PORTLAND, OR – The Hellenic-American Cultural Center and Museum of Oregon and SW Washington State presents a lecture by Dr. Effie Piliouni Albrecht on ‘How Athens Got Its Name’ on Friday, November 11, at St. Demetrios Hall, 3131 NE Glisan Street, in Portland, OR.

The event begins with a Champagne Social and Museum Tours at 6 PM and the presentation at 7 PM with a reception to follow. Admission is free.

“The city of Athens, Greece, has been inhabited continuously for 3,000 years, and I, a little speck in the course of human existence, was born ‘Under the Shadow of the Acropolis’, in downtown Athens,” said Dr. Effie Piliouni Albrecht.

“The goddess Athena, daughter of Dias (Zeus), was born not of a woman but out of her father’s head,” she continued. “She was revered for her wisdom and her military prowess and gave the city its name after she had gifted its inhabitants with the olive tree. In my talk, I will trace the history of Athens and make the connections between the capital of Greece and the relationship of the goddess with the city and its people.”

Dr. Piliouni Albrecht was born in Athens, Greece. She attended the Kapodistrian University of Athens, where she earned a degree in English literature and the Classics. She studied linguistics at Cambridge University, England, and French and German at the lnstitut Francais d’ Athenes and the Goethe lnstitut, respectively. She moved to the United States in 1981 and received a Master’s degree in Comparative Theater, and a PhD in Anglo-Saxon and Medieval British Literature at Auburn University, in Auburn, Alabama.

She taught at the same university for 25 years. The classes she taught were Writing, World Literature (due to her multi-cultural perspective and access to several languages), British and American Literature, and Women’s Studies. She retired seven years ago, and she is a full time artist (mosaics) and writer.

On Saturday, November 12, the Hellenic-American Cultural Center and Museum is hosting its Gather-Share-Preserve 15th anniversary celebration at the Fr. Elias Stephanopoulos Center, 2nd Floor, at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral, 3131 NE Glisan Street in Portland, beginning at 5 PM with a reception and Museum tours of the exhibition ‘In the Shadow of the Acropolis’ and dinner, live auction and Greek dancing at 6:30 PM. The event is black tie optional.

Tickets, tables, and sponsorship packages are available online: https://bit.ly/3h042tn.

More information is available by phone: 503-858-8567 or via email: [email protected].