Oldest Known Homo Sapiens Outside Africa Found in Greece

Tasos Kokkinidis
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Oldest Known Homo Sapiens Outside Africa Found in Greece
Homo Sapiens Greece
The first Homo sapien outside Africa was discovered in a Greek cave. Public Domain/University of Tübingen

A partial skull found in a cave in Southern Greece is the earliest evidence of the presence of Homo sapiens outside of Africa, scientists say.

In 1978, archaeologists excavating Apidima Cave on the Mani Peninsula of Greece discovered two significant fossils: a partial skull and a jawbone. These fossils were originally thought to belong to Neanderthals, the archaic human species that dominated Europe in the Middle Paleolithic era.

However, a reexamination of the fossils in 2019 revealed that they were much older than previously thought and that one of them belonged to a Homo sapien, the first anatomically modern human species.

Homo sapiens skull in Greece 150,000 older than others found in Europe

The team of researchers dated the skull to about 210,000 years old, which makes the skull about 150,000 years older than the oldest fossil of Homo sapiens found in Europe. This also makes it the third-oldest known example of modern humanity.

A second skull found in the same location was estimated to be at least 170,000 years old and belongs to Neanderthals, a species widespread in Europe until 40,000 years ago, when Homo sapiens took over.

Homo Sapiens Greece
The Apidima Cave in Mani Peninsula. Public Domain

Initial attempts to determine the age of the skulls were inconclusive in part because the skulls were found wedged high in cave walls. There may have also been interference from mudflow.

Greek researcher Katerina Harvati, director of Paleoanthropology at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen in Germany, and her colleagues found the relevant skull fragments in the Museum of Anthropology at the University of Athens.

Both were recognized as human fossils of some sort but had not been dated or properly analyzed. Dr Harvati and her team have now done so, using computer reconstruction, a technique unavailable to the original finders.

Homo Sapiens Greece
Credit: University of Tübingen

The research team ended up creating virtual reconstructions of parts of the skull and used a radiometric dating method—one that analyses the decay of uranium to determine the age. The challenge scientists now face is to figure out how Apidima 1 fits into our ancient history.

Over the past two decades, researchers have gathered a great deal of evidence indicating that human populations living outside of Africa today, all descended from small groups of migrants who departed the continent some 70,000 years ago.

Expansion of Homo sapiens into Europe from Africa

Archaeologists have documented it by tracking the spread of human DNA from remains and tools from Africa.

Dr. Harvati said that Apidima 1 points to an early expansion of Homo sapiens into Europe from Africa.

That wave of humans may have thrived outside Africa because they brought better tools. “If there’s an overarching explanation, my guess would be a cultural process,” Dr. Harvati said.

Greece might be a good place to test this idea. Southeast Europe may have served as a corridor for various kinds of humans moving into Europe, as well as a refuge when ice age glaciers covered the rest of the continent.

“This is a hypothesis that should be tested with data on the ground,” Dr. Harvati said. “And this is a really interesting place to be looking at.”

Dr. Harvati added “This discovery highlights the importance of Southeast Europe for human evolution.

Given the site’s importance, a 5-year program of field investigation was undertaken by the Norwegian Institute in Athens, led by Prof. Harvati and Dr. Tourloukis (University of Tübingen).

This research aims to investigate the chronology, site formation processes, and additional paleoanthropological and paleolithic evidence from the cave complex.

Work began in 2022, and the first season focused on securing safe access to the site itself and to all the caves of the complex. Development of a three-dimensional excavation grid was also a goal, as was conducting a geoarchaeological assessment of cave sediments and limited cleaning of surfaces.

The discovery of the Apidima fossils is a major breakthrough in our understanding of human evolution. It suggests that the story of how humans spread out of Africa is more complex than we once thought, and it raises new questions about the interactions between Homo sapiens and Neanderthals.

Related: 153,000-year-old Homo Sapiens Footprints Identified

The Uknown Greek Island Onassis Almost Bought

Tasos Kokkinidis
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The Uknown Greek Island Onassis Almost Bought
trizonia aristotle onassis
Trizonia: The Uknown Greek Island Onassis Almost Bought. Credit: Davide Mauro/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 4.0

Even today, travelers to Greece can still find many hidden treasure destinations which retain their almost unspoiled beauty, such as Trizonia, the small island that Greek tycoon Aristotle Onassis almost bought.

