Greek Diaspora

Α. Ο Μαξιμοσ Μαργουνιοσ ποιητησ Η μορφή του επισκόπου Κυθήρων Μάξιμου Μαργούνιου, ενός από τους κορυφαίους ιεράρχες του 16ου αι., πολυγραφότατου και εξαιρετικής μόρφωσης αρχιερέα, έχει απασχολήσει στο παρελθόν αρκετές εισηγήσεις σε διάφορα συνέδρια. Η επιστημονική όμως έρευνα ελάχιστα ασχολήθηκε με τη λογιοσύνη του σεπτού αυτού ιεράρχη και ιδιαίτερα με τη συνεισφορά του στην ποίηση.

This chapter is concerned with writing, language, and traditional poetry, that is, the non-archaeological evidence pertaining to the Early Iron Age in Greece and the eastern Mediterranean. Nevertheless, it seems appropriate to begin with an object, the so-called Opheltas obelos (Figure 7.4), a late eleventh-or early tenth-century BCE bronze spit inscribed with the Arcado-Cypriot genitive form of the proper name Opheltas (o-pe-leta-u), which was discovered in a chamber tomb (Kouklia-Skales Tomb 49) at Palaeopaphos, Cyprus, in 1979. I see this object as emblematic of the concerns of the present chapter and not only because it is the only early Iron Age document at our disposal whose language is Greek. 1 To begin with, the Opheltas obelos is a representative of the Bronze Age tradition of syllabic writing in the only part of the Greek world where this tradition continued into the Archaic and Classical periods. Second, it testifies to the fact that the Arcadian dialect, to which the earlier Mycenaean and the later Cypriot dialects are closely related, was present on Cyprus already at the beginning of the Iron Age. Third, the evidence it provides is directly relevant to the issue of the Early Iron Age migrations that transformed the ethnic and political map of the eastern Mediterranean. Finally, it is suggestive of Greek epic tradition, for "Opheltas" is a heroic name, encountered both in Homer and elsewhere in traditional sources. 2 Let us then take a closer look at the interrelated issues embodied in the Opheltas obelos.

Dalla fine del Quattrocento, precisi accordi tra la Repubblica di Genova e i Sovrani cattolici consentivano alla Superba di nominare propri consoli negli avamposti della monarchia iberica di maggiore rilevanza strategica e commerciale. Fra Cinque e Seicento, l'ufficio consolare si stabilizzava anche nel Regno di Sardegna, entrando in piena operatività nelle sette città regie. Qui il console diventava presto il perno di un sistema reticolare dai significati sociale, economico e politico, intorno al quale la presenza ligure assumeva forme istituzionalizzate, sottoposte a continua negoziazione. Le comunità genovesi sono state sinora studiate singolarmente, senza essere inserite in un quadro organico capace di valorizzare il ruolo dei consoli in un più ampio disegno di controllo della Repubblica sui sudditi genovesi all'estero. L'esame delle corrispondenze tra il console a Cagliari e il Senato di Genova, lette insieme ad altre fonti (ecclesiastiche, processuali e notarili), consente di ricostruire le reti relazionali che definivano gli equilibri di forza tra la "nazione" genovese cittadina, la sua arciconfraternita e il console, aprendo a una rilettura di tale esperienza di radicamento forestiero in terra d'altri.
Questo contributo dà conto degli impatti interpretativi scaturiti dall'impiego dell'ecosistema digitale ASMSA (Atlante digitale di Storia Marittima del Regno di Sardegna) per la metadazione, la spazializzazione e la visualizzazione della documentazione summenzionata. L'ASMSA consente di ordinare semanticamente, nello spazio e nel tempo, i dati estratti dalle diverse tipologie di fonti disponibili, integrandone l’interpretazione con strumenti di network analysis digitale prodotti anche con l’ausilio della AI. Ne derivano soluzioni analitiche che aumentano la capacità di cogliere relazioni e che offrono elementi utili alla problematizzazione e all'interpretazione del fenomeno studiato.

