Mr Didier Viviers, Professor of Classical Archaeology at the Free University of Brussels (ULB) and President of the Royal Academy of Sciences, Letters, and Fine Arts of Belgium, was awarded the title of doctor honoris causa of the Department of History and Archaeology of the NKUA’s School of Philosophy, on Wednesday, 24 May 2023, at the Great Hall of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.
The Rector of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Professor Meletios-Athanasios C Dimopoulos, addressed the ceremony.
Mr Dimitrios Plantzos, Professor of Classical Archaeology at the Department of History and Archaeology of NKUA, presented the scholarly work and personality of the honouree.
Professor Aikaterini Nikolaou, Chair at the Department of History and Archaeology, read the Department’s Resolution, the Award, and the Honorary Diploma.
Next, Professor Achilleas Chaldaeakes, Dean of the NKUA’s School of Philosophy, invested the honouree with the gown of the School. The ceremony concluded with a speech by the honouree, Professor Didier Viviers, entitled ‘Apamea in Syria: Urban Development of a Centre of Hellenism in the East’.
Mr Viviers is a historian and archaeologist specializing in Classical Antiquity, particularly in the Early History of Ancient Greece. He chaired the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research (2011-2013) and was President of the Free University of Brussels (2010-2016). He directed archaeological excavations in Apamea, Syria, and began a systematic excavation at Itanus, Crete, in 2011. He teaches Classical Art and Archaeology at the Free University of Brussels and has supervised many PhDs in Classical Archaeology.
He has published extensively and is the author of monographs, edited volumes, and articles on Greek history, especially on the Early History of Crete and Hellenistic Apamea.
Also present at the ceremony were the Ambassador of Belgium to Greece, Ms Françoise Gustin, the Head of the Section of Archaeology and History of Art of the NKUA’s Department of History and Archaeology, Professor Yiannis Papadatos, the Professor of Classical Archaeology at the University of Oxford, Ms Irene Lemos, faculty members from the Department of History and Archaeology, University students, and numerous colleagues of the awardee.
