Steering Group

• Professor Ken Badcock, Senior Vice-Principal (Academic Strategy and Research)
• Professor Giuliana Pieri, Vice-Principal (International), Head of School of Humanities
• Dr Daniel Beer, Head of History Department
• Professor Richard Alston, Head of Classics Department
• Professor Dan Stone, Head of Research, History Department
• Dr Charalambos Dendrinos, Director of The Hellenic Institute
• Dr Achilleas Hadjikyriacou, Senior Manager at the Hellenic Institute, Director of Centre for Greek Diaspora Studies
• Dr Paris Papamichos Chronakis, Lecturer in Modern Greek History
• Professor Veronica della Dorra, Co-Director, Centre for the GeoHumanities
• Professor Mike Edwards, Honorary Research Fellow
• + Mr Michael Heslop, Honorary Fellow, Representing the Friends of the Hellenic Institute (d. 5 April 2022)
• Dr John Kittmer, GCOP
• Mrs Edmée Leventis, OBE, Honorary Fellow
• Professor Francis Robinson, CBE, DL

Associated Staff

• Professor Richard Alston, BA, PhD: Roman history, especially Roman Egypt; urbanism in the ancient world; Roman arm
• Professor Kate Cooper, BA, MTS, PhD: The Mediterranean world in the Roman period, particularly daily life and the family, religion and gender, social identity; early Christianity, Christian saints and martyrs
• Professor Veronica Della Dora, BA, PhD: Cultural and historical geography; landscape studies; history of cartography; Byzantine and post-Byzantine sacred geographies
• Charalambos Dendrinos, MA, PhD (Senior Lecturer): Byzantine literature and Greek palaeography; editing and transmission of Byzantine texts
• Professor Mike Edwards, BA, PhD (Honorary Research Fellow): Classical oratory and rhetoric; Greek palaeography and textual criticism.
• Professor Manolis Galenianos, MA, PhD: Contemporary Greek economy; the Greek financial crisis.
• Liz Gloyn MA, PhD (Lecturer): Reception of classical Greece in popular culture, with a particular interest in film and children's literature.
• David Gwynn, MA, DPhil (Reader): Late Antique history and theology
• Professor Jonathan Harris, MA, PhD: Byzantine history, 1000-1453; Byzantium and the West, especially during the Crusades and the Italian Renaissance
• Richard Hawley, MA, DPhil (Senior Lecturer): Greek literature, especially drama; Greek social history; women in classical antiquity; later Greek literature
• Christopher Hobbs, MA, PhD (Teaching Fellow in Byzantine and Medieval History): Byzantine History and Historiography, Byzantium and the West
• Professor Andrew Jotischky, MPhil, PhD (History): Byzantium and the West, Byzantium and the Latin East; Eastern and Western Monasticism
• Lakis Kaounides, BSc, BComm, MA, FRSA (Senior Teaching Fellow): Political and Socio-economic impact of Climate change in contemporary Greece and Cyprus; Science, Technology and Industrial Strategies for socio-economic development of Greece and Cyprus
• Christos Kremmydas, MA, PhD (Lecturer): Greek rhetoric and oratory (especially Demosthenes); Athenian political and social history (especially law); Greek papyrology
• Nick Lowe, MA, PhD (Reader): Greek and Latin literature, especially comedy; Greek religion
• David Natal Villazala MA, PhD (Lecturer), Head of the ERC-project 'Connected Clerics', Christianity in Late Antiquity
• Professor Jari Pakkanen, BA, PhD: Greek archaeology and Architecture; the methodology of architectural reconstructions
• Paris Papamichos Chronakis, MA. PhD (Lecturer), Modern Greek History, Greek Jewry, Interrelations among Jews, Christians and Muslims in the Balkans, Greek cities, Greek Diaspora 
• Professor Boris Rankov, MA, DPhil: Greek triereme project; Roman history; archaeology of the Roman Empire
• Professor Francis Robinson, MA, PhD: Greek influence on Islamic thought
• Professor Lene Rubinstein, MA, PhD: Athenian social history; Athenian oratory and law; papyrology; Roman Egypt
• John Sellars, MA, PhD: Hellenistic philosophy, the Stoic tradition.
• Professor Emerita Anne Sheppard, MA, DPhil: Greek philosophy, especially Neoplatonism; ancient literary criticism
• Efi Spentzou, MA, DPhil: Reception of the classical tradition, especially in modern Greece; classics and modern critical thought
• Polymnia Tsagouria, MA, PhD (Tutor seconded by Greek Ministry of Education): Modern Greek language, literature and culture
• Barbara Zipser, PhD (Lecturer): Byzantine manuscripts; Greek medicine; history of texts