West Africa and especially Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Ghana have been a place of migration for the Greeks since the late 19th century. Initially it was a few risk-taking European pioneers and later people from Greece and Cyprus who emigrated, mainly after the 1950s.
The migration of the Greeks to West Africa resulted from the political and social conditions that existed in the wider south-eastern Mediterranean, and the consequences of the strategy of the European colonial powers in West Africa. The endeavours of various European powers to broaden their sphere of influence in Africa so as to exploit the maximum physical space led to trade and infrastructure development. Greeks, who emigrated to the British and French colonies in West Africa, took advantage of these conditions and became the protagonists of the economic development of the country. The Greeks have been active in every aspect of the economic and social life of the country up to the present day.

Η παρουσίαση αυτή εστιάζει στον λιγότερο μελετημένο αλλά ιδιαίτερα ενδιαφέρον λαϊκό αγιογράφο, Ιωάννη εκ Βλαχίας, ο οποίος δραστηριοποιείται στην Κύπρο από το πρώτο μισό του 18ου αιώνα και εξελίσσεται σταδιακά από λαϊκός ζωγράφος σε ιεροδιάκονος και τελικά ιερέας. Μετά την κατάληψη της Κωνσταντινούπολης από τους Οθωμανούς το 1453, η κάθοδος Κωνσταντινουπολιτών αγιογράφων στην Κύπρο προσέφερε νέο κλίμα στους αγιογραφικούς κύκλους του νησιού. Αυτό διαφαίνεται όχι μόνο στην αγιογράφηση φορητών εικόνων αλλά και τοιχογραφιών όπως στις εκκλησίες του Τροόδους οι οποίες εντάσσονται στον κατάλογο της UNESCO. Η περίοδος της Οθωμανικής Αυτοκρατορίας (1571-1878), στην Κύπρο θεωρείται γενικότερα μία 'φτωχική' περίοδος, όσον αφορά την αγιογραφική τέχνη. Ωστόσο, η κυπριακή αναγέννηση στη βυζαντινή αγιογραφία την περίοδο αυτή έχει δική της ταυτότητα, λιγότερο ή και καθόλου μελετημένη. Ειδικότερα, το 17ο και 18ο, οι αγιογράφοι ιστορούν εικόνες με φθηνότερα υλικά. Δεν χρησιμοποιούν τόσο το χρυσό, γιατί ήταν ακριβό υλικό ενώ χρησιμοποιούν στην θέση του διάφορα άλλα χρώματα όπως το κίτρινο, το πράσινο ή το μπλε ανάλογα και με τις προτιμήσεις του πελάτη τους. Ωστόσο, υπάρχουν αγιογράφοι οι οποίοι χρησιμοποιούν ακριβότερα υλικά, όπως οι αγιογράφοι της Μονής Αγίου Ηρακλειδίου, το 18ον αιώνα, περίοδος ακμής της αγιογραφικής τέχνης της μονής. Ο αγιογράφος Γιοβάσκος ή Ιωάννης εκ Βλαχίας τον 18ο αιώνα εμφανίζεται σε ένα διαφορετικό κλίμα. Η δράση του επικεντρώνεται κυρίως στην ευρύτερη περιοχή της Μόρφου, με ιδιαίτερη έμφαση στη Σολέα και την ορεινή ζώνη του Τροόδους, αν και αυτό δεν αποκλείει την δραστηριότητά του σε άλλες περιοχές της Κύπρου. Ο Ιωάννης εκ Βλαχίας είναι ένας λαϊκός αγιογράφος, ο οποίος ξεφεύγει από τα βυζαντινά πρότυπα. Η αγιογραφική του προσπάθεια είναι ένας τρόπος να φτάσει στο θειο. Αρχικά υπογράφει τα έργα του ως Γιοβάσκος εκ Σολέας και Βλαχίας στις αρχές του 18ου αιώνα. Την υπογραφή του την βρίσκουμε σε ένα πρώιμο έργο του μικρών διαστάσεων (26×35,5×3εκ.), από το χωριό του Αγίου Δημητρίου Μαραθάσας με την χρονολογία 1733. (εικ. 1).

This paper explores and compares smoking advertisements and anti-smoking and anti-cancer messages in Australia's migrant press, particularly newspapers, from 1930 to 1960. It investigates the ways in which smoking was promoted to migrant communities through their newspapers, contrasts this with the increasing prevalence of anti-smoking and broader anti-cancer messages, and explores whether there were any shifts in advertising and in anti-smoking messages following the growing research linking smoking and cancer (particularly lung cancer) from 1950. These messages were ultimately tied to this growing research, as well as the various Australian state and national anti-cancer campaign committees which emphasised early diagnosis and swift treatment as the best method to combat a range of cancers. Yet the Australian authorities, although finally acknowledging the dangers of cigarette smoking, rejected any government intervention other than providing the medical reports to the public. Greek-language newspapers (notably To Ethnico Vema) form an important case study; however, other foreign-language and migrant community papers were also consulted, including Italian, Jewish, and French.

