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When the Acropolis and Athens Were Burned by the Persians

March 18, 2024

persian destruction athens acropolis burned — The Parthenon was built decades after the Persian destruction of Athens and the Acropolis. Credit: Gary Bembridge/Wikimedia Commons/CC-BY-2.0

In 480 BC, Persian forces led by King Xerxes I burned down the city of Athens, as well as the Acropolis, in what is called “the Persian Destruction of Athens.”

The destruction of the great city took place during the Persian Wars, a series of conflicts which began in 499 BC and lasted until 449 BC.

Amidst the clashes during the fifty-year war, there was an interbellum period from 490 to 480 during which both sides accumulated forces and began plotting their next moves.

One of the key battles which took place after this interbellum period was the famed Battle of Thermopylae in which the vastly outnumbered Spartan forces fought and eventually fell to the massive Persian army in the summer of 480 BC.

After defeating the Spartans at Thermopylae, Xerxes and his army had a clear path to invading Attica by way of Boeotia.

Sensing the coming invasion, Athenian citizens were evacuated to the nearby island of Salamis, which is located just off the coast of the city in the Saronic Gulf.

Acropolis home to archaic temples, sculptures before the Persians burned Athens

When the Persians entered Athens, they were instructed to burn and destroy the city, which included all of the archaic structures on the Acropolis.

As the ancient Greek historian Herodotus described, some Athenians decided to stay behind in the city, hoping to protect their sacred temples, and were killed.

“Those Persians who had come up first betook themselves to the gates, which they opened, and slew the suppliants,” said Herodotus, “and when they had laid all the Athenians low, they plundered the temple and burnt the whole of the acropolis.”

At the time of the invasion, the Acropolis was home to two magnificent temples, the Hecatompedon, named for its massive size of one hundred feet in length (its feet were called “podes”), and a smaller ancient temple dedicated to Athena Polias.

The Hecatompedon, which stood in the same place where the Parthenon stands today, was built out of limestone around 550 BC.

It was adorned with pediment sculptures that featured lions eating a bull, Hercules slaying the Triton, a mysterious three-bodied, three-headed creature whose identity still inspires controversy amongst art historians and archaeologists to this day. The surviving fragments of these sculptures are housed in the Acropolis Museum in Athens.

The smaller temple was built alongside the Hecatompedon around 520 BC, and its pedimentary sculptures depicted the “Gigantomachy,” or the battle between the giants and the Olympian gods.

While scholars know about the existence of these structures and their sculptural elements due both to descriptions of the sites before the invasion in ancient sources, they also owe much to the ancient Athenians themselves.

When they returned to their city after it was pillaged, the Athenians first went to the Acropolis, the holiest site in the city, to help preserve what remained of the holy temples.

What they found there was complete destruction. The invading forces had burned, looted, and vandalized the temples.

In a religious ceremony, the Athenians dug out deep holes on the Acropolis and filled them with whatever survived the Persian invasion, namely whatever was considered desecrated—thus allowing archaeologists to uncover these remnants centuries later.

The first person to excavate these buried masterpieces was French archaeologist Charles Ernest Beule, who worked on the site from 1863 to 1866.

athens acropolis burned persian destruction — The Calf Bearer and other ancient masterpieces that miraculously survived the Persian destruction of Athens when the Acropolis was burned. Credit: Public Domain

Archaeologists uncovered treasures in pits dug after Acropolis and Athens burned during Persian invasion

Greek archaeologist Panagiotis Kavvadias, with the assistance of architects Wilhelm Dörpfeld and Georg Kawerau, discovered some of the most famous archaic and early classical Greek sculptures in history—the Kritios Boy, the Calf Bearer, and the Angelitos Athena—amongst the items buried on the Acropolis during excavations conducted from 1885 to 1890.

German archaeologists also uncovered countless masterpieces in these incredible holes filled with ancient artifacts. The finds were so abundant that the Germans coined all the sculptures, architectural fragments, and other objects found on the Acropolis “Perserschutt,” or “Persian debris.”

Archaeologists were able to determine that the artifacts found in the holes were likely placed there in the wake of the Persian destruction of the city, as there were clear signs that they had been burned and struck forcefully.

In addition to destroying and damaging countless sculptures, the Persian forces also took some masterworks back with them. Xerxes himself is said to have taken back a bronze sculpture of the “Tyrant Slayers,” Harmodius and Aristogeiton, and displayed it in the city of Susa.

When Alexander the Great invaded the city two hundred years later, he was able to bring back the bronze statue to Greece.

