The F-16 jet was participating in a training flight. Credit: Hellenic Air Force
A Greek Air Force F-16 (Block 52+ variant) fighter jet has crashed into a sea off the small island of Psathoura, in the northern Aegean.
The pilot managed to escape from the single-seater aircraft using the ejection system. He was located and collected by a Super Puma helicopter and is being transferred to a hospital.
The fighter jet, which belongs to the 337th Squadron of the 110th Fighter Wing, was participating in a training flight (the area is a firing range), the Hellenic Air Force said in a press release.
Authorities dispatched a Super Puma and a Sikorsky S70 helicopter from Marathon, a Canadair from Thessaloniki, and the frigate Aegeus, which the Coast Guard assisted.
Designed as an air superiority day fighter, the F-16 evolved into a successful all-weather multirole aircraft with over 4,600 built since 1976.
Although no longer purchased by the U.S. Air Force, improved versions are being built for export.
Greek pilots fall in the line of duty
In December 2023 a Greek Air Force pilot was killed when his training jet crashed in the countryside near the southern town of Kalamata.
The accident happened on the last flight of 40-year-old Major Epaminondas Kosteas before he was due to take leave.
In July 2023, the captain and co-pilot of a firefighting airplane in Greecewere both killed when their aircraft crashed on the island of Evia while attempting to put out a wildfire.
Flight Lt. Christos Moulas, 34, and Second Lt. Periklis Stefanidis, 27, were on board the water-dousing aircraft which belonged to the 355 Tactical Transport Squadron, part of the 112 Combat Wing at Elefsina Air Base.
In February 2023, 31-year-old Captain Efstathios Tsitlakidis was killed when the F-4E Phantom II crashed during a training exercise in the Ionian Sea. Co-pilot, Lieutenant Marios Touroutsikas, 29, also died in the accident.
Greece remembers Giorgos Baltadoros, the fighter pilot who died on April 12, 2018, when his Mirage 2000-5 plane crashed into the Aegean after a mission intercepting Turkish jets which had violated Greek airspace.
Eighteen years ago, pilot Konstantinos Iliakis joined those Greek military personnel who over the years fell in the line of duty while protecting the country. It was May 23, 2006 when the 35-year-old Hellenic Air Force pilot lost his life as his plane crashed on Karpathos island in the Dodecanese. He had been trying to intercept Turkish fighter jets which had entered Greek airspace over the Aegean.
These incidents and many others are a reminder of the risks that pilots face every day. They are also a testament to the bravery and dedication of these men and women who put their lives on the line to protect their country.
Archaeological excavations in Leicester have revealed what once may have been a Roman shrine to the Greek god Dionysus. Credit: University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS) / PA
An ancient Roman shrine, possibly of the Greek god Dionysus, was discovered recently buried beneath the graveyard of Leicester Cathedral in the United Kingdom.
The find, along with thousands of others, was identified by archaeologists during preparatory excavations for the construction of a visitor and learning center at the cathedral.
The discoveries around the cathedral grounds seem to confirm that it was customary for places of Christian worship to be built over much older ancient Roman ruins.
The discovery
Archaeological excavations around Leicester Cathedral have been underway since 2021. The cathedral itself has been closed since 2022 to allow for a £12.7 building project.
During the excavations in Leicester, archaeologists discovered what they now believe is a Roman shrine to either Dionysus, Isis, or Mithra. However, it is difficult to determine with any certainty what deity was worshipped, as only a broken altar base remains in what was once the basement of a large Roman building near the external wall of the modern cathedral.
“There’s always been a tradition that the cathedral was built on a Roman temple, based on antiquarian discoveries in the 19th Century,” said Mathew Morris, the excavation director for the University of Leicester’s Archaeological Services (ULAS), who are responsible for the excavations.
“We’re now finding a Roman building that looks like it had a shrine status to it,” Morris continued.
“There are no tests that can prove what it was. That it was a shrine is the most likely theory, but there aren’t really any others,” he added.
According to ULAS, the building in which the altar was found was probably built in the second century AD and then deliberately filled in during either the third or fourth century.
