Greek islands

Επεξεργασία της εργασίας μου του Μ.Τ.Σ. στο Αριστοτέλειο Πανεπιστήμιο, με τίτλο "ΤΑ ΚΕΡΑΜΙΚΑ ΕΡΓΑΣΤΗΡΙΑ ΤΗΣ ΝΗΣΟΥ ΛΕΣΒΟΥ" (υπό τον κ. Παπανικολάου).
Επιμέλεια έκδοσης: Ηλίας Μέλιος

ΣΗΜΕΙΩΣΗ ΣΥΓΓΡΑΦΕΑ: Από τον κ. Ηλία Κουρτζή, δια της ομάδος του facebook "Potters and Pottery of Greece", έλαβα το παρακάτω σχόλιο που αφορά την παρούσα δημοσίευση (την οποία είχα κοινοποιήσει στον "τοίχο" της ομάδος). Το παραθέτω, λοιπόν, ασχολίαστο, διότι α) θεωρώ δίκαιο να γνωρίζει ο προσερχόμενος στην έρευνα όλες τις διαθέσιμες γνώμες γι' αυτήν, και β) θεωρώ ότι θα πρέπει συνεχώς να εμπλουτίζουμε και να δημοσιοποιούμε όλην την διαθέσιμη βιβλιογραφία και τις αναφορές που σχετίζονται με την έρευνά μας, οιασδήποτε μορφής, όποια και να είναι η γνώμη μας γι' αυτές. Αυτό, ίσα-ίσα, είναι το κριτήριο της εκτίμησης που εμείς οι ίδιοι τρέφουμε για την έρευνά μας.
"Προς τον κ. Σωτήρη Ραπτόπουλο, θέλω να είμαι ειλικρινής μαζί σας, σεβόμενος την συμπαθητική προσπάθειά σας και την διαφαινόμενη αγάπη σας για την λαϊκή κεραμική... Διάβασα ευάριθμες φορές το πόνημα σας που δημοσιεύσατε και παρά τις ενδιαφέρουσες πληροφορίες που έχετε όντως διασώσει σ' αυτό, θα έλεγα ότι μου έδωσε την εντύπωση ότι εν πολλοίς είναι γραμμένο "στο γόνατο": Διέκρινα λάθη τα οποία ίσως παρεισέφρυσαν, κατά περίπτωση, από κακή ή πλημμελή ή εσκεμμένη πληροφόρηση ή αποτύπωση της πληροφόρησης. Επίσης κάποιες καταγραφές ή απουσία καταγραφών, δεοντολογικά δεν αρμόζουν νομίζω στο πνεύμα μιας σοβαρής, αντικειμενικής μελέτης. Και κλείνοντας: Συγκεκριμένα θεωρώ ότι αδικήσατε την Αγιάσο (το αρχαιότερο κέντρο κεραμικής της Λέσβου) και συνάμα τους προγόνους μου τους Κουρτζήδες (που δημιούργησαν πριν περίπου δυο αιώνες στην γραφική Αγιάσο την αρχαιότερη οικοτεχνία κεραμικής της χώρας). Δεν πειράζει όμως, τέτοια περιστατικά ενδημούν και σε πολύ σημαντικά έντυπα (λευκώματα και μονογραφίες), και πρέπει να αντιμετωπίζονται με ανθρώπινη διάκριση και κατανόηση. Εξάλλου κανείς συγγραφέας και κανένα σύγγραμμα δεν μπορεί να αλλάξει την αλήθεια της ιστορίας. Στη διάθεσή σας για ό,τιδήποτε θεωρήσετε ότι μπορώ να σας φανώ χρήσιμος... Ερρωσο!".

The tourism industry in Greece is one of the most important sectors of the country’s economy it terms of value (Hellenic Statistical Authority, 2014). There are several public and private organizations which are involved in the tourism industry in Greece for promoting destinations such as the Destination Management Organizations (DMOs). In this context, the aim of this project is to evaluate the contribution of Athens DMO’s towards the rising popularity of the city of Athens as an international destination within the context of Destination Marketing. More specifically, the project has the following objectives:
 To identify the activities which are performed by DMOs for promoting Athens and to evaluate the strategic role of DMO’s.

