Aphrodite’s Throw: The Most Famous Gambling Game in Ancient Greece

gambling ancient greece
The “Vatican Amphora,” which depicts ancient Greek warriors Ajax and Achilles playing a board game. Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Public domain

Gambling, one of the most common vices in the world, has a long history that dates all the way back to ancient Greece.

Records of ancient Greeks playing dice and other luck-based games are found throughout ancient literature, and are even included in the works of Homer, who is possibly the most famous ancient Greek poet in history.

Possibly the most common and popular form of gambling in Greece involved various dice games.

As in many ancient cultures, such as Iran, Egypt, and India, the earliest Greek dice were actually made of the bones of animals, called knuckle bones, or “astragaloi” in Greek.

Aphrodite’s Throw gambling game was a favorite pastime in ancient Greece, Rome

The ancient Greeks played knuckle bones, and even assigned numerical values to each of the four sides of the pieces, much like modern dice. Ancient Greeks and Romans also began to form cubic dice out of clay in later antiquity. These strongly resembled contemporary dice.

While the rules of many of these ancient games have been lost to time, scholars are capable of guessing and estimating some rules based on ancient sources.

A well known element of dice games played first in ancient Greece and then in Rome is called “Aphrodite’s throw,” which involves throwing four knuckle bones at once. If all four landed on a different number, it was considered the best result and called “Aphrodite’s throw.”

In the most simple dice game, groups would throw dice and bet on the results, hoping to get the best throws. According to the ancient Roman writer Suetonius, the Emperor Augustus thoroughly enjoyed gambling with knuckle bones.

Apart from gambling, knuckle bones may have also been used for divination in ancient Greece.

Archaeologists have also uncovered carved wooden boards that resemble contemporary board games. These tablets were likely used for some sort of game that may have also included use of knuckle bones.

Gambling and dice throwing is also a favorite pastime of the Olympian gods, as mentioned in a number of myths.

According to various versions of the tale, the brothers Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon played a game of dice in order to decide who would rule over which realm of the universe.

Practice found across the world

Mankind’s impulse to gamble has been recorded around the world throughout history. Remnants of dice-like pieces have been found in nearly every ancient civilization, and rules imposed to regulate the practice have been recorded for millennia.

Nearly all religions have some sort of rules surrounding gambling, from Judaism to Buddhism. In the Bible, the Roman soldiers are described as “casting lots,” likely throwing knuckle bones, to decide who would acquire Jesus’ robes.

Mount Athos Ban on Women Steeped in History, Mystery

Mount Athos
The grainy, black and white image taken in 1903 by a Mount Athos monk named Gabriel appears to show a woman to the left. Public domain

A group of Greek scientists announced in December of 2019 in Thessaloniki that they had discovered bones that “most certainly” belonged to a woman who was buried centuries ago in the cemetery of Pantokratoros Monastery on Mount Athos.

But this was not the only clue that the ban on females on the “Holy Mountain,” with its nearly 1,800-year continuous Christian presence, had been broken by a woman.

The peninsula of Mount Athos is home to twenty monasteries where only monks are allowed to live and only males are allowed to visit. More than 700 monks still live on Mount Athos, devoting their lives to prayer, fasting, study, and the preservation of the many icons that are among its treasures.

Mt. Athos seascape
One of the many monastery buildings on Mt. Athos as seen from the sea. Credit: Sreten Vukovic Wikimedia Commons/ CC BY-SA 4.0

The female bones were discovered during restoration work being done on the floor of the chapel of St. Athanasios of Athonitis, where all the burials of laymen connected with the monastery have taken place.

Restorer Phedon Hatziantoniou, who led the team of experts, speculated that the bones might possibly belong to a woman called Stasha, the wife of a 16th-century landlord called Barboul or Barbouli who lived at the monastery with his sons.

