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	<title>Love of History &#187; greece</title>
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	<description>A historical perspective of current events</description>
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		<title>Morality of Money in Ancient Greece and Rome</title>
		<link>http://loveofhistory.com/morality-of-money-in-ancient-greece-and-rome/</link>
		<comments>http://loveofhistory.com/morality-of-money-in-ancient-greece-and-rome/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 03 Jan 2020 15:32:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[constantinakatsari]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Ancient]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ancient]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Coins]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[greece]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[money]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rome]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://loveofhistory.com/?p=3719</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[How many times have you used terms loaded with moral judgement when you mention money? How many of you think that money is ‘evil’ or that debt is ‘disgraceful’? How many of you watched Benefits Street in 2014 and argued with disdain that you would never end up in this position? For those of you who do not watch tv, Benefits Street was a documentary series broadcast in Channel 4. It showed benefits claimants committing crimes, thieving and cheating. It was so successful (despite the opposition) that it continued in a variety of forms, e.g. Benefits Britain: Life on the Dole in Channel 5 and The Great British Benefits Handout again in Channel 5. The moralising comments the series received are short of extraordinary in this day and age, when we kind of understand how economics work. For the past few years, I listened in utter amazement to people in the streets trying to justify the fact that they were disabled or homeless and consequently had to claim benefits in order to survive! The moral police was certainly in the corner overhearing the discussions and delivering profound judgements! This phenomenon is not new. In fact its existence can be traced back to the Greco-Roman world. Its roots are dug deeply into ancient philosophy. According to the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (3rd ed.), moral philosophy is the part of philosophy which treats of the virtues and vices, the criteria of right and wrong, the formation of virtuous character and the like.  In this post I would like to make a few hints on the moral principles that ancient Greeks and Romans were supposed to follow concerning the economy in general, and money specifically. These principles were established mainly by ancient Greek philosophers and were subsequently adopted by the Romans. An interest towards the morality of money can easily be seen in Aristotle’s Ethica Nicomachea or even Politika. In ancient Greek society, morality included not only principles regarding justice, autarkeia (independence of economic means), balance of needs and goods, but it also influenced the economic thoughts and the economic functions of the State and the people.  On the other side, politics (politike) formed constitutions based on these principles. Greeks and subsequently Romans combined morality, politics and economy in their thinking in order to achieve their ultimate aim: the welfare of the individual and of the society. Specifically, the influence of morality on the economy magnifies the economic results. It also enhances human happiness, since it balances the needs towards the available goods and it restricts the unnecessary accumulation of wealth. After all such immense wealth might lead the citizens to unjust actions. Or so the ancients thought, before Neoliberalism dominated all aspects of politics and economy at the end of the 20th century and beyond. Aristotle believed that virtues, and especially the virtue of justice (which is the ultimate principle of political economy) had to influence the behaviour of the state.  From this point of view, the virtues that define ‘arete’ (the ultimate virtue) may also define the economy. The conclusion of ancient Greek philosophy was that political, economical and ethical criteria should be in harmony with each other so that society and economy might not only survive but also flourish. The interconnection between these aspects could not be doubted as they all worked together towards the happiness of the individual. The Romans were the faithful followers of the Greeks, when it came to the main principles of the morality of money. Two major historiographical works from the first half of the third century AD contain valuable information on the subject: the Roman Histories of Dio Cassius and Herodian.  Both writers belonged to the educated urban classes; Dio was a senator and Herodian was a knight.  