 To identify the importance of destination marketing through its application in the Greek Tourism Industry and the particular case of Athens.

 To portrait the opinions and activity planning of Greek DMO’s Executives, who are considered to be experts in the tourism field.

 To provide insights and new trends of high informational value about the Tourism Industry in Athens.

 To highlight the latest incentives and programming concerning the city’s future developments.

 To identify the key problems that Athens faces as a tourist destination and to recommend points for improvement from the DMOs perspective.

DOI: 10.13140/2.1.3231.1683

INDEPENDENT STUDΥ - THESIS

" Athens as an international tourism destination: An empirical investigation to the city’s imagery and the role of local DMO’s.”

The aim of this project was to identify the role of DMOs in promoting Athens as a tourist destination, as well as to evaluate their effectiveness in terms of marketing and managing the tourist product of Athens, its popularity and imagery.

The aim of this thesis is to identify the role of DMOs in promoting Athens as a tourist destination, as well as to evaluate their effectiveness in terms of marketing and managing the tourist product of Athens, its popularity and imagery. For that purposes, 6 personal interviews were conducted with executives who were working in 6 famous local DMOs operating both generally in Greece and specifically in Athens.

The result of this study indicated that DMOs are playing a crucial role for the promotion of Athens as a tourist destination. DMOs key responsibilities include: development of sophisticated online marketing strategies, creation of high quality published material, participation in international tourism fairs for developing relationships with key stakeholders and development of network synergies with airline companies, and international tourism organizations. 
Athens is a destination with great potential for future growth and for that reason DMOs have designed certain plans for the next three years in order to exploit the opportunities which are presented. The future plans of the DMOs give particular emphasis in the opening in new tourist markets and more particularly in the markets of Russia, Turkey China, and USA. Besides, DMOs will focus in five forms of tourism which can be developed successfully in Athens, namely: 1) cultural tourism, 2) health tourism, 3) luxury tourism, 4) city break tourism, and 5) convention tourism

On the other hand, the executives of the DMOs underlined several problems which prevent the tourism development of Athens. The majority of these problems are related with the business environment in Greece which has become less competitive due to the crisis. Besides, the city as a destination faces the problems of seasonality as well as missing infrastructures. 
Finally, the research showed that DMOs have established strong and long term relationships with DMOs in foreign countries. These partnerships allow the Greek DMOs to be updated concerning the trends of the global tourism market as well as enhance the movement of tourists between cooperating countries. Nevertheless, the promotion of Athens as a tourism destination requires a more concerted effort between the public and the private stakeholders which are involved in the tourism industry. The benefits will be multiplied for businesses, the state and the society in general.

Keywords & terms:
Destination Marketing Organizations, DMO’s, tourism destination, tourist product, popularity & imagery, interviews, online marketing strategies, Athens, Greece, international tourism fairs, stakeholder relationships, network synergies, airline companies, future growth, tourist markets, cultural tourism, health tourism, luxury tourism, city break tourism, convention tourism, tourism development of Athens, business environment in Greece, seasonality, infrastructures

This paper was delivered at a conference (Cincinatt 2003) in which ethnoarchaeologists and historians were invited to join forces. Its purpose was to discuss the insights that  notarial acts may give into agrarian history. My focus is on the 16th and 17th centuries and is primarily based on over 3000 extant deeds from the island of Naxos. In addition to ‘objectuve’ data concerning land use, the ways and regulations that governed  agriculture and pastoralism, the power struggle between landowners and peasants and so on, an attempt has been made to highlight the usefulness and the weaknesses of this type of source. It is also stressed that the information obtained should be checked against and combined with other types of textual and archaeological evidence.