The remains have been sent to specialized laboratories in Athens for further examination.
“As far as I know this is the first case that bones belonging to a woman have been discovered on Mt. Athos,” Hatziantoniou said in an interview with Greek daily newspaper To Ethnos.

“It is well known that in the past, when there were invasions or revolutions, the monks opened their border and their monasteries to protect the local population,” he explained.

Mt. Athos
One of the peaks on Mount Athos, the “Holy Mountain” of Orthodoxy. Credit: Dave ProfferMt. Athos/ Wikimedia Commons/CC BY 2.0

The scientists also discovered fragments of bones belonging to men in their research. They stated, however, that these were probably workers and support staff, since monks have their own ossuary inside the monastery’s main building.

Reports of sightings of women on Mount Athos, which has been closed to females for the most part since the year 382, when it was founded as a colony of monasteries, have been quite rare over the centuries.

Was the photo of the Virgin Mary, the Panagia, herself?

However, the grainy, black and white photograph of a woman which was published in a Greek newspaper in 1903 still remains a mystery to this day with some monks claiming that they believe the unknown female on the left was the Virgin Mary herself.

The stooping figure also closely resembles a black-robed Orthodox nun.

Some monks claim that they believe the unknown female, all clad in black, was the Virgin Mary herself.

It is universally known that women are not allowed in any of the twenty monasteries of Mount Athos (Agion Oros) or indeed anywhere on the mountain itself, a rule which has been strictly adhered to since the fourth century, when the first monastery was constructed on the craggy peninsula.

As the monks say, the only woman allowed on Mount Athos is Our Lady; hence the appearance of what appears to be a woman in the photograph.

The photo was taken on August 21, 1903 by the old calendar, which Mount Athos follows, after the monks had been summoned to meet together by bells which had been rung at the St. Panteleimon Monastery.

It was the eve of the annual “nine days” of the Virgin Mary, and according to the custom in the monastery, it was time to give the poorest monks, the so-called “cellists,” or ones who spent their entire lives in small rooms, a little bit of charity, something to make their difficult lives a bit easier.

The usually-reclusive monks had gathered together and were standing in line to receive the much-needed offerings from the other monks. However, this would be the last time the monks were to receive the annual charity because the meager monastery finances did not allow the almsgiving to continue for another year.

One of the monks, with the religious name of Gabriel, owned a camera and wanted to immortalize the last time the monks were to gather together in that way to receive the alms.

Mount Athos lore says Mary appeared to show support for almsgiving

According to monastery lore, Gabriel soon saw a miraculous sight before him. Amidst all the assembled monks, there suddenly appeared a mysterious woman, all in black. He did not hesitate but immediately began taking photographs, which was a laborious process at that time with long exposure times.

The monks were convinced that the woman in the grainy photograph was Our Lady, who had appeared to express her sadness and show the monks that they should not stop their good works of giving alms to the poorest monks.

That was the sole reason why she had allowed the monk Gabriel to photograph her.

When the amateur photographer showed the photo to the rest of his fellow monks, it didn’t take long for them to understand what had really happened. They decided to continue their annual good works of charity to glorify God and His Beatitude.

The photograph was hidden for many years in the archives of the Monastery of St. Panteleimon, being released to the public only in 1997.

Religious pilgrims view the picture as undeniable photographic confirmation of a great miracle at the monastery. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople also viewed and admired the photograph on one of his visits to Mount Athos.

mt athos fire
The monastery of Saint Dionysios at Mount Athos. Credit: Fingalo, CC BY-SA 2.0 de/Wikipedia commons

When women set foot on Mount Athos

Mount Athos is of course part of the European Union, just like the rest of Greece. However, the Monastic State of the Holy Mountain and the Athonite institutions have a special jurisdiction, which was reaffirmed during the admission of Greece to the European Community (the precursor to the EU).

This empowers the Monastic State’s authorities to regulate the free movement of people and goods within its territory. Thus, it is still the case that only males are allowed to enter the territory of the Holy Mountain, which is for all intents and purposes one enormous monastery.

