ASCSA Co-Organizes Colloquium on Carl and Elizabeth Blegen
April 11, 2013
Carl W. Blegen first came to the American School of Classical Studies at Athens in 1910. He wanted to continue his studies in Greek classics “with the inspiration that comes from being on the spot.” Elizabeth D. Pierce came in 1922 “to study material at firsthand for [her] teaching.” Two years later, in 1924, they were married and chose Athens for their permanent home. Their house on Ploutarchou 9, which they shared with archaeologists Bert and Ida Hill, became a symbol to generations of Americans who studied ancient and modern Greece. Originally bequeathed to the American School, the Blegen House on Ploutarchou 9 has been the home to the J. F. Costopoulos Foundation since 2008.
To honor the Blegens, the American School of Classical Studies at Athens and the J. F. Costopoulos Foundation will organize a colloquium entitled "Carl and Elizabeth Blegen Remembered; Ploutarchou 9 Celebrated" to be held on May 31, 2013 in ASCSA's Cotsen Hall.
This colloquium aims to present less well known aspects of the couple’s life and interests in Greece. In addition, it will look back on Carl Blegen’s contributions to prehistoric archaeology from his early years in Corinthia, to the re-opening of Schliemann’s excavations at Troy in the 1930s, to his involvement with the Marshall plan in the late 1940s, and, finally, to the discovery of the Palace of Nestor at Pylos in the 1950s and 1960s. The list of speakers includes (in alphabetical order): Jack L. Davis, Yannis Fappas, Elizabeth French, Vasiliki Florou, Yannis Galanakis, Nektarios Karademas, Robert Pounder, Brian Rose, Ioulia Tzonou-Herbst, and Natalia Vogeikoff-Brogan.
See more information on this event.