Malgré les nombreuses recherches entreprises à propos de l'île sacrée de Délos, l'archipel des Cyclades est longtemps resté en marge des préoccupations de l'historiographie occidentale. Les campagnes de fouilles et de prospections entreprises dans les différentes îles ainsi qu'un certain nombre de perspectives renouvelées par de jeunes chercheurs ayant travaillé sur cet espace au cours de ces dernières années appelaient à la réalisation de cet ouvrage.
Plus qu'un simple état de la science sur les Cyclades antiques, ce livre entend interroger les perspectives géopolitiques, économiques, diplomatiques et culturelles induites par le rapport entre les Cyclades –  comprises comme un ensemble cohérent dans ses diversités – et les différents pouvoirs ayant dominé la région égéenne au cours du millénaire envisagé ici. C'est ainsi face aux pouvoirs naxien, parien, samien, athénien, lagide, rhodien puis finalement romain que l'histoire des îles cycladiques est interrogée par les vingt contributeurs que réunit cet ouvrage, dans une approche fondée sur la convergence des sources historiques et archéologiques.
La question de la domination et le rapport dominant/dominés se trouvent au cœur de leurs préoccupations sans pour autant s'y limiter. C'est à la fois une histoire de l'Archipel entre le VIIIe s. a.C. et le IIIe s. p.C. qui est proposée, en même temps qu'une réflexion sur les jeux d'influences dans le cadre d'une domination exogène, ainsi qu'une lecture de la création progressive d'une identité nouvelle. En effet, c'est dans un rapport constant avec ces différents pouvoirs que s'est créée l'identité du groupe qui y était soumis, celui des Cyclades, les îles en cercle, situées à la fois à la marge des sphères d'influences de leurs puissants voisins et au cœur d'un espace égéen centré autour de Délos

Στην εκτενή βιβλιογραφία για την Ελληνική Επανάσταση ο Πειραιάς και η Nησιωτική Ελλάδα δεν έχουν τύχει της προσοχής που τους αναλογεί. Στον Πειραιά και τις όμορες περιοχές δόθηκαν κρίσιμες μάχες για την Επανάσταση, ενώ έπεσε και ο μεγαλύτερος ίσως των αγωνιστών της Ρούμελης, ο Γεώργιος Καραϊσκάκης. Στην Νησιωτική Ελλάδα πέρα από τις σπουδαίες ναυμαχίες του Αγώνα έλαβαν χώρα και σημαντικά επαναστατικά γεγονότα σε πολλά νησιά (Κρήτη, Σάμος, Χίος, Ψαρά, Σπέτσες, Ὕδρα, Κύπρος, Σαλαμίνα κ.α.), ενώ ακόμη και τα αγγλοκρατούμενα Επτάνησα δεν έμειναν αμέτοχα του εθνικού αγώνα.
Το συνέδριο θα ασχοληθεί με τον Πειραιά και τις μάχες που διεξήχθησαν εκεί και στις όμορες περιοχές κατά την Επανάσταση, τις ναυμαχίες του Αγώνα, καθώς και τις επαναστατικές ενέργειες στα ελληνικά νησιά από την Κύπρο μέχρι την Σαμοθράκη και από την Χίο έως την Κρήτη.

In the historiography of the 1821 Revolution there are but very few and brief accounts of the revolt of the inhabitants of Samothraki and its bloodstained repression. Despite its particular character as an early rebellion of a small number of islander farmers and livestock breeders, and at a short distance from the Dardanelles, the case of Samothraki had never come into the spotlight of historical research. Furthermore, the documentation of these events had always been problematic, as the available sources were scarce, posterior and, to a great degree, interceded. More specifically, the main sources were the accounts of the scholar from Samothrace Nikolaos Fardys and Ion Dragoumis, which were based on oral testimonies by elderly inhabitants, and were drafted several decades later; while the closest in time sources were a painting at the Louvre Museum, and a few references in French literature. This study presents the first contemporary with the events written testimonies, which were traced in the French consular archives, and examines what exactly happened on the island, revealing together the points of convergence and divergence in the oral legends and the archival material.

