Active Fieldwork Projects | Former Fieldwork Projects | Other Research | Conferences and Lectures
As an academic institute, the Finnish Institute at Athens is classified in Greece as an archaeological school. This status allows it to carry out archaeological fieldwork in Greece. The Institute’s fieldwork is funded by external means from various foundations and funding bodies and/or by the Institute’s Support Delegation.
Before the Finnish Institute at Athens started field archaeology projects of its own, Finnish scholars gained archaeological training in different Greek and Nordic projects. One example of such a joint Nordic project is the excavation at the sanctuary of Agios Elias in Asea, Arcadia, in 1997. This project brought together researchers from Finland, Norway, and Sweden.
The Finnish Institute’s first own excavation projects were led by Arja Karivieri between 1999 and 2004 and focused on the Early Christian Basilica in Arethousa, Macedonia. Around the same time, in 2001–2002, Jari Pakkanen and his team worked in Stratos in western Greece on the Temple of Zeus at Stratos providing new measurements and reconstruction of the building.
In the research project Verse Inscriptions of Roman Greece led by Erkki Sironen between 2003 and 2010, Finnish scholars studied epigrams cut in stone during the Roman period. Jari Pakkanen initiated Kyllene harbour project between 2007 and 2017 as well as a research project on the City plan of Naxos, a Greek colony in Sicily, from 2012 to 2017. Pakkanen directed also the Salamis Urban Landscape project on the island of Salamis between 2016 and 2019.
Thesprotia Expedition and Agia Paraskevi of Arachamitai have already reached their post-excavation and publishing stage. Fieldwork in Thesprotia was carried out in 2004–2010, 2015 and 2020, and in Agia Paraskevi of Arachamitai in 2006–2008 and 2010–2019, although the study of the material will continue for years to come. The Photike Archaeological Project excavated a Roman colonial town in 2019–2023.
In 2019 was initiated a new Rethymno Hilly Countryside Archaeological Project on the countryside southwest of Rethymnon, Crete. From the year 2022, the Institute’s Melitaia Archaeological Programme has done fieldwork in ancient Melitaia in the municipality of Domokos.
ACTIVE FIELDWORK PROJECTS
FORMER FIELDWORK PROJECTS
OTHER RESEARCH
The Final Pagan Renaissance of Athens, AD 267 – 529
1985 – 1988
Paavo Castrén, Risto Aikonen, Arja Karivieri, Julia Burman, Vappu Pyykkö, Gunnar af Hällström, Erkki Sironen
Hellenistic Athens, 323 – 30 BC
1988 – 1992
Jaakko Frösén, Mika Hakkarainen, Kenneth Lönnqvist, Tuula Korhonen, Minna Lönnqvist, Martti Leiwo, Petra Pentikäinen, Tiina Purola, Erja Salmenkivi
Dionysius the Areopagite in History and Legend
1993 – 1995
Gunnar af Hällström, Jeanette Lindblom, Markku Nikulin, Eino Palin, Leena Mari Peltomaa, Hanna-Riitta Toivanen
Mythical Bodies: Greek Myths and European Thought
1995 – 1998
Kirsti Simonsuuri, Outi Alanko-Kahiluoto, Risto Heikkinen, Kalle Kuusimäki, Martti-Tapio Kuuskoski, Mikael Olin, Anna Pietiläinen, Anne Siikaluoma-Tervonen, Leena Viitaniemi
Late Classical and Hellenistic Heroa
2000 – 2004
Leena Pietilä-Castrén, Mari Mikkola, Mikko Suoninen, Tiina Tuukkanen, Hanne Wikström
August Myhrberg and North-European Philhellenism: Building the Myth of a Hero
2005 – 2006
Petra Pakkanen
The Image of Finland in the Greek Press during the Winter War of 1939 – 1940
2001 – 2010
Kira Kaurinkoski, Maria Martzoukou, Maria Gourdouba
Open Data of the Scientific Institutes -project
2018 – 2019
Manna Satama
CONFERENCES AND LECTURES
An important part of the scholarly activities of the Finnish Institute at Athens consists of organising international conferences and lectures. Some of the proceedings are later published in the Institute’s PMFIA series. Since 2006 the Institute has organised an annual Johannes Sundwall lecture, given by an internationally-renowned scholar with a broad scholarly output dealing with topics that are similar to those of Sundwall’s own research.
