“Drinking Wine in Ancient Greece & Persia” with UCSB History Professor John W.I. Lee
Best Bet
Lecture/Discussion/Panel/Talk/Q&A/Seminar
Wine
Bellosguardo Foundation (Clark Estate)
**Events may have been canceled or postponed. Please contact the venue to confirm the event.
Date & Time
Sat, Sep 19 5:30 PM - 8:30 PM
Address (map)
1407 E Cabrillo Blvd, Santa Barbara, CA 93108
Venue (website)
Bellosguardo Foundation (Clark Estate)
Drinking Wine in Ancient Greece & Persia with UCSB History Professor John W.I. Lee
Saturday, September 19th, 2026
5:30 PM Doors | 6:30 PM Lecture
Tickets Required – click here to purchase tickets
The UCSB Affiliates are proud to partner with the historic Bellosguardo Estate and Margerum Wine Company on Saturday, September 19th for Drinking Wine in Ancient Greece and Persia. This exclusive evening features a fascinating lecture by UCSB History Professor John W.I. Lee exploring ancient wine-drinking cultures, remarks by winemaker Doug Margerum, self-guided estate tours, wine, and light hors d’oeuvres.
Wine was much more than a drink in the ancient world, it was part of social life, celebration, diplomacy, and cultural exchange. Professor Lee will take us from the city-states of ancient Greece to the Achaemenid Persian Empire, drawing on ancient literature, cuneiform documents, art, and archaeology to reveal how Greeks and Persians drank, gathered, and connected over wine.
About Professor Lee
John W.I. Lee is a Professor of History at UC Santa Barbara. His research and teaching focuses on the histories of Achaemenid Persia (550-330 BC) and Classical Greece, on African American classical education and scholarship, and on the history of warfare. Professor Lee grew up in Asia, where his father served as a U.S. diplomat, and in Hawai’i. He received his BA in History from the University of Washington (Seattle) and his PhD in History from Cornell University before coming to UCSB as an assistant professor in 2000. He has lived in Greece, worked on excavations at Corinth and other ancient Greek sites, and led archaeological travel-study groups in Greece and Turkey. He is a member of the Managing Committee of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, the first U.S. overseas research center.
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