Effectively, they were both owners of substantial wealth and involved in the imperial politics of their time. Both held similar views about how humanity in general, and the emperor in particular, should behave, when it came to money. The historians give us a plethora of moral comments concerning the use of money by the emperor and his role in the welfare of the empire as well as the happiness of the individuals. They also attempt to distinguish between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ emperors and to ascribe different moral characteristics to each one of them. Monetary terminology tends to be loaded with moral afterthoughts that eventually would have influenced monetary policies. After all, which emperor would have liked to be judged and fall short of this judgement posthumously? For example, all emperors were severely criticised every time they were trying to find new ways to raise funds or raise taxes.  Some of their revenues were acceptable and honourable, while some others caused the condemnation of the historians (as well as the general public). The rulers probably had a clear idea of what was just and what was unjust revenue (dikaios kai adikos poros) (Dio 78.10.4). The use of the word ‘dikaios’ does not imply that the emperor was liable towards the law for his fiscal decisions. On the contrary, he was only restrained by the moral code of his era.  Herodian and Dio do not give us an exhaustive list of the regular revenues of the State or which of these were acceptable, but they make certain comments that show their approval of some and their disapproval of others.  Specifically, Dio Cassius seems to be in favour of the fiscal policy of certain emperors of the second century AD (the so called Adopted Emperors), such as Nerva, Trajan, Marcus Aurelius and Pertinax.  It is significant that all of them reigned during the second century AD and not later, before the socio-economic and political crisis of the empire started.  Their main similarity is that they handled their own property as if it belonged to the Roman people, without concern for their own benefit.  For example, Nerva ‘when he run short of funds, he sold much wearing apparel and many vessels of silver and gold, besides furniture, both his own and that which belonged to the imperial residence, and many estates and houses &#8211; in fact everything except what was indispensable’ (Dio 68.2.1-3).  The same policy followed Marcus Aurelius who ‘exposed in the Forum all the heirlooms of the palace together with any ornaments that belonged to his wife, and urged any who so desired to buy them’ (Dio 72.fragments) while Pertinax ‘raised money as best he could from the statues, the arms, the horses, the furniture, and the favourites of Commodus’ (Dio 74.5.4); Trajan and Septimius Severus because the first ‘drained no ones blood’ (Dio 68.7.1) and the second ‘raised money from every source, except that he killed no one to get it’ (Dio 77.16.1). We should not assume that our historians condemned the use of money. On the contrary, they acknowledged the necessity and they declared that ‘money was the sinews of sovereignty’, although the imposition of taxes or other contributions could trigger the anger of the population.  On one hand they understood the practicalities related to money and the necessity of strict monetary policies. On the other hand, they did not hesitate to use morally loaded language to describe the financial actions of individual emperors. It’s not the money that the Romans were afraid of but its use. At the hands of the wrong people wealth could cause a lot of suffering to the citizens and damage to the state. During the first half of the third century, when Dio Cassius and Herodian lived, they had the opportunity to see with their own eyes the effects of the political and military anarchy that burdened the empire on the citizens. They witnessed the swift succession in the upper echelons of society following the demise of the emperors, one after another. And they probably felt the results also in their daily lives and the lives of their children; that is, if they survived the political machinations. Certainly such an experience would have led them to the scrutiny of the monetary policies with religious and moral tools. Their moralising comments have two aims: a) to explain the causes of the situation, and possibly b) to give subtle advice to the emperor, who was responsible for the financial policy of the State. Do not fool yourselves that their writing did not have the stamp of approval from the emperor that was leading the empire at the time. Otherwise, the historians would not have lived long enough to publish their works! They would not have criticised their own emperor directly, unless they had a death wish. The ideal ruler, whom they describe in their work, derives from the wisdom of ancient greek philosophers, such as Aristoteles. They emphasize on his benevolent role, which is attested in the way he balances revenues and expenditure without turning into unjust practices.  The emperor’s just and moderate administration would guarantee Common Benefit and, in turn, individual happiness.  We do not have any evidence that the emperors were aware of Aristotle, or the need for a benevolent role for them. What we do know is that the upper echelons of society (to which our historians belonged) would have subscribed to these ideals.]]></description>
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		<title>The American School of Archaeology in Corinth</title>
		<link>http://loveofhistory.com/the-american-school-of-archaeology-in-corinth/</link>
