Photos of ancient Philippi Φωτογραφίες των αρχαίων Φιλίππων

Ancient Philippi (in Greek Φίλιπποι) was a city in the eastern region of Macedonia, established by King Philip II in 356 BC and abandoned in the 14th century after the Ottoman conquest.

According to the New Testament, Apostle Paul was guided to Philippi in AD 49 or 50 by a vision. Accompanied by Silas, Timothy and possibly also Luke (the author of the Acts of the Apostles), Paul preached for the first time on European soil in Philippi and baptized Lydia (thus she became the 1st Christian in Europe) in a river to the west of the city. While in Philippi, his exorcism of a demon from a slave girl caused a great uproar in the city, which led to Paul and Silas' public beating and arrest. An earthquake caused their prison to be opened. When the jailer woke up, thinking all the prisoners had escaped and knowing that he would be severely punished, was preparing to kill himself. But Paul stopped him, indicating that all the prisoners were in fact still there. The jailer 
then became one of the first Christians in Europe (see Bible Acts 16:16-40).

The first excavations of Philippi did not begin until the summer of 1914, and were soon interrupted by the First World War. The excavations, carried out by the École française d'Athènes, were renewed in 1920 and continued until 1937. During this time the Greek theatre, the forum, Basilicas A and B, the baths and the walls were excavated. After the Second World War, Greek archaeologists returned to the site. From 1958 to 1978, the Société Archéologique, then the Service archéologique and the University of Thessaloniki uncovered the bishop's quarter and the octagonal church, large private residences, a new basilica near the Museum and two others in the necropolis to the east of the city.

To arrive at Philippi, the most easy way would be to take the airplane to Kavala (Megas Alexandros Int'l Airport is 27.4 km from Kavala city center) from Athens or during the summer season many smaller European airline companies have direct chartered flights to Kavala from a European city (such as London Gatwick, Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg etc.), then take a taxi from the airport or rent a car at airport and drive to your hotel in Kavala.  Northern Greece is much easier to drive than the capital city of Athens, I wouldn't drive in the city of Athens if I were a foreigner (take the Metro subway in Athens is the best and safest except in the Metro you must watch out for those pickpocketers).

2011 Taiwan Painting and Sculpture Exhibition Σύγχρονη Ζωγραφική και Γλυπτική της Ταϊβάν 2011

2011 雅典當代台灣畫展

The Contemporary Taiwan Painting & Sculpture Exhibition was held recently at the Πνευματικό Κέντρο in downtown Athens from September 19th to 30th, 2011.

Ten artists from Taiwan had their paintings/sculptures/calligraphy exhibited, their names are:

Bu Zi 卜兹, Chen Yan-Shuoh 陳彥碩, Hsieh Mei-Ching 謝美卿, Hsu Chih-Neng 徐至能, Lee Wuh-Kuen 李戊崑, Lee Yih-Hong 李義弘, Lu Shu-Chen 吕淑珍, Tao Kang 陶綱, Tao Wei 陶韡, Wu Chi-Tao 吳継濤.  Since it was not possible to get to know all of them and their work in a short visit, so I tried to link up whatever I could find in the internet that described the artists and their work.  If you have any other links for any other artists, please leave the link in the comment area.

I attended the opening day ceremony and would like to share with readers some of the photos taken on that day.  Hopefully through this photo presentation people will be able to see the hi-lights of the exhibition and appreciate the creativity of some contemporary Taiwanese artists.

The current Taiwan Representative in Greece, Elizabeth Chu 朱玉鳯, had her own paintings exhibited last year and her teacher Lee Yih-Hong 李義弘, is one among the 10 artists in this group.

I thank the artist Lee Wuh-Kuen 李戊崑, who wrote down the Chinese names of all the artists for me as there were no such information available in the exhibit (I assume this info was omitted because most visitors are Greeks and they wouldn't know the artists' names written in Chinese characters).  Mr. Lee also gave a short speech on behalf of all the artists in the opening ceremony. A search on the internet reveals that he holds a master's degree and has some publication called 以平準機制輔助藝術交易市場之研究 (A study on the arts trading market supported by the mechanism of equalization) in the Journal of National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (No. 68) in the 4th month of the year 2007. 

