NEW YORK, NY – [Photos by ASCSA]
Katherine E. Fleming, CEO and President of the J. Paul Getty Trust and the Alexander S. Onassis Professor of Hellenic Culture and Civilization at New York University, delivered the second lecture in the 2025–2026 Thalia Potamianos Lecture Series on May 6, 2026. A leading scholar of the religious cultures of the Mediterranean, Fleming is the author of Greece, A Jewish History, which received both the National Jewish Book Award and the Runciman Prize.
Her lecture, titled “To Die Like a True Greek: Greeks and Jews Since World War II,” examined the relationship between Greek and Jewish communities in the modern era, with particular attention to questions of historical memory, identity, and the legacy of the twentieth century.
The lecture forms part of the series “These Two Points of Influence: Judaism, Hellenism, and Modern Greece,” presented by the Gennadius Library at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. The series explores the Greek and Jewish traditions, their intermingling, and their tensions, which together have often been described as foundational to the development of Western civilization. It considers the long and complex relationship between these traditions within the context of Greek history and their culmination in the modern Greek state.
In her remarks, Fleming addressed the longstanding presence of Jewish communities in Greece and examined how their history has been understood within the broader narrative of modern Greek identity. She also reflected on the ways in which the events of the twentieth century, particularly World War II, have shaped contemporary perspectives on cultural and historical continuity.
Maria Georgopoulou, Director of the Gennadius Library, stated, “Professor Fleming’s work reflects the depth and range of inquiry that defines this lecture series. Her scholarship offers an important framework for understanding the historical connections between Greek and Jewish traditions and their relevance to the modern world.”
Andreas Zombanakis, Chairman of the Gennadius Library’s Board of Overseers, added, “This lecture addresses a subject of enduring historical importance and exemplifies the purpose of the Potamianos Series, to bring rigorous scholarship into dialogue with a broad public audience.”
The Thalia Potamianos Lecture Series, inaugurated in 2020 through the support of Phokion Potamianos, an Overseer of the Gennadius Library who established the series in memory of his grandmother, brings distinguished scholars to present original research in a series of public lectures delivered annually in both the United States and Greece.
The May 6 lecture was offered free of charge and livestreamed to a global audience. The final lecture in the 2025–2026 series will be delivered in Athens on October 7, 2026