As hard as it may be to believe, because Greece has such a long coastline, as well as countless islands, there remain a multitude of locations where one may feel as if they are off the map.

One such island without a doubt is Trizonia, located in the Corinthian Gulf just 400 meters (1,312 feet) off the southwestern coast of the region of Fokida.

Aristotle Onassis once tried to purchase the Greek island of Trizonia

The island is said to have been named for the sound of its crickets, which can always be heard singing away.

This is the famed island which, after visiting it in the 1960’s, Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis attempted to buy—lock, stock and barrel—from the local people who lived there, by offering them an enormous lump sum of money.

The locals refused, famously saying that this specific paradise was not for sale. Minas, a local restaurateur, shared with Greek Reporter that occasionally, the thought that “it would have been good if Onassis had bought the island” does cross his mind.

The islanders’ refusal is what later led Onassis to the purchase of the island of Skorpios in the Ionian Sea, which he made into his own personal Eden.

There are no cars or motorbikes on the island

The island of Trizonia has been called by many a miracle of nature. While staying on the island, which is just 2.4 square kilometers, or barely one square mile, travelers can leave the outside world, including the cars, motorbikes, noise, and, most importantly, all the stress, behind them.

Trizonia is also an island garden of sorts, boasting almond, prickly pear, eucalyptus, holly, plum, and olive trees, as well as pine and cedar trees throughout.

There are too many delights on this island to list. First of all, everyone gets around on bicycles, making the environment extremely quiet and peaceful.

The sea surrounding it is very calm, with deep blue crystal-clear waters, almost demanding that you take a boat ride of some kind to explore its shores.

On top of these attractions, island residents are very welcoming to tourists despite the cold shoulder Onassis once received from them!

The restaurateur Minas explained to Greek Reporter why he has chosen to live his life on Trizonia. “I was born and raised here, my father is from here, and the past two years he has been living here permanently,” he said.

He adds that he doesn’t want to live in Athens due to the noise pollution there, since a peaceful environment is important to him. “I prefer my peace and quiet,” he explains, while adding that “in the summer, there are at least 600 to 1000 people on the island, and we have a marina for 650 boats.” According to Minas, four restaurants that serve plenty of fresh fish, and two cafeterias, are located on the island, besides the bar that Minas himself owns.

The island only has forty to fifty residents in the winter. However, Minas maintains that “in the winter it’s a bit difficult, it gets a bit cold, but if you have good company, good wine, and good food, everything is fine.”

With a natural, unspoiled landscape that amazes visitors, its lacework of interconnected, continuous beaches, and its sapphire waters, Trizonia and its singing crickets beckon to the discerning visitor who needs a break from the modern world.

Domestic Violence: Men Are Victims Too

Tasos Kokkinidis
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Domestic Violence: Men Are Victims Too
Domestic violence men
North Hampton in Massachusetts is a domestic violence-free zone. Credit: Ben Pollard, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0

Men are more often perpetrators of domestic violence against women, but men are the victims of domestic violence, as well, experts report. Too often, they feel isolated in situations without proper resources, options, or choices for them to get help.

According to a search on the issue in the US National Library of Medicine, studies yielded prevalence rates of 3.4 percent to 20.3 percent for domestic physical violence against men.

Most of the affected men had been violent toward their partners themselves. It is said that 10.6 to 40 percent of these men reported having been abused or maltreated as children. Alcohol and drug abuse, jealousy, mental illness, physical impairment, and short relationship duration are all associated with a higher risk of becoming a victim of domestic violence.

The reported consequences of violence include mostly minor physical injuries, impaired physical health, mental health problems such as anxiety or a disruptive disorder, and increased consumption of alcohol and/or illegal drugs.

Scientists say men are often less likely to report domestic violence due to social stigma and feelings of shame. This can make it difficult to get a fully accurate picture of how widespread the issue is.

Zack Mackey who works at Lutheran Settlement House told Fox29 recently that men often don’t reach out the way female victims of domestic violence do, “Some of their fears are that they won’t be believed or they’ll be made fun of. Some other fears are that they will be ridiculed. Sometimes they’re scared of retaliation from their partners’ families.”

New study in Germany highlights domestic violence against men

Against this backdrop, a new study on violence in partnerships in Germany is calling for more protection centers for men affected by violence and their children.

