Dear colleagues, friends, and members of the CSPS community,

 

After a particularly busy and productive summer and early autumn, we are delighted to announce the Centre for Spartan and Peloponnesian Studies (CSPS)’ events programme for the Autumn Semester 2026.

 

We are especially excited to welcome you to a rich programme of lectures, webinars, and discussions across our four established event series, each reflecting key areas of the Centre’s research, engagement, and collaborative activities:

  • Sparta Live!, our flagship research and public engagement webinar series, organised in collaboration with the City of Sparta, bringing together scholars, practitioners, and wider audiences in conversations about Sparta’s past and present.
  • Tyrannica Network Talks, led by CSPS Deputy Director Dr Edmund Stewart, showcasing cutting-edge research on tyranny and political power in the ancient and modern world.
  • Being Peloponnesian, organised and hosted by our CSPS Early Career Scholars (CSPS SPECS) Global Network’s Chair and Managing Committee, which highlights new approaches and perspectives on the cultures, histories, and communities of the ancient Peloponnese.
  • AGIDO, our PGR and Early Career Scholars-led webinar series focusing on the women of Sparta and the Peloponnese, delivered in partnership with the Daughters of Penelope-Sparta (Sparta Chapter No. 406) and dedicated to exploring women’s lives, experiences and legacies across time. The series is mentored by Professor Ellen Milender (Reed College), Professor Georgios Spyropoulos (University of Nottingham; Hellenic Ministry of Culture), Dr Sophia Germanidou (Hellenic Ministry of Culture), and Dr Chrysanthi Gallou (CSPS Director).

 

We are extremely grateful to Dr Petros Doukas and the International Chamber of Commerce-Hellas as well as to Dr Athanasios Vlitas and the Society for Spartan Studies for their continued support of the Centre’s activities and their valuable collaboration. We also extend our sincere thanks to our media sponsor, Mr Petros Kapernarakos and Vachos News-Radio-TV, whose generous provision of livestreaming services enables our events to reach audiences across Greece and beyond.

 

We are also delighted to welcome our CSPS Visiting PhD Scholar for Autumn Semester 2026, Annika Svendal Os (University of Bergen), who will be visiting Nottingham from 30th November to 7th December. During her stay, Annika will participate actively in the Centre’s academic activities and will present her PhD research on 2nd December. We look forward to the opportunities for intellectual exchange and collaboration that her visit will bring.

 

In addition, we are particularly pleased to launch the joint CSPS & Department of Classics and Archaeology Postgraduate and Early Career Researchers’ Masterclass Series on The Art and Archaeology of the Villa of Herodes Atticus at Eva/Loukou (Arcadia). The series is led by Professor Georgios Spyropoulos, our newly appointed Honorary Professor of Greek and Roman Art and Archaeology at Nottingham and Deputy Director of the Ephorate of Antiquities of Corinthia.

The masterclasses are designed primarily for Nottingham-based Arts and Humanities postgraduate students and early career researchers, providing a unique opportunity to engage closely with the site and its material culture. We are, however, very pleased to offer a limited number of places to external PGRs and ECRs who would like to participate.

 

Further information on individual events can be found in the programme below and will soon be available on our website. Registration details and joining instructions for online and in-person events will be circulated closer to the date of each event.

 

CSPS Series

Date

Event Details

CSPS PG and EC Masterclass Series “The Art and Archaeology of the Vila of Herodes Atticus at Eva/Loukou, Arkadia”

Wednesday 7 October, 16:00-18:00 

Professor Georgios Spyropoulos (University of Nottingham, and Ephorate of Antiquities of Corinthia, Hellenic Ministry of Culture), Herodes Atticus and the Second Sophistic, and an introduction to the history of excavations at the site and its overall plan.

Tyrannica Network

Thursday 29 October, 17:00-18:00

Dr Mait Kõiv (University of Tartu), Tyrants and their supporters in the formative poleis of Archaic Greece

AGIDO webinar series

Monday 9 November, 17:00-18:00

Dr Konstantinos Paschalidis (Hellenic National Archaeological Museum, Hellenic Ministry of Culture), Ties of Affection. Procreation and family patterns in the Mycenaean societies of Achaia Clauss and Mygdalia, near Patras.

CSPS PG and EC Masterclass Series “The Art and Archaeology of the Vila of Herodes Atticus at Eva/Loukou, Arkadia”

Wednesday 11 November, 16:00-18:00  

Professor Georgios Spyropoulos (University of Nottingham, and Ephorate of Antiquities of Corinthia, Hellenic Ministry of Culture), Architectural forms and structural design principles of the Villa.

Sparta Live! webinar series

Thursday 12 November, 17:00-18:00

Dr Martine Diepenbroek (University of Johannesburg), Myths and Histories of the Spartan scytale

Being Peloponnesian webinar series

Monday 16 November, 17:00-18:00 

Dr Javier Jara Herrero (Catholic University of Ávila), Power, Legitimacy, and Divination: Delphi as a Political Tool in Spartan Geopolitics

Sparta Live! webinar series

Thursday 26 November, 17:00-18:00

Petros Tsagklis (University of Nottingham), The Enigma of Pharae (IG V.1, 1368). A possible interpretation of a 2,000-year-old epigraphic riddle

Being Peloponnesian webinar series

Monday 30 November, 17:00-18:00

Topic: Spartan Education and Virtue: The Apophthegmata Laconica between the Imperial Age and the Early Modernity, by

Dr Giorgia Oggiano (University of Cagliari), Shaping the Spartan Past: the memory of the Persian Wars among the Apophthegmata Laconica

and

Dr Martina Gatto (University of Rome Tor Vergata), Brevity and Virtue: The Apophthegmata Laconica and Michel de Montaigne

CSPS Visiting PhD Student lecture

Wednesday 2 December, 16:00-17:00 

Annika Svendal Os (University of Bergen), How Scandinavia Taught Sparta: A Study of Upper Secondary Textbooks (1970s-1980s)

CSPS PG and EC Masterclass Series “The Art and Archaeology of the Vila of Herodes Atticus at Eva/Loukou, Arkadia”

Wednesday 9 December, 16:00-18:00

Professor Georgios Spyropoulos (University of Nottingham, and Ephorate of Antiquities of Corinthia, Hellenic Ministry of Culture), Greek originals and Roman copies after Greek originals (sculpture)

Joint Sparta Live! and AGIDO webinar series

Thursday 10 December, 17:00-18:00

Dr Sophia Germanidou (Ephorate of Antiquities of Messenia, Hellenic Ministry of Culture), Tracing female presence in Mani (Messinia and Laconia) over time through a multidisciplinary visualisation: from inscriptions and depictions, to folk histories and ethnographic archives

Being Peloponnesian webinar series

Monday 14 December, 17:00-18:00

Antoine Attout (Université libre de Bruxelles), Emulation and competition among Greek pottery workshops in the 6th century BC: Athens versus Sparta and Ionia

 

We warmly encourage you to share this invitation with colleagues, students, and anyone with an interest in Spartan and Peloponnesian studies. We look forward to welcoming both existing and new members to our events throughout the semester and to continuing the conversations that connect our growing international community.

 

We look forward to welcoming you to our events throughout the semester.

 

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With warm wishes,

 

Chrysanthi  Gallou  

 

Dr Chrysanthi Gallou 

The Centre for Spartan & Peloponnesian Studies, Director 

Associate Professor of Archaeology 

Classics and Archaeology, Director of PG Studies

 

Department of Classics & Archaeology

School of Humanities/Faculty of Arts
University of Nottingham 

Academic webpage: https://tinyurl.com/mujkvyk3

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