After the city was burned, the Persian forces faced a stunning loss in the Battle of Salamis, and much of the army retreated back to Persia. The only forces that stayed in Greece were under the control of Mardonius, who left Attica and camped out with his troops in northern Greece.

Thus, the Athenians were able to safely return to their city, which is when they buried the desecrated items on the Acropolis and began to plan the reconstruction of their city.

This relative peace did not last long, however, as Mardonius commenced a second invasion of the city in 479 BC after a peace deal between the Greeks and the Persians fell through.

Once again, Athenians evacuated the city, and the Persians completely demolished anything they had managed to rebuild and whatever survived the first destruction of the city.

Herodotus describes massive destruction in the wake of the second invasion, writing that Mardonius “burnt Athens, and utterly overthrew and demolished whatever wall or house or temple was left standing.”

After the Greeks won the Battle of Plataea later that year, they were able to move back to Athens and begin rebuilding the city once again under the guidance of Themistocles.

The great Athenian leader used the remnants of the Hectompedon and the temple to Athena to build the North Wall of the Acropolis, and spolia, or pieces of other older structures, were also used to build the famous Themistoclean Wall, which surrounded ancient Athens.

The Parthenon that stands on the Acropolis to this day was built decades later in 438 BC under the leadership of Pericles.

Alexander the Great burned down palace of Persepolis in retaliation

The Persians were not the only ancient forces to burn down important sites during war. In fact, Greek forces under Alexander the Great razed the palace of Persepolis in 330 BC while conquering the Middle East.

According to ancient historians, such as Plutarch, Arrian of Nicodema, and Diodorus Siculus, the magnificent palace of Persepolis was burned as retribution for the Persian destruction of Athens over a century earlier.

They describe a scene in which Alexander burned the site after drinking and reveling with his troops and his courtesan Thaïs, who traveled with him throughout Asia.

In many sources, Thaïs seems to push Alexander to do it, and Diodorus even claims she was one of the first to set the fire. He wrote:

Thaïs the courtesan was leading the whole performance. She was the first, after the king, to hurl her blazing torch into the palace. As the others all did the same, immediately the entire palace area was consumed, so great was the conflagration…

It was remarkable that the impious act of Xerxes, king of the Persians, against the acropolis at Athens should have been repaid in kind after many years by one woman, a citizen of the land which had suffered it, and in sport.

According to Diodorus, one of Alexander’s generals Parmenion had previously advised his ruler not to burn the palace but to preserve it, as it was not truly his property to destroy. He also believed that it would give the Persians the idea that Alexander was an unjust conqueror.

Demetrios: The Ancient Greek Who Traveled to England

Ancient Greece

Tasos Kokkinidis

March 18, 2024

Demetrios: The Ancient Greek Who Traveled to England

Demetrios England — The ancient votive plaque at the Yorkshire Museum which was inscribed by Demetrios almost 2,000 years ago ‘to Oceanus and Tethys’. Credit: Yorkshire Museum

A man called Demetrios was among the first of the ancient Greeks to have traveled to England more than two millennia ago.

Two small copper-alloy tablets almost two thousand years old in the Yorkshire Museum in Central England have provided evidence of his travel to the far-flung outpost at the edge of the known world.

They date from the first century AD, when the Romans had only just arrived to found the Roman city of Eboracum (York).

Demetrios dedicated something to two other men. His inscription, which was found under the railway station in today’s city of York, reads:

”ΩΚΕΑΝΟΙ ΚΑΙ ΤΗΘΥΙ ΔΕΜΗΤΡΙΟΣ,” which is Greek for ”Demetrios (dedicates this) to Oceanus and Tethys.”

It has long been thought that Demetrios might be the very Demetrius of Tarsus, who, according to the ancient Greek historian Plutarch, had been sent to Britain by the Roman emperor to observe for himself how the empire’s newest and most far-flung province was getting on.

That inscription certainly looks suspiciously like a vote of thanks to the gods for a safe arrival across the sea to these far-flung shores, admits York archaeologist Peter Addyman.

Speaking to York Press, Addyman said: “It’s quite extraordinary,” he said. “There’s this chap from way, way across the empire, sent by the emperor, and he must have come to York, and he is thanking the gods for crossing the ocean!”

Ancient Greek Demetrios inscribed the tablets in England

But is the Demetrios who inscribed those tablets nearly two thousand years ago really the same one who was sent by the emperor on a mission to Britain?

A scholarly article by academic Kelsey Koon in the latest edition of The Archaeological Journal concludes that he probably was.

The tablets were discovered in 1840 during archaeological investigations connected with the building of the old railway station inside York’s city walls.