Currently, there are hardly any places for men to turn to if they decide to seek protection, Philipp Müller from the Criminological Research Institute of Lower Saxony (KFN) told the German Press Association (DPA).

“In rural areas, there is virtually no help at all,” he criticized.

In the KFN research project, almost 12,000 men between the ages of 18 and 69 were contacted in an online survey, 1,209 of whom took part. The researchers also conducted 16 interviews with those affected.

According to the results, more than half, namely 54 percent of the men surveyed had already experienced violence in a relationship in their lives. Almost 40 percent cited psychological violence while almost 39 percent cited controlling behavior by their partner. Moreover, practically 30 percent reported physical violence against them.

Although it was mostly supposedly minor acts such as pushing one away, those affected suffered massively from the consequences of partner violence, with 66 percent of them feeling psychologically burdened by these experiences.

There needs to be greater social awareness of the fact that men can also be victims of violence in relationships, said Müller. However, the two sexes should not be played off against each other.

It is mainly women who suffer from violence in relationships, according to the latest situation report on domestic violence from Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office.

In the area of intimate partner violence, the number of victims rose by 9.1 percent to 157,818 in 2022 compared to the previous year. According to the police, 80.1 percent of the victims were female and 78.1 percent of the suspected perpetrators were male.

Related: New Femicide Shocks Greece: Woman Murdered by Her Ex

DNA Study Shows When Ancient Greeks Colonized Italy

Tasos Kokkinidis
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DNA Study Shows When Ancient Greeks Colonized Italy
Ancient Greeks Italy
Paestum Temples in southern Italy. Credit: Bruno Rijsman, CC BY-SA 2.0/Wikipedia

A recent DNA study by an international team of scientists showed when Ancient Greeks colonized Magna Graecia in Italy.

Magna Graecia is the name of the coastal areas of southern Italy and Sicily that were extensively populated by Greek settlers.

The settlers brought with them their Hellenic civilization, which was to leave a lasting imprint in Italy, such as in the culture of ancient Rome.

While the cultural contribution of these Greeks to southern Italy is clear, researchers have argued for years about their biological contribution.

Ancient Greeks Colonized Italy
Ancient Greek colonies in southern Italy

A study in the European Journal of Human Genetics claimed that they were able to determine when and how Italy and Sicily were colonized by Greeks, through DNA analysis.

“There are scenarios ranging from a colonization process based on small groups of males moderately mixing with indigenous groups to substantial migrations from Greece and a Hellenic origin for a significant part of the pre-Roman Italian population,” noted lead author Sergio Tofanelli and his colleagues.

Comparing DNA of people in Italy with samples retrieved from Greeks

The team picked up DNA samples from people who live in southern Italy and Sicily and compared it to samples retrieved from Greeks in Euboea and Corinth, where archaeologists believe the first wave of colonizers came from.

When the researchers analyzed the Y chromosome data and modeled the typical mutation rate over the centuries, they “recovered a signature of the Greek Contribution to Sicily during the Archaic Period” or between the 8th and 5th centuries BC.

More specifically, this wave of colonists likely arrived in East Sicily first and then dispersed into West Sicily and South Italy.

“Despite the multiple alternative explanations for historical gene flow,” they write, “it is relevant to stress here that a signature specifically related to the Euboea island in East Sicily was consistently found at different levels of analysis, in line with the historical and archaeological evidence, attesting to an extended and numerically important Greek presence in this region.”

Historians and demographers have also debated just how large the migration population was when they arrived in Magna Graecia.

Walter Scheidel, professor of classics and ancient history at Stanford University, has estimated from a demographic perspective that the founding population was likely around 20,000 to 60,000 males.

But if the researchers’ supposition that East Sicily was colonized first is correct, this “points to the lower end of the size spectrum proposed by historical demographers, with values in the order of thousands [of] breeding men and [a] few hundred breeding women,” they write.

“A settler population of 5,000 males, mating with local women, would have had to grow by more than 1% per year for several centuries,” Scheidel says in response to Tofanelli and colleagues’ conclusions, according to Forbes.

This is substantial and out of character for the ancient world, particularly considering the ancient Greeks were not polygamous.

“Maybe growth rates were higher than we think,” Scheidel suggests, “but their settler numbers seem very small. This would translate to just a few dozen ships full of Greeks, over a considerable period of time, which is problematic.

