Εικονογραφική τεκμηρίωση των αναστηλωτικών εργασιών στη βάση δεδομένων. Από το 1976, ταυτόχρονα σχεδόν με την έναρξη των εργασιών αναστήλωσης στην Ακρόπολη, λειτουργεί υπό την αιγίδα της Επιτροπής Συντηρήσεως Μνημείων Ακροπόλεως (ΕΣΜΑ) ειδικό Γραφείο Τεκμηρίωσης με σκοπό την αρχειοθέτηση και διαχείριση των διαφορετικού τύπου τεκμηρίων (σχεδίων, φωτογραφιών, μελετών κ.α.), που παράγονται από τους ειδικούς κατά την εκτέλεση των έργων. Tο πρότυπο αυτό Γραφείο Τεκμηρίωσης διαχειρίζεται τη σχεδιοθήκη, τη φωτοθήκη και εξειδικευμένη βιβλιοθήκη σε θέματα αναστηλώσεων αποκατάστασης και συντήρησης των μνημείων ενώ έχει αναλάβει, παράλληλα με την παραγωγή ενημερωτικών ταινιών για τη συντήρηση των μνημείων, την έκδοση ενημερωτικού δελτίου για την πορεία των ανστηλωτικών έργων. Το έργο αυτό εντάσσεται στο πλαίσιο της Υπηρεσίας Συντήρησης Μνημείων Ακροπόλεως (ΥΣΜΑ) - της ειδικής περιφερειακής Υπηρεσίας του ΥΠΠΟ, που, από το 1999, έχει αναλάβει την οργάνωση και εκτέλεση των έργων αναστήλωσης των μνημείων της Ακρόπολης, υπό την επιστημονική εποπτεία της ΕΣΜΑ. Στην τελευταία συνέντευξη αυτού του αφιερώματος στα αρχαιολογικά συστήματα πληροφόρησης, η Φανή Μαλλούχου-Tuffano και ο Γιάννης Αλεξόπουλος μας παρουσιάζουν τις αρχές σχεδιασμού και την εξέλιξη των συστημάτων ηλεκτρονικής διαχείρισης και πρόσβασης στο υλικό του αρχείου.

The Cinema and the world of dreams are related to one another. The ease with which time can be represented by the cinema makes it an ideal medium for the representation of dreams. Although dreams can be about either the immediate or the remote past, dream time is experienced as a fleeting or condensed, perpetual present time. In the 20th century, both metaphysical painting and surrealism in art and in literature attempted to convey the unreal, irrational world of dreams. Towards the end of the 15th century, a Venetian scholar composed an enigmatic and erotic narrative with the title Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, that is Poliphilus’s struggle with love in a dream. The story takes place in an imaginary land of extended, perpetual dream and erotic pagan visions.

The psychoanalytic theory argues that dreams, unlike the unconscious, are not bound by time limitations, to the extend they are ruled by the subconscious. Everything in the dream is experienced much more directly than in the reality of alertness. In parallel with the fluidity that characterizes the convictions and pursuits of man, a feeling of urgency or anxiety, a great narcissistic participation, a large investment in action and in people are components of the dream. The time orientation of the dreamer is strictly towards the present. Any indication that any action in a dream represents memories or desires of the childhood -instigated by desires of the past- is a masqueraded sign and it must be interpreted through the coherence of the dreamer. The experience of the dreamer is ageless and represents his personality in its everlasting features; furthermore, it functions as a notion of himself, a notion that is related closer with previous desires than with the present age and the social or professional status of the dreamer. Based on a series of cases Freud (1900, 1933) has pointed out that time in a dream is expressed in terms of spatial relations, where the apparent meaning of the dream transforms time into space. However, there are dreams in which the concept of time is perfectly clear as clock or calendar time and not as a time implied in pictures of space and motion. It is known for years that the presence of the objective time in dreams symbolizes a variety of notions, usually concerning past experiences of time, such as anniversaries, deadlines, destiny, death. The direct reference to time in conditions of disappointment or urgency usually contains the direct experience of time as continuity. Such an experience has often to do with conflicts concerning the superego, relationships that cause a deep guilt. In reality, the dream is the state closer to the mystical experience a human can claim. The experience of nirvana in ones dream seems to depend on his ability to ignore or disconnect all sensational data from their objective source, lying in the outer world or in his very body.

Through the spectrum and language of cinematography, dream was transformed into a very special kind of experience, that sealed the audience's conscience during the nineteenth century. With a quick retrospective into the films of the "dream" or oneirical genre, one can jump to the conclusion that European movie-makers cultivated this special category in a meticulous and refined way, as opposed to their American counterparts who used the dream with a certain clumsiness and naivety. However, in both the continental and the US movies, remarkable creators have proven that the spectator, once the lights are turned off and magic starts, gives to the dream the preponderance it deserves, either through an identification process or through the adoption of the cine-matographical codes and the conscious acceptance of this kind of illusionary "reality". According to Jean Cocteau's definition, "Cinema is the art that can mainly describe the Dream", more than any other art form.

In this article I present my space-emotional dream interpretation method and theory, which maintains that a subject/dreamer experiences first an actual initial event in broad daylight and. when he goes to sleep, this very same initial event reappears in his dream. This time it is disguised with suitable dream pictures, different yet similar to the initial event, that contain similar actions, causing during the dream similar emotions. So, a dream, regarding the initial event, is: a. A re-presentation, since it has different though similar pictures. b. A re-action, since It has similar action (behavior, energy). c. A re-dramatization, since it has similar emotions (drama}. These suitable dream pictures are "borrowed" for the needs of the dream from the subject-dreamer's memory -where else from in one's sleep? — , namely from some previous event that had happened to the dreamer/subject in the past, before the dream and before the initial event. This previous event as a central picture matches point to point with all the important pars of the initial event, plus its action and emotions. The previous event is what we actually see in a dream, but hidden behind it point to point lies invisible the re¬cent initial event of the day before, which is the true interest of the dream. Not all everyday events become dreams, however. Just the initial events that ended up abruptly, frustrated, with their emotions pending in mid air. The pending emotion is the actual secret charge of any dream. And the dream is an actual attempt of our consciousness to put in order a frustrated pending emotion. It is quite a manoeuvre.  

This article briefly reviews the multifarious questions related to the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (1499) -an "often quoted but seldom read book" in the words of E. Wind. A masterpiece of typographical art, published by the celebrated humanist Aldus Manuzio, it was only fully translated into English in 1999. Its author, Francesco Colonna, was traditionally thought to have been a Venetian friar in the monastery of SS Giovanni e Paolo; quite recently (1980) M. Calvesi proposed that the author was the prince of Palestrina under the same name, while other candidates have been discussed as well. The subject is the search for idealized love amidst extensively described ancient ruins, generally set in Arcadian landscapes, and inhabited by pagan deities and nymphs. The mixture of pagan and Christian elements reflected in some of the famous ceremonies and encounters described in the work are typical of the time and place of its creation. The antiquarian lore and feigned antiquity seem more appropriate to Venice than to Rome. The language, a most curious and purely individual mixture of Latin, Italian, Greek and elements of Hebrew and Arabic, may have been deliberately chosen as an appropriate vehicle for conveying the nature of dreams. The work's exquisite 172 woodcuts have been attributed to various distinguished masters; their closest affinities, however, are with those in the 1497 edition of Ovid's Metamorphoses in the vernacular language and in the art of Benedetto Bordon. Already in 1600 Beroalde de Verville had read the book's supposedly "arcane" content in the light of alchemic wisdom; this particular French edition, consulted by Jung in 1925, probably stimulated his interest in alchemy. His friend and collaborator Linda Fierz-David (1950) and, more recently, I. P. Couliano (1984) detected in its rather bizarre content intriguing, though very different, psyco-analytical overtones.

In the art of the 20th century the dream is directly related with mainly two representational movements: metaphysical painting and surrealism. In both cases the reference to the dream is a fundamental element, both for the artistic act and experience and for the in-terpretational procedure. In the metaphysical painting, and in the oeuvre of its most important artist, Giorgio de Chirico, in particular, the reference to the dream is apparent in the world represented in his paintings: a mysterious and enigmatic world, full of questions and secrets, that the spectator has the impression that he is seeing or visiting for the first time, "as if it is viewed through the window of a dream". Everyday reality in the metaphysical pictures is approached by removing the veil, or the utilitarian dimension of things, that is blurring its poetic and metaphysical potential, like the dream: everyday scenes and situations are "directed" in another framework, beyond reality. In the case of surrealism, the feeling of the not-recognisable, the unexplained reasonably, the unreal, which derives from the intentionally paradoxical and unexpected unions of objects, removed from their physical environment, correlates the surrealistic with the oneiric pictures. And this happens through an "eye in fierce crisis", which produces clear and penetrating pictures that cause confusion and embarrassment. These two artistic movements are epitomized in modern Greek art in the oeuvre of Nikos Eggonopoulos, whose pictures, both in word and painting, reveal that the painter-poet was indeed seeing dreams in his eyes ...

She pauses, stopping in her tracks. In the prologue to her book “Meetings with Remarkable People”, she writes about the wolf and the lamb dwelling within us. It seems to her, that the beast is the unconscious. It sleeps. Waking in the morning of 3/12/1994, she sees the lion with the quality of an archaic being rising up from the water. “There are no lions in Greece”. The transition from dream images to phrases, from one symbolic language to another. Just imagine, the unconscious is really structured like a language. She sees her unconscious taking on a shape, and her conscious organizing the way of memorizing. She sees two pieces interacting like colleagues in a cutting room. Moviolas, tape-recorders, replay, cut, montage...

The comparison between the hieroglyphic signs of Crete and those of the Aegean Linear A script leads to the understanding of "theonymies" (-gods' names), subjects and adjectives or adverbs. The comparative method can be applied on these two types of script and almost on half of the 96 syllabic symbols that have been recorded in the Scripta Minoa I by Evans, in the Corpus der Minoischen und Mykenischen Siegei and in the CHIC, where 331 documents are published. It is possible that six of these documents have been written in the Linear A script, a fact proving the close similarity of these two scripts. The Cretan script not only shares the same symbols and words with its partly contemporary Linear A, but it also belongs to the same culture as the latter; furthermore, it conveys political, religious and moral concepts, which reappear in the Greek language of the classic period. Therefore, it cannot but express an Indo-European language, quite similar with the older Greek, let us say the language of the Pelasgians. spoken from Thessaly to Crete during the 3rd millennium BC.

At first, the Minoans were using a kind of writing which was similar lo the hieroglyphics of Egypt. Each letter is symbolised with an animal or object. Later, they were using Linear A, and in the end, after 1450 BC, when the Achaians dominated, Linear B was instituted. Ventris proved that, in this period, they were speaking Greek in Knossos, like the Achaians. This helped us to prove that the same goes for the hieroglyphics and Linear A. The Greek hieroglyphics had been invented in Crete, by the Greeks of the island. In addition, based on inscriptions, we can assume that only Greeks or Greek speaking people created civilization in the island in the Prehistoric period. Linear writings came from the hieroglyphics, not as a new writing, but as a shorthand type of them. The Greek hieroglyphics are an independent invention of a Greek speaking nation and they represent the widest language in the world. The Greek hieroglyphics have simultaneously pictorial and phonetic character. This particularity of the Greek dialects caused the difference between Linear A and Linear B, which seem to represent the main dialects in the prehistoric Greek area.

Many scholars have dealt with this subject so far, however they have not agreed on what the text, incised on the fibula, refers to. Some argue that the text refers to a male or female who asks information from the oracle of the dead about the proper doctor who can cure a certain disease that makes a woman barren. Others have the opinion that this inscription is about a young woman who wants to know the identity of her future husband, a scientific version aiso shared by the author of this article.

The use of the compact drill for boring holes is the oldest of the three methods for drilling stone objects and other hard raw materials as well. A practice that has probably been in use since the Upper Palaeolithic, it is mainly related to prestige and toilet articles, which characterize the Homo Sapiens. Undoubtedly, the simplest and oldest perforating method is the one using the gimlet. In this article an attempt is made to document the procedure of boring a vertical part in thin objects experimentally and also to diagnose the characteristic traces that will show where the compact drill or the gimlet was used.

A series of evaluations and judgements has been made even since antiquity, regarding the historical background of the Homeric epic poetry. As time passed by, the relevant questions have been reinforced and related originally to the social environment of that period, which is represented in the epic, and consequently to the issue of dating its final composition, estimated about 700 BC. In this framework, Philology, Archaeology and History collaborate in a common field of research in order to define some, more or less objective, criteria for the dating of the cultural material which is reflected in the Homeric poems.

The ideological characteristics of a concept can be understood through the study of the phenomena expressing this concept and, mainly, through the search for the fundamental substance and the provenance of the archaeological and mythological origins, lying under the manifold phenomena of the sensible world. Thus, these characteristics of the basic concept of the Healing Environment in our civilization should be searched in the Hellenic culture: in the Hellenic mythology and especially in the Asclepios' myth, the healing god of the ancient Hellenic pantheon. According to that myth, the ideological characteristics of the concept of the Healing Environment coincide with the typical features of the healing powers of nature, being equally divine.

In spite of the increasing interest in the restoration of monuments, many aspects of the restoration works performed in antiquity are scarcely known. This article deals with the restorations performed by using joints and inlays. The ancient buildings, being exposed to numerous factors that could cause damage and decay, such as natural phenomena-earthquakes, floods, etc.-, or man himself, needed restoration in order to be preserved in the best possible condition. Quite ofetn, however, the restorers of antiquity sought simple and inexpensive methods of restoration, if the damage was limited and thus the replacement of an entire worn stone was uneconomical. The use of joints and inlays could fulfill these conditions, which very well explains why they were commonly used in the entire Greek world, regardless of the period.

The history of the education of women from antiquity until the nineteenth century can be epitomized in a few pages, since only a limited and questionable information comes from the Archaic and Classic period. The Hellenistic and Roman era offer more information and reliable sources, mainly inscriptions and papyri, still general conclusions cannot be drawn, because the public educational system has not existed before modern times. The sources dating from late antiquity and the Middle Ages simply refer to the Christianization of Classic education and the role of monasticism as an alternative solution for the pious ladies. As for the nineteenth century, it signals the establishment of the girl's school as an institution and the transformation of teaching into a "female" profession.  

The unique archaeological and historical environment of Athens has been considered by Greek and foreign scholars as the major, decisive factor for the creation and urban development of the Greek capital in the nineteenth century - at least as regards the erection of its official buildings. This effect can further be ascertained, if it is related to the respective architectural activity in the other capitals of Classicism.

The emperors, both as public officials and private philanthropists; the prelates of the official Church and the monastic leaders; the lay aristocrats and, for many centuries, the professional healers, all have sought to found medical institutions. These have been purposed to provide consolation and help to the lower and middle social class. Philanthropic institutions have taken special measures to aid the sick, the crippled, the blind and the elderly poor. Byzantine sources indicate that hospitals were usually vital components of the city social network. The hospital administrators, whom the Byzantine sources call xenocfocfro/, were originally members of the clergy. By the tenth century the physicians have taken considerable control over the therapeutic practices in the hospitals. Professional medical assistants and nurses, the hypourgoi, were helping the doctors in curing the sick. The hospitals in the years of the Byzantine Empire have greatly contributed to the development of medicine, which, throughout this period, displays originality and innovation.

A list of Venetian officials in Modon, published in 1873 by the German scholar Karl Hopf in his work Chroniques greco-romaines inedites ou peu connues, is frequently used by most archaeologists, historians, architects and other relevant scholars as far as the castle of Modon is concerned. Nevertheless, the deficiencies, inaccuracies, and errors occurring in this list have dictated the compiling of a new one. On the other hand, no attempt has been made to specify how a Venetian government was established in Modon. Therefore, this article includes a new list of Venetian officials in Modon, which can be of great help in the relevant scientific research, and offers a clear picture of the way the Venetian government was organized in the castle of Modon throughout the centuries. Byzantines, Franks, Venitians, Ottomans and, finally, Abandonment itself have governed over the castle of Modon. It is about time that Historiography establishes its headquarters in this castle, a site pregnant with historical memory.

For the occasion of the exhibition “ Greek Watercolours of the 19th and 20th century” at the Koumandareio Art Gallery in Sparta, an educational programme was carried out for pre-school children and pupils from primary and secondary schools. As many of the painters of that period depicted ancient monuments, along with the school curriculum it was decided to teach the three architectural orders of antiquity as well as light and colours as the essentials of painting. Moreover, the technique of watercolour was taught as a practical skill. These educational aims were combined with an introduction to the social and historical background of Sparta and its neoclassical buildings. The programme was based on Howard Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligences and on the ideas of the constructivists (Hein, Sotto).

The nineteenth century in Greece is characterized by the broad application of the rules and principles of Neoclassicism. This trend has been expressed both in Town-planning and in Architecture. In the first, the straight line was used for the layout of streets, and the rectangular cluster was adopted for the articulation of urban areas and the creation of squares as a functional element of cities; and also as a means of elevating important architectures or works of sculpture, according to the principles of the Renaissance Town-planning. In the second, this trend has been materialized through the exact application of the rules of proportion, which has unfortunately been considered as the main feature of ancient Greek architecture. The result of this way of planning the built environment was the infiltration of cities and settlements throughout Greece by the aesthetic conception of Neoclassicism.

The author of this article proposes that the Internet should be put to use by students in the first form of senior high school who are presenting a history project. The subject presented is Mycenaean civilization. The proposed project not only encourages the group spirit in class, it also promotes a transdisciplinary approach to the subjects of History, Composition and Expression, English and Computer Science. Students are asked to look for information in the Internet, in web -sites, through key-words, in articles published on the web electronically, and in digital books. Finally students are asked to use the Word Processor to write their material, scan photographs, sketches and drawings they made, copy pictures taken from the Internet and see to the cover of their publication.

The date and circumstances of the foundation of ancient Greek cities are probably the major problems that scholars face in studying their history, since these two factors have greatly affected the future development of cities. The scholars who study the early history of the city of Chersonessos have oriented their research towards the following relevant issues: a. Rejection of Pseudo-Scymnos testimony as a historical source. b. Replacement of certain words in Pseudo-Scymnos text, which have excessively corrupted its meaning. c. Creditability to the historicity of Pseudo-Scymnos text, as regards the participation of the Delians in the foundation of Chersonessos. d. Examination of the available archaeological material, which can lead to the theory that Chersonessos was colonized for a second time by Greeks of Doric origin. The combination of the two latter issues seems to prevail in modern bibliography. Thus, the early Ionic or Ionic-Doric colony of Chersonessos was founded in the late sixth century BC -functioning as a commercial base or as a poiis, in the ancient sense of the word-while during 422/1 the Doric, Heracleiotan city was rebuilt for a second time.  

The image of Adam dressed and enthroned is known to us exclusively from three Syrian mosaics. The first mosaic, which is also the best preserved, comes from the central aisle of an early Christian basilica in Huarte. The mosaic belonging to the museum of Hama and the third which is to be found at the museum of Copenhagen came from illegal excavations. In the mosaic of the Hama museum, a young man is shown in a frontal view, enthroned under an arch that stands on two small pillars. He is seated on a throne and his hair is short and curly. He wears a mantle with a heavy cloak over it. Two inscriptions, one Greek and one Syrian, identify him as Adam. In the Huarte mosaic, the enthroned Adam is depicted holding an open book. Two cypresses surround him with snakes entwined while various animals approach him. In the Copenhagen mosaic there is evidence that in this mosaic Adam was also surrounded by animals. It is a depiction of Adam before the Fall in which he names the animals. Granted that in Genesis Adam appears naked before the Fall, the way he is shown in the mosaics takes on a symbolic character. The three mosaics have differences in style which point to their having been made in different studios. However this does not necessarily mean that they were created at different times. High quality and a free style are characteristics of the Huama mosaic (487/488AD), the Hama mosaic, on the other hand is in a more formalized style and probably belongs to the first decades of the 6th century AD.

Imbros, the fourth largest island of the North Aegean, lies across the Thracian peninsula and has a strategic position in the region. Its close proximity to Asia Minor and Thrace, and to the islands Samothrace and Lemnos have made it an important navigation junction in the North Aegean. The references of Imbros in the Homeric epic underlines its relevant significance in early antiquity, while it appears to participate in the historical happening of the Helladic area, from the early fifth century AD. Until then all the information concerning the island come from the Homeric references and the explicit testimony of ancient sources, according which the pro-Hellenic tribe of Pelasgians had settled there. In 1990 the first prehistoric sites and a settlement in the centre of the north valley of the island were located. The results of the research carried out so far iead to the conclusion that many centres of proto-urban form existed in the islands of the East and North Aegean, which were created at the same time or approximately so as Poliochni on Lemnos. The foundation and development of these centres is owed to their location on the route of transporting and trading copper. In the last five years we have located an exceptionally big number of relevant prehistoric settlements, scattered along this route. It is certain that Imbros, like the neighbouring islands, during the late Neolithic period received a wave of emigrants from the Thracian and Minor Asia coasts. Owing to its mountainous landscape, the island consists of small geographic entities. During our visits and itineraries around Imbros we have located about thirty prehistoric sites along its coastline and in the hinterland and we have established that there is a clear gradation in size and importance in their structures. The excavation research carried on by the University of Ancara on the hill of Haghios Phloros have brought to light a wealth of information regarding the organization of settlements during the Early Bronze Age. The finds discovered so far prove that the area had already been inhabited in a pre-Trojan phase, in the late Neolithic period. An important centre functioned here during the Early Bronze Age and throughout the second millennium BC. Finally, the discovery of Mycenaean sherds verifies the contacts and relations of the prehistoric inhabitants of Imbros with the Mycenaeans as well as the long existence of an alive settlement in the same location.  

W. Blake, Εκάτη. Η ετυμολογία συνδέει τη «μαγεία» με την Περσία αλλά αυτό δεν ανταποκρίνεται στην πραγματικότητα. Αν και άγνωστο πότε εμφανίστηκε στην Ελλάδα, η «μαγεία» μαρτυρείται ήδη από την αρχαϊκή εποχή. Στο περιθώριο της επίσημης λατρείας και έξω από την πόλη, με τον αντικοινωνικό χαρακτήρα της, απευθύνεται στους δαίμονες των νεκρών ή σε χθόνιους θεούς, όχι ικετεύοντας αλλά «εξαναγκάζοντάς» τους με τρόπο μηχανικό. Τους περιοδεύοντες «μάγους» συνόδευαν τα ονόματα ἀγύρτης, γόης, μάντις, και η περιφρόνηση των εκπροσώπων της ορθολογικής σκέψης. Από την ελληνιστική περίοδο και εξής, η μαγεία γίνεται πιο μυστηριακή, αντλώντας στοιχεία από ανατολικές θρησκείες και παραδόσεις της Εγγύς Ανατολής και της Αιγύπτου.

Γνωστικός ίασπις. Όχι μόνον οι θετικιστές αλλά και οι θιασώτες μιας εξιδανικευμένης αρχαιότητας φρίττουν μπρος στο «τρισάθλιο» αντικείμενο της μαγείας, το οποίο και απαξιούν να αναγνωρίσουν ως γνωστικό. Κατά τον αρθρογράφο, ακόμη και οι κοινωνικοί ανθρωπολόγοι ενοχλούνται από τα «ετερόκλιτα» στοιχεία της που αντιστέκονται στη δική τους συστημική προσέγγιση. Εξέχοντα ρόλο στην αντεπίθεση έπαιξε ο Αυστριακός Alfons Barb ήδη από το 1925. Το φυλακτήριον προς ημίκρανον που δημοσίευσε τότε, ταφικό εύρημα από τον 3ο αιώνα μ.Χ., θυμίζει έντονα την Ευχή ημικράνη που βρέθηκε σε χειρόγραφο του 16ου αιώνα από τη νότια Ιταλία. Η Άρτεμις Εφεσία και ο Ιησούς Χριστός, αντίστοιχα, καλούνται να προφυλάξουν από τον πονοκέφαλο. Αργότερα, ο ίδιος υποστήριξε ότι ορισμένες παραστάσεις της Παναγίας ανάγονται στον αρχαίο δαίμονα του πονοκεφάλου Antaura. Ο Barb ειδικεύτηκε επίσης στον «γνωστικό» σφραγιδόλιθο «Αβράξας», δημοφιλέστατο κατά την Αναγέννηση. Το άρθρο συζητεί μια κατάρα που επί δύο σχεδόν χιλιετίες συνοδεύει ξόρκια κι απειλές, «όπου σκυλί δεν αλυχτά και κόκορας δεν κράζει», καταλήγοντας στο ερώτημα αν το θέμα αυτό ανήκει στο υπόβαθρο της Ανατολής.

Αρχαϊκός χαλκιδαϊκός αμφορέας. Η αλληλεπίδραση της τελετουργίας, της ποιητικής παράδοσης και των μαγικών απεικονίσεων πάνω σε φυλαχτά που εισήχθησαν στην Ελλάδα από την Εγγύς Ανατολή, δημιούργησαν την ομηρική μάγισσα Κίρκη. Σε σφραγίδες και φυλαχτά, κυρίως από τη Συρία και την Παλαιστίνη, εμφανίζεται η Πότνια θηρών γυμνή, δέσποινα που αφεντεύει τ’ αγρίμια. Η απεικόνισή της πάνω σε όπλα έχει αποτροπαϊκή χρήση. Η δύναμή της πηγάζει από την κυριαρχία της πάνω στα θηρία και από τη μετωπική έκθεση του γυμνού της σώματος. Ξελογιάστρα για τον εχθρό που τη βλέπει, προστατεύει τον πολεμιστή που την φέρει στην ασπίδα του. Άγρια θηρία συχνάζουν και στο περιβάλλον της Κίρκης που, στα αρχαϊκά αγγεία, εμφανίζεται γυμνή με τονισμένο το τρίγωνο του εφηβαίου. Επικίνδυνη και σαγηνευτική, συνδυασμός που θυμίζει τα ανατολίτικα φυλαχτά, θα μετατραπεί σε φυλαχτό του Οδυσσέα όταν αυτός την υποτάξει. Θεά στην Οδύσσεια, τι κάνει την Κίρκη μάγισσα; Αν και τα όρια θρησκευτικών και μαγικών τελετουργιών δεν είναι πάντα σαφή, οι τελευταίες διακρίνονται για την αντικοινωνικότητά τους. Η Κίρκη προσφέρει στους συντρόφους του Οδυσσέα φαγητό που ταιριάζει σε νεκρούς. Προσθέτει στο φαγητό τους δηλητήριο. Τους χτυπά επιθετικά με ραβδί, όργανο μαγικό. Κι όμως, μόλις η σεξουαλικότητά της «εξημερωθεί» από τον Οδυσσέα, η αντικοινωνική μάγισσα μετατρέπεται σε αρωγό και συμπαραστάτη του.