They appear to be of about the right age to have been dedicated by Demetrios of Tarsus, a man who, according to Plutarch, had “by the emperor’s order…made voyage for inquiry and observation” and who had recently journeyed “homeward to Tarsus from Britain.”

The debate over whether they were inscribed by Demetrios of Tarsus himself has aged in scholarly circles for over a century.

But in her paper in The Archaeological Journal, Koon marshals impressive evidence to conclude that they were. “The use of the Greek language, the military-style inscription format…bring to mind a native Greek speaker embedded in the military enclave of York,” she writes.

“Demetrios of Tarsus, an educated scholar with Greek roots on an official imperial mission… would certainly fit the bill,” she added. Further evidence lies in the punched dots used for the Greek inscription.

The York plaques are the only known examples of this in Britain, but the style is similar to that used in tablets found in the Near Eastfrom where Demetrios hailed.

As a Greek, Demetrios would also have been familiar with Alexander the Great’s alters in India, which bore similar inscriptions.

He “perhaps saw himself doing the same thing at the western edge of the known world that Alexander had done at its eastern limit,” Koon writes.

“Given the uniqueness of these votives…it seems that these tablets can in fact be attributed to Demitrius of Tarsus.”

Pytheas of Massalia considered the first Greek to visit England

Despite the fact that Great Britain is on the opposite end of the European continent from the nation of Greece, it has always been a place where Greeks had their own presence. For centuries, their numbers were relatively small, but their influence was quite significant throughout history.

Pytheas of Massalia, a geographer from the Greek colony of Massalia, the modern-day city of Marseille in southern France, was the first Greek to have been known to visit Great Britain.

He was also the first-ever Mediterranean to reach and explore the totality of Britain, including the wilderness and coasts of what is now Ireland in the early third century BC.

Pytheas is believed to be the man who first used the term ”Britain.”

In his work ”Periplous” (”Circumnavigation”), he is quoted using the term ”Bretannike,” which is Greek for Britannic.

This was a Greek transliteration of what some of the Celts who lived on the island during these years called their land: ”Ynys Prydein,” most likely from Welsh for ”the island of Britain.”

Bridge Renamed in Memory of Greek-American Officer Pavlos Pallas

Tasos Kokkinidis

March 18, 2024

Bridge Renamed in Memory of Greek-American Officer Pavlos Pallas

Greek-American police officer Pavlos Pallas who died from 9/11-related cancer will forever be remembered in Queens.

Last week, the 94th Street/Grand Central overpass to LaGuardia Airport was named after him.

His courageous work responding to the World Trade Center attack resulted in cancer that took his life in 2011. Family members remembered the late officer at the ceremony.

“For him, it came down to this: do the right thing toward your fellow men, take care of your community, and do it all with a smile without taking yourself too seriously,” said Margarita Loukas, Pallas’ widow.

Pallas’s family members, including his wife Margarita Loukas, his parents Dino and Georgia, his brother Andrew, his godmother Anna, and his nieces Konstantina and Eleni, attended the renaming ceremony.

Also present was retired NYPD K-9 Unit officer John Pappas, who had named his police dog partner after Pallas as a tribute to their close friendship.

Pallas joined the NYPD in 1998 and policed some of New York’s most crime-ridden neighborhoods. When the terror attacks happened on September 11, 2001, he spent a considerable amount of time in the rescue and recovery efforts.

Shortly after that, he joined the Port Authority Police Department, where he patrolled some of the busiest transportation facilities in the world. Unfortunately, as a result of his time helping others at the World Trade Center, he developed brain cancer and passed away on March 14, 2011.

Pavlos Pallas among more than 50,000 who suffered from cancer

As of 2023, the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund has paid over $12 billion in compensation to victims suffering or who have died as a result of 9/11-related cancers and illnesses.

In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, government funds have compensated more than 53,531 people for cancer and other serious illnesses resulting from 9/11 toxic dust that included chemicals, pulverized glass, asbestos, and concrete among other things at Ground Zero.

The dust from Ground Zero, which spread throughout Lower Manhattan and to certain areas of Brooklyn, New Jersey, and even Staten Island, contained many known carcinogens. These included soot, benzene, cement, asbestos, heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and dioxins.

Inhaling the toxic dust from Ground Zero is linked to more concerns than decreased lung capacity, lung cancers, and trouble breathing. Ground Zero exposure may have created a damaging cycle of inflammatory T-cell production for those who spent extended time near Ground Zero.