The ULAS also said the altar “is carved from local Dane Hills sandstone, quarried 1 mile west of the site near Western Park, and measures 25cm by 15cm. There are decorative moldings on three sides and the back is plain, showing that it would have been placed against a wall.”
The altar discovered in Leicester. Credit: University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS) / PA
Who is Dionysus?
Dionysus was a deity in the ancient Greek pantheon, known to the Romans as Bacchus. Like Demeter, Dionysus was a fertility god, but he was specifically associated with the harvesting of grapes and wine-making, and with fruit and vegetation.
This somewhat mysterious god was also associated with insanity, drunken revelry, and religious ecstasy. In many myths, he is accompanied by a retinue of satyrs, male nature spirits with the tails, ears, and sometimes legs of a horse.
Dionysus was also followed by the Maenads. The “raving ones” as they were known, were the most important members of the god’s retinue, and were all women. They were usually depicted in a state of ecstatic frenzy, brought on through a combination of dancing and intoxication.
Worship of Dionysus, or Bacchus as he was also called, was most likely introduced to the Romans by the Greeks who had settled in Magna Graecia (Southern Italy).
The first cult of Dionysus in Rome was probably established around 200 BC in the grove of Stimula near the Aventine Hill. A priestess from Campania established it there, near the temple where Liber Pater (“the Free Father”) had a State-sanctioned, popular cult.
Like Dionysus, Liber Pater was a god associated with wine and male fertility. The early adoption of a cult of Dionysus in Rome may have had a syncretic relationship with this Roman deity.
File photo of a baby pygmy hippo. Credit: Tambako The Jaguar, CC BY-ND 2.0
A rare and endangered pygmy hippo has been born in Athens’ Attica Zoological Park for the first time in 10 years, delighting conservationists.
A lack of male pygmy hippopotamus in captivity had complicated breeding efforts, so zoo staff were “absolutely thrilled” the baby was a boy, Noi Psaroudaki, the zoo’s wildlife veterinarian, told Reuters.
“This is the first birth in the zoo in 2024, and what a birth!” Psaroudaki said.
“Every captive birth of pygmy hippos is extremely important. We’re very happy to see this baby grow into a healthy adult hippo, and hopefully one day reproduce,” she told Reuters.
Pygmy hippos are native to swamps and rainforests in western Africa. They are listed as an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and it is estimated only about 2,000-2,500 still live in the wild.
Weighing 7 kg (15.4 pounds), the male calf – whose name will go to a vote – was born on Feb. 19 and joins his parents Lizzie and Jamal as the only pygmy hippos at the zoo.
The hippo, solitary and nocturnal by nature, will remain with its mother for a couple of months until it ventures into the outdoor enclosure, Reuters reports.
Pygmy hippos roamed Greece thousands of years ago
A rare nocturnal forest creature, the pygmy hippopotamus is a difficult animal to study in the wild. Pygmy hippos were unknown outside West Africa until the 19th century. Introduced to zoos in the early 20th century, they breed well in captivity and the vast majority of research is derived from zoo specimens.
The find was made at Katharo Plateau on the Dikti mountain in the east of the island by paleontologists from the University of Athens.
It marks the first time such a “high concentration of pygmy hippopotamus fossils” has been found in Greece. Paleontologist Giorgos Lyras, who worked on the excavation, told AFP that it was a “significant discovery.”
Other animals have been unearthed on Crete and the other Greek islands. Dwarf elephants were found to have lived in the Aegean islands, including Naxos and Rhodes. Fossils like these can inform researchers about the ecosystems that existed thousands of years ago.
Athens zoo welcomed rare red panda
Athens’ Attica Zoological Park had another celebration recently when a newly born red panda became an instant star.
The red panda also known as the lesser panda, is a small mammal native to the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China. It has dense reddish-brown fur with a black belly and legs, white-lined ears, a mostly white muzzle and a ringed tail.
The Greek Army rescued residents at the village of Palamas in Thessaly, Greece in September 2023. Credit: Hellenic Army
Dutch experts have proposed massive infrastructure works, including the relocation of entire villages, in Greece’s Thessaly Plain to prevent future floods.
