One of the most renowned
jewelry designs of all time, The Bees of Malia, an incredible artifact hosted
by the Heraklion Μuseum, Crete.
The bees of Malia are considered to be of the most definitive
archaeological findings of Jewelry from the Minoan civilization. These gold
bees are depicted storing away a drop of honey in a comb.
The finding is displayed at the 'Heraklion'
Αrchaeological Μuseum in Crete. It dates back more than 3800 years. Excavated
by the French from the Chrysolakkos necropolis in Mallia, Crete, first
published in 1930 (P. Demargne, BCH54 (1930) pp.404-21 and pl.19).
Even with today's
standards, the skill and
craftsmanship evident on the Malia bees is phenomenal and unsurpassed, and still
leaves even the most skilled jeweler breathless and bewildered with its
granulated detail and extremely challenging
structure. This item constitutes one of the most important and renowned
specimens of Minoan art and ancient jewelry on a universal level.
A nostalic composition by the sensational Marios Strofalis. The collection of photographs in the slide show depicts immense Hellenic personalities of the past - among others the one and only Konstantinos Kavafis, the brilliant Manos Hatjidakis, Nobel prize-winning poet Odysseas Elitis and George Seferis while it opens with rare photos from Athens in the 1920's.
Revisiting these hauntingly nostalgic images, if one has a familiarity and long connection with Greek people.. one cannot ignore the fact that however small the country, its impact on humanity is too often under-rated and that the survival and growth of Greece has never been an easy business.
Greece at its best has been a birthplace of culture and this has always been its wealth, its abundance.With a mythology so rich embedded in its very language, with the understanding of the compassion, the anger and even the fears of 'the gods', there's no comedy or tragedy that you can teach a Greek nor can you better explain the concept of irony to him. The mere meaning of democracy and tyranny,
the difference between syp-pathy, em-pathy and anti-pathy
poly-nomy, auto-nomy and anti-nomy,
mono-poly, duo-poly and oligo-poly
pluto-cracy vs demo-cracy vs theo-cracy
and hundreds if not thousands of concepts more that are Greek principles by birthright that have evenhandedly gifted the rest of the world with their own wealth.
Claiming that Greeks also have to make excellent bankers, financial analysts and politicians is like expecting all people to be the same when they are not. Almost like giving little mirrors and bangles away to an indigenous people in south America who are nomads and years later expecting them to be like you, dress like you and talk like you. Greeks are apparently also a little different. While Anglo-Saxon cultures have excelled in banking and insurance, the Greeks have freely gifted them most of the words and concepts which their contracts are worded with.
But apparently there is some trade-off...
The current sticky situation in Greece is an ugly one but not a new one for the Hellenes who have spent their entire existence conquering and being conquered and cycling between rise and declines. The test of time shows that after Nemesis (Νέμεσις) has washed away the Hubris ('Υβρις) there will again come a peaceful time for the Hellenes and they will stand on their feet again. The question is will Europe be able to eventually see through its 'defeat' and embody new meanings to its new state when Greek words have finished.