Bu çalışmada, Midilli adasının Agiasos dağ köyünün inanç turizminden kültür turizmine geçişi incelenmektedir. Çalışmada, köyün dinî boyutu için önemli olan Panagia Kilisesi’nin kurulmasıyla köyde yerleşimin ve turizm aktivitelerinin başlamasından sonraki periyot analiz edilmiştir. Analiz sonunda, inanç turizmi kapsamında ziyaret edilen köyün, kültür merkezi Anagnostirio’nun faaliyetleri ile birlikte kültürel varlığının da geliştiği ve böylece kültürel turizm için de bugün çekici bir nokta haline geldiği söylenebilir. Festivaller yapılan, konserler verilen, zengin bir kütüphaneye sahip olan köy, kültür merkezi ile gelişmiştir denebilir. Türkiye’deki kırsal, kültürel, alternatif turizm formlarının geliştirilmesi için, bu gibi örneklerin incelenmesi önemlidir.

A válasz egyszerű: a fenti példákat a szigetvilág mutatta föl,
figyelmeztetve rá, hogy a szigetek izolált ökoszisztémái sokkal érzékenyebbek a külső hatásokra, mint a jelentős populáció-ingadozást felszívni képes kontinens.9 Az új lakóhelyére érkező, migráló állatfaj azért érhet el robbanásszerű népességnövekedést, mert az adott szigeten hiányoznak a versenytársai a táplálék megszerzésében, ráadásul gyakran hiányoznak a régi helyen életüket megkeserítő paraziták, járványok és ragadozók. Ez utóbbi állatfajta tökéletesen ismeretlen a görög szigetvilágban (megjegyzem, Strabón szerint a Baleárokon is). Plinius megfigyelte, hogy Krétán egyáltalán nem élnek ragadozó vagy kártevő állatok a mérges pókot leszámítva.10 Ennek az az oka, hogy a ragadozók egyensúlyban lévő populációs sűrűsége (K = „kiegyensúlyozott populációs sűrűség” „equilibrial population density”),11 jóval alacsonyabb, mint a prédaállatoké (ún. r-stratégia),12 hiszen pl. sokkal több nyúlnak kell lenni, mint rókának, ahhoz, hogy a rókák és a nyulak közössége is életben maradjon, vagyis ne pusztuljanak ki. Csakhogy a ragadozók térigénye meghaladja azt a területet, amit egy sziget biztosítani tud, ezért egyedszámuk annyira lecsökken, hogy az a természetes kipusztulásukhoz vezet. A görög szigetvilágról nem az ember irtotta ki a ragadozókat, hanem a populációs biológia törvénye.

The aim of this article is to show by means of a case study, the possibilities offered to us by the combination of two conceptual tools, namely the notion of the Greek Archipelago as a dispersed city (according to S. Asdrachas) and the concept of heterotopia understood in the sense M. Foucault gave the term. The case in point will be Zourafa, the most northeastern insular soil of the Greek Territory, northeast of Samothraki. Parallel to the difficulty that the historical approach of such a case presents, the question of the limits of history in relation to space arises. In other words, whether a not only deserted piece of land but also a non-habitable one by humans can have a history, as well as what is or are the possible narratives of such a place. Ultimately, this specific case allows for an account of three narratives: the story of the human attempts for precise determination of the geographical location of Zourafa (history of geography and hydrography), the history of Zourafa as a fishing location (economic history) and the history of Zourafa as imaginary space.

Geopolitics, which took place in a study of Rudolf Kjellen on the borders of Sweden (1899), was popularized by Karl Haushofer during the First World War and gained a number of meanings between the two wars in Germany. The propaganda against Nazi Germany following World War II turned into a necessary and strict strategic approach to examine the term 'geopolitics' on the one hand, related to Nazi foreign policy and on the other hand, global policies that the allies cannot ignore. Concepts such as geopolitics did not have a meaning or identity as the world order has changed in processes such as change. But it simply means equivalent to political realism or real politics. Geopolitics was commemorated by imperialism in the 19th century, fascism in the 20th century, Marxism-Leninism and contemporary liberal policies.

In the theoretical understanding of critical geopolitics, it has taken place as a geographical discourse in the international policies that emerged with the discipline of political science and geography. Geopolitics, especially in countries like Turkey and Greece in all the ideological confrontation of the Cold War period, has been a part of the process occurring in the regional axis.
Turkey and Greece, a geopolitical perspective, the Balkans, has been open to the impact of developments in neighboring regions such as the Aegean and the Mediterranean.

