News

From 14 February to 2 March 2006,
HSNES executive committee members Drs K. Politis, S. Chlouveraki and D. Karadimas conduct a lecture series at Damascus University on ancient mosaics, their preservation and the ancient Greek language for the Syrian Mosaic Documentation Training Programme. This will be followed by a second series of lectures from 11-30 March by Drs Amr Al-Azm, Maamoun Abdelkarim and Taghrid Shaaban on cultural heritage management, the ‘Dead Cities' and mosaic decorations and motifs. IT specialist, Mr Vicken Abajian will then conduct an IT training course from 1–11 April. This programme is funded by the European Centre for Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Monuments (EKBMM).

On 23 March 2006,
Fr Michele Piccirillo of the Franciscan Biblical Institute in Jerusalem lectures on Recent Discoveries of Mosaic Pavements in Jordan: Mt Nebo, Madaba and Kastron Mefa'a at the Institute of Greek and Roman Antiquity (KEPA) of the National Hellenic Research Foundation 22 Vassilis Konstantinou avenue, Athens.

Dr Joshua Muravchik,
Adjunct Professor of the Institute of World Politics lectures on American Policy in the Middle East at the Institute of International Relations (3-5 Hill street in Plaka) of Panteion University, Athens at 12.00 noon on 16 February 2006.

On 23 January 2006,
Mr Georgios C. Liakopoulos (PhD student at Royal Holloway University of London) delivered at the University of Athens a lecture entitled ‘The Evolution of the Ottoman Funerary Inscriptions; A Study of Stelae from Greece’. The talk encompassed much of Mr Liakopoulos' research on the Ottoman tombstones of Imathia, Pella, Larissa, Chalkis and Messenia Prefectures and was embellished with rich visual material. For more information email: G.Liakopoulos@rhul.ac.uk

King Abdullah of Jordan makes historic visit to Greece

His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan and his wife Her Majesty Queen Rania made an official state visit to Greece on 21-22 December 2005. This was the first time a Jordanian monarch made such a visit. Their Majesties were received by the President of Greece HE Mr Karolos Papoulias as well as Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis, opposition leaders and the Rt. Hon. Mrs Dora Bakoyanni, then Mayor of Athens.

HM King Abdullah II was awarded the Golden Medal of Athens and signed an agreement of cooperation between the two countries. HM Queen Rania inaugurated a five-year scholarship programme for 14 Jordanian graduate students at the Athens Information Technical University (AIT) commencing in spring 2006.

Syrian Mosaic Programme at 9th ICCM in Tunisia

From 29 November to 3 December 2005 Drs K. D. Politis and A. Al-Azm presented progress reports on the ‘Syrian Mosaic Documentation Training Programme' the 9 th International Conference on the Conservation of Mosaics (ICCM) at Hammamat, Tunisia. A purposely-designed poster of the project was displayed during the conference
Poster - 2.8Kb

Byzantium Early Islam

The project's sub-title is "Integrated multi-disciplinary approach for a better knowledge and safeguard of Byzantine and Islamic cultural heritage". The 2.1 million Euro project will help provide further training for heritage specialists. Modern technology will be applied to research and the production of inventories. Print and electronic publications will raise awareness of cultural heritage among the general public, especially young people. The project will run for 3 years, and is co-ordinated by the Hellenic Society for the Protection of the Environment and Cultural Heritage in Thessaloniki. Academic and cultural institutions in Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Cyprus, Greece, and Italy are involved.
http://www.euromedheritage.net/en/euromedheritageprojects/eh3/byzantium.htm

Greece, Palestine: ‘Gateway to self-employment'

One of two Greek Prodecom partners, Kessa Dimitra, obtained an 18-month funding from the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as a direct result of the Prodecom leverage action. The project concerns 5 women's cooperatives in West Bank, Gaza strip, Lebanon and Jordan. It aims at empowering the self-employment of Palestinian women-refugees, as well as of women who live in secluded rural areas of intervention areas.

New Publication

HSNES is pleased and proud to announce the publication of “The Greek Inscriptions from Ghor es-Safi (Byzantine Zoora)”. This important volume is the result of ten years of intensive studies on the newly discovered funerary inscriptions from ancient Zoara/Zoora at the southeastern shores of the Dead Sea in modern Jordan.
(ISBN 960 - 7905 - 22 - 9)

Recent Appointement

Dr Georgios Politakis, HSNES Special Secretary and founding member, was appointed as the representative of Greece to the ‘World Bank' (the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Development Association ) in Washington, D.C. in September 2004.

The Ra's al-Hadd (Oman) Project

The first field season of the Greek Archaeological Expedition to Ra's al-Hadd in Oman, took place in December 2004 and January 2005 under HSNES sponsorship in collaboration with the Aristotelian University of Thessalonica and the University of Macedonia with the approval of the Omani Department of Antiquities

Syrian Mosaic Documentation and Conservation Training Programme

The first part of Syrian Mosaic documentation and Conservation project began took place in April, May and the second part in August and September 2005. Dr Konstantinos Politis went to Syria to work on documentation strategies and initiate recording of mosaics in the Damascus Archaeological Museum in collaboration with Dr Amr al-Azm of Damascus University. The project is funded by the European Centre for Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Monuments in collaboration with the Damascus University, Syrian Ministry of Culture and HSNES.

The Sanctuary of Aghios Lot Project

The Sanctuary of Aghios Lot at Deir ‘Ain ‘Abata in Jordan final excavation report is now completed and due to be published by the British Museum Press in 2006.

Other Near Eastern news

Dr Emmanuel Papoutsakis was appointed lecturer in Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University in September 2003. He teaches courses in Syriac and Classical Armenian languages and literatures. Dr Papoutsakis' research interest is in the golden age of Syriac literature (fourth-seventh cent.), particularly of the 6 th century Byzantine poet Romanos. For more information email epapouts@princeton.edu

Georgios C. Liakopoulos is currently conducting doctoral research at Royal Holloway, University of London on the place-onomastics in the Peloponnese during the first Ottoman period (AD 1460-1688). He has obtained an MA in Ottoman History at Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey and researched in the Prime-Ministry Ottoman Archives in Istanbul. For more information email: G.Liakopoulos@rhul.ac.uk

The former Political Development Minister of Jordan, Mohammad Daoudiyeh was appointed Jordan's ambassador to Greece in February 2005.