2021 Leventis Conference

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With generous support from the A. G. Leventis Foundation and as part of Protovoulia 1821–2021 (‘Initiative 1821–2021’), the School of History, Classics and Archaeology is delighted to host a major conference on ‘The Greek Revolution of 1821: Contexts, Scottish Connections, the Classical Tradition’.

The revolution of the Greek-speaking, Orthodox Christian subjects of the Ottoman empire in 1821 was accompanied by declarations of national independence inspired by the recent revolutions in the Americas and France. The Greek Revolution was the first of its kind to be successful on European soil, and led to international recognition for Greece as an independent, sovereign state in 1830. In this way, the story of Greece as a modern nation-state begins, and also a new chapter in the history of our continent, as the era of multi-national empires slowly gave way, over the next two centuries, to an era dominated by the self-determination of nation-states.

Commemorating the bicentenary of the Greek Revolution

This year marks the bicentenary of the start of that revolution and events are taking place around the world and in the UK to commemorate this turning-point in a history that can be traced back through three and a half millennia.

Our conference, held under the auspices of the A. G. Leventis Visiting Professorship in Greek, and forming part of Edinburgh’s biennial series of international conferences on Hellenic studies, brings together scholars from around the world and a range of academic disciplines to re-assess the nature and significance of the Greek Revolution from the perspective of the twenty-first century and of a city that geographically lies at the opposite end of Europe from Greece, namely Edinburgh, the ‘Athens of the North’.

The conference is arranged around two main themes: Contexts and Scottish Connections & the Classical Tradition and jointly organised by the 12th A. G. Leventis Visiting Professor of Greek, Roderick Beaton FBA, and Professor Niels Gaul of the School of History, Classics & Archaeology.

Confirmed speakers include Thomas Ahnert (Edinburgh), Iain Gordon Brown (NLS), Richard Clogg (Oxford), Lucien Frary (Rider University), Alasdair Grant (Edinburgh & Hamburg), Constanze Güthenke (Oxford), Yannis Hamilakis (Brown), Paschalis Kitromilides (Athens), Vassiliki Kolocotroni (Glasgow), Sanja Perović (KCL), Alexia Petsalis-Diomidis (St Andrews), Christine Philliou (Berkeley), Gonda Van Steen (KCL), Matteo Zaccarini (Bologna/Edinburgh) and Simon Zenios (UCLA).

Programme

You can view the programme at the link below.

Registration

The conference is held in a hybrid format: we expect to be able to accommodate a small live audience in Edinburgh and a larger audience online.

To attend the conference in person please register at the link below.

In-person registration for the 2021 Leventis Conference ePay

To register for free online attendance please use the link below.

Online registration (Eventbrite)

Exhibition

The conference is accompanied by an exhibition in the University Library exhibition gallery, ‘Edina/Athena: The Greek Revolution and the Athens of the North, 1821–2021’ from 29 October 2021 to 29 January 2022, and a series of engagement events.

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