars to flee to Western Europe, bearing with them old books and a knowledge of the ancient Greek language. The spread of this knowledge helped to spark off the Protestant Reformation when Erasmus and other scholars, such as Martin Luther, translated the New Testament from its original Greek into more commonly spoken language, leading eventually to widespread literacy in the Protestant countries of Europe. Evidence of the legacy of Byzantium was all around us as we gazed at the domed ceiling and glittering interior of Saint Bartholomew’s church built in the Byzantine style.
Dr. Frankopan even displayed film stills from a Star Wars movie in which the design of buildings on an alien planet clearly reflected the influence of Byzantine architecture. The afterparty was held down the block from the church.
Photo Credit: Annie Watt Photos
