Greece Survival Guide - GreekReporter.com

February 21, 2024

The Epic Clash of Centaurs and Humans in Greek Mythology

Centauromachy, battle of the Centaurs and Lapiths . Greek mythology — Centauromachy, battle of the Centaurs and Lapiths mentioned in Greek mythology, by William-Adolphe Bouguereau. Credit: Amaury Laporte. CC BY 2.0/flickr

The Centauromachy was a mythical battle between the Lapith people, who were members of the ancient Greek tribe of Aeolians who lived in Thessaly, and the mythical centaurs—half-horse, half-man creatures in Greek mythology.

Who were the Centaurs and the Lapiths?

The Lapiths and the centaurs of ancient Greece were said to be related in that the clans supposedly descended—and acquired their names—from two mythical brothers: Lapithes and Centaurus.

Centaurus, according to ancient Greek mythology, was the first being to group the stars into constellations, and taught others how to read them. It is said he formulated a picture of himself using the stars, the Centaurus constellation, to help guide his sailor friends, the Argonauts.

He and his brother Lapithes were supposedly the sons of the god Apollo and the nymph Stilbe, daughter of the river god Peneus. It is said that Lapithes was a courageous warrior, while Centaurus was a deformed man who later bred with mares, the result of which was the race of half-man, half-horse centaurs. Lapiths, on the other hand, had a human form.

Lapiths’ lineage included warriors and kings such as Ixion, Pirithous, Caeneus, and Coronus, as well as the seers Ampycus and his son Mopsus.

How did the Centauromachy Battle start?

This Centauromachy, captured in numerous artworks over the millennia, was sparked at the wedding feast of the Lapith King Pirithous, who had invited the centaurs to the ceremony where he was to wed his bride, Hippodamia.

Centaur and Lapith, part of the Parthenon Marbles. Greek mythology — Centaur and Lapith, part of the Parthenon Marbles. Credit: JustinMN. CC BY 2.0/flickr

The horse-men, unaccustomed to wine, failed to contain their wild nature, and when Hippodamia made her appearance, the centaur Eurytion attempted to kidnap her, quickly followed by the other centaurs who attempted to do the same to the female guests.

The wedding quickly sank into chaos, as the Lapiths rose to defend the women and subdue the unruly centaurs. What then played out was a bloody battle between man and beast, giving rise to the analogy of civilization and civilized Greeks, fighting against the barbaric and Barbarian-like incivility of society’s fringes—refined order against rampant chaos.

During the battle, Theseus came to the Lapith’s aid, helping to cut off Eurytion’s ears and nose and throwing him out of the event. Once the great clash had ended, the centaurs were banished from Thessaly to the northwest.

Some historians have suggested that the mythic battle is representative of the first encounter between the non-horse-riding Minoans and the nomadic horsemen of the steppes. Thus, the myth may be a metaphor for the first ever conflicts between horse-riding civilizations and the ancient Greeks, who had no familiarity with horse-riding.

Artwork inspired by the battle

It wasn’t until some time later, once Greek myth had started to be filtered through the lens of ancient Greek philosophy, that the Centauromachy battle between the Lapiths and Centaurs took on the figurative embodiment of the internal struggle between civilized and wild behavior.

This analogy was strengthened by the fact that the Lapiths understood how to correctly consume wine, which must be diluted with water and not drunk to excess, as did the centaurs.

The ancient Greek sculptors working under Pheidias perceived the tale of the battle to be symbolic of the great conflict between the civilized Greeks and the barbarians. Thus, battles between the Lapiths and the centaurs were depicted in the sculpted metopes of the Parthenon, as well as on The Temple of Zeus at Olympia. The battle has also been the subject of many vases.

Piero di Cosimo. 1462-1522. Florence. The Figth between the Lapiths and the Centaurs. London's National Gallery. — Piero di Cosimo. 1462-1522. Florence. The Fight between the Lapiths and the Centaurs. London’s National Gallery. Credit: jean louis mazieres. CC BY-2.0/flickr

The French poet Jose Maria de Heredia included a sonnet about the battle in his volume Les Trophees, while, during the Renaissance, the mythical conflict became a popular theme for artists, including Michelangelo, who produced a marble relief of the subject in Florence around the year 1492.

In the following decade, Piero di Cosimo painted his Battle of Centaurs and Lapiths, now housed at the National Gallery in London, and a frieze with a Centauromachy was also painted by Luca Signorelli in his Virgin Enthrones with Saints, inspired by a Roman sarcophagus found at Cortona in Tuscany during the early fifteenth century.