However, the male sanctuary of Mount Athos has been violated twelve times (officially at least) since the year 382. The following are the known incidents of this occurrence.

– In 382, by Plakentia, the daughter of Emperor Theodosius I
– In 1081 and 1108, by shepherd families (numbering more than 300)
– In 1345, by Eleni, the wife of Serbian Emperor Stefan Dusan
– In 1404, by the wife of Ioannis Palaiologos
– In 1854, by a group of young girls who sought protection after the Halkidiki uprising
– In 1905, by the young Russian princess Tatiana Nikita
– In 1929, by Aliki Diplarakou, the Greek “Miss Europe” while dressed as a man
– In 1931, by French journalist Maryse Choisy, who disguised herself as a sailor and wrote about her experience in a book entitled “One Month With Men”
– In 1948, by a group of women from the Democratic Army of Greece who broke the guard and entered as they were being chased by the Greek Army during the Civil War
– In 1953, by American teacher Cora Miller
– In 1971, by French philologist Jacqueline Michele and Italians Luisa Barbarito and Maria Pastterla

Greek journalist Malvina Karali was the most recent woman to break the ban and enter onto the territory of Mount Athos, when as she claims, she entered the sanctuary dressed as a man in the 1990s.

Despite these several instances of actual “invasions” of Mount Athos by females – whatever their reasons for this were – the 1903 photograph of a female on Mount Athos still remains an intriguing mystery.

The Greek Rivals Who United and Brought Souvlaki to Colombia

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Greek souvlaki in Colombia
From the capital of Bogota to the Caribbean coast of the country, Greek souvlaki is becoming popular in Colombia thanks to football rivals Petros Gkrilis and Giorgos Sitaras. Credit: GreekReporter

The story of two Greek immigrants in Colombia serves as a lesson of what the nation can achieve when united.

Petros Gkrilis and George Sitaras come from Thessaloniki. They are fanatic supporters of the city’s eternal rivals PAOK and Aris respectively. They proudly wear their club’s jerseys in Colombia, speak with passion about their love for their idols back in Greece and they both claim their team is the jewel in Thessaloniki’s sports crown.

Yet they have managed to show to the entire world that football rivalries are nothing compared to all the other things in life which unite people and bring them together.

Greek Souvlaki in Colombia

Gkrilis and Sitaras went to live in the nation of Colombia several years ago and amazingly enough, they both decided to work together to create what was destined to become Colombia’s most famous Greek restaurant.

The business of the two Greeks in Colombia served the traditional Greek souvlaki, skewers of gyro meats wrapped in traditional pita bread and stuffed with Greek salad ingredients, French fries, and of course, the famed tzatziki dip.

Their restaurant, dubbed ‘Cafe Grecia y Souvlaki’ was located in Colombia’s favorite travel destination, Cartagena, and made souvlaki known to almost every Colombian or tourist who visited this Caribbean city.

Greek Giorgos Sitatras in Bogota, Colombia
Giorgos Sitaras outside his souvlaki shop in Bogota, Colombia.

A few years ago, the two friends sold their shop and decided to open their own businesses in different parts of the country.

They never stopped working together, however, since their friendship, nurtured through years of hard work in their restaurant, is much stronger than one might think.

Greeks in Colombia
Petros Gkrilis at ‘Pame na Fame’ in Santa Marta, Colombia

What if Gkrilis is a die-hard supporter of PAOK and Siataras passionately supports Aris?

“Living abroad, I’ve learned to respect every (football) fan,” Gkrilis told Greek Reporter. “What matters is to be a good human being,” he maintains emphatically.

The example of the two Greeks in Colombia is one of mutual respect, solidarity and understanding – unlike the tribal fanaticism among die-hard football fans in Greece.

Maybe the two Thessaloniki giants should take up Gkrilis’s suggestion that at their next football clash they should invite the two friends to open the game.