Research Associates

• Revd Andreas Andreopoulos, MA, PhD (Reader, Research Associate): Orthodox Christianity; Early and Orthodox ecclesiology; Christian Semiotics in Iconography, Liturgy and Holy Tradition
• Samuel Barnish, MA, DPhil (former Lecturer): Early Christianity; transformation of the Roman world; Italy in the fifth and sixth centuries AD; Cassiodorus
• Toby Bromige, MA, PhD (Lecturer): Byzantium and Armenia, Byzantium and the Crusades
• Lia Chisacof, PhD (Honorary Research Associate): Post-Byzantine studies; Greek palaeography; modern Greek language and literature; Greek authors in the Romanian principalities (18th-20th c.)
• Professor John Demetracopoulos, MA, PhD (Research Associate): Byzantine philosophy and theology, editor-in-chief of "Thomas de Aquino Byzantinus Project"
• Laura Franco, MA, PhD (Research Associate): Byzantine literature and hagiography, editions of Byzantine texts, Greek palaeography
• Achilleas Hadjikyriacou, MA, MRes, PhD (Research Associate): Greek and Cypriot Diaspora; Greek Cinema and Gender.
• + Michael Heslop, MA (Honorary Research Associate, Honorary Fellow): The defence system of Rhodes and the Dodecanese in the medieval period (d. 5 April 2022)
• James M. Holt, MA (Research Associate): Greek paleography; editing of Greek texts
• Professor Emeritus Peregrine Horden, MA (Research Associate): Byzantine medicine; the Mediterranean world
• + Kostas Kalimtzis, PhD (Honorary Research Associate): Greek philosophical and political thought (d. 17 November 2021)
• John Karabelas, MA, PhD (Research Associate): Post-Byzantine and modern Greek historiography
• Michail Konstantinou-Rizos, MA, PhD (Research Associate): editions of Byzantine texts; Greek and Latin palaeography; member of "Thomas de Aquino Byzantinus Project"
• Hieromonk Chrysostomos Koutloumousianos (Stavrides), PhD (Research Associate): Orthodox theology and ecclesiology; Orthodox and Irish spirituality
• Chrysovalantis Kyriacou, MA, PhD (Lecturer, Research Associate), Late Antique, Byzantine and Medieval history and culture; History and culture of Cyprus; Orthodox theology and spirituality.
• Georgios Liakopoulos, MA, PhD (Research Associate): Ottoman Epigraphy and Palaeography, Historical Geography, the Greek world in the Ottoman Empire.
• Anthony Luttrell, MA, DPhil (Honorary Research Associate): the Knights Hospitaller on Rhodes and Malta; the Greek population of Rhodes in the Medieval Period
• Maria Rosaria Marchionibus, MA, PhD (Research Associate, University of Naples "L'Orientale"): Byzantine art and architecture; iconography; magic and occult; sacred space.
• Brian McLaughlin, MA, MSc, PhD (Research Associate): Byzantine history, 1204-1453; Byzantine historiography and literature
• Nikolaos Moschonas, MA, PhD (Professor Emeritus, Honorary Research Fellow): Greek and Latin palaeography; Byzantine relations with Western Europe.
• Fevronia Nousia, MA, PhD (Research Associate): Byzantine literature and education; editions of Byzantine texts; Greek palaeography
• Robin Oakley, MA, DPhil (Honorary Research Fellow): History of Cypriot Diaspora in Britain
• Konstantinos Palaiologos, MA, PhD (Research Associate): editions of Byzantine texts; Orthodox theology; Greek palaeography; member of "Thomas de Aquino Byzantinus Project"
• Vasos Pasiourtides, MA, PhD (Research Associate): editions of Byzantine texts; Orthodox theology; Greek palaeography; member of "Thomas de Aquino Byzantinus Project"
• Nil Palabiyik-Pektas, MA, PhD (Honorary Research Associate): history of the Greek book in the post-Byzantine and early modern period; Greek communities in the Ottoman Empire
• Richard Price, MTh, DPhil (Professor Emeritus, Honorary Research Fellow): history of Christianity; Ecumenical Councils; relations between Greek East and Latin West
• Philip Taylor (Honorary Research Associate): Porphyrogenitus Project, TeX editing; electronic editions of Byzantine texts
• George Vassiadis, MA, PhD (Research Associate): Modern Greek History; Anglo-Hellenic Relations; Greek Diaspora
• Christopher Wright, MA, PhD (Honorary Research Associate): Greek and Latin palaeography; editing of Greek texts; history of Byzantium and the Latin East; member of "Thomas de Aquino Byzantinus Project"
• Nada Zecevic, MA, PhD (Research Associate): History of Greek Diaspora in the Post-Byzantine and Early-Modern Europe (15th-18th c.); Classical Reception in the Balkans (15th-18th c.)