At the turn of the 20th century, the Ottoman Empire emerged as a key arena of imperial rivalry due to its strategic location and vital trade routes. This study focuses on a failed British attempt to acquire a concession over the Mahsusa Company (İdare-i Mahsusa), the Ottoman state-run steamship monopoly. Drawing on archival sources, feasibility reports, and British diplomatic correspondence, it explores how the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) initially supported the concession to balance German and French influence. However, the plan collapsed due to parliamentary opposition, nationalist economic concerns shaped by Listian ideas, intra-British corporate conflicts, and German diplomatic pressure. The case of the Mahsusa Company illustrates the complex interplay between imperial competition, economic nationalism, and infrastructure politics in the late Ottoman period. It also highlights how financial tools such as concessions and bond issuance became means of geopolitical influence during the Empire's final decades.

The figure of Liborio Romano, Minister of the Interior and of the Police of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in the final Bourbon period, is one of the most controversial of the Italian Risorgimento. For this reason, it is difficult to classify him unequivocally as a traitor, a hero, or simply a deluded man. Historiography offers several interpretations.

Α. Louriotis’ personal correspondence reveals multifarious commercial
activities before he undertook the intermediation mission of negotiating
the first Greek loans in London. Louriotis’s identity was forged from an experience acquired within an international environment directly exposed to Ottoman, Greek, and European influences and conditions in the formative 1820s. Having achieved economic independence through extensive merchant activities, like other diaspora Greeks, he was driven, for a variety of reasons, to landownership and national politics in the modern Greek state. His story is an example of a personal passage from international trade affairs to national Greek social and economic identity.

There are many that I would like to acknowledge. First, my supervisor, Matthew Ricketson, Professor of Communication at Deakin University, who illuminated my understanding of journalism. His book 'Telling True Stories: Navigating the challenges of writing narrative non-fiction', was the catalyst for my decision to investigate my practice at the Greek Australian masthead, Neos Kosmos. His supervision helped me find the tools and language to understand, and better advocate, for the role of independent multicultural media. I thank my secondary supervisor, Sean Redmond, Professor in Media, and Communication at Deakin University. We met over collaborations such as the documentary of the lives of Italian Australians, 'Memories that Make Us', a partnership with the Italian community through COASIT. Sean guided my submission to present my work on author Christos Tsiolkas at media conference at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He steered me away from the rocks of assumption and verbosity when my Odyssean-like hubris and spin overtook me. I could not wish for better and more patient supervisors than Matthew and Sean.

This research project explores the adaptation of sound in the rebetika ‘ρεμπέτικα’ songs and specifically in the guitar repertoire of tsimpita ‘τσιμπητά’. This repertoire has an immigration and sociocultural background as it was developed in the 1930s in America by the Greek diaspora. In
this research project, I attempted to arrange the song ‘Stin Ipoga’ ‘Στην Υπόγα’ or ‘At the Basement’ by Bezos. The song was arranged for electric guitar, electronics, synthesiser, voices and samples from field recordings in Glasgow and in Nicosia. For this arrangement I collaborated with the musician Antonis Hadjiantonis. This research focuses on the possibility of
contextualising and adapting the tsimpita. Moreover, it deals with ways of reshaping sounds of the past. My concern is to illuminate the use of the folk electric guitar in the way in which is connected in the contemporary bouzoukia ‘μπουζούκια’, skilladika ‘σκύλλαδικα’ and paniyiria ‘πανηγύρια’ where it is mostly used as part of the rhythm section. The choice of this particular research is based on my musical quests through a collection of sound memories from the past, my current influences of a contemporary context and my expatriation.

