Project one:
Transforming Classical Sparta and influencing modern audiences
From antiquity to the present interpretations of classical Sparta have been infused with comparative perspectives. This long history of comparative appropriations has significantly distorted academic interpretations of Sparta.
This long-term project aims to develop more systematic and dispassionate comparative analyses of classical Sparta, informed by critical study of previous scholarly analogies and their political, intellectual and cultural contexts.
Our revision of standard views of Sparta towards a less exceptional, more civic-oriented, society has:
- transformed curricula, teaching and student learning on Sparta in HEIs worldwide
- • enriched teaching and inspired pupils’ educational ambitions in UK schools and FE colleges
- altered the modern Municipality of Sparti’s depiction of its ancient legacy and enhanced its cultural heritage policies
- helped the comics author Kieron Gillen respond to 300 with a more authentic depiction of Spartan-helot relations in his graphic novel Three
- enabled a US gun control activist to counteract Sparta’s appropriation by the pro-gun lobby.
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Project two:
Pavlopetri: Improving the public presentation, management and conservation of submerged cultural heritage
Research at the submerged town of Pavlopetri in Lakonia, southern Greece, has stimulated improved management and conservation of a key site of marine cultural heritage.
It helped to forge a new policy against uncontrolled industrialisation of the Vatika bay, reducing potential environmental damage, and has informed the development of national governmental policy on the protection and presentation of submerged sites in Greece.
Utilising pioneering technological advancements in underwater scanning and improved visualisation processes, the research also helped an offshore engineering company to improve its product development and changed the way archaeologists and the public visualise, interpret and understand marine cultural heritage.
Through an internationally successful documentary (viewed by approximately 15 million people) that used state-of-the-art CGI technology, public awareness and policy engagement with underwater archaeology (and the environmental issues related to its preservation) have been enhanced and, locally, Vatika and the Laconia region have seen increased tourism and transformed community involvement.
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