I also appreciated Mr. Hsu Chih-Neng 徐至能 who patiently explained to me the philosophy behind each of his paintings.  I liked very much his painting of bamboos in severe weather condition, the virtue of perseverance is seen through bamboo stems bent but not broken when encountering strong wind or snow.  Taiwanese have built economic miracles, survived natural disasters, have one of the best national health care coverage systems in the world despite been isolated from their country's non-membership in the UN organizations.  Taiwanese live happily, being able to engage in intellectual creation both culturally (as seen here) and scientifically and they believe a society that respects freedom of expression is the best precondition for bringing such progress to their country. Taiwanese will continue to persevere with upcoming challenges.

 Click on the above photo to see all the pictures taken in the opening ceremony

Artist  Lee Yih-Hong 李義弘

Artist Lu Shu-Chen 吕淑珍

 Artist Lee Wuh-Kuen 李戊崑

 An invitation card showing all the artists' names

 Artist Hsieh Mei-Ching 謝美卿

 Artist Tao Wei 陶韡

 Artist Hsu Chih-Neng 徐至能

Artist Tao Kang 陶綱

Calligrapher Chen Yan-Shuoh 書法家 陳彥碩 h

One Day

"One Day" is a Taiwanese movie being played at the Michael Cacoyannis Foundation, here is the location info.  It was screened last February at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival, and has now come to Greece for viewing.

This coming Saturday (Feb. 26th) at 20:00 is the last chance to see the movie, the ticket is 5 Euro, and you may read all about this film here, it is director Hou Chi-Jan's first feature film.

The movie's story goes like this:

Sing-ing (a girl who works at a ferry boat's shop) keeps having a recurrent dream - she sees a boy shouting at her but she can neither see his face nor hear what he says.  One night at sea on a ferry, she comes across a young soldier who claims to be her future lover.  The girl pays no attention to the soldier's seemly ridiculous story, but a series of mysterious incidents makes her begin to wonder if he might be telling the truth.

As February 28 (aka "228" is a day of remembrance for Taiwan) is approaching, I hope another Taiwanese film will one day be played in Europe so a bit of Taiwan's recent history under the KMT rule will be learned by Europeans.

"One Day" movie flyer

producer (2nd Left) and director (3rd L) posed with Taipei Representative (1st L) and some Taiwanese in Greece 

Art Exhibition of Elizabeth Chu Έκθεση Ζωγραφικής της Elizabeth Chu

Click on the above image to see more photos.


The City of Athens Cultural Center and the Taipei (Taiwan) Representative Office in Greece jointly sponsor the exhibition of Water and ink painting (水墨畫) of Ms. Elizabeth Chu.


Mr. A. Moshonas, the vice mayor of the City of Athens opened the exhibition on March 17^th, and the display will last until March 30th.
The exhibition is held




Mon. to Sat. from 10:00 to 20:00 and Sunday from 10:00 to 14:00 at the Gizis Room of Athens Culture Center, 50 Academias Street.


Ms. Elizabeth Chu (朱玉鳳) is the current representative of Taiwan in Greece, aside from her official duties, she has many other interests and hobbies, water ink painting was one among her various hobbies. Her other interests and activities include bird-watching, diving, Egyptolog, etc.

Under the direction and guidance of her teacher, master Li Yee-hong (李義弘), Elizabeth Chu had the pleasure of practicing water and ink art for over a decade.

One of the uniqueness of the water and ink painting is the lines of poetry associated with the theme of the painting and is found on the side, so the artist actually gets a chance to develop his / her inspiration for poetry writing / reading as well as painting.

The Knossos ruin near Iraklio, Crete - a trip in the past

I have been to the island of Crete several times, the first time it was a sightseeing trip - driving through the whole island in about 3-4 days, another year I was accompanying a relative from abroad, followed by a one-week summer vacation for the family because of an invitation from another family who knows a hotel manager (connection is important here, great discount!) in Elounda, another time we had to attend a wedding near Agios Nikolaos; the Greek tradition calls for the wedding ceremony to be held at the bride’s hometown.

In each of those trips, I missed the most important cultural site, the Knossos ruin.  Finally, in November 2008, we took a weekend get-away trip to stay only in the city of Iraklio and visit its surrounding area, so it gave me a chance to study the Minoan culture.

Like some people, I didn’t care much about pre-visit preparations and despite having a good camera my battery went dead right on the spot.  Nevertheless, here are the picture collections taken from a mobile phone.

Knossos palace was estimated to be built around 1900 BC (scroll down the linked page to read the subtitle events to have a general idea of the cultural events between the middle and the late bronze age), but was destroyed the first time around 1700 BC, then rebuilt soon, destroyed again possibly by the eruption of volcano in Thera (aka Santorini), which occurred between 1627 BC  and 1600 BC.  This range of years of eruption is being disputed by scholars.  Another theory believes that the destruction of Knossos is due to tsunami, or an earlier earthquake separate from the eruption in Thera. For details of the newer theories, read the immediate preceding linked page under the subtitle Historical impact, Minoan civilization.

In any case, a fire must have accompanied the disaster because some stones are left with black marks.

For some images of the artifacts from the Minoan culture go to this link

http://ancient-greece.org/images/museums/heraklion-mus/index.htm

For a famous mythology and the origin of naming the Aegean Sea (愛琴海), read Theseus and the Minotaur or the wiki Theseus under the subtitle Minotaur.

   

For a better image of the king’s throne as I could only view and took a picture from a distance http://www.culture.gr/h/2/eh251.jsp?obj_id=716

I invite you to decipher the Phaistos (another ancient site in Crete) disk with Hieroglyph signs, the actual disk size is about 10.5 cm to 10.8 cm, and here is a clear image.

I love how Cretans speak, it is slightly different from the Greek mainland people, I notice that they tend to pronounce some k sound like the ch sound, example: red wine (κόκκινο or ερυθρό κρασί), the Greek mainland sound is KO-ki-no, kra-SI, but many Cretans say KO-chi-no, kra-SI instead, very interesting!

A final word for international tourists:

If you are not interested in archeology or museum studies, some tourists revealed that the Knossos ruin was quite boring, but for Minos Kalokairinos (the first excavator in 1878, his last name sounds like related to the Greek word summer) or for Arthur Evans it was not boring at all since he spent some money (your task to find out how much) to buy up the land solely for the purpose of studying the ancient culture.  And for me it was not boring because I am a life-long student.

The opening ceremony of Athen's New Acropolis Museum

The New Acropolis Museum is scheduled to open at 20:00 Athens time today (in about 30 minutes from now), you can view it live on-line from this ERT’s (Greek national channel) link

http://news.ert.gr/en/23819-neo-mouseio-akropoleos-i-istoria-sto-spiti-tis.htm

after you connect with this site, just scroll down a little bit until you see a TV box.

or http://www.theacropolismuseum.gr/default.php?pname=Live_broadcasting&la=2

Good luck with your connection!

Lexicon for Sea Animals 海產詞典

This past Monday was Clean Monday celebrated by the Eastern Orthodox Church. It marks the beginning of an approximately 40 days of fasting that leads up to the Easter Day. Although it is a religious holiday, it is also a designated national holiday in Greece (but not in Romania I was told). On Clean Monday, people of the Greek Orthodox religion eat sea food (without blood), or vegetables, or grains, but not meat, nor dairy product, nor eggs, nor olive oil in their attempt to start cleaning-up their body systems, so the strict religious followers will start fasting for about 40 days from the Clean Monday until the Easter Day.

Another activity the Greeks do on Clean Monday is that they fly kites, so people flock to the mountains or seashores to fly kites. It is a day of outing for the whole family. I don’t know why they fly kites on Clean Monday, it needs some research to answer this question.

I just thought about collecting a lexicon for sea animals in 3 languages (English, Greek, Chinese), and I hope the readers can help me to make it more complete.

A lexicon for sea animals 海產詞典 (updated with abundant links)

Sea Invertebrate (without a backbone / spinal column)

English Greek Chinese

abalone το αυτί της θάλασσας 鮑魚

clam (variety: giant clam geoduck) η αχιβάδα 蛤

cockle το κυδώνι 蜊

crab ο κάβουρας 螃蟹

cuttlefish η σουπιά 墨魚

jellyfish η μέδουσα / η τσούχτρα 海蜇 / 水母

lobster ο αστακός 龍蝦

mussel το μύδι 蚌

octopus το χταπόδι 八爪魚

oyster το στρείδι 蚵/ 牡蠣

scallop το χτένι 扇貝

scampi η καραβίδα 大蝦

shrimp, prawn (click the link which explains how the two differ) η γαρίδα 小蝦

snail το σαλιγκάρι 蝸牛或螺

squid (variety: Colossal squid) το καλαμάρι 魷魚或烏賊

whelk το βούκινο 螺

My wish for 2009 - A State of Good Law and Order (Μια ευνομούμενη Πολιτεία)