The Ancient Greek Tribe of Aetolians That Defeated Alexander’s Army

Philip Chrysopoulos

February 21, 2024

The Ancient Greek Tribe of Aetolians That Defeated Alexander’s Army

The ancient Greek tribe of Aetolians were great warriors. Bronze helmet of the Corinthian type. Late 6th century BC. Cycladic Art Museum, Athens, Greece. Credit: Tilemahos Efthimiadis Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 2.0

The Aetolians were an ancient Greek tribe of hardened hillmen that managed to defeat the mighty army of Alexander the Great.

Aetolia is an area at the southern part of Central Greece. As an administrative and political entity, it is mentioned for the first time by Homer, who wrote about its presence and activity prior to the Trojan War.

In the Iliad, the Aetolians appear for the first time as a tribal group and kingdom. They were a regional military force, as were the Mycenaeans. An Aetolian named Leda was the daughter of the mythological Aetolian King Thestius and the mother of Helen of Troy. Book 9 of the Iliad introduces Aetolia as the land that was terrorized by the Calydonian Boar.

Αetolia in pre-Hellenistic times

The lowland zone between the rivers of Evinos and Achelous, as Homer wrote, was the Mycenaean Aetolia. The two most important cities were Pleuron and Calydon. In the Iliad, Homer speaks of the fertile plain of Calydon.

The Calydonians and Pleuronians took part in the Trojan War as allies of the Mycenaeans, sending forty ships, led by Thoas, the son of the king of Pleuron, Andraimon. Several Mycenaean tombs have been found in numerous places.

The Aetolian tribes were primitive and comprised mostly of animal breeders. Polybius doubted their Greek heritage, while Thucydides claimed Eurytanians spoke a language that was difficult to comprehend. It was also said that they ate their food completely raw.

Their society was almost barbaric, and they were warlike and predatory people. They worshipped Athena as a goddess of war and as Ares’ female counterpart rather than as the goddess of wisdom. The Aetolians also worshipped Apollo and Artemis as patrons of the spoils and loot of war, as well as Hercules, Bacchus, and the Achelous River.

The Aetolian League

The Aetolian League was an alliance formed by ancient Greek tribes that lived west of Athens and north of the Peloponnese. It was probably formed in the early fourth century BC after an invasion attempt by the Athenians, led by Demosthenes in 426 BC. This was repelled by joint forces of Aetolian tribes led by Aegitios. The Athenians were called by Naupactus to protect the city.

After the unsuccessful attack of the Athenians, the Aetolians sent envoys to Corinth and Sparta asking for alliances. An Aetolian – Spartan coalition attempted to capture the seaside city-state of Naupactus without success. During the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC), the Aetolians joined the Peloponnesian League.

In 344 BC, Philip II of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great, reorganized Thessaly and put his brother-in-law on the throne of Epirus. By 340 BC, Aetolia had become a military force to be reckoned with in the whole of ancient Greece. In 338 BC, Philip II helped the Aetolians take over Naupactus.

Aetolians against Macedonians

The death of Alexander the Great found the Macedonians dominating over Greece after they had subdued Athens, Sparta, and the allies of both. There was, however, a small part of Greece that remained independent. It was the area where the ancient Aetolians lived.

In the summer of 321 BC, an army of over thirty thousand Macedonians headed to Aetolia to subdue them. The campaign was led by Craterus, a veteran general who had stood by Alexander the Great on his campaign into Asia. But what followed was unexpected.

Despite the fact that the Aetolians were outnumbered, they managed to overcome this disadvantage by resorting to guerrilla warfare. Knowing the area quite well, they set up ambushes and defense posts at key points and trapped the Macedonians. The Aetolians were the cause of great losses to the Macedonian invaders, and they killing many of them.

The Craterus strategy that failed

Craterus was the great commander of not only the Battle of Issus but other battles as well under Alexander the Great and Philip II. To respond to the Aetolians’ war tactics, he implemented a plan he thought would prove victorious.

During the winter, he prevented the Aetolians from descending down to the plains to forage. He believed hunger and the terrible cold of the mountains would sufficiently weaken them.

Yet, the hardened Aetolians did not budge, and their resilience finally paid off. After several months of incessant fighting, the Macedonians decided to cut their losses and retreat. They stopped their campaign and made efforts to bring about peace.

The bravery of the Aetolians brought an army of professional soldiers that had conquered half of Asia—but failed to subdue an army of shepherds—to its knees. The invincible army of Alexander the Great that had defeated Athens and Sparta failed to subdue an army of mountainous tribesmen.

Mycenaeans Were the Traders of the Bronze Age Mediterranean

Caleb Howells

February 21, 2024

Mycenaeans Were the Traders of the Bronze Age Mediterranean

Mycenaean stirrup vase, 14th century BCE, Ugarit, Syria. Credit: Public domain

The Mycenaean Greeks had a rich and powerful civilization which thrived in the Bronze Age. However, what was the extent of their trade relations around the Mediterranean? How far did they actually go, and what groups did they trade with? These are the questions of focus here.

