But from this time forth History becomes a connected whole: the affairs of Italy and Libya are involved with those of Asia and Greece, and the tendency of all is to unity.
Explore the Institute
A guide to the Institute’s website, outlining where key information can be found.
Home — An overview of WIHS, featuring recent news, upcoming events, and highlights from Institute research and activities.
About Us — The Institute’s mission, history, research scope, and international scholarly vision.
Events — Present and past conferences, workshops, lecture series, and special initiatives, including WIHS-hosted and affiliated events.
Publications — Books and edited volumes produced through WIHS initiatives or by WIHS affiliates, with detailed publication pages.
Institute Leadership — Information about the Director, Executive Committee, and links to the broader network of Research Associates.
Support WIHS — Opportunities to support the Institute’s research, events, publications, and long-term scholarly initiatives.
The Hellenistic Age
The term “Hellenistic” traditionally refers to the period of history between the death of Alexander the Great (323 BCE) and the death of Cleopatra VII (30 BCE), although the upper and lower limits of the Hellenistic era are currently open to debate. The historical circumstances of the Mediterranean world and the Near East shifted dramatically as a result of the career of Alexander, whose military campaigns stretched from Greece to India. The resulting Greco-Macedonian diaspora and the highly increased interactions between Mediterranean and Near Eastern cultures had a major impact on millions of people.
Great cosmopolitan centres emerged, such as Alexandria in Egypt, and became important gathering points for intellectuals, scientists, poets, and artists. Philosophies that were to influence much of Western thought were developed, poetic forms and literary styles still in use today were created, and major scientific breakthroughs—from anatomy to engineering—were achieved. Artistic traditions first conceived in this period would go on to exert a lasting influence on the Italian Renaissance and beyond.
Derived from “Hellenic”, meaning “Greek” in the Greeks’ own language, the word “Hellenistic” was coined in the nineteenth century to describe societies that were ruled, occupied, or influenced by Greek or Macedonian settlers. From the outset, there existed a range of interpretations of what this influence entailed. Early scholarship tended to emphasize the role of Greeks as civilizers, bringing scientific knowledge, self-governance in cities, and Greek as a common language that could unite populations from the western Mediterranean to the Middle East.
However, concepts of one-sided acculturation were increasingly questioned in the second half of the twentieth century, as scholars began to recognize the cultural, political, and military roles of local populations of non-Greek or mixed descent. Today, Hellenistic societies are most often understood as multicultural, interconnected, and dynamic, shaped through interaction rather than imposed uniformity.
This earliest forerunner of globalization offers many lessons for our own era. The social, cultural, historical, and scientific developments of the Hellenistic Age profoundly influenced neighbouring cultures and later Mediterranean civilizations—Roman, Jewish, Christian, Byzantine, and Islamic—and through them have transmitted their influence into the contemporary world.
The Institute
The Waterloo Institute for Hellenistic Studies (WIHS) was established in 2010 as the first research centre in North America dedicated to the collaborative and interdisciplinary study of the Hellenistic Age. It grew out of a variety of existing scholarly networks and sought from the outset to function as an international hub for exchange and collaboration among scholars and students, initially concentrating on the United States and the United Kingdom, but soon inviting participation from dozens of countries throughout the world.
The diversity of territories, languages, and civilizations that fall under the umbrella of the Hellenistic kingdoms and city-states requires a wide range of language skills and methodological approaches, as well as a strong willingness to cooperate, so that major historical questions can be explored in depth. The Seleukid kingdom and Hellenistic queenship are two particularly prominent areas that are now much better known thanks to the several international workshops and publications sponsored by the Institute.
WIHS is based on the main campus of the University of Waterloo, where professors from Classical Studies, Philosophy, Religious Studies, and Medieval Studies form the Executive Committee. Its work is supported by external experts, currently including an archaeologist from Wilfrid Laurier University and a professor of Classical and Near Eastern Studies from Macquarie University, Sydney. The Institute aims to involve colleagues and students on campus and around the world, especially its more than 100 mostly international Research Associates.
The Institute was founded as a communal effort of the University of Waterloo’s Classical Studies Department with generous support from the Faculty of Arts, and its rapid growth would not have been possible without the sponsorship of several donors, most prominently NA Engineering Associates Inc.
The Waterloo Institute for Hellenistic Studies is an independent, internationally engaged research institute dedicated to advancing the study of the Hellenistic world through sustained collaboration, scholarly exchange, and public-facing research initiatives. While based at the University of Waterloo, WIHS operates as a global hub that connects scholars, students, and institutions across continents, disciplines, and methodological traditions. Through its conferences, workshops, publications, and research networks, the Institute fosters new conversations about power, culture, connectivity, and identity in the ancient Mediterranean and beyond. By combining academic rigor with openness to interdisciplinary and international perspectives, WIHS continues to play an active role in shaping contemporary scholarship on the Hellenistic age and its enduring historical significance.
Our Mission Statement
As the only institute for Hellenistic Studies in North America with a markedly interdisciplinary and collaborative focus, the mission of the Waterloo Institute for Hellenistic Studies is to function as a primary network centre in this field of scholarship. In particular, the Institute seeks to:
- Attract and promote young scholars pursuing cutting-edge research in a wide range of areas within Hellenistic studies.
- Host senior and junior colleagues as visiting fellows.
- Encourage research-related travel by graduate and undergraduate students through financial support.
- Host and sponsor conferences at Waterloo and elsewhere, especially those based on interdisciplinary and collaborative approaches.
- Disseminate knowledge by publishing conference proceedings in distinguished book series.
- Develop electronic databases and research resources in Hellenistic studies for the benefit of Research Associates and the wider scholarly community.
- Develop closer relations and project-specific collaborations with comparable international research centres, particularly in Europe.
- Support and promote individual and collective applications to granting agencies and foundations that foster collaborative, interdisciplinary, and innovative research projects.
- Promote a deeper understanding and appreciation of the Hellenistic Age through community-focused presentations, lectures, and programs.