“My big dream is for Giorgos and myself to go together to either Toumba [PAOK’s football ground] or Charilaou [Aris’s football ground] and open the game. So fans would understand that this rivalry has to cease.”

“As Greeks, we can achieve so many things when there is no egoism, or toxic pride,” Sitaras says.

Their relationship is a shining example of how the Greek diaspora can put aside differences for the common good. It also shows what the nation can achieve if it stands united for a common purpose.

Greece’s Beautiful Mount Ziria, Birthplace of God Hermes

MOUNT ZIRIA hermes
Maia gave birth to Zeus’ son, Hermes, in a cave near the lake Dasios on Mount Ziria, Greece. Credit: ulrichstill/ WIkimedia Commons/ CC BY-SA 2.0

According to the legend, the Pleiad known as Maia gave birth to Zeus’ son Hermes in a cave near the lake Dasios on Mount Ziria near the village of Trikala.

Also known as Mount Kyllini or Mount Cyllene, this mountain is famous for its association with the god Hermes. It rises to 2,376 meters (7,795 ft) above sea level, making it the second-highest point on the Peloponnese.

Mount Ziria

Mount Ziria is located west of the valley of Flabouritsa in the Peloponnese, and it is home to a magnificent landscape.

The biggest village in the area is Trikala, an emerging tourist destination located on the western side of Mount Ziria.

Its dry climate and convenient location, only 143 kilometers from Athens (88 miles), make it a popular destination despite the season not only for the Greeks but also for international tourists.

On the northern side of Mount Ziria, there is an important ski center with a 100-meter-long baby lift and a 400-meter cable lift. The valleys and mountains of Trikala allow for relaxing hikes in the surrounding area of Lake Dasios, which has a small island.

Hidden paths in the mountains boast impressive pine forests that call for tranquil walks and exploration just as Hermes would see fit.

Hermes, Son of Zeus

According to Greek mythology, Hermes was the second youngest of the Olympian gods.

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

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.

greek mythology
Ancient Greek statue of Hermes by Praxiteles. Credit: Paolo Villa/Wikimedia Commons/ CC BY 4.0

At first, Hermes was a god associated with the underworld. In ancient Greece, he was worshipped as “the god of the way between the lower and upper world;” this position gradually expanded to include roads in general, and from there borders, travelers, sailors, and commerce, as well.

Usually, Hermes is described as freely navigating from the world of the mortals to the realm of the divine.

He was also the conductor of souls into the afterlife and therefore considered the protector of roads and travelers, as well. His symbol is the Greek kerykeion, two snakes wrapped around a winged staff depicting carvings of the other gods.

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 a patron of commerce. In the Greek interpretation of the Egyptian gods, he compares it to Thoth.

SYRIZA Leadership Election Voted Down by Party Congress

Srefanos Kasselakis Syriza
SYRIZA congress attendees voted against new party elections which would challenge its current leader, Stefanos Kasselakis. Credit: Amna

The internal party elections thriller of the main Greek opposition party SYRIZA continued on Sunday as party leader Stefanos Kasselakis clashed with his only likely co-candidate, Olga Gerovasili, over the date of a potential new leadership vote.

The matter was eventually voted down by congress attendees through a proposal by three other prominent SYRIZA figures who opined that a new leadership vote was untimely and unnecessary.

“The masks have fallen, [and] we are not going to elections. We are going forward,” Kasselakis said after the vote.

MP and former Minister Gerovasili declared her candidacy on Saturday after Kasselakis had challenged on Thursday those who doubt his leadership to “find him an opponent” and go to fresh party elections just five months after he took over as party chairman.

New leadership election voted down by SYRIZA members

In his Sunday morning speech, SYRIZA leader Kasselakis called for “clean solutions” and a leadership election on March 10th “so that the winner has time for the difficult battle of the European Parliament elections, for an open horizon to the national elections, to put together the deeply wounded SYRIZA without backstabbing, without suffocating deadlines, without intermediate deadlines, without arbitrary conditions,” AMNA reports.