The period of Mycenaean trade

First, let us establish the period in question. The Mycenaean civilization first emerged in approximately 1600 BCE. This was the Middle Bronze Age. This civilization continued through the Late Bronze Age, finally coming to an end in the twelfth century BCE.

During this time, there were numerous palaces in city-states all over Greece. It appears that the city-state of Mycenae was dominant at this time. To what degree it exerted control over other city-states is uncertain.

We do have written records, but they tend to be of an administrative nature rather than a narrative nature. Thus, we do not know much about the activities of these city-states and their relationship with each other, but we do know that they were incredibly rich and had vast amounts of material wealth.

Certainly, such a rich civilization must have had good trade relations with surrounding regions. Indeed, there is extensive archaeological evidence of this.

An overview of Mycenaean trade

The primary way in which historians make conclusions about the extent of trade is by looking at evidence uncovered by archaeologists. The most common trace of trade is pottery fragments. Pottery, of course, is needed to hold other items, and it is also valuable in its own right.

Pottery from Mycenaean Greece has been found throughout the Eastern and Central Mediterranean. Archaeologists have found it in Greece, Palestine, Syria, Asia Minor, the north coast of Africa, Italy, and on various islands.

There is also some quite limited evidence for Mycenaean trade with Iberia (present-day Spain and Portugal), indicating the presence of Mycenaean Greek materials on the Iberian Peninsula, and confirming the existence of Mediterranean trade prior to the arrival of the Phoenicians.

Of course, it is impossible to say definitively whether any given piece of pottery was transported directly from Greece to its final destination. It could be that it passed through several hands before arriving at the location where it was subsequently found by archaeologists.

However, there were certain primary locations with which the Mycenaean Greeks traded in the Bronze Age.

Bronze Age Mycenaean pottery shreds found in Cordoba, Spain. Exhibited in Museo Arqueologico de Cordoba. — Bronze Age Mycenaean pottery shards found in Cordoba, Spain. Exhibited in Museo Arqueologico de Cordoba. Credit: Greek Reporter

Egypt

One of the places which does seem to have had direct trade links with Mycenaean Greece is Egypt. We can be certain of this because they actually described messengers from Greece coming to Egypt to bring gifts so as to establish diplomatic links.

In these texts, the Egyptians called the Greeks the ‘Tanaju.’ This appears to be the Egyptian form of ‘Danaoi,’ or Danaans, the name of one of the Greek tribes.

Trade links with Egypt were evidently quite strong by virtue of these direct diplomatic missions. This enabled the Egyptians to have a relatively profound knowledge of Mycenaean Greece. On the Mortuary Temple of Amenhotep III from the 14th century BCE, there is a list of various Greek cities, including Mycenae and Messenia.

Mycenaean pottery made its way right down the Nile River as far as Nubia. However, its unclear whether Mycenaean Greeks themselves took it that far. It likely reached those areas through internal Egyptian traders.

Palestine

In contrast to the previous entry, comparatively little is known regarding connections between the Mycenaean Greeks and Bronze Age Palestine, or Canaan. This is because we have very few written records from this location. Nonetheless, archaeological evidence makes it clear that the Greeks traded extensively with this region.

In fact, there is a much, much higher concentration of Mycenaean pottery in Bronze Age Palestine than in Egypt. While we do not know anything about attempted diplomatic links, as we do for Egypt, it is clear that the Mycenaean Greeks enjoyed good relations with the city-states of this region.

It is possible that this profound link between Mycenaean Greece and Palestine is related to the evidence that people from the Aegean had settled in that region in the Bronze Age. This may have encouraged Mycenaean Greeks to trade there since they were essentially their old customers anyway.

Syria

Archaeologists have also found Mycenaean pottery at several important sites in Syria, such as Ugarit. Furthermore, a shipwreck dating to the Bronze Age has provided us with valuable information about Mycenaean trade in that region.

The shipwreck in question is the Uluburun shipwreck. Archaeologists have dated this to about 1320 BCE. The ship was constructed with wood from the famous trees of Lebanon, adjacent to what is now Syria. This provides good evidence that it came from that region.

The ship was full of copper and tin, evidently to make bronze. It also had various other artifacts onboard, including Mycenaean pottery. By examining what appear to be personal artifacts, the archaeologists who uncovered this site have concluded it had a Syro-Canaanite crew. Furthermore, they have also concluded that some of the passengers onboard were from Mycenaean Greece.

1st Frostbite Drug Approved by FDA After Clinical Trial

Abdul Moeed

February 21, 2024

1st Frostbite Drug Approved by FDA After Clinical Trial

1st frostbite drug approved by FDA — After a successful trial, the FDA approved the 1st frostbite drug. Credit: Iuliu Narcis Ilina / Flickr / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given the green light for the first-ever drug to treat severe frostbite.