Ορφέας, Ευρυδίκη, Ερμής. Το άρθρο πραγματεύεται τη σχέση νεκρών και ζώντων. Στα μαντεία των νεκρών, το ρόλο του μεσάζοντος έπαιζαν οι γόητες (από το ρήμαγοάω, θρηνώ), επιδιώκοντας είτε να κατευνάσουν τους νεκρούς, είτε να τους δραστηριοποιήσουν ενάντια σε κάποιον ζωντανό, είτε να εξασφαλίσουν την ευμένειά τους για τον πελάτη τους. Ο Ηρόδοτος διηγείται την ιστορία του τυράννου της Κορίνθου Περίανδρου και του φαντάσματος της γυναίκας του Μέλισσας. Γνωστή είναι και η ιστορία του Σπαρτιάτη Παυσανία που δολοφονήθηκε στο ναό της Αθηνάς. Θεσσαλοί γόητες ή ψυχαγωγοί κατάφεραν να κατευνάσουν το φάντασμά του. Η Κλυταιμνήστρα ζητάει από την Ηλέκτρα να κάνει σπονδές, προκειμένου να κατευναστεί το φάντασμα του Αγαμέμνονα. Σπονδές σε τρίστρατα αφιερώνονταν και στην αφέντρα των φαντασμάτων Εκάτη. Πινακίδες με κατάρες που στοχεύουν τους ανταγωνιστές τοποθετούνται σε τάφους, πηγάδια ή κάτω από ναούς θεοτήτων που σχετίζονται με τον Κάτω Κόσμο. Οι επικλήσεις των μάγων για συνεργασία στρέφονται προς κόρες και εφήβους που χάθηκαν αδόκητα, σε θύματα φόνου ή σε άταφους νεκρούς. Περίανδρος και Άτοσσα ζητούν από τους νεκρούς γνώσεις που οι ίδιοι δεν κατέχουν. Τα καθήκοντα του γόητος, επίκληση νεκρών και μύηση σε μυστήρια, συνδυάζονται στη μορφή του Ορφέα. Ενδιαφέρον παρουσιάζει το γεγονός ότι οι Έλληνες, που δεν αισθάνονται άνετα με τους γόητες, τους αποδίδουν ξένη καταγωγή.

Βακχίς, αντίγραφο έργου του Σκόπα. Γιατί, ενώ σε χριστιανικές εικόνες αποδόθηκαν ευεργετικές ιδιότητες, οι «ειδωλολατρικές» παραστάσεις θεωρήθηκαν πηγή δυνάμεων του διαβόλου; Η μαγική δύναμη που ασκούσε η απεικόνιση έως τον 1ο αιώνα μ.Χ. έληξε άραγε με την επικράτηση της Civitas Christiana; Αφήνοντας αυτό το ερώτημα να αιωρείται, ο αρθρογράφος ξεδιπλώνει μια ιστορία που αρχίζει από τον Δαίδαλο και καταλήγει στη ρωμαϊκή περίοδο. Νήμα του η αγαλματοφιλία. Η πίστη στο έμψυχο των αγαλμάτων μαρτυρείται ήδη στο δέσιμό τους για να μη φύγουν από την πόλη, όπως συμβαίνει με το ξύλινο ξόανο της Απτέρου Νίκης στην Αθήνα και του Ενυαλίου στη Σπάρτη. Δείγμα μιας «θεατρικής νοοτροπίας» θεωρείται η επάλειψη των γλυπτών με διάφανο κερί από τον Πραξιτέλη για να δείχνουν οι μορφές ολοζώντανες. Πιστεύοντας σε μια τέχνη ικανή να ξεπεράσει την απομίμηση της φύσης, ο πλατωνισμός ενισχύει την πίστη στα ζωντανά αγάλματα. Τουλάχιστον δύο εραστές αγαλμάτων τον 3ο αιώνα π.Χ. οδηγήθηκαν στην αυτοκτονία. Η αγαλματοφιλία ριζώνει στη Ρώμη. Πραξιτέλης και Σκόπας θεωρούνται ικανοί να εμφυσήσουν μέσω μαγείας εσωτερική ζωή, τον Έρωτα, στην καρδιά του αγάλματος. Ο Έρωτας τώρα μπορεί να επηρεάσει τη σκέψη του ποιητή και των ανθρώπων. Ιερή δύναμη αποδίδεται τόσο στη Βακχίδα του Σκόπα όσο και στον ΄Ερωτα του Πραξιτέλη.

Σφραγιδόλιθος με αταύτιστη θεότητα. Ο συγγραφέας στήνει έναν ζωντανό διάλογο ανάμεσα σε δύο νοικοκυρές, τη Φλαβία, μια εκρωμαϊσμένη Αιγύπτια, και τη Θοήριν, Ελληνίδα ειδωλολάτρισσα, εμπνευσμένο από ένα εγχειρίδιο των χρόνων του Αυγούστου (30-14 π.Χ.) με οδηγίες για την εκτέλεση μαγικών τελετών. Ωστόσο, το πιο εκπληκτικό εύρημα σε τάφο του 4ου αιώνα μ.Χ., είναι «η μαγική βιβλιοθήκη των Θηβών», με βιβλία και κυλίνδρους γραμμένα σε τέσσερις γλώσσες (ιερατική, δημοτική, κοπτική, ελληνική). Μαγικά σύνολα, ευρήματα με κέρινα ειδώλια και ξόρκια μέσα σε αγγεία, εικονογραφούν τις οδηγίες της για ερωτικά γητέματα που πρέπει να τοποθετούνται σε τάφους ανθρώπων που πέθαναν πρόωρα ή βίαια. Αυτά τα ανήσυχα πνεύματα (νεκυδαίμονες) μπορεί να θέσει ο μάγος στις προσταγές του. Μετά τα ερωτικά, θέματα υγείας, και ιδιαίτερα ο πυρετός, αντιμετωπίζονται με φυλαχτά και ξόρκια γραμμένα σε πάνω από έξι γλώσσες, όπου συχνά συμφύρονται, χωρίς ειρμό, ανάκατα ονόματα. Το κλίμα της Αιγύπτου διέσωσε και δεκάδες από τα ερωτήματα που απευθύνονταν στα μαντεία για πρόβλεψη του μέλλοντος. Πάνω από χίλια είναι τα μεταλλικά κυρίως ελάσματα που προέρχονται από όλο τον τότε κόσμο, με γητέματα καλής τύχης ή κατάρες προς ανταγωνιστές και αντιζήλους. Χιλιάδες είναι και οι «γνωστικοί» σφραγιδόλιθοι στους οποίους αποδίδεται δύναμη από το ίδιο το ορυκτό αλλά και από το χρώμα του. Με σκαλισμένα μαγικά λόγια και σύμβολα της εμπνεύσεως του κάθε μάγου, «ενεργοποιούνταν» με τελετές καθαγιασμού πριν επιδοθούν στον πελάτη.

Ελληνοαιγυπτιακοί μαγικοί σφραγιδόλιθοι της Ρωμαϊκής αυτοκρατορικής περιόδου. Ελάχιστα γνωρίζουμε για την ιστορία των 5.000 περίπου μαγικών σφραγιδόλιθων που έζησαν από τα χρόνια του Αυγούστου ως τα μέσα του 4ου αιώνα μ.Χ. Η νέα αυτή σφραγιδογλυφία εμφανίζει πέντε διακριτά γνωρίσματα: α) απεικονίζονται θεότητες και δαίμονες είτε τελείως άγνωστοι είτε αγνώριστοι, β) οι επιγραφές είναι ακατάληπτες για τον αμύητο αφού, αν και σε ελληνικό αλφάβητο, δεν βγάζουν νόημα στα ελληνικά (π.χ.: ΑΒΡΑΣΑΞ, ΒΑΙΝΧΩΩΩΧ), γ) ο τρόπος χάραξης του κειμένου αποκλείει τη χρήση τους ως σφραγίδων δ) πλάι στα κείμενα και τις παραστάσεις χαράζονται κρυπτογραφικά σύμβολα, οι χαρακτῆρες, που καθένας τους θεωρείται η μυστική σφραγίδα κάποιου θεού, ε) σε ειδική τελετή «καθαγιασμού», ο μάγος φορτίζει το χαραγμένο πετράδι με μαγική δύναμη. Χαρακτηριστική της δυσκολίας αποκρυπτογράφησης πολύσημων μορφών από τους «αμύητους» ερευνητές είναι ένας ἀλεκτοροκέφαλος με ανθρώπινο κορμό κλεισμένο σε θώρακα και με φίδια αντί για πόδια. Στο δεξί κρατάει μαστίγιο και με το αριστερό κυκλική ασπίδα με την επιγραφή ΙΑΩ, όνομα του θεού του Ισραήλ στα ελληνικά. Οι θεραπευτικοί μαγικοί λίθοι, πάντα πράσινοι, φέρουν λεοντοκέφαλο φίδι με ακτινωτό στέμμα και ένα χαρακτῆρα από τρεις λοξές γραμμές, το «σύμβολο του Χνούβι». Απηχώντας την επίδραση των πλανητών στην υγεία, ο Χνούβις κυριαρχεί στο διάχωρο του ζωδιακού κύκλου που αντιστοιχεί στο στομάχι. Αποτροπαϊκοί της δυσπεψίας, η αποτελεσματικότητά τους επιβεβαιώνεται και από τον Γαληνό.

Εθνικό Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο. «Σκαλίζοντας» πίσω από την αισθητική παρουσίαση των μουσειακών συλλογών που απασχολεί τη μουσειογραφία, η μουσειολογία ερευνά λόγους, τρόπους, αιτίες που δημιούργησαν τις συλλογές, καθώς και την αξιολογική τους επένδυση σε σχέση με τον ιδεολογικό, κοινωνικό και εκπαιδευτικό ρόλο του σύγχρονου μουσείου. Παιδί της δεκαετίας του 1960 στο εξωτερικό, οι μουσειακές σπουδές μόνον πρόσφατα αποτέλεσαν ξεχωριστό επιστημονικό και επαγγελματικό τομέα στην Ελλάδα. Ανακοινώνεται ένα αφιέρωμα στη μουσειολογία που θα αρθρωθεί σε τέσσερα τεύχη της Αρχαιολογίας. Αναφέρονται οι συντελεστές του παρόντος τεύχους και οι επιμέρους τομείς που θα καλυφθούν στα επόμενα τρία τεύχη.

Εθνικό Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο, αρχές 20ού αιώνα. Με έτος ίδρυσης το 290 π.Χ. και αφιερωμένο στις Μούσες, το Μουσείον της Αλεξάνδρειας με τη Βιβλιοθήκη του αναδείχθηκε στο μεγαλύτερο ερευνητικό και πολιτιστικό κέντρο της εποχής του. Ωστόσο, η γενεαλογία του μουσείου εντοπίζεται στην αναγεννησιακή Ιταλία όπου, για πρώτη φορά, ο όρος μουσείο περιγράφει τη συλλογή του Λαυρέντιου των Μεδίκων. Ξεπερνώντας τις ιδιωτικές συλλογές, δύο πανεπιστημιακά μουσεία ιδρύονται στα τέλη του 17ου αιώνα στη Βασιλεία και την Οξφόρδη. Το δημόσιο μουσείο καθιερώνεται με την ίδρυση του Βρετανικού Μουσείου το 1753 και του Λούβρου το 1793. Γνήσιο παιδί του Διαφωτισμού, το Λούβρο έχει ελεύθερη είσοδο, παρέχει μικρό οδηγό στους επισκέπτες και συνοδεύει τους πίνακες, ταξινομημένους κατά σχολή, με επεξηγηματικές λεζάντες. Ευρωπαϊκές βασιλικές οικογένειες ανοίγουν τις συλλογές τους στο κοινό, δημιουργώντας μουσεία όπως το Πράντο ή το Ερμιτάζ. Στις αρχές του 19ου αιώνα, τα μουσεία έχουν ήδη συνδεθεί με το ζήτημα της εθνικής ταυτότητας. Ο 20ός αιώνας διακρίνεται από την έμφαση στο πρόσφατο παρελθόν που εκδηλώνεται στα λαογραφικά μουσεία (υπαίθρια και οικομουσεία) και στα μουσεία προβιομηχανικής ιστορίας. Στην Ελλάδα, τα μουσεία είναι εξαρχής δημόσια και αναπόφευκτα συνδέονται με τις αρχαιότητες. Ο Καποδίστριας ιδρύει το 1829 το πρώτο μουσείο στην Αίγινα. Το 1834, το Θησείο ορίζεται ως «Κεντρικόν Αρχαιολογικόν Μουσείον» και συνεχίζει να λειτουργεί ως το 1935. Πρώτο στην Ελλάδα χτίστηκε το Μουσείο της Ακρόπολης (1864-74), πρωτοπόρο και στην έκδοση μουσειακών οδηγών. Το Εθνικό Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο, που τελικά θεμελιώθηκε το 1866 σε οικόπεδο που δώρησε η Ελένη Τοσίτσα, ολοκληρώθηκε από τον Τσίλλερ το 1899. Ανοιχτό καθημερινά πρωί και απόγευμα, το μουσείο είχε επώνυμες αίθουσες, προθήκες με τίτλους και λεζάντες σε πολλά εκθέματα. Ακολούθησε το μουσείο της Σπάρτης και της Ολυμπίας, τα έξοδα κατασκευής του οποίου καλύφθηκαν από τον Ανδρέα Συγγρό. Στο τέλος του 19ου αιώνα χτίζονται μουσεία στο Αμφιαράειο, το Σχηματάρι, την Ελευσίνα και την Επίδαυρο. Τον 20ό αιώνα ιδρύεται το Βυζαντινό Μουσείο της Αθήνας (1914), το Μουσείο Ελληνικής Λαϊκής Τέχνης (1918), το Μουσείο Μπενάκη (1930). Μετά το 1960 χτίζονται πολλά νέα κτίρια και, ιδίως μετά το 1970, ιδρύονται λαογραφικά μουσεία απ’ άκρου σ’ άκρο. Το Βυζαντινό Μουσείο Θεσσαλονίκης ιδρύεται το 1994 και, το 1976, στεγάζεται η Εθνική Πινακοθήκη που είχε ιδρυθεί το 1900. Οι σύγχρονες τάσεις χαρακτηρίζονται από την ανάπτυξη της ιδιωτικής πρωτοβουλίας, το «άνοιγμα» προς το κοινό, τον εκσυγχρονισμό των μουσείων μέσω της ηλεκτρονικής τεκμηρίωσης των συλλογών τους και, θετικότερο απ‘ όλα, την καθιέρωση κρατικής μουσειακής πολιτικής.

Διάγραμμα για τη σχέση μεταξύ θεωρίας και πρακτικής στα μουσεία. Ευρωπαϊκό πολιτισμικό φαινόμενο, τα μουσεία εκφράζουν τις αξίες του μοντερνισμού και της βιομηχανικής κοινωνίας της εποχής που τα δημιούργησε. Στον μοντερνισμό, η δημιουργία «μετα-αφηγήσεων» στηρίζεται στην πίστη σε μια αντικειμενική πραγματικότητα που τα τεκμήριά της στεγάζονται στα μουσεία. Στην τέχνη που εκτίθεται εκεί, οι βορειο-ευρωπαϊκές ηθικές αρχές της εργασίας και της αυτοδυναμίας βρίσκουν την απτή μορφή τους. Ο ιουδαιο-χριστιανικός γραμμικός χρόνος που κινείται προς τα εμπρός και η πίστη στο άτομο αντανακλώνται στα εκθέματα που οργανώνονται γύρω από σπουδαίες προσωπικότητες και ζωγράφους. Η ιδεολογία του καπιταλισμού επηρεάζει τη σχέση με τα αντικείμενα του υλικού πολιτισμού. Ένα σύνολο κληροδοτημένων κοινωνικών αντιλήψεων που απορρέουν από τις μοντέρνες «αφηγήσεις» βρίσκεται στην καρδιά του συλλέγειν και, στη συνέχεια, στην καρδιά των μουσείων. Η σύγχρονη μουσειακή θεωρία εστιάζει στην κριτική παράδοση που αναλύει τη φύση και τη λειτουργία των μουσείων, ενώ διατηρεί μια αμφίδρομη σχέση με τη μουσειακή πρακτική. Και εδώ, η θεωρία δεν διακρίνεται από την πράξη: κάθε απόφαση για τα μουσεία απορρέει από ένα πολιτισμικό πλαίσιο και έχει πολιτισμικές συνέπειες.

Πώς διαμορφώνεται η ερμηνεία της εικόνας; Επιμελητής της ανθολογίας «Η Νέα Μουσειολογία» (1989), ο αρθρογράφος επανέρχεται σε κάποια από τα ερωτήματα που εξέφραζαν τότε τον προβληματισμό γύρω από τα βρετανικά μουσεία. Για να περάσουν τα μηνύματα μιας έκθεσης, για να επιτευχθεί ο διδακτικός της στόχος, υποστηρίζει, ο τρόπος παρουσίασης ενισχύεται από λεζάντες, πίνακες, ακουστική ξενάγηση, κατάλογο. Πρόκειται για μια «ρητορική πράξη πειθούς», μια αφήγηση, που δύσκολα ισορροπεί με την αισθητική λειτουργία της παρουσίασης. Κι όμως η αισθητική προκλητικά ενυπάρχει σχεδόν σε όλα τα αντικείμενα θέασης. Η τέχνη της έκθεσης, όχι η επιστήμη της ή η τεχνική της πλευρά, απαιτεί ματιά σκηνογράφου. Τη σύγκριση με τη θεατρική παράσταση υποβάλλουν κυρίως ο τρισδιάστατος χώρος και το στοιχείο του χρόνου, ο «ρυθμός» μιας έκθεσης. Τώρα, το επιτακτικό αίτημα είναι μια «Νέα Ευαισθησία», μια ευαισθησία όχι μόνο στις οπτικές αξίες των αντικειμένων αλλά και στις σχέσεις τους με το χώρο.

Επανεξετάστε την αυθεντία του μουσείου! Στο εμπεριστατωμένο κείμενό τους, οι αρθρογράφοι αντλούν από τη μεταμοντέρνα θεωρία που αποδομεί το «αυταπόδεικτο» της έννοιας του μουσείου, αναδεικνύοντάς το σε άλλη μια κοινωνική κατασκευή. Οι σημερινές αξίες της υποκειμενικότητας, της σχετικότητας, της ρευστότητας, της διαφορετικότητας δυναμιτίζουν τις ίδιες τις ιστορικές καταβολές του μουσείου. Η μεταφορά του κειμένου εφαρμόστηκε και εδώ: ας πούμε, παρέχεται στο κοινό «αυθεντικό, από καθέδρας» κείμενο ή ενθαρρύνονται οι διαφορετικές αναγνώσεις; Η στοιχειοθέτηση της σχέσης γνώσης και εξουσίας καθιστά ολοφάνερο ότι το μουσείο, ως διαμεσολαβητής γνώσης ανάμεσα στον όποιο διαφορετικό πολιτισμό και το κοινό της έκθεσης, δεν μπορεί να είναι ούτε «αθώο» ούτε «αντικειμενικό». Από την ώρα όμως που το μουσείο αναστοχάζεται, άρχισε και να το συνειδητοποιεί. Αυτό που κάποιοι θεωρούν ως απομυθοποίησή του, δεν είναι παρά το άνοιγμα του μουσείου στις νέες προκλήσεις. Ενδεικτικές είναι οι τολμηρές εκθέσεις γύρω από θέματα που συνήθως δεν θίγονται γιατί είναι «λεπτά». Παράδειγμα, η οργάνωση στο Λίβερπουλ έκθεσης για το ρόλο της πόλης στο διαμετακομιστικό εμπόριο δούλων. Τα μουσεία, επιφορτισμένα και αυτά με τη συντήρηση του «κανόνα», αναπότρεπτα είναι «πολιτικά» ιδρύματα. Ο διάλογος είναι ανοιχτός και οι αντιπαραθέσεις για τα ζητήματα που δημιουργούνται ζωηρές. Ωστόσο, το πλαίσιο δεν μπορεί παρά να είναι ο αυτο-αναστοχασμός και η επίγνωση ότι το μουσείο καθρεφτίζει την κοινωνία που το γέννησε.

Τρύπανο περιστρεφόμενο με τη βοήθεια τόξου. Από τις δύο μεθόδους διάτρησης λίθινων εργαλείων που χρησιμοποιήθηκαν στην έσχατη Προϊστορία, πειραματικά ανασυσταίνεται η ονομαζόμενη θηλυκή στειλέωση, στην οποία ο στειλεός εισέρχεται στο εργαλείο. Η μέθοδος αυτή είναι συνθετότερη, απαιτεί πολλά βοηθητικά σύνεργα και έχει ως βασικό εργαλείο το σωληνοειδές τρύπανο, φτιαγμένο από καλάμι ή διάφυση μακριού οστού, όπως μαρτυρούν ημιτελή αρχαιολογικά ευρήματα. Η περιστροφή του τρυπάνου διευκολύνεται από την παλινδρομική κίνηση δοξαριού που το σχοινί του έχει τυλιχτεί μια φορά γύρω από το τρύπανο. Την παρουσία δοξαριού γνωρίζουμε από αρχαίες παραστάσεις και εθνολογικά παράλληλα. Με τον ίδιο τρόπο ανοίγονταν οπές και σε πέτρες που το εσωτερικό τους αφαιρούσαν με σμίλη. Σε τέτοιες τρύπες στηρίχτηκε η ξύλινη επένδυση στο λουτρό του ανακτόρου της Τίρυνθας. Μινωίτες και Μυκηναίοι αυτή τη μέθοδο χρησιμοποίησαν για τη διάνοιξη του εσωτερικού λίθινων αγγείων. Με σωληνοειδή τρητήρα κατεργάστηκαν τα λίθινα γλυπτά τους οι Αζτέκοι, ενώ εθνολογικές μαρτυρίες καταγράφουν την τεχνική στους Αβορίγινες, τους Εσκιμώους, τους Ινδιάνους και, ως σήμερα, στους Ινδούς. Τα σύνεργα περιγράφονται αναλυτικά: το τρύπανο, το δοξάρι, η χορδή, το προστατευτικό της παλάμης, το υλικό προετοιμασίας του σημείου διάτρησης και η άμμος, ως υλικό τριβής. Η ποιότητα εργασίας στα λίθινα προϊστορικά εργαλεία με οπή προδίδει εξειδικευμένο συνεργείο. Παράλληλα, η απαιτούμενη μεγάλη κατανάλωση μυικής ενέργειας υποδεικνύει την ύπαρξη αποθεμάτων τροφής και, επομένως, μόνιμες αγροτοποιμενικές εγκαταστάσεις.

Γενική άποψη της Ακρόπολης από τα δυτικά. Σε όλη της την ιστορική πορεία, χώρος λατρείας στην αρχαιότητα, οχυρό στη Λατινοκρατία και την Τουρκοκρατία, η Ακρόπολη δεν είχε χρήση συμβολική αλλά στέγασε πλήθος ανθρώπινων δραστηριοτήτων πλην μιας: την εμπορευματοποίησή της. Με την ίδρυση του ελληνικού κράτους και την εγκαθίδρυση των Βαυαρών, εισάγεται η γερμανική κλασικιστική θεώρηση του κόσμου που μεταφράζεται από τους Έλληνες σε ακραία πατριωτική προγονολατρεία. Ο βράχος θα γίνει «ιερός», με την εθνοκεντρική έννοια του όρου, ασάλευτη, πέτρινη ναυαρχίδα του έθνους που πάνω της κυματίζει η ελληνική σημαία! Η φιλοσοφία συντήρησης των μνημείων της αντανακλά επί ενάμιση αιώνα το νέο περιεχόμενο που τους αποδόθηκε: σκοπός είναι να «καθαρθεί» η Ακρόπολη από κάθε ίχνος υστερότερων επεμβάσεων ώστε ν‘ αποκατασταθεί το κλασικό «αρχαίον κάλλος». Πολιτιστικό προσκύνημα των καλλιεργημένων περιηγητών του 19ου αιώνα, η Ακρόπολη μετατράπηκε τον 20ό σε τουριστικό αξιοθέατο. Η πλημμυρίδα επισκεπτών σε εποχή αιχμής δεν επιτρέπει πια τη διερευνητική βίωση του ιστορικού χώρου. Πριν μόλις δυο γενιές, μπορούσες να επισκεφθείς τον σηκό του Παρθενώνα με την πανσέληνο. Γιατί, λοιπόν, να αποκλείσουμε ότι στο μέλλον η θέασή της δεν θα επιτρέπεται παρά μόνον από αερόστατα και με τηλεσκόπια; Ο υπαρξιακός και συναισθηματικός δεσμός των Αθηναίων με το τοπόσημο της πόλης τους δεν αίρεται, ούτε όταν αυτοί δεν το επισκέπτονται. Η ύπαρξή της Ακρόπολης τους είναι βίωμα, προϋπόθεση ζωής, όπως η θάλασσα και τα βουνά γύρω τους. Πέρα από την απαραίτητη βελτίωση των περιβαλλοντικών συνθηκών, τη σωστή συντήρηση και αναστήλωση, πρέπει να διασφαλιστεί η προσβασιμότητα του χώρου. Γιατί τα μνημεία επιζούν όσο οι άνθρωποι τα φέρνουν στη σκέψη και την καρδιά τους.