Parliament Vice-President Olga Gerovasili, the only member who would stand against Kasselakis for the party leadership, disagreed to the procedure going forward in any less than a month’s time.

She countered that if Kasselakis withdrew his challenge to the party to find him a rival, “we stop here,” and added: “Now, if you want elections in 10 days…have them yourself and see what you get.”

Kasselakis replied to Gerovasili, asking her to withdraw her candidacy so that the matter be dropped to which Gerovasili responded by saying that it was up to the congress to decide and that she was not the one who proposed new elections in the first place.

The matter was then put to a vote and was voted down by attendees.

The decision was made by delegates holding up their cards in support of a joint proposal submitted by SYRIZA-PA Parliamentary Group President Sokratis Famellos, along with Nikos Pappas and Giorgos Tsipras, to not hold a leadership election and for the congress to reaffirm its confidence in the recently elected party chairman Kasselakis.

The latter posted on Twitter: “Take the party in your hands. It is yours. Some have a plan for a bad election result [for the party] at the European Parliament elections. Some want to charge the failure on me, and take us to a new [boxing] ring.”

Iskenderun-Alexandretta: The Ancient City of Alexander the Great in Turkey

Iskenderun
Iskenderun, also known as Alexandretta and Scanderoon is an ancient city in Hatay Province. Credit: Chanilim714 / Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0

Situated in Turkey’s Hatay Province, the city of Iskenderun, formerly known as Alexandretta, has a long and proud history spanning over 2,300 years. The city was originally founded by the Greek Macedonian king Alexander the Great after the dramatic Battle of Issus between the Hellenic (Greek) League and the forces of Achaemenid (Persian) Empire led by Darius III.

Alexandria ad Issum: the ancient city

Iskenderun has a proud history stretching into the ancient past. The city was originally founded by Alexander the Great in 333 BC, shortly after the Battle of Issus.

Iskandar, Iskander, Askander, Eskinder, or Scandar  is a variant of the Greek name Alexander in cultures such as Iran (Persia), Arabia and others throughout the Middle East and Central Asia, originally referring to Alexander the Great.

The Battle of Issus was the second major set-piece battle between Alexander and the Persian Achaemenid Empire. It was the first confrontation in which Alexander faced Darius III in person.

The battle took place near the mouth of the Pinarus River and the town of Issus. The battle resulted in a decisive Hellenic victory and marked the beginning of the end of the Persian power in the region.

Alexander founded the city, which he named after himself, shortly after the battle to commemorate his victory. According to Herodian, a monument and bronze statue erected by the king of Macedon himself was still standing in 200 AD, during Roman rule in the province.

The city was strategically important due to its commanding position near the Syrian Gates, a pass through the Nur Mountains that controls the passage to the open ground of Hatay Province and Aleppo.

After the Hellenistic and Roman eras, the city continued to function as an important port which in the medieval and early modern periods facilitated overland trade from Iran, India, and eastern Asia, before the discovery of alternative maritime routes.

Bakras Castle near Iskenderun Alexandretta, Turkey
Bakras castle, near Iskenderun-Alexandretta. Credit: wikimedia commons / Godfried Warreyn CC BY 2.5

The many cities Alexander named after himself

Alexandria ad Issum, or modern-day Isskenderun, was not the only city Alexander founded and named after himself. The Macedonian king named at least 20 such cities after himself across the wide stretches of the territory he had conquered.

The most famous city founded by the Ancient Greek Macedonian King is of course Alexandria in Egypt. It was founded in 332 BC and served as a vital link between Greece and the rich Nile valley.

Alexandria was the intellectual and cultural center of the ancient world for some time. The city and its museum and library attracted many of the greatest scholars of the day, including Greeks, Jews, and Syrians.

