The Nordic Library at Athens

Please note! The library will remain closed on Monday, June 1st.

On May 12 we were delighted and honoured to welcome at our premises the Director of the Norwegian Institute in Rome (DNIR), Dr. Han Lamers, Professor of Classics at the University of Oslo, within the framework of our joint lecture series ENCOUNTERS. Prof. Han Lamers opened the festive evening by presenting DNIR to our audience including Embassy diplomats, colleagues from the community of the Foreign Archaeological Schools at Athens and the Nordic Library and friends of the NIA while Dr. Christina Videbech, postdoctoral scholar at the University of Bergen, delivered a stimulating lecture titled "Inventing the Martyrial Colosseum. Cultural Memory and the Fragility of Early Christian Heritage". ENCOUNTERS, launched in Rome in October 2025, is a series of alternating guest lectures by early-career scholars from Norway, Italy, and Greece on topics connecting cultures, histories, and academic traditions of the Mediterranean and Nordic countries. Twice a year, emerging researchers from all three countries take the floor in Rome and Athens to present their recent work. We would both like to warmly congratulate Christina for her ongoing research on the Colosseum's (hi)story, which aims to critically reassess common beliefs about the famous amphitheatre as quintessentially related to Christian martyrdom and early Christian suffering. All presentations are uploaded on the Institute's YouTube channel while our next ENCOUNTERS lecture will be held in Rome, in November 2026!

📚 New Volume in the Papers and Monographs from the Norwegian Institute at Athens

The Norwegian Institute at Athens is pleased to announce the publication of Volume 16 in its Papers and Monographs series:

📖 Digital Impacts on Archaeological Fieldwork: Advantages and Limitations edited by Paschalis Zafeiriadis, Markos Katsianis, and Søren Handberg

The volume presents the proceedings of the international workshop Digital Impacts on Archaeological Fieldwork: Advantages and Limitations, held at the Norwegian Institute at Athens on 4–5 December 2024, as part of the four-year workshop series Exploring the Layers of Digital Archaeological Practice (2024–2027).

🌐 The volume will soon be available in open access through the Institute’s website and the Norwegian Research Information Repository, so stay tuned for further updates.

We extend our warm congratulations to the editors and contributors for their excellent work on this volume. We are equally grateful to the external reviewers, proofreader, and printer for their professionalism and commitment throughout the publication process.

The successful completion of this publication was truly a collective effort, and we sincerely appreciate everyone who contributed to making it possible.

The Nordic Library is delighted to welcome Lilli Kuismanen for their three-month internship!

Lilli is currently completing their Master’s degree in Comparative Literature at the University of Turku. Their academic interests lie especially in ancient literature, myth, gender, and mortuary customs. Their thesis focuses on representations of Achaean and Trojan masculinities in Homer’s Iliad. Alongside their studies in literature, Lilli has also pursued interests in ancient history, Egyptology, museum studies, cultural heritage, and ancient Near Eastern studies.

During their stay, Lilli is looking forward to advancing their thesis, visiting museums, and finalizing their book manuscript.

Lilli first visited the Nordic Library during the annual “Introduction to Ancient Greece”-course organized by the Finnish Institute in 2025, and we are happy to welcome them back.

Καλή αρχή!

📚 New Volume in the Papers and Monographs from the Norwegian Institute at Athens

The Norwegian Institute at Athens is pleased to announce the publication of a new volume in its Papers and Monographs series:

Stylistic Innovation in Western Greek Ceramics: Western Archaic Polychrome Pottery in Context edited by Signe Barfoed and Catherine Morgan.

The volume presents the proceedings of the international workshop Archaic “Elian Style” Pottery in Western Greece, held at the Norwegian Institute at Athens on 18 November 2022.

📖 The volume will soon be available in open access through the Institute’s website, so stay tuned for further updates.

We warmly congratulate the editors and contributors on this achievement. Our sincere gratitude also goes to the external reviewers, proofreader, and printer, whose expertise and dedication were essential to the completion of the volume.

A heartfelt thank you to everyone involved in bringing this publication to fruition.

The Swedish In­sti­tute at Athens and the Re­trac­ing Con­nec­tions Re­search Pro­gramme in­vite you to the sixth Re­trac­ing Con­nec­tions on­line re­search di­a­logue.

Join us with Aileen Das (Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan), N. İpek Hüner (Boğaz­içi Uni­ver­sity) and In­gela Nils­son (Up­p­sala Uni­ver­sity) for an on­line dis­cus­sion on:

"Clas­si­cal, Me­dieval, Ori­en­tal: Dis­ci­pli­nary Ide­olo­gies".

The Di­a­logue will take place on­line via Zoom on Tues­day, May 19, 2026, at 18.00 (Athens time).

For participation, please sign up using the link: https://www.sia.gr/en/events.php?eid=573

Warmly wel­come!