Course unit at TU Darmstadt taught by Hendrik Stanway

Hendrik W. Stanway was invited to teach a course session at the Technical University of Darmstadt on June 17, 2026. His planned presentation, titled “Ägäis, Abwehr, Artemision: See- und Landstrategien des dritten Perserzuges 480/79 v. Chr.” was intended to provide not only an overview of the natural environment and the civil and military transportation geography of the Aegean Sea but also, in particular, to explore the opportunities and challenges posed by this sea and its adjacent coastal regions. The so-called “Operation Marita,” carried out by the German Wehrmacht in 1941 to conquer Greece, was intended to serve as a point of comparison to the ancient event mentioned in the title and, at the same time, to illustrate how the region’s geography has had a lasting influence on the conquest of Greece by force over the millennia. Unfortunately, however, major disruptions in public transportation prevented the speaker from attending at the last minute, so the course instructor, Prof. Dr. Susanne Froehlich, presented the findings on his behalf. Positive feedback suggests that the material succeeded in sparking new lines of thought.