Another city called “Alexandria in Arachosia” was founded in Bactria and is now known as the modern city of Kandahar in Afghanistan.

Alexander appears to have founded this town on the site of a sixth-century BC Persian garrison. Proximity to a mountain pass, a river, and the junction of three long-distance trade routes meant the location was of vital strategic importance.

No ancient Greek buildings have been found in the area, but numerous coins have been discovered in various areas of the city, and there are Greek inscriptions and graves there.

Greek Culture Celebrated in Melbourne, Sydney Festivals

Antipodes Festival Melbourne 2024
Credit: Facebook / Antipodes Festival

Thousands of Greek culture and cuisine enthusiasts flocked the Antipodes Greek Festival in Melbourne this weekend, February 24 and 25, taking place in the heart of Melbourne’s Greek Precinct on Lonsdale Street.

An extraordinary line-up of performers, artists, and fun activities, such as the famous “Zorba tiil you drop” dance competition, celebrated Greek heritage providing free entertainment to visitors.

Attendees of the lively event were also presented with dozens of stalls selling the best Greek foods and produce for everyone to enjoy.

“The City of Melbourne is proud to support the festival’s 36th year and celebrate our thriving Greek community and its influence on our marvellous city,” Lord Mayor Sally Cap AO said in a statement.

Greek culture is also celebrated at the Greek Festival of Sydney, which kicked off on Thursday at Darling Harbour. An initiative of the Greek Orthodox Community of New South Wales, the Greek Festival of Sydney runs each year from February to June with a wide range of activities and is now in its 42nd year.

Greek music takes center stage at Antipodes festival in Melbourne

The Antipodes festival in Melbourne, which attracts tens of thousands of visitors each year, opened with a concert by the Greek singer Melina Aslanidou on Saturday evening. Attendance exceeded 35,000 people.

The popular Greek performer gave a second concert at the Greek Festival of Sydney on Sunday.

Meanwhile, visitors of the Antipodes Greek Festival in Melbourne enjoyed two more concerts, by Momogeroi and Xylourides on Sunday. The two bands played Greek traditional music.

Dance groups performed on and off stage throughout the festive weekend. A total of six hundred talented performers unfolded their skills across the festival’s three stages in these two days.

Heart of the Greek-Australian Diaspora

Melbourne has the largest population of Greeks outside of Greece and is also a sister city to Thessaloniki.

The Greek-Australians left the homeland for many reasons, though the majority of immigrants came to Australia after World War II, when the Greeks arrived in the tens of thousands.

Suburban milk bars and fish and chips shops up to the 1980s were owned by Greeks, and restaurants serving Greek fare can be found throughout Melbourne, the Greek Quarter describes.

Greek immigrants have since contributed to all facets of Melbourne’s cultural and social life, politics at federal, State and local government levels, and sport.

Lonsdale St is host to the Lonsdale St Greek Festival, now in its 36th year. It is Melbourne’s biggest Greek street party, a weekend of Greek culture, food and entertainment, in the city’s historic Greek Precinct.

On the other hand, the Greek Orthodox Community of New South Wales (GOC) is the oldest and largest organised Greek community entity in Australia. It was established in 1897 to serve the spiritual, cultural and socio-economic needs of the Greek settlers and their children.

The community has been staging the Greek Festival of Sydney during the months of February, March, April, May and June since 1980. Its portfolio boasts a plethora of artistic and cultural events including the 2-day outdoor festival at Darling Harbour, a 10-day film festival in October, theatrical performances, exhibitions, concerts, lectures, music, folkloric activities and cross-cultural activities.

Epirus Trail: The Greek Mountain Adventure of Culture, History and Beauty

Epirus, Smolikas, Drakolimni , Dragonlake
credit: wikimedia commons / Kostas Tsobanoglou CC BY 4.0

The Epirus Trail which boasts an initial length of 370 km (230 miles), is a mountain adventure that crosses Epirus, from Mount Grammos to the Tzoumerka mountain range.