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES
(Organized partly in co-operation with others)
Ancient Medicine, 4. – 10.10.1986
Ancient Technology, 30.3. – 4.4.1987
Roman Onomastics, 17.9.1990
National Themes in Greek and Finnish Music, 4. – 5.5.1992
Roman Onomastics in the Greek-speaking Provinces: Social and Political Aspects, 7. – 9.9.1993
Athens in the Sixth Century AD, 18. – 19.5.1994
The Pnyx in the History of Athens, 7. – 9.10.1994
Greek and Roman Religions According to the Church Fathers, 17. – 18.5.1995
The Writing Woman: Ritual and Religious Perspectives, 21. – 22.5.1997
Recent Research in Arcadia, 27. – 28.1.1998
The Greek East in the Roman Context, 21. – 22.5.1999
Scribes, Language and Textual Tradition, 25.1.2001
The Eastern Mediterranean in the Late Antiquity and Early Byzantine Periods, 24.1.2003
Thesprotian Colloquium, 12. – 13.5.2006
Experience of Empire – Responses from the Provinces, 19. – 21.6.2006
Langnet seminar, 1. – 4.10.2008
Defining and Interpreting Ancient Greek Cult Deposits, 24. – 27.10.2008
Life is a (Greek) Tragedy II, 9. – 10.2.2009
Styles of Political Theorizing: Exploring Concepts and Rhetorical Practices in History, 19. – 20.2.2009
Variation and Change in Greek and Latin: Problems and Methods, 17. – 20.9.2009
The Ottoman Past in the Balkan Present: Music and Mediation, 30.9. – 2.10.2010
Greek Building Projects, 23. – 24.5.2014
The Greek Apologists of the Second Century, 20. – 21.10.2016
ARISTOTLE – Timeless and Scientifically Timely (organised with the Academy of Athens and the Centre for Historical Ontology), the Academy of Athens, 14. – 17.1.2017
Act of the Scribe: Interfaces Between Scribal Work and Language Use (organised by a project funded by the Academy of Finland: ”Act of the Scribe: Transmitting Linguistic Knowledge and Scribal Practices in Graeco-Roman Antiquity”), 6. – 8.4.2017
Creating and Strengthening Identities: Greek and Roman Stereotypes of the East, 8 – 9.2.2019
Symposium in the memory of Konstantina Peppas Delmousou (organised with the Epigraphical Museum and the Swedish Institute at Athens), Epigraphical Museum of Athens, 15.3.2019
Approaches to Classical Lands: Travellers, Scholars, Tourists, 31.5. – 1.6.2019
Markers of Northernness in Greek Ethnography and Geography, 10. – 11.12.2022
Protection of the Environment in Armed Conflicts (organised with the Toxic Crimes Project, Athens PIL and National and Kapodistrian University of Athens), 4.5.2023
Places and Canvases of Communication: Identity of Odessa and altering walls, 8. – 9.6.2023
La laideur: Du corps physique au corps politique (organised with the Swedish Institute at Athens, l’Université Paris I, l’Université de Bretagne-Sud and University of Thessaly), Swedish Institute at Athens, 21. – 22.9.2023
JOHANNES SUNDWALL LECTURES
Jack L. Davis (University of Cincinnati), ‘Remembering and Forgetting Nestor: Pylian Pasts Pluperfect?’, 8.11.2006
Robin Osborne (University of Cambridge), ‘How the Gauls Broke the Frame: A Hellenistic Revolution in Theology on the Athenian Acropolis’, 30.11.2007
Lorna Hardwick (Open University), ‘Ancient and Modern Societies in Dialogue: the Role of Greek Drama’, 19.11.2009
Cynthia W. Shelmerdine (University of Texas at Austin), ‘Mycenaean Scribes and Literacy’, 18.11.2010
Mark Janse (Ghent University), ‘The Cappadocians and their Languages, 1911 BC–AD 2011’, 15.11.2011
Joseph Maran (University of Heidelberg), ‘Gods and Rulers in Mycenean Citadels: a Very Special Relationship’, 14.11.2013
A. Bernard Knapp, ‘Bronze Age Trade in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean: The Case of Maritime Transport Containers’, 6.11.2014
Olga Palagia (University of Athens), ‘The Sculpture from the sanctuary of Apollo Amyklaios in Sparta’, 5.11.2015
Stephen Lambert (Cardiff University), ‘Demokrates the democrat?’ 24.11.2016
Sofia Voutsaki (University of Groningen), ‘The North Cemetery at Ayios Vasilios and the Transformation of Early Mycenaean Society’, 20.12.2017
Mary E. Voyatzis (University of Arizona), ‘A Tale of Two Arcadian Sanctuaries: Comparing Zeus on Mt. Lykaion with Athena Alea at Tegea’, 4.12.2018
Anna Lucia D’Agata (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Roma), ‘Making Gender with Things: Gendered Identities and Material Culture in Late Minoan III Crete’, 25.11.2019