		<comments>http://loveofhistory.com/the-american-school-of-archaeology-in-corinth/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 24 Nov 2019 15:43:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[constantinakatsari]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Archaeology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ancient]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[archaeology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Colonisation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[corinth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[greece]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://loveofhistory.com/?p=3704</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Recently a few photographs appeared in the Facebook page of the American School of Archaeology at Athens. They were photographs of the diaries of the first American archaeologists who excavated Ancient Greek Corinth. The excavations started at the end of the nineteenth century in 1896 and by now we have diaries that cover this year until 2007. Specifically, there are 1116 excavation diaries (digitalised) of around 200 pages each. This is a wealth of information for modern archaeologists of ancient Corinth as well as historians of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. As you probably already know, Corinth was one of the most significant cities in the ancient Greco-Roman world. It played pivotal role in the Peloponnesian war, in the Macedonian wars, and later, in the establishment of Roman power and the gradual colonisation of Greece. The decision of the Americans to undertake the excavations of such an important city, which was so close to Athens, was not an accidental (or incidental) one. It was part of the modern attempts by the Great Western Powers to culturally colonise Greece after the foundation of the Modern Greek State in the early nineteenth century; a Greece that may have been poor in money and power but was certainly wealthy in tradition and history. So wealthy, that it influenced the western civilisation as a whole. A similar process of cultural colonisation was followed also in the centre of nineteenth and twentieth century Athens. Yiannis Hamilakis describes it eloquently in his article “Double Colonization: The Story of the Excavations of the Athenian Agora (1924-1931)” in Hesperia  82:1 (2013). Through the clashes between evicted residents and the archaeologists who excavated the Athenian Agora, he analyses a complex process of double colonisation: the colonisation of Greece by the ideals of Hellenism and the colonisation of the specific locality by modern archaeology. As you read the article, it is intriguing to watch the diplomatic games unfolding in the shadow of the $250.000 dollars that the Rockefeller Foundation donated for the excavations. As the Americans demanded undivided loyalty from the Greeks in their vision of the Athenian Agora, animosity against the project seemed to become deeper. The excavations eventually became the National project of two countries, Greece as well as the United States of America. It also became the battleground of nationalist ideologies for people (Greeks as well as Americans) who claimed to be descendants of the ancient Greeks. The only losers in this process were the poor displaced residents of the area. It looks like the excavations at Corinth were not marred by similar dramatic developments. Still, they were used in the forging of two disparate national identities, the Greek one and the American one. Consequently, the importance of the archaeological investigations remains significant for the study of the ancient and the modern world alike. This importance was acknowledged in the US in 1932, when the benefactor Ada Small More donated a substantial amount of money towards the building of the modern museum in Corinth. Almost two decades later &#8211; in 1950 &#8211; the same benefactor arranged the expansion of the museum, which desperately needed to host the new findings. The visitor today can attest to the glory of the ancient city, when she or he sees the Roman agora, the temples, the baths. I mention the Roman buildings because very few Greek monuments survived the animosity of the Roman conquerors that levelled the city in 146 BC. Even so, we can still see Apollo’s temple from the 6th century BC; the temple was known to the second century AD travellers Pausanias and Plutarch who describe it for the benefit of future generations. The site attracts around 200,000 tourists a year, even if it is off the main track of known antiquities. And, as if tourists were not enough, the archaeological site is used for the training of new students of archaeology. If you ever visit Ancient Corinth during the summer, you will see them toiling under the scorching sun! Currently the archaeological site is far away from the city of Corinth. I have been lost more than once trying to find it, while using only the ambiguous signs. GPS technology, since then, made my life infinitely easier, though not as interesting. But what would the site have looked like more than a century ago? You can imagine the few American archaeologists -predominately from affluent families &#8211; that descended upon the rural countryside at the end of the nineteenth century. At that time, people were poor farmers that barely survived after hard winters. The archaeologists brought plenty of money with them, which they used either to rent the fields or buy them outright. The farmers traded their agricultural activities for archaeological ones. The Americans would have hired at least 100 people at a time to dig the area. They received