The longest hiking trail in Greece started taking shape in 2015, thanks to the Epirus Region and the “EPIRUS SA” Development Company.

Epirus Trail promotes the old road route through which people from Epirus would move to the mainland and other regions of Greece, or abroad, for centuries.

Papingo, Epirus, Greece
Papingo, Epirus, Greece. Credit: Dimitri Karagiorgos / CC1

The areas that cross the hiking trail include places of exceptional natural beauty, unique landscapes; an interesting man-made environment with unique cultural elements.

The Epirus Region aims to develop hiking tourism; and in general alternative tourism, as another development tool for the region. The creation and certification of Epirus Trail is of great importance; incorporating the concept of the old path into the modern tourist market.

The trail originally crosses the basic paths of the 4 Regional Units of Epirus which have a diverse network (Zagoria, Metsovo, Konitsa, North Tzoumerka), allowing visitors the opportunity to choose between shorter or longer hiking walks.

Highlights of the Epirus Trail

Some of the special interest points are the following:

1. It passes through the areas of 4 major mountainous municipalities of Epirus (Metsovo, Zagori, Konitsa, North Tzoumerka), and connects them.

2. It follows two parallel axes, on one side there is the Voidomatis river basin (Vikos gorge) and the Aoos river basin and then it moves side by side to the broader basin of river Arachthos.

3. It has three significant vertical branches, as follows:
a. “Typhi –Zagori mountains” (Tsepelovo-Vovousa) “,
b. “Ano Aoos” (Metsovo-Murgos-Vovousa),
c. “Aoos Gorge” (Vrysochori-Konitsa) “.

4. The main trail is 370 km long and the branches are around 80 km.

5. It will be gradually extended to neighboring Municipalities and neighboring Regions.

6. It passes through all existing mountain shelters (7).

7. It passes through sections of “classic” and other recognized paths, such as: “O3”, “E4”, “UrsaTrai”, “Zagori Mountain Trail”.

8. It passes through the three major towns of Metsovo, Konitsa and Pramanta.

9. It passes through 25 mountainous settlements and close to so many others.

10. It goes through the two “old” and internationally – known National Forests of “Pindos-ValiaCalda” and “Vikos-Aoos”.

11. It passes through the North Pindos National Park and the Vikos-Aoos Geopark (Unesco Natural Heritage Site and recorded in the Guinness Book) as well as the “Tzoumerka, Peristeri and Arachthos Gorge National Park “.

12. It crosses nine areas of the “Natura 2000” network of protected areas.

13. It passes through more than 12 listed traditional settlements and many monuments, such as holy monasteries (at least 10), stone bridges (at least 15).

14. It mainly passes through old paths and road arteries.

The Epirus Trail is the route of culture, history, and adventure.

Greece Braces for Intense Storms and Heavy Rainfall

Lightning strikes.
Greece will be battered by heave rain and storms from Sunday evening until the early morning hours of Tuesday. Credit: AMNA

Heavy rain and storms are expected across Greece from Sunday evening, according to an emergency weather warning issued on Saturday by the Greek National Meteorological Service (EMY).

The stormy weather is forecast to sweep the country, starting in the west, and spreading to the central and eastern mainland, the Cyclades islands and Crete and, lastly, the Eastern Aegean and Dodecanese Islands.

The bad weather will be accompanied by near-gale-force winds of up to 8 Beaufort and possibly hail.

The phenomena will last until the early morning hours of Tuesday.

As per usual, the Hellenic Fire Service is in operational readiness and is advising citizens to follow safety instructions to avoid getting into danger during the bad weather.

Stormy weather to batter mainland and islands

The rain will start in the Ionian islands, west and south Peloponnese and western Crete on Sunday night, meteorologists have warned.