The new drug, called iloprost, works by making blood vessels wider and stopping blood from clotting in frostbitten people. After a successful test on a small group of patients, the FDA has given the thumbs-up for its use.

It’s going to be sold under the name Aurlumyn. This drug aims to help adults with severe frostbite, potentially avoiding the need to cut off fingers or toes.

1 in 100,000 people had frostbite between 2016 and 2018

Severe frostbite happens when parts of the body, like the nose, ears, fingers, and toes, get frozen because of really cold temperatures (below 32 degrees Fahrenheit or 0 degrees Celsius).

When this freezing occurs, it stops blood from flowing well to those body parts, which means they don’t get enough oxygen and eventually die. Blood clots can also form, making the situation worse. Sometimes, the only solution is to remove the affected body part through amputation.

In the U.S., severe frostbite isn’t very common — about 1 in 100,000 people had a serious frostbite injury between 2016 and 2018. But when it does happen, it can have long-lasting effects on a person’s life.

“This approval provides patients with the first-ever treatment option for severe frostbite,” stated Dr. Norman Stockbridge, who leads the Division of Cardiology and Nephrology at the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, in the announcement on February 14.

“Having this new option provides physicians with a tool that will help prevent the life changing amputation of one’s frostbitten fingers or toes,” he said.

Early signs of frostbite

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) explains that an early sign of frostbite is when the skin loses feeling and changes color, often becoming white, grayish-yellow, or feeling unusually firm or waxy.

This is known as frostnip, the mildest form of frostbite, which usually only causes temporary skin damage. Frostnip might make the affected area feel like pins and needles or throbbing.

To treat frostnip, the skin should be gradually warmed indoors or soaked in warm water at temperatures between 105 to 110 degrees Fahrenheit (40 to 43 degrees Celsius), according to Mayo Clinic.

In previous cases, doctors have attempted to save frostbitten toes and fingers using other drugs that reduce clotting.

However, these treatments carry a significant risk of bleeding or are only effective if administered within 24 hours of the injury, as explained by Dr. Peter Hackett, a professor of medicine at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, who was not part of the trial.

Movie on Homer’s Odyssey Starring Ralph Fiennes Shot in Greece

Tasos Kokkinidis

February 21, 2024

Movie on Homer’s Odyssey Starring Ralph Fiennes Shot in Greece

Movie Homer Odyssey — Juliette Binoche and Ralph Fiennes star in an epic based on The Odyssey. Credit: Elena Ternovaja, CC BY-SA 3.0 and Dick Thomas Johnson, CC BY 2.0/Wikipedia

An epic movie based on Homer’s ancient Greek classic, ‘The Odyssey’ is in a post-production phase after it wrapped up filming on the Ionian island of Corfu in the spring.

Starring Ralph Fiennes as Odysseus and Juliette Binoche as his beloved wife Penelope, production of ‘The Return’ started in Corfu and the Peloponnese, before continuing in Italy, Variety reports.

Fiennes and Binoche are reuniting for the epic twenty-five years after ‘The English Patient’.

Movie Odyssey — The ‘Return” will be released in American theaters in 2024. Credit: Bleecker Street

Bleecker Street, which has picked up the rights to the film, will release it in theatres in 2024.

Variety says that the film is an Italy-Greece-UK-France co-production. Directed by Academy Award nominee Uberto Pasolini, ‘The Return’ will also star Venice Film Festival Best Young Actor Award winner Charlie Plummer.

Synopsis of the movie based on Homer’s Odyssey

Here’s an official synopsis for the film, shared by Variety: After 20 years away, Odysseus (Fiennes) washes up on the shores of Ithaca, haggard and unrecognizable. The King has finally returned home but much has changed in his kingdom since he left to fight in the Trojan war.

His beloved wife Penelope (Binoche) is now a prisoner in her own home, hounded by her many ambitious suitors to choose a new husband, a new king.

Their son Telemachus (Plummer), who has grown up fatherless, is facing death at the hands of the suitors who see him as an obstacle in their relentless pursuit of Penelope and the kingdom. Odysseus has changed too.

Scarred by his experience of war, he is no longer the mighty warrior his people remember. But he is forced to face his past in order to rediscover the strength needed to save his family and win back the love he has lost.

Odyssey according to Homer

The Odyssey, like the Iliad, is divided into 24 books, corresponding to the 24 letters in the Greek alphabet.

Within the middle section of the poem (Books 9-12), Odysseus describes all the challenges that he has faced trying to get home. These include monsters of various sorts, a visit to the afterlife, cannibals, drugs, alluring women, and the hostility of Poseidon himself. These challenges resemble those of earlier heroes like Heracles and Jason.