a substantial salary that allowed them to leave their fields and their crops for the duration of the excavations. And if one of the locals wanted to ask “What did the Americans do for us?” (apart from colonising the area and buying off the land and its people)… well… they actually brought sanitation in the area. In this region people suffered chronically from malaria and typhus. The Americans attempted to close the open wells, and purified the water with chlorine. They also re-routed the waters in order to drain the swamp. Despite local suspicions, they managed to enhance the life of the people in the region. The archaeological diaries of Corinth may sound tedious for the non-expert but they hide historical truths about the ancient Corinthians as well as the modern ones. At this point, I would not like to bore you with details related to the stratigraphy, the note taking, or the description of the artefacts. For more information on those, visit the following article by Meropi Kokkini here https://www.lifo.gr/articles/archaeology_articles/251926/selides-apo-ta-imerologia-ton-amerikanon-arxaiologon-poy-eskapsan-stin-korintho . Sorry, it is in Greek but for those who are determined Google Translate can do miracles! I would urge you, though, to take a closer look at the photos with the amazing material coming straight from the past.]]></description>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Memory and impression: A walk-through in the Peloponnese.</title>
		<link>http://loveofhistory.com/memory-and-impression-a-walk-through-in-the-peloponnese/</link>
		<comments>http://loveofhistory.com/memory-and-impression-a-walk-through-in-the-peloponnese/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 08 Nov 2019 09:50:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[constantinakatsari]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Coins]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ancient coins]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[conference]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[greece]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://loveofhistory.com/?p=3688</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Tegea, 12–13 December 2019 The event is set to function as a herald of the temporary exhibition Memory and impression: A walk-through in the Peloponnese using ancient coins as a guide (to open in May 2020 at the Archaeological Museum of Tegea). The contributions to the Colloquium include perspectives by historians, numismatists, archaeologists, art historians, and so on, broadening the spectrum of the approaches and the information to be offered.  Organisers: KIKPE – Stassinopoulos-Viohalco Foundation – Ephorate of Antiquities of Arkadia Coordination: Yannis Stoyas, KIKPE Numismatic Collection, and Anna-Vasiliki Karapanagiotou, Ephorate of Antiquities of Arkadia Photo: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Greek_Silver_Stater_of_Corinth.jpg]]></description>
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		<title>Philhellenism at the Onset of the Greek Revolution</title>
		<link>http://loveofhistory.com/philhellenism-at-the-onset-of-the-greek-revolution/</link>
		<comments>http://loveofhistory.com/philhellenism-at-the-onset-of-the-greek-revolution/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 24 Oct 2019 09:36:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[constantinakatsari]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Modern]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[greece]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[greek revolution]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[modern history]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Philhellenism]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[In the first years of the Greek revolution the government of the major European governments had little sympathy for it.  Those governments’ subjects however often took a very different view.  Travellers had increasingly visited Greece when the Napoleonic wars had made the Italian Grand Tour impossible, and had written glowingly of their experiences.  The study of Latin and Greek was the mainstay of higher education.  Many saw the Greeks as representing Christianity embattled against Islam, and as the birthplace of Europe’s civilization resisting the barbarism of Asia.  Perhaps only in the foreign reactions to the Spanish civil war of the 1930s has there been such a sharp contrast between the cold abstention of governments and the passionate involvement of individuals. The shocks of the Napoleonic wars shaped the policies of the European powers in the following decades.  In November 1815 at the close of the Congress of Vienna the victors over Napoleon – Britain, Russia, Austria and Prussia – signed a treaty continuing for twenty years their Quadruple Alliance, which was pledged to uphold by force the post-Napoleonic settlements in Europe.  Three years later France was added to the group making is a Quintuple Alliance.  To sustain the so-called concept of Europe, the powers were to meet at regular congresses ‘for the purpose of consulting upon their common interest and for the consideration of the measures most salutary for the maintenance of the peace of Europe’.  