Prof. Smith on ‘Aphrodite’s Isle’, Cranae, near Gythio.

On the summer solstice, Prof Amy Smith made her first visit to the island of Kythera, Aphrodite’s first ‘birthplace’ according to Hesiod. During this visit coincidentally Amy’s latest article, Aphrodite signified more than beauty, appeared in The Conversation. Amy’s visit to Kythera is part of the Summer Session of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, which she is co-directing, as Gertrude Smith Professor, with Prof Amelia Brown (University of Queensland). Amelia and Amy took their students to Kythera en route to Crete and on the return yesterday visited another ‘Isle’ sacred to Aphrodite, Cranae, now home to a Greek naval lighthouse, where in antiquity Helen & Paris are rumoured to have sojourned en route to Egypt.

Profs. Brown and Smith are keen to enthuse their students with the subjects of their own research, which coincidentally intersect on Aphrodite, but also the depth and breadth of physical information — sites and artefacts as well as geography — that evidence the history and archaeology of Greece. This 6-week programme also provides students a chance to learn from the many other archaeologists, curators, conservators and other experts working on site over the summer months.

Profs Brown & Smith with ASCSA Summer Session 2024 students at Mochlos, with its excavator Dr Giorgos Doudalas (UNC Greensboro)

You may find some of Prof. Smith’s other work on Aphrodite here:

• Brill’s Companion to Aphrodite
  (coedited with Sadie Pickup)
• History’s most famous pot
  (with Alexandra Villing)
• Aphrodite at Paphos in
  Modern Argonauts
  (with Katerina Volioti)