Deyr Sultan, the rooftop monastery situated above the Chapel of St. Helena in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre complex, stands as one of Jerusalem's longest running and symbolically charged inter-Christian property disputes. For centuries, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria have contested its ownership. This article presents a multidisciplinary analysis of the conflict, drawing on historical accounts, legal documents, religious manuscripts, and political archives spanning the medieval period through the Ottoman, British Mandate, and modern Israeli eras. The findings demonstrate that the Ethiopian claim is historically older, more continuous, and better documented than the Coptic claim, which emerged primarily through political advantage during periods of Ethiopian vulnerability. A resolution affirming Ethiopian ownership is legally, historically, and ethically warranted. Author's Note This research was inspired by the 2025 appointment of His Eminence Archbishop Aba Nathanael D. Belay to lead the Ethiopian Orthodox Diocese in Jerusalem and the Holy Land. His transfer renewed attention within the global Ethiopian Orthodox community to the centuries-long struggle over Deyr' Sultan. Although Jerusalem holds a significant place in Ethiopian Christian spirituality, many believers remain unaware of the complex historical and political struggles connected to this location. This study aims to shed light on Ethiopia's historical presence in the Holy Land and encourage deeper engagement with its enduring sacred significance.

Στην παρούσα εισήγηση, θα επιχειρηθεί μια σύντομη περιγραφή και ανασύνθεση του «τοπίου» της ελληνόγλωσσης εκπαίδευσης στο εξωτερικό, όπως διαμορφώθηκε με τον νόμο 4415/2016 και την τροποποίηση του ν. 4692/2020, όσον αφορά τον σκοπό, τη στόχευση και τις μορφές της, τη γεωγραφική της έκταση-κατακερματισμό, τη δομή αλλά και τη διάρθρωσή της. Θα αξιοποιηθούν θεσμικά κείμενα, πηγές του διαδικτύου και αρχειακό υλικό. Παράλληλα, θα εξεταστούν ζητήματα της λειτουργίας της, διοικητικής και οικονομικής αλλά και παιδαγωγικής φύσης, σε σχέση με την πολυδιάσπαση και ποικιλομορφία που τη χαρακτηρίζουν, με επικέντρωση στη διαχείριση των ποικίλων αναγκών και στη γενικότερη υποστήριξη, παιδαγωγική, οικονομική, οργανωτική και διοικητική, των σχολικών μονάδων του εξωτερικού. /../  In this presentation, a brief description and reconstruction of the "landscape" of Greek-language education abroad will be attempted, as shaped after law 4415/2016 and the amendment of law 4692/2020, in terms of its purpose, aim and forms, geographical extent and fragmentation, structure and structure. Institutional texts, internet sources and archival material will be utilized. At the same time, issues of its operation, administrative, financial and pedagogical, in relation to the fragmentation and diversity, will be examined, focusing on the management of various needs and the general support, pedagogical, financial, organizational and administrative, of schools abroad.

This article presents a rare mukhtar (head of community) book written in Hebrew in the spring of 1917, preserved today in the Israel State Archives in Jerusalem. It was written most probably by the head or the managing committee of the colony of Rishon le-Zion near Jaffa in central Ottoman Palestine, anticipating possible evacuation orders by the Ottoman authorities. The circumstances and context prompting the writing of this register, its nature and rarity, colony demographics, and the gaps in the data are analysed and compared to other demographic sources dealing with Rishon le-Zion at the time, in particular a census carried out by the Palestine Office of the Zionist movement. The discussion centres on the overt and covert divisions among the colonists, as manifested in the population register, and points to the ways in which examining such registers can lead to broader conclusions about the Yishuv’s characteristics at the time.

We present to you the 23rd volume of Series Byzantina, this time devoted to the Greek Diaspora in Central Europe. The articles presented are the result of scholarly discussions during a conference organized in Zamość in 2024. The occasion for the meeting at the Zamość Academy was the 635th anniversary of the Greek settlement in the city located in eastern Poland. Zamość, founded by Chancellor and Grand Hetman of the Crown Jan Zamoyski in 1580, became a destination for merchants from various ethnic backgrounds. From the very beginning, Greeks, Armenians, Poles, Ukrainians, Jews, and Italians settled in the city. Piotr Kondraciuk, together with his colleagues from the University of Ostrava, has once again prepared this conference. In 2010, a meeting of scholars specializing in the art of the Armenian Diaspora was held, which initiated research in Central Europe, and subsequent conferences (Gdańsk, Warsaw, Ostrava) yielded numerous scientific discover- ies. The same could be said about the 2024 meeting.

