CL 103 Project

I went to the newly built National Hellenic Museum on Halsted Street on October 20, 2011 in order to listen to this lecture. The original lecture was initially supposed to be conducted by Christos Doumas, whose plane was delayed due to the economic turbulence in Greece. Ironically, his flight was landing as the lecture was beginning and the museum administration ended up waiting until 6pm to begin the presentation. The first part of the lecture consisted of a thirty minute introduction of Thera by Professor Nanno Marinatos. She began by giving a geographical overview of Thera and how it is very close to Crete. The excavation of Thera gives archaeologists access to the most complete ancient site. This discovery in turn led to numerous details being unvealed about the ancient world. In fact Professor Marinatos even stated how the site at Akrotiri was the “Pompeii of the Bronze Age”. She spoke of many remarkable discoveries uncovered after the excavation at Akrotiri, such as it helping archaeologists to understand the relationship between animals and humans. In the ancient world, animals were always a big part of societal functions and through research done on preserved paintings found at Akrotiri historians were able to conduct valuable research. Also, Professor Nanno Marinatos talked about her father Spyridon Marinatos, the man who initiated the excavation at Akrotiri. I could tell his importance was unparalleled in unveiling the site and how he had impacted many people listening to the lecture as well. She spoke of how he lived like a soldier and died like one on October 1, 1974. One of the many people whom actually received a chance to work with Spyridon Marinatos took the stage in giving the second speech. Dr. Bernice Jones talked about Minoan fashion for the next half hour and had a live model walk around the room wearing a traditional Minoan dress. She said the time period in which the dress dates to (not the model rather the actual design) suggest it may have been worn by none other than Helen of Troy. Her research on female fashions range from 2000 – 1200 BCE and the excavation at Akrotiri heavily influence and fueled her discoveries. One painting at the