Διαμόρφωση ανασκαφής Οικίας Πρόκλου. Παρουσιάζεται η πρόταση που κατέθεσαν οι μελετητές της Εταιρείας Ενοποίησης Αρχαιολογικών Χώρων της Αθήνας. Με κεντρική ιδέα την Αρχαία Πόλη, σχεδιάζεται η μεγαλύτερη πολεοδομική παρέμβαση των τελευταίων ετών στην Αθήνα, που θα μπορούσε ακόμη και ν‘αποτελέσει τον πιο ενδιαφέροντα υπαίθριο πόλο αναψυχής όλης της Ευρώπης. Δεν πρόκειται για απλή πεζοδρόμηση αλλά για τη δημιουργία και ανάπλαση κοινόχρηστων και ελεύθερων χώρων που θα εντάξουν τα μνημεία στον ζωντανό ιστό της πόλης και θ‘αποδώσουν στους κατοίκους γαλήνιους περιπάτους στις αρχαίες διαδρομές. Στην περιοχή της Ενοποίησης οι ειδικοί σχεδιάζουν τη διέλευση ελαφρύ λεωφορείου και αργότερα τραμ. Η "Οικία Μακρυγιάννη" προτείνεται να κατεδαφιστεί, οι οδοί Μητσαίων, Καρυατίδων, Παρθενώνος, Ερεχθείου και Προπυλαίων πεζοδρομούνται. Αποκαλύπτεται η Οικία Πρόκλου και, με την απαλλοτρίωση του γωνιακού οικοπέδου, η αρχαιολογική έρευνα επεκτείνεται. Για αντίστοιχο λόγο προτείνεται και η κατεδάφιση, στη συμβολή Δ. Αρεοπαγίτου και Προπυλαίων, της Εφορείας Εναλίων Αρχαιοτήτων με το παρακείμενό της κτήριο. Προτείνεται επίσης η κατεδάφιση των κτισμάτων που κρύβουν την ενότητα Αρείου Πάγου και Πνύκας. Μεγάλο ενδιαφέρον παρουσιάζει και ο σχεδιασμός ενοποίησης του Κεραμεικού με την Αρχαία Αγορά αφού θα δώσει την ευκαιρία να αποκαλυφθούν σημαντικές αρχαιότητες.

Άποψη από το Θέατρου του Διονύσου. Σε αντίστιξη με την αρχαία ελληνική πόλη, παρουσιάζονται οι αλλαγές που επέφερε η ρωμαϊκή κατάκτηση. Τιμοκρατικά κριτήρια επικρατούν, ο πολιτικός άντρας υποκαθίσταται από τον πλούσιο χορηγό. Στο ελληνόφωνο τμήμα της αυτοκρατορίας, οι ιεροί και οι στεφανίτες αγώνες έχουν έπαθλα τιμητικά, ενώ οι θέμιδες χρηματικά. Οι αγώνες πολλαπλασιάζονται, γίνονται θέαμα και κολακεύουν τον κατακτητή. Η κινητικότητα των αθλητών είναι μεγάλη, κάποιοι είναι επαγγελματίες, σε κάποια αγωνίσματα συμμετέχουν γυναίκες. Ο αθλητισμός δεν μένει ανέγγιχτος από την οικονομική διαφθορά και φαίνεται πως μόνον οι Ολυμπιακοί αγώνες δεν «πωλούνταν». Από ανασκαφική μαρτυρία γνωρίζουμε ότι οι Ολυμπιακοί, μέχρις ότου τους καταργήσει το 394 μ.Χ. ο Θεοδόσιος, συνεχίζονται τουλάχιστον ως το 385 μ.Χ.

Βυζαντινές κατοικίες του 11ου αιώνα, πίσω από την οχύρωση της Κάτω Πόλης. Γενέτειρα μιας βραχύβιας δυναστείας αυτοκρατόρων, πρωτεύουσα του «Ανατολικού Θέματος», γνωστό από την πτώση του στους Άραβες το 838, το Αμόριο έσβησε μετά την ήττα του Ρωμανού Δ΄ από τον Αλπ Αρσλάν. Η αρχαιολογική έρευνα άρχισε το 1987 από τον R. Martin Harrison. Μοναδικός στη Μ. Ασία κεραμικός κλίβανος βρέθηκε στην Άνω Πόλη. Στην πρώιμη βυζαντινή περίοδο χρονολογείται η τρίκλιτη βασιλική στην Κάτω Πόλη, με πλούσιο μαρμάρινο διάκοσμο. Μετά από πυρκαγιά, ανοικοδομήθηκε ως μεσοβυζαντινή βασιλική με τρούλλο, με μαρμάρινο δάπεδο, τοιχογραφίες και ψηφιδωτά από γυάλινες και χρυσές ψηφίδες στην οροφή. Ο αρχαιολογικός χώρος, που καταλαμβάνει 70 εκτάρια, αναμένεται να αποδώσει πολλά σημαντικά ευρήματα αν συνεχιστούν οι ανασκαφές.

Στατήρ Μιθριδάτου ΣΤ΄ Ευπάτορος. Στο Ιλίου Μέλαθρον, κατοικία του Ερρίκου Σλήμαν που έφτιαξε ο Τσίλλερ, ο επισκέπτης κινείται ανάμεσα σε τοιχογραφίες, οροφογραφίες και ψηφιδωτά δάπεδα. Από τις συλλογές του Μουσείου που αριθμούν 600.000 νομίσματα, με πολλούς «θησαυρούς», και 15.000 τέχνεργα, εκτίθεται πάνω από το 1%. Αύξηση της προσβασιμότητας του κοινού προσφέρει η χρήση νέων τεχνολογιών. Την έκθεση υποστηρίζουν ο εμπεριστατωμένος Οδηγός και η ηλεκτρονική εφαρμογή με οθόνες αφής και με θεματική αναζήτηση. Με πλουσιότατη βιβλιοθήκη, με την πολυσχιδή του δραστηριότητα αλλά και με τη στήριξη του Σωματείου των Φίλων του, το Μουσείο καθιερώνεται ως κέντρο έρευνας και πόλος έλξης ειδικών και ευρύτερου κοινού.

Από τη Νέα Υόρκη στον παγκόσμιο ιστό. Με ένα «κλικ», ένα αυξανόμενο πολυεθνικό κοινό πληροφορείται, επισκέπτεται και αναπτύσσει ποικίλη διαδραστική δραστηριότητα με τα μουσεία, τις συλλογές, τις εκδόσεις, τα πωλητήριά τους. Τα μουσεία συναγωνίζονται ως προς τις ιστοσελίδες που αποτυπώνουν τη φυσιογνωμία τους, προσφέροντας συγχρόνως ένα ενημερωτικό οδηγό στον επισκέπτη, δικτυακό ή πραγματικό, για να προετοιμάσει μια επίσκεψη ακόμη και «στα μέτρα του». Η αρθρογράφος του αφιέρωματος στη Μουσειολογία, με αφορμή το συνέδριο για τα Μουσεία και τον παγκόσμιο ιστό (Museums and the Web 99), μας εισάγει στις εφαρμογές της πληροφορικής που έχουν μετατοπίσει μέρος της μουσειακής δραστηριότητας στο Ίντερνετ. Παρουσιάζονται και σχολιάζονται οθόνες, δυνατότητες αναζητήσεων ή διαδραστικές εμπειρίες από το Βρετανικό Μουσείο, το Λούβρο, τις Βερσαλλίες, το Μητροπολιτικό Μουσείο της Νέας Υόρκης, το Μουσείο του Orsay, την Kunst-und Ausstellugshalle, την Εθνική Πινακοθήκη της Washington, το Prado. Σε θέματα συνεργασίας, άρα και εκπαιδευτικής διαδικασίας, τα μουσεία επιστημών, όπως το Exploratorium του San Francisco, αναπόφευκτα πρωτοπορούν στην εκμετάλλευση του δικτύου Ίντερνετ ως εργαλείου. Παρέχονται ηλεκτρονικές διευθύνσεις για συνδυαστική έρευνα που θα ενημερώσει τον ενδιαφερόμενο για την «τελευταία λέξη» στις προοπτικές και τις αναζητήσεις γύρω από την παρουσία των Μουσείων στο Ίντερνετ.

Το εξώφυλλο του βιβλίου. Από το έργο με τίτλο Σύνταγμα των παλαιοχριστιανικών δαπέδων της Ελλάδος του Κέντρου Βυζαντινών Ερευνών του Πανεπιστημίου Θεσσαλονίκης, έχουν εκδοθεί δύο τόμοι για τα ψηφιδωτά δάπεδα των νησιών, της Πελοποννήσου και της Στερεάς Ελλάδας. Τα ψηφιδωτά δάπεδα της Θεσσαλονίκης είναι η πρώτη από τις δύο αυτοτελείς ενότητες του τρίτου τόμου για τα δάπεδα Μακεδονίας και Θράκης. Στο βιβλίο της, η Π. Ασημακοπούλου - Ατζακά αρχειοθετεί, τεκμηριώνει και ταυτίζει ένα υλικό αποσπασμένο από το χώρο του εξάγοντας, επιπλέον, ιστορικά και καλλιτεχνικά συμπεράσματα.

Οι λέοντες της Δήλου. Η παράθεση είναι ενδεικτική. Για το πλήρες κείμενο της στήλης, δείτε το συνημμένο αρχείο pdf.

Ειδήσεις

- «Τα μαγικά κουτιά της Τέχνης» στο Παιδικό Μουσείο - Τριήμερο για «Το ελληνικό αλάτι» οργάνωσε το Πολιτιστικό Τεχνολογικό Ίδρυμα της ΕΤΒΑ - Απόγονοι του Μεγ. Αλεξάνδρου στο Πακιστάν και το Αφγανιστάν - «Περσεφόνη», εξαίσια χαρτοκατασκευή από το Μουσείο Μπενάκη - Ινστιτούτο των Ελληνικών Μύλων - Αγρότες έχτισαν τις πυραμίδες! - Τα λιοντάρια της Δήλου στο Μουσείο.

Διαλέξεις

- «Φυσιοπαθολογία και Τέχνη», καθ. Γ. Τόλης - Τα Παναθήναια και η πολιτική των Μακεδόνων, καθ. Μ. Α. Τιβέριος - Ο κ. Τ. Παπαζώης και η «ιστορική πλάνη» του Μ. Ανδρόνικου.

Εκθέσεις

- Αθήνα και αρχαιότητες, φωτογραφίες από τα μέσα του 19ου αιώνα, Μουσείο Κυκλαδικής Τέχνης - Παιδική φαντασία και παιχνίδια από ανακυκλωμένα υλικά - «Σύμβολα του ελληνικού παραδοσιακού γάμου», Λαογραφικό Ιστορικό Μουσείο Λάρισας.

Βιβλία

- Δημήτρης Φιλιππίδης, Διακοσμητικές τέχνες, Μέλισσα, Αθήνα 1998 - Marie-Christine Hellman, L‘Architecture Grecque, Librairie Générale Française, Παρίσι 1998 - Συλλ. έργο, Αμπελοοινική Ιστορία στο χώρο της Μακεδονίας και της Θράκης, Π.Τ.Ι. ΕΤΒΑ, Αθήνα 1998 - Συλλ. έργο, Χαρακτήρ. Αφιέρωμα στη Μάντω Οικονομίδου, Τ.Α.Π.Α., Αθήνα 1996 - Κατάλογος έκθεσης, Τα μνημεία της Θεσσαλονίκης και οι σεισμοί του 1978, ΥΠ.ΠΟ, Θεσσαλονίκη 1998 - Λίλιαν Καραλή-Γιαννακοπούλου, Μικροί αρχαιολόγοι. Αναζητώντας τα ανθρώπινα ίχνη μέσα στο περιβάλλον, Ακρίτας, Αθήνα 1998 - Παναγιώτης Καββαδίας, Προϊστορική Αρχαιολογία (2 τόμοι) και Ιστορία της Ελληνικής Τέχνης (2 τόμοι), Ντουντούμης, Αθήνα 1999 - Εύα Μπουρνιά-Σημαντώνη, Αρχαιολογία των πρώιμων ελληνικών χρόνων, Καρδαμίτσα, Αθήνα 1997.

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Ειδήσεις

Ανάδειξη των μεταλλευτικών στοών στην Ικαρία - Κυκλοφόρησε το 2ο τεύχος των Αρχαιο-τηλεσκοπικών Νέων - Εκπαιδευτικά προγράμματα στο Smithsonian Center for Materials Research and Education - «Εντοπισμός και χαρτογράφηση θαμμένων αρχαιοτήτων» στο ΑΠΘ.

Δημοσιεύσεις

- I. Liritzis, «Bronze Age Greek Pyramid and Orion‘s Beld», Griffith Observer 62/10 (1998), σελ. 20-21. - «Archaeological Obsidian Studies: Method and Theory» in Steven Shackley (ed.), Advances in Archaeology and Museum Science, vol.3, Univ. of California, Berkeley 1998. - N. Herz and E.G. Garrison, Geological Methods for Archaeology, Oxford Univ. Press 1998. - George (Rip) Rapp, Jr. and Chr. L. Hill, Geoarchaeology: The Earth-Science Approach to Archaeological Interpretation, Yale Univ. Press, New Haven & London 1998. - William Andrefsky Jr., Lithics: Macroscopic Approaches to Analysis, Cambrige Univ. Press, Cambridge 1998.

Hundreds of charms preserved on papyrus, parchment, silver, gold and precious stones in Greek, Demotic (ancient Egyptian cursive hieroglyphics) and Coptic (the native Egyptian language written in Greek letters from about the 1st century until the 8th century AD.) have been found in Egypt. The humorous scenario presented in this article is based on one of these texts and gives a picture of the main magical beliefs and practices current in Egypt under Augustus.

A general outline is drawn of the ancient sculptor as a magician, as the maker of live statues. The important function attributed by literary tradition to Daedalus in making live statues is discussed and the Near-Eastern roots of this belief are briefly considered. The evolution of this belief from Homeric times down to the Classical and late-Classical periods is presented, with emphasis given to the periods dominated by the "theatrical mentality", as well as by a taste for a refined finish of the statue's surface. Agalmatophilia is analysed, especially its evidence and development from the 4th century BC until the time of Apollonius of Tyana. The beliefs that a) marble statues already existed inside the blocks of stone, and that the sculptor simply liberated them, removing the superfluous material, and b) that some statues could speak, were typical of the Hellenistic and Roman Imperial mentality. Finally, the late antique and early Christian concept of statues as magical and the assertion that statues are only material is presented. The continuity of the magical power of images in Byzantine culture is also touched upon.

The general project tor the Unification of Athens' Archaeological Sites is a very ambitious plan, which aims at the creation of a network of major cultural landmarks, such as the principal monuments and archaeological sites of the city, connected to one another with a sequence of open spaces, common green, service facilities and areas designated for cultural activities and recreation. The area under consideration refers mainly to Dionyssiou Areopagitou and Apostolou Pavlou streets being made pedestrian passages, two axis forming the backbone of the Archaeological Park. The walkway links most of the important monuments of Athens (Olympeion, Acropolis, Filopappos, Ancient Agora, Keramikos). This site under suitable cirmcumstances and the appropriate management may become the most interesting recreation center of Europe, offering a historical walk through the ages.

The museum as an institution, is directly connected with the habit of collecting objects and underwent a continuous evolution through the centuries, before obtaining its present form as a place in which civilization is not only presented but also produced. Starting with the collections of ancient Greece and Rome and the Museum of Alexandria and continuing with the private collections of the Renaissance and the scientifically classified collections of the period of Enlightenment, we end up with the public museum of the nineteenth century and the cultural-museum centres of our time. This article attempts a survey of the evolution of museums in time and place.

During the late archaic period of Greek history, there emerged a class of professionals who specialized in rituals used to control the dead, many of which could be described as "magical". The word for this specialist, γόης, and the word for his art, γοητεία, in fact became common terms for what we now call "magician" and "magic". The γόης, as we see him in classical Greece, particularly did three things. 1) He appeased and averted ghosts who were out of control and causing trouble for the living. His techniques included creating statues of the ghosts, feeding those statues and then either binding them, to stop the ghost from moving, or leaving the statues in the wilderness. 2) He could call up ghosts to serve the living. Sometimes the ghosts gave prophecies; sometimes they could be forced to hurt individuals among the living with whom the γόης or his client were angry. 3) He developed rituals in which the living could participate, that guaranteed that when they died, their own ghosts would be happy in the afterlife. In this role, the γόης was closely connected to the development of mystery cults in Greece.

Greek magic, often dismissed as a subject of study because it does not reinforce the concept of an "ideal" classical past, has been taken up again in the last years by the amateur social anthropologist as a kind of "case-book" for reconstructing "models" for ancient behaviour-patterns. As a subject of study in its own right, however, it can be richly rewarding to the historian of ideas and traditions. To give but one example, research into the ancient magical texts reveals that such expresions as στα άγρια τα βουνά, που δεν λαλάν κοκκόρια, ούτε γεννάται νύφη και γαμβρός in present-day spells and incantations spoken against the Evil Eye have antecedents going back to almost two thousand years ago.

The ideological function of Greek athletics changed during the Roman period. While in the Classical era athletics represented a stage of preparation in the career of future citizens/soldiers, in the Roman age it served the new ideology of "bread and circuses". In many cities, especially those of Asia Minor, athletic games were organized as part of the new, imperial cult, while the introduction of professionalism led gradually to the adoption of negative practices such as bribery and to the elimination of the idealistic side of athletics.

Two elements are discernible in the persona of Homer's Circe, the first witch in western literature. First, the magical image of the naked goddess an α Mistress of Animals who combines sexuality with danger. The inspiration behind this image most probably came to Greece from the Near East in the form of amulets or images engraved on weapons. Secondly, the ritual practices of anti-social magic determine her actions: she gives the wrong food, more appropriate for the dead than for the living, she uses a wand, and she dispenses poisons (pharmaka). And yet, this anti-social witch is capable of turning into a helper, once her sexuality is "domesticated" by a man. It is a significant point in the Circe's story of the Odyssey that she is transformed from a dangerous adversary to a helper and sees Odysseus safely through his most threatening adventure, namely the descent into the underworld. Circe the sorceress becomes the protector of Odysseus and his men. In other words, she herself assumes the function of the apotropaic amulet. The interaction of ritual, magical amulets and texts produced a story, the unforgettable literary merits of which we owe to the poet of the Odyssey.

The drilling of tools with grinded stones is a technique often applied during Late Prehistory. The two prevalent methods of drilling of the time are suggested mainly by unfinished artefacts. The first method, simple and extremely time-consuming, was already in use from the Upper Palaeolithic period on less hard materials (antlers, teeth, shells) and comprised the piercing of the object with a hard pyritic stone (e.g. pyrites, quartz). The second method, which is the subject of this article, is more complicated and requires substantial "technical backup", since its "technological chain" includes a multitude of auxiliary implements. However, the basic implement is the tubular drill. In context of this experimental approach, the drilling of various kinds of stone was attempted using pieces of reed, which is a par excellence "pyritic" plant, meaning a hard plant.

The purpose of this article is to present in brief some of the problems related to the interpretation of objects, collections and ideas in a museum. Therefore, it attempts to demonstrate that apart from displaying exhibits and communicating with the visitor,interpretation is the way in which the museum understands and evaluates its exhibits in context of the civilization this material belongs to. Such interpretation should be an integral part of the institution and programme of the museum, it should dictate its activities and choices thus marking all cultural and social creativity.

By the early Roman imperial period, magical gemstones, a new genre of glyptics, begin to appear. These gems represent a distinctive range and combination of representational motifs and inscriptions,the stones generally feature inscribed figures of deities and demons hitherto unknown to the Graeco-Roman and Egyptian pantheons; in some cases the known classical deities appear in a new iconographical context. This novelty consists of a) inscriptions, which are often formulaic and which to the uninitiated have no apparent meaning (ονόματα βάρβαρα) in Greek and b) cryptographic signs, or χαρακτήρες. These gemstones, some 5000 in number were made according to recipes, and after their engraving they were supernaturally charged with potency by a magician. Here various representations and functions, especially those involving a combination of sympathetic and therapeutic magic, are examined in some detail.

The Acropolis was primarily, in its age-long history, a site with various functions. Fortified resort and precursor of the Mycenaean megaron,in Prehistoric times it was an area of worship dedicated to the chthonic deities and the mythical heroes of Attica. In the classical period it was the sacred precinct of the gods and treasury to the Attic alliance .In the Hellenistic and Roman era, a consecrated place, inspiring admiration and worthy of visiting. The Acropolis was an episcopal seat in the years of the Byzantine Empire and a fortified palace of the Frankish, Catalan and Florentin despots in the late Medieval period, also in the Years of the Ottoman rule, a fortified upper town, incorporating the residence of the Turk commander of the garrison of Athens. This site, in its extremely long historical course, has experienced almost all human activities but one, its commercialization, and that is especially significant. The Acropolis of Athens today, deprived of any functional use, the object of artistic and scientific admiration, and the holy landmark of the Greek nation, does not rise remote and haughty above the city, but stands inviting generations of people to enjoy it. However,under the circumstances created by mass tourism, visiting the Acropolis is not an easy task. The circulation of visitors around the limited archaeological site, covering only three acres, has become difficult (average:15,000 visitors per day, 3000 per hour in top season), also it is difficult to comfortably view the monuments and to experience its historical character. Apart from the improvement of environmental conditions and the discreet restoration of the monuments, the most important thing to be preserved and guaranteed is the accessibility of the Acropolis. Monuments do not only survive because of their structural preservation, but live as long as people keep them alive in their hearts and minds.  

Published in 1989, the anthology The New Museology, edited by the author of the present article, addressed some of the most important issues which then formed part of the contemporary debate about the role and function of museums in Britain. This article reviews some of the questions raised in that anthology, in particular that of the central function of display amongst the other activities on which museums engage. Whether the display of objects should be considered a science or an art, and, if an art, how it might be thought to relate to other art forms. The author argues that the science of display, that is the technical aspect of display, is fairly easy to teach. But the art of display is a very different matter. It means developing, above all, a very special kind of visual sensibility which relates intimately to specific ways of seeing, and therefore, of interpreting and understanding. In this respect, the art of the exhibition designer closely resembles that of the stage designer; indeed, the comparison between display, regarded as an intrinsically theatrical act, and the art of theatre is an instructive one. This comparison is briefly analysed in the last part of the article.

Museums have a central place in the cultural pattern of modern Europe and of the European-influenced world. Museums, objects and collections are the three faces of a cultural triangle, each showing different features to the world, but together making up a whole. The study of the various theories and cultural traditions that lie behind museums, the role of museums in contemporary society and the symbolic nature of objects, collections and exhibitions are an essential part of the work of museum professionals. They relate to their everyday practice, and every single museum decision is a philosophical act which arises from a cultural context and has cultural implications. Museums and their collections are a part of the wider world of society and its material culture, and so a cultural study of museums must both reflect that world, and lead to its better understanding.

Χάρτης της Μεσογείου όπου σημειώνονται τα εφτά θαύματα του κόσμου. Πάνω σ’ ένα χάρτη της Μεσογείου με σημειωμένα τα εφτά θαύματα, ένα πλοίο ξεκινάει το ταξίδι του από τη Ρώμη προς την Αλεξάνδρεια, τον πρώτο του σταθμό. Από μακριά φέγγει ο Φάρος, που ζωντανεύει μέσα από τις περιγραφές των περιηγητών.

In this issue of the Archaeologia journal a survey of magic is made. In his introduction, the author makes a compilation of the main points in the articles of this survey. Such as why did many Jews and Gentiles believe that Christ was a magician. How did the Church make the distinction between miracles worked by a loving God from those resulting from the diabolical alliance of magicians and demons. How did magic in Byzantium become a criminal offence, punishable by law. Why must a demon tell the exorcist his name if the exorcism is to be successful. Are the two categories of demons of the underworld and those who fly in the air descended from Empedocles? And lastly how was the distinction made between church ideology and magic rites since much of the ideology and rituals of the church were used by practitioners of magic in a distorted way.

The conceptual grouping and hierarchization of evil spirits appear only in the late Judaic period as a result of Persian and Hellenistic influences. In the New Testament the notion of the dominion of the Devil, the leader of all evil supernatural powers, crystallized into that of the antipodes of the heavenly kingdom. In Rome certain forms of magic had been penalized quite early. However, an edict dating to the reign of Constantine s the Great made a clear distinction between good and evil magic; this legal distinction was later abolished by the Byzantine Emperor Leo the Wise (886-913) in order to prevent tragic situations The Church, on the contrary, generally disapproved of magic and prophecy, considering them as idolatry, without any further Distinction or specific definition of the relevant acts. The communication between magicians and demons became a commonplace in Byzantine religion in accordance with the connection of magic with the Devil under canon law Contracts with the Devil, usually confirmed by a written agreement, often appear in popular texts, a corollary of the folk notion that evil spirits can transmit secret knowledge to people. The corruption of faith, the personification of evil, the instigation of every criminal act, the implanting of evil in the body of a "demoniac", as psychopaths were then characterized, were included among the activities of the Devil, who used magicians as his instruments. In the official ecclesiastical texts he is assigned "homicidal" qualities. The theological approach to the entire issue depended on the particular period. Thus, the tendency for the popularization of the concept of the 'Devil' strongly prevailed in the Patriarchal texts of the late Byzantine period, when the Devil was more directly related to magic.

Some hundreds of late-antique and early Christian magical amulets survive from the eastern Mediterranean. Like the magical papyri, with which they are roughly contemporary, they draw on a common fund of Egyptian gods and Hebrew angels. For the most part, these amulets are apotro-paicand therapeutic in function. The particular focus of this article is on amulets in various shapes and media, including semi-precious stones (e.g. hematite, which was considered especially powerful), copper-alloy, silver glass, etc. The various amulet types are also surveyed: rings, pendants, armbands, house lintels, etc. The diverse magical and religious inscriptions, biblical vignettes and other incised designs (e.g., the Holy rider, the Evil Eye are briefly explored. A large number of narrative images is shown to derive from the Old and New Testaments, although according to the author other scenes originated from the locus sanctus iconography ot pilgrimage "souvenirs" from the Holly Land. In general, the users of these amulets clearly believed that the very names and images incised on them -and even sometimes their particular medium- had magical potency.