Visiting scholars

• Tristan Burt, PhD (University of Sydney): Transmission of Platonic Texts
• Annaclara Cataldi Palau, MA, PhD (Visiting Professor): Greek palaeography
• Professor Emeritus Richard Clogg, MA, DPhil (Visiting Professor): Modern Greek history
• Professor Emeritus Costas N. Constantinides, MA, PhD (University of Ioannina): Byzantine education, history and literature; Greek palaeography
• Andreas Meitanis, MA, PhD (Zurich International School): Byzantine literature and society; Greek palaeography

The Hellenic Institute, Royal Holloway, University of London

This academic year we celebrate the 30th Anniversary of The Hellenic Institute, which was founded in 1993. As part of our celebrations we are pleased to invite you to our forthcoming events we are organizing also in collaboration with other institutions, addressed to students, scholars and the wider public. We look forward to seeing you, your family and friends in these events.

You are also welcome to pray and attend meetings and Holy Services with Royal Holloway Multifaith Chaplaincy and the Greek Orthodox Church of St Andrew the Apostle in Englefield Green, Egham.

For a guide to travel to the College, please click here.

19 September 2022: Symphony "Arcadia", No 6, Opus 102 by Philippos Tsalahouris

Benaki Museum 138 Pireos & Andronikou Street, 118 54 Athens, Greece at 8.30pm (local time).

Premiere by the National Symphonic Orchestra of the Greek Radio and Television Service (ΕΡΤ) of the Symphony “Arcadia”, No. 6, Opus 102, composed and directed by Philippos Tsalahouris in memory of Angelos Dendrinos (1959-2021), Friend of the Hellenic Institute, commissioned by The Hellenic Institute and the International Society for Arcadia with the support of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports and Youth of the Republic of Cyprus and anonymous donors. This concert honoured Angelos Dendrinos and his passionate love and inspiring work for Arcadia, real and ideal. The first part of the event was dedicated to the memory of Angelos Delivorias, former member of the Academy of Athens and director of the Benaki Museum, with the performance of works by the Greek composers Carrer, Skalkottas, Sicilianos and Tsalahouris. The concert was attended by over 250 colleagues, Friends, supporters and members of the public.

To access the audio-recording of the Symphony “Arcadia” please use the following hot links to each Part:

I. Arcadia silvis lux 

II. Nympharium Chorus 

III. Pan et Luna (solo flute by Melina Makri) 

IV. Deorum et hominum cunabulum 

For further information please contact Ch.Dendrinos@rhul.ac.uk

15 October 2022: "Mneme / Lethe" by Panayiotis Gogos

A piano recital commemorated the centenary of the Asia Minor Catastrophe (1922) and opened the celebrations of the 30th Anniversary of The Hellenic Institute.

Dedicated to the memory of Julian Chrysostomides (1928-2008) and Michael Heslop (1941-2022)

Picture Gallery, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX at 7pm

The piano recital of pieces by Schubert, Bach and Beethoven expressed through the power of music of these great composers the dynamics of Mneme and Lethe (Memory and Oblivion). It opened with Schubert’s shorter A major, sonata D. 664, with a lyrical, buoyant, and poignant character, infused with seemingly happy memories of a summer in the Austrian country-side, which he described as “unimaginably lovely”. This was followed by Bach's chaconne, originally the final movement of the violin partita in the “anguished” key of D minor, a harrowing evocation of grief. In the late nineteenth century the virtuoso pianist and composer Ferruccio Busoni brought the chaconne to renewed life as a piano transcription. The concert closed with Beethoven's famous “Moonlight sonata”, which predates by a year the composer's Heiligenstadt testament confessing his growing deafness. The sonata possesses an unusual structure for the time, with an end-weighted trajectory. The last movement, marked presto agitato, can be heard as a frenetic race to outrun the galloping horsemen of death, extinction, and oblivion, or a heroic facing of them. It is almost shocking in its ferocity, arguably unlike anything in western music before it. 

Sponsored by Dr Helen Heslop and co-organised by The Hellenic Institute, Royal Holloway Marketing & Communication, and the Friends of The Hellenic Institute, the concert was hosted by Professor Francis Robinson and was attended by over 140 students, colleagues, Friends and supporters.

To access the Audiovisual recording of the concert please click here.

