posted
The Ancient Diolkos, in Greece, is the famous paved road constructed around 600 BC and used to transport ships by land over the Isthmus of Corinth.
Diolkos is mentioned by Thucydides in connection with transport of fleets during the Peloponnesian War as something granted, thus already ancient. Its use is mentioned in various sources, almost exclusively for warships. After Actium in 31 B.C. Octavian shipped warships across the diolkos to pursue Antony and Cleopatra to Asia and then Egypt.
Athough the monument is unique in its kind, it has never been protected since the time of excavation (1956-1962).
In an effort to save and restore the structure, we have created an international petition at
posted
Well, I have not "officially" contacted UNESCO, although I have been sending updates about the diolkos situation to them by e-mail. I can tell you what the lady in head of the Greek branch of UNESCO told me. She told me that, if I were to write to the Headquarters I would be "losing" my stamp, since the Diolkos does not make part of the World Heritage sites...
As one can easily deduce, this much destruction means that there have been illegalities involved... no monument can fall victim to a continuous "demolition" when everybody is doing their duty. Now, as it seems, there are some entities (or persons)that care so much about keeping "good relations" with Ministries that they are reluctant to bring out the serious problems involved.
On september 4th, a "master plan" for Diolkos WAS approved by the Central Archaeological Council but I am still very worried as to what might happen. Deplorably, the Services in charge were pretending to care based on more or less "imaginary" assertions. Now that a first step HAS been done, they might be capable of waiting for ever...
Whatever "solution" leaves the monument so bluntly unprotected, can hardly be considered a "solution" at all!!!
Posts: 13 | From: Athens, Greece | Registered: Sep 2007
| IP: Logged |
posted
Some friends are asking me various questions about the Ancient Diolkos petition. I guess a lot of you reading about Diolkos are wondering about the same things, so I give some explanations here.
MONEY. Signing the petition does not mean asking the Greek State to give money that it presumably cannot afford for restoring the monument. The protection of the monument should have been presented for funding (with European Union contribution or other similar projects) LONG AGO. Unfortunately, by not having even the most elementary information about the monument, the services in charge were KEEPING THEMSELVES UNPREPARED even to ASK for funding…
WHY SPEAK... The monument is not a piece of property OWNED by someone free to destroy it. Unfortunately, this is what has happened up to now. This petition says that we want this to stop. The Diolkos is a common heritage of mankind (as many other monuments and sites all over the world).
IS THE PETITION JUST A PLEA? No, it is more dynamic that that. The Prime Minister’s Office is being often notified about the progress and knows that many people from many countries know of the problem. Consequently, the Diolkos cannot be left to decay in silence (as was the situation up to now).
INFORMATION GIVEN The information given at the petition site cannot cover 50 years of neglect and destruction. It would be too long (and maybe also very shocking). If anybody feels like having more information, I will be glad to provide both information AND documentation, so please send me an e-mail at sofia-l@tellas.gr.
Posts: 13 | From: Athens, Greece | Registered: Sep 2007
| IP: Logged |
posted
While the Ancient Diolkos remains unprotected, the most popular portal in Greece, in.gr, presented the "modern history" of this monument and its abbandonment from the time it was excavated (around 1960) till now.
It is a good thing to see the veil of silence about Diolkos begin to fall and a kind of "greek tradegy", complete with an innocent victim, slowly come to light...
posted
Although the Greek Ministry of Culture has been forced to some movimentation for Diolkos, no substantial rescue operations have taken place as yet, other than supporting a few stones of the long erosion front..
Recently, the italian archaeology magazine SALTERNUM presented an article (written by me) in which there is mention of the distorted information about the state of the monunent, given to the Prime Minister's Office by the General Secretary of the Ministry of Culture, Mr. Zahopoulos in october 2006. Between other untrue statements, Mr. Zahopoulos mentioned that the waves "have by now begun to erode the monument's substrate", hiding the tragic state of the monunent.
The information was clearly coming from the Corinth Ephorate, headed at the time by Mr. Alexandros Mantis, today head of the first ephorate (Acropolis !!!...). Although Mr Mantis was responsible for Diolkos from the summer of 2001 to November 2006, the Diolkos remained totally unprotected during all this time; Mr. Mantis was also vehemently denying rescue actions.
Articles about the dramatic decay of Diolkos have been also presented in the british edition of the TIMES.
Although the TIMES archaeology correspondent, Norman Hammond, (Prof. of archaeology at the Boston University) mentions that rescue operations would be forthcoming (an information included in MY reports, too), the only thing done was to support some stones, letting the erosion go on beneath them! The situation at the monument is worse now, of course. Two more ancient blocks have fallen since the last article hit the press; the deterioration of the already fallen parts of Diolkos is also constant...
I am giving again the site for those who would like to sign the Diolkos petition, asking them to please also forward the petition to friends: www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/870477005Posts: 13 | From: Athens, Greece | Registered: Sep 2007
| IP: Logged |
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic