Ancient Energies part of humanity September 22, 2007
Posted by grhomeboy in Culture History Mythology.Tags: Culture, Greece, Greek History, Greek Mythology
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Energies are part of our humanity and have been around as long as there has been life on Earth, and beyond that through the eons of time to where it all started.
The Ancient Greeks, called these energies Gods and Goddesses.
They also had Eros, representing desire, yearning, and Aphrodite, the alluring feminine sexuality.
Then there was Gaia, Mother Earth and of all mothers, of whom the writer of The Gods Within says that the best modern image is the harried mother with three kids struggling through the supermarket.
There is also Hestia, the keeper of the hearth, the homemaker, the one who does battle against the ever threatening chaos and clutter around the house.
A sound mind in a sound body September 22, 2007
Posted by grhomeboy in Culture History Mythology.Tags: Culture, Greece, Greek History, Greek Mythology
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“A sound mind in a sound body”, “Nous igeiis en somati igeii” [in Greek] was the motto of the Ancient Greeks and the model of the strong, healthy and vigorous Spartans.
Their carrying out of the plan was a cause for the long existence of Greece and for its luxuriant literary culture.
The Parthenon Marbles September 22, 2007
Posted by grhomeboy in Vote For Return Greek Marbles.Tags: Acropolis, Athens, Greece, Greek Heritage, Parthenon, Parthenon Marbles
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A large collection of marble sculptures was removed from the Parthenon in Athens to Britain in 1806 by Thomas Bruce, the 7th Earl of Elgin, British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1799 to 1803.
Taking advantage of the Ottoman occupation of Greece, he obtained a firman from the Ottoman Sultan to remove movable sculptures or inscriptions. However, taking advantage of the political situation, he also managed to remove the famous Parthenon Friezes. The sculptures were deposited in the British Museum, London in 1816, and in 1936 were placed into the purpose-built Duveen Gallery.
The Greek government started efforts for the return of the so called “Elgin Marbles”, marble sculptures removed from the Parthenon to Britain in the 19th Century by the aforementioned Earl of Elgin.
After decades of persistent requests to the British government for their return so that they can be exhibited in Greece’s new Acropolis Museum, the British have recently said that they might “loan” the artifacts to Greece.
What do you say? Should the British government return the Parthenon Marbles back to Greece? Let your opinion be heard. Send us your comments.
Sophocle’s ”Electra” goes to New York September 22, 2007
Posted by grhomeboy in Hellenic Light Americas.Tags: Culture, Greece, Hellenic Light, Theater
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Following the critically-acclaimed run of “The Persians” in 2006, the National Theatre of Greece will return to New York City, with Sophocle’s tragedy “Electra”.
The six performances of “Electra” will be presented, in Greek with English supertitles, at the City Center, West 55 Street, between 6th and 7th Avenues, from Wednesday, October 10th, to Sunday, October 14th, 2007.
“Electra” is a co- production by National Theater of Greece and the Greek Festival, directed by Olivier award winner Peter Stein, one of the most prominent and influential directors in the world today.
The story takes place at the Pelopidae palace at Mycenae where the murderers of Agamemnon, Aegisthus and Clytemnestra, rule. The tragedy is considered one of the best plays of the ancient Greek drama with its exceptional dramatic power and grandeur.
The main parts are played by Yannis Fertis (Tutor), Apostolis Totsikas (Orestes), Miltos Sotiriadis (Pylades), Stefania Goulioti (Electra), Kora Karvouni (Chrysothemis), Karyofyllia Karabeti (Clytemnestra), Lazaros Georgakopoulos (Aegisthus). Modern Greek translation is by Minos Volanakis. Set and costumes are by Dionissis Fotopoulos and lighting is by Japhy Weideman. Music composition and direction is by Alessandro Nidi and choreography is by Lia Tsolaki.
Tickets can be ordered by calling CityTix at (212) 581-1212 or online at www.nycitycenter.org (tickets are $75, $55 and $35).
Ayia Napa sets sights on new marina September 22, 2007
Posted by grhomeboy in Architecture Cyprus, Cyprus Ayia Napa, Cyprus News.Tags: Ayia Napa, Cyprus, Infrastructure, Tourism
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Ayia Napa is aiming to build a recreational marina in a bid to promote tourism in the area and bring a different range of visitors to the village.
