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Lettter from the Director
Dear Student,
There is one thing that characterizes all students I have interviewed for this very special summer program to Greece-- eagerness and enthusiasm! The time is short, but we will stretch time to learn as much about Greek antiquity as we can. If you help me, I will show you many of the splendors of Greece, and I will be your mentor and your guide to some aspects of a civilization we have all inherited. Together we shall constitute a small, yet powerful, educational force which will be out there to learn and to promote goodwill. Fun will not be forbidden. After all, ancient Greece is the only place that institutionalized comedy and provided it with an art form.
Courses chosen for the program are central not simply to the history and cultural heritage of Greece, but to all Western Civilization. Western literature and art has been inspired by Greece's Golden Age and gave birth to philosophy, music, sculpture, painting, history, oratory, medicine, mathematics and on and on. In the fourteen exciting days in Athens you'll connect with the birth and development of specific ideas. We will all stay in attractive, small hotels in the district of Plaka, surrounded everywhere by the greatest monuments of Greek antiquity. Before us there will be the magnificent sight of the Acropolis; then within a stone's throw the beautiful temple that everyone knows as Thesseion ; the Greek and Roman agoras will be a three-minute walk from each of our hotels. Some of the best special museums of Greece will also be within an easy walk from the headquarters of the Hellenic Education and Research Center (HERC).
We will sail away to Paros from the very same port where Alcibiades set out with 100 Athenian triremes on the ill fated Sicilian campaign in 415 BCE. On the 3-5 hour voyage to Paros, while passing Delos, a vast treasure of antiquities, Prof. Athanassakis will lecture on island natives Apollon and Artemis. Then Paros! Seeing it for the first time is an unearthly vision of gently contoured brown hills crowned by little white churches and highlighted by the interplay of white and blue in the harbor city of Paroikia. You will be caught up in a very busy, pretty island town replete with good food and friendly people.
Students who choose to study in Ithaca will sail to the legendary home of Odysseus. As you sail into magical Ithaca, you will be received by two promontories that are shaped like open arms. The water of the bay of Vathi is very deep and very blue. The town of Ithaca seems to be anchored at the head of the bay. Above it rise rather tall mountains. The people of Ithaca are very friendly and eager for company. In modern times, the island has had a great tradition in the maritime adventures of Greece as well as in literature and the arts. You will visit the coast of Northwestern continental Greece, parallel to Ithaca, which is the cradle of Hellenic religion and mythology. There you will see Dodna, the oldest oracle of the Greeks; Acheron, the river leading to the Underworld; the Oracle of The Dead; and the Acheloos River, which gave birth to the concept of a mythic ocean.
Together we shall succeed,
Apostolos N. Athanassakis, Program Director
Telephone: (805) 893-8420
E-Mail: athanass@classics.ucsb.edu
Office Location 4049 HSSB