After the deadly floods of last September in Thessaly Greece asked the assistance of the Dutch experts of HVA, an agricultural development & asset management company with experience of mega projects around the globe.
The Netherlands has developed know-how during its constant battle with the sea and the management of the waters of the River Rhine.
The plan was presented to the Greek government recently and will be available for public consultation.
Proposals to deal with the Thessaly floods
It proposes, among other things a series of measures such as controlled flooding, relocation of villages and agricultural land, building dams, opening tributaries and changing agricultural production.
HVA’s scientists who spent weeks examining the Thessaly Basin say that work should be completed within six years.
They warn that the region is facing the risk of completely exhausting its water reserves. They also say that inhabitants should get used to phenomena such as the Mediterranean cyclones that hit twice in the last three years.
Army units help residents escape the flood. Credit: AMNA
“The inhabitants of Thessaly also have to accept”, say the Dutch scientists, “as the inhabitants of other European countries have been forced to do after severe floods, that some areas will have to be ceded to give space to the rivers.”
They propose that more space must be given to the three main rivers in Thessaly: Acheloos, Pinios, and also Litheos, which cross the city of Trikala.
A typical example is what the Dutch scientists propose for Trikala. There they propose to create a bypass channel, in which a part of the waters of the Litheos River will be directed so that it does not overflow and flood the city. This tributary will have to cross through cultivated land and small villages that will have to be relocated elsewhere.
For Larissa, the scientists propose the immediate demolition of buildings that have been built on the banks of Pineos River, reducing its capacity by half, and the creation of anti-flood zones, possibly with the withdrawal of agricultural lands.
Regarding Lake Carla they say its capacity is “not sufficient to store excess water from future extreme weather events,” and they recommend works to increase its capacity.
Check dams and big dams required
HVA recommends the creation of up to 250 check dams that should be built in the smaller valleys, ravines and streams surrounding the Thessaly Plain. With these, they report, “the large flow of water from the mountainous areas will be reduced. Dissipating the energy from rushing water will significantly reduce soil erosion.”
Another proposal is the creation of three large dams in the towns of Mouzaki, Pyli and Skopia. They also state that the completion of the Sykia Dam, a project included in the Acheloos diversion projects, is necessary to divert 200 million cubic meters of water from the river to eastern Thessaly.
Change in agriculture cultivation to prevent floods in Thessaly
Dutch scientists characterize the visible – and immediate – risk of desertification of the region as a “matter of survival” for the agricultural sector of Thessaly.
They estimate that the annual water deficit of around 500 million cubic meters that Thessaly faces will increase in the coming years due to climate change, which is predicted to increase temperatures and decrease rainfall.
What they propose as a solution, to protect the water resources of the region, is to implement a gradual, multi-year and coordinated transition to the crops, from low value and high demand on water (e.g. cotton and corn) to horticultural and fruit crops that require (most of the time) less water and space, while also being higher value, generating more income for farmers.
The question is whether the Greek government has the political will and the resources to implement at least part of the radical overhaul proposed by the Dutch experts.
The findings are powered by data from the Gallup World Poll and analyzed by some of the world’s leading well-being scientists.
Experts use responses from people in more than 140 nations to rank the world’s ‘happiest’ countries. Finland tops the overall list for the seventh successive year, though there is considerable movement elsewhere:
Serbia (37th) and Bulgaria (81st) have had the biggest increases in average life evaluation scores since they were first measured by the Gallup World Poll in 2013, and this is reflected in climbs up the rankings between World Happiness Report 2013 and this 2024 edition of 69 places for Serbia and 63 places for Bulgaria.
The next two countries showing the largest increases in life evaluations are Latvia (46th) and Congo (Brazzaville) (89th), with rank increases of 44 and 40 places, respectively, between 2013 and 2024.
Significantly, the US (23rd) has fallen out of the top 20 for the first time since the World Happiness Report was first published in 2012, driven by a large drop in the wellbeing of Americans under 30.
