Peter Brown to deliver Runciman Lecture
February 2 is approaching and, as always, Helbi is preparing to attend the annual Runciman Lecture at King’s College in London, being held on the first Thursday in February for the 15th consecutive year. Artist Nicholas Egon established the lecture and funded it in perpetuity in honor of the late Byzantinist Sir Steven Runciman. Egon and his wife Matti were close friends of Runciman, who always stayed at the Athenaeum Club on his visits to the English capital. So the Egons hold the official dinner there the night before the lecture in honor of the speaker. The sponsors organize the lecture with the Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies Department of King’s College. Professor Peter Brown will deliver this year’s Runciman Lecture, on the origins of Byzantine monasticism. Of Irish origin, Brown studied at the University of Oxford and taught there till 1975 as a fellow of All Souls College. He taught at London University and UCLA Berkeley before becoming a professor of history at Princeton. He is considered by many scholars to be the greatest living authority on late antiquity. His works include «The World of Late Antiquity,» «The Rise of Western Christendom» and «Augustine of Hippo.»
