The second event of the history lecture series took place at the Italian Cultural Center

The second event of the History Lectures series, organized for the first time in Turkey this year by the Istanbul Italian Cultural Center in collaboration with the Italian High School, took place on the evening of Thursday, March 7, at the Italian Cultural Center under the title “Rome and the East.”

The History Lectures series, titled 'The Borders of the World' and prepared by the Laterza publishing house, which is known for its academic and scientific publications in Italy, is being held in Turkey for the first time this year in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Center and the Italian High School.

Inspired by significant books on history, law, and humanism and met with great interest in Italy, the lecture series now hosts researchers, students, and history enthusiasts of all ages in Istanbul.

BASED ON CURRENT HISTORICAL ANALYSES

Every month, excluding the summer period, 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 give talks addressing the borders drawn by humans, ranging from Egypt to the Greek and Roman periods, and from the Middle Ages to the contemporary era.

Aiming to offer participants a broad perspective on past events, personalities, and civilizations, the series is based on current historical analyses that seek to understand history in depth and reconnect it with today's world.

Focusing also on well-known figures in world and Italian history, such as Marco Polo, whose 700th death anniversary is in 2024, the series primarily addresses the different and unique ways in which the concept of borders has been historically and culturally rejected.

DISCUSSED THE FUTILITY OF MILITARY EFFORT

The second talk of the series, which consists of a total of eight lectures, titled “Rome and the East,” was delivered by the prominent Italian historian Giusto Traina. In his speech on the evening of Thursday, March 7, 2024, Traina discussed a series of magnificent conquests carried out by Emperor Trajan in the East in the early 2nd century A.D.; the borders of the Roman Empire that reached the shores of the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf between 114-116; and the forced withdrawal of the legions in 117, which rendered the considerable economic and military effort expended in vain.

The History Lectures series will continue with the following titles: “Marco Polo and the Idea of New Borders in the Middle Ages” on April 3; “Francis Drake, A Pirate at the Other End of the World” on May 16; “The Ancient Egyptians and Life After Death” on September 19; “The Borders of the Solar System” on October 9; “The Cold War and the World in Blocks” on November 6; and “From Maps to the Web: The Fate of Borders” on December 11.