Afghanistan remains bottom of the overall rankings as the world’s ‘unhappiest’ nation.
For the first time, the report gives separate rankings by age group, in many cases varying widely from the overall rankings. Lithuania tops the list for children and young people under 30, while Denmark is the world’s happiest nation for those 60 and older.
In comparing generations, those born before 1965 are, on average, happier than those born since 1980. Among Millennials, evaluation of one’s own life drops with each year of age, while among Boomers life satisfaction increases with age.
“We found some pretty striking results. There is a great variety among countries in the relative happiness of the younger, older, and in-between populations. Hence the global happiness rankings are quite different for the young and the old, to an extent that has changed a lot over the last dozen years,” Prof John F. Helliwell, Emeritus Professor of Economics at the Vancouver School of Economics, University of British Columbia, and a founding Editor of the World Happiness Report, said.
The 20 top countries in the World Happiness Report
1. Finland
2. Denmark
3. Iceland
4. Sweden
5. Israel
6. Netherlands
7. Norway
8. Luxemburg
9. Switzerland
10. Australia
11. New Zealand
12. Coast Rica
13. Kuwait
14. Austria
15. Canada
16. Belgium
17. Ireland
18. Czech Republic
19. Lithuania
20. United Kingdom
The 10 countries at the bottom of the World Happiness Report
Byzantine sundial-calendar reproduction in Thessaloniki Technology Museum, the original caption as per exhibit was: Portable sundial, Memphis, Roman Egypt, 4th century AD (modeled after original in Hermitage Museum) CC BY-SA 4.0
Referred to as the Byzantine “Antikythera Mechanism”, the portable sundial-calendar on display at the London Science Museum is fifteen centuries old and is proof that the Byzantines excelled in arithmetic and astrology.
Byzantine education was based on the study of the trivium and quadrivium, a program codified by the Romans. Its elements were inherited from late Ancient Greece.
The trivium was the study of grammar, logic, and rhetoric. The quadrivium was the study of arithmetic, astronomy, music, and geometry.
Educated Byzantines clearly distinguished between astronomy and astrology, the former being concerned with the theoretical study of celestial events, whereas the latter functioned as a practical art.
The Byzantine sundial-calendar
The Byzantine sundial-calendar in the London Science Museum consists of four surviving parts: the front sundial plate, suspension arm, Moon disc with gear, and arbor with ratchet and two well-formed gear wheels.
The handle measures 127 mm x 30 mm x 18 mm, while the gear wheel is 28 mm x 32 mm, and the plate is 3 mm x 135 mm.
Scientists agree that the rare artifact was created during the Byzantine Empire era between the years 400 and 600 AD by an unknown individual.
On the sundial plate, there are sixteen inscriptions in Greek, namely: Constantinople, Syene, Thebaid, Africa, Alexandria, Antioch, Rhodes, Athens, Sicily, Thessaloniki, Rome, Dalmatia, Doclea, Caesarea Sratonis, Palestine, and Ascalon.
The Byzantine owner of the device would have been able to use it as a sundial to tell the time in sixteen different locations across the Old World. The well-preserved artifact could be the first portable clock ever.
Furthermore, the owner would have been able to predict the positions of the Sun and Moon in the zodiac and the lunar phases.
Sundial Calendar and Antikythera Mechanism
The device, consisting of a sundial and geared mechanical calendar, is the second oldest known of its kind. The earliest known example is the Antikythera Mechanism.
The Antikythera Mechanism, currently housed at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. Credit: ZDE/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 4.0
The Antikythera Mechanism was an Ancient Greek mechanical device used to calculate and display information pertinent to astronomical phenomena. Its construction is currently dated to 100 BC, give or take thirty years.
The elaborate device carried the first known set of scientific dials or scales, and its importance was acknowledged when radiographic images indicated that the remaining fragments contained thirty gear wheels.
No other geared mechanism of such complexity is known to have existed prior to the Antikythera Mechanism. Such mechanisms appeared in medieval cathedral clocks that were built a thousand years later.