Here I continue the article "The Wretched Subject" of Greek Magic" of the previous fascicle (Αρχαιολογία 70 [Mar. 1999], 8-11), in which I urged that magical texts are an important but often neglected source for the history of ideas. In the present article I offer another example: The information that these texts give about traditional beliefs concerning the "cosmology" of demons. Early magical papyri, Christian exorcisms, and a Byzantine dialogue about satanism assume that the world was divided into six areas, from the Empyrean down to the center of the Earth, and that certain demons govern each area. The tradition of this six-fold division, it is speculated here, may go back to the pre-Socratic philosopher Empedokles.

An extensive episode of magic occurs in the fictional Life of St Andrew the Fool a work probably dated in the 10th century. A woman in Constantinople turns to the magician Vigrinos, a deceptively pious man, who cures her husband of his lust by seemingly harmless means: fighting an oil-lamp in front of her icons and tying four knots on a girdle. A series of impure dreams, however, of wild sexual desire, in which an Ethiopian, a black dog and the ancient statues of the hippodrome play a leading role, terrify the woman and make her realize that the devil himself has fallen in love with her. The outrageous results of Vigrinos's magic are revealed to her after fasting and prayer: her icons, smeared with excrement, have lost divine grace, while the oil-lamp has become the vessel of an impure sacrifice to the demons. Terrified, the woman resorts to Epiphanios, the spiritual son of St Andrew the Fool, who comes to her assistance and remedies the situation. In turn, he becomes himself the target of demons in his dreams, and finally defeats them while asleep. As revealed in a further dream, the four knots of the girdle had bound a demon to the woman, and St Andrew explains to his pupil the means which the magicians deploy to deceive their victims regardless of how innocent their objective may seem, and make them vulnerable to the evil influence of demons. In accordance with the firm position of the Church which considers magic as demonic in all occasions -a position also introduced in secular legislation in the 10th century-, this episode offers the modern reader a glimpse of how magic functioned in practice, or, rather, of how a pious Byzantine thought it functioned. Operating under a Christian pretext, the magical act reverses and invalidates Christian ritual and symbolism and thus neutralizes their protection over the believer. In a deceptive world where nothing is what it seems, the real nature of the phenomena can only be detected through the dreams of the faithful and the intuition of the true saints, who are in turn difficult to be recognized. It is interesting to note the function of dreams and the appropriation of icons in magic -which can also be attested in other sources- as well as the role of women in a story, in which the boundaries between faith and credulity, religion and superstition are explored.

Exorcisms, spells, medical prescriptions -combined with astrological phenomena and accompanied by words, phases and magic signs and various blessings are texts often occurring in Byzantine and Post-Byzantine manuscripts. Deeply rooted in antiquity, they have survived and have remained alive even today. Undoubtedly, they represent a most tempting challenge for research as regards their philological, historical, religious and anthropological aspect. Samples of such texts from three Post-Byzantine manuscripts have been selected and are presented in this article; they refer to the relations between men and women, to the social relationship of humans, such as friendship, hatred, law-suits, as well as to various illnesses, such as jaundice and fever. A selection of Church canons, condemning both the performance of magic acts and the recourse to them is also presented.

In an attempt that museums should become less academic and introverted in their nature and concentrate more on educational matters and their public image we have watched museums employ, apart from museum curators, people with different skills and specialties. Although all these people belong to the same field of study there is little sense of their having a professional identity. The specialty of “museologist” has come to cover the need for a professional identity dealing with and channeling the various different specialised services needed to run a museum. The following four articles define what work is actually done in museums and tries also to define what a “museum professional “ means seen from the viewpoint of the anglosaxon world, of ICOM, of a museum teacher and that of a sagacious ethnologist who also happens to be a museologist.

The idea of a "museums profession" is a very generous one and many people who work in museums would want to identify with it. In Britain, the museums profession has long since ceased being a synonym for curators, and this is paralleled elsewhere to some degree or another. As museum work has become increasingly more sophisticated, so has the understanding of museum theory and practice. This has brought about a greater awareness of what it takes to turn indifferent museum services into ones which are intellectually challenging, educationally viable and socially useful. In this paper, the author outlines some of the changes and discusses the ways in which professional attitudes are fostered and promoted.

Although professions as such no longer exert their former hold, there is still great ambition for workers in many occupations to be accepted as professional: the museum world is no different from many others in this. However, the issue is complex. One matter that causes problems is the status of employed professionals: where is their "professional autonomy" whithin a management hierarchy? Another problem for museum workers is the number of different occupations within museums: are they all part of one profession? The article examines these concerns, and places them within the realities of contemporary museum work.

The new social circumstances have placed museums in a new, international, extremely competitive market, have created museums with different thematjc and have formed another clientele, new in quality and quantity. However, the main change, caused by the new circumstances, has been realized in the philosophy of the museums, in the new principles and methods ruling their communication with the public. This "environment" not only imposes the radical reconstruction of the museum's mechanism and services: but it also elevates the collaboration of groups of experts, multiscientrfic education and activity of the museum's employees, awareness of the multidimentional role of contemporary museums as well as the effort of adjustment to an essential prerequisite. These principles, however "commonplace" they may be to the personnel of foreign museums, must stop being a "utopia" for the Greek reality.

A first approach to the identity and physiognomy of the specialized professional, who, according to the terminology of the International Council of Museums (ICOM), is called "museum professional", is made in this article. Through the history and the basic texts of ICOM this physiognomy appears to be a multifold one. Finally, the role that the "museologist” is assigned to play in the organization and function of a modern museum is examined.

The role of the museum-educator in Greece is examined in this article with reference to the required knowledge and skills (s)he must have as well as to the difficulties (s)he may face in the museums of the country. A clear distinction is made between the person who prepares an educational program and the museum-educator who executes it. Then, the advantages and disadvantages of the role the museum-educator plays are detected and compared with those of the school-educator, while the positive factors that activate the former in his/her work are underlined. Needless to say that the creative performance of the museum-educator should be extended as to be addressed to more groups of museum visitors other than students. Finally, the serious concern for the future of this profession in Greece is expressed.

The Megalo Kastro ( = Big Castle) of Chora is one of the three Medieval fortresses preserved on Kalymnos. Its original phase can be dated to the tenth or eleventh century ad, but this remains to be confirmed by a systematic archaeological research. The present form of the castle dates back to the period of the Knights' Rule (1309-1523) and, although simple, it represents a typical example of the art of fortification before and after the use of gunpowder. The ruins of the Medieval settlement have been preserved inside the castle: ten small Byzantine and Post-Byzantine churches, the frescoes of which have been restored, as well as other significant elements, extremely instructive for the everyday life in the Megalo Kastro Life went on in the settlement, at least, until 1823. In the framework of a project of the Greek Ministry of Culture for the promotion of the Medieval castles of the country, a relevant study has been made for the Megalo Kastro of Kalymnos, and some of its proposals are presented in this article. The necessary works are to be immediately realized, so that the first restored, developed and incorporated in modern life monumental ensemble to be given back to the island.

The intervention of Corinth in the struggle between Lydia and Miletus was a result of its relation inaugurated with the last, during the Milesian War (624-412/11 B.C.). These relations were based on common interests: Corinth facilitated Miletus with the supply of sheep wool and was in turn, promoted in its trade with Egypt. So the commercial interests of Corinth were secured in Egypt by Miletus' integrity while its relationship with Lydia was renewed and enforced.

This article attempts a historical retrospection of the multilateral relations man has developed with nature, starting from the ascertainment that the modem concept of the forest has a strongly managerial and one-dimentional character. The general characteristics of these relations during Prehistory, Antiquity, the Middle Ages and modern history are investigated through specific examples from the area of the European Mediterranean. This article presents the evolution of ideas concerning the forest from the time when nature, man and divine powers were closely interrelated until the complete differentiation of these three elements and the formation of a pyramidoid and strictly hierarchical relation among them. Starting from the magic concept and animism. then researching the transition to myth and the polytheistic religion and, finally, examining the role of the Jewish tradition and Christianity, the evolution of the religious thought in relation to the concept of the forest is traced The scientific and industrial revolution are described as catalysts for the consolidation of faith on reason and the superiority of man to nature. The traditional civilization, alive until recently in the countryside, has preserved memories of ancient animistic concepts. The new pursuits in the relations of man and nature are explored today through art. However, the range of these artistic proposals is subjected to the limitations of the role that the contemporary civilization has reserved for art. The quest of new ways of spiritual communication with nature is of vital importance for the backing of nature's course towards downgrading. This historical retrospection offers the spark for an urgent problematic on the future of our relations with nature.  

The objective of the "Project of Electronic Documentation of the Ancient Theatre", carried out under the auspices of the Institute of Mediterranean Studies of the Foundation of Research and Technology, is to compile in a data base every possible information about the ancient drama as a theatrical practice and cultural activity in the broader geographical boundaries of the Greek-speaking world. The research starts from the origin of the theatre in the 6th century B.C. Athens and terminates to the Late Antiquity and Early Byzantium, when theatrical competitions and official drama performances had ceased to be staged, especially after the prevalence of the Christian religion, but the activities of mimes, pantomimes and other forms of "paratheatre" were continuing to be performed.

The objective of this article is the collection of historical and technical data from the preparation of paintings and their classification according to the materials and techniques used and to the properties thus obtained. For this classification quality analysis of painting samples has been carried out, so that the materials comprising industrial preparation layers to be discovered and established. In the experimental stage the various factors of preparation decay such as cracks, flaking, deterioration-, which also affect the entire painting surface, have been studied. For this reason the following four basic categories of preparation have been subjected to temperature elevation, exposure to high relative humidity and exposure to UV (ultraviolet) radiation. a. Sheer oily preparation; Its exposure to temperature above 60° C resulted to serious deteriorations, its exposure to high relative humidity did not cause any remarkable deteriorations, while its long exposure to UV radiation caused a slight decolonization. b. Semi-absorbent preparation: Us exposure to temperature above 70" C caused a slight colour alteration and loss of flexibility. c. Absorbent preparation: Its exposure to high relative humidity caused serious problems of cohesion. d. Casein preparation: Its exposure to temperature elevation and high relative humidity resulted to shrinking, distortion, cracking and loss of cohesion.  

Cultural touring is an instrument for "mild and tough management', "propaganda" and promotion of the tourist industry. The notion of "mild management" refers to the interpretational function of cultural touring as regards the recreation or education of the visitor and tne selective guidance of his ideas and attitude towards issues of culture and protection. While the notion of "tough management" proves the significance of cultural touring as a managerial instrument in the touristic planning for controlling the visitors' flow in areas of high danger, such as environmental parks, monuments, etc.

Out of the five articles in this survey, three deal with the question of the “evil eye”, an incontestably “paganistic” belief in magic that is one of the oldest in the Greek-speaking world. The distinction between religious belief in the evil eye and belief in magic, is so fine that it is hard to draw the line between the two. What conclusions, asks the writer, can be drawn from fieldwork made on the power of the “eye”? This research was conducted at the Cretan village Eleftherna near the town of Rethymnon . What makes the descendants of the immigrants from Castelorizo in Perth, Australia so different from their forefathers? Other questions discussed are the use of herbs in magical potions, the magical properties of certain items of clothing which borders on fetishism, the role of magic in providing or standing in the way of fertility.

The category of "magic" is not permanently fixed. Yesterdays magic may become today's religion and vice versa. In this article the boundaries between magic and Orthodox Christianity in Greece are explored through historical and contemporary anthropological data. The evil eye offers one example of a practice that was once considered as superstitious but which the official Church later embraced. The latter part of the article considers further the reasons why the boundaries between magic and religion are unclear. Christian Orthodoxy developed as a systematic religion largely in Greek territory and in the Greek language. In this sense it constitutes an "indigenous great tradition". Many magical practices have an even longer history in Greece. Both Orthodoxy and traditional magical practices draw on late antique cultural conceptions to articulate a body of practices for appealing to the sacred. This common basis in Hellenic cultural logic helps to explain the formal similarities that sometimes make them difficult to distinguish.

This paper presents and analyses the text of three spells against the evil eye. The spells were collected by the author from native men and women evil eye heaters during ethnographic fieldwork at a mountain village in central Crete in 1989. The belief in the evil eye is a cultural idiom widespread throughout the Mediterranean area. It refers to the alleged power that some people are considered to have to cause harm by looking at another person or his/her property. Evil eye affliction is cured when special prayer-like spelis are ritually performed over the body of the afflicted person by folk healers, elderly men or women, who "know the words" and can thus take the evil away. The paper has two main focuses. The first is to show, on the basis of indigenous rhetoric, that the evil eye phenomenon is not related to any kind of sorcery or black magic. Native people think that the evil eye is a natural properly, a physical quality, that means no purposeful harm. The illness caused by the evil eye happens accidentally, it is a potential danger, but not a deliberate and malevolent attack. Painful symptoms may occur, however, through the mediation of sentiments, when the looking person expresses excessive admiration that comes straight out from his/her heart. The second point refers to the spells as texts. The suggestion is that they are symbolically constructed speech acts, which do not only say, but actually do things, in order to cure the suffering. The healfnq ritual is enacted on and through the body of the afflicted person, whereas holy entities are invoked to sanctify the entire procedure In this context, the human body, as a cultural vehicle, seems to be a meaningful locus, where various spheres of experience, personal feelings, social interaction and religious imagination, are represented, mutually signified and understood.  

This article deals with the beliefs and attitudes concerning the evil eye, as they are manifested in the pre-wedding ritual of the Casteilorizian Greeks of Perth, Australia. The evil eye is considered as regards the Castellorizian ethnic culture and identity in the broader Australian social framework and the transmission of this culture from one generation of immigrants to another. In the first part of the paper the concept of the evil eye, its dissemination and manifestation through the ages are examined, and some of its most valid interpretations are reviewed. In the second part the evil eye is considered in the context of the pre-wedding rituals of the Greek immigrants from Casteilorizo island, and their descendants, who have settled in Perth and have formed a vibrant community, since the early years of our century. Two pre-wedding rites, the blessing and spreading of votania (wild herbs} and the threading of mousoukarfia (cloves), are examined as regards the ways they express, reproduce, transmit and modify Castellorizian cultural values and symbols that revolve round the concept of the evil eye. The evil eye is the notion that unites these individuals into a community "on the basis of a shared form, though not necessarily of a shared meaning", to quote Antony Cohen. Some CasteNorizians of the second or third -generation may overtly reject the idea of the evil eye as being a "superstition". Yet, they perform rites that embody and express this idea. Moreover, even when these individuals consciously reject the idea of the evil eye, cultural values and attitudes, such as competition and gossip, continue to be expressed among the Castellorizians, thereby forging a continuity that guarantees the perpetuation of a community with its own "moral" quality in a modernized world.

This article refers to a version of magic, present throughout Greek civilization: the fetishism of cloth, the imprisoned fairy, the substitute of erotic desire, the “instrument" of veil. In many traditions we find folk and learned narrations about magical practices related to clothes. The garment also has its own symbolism in the language of dreams (Jung), where it takes on the features of an archetype, and shares with nudity the same anthropological gravity. “Homeopathic" magic includes many individual performances and regional versions of an actual practice. The garment is charged by "primitive" civilizations with ethical qualities, that have survived until today, it functions as a vehicle of many magical properties, and, through a magic-like way, it passes these properties on to its user. The impregnation of a garment with a magic potion belongs, according to social anthropologists, to the "private" version of magic, which can also be considered as "black" magic.

This article deals with the content, meaning and use of erotic and fertility magic in the popular culture of modern Greece. Magic is approached as a unified ensemble of representations, practices and expressions aimed at influencing experienced reality. The two interrelated phenomena -love and fertility- are considered in the ideological and cosmological context of popular culture, with a view to illuminating their inner logic. The description and interpretation of some typical examples is attempted in relation to the inexpressible mental schemes through which fertility and sexuality are conceived and articulated in popular culture.

The notion that museums are not just safe-keepers of artefacts but mainly there to promote a better life-style for all, is one of the reasons that made the Museums Association in Gt Britain replace in 1998, the definition it had adopted 20 years back of what museums stand for. It now seems that museums are there for the purpose of improving communication with their existing public but also to increase their number of visitors. To this purpose museums’ communication strategy includes activities taking place inside and outside of actual museum buildings. This is not all. The ultimate purpose of the new communications strategy for museums is to make it clear to the public that museums are important in upholding values and quality of life in all strata of society.

For most of their history, museums have viewed their visitors as passive recipients of knowledge. As a result the public image of museums is that they are rather boring and hard work. This article summarises recent work which involves the public much more in the work of the museum, and "opens up" the institution to a much greater extent than ever before. Examples are given of successful ways In which museums have worked with the public to provide them with a better experience, and to attract a wider audience. This has included new approaches to exhibitions, handling objects, new technology, and outreach work.

During the last half-century and gathering pace in the last twenty years, there is a move in education and communication theory towards acknowledging people as active in making sense of their social environments and towards acknowledging that plural and sometimes conflictual views exist. Consequently, the museum world has begun to accept the museum visitors far from being a homogenous mass of people, are individuals with their own particular needs, preferred learning styles and cultural agendas. The active post-modern museum visitor can be explained and approached through theories of learning and communication. These theories may also influence museums in their definition and understanding of their role in contemporary and future societies, of their impact on people and of their power to define past, present and future.

Museums have responded differently to the problem of interpretation and the lack of the original context of their collections. Some have conserved their image as "cabinet of curiosities", presenting beautiful objects with little information about them, while others have opted for a "slice of the past" approach, thus trying to recreate the past "as it was." A number of museums have realized their elitist role and are trying different ways of opening up to the public and to disadvantaged sections of the community. The use of various interpretation media can assist the communication with the audience and enhance understanding and learning in the museum. The museum visit is a multifaceted phenomenon that includes the interaction between three different contexts, the personal, the social, and the physical. Interactive multimedia applications, when used effectively, can be a powerful interpretation medium in exhibitions. In order to perform successfully its functions (collections management, public service, research), the museum needs to have deep knowledge of its collections and a well-organized system of recording museum information.

The rapid changes in the economy, politics and technology of our century have influenced the course of development and the structure of the European museums. The continuous need for democratization and the new alternatives in financing have led museums to study and re-define their relationship with their public. These changes have created -and continue to create- tensions in the museums, since they stress the need for a re-examination of their value and role in modern society. The education of and the communication with the public has become one of the most fundamental functions of a modern museum To achieve this objective, many museums are conducting a research of their public, in order to understand the motives, expectations and interests of their visitors, and to evaluate the success of exhibitions, programs and other services they offer. The purpose of this article is to explain what the research and evaluation of the museum public is, and how the results of such surveys can contribute to the improvement of the function and performance of a museum.

In the Homeric epics a past world is represented, a world dead even before the time these poems had presumably been composed, that is the 8th century B.C., according to the prevailing view. The political georgraphy to which the epics refer had changed and been forgotten long before the historic era. How, then, can we explain the gap separating the time of the poet from the actual time he describes in his poems? The usual answer remains invariably the same: the poet was systematically archaizing. However, this answer generates two even more serious questions: a. How could a poet of the 8th century B.C. have possed archaeological knowledge available only to expert archaeologists of our time? b. Is it possible that he was functioning with motives sensible only to the modern, analytic philologists? Numerous, strong and indicative are the anachronistic symptoms occuring in the 12th-century French epic La-guerre de Troade. by Benoit de Sainte Maure. Medieval knights, Turks, even Chinese in the fringe of the narration, share the epoch of the Trojan War along with the Homeric heroes. This undoubtedly proves ground¬less the assertion that Homer -and even more Homers was systematically and successfully archaizing. Thus. the phenomenon of the antiquated world, consistently pictured in the Homeric poems, can satisfactorily be explained, if we dare to accept that the time of their final composition was very close to the era they represent.

The research into the cultural course of a people and the study of its history and past decisively contribute to the understanding of its specific physiognomy and identity. The architectural heritage records, in the most explicit and legible way, this cultural course, therefore its protection is universally considered as indisputable. This article deals with the concept of monument and its significance for the formation of a city's physiognomy as well as with the value of the architectural monuments, being an essential part of the cultural heritage of a place. Then the necessity of protecting the cuttural tradition and the relevant efforts made so far are presented, while emphasis is faid on the architectural heritage and the European examples in particular. Finally, the article ends with a series of interesting findings and conclusions.

The infra-red photography has already been known since the late nineteenth century. In the 1930s, thanks to the invention of new chemical methods, it became easy and simple in its use. alike black-and-white photography. The special quality of the infra-red film is due to its property to record what the eye cannot. The infra-red photos are particularly interesting and are counted among the most important instruments of many scientists (e.g. in archaeology, medicine, astronomy). In parallel with their scientific applications, the infra-red films have become especialfy popular among artistic photographers professionals and amateurs as well-, who, by exploiting their unique properties, reveal an entirely different visual reality to the public, creating photographic pictures that cannot be produced using the conventional, ordinary films.

Where did the battles of the Achaeans and Trojans take place? Was the battlefield of the Trojan War located in the plains lying north of Troy towards the Hellespont where today’s city lies or inland where the geographer Strabo placed it in the 1st century BC? In Strabo’s day, Troy, which went by the name of New Ilion at the time lay so close to the coast that the geographer thought there was insufficient space for a battlefield. It seems however, as recent geological research shows, that the sea had flooded the coast before Strabo’s time and that the landscape had altered more than once since the Trojan war. In 1872 the discovery of Troy was based on the assumption that the site of the battle was a plain, unchanged since the Prehistoric age. However, alluvial river deposits are still to be found far into the coast north of Troy. The purpose of this article is on one hand to show that the geological event that caused the alteration of the landscape is to be found in verses M:13-30 of the Iliad, and on the other hand to prove that the Homeric narration alludes to the seismic event that destroyed Troy VI in 1275 BC.

As a matter of fact there has never been only one treatment of mortality throughout history, since the social, cultural, customary, religious and perceptive way of life, as well as the economic and geographical data of each people, led to a diversified attitude towards death rituals and the choice and planning of burial. Therefore, through a short touring in time and place, a first recording of the evolution of the relation between man and death is attempted, as it is expressed and imprinted in the field of their ultimate co-existence. The anthropologist Clifford Geertz has proved that death practices have always been in direct relation with social life, since death and its ritual do not only reflect social values, but also function as an important power of their formation.

A book was published in 1996 by the two authors of this article and George Lavva. The book’s title was “Ecclesiastical marble sculpture in the Cyclades from the 16th to the 20th century”. The book in question was the outcome of much research done by an art historian and architects of the University of Thessaloniki who surveyed, studied, photographed and analyzed the construction of ecclesiastical sculptures in more than 140 churches. Then, in 1998 A. Florakis’ book comes out with the title Marble Popular Temples of Tinos. The authors of this article argue that Florakis in full knowledge of their book Ecclesiastical Marble Sculpture in the Cyclades, borrows to a great degree much of the book’s contents and in retrospect dated his own book as published in 1996 and not two years later as is the case.

The writers in this survey ask important questions about the nature of magic. Such as whether magic is timeless in its meaning or is it only a late Victorian fiction. Is there any meaning in making a distinction between magic and religion? Is magic universal? Are the substances used in magic practised by Zulu witchdoctors any different from those used in ancient Greece or during the Renaissance? How does one define magic? Is it an inferior religion, defective logical system, a fantasy of technology? How should magic be approached and analyzed? As a system made of symbols? As a strange performance? What are the characteristics of a witch and a wizard? Already from the 5th century BC magic being considered as technology, how is it threatened by 21st century high technology?

The idea of critical distance in relation to magic is by no means self-evident. This article examines some of the ways in which various cultures like those of the ancient Greeks and the Azande and various individuals across time- from Cicero and Plotinus to Tylor and M. Douglas- have talked about and proposed theories about magic. In studying the theory and practice of magic of other societies, we suffer from a serious handicap: our view is coloured from the first by the disparagement of magic, an attitude which reaches back to the Early Church, the European enlightenment and Victorian (middle-class) rationalism. The archaeologist and ancient historian face a practical obstacle as well: his or her subject are dead and buried, and so they lack local informants. Yet more recent field data, including e.g. the "logical" premisses on which a local community explains the operation of magic, may throw suggestive light on the ancient data and enable us at least to frame pertinent questions about the older material. One way of approaching magic critically is to study it as a performance inolving symbolic action and to focus especially upon the context of such rituals as well as the magical language. Malmowski exemplified this approach in several works on the Trobriand islands, and his innovation has proved liberating for some 65 years now.

The article examines the interest shown by anthropologists in "witchcraft" and the way in which anthropological theorization on that subject served as the basis for anthropological theory in general. For over one and a half century, Anthropology (and Folklore) have lived up to an assignment offered to them as a basis for their academic career; their scientific object was/is otherness, a mixture of primitiveness and traditionalism, of backwardness and conservatism as well as of exoticism and romanticism; the "irrational" reigns. In a way, "witchcraft" became an anthropological and folkloric object, thus creating the conditions for the reproduction of its epistemological continuation. The anthropology of anthropological "witchcraft" is, then, a very interesting subject in itself, as "witchcraft" has been understood, defined and explained in a variety of ways. There is a dual tendency, though, either towards an evolutionary explanation of the existence and persistence of  "witchcraft" as a proof of the irrational aspects of historically determined events; or towards a consideration of  "witchcraft" as an indispensable aspect of any kind of society, being a hard-core social phenomenon in itself. Either way, "witchcraft" assumes many forms in anthropological theory as well as in social practice; healing, the evil eye, spirit possession, supernatural beings, poison, sorcery, divination are but some of the forms "witchcraft" undertakes; because there also exist theories about the body, about thought, about symbolism, about classification, not to mention theories about social and political organization. In short, "witchcraft" is a protean subject that has produced protean epistemological situations and protean analytical concepts and notions to account for protean social situations.  

Technical means are a roundabout means of securing some desired result. I would like to offer a classificatory scheme of human technological! capabilities in general, which can be seen as falling under three main headings. The first, the "Technology of Production", comprises technology as it has been conventionally understood. The second, the "Technology of Reproduction", includes most of what conventional Anthropology designates by the word "kinship". The third, the "Technology of Enchantment', is the most sophisticated. It includes all technical strategies, which human beings employ in order to secure the acquiescence of other people in their intentions or projects. Magic is, or was, clearly an aspect of each of the three technologies identified above. I take the view that "magic" as an adjunct to technical procedures persists, because it serves "symbolic" ends, that is to say cognitive ones. The propagandists, image-makers and ideologues of technological culture are its magicians, and if they do not lay claim to supernatural powers, it is only because technology itself has become so powerful that they have no need to do so. And if we no longer recognize magic explicitly, it is because technology and magic, for us, are one and the same.

