Marios Philippides

Marios Philippides retired from the University in May 2017 after a very distinguished career as a teacher and researcher in the Department of Classics at UMass Amherst, which he joined in 1978. He has degrees in Classics from Queens College (B.A. 1972) and SUNY at Buffalo (M.A. 1976, Ph.D. 1978). He has published numerous articles on ancient religion, on archaeology, and on late Byzantine historiography. His main focus has been the fall of Constantinople (1453), the annexation of the Balkans, and the conquest of the Franco-Byzantine Levant to the Ottoman Turks. Prof. Philippides has published a number of books, including his monumental 2011 study, The Siege and the Fall of Constantinople in 1453: Historiography, Topography, and Military Studies. Coauthored with Walter Hanak, this book’s 11 chapters not only offer comprehensive analysis of the primary sources concerning this famous historical event but also subject the scholarly literature devoted to this topic over the last century and a half to searching scrutiny. Other key avenues of Prof. Philippides’s scholarly inquiry have included ancient religion, archaeology, and late-Byzantine historiography. His numerous books and articles have ranged in topic from the ancient Greek novelist Longus to Mycenaean frescoes, and from the reception of ancient Troy in Renaissance Istanbul to detailed analysis of accounts of the city left by chroniclers of the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries.

Generations of UMass Amherst students discovered and developed an interest in the ancient world after enrolling in Prof. Philippides’s large lecture courses on Greek civilization and Greek mythology. Students will remember him for the genuine passion for the subject that he brought to every lecture, as well as for his commanding presence, sardonic wit, and sartorial flair (the Russian fur cap with ear flaps was a perennial favorite).

Not just a Byzantine scholar but a Renaissance man, Prof. Philippides is an expert scuba diver, an accomplished harpsichordist, and a devoted dog owner.