Scientists dubbed it an ancient “computer,” and it is named after the island of Antikythera in the Aegean Sea where it was discovered. It is now on display in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens.
Telling time with a sundial
The clock, just like the Antikythera Mechanism, can “display” the time and day in sixteen different cities-regions of the then known world in Greek.
It is a masterpiece, based on deep knowledge of astronomy, mathematics, and technological achievements, such as metalworking, automation, and gear construction.
The owner of the sundial is unknown, but it is likely it was an individual who was part of the priesthood and needed to know the time so as to properly schedule religious rituals.
The concept of an hour, comprised of sixty minutes and three thousand six hundred seconds, is a human invention. However, the Sun would have been instrumental in defining this.
As the Sun navigates across the sky, shadows cast by objects change in length and direction, and if an object is placed on the ground, the shadows can be used to chart the passage of day. By scratching lines into the earth, our ancestors could formulate an ‘hours’ system and begin to count the passing of daylight hours for the very first time.
Hence, the sundial is essentially a time-finder.
The oldest known sundial dates from the reign of Thutmose III, who ruled Egypt around 1500 BC.
It is a simple L-shaped piece of stone with hour lines along its upper surface. At dawn, it would have been aligned towards the rising Sun, and a bar mounted atop the short part of the L would have cast a shadow on the first hour line of the day.
As the Sun moved, the shadow also did along the hour lines until noon when the direction of the sundial was reversed and the same six hour lines were used to count out the afternoon hours.
Greek and Roman Portable Sundials
There are eight portable sundials of a single type, according to J.V. Field and M.T. Wright, who are science historians. Five are inscribed in Greek and three in Roman.
The Greek ones include the sundial part of a compound instrument that has been termed The Byzantine Sundial-Calendar. They all were created during the early centuries of the second millennium and may belong to the Roman era or early Byzantine Empire.
The dial is capable of continuous adjustment for latitude. These dials, like all Ancient Greek or Roman ones, were intended to indicate the time of day according to the system of ‘temporal,’ ‘seasonal,’ or unequal hours, whereby the period from sunrise to sunset each day is equally divided into twelve hours.
What is remarkable about this design in comparison to others from antiquity is that its design embodies an approximation.
The list of Greek sundials also contains a dial from Memphis, information about which has been very scarce thus far. Some authors even considered it lost.
However, this instrument is stored in the collection of the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg. There is now an opportunity to study it more closely.
Young students make a human chain depicting the 57 victims of the Tempe disaster during a recent protest. Credit: AMNA
The Greek Parliament will debate the findings of the Tempe railway disaster on Wednesday in what is expected to be a heated debate as allegations of cover-up by the government intensify.
The findings of a parliamentary committee investigating the case ended in each of the seven parliamentary parties drafting its own report.
Main opposition SYRIZA stressed in its report that the culprits must be found, no matter how high they are, PASOK pointed to an attempt by the government to cover up responsibility, the Communist Party called for political and criminal responsibilities to the transport ministers from 2010 until now, and the populist right Greek Solution demanded the impeachment of the ministers from 2012 onwards.
Government rejects accusations of cover-up at Tempe
The government spokesman has rejected allegations that there has been a cover-up of the incident, accusing opposition parties of “instrumentalizing the pain of the victims’ relatives.”
In a press briefing, Pavlos Marinakis also confirmed that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will not attend the debate on the findings on the rail disaster, which claimed the lives of 57 people, most of them young university students returning from a long weekend break.
Marinakis said that the government has “absolute respect for the pain, anger and indignation of the relatives of the victims,” adding that the justice system is continuing the investigation into the disaster, in the best possible way.
“We are waiting for the answers; we want light in a sober and objective way,” he added.
SYRIZA: Relatives resort to Europe
SYRIZA accused the prime minister of “blatantly ignoring the cry of anguish of the relatives of the Tempi victims as well as their complaints about the cover-up of the crime. It is therefore logical that he has chosen to avoid tomorrow’s debate in Parliament.”
Regrettably, the relatives of the victims of the railway accident in Tempe are forced to resort to Europe to find their rights, SYRIZA leader Stefanos Kasselakis said.