The theoretical consideration of magic changed radically in the late nineteenth century, thanks to the work of great thinkers who explored the provenance of magic as a phase in the spiritual evolution of man. While in the early twentieth century another group of scholars enriched the issue drastically, proposing that if the provenance of magic is to be fully understood, its social function should first be examined. The world of magic has been constructed and is inhab­ited "by the successive expectations, obsessive il­lusions and prospects of entire generations, which are all expressed in the form of formulas".

The phenomenon of magic became the subject of study in the field of classical studies not before the early twentieth century, since its non-rational character did not match the Weltanschauung of the Western world after the Age of Enlightenment. Magic, as the reverse image of official religion, attracted those individuals who were unable to realise their wishes and desires through official religion, women, that is, and other outsiders. For this reason women and other members of fringe groups became victims of persecutions during periods of intolerance both in Europe and North America. Finally, witch-hunt contributed to the shattering of the few, mainly professional achievements of mediaeval women.

The field of research of museology includes: a) the study of the history and theory of collections and the rules of evaluating artefacts and collections, b) how museums’ scientific and social background should be studied as a living organism, c) the study of other sciences relevant to museums, such as history of art and how such sciences affect today’s museums, and d) the study of museums’ relationship with society and the various social groups they serve. This last function of museology touches on sensitive matters such as how a museum should present such things as ethnic minorities, different historical memories, how different identities are shaped and so on.

The article aims to throw light on Roman collecting attitudes during the first centuries B.C. and ad, and thus indicate how the developments during this interesting transitional era have influenced the broad history of European collecting and the shaping of contemporary museums. The acquaintance with the Greek world had a powerful impact on Roman thought and customs, The Romans inherited Greek interest in works of art and the Hellenistic tradition of using them to convey political and social messages. During the period under examination, this tradition was further explored and thus new collecting practices and notions were added to the existing ones. Gradually collecting became a social and intellectual phenomenon of indisputable status. Roman collectors developed an interest in Greek objets d' art and luxury goods, as well as natural and artificial curiosities. Within the above framework, three collecting modes have been detected, according to different personal and emotional motives, as well as social, ideological and political demands. Two of them, "passionate collectors" and "intellectual humanists" have been influenced by the "philhellenic" attitude, while the third, the "encyclopedists", from the conservative attitude. There is a clear line of development from the sculpture and curiosities' collectors of the 1st centuries B.C. and ad through the rest of the Roman period and onwards, through the 15th and 16th centuries and so, to the whole idea of the value of classical antiquity and contemporary museum collections.

A series of questions referring to the ideological approach of the Greek past has been the cause of this research. The special nature of this past in Greece, that is its duration, cultural radiance and international fame, has enriched it with a symbolical meaning. The research covers the period from 1829, when the first Greek archaeological museum was founded, to 1909, a year that signals not only a major change in the political life of Greece, but also a period of inflation in the museums development. Museum exhibitions offer the ideal field for detecting the ideology of a society and an epoch about the past. The content of the exhibitions can be read in three different ways, as follows: First reading: the exhibition as an esthetic value; second reading: the ideological function of the exhibition; third reading: the exhibition as an ideological proposal. However, as very aptly Susan Pearce has noted, "the exhibitions tend to adopt the most convenient aspect from a whole range of available choices .... because they must be easily readable by visitors. In this way the exhibitions usually end up to preserve a standard view and approach of the past".  

Why do museum representations of the past come to look the way they do? How do museum exhibitions construct, order, represent and interpret the past? These are very important queries, which need to be addressed and explained. The author of the article, being aware of modern theories in the fields of Archaeology and Museology, argues about the importance of studying museum constructions of the past in relation to a critical analysis of the discourse of Archaeology, that is the disciplinary poetics and socio-politics of Archaeology. She continues by arguing that museum receptions in Greek classical past and the discipline of Classical Archaeology provide a fertile ground in exploring the interrelationship between the discourse oi Archaeology and the discourse of museum. She also explains, how such a line of research can be pursued in the context of Greek archaeological museums. Finally, she presents some brief remarks on the traditions as well as the current perspectives of Classical Archaeology and their potential effect on classical archaeological exhibitions, their subject matter and form of expression.

Exhibitions are systems of representations. They use the field of the visible in order to give a form to what is invisible. They employ objects, texts and sound, as well as every other semiotic method, in order to create entities ana ensembles with a meaningful context. Via metonymy and metaphor exhibitions construct a "realm of significance", which cannot itself be seen One of the major realms of significance is the past, and more specifically the national past, which was first visualized in museum exhibitions during the last couple of centuries. This article refers to the exhibition "This Day Every Year... National Anniversaries and National Memory", organized by the Institution of Major Hellenism in its new premises, the cultural center Hellenic World, on 254 Peiraios Street, in Tavros, Atlica. The exhibition refers to the national past and, by reason of the Greek anniversaries of October 28th and March 25th, attempts to approach the notion of the anniversary through the present and the daily routine, on the one hand; and on the other, to bring up the issues of the science of History, the role of the historian and that of the museologist. The exhibition does not present the historic facts in themselves, but the way in which each historical period has conceived and interpreted them. Given that it was originally purposed for school groups, the exhibition seeks a new "pedagogic" method for presenting history, different from the one employed in school text¬books. Entities, such as the Hero, Celebration, Mass Media. Memory, comment on the mechanisms of remembrance, the procedure of production of social memory, the notion of stereotype- the stereotype of hero, for example, in different eras- the meaning of symbols and ceremonies in anniversaries. The article comprises two parts: the first examines the organizational framework, the choice of subject and the grounding of the exhibition, while the second analyses the method of visualizing its theoretical framework.

Cultural, political, economic and technological changes have forced museums to redefine their mission and to construct new identities for the future. In the post-modern era. museums need to justify their social relevance. Some of the questions museums need to answer are the following: What will the role of the museum as an educational institution be in 2000? How can museums define and strengthen their role in a rapidly changing social reality? The answer to these questions can be partly answered by developing new relationships with audiences- current, potential and virtual ones. In their effort to become more open and to approach new audiences, museums have developed outreach programmes for different communities. The aim of this paper is to present the rationale of and different approaches to outreach programmes as well as to provide examples of good practice.

The outreach programmes comprise activities inside and mainly outside the museum, which aim to consolidate (he dialogue with the community and to offer services to an isolated, as regards place or ideas, public By providing the museum a contact with a very diversified public, they shape energetically the visitors' profile and strengthen the social role of the museum The article presents three different outreach programmes, developed by the Greek Children's Museum. "The Children's Museum in the Hospital" and the "Coloured Route", which the museum presented in ten different Greek cities, functioned as a dynamic opening to a new public and expanded the museum's services to other areas. The last programme - "Join Us to Construct the Museum’s Guide"- invigorated the relations with an already existing public, through a series of activities inside and outside the museum premises And most important, it offered children the chance not only to get acquainted with the "behind-the-scenes" museum, but also to contribute to its function. The variety of approaches and also the challenge they comprise became obvious through the presentation of the fore mentioned programmes; apart from the public's response, the museum has to find ways for retaining its contact and dialogue with the community, in order these two partners to create an essential and life-long relation between them.

The ancient art criticism recognized in Praxiteles the greatest sculptor of images of deities (agalmatopoios) after Pheidias, and the greatest artist of Athens in the late-classical period, which is for us the fourth century B.C. In particular, Praxiteles' predilection for marble sculpture has been very clear in the ancient tradition, because marble sculpture is consistent with the concept of sculpture as a release and, according to Plato, as a discovery of what existed already inside the block of marble, thus inside nature. The most significant merit of his art is that it has been regarded as the symbol of the world of the courtesans in late classical Athens, when this important figure of Greek society had been deeply admired and highly regarded. The expression of subjective feelings in works of art, which is so apparent in Praxiteles' oeuvre, is the result of a long process, whose antecedents go back to the age of the Athenian leader Cimon (460s B.C.). The art of Praxiteles is great, because it expresses very well the need to evade the narrow environment of the polis, surrounding the individual, which was felt very deeply in the Athenian culture and which led, three decades later, to the epic adventure of Alexander the Great. The late artistic production of Praxiteles is characterized by the following features: from the stylistic point of view, by the accentuation of the rendering of the surfaces through a game of light and shade, which makes the image fluent and dreamy; from the rhythmic point of view, by the addition of backdrops, against which the figures are represented enlarged and are rendered as in a stage setting; from the point of view of the message, by the neglect of the ideal tendency, aiming at the discovery of the true form of the gods, and the favouring, instead, of the elegant mundane figures, apt to excite a hedonistic gratification. This Praxitelean style is irradiated everywhere in the Greek world and becomes the Athenian style par excellence.

The temple of Hephaistos is located on the hill of the Agoraios Kolonos on the west side of the Ancient Agora of Athens. This temple which previously was called "Theseion", was built about the middle of the 5th century B.C. It is one of the best preserved monuments. The present work includes the study of the history of the temple and the pervious attempts to preserve it. According to bibliography and personal observation the existing erosion of the temple has been recorded and an environmental study on the site of the Ancient Agora has been made. Based on the above facts a general study about the conservation of the temple has been made.

The murals at the Protaton on Mount Athos belong to the end of the 13th century. These murals are the only remaining composition by Manouel Panselinos and a unique example of the Macedonian School of painting. Until now, bibliography had concentrated on the aesthetics and the history of the murals and attention had not been given to the procedure of their making by the artist. This treatise a) describes the materials and techniques used by the artist, b) gives a detailed record of the damage, fading and interventions made on the paintings over the years, having as its purpose an effective conservation of this work of art. Attention was given both to Panselinos’ technique and to his style of painting, while the methods of analysis and the samples taken were a combination of non-destructive methods such as photographing and macrophotography of the visible end of the spectrum, ultra-violet reflectography, photographing the fluorescence resulting from visible and UV light illumination, and colour measuring. Samples were observed through the microscope, μRAMAN and μ FITIR spectroscopic methods were applied, as was analytical electron microscopy, SEM-EDS.

This article corrects some points in the publication in the no 35 issue of the Archaeologia journal on the subject of a Greek Kylix . The kylix discussed is an Attic red figure vase dating from the 5th century BC. On it is depicted a tortoise behind the figure of a running man. In this picture the tortoise is a hybrid, having all the characteristics of a sea-turtle apart from its shell which is that of a tortoise (land turtle). The first staters of Aegina, minted in the years 700-404BC, display on the obverse side the peloglyph of a Land tortoise ‘s shell or carapace. This, it seems, stands for three Qhuena terms: a) “Oenone”, an earlier term for Aegina, b)” Oenopia,” another former name of Aegina, and c) “Oea”, early main inland town of Aegina.

In 1983 important remains of a large Hellenistic building complex were discovered on the slope of Speliani hill, rising above Pythagoreion, on the island of Samos. The systematic excavation that followed brought to light two areas with mosaic floors of exceptional art. The first floor, measuring 9.50x7.00m (drawing 1), is decorated with spirals, each terminating to a griffin figure, while the second, measuring 5.62x 5.18m (drawing 2), is embellished with a running spiral motif. Both mosaics have been executed in the same technique. The motif: the iconographic type of the Samos griffins is quite similar to the architectural decoration of the temple at Didyma, dated from the first quarter of the second century B.C., now in the Louvre. The date of the mosaics: the stratigraphic data are, so far, very inadequate, therefore only a relative date can be proposed. Thus, the iconographic motifs and the technical execution employed lead to works produced in Pergamon during the second century B.C., and especially to the mosaics of the palaces IV and V, which in all probability date from the second quarter of the second century B.C.

From the era of rock-graffito until the present exhibitions of works of art in museum and galleries, man appears the only creature endowed with the unique gift to express his most intimate thoughts and feelings through art. Through a selection of examples that represent various aspects of the human destiny, on the one hand we attempt to understand the motives of the artist who created them, and on the other to explore their usefulness and validity as source of the science of Paleopathology.

How was time perceived in antiquity? What systems were in use for placing everyday activities in some order or time sequence? How was the present perceived in connection with the past and the future? These are questions dealt with in this issue of the Archaeologia journal. Mycenaean calendars, cyclical time in Homer and Hesiod, the attempt made by the Orphics to see time outside of cycles, prediction of the future in Roman times and the fond dwelling on a golden age, Augustus’ sundial at Campus Martius in Rome, the questions posed by the early Christians and the adoption of a linear concept of time, with no turning back and controlled by destiny.

The year Rome was built (A.U.C) coincides with the date 753 BC of the Julian calendar and marks the beginning of time as kept by the Romans. The calendar of the Hellenistic era begins with the time of the Seleucids which coincides with the 1st of September or of October of the year 312 BC. To the Byzantines time was recorded from the year of the Creation of the world, that is to say the 1st September of 5509 BC. Alexandrian time was kept from the 29th or the 30th of August of the year 284 AD when Diocletian was enthroned and this calendar is still kept by the Copts to this day.

The absence of month names from the Homeric epos led M. Nilsson (1918) to the conclusion that the Greek calendar, religious in origin and character, was nothinq else than a post-Homeric invention, essentially of the 7th century B.C.. He even considered the only month (Ληναιών) mentioned in Hesiod’s Works and Days as a later interpretation. Sound objections to Nilsson's argument, as regards the date of appearance of the Greek calendar, were first raised by G. Thomson (1943), who supported its Mycenaean provenance. Thomson was absolutely justified by the deciphering of the Linear B tablets (1952). We know now, on the basis of the categorical account of the palatial archives of Knossos and Pylos, that the Mycenaeans had in fact established local calendars, with differents month names, obviously. However, structured on a common base for counting the time. The first part of this article underlines the striking analogies and convergences between the Mycenaean calendars and those of the historic period, having as an objective the reinforcement of Thomson's view, on the grounds of new relevant data. A special emphasis is laid on the fact that the Mycenaean calendars, like the later Greek ones, present a distinct religious character, as various months have been named after deities, sanctuaries or festivals (e.g. pa-ki-ja-ni-jo-jo me-no, di-wi-jo-jo me-no), while at the same time they serve as chronological frames for regulating the official feast calendar and every cult activity. We have every reason to presume that the Mycenaeans would have sought a calendar model in the flourishing palatial Crete, from where they had also adopted writing, and the metric and measuring system. The second part of the article deals with our knowledge of the Minoan calendar, for which there is not any direct and explicit written information. Evidence is also examined (iconography, Homeric abstract on the renewal of King Minos" sacred reign, Odyssey, T 176-179), which seems to indicate the use of a luni-solar calendar of eight-years uration. This view is substantially supported by the archaeoastronomical observations, conducted recently by scholars of the Uppsala University in the Petsophas and Traostalos peak sanctuaries on Crete. At least some of the numerous Minoan peak sanctuaries seem to have functioned not only as religious and cult sites, but also as astronomical observatories for regulating the calendar cycle, to which the priesthood contributed significantly, according to the well known Egyptian triptych "astronomy-religion-calendar".

The reckoning of time in the ancient world differed in many important aspects from the habits familiar to us in the modern word. Whereas we label the years with a number counting the years from the birth of Jesus Christ, and hence attach great importance to the new millennium, the custom of the ancient Greeks and Romans was to label the years with the name or names of particular officials who held office in that year. This greatly complicated the designation of a year in a manner which would be familiar to the people of more than a single city. The labeling of years according to Olympiads, which was developed by historians in the Hellenistic period, was never used much for dating contemporary official documents. Moreover, the calendars of ancient Greek cities, unlike the modern calendar descended from the Roman calendar, were flexible: it was possible to insert εμβόλιμοι days into them to postpone a festival, and afterwards suppress the same number of days to bring the calendar back into order.

To the linear view of time, characteristic of advanced, abstract and mathematical thought, is opposed a circular view, based on immediate life experience. The daily alternation of darkness and light, and the annual rotation of the seasons, in combination with the waxing and waning of the moon, produce an image of time as a cycle. This is the time of the living organism. The circular view of time implies order, rhythm and, what is more, rejuvenation. Such was the conception of time in Archaic Greece from Homer onwards. Since preclassical conscience does not sharply distinguish temporal sequence from temporal events occurring therein, time is regarded as qualified and differentiated. In Hesiod time is the regular succession of opportune and unfavourable hours and days. Such a succession is thought to be as natural as the coming-into-being and passing-away of every living thing. Death is the unavoidable end term of life in much the same way as, according to the splendid Homeric simile, wind casts down a trees leaves in autumn to let following spring bring new ones in their stead - the new generation. Circular time brings births, deaths, and new births. In the 6th century B.C. the idea that life may be punishment for some primordial crime first sprang to consciousness. Anaximander's sole surviving fragment testifies to the emergence of the idea. Its development is traditionally ascribed to the kindred movements of the so-called Orphics and the Pythagoreans. Both reversed the Homeric relation of body to sou! and thought that the true self resides in the soul. But the Pythagoreans also conducted scientific enquiries concerning the mathematical structure of the world at large. It is reported that Pythagoras defined time as the sphere of the container. As he is said to have ascribed temporal sequence to the movements of the heavenly bodies, Pythagoras can be seen as codifying and translating into the language of science an Archaic experience. It is no accident that in the middle of the 6th century B.C. the younger contemporary of Anaximander's and reported teacher of Pythagoras, Pherecydes of Syros, composed his mixed theogony. There we find Time. Zeus and Earth to be the sole ungenerated deities. The idea that Time (with or without Necessity as his consort) is a primordial god, reappears in later Orphic theogonies. After the discovery of the Derveni papyrus in 1962. these Hellenistic compositions can be safely assumed to draw on classical models. It is not unlikely that deified Time appeared at the first stages of Orphic succession myths as early as the 5th century B.C.. The gold lamellae from South Italy. Crete and Thessafy and the bone tablets from Olbia (dating from the end of the 5th to the middle of the 4th centuries B.C.), show an astonishing preoccupation with blissful afterlife considered to be the gift of Dionysus, Persephone, or both This epigraphical evidence has been rightly associated with Dionysian initiation and Orphic mysteries. In some cases, the idea of a transmigrating soul is also manifested. The stated goal of the Orphic initiate is his or her exit from the depressing temporal cycle of births and deaths governed by Necessity. We may perhaps combine the circular view of time implied in the theory of compulsive metempsychosis with the divine couple of Time and Necessity that we find in a late version of Orphic theogony If that is correct, we may conclude that the liberated soul of the Orphic initiate escapes the order constituted at the very beginning of world formation, and reaches the original undifferentiated state, without losing his or her personal consciousness - an impossibility in the natural, and Homeric, order of things.

This article discusses the turbulent political and military background of the Pax Augusta, which was hailed by imperial propagandists like Vergil in his Aeneiad. The emperor instigated an ambitious architectural programme which included the construction of a monumental sun-dial, equipped with an Egyptian obelisk and freighted with ideological symbolism. The author also correlates Augustus grandiose building projects to his confirmation of Julius Caesar's calendar reform and the introduction of the seven-day week (hebdomas), which is still in use today.

In periods of external pressure or internal crisis, Ancient Rome was haunted by the prospect of its imminent fall. This fear was fed by widespread beliefs in the cyclic repetition of cosmic eras, as well as in the periodic destruction of the universe, either by means of total combustion (ekpyrosi) or by cataclysm. These "end of the world' scenarios were built upon the cosmological ideas of Greek philosophers, such as Heraclitus, Plato and the Stoics, who in their turn were influenced by the religious and astrological beliefs of ancient Egyptians, Babylonians, Persians and Indians. In their endeavour to overcome this kind of anxiety, the Romans resorted to various intellectual strategies, following two distinct patterns of thought, both found in the poems of Vergil: (a) the eschatological proposal, consisting in the anticipation of an infant whose birth would herald the second coming of the Golden Age; (b) the political proposal, implying the re¬foundation of Rome, after the triumph of Augustus over Marc Anthony. When the second option clearly prevailed. Rome was proclaimed Urbs Aeterna: its universal domination was now considered to be limitless - an imperium sine fine.

Christians of the first generation were concerned with the future. They were anxious to know the exact time of the end of the world. From the New Testament they knew that such information was not available to them, but in the next generations there appeared prophets who claimed that they could foretell the approaching end. Without losing interest in the future some Christians gradually started paying greater attention to the past. The first reason for this development was apologetic. Second-century Christians were accused of advancing new views concerning the gods. In replying, they claimed for themselves the long history of the Jews, which went back to Moses as well as to adam and Eve. Furthermore, they argued for the priority of Jewish wisdom over the best aspects of Greek philosophy. According to their reckoning, Moses was older than Homer. Some Christians started paying attention to the past for political reasons as well. It seemed to them that Jesus was born at the time of Augustus by divine providence. The establishment of the empire and the spread of Christianity, they thought, were two developments destined to work for the benefit of mankind. They started imagining a Christianised and universal empire with one emperor and one God. Belief in the priority of Moses over Homer and in the simultaneous appearance of Jesus and Augustus created historiographical problems, which led Christians to investigate the myths, chronicles and histories of Jews, Greeks, Romans and some eastern nations. In the process of doing so, they realised that a major obstacle was the lack of a common chronological system. Thus, in place of the numerous existing national or local systems, second-century Christians came up with the idea of making the creation of the world a beginning for all historical events. In the sixth century, this idea was replaced by a new one, which placed Jesus at the centre of history, and established ad and B.C. dates. The historical consciousness of early Christianity was built upon a belief, which bridged their interest in the past and their expectations of the end of the world.  

The invasion and inhabitation of the Peloponnese by the Slavs is an undeniable historical fact. The Slavs who settled in the Peloponnese were not nomads but farmers and cattle-breeders. The Slavic toponyms. historical sources and archaeological finds offer the evidence for the Slavic penetration and presence in the Peloponnese during the Middle Ages. The Slavic toponyms show mainly an agrarian people. When first arrived in the Peloponnese, the Slavs were pagans.The burning of the dead, hand-made pottery and cultivation of land, using fire for clearing the ground, are typical features of their early civilization. The hand¬made urns, containing the ashes of the dead, that were found in Olympia represent so far the only irrefutable evidence of the presence of Slavs in the Peloponesse. Hand-made vessels, offerings to the dead, have been discovered in a grave of the south Stoa of Corinth, in the grave 31B in Messene and in the graves at Palioboukovina, Hagia Triada, Eleia. Hand-made intact pottery or pottery fragments, that had been used as kitchen utensils, mainly frying pans and pots, as well as tableware, have been found in Argos, Tiryns, Examilion, Hagios Vasilios in Korinthia, Pallandion in Arkadia, Sparta and Karyoupolis in northeastern Mani. This hand-made pottery does not necessarily imply a Slavic invasion or settlement. The hand-made clay pottery was used by that segment of the population, native or foreign, that could not afford to buy the more expensive, wheel-made cooking utensils.

Menas Avramidis (1877-1954), from Kioutacheia, is considered the descendant par excellence of the great potters of Iznik and Kioutacheia. In 1922 he arrives in Thessaloniki and later in Athens, where, in 1923, he is employed as chief craftsman in the firm "Kioutacheia". Two years later he sojournes in Fiorina and in 1926 he is settled in Thessaloniki, where he continues to create excellent objects of everyday use until his death.. Avramidis work in the Megalopoulos Collection, unknown until now to the scientific research, is of superb craftsmanship, represents various phases of the creator's oeuvre, like the early piece from "Kioutacheia", and exhibits his different sources of inspiration as well. The collection comprises items that present a wide variety in use. shape and decoration: some have a distinct Islamic orientation or are decorated with a thematic repertoire based on ancient Greek mythology and art, some follow the Byzantine tradition in technique and style, others are embellished with a religious iconography, while the vases in the collection are adorned with incised and painted zoomorphic subjects.

The excavations on the Prehistoric tumulus of Archontiko, Giannitsa, brought to light successive phases of a settlement, which is dating from the late ΠΕΧ to the early MEX period, an era almost unknown in Macedonia. The main phases of the settlement. according to twenty-one radio-chronologies, performed by the Archaeometry Lab of Demokritos institution, were defined between 2300 and 1900 B.C. The later phase of the settlement was located on the top of the tumulus and is characterized by stone building foundations and pottery bearing incised linear decoration. Remnants of pile-dwellings were discovered on the east slope, while a number of intact vases, tools, weaving implements, etc was recovered on their floor. The most interesting find, however, is a great number of clay constructions: open fireplaces, platforms and small ellipsoidal furnaces stood on the house floor, perfectly serving the heating, lighting, cooking, etc needs of the inhabitants. The study of the pyrotechnology of the ellipsoidal structures, carried out by Dr. G. Maniatis, of the Demokritos Institution, showed that the temperature of their inner sides could have reached 500-600 centigrades. The warming up of the furnace, however, hardly needed more than 300-350 centigrades, a fact that supports the argument that these structures have mainly been used for cooking.

The only surviving fresco wall-paintings by Panselinos (13th c. ad), one of the most celebrated Greek religious painters of the Byzantine era, decorate the Church of Protaton (10th c. ad) on Mount Athos. This article details the examination and technical analysis of 15 thematic units, representative of this monumental work of art. The wall-paintings examined cover an area of approximately sixty-five square meters. Extensive study and documentation of both original paintings and already restored frescoes were attained through the use of various imaging techniques, including visible and ultraviolet photography, infrared reflectography (IRR), and colour measurement and representation. Chemical identification of pigments, binders and layer stratigraphy was achieved by using visible and ultraviolet fluorescence microscopy. Raman spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). X-Ray Diffraction (XRD). Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive Analysis fSEM-EDS), and Electron Probe Microanalysis (EPMA). The results of this collaborative effort have shown the paintings to be executed in both the true fresco and the lime painting technique, and have established Panselinos' choice of painting materials and colour palette. This study is an important and necessary prerequisite for the eventual restoration and conservation of these unique wall-paintings.

Time was a matter of fascination to the Byzantines as one can tell by the Church canon, the lives of the saints and the menologium. At times it seems that heightened interest was taken in eschatological issues such as those of death, judgement and destiny. It must have been during such periods that sundials were built in the churches of mainland Greece, out of which eleven survive to our day. However, whilst in the West the time was displayed in public places thus enforcing and supporting the work ethic, in Byzantium sundials were a rarity. In Byzantium time was considered to be by its nature finite, ending with the Second Coming which was expected to happen in the 6th century. From the 6th century to the 10th century AD, various predictions of doom foretold that the end of time would coincide with the end of the Empire.