“It’s hard for me to see how a few thousand settlers could have produced the large Greek population we see in Sicily a few centuries later,” he told Forbes.

Related: Ancient Greek Helmet, Inscription Found Near Velia, Magna Graecia

Aria Hotels Launches New Luxury Hotel in the Historic Center of Athens

Tasos Kokkinidis
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Aria Hotels Launches New Luxury Hotel in the Historic Center of Athens
Aria Hotels
Newly inaugurated La Divina Hotel in the historical center of Athens. Credit: Aria Hotels

On Monday, Aria Hotels, the Greek-owned subsidiary of the Libra Group, opened the fully renovated historic La Divina Hotel, located on Adrianou Street in Thiseio, Athens.

La Divina is situated in a uniquely aesthetic preserved neoclassical building, dedicated to the legendary Maria Callas and combines neoclassical architecture with luxurious simplicity.

Maintaining the magic of the old Athens Conservatory, and with attention to the smallest detail, it creates a space that reflects the aesthetics of the past, while providing modern amenities.

Aria Hotels
The hotel has a unique architectural and historical importance. Credit: Aria Hotels

By choosing La Divina for their stay, the hotel’s guests enjoy the authentic Greek hospitality that Aria Hotels stands for, in a building of unique architectural and historical importance that has been renovated with absolute care and diligence, without affecting its character and special architecture.

La Divina has 12 uniquely designed suites, making it the ideal choice for every visitor who would like to combine comfortable and luxurious accommodation, direct access to the most important monuments of Athens, as well as to discover the much-publicized “electrifying” night atmosphere of the historic center.

Aria Hotels
A uniquely designed suite at La Divina Hotel. Credit: Aria Hotels

Aria Hotels, the family-owned chain of boutique hotels and villas, continues to strategically strengthen its portfolio and dynamically expand its presence in Athens, offering high-quality hospitality experiences, and focusing on promoting the culture, architecture, and history of Greece.

Aria Hotels’ philosophy and properties around Greece

The Aria Hotels philosophy is founded on three principles: respect for the environment, an appreciation of culture, and a passion for discovery. Each hotel has been selected for its architectural merit and its contribution to the preservation of local heritage. Outstanding quality in service and accommodation are the core of the Aria Hotels experience.

Their expanded portfolio includes properties in various island and mainland destinations, offering unparalleled hospitality experiences that successfully meet the needs of the traveler. Aria Hotels’ portfolio includes hotels in Athens, Crete, Cyclades, Sporades, Epirus, Evia, Peloponnese, Dodecanese and Ionian Islands.

All sites have been selected for their architectural value and their contribution to the preservation of local heritage. High-quality service is at the core of the experience.

In 2023 Aria Hotels has won numerous awards including the Gold Award for Greek Hotel of the Year for Aria Estate Suites & Spa, and the Bronze Award for Most Scenic Location at Hotel of the Year for The Windmill.

Grace Mykonos won the Bronze Award for the Luxury Hotel of the Year, and Villa Comi won the Silver Award for New Villa of the Year at the Tourism Awards.

Among other properties of the Aria Hotels Villa Pueblo won the Silver Award for Beach Villa of the Year at the Tourism Awards 2023.

Related: Greece Boasts Two of the Best Luxury Hotels in Europe, Per TripAdvisor

 

Worst Business Decision Ever? Selling 10% of Apple Shares for $800

Tasos Kokkinidis
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Worst Business Decision Ever? Selling 10% of Apple Shares for $800
Apple shares
Wayne was 42 years old at that time whereas his co-founders at Apple were in their twenties. Credit: Rong0517, CC BY-SA 4.0/Wikipedia

Ronald Wayne, a co-founder of Apple made perhaps the worst business decision of recent times by selling 10 percent of his shares for a mere $800 in 1990.

A year later, he accepted a final $1,500 (equivalent to $8,000 in 2023) to forfeit any potential future claims against the newly incorporated Apple.

Apple is one of the wealthiest companies in the world. It overtook Samsung as the world’s biggest smartphone brand in 2023, according to the latest numbers from market research firm IDC.

Samsung’s reign at the top for more than a decade came to an end as the iPhone manufacturer shipped 234.6 million smartphones and acquired a 20.1 percent share of the market.

