Helene Glykatzi-Ahrweiler
FBA (; el, Ελένη Γλύκατζη-Αρβελέρ; born 29 August 1926) is a Greek-French academic
Byzantinologist. She is also a
UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador
UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador is an official postnominal honorific title, title of authority, legal status and job description assigned to those goodwill ambassadors and advocates who are designated by the United Nations. The United Nations Intern ...
for Greece. In the 2008 show ''
Great Greeks
''Great Greeks'' ( el, Μεγάλοι Έλληνες, ''Megali Ellines'') is a television program, produced and broadcast by the Greek television network Skai TV, based on the BBC's equivalent show ''100 Greatest Britons''. The show features lis ...
'', she was named amongst the 100 greatest Greeks of all time.
Biography
She was born in
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
in 1926, to a family of
refugees
A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution. from
Asia Minor
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
. She graduated from high school in Athens, and studied "History and Archaeology" in the School of Philosophy in the
University of Athens
The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; el, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών, ''Ethnikó ke Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the Univers ...
. After working in the Center for Asia Minor Studies, she moved to
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
in 1953 to continue her studies in the ''
École pratique des hautes études
The École pratique des hautes études (), abbreviated EPHE, is a Grand Établissement in Paris, France. It is highly selective, and counted among France's most prestigious research and higher education institutions. It is a constituent college o ...
'' where she obtained her doctorates in History and Classics. In 1955, she started working as a researcher in the
French National Centre for Scientific Research
The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe.
In 2016, it employed 31,637 ...
(CNRS), and on 7 November 1958, she married the French Army officer
Jacques Ahrweiler. In 1960, she completed her PhD in History from the University of Sorbonne. In 1964, she became the director of CNRS, and two years later, in 1966, she completed her second PhD in Philology. She has been a professor at the Sorbonne, Faculty of Arts in Paris, since 1967.
Helene Glykatzi-Ahrweiler by becoming Deputy Principal between 1970-1973 and Principal of the
University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
between 1976 and 1981, she did not only became the first woman to hold this post in the 700-year history of Sorbonne but, most importantly, became the first woman in the world to hold the post of a Principal in a world-renowned University. In 1982, French President
François Mitterrand
François Marie Adrien Maurice Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was President of France, serving under that position from 1981 to 1995, the longest time in office in the history of France. As First Secretary of the Socialist Party, he ...
named her as Rector of the Academy of Paris and Chancellor of the
Universities of Paris, a post she held until 1989. From February 1989 to August 1991, she was president of the
Centre Georges Pompidou
The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...
. She is also the Principal at the University of Europe in Paris, President of the Ethics Committee of the National Centre of Scientific Research in France, President of the
European Cultural Centre of Delphi
The European Cultural Centre of Delphi (ECCD) was founded in 1977 upon the inspiration and initiative of Konstantinos Karamanlis with the view of setting up a European and intellectual centre in Delphi.
The first thoughts and discussions started ...
in Greece and Honorary President of the International Committee of Byzantine Studies. French president Jacques Chirac offered her the Medal of the Battalion Commander of the Legion of Honor (one of the highest awards of the French Republic), thus honoring her scientific work and directorship in various French universities as well as at the Cultural Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.
Throughout her academic career, she also became an Honorary Doctor of various universities in the world, including the ones of London, Belgrade, New York, Nouveau Brunswick, Lima, American University of Paris, Harvard and Haifa. She is also a member of various Academies in Europe as shown in the next section. In 2007, she received the title of Honorary Doctor of the Media Studies Department of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
[
In 2008 she was named amongst the 100 greatest Greeks of all time.
]
Honours
She is a corresponding member of the British Academy
The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences.
It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...
, the Academy of Athens, the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities
The Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (german: Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften), abbreviated BBAW, is the official academic society for the natural sciences and humanities for the States of Germany, German ...
, the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
The Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (abbreviated BAS; bg, Българска академия на науките, ''Balgarska akademiya na naukite'', abbreviated ''БАН'') is the National Academy of Bulgaria, established in 1869.
The Academy ...
, and an associated member of the Royal Academy of Belgium
The Royal Academies for Science and the Arts of Belgium (RASAB) is a non-governmental association which promotes and organises science and the arts in Belgium by coordinating the national and international activities of its constituent academies su ...
. She holds a number of honorary doctorates, and has received numerous decorations from the French government:
* Commander of the ''Légion d'honneur
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
''
* Commander of the ''Ordre national du Mérite
The Ordre national du Mérite (; en, National Order of Merit) is a French order of merit with membership awarded by the President of the French Republic, founded on 3 December 1963 by President Charles de Gaulle. The reason for the order's esta ...
''
* Commander of the ''Ordre des Palmes académiques
A suite, in Western classical music and jazz, is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral/concert band pieces. It originated in the late 14th century as a pairing of dance tunes and grew in scope to comprise up to five dances, sometimes with ...
''
* Commander of the ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and Letters) is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is ...
''
Some of the titles she has received include: Brigadier of the Legion of Honor in Greece, Golden Cross of the Legion and Brigade of Honor, Golden Cross of the National Brigade of Values, Brigadier of Arts and Education, Golden Cross of the Brigade of the Academic Phoenix, Citizen Medal (France), Highest Brigadier (Mexico), Brigadier of the Brigade of Eagle (Iceland), Brigadier of the National Brigade (Luxemburg), Higher Brigadier of the Brigade of Values (Austria), Brigadier of the Royal Brigade Dannerog (Denmark), Brigadier of Science, Education and Art (Portugal), Brigadier of the Brigade of Values (Italy), honorary medal of the Polish Science Academy and Member of the Order of the International Olympic Committee.
Publications
* ''Byzance et la mer'', 1966
* ''Études sur les structures administratives et sociales de Byzance'', 1971
* ''L'Idéologie politique de l'empire byzantin'', 1975
* ''Byzance : les pays et les territoires'', 1976
* ''The Making of Europe'', 1999
* ''Les Européens'', 2000
* ''Le Roman d'Athènes'', 2004
References
External Links
Sources
Short Biography at ''Strabon.org''
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ahrweiler, Helene
1926 births
Commandeurs of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques
Fellows of the British Academy
Greek Byzantinists
Greek emigrants to France
Living people
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens alumni
Writers from Athens
Recipients of the Olympic Order
UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors
University of Paris faculty
Members of the German Academy of Sciences at Berlin
East German women
Corresponding Fellows of the British Academy
Scholars of Byzantine history
Women Byzantinists
Women medievalists
Corresponding Members of the Academy of Athens (modern)
Research directors of the French National Centre for Scientific Research