Summer Institute: Graduate Student Workshop on Ancient Greek Tragedy - ATHENS, GREECE
June 29 – July 4, 2025

OVERVIEW:

This week-long workshop will bring together a small group of graduate students from Princeton University and Greek universities for a week of study of ancient Greek tragedy as text, matter, and performance. The workshop will be based at the Princeton Athens Center for Research and Hellenic Studies. The group will attend a performance of Sophocles’ Antigone at the Epidaurus Festival on June 29, and then take part in a five-day intensive workshop in Athens, focused on Euripides’ fragmentary Antigone and Oedipus. Students will engage in intensive philological study of the texts, led by Professors Joshua Billings (Princeton University) and Ioanna Karamanou (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), and will be expected to collaboratively research and prepare portions of the texts for discussion. A series of guest lectures will complement the performance and readings. 

All participants are expected to command Ancient Greek at an advanced level, and the language of discussion will be English.

Tuition for the program is free. Participants will receive a certificate of participation.  All graduate student participants will be required to submit a report on the workshop by July 31, 2025.

All sessions will be held at the Princeton Athens Center, in-person (no zoom option).

Travel, Accommodation, Funding

Princeton students: Travel expenses for Classics students will be covered by the Classics Department.  Students from other departments should apply to their home department. Modest funding is available through the Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies for students who are selected for this program. Students are encouraged to seek additional funding sources.

Students at Greek Universities: Travel expenses (home institution/place of residence to Athens) will be covered by the Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies.

Students requiring accommodation in Athens will be housed in double rooms at a nearby hotel. All program expenses in Athens and Epidaurus (including transport, local accommodation and performance tickets) will be covered by the Workshop, along with opening and closing group meals.