This article argues that calendars are distinctive signifiers of cultural identity. People are distinguished by how they measure time. From their birthday onwards their scheme of time places them in precise relationships with their society, their secular ruler and their concept of cosmic order Complications arise with the co-existence of time systems, lunar and solar calendars. The collision and interpenetration of cultures is reflected in their time systems. Major eras have political, historical or religious origins, but the Byzantine Year of the World (Annus Mundi) has an inbuilt end of time at the Eighth Day, Millennium or Era, precisely from 7001 AM or 1492 ad, when, instead of the end of the world, came the unexpected discovery of a new world.

The measuring of time in Byzantium comprised the chronology, that is the determination of the number of the year from a given origin, the calendar, that is the division of the year, and the time, that is the division of the day. All three were calculated with the help of astronomy. The Byzantine era counted its origin starting from the Creation (21 March 5508 B.C.). and used the Julian calendar, The astronomical tables were based on an era and calendar different from the Byzantine ones, therefore one of the major concerns of Byzantine astronomers was the chronological conversion, that is the correspondence between the tables dates and the Byzantine ones. The first chapters in aft Byzantine astronomical manuals were dedicated to this subject These manuals were based mainly on Ptolemaic astronomy, which followed the commentaries on Ptolemy by Theon of Alexandria, or on Persian astron¬omy and the School of Maragha. Rolemaic and Persian astronomical tables used a calendar of a 365-days year. Byzantine astronomers used the astrolabe to determine time, an instrument considered as the most precise clock by Theodoros Meliteniotis. one of the greatest astronomers of the Paiaeologan period. Although only one Byzantine astrolabe has been preserved, there is a rich literature on the subject. Byzantines used both the equal hours -being in fact slightly unequal, as the astrolabe measures the real and not the main solar time- and the unequal ones - defined by dividing the night as well as the day by twelve.  

The Byzantine conception of the end of time was based on biblical prophecies, as interpreted by Christian exegesis of the 2nd and 3rd centuries, which saw world history in terms of a cosmic week of millennia corresponding to the days of Creation, and in terms of a succession of world empires, of which the Romano-Byzantine would be the last. Although the Church discouraged speculation on the day of the End, there was always a strong tendency to discern signs of its imminence in contemporary events, or to predict it according to symbolic or astronomical patterns. Both kinds of speculation intensified not only with the approach but also with the passing of the year 6000 from the Creatton, which was believed to fall at the end of the sixth century ad, Eventually, attention was focused on the end of the seventh millennium (ad 1492), but only after other, intermediate dates failed to live up to expectations The most important of these was the middle of the seventh millennium, which also happened to be the millennial anniversary of the life of Christ. Thus, even though Byzantium did not adopt the system of dating from the Incarnation, which became standard in the West, the year 1000 (or its Byzantine equivalent. ad 992) was at least equally significant in the Greek East. This was clearly a result of the belief that the Kingdom of the Saints, prophesied in the Apocalypse of the St. John, had been inaugurated by Christ, and the Christian Church and Empire were its earthly manifestation.

Now that the eve of the new millennium is presumably safely behind us. we are in a better position to understand the ephemeral appeal of predictions of doom. Despite their flexibility, precise calculations of the end of the world -or other catastrophes eventually expire and fall into oblivion: who would be interested today in reading an extensive study on how the Y2K bug would destroy civilization as we knew it? The anticipation of the end is inherent in the linear-teleological perception of time which is part of our Christian legacy. In the continuous attempts to forecast the exact moment of the Second Coming, and therefore the end of time, the concept of the millennium proved to be one of the most influential tools For the Byzantines, it was not the first millennium ad. but the sixth AM {anno mundi) which first came into play, Due to the complexity and fluidity of early Byzantine chronology, reaching a universally accepted date was impossible, Varying calculations produced a whole set of alternative dates for this event, all of which fell within first half of the sixth century, in an attempt to determine the impact of eschatological fear on the period's historiography, this article turns to two of the mam historical sources of the sixth century: the Secret History of Procopius and the Chronography of John Malalas. It has been recently argued that eschatological considerations played an important role in the official imperial propaganda of Justinian whose reign covers part of this period. A close examination of the material from the two contemporary historical sources reveals a slightly different picture, All the relative passages were composed through a manifestly layered process, strictly related to their appropriation. The origins of such apocalyptical rumors were probably oral, and their initial function anti-dynastic. It seems rather unlikely that Justinian would construct his official propaganda on the ambiguous and therefore dangerous grounds of eschatology: had he done so. he would have invited the unfavorable conclusion that his reign was the earthly rule of the Antichrist. Malalas's emphatic argument that all calculations of the time of the Second Coming had already been proven wrong, obviously refers to Justinian's defense against the propaganda of his enemies as reflected in the Secret History's famous equation of Justinian with the "king of demons" However, eschatological references in these works are neither numerous, nor extensive, both writers modi¬fied any such material in order to suit their own propa¬gandists purposes, which no longer involved any escha¬tological considerations. Their texts betray no real belief in an approaching end of the world. By the time they were writing, talk of an ominous future was already a thing of the past Besides, if one believed that the end of the world was at hand one would hardly engage in writing history.  

Homiletics has been considered a literary genre that cannot be used as a historical source due to its lack of refe¬rence to contemporary reality. Recently, scholarly research shown that although the homilists of the middle Byzantine period avoid referring directly to the cult of icons -the dominant issue of the day- they do so indirectly, through symbolic language manifested in their choice of subject, use of vocabulary and imagery as well as m the highly emotional tone they evoke, with particular emphasis on the body and the sences The sermons of the 8th and 9th centuries should be considered as a single category with its own characteristics and idioms. Sermons combine two distinct conceptions of time, the first reflecting the eternal presence of God. where past, present and future exist alongside God's time, and the second conveying the linear conception of time charac¬teristic of human understanding. In the context of the Divine Liturgy homilies represent the point where these two conceptions of time meet and enrich one another as a point of communion between the creation and the Creator From the homiletic corpus of the middle Byzantine period this article uses examples of Homilies of the Patriarch Germanos I, Andrew of Crete and John of Damascus. In these homilies references to the eternal are combined with references to the contemporary theological debate of Iconoclasm. Special attention is given to the person of the Mother of God, as a symbol of the Incarnation In numerous examples one notes the unique position ascribed to the Virgin as the protectress of both the Christians and the imperial city of Byzantium, but also as the protectress of the cult of icons, which from the 9th century onwards would become an inextricable element of Orthodoxy. In the same way that a novel or an essay, regardless of its subject, bears the imprint of the time in which it was written, the homilies reveal the concern of the Byzantines with the timeless reality of God, as well as with contemporary theological issues, such as Iconoclasm.  

Sundials were a common feature of the ancient Greek and Roman world. The use of dials seems to have lapsed in the medieval Greek world, however, whereas it did not in the medieval West. This paper examines the extant medieval Greek dials and suggests that it was the difference in both the definitions of time and the meaning of sundials in the Catholic and the Orthodox traditions that determined the fate of dials in Byzantine Greece.

Rescue excavations were carried out in Beirut during reconstruction of the city centre. Archaeological research, started in October 1993 and lasted forty-four months. Part of the ancient city was brought to light. Settlements date from the Iron Age III . Inhabitation of the ancient city started from the 5th or 6th century BC down to the Hellenistic, Roman and Ottoman periods. The archaeological remnants connect Beirut and Lebanon with the Hellenistic civilization, they also connect the Mediterranean with Asia.

The museums and archaeological sites must offer knowledge, pleasure and entertainment to all. Unfortunately, however, teachers and students feel that they are not welcomed there, while many parents complain for the lack of any mechanism of receiving children, especially of preschool age and individuals with special needs. In this article we would like to offer educational material, which would facilitate the visitor of the Acropolis of Sparta to get better acquainted with it. At the same time the article serves as a proposal to the instructors of the higher grades of Elementary School, High School and Lycaeum, who would like to organize a visit to the archaeological site of the Acropolis of Sparta for their students.

My long and persistent study of the texts of antiquity, on which archaeologists and other specialists were based for the identification of the dead buried in the royal tombs of Vergina, led to certain conclusions, which contradict the so far relevant arguments In short, the results of my research are the following: The bones found in the grave I belong to Queen Cleopatra and to her baby child. The bones recovered in the grave II with the Hunting wall-painting belong to Alexander the Great, in the anteroom of the grave III were buried Queen Roxane and her twelve-years old son Alexander IV, while in the chamber of the tomb Philipp's II bones were laid. Furthermore, the wall-painting in this tomb, representing twenty-one chariots, is related with the battles of Philipp II.

The article deals with the archaeological Coptic "doll" of Egypt. The dressed dolls in the collection of the Benaki Museum lead to certain conclusions as regards the crafting and use of such an archaeological object. Apart from dolls made entirely of cloth, the bone idols that have been preserved in a large number testify that they belong to a more luxurious type of dressed doll The persons portrayed are female youths, in the representation of which painting plays the major role, denoting the details and the embellishment of the body. Although they have been made by professional craftsmen, the formation of the garments -sewn and assembled from reused parts of textiles- was decided by children. A grown-up could very well intervene in the making of an attire, however, a part of the relevant procedure was entirely performed by children. The type of the "bodiless" figurine, where a small bone plaque was wrapped in a cocoon of staffed material, probably derives from the Roman limbless dolls.

Cesare Brandi, one of the most important personalities of twentieth-century Italy in the field of History and Art Criticism, was probably the first who strongiy emphasized the value of restoration of the works of art Working with great sensitivity and insistence, he gradually developed a restoration theory, which still remains the foundation of the evolution of this science until today as regards the restoration of the works of art, either mobile objects or architectural monuments. He also contributed considerably to the handling of town-planning problems, to the intricate issue of restoring antique ruins, to the preventive restoration and to many other relevant subjects.

A small-scale plan of 1835, drawn by Friedrich Standemann, that shows the center of the city of Argos and the Kallergis' mansion, has been recently added to the evidence I have presented so far (issues no 36 and 36) of the morphology of this building, The plan has been published in the German edition of the exhibition catalogue The New Greece - Greeks and Bavarians in the Time of Ludwig /, but it has been omitted from the Greek edition. The mansion has a cubic form, a hip roof with a look-out opening and a roofed porch. It is therefore beyond doubt that the original form of the building has not been sought or at least it was not known, when it was restored in the 1950s.

The preliminary architectural study of the Byzantine Museum of Veroia. as it was submitted to the Central Archaeological Council of the Greek Ministry of Culture, is presented in this article. The museum is going to be housed partly in a preservable building, the Markos' Mills, and partly in an edifice on the border of the protected area of Kyriotissa. When finished, it will be an area-museum, in the broader sense of the term, which, in order to serve the purpose for which it was made, should be conceived as a cultural unity. It will aim to the full understanding of history and historical continuity and to the thorough elucidation of the special charac¬teristics of the region and its people. Therefore, it demands a particular planning, governed by dear targets and principles, where the common and trivial will be equally important as the exceptional and outstanding. In planning the museum we had to meet the following demands: 1. The rehabilitation and change of use of the preservable building of the mills. 2. The harmonic incorporation of new edifices, representative of their period, in a specific historical site. 3. The creaticn of appropriate exhibition areas, that will accommodate multiple museological and museographical approaches. 4. The perfect functioning of the entire building complex Our desire and objective was to extend and apply the reasoning that should rule the organization of exhibitions and the preservation of the traditional sectors of the city to the architectural composition of the entire museum area. Thus, the Byzantine Museum of Veroia has been endowed with all the qualities and characteristics necessary as to become the logo of the city.  

Bronze dowels and clamps were employed in ancient Greek architecture for the construction and conservation of monuments. Dowels for the fastening of blocks vertically and damps for their connection horizontally, when being in the same course, were used rather rarefy in the Archaic period, but their use became more frequent in the periods that followed. The corrosion of bronze joints produces soluble copper salts, which appear as green stains on the marble surface and affect the aesthetic aspect of the monuments. Ammonium salts as well as mora paste have been tested for the removal of bronze stains from marble samples.

This article aims to excite the reader's interest in a new sector, to support the new technologies and to persuade the research sponsors that the financing of research programs on digital technology in restoration is worthwhile. The contribution of Computer Science to the field of Restoration and Archaeology has so far been confined, with few exceptions, to data bases for the best possible filing of projects and finds. The undeniable necessity for data bases in Restoration and Archaeology also found its justification by a post-graduate Computer program on recording and documentation of antiquities and works of art, introduced last year into the Computer Science Department of the University of Crete. In certain cases, however, the extension of the use of computers, apart from the data bases, in Restoration and Antiquities is remarkable. In the two-dimentionai space, the work of Nicholas Frayltng of the Royal College of Art is a typical example of the usefulness of computers: the restoration of works of painting, like the miniatures, that are in fact impossible to be restored, was realized with the help of digital processing. Moreover, the achievements of Balas and Fotakis, concerning the digital system of inspecting paintings and cleaning paintings with laser beam, is well known. Needless to say, that the potentialities this technology offers are greater than these we take advantage of today.  

Time past and narrative techniques are what create history. The inhabitants of the island of Kalymnos tell many tales where certainty and myth become one and the same thing and bring significance to the past through metaphor. Humans experience time as either a linear or a circular experience. The first kind of time has to do with activities such as farming while circular time is experienced in story-telling and in rituals. What is the significance in the turning movements performed during the Orthodox liturgy? How is time experienced in fairy-tales? Time in a festival or feast is seen as an opportunity to escape from the merciless progression of time. Another form of escapism can be seen in nostalgia, a European strategy which is examined here through the example of the “old town of Volos”.

This paper examines historical consciousness on the Greek island of Kalymnos. It looks at how Kalymnians reconstruct their past, and how they use their reconstruction to make sense of and argue about the meaning of their present. It examines the intersecting time-lines of religious, national and local history on Kalymnos, and the use of the same key symbols and themes in narrating these histories on a personal level, and in commemorating them on a local and national level. Such histories display a number of common themes, such as that of struggle against overwhelming odds, whether that struggle is of Greek national heroes fighting oppressors (or their own dictators) or Orthodox martyrs giving their lives for Christianity. Narratives of national, religious and personal histories are drawn on a common stock of themes and tropes in order to make sense of the past and relate it to the struggles of the present. At the same time prevalent metaphors directly connect the national and the local in everyday speech. Through this tying together of national, religious and local experience, "history" becomes part of the common sense of everyday Kalymnian life and interpretation of the world.

The quintessential "disease" of modernity, nostalgia, always comments in some way on social and economic transformations. In this paper, ! situate contemporary nostalgic discourses in Greece against the background of the global upsurge in nostalgia that has marked the last quarter of the twentieth century. This paper does not aim to identify a distinctly Greek "way of doing time", but rather to locate Greek representations of past time within both local and global contexts. My particular focus in this article is on nostalgia for the "old city" of Volos as manifested in various textual practices engaged in by both municipal and individual agents: in particular, the reproductions and re-presentations of out-of-print local histories, period photographs and the local press. Nostalgia for urban space represents a significant departure from nostalgic discourses on villages and the rural landscape that have been in circulation in Greek society for some time. This nostalgia for the "old city" does not express a desire for escape from capitalism and European models of cultural life, but rather a fascination with the establishment of these economic and social institutions in Greece. The collapse of the manufacturing base of Volos and the ongoing changes in the social composition of the city and nation have generated a sense of longing for authentic, unmediated and tangible forms of community and capitalism that appear to have existed in the town's past.

The anthropologist Edmund Leach has contended that rituals may work to modulate the social experience of time. In so doing, they often incorporate cultural images of time itself into their dramaturgy. Participation in such rituals can, in turn, influence the fate of people both in life, and after death. Rituals thus represent time while affecting people's experience of time. Ritual form, time,and teleology are thus all bound up together. In this paper I identify practices of circling in Greek rituals as a prime example of the symbolic representation of time in ritual. In antiquity, time was measured by reterence to the circular motions of the stars. The transposition of this knowledge into ritual can be observed in Neo-Platonic magical practices, elements of which, I contend, re-surface in main Christian Orthodox liturgical practices. Contemporary local-level magical practices also involve ritual circling -magic circles-, but I argue that in these cases the circle is not related to celestial motion, and thus to time, but to the creation of boundaries between the sacred and the profane. It is nonetheless interesting to observe that although Church rejects these local practices as superstitious "magic", it has itself borrowed from a "high tradition" of ancient magic in formulating some of the key elements of its own ritual practice.  

The history of mankind is imbued by the concept of time and the way in which the community is managing it. Talking about human civilization, we refer to and search for the representations indicative of the time relation to the social organization of a specific community of population. Furthermore, by discussing time we gain the advantage of understanding the relation of rituals to cultural attitudes as it is revealed in social forms. Time obtains countable characteristics and is adjusted to specific forms of social organization.The imprint of time on the economic and social attitude of the cattle-breeder Greek nomads, especially the Vlach-speeking and Sarakatsanoi, is investigated in this article. Time in these segments of population is introduced as a parameter of their productive activity. The cattle-breeding procedure, as well as its particulars (mating, litter, shearing), defines the way in which these nomads are experiencing time. In this case the present each time represents a firm framework, necessary for the survival of the cattle-breeders' household. In addition, the cattle-breeding activity has dictated the regular transfer from the mountains to the plains and vise versa, a fact that has immediately affected many aspects of the cultural and social activities of the Greek nomads, as well as their ideological relation to the duality mountain/plain.

The main theme of the confrontation of man with personified divisions/fractions of time unfolds in different narrative traditions of Greek and other Balkan peoples. This paper discusses the tale of "The two old women and the twelve months", which is considered a Greek oikotype, taking into account related versions as well as relevant customs and beliefs from other Balkan peoples. This investigation is based on published and unpublished versions from the Catalogue of the Greek Folktale as well as on recently collected material. In these stories, time is perceived according to the main events of rural life, especially sowing-time, harvesting and the folk calendar. This paper also examines a peculiar episode in the meeting of the tale-hero with an old woman or man who controls day and night by folding two skeins, one black and the other white.

The news that a German research team is on its way to Asia Minor, in order to search Atlantis in the vicinity of the ancient Troy, motivated the scholar P. Malfis to deal again with this region and to examine the issue on the basis of the ancient literature. The parallelism of the Homeric to the Platonic text does not lead us to such a conclusion, however, the final answer will be given by the data of the geological research.

The article presents an original method of teaching philology, which combines the content of school text-book with the issue of the internet. Thus, the understanding of the interest subject, the thorough knowledge and the move substantial communication and exchange of ideas and information are achieved, through dialogue and collaboration.

Recent archaeological finds have altered the theories concerning the voyages of Greeks in antiquity: the first Greek settlement on the northern coast of Black Sea was founded about the mid-7th century B.C., however the Greeks had already known the area, as the Mycenaen finds discovered there prove. Consequently, the theory that dates the colonization of this area in 600 B.C. is not valid any more.

In our time for subversive changes the author, using as an example the old town of Rethymnon on Crete, wonders whether or not it is possible the urban social tissue to be reconstructed, since nothing is anymore what it used to be. Furthermore, today, that the textual tradition does not correspond to the town planning of the same period, the problematic for the production of the indispensable historical knowledge is more than necessary.

The author of the article identifies sites of the Early Bronze Age. By considerably enriching the list of the sites on Lesvos, which had been inhabited during the prehistoric period, he reveals the importance of the island during this era.

In this article the author is touring the existing water-mills of Lesbos and describes the type to which they belong. Water-mills are first mentioned in 1578. On this fertile island with the industrious inhabitants, the water-mills were working continuously until 1913, when they were replaced by steam- and diesel-mills.

The authors of the article guide us around the Paleolithic Lesbos and its characteristic lithotechny, through a concise introduction of the geology of Lesbos. Their contribution in the identification of Paleolithic sites in Greece and in the documentation of the answer concerning our anthropogony is quite significant.

Farsa, a settlement known as Farissa during the period of Venetian occupation (1678), lived until the earthquake of 1953, when it was deserted by its inhabitants. A few late bourgeois houses, mainly belonging to seamen, punctuate this essentially agrarian settlement, which still preserves elements of the local tradition, characterized by functionality and rationalism, elements that have lent Farsa a unique physiognomy.

Από βουδιστικό μοναστήρι στην περιοχή Τζαμάλ Γκαρί.

Plato, Aristotle and the Stoic philosopher Chrysippos, all three made the connection between time, motion, and change. To the ancient Greeks time was the exact opposite of how we think of it today. To them the past lay ahead and the future behind us. Space is a necessary parameter if one is to depict time as an image. In spacetime, geography and history are brought together as one and the same thing . Both in man and in animals the sense of spacetime works like a kind of primordial biological clock as one sees in the case of migratory birds that have an innate sense of direction that helps them find their bearings like experienced navigators. As for historical and mythical time these were experienced by foreign travellers to Greece and recorded as an art form.

Comparing the concept of time between antiquity and today, we discover a complete reversal. The ancients perceived time as running downwards and they were arranging the order of events respectively: the ancestors were placed high up, the descendants followed in a downward direction. In an alternative scheme, where the past was placed in front of the future, the ancestors preceded the descendants. In our time, however, these notions and representations have been reversed completely. Time is ascending, the past is placed at the bottom and the future at the top. Thus, the ancestors occupy the roots and the descendants the branches of the family-tree. In a figurative representation the future leads the past, and the new generations march ahead, leaving the old ones behind. What caused such a radical reversal of concepts and representations? Four intermingling procedures must be held responsible, according to the author of the article: a. The counting of time, starting from the birth of Christ b. The dispute of the ancient authorities, caused by the great geographical discoveries c. The evolution theory, and d. The dispute of the authority of the aged.  

In this paper the doctrines on time of Plato, Aristotle and the Stoics are briefly presented. After a succinct introduction tending to show the relevance time has both for the common human awareness and for philosophers, the author focuses on the connections the creation of universe has with time in Plato's definition of it as a "moving image of eternity" (such as it is presented in the Timaeus). The Aristotelian position of time is treated in the following part of the article. First, the author tries to show Aristotle's challenges to Plato's conception of time; second, he concentrates on Aristotle's characterization of time as "a number of change in respect of before and after", and the relation between movement and time. This section cocludes with a brief reference to Aristotle's thesis that both time and movement are everlasting. Finally, the paper deals with the Stoic view on time: i.e. "the dimension of motion according to which measure of speed and slowness is spoken of", pointing out that (i) time is an incorporeal -something which, albeit not existent, is subsistent; (ii) although the things truly existent (bodies) are the real causes, time -regarded as an incorporeal- plays a crucial role in the explanation of reality, because bodies and icorporeals, it is argued, are complementary terms. In addition to that, some connections with Aristotle are emphasized, too.

Geography is not only the science of Space, but also of Time, since these two concepts are inseparable. However, depending on the era and the geographical schools and doctrines, the Time of Geography appears, disappears and is metamorphosed. The Middle Ages show little interest in Geography and their approach is a scholastic one: Time is frozen in antiquity. The Renaissance revives the interest in the real Space-Time concept, as Geography becomes the instrument for the great explorations and the recipient of the information they produce. Modern Geography meets the great currents running across the history of Europe, such as centralization and absolutism, nationalism, industrial revolution, colonialism, etc. It reaches maturity in the early twentieth century, when, through geographical determinism, it establishes a clear hierarchy of the various time-entities, i.e. earth structure and form, biology world, economy, society, etc. Post-modernism and globalization questioned the harmony of the classical geographical model, but they did not propose reliable alternatives for the revival of the geographical view. Thus, the two main streams of the "new Geography", the quantitative and the Marxist, tried to renew the science by refuting either Time or Space. The article presents various phases of the relation between Geography and Time and underlines that Geography needs to be adjusted to the "new times" of our epoch: the time of the Internet, the time of Dissemination, etc. This adjustment has to rely upon the re-interpretation of the geographical tradition, both modern and pre-modern.  

The European scholars and archaeqphiles who traveled from the seventeenth century on in Greece, in order to be initiated in situ into the vision of the ancient Greek world, which had nourished them, had as "baggage" their classical culture. As they came in direct contact with the Greek space and the tangible remains of the Antiquity, they experienced this vision, which was sealed thereafter with the dialectic relation between past and present, the interweaving of the physically experienced time with the time of history, myth, memory and imagination. The "reflections" of time in their texts and pictures, dating from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century, are sketched in this article, Their common point of reference is the ancient monument, which has a special significance as regards the perception of time in a realistic as well as in a symbolic-imaginary level. The travelers' purely subjective perception of time, notionally and sentimentally charged; their romantic, nostalgic contemplation of the glorious past, as opposed to the meagre present; and finally, their imaginary representations and "dominance" of recollections lucidly appear and are variously manifested in their verbal and visual testimonies.

The embalmed Pharaohs would be very disappointed, if they were able to realize how perishable their embalmment was after all. Sciences have managed to make the notion of Time relevant, to banish it beyond the sphere of Myth and to deprive it of the mask of theatre. However, reality would prove soon that Time was resisting and was continuously masked, under¬taking the disguise of different persons. One can only follow the story of sciences to find it out. Humanity has all the time tried hard to suit itself to a comfortable perception of this notion.

Animals orient themselves in time and space by means of internal daly (circadian) and annual (circannual) clocks. Physiological rythms and the daily and seasonal activities of animals depend strongly on body size small animals live faster and de younger than large animals.However, these intrinsic rhythms need to be coupled to the daily and yearly rhythms of the external world. Thus, animals need a "clock" to regulate and coordinate these rythms. Circadian rythms correspond to the time taken for the earth to rotate about the sun (solar day); lunar rhythms correspond to the time for the rotation of the moon around the earth (lunar month) and circannual rythms correspond to the time taken for the earth to travel around the sun (solar year). Normal levels of many physiological traits, such as metabolism and body temperature, vary on a daily basis, whereas major activities such as migration are regulated on a circannual basis. Several genes controlling biological clocks will lead to new insights in such diverse time-dependet phenomena as aging, jet lag, and drug therapy, all of which have important implications for human health.