However, an increased risk of cancer does not just affect first responders. Anyone who spent a significant amount of time south of Houston Street in the year following September 11, 2001 may have been exposed to the cancer-causing dust.

The 9/11 cancer rates also aren’t the only vital metric needing research, as other illnesses and health conditions continue to plague survivors.

New York Fire Department research shows that about nine percent of firefighters exposed to the dust at Ground Zero during the first response still report a persistent cough twenty years later. About twenty-two percent experience shortness of breath and forty percent have chronic sinus problems or acid reflux.

Turkish Anger as Man Unfurls Greek Flag in Hagia Sophia

Greek News

Tasos Kokkinidis

March 18, 2024

Turkish Anger as Man Unfurls Greek Flag in Hagia Sophia

Greek flag Hagia Sophia — The Greek visitor wrote on Instagram: “My beloved city, forever Greek.” Credit: Apostolos Papatheodorou/Instagram

A man unfurled the Greek flag inside the historic site of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul causing anger in Turkey.

Apostolos Papatheodorou, a Greek visitor, caused a stir when he proudly displayed the Greek flag and captioned his Instagram post with the words, “My beloved city, forever Greek.”

Wave of reactions in Turkey over Greek flag in Hagia Sophia

The image quickly spread across Turkish media platforms, triggering a wave of reactions. Many Turks denounced the act as provocative, questioning how such an action could be permitted within a symbolically significant location.

Some even directed their ire towards Turkish authorities for allegedly allowing the incident to occur unchecked.

Among the responses, some took a more aggressive tone, resorting to veiled threats and references to historical events. Comments such as “I hope you know how to swim” and “The sea is cold, my love” drew implicit parallels to the tragic Smyrna disaster, a dark chapter in Greek-Turkish relations.

Hagia Sophia, the symbolic center of the Greek Orthodox faith

Hagia Sophia in Istanbul remains the symbolic center of the Greek Orthodox faith even almost six centuries after its fall to the Ottomans and its conversion to a mosque.

From 537 to 1453, the “Great Church,” as the Byzantines called it, was the Eastern heart of Christianity.

The massive temple held a total of twenty-three thousand worshipers, and 525 priests, deacons, and chanters served its liturgies.

It is commonly believed that the last Orthodox liturgy in Hagia Sophia in Constantinople took place on May 28, 1453, just one day before the fateful moment that the beacon of Orthodoxy fell into Ottoman hands.

A brave Greek priest managed to hold an Orthodox liturgy in Hagia Sophia in 1919 at a time when the iconic cathedral functioned as a mosque.

Eleftherios Noufrakis (1872-1941) from Rethymno, Crete was the man who performed this act of heroism out of his love for God and his country. Inexplicably, Father Noufrakis’ name is not even a footnote in the modern history of Greece.

Thanks to a book, Archimandritis Eleftherios Noufrakis: An Emblematic Figure of Hellenism, by Antonios Stivaktakis, the fascinating story of “Papa Lefteris” has now come to light.

Despite the ravages of time, Hagia Sophia remains universally acknowledged as one of the most beautiful buildings in the world. It was pronounced a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985.

In early July 2020, the Turkish Council of State annulled the Cabinet’s 1934 decision to establish the museum, revoking the monument’s status, and a subsequent decree by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ordered the reclassification of Hagia Sophia to a mosque.

This redesignation is controversial, invoking condemnation from the Turkish opposition, UNESCO, the World Council of Churches, and many international leaders.

The Prehistoric ‘Human Skull’ Cave of Greece at Petralona Reopens

Philip Chrysopoulos

March 18, 2024

The Prehistoric ‘Human Skull’ Cave of Greece at Petralona Reopens

The Petralona cave in Chalkidiki, Greece is open to the public again after five years, while the ceremonial opening is expected to take place in a few days by Greek Minister of Culture, Lina Mendoni.

The project “Uncovering the Petralona Cave and Upgrading its Infrastructure” started in 2019 overlooked by the Paleoanthropology-Speleology Ephorate of the Ministry of Culture.

The Athens-Macedonian News Agency spoke to the head of the Paleoanthropology-Speleology Ephorate, Andreas Darlas about the works done in the cave that has seen thousands of visitors since the 1970s when it opened for the public.

The corridor was widened and now extends to 250 meters. During work to widen the corridor, it was possible to carry out excavation documentation for the first time.

Formed More than a Million Years Ago

With an area of approximately 10,000 sq.m. but accessible to 10 percent to 20 percent, the Petralona cave is estimated to have been formed more than a million years ago. It was a place where foragers took refuge. Also, wild animals, such as lions, bears and hyenas took shelter there, as evidenced by the majority of fossils found.

