On the Occasion of Receiving the “Aristeia Award for Distinguished Alumni/ae”

Daniel B. Levine. Athens, June 11, 2024.

Thank you. Ευχαριστώ. I gratefully acknowledge your praises and plaudits, and am delighted to accept this award here in Athens, at the School which has given so much to so many of us. The Alumni/ae Association and the School that it supports are like family to me.

I’m particularly pleased to be able to share this occasion with Members of the American School of Classical Studies 2024 Summer Session, along with Amelia Brown and Amy Smith, their μεγάθυμοι (great-hearted) Directors, each of whom is in her own way δῖα γυναικῶν (divine of women). With these two in charge, you are in for a magnificent adventure.

I first walked through these doors fifty years ago as a Summer Session member, and since then have participated as Director of five of the School’s summer programs; that’s six programs in six decades.

All Summer Session Directors keep detailed logbooks of their group’s activities. These documents become part of the School Archives. Several years ago, my wife Judith scanned about 70 years’ worth of these records to help me research the history of the Summer Sessions. These documents bring alive the essence of the Summer Session experiences: the good, the bad, and the ugly. They are full of truth.

Each of you has gotten site report assignments, right? … This exercise is one of the most vital aspects of our Summer Sessions. They make us learn things; they make us nervous; they make us better. I want to talk about that.

In 1974, when I was an undergraduate, like you, I received two site report assignments, based on my interests at the time; I eagerly embraced the challenge and read all I could to prepare my presentations. I did not know at the time that the summer session Directors in those days commented in their logbooks about the quality of the Members’ reports.

And I’m glad I didn’t know that. I’m grateful that our Summer Session Director that year, Fordyce W. Mitchel, did not tell me at the time how lacking my presentations actually were. With a tolerant smile and an encouraging attitude he let me excitedly run on about my topics. He didn’t tell me I wasn’t perfect. Thank God. It would have done no good to tell me that my talks were less than great.

In fact, letting Members make mistakes — and go on — is one of the most important things about the summer sessions. My advice to Summer Session Members — and to Directors – is as follows: Be open to appreciating everything, even things outside your specialty. Be positive and supportive; we are not perfect; we are here to learn and to appreciate all aspects and periods of this country’s history and material remains. The Summer Sessions help to ignite a life-long passion for Hellenic Studies. We should value each other’s enthusiasm as we share the world of scholarship and Philhellenism. Our job is not to compete with one another; we come here to complement one another, in the basic meaning of the word: to work with one another to fulfill our mission of expanding knowledge.

Well. Several decades after being a Summer Session Member, I read the notes that my Director had written about the program and about my imperfect site reports. (pause) It was a humbling experience. I’m glad that I already had a PhD and a job by that time.

On July 2, 1974, in his beautiful longhand script, Fordyce W. Mitchel wrote that at Mycenae the eminent archaeologist George Mylonas himself had spoken to our group for two hours and 30 minutes on the site; Mitch said that this presentation was “magnificent in every way.”

Then it was my turn to give my Mycenae site report. It was not “magnificent” in any way. Mitch wrote (p. 7):

From 11:30 to 12:30 we wrestled with Mr. Levine’s report (poor) and the tourists. Admittedly, Levine was working under handicaps, but his report was a hodgepodge of conflicting views on trivial points.

On our next site visit – at Nemea — Mitch reported that the excavator Stephen Miller gave “a fascinating account” of the dig and showed us finds in the workroom. Mitch used an exclamation point when he summed up the Nemea visit as “a smashing success!”

Bottom Line: young Daniel Levine’s report at Mycenae as reviewed 50 years later appears as a dark blot between the blazingly brilliant presentations of two real scholars. His report was neither “fascinating” nor “smashing.” Not that young Daniel noticed; he was in love with everything in Greece, and nobody rained on his parade. Thank God. And after all, who should compare a wet-behind-the-ears pipsqueak like me to the shining stars in the archaeological firmament?

26 days later, on 29 July, Mitch described our visit to the Mycenaean site of Gla in Boeotia, where I had just presented my second site report (p. 28):

Mr. Levine’s report: VG (very good) from beginning (esp. when he was just finding bldgs., column bases, etc..,

Assembly at Palace 9:30 to finish report which then became tiresome in endless speculation. Lv. Gla 10:30.

Thankfully, I was oblivious to his opinion; I was full of adrenaline about the fantastic experience that I had just had. I had been to Gla! And in the great scheme of things, my report performance was irrelevant. We were having the trip of our lives. We were changing; we were becoming different people, and better people — by the hour. So don’t worry about your report performance. Do your best; learn from your mistakes; go forward. And as paradoxical as it sounds during this heat wave, “Don’t sweat it.”

[This paragraph was not included in oral presentation] That 1974 logbook also included a fact that I had forgotten. The next day (July 30), Mitch wrote (p. 30) that our group raced in the stadium at Delphi, where my friend Rich Enos won both of the stade races and that “Mr. Levine was second both times.” Yay me. Rich was the longest-legged Member of the group, and a graduate student. He also won the race in the stadium at Olympia. To me he was practically a god. He is still my friend.

My point is this: We come to Greece to soak up all that it has to offer. We have different levels of ability and background. This experience will shape us for good, and we all should encourage one another to make the most of it. There is no room for snobbery or one-upmanship here. Look around you. Look at your fellow Summer Session Members. Some know more than you do. Some know less. Who cares? Many of these people will probably end up being your friends for life, your future colleagues, your sources of strength, the keepers of your memories. Treasure them; treasure your experiences, both the positive and the not-so-positive ones. Always et your optimism shine through.

And remember two things: Greece is your teacher, and the School is your home. Both will give you more than you can imagine today. This summer’s trip is just the beginning. Make this a great beginning — for yourself and your fellow Members. The end will be good. Be kind to the staff and learn some modern Greek!

I finally finish this talk by paraphrasing the end of Constantine P. Cavafy’s poem Ithaki, copies of which in Greek and in English translation are here for you to have. I urge you to read this poem several times, especially on the last day of your program, when it will likely mean more to you than it does now.

[Reads in Greek and English the last 13 lines of Ithaki]

And here is my version for you:

Keep Greece and the School always in your mind,

Arriving here is what you’re destined for.

But don’t hurry the journey at all.

Better if it lasts for years,

so you’re old by the time you reach the end,

wealthy with all you’ve gained on the way,

not expecting either to make you rich.

They gave you the marvelous journey.

Without them you wouldn’t have set out.

I wish you a rich series of experiences this summer… as you embrace and are embraced by this country and this School.