Odysseus’s return to his island, however, is not the end of his woes. He finds that 108 young men from the local vicinity have invaded his home to put pressure on his wife Penelope to marry one of them. A stalemate exists, and it is only resolved by an archery contest at the end of the poem, which then leads to the slaughter of all the suitors by Odysseus and his son, Telemachus.

Peace on the island is eventually restored through the intervention of Athena, goddess of wisdom, victory, and war.

In the Iliad, the hero Achilles faces no such challenges, indicating that The Odyssey has a very different idea of heroism.

Spyware Discovered on the Phones of European Parliament Members

Tasos Kokkinidis

February 21, 2024

Spyware Discovered on the Phones of European Parliament Members

Spyware European Parliament — European parliament. Credit: Europarl/ CC-BY-SA 2.0

The European Parliament said on Wednesday it found traces of spyware on the phones of elected politicians and staff on its defense subcommittee.

Members and staff in the chamber’s subcommittee on security and defense (SEDE) have had their phones hit with intrusive surveillance software tools, the institution said in an internal email, seen by Politico.

All lawmakers in the subcommittee have been advised to take their phones to the institution’s IT service to be checked for spyware.

Parliament’s Deputy Spokesperson Delphine Colard said in a statement that “traces found in two devices” prompted the email calling on members to have their phones checked.

“In the given geopolitical context and given the nature of the files followed by the subcommittee on security and defense, special attention is dedicated to the devices of the members of this subcommittee and the staff supporting its work,” the statement said.

The European Parliament is on high alert for cyberattacks and foreign interference in the run-up to the EU election in June.

Politico reported in December that an internal review showed that the institution’s cybersecurity “has not yet met industry standards” and is “not fully in line with the threat level” posed by state-sponsored hackers and other threat groups.

One member of the security and defense subcommittee went in for a routine check on Tuesday, which resulted in a discovery of traces of spyware on their phone. The member told Politico it wasn’t immediately clear why they were targeted with hacking software.

Spyware in Greek socialist leader’s phone

The new revelations follow previous incidents with other European Parliament members targeted with spyware.

In 2022, Greek member of the EU Parliament and opposition leader Nikos Androulakis was among a list of Greek political and public figures found to have been targeted with Predator, a spyware tool.

A scan on his phone revealed a suspect link, which allows the hacker full and constant access to the mobile device, including passwords, photos and contact folders, web browsing history, text messages, and voicemail among other things.

“Revealing who is behind such sick practices and on whose behalf they act is not a personal matter,” Androulakis said at the time. “It is my democratic duty.”

Parliament’s President Roberta Metsola previously also faced an attempted hacking using spyware.

Last June, the European Parliament, based on a year-long investigation into the use of Pegasus and equivalent surveillance spyware, passed a resolution saying that the illicit use of spyware has put “democracy itself at stake.”

The resolution which was adopted with 411 votes in favor, 97 against, and 37 abstentions, called for credible investigations, legislative changes and better enforcement of existing rules to tackle abuse.

It asked the Greek government to “urgently restore and strengthen the institutional and legal safeguards”, repeal export licenses that are not in line with EU export control legislation, and respect the independence of the Hellenic Authority for Communication Security and Privacy.

Hermes, the God of Thieves in Ancient Greece

Luis Ospino

February 21, 2024

Hermes, the God of Thieves in Ancient Greece

Hermes in Delos greek mythology — Hermes is portrayed as being on the Greek island of Delos on this krater. The god of messengers and thieves is an important figure in Greek mythology. Credit: Egisto Sani/CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

In Ancient Greek mythology, Hermes is known as the herald of the gods; he is in charge of protecting travelers, as well as thieves and liars, and he also guides souls to the underworld or Hades. For his great cunning and insight, he is also considered the god of thieves.

Initially, Hermes was a god associated with the underworld. In ancient Greece, he was worshiped as “the god of the way between the lower and upper world.” This position gradually expanded to include roads in general and then borders, travelers, sailors, and commerce.

A mischievous god since his childhood

Hermes was born to Zeus and Maya, daughter of the titan Atlas, and one of the Pleiades. The legend goes that he was born on Mount Cilene in Arcadia in a cave. However, some traditions say that his birth was on Mount Olympus itself.

In the very first hours of his life, he somehow escaped from his cradle, making his way across the countryside and stealing some of Apollo’s oxen. In Homer’s works The Iliad and The Odyssey, although this tradition is not mentioned, Hermes is characterized as a cunning thief.

Other versions place the theft of oxen at a time much later in the life of the god. His cunning was such that in order not to leave footprints and be discovered, Hermes donned sandals and led the oxen to Pylos, where he killed two and locked the rest in a cave.