This time the police were out on the street gathering in front of the Red Cross Hospital in support of their injured colleague. A few days ago, about 500 police showed up in a protest in support of a young colleague, Διαμαντή Μαντζούνη (Diamantis Matzouni), a 21 year-old policeman who was shot and seriously injured while patrolling in Exsarhia area. Earlier, other police complained to TV station stating that during the riot period just before Christmas, they were working 17 hours a day non-stop, and as a result were too exhausted to fight the rioters. The Greek police were also not properly-equipped with modern equipment to deal with violent protesters, for example, shooting water to disperse the rioters instead of tear gas. The TV reported that the police patrols had no bullet-proof vests to carry out their duties. I hope the Greek government will learn from recent lessons and properly allocate budget to equip their public security officers, otherwise the angry youths may soon be joined by urban terrorists and former inmates, who will be released by April due to over-crowded prisons. See the Kathimerini news report of last November below. I don't think letting out inmates early is the best solution to over-crowded prisons because the already tired police force may face more dangerous tasks more frequently.

2008-11-28
Gov’t: Some 5,500 inmates to get early release by April
Reforms tabled in Parliament earlier this week will lead to the early release of 5,500 inmates from prisons across the country by April, Justice Ministry sources said yesterday. If these releases are realized, prison numbers will be virtually halved from the 12,000 inmates currently in jail, while overcrowding will be drastically reduced. Ministry sources said a hunger strike by prisoners protesting detention conditions was slackening but conceded that some 4,000 are still refusing meals.

A little bit of tradition:

On January 6th the Eastern Orthodox Church celebrates this day by having priest(s) throwing a cross into water (whichever kind is near-by, river, port, lake, or sea), the cross is tied to a rope and the priest(s) and celebrities (or local politicians) are usually taken away by a boat to a distance (say about 100 to 200 meters away from the shore gathering swimmers), the rope is held tight by a person or secured by something on the boat on one end, while the cross on the other end is thrown into water, the swimmers compete for speed and vision, diving in cold water and searching to catch the cross. The first swimmer to get the cross usually go around spectators (after he changes) to let them kiss the cross, and people usually give the winner some money. I find it a bit commercialized and away from the true spirit of Christianity, but this is their tradition.

People of Orthodox religion attended church service today (Jan. 6th) and many of them were not regular church goers, after priests performed special service sanctifying the water, people drank sanctified water 3 times (3 sips), and most people also brought bottles to collect the water for relatives who could not make it to the church or for later use.

January 7th is celebrated by people whose name is John ( Γιάννης, pronounced yia-nis with stress on a ), this is probably the most common name in Greece, people jokingly say that half of the country is celebrating the name day today. I went to my neighbor to congratulate him because his name is John, his friends and relatives were in heated discussion about politics, they asked me in the next election if I would support the Pasok or the New Democracy (current government), I told them neither because I’d prefer to see a new face. Why Greek politicians almost always come from the families of old politicians who used to be in power? I believe prolonged power holding corrupts a small group of people who know how to play games in the political arena, and these incumbents may not be politicians who love their country and people.

A state with new politicians who are hard-working citizens that care about the total wellbeing of the society is what we need, a government with fair laws and protects the common interests and rights (human, economic, health, education, etc.) of ordinary citizens.

Merry Christmas with a Greek touch

Wishing you an early Merry Christmas!

Many Greek kids are out carolling this morning (In Greece, they don't do it on Christmas eve, they sing in the morning on the 24th of December), enjoy a few different versions found below, and we usually thank the kids with some money.

school kids' musical group http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48b83OfPV_I&feature=related
street performance film http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZWSsBd2vPA
nice kids’ group in the countryside http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxswzP0N3es
fits all sorts of taste and great laughter http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nbuga6uFowo
for kids’ to learn but a bit commercial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xq6awMy2SHI&NR=1
but this is what you normally see when you open the door http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPOPTy0YeEg

And an announcement:
Άλισον, one of our contributors, started her blog on Taiwan issues on www.tktw.blogspot.com.

Art and Literature from Ancient Greek Mythology 希臘神話藝術和文學

While helping my kid’s homework, I came across this site, http://www.theoi.com/ which is full of images of art and literature from the ancient Greek mythology. You may find it interesting. As a matter of fact the links listed from it http://www.theoi.com/Links.html will lead you to other sites which are just about everything you need to know for ancient Greek civilization and beyond...enjoy it!

Greek Mythology 希臘神話故事

希臘國小三年級開始學歷史課程, 一開始課本就是寫到神話故事, 參考這網站http://www.greekmythology.com/ 一目了然, 可幫助小孩的功課.