Archaeology and education or Archaeology in education: completely different scientific subjects compiled in the analytical curriculum of various educational systems can be connected and combined with Archaeology. The educators-authors of the article organized, through their own curriculum, a "museum" exhibition in their classroom, a most helpful procedure for the introduction and understanding of a large number of concepts and methods.

Finds from the vicinity of Agios Nikolaos in Helioupolis, Attica, are described in this article and are identified as remnants of Patroklos’ camp, situated there during the Chremonides’ war.

A total of fourteen stone tools were recovered from the Lekani mountain range area, close to Kavala in 1982. They include two choppers, six scrapers, three points, two blades and a workable flake. Both cores and flakes of the tools are made of limestone, quarz and jasper. These tools, dating from the Lower, Middle and Upper Palaeolithic along with other finds of Post-Palaeolithic art and artefacts, open up a new chapter in the history of Kavala.

The topic of this article is the ideological use of the classical past during the post-classical period (3rd century B.C.-3rd century ad). The term "Greco-Roman civilization" is used widely in the terminology of Historiography, in order to signify the cultural amalgam that derived from the meeting of the Roman power with the Greek spirit. Regardless of how fluttered the modern Greeks may be by the saying that "Greece subordinated the brutal Latium by its spirit", reality, or at least its fragments, traceable in various sources of the Hellenistic and the Roman-occupied area, narrate a quite different story. It is really sad that only few Greek philologists and historians have dealt with the relation of Hellenism and Rome, the main reason for this attitude being, that the official ideological approach in all levels of Greek education has until recently idealized the fifth-century B.C. Athens. It is probable that Greece's accession into the European Union will emphasize the study of Roman Greece, as the new circumstances that Hellenism will face, will demand the creation of a new, ecumenically oriented ideology.  

The ancient mines of Lavrio have a history of about five thousand years long. Wars have been won and major projects have been realized thanks to their silver production. The study of the technology applied in the mines of Lavrio shows a very advanced know-how that already existed long before the supposed Phoenician influence. The article deals with the perfectly waterproof coating of tanks, channels and other structures pertaining to water, a rare and valuable element in the region. The ultra-red photographs of the waterproof layers showed differences in composition, while the analysis of selected samples proved that the Greeks were using a specific formula for making the waterproof coating; its basic components were pyrolusite, lithargite and sand, which, if heated, were vitrified, and, after being appropriately processed, they were applied on the surfaces to be waterproofed with a brush.  

The introduction of the pumping windmill in the plateau of Lassithi, in the late nineteenth century, represents the interrelation between the local tradition in the exploitation of aeolian energy and the geomorphology of the area that has a rich water horizon. The inventive and restless mind of a carpenter, Emmanuil Papadakis or Spirtokoutis (=Matchbox) from Psychro, who combined the kinetic mechanism of a windmill with the normal suction pump, led to the gradual replacement of the traditional method of pumping water with a hoist pump. To the original first pumping windmills that were stone-built and of a single weather, Spirtokoutis added later the kouloures device, an auxiliary mechanism that could rotate the mill axis according to the direction of the wind. Its modernization and development is ascribed to Stephanos Markakis from Pharssaro village, also known as Marko-stephanis, a Spirtokoutis' apprentice. The technological magazines of the early twentieth century were emphatically referring to its superiority in purchasing cost, manufacturing and performance, in comparison with the relevant American device. The rapid spreading of this technology created the "miracle of the Lassithi windmills", as the newspapers of the time called it. Today, these first wind-driven pumps remain inoperative. Their significance for the promotion of the pre-industria! heritage dictates that necessary initiatives and actions must be taken for the reformation of this unique cultural landscape. Yet, any intervention must balance, on the one hand the conservation and protection of the natural and cultural heritage; and on the other, the suitable development of the district as to become ever-flourishing. The scattered archaeological sites (Diktaion Andron or Phychrou cave, Trapeza cave, Karphi site), the inactive mill sites at Zaroma and Asphedami and the aeolian park of the plateau could thus form a significant cultural asset.

Gandhara, a region in the Northwest Pakistan and South Afghanistan, where the famous Greco-Buddhist school of art was born, has still a lot to reveal and offer. The recent excavations, directed by the author of this article, in the Mardan district, centre of the Gandhara civilization, have yielded interesting finds of Greco-Buddhist and purely Greek art. The Gandhara art, that flourished from the first B.C. to the third ad centuries, and continued to be productive until the sixth century ad, draws its thematic repertoire from Buddhist art. It is a very intricate art, which combines successfully Persian, Greek, Roman and Indian elements with its local artistic idiom, and it is thus enriched with a great wealth of expression.

The relation of Minoans with Egypt is an indisputable fact. The author of the article examines the Egyptian word Keftiu, which leads to its Greek origin, that is translated as "the nail of the earth", the nail meaning "the peak of a mountain". Thus, the name Kefti primarily means "at the nail", a term probably used by the sailors of the Bronze Age to indicate the dominant landmark of Crete, a point of departure or destination, well-known among seafarers: the sharp peak above the homonymous pre-Minoan village, the site of the highest open-air sanctuary of the island. Then two Egyptian papyri are examined, which have been catalogued as medical manuscripts. According to the author, the first (BM EA 10059) refers to the settlement of a misunderstanding (?), in which the Pharaoh was involved, while the second, a medical one indeed, refers to an illness, named "Sawatossis".

Undoubtedly it is an original topic for an article, and at the same time an important issue for the broad public! It deals with the correct information, which should be provided to the visitors of archaeological sites and monuments through relevant signs/tablets, since the archaeological sites serve as outdoors museums. The vicinity of Larissa and a selection of monuments are used as an elucidating example.

The article is a book review by Nikos Eustratiou of a publication about the Neolithic age in Turkey. This was edited by two Turkish archaeologists. In this article, Eustratiou, the Greek expert on prehistoric times, welcomes a publication which brings to us new insights into “the beginnings of the productive Neolithic age “in Anatolia. The rescue exacavations and on location investigations took place when the great dams were being built on the upper banks of the river Euphrates in southeastern Turkey and central Anatolia. In the 236 pages of the book, 17 writers refer to 20 such digs and investigations on the banks of the river. The descriptions are of general interest. All reference and descriptions and attempts of reconstruction of how the finds were used in antiquity, all such reference is written by specialists in the field which is a plus. Furthermore the book is illustrated with such things as complex architectural plans of buildings of the 9th millennium, technological achievements are illustrated, there are pictures of life-size statues, statuettes and miniatures, all these taking up 200 pages of the book. New data comes to the reader’s attention and changes the views held until now about the Neolithic era in the region.

A number of hewn stone covers for pithoi and other vessels were found in the Late Mh settlement of Malthi in Messenia. The methods and techniques employed for making these objects are examined in this article.

Concentrated habitations, distinct in form and use, are observed in Mani, in mountainous and isolated regions, from the Late Byzantine period on. Their special character is obviously due to the use of specific building materials, the financial activities of their inhabitants and mainly the social scheme of these communities: these houses are fortified dwellings of a patriarchal, in its articulation, society. The primary concern of their builders was the fortified character of the edifice that secured an effective defense. This character was dictated and formed by the need for passive protection of the family in periods of political imbalance and lack of central power. Mani is such a typical example throughout its history and especially during the period of Turkish occupation. The alternation of conquerors in the broader area, the rise of theft and piracy, as well as the indisputable and extreme tendency of its people to autonomy, contributed to the formation of its idiomatic architecture and to the survival of an archaic structure in its society (e.g. factions and strong inbreeding), characterized by family vendettas. The sweeping social and economic changes of our time have led to new morphological needs of another way of life, therefore to the abandonment of non-adjustable forms. Thus, the fortified constructions of Kato Mani with their specific functionality, representatives of a peculiar society, today suffer greatly either from an almost absolute abandonment or by often distortive, modern interventions.

The concerns of the local society of his province come down to us in Artemidoros’s writings (dreambook), although he is not versed in theory, has no method and is naïve. Was there a political side to the interpretation of dreams in pre-homeric years? Aristotle would be dismissive of the prophetic, godsent , inspired character attributed to dreams , while at the Inviolate Gallery (the Avaton) of Asklepius at Epidaurus, the supplicants dreamt incubational dreams that were expected to cure them of whatever "trauma" they suffered from. The author of the oldest Christian novel thought up a dream as the prologue to his narrative, a dream that is invented by the novel’s heroine. In a prison in late antiquity, Perpetua keeps a diary of her god-inspired dreams.

The fundamental conflict between the introspective theory of Freud and the predictive theory of Artemidorus has broad and significant implications for historians and psychohistorians. The universal claims of psychology have often led scholars to apply the findings of Freudian or other modern psychological theory to other societies, including the ancient world and Artemidorus, or to evaluate them ideologically as anticipations of Freud. In the first section these ethnocentric tendencies are briefly discussed and it is explained, why they are deeply unhelpful. Freud has been widely influential, but the actual scientific standing of his dream theory is weak and much of it is best treated as culturally relative. Then Artemidorus, like Freud himself, can be understood in his own cultural context. Artemidorus' system of dream interpretation, which occupies the second section of this article, employs a quite unFreudian psychological model. In the final section the later importance of Artemidorus as an authority on predictive dreams and the complex transformations effected by Freud is sketched. Freud himself treated Artemidorus as a great predecessor, through his own system was profoundly different.

The world of the prearchaic communities is a typical world of symbols and images, characterized by cults directly connected with the Earth. The prearchaic man doesnot distinguish the daily life from his nocturne oneiric experiences, which belong to his capacity of seeing the hyperbatic and the holy. Dreams offer to him an alternating status of being through a personal transformation into realities belonging to the kingdom of the suB.C.onscious. In Greece, before the arrival of the Olympian deities, big cult centers as those of Dodona and Delphi are connected with the adoration of the Earth, and dreams play a central role in the fuctioning of religious proceedings. Due to various social changes, cults and religiosity loose their prearchaic character, and dreams become more a personal way of communication between the day life and political progress, that crystalizes into a different way oi divination, regarding the whole society and not just the individual. Political way of life and new types of government that preannounce the democratic city-state determine the differentiation of the religious thought, while in kingdoms of the Middle and Near East, where primitive royal-based societies prevail, the personal oneiric experiences of the monarchs influence the whole society. Dreams and their religious public use involve old patterns of human acceptance of the hyperbatic, as opposed to Greek states, where dream experience soon becomes an isolate and personal phenomenon.

The world of the prearchaic communities is a typical world of symbols and images, characterized by cults directly connected with the Earth. The prearchaic man doesnot distinguish the daily life from his nocturne oneiric experiences, which belong to his capacity of seeing the hyperbatic and the holy. Dreams offer to him an alternating status of being through a personal transformation into realities belonging to the kingdom of the suB.C.onscious. In Greece, before the arrival of the Olympian deities, big cult centers as those of Dodona and Delphi are connected with the adoration of the Earth, and dreams play a central role in the fuctioning of religious proceedings. Due to various social changes, cults and religiosity loose their prearchaic character, and dreams become more a personal way of communication between the day life and political progress, that crystalizes into a different way oi divination, regarding the whole society and not just the individual. Political way of life and new types of government that preannounce the democratic city-state determine the differentiation of the religious thought, while in kingdoms of the Middle and Near East, where primitive royal-based societies prevail, the personal oneiric experiences of the monarchs influence the whole society. Dreams and their religious public use involve old patterns of human acceptance of the hyperbatic, as opposed to Greek states, where dream experience soon becomes an isolate and personal phenomenon.

The healing oracles were based on the chthonic provenance of dreams. This article refers to the Asdepeiqn at Epidaurus, and describes the ritual of sleeping in this sanctuary. Furthermore, it presents the two stone slabs, which, under the general title "Healings performed by Apollo and Asclepius", record forty-three incidents of healing through dreams, that can be assigned to the second half of the fourth century B.C. Finally, an attempt is made to analyse the Epidaurian healing dreams, which are compared to the dreams of the Hippocratic School and to those of the Artemidoros' oneirocritic manual.

Regarding the divinations which are closely related to dreams, Aristotle suggests that neither the belief in these nor their rejection is an easy task, for substantial and positive reasons. The doctrine that dreams are God's mandates is overruled, because these are not only forseen by wise men, but also by the simple and the uneducated. The fact that some dreams come true is a matter of coincidence, although certain movements during the sleep result in certain options of awareness. It has been observed that some acts during the day are repeated in the dreams during the night. About the nature of chance, Aristotle believes that actions due to be performed cannot be realized as expected, because of the interference of various reasons. In fact, dreams are not conceivable by the senses, the opinions or discursive reason, but only by the imaginative power. For imagination, as an exclusively performative power, deserves in itself images and forms of daily life, which it continues to keep, in order to contribute to their recognition during sleep and also to their expression through mental actions. The sense-datum is recorded in perception, even when the object which has been grasped by the senses cannot be observed. Thus, the senses are easily deceived, if the object is conceived through a strong feeling. For this reason he who is fearful believes that his enemies are ante portas. Water and dreams reflect reality alike: if the water is moved suddenly, the image of the object is broken to pieces and cannot be distinguished. Also in dreams, if the internal feeling is too strong, the vision is shattered and takes an unnatural form. Aristotle and Hippocrates consider the subjective mood and inner life of the dreaming person as extremely important, rejecting the view of the objectivity of dreams as fallacious.

On 7 March 203 ad, the 22- year old Vibia Perpetua died facing the wild beasts in the arena at Carthage. What sets this young woman apart from other martyrs of the Christian faith is the testimony she has left of the visions, which led her to seek martyrdom. In prison, and while awaiting trial, Perpetua had a series of dreams which, revealed the future to her step by step, and trace for us the psychological stages of a journey from the human to the divine world. At the same time, through their intimate or mundane details, the dreams evoke the worldly condition renounced by Perpetua - the education, experiences, habits and emotional attachments of an upper-class provincial in Roman Africa. Written in Greek of asuperb simplicity, the prison diary is a precious document for the intellectual history of late antiquity. Analysed against the canon of Artemidoros' oneirocritic handbook, and compared with the writings of another North African visionary, Apuleius, Perpetua's dreams yield evidence on the common late-antique experience of religious conversion.

In the Christian apocryphal text known as Homilies, the adventures of the heroes are caused by dreams. The Roman aristocratic lady Mattidia informs her husband that she has been warned in her sleep to leave Rome along with her twin sons. The third son, Clement, was allowed to stay with his father Faustus. Having lost his wife and elder sons for many years, Faustus sets out to find them all over the Mediterranean Sea, but he is lost too. Twenty years later, Clement leaves Rome seeking answers to his religious and metaphysical anxieties. In Alexandria and Palestine he is converted to Christianity and becomes a disciple of the Apostle Peter. Through Peter's good services, the whole family is reunited. At the reunion each member of the family tells his/her own story, and Mattidia confesses that the dream was her own invention. In her effort to avoid the adulterous proposi¬tions made by her brother-in-law, she had found a way to abandon her home without compromising her reputation. Effectively, the false dream in the novel functions in more or less the same way as the supposedly true dreams of other novels. Nevertheless, whereas real dreams are considered in the ancient world as caused by external factors, i.e. gods or demons, the invented dream in the Homilies is presented as a wish fulfillment. In an unconscious way, the novel's author interprets the mechanism of dreams in a very modern way.

A necessary prerequisite for approaching the socio-economic organization of human groups is the technological study of the archaeological reality. The manufacturing of stone implements is a distinctive characteristic of man and it presupposes thought and abstractive ability, resulting from special nervous interconnections of the brain. The Experimental Archaeology supports the research of Technology, Ethnography of Prehistory, as well as of Typology, and assists in the correct "reading" of the technical interventions that have been imprinted on chipped-stone artifacts, according to their succession. However, the experimental working of the hard in substance, but easy-to-sculpt, flint stones, through a conchoidal knapping, a. Contributes to the distinction between the intentional and the accidental, the easy and the difficult, the essential and the secondary, the natural, automatic product and the result of a conscious manufacturing. b. Represents, a probably unique medium for the evaluation of the extend of influence that non-cultural parameters exercise on the formation of the "physiognomy" of certain stone artifacts. c. Helps us to understand and interpret the behaviour, metal abilities, knowledge, cultural and social status and the economic spirit of the Prehistoric man. d. Contributes to the discovery of various techniques that have been used for the reproduction of a certain method. e. Contributes to the demystifying of the objects of a relevant exhibition, through the refutation of certain myths. f. Helps us to better appreciate the circumstances under which certain artifacts nave been made. Finally, g. Becomes an especially effective method, when it is demostrated in the framework of modern educational programs. However, although the Greek archaeological data are most suitable for a relevant research, many stone-knapping techniques remain unknown as yet.  

The exhibition with the title “ The Neoclassical Athens of Pavlos Mylonas. Drawings and surveys of the years 1941-1955” was the reason that this article was written. The exhibition took place at the Benaki museum in the spring and summer of the year 2000. Mylonas notes the buildings that follow ancient Greek principles in the place of classical buildings. The author of this article argues that ancient, classical prototypes acted as an inspiration to the industrial society in general from 1750 to our day. Classicism was promoted by men of letters and archaeologists as an attitude and theoretical approach to the world of their time and not simply as an excuse for the creation of works of art or of buildings. Painters promoted and applied the rules of antiquity to their work both as a political metaphor and as a choice. Classicism was one of the causes that lay behind the ideology of the social and political revolutions in America (1774), France (1789), Greece (1821) and in the Soviet Union (1917). This is particularly interesting in the case of the Soviet Union. At a time where Classicism in Europe had fallen into a decline and Modernism had emerged as a new, revolutionary movement which the Russian Constructivists theoretically belong to, the communist authorities filled the towns of the Soviet Union with public buildings in the classical style and with “palaces” belonging to the people. In Greece, classicism is connected with the uprising of 1821. With this revolt against the Turks, modern Greek architecture moves away from the post-Byzantine style and takes on a visionary architectural style. The fact that a Bavarian king ruled was of lesser importance. The Academy of Athens is an important example of the Neoclassical style in Greece which, it must be added, was accepted very well by Greek society as a whole.

The creation of the katholikon of the Xeropotamou monastery (1764), from the original planning of the project and the raising of the necessary funds to the completion of its erection, is examined in this article. Source of the relevant research, besides the building itself, was the model of the original architectural scheme, which was found in the monastery, and also a host of information, located in the various texts of Kairsarios Daponte (1713-1781), especially in his unpublished accounts concerning the building. He was not only a monk, but also a well-known scholar and the pioneer of the entire reconstruction project. Kaisarios undertook an eight-year tour in the bordering the Danube principalities, Constantinople and the Aegean islands in order to raise funds for the aforementioned project. During his sojourn in Constantinople, he commissioned the royal architect Constantine to form an architectural proposal, which was expressed in the wooden model on scale, while at the same time he obtained all the necessary building material that he forwarded to the worksite. The iconographic program of the katholikon, which was executed by the well-known-group of the Epirotan painters Athanasios, Konstantinos and Naum, was also created by Kaisarios. The katholikon of the Xeropotamou monastery is significant for the study of the Post-Byzantine architecture, because it offers us the opportunity to trace many, unknown until now, aspects of the procedure of realizing an architectural project in Greece during the years of the Ottoman rule. It is thus possible to investigate the chapter of the architectural design and to identify eponymous creators; to scrutinize the interrelations between Moslem and Greek Orthodox church-building and to clarify many data regarding construction, materials and architectural members; and finally, to collect important information on the cost of materials and services and to reveal interesting details about the assignment of wall-painting entities to groups of religious painters.

Modern society approaches cultural heritage in an extremely peculiar and ambivalent way: on the one hand it destroys the very substance of this heritage, and on the other it pays homage to its symbols -reproducing its typical forms or elevating the antiquity of its various components (antiques, preservable monuments, regional rehabilitation)-, which are used in decorative patterns. This social phenomenon can be explained through psychology, since it can be compared to the story of the sons of the primitive hoard -as it appears in Freud's Totem and Taboo-, who killed and mangled the Father and soon after they worshipped his symbol (totem) and established the first institutions and customs, refe¬rences to their criminal act (totemic meal).  

Both the breastplate and the sword, the latter will be discussed in the next issue of this magazine, along with the other offerings and the bones found in the graves II and III of Vergina by the late Professor Manolis Andronikos are directly related to Alexander the Great and his family, who were reburied in the royal tombs of Vergina after the expulsion of Pyrros in 274/273 B.C. According to ancient historians, Pyrros had pillaged all the royal tombs of Vergina, among which those of King Philip II and Arrhidaeus. These two gold-embellished ancient armors are identical to those worn by Alexander in the great victorious battle of Issos, in 333 B.C., as it is represented in the relevant mosaic in Pompeii. The dimensions of the breastplate are relatively small, corresponding to the physique of Alexander, who was rather short, slim, brawny, with an ephebic countenance, according to the ancient and modern historiographers. The prevailing opinion is that the work was made in the island of Rhodes between 334 and 333 B.C. It is commonly accepted that the model of this work was the breastplate worn during the Trojan War by Achilles, whom Alexander admired and worshipped. An identical breastplate, as Homer refers, was also worn by Agamemnon, the leader of the Achaeans in the Trojan War, which was made in Cyprus and was donated to him by the king of Kinyra.

The writer has already published a book with the title Unuttered Words (2000) where her arguments are drawn from Plato’s dialogue Kratylos. In her book she explains how anagrams are used in the Greek language. Here, in this article, she concentrates on the process of eating and of digestion. Words are formed by rearranging letters such as in ma-stos (breast) which becomes sto-ma (mouth). The mouth (sto-ma) thus is designated as the beginning of the stomach (sto-ma-hi). The words which form a sequence describing the peptic system are sto-ma that becomes mastos, sielos (saliva) that forms the word eileos(ileum), pharynx-oesophagos, and stomachos-stoma.

The proto-Hellene seems to appear in the Palaeolithic, around 750,000 B.C. (Petralona, Chalkidiki Peninsula). He obtains its original name Pelasgos and later produces and offers to our planet perhaps its most creative human race, the Hellenes; since they have such a primeval provenance, the technical, conventional term "Indo-European" (6,000 B.C.) does not concern them, besides that it is equally oxymoron as the "bull-cow" adjective. The Greek primeval man also contributed the first PC, that is his ten figures, therefore, the word "digit" originates from the Greek word δείκτης (deiktis-index finger), "data" from δοτά (dota-given) and the computer "memory" from μνημονικός (mnemonikos= mnemonic). The Greeks are the inventors and founders of globalization, which was achieved in their time through the Greek language, the first international language, the drachma, the first global coin, the Philosophy, the first international culture. The globalized word "bank" originates from the wooden, solid and stable, embedded in the ground, structure (πήγμα>πάγμα> πάγκος;>pang>bank) or bank of the ancient Greeks on which money transactions were made. The Pelasgian or Greek πήγμα or πάγμα, that originates from the Greek word πήγνυμι (=to fasten by thrusting in, to build, to mount or make a table or bank), was originally borrowed by the Etruscans and Romans ("pango"), then by the English, and was later adopted by the entire world ("bank"). The Greek language has been and still is an "in" (from the Greek word εν) language.

The inclusion of late pagan dream theories and their practice into the new Christian society is full of tensions and contradictions. From Christianity’s point of view the dream experience is an expression of real processes in the realm of the supernatural. Even daemons’ dreams can be interpreted. The hermits’ negative approach to dreaming turns into an indepth psychopathology. There is a continuation of the ancient practice of “divination sessions” which centres on the relating of a dream to a special interpreter. The same applies to dreams related to incubation and royal dreams. Ahmet’s Dreambook (Oneirokritikon) was perhaps intended for royal use. With the 12th century revival of antique novels, dreams were used as an excuse to contact Aristotle and the life-giving legacy of antiquity.

This article attempts an overview of the function of dreaming throughout the Byzantine period. With the onset of Christianity dreams remained a form of communication between the natural and the supernatural worlds. The new religion incorporated their ancient functions and aetiologies reshaping them according to its own principles. Two divergent attitudes can be detected in religious literature: Ascetic sources promote a restrained, negative dream theory which emphasises the demonic character of dreaming, while hagiography treats most dreams as god-sent, accepting their prophetic nature. During the iconoclastic controversy dreams join forces with icons in their struggle to gain status and acceptance. With the end of iconoclasm the ancient tradition of oneiromancy resurfaces, enriched by Islamic borrowings, through the circulation of a number of dream-books (oneirocritica). The function of oneiromancy in the Middle and Late Byzantine periods is compared with that of astrology. It focusses on the act of the oneirocritical consultation (i.e. the narration and professional interpretation of dreams), a process which resembles modern psychoanalysis, attending to the personal, everyday needs and aspirations of the individual dreamer.

In this article I study the transition from paganism to Christianity by focusing on the ritual of incubation (enkoimisis). In this rite people sleep in the precinct of a church or a temple in hopes of seeing healing dreams involving gods or saints. Many scholars point to incubation as a prime example of Greek cultural continuity, but if one looks more closely, one sees substantial differences between ancient Greek and Christian suppositions about incubation. The two religions did not consider their practices to be compatible. The dreams of Proclus and the miracles of Cosmas and Damian reveal opposed versions of incubation. Furthermore, the incubation dreams themselves reveal different accounts of the course of history and may be considered as 'ritual historicizations'.

This paper examines the series of dreams in the Vita Basilii, narrated by the text of the Continuation of Theophanes and illustrated by the miniatures of the Escorial Skylitzes. It focusses on the political use and appropriation of prophetic dreams for justifying the irregular rise to the imperial throne of Basil I and the subsequent change of the ruling dynasty of Byzantium. The dreams legitimise this historical process, offering divine approval to Basil and his somewhat unconventional methods. A wide range of dream types is employed, with diverse legitimising functions and specific uses. Their illustrations present us with a unique specimen of depictions of the 'political' historiographical dream. In both their written and painted versions, these dreams clearly serve the holders of political power, but also -through their implied divine origin- the servants of their alleged sender, strengthening the ties of religious authority to political power.