It was from the second of these congresses in 1821 that Tsar Alexander sent his uncompromising denunciation of Alexander Ipsilantis’ incursion into Moldavia and Wallachia. In time the Holly Alliance was endorsed by all Europe’s rulers except the Pope, the non-Christian sultan naturally, and Britain on the ostensible grounds that George III was incapable and the Prince Regent not yet the monarch.  The Holy Alliance was anathema to progressives.  As Shelley wrote in the preface to Hellas, in a passage which the cautious writer omitted from the first edition: ‘This is the age of the war of the oppressed against the oppressors, and every one of those ringleaders of the privileged gangs of murderers and swindlers, called Sovereigns, look to each other for aid against the common enemy, and suspend their mutual jealousies in the presence of a mightier fear.  Of this holy alliance all the despots of the earth are virtual members.” However, those who joined or endorsed the Holy Alliance were far from enthusiastic about it: Metternich dismissed it as ‘a high-sounding Nothing’, Talleyrand as ‘a ludicrous contract’.  Nevertheless the formation of the Holy Alliance seemed to signal a commitment by governments to act from religious principle rather than self-interest.  In theory this might mean that Greek appeals to altruism would win support from governments in the same way as from individuals.  But there was of course an inherent and disabling contradiction in the principles of the Holy Alliance when applied to the Greek situation:  the Alliance’s commitment to uphold the Christian religion meant support for the Greeks, but its commitment to uphold government meant support to the Sultan.  Thus in the Greek conflict the influence of the powers of Europe would inevitably spring from their own national interests, and the only hope for Greece was that these interests might come to coincide with her own. A number of foreigners took ship in 1921 to go and fight for the cause of Greek independence; among them ex-soldiers, murderers, intellectuals and aristocrats.  Marseilles was the pint of departure for most of the early philhellenes.  Eleven ships sailed from there between the outbreak of the revolution and the end of 1822, carrying in all some 360 volunteers, the largest contingents coming from the German states, France and Italy.  At the end of 1822 the French authorities closed the port to ships bound for Greece, perhaps because France was now following Meternich’s pro-legitimacy lines, or because reports of returning philhellenes showed that volunteers would only find misery, death and ingratitude.  But in the early days optimism and idealism run high.  Throughout France, the German states and Switzerland politicians, churchmen and university professors proclaimed the triple message that Europe owed its civilization to the ancient Greeks, that the modern Greeks were their descendants, and that Greece could be regenerated by driving out the Turks. The message appealed particularly to the idealistic young.  A youthful doctor in Manheim said that the call went through him like an electric shock.  A theology student in Prussia was excited by the idea of fighting were Epaminondas and Themistocles fell.  The other two main groups who rallied to the Greek cause were demobilized soldiers and political refugees, and many volunteers were both.  For example,  the Wuerttemberg count General Normann, who had fought both for and against the French in the Napoleonic wars and was thus not welcome in any army, led a motley German battalion to Greece from Marseilles in January 1822. Apart from those with an obvious motive for going to Greece – idealism, soldiering, exile – the philhellenes included a clutch of eccentrics: a Bavarian china manufacturer intending to set up a factory in Greece, an out-of-work French actor, a dancing master from Rostoc, and even a Spanish girl dressed as a man. Many of the volunteers were rich enough to pay for their own travel on the road to Marseilles and on the voyage to Greece.  But many others, especially the idealistic young depended on the goodwill of others and committees were therefore formed to raise money to help the volunteers on their way.  The most numerous were in democratic Switzerland, unaffected by great-power politics, where virtually every town had an active Greek society.  The most practical were in the German states.  Thus the enthusiastic young philhellenes on the way to Marseilles became a familiar sight on the roads to Europe. ‘In different parts of the country’, wrote an English traveler, ‘I met with numerous companies of young men on foot, with knapsacks at their backs, on their way to Marseilles, there to embark for Greece.  These parties appeared to be composed chiefly of young German recruits and runaway students, and from the boisterous enthusiasm which they generally manifested, it was my endeavour always to avoid them as much as possible.’ Associations to help the Greek cause were not restricted to the central parts of Europe, nor to raising money to help individual volunteers on their way.  Greek committees were established in Spain, France, England, Russia and America.  Their activities included raising subscriptions to help the Greeks directly by sending money or supplies, organizing relief for Greek refugees from the conflict, and pressing their governments to act on the Greeks’ behalf.  In Spain Madrid has a claim to have formed the very first Greek committee.  France was last in the field.  