Biography

Sylvian Fachard (Ph.D. Lausanne) was Assistant Director of the Swiss School of Archaeology in Greece from 2002 to 2011 and a Fellow at the Center for Hellenic Studies (Harvard University) for the academic year 2011-2012. He specializes in the study of Greek fortifications and the territories of Greek poleis, promoting a landscape approach for the study of rural fortifications. His research interests include Greek archaeology, ancient Greek warfare, historical geography, landscape archaeology and GIS. He has directed numerous excavations and field surveys on Euboea (particularly in Eretria and in Amarynthos). He currently excavates and studies the fortifications of the Aspis in Argos, for the French School at Athens. His doctoral thesis (La défense du territoire d'Erétrie. Etude de la chôra et de ses fortifications) was published as volume XXI of the ERETRIA series. He co-edited (with P. Ducrey, D. Knoepfler et al.) the volume Eretria. Guide to the Ancient City (2004), and (with N. Kaltsas et al.), the catalogue of the exhibition Ερέτρια: ματιές σε μια αρχαία πόλη (2010) at the Athens National Archaeological Museum. Fachard is an associated researcher of the French School at Athens and a member of the Scientific network Fokus Fortifikation (DFG, Topoi, Freie Universität Berlin).

Fachard's research currently focuses on the borders of Attica, with emphasis on the regional, cultural and economic history of the borderland from the Archaic to the Roman period. The project includes a GIS-based study of Attica and a census of the ancient surfaces available for agriculture. More information on this project can be found on https://www.bordersofattica.org.