Inside the Petralona cave there is a large “hall”, known as the “Cave of red stones” because the red color from the iron oxides prevails.

As part of the work, the lighting of the cave was important, as Darlas explains: “Caves are a world of darkness and that’s why we paid special attention to the lighting, which is adjustable and gives the required feeling.”

Darlas added that the temperature and humidity inside the cave are recorded in real time while an intercom was installed in certain points and closed circuit television.

The Skull of Petralona

A unique rare find to which the Petralona Museum owes much of its fame and attendance is the human skull found in 1960.

“The skull was found stuck at a height, that is, it was not on the floor and it was in very good condition,” Darlas said. “But the issue is that it was found by an area resident who unglued it and brought it to the surface and to the scientists.”

However, when the finder indicated the spot where he found the skull, it was certain that valuable evidence had been lost since its discovery was not made by experts who would have provided more scientific evidence based on its exact location.id Mr.

“Its uniqueness also lies in the fact that it was almost intact,” Darlas said.

The skull of Petralona is placed in the species Homo heidelbergensis. This species has a series of skulls that essentially include all forms, which constitute the transition from Homo erectus to Homo sapiens and are referred to as archaic Homo sapiens.

Anthropologist Aris Poulianos, who dealt with the find for many years, estimated that this is the oldest European and called him “Archman”. The dating of the skull became a matter of controversy and was at the center of the years-long struggle over the operation of the cave.

“The issue is that the cave was inhabited by people, something that has been disputed. Since remains, tools and the by-products of the manufacture of stone tools were found, then it is an archaeological site,” clarifies Mr. Darlas.

The Age of the Skull is 200,000 Years

The first findings of the cave, from the 1960s to the mid-70s and the famous skull, are kept in the Museum of Geology – Paleontology – Paleoanthropology.

“The skull is a paleontological find, it is not archaeological. Archaeologists deal with the cultural manifestations of man, we deal with the bones, with natural anthropology,” Professor of Paleontology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Evangelia Tsoukala told AMNA.

Chronologically the skull in the Petralona Cave has been determined to be 200,000 years old, but it is not its age but its state of preservation that makes it unique on the planet. “It was found whole and the studies are still ongoing and inside its intracranial imprint” Tsoukala said.

Clean Monday in Greece: Everything You Need to Know

Konstantinos Menzel

March 18, 2024

Clean Monday in Greece: Everything You Need to Know

Clean Monday Greece — A traditional Clean Monday spread. Credit: Kyriakos Persidis / Greek Reporter

“Kathara Deftera,” Greek for “Clean Monday,” is considered one of the most important annual feasts in Greece, commencing the 40-day period of Great Lent, or “Sarakosti,” for the Greek Orthodox Church.

The feast begins on the first day of the 7th week before the Greek Orthodox Easter Sunday.
Liturgically, however, Clean Monday—and thus Lent itself—begins on the preceding Sunday night at a special service in which all those present bow down before one another and ask for forgiveness.

In this way, the faithful begin the Great Lent with a clean conscience, forgiveness and renewed Christian love. The day of Clean Monday is sometimes called “Ash Monday” by analogy to Ash Wednesday, the day on which Lent begins in Western Christianity.

Clean Monday also puts an end to the riotous Carnival celebrations that preceded it, inviting all Orthodox Christians to leave behind the sinful attitudes associated with Carnival festivities and non-fasting foods, which were largely consumed during the three weeks of Carnival.

As a result, the feast, which is a public holiday in Greece and Cyprus, is celebrated with outdoor excursions, the consumption of shellfish, and other fasting foods, as well as the widespread custom of making and flying kites.

Culinary delights of Clean Monday

Eating meat, eggs, and dairy products is traditionally forbidden for Orthodox Christians throughout Lent, and fish is eaten only on major feast days.

The consumption of shellfish and mollusks, however, is permitted in the Greek Orthodox Churches, thus creating the tradition of eating elaborate dishes based on seafood, such as cuttlefish, octopus, or shellfish, including shrimp and mussels.

A traditional dip made from the salted and cured roe of carp or cod, mixed with olive oil, lemon juice, and bread crumbs, called “taramosalata,” is also part of the fare consumed on Clean Monday.

Taramosalata is ideal for spreading on “lagana,” a special kind of unleavened flatbread which is baked only on that day. The history behind this bread dates back to the Old Testament and refers to the help offered by God to the Israeli people while guiding them from Egypt to the promised land.

Since then, Israelis have baked unleavened bread, or lagana, throughout the Passover period, with the tradition passed on to early Christian believers.

