Center for Hellenic Studies

The CHS is dedicated to the reassertion of the humanism of the ancient world, centering on Hellenic civilization in its widest sense. Today, it stands as a premier research facility, cultivating a repository of materials that attracts scholars, researchers, and students from all over the world. Located in Washington, DC, Harvard University’s Center for Hellenic Studies was founded by means of an endowment made “exclusively for the establishment of an educational center in the field of Hellenic Studies designed to rediscover the humanism of the Hellenic Greeks.” This humanistic vision remains the driving force of the Center for Hellenic Studies. A fitting metaphor for the mission of the Center (and the basis of our logo) is the lighthouse of Alexandria, the Pharos, as envisioned in the dream of Alexander the Great. The story of this vision, as retold in Plutarch’s Life of Alexander, was meant to become a permanent “charter myth” that captured the ideal of Alexandria-in-Egypt as the ultimate Greek city and—more basically—the ideal of Hellenic Civilization as a universalized concept of humanism, transcending distinctions between Europe and non-Europe. The Center tries to honor these ideals by bringing together a variety of research and teaching interests centering on Hellenic civilization in the widest sense of the term “Hellenic.” This concept encompasses the evolution of the Greek language and its culture as a central point of contact for all the different civilizations of the ancient Mediterranean world. Interaction with foreign cultures, including the diffusion of Roman influence, is an integral part of this concept. History of The Center for Hellenic Studies Harvard University’s Center for Hellenic Studies was founded in 1960. It was made possible by a grant of the Old Dominion Foundation, the predecessor of the Mellon Foundation. The land on which the Center was built was donated by Mrs. Marie Beale to the foundation, in memory of her son, Walker Blaine Beale, Harvard College class of 1918, who died in World War I. The gift was made “exclusively for the establishment of an educational center in the field of Hellenic Studies designed to rediscover the humanism of the Hellenic Greeks.” The Center’s administration was entrusted to Harvard University.