Its market cap is around 2.9 trillion dollars, which makes it the world’s largest company in terms of market capitalization. Any person who held even one percent stake of the company would currently have 29 billion dollars.

The beginning of Apple

Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs, and Ronald Wayne founded Apple. Wayne was 42 years old at that time whereas his co-founders were in their twenties.

He was entrusted with mechanical engineering and documentation. Wayne received a ten percent stake, made the first agreement, and even created the company logo. The first logo was the photo of Issac Newton who was shown eating an apple under a tree.

Steve Jobs had taken a loan of fifteen thousand dollars to fulfill the first contract for The Byte Shop, which was notorious for not paying the money to its vendors. Wayne thought Steve Jobs would not get his money back.

Wayne had many assets at that time whereas the other two had nothing to lose. He thought he would land in financial trouble if the company didn’t survive. He took his name off the contract and sold his stakes for just eight hundred dollars. Had he held on to the shares, he would have 290 billion dollars and would have been the world’s richest man.

Wayne does not regret selling his Apple shares

Wayne has stated in the decades that followed that he does not regret selling his share of the company, as he made the “best decision based on the information available at the time.”

He said he had truly believed the Apple enterprise “would be successful, but at the same time there could be significant bumps along the way and I couldn’t risk it. I had already had a rather unfortunate business experience. I was getting too old and those two men were whirlwinds. It was like having a tiger by the tail. I couldn’t keep up with these guys.”

Although, at one point, Apple ended up becoming the most valuable company in the world, he said that given the risks and stress of staying with Apple he “probably would have wound up the richest man in the cemetery.”

Related: US Government Sues Apple for Manipulating Market

Was Greek Mythology’s King Agamemnon Real?

Caleb Howells
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Was Greek Mythology’s King Agamemnon Real?
Mycenaean death masks
Mycenaean death masks. The one on the right is the so-called “Mask of Agamemnon”. Credit: Zde / CC BY-SA 3.0 / Xuan Che / CC BY 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons

King Agamemnon is one of the most famous and significant characters of Greek mythology. He was the leader of the Greek forces that attacked the city of Troy during the Trojan War. But was Agamemnon real, or was he merely a figure of mythology with no specific real-life basis?

Who was Agamemnon?

First of all, let us clarify who Agamemnon was supposed to have been. He first appears in Homer’s Iliad, written in the mid-seventh century BCE. After that, he appears in many subsequent tales and records about the Trojan War. He is, after all, one of the central characters in the legend of the war between the Greeks and Trojans.

He was the older brother of Menelaus, the king whose wife, Helen, ran away with (or was taken by) Paris of Troy. Menelaus was the king of Sparta, while Agamemnon was the king of Argos, with a center at Mycenae. The Greek leaders worked together to besiege the city of Troy to get Helen back, and Agamemnon led this grand alliance.

This is how Agamemnon is presented in legends. However, is there any reason to believe that he may have been a real person?

Real figures from Homer’s own era

There is reason to believe that many characters mentioned in Homer’s poems are people who either lived in Homer’s own time or not too long prior to it. Some ancient records about Homer’s life make it quite clear that he placed several of his contemporaries in the Iliad and the Odyssey.

For example, Pseudo-Herodotus’ Life of Homer and Pseudo-Plutarch’s similar text explain that Homer’s mother married a music teacher named Phemius. Meanwhile, a poet named Phemius appears in the Odyssey. Pseudo-Herodotus’ Life of Homer also mentions a leather shoemaker named Tychius as a contemporary of young Homer. In the Iliad, we find that Homer referenced a leatherworker named Tychius.

Legends about King Midas definitely describe a historical figure who lived in or near Homer’s time. Since Midas allegedly lived at about the time of the Trojan War, this is direct proof that at least some of the legendary figures from that part of Greek mythology were actual people who lived as approximate contemporaries of Homer.

The real King Agamemnon

With this in mind, could Agamemnon also have been a real person from Homer’s own time? It is certainly worth looking to see if there is someone who would fit the profile. As it so happens, there is a very clear reference to a real Agamemnon from that era of history.

There are historical Greek records that mention a real ‘King Agamemnon of Cyme.’ Cyme was a Greek city in the northwest corner of Anatolia. It was ‘the largest and best of the Aeolian cities,’ that is, the cities of northwest Anatolia, according to Strabo. Hence, the real King Agamemnon of Cyme must logically have been a powerful king. This fits in well with the Agamemnon of Homer’s Iliad.