In Greece, records of a thin bread called “laganos,” which is mentioned in the works of the great comic playwright Aristophanes, date back to ancient times, indicating that the tradition is also linked to the country’s ancient history.

Accompanying these delights are also black-eyed beans or just common baked beans, vine leaf wrapped rice balls called “dolma,” and of course some Greek wine or tsipouro.

As for dessert, a variation of the familiar Arabic sweet called “halva” is served, made of tahini, a sesame paste, and sugar, often combined with nuts or chocolate and baked in a square or round shape.

Traditions of Clean Monday

Clean Monday, however, is not only associated with eating fasting foods but also features many other delightful traditions celebrated all over Greece. Traditionally, as Clean Monday is considered the unofficial beginning of the spring season, kite flying is also part of family activities.

Young people and adults organize excursions to open areas so as to fill the skies with their kites. Many traditional workshops have been devoted to constructing such kites for over seventy years now.

Although traditional wooden kites have been replaced by plastic ones, the kite-making handcraft still has its own secrets. A light wooden frame on a paper body, cords on the balances, and a single cord on the tail make for the perfect kite, ready to carry children and grown-ups off their feet in the winds of March.

Apart from kite flying, many areas in Greece maintain their own regional customs on Clean Monday. In Thebes, an old custom dating from 1830, called the “Vlach Wedding”—in reference to the matchmaking of the time—is revived each year, with all participants joining in the festivities with satirical songs and lots of dancing.

Meanwhile, in the village of Mesta on the Greek island of Chios, according to another Clean Monday custom, which has its roots in the period of Ottoman Greece, the village is “invaded” by an Ottoman military officer along with his troops who after gathering all residents to the central square, makes them pay a fine for the charges brought against them. The collected money is then given as tribute to the cultural association of the village.

The feast of Clean Monday and all its associated traditions and celebrations are in the hearts of the Greek people, as they provide an opportunity for leisure, an escape from daily routine, and a connection with nature and the country’s cultural heritage.

Putin Wins Another Controversial Election to Rule Russia Until 2030

Politics

Tasos Kokkinidis

March 18, 2024

Putin Wins Another Controversial Election to Rule Russia Until 2030

Russian president Vladimir Putin — President Vladimir Putin, pictured September 2022. Credit: Council.gov.ru / Wikimedia Commons CC BY 4.0

Vladimir Putin won by a landslide in Russia accumulating more than 87 percent of the vote in a Presidential election where no credible opposition candidate was allowed to stand.

The result means Putin will rule until at least 2030, when he will be 77. As Russia’s longest-serving leader since Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, he will secure a third full decade of rule.

Western countries lined up to condemn the vote as neither free nor fair. The US said the election was “obviously not free nor fair,” and Germany called it a “pseudo-election” under an authoritarian ruler reliant on censorship, repression, and violence. UK Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron condemned “the illegal holding of elections on Ukrainian territory.”

With most opposition candidates either dead, jailed, exiled, or barred from running and with dissent effectively outlawed in Russia since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Putin faced no challenge to his rule.

Putin hails election in Russia

President Putin hailed Russia’s presidential campaign as far more advanced than the US, citing Russia’s use of online voting, which officials said brought in eight million voters.

“It’s transparent and absolutely objective,” he suggested, “not like in the US with mail-in voting…you can buy a vote for $10,” he said.

“What did you want, for them to applaud us? They’re fighting with us in an armed conflict …their goal is to contain our development. Of course, they’re ready to say anything,” he added.

He praised opposition campaigners for encouraging voters to turn out in greater numbers, although he condemned those who spoilt their ballots and said action would be taken against them.

For the first time, he referred to Alexei Navalny—his most vocal critic—by name, a month after he died in a penal colony in the Arctic Circle.

In a remark possibly aimed at rebutting widespread allegations that he had Navalny killed, Putin confirmed reports that he had explored exchanging him for prisoners held in the West on the condition that his rival would never return.

“I said I’m for it but, unfortunately, what happened happened,” Putin said. “What can you do? That’s life.”

The election was also held in occupied regions of Ukraine

Russia also held the presidential election in four Ukrainian regions it annexed during its full-scale invasion. Ukraine said the elections violated international law and would be designated “null and void.”

Russian-installed authorities in occupied Ukraine reported a high turnout of more than 80 percent. However, evidence has emerged of voter coercion. Russian Telegram channels have shown Russian soldiers accompanying election officials as they go house-to-house to collect votes.