There was an early outpouring of French pamphlets supporting the Greek cause – over 30 in 1821-2 – but a specifically Greek committee was not established until February 1825 in Paris.  By then Greece had moved into the foreground of public and government concern, partly because of the profound impression made by the death of Byron, partly because the outcome of the war came to be more clearly seen as affecting France’s national interest. In England the question of support for Greece became entangled in domestic politics.  Its earliest expression was in October 1821 from Dr Lempriere, author of the famous classical dictionary, with an appeal for funds published in the Courier, normally a paper reflecting the views of Tory government.  But the Courier quickly abandoned the cause of the Greeks.  The editor ‘changed his note in a very few days when he found that [his sentiments] were unpalatable go our Government’.  The Tory government line was that neutrality meant not attempting to support the Greek cause with funds, men or equipment; a Tory philhellene was a contradiction in terms.  Canning, however, in 1822 took the view that private subscriptions could go hand in hand with official neutrality, so that England’s influence in Greece could be strengthened without jeopardizing the alliances of powers.  Thus in March 1823 the time was  ripe for the formation of the London Greek Committee, but even this was a reflection of domestic politics.  Out of nearly forty members of the parliament in the committee of 85 virtually all were Whigs, Radicals and Independents.  Another feature of the list was the number of Scottish and Irish names, suggesting that ‘perhaps philhellenism provided a kind of surrogate for nationalist motion which lacked expression at home’.  The London Greek Committee was, in short, a protest movement, and opposition to the government was the prime qualification for membership of it. In the United States Greece found an immediate champion in Edward Everett.  He was elected professor of Greek in Harvard and visited Greece.  In 1820 he became editor of the North American Review and in 1824 a member of Congress.    In 1821 Korais sent Everett the Greek appeal that ‘it is in your land that Liberty has fixed her abode’, so that ‘you will not assuredly imitate the culpable indifference or long ingratitude of the Europeans’.  At Everett’s instigation this appeal appeared in the newspapers.  There followed a cataract of pro-Greek articles in the press.  They praised Greek heroism, condemned Turkish atrocities while ignoring or explaining away Greek ones, and published local pro-Greek activities. These activities were many.  Some of the earliest Greeks sent provisions to Greece.  In 1821-2 Charleston sent fifty barrels of dried meat and Springfield sent flour, fish, meat and sugar.  Fund-raising associations sprang up most of them channeling thair contributions through the committee of New York.  By the end of 1824 the New York Committee alone had raised the equivalent of 8000 dollars ( a sum as large as all the subscriptions which the Greek Committees have been able to obtain in England for the past 18 months).  In Russia there was fervent and widespread sympathy for the Greeks, based not only on the usual grounds but also on Russia’s special debt to Greece as the bringer of Christianity to Russia.  Prince Alexander Golitsyn wrote of the desire ‘to help the sons of the country which fostered enlightment in Europe and to which Russia is even more obliged having borrowed from it the enlightment of faith, which firmly established the saving banner of the Gospels on the ruins of paganism’.  There was not incompatibility in Golitsyn’s position as both minister and philhellene since aid for the Greeks was government policy, but this aid was to be restricted to two purposes only: relief for Greek refugees from the conflict, and the ransoming of Greek captives who had been enslaved.  It was not part of the policy to send military supplies to Greece, and when on one occasion weapons on their way to Greece were intercepted they were sold and the money given to refugee relief. Golitsyn was the prime mover in raising funds for the Greeks.  In a government announcement of August 1821 he called for subscriptions to be made through the church in confidence that ‘pious Christians, in faith and love, will certainly lend a helping hand’.  Golitsyn also urged military governors to seek donations from the people of their regions, and civilian officials to approach the local merchants to participate in this ‘philanthropic work, which alone can bring eternal treasure and before which all the riches of the world are nothing’.  Large individual donations helped swell the Russian total.  Contributions came even from the peasants in remote rural communities, where donations of as little as ten kopeks were touchingly recorded.  Fund-raising did not slacken after an initial burst as happened elsewhere.  By the end of the decade Russia had raised several million roubles for the Greeks. The number of Greek refugees needing help was formidable.  Golitsyn in his first call for donations claimed that nearly 4000 reached Odessa in a single day.  A further 40.000 Greeks crossed into Russia from Moldavia and became the responsibility of the relief committee there.  Help was given not only in money but also in medical care, shelter, education and employment.  The second aim of Russian philhellenic activity was the ransoming of Greeks enslaved by the Turks, but this proved far more difficult than helping refugees.  