Furthermore, when did this real Agamemnon live? His daughter married the historical King Midas, the late-eighth century BCE king of Phrygia. Therefore, this Agamemnon must have been an older contemporary of Homer.

Painting of Midas Accidentally Turning His Daughter to Gold
Midas’ Daughter Turned to Gold, 1893. Credit: Walter Crane, Public Domain

Was the king of Cyme the real Agamemnon?

Why do we believe that the Agamemnon of Homer’s Iliad may have stemmed directly from the real Agamemnon of Cyme? For one thing, he was the father-in-law of King Midas. We know for a fact that King Midas was brought into the Greek legends around the era of the Trojan War. Therefore, it would not be surprising if someone closely connected to him, such as his father-in-law Agamemnon of Cyme, was likewise brought into the Greek legends of that time period.

Additionally, Agamemnon of Cyme’s status must have seemed immense to Homer. Most ancient writers agreed that Homer came from somewhere in western Anatolia, although no one could agree on the specific city he was from. Some writers even claimed he was from Cyme in particular. Regardless of where exactly his hometown was located, he was almost certainly from that general region.

Since Cyme was the most prominent city of northwest Anatolia, Agamemnon must have likewise been a prominent king. The fact that his daughter married King Midas, the incredibly rich king who ruled over the powerful Phrygian kingdom, further attests to Agamemnon’s importance.

Therefore, to Homer, Agamemnon of Cyme was not the mere footnote in history that he appears to be now. He must have seemed very much like the kind of powerful Greek leader that Homer described in the Iliad.

Supporting evidence

In addition to the intuitive logic of this identification, there is even more explicit evidence in support of it. According to Strabo, the dynasty that ruled over Cyme claimed descent from Agamemnon. This is in reference to the Agamemnon of legend from Homer’s Iliad. This appears to be strong evidence that the historical Agamemnon of Cyme was understood to be the real Agamemnon from the legend rather than merely a namesake.

Even more supporting evidence comes from the chronology of the Trojan War. Many people take for granted that the Trojan War occurred in the Bronze Age. However, some scholars have argued that it happened later. Nikos Kokkinos, for example, revealed in depth how the popular ancient date for the Trojan War actually came from miscalculations. An investigation into some of the earliest evidence about the Trojan War points to a much more recent date.

Therefore, it may well be that Homer did not take the real Agamemnon of Cyme and transport him into the distant past for his Iliad. It could easily be that Homer actually had the fairly recent past in mind when he wrote the Iliad. The overall world presented in the Iliad is consistent with this view.

Because of this, it may well be that Homer was explicitly talking about Agamemnon of Cyme when he wrote about a king by that name in his poem.

New Femicide Shocks Greece: Woman Murdered by Her Ex

Tasos Kokkinidis
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New Femicide Shocks Greece: Woman Murdered by Her Ex
woman killed in Greece outside police station
A 28-year-old woman was murdered as she sought help from the police. Credit: Greek Reporter

In another case of femicide in Greece, a 28-year-old woman was fatally stabbed on Monday evening shortly after she had gone to her local police station in Agioi Anargyroi in northern Athens to seek police protection against her ex-boyfriend.

Investigators have established that her 39-year-old ex-boyfriend, who is presently hospitalized after hurting himself with the same knife he used to murder the young woman, repeatedly stabbed her.

The 28-year-old reportedly saw her ex-boyfriend hanging around outside her home on Monday night and decided to call the cops for assistance. It seems that the attacker followed her there, stood outside waiting, and attacked her just a short distance away.

An internal police inquiry was launched on Tuesday. The actions of the officers at the police station where she filed the complaint are being investigated, with some reports suggesting the young woman had asked for protection on her way back home but was told there were no police cars available to escort her.

The same reports also suggest she was calling the 100 emergency number to ask for an escort when she was attacked. The 28-year-old had filed a lawsuit against the 39-year-old after they broke up in 2020, accusing him of abuse and rape. She was granted a restraining order on the grounds of that suit that ostensibly prohibited him from coming near her.

Rise in femicide crime shocks Greece

In the past few years, there has been a rise in femicide crime in Greece.

