AMSCA celebrates an anniversary
To celebrate its 125th anniversary and the 75th anniversary since the excavations at the Ancient Agora, the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, under the directorship of Professor Stephen V. Tracy, has organized a two-day symposium that ends today. Presently the largest of 14 advanced research institutes in Athens, the American School of Classical Studies (AMSCA), or the American Archaeological School as it is also called, was founded in 1881 by scholars from nine American colleges under the leadership of Charles Eliot Norton of Harvard University. Since then, it has remained a privately funded, non-profit educational institution addressed to the students and faculty of 155 affiliated colleges and universities in North America who wish to study Greek civilization and culture as well as conduct archaeological research. Students have access to the rare collection of the school’s Gennadius library, a treasure house for researchers from all over the world. The school has also been carrying out excavations and important archaeological surveys since its early days. William McDonald’s work in Messenia and the excavations in the Pylos region conducted by John Cherry and Jack Davis are examples of the school’s archaeological surveys in recent years. The symposium is an occasion to remind the public of AMSCA’s contribution to the study of Greek civilization. For information, tel 210.723.6313.