One video from Luhansk showed an elderly woman in her apartment filling out an election paper and putting it in the ballot box, while a man in army fatigues stood over her with a rifle slung across his chest.

After the release of preliminary results on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called Putin a “dictator” and Russia’s election a “sham.”

Why Greeks Fly Kites on Clean Monday

Tasos Kokkinidis

March 18, 2024

Clean monday kite — Tradition dictates that Athenians go to Filopapou Hill to fly kites on Clean Monday. Credit:Huhu Uet/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY 3.0

Kathara Deftera, or “Clean Monday”—the beginning of Lent among Orthodox Christians—is the day Greeks fly kites (which are symbolic of the Resurrection) and go on picnics outdoors. The holiday is also the unofficial start of spring for Greeks.

Young people and adults organize excursions to open areas all across the country so as to fill the skies with their kites.

Tradition dictates that Athenians go to Filopappou Hill to fly kites on Clean Monday. The hill near the Acropolis is usually shoulder-to-shoulder with kids and their families mostly attempting to fly a kite despite the crowds. The atmosphere is always fun and festive despite the sobriety of Lent.

How to make a kite for Clean Monday

Many traditional workshops have devoted themselves to the making of Clean Monday kites for over seventy years now. Although traditional wooden kites have sometimes been replaced by plastic ones, the kite-making handcraft still has its own secrets.

A light wooden frame on a paper body, cords on the balances and a single cord on the tail make the perfect traditional kite, ready to carry children and grown-ups off their feet if the wind is strong enough.

Making a traditional homemade kite is not easy. It requires patience and time to make it right. But what a great feeling it is to get outside after a long winter and fly a kit on Clean Monday! Here is how you do it:

According to some scholars, the custom of kite flying arrived in Greece from the East. Others claim that its origin in the Mediterranean is traced back to the experiments of ancient Greek mathematician Archytas (428-347 BC).

Kathara Deftera and Lent

Kathara Deftera is considered one of the most important annual feasts in Greece, commencing the 40-day period of Great Lent, or “Sarakosti,” for the Greek Orthodox Church.

The feast begins on the first day of the 7th week before the Greek Orthodox Easter Sunday.
Liturgically, however, Clean Monday—and thus Lent itself—begins on the preceding Sunday night at a special service in which all present bow down before one another and ask for forgiveness.

In this way, the faithful begin the Great Lent with a clean conscience, forgiveness, and renewed Christian love. The day of Clean Monday is sometimes called “Ash Monday” by analogy to Ash Wednesday, the day on which Lent begins in Western Christianity.

Clean Monday also puts an end to the riotous Carnival celebrations that preceded it, inviting all Orthodox Christians to leave behind the sinful attitudes associated with Carnival festivities—and non-fasting foods, which were largely consumed during the three weeks of the Carnival.

As a result, the feast, which is a public holiday in Greece and Cyprus, is celebrated with outdoor excursions, the consumption of shellfish and other fasting foods, as well as the widespread custom of building and flying kites.

Filiki Eteria: The Group That Sparked the Greek War of Independence

Philip Chrysopoulos

March 18, 2024

Filiki Eteria: The Group That Sparked the Greek War of Independence

filiki etairia greek war of independence greek revolution — Filiki Eteria played a crucial role in the uprising which led to the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire. Image by Greek painter Tsokos. Credit: Public Domain

The Filiki Eteria (Φιλική Εταιρία), or the Society of Friends, as it was otherwise known, was founded on September 14, 1814 and played a crucial role in the uprising which led to the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire on March 25, 1821.

In the beginning of the 19th century, the notion that Greece had to be liberated after almost four centuries of Ottoman rule and that a new Greek state had to be established was ripe.

However, there were two camps: those who believed that the time for Greek revolution or war was “here and now” and those who believed that it was too early.

In 1814, three Greeks of the diaspora came together in Odessa in present-day Ukraine, where a thriving Greek community lived. They formed a secret society with the purpose of initiating a Greek revolution to rid the country of the Ottomans.

The beginning of the Filiki Eteria

The three founders were Nikolaos Skoufas from the Arta province, Emmanuil Xanthos from Patmos, and Athanasios Tsakalov from Ioannina.

Soon after, Panagiotis Anagnostopoulos from Andritsaina joined the organization.

The Filiki Eteria recruited mostly Phanariot Greeks from Russia, local chieftains from Greece, and Serbs.

Two of its early outstanding members were Alexandros Ypsilantis, a prince and high-ranking officer of the Imperial Russian Cavalry; Moldovan lord Michael Soutzos, the father of modern Serbia; and founder of the Karadjordjevic dynasty, Karageorge Petrovic.