Donations towards The Hellenic Institute in support of students pursuing Hellenic and Byzantine Studies at RHUL can be made online.

For further information please contact: Ch.Dendrinos@rhul.ac.uk

21 October 2022: Visit of HE the Deputy Foreign Minister for Diaspora Greeks Mr Andreas Katsaniotis to the College

At the invitation of The Hellenic Institute, HE the Greek Deputy Foreign Minister for Diaspora Greeks Mr Andreas Katsaniotis paid an official visit to the College on Friday 21 Οctober 2022 to discuss the present state and the future of Hellenic Studies at Royal Holloway. He was welcomed and guided around the College by the Vice-Principal (International) and Executive Dean of the School of Humanities Professor Giuliana Pieri, Dr Charalambos Dendrinos, Director of the Hellenic Institute and Dr Achilleas Hadjikyriacou, Manager of the Hellenic Institute and Director of the Centre for Greek Diaspora Studies, Mrs Deborah Meyer, Head of Development and Operations, and Mrs Janice Rodriguez-Mendes, Development Manager (Major Gifts).

Mr Katsaniotis was accompanied by the Ambassador Mr Christodoulos Margaritis, Director of his Cabinet Office, Mrs Iphigenia Kanara, Deputy Head of the Diplomatic Mission of Greece in the UK representing HE the Ambassador of Greece in UK Mr Ioannis Raptakis, and Mrs Eleni Soupiana, Press Counsellor at the Embassy of Greece. The visit started with a guided tour in the Picture Gallery with the beautiful collection of Victorian paintings including “The Babylonian marriage market” by Edwin Long, inspired from Herodotus’ Histories, then through the North Quad with the imposing statue of Queen Victoria crowned by the College and the inscription of its inauguration, to The Emily Wilding Davison Building with the new Library and the Archive, where they examined, rare volumes with facsimile editions of eleventh- and twelfth-century Greek manuscripts with Aristophanes’ comedies and Sophocles’ tragedies, Bernard de Montfaucon’s Palaeographia Graeca with a dedication to King Louis XIV (Paris, 1708), and a second folio copy of William Shakespeare’s plays (1622) under the guidance of the Archives and Special Collections Curator Dr Anne Marie Purcell. Mr Katsaniotis was briefed by Dr Hadjikyriacou about the activities and research projects of the Centre for Greek Diaspora Studies (CGDS). The visit concluded with Lunch in honour of HE the Deputy Foreign Minister hosted by Professor Pieri in the Large Boardroom in Founder’s Building in the presence of the Heads of Classics and History Departments, Dr Christos Kremmydas and Dr Daniel Beer respectively, the Modern Greek Language Tutor Dr Polymnia Tsagouria, Professor Konstantinos Markantonakis, Department of Information Security, and Mrs Meyer and Mrs Rodriguez-Mendes, representing the College Marketing and Communications Office.

During the Lunch, Professor Pieri thanked HE the Deputy Minister on behalf of the College and the School of Humanities for his Visit and his interest for the activities of The Hellenic Institute and the CGDS. On his part, Mr Katsaniotis expressed his warm thanks for the College’s hospitality and his appreciation for the work of the Institute and the CGDS: “Greek Diaspora is a very significant part of the Greek collective identity, history and culture. I am impressed by what I saw and heard today at Royal Holloway. The Greek State stands beside the The Hellenic Institute and the Centre for Greek Diaspora Studies. We will support to the best of our abilities your copious efforts.” In his speech, Dr Dendrinos stressed “the tradition of the Greeks, from time immemorial to our own days, of exploring the world beyond the limits of their homeland, discovering new lands, seeking new ideas, opening new horizons and, most importantly, gaining a deeper understanding of themselves.” Finally, the Greek officials visited the College Chapel, which they admired for its symbolism and beauty. Before departing, Mr Katsaniotis expressed the wish to visit the College again next year to attend the Twenty-first Annual Hellenic Lecture on 30 March 2023, which coincides with the 30th Anniversary since the founding of The Hellenic Institute at Royal Holloway.

Photo 1: Roof of Emily Wilding Davison Building (from left): Dr Achileas Hadjikyriacou, Mr Christodoulos Margaritis, Mr Andreas Katsaniotis, Dr Charalambos Dendrinos.	Photo 2: Roof of Emily Wilding Davison Building (from left): Dr Achileas Hadjikyriacou, Mrs Deborah Meyer, Mrs Eleni Soupiana, Dr Anne Marie Purcell, Mr Christodoulos Margaritis, Dr Charalambos Dendrinos, Mr Andreas Katsaniotis, Prof. Giuliana Pieri, Mrs Iphigenia Kanara.