LEWISBURG - The Classics department at Bucknell University will host the talk, "Bucknell's Excavation in Thebes, Greece: The First Two Seasons (2011-12)," at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Gallery Theatre of the Elaine Langone Center.
Bucknell associate professors of classics Kevin Daly and Stephanie Larson will describe their experiences leading the first joint Greek-American archeological dig at the sanctuary of Ismenion Apollo in Thebes, Greece.
They will present results from the first two seasons of the project, including images of objects and archaeological features not yet seen by the general public.
The talk, which is free and open to the public, is co-sponsored by the Office of the Provost. A reception will follow the talk.
Thebes, a major Greek city-state halfway between Athens and Delphi, was the mythological birthplace of Dionysos, Hercules, and Oedipus. Home to a large Bronze Age palace in the second millenium BCE, in classical times Thebes served as the seat of major political and military force until its destruction by Alexander the Great in the fourth century BCE.
Parts of the Ismenion Hill and its immediate vicinity remain unexplored and, unlike many archeological sites in Greece, also remain largely undeveloped, making excavation easier. The project's work in 2011 began with a series of non-invasive geophysical tests, conducted by Bucknell faculty members and students as well as scholars from the United States and abroad.
Larson and Daly work in Greece with a permit approved by the Central Archaeological Council of the Greek Ministry of Culture. In Thebes they collaborate with their Greek archaeological colleagues Alexandra Charami, director of the 9th Ephorate of prehistoric and classical antiquities, and Pari Kalamara, director of the 23rd Ephorate of Byzantine antiquities.