Future leaders of the Greek War of Independence, such as Theodoros Kolokotronis, Odysseas Androutsos, Dimitris Plapoutas, and the metropolitan bishop Germanos of Patras also joined the Filiki Eteria.

In 1818, the Filiki Eteria moved to Constantinople. The year was marked by the death of founding member Skoufas. Xanthos and Tsakalov attempted to find a prominent person to take over the leadership of the secret society.

Alexandros Ypsilantis becomes leader

The other two founding members contacted Alexandros Ypsilantis and offered him leadership of Filiki Eteria, which he took up in April 1820.

Ypsilantis started preparations for an armed revolt and set up a military unit he named the Sacred Band.

Initially, the start of the revolution in Constantinople was proposed, but the idea was dropped in favor of the Peloponnese.

The Filiki Eteria created a cash box where a large sum of money was collected to meet the needs for arms, ammunition, and supplies for the revolution.

They even established an auditing system so that there was no abuse of the funds collected.

Ypsilantis recruited many untrained fighters, while at the same time calling on Greeks living in other countries to contribute in any way they could to the liberation war.

Ypsilantis sent fiery letters to all centers of Hellenism, asking diaspora Greeks to participate in the fight.

Failed Filiki Eteria revolt in Moldova; message for Peloponnese uprising

In October 1820, Ypsilantis decided to start the Greek revolution in Iasi, Moldova. It was a catastrophic move, leading to the slaughter of thousands of fighters.

Nevertheless, the revolutionary seed of the Filiki Eteria was planted, and the slogan “Freedom or Death” started playing on the lips of Greeks. They were determined to fight to the death for liberty.

On February 24, 1821, Ypsilantis sent a prophetic letter to his Filiki Eteria colleagues asking them to start the fight or contribute by sending money and supplies for the armed struggle: “Future generations will bless your names and they will praise you as precursors of their freedom and bliss.”

His prophetic proclamation was verified by history. Filiki Eteria was the vehicle for the uprising and inspired the heroes who started the revolt a month later. It was “Freedom or Death” indeed.

Greek Carnival Ends with Spectacular Finale

Philip Chrysopoulos

March 18, 2024

Greek Carnival Ends with Spectacular Finale

The exuberant Greek Carnival festivities, cherished by both the young and old, reached their climax on Sunday as hundreds of thousands of celebrants across the country joined in the revelry.

The “Apokries” is the most colorful celebration in Greece with every region having its own traditions and ways of enjoying the holiday.

Patras Carnival

For decades, the Patras Carnival is the biggest and most popular by far. People from every corner of Greece flock there every year as they did this year. Even foreigners plan their trip to Greece around this time of the year to attend.

This year was no exception. Hotels and rooms to let were fully booked for the week as more than 60,000 carnival participants with 181 groups, surpassing every previous record, flooded the streets in the grand parades according to the Municipality of Patras’ data.

Despite the capricious weather, the Carnival parade was spectacular, followed by thousands of people in fancy costumes. On Sunday night, thousands of levelers continued to throng the streets dancing and drinking.

Carnival in Northern Greece

Xanthi, in northern Greece, also boasts one of the biggest and popular Carnival parades. Attendance is in the tens of thousands every year. This year locals and visitors ignored the cloudy weather and danced to their hearts content.

Xanthi has the distinctiveness to have a lot of Muslims from the 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey. A few thousand people from Turkey arrive every year to join the fan, while tourists from the neighboring Balkan countries tend to partake in the Greek Carnival.

The Carnival in the northern Kozani city had a more traditional tone, with locals dressing in traditional clothes and folk music of the area blasting.

During the season celebration there is a tradition to satirize and mock events in a funny song. It is called Fanos and the satirical song is sung around a fire. This year the “victim” of Fanos was the song by Marina Satti that will represent Greece in the Eurovision song contest. It was sung by a group of elderly men in the local dialect.

The Greek Island of Zakynthos Celebrates Carnival

Beautiful Zakynthos in the Ionian Sea – birthplace of Dionysios Solomos who wrote the poem that became Greece’s National Anthem – wore its Carnival costume and let loose in Sunday’s big parade.

As every year, the parade with Conte Carnavalos (Count Carnival) and all the groups and floats started at the arch of Agios Lazaros and ended at Solomos Square where laughing and dancing continued into the night.

The Greek Carnival is celebrated before the 40-day period of Great Lent called “Sarakosti”. It allows people to enjoy all the food, drinking and dancing before entering the 40 solemn days before Easter.

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