Prof. Ioannis Xydopoulos, of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, will be visiting UA and the Department of Religious Studies as part of the Alabama-Greece Initiative to meet with his collaborator prof. Vaia Touna. While at the UA he will offer a public lecture: “Macedonia from the 8th-6th c. BCE: Myth, Literary Sources, and Archaeology”  but will also visit Prof. Vaia Touna’s class REL341 “Theories of Myth,” and meet with faculty and students.

Prof. Ioannis Xydopoulos teaches at the School of History and Archaeology at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and specializes in Ancient Macedonia and Thrace with an interest on the role of myths in the construction of societies, on issues of identities in the periphery of the ancient Greek world, as well as on the anthropology of death in Ancient Macedonia.

The public lecture is hosted by the Department of Religious Studies and is supported by Dean Olin and the Arts & Sciences.