Hi there. You're listening to the Hellenistic Age podcast.

Interview episode on Hellenistic Federalism with Dr. Elk Close. Hello everyone.

Today I have with me Dr. Elka Close, an independent researcher and creator of the Hellenistic

history blog.

A PhD graduate from the University of Edinburgh, Dr. Close's research is focused on the emergence and

role of the Achaean League in the Hellenistic period, one of the important political bodies

of mainland Greece during the time. And today, she has joined us to discuss her work and clear

up the sometimes complicated nature of Greek federalism. Thanks again for taking the time to come on and talk to on the show, Dr. Close.

You're very welcome. I'm very happy to be here. Now, as I always like to ask, could you tell us a bit

more about your background and the path that led you down the Hellenistic rabbit hole?

For sure. It's a very, very similar process that I think a lot of people have gone through.

So I studied Greek and Latin in high school and I was so fascinated by it because I had a very

good teacher and we did a very memorable trip to Greece about 15 years ago now.

And I then went on to study history with the focus of Indian history.

I then got the chance to go

on Erasmus degrees and I took it. And in Greece, I had the, I had just set a few courses in Greek

about the Hellenic period. And of course, as a good Erasmus students, you don't have to do any

exams. I just had to write papers in English. And quite a few of those happen to be about the

Hellenusk period. I didn't know much about it, so I started researching and it was quite interesting

because it was unknown. There was a lot of fighting and a lot of people dying and a lot of intrigue

and Rome came into play. And after I returned home to Belgium, I did my MA in industry and I also did my thesis on the

Roman relations with Greece and the Roman Congress. I enjoyed it so much that I decided to apply

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