The high-profile case of Caroline Crouch in 2021 brought the issue of femicide to national attention. This case also highlighted how societal views can be problematic with the defense attempting to justify the crime.

The crime was unique, as rates of violent crime are comparatively low in Greece. The revelation of a marriage to a seemingly nice guy who is actually a monster that murdered his spouse has shaken the cultural cornerstone of “a loving Greek family with a devoted husband and father.”

There are ongoing efforts to address the issue. Activists are pushing for femicide to be recognized as a separate crime with harsher punishments, and there are calls for improved support systems for victims of domestic violence.

In 2022, Greece put the panic button, a digital application that will instantly help you reach out for help if you find yourself in a difficult situation, into effect.

The panic button sends a short text message to the police in instances in which family violence is associated with a threat or danger to life and physical integrity. The purpose is immediate intervention by the police force.

In short, there will be a three-digit number that you call with your mobile phone and then immediately click on the ‘panic’ indicator that comes out on the screen.

Those eligible for registration during the pilot operation of the program include women who are victims of domestic violence. Particularly, this refers to female victims living in the region of Attica and regional unit of Thessaloniki.

The Teacher of Arcadia: Rethinking the Story of Modern Greece

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The Teacher of Arcadia: Rethinking the Story of Modern Greece
Ruins of the Temple of Olympian Zeus with the Acropolis in the background, under a clear blue sky.
The majestic remnants of the Temple of Olympian Zeus, with a view of Athens’ iconic Acropolis in the distance. Credit: Jean-Pierre Dalbéra, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

The novel by Greek cinematographer Thodoros Maragos titled “The Teacher of Arcadia and the TALOS 21st Century,” is a riveting and timely book that has the power to inspire and change your life, help you rethink the conventional story of modern Greece.

By Evaggelos Vallianatos

My artist friend Evi Sarantea from the island of Euboea introduced me to the Greek cinematographer Thodoros Maragos. I watched several of his documentaries. They are political and philosophical. They are commentaries on the history and politics of the 200-year-old modern Greek state and society.

They zero in on foreign influence, which shaped the politics and economics of Greece. The tragedy of this country in the third decade of the twenty-first century, tied to foreign debt and perpetual humiliation, is that it is the same country that, in the classical age of some 3,000 to 2,500 years ago and in the Alexandrian Era, 2,300 to 2,000 years ago, gave us the rule of law, democracy, philosophy, the Parthenon, beautiful arts, architecture, theater, the Olympics, Aristotle, science, Alexander the Great, advanced technology of the Antikythera computer of genius, and civilization.

How did that happen? I have tried to answer this question in my articles and books. But the films and documentaries of Maragos, many of them award-winning, give us a unique Greek perspective from the ground up of how modern Greece faced the crises and tragedies of the twentieth century.

Maragos is not exactly optimistic about resolving the dramatic debt impoverishment the European Union, the European Central Bank, and America’s International Monetary Fund perversely saddled on the country. He says this tragedy will last for a long time. He accuses Germany, Britain, and America for many of the misfortunes of tyrannizing the Greek people.

Like forcing corrupt Greek politicians to de-industrialize the country, making it dependent on imports and ceaseless borrowing – for their personal profit and the profit of their foreign sponsors.

The Teacher of Arcadia

Teacher of Arcadia

Maragos summarized his vision for Greece in his 2023 Greek book, The Teacher of Arcadia and the TALOS 21st Century. I read the book and loved it. Though it is a novel, the book is a story that unites ancient and modern Greece, and how a teacher in a mountain village of Arcadia, Pege (water hall), Istros Aetovouneas, acts like Socrates by teaching virtue.

He teaches all, children, and adults. His mission is to help the inhabitants of Pege think like their ancient ancestors, embracing reason rather than superstition. Cultivate the land, he urges them, for self-reliance in food; reject the war gifts of unethical modern technology like those of Artificial Intelligence pretending to win the war against death, promising long lives and immortality to those with lots of money.

Istros reminds us that god Hephaistos created TALOS, a flying anthropomorphic robot in the second millennium BCE in Minoan Crete. That version of AI was useful, he says, because it protected Crete and Europa, the beautiful lover of Zeus. But now, he says, things are upside down.

