Greece is mourning the death of Eleni Glykatzi-Arveler, the distinguished historian who became one of the most influential international voices on Byzantium and a prominent advocate for the return of the Parthenon Sculptures. She died at 99 after her health deteriorated in recent days.
Born in Athens to Asia Minor refugee parents, Glykatzi-Arveler studied History and Archaeology at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens before moving to Paris in 1953 to continue her studies. Within little more than a decade, she had risen through the ranks of French academia. In 1967, she became the first woman to chair the History department at the Sorbonne, and in 1976, the first woman Rector in the university's 700-year history, as well as the first woman worldwide to lead an internationally recognised university of such stature.
Her academic work, notably her landmark study Byzance et la mer, helped reposition Byzantium at the centre of European historical consciousness. She spoke passionately about Alexander the Great, insisting until the end of her life that he was buried in Vergina. As she once declared, "I now have many arguments that make me convinced that Alexander the Great is buried in the great royal tomb of Vergina... and I believe I will be vindicated, but after my death."
Glykatzi-Arveler was equally outspoken on the Parthenon Sculptures. In a 2021 interview, she argued, "Elgin never received a firman," describing the removal of the marbles as "a scam, not to say anything worse." She maintained that their return was a matter of "Culture and Justice," adding that "sooner or later, will bring the Sculptures to Athens, to the Acropolis Museum." For her, homeland transcended geography. "Homeland is emotion," she said, defining it as shared memory and collective feeling.
Glykatzi-Arveler remained active in public debate on identity, education and geopolitics well into her later years. Her life bridged Athens and Paris, East and West, scholarship and public engagement, and left an enduring mark on Greece’s historical imagination and the wider European intellectual landscape.
