‘Seeing Like a Mycenaean State’ with Professor Dimitri Nakassis

From October 26-27 Professor Dimitri Nakassis of the University of Colorado, Boulder was the invited guest for the 2018 C. Densmore Curtis Lecture, hosted by the Department of Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology. Professor Nakassis presented his talk “Seeing Like a Mycenaean State” on October 26 in Carpenter B21. His talk analyzed evidence for Mycenaean statehood in Linear B administrative tablets of the Greek Bronze Age. Through an intense discussion of individual names and titles found in Linear B tablets from ancient Pylos, Professor Nakassis offered new insights into the administration of the Mycenaean state. The annual event is organized by the graduate students of the Department of Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology.

In keeping with CDC tradition, Professor Nakassis also lead a seminar for the graduate students on October 27. The seminar addressed a range of topics related to Linear B and the structure of Mycenaean society, as well as professional development and dissertation advice for graduate students in the archaeology department. Both of Nakassis’ addresses were followed by evening dinners with students and faculty honoring his invitation. 

The event, established in 1977, is the result of an anonymous donation set up in C. Densmore Curtis for graduate students to invite a prominent speaker in Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology to the college. Curtis was an archaeologist with an interest in a wide range of ancient cultures. Born in Augusta, Maine in 1875, he received his BA from Pomona College, his MA from the University of Colorado, and his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1908. The title of his dissertation was “Roman Monumental Arches” and was published by the American School of Classical Studies in Rome. He was a member of the American Expedition for the Excavation of Cyrene, Tripoli, and a Fellow, Lecturer, and Professor of Archaeology at the American Academy in Rome, as well as Editor of the Academy Publications. C. Densmore Curtis died in 1925 at the age of 49. 

This year’s C. Densmore Curtis Lecture committee was Shannon Dunn.