Events

Cramer Hall, room 250, 1721 SW Broadway

The Modern Olympic Games are without question the most popular and arguably the most successful cooperative international endeavor in the modern world. Revived in Athens in 1896 and returned there in 2004, the history of the rich traditions that led to the Olympic revival have already been forgotten in the century since their re-inauguration. Yet this history is vital to understanding what the Modern Olympics were originally designed to be. The ancient Games held quadrennially in Olympia were profoundly religious for the ancient Hellenes who invented them. The sanctuary and the Games were shut down by order of the Roman emperor Theodosius in 393 CE, once again for clear religious reasons. Amazingly, the revival of the Olympics in 1896 was also religious, and an examination of how this revival was justified in the popular mind can tell us a great deal about how both religion and Hellenism were being re-conceived in the later 19th century.

This lecture will be presented by Dr. Louis A Ruprecht, Jr., William M. Suttles Chair in Religious Studies at Georgia State University. Professor Ruprecht is also a permanent Research Fellow at the Vatican Library and Secret Archives, where he spent eight years researching a book on the creation of the Vatican’s First "Profane Museum" in 1761. He is also a staff writer for Religion Dispatches, and blogs for the Huffington Post.

Free & open to the public

Co-sponsored by the Portland State University Hellenic Studies Program and the Middle East Studies Center

You might also be interested in this event: The Greeks on Display: How the Vatican Invented Modern Art Museums, and Reinvented Religion Along the Way. Lecture by Dr. Louis A Ruprecht, Jr.

The Middle East Studies Center at Portland State University promotes understanding of the people, cultures, languages and religions of the Middle East. As a National Resource Center for Middle East Studies under the U.S. Department of Education’s Title VI program, the Center serves as a resource on issues pertaining to the Middle East through activities that reach students and scholars, as well as businesses, educators, and the media. The Middle East Studies Center supports academic conferences, workshops, cultural events, lectures, and a resource library.

www.pdx.edu/middle-east-studies/ | middleeaststudiescenter@pdx.edu | 503-725-4074