The ransom effort began in the summer of 1822 and was prompted by the distressing reports of slaves taken after the Turkish destruction of Chios.  The initial came from the Greek clerics of Bessaravia.  Their object was ‘to save from the abyss of perdition as many Christians as providence will allow’.  The first estimate of the scale of the problem gave the number of captives as 100000 and the total ransom money needed as 500000 roubles, a sum that was in fact raised in the next 12 months.  This type of Philhellenism arising from the passions of a revolution did not last long. Political strife among the Greeks and the direct influence of the foreign powers diluted the pure ideals of excited foreigners. As the revolution dragged for most of the 1820s with its inevitable ups and downs, the exalted Philhellenic feelings turned into military and political feuds, struggle for monetary gains, power grabbing exercises. But this is another story altogether!]]></description>
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		<title>Theater re-opens after 1700 years in Greece</title>
		<link>http://loveofhistory.com/theater-re-opens-after-1700-years-in-greece/</link>
		<comments>http://loveofhistory.com/theater-re-opens-after-1700-years-in-greece/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 22 May 2013 08:54:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[constantinakatsari]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Ancient]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Archaeology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ancient history]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ancient theatre]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[archaeology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[greece]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://loveofhistory.com/?p=2575</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I am not sure if the re-opening of the ancient theatre of Messene is connected to the economic crisis in Greece or not. Either way, it is a fact that cannot be ignored. As part of the Greek Festival the opening night will be the 3rd of August 2013. In the first instance 2500 people will be able to attend, although after its full restoration it will host more than 5000 people. The restorations will continue over the summer with the help of funds from Niarchos foundation and the European Union. Famous Greek opera artists will perform on the night. It would be worth giving a few information on the ancient theatre itself. It is located in the northwestern part of the archaeological site of ancient Messene. It was in continuous operation from ca. 300 BC to 300 AD. Later, the byzantine inhabitants of the area dismantled large parts of it and used the marbles as part of new constructions (temples and houses). The theatre did not host only ancient performances. It became also the famous scene of political meetings. For example, the king of Macedonia Philip V and the Aratos of Sikyon met there in 214 BC, a day after the magistrates of the city have been slaughtered. Also, according to Livy many of the inhabitants gathered there demanding to see the famous general of the Achaean League, Philopoimen the Megalopolitan, whom the Messenians captured in 183 BC. Source: Naftemporiki]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>New Rock Drawings in Epirus</title>
		<link>http://loveofhistory.com/new-rock-drawings-in-epirus/</link>
		<comments>http://loveofhistory.com/new-rock-drawings-in-epirus/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 21 May 2013 16:57:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[constantinakatsari]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Archaeology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[archaeology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Epirus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[greece]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rock]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://loveofhistory.com/?p=2572</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Today I was browsing for news on my native region in Greece, that is Epirus, when I found out about a new and exciting discovery! The archaeologist and archaeology professor at the University of Ioannina, Andreas Vlachopoulos, announced the existence of 5000 year old rock drawings in Vathi, Astypalaia. He mentioned that the drawings were of 70 cm length. They represent mostly boats with oars, while three of them seem to be carrying fish. According to Vlachopoulos the findings are similar to the ones that have been found in the Cycladic islands of Syros and Naxos and date from the 3rd millenium BC. The archaeologists came to the premature conclusion that the Cycladic civilisation probably extended to North Western Greece. I do hope, though, that such hypotheses will soon be revised. Information on this article and a photo of one of the rock drawings can be found in Epirus Gate]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Arrests in Crete</title>
		<link>http://loveofhistory.com/arrests-in-crete/</link>
