Greek historian Eleni Glykatzi-Ahrweiler, an emblematic figure of Greek and European intellectual life, has died at 99, leaving behind a vast scholarly legacy that reshaped the study of Byzantium and its place in European history.

Born in Athens in 1926 to Asia Minor parents, she studied history at the University of Athens and later in Paris. There she met her husband, Jacques Ahrweiler (1918–2010), an officer in the French Navy, with whom she had a daughter, Marie-Helene.

For Ahrweiler, Byzantium was not merely a field of study but a living laboratory of political thought, social organization and cultural continuity. Her work redefined the Byzantine world’s role in European historical and cultural consciousness.

In 1967, she became a professor at the Sorbonne and, in 1976, the first woman in seven centuries to assume its highest administrative offices, serving as department chair, university president and rector.

Active in international organizations and cultural institutions – from the Center Georges Pompidou to UNESCO and the European Cultural Center of Delphi – she linked historical scholarship with contemporary cultural debate.

In her book, “From Me, These…” she reflected on memory, history and the present, criticizing what she called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s “unhistorical absurdities.”

“If I had the ability to remove one defect of the Greek,” she said, “it would be the ‘ego.’” On the Parthenon Marbles, she argued that Lord Elgin “never received a firman” from Sultan Selim III and called the removal “a swindle.” “One day the marbles will return to Greece,” she said. “I hope to live to see it.”

Greek President Konstantinos Tasoulas paid tribute saying she “illuminated the timeless facet of Greekness through her work and, at the same time, stood out for her authentic Greek character.” “She was a role model for women scientists, and for every young person dreaming of reaching the summit,” he stressed.

Source: Ekathimerini.com