Organized by the Italian Cultural Center in Istanbul for the first time in Turkey this year, the History Lectures series will take place throughout the year under the title “The Borders of the World”. The Italian Cultural Center, which brought the highly acclaimed series prepared by Laterza, one of Italy’s most important publishing houses, to Turkey in cooperation with the Italian High School, hosts monthly talks on the borders drawn by humans throughout history with presentations by expert academics.
The second event of the series, which is open to everyone and free of charge, will take place on Thursday, March 7 at 19.00 at the Italian Cultural Center in Beyoğlu with the title “Rome and the East”. Giusto Traina, who teaches Roman History at Sorbonne University and Salento University, will discuss the borders of the Roman Empire’s expansion in the east, together with what these borders gained and lost for the empire.
The History Lectures series, organized for the first time in Turkey this year in cooperation with the Italian Cultural Center and the Italian High School, was prepared by Laterza, a publishing house known for its academic and scientific publications in Italy. Inspired by important books on history, law and humanism, the lecture series, which was met with great interest in Italy, now welcomes researchers, students and history enthusiasts of all ages in Istanbul.
Within the scope of the History Lectures series titled “The Limits of the World“, a lecture will take place every month except for the summer period between February 7 – December 11, 2024 in the Theater Hall of the Italian Cultural Center, located in the historic Casa d’Italia building in Beyoğlu. Expert academics from Turkey and Italy are invited to the talks on the borders drawn by people from Egypt to the Greek and Roman periods, from the Middle Ages to the modern era. Aiming to provide participants with a broad perspective on past events, personalities and civilizations, the series is based on contemporary historical analysis that aims to deepen understanding of history and reconnect with today’s world. Focusing on well-known figures in world and Italian history, such as Marco Polo, whose 700th death anniversary will be in 2024, the series mainly focuses on the different and unique ways in which the concept of borders has been historically and culturally rejected.
The second lecture of the series, which includes a total of eight lectures, will be delivered by leading Italian historian Giusto Traina on “Rome and the East” on Thursday, March 7, 2024 at 19.00. In his lecture, Traina will discuss the Emperor Trajan’s series of glorious conquests in the east in the early 2nd century AD; the Roman Empire’s borders, which reached the shores of the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf between 114 and 116 AD; and the forced retreat of the legions in 117 AD, thus wasting considerable economic and military effort.
All lectures are free of charge with simultaneous interpretation in Italian and Turkish, and registration for the History Lectures “The Limits of the World” is available on the website of the Italian Cultural Center in Istanbul.