The god Apollo, thanks to his ability to prophesy, discovered that the culprit of the robbery of his cattle was Hermes; he then went to Cilene to accuse him in front of Maya. She showed the child in her cradle to the god, but Apollo brought the child to Zeus and demanded the return of his cattle. Hermes refused, but Zeus ordered him to comply with Apollo’s demands.

However, Hermes, seeing that his statements were not believed, took Apollo to the place where he had hid the oxen and then returned. When Apollo then heard the sweet sounds of Hermes’ lyre, he was so delighted that he remained with the animals, and later, the two gods became close friends.

Apollo gave Hermes his shepherd’s golden rod, teaching him the art of prophesying by means of dice, and Zeus made him the herald of the gods of the netherworld.

Hermes and his role as a Greek god

The main characteristic of Hermes in Greek mythology is the role of herald, or messenger, of the gods. He was a messenger when eloquence was required due to his great ability as a speaker in achieving the desired goal; hence, the tongues of sacrificed animals were typical offerings for him.

Hermes was also the god of prudence and skill in all relationships of social exchange. He is the god of deception, of the uncertain, of what happens from one place to another, and that is why he was also responsible for taking the souls of the dead into the afterlife. Hermes was renowned for doing everything he accomplished, whatever it was, with a certain skill, dexterity, and even grace.

His symbols were the rooster and the tortoise, and he is recognized by his bag, his winged sandals, his petals, a wide-brimmed hat, and his herald’s staff.

In the Roman adaptation of the Greek religion, Hermes was identified with the Roman god Mercury, who, although inherited from the Etruscans, developed many similar characteristics, such as that of his being the patron of commerce. In the Greek interpretation of the Egyptian gods, he is compared to Thoth.

First Case of Down Syndrome Found in Ancient Greece

Tasos Kokkinidis

February 21, 2024

First Case of Down Syndrome Found in Ancient Greece

Down Syndrome Ancient Greece — The skeletal remains of the Down syndrome girl and her elaborate necklace. Credit: AMNA

The first confirmed case of Down syndrome in Ancient Greece was found on the island of Aegina, according to research published in the journal Nature Communications.

DNA analysis on the skeleton of a girl aged 12-16 months, who lived in the 13th century BC, in a Mycenaean settlement near the village of Lazaridis, showed that the child suffered from Down syndrome.

The syndrome is a genetic condition where a person is born with an extra copy of chromosome 21. This means that they have a total of 47 chromosomes instead of 46. This can affect how their brain and body develop.

The girl was buried wearing an elaborate necklace made of 93 beads of faience and vitreous, as well as six of cornelian, a finding indicative of the care he received in life and death.

The excavation has been carried out since 2005 by the Department of History and Archeology of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (EKPA). To date, a settlement and its cemetery have been uncovered.

The findings, as the director of the excavation, emeritus professor of Archeology at EKPA, Naya Polychronakou-Sgouritsa, told the Athens Macedonia News Agency (AMNA), demonstrate that the settlement of the Lazarids flourished in the two centuries of the Palace period (the 14th and 13th centuries BC) and played an important role in the events of the time in the wider Argosaronic Gulf.

In 2010 the excavation in the settlement brought to light an unexpected find, a small box-shaped tomb, dated to the 13th century BC.

How scientists uncovered the Down syndrome girl of ancient Greece

The find was soon to become very exciting for archaeologists: inside the grave were the bones of a small child along with an elaborate necklace.

Immediately they transferred the find together with the soil that surrounded it to the Conservation Unit of the Museum of Archeology and Art History of the Greek National Academy of Sciences, to be carefully cleaned and preserved.

The osteological research carried out on the skeletal material by the bioarchaeologist, Dr. Eleanna Prevedorou, found that she had morphological characteristics of skeletal changes indicative of a very serious chronic disease or diseases.

In other words, she was a little girl “who spent most, if not all, of her life very ill and suffered from intense pain”, as Prevedorou tells AMNA.

Later genetic analyses of samples of the material carried out at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, in Germany, revealed that this little girl also suffered from Down syndrome.

“However we do not yet know whether and to what extent the severe health problems detected osteologically were associated with the syndrome”, Prevedorou explains.

This finding is very important, as it is the first time that a case of Down syndrome has been identified in Greece during antiquity, emphasizes the professor emeritus of EKPA, Naia Polychronakou-Sgouritsa, clarifying however that “there may be others, which however have been examined by a large institute, such as Max Planck.

Only a few cases of Down syndrome have been recorded in humans in ancient times, mainly because of the difficulties in identifying genetic disorders in ancient DNA samples without the use of modern techniques.

What Did India Learn From the Ancient Greeks?

Tasos Kokkinidis

February 21, 2024

What Did India Learn From the Ancient Greeks?