According to the consortium, which comprises of private companies as well as the Famagusta Chamber of Commerce, the marina is to be built in the Louma area close to the Ayia Thekla church. The marina is set to hold a capacity of 600 boats of which 360 will be on the water and 240 will be docked on the pier.
Despite the relatively small size of the marina, officials are planning to extend the area and also construct buildings for various administrations such as police, customs, fire services as well as a warehouse for boats and a large parking space for cars.
Apartments overlooking the marina are also planned, as well as a futsal pitch, tennis court, shops, restaurants, swimming pools, a cinema and other recreational facilities, said Famagusta Chamber of Commerce secretary Iacovos Hadjivarnavas.
Yesterday, the consortium, which is aiming to secure government approval by next year, held a meeting at the Ayia Napa Municipality. Ayia Napa Mayor Antonis Tsokkos said that the government is still in the process of sorting out similar plans for the marina in Limassol but that he was hopeful that the new Ayia Napa marina plans will be next on the table.
“At this moment in time, the consortium is in discussions with the government and nothing has been signed yet”, he said. “The government is currently looking at the Limassol marina and we hope that the work for the Ayia Napa marina will be signed by some time next summer.”
Speaking about the impact the new marina would have on tourism in the area, he added, “The consortium’s aim for the new marina is a vision that is shared by the Municipality and it is a great chance for us to bring different ranges of tourism to the area for all seasons.”
Grapes harvest in northern Greece smaller than expected September 22, 2007
Posted by grhomeboy in Wine And Spirits.Tags: Greece, Greek Wine
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Considerably fewer grapes were harvested this year in Northern Greece.
This was announced by the Evangelos Tsantalis SA company, the largest wine producer in Greece. The vineyards of Mount Athos were particularly hard hit, only around half the grapes could be utilised for wine production. The weather conditions in northern Greece were problematic throughout 2007.
Extremely high temperatures were accompanied by severe drought. The heat led to a significant reduction in the volume of grapes harvested, with losses of up to 50% being no exception. There was quite a lot of rain during budding and shoot development, this damaged young shoots and further reduced the yield.
The lengthy drought led to premature ripening of the vines. Overall, the vintage produced red wines with tremendously intense colours, low acidity and a high alcohol content.
Grape volumes were down overall accross northern Greece. According to experts, the volume of the grape harvest has been reduced by around 20% in Maronia, Thraki, by 30§ in Chalkidiki, by 40% in Rapsani, and even by 50% on Mount Athos.
Autumn starts tomorrow > just look at the sun September 22, 2007
Posted by grhomeboy in Nature, Science.Tags: Nature, News, Science
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Autumn is nearly upon us. According to astronomer Ioannis Fakas, the season officially begins tomorrow at 1.51pm with the autumn equinox.
The Director of the Fakas Institute explained that autumn will last until December 22, after which winter will begin.
According to online encyclopaedia Wikipedia, an equinox is the event when the Sun can be observed to be directly above the Earth’s equator.
This usually takes place around March 20 and September 22 each year. On these dates, night and day are nearly of the same length and the Sun crosses the celestial equator.
In a wider sense, the equinoxes are the two days each year when the centre of the Sun spends an equal amount of time above and below the horizon at every location on Earth. The word equinox derives from the Latin words aequus (equal) and nox (night).
In theory, the day is longer than the night. Commonly the day is defined as the period that sunlight reaches the ground in the absence of local obstacles.
For several reasons the day lasts about 14 minutes longer than the night at the equator, and longer still at sites toward the poles. The real equality of day and night only happens at places far enough from the equator to have at least a seasonal difference in day-length of seven minutes and occurs a few days towards the winter side of each equinox.
Although the word ‘equinox’ implies equal length of day and night, this simply isn’t true. For most locations on earth, there are two distinct identifiable days per year when the length of day and night are closest to being equal.
Those days are commonly referred to as the ‘equiluxes’ to distinguish them from the equinoxes. Equinoxes are points in time, but equiluxes are days. By convention, equiluxes are the days where sunrise and sunset are closest to being exactly 12 hours apart.
This way, you can refer to a single date as being the equilux, when, in reality, it spans sunset on one day to sunset the next, or sunrise on one to sunrise the next.
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