“Mitsotakis will avoid appearing in Parliament on Wednesday and choose to run away. From the very first moment, his only concern was to cover up the crime and the responsibilities of the members of his government,” Kasselakis added and called on the Prime Minister to reflect on his historical responsibility.
Parents of Tempe victims call for ministerial immunity to be lifted
The parents of victims of the 2023 Tempe railway disaster have filed a request in Parliament calling for the immunity from prosecution of two former transport ministers to be lifted.
Maria Karystianou and Pavlos Aslanidis, whose children were among the 57 victims of the deadly collision, called for former New Democracy minister and sitting MP Kostas Karamanlis and former SYRIZA minister Christos Spirtzis to be investigated over potential criminal liabilities.
Their application is based on the conclusion of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office investigation into the uncompleted contract for the signaling and telecontrol system on the railway and on the legal argument that EU law prevails over the Greek Constitution.
EPPO’s probe found indications of breach of duty and misappropriation of funds on the part of Spirtzis and Karamanlis, who served as the ministers of transport under different governments from 2016 and until the crash, and were ultimately responsible for ensuring that the contract was implemented.
A man injured in the Tempe train crash has also sued Karamanlis, adding to an already heavy dossier of charges.
Maria Karystianou blasts Greek government
On Monday, Maria Karystianou, who represents the families of the 57 victims of the train accident in Tempe, speaking at the European Parliament said that the Greek government “initiated a sequence of bad manipulations and methods, which insults the memory of our dead and the dignity of the victims who survived.”
Karystianou noted the government through the Parliament provides the competent minister at the time and current MP Kostas Karamanlis full immunity.
“It doesn’t even refer him to face justice,” she said. Karamanlis resigned after the accident at Tempe in February 2023 that claimed the lives of 53 young people. However, he was re-elected in the general elections of June 2023.
“This blatantly violates fundamental principles of the Rule of Law,” Karystianou said and added that there is a collapse of trust in relation to the proper functioning of the institutions in Greece.”
“The Reception of Lord Byron at Missolonghi” by Theodoros Vryzakis. Credit: Public Domain
The 1821 Greek War of Independence erupted into the world of the early nineteenth century as Europe was being shaken to its roots by riots in many nations which threatened its monarchies.
The Greek Revolution was a cause for concern for the elites, since it threatened Europe’s social and political balance.
However, it was greeted with enthusiasm by many ordinary people across Europe and the US, which is undoubtedly partly to do with the Greek origin of so much of the West’s classical heritage.
The uprising quickly become a cause célèbre in the Western world, giving rise to an impressive wave of what came to be known as “philhellenism,” or the love of Greece and its history.
Some wealthy Americans and western European aristocrats, such as the renowned poet Lord Byron and later the physician Samuel Howe, actually took up arms and joined the Greek revolutionaries in the Greek War of Independence.
“We are all Greeks” Philhellenes join the fight in the Greek War of Independence
Percy Bysshe Shelley, one of the major English Romantic poets, perfectly captured the overall mood in his poem “Hellas.” “We are all Greeks. Our laws, our literature, our religion [sic], our art have their roots in Greece. But for Greece … we might still have been savages and idolators.… The Modern Greek is the descendant of those glorious beings.”
The Ottoman massacres of Greeks at Chios in 1822 inspired Eugène Delacroix’s famous painting “Massacre of Chios;” other philhellenic works by Delacroix were inspired by a number of Lord Byron’s poems. Byron, the most celebrated philhellene of all, gave his name, his prestige, his wealth — and ultimately his life — to the cause.
“The Massacre at Chios,” Eugene Delacroix, 1824. Credit: Public Domain
In the summer of 1821, large numbers of young men from all over Europe began to gather in the French port of Marseilles to book passage to Greece and join the Greek War of Independence.
The French philhellene Jean-François-Maxime Raybaud wrote when he heard of the Revolution, in March of 1821, “I learnt with a thrill that Greece was shaking off her chains.” By July of that year, he had boarded a ship bound for Greece.