The waste management problems in Greece have peaked in the recent years and if action is not taken immediately, this will cause huge environmental problems. Aim of this paper is after a brief presentation of the present situation concerning Greece and particularly its islands (in comparison with the situation abroad) to propose strategic actions that will have to be taken in order to create a strategic plan. Special suggestions and considerations are made in order to cope with the waste management problems of the greek islands, which account for a high percentage of the greek district. Only by following constantly such a global strategic plan, will it be possible to overcome the difficulties of the present. ZUSAMMENFASSUNG Die Probleme der Abfallentsorgung haben sich in den letzten Jahren in Griechenland verschärft, und wenn keine Lösungen gegeben werden, werden wir schnell vor schmerzlichen Auswirkungen auf die Umwelt stehen, unter Verlust der Chance, die uns durch die Gemeinschaftsfinanzierungsmittel unmittelbar geboten wird. Es ist klar, daß man für die Beschäftigung mit dem Problem der Müllentsorgung in einem kleinen oder großen Gebiet erst eine Kartographie des betreffenden Gebiets im Hinblick auf die Größe seiner Siedlungen in Einwohnern, sowie auf die geographische Verteilung der Bevölkerungsdichte vornehmen muß. In Griechenland leben etwa 50% der Landbewohner in kleinen Siedlungen mit durchschnittlich unter 500 Einwohnern. Zusätzlich erschwert die geographische Struktur der Inseln die Organisationsversuche für die Schaffung zentralerer Träger zur Müllentsorgung und verleiht der strategischen Planung der Müllentsorgung und des Recycling im Inselbereich eine zusätzliche Dimension. Unbedingt nötige Voraussetzung einer bestmöglichen Planung ist die Adoption grundsätzlicher Richtlinien, in deren Rahmen sich die Müllentsorgung in Griechenland bewegen wird. Die zusammenfassende Darstellung des Zustandes in Griechenland und im Ausland, sowie auch die Formulierung von Vorschlägen einer strategischen Planung stellen den Gegenstand des vorliegenden Referats dar. Ziel dieser Arbeit ist nicht die Vorstellung eines vollständigen Unternehmensplanes zur Müllentsorgung , sondern die Definition und Formulierung der strategischen Achsen, auf denen sich dies bewegen muß (Strategic Issue Management). Die Darstellung und Betonung der Besonderheiten des Inselbereichs bezüglich der Sammlung, des Abtransports und der Lagerung des Abfalls, aber auch der Umsetzung von Recyclingprogrammen, sowie auch die Definition alternativer Entsorgungsverfahren, stellen einen weiteren Gegenstand der Darstellung dar. 2 1. EINLEITUNG

Oral communication at a multidisciplinary workshop on Islands and Islanders in the Aegean and the Mediterranean. Island worlds in the longue durée. Originally given in Greek at the University of Crete, December 2014. Translated and revised in Athens, 2022

Closer inspection of the seventy published examples of late ancient graffiti from the Greek island of Syros reveals that some of their inscribers included seafaring Jews as well as Christians.4 This heterogeneity of authorship flouts traditional expectations, informed by textual traditions, about the exclusivity of ancient Jewish or Christian prayer communities and activities around the Mediterranean. It also demonstrates, more broadly, how critical is the consideration of isolated inscriptions such as these toward improved insights into ranges of Jewish devotional behaviors in late antiquity.

This is an all too rare insight into beliefs and attitudes held by common people in the Greek world of the medieval and early modern period. That we have only a hazy idea of the perceptions of these people, based mostly on folklore material and ethnographic observations relating to later periods, need not come as a surprise: this was a predominantly peasant, nonliterate society, which did not produce polemical tracts and had no time and little use for most forms of writing. With one exception, though: the former Byzantine lands, which even when they were not ruled directly by Venice, they nevertheless found themselves under its strong economic and cultural influence, were the place in which the notarial tradition (already flourishing under Byzantine rule [2]), was reinforced and preserved. Its remains, mostly thanks to the importance Venice attached to written records, are impressive, even if only a small fraction of the original total production has been preserved.