The Oneirocriticon of Achmet is a book on dream interpretation, written in Greek in the tenth century, It is the longest and most important Byzantine work on dream interpretation and has greatly influenced subsequent dreambooks in Byzantine Greek, medieval Latin and modern European languages. A comparison of the Oneirocriticon with medieval Arabic dreambooks shows that the Greek text is an adaptation of Muslim Arabic material, produced for the needs of the Christian readers of Greek. Scholars have noticed that a number of interpretations from the Oneirocriticon could also be found in the second-century ad Greek dreambook by Artemidoros, the oldest and most extensive dreambook surviving In Greek; it was until recently assumed that the Byzantine author had used the ancient Greek text in compiling his own work. However, the comparison of the Oneirocriticon with Arabic dream interpretation shows that any similarity between Artemidoros and the Oneirocriticon is not due to the direct use of the ancient Greek text by the Byzantine author. Artemidoros was translated into Arabic in the ninth century and greatly influenced Islamic dream interpretation, while the interpretations and theories on dream interpretation shared by Artemidoros and the Byzantine text should be attributed to the influence of Artemidoros on the Arabic sources on which the Oneirocriticon was based.

Three novels of the twelfth-century Byzantium survive complete (Makrembolites' Hysmine and Hysminias, Prodromos' Rhodanthe and Dosikles and Eugenianos Drosilia and Charikles). These "revival" novels appropriated the subject matter (romance and adventure) of the ancient Greek novels of about the second century ad This paper considers the use of dreams in "revival" novels in the light of the earlier novels' use within a framework of Bakhtin's notion of "alien speech", i.e. discourse shaped by the perspectives, systems of concepts and values, and language of another. In the ancient novels, dreams presented a foreknowledge or understanding of the will or working of non-human forces; however, in all instances, the Byzantine novels' uses and meanings of the dream subtly clash with the ancient novels' uses and meanings in order to make the phenomenon subordinate either to human action, reason, or initiative, or to subtly-incorporated Aristotelian explanation. The writers of the genres revival were experimenting in a potentially dangerous area: the ancient novel world involved paganism, which had to be rejected or denied. As one means of remaining orthodox, or non-heretical, they subjected their works to compromising changes. Where novel convention called for the intrusion of pagan gods, the Byzantine novelists subtly distorted it, inverted it, or rejected it outright. In turn, within the narrow context of the dream, they turned to their Hellenic heritage and appropriated the voice of Aristotle to deny the reality of supernatural revelation and thus render it and what it depicted as an illusion. But this in itself may even have been moving towards heresy. Thus, in reviving the novel under twelfth-century conditions, these writers attempted to render their activity safe through the use of "alien speech": if charges of heresy had been brought against them, their defences were ready-made.  

The gold-embellished sword of Vergina shows a great resemblance to the one found in the battle field of Marathon, in Attica, and we believe that it served as the model for the Hellenistic weapon. The sword, today in the Archaeological Museum of Vergina, was made in Cyprus and, according to Plutarch, was presented to Alexander by the king of Kition Poumyathon before the battle of Issos. All the characteristic features of the sword, such as the lion, the seated sphinx and the inverted tree, are identified as the symbols of Idalion and Kition, a united Cypriote kingdom at that time. In the religious traditions of many people of the East, the «world» and the «universe», in their broader sense, are represented as a big inverted tree. Thus, by incising this tree on the sword, the Phoenicians of Cyprus, who donated the weapon to Alexander, recognized him as immortal and lord of the «universe».

The article deals with the study of the settlement on the island of Poros and the urban unity Kastelli, as well as with the formulation of proposals for the adminis¬tration and protection of this historical ensemble. Due to the absence of any relevant published scientific study concerning Poros, we tried to investigate in brief the historical and urban evolution of the modern settlement and to distinguish its past historical phases. The recognition of the historical and aesthetic physiognomy of the historical ensemble was chosen as methodology for the formulation of proposals concerning its administration and protection, on the ground that the historical urban area and the natural environment form an unseparable cultural entity, which is regarded as a historical landscape. The charac¬teristics of the historical landscape are the traditional shell, the monuments/points of reference, the natural and built environment, the visual approaches and escapes. The identification of the historical landscape was attempted through the systematic observation of a lithography: a work by M. Stackelberg, dating from the second decade of the nineteenth century, which strikingly resembles to the present situation (fig. 1). The photographying of the landscape from the same spot leads to valuable observations as to what has not considerably changed and what has been perished (see figs 2, 3). The historical physiognomy of the urban unity of Kastelli, on the top of the small peninsula Sphaeria, around Roloi (1927), which functioned as the nucleous of the modern settlement, presents a special interest. The observation of Stackelberg's lithography through a magnifying glass (see fig. 4) reveals a wealth of details, which offers a new perspective to the scientific research and the administration of space. A second urban unity with an obvious defensive character seems to have been created exactly before the grading terraces and a little lower than Kastelli. It should be noted that the name Kastelli, which has survived until today in the oral tradition, is the only indicative reference so far of the existence of a fortified settlement on the peak of the peninsula. The urban tissue that has survived and the geomorphology and strategic importance of the area enlarge the possibility to have also here a small fortified settlement, similar to those punctuating the Aegean. Having the aforementioned data in mind, the strategics for the protection of the historical ensemble sought to formulate proposals concerning: a. The general urban planning. b. The settlement and the Kastelli peninsula. c. The promotion of the cultural character of Poros, a goal which can be achieved through the elevation of the modern history and distinct physiognomy of the island.  

The Tomb of Alabaster , according to its established name lies in the easter edge of the ancient city and is part of an important funerary monument of the Ptolemaic Alexandria. It was found accidentaly in the beginning of the twentieth century (1907), it was excavated and studied originally by E. Breccia and later by A. adriani, who as a matter of fact, recostructed the monument around 1937.

Taking classical Athens as a representative example, we observe that the "polis" (=city) is the nucleus around which civilization is created, given that its foundation signals the development of society as a vehicle of ideology with a religious, political and law-abiding content.

A memorial stands confronting oblivion, represent¬ing the present, definite, tangible dimension of death. The Hesiodic myth of races places bliss in the past. There is a continuous succession in an order of advancing decay. When the course is completed, time starts its reverse flow towards its past. The future is printed in advance in the past, however, the moment, when the two times meet, presents an existential duality: the Word is annihilated and at the same time it is elevated in its supreme perfection. Ancient Greece is keeping a formidable balance between life and death, the two opponents that are never dispensed. These acrobatics are expressed par excellence in the archaic statues, the nude ephoeboi Kouroi and the dressed Korai: The sculptor-creator raises the figure from the amorphous marble mass -its concrete volume was confronting decay in earlier times, and was thus resisting death-, like order and harmony spring from the primeval nothing. In the archaic period the rhythm of the world has just been revealed to man and becomes the ruling rhythm of art. The contrasts of life are packed in the statue, which in reality represents life and death that at the same time confront and complement each other. The ephoeboi Kouroi and the youthful Korai live in an amalgam of time, where the nothingness of death signals the dawn and anticipation of life.  

Martial's epigrams refer to the trading of fragments or failed glass products which were intended to be recycled in the glass workshops. The archaeological finds from the salvage excavations of the last decades in Rhodes confirm the extensive glass recycling in antiquity, known until today only from written sources. The recent finds, located in the town and in the extensive necropolis of ancient Rhodes, prove that glass recycling -of glass remnants and failed products of glassworking- was known not only in the Roman period, but also in the Hellenistic era. Besides the workshop remnants and the failed products of glassworking in the form of cullet, fragments, scraps or deformed objects, there are also recyclable glass products of glassmaking, mainly pieces of semi-melted or glass-transformed raw glass and coloured or colourless chunks, which would give a good quality of well-melted and flexible glass. In the present study, the role and contribution of the recycled products of glassworking and glass¬making is stressed as regards the saying of energy and raw materials, which were used in the making, colouring and working of glass; thus, it is emphasized the multi-lateral technological knowledge of the ancient glass craftsmen, which has more or less remained unknown until today.  

This letter, with no specific addressee, aims to stress the important effect of colour upon the overall psychological mood of man, and furtherm upon his general health.

The authors analyse an icon of St John the Baptist, not yet restored, dating from the early 19th century. A first analysis is achieved by photographing with infra red and ultraviolet rays. Any varnishes which happen to be destroyed, disappear, damages are revealed, fake colours give important information on the composition of the pigments, the chance overlaying of paint may appear as well as other interference and fluorescent organic and inorganic pigments with resins used for coating surfaces. A small, portable device with a great ability for detection was used for the insitu chemical analysis. This device reveals the composition of pigments and their mixtures. Combining all this information, the art restorer can start his job with a knowledge of the materials originally used.

The universe of the sin is a sorted out universe- as are also the iconographic cycles of Byzantine painting in wall-paintings and portable icons. The properly arranged, perfectly sorted out figures, on which we comment here, belong to the iconographic cycle of the church of Hagia Pelagia at Ano Viannos, Herakleion, Crete, and they were painted in 1360. They illustrate the scene of Hell -which is part of the Last Judgment theme-, perhaps the most complete among all the relevant wall-paintings that decorated the churches of Crete in the Byzantine period. The study of such a representation underlines the deeply rooted belief of the common people in the original sin and in the almost full responsibility the woman has for it. This primary guilt exceeds any system of sins compiled and composed to serve certain sociopolitical purposes, and characterizes the popular thought and art. This iconographic interpretation of the Hell comprises the sin from the Old Testament to the Byzantino-Cretan reality and conveys an Ethic well-known to all of us, which concerns both the original sin and the position of the woman in the Myth and in everyday life, One wonders, if this ethical attitude is out-of-date in our time.

The philosophical and ideological foundations for the human centred approach to the design and operation of healthcare institutions seem to have their origin in the Hellenic (Greek) culture, the first anthropocentric culture developed in Europe and the base of the, so called, western civilization. One of the main and prototypic sources for origin research appears to be the Hellenic mythology and especially its part dealing with theogonya. Because under the divine stories of the Hellenic mythology, philosophical and ideological theses are hidden, concerning the original norms and forms of life that derive from "...the deep well of Time, in which Myth has its home». So, when trying to identify the philosophy behind the concept of the ..Human Centred Approach to Healthcare Design", we have to search for original and ideological norms and forms in the myth of Asklepius, the divine physician and god of healing in the Hellenic mythology. According to that myth, the Human Centred Healthcare Design has its philosophical origin in the human effort and in the respect for the divine healing powers of nature, and it is understood as a product of harmonic collaboration between nature and man.  

NAVIS, οθόνη παρουσίασης του ελληνιστικού φοινικικού πολεμικού πλοίου από τη Marsala της Σικελίας, Μουσείο Lilybaeum Στο πλαίσιο του ευρωπαϊκού προγράμματος NAVIS αναπτύχθηκε, χάρη στη συνεργασία επιστημονικών οργανισμών με κοινούς σκοπούς και αντικείμενο έρευνας, ένας δικτυακός τόπος, που επέτρεψε, σε πείσμα των περιορισμών που επιβάλλουν τα φυσικά γεωγραφικά σύνορα, τη δημιουργία ενός «musée imaginaire» της αρχαίας ναυτιλίας. Την εκπροσώπηση της χώρας μας έφερε σε πέρας το Ινστιτούτο Εναλίων Αρχαιολογικών Ερευνών (Ι.ΕΝ.Α.Ε.), ένας ερευνητικός φορέας με μακρόχρονη και σημαντική προσφορά τόσο στη χαρτογράφηση του ελληνικού υποβρύχιου χώρου όσο και στην μελέτη, τη δημοσίευση, την προστασία και την ανάδειξη των αρχαίων ναυαγίων. Ο Χρήστος Αγουρίδης (Ι.ΕΝ.Α.Ε. και Εφορεία Εναλίων Αρχαιοτήτων) μας παρουσιάζει τα χαρακτηριστικά της βάσης δεδομένων NAVIS και την εμπειρία από τη συμμετοχή του Ι.ΕΝ.Α.Ε. σε ένα πρόγραμμα δημοσίευσης αρχαιολογικών αρχείων στο Διαδίκτυο, συμπληρώνοντας τα θέματα ανάπτυξης ψηφιακών αρχαιολογικών αρχείων, που πραγματεύθηκαν οι προηγούμενες συνεντεύξεις (Στήλη Πληροφορική, τ. 78 και 79, Μάρτιος και Ιούνιος 2001) .

Dreams since the 19th century, real dreams, dreams taken from literature. By being recited in public, the dreams in the Mani area become fundamentally social. The expectations of the local “audience”, influenced the children of Naxos in the dreams they saw of the Virgin Mary and Saint Anne. Dreams predict and also challenge the immediate future. They have their own natural language, led by that of the Greeks in Sweden. Dreams, daydreams, fleeting thoughts involve the imagination. Imagination and the narrative nature of both the dream and the short story, made it easy for Visyinos and Papadiamantis to include narratives of dreamlike events in their writing.

In 1930 a long-lost icon of the Panagia was rediscovered on Naxos through the dreams of a twelve-year-old girl, When the icon was returned to the mountain village of Koronos an epidemic of dreaming broke out among twelve-year-old children in the village. Throughout 1930 these children daily reported dreams of the Panagia or St. Anne directing them to find an icon of St. Anne still buried at a place called Argokoili (where the icon of the Panagia had previously been found). This article studies this episode of dreaming drawing on historical and oral historical sources as well as the texts of one of the children's dreams, which have been preserved. The dreams prophesied beneficial consequences for Koronos if the icon of St. Anne were discovered and the Koronidiates applied their skills as emery miners to the search for this buried object. In the end the icon remains undiscovered, and the name for the dreamers and their followers -o/ oneirevamenoi— has taken on disparaging overtones. Argokoili has, nonetheless, developed into the largest pilgrimage on Naxos and some villagers still believe that the icon of St. Anne will be found.

Based on long-term fieldwork in Inner Mani (Southern Peloponnese), which has culminated in the well-known ethnographic publication The Last Word, the author presents dreaming as part of a divinatory complex, tied to the notion of moira. A person's life, as structured by moira, is an economic system formed by relations of debt, obligation, expenditure and compensation. Thus, dream and other warning signs are analogous to the semiology of money. In contrast to the understanding of dreaming as psychological or irrational, the author posits dreaming as deep cultural structures. Divinatory dreaming, which is rooted in codified temporal transformation, is a privileged channel in a muted, under-represented historical experience of everyday life. Dreaming is another form of historicization and thus a theoretical language of analysis and representation equivalent to the "tools" of the "western ethnographer." In this spirit, the author presents her own dreams as a form of vision and expression. She recognizes connections between the logic of dreams and the historical experience of economic transformation in her society and that of Inner Mani. Finally, since it is women who control the interpretation of dream and other warning signs in Mani, as is also the case in the rest of the Mediterranean, the author poses divinatory dreaming as a collective system, a sub-text in the communication of Mediterranean women.

The article consists of two parts. In the first the theoretical background that will define the reading of literature is set, by reading in parallel Artemidoros' Oneirokritika (2nd c. AD) and Sigmund Freud's Die Traumdeutung (1900), on the basis of three notions: the notion of loss that leads to the distinction between the outer and the inner reality; the notion of analogy between the world of dreams, the product of sleep, and that of alert life, and therefore to the proportional relationship, characteristic of the oneiric pictures and the oneiric narration; and the notion of time, since both works project the text of the dream -not its pictures- in a time different from that of its experience and substantiate the notion of time difference. In the second part Vizyenos' and Papadiamandis1 texts are presented, in which the dreams, on the basis of loss, analogy and time difference, create an alternative narrative space and build up the otherness: they break down the realistic conventions, overthrow the consequence of narration and propose the unreal, but in real terms.  

The dreams that migrants experience at crucial points in their lives, such as when they are undergoing depression or illness, express their sense of belonging, which is undergoing transition and change. In this paper, we examine three cases of such transitional dreams of Greek migrants abroad. The dreams are based on collective and cultural memory and are expressed through an idiom of culturally recognized and communally shared images and symbols. Such dreams thus become the means by which migrants experience clashes and problems in their current lives and seek solutions to these matters. Migrant dreams of transition, then, are liminal experiences, oriented towards the future and are expressive and strategic methods, by which migrants dissociate themselves from a previous state and orient themselves towards incorporation into a new identity. This orientation is achieved partly through sharing the interpretation of their dreams with other members of their culture, in a process of discourse and negotiation of personal and cultural identity.

The Greeks of the early historic antiquity ignored the exact location of the heroic Ilion, the sacred city of Priamos praised by Homer, while various sites of the Troad claimed its epic identity. As time passed by, the candidature of New Ilion, the present Hisarlik, was promoted, although it never prevailed. In modern times the search for Ilion continued, and almost all scholars are now persuaded that it was found in Hisarlik through Schliemann's excavations. One, however, wonders, what was the criterion by which this search was made? What were the distinctive characteristics on which this identification was based? The answer is one-dimensional, since the only criterion was the cyclopean walls discovered in the site, which resemble to those of the hypothetical capital of King Agamemnon. On the contrary, the walls considered as the ideal are a mere magnification and an idealization of the shepherds' enclosure, a reflection of the admirable walls of the utopical Scheria: walls made of poles and stones, alike the Achaeans' walls. Homer describes the walls of Ilion as having the same features, using the relevant epithetical adjuncts. Their probable difference lies in their height, size and in the absence of moat. As regards the cyclopean walls of Mycenae, they served in fact as the starting point not of Homer, but of the Homerists, the earlier and the later ones. A starting point that progressively becomes even more doubtful, insecure and problematic: The poet not only makes no reference whatsoever to the Mycenaean walls, but it seems that he also locates Agamemnon's city in a completely different site from the one -or ones- the early and late antiquity have located Mycenae.  

In the modern big cities the problem of the capacity of cemeteries has become crucial, because of the overpopulation, the scientific approach to the cemeteries must search for the identity of the site of the dead, the identity that is of the spatial unity to which the heavily charged function of burying and keeping the dead belongs. As the historian of Urbanism L. Mumford has stressed, the City of the Dead preceded the City of the Living. The settlement of the dead preluded the foundation of cities, the history of which starts from the primitive tumuli and is completed with the various sorts of necropoleis or the cemeteries of the Christians. The visitors of the Hellenic cities would meet with a series of graves along their entrance: the ideological, intimate approach of the "natural" was in accordance with the Hellenic perception, in which the prevailing notion was the spirit, the reasoning; therefore, life in its material form would result to death, a natural end and at the same time a new beginning for a fresh, immaterial life from then on. The most important and impressive cemetery of ancient Athens was Kerameikos, spreading along both sides of the road leading to the Academy. It included the famous Public Sema, that is the graves of politicians, militaries and all those who had offered exceptional services to their motherland. The Hellenic urbanism and architecture dealt with all expressions and manifestations of life. The city, the house, the temple, the grave express the meaning of continuity and rate the values, among which the spirit comes first, then the soul and the practical needs follow. From the historical point of view the degree of reconciliation of life and death varies, and thus varies the relation of the site of the dead with the other functions of the settlement: from the repulsive site of death, a place of horror and ghosts, to the hospitable, ideal for meditation, area of the park-garden of the dead, that adorns a city. The cemetery of Pere Lachaise in the nineteenth-century Pans speaks for the aesthetic value of the 'site of the dead" in the Romantic Europe; while Brongniart's conception of the picturesque garden-cemetery has played a decisive role in our notion of the cemeteries. Needless to say that the urban evolution and the bursting development of the cities transformed the peripheral parks-cemeteries to inner, central many times, clusters of green. The demographic flood led to densely populated cemeteries, alike our modern cities. The sanctity of the site of the dead has become a mere religious pretence with significant marketability. However, the practices related through time with the site of the dead have bequeathed to us a precious cultural heritage: the ideology, the rational and psychological attitudes and the ways through which the people of the past were facing life and death. The study of the site of the dead is among the important subjects of the archaeological science. It is about time to start thinking what will be the picture of our modern civilization if it is to be interpreted through our cemeteries — that we are going to inherit to History?  

History overtakes the narration of events. According to Braudel, history is “the dialectic (the debate) between time and things”. According to Piaget it is “a timeless sociology”. School textbooks, however, have not yet been informed about this. The chapters on art, cut off from their historical context, do not make use of art’s educational nature or as a source of history. Nevertheless, by vividly illustrating how things were in the past, a “picture” cultivates the notion of historical time in childrens’ minds. The senses participate in the learning procedure with sight leading by 83%, followed by hearing at 11%. Presentation equipment brings even rare or distant objects and monuments to life and makes them accessible to children. It simultaneously cultivates observation, and promotes team work and critical thinking. The most important pictures are those works of art that are related to events or historical periods. The internet can actively participate in interactive teaching. Search tools with key words and the exchange of e-mails, advance discussion and the exchange of different viewpoints. The wealth of material on the websites of Greek and foreign museums and other institutions document historical information and fire the imagination of students to recreate past societies. The challenge for students is to master further learning. History’s structure is supposedly based on the following concepts: evidence, causality, empathy, change, time. Practices in empathy, are the abilities students develop, by approaching different aspects of history through their imagination.

The sanctuary of Artemis in Vravrona, on the eastern coast of Attica, is counted among the most important religious complexes of antiquity. This study comprises a short presentation of the stoa of the sanctuary and its restoration. The deep landslide has seriously damaged all the buildings of the sanctuary. Therefore, the decay of the building materials has been recorded, according to macroscopic observations, and its basic agents have been estimated, on the basis of an environmental study. Given the aforementioned data, a proposal for the protection of the monument has been composed.

The Neolithic era was incorporated in the main body of the Aegean prehistory, when Christos Tsountas published the results of his research into the two Neolithic acropoleis of Dimini and Sesklo (1908). Throughout the years that followed, however, the way that scholars have perceived the Neolithic era has not been either uniform or common. The reason is that the understanding of each cultural unity and the relevant questions that follow derive from the broader scientific problematic of the period to which each scholar belongs; therefore, the cultural physiognomy of the Neolithic assumed quite many aspects through time, depending on the very nature of the interpretation procedure. The different interpretations of the Neolithic era that have been occasionally attempted have followed to the letter the broader developments in the field and theory of Archaeology, defining each time new thematic topics and new methods for their research. Given the relation between the broader thinking systems and the historical context in which they are developed (Skouteri-Didaskalou 1979, Kalpaxis 1993), we can support the parallel course of theoretic trends and their time on the one hand; and the common route of specific perceptions of the Neolithic and the research topics of its thematic on the other. In the framework of this brief note on the Neolithic era in the Aegean we will present the history of the Neolithic through the story of our knowledge about it, outlining the main turning-points of the archaeological thought, with reference both to the thematic topics that developed from time to time and to the circumstances of their appearance.  

On the west coast of Lemnos, in the natural harbour of Myrina and at the foothill of Kastro, a representation of a rowing ship is incised on the vertical, carved surface of a rock. The dating of the ship presents difficulties, not only because of the poor preservation of the image; the site seems to have been frequented from the Geometric to the Roman period and until today, therefore the incision of the ship cannot be undisputably ascribed to any historic phase.

Stone as a building material has been used by almost all structural civilizations, when available in their environment. The so-called mitata, the circular, stone-built lodgings on the Psiloreitis massif, the church of Agios Hyakinthos at Anogeia and the out-doors sculpture-monument for Peace, created by Karina Raeck on the Ida plateau, all three on the island of Crete, speak for the continuity of a long tradition in dry stone-building. The Partisan of Karina Raeck is a monument of land art in the Nida plateau, a palimpsest in reality, which narrates fascinating stories about its Cretan cultural landscape, such as the Cretan Zeus' and the Kourites' myths, the wild and rough nature and its people, the Battle of Crete, the holocaust of the Anogeia by the Germans and the National Resistance. It is made from almost 5,000 stones and is essentially one more dry stone structure, like the mitata dotting the Psiloreitis massif. Their slated roofing, which appeared on Crete 5,000 years ago in the vaulted tombs of Messara, has not ceased to be employed and continues to inspire. The larger mitata continue to be in use in the broader periphery of Anogeia, while some of them have been restored. The church of Agios Hyakinthos, in perfect harmony with the local tradition, has introduced a new symbolic function to this established building type.  

Until the 1st of July, 2001, the visitors of the Palazzo Grassi in Venice could admire an extremely interesting archaeological exhibition, which reviewed the Etruscan history from its birth to its decline, thus reviving the myth of this most fascinating civilization. All the basic parameters and qualities that characterize the short but intensive historical presence of the Etruscans were thoroughly analyzed in the 4000 square meters of the exhibition area. More than 700 items of enormous artistic merit were exhibited, loans from 80 museums and private collections from thirteen different countries. The impeccable setting of the exhibition and the rich information and audio-visual material created for the visitor an ideal course, through which one could get acquainted with the major components of the first civilization that has bloomed in the Italian peninsula. The financial basis of the lords and the privileges of the aristocracy were projected and documented; the tendency of the ruling class to demonstrate its wealth was underlined, and the important role of women in the community was stressed; finally, the ideological foundations of the society were outlined: the cult of the ancestors, the significance of religion and divination, the ritual of feasts and the strong symbolism of burials. The Etruscan civilization flourished from the mid-eighth to the late fifth century B.C., and the Etruscans firmly dominated almost the entire Italian peninsula. The exhibition tried to answer to some of the major questions concerning the history of the Etruscans: their origin, language, everyday life and society; as well as to solve the puzzle of their total disappearance from the stage of history after the first century AD. A large part of the exhibition was dedicated to the famous Etruscan funerary monuments, which represent our main source of information, since they are almost the only buildings of the Etruscan civilization that have been preserved until today. The major towns of the Etruscans, such as Veio, Tarquinia, Caere etc. were surrounded by huge necropoleis -perhaps the most extensive ones in the entire ancient world-, which in certain cases were even larger than the towns themselves. Of special interest is a characteristic peculiarity of the Etruscans' society, which distinguishes them from their contemporary peoples: the important position of the female sex in the closed Etruscan aristocracy. Women played a protagonistic role as guardians of rules and values and guarantors of the power of the nobility. They enjoyed freedom of action, they owned the right of education, they could inherit fortunes and they could undertake the financial conduct, if a husband had passed away, rights, that is, absolutely unusual in that time. Finally, the enormous impact of the Greek and Roman civilization on the evolution of the Etruscan history was examined. The Etruscans borrowed from the Greeks the model of administration and of everyday life, and, enchanted by their culture, adapted it to their local traditions, in order to shape their own cultural physiognomy. The Romans, on the contrary, initially copied the Etruscans, then they became their allies, finally they conquered and incorporated them in their empire, using a procedure which assimilated and gradually obliterated them as a people.