Platsis Symposium

The Platsis Symposium is a forum on Classical and Modern Greek Studies at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Annual symposia discuss the Greek legacy from the Minoan civilization of Crete, Classical and Hellenistic Greece and the Byzantine Empire through the Modern Greek period beginning with Greek independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1821, exploring the pursuit of excellence, moderation, idealism, self-knowledge, rationalism, curiosity, freedom, individual responsibility and personal responsibility to community.

The program ended in 2014.

Funding

The Platsis Symposium is sponsored by the Arthur and Mary Platsis Endowment in collaboration with the C.P. Cavafy Professorship in Modern Greek and the University of Michigan Department of Classical Studies.

Endowment History

George Platsis endowed $250,000 (USD) in remembrance of his parents, Arthur and Mary Platsis, both from Crete. After service with the 32nd Michigan Infantry in World War I, Arthur Platsis was head chef at the American Legion Hospital in Battle Creek, Michigan that cared for veterans recovering from poison gas attacks. Mary Platsis had volunteered for the American Red Cross and founded a post-World War II group to ship clothes to Crete and the orphanages of Kandanos and Sougia, her grandfather's village, under the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. In addition to funding the annual University of Michigan symposia, the Arthur and Mary Platsis Endowment awards prizes to graduate and undergraduate students for original work relating to Greek culture.

Symposium topics

2002 - Inaugural Year: "War and Democracy" (September 22–23, 2002)

• "Exemplars of Western civilisation?", by Paul Cartledge, Professor of Greek history at Cambridge University.
• "Democratic Culture, Knowledge Exchange, and Military Capacity." by Josiah Ober, Magie Professor of Classics & Acting Director of the Center for Human Values at Princeton University.
• "The American Founding: The Classics and the Problem of Democratic International Relations." by Michael Zuckert, Nancy R. Dreux Chair of Government & International Studies at University of Notre Dame.

2003 - "Bioethics: Ancient and Modern" (September 21–22, 2003)

• "Ancient Greek Views on the Goals of Medicine and their Implications" by Georgios Anagnostopoulos, Professor of Philosophy at University of California, San Diego.
• "Human Embryos: An Aristotelian analysis" by Alfonso Gomez-Lobo, Ryan Professor of Metaphysics and Moral Philosophy at Georgetown University.
• "Science, Society and Stem Cells" by David A. Prentice, Professor of Life Sciences at Indiana State University, and Adjunct Professor of Medical and Molecular Genetics at Indiana University School of Medicine.

2004 - "Crete: A Meeting Place of Cultures" (October 3, 2004)

• "The Island of Crete: Stepping Stone between East and West during Antiquity" by L. Vance Watrous, Professor of Art History, Classics, and Anthropology at University at Buffalo.
• "The Art and Culture of Medieval Crete: between Venice and Byzantium" by Maria Georgopoulou, Director of Gennadius Library at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens.
• "Crete in between: Still in the Middle of a Wine-Dark Sea" by Louis Ruprecht, Professor of Ethics and Culture at the Claremont School of Theology.

2005 - "Happiness / Eudaimonia" (September 16, 2005)

• "Aristotle and the Variety of Happiness" by Stephen A. White, Professor of Classics and Philosophy, Director of the Joint Graduate Program in Ancient Philosophy, Department of Classics at University of Texas, Austin.
• "The Birth of Ultimate Desire: The Greek Invention of Happiness and the beginning of a Great Pursuit" by Darrin McMahon, Ben Weider Associate Professor, Department of History at Florida State University.
• "Two Senses of Eudaimonia" by Daniel Robinson, Philosophy Faculty at Oxford University & Distinguished Professor, Emeritus at Georgetown University.

2006 - "Citizen Socrates" (September 29, 2006)

• "Socrates in Athens: The Patron-Saint of Moral Philosophy" by Gerasimos X. Santas, Professor of Philosophy, School of Humanities at University of California, Irvine.
• "Socrates on Courage in Politics" by Paul Woodruff, Professor of Philosophy at University of Texas, Austin.

2007 - "Iconoclasm: The War on Images" (September 23, 2007)

• Presentation by Michael R. Kapetan, Artist
• "Iconoclasm in the Byzantine World - myths and realities" by John Haldon, Professor of Byzantine History at Princeton University
• "Eikonomachia: The Afterlife of the 'Iconoclastic Controversy' in Byzantium" by Charles Barber, Associate Professor of Art History at University of Notre Dame.

2008 - "Uncovering Greek Science with Modern Technologies" (September 28, 2008)

• "Archimedes in Bits: Ten Years of Work on the Archimedes Palimpsest" by Dr. William Noel, Curator of Manuscripts and Rare Books at the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore.
• "Newest Discoveries on the Antikythera Mechanism" by Prof. Emmanuel Roumeliotis, Professor in the Department of Technology Management at the University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece.
• "The Antikythera Mechanism: Decoding an Ancient Greek Mystery" by Dr. Antony Freeth, the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project, London, UK.

2009 - "Honor and Shame" (September 13, 2009)

• "Shame in the Homeric Poems" by Prof. Douglas Cairns, Professor of Classics, School of History, Classics and Archaeology, University of Edinburgh, Scotland.
• "Towards a 'Poetics of Personhood': Beyond Honor and Shame" by Dr. Jill Susanna Dubisch, Regents' Professor of Anthropology, Northern Arizona University.

2010 - "Why Teach Thucydides?" (November 7, 2010)

• "Thucydides and the Unexpected" by Robert Connor, Past Director of the National Humanities Center and President of the Teagle Foundation.
• "Why Teach Thucydides, Today?" by Cliff Orwin, Professor of Political Science, Classics, and Jewish Studies, University of Toronto, and Distinguished Visiting Fellow, Hoover Institution of Stanford University.

Watch the lectures on YouTube: 2010 9th Annual Platsis Symposium

2011 - "Ancient Conscience" (September 25, 2011)

• "Ideas of moral conscience in antiquity and their later effects" by Prof. Richard Sorabji, Honorary Fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford.
• "The Limits of Free Speech and the Right to Self Expression in Ancient Greece" by David Konstan, Professor of Classics at New York University, and Professor Emeritus at Brown University.

External links

• Platsis Endowment, 2010.