Between Byzantium and Modernity: Portraits of Civic Virtue in Late Ottoman Lesvos

Detail of bifolio from the 1910 handwritten Funeral Oration delivered for Kataxinouda Lazou, a notable lady from Molyvos, by the Bishop of Mithymna Stephanos Soulidis

Date: Feb 28, 2025 Time: 12:00 PM–1:30 PM Location: Zoom REGISTER

Dimitris Krallis, Simon Fraser University, will discuss documents from a late Ottoman family archive and how they reflect Byzantine notions of domestic and civic virtue that lingered during the transition from Ottoman rule to Greek nationhood.

In a rich family archive from the Island of Lesvos that dates to the 19th and early 20th centuries, various documents outline fascinating ways in which members of the family in question negotiated modernity and the transition from Ottoman rule to Greek nationhood. This talk will introduce the archive itself to the audience and consider the ways in which Byzantine notions of domestic and civic virtue lingered and competed with new ideas that sought to shape the private and public spheres of communities in the North Aegean.

This lecture will take place live on Zoom, followed by a question and answer period. Register to receive Zoom link.

TIME ZONE CONVERTER

Sponsored by the Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture and Harvard University Standing Committee on Medieval Studies.

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