		<comments>http://loveofhistory.com/arrests-in-crete/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 05 Nov 2012 05:54:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[constantinakatsari]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Archaeology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ancient]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[artefacts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Crete]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[greece]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://constantinakatsari.wordpress.com/?p=1769</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The police in Crete seems to have had some success in retrieving stolen artefacts and arresting the culprits. Specifically, they arrested 8 men in Messara (Herakleion) last Thursday. They found among others a Roman vase, the upper part of a column, twenty coins from the fifth century BC to the Roman period, some weapons from the Second World War and copious quantities of modern drugs! The gang does not seem to very serious in its efforts of amassing ancient treasures. Nevertheless, I include a photo here, which does not seem to correlate with the stolen artefacts. Could not the Greek police take a couple of photos with their mobile phones to show them to &#8216;starving for news&#8217; (and work) archaeologists? For the news in Greek you may take a look at this site, where you will also find the photo of the wrong artefacts. http://www.protothema.gr/greece/article/?aid=232397]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Rebranding modern Greek identity</title>
		<link>http://loveofhistory.com/rebranding-modern-greek-identity/</link>
		<comments>http://loveofhistory.com/rebranding-modern-greek-identity/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 02 May 2012 12:55:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[constantinakatsari]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Opinions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[classics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[greece]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Katerina Moutsatsou]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://constantinakatsari.wordpress.com/?p=1611</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The following video went around the world the past few days. I have seen also several very clever responses that I cannot compete. Parts of the younger Greek generation seem to identify with its ideas, while other parts find it misleading and pretentious. As a historian I would like to state that, unlike Katerina, I do not believe that we have democracy in Greece. The traditional media is controlled by the elite and the government follows the dictates of the IMF and the European union. We have not been informed about the situation on time and we have not been asked to provide an independent solution. Furthermore, the ancient Greek Agora seems very far from the modern free market and modern Neo-Liberalism. Economists across the world would easily verify how different the ancient markets were from the modern ones. Comparable, yes. The same, no. In any case, my views may be irrelevant because the video is a testimony to the reception of the classical tradition not necessarily in modern Greece but in the Greek communities abroad. The feeling of anger, though, remains the same. Watch it and let me know what you think. Check out this video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPuRl54Lgxg&#38;feature=youtube_gdata_player]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Stolen small objects from Olympia</title>
		<link>http://loveofhistory.com/stolen-vases-from-olympia/</link>
		<comments>http://loveofhistory.com/stolen-vases-from-olympia/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 22 Feb 2012 15:04:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[constantinakatsari]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Archaeology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[antiquities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[greece]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[museum]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Olympia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[stolen]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://constantinakatsari.wordpress.com/?p=1508</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This is a list of the vases, figurines and other small objects that were stolen from the Old Museum at Olympia. Here I include a golden Mycenaean ring with the representation of tavrokathapsia.]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Wheels stolen from Olympia</title>
		<link>http://loveofhistory.com/wheels-stolen-from-olympia/</link>
		<comments>http://loveofhistory.com/wheels-stolen-from-olympia/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:52:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[constantinakatsari]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Archaeology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[greece]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Olympia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[stolen]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wheels. Antiquities]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://constantinakatsari.wordpress.com/?p=1452</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Here you will find photos of the bronze figurines (wheels) stolen from the Old Museum at Olympia.]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
	</channel>
</rss>