Between the summer of 1821 and the end of 1822, when the French began to inspect ships leaving Marseilles for philhellenes and record their numbers, some 360 volunteers had made their way to Greece.
In Germany, Italy and France, many clergymen and university professors gave speeches acknowledging that all of Europe owed a huge debt to ancient Greece.
A young medical student in Mannheim wrote that hearing his professor lecture on the need for Greek freedom went through him like an electric shock, inspiring him to drop his studies and head to Greece. At the same time, a Danish student wrote: “How could a man inclined to fight for freedom and justice find a better place than next to the oppressed Greeks?”
From the United States came the doctor Samuel Gridley Howe and the soldier George Jarvis to fight alongside the Greek people in the Greek War of Independence.
Philhellenes in the US
The classicist Edward Everett, a professor of Greek at Harvard, was active in championing the Greek cause in the United States.
In November of 1821, he published an appeal from Adhamantios Korais, which read “To the Citizens of the United States, it is your land that Liberty has fixed her abode, so you will not assuredly imitate the culpable indifference or rather the long ingratitude of the Europeans.”
Korais went on to call for direct American intervention in the armed struggle in several American newspapers.
In 1821, the “Greek Committee” in Charleston, South Carolina sent the Greek people 50 barrels of salted meat, while the Greek Committee in Springfield, Massachusetts sent supplies of salted meat, sugar, fish and flour. In New York City, a charity ball hosted by that city’s Greek Committee raised the then-princely sum of $8,000.
In Nafplio, the first capital of modern Greece, a monument to honor the philhellenes who died fighting in the war listed 274 names, with one hundred from Germany, forty each from France and Italy, and the rest from Britain, Spain, Hungary, Sweden, Portugal and Denmark.
Lord Byron by Thomas Phillips, oil on canvas, circa 1835. Source: Public Domain
Lord Byron fought for the cause of Greek freedom
But of course the biggest casualty of the war among all the philhellenes of the world was that of Lord Byron, who is celebrated in Greece as a national hero.
He raised money for the Greek War of Independence by selling his English estate, which raised some £11,250 pounds sterling, all of which he planned to spend on the Greek cause.
In today’s money, Byron would have been a millionaire many times over, and the news that a fabulously wealthy British aristocrat known for his generosity had arrived in Greece made Byron the object of much solicitation in a desperately poor country like Greece.
Sculpture of Lord Byron in Athens. Credit: Public Domain
He joined forces with Greek rebel leaders fighting the Ottomans in the Greek War of Independence near Missolonghi.
In 1824 he planned to attack the Turkish-held fortress of Lepanto, at the mouth of the Gulf of Corinth, despite his lack of military experience.
However, before the expedition could sail, on February 15, 1824, the warrior poet fell ill and died in Missolonghi on April 19.
Close to the center of Athens, outside the National Garden, is a statue depicting Greece in the form of a woman crowning Lord Byron.
The statue is by the French sculptors Henri-Michel Chapu and Alexandre Falguière. Since 2008, the anniversary of Byron’s death, April 19th, has been honored throughout the nation of Greece as “Byron Day.”
Archaeologists uncovered a hidden tunnel complex dating back to the Bar Kokhba Revolt against the Romans in Israel. Credit: Emil Aladjem / Israel Antiquities Authority
A recent dig at Huqoq near the Sea of Galilee in Israel involving students, locals, and soldiers, uncovered new things about Jewish history, such s when people prepared shelters for the revolt against the Romans led by Bar Kokhba in 132 to 136 CE.
During the dig, it was found that the people of Huqoq adapted their water cistern, originally made in the Second Temple period, into a hiding place. They did this as part of getting ready for the First Revolt in 66 CE and the Bar Kokhba Revolt in 132 CE. When danger loomed, they even made a tunnel from a mikveh, breaking a wall for escape routes, as reported by an Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) spokesperson.
These tunnels allowed sneaking around under houses in tight spaces. This underground system, the biggest found in Galilee, had about eight hiding spots.