Ancient Greek India — A woman from India in traditional clothing. Ancient Greece and India interacted in antiquity. Credit:Amitsah8888 /Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 4.0

The interaction of the two great ancient civilizations of Greece and India, which began with the invasion of Alexander the Great in 327 BC and lasted for more than two centuries, has been the subject of numerous books by Indian and Western scholars over the years.

While visiting Greece in 2018, Ram Nath Kovind, the then President of India, praised the contributions of Alexander the Great to the history of his nation.

“The most famous Greek to come to India was of course Alexander the Great. He arrived at the head of an invading army in 326 BC—but he left as a friend,” Kovind wrote on Twitter.

The historical presence of Greeks in India and the way the two civilizations interacted has always been controversial, says Dr. Richard Stoneman, a scholar and the author of a book on the subject in a recent interview with Greek Reporter.

“The British scholars who were the first to really look at the art of ancient India in the middle of the nineteenth century assumed that there was wholesale influence from the Greeks on India. Then there was a big reaction among Indian scholars, who said that actually India invented everything without any outside influence whatsoever,” he explains.

An influential book, “They Came, They Saw, but India Conquered,” written by the historian A.K. Narain in 1957, is characteristic of this later line of scholarly thought.

But Stoneman maintains that one must find a happy medium between these two extreme theoretical positions.

His book, titled “The Greek Experience of India—Two Centuries of Greek Presence,” attempts to do just that. “I hope that my book provides a middle gound which would help someone understand the two-way interaction between the Greeks and the Indians, during those last centuries BC.”

Stoneman, an honorary visiting professor at Exeter University in the UK, says that his new book is “focused on how the ancient Greeks, led by Alexander the Great, set about understanding India.”

His work delves not only into Alexander’s invasion of the Indus Valley in 327 BC—the first large-scale encounter between Greek and Indian civilizations—but also into the era that followed, when Hellenic-style successor kingdoms ruled by strongmen rose and fell in northwest India and Bactria, its neighbor to the west.

The presence of these Hellenic states in that region of the world and their occasional forays even further east created a zone of Greco-Indian contact, influence, and exchange, as well as occasional conflict, stretching from Central Asia to the Ganges.

Stoneman argues that the two civilizations influenced each other in the arts and philosophy, but as he points out “in many ways the influence primarily went the other way, from India to the Greeks, although of course, there are many instances where Greek influences are very perceptible.”

“This happened chiefly in painting and sculpture,” the researcher says. He relates that large-scale sculpture began to be created in the city of Mathura in the third century BC, and about two centuries later, another school of sculptural art, heavily influenced by Hellenistic models, developed in Gandhara in today’s northern Pakistan.

Art is “most important, evident” Ancient Greek influence on India

Stoneman declares that “Art is the most important, the most evident, and the most lasting feature of the Greek influence in India.”

“From the very first moment that Western scholars and visitors set eyes on Gandharan art, they were immediately struck by the stylistic similarities to Hellenistic art, the kind of relative realism of the depictions and the style in which the figures are depicted,” the author notes.

“I think you can see the same in the earlier art of Mathura,” says Stoneman, “which is particularly interesting because until the third century BC there was no large-scale sculpture in India. All there was were small scale, mainly clay, figurines, and bronze workings the size of one’s hand.”

“But when the Greeks arrived in northwestern India suddenly they started making life-size or even larger statues out of stone,” Stoneman explains to Greek Reporter.

“There are many similarities to Greek statues. Gandhara is very widely recognized as being very much influenced by Greek and Roman art. The Mathuran style is stiffer, not as flexible or fluid as Greek sculpture, but still there are similarities because they are of large size and they are in important respects realistic,” he states.

The British scholar notes that there are also small details, such as how the subjects’ drapery is depicted with the naturalistic folds, as well as the knots in their tied sashes, which also proves the extent of the influence of Hellenistic art in India.

Stoneman also points to a second area analyzed in his book which is the interaction between the two civilizations in the realms of philosophy and the sciences, saying “Indian scholars are very ready to admit that sciences in the early centuries of the AD era were much influenced by Greek mathematicians and astronomers.”

But what is really interesting is the way these philosophical ideas interacted, he notes. The Greek philosopher, Pyrrho of Elis, who traveled with Alexander, was himself influenced by Indian philosophy. Soon after that, he says, we find a great deal of interaction of ideas and theories between the two cultures.

“The philosophical ideas of Democritus and Epicurus have remained a living tradition in Sanskrit philosophical thought for a thousand years,” Stoneman argues, referring to the primary sacred language of Hinduism which has been used as a philosophical language in the religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism.

During the two centuries of the Indo-Greek era, the philosophical interaction between Greece and India was very productive for later civilizations, states the author, who points to its influence on the development of the philosophy of skepticism.

