The Department of History and Archeology of NKUA and the Archaeological Society of Alexandria, within the framework of a five-year memorandum of cooperation (2021-2025), jointly organized with the Alexandrian Center for Hellenistic Studies of the Library of Alexandria, an international academic meeting titled: Funerary archaeology, art and architecture in Hellenistic and Roman times.

The meeting was held in Alexandria from 03 to 07 July 2022, and was addressed to graduate students from Greece and Egypt who are engaged in the study of the "archaeology of death" in the eastern Mediterranean during Hellenistic and Roman times.

NKUA was represented by a nine-member team consisting of seven postgraduate students of classical archeology under the supervision of Dimitris Plantzos, Professor of Classical Archeology, and Nikolas Dimakis, Assistant Professor of Classical Archeology, who had also undertaken the organization and coordination of the meeting. The Archaeological Society of Alexandria was represented by its President, Professor Mona Haggag, and the research fellow Dr Kyriakos Savvopoulos, who conducted most of the on-site classes. Professor Emad Khalil reprsented the Alexandria Center for Hellenistic Studies.

The workshop started on Sunday 03/07 at the Library of Alexandria with the keynote lecture by Dimitris Plantzos, titled: "Styling social identity in Alexandrian funerary painting".

Between 04-07/07 the intensive program included morning on-site classes at archaeological sites of ancient (Shatby, Mustapha Kamel, Anfushi, Kom el Shoqafa) and modern (Greek community cemetery of Alexandria) cemeteries of the city, as well as at archaeological museums and collections.

At the cemetery of Shatby (early 3rd-2nd century BC), in particular, where since 2019 the Archaeological Society of Alexandria has been working on its excavation, conservation, highlighting and documentation, the Department of History and Archeology of NKUA contributes to the scientific documentation of the cemetery with the participation in the research group of assistant professor Nikolas Dimakis, specialist in burial archaeology, and the management of the project's website. 

The morning on-site classes were enriched with afternoon lectures by experts in funerary archaeology, art and architecture of the Hellenistic and Roman times. Invited speakers from Egypt, Greece and Cyprus strengthened the educational nature of the meeting with their expertise, creating the right conditions for further student reflection, questions and discussion. Dr Hariclia Brecoulaki (National Hellenic Research Foundation) offered a paper on "Mummy portraits from Roman Egypt: painterly mimesis and the materiality of paint", Athanasios Koutoupas (Cyprus Institute) spoke about "Christian burials in Late Antique Alexandria", while Aude Simony and Aya Salem presented interim reports on the finds from Shatby. Dr Savvopoulos prsented a paper on "Funerary architecture", Professor Dimakis on "Death and burial in Hellenistic Greece", Dr Sobhy Ashour on "Tombs in Greco-Roman Egypt", and Professor Haggag spoke on "Fusion of Egyptian - Greek art in the Alexandrian tombs".

The meeting was attended by dozens of students, members of Egyptian and European research bodies active in the country, as well as members of the Greek Community of Alexandria, crowning its work a complete success and forming a solid basis for the continuation of the research activity of NKUA in Egypt.

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International workshop for postgraduate students from Greece and Egypt Alexandria, 3-7 July 2022

This international workshop is addressed to postgraduate students from Greece and Egypt interested in the material culture of death in the eastern Mediterranean during the Hellenistic and Roman times. Invited speakers working on burial contexts, funerary art and architecture shall present thematic and interdisciplinary ways of analysis in which funerary archaeology provides insights on individuals and social groups. Themes that will be discussed include issues of wealth display, social, ethnic and religious identities, the social roles of particular groups of people (e.g. children, women, the elderly, elite or non-elite individuals), and the impact that major historical events may have had on the way individuals or specific groups of individuals treated their dead.

The workshop is organized by the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) and the Archaeological Society of Alexandria (ASA), in collaboration with the Alexandrian Center of Hellenistic Studies (ACHS) of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, within the frame of the Memorandum of Understanding that was signed between ASA and NKUA in 2021.

Attendance of the workshop is free of charge. For public health and logistical reasons, however, it is necessary to register for the event by June 15, 2022. For this purpose please contact the workshops’ coordinators Assist. Prof. Nikolas Dimakis (nikdimakis@arch.uoa.gr) and Dr. Kyriakos Savvopoulos (savvopoulos1977@gmail.com).