News

The study of the Seleukid dynasty and its multiethnic kingdom stretching from the Aegean over the Levant and Babylonia to the eastern Iranian territories has been one of the core initiatives of WIHS from its inception until Seleukid Study Days IV: Seleukid Royal Women (Montreal 2013, published 2016). The conference series continued until Seleukid Study Days VII: The Seleukid Army (Sopot, Poland, 2019, published as The Seleukids at War, 2024). When the COVID-19 pandemic slowed down international collaboration, the near-monthly Seleukid Lecture Series (2021-2025) kept the loosely-defined Seleukid Study Group together. We are pleased that the Seleukid Study Days are now being revived, with WIHS among its co-sponsors and Utrecht University as its local host.

The international workshop ‘Female Roles in Ancient Foundation Legends’ (Oct. 6, 2025) provided the ideal opportunity to introduce Dr. Eva Anagnostou-Laoutides, Professor of Classical Studies at Macquarie University, as the new member of the WIHS Executive Committee to a wider Waterloo audience. 

After a period of transition, the Waterloo Institute for Hellenistic Studies is ready to resume its active role in facilitating and stimulating collaborative and interdisciplinary research in Hellenistic studies. Appointed Director to the Institute by the Dean of Arts Dr. Alexie Tcheuyap in September, Dr. Altay Coskun (Professor and Associate Chair of Classical Studies) convened the new Executive Committee.

Please join us for the Power, Royal Agency, and Elite Women in the Hellenistic and Roman World Conference which will run from September 2021-June 2022.  

A call for abstracts for a “distributed conference” scheduled to run over the fall and winter of 2021/22, seeking to gather together individuals interested in the question of royal power in the ancient world. The current call – for papers on the subject of “Power, Royal Agency, and Elite Women in the Hellenistic and Roman World” – is the first in what we hope will be an ongoing series of events exploring the meaning and manifestations of royal power.

The Waterloo Institute for Hellenistic Studies, in association with the Hellenic Heritage Foundation, is pleased to announce a new lecture series, which will annually feature a distinguished international Greek scholar. The HHF-WIHS Hellenic Discoveries Lecture Series will deepen knowledge and foster pride and understanding about the importance of Greece and the role its leaders and peoples have played around the world.

On April 1, the Consul-General of Greece, Mr. Victor Maligoudis, and Prof. Christos Michalakelis, CEO of Study in Greece, met with Prof. Ian Rowlands of Waterloo International, Matthew Coleman and Riemer Faber of the Department of Classics and of the Institute for Hellenistic Studies to talk about advancing student experience in Greece, courses abroad, and academic networking with colleagues in Greece.

The University of Waterloo hosted the annual CAMWS conference this past April, which was a great success. On the second night of the conference, the WIHS sponsored a plenary lecture delivered by Prof. Peter Bing, entitled Playing with Time: Anachronism in Ancient Literature. A reception followed after the lecture.

The Director of the Waterloo Institute for Hellenistic Studies (Andrew Faulkner) together with two of our students Holly Patrick and Mac Wallace (pictured), attended the Window to Greece event hosted by the Greek Consulate General in Toronto on December 15, 2016. We were honoured to take part in this event at the invitation of the Consul General and to meet with the Greek Minister of Tourism Elena Kountoura! Thank you to the Consul General Alexandros Ioannidis!! At the event, a video about Holly’s study abroad experiences in Greece was shown.

The Director of the Waterloo Institute for Hellenistic Studies (Andrew Faulkner) and Director of Advancement of the Faculty of Arts (Kim Bardwell) attended the HHF Recognition Awards Dinner on Nov. 17, 2016 together with two of our students Holly Patrick and Matthew Coleman (pictured). We were proud to support Dr Savvas Chamberlain, distinguished Professor Emeritus of Waterloo, who received the HHF Lifetime Achievement Award (http://www.hhf.ca/recipients.php)!