The author refers, as an example of this, to “The way that skepticism seems to be rooted in a Buddhist perceptive, which denies permanence to anything at all. We see very interesting echoes of that in the philosophy of Epicurus. We also know that later Greek philosophers were interested in Indian thought. This kind of mystical perspective on the universe is very much shared…”

Globe-trotting Greek Photographer in Athens Exhibition

Paula Tsoni

February 21, 2024

Globe-trotting Greek Photographer in Athens Exhibition

Visitors at Terra Incognita photo exhibition at Technopolis, Athens. — Terra Incognita travel photography exhibition *runs until Sunday, February 25, 2024* at Technopolis, Athens. Credit: Athanasios Maloukos

The free entry exhibition of awarded Greek travel photographer Athanasios Maloukos has entered its final week on show at Technopolis in Athens under the auspices of the Embassy of Mexico and the Consulate of the Ivory Coast.

The showcase, titled Terra Incognita, comprises over fifty ethnographic images from the photographer’s travels around the world spanning fifteen years. These chronicle customs, festivals, rituals, and the everyday life at faraway lands among some of the world’s most isolated populations.

Maloukos has been scooping up international photography awards since 2012 and was most recently awarded Travel Photographer of the Year 2023 at the homonymous international competition.

As he prepares for his next mission in the exotic Mozambique, he tells Greek Reporter about his personal journey as a photographer, moved by the comments he received from the show’s visitors.

From amateur to awarded photographer

Maloukos was intrigued by photography since his student years, trying to see through his lens what he saw around him “with a different perspective that captured life in a specific frame and focused the interest in a delimited setting.”

“Starting out as a simple photographer, it was impossible not to become interested in capturing human expressions at some point,” he adds. “So, the marriage of photography with my other interest, travel, occurred naturally.”

Over the course of time, he sharpened his photographer’s eye, but his travels also became more demanding. However, it was only when he was prompted by his friends that he decided to participate in a photography competition in 2009.

“The participation alone in a competition, and indeed an international one, is an unknown aspect of photographic knowledge, where you have to renounce your own personal or emotional connection to an image and be able to perceive how other people receive your creation, but without this becoming an end in itself,” the photographer explained.

Visitor looking at an image at the Terra Incognita photo exhibition at Technopolis, Athens. — When participating in competitions, photographers need to renounce their own personal or emotional connections to images so as to be able to perceive of their creations through the eyes of others. Credit: Athanasios Maloukos

Greek travel photographer’s international awards

Maloukos was eventually granted his first award in 2012, when he won first place at the International Photography Awards in the Travel Special category. He was among five finalists for the Discovery of the Year award.

He has since received numerous awards and gold medals in international photography competitions, such as the Best New Talent of the Year and Best Portrait Photographer of the Year at the Prix de la Photographie de Paris. His most recent recognition was the Travel Photographer of the Year 2023 award for his series on Siberia’s Shamanism.

“It is not often that the judging panel is surprised by images, but in 21 years we have never seen these Siberian shamans, here on the icy landscapes of Lake Baikal,” the competition’s jury commented. “These images have fantastic and intricate detail.”

Terra Incognita photo exhibition at Technopolis, Athens. Credit: Athanasios Maloukos

A turning point in the photographer’s work

The Terra Incognita exhibition in Athens includes Maloukos’ most iconic shots from as far back as 2007, taking visitors on a colorful journey to spectacular, little known areas and events around the globe with the help of a digital QR catalog which tells the story of each image and its people.

Looking back at his evolution as a photographer, Maloukos tells Greek Reporter of an incident that caused his photographer’s eye to “completely change direction.”

“During a touristic trip to Peru, which coincided with the country’s national holiday, and while I was in a small village in the Sacred Valley of the Incas, there was the customary parade of small children dressed in traditional Quechua costumes,” he recalls.

“The mayor of the village invited me on stage, where the officials were standing, and then to a small celebration, to take photos. This was the first time that I felt I was becoming a local, and although the experience was very short, I [realized] the importance of being accepted into a community and participating in their daily or even festive activities. Since then my photographer’s eye has become more specialized and more human-centered,” Maloukos concludes.

This unique quality is strikingly reflected in the Terra Incognita showcase.

School pupils looking at an image at Terra Incognita photo exhibition at Technopolis, Athens. — School visit to Terra Incognita photo exhibition at Technopolis, Athens. Credit: Athanasios Maloukos

Among thousands of visitors who visited the show, including many Greek schools, Maloukos singles out one particular comment made by a young boy admiring a photograph of the Golden Temple of the Sikh, a spiritual space that welcomes people from all religions and doctrines.

“Right now, in this exhibition, I feel like I find myself in such a temple,” the student said in awe.

* Terra Incognita is at Technopolis, Athens until Sunday, February 25, 2024, 10am-10pm. Admission is free.

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