Ambassador Alexandra Papadopoulou awards Dr. Louis A. Ruprecht Jr. with the Order of the Phoenix. Photo: Consulate of Greece
Louis A. Ruprecht Jr. not only knows the Greek classics; he knows how to apply their timeless lessons to contemporary debates, dusting wisdom from near the Acropolis and injecting it into today’s public square.
For his work in bringing these ancient ideas to modern scholars through the Georgia State University Center for Hellenic Studies, Dr. Ruprecht was awarded the Greek Order of Merit, the Golden Cross of the Order of the Phoenix.
The Greek President announced the honor during a series of awards marking Greece’s bicentenary of independence in 2021, but the in-person ceremony in Athens has been postponed by the pandemic.
Ambassador Alexandra Papadopoulou visited Atlanta to meet Dr. Ruprecht to finally present the cross on March 6th in the Metro Atlanta Chamber. The Order of Merit is awarded to Greeks who embody the values of the country or to non-Greeks who make a significant contribution to the advancement of Greek culture, art or language.
“It’s a challenge, especially in today’s world, to get people to understand how important the classics are and how they affect our lives and how they can be used to interpret the challenges of our lives,” Ms. Papadopoulou said during of a conducted interview, ironically, in the chamber’s Phoenix Room, a light-filled conference area near the executive offices.
The essential nature of ethics, she said, has only amplified with advances in technology and the emergence of new tools like artificial intelligence.
“Sometimes we tend to think that today’s challenges are unique today, but they keep recurring. It’s what it means to be human, that fragility or the fact that human nature is finite,” added the ambassador.
dr Ruprecht, who has led the center since 2012, said that while Hellenic Studies includes a fair bit of archeology and antiquarian literature, it brings the messages of these finds to life in modern times, reinterpreting them in new contexts that now animate his work.
“I’m really touched by that and touched by the fact that the Ambassador would come,” he told Global Atlanta before accepting the award that evening. “Most of my work is designed to show contemporary implications of the classics or how classic tropes were adapted during the modern era.”
Democracy will be addressed later in the evening, but topics such as psychology, sexuality, art and faith are also omnipresent in the center’s work.
dr Ruprecht, who also holds the WM Suttles Chair in Religious Studies at GSU, says the Hellenic Center has had many successes over the years, but perhaps none as impactful as being selected to host the Biennale Society for Neo-Greek Studies Conference attended by 150 scholars and hundreds of panels and lectures, which were well attended by Atlanta’s Greek community.
“The (Michael C.) Carlos family doubled our endowment after that, which put us on the map and put us on the map of modern Greek studies, so that was pretty big,” said Dr. Rupert.
Watch A Decade of Growth and Transformation
a lyrical reflection of the Hellenic Center on its 10-year activity:
Ambassador: Greece lives its values in the Ukraine war
In the interview, Ms. Papadopoulou said that the symbol of Greece is the phoenix because it has been able to reinvent itself over the millennia, as well as recently through the trials of the euro crisis a decade and COVID-19 that devastated the tourism sector. (Atlanta is also known by the mythical bird because it rose from the ashes of the American Civil War.)
One area where Greece may have exceeded expectations is its strong condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and coordination with NATO allies to counter it, she said.
While some, including Russia, might have expected that close cultural and religious ties by the Orthodox Church would preclude a decisive response, Ms Papadopoulou said Greece must stay true to its values as a European democracy.
“You expected that kind of reaction from Poland or the Baltics, but never from Greece. But for us it was very easy. It was about the principle,” she says.
That view is also influenced by modern views of international law, as is Greece’s 3,000-year history of being the subject of invasions, she said.
“You may have many disagreements with your neighbors, you may have so many complaints about whatever, but invading a country is a red, red, red line,” she said. “Using violence and to solve your problems or find answers to your problems – that is against any rule of law that we can think of. So we had to live by what we preach. And for us, in the Ukrainian case, the choice was obvious, easy and quick.”
The US partnership
Ms Papadopoulou, arriving in Washington amid the 2020 pandemic, has seen evidence of the “unbreakable bond” referred to by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in a speech last May during a joint session of Congress.
“It’s a very strong partnership. It’s not transactional; it’s based on values,” the ambassador said, noting that the relationship had its rough patches but she realized “if it’s based on values, it will stand the test of time.”
During her trip to Atlanta, the Ambassador met with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, addressed the state legislature and presented lectures at the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at Georgia Tech.
Theodoros Dimopoulos, Greek Consul in Atlanta, hosted their visit.