Frederick Whitling (European University Institute), ‘“Greek Genius in Roman Body” – Johannes Sundwall, ‘the Grand Old Man of Classical Research in Finland’ and ‘the Great Minoan Riddle’’, 15.11.2021, SAIA
Lilian Karali (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens), ‘Contribution of Archaeomalacological Research to Aegean Archaeology’, 25.11.2022
ANNUAL OPEN MEETING LECTURES
Margareta Steinby (All Souls College, Oxford), ‘Monumenta: Who Built What in Ancient Rome’, 17.5.2001
Jussi Nuorteva (University of Helsinki), ‘Finnish Literature from Kalevala Epics to Modern Translations’, 23.5.2002
Paavo Castrén (University of Helsinki), ‘Hellenism and Romanization in Pompeji’, 20.5.2003
Maarit Kaimio (University of Helsinki), ‘Quarrelsome Women in a Greek Papyrus from Petra’, 21.5.2004
William Bowden (University of East Anglia), ‘Thesprotia in the Context of Late Roman Epirus Vetus’, 19.5.2005
Γεώργιος Ρήγινος , ‘Η Ελέα και η Ελεάτιδα στην ύστερη Κλασική και Ελληνιστική Περίοδο’, 19.5.2005
James R. Wiseman (University of Boston), ‘From the Acheron River Valley to the Loutros Delta: Human Settlement from Classical Times to Late Antiquity’, 12.5.2006
Γεώργιος Ρήγινος, ‘Οικιστική οργάνωση στην αρχαία Θεσπρωτία την ύστερη Κλασική και Ελληνιστική Περίοδο’, 12.5.2006
Gilles Touchais (University of Paris), ‘South Illyria in the Bronze Age and its Connections with the Aegean’, 22.5.2007
Leena Pietilä-Castrén (University of Helsinki), ‘In Pursuit of Hero Monuments’, 22.5.2008
Jari Pakkanen (Royal Holloway University of London), ‘Underwater Investigations of the Ancient and Medieval Harbour at Kyllene’, 14.5.2009
Jaakko Frösén (University of Helsinki), ‘From Carbonized Papyri to the Monastery of Saint Aaron at Petra’, Jordan, 20.5.2010
Björn Forsén (University of Helsinki), ‘Thesprotia Expedition: Seven Years of Archaeological Field Work’, 19.5.2011
Risto Pekka Pennanen (University of Helsinki), ‘Ottoman Popular Music in Greece – Nationalization and Beyond’, 18.5.2012
Mika Kajava (University of Helsinki), ‘Ancient Oracles and Epigraphy’, 23.5.2013
Manólis Korrés (National Technical University of Athens), ‘The Olympieion at Athens’, 22.5.2014
Paavo Castrén (University of Helsinki), ‘Suomen Ateenan-instituutin perustaminen’, 21.5.2015
Alexander Mazarakis Ainian (University of Thessaly), ‘A View from the Heights: Public and Religious Buildings of Ancient Kythnos’, 21.4.2016
Boris Rankov (Royal Holloway University of London), ‘Understanding Ancient Warships’, 18.5.2017
Björn Forsén (Finnish Institute at Athens), ‘From Arkas to Hadrian: Cult and Politics at the Sanctuary of Artemis Lykoatis, Arcadia’, 17.5.2018
Torsten Mattern (Trier), ‘From Herakles to the Franks: New Research in Kleonai (Argolido-Corinthia)’, 14.5.2019
John K. Papadopoulos (UCLA), ’Framing Victory: Salamis, the Athenian Acropolis and the Agora’, 20.5.2021
Arja Karivieri (Stockholm University), ‘Athenian Lamps: Images of Gods and Ritual Use?’, 23.5.2022
Judith M. Barringer (University of Edinburgh), ‘The Workings of Treasuries in Greek Sanctuaries’, 17.5.2023
ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY MEETINGS
Yannis Lolos (University of Thessaly), ‘The Sikyon Project: The Challenges of an Intensive Urban Survey’, 1.12.2005
Nikolaos Efstratiou (Aristoteleio Univeristy of Thessaloniki), ‘Exploring Two Contrasting Landscapes in Greece: Lowland Thrace and Highland Grevena’, 20.2.2006
David Pettegrew (Ohio State University), ‘The New Breed of Hyper-intensive Survey: A Case Study from the Eastern Korinthia’, 10.5.2006
Gert Jan van Wijngaarden (Netherlands institute in Athens), ‘The Zakynthos Archaeology Project’, 23.10.2006
Georgia Kokkorou-Alevras (University of Athens) and Konstantinos Kopanias (German Archaeological Institute), ‘Επιφανειακή Έρευνα στον Αρχαίο Δήμο των Αλασαρνιτών (σύγχρ. Καρδάμαινα) στην Κω’, 27.11.2006
John Bintlif (Leiden University), ‘Regional Field Survey in Greece – A Short History and a Review of Its Strengths and Weaknesses for Writing History’, 25.1.2007
Kostas Sbonias (Ionian University), ‘Surveying in a Mountainous Landscape. Vrysinas on Western Crete as a Case Study’, 13.2.2007
Timothy E. Gregory (Ohio State University), ‘The Australian Paliochora-Kythera Archaeological Survey: A Low-Impact, Long-Term Experience in Archaeological Investigation’, 30.4.2007
ΚYΚΛΟΣ / THE CIRCLE LECTURES
OTHER SCHOLARLY LECTURES