He says to the peddlers of AI that love is not mathematics and that AI without feelings is pure destruction. I agree with him. AI is a dragon the billionaires created to control us, the planet, and its wealth. They care less that this factory technology may become another version of nuclear bombs. My alternative and that of Maragos is a Renaissance in modern Greece, so that the wisdom and freedom of the ancients will, once again, take deep roots in the soil of Arcadia and Greece.

The Teacher of Arcadia is a riveting and timely book that has the power to inspire and change your life, help you rethink the conventional story of modern Greece. The dream, of course, is all about turning this modern Greece into a country, which is as close as possible to Hellas. Reading this thoughtful book one understands the life and death struggle of the evolving Greek tragedy of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, itself the product of incompetent and almost traitorous Greek leadership and overwhelming foreign influence.

The dream of Kapodistrias of a sacred Hellas

The Greek Revolution of 1821 and the first President of Greece Ioannes Kapodistrias sowed the seeds of freedom and the return to Hellenic culture in the emerging Hellenic polis.

Indeed, in 1816, Kapodistrias dreamed of a Hellas in Greece, a country guaranteed by all states to be inviolable, independent, and sacred in order to advance the sciences and enlightenment for humanity.

But his assassination on September 27, 1831 by Greeks very possibly funded by Britain reversed the course of Greek Renaissance and history.

The Europeans imported a German king for the new “independent” country, which then started growing up in the shadow of the Turkish enemy and unfriendly Europe and America.

Maragos’ book and his films and documentaries, however, include a glimmer of hope that the Greeks, finally, are beginning the arduous road home.

Evaggelos Vallianatos is a historian and environmental theorist. He earned his Ph.D. in history at the University of Wisconsin and did his postdoctoral studies in the history of science at Harvard. He worked on Capitol Hill, the US Environmental Protection Agency, and taught at several universities. He authored hundreds of articles and seven books, including The Antikythera Mechanism: The Story Behind the Genius of the Greek Computer and its Demise.

Thessaloniki Metro Station Set to Open After Two-Decade Wait

Matthew Norman
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Thessaloniki Metro Station Set to Open After Two-Decade Wait
Metro Station in Thessaloniki set to open in November.
The metro station in Thessaloniki is set to open this November. Credit: Patrickios. CC BY-4.0/Wikimedia Commons/Patrickios

A long-awaited metro station may finally be opening in Thessaloniki at the end of November. This will put an end to a nearly two-decade wait which will alleviate some of the heavy road traffic in Greece’s second most crowded city.

After a wait of nearly two decades, the metro’s opening means around 15 percent of the northern port city’s commuters will be able to begin using the system. It is likely this will draw in some of the bus users and those who currently walk, as posited by Apostolos Papagiannakis, an associate professor in network and transport planning at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

In November last year, hundreds of visitors flocked to see the interior of the Agia Sofia metro station in Thessaloniki during an “open house” event.

At that time, there was no set date for the metro system’s opening, but it was among 71 public and private spaces of architectural interest that opened for the day as part of the 2023 “open house” tour event.

Among the visitors was Christos Staikouras, the Greek Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, who promised the crowd that Thessaloniki would have a working metro system before the end of 2024.

The long-delayed Thessaloniki metro project

Residents of Thessaloniki have anticipated the completion and operation of the metro system in the city for many years, as heavy road traffic is a persistent issue in the daily life of Greece’s second most crowded city.

The 3.5-billion-euro project was originally expected to open to the public by 2012. Construction began almost two decades ago in 2006, but progress was delayed due to a series of important archaeological discoveries in the metro tunnels.

When completed, the Thessaloniki metro system will extend 9.6 kilometers (six miles) and serve 13 stations.

“Our commitment remains unchanged. Thessaloniki will have an operational metro in the second half of 2024,” said Staikouras at the open event, accompanied by the deputy minister responsible for infrastructure, Nikos Tachiaos, the secretary of New Democracy’s parliamentary group Stavros Kalafatis, and VP & CEO of Elliniko Metro SA Nikos Kouretas.

Comprehensive plan for the improvement of public transportation in Thessaloniki

At the time, AMNA reported that the minister was given a tour of the works and saw the project’s progress. He also spoke with dozens of visitors who flocked to see the premises despite the rain, and they asked him questions about it.

“We are very near the completion of our target,” Staikouras stated. “This means that the justifiable doubt [among residents] about the timely completion of the projects is dropping. As political leaders, we are committed that all projects in Thessaloniki we will be on time.”

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