Epidavros Brings Ancient Greece Back to Life

People wearing protective face masks make their way next to the Parthenon temple atop the Acropolis hill, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Athens, Greece, January 4, 2022. (Reuters)
People wearing protective face masks make their way next to the Parthenon temple atop the Acropolis hill, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Athens, Greece, January 4, 2022. (Reuters)
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Epidavros Brings Ancient Greece Back to Life

People wearing protective face masks make their way next to the Parthenon temple atop the Acropolis hill, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Athens, Greece, January 4, 2022. (Reuters)
People wearing protective face masks make their way next to the Parthenon temple atop the Acropolis hill, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Athens, Greece, January 4, 2022. (Reuters)

For nearly two millennia, the Little Theater of Epidavros lay underground, The Guardian reported. Its engraved seats, concentric and tiered, belonged to a world of roots; in this case the roots of an olive grove owned by Christos Zafiris, a local farmer.

“They say that had it not been for pigs digging at the soil, we might never have known of its existence. Until the appearance of the stones in 1970, the theater was a secret hidden under the earth for 18 centuries,” says Prof Vassilis Lambrinoudakis.

The classical archaeologist, renowned for his work at Athens University, has spent more than four decades ensuring the chance find would not go to waste. Excavations have not disappointed. Inscriptions discovered at the site, on the slopes of a peninsula overlooking the sea, have shed light on the history of those who may have commissioned the theater. Evidence of multiple phases of construction, starting in the mid-fourth century BC, have further illuminated the ancient city of Epidavros that once surrounded the architectural gem.

For those who flock to the resurrected theater’s festival every July, the venue, roughly 95 miles south-west of Athens, rivals its slightly younger but much more famous sister, the 12,000-seat ancient playhouse barely 10 miles away long regarded as Greece’s best theater acoustically and aesthetically.

“It’s among our top 10 20th century finds. More than any other remnant of the past, ancient theaters speak to us. They contain a message of life that modern society has a thirst to share. It is our duty to bring them alive,” says Lambrinoudakis, a sprightly octogenarian pointing to the Little Theater’s upper tiers.

In a country as culturally rich as Greece, ancient arenas, like other antiquities, are no stranger to abandonment and decay. Overstretched budgets, an unwieldy bureaucracy and public oversight have all been blamed for ruins falling victim to the ravages of neglect and time. But officials are now on a mission to revive the monuments. And, with the aid of private sponsorship and EU funds, headway is being made.



Syria Seeks EU Help to Battle Massive Wildfires

FILE : A fire burns at a forest in Latakia province, Syria in this handout released by SANA on October 9, 2020. SANA/Handout via REUTERS
FILE : A fire burns at a forest in Latakia province, Syria in this handout released by SANA on October 9, 2020. SANA/Handout via REUTERS
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Syria Seeks EU Help to Battle Massive Wildfires

FILE : A fire burns at a forest in Latakia province, Syria in this handout released by SANA on October 9, 2020. SANA/Handout via REUTERS
FILE : A fire burns at a forest in Latakia province, Syria in this handout released by SANA on October 9, 2020. SANA/Handout via REUTERS

Syria’s minister of emergencies and disaster management on Tuesday requested support from the European Union to battle wildfires that have swept through a vast stretch of forested land.

The fires have been burning for six days, with Syrian emergency crews struggling to bring them under control amid strong winds and severe drought.

Neighboring countries Jordan, Lebanon and Türkiye have already dispatched firefighting teams to assist in the response.

“We asked the European Union for help in extinguishing the fires,” minister Raed al-Saleh said on X, adding Cyprus was expected to send aid on Tuesday, AFP reported.

“Fear of the fires spreading due to strong winds last night prompted us to evacuate 25 families to ensure their safety without any human casualties,” he added.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) office in Syria, the fires impacted “some 5,000 persons, including displacements, across 60 communities.”

An estimated 100 square kilometers (40 square miles) of forest and farmland -- more than three percent of Syria’s forest cover -- have burned, OCHA told AFP.

At least seven towns in Latakia province have been evacuated as a precaution.

Efforts to extinguish the fires have been hindered by “rugged terrain, the absence of firebreaks, strong winds, and the presence of mines and unexploded ordnance”, Saleh said.

With man-made climate change increasing the likelihood and intensity of droughts and wildfires worldwide, Syria has also been battered by heatwaves and low rainfall.

In June, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization said Syria had “not seen such bad climate conditions in 60 years.”