Greek Community of Alexandria

Author: Athanasios Koutoupas

  • University of Athens online course: The arts of ancient Greece

    University of Athens online course: The arts of ancient Greece

    Offered by the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (UoA) Centre of Continuing Education & Training and taught in English, distance learning programmes and courses provide the opportunity to combine novel learning and teaching techniques with the ability to study anytime and anywhere.

    As part of the arts/culture category of the UoA’s e-learning programmes, “The arts of ancient Greece: the birth of classical taste” offers a journey through the fascinating developments in Greek art in the period between 1200 to 30 BCE. Introducing participants to an extraordinary cultural phenomenon, the course caters to the beginner in the study of the classical world, the non-specialist as well as to the art enthusiast.

    The course addresses questions such as:
     
    –  What is Greek art?
    –  Which were its founding principles?
    –  Who were the greatest Greek artists, when did they live and how did their work affect generations to come?
    –  Which creations of ancient Greek art are today thought of as masterpieces of unrivalled merit?
    –  Which archaeological discoveries have helped us understand classical Greece in its essence?
     
    Beginning May 15th, this 12-week course welcomes both undergraduate and graduate students, art and archaeology aficionados as well as anyone with an interest in the history of Greece or the classical world.

     

    Upon successful completion, participants will receive a Training Certificate. Tuition fees amount to 350 € and applications run until May 8th.

    University of Athens’ e-learning programmes

    Drawing on the expertise of senior faculty members and renowned European academics, UoA offers e-learning programmes in a wide array of fields, ranging from art and health to business and nanotechnology, through a friendly online educational platform.

    Culture and Arts Online Programmes provide a deeper understanding of the aspects defining the daily life of Ancient Greeks, taking a close look at fields related to philosophy, theatre and rituals that established the uniqueness of Greek civilization. These online courses offer the opportunity to increase one’s knowledge of a culture attracting global interest for centuries and standing as the originator of most arts as we know them.

    It is worth mentioning that over the past fifteen years more than 45,000 people have joined the continuous professional development (CPD) and lifelong learning (LLL) courses of UoA’s e-Learning Programmes.

    (www.greeknewsagenda.gr)

  • (Un)learning from Athens: documenta 14 Inauguration

    (Un)learning from Athens: documenta 14 Inauguration

    Surprise and subversion of the spectator expectations. The vision of Adam Szymczyk, Artistic Director of documenta 14, starts to unravel, calling the public to “unlearn what they know”. On April 8, documenta 14 opened its exhibition in Athens. Extending over the city in more than 40 different public institutions, squares, cinemas, university locations, and libraries, over 160 international artists will show works newly conceived for documenta 14. The exhibition will take place in Athens till July 16 and in Kassel, Germany, from June 10 to September 17.

    For the first time, the prestigious contemporary art exhibition with a sharp political profile opens in a city other than Kassel, where it has been held every five years since 1955. “Learning from Athens” is the title of documenta 14. “What did we learn from Athens? That we all must abandon our prejudices and plunge into the darkness of not knowing. We started with these steps three years ago, preparing documenta 14 in Athens and we got here, at the opening,” Adam Szymczyk said at a press conference in Athens on Thursday, April 6, which was attended by more than 2.000 journalists , artists, curators and collectors from around the world.

    The program starts with the official opening at the National Museum of Contemporary Art (EMST) on Saturday, by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, following an invitation by President Prokopis Pavlopoulos.

    Among the events of documenta 14 inauguration week program is the music performance of Henryk Górecki, Symphony No. 3, Op. 36, Symphony of Sorrowful Song, by Ross Birrell and David Harding, with Athens State Orchestra and Syrian Expat Philharmonic Orchestra (SEPO) at the Athens Concert Hall (20.30). The music performance is a co-production of documenta 14, The Athens State Orchestra, and the Athens Concert Hall and part of the event’s proceeds will benefit the initiative of the Athens State Orchestra’s “Pink Box” for refugee children as well as the programs of Doctors Without Borders (MSF) for refugees both within and beyond Greek borders. Szymczyk emphasized, on the occasion of this performance the feelings of loss, separation and despair that parents and children undergo in times of war.

    The performance of Jani Christou’ s Epicycle, 1968–2017, part of which was performed by the organizational team of documenta 14 to open the Press Conference, will take place Saturday morning at theAthens Conservatoire (ΩA.2) and all other venues, while a performance by Nikhil Chopra titled “Drawing a Line through Landscape” will be held at Archimedous Street 15 (Moschato) and will continue on Sunday.

    (www.greeknewsagenda.gr)

  • New Pyramid Discovered in Egypt

    New Pyramid Discovered in Egypt

    After thousands of years, researchers are still making incredible finds in Egypt (case in point, the giant statue unearthed in Cairo last month). Now, researchers have made another big find: earlier this week the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities announced that a team of their archaeologists discovered the remains of pyramid dating back to the 13th Dynasty, which ruled about 3,700 years ago reports the Associated Press. The only problem is that an inscription indicates that the pyramid may have been built for a ruler that already has a pyramid next door.

    The Egypt Independent reports that the remains were uncovered at the Dahshur Necropolis, an area about 25 miles south of Cairo on the west bank of the Nile. That area is home to what is considered to be some of the earliest pyramids including Sneferu’s Bent Pyramid and Red Pyramid.

    While the pyramid-shaped upper section is gone, the substructure still remains. “The uncovered remains of the pyramid represents a part of its inner structure, which is composed of a corridor leading to the inner side of the pyramid and a hall, which leads to a southern ramp and a room to the western end,” Adel Okasha, the director general of the Dahshur Necropolis says in a statement, reports Owen Jarus at LiveScience.

    Though the writing on the slab has not been translated by the Antiquities Ministry, Jarus shared images of the hieroglyphics with Egyptologists. He reports that two have said the writing is a religious text often used inside pyramids, and that the text appears to include the name of the pharaoh Ameny Qemau, the fifth king of Dynasty XIII, who briefly ruled around 1790 B.C.

    That raises some questions, however, since Ameny Qemau’s pyramid was discovered in Dahshur in 1957, Aidan Dodson, a research fellow at the University of Bristol who has written about artifacts from that earlier pyramid, tells Jarus. He suggests one possibility for the discrepancy is that Qemau may have hacked out the name of a predecessor king and inserted his own name. That practice was common in the ancient world when a new ruler wanted to bury the memory of an enemy or unpopular ruler. 

    The AP reports that the Ministry of Antiquities plans to continue excavations and hope to find more evidence of which ruler or high-ranking official the pyramid belonged to.
    (www.smithsonianmag.com)

  • EgyptAir hosts a Greek media delegation to stimulate tourism

    EgyptAir hosts a Greek media delegation to stimulate tourism

    EgyptAir hosted a 15-member media delegation from the one of largest Greek media institutions, organized by the EgyptAir Office in Athens, headed by Salah Tawfiq, in cooperation with the Egypt Tourism Authority, to visit the tourist destinations in Egypt.

    Captain Sherif Ezzat, EgyptAir airlines CEO, said during his meeting with the delegation that the company has ambitious plans to expand in the Greek market and increase frequencies to enhance its presence in this market.

    The company currently operates 14 weekly flights to Athens, two daily flights from Cairo International Airport, and two weekly flights from Alexandria on Monday and Friday, he said.

    Ezzat added that the company transported about 100,000 passengers between the two countries during the year 2016, and this number is expected to increase this year.

    As part of his tour, the Greek media delegation visited the Egyptian Air Training Center to learn about the Center’s capabilities and training courses in the field of air transport as one of the largest specialized centers in the Middle East and Africa.

    (www.egyptindependent.com)