Greek scholar and travel expert to speak on Byzantium, Nov. 12
The National Press Club’s International Correspondents Committee will host a lecture on the history of Byzantium on Nov.12.
What is Byzantium? And why does Byzantine art continue to captivate us thousands of years later? Eleni Zachariou, co-founder of Vacances Travel and scholar of Ancient Greek History and Archaeology will discuss the origins of Byzantium, and an extraordinary new National Gallery of Art exhibit, "Heaven and Earth," that showcases the best of Byzantine art from collections around Greece.
The event will be from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., including a question-and-answer session. Attendance is free for members and $5 for non-members.
Zachariou has, for 25 years, organized and led study trips to Greece, Turkey, Italy, Israel and Jordan. She holds a masters degree in ancient Greek history and archaeology from the University of La Verne in California, and has studied in Athens, Geneva, New York and Boston. Her research focuses on classical Greece and Rome, Byzantine studies, Biblical studies and comparative religions.
For the past 18 years she has been working with Academic Travel Abroad, based in Washington D.C., and has organized study leader educational tours and cruises for the Smithsonian, National Geographic, Grinnell University, as well as specialized alumni trips, biblical tours and college students tours and seminars.
Zachariou speaks English, French, German and Spanish and lives with her husband, Themis, on the Greek island of Aegina.