The ancient Greeks brought us many things, and although the toga might be the first thing that comes to some college students’ minds, Greek civilization was a forerunner of democracy, philosophy and medicine.

The East Tennessee Society of the Archaeological Institute of America will bring James C. Wright to campus tonight to present a lecture on “A Mycenaean Settlement and Its Cemeteries in the Nemea Valley, Greece.”

Wright is a professor at Bryn Mawr College and has been leading excavations in the Nemea Valley, Merle Langdon, research professor with the classics department, said.

Wright said he will discuss how methodology that allows new study of the tombs in the valley was developed and how the excavations help us to understand the inhabitants.

Wright will also talk about his role in helping to recover a stolen treasure of gold from some of the tombs to the West.

“It was on sale in New York City, and we reported it ... the Greek government sued, and the dealer eventually returned it,” Wright said.

The Nemea Valley was important, Wright said, because it held the sanctuary of Zeus, one of four great sanctuaries of Greece. According to Greek mythology, “it was the valley where Hercules slew the Nemean lion,” Wright said.

The excavations focus on the Mycenaean civilization of the Shaft Grave era, from roughly 1600 to 1400 B.C., Langdon said. According to David W. Tandy, head of the classics department, Wright has developed innovative analytical techniques in the study of burial patterns found there in the late Bronze Age.

Shaft graves in the area were filled with gold and silver objects, and Wright’s work will help reveal how that wealth was accumulated, Langdon said.

Study of the Mycenaeans helps to show aspects of Greek mythology and legend.

“They were the civilization of the Trojan War, King Minos, the labyrinth and the minotaur,” Tandy said.

The shaft graves were first discovered by Heinrich Schliemann, who also discovered ancient Troy. Schliemann believed that the graves were those of the heroes from the Trojan War because of all the gold in the tombs. Wright said, however, that the evidence he has found does not suggest that.

The University of Tennessee is digging in the area of Nemea and Mitrou in east Lokris, where UT is currently excavating under the leadership of Dr. Aleydis Van de Moortel, assistant professor of classics.