The connecting tunnels were dug at right angles, making it hard for the heavily armed Roman soldiers to chase them. The excavation also turned up lots of broken clay and glass dishes, a fancy ring (though the gem itself wasn’t there), and other discoveries.
An Impressive Tunnel Complex from the period of the Bar Kokhba Revolt revealed near the Sea of Galilee :
The excavations have provided a glance at a dramatic episode in the history of the Jewish people: the preparation of shelters for the Revolt of the Jews against the Romans… pic.twitter.com/s80c1cdBDT
Huqoq has a rich Jewish history dating back around 2,000 years to the Early Roman period. The Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds talk about Rabbi Pinhas and Rabbi Hezekiah, wise men who lived in the area during the third and fourth centuries CE.
Near the hiding complex, there’s a hill where a synagogue from the Byzantine period is located. That synagogue also has some really special mosaics. The excavation of this synagogue started in 2011 and was led by Professor Jodi Magness and her team from North Carolina University.
The hiding complex system at Huqoq is an important site set to be developed in Galilee. It will show the public how the Jewish community defended itself during revolts, according to the IAA spokesperson.
“We turned the excavation in the hiding complex into a community excavation as part of the Israel Antiquities Authority’s vision of connecting the public to its heritage,” says Dr. Einat Ambar-Armon, director of the Israel Antiquities Authority Archeological-Educational Center in the Northern Region.
Ancient tunnel complex from Bar Kokhba revolt discovered in Israel
The discovery of the hiding complex adds to a substantial debate among experts. They’re arguing whether the Bar Kokhba revolt reached Galilee or stayed in Judea and Central Israel.
Uri Berger of the Israel Antiquities Authority and Professor Yinon Shivtiel of the Zefat Academic College believe the inner parts of the hiding complex were made at the start of the Second Revolt.
They believe some features were used even during the First Revolt. They’re not entirely sure if the complex was used for hiding and escaping during the Second Revolt, but they think it was set up for that purpose. There is hope future excavations will provide additional clues.
Researchers found in a new study that intermittent fasting is linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular death. Credit: Quick Spice / Flickr / CC BY 2.0
New research from the American Heart Association’s recent event in Chicago suggests that how long we eat each day could impact our heart health. Scientists looked at data from more than 20,000 adults in the United States.
They found that those who ate within a shorter time frame of less than 8 hours a day, following a plan called time-restricted eating (intermittent fasting), had a higher risk of dying from heart disease compared to those who spread their meals over 12 to 16 hours a day.
What is time-restricted eating?
Time-restricted eating, a form of intermittent fasting, means you eat only during certain hours of the day. This could be anywhere from 4 to 12 hours out of a 24-hour period.
Many people who practice this kind of eating stick to what’s called a 16:8 schedule. That means they eat all their meals within an 8-hour window and then fast for the other 16 hours each day, according to the American Heart Association (AHA).
In previous studies, researchers discovered that time-restricted eating can have some positive effects on our heart and metabolic health. It can help keep blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol levels in check.
“Restricting daily eating time to a short period, such as 8 hours per day, has gained popularity in recent years as a way to lose weight and improve heart health,” said senior study author Victor Wenze Zhong. “However, the long-term health effects of time-restricted eating, including risk of death from any cause or cardiovascular disease, are unknown.”
Intermittent fasting linked to higher risk of cardiovascular death
The new study focused on exploring how sticking to an eight-hour time-restricted eating plan could affect our health over a long period. To do this, researchers looked at details about what people ate from the yearly 2003-2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES).
They compared this information with data on people who passed away in the U.S. from 2003 to December 2019, gathered from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Death Index database.
The study discovered that people who ate all their meals in less than eight hours each day faced a much higher risk of dying from heart problems—91 percent higher. This risk was also found among those dealing with heart disease or cancer.
Even for those already with heart issues, sticking to an eating window of at least eight but less than ten hours daily meant a 66 percent increased risk of dying from heart-related problems.
Moreover, while time-restricted eating didn’t lower the overall risk of dying from anything, eating within a span of over sixteen hours each day was linked to a lower risk of dying from cancer for people already diagnosed with the disease.
