Hillsdale College Professor Awarded 2022 Themistocles Award
History Professor Paul A. Rahe awarded at ceremony in Athens, Greece
HILLSDALE, Mich. — The Department of International and European Studies of the University of Piraeus presented the 2022 Themistocles Award to Paul A. Rahe, Hillsdale College professor of history and Charles O. Lee and Louise K. Lee Chair in the Western Heritage, at a ceremony in Athens, Greece, on April 11.
Rahe, the author of “The Spartan Regime: Its Character, Origins, and Grand Strategy” and “The Grand Strategy of Classical Sparta: The Persian Challenge,” among many other works, spoke on “Themistocles after Salamis,” discussing Thucydides’ take on the ancient Greek statesmen who persuaded the Athenian people to initiate a reorganization of their society that would lead to their success against the Persians.
“I am standing in a place that would not exist if not for Themistocles,” said Rahe. “Themistocles knew who Athens’ real enemy would be in the future. Moreover, he was called ‘the Athenian Odysseus’ for a reason; he always had a trick up his sleeve.”
Dimitris Avramopoulos, former minister of foreign affairs of Greece and the first recipient of the Themistocles Award in 2017, discussed statesmanship and introduced Rahe as an “eminent political theorist, celebrated grand strategist, and important public intellectual — a genuine historian.”
Find a video of the ceremony including Rahe’s talk here. Rahe’s Hillsdale College free online course, “Athens and Sparta,” which he teaches with author Victor Davis Hanson, can be found here.
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