By Monday morning, the bad weather is expected to spread to central Macedonia, Thessaly, eastern Central Greece (including briefly in Attica), the Cyclades Islands and mainly southern Crete.

It will also briefly affect western Macedonia and the Peloponnese, with the wet weather abating in the afternoon, while the islands of the eastern Aegean south of Chios, and the Dodecanese, will start to be affected just before noon.

The rain and storms are forecast to continue in southern parts of the Dodecanese islands until noon on Tuesday.

Marine warnings were also issued by EMY.

Hellenic Fire Service and Police ready to assist

The operational plan of the Hellenic Fire Service is being implemented to deal with risks from the occurrence of floods and their accompanying phenomena, while the local departments of the areas to be affected have been placed in a state of increased readiness and further escalation if required, in order to deal immediately with any problems caused by the severe weather phenomena.

The General Secretariat of Civil Protection of the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection has warned the competent government agencies, as well as the regions and municipalities of the country, to be on increased civil protection readiness.

They recommend that citizens be particularly careful, taking measures to protect themselves from risks arising from the heavy rainfall, storms and gale-force winds.

Latest information about the prevailing situation and the passability of the road network in case of inflow of flood waters or due to snowfall and frost, will be posted on the website of the Hellenic Police.

World’s Oldest Known Decimal Point Discovered in Italy

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World’s Oldest Known Decimal Point
The world’s oldest known decimal point from Bianchini’s “Tabulae primi mobilis B.” Credit: Glen Van Brummelen / Historia Mathematica / CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Newly discovered notes from 15th-century Italy show that the decimal point is actually 150 years older than what historians previously believed.

Decimal points may seem basic, but they’re incredibly helpful in math. They divide whole numbers into tenths, hundredths, and thousandths, which makes calculations a lot easier compared to using fractions.

Some forms of decimals have been around since the 900s in Damascus and the 1200s in China, as reported by Live Science.

A solid system of decimals didn’t become fully established until 1593. This happened when the German mathematician Christopher Clavius included decimals in astronomical work.

However, recent studies propose that Clavius was actually following an older practice. He likely adopted the use of decimals from Giovanni Bianchini, a Venetian merchant from the 15th century.

Decimal point is a century and a half older than Clavius’ use

The authors of the latest research say that Bianchini’s work, dating back to between 1441 and 1450, precedes Clavius’ use of the decimal point by a century and a half.

Glen Van Brummelen, a mathematics historian at Trinity Western University in Canada, stumbled upon Bianchini’s use of decimals while teaching a math camp for middle school students.

Van Brummelen recalls his excitement, rushing through the dormitory halls with his computer, eager to share his discovery. He shouted, “Look at this, this guy is doing decimal points in the 1440s!”

The concept of dividing whole numbers into smaller parts has ancient roots, but before the Middle Ages, most mathematicians leaned towards using fractions. Although astronomers did use decimals, their method differed from the familiar base-10 system taught in elementary school.

Instead, they utilized base-60 decimals. This involved dividing circles, such as the 360-degree circle, into sixty minutes, which could further be broken down into sixty seconds, as reported by Live Science.

In a paper published online for the journal Historia Mathematica, Van Brummelen noted that, occasionally, mathematicians did experiment with notations resembling today’s decimal system. However, these concepts often failed to gain traction and weren’t consistently adopted by subsequent mathematicians.

Decimal point first seen in Bianchini’s “Tabulae primi mobilis B”

Van Brummelen highlighted that while pinpointing the exact origins of decimal notation can be challenging, the history of the decimal point is comparatively clearer. This enduring symbol first emerges in Bianchini’s “Tabulae primi mobilis B,” a work focused on computing stellar coordinates.

Bianchini, originally a merchant, later served as an administrator to Venice’s ruling d’Este family. In this role, he was tasked with calculating horoscopes and engaging in astrology.

Within his text, Bianchini used the decimal point in a manner similar to modern mathematicians, marking a significant early usage of this decimal point.