Mourning for Adonais
Enamoured with Geometric art, Humfry Payne became the youngest director of the British School of Archaeology in Athens at the age of 27. He wrote a book on Corinthian art and dug it up later at Perachora.
Article Selection
Wood Song
“Wood has a grain and if you go against it, you will have to throw the work away.” Two woodcarvers speak of their traditional craft as an intimate relationship between material and artisan.
Rhodes: Behind the Cliches
The third Aegean island, the most visited, the most prosperous, the habitat of deer and butterflies – and the least Greek. These catch phrases conceal a way of life in which ancient ruins, Mussolini Gothic walls, and strobe-lit discos peacefully co-exist
Music for the Gods
Perhaps the most tantalizing aspect of ancient Greek culture is the loss of its music-a vital feature of their religion, drama, comedy, private entertainment and even athletics. The complexity and variety of the instruments depicted on vases hint at the sophistication and pervasiveness of music in ancient Greece.
Tilos: Sparkling and Verdant
Four hours away from Rhodes by boat, it is today what that island was 30 years ago – a ‘real’, unspoiled Aegean delight
The Dwarf Elephants of Tilos
In 1971 Nikolaos Symeonidis, professor of Geology and Paleontology at the University of Athens, discovered in a cave on Tilos the bones of over 38 dwarf elephants which flourish down to about 3500 years ago. The Goulandris Museum is currently showing some of these in the exhibition “Dwarf and Giant Elephants” as its contribution to the International Campaign for the Preservation of the African Elephant.
Getting Steamed Up on Nisyros
A geothermal energy project on a small Dodecanese island is arousing antagonism among the otherwise friendly and hospitable inhabitants.
The Pontian Greeks of Kazakhstan
The recent influx of Pontians into Greece from the Soviet Union is growing daily. Over 20,000 are expected to arrive this year. The flight of the Pontians after the 1913 Turkish massacres into the Caucasus and their later removal into Central Asia is a little known but epic chapter in the 20th century catalogue of massively displaced populations.
Philhellenes from Switzerland
Though still recovering from the Napoleonic Wars, the Swiss from Zurich to Geneva, Catholic and Protestant, united to play a low-keyed but invaluable part in the Greek War of Independence.
Grounds for Hope on the Green Front
Growing concern for cleaner air and tidier beaches, wider attention given to the plight of the Loggerhead Turtle, international support for the Prespa Lakes project, and now with a ‘Green’ in Parliament and a drive to raise funds for the establishment of a conservationist center in Plaka by the Elliniki Etairia: local news of the environment is looking more hopeful.