I landed on the Greek island of Samos in 2014. My grandfather was there as a soldier of the Italian army during the Second World War. Other trips in the footsteps of the story of my grandfather and the division of the army to which he belonged, led to this album of photo-poems : Il pianto dei Balcani (The Cry of the Balkans), proposed in Italian in the second part of the paper.

Marriage payments in the Greek-speaking world have always taken the form of dowry, i.e. they represented the financial contribution at marriage of the bride’s family. As part of an enquiry to which much of my hitherto research has been devoted, this paper is focusing on aspects of the legal culture and practice that fostered the institution. As attested in a large number of notarial acts, all social relations in the early modern period were regulated by customary law. This was based on a  Greco-Roman / Byzantine heritage and enriched through acculturation by  feudal,/ Latin, Venetian and Ottoman Turkish elements, resulting in  a regime of legal plurality. A discussion of the nature of customary law is followed by a juxtaposition of customary norms with written stipulations presented in a seventeenth-century jurisdictional compendium. The comparison highlighted the flexible character of custom against ironclad written law.

Records of Vespa orientalis Linnaeus, 1771 for 28 islands of Greece are given: in 18 islands (Agistri, Euboea, Folegandros, Kalamos, Kalymnos, Karpathos, Kos, Leros, Lefkada, Naxos, Nisyros, Paros, Patmos, Pserimos, Telendos, Tilos, Tinos, Sifnos), these occurrences are the first record of the species for them. The total number of Greek islands in which V. orientalis is known becomes 33.

The bibliography stresses the existence of lively geographical mobility in the Aegean only from the mid18th century onward but my research has made me realize that travelling was also noticeably frequent at an earlier period. Given that this trend affects significantly a number of major phenomena (such as migration, commercial transactions and cultural traits) the issue is worthy in-depth investigation, but this is only a preliminary consideration focusing on a single island. The questions to which answers were sought are how homogeneous was the island population, who travelled, where to and for what reasons, and finally what conclusions may be drawn from this information.

Narrative sources tress that plenty of outsiders of various origins were residing in the town of Naxos, but information gleaned from the notarial acts is not likely to confirm decisively  this impression  Nevetheless in the 17th century we find abundant references to travels, migration and immigrants, seasonal job seekers or craftsmen (in particular builders, whose job is generally  known to have been almost itinerant). Other groups of people who often travelled were merchants, monks and other ecclesiastics (both Latins and Orthodox), local officials and various litigants who went to Constantinople.

Already from the 17th century, consular networks, with the most widespread being that of France, had developed throughout the area of the Aegean and Ionian Seas. In the case of France, the 16th and 17th centuries were also crucial in the formation of the consular institution, as the consuls had gradually turned from merchant to royal agents. The fact that the French network is old and the most dense in the area makes it the best case-study for observing the development of this institution. Historiography, however, has not, until now, focused its attention on the function of the consular institution on the shores and islands of the Aegean and Ionian Seas, which could allow for detecting issues that cannot be assessed when focusing on the large ports of the eastern Mediterranean and northern Africa. Among these issues are: a) the assignment of consuls by the Ambassador in Constantinople already since the 17th century; b) the assignment of vice-consuls by the subleasers of the consulates between the years 1685 and 1689, when the Compagnie de la Mediterranée has leased all the consulates of the Levant and the Barbary coast; c) the jurisdiction of the ambassador in Constantinople in certain areas under Venetian control as well; d) the existence of consulates with jurisdiction in areas under opposite control (Ottoman and Venetian). The differences in the way consulates worked in the Archipelago revealed the plasticity of this institution, which adapted to the geographical, geopolitical and cultural particularities of each area, also harmonizing with the economic conditions of each period of time.

You feel ready for your summer vacation. You have booked the air tickets for your holiday in Greece, you have arranged to enjoy the sea at the maximum rate by a sailing trip around the Aegean Sea, but still, you should also concern about the practical detail, the boring part of your trip. Let's help you to make it easier. Read below some tips for a light and well-organized suitcase and for a list of food supplies for your sail trip.