This thesis examines the ways in which the Greek national past is represented and invested with meaning in the discourse of the Greek-language newspaper Ethnikos Keryx (National Herald) of New York during the period 1915–1924. The study is situated within the historical context of mass Greek migration and the processes of ethnic identity formation in an environment shaped by racial nationalism and Americanization policies, in conjunction with the interventions and expectations of the Greek state toward the Greek Orthodox overseas communities. Through content and discourse analysis of various types of newspaper material, the study explores the uses of the ancient, Byzantine, and modern Greek past—particularly the Greek War of Independence of 1821—as mechanisms of national cohesion and as means through which Greek immigrants negotiated their identity within the American environment. The analysis demonstrates that Ethnikos Keryx reproduces the central elements of the Greek national narrative while selectively reshaping them in accordance with contemporary needs and the conditions of American society. Classical antiquity is presented as the primary symbolic capital through which Greek immigrants sought social acceptance and inclusion within the racial hierarchy of whiteness. Byzantium and Orthodoxy function mainly as elements of internal cohesion within the immigrant community; however, Orthodox worship practices were also subject to processes of adaptation. The Greek War of Independence and the celebration of March 25 emerge as key mechanisms for reinforcing collective identity and projecting Greek communities within American public life in the United States.

The  modernization  reforms  initiated  by  the  Ottoman  Empire  in  the  19th  century  based  on  the Tanzimat and Islahat decrees led to fundamental transformations in provincial administration. The main subject and purpose  of  this  research  is  to  document,  based  on  primary  sources,  how  this  process,  which  aimed  to  strengthen centralised administration, shaped the administrative, judicial, and financial structure of Ardahan within the framework of  the  Erzurum  Provincial  Yearbooks  (Erzurum  Vilayet  Salnameleri),  the  1864  and  1871  Provincial  Regulations (Vilayet  Nizamnameleri).  In  this  regard,  Erzurum  Provincial  Yearbooks  were  transcribed  and  document  content analysis techniques were applied within the perspective of qualitative research methodology. A total of five yearbooks from 1870, 1871, 1872, 1873, and 1877 were examined, and the information identified about Ardahan's administrative, financial, and judicial structure was incorporated into the study. The study compares Ardahan's administrative status before  and  after  the  1877-1878  Russo-Ottoman  War.  Although  there  are  studies  on  the  history  of  Ardahan  in  the literature, it is believed that this research will contribute significantly to the literature as a primary source, because ofthe lack of  specific studies directly illuminating the administrative, judicial, and financial administration during and after the Tanzimat period.

Il rapporto delle comunità del Gerrei con il
feudatario è sempre stato abbastanza conflittuale. Sul finire del XVIII secolo, i consigli
comunitativi di Armungia, Ballao, Silius e Villasalto oppongono una strenua
resistenza al versamento dei diritti feudali52. La comunità di Armungia, in particolare,
si scontra con il marchese sul suo diritto di disboscare e coltivare alcuni salti in
territorio di Murdega, rivendicando le concessioni dei capitoli di grazia del 1680,
che avevano stabilito il pagamento di uno starello di grano per vassallo.

Yano Jonathans (Depok, Indonésie) et Jan-Karel Kwisthout (Pays-Bas) ont publié séparément en Indonésie et aux Pays-Bas sur l'histoire de Depok, une communauté de Java occidental à l'histoire fascinante. La mère de Yano et la grand-mère de Jan-Karel, respectivement Claudia Adriana Jonathans-Laurens et Johanna Eleonora Kwisthout-Laurens, sont nées à Depok et étaient cousines l'une de l'autre. Lorsque Yano et Jan-Karel se sont rencontrés pour la première fois à Depok en 2008, ils partageaient la même passion pour l'histoire de Depok. Au cours de leur rencontre, l'idée est venue de monter un album avec des images de l'ancien Depok. Cette idée a mûri avec le temps et s'est concrétisée avec cet album. Les deux auteurs ont décrit l'histoire de Depok dans leurs livres : Y. Jonathans, Depok tempo doeloe. Potret kehidupan sosial & budaya masyarakat, Jakarta 2011). J.K.B.H. Kwisthout, Sporen uit het verleden van Depok. Een nalatenschap van Cornelis Chastelein (1657-1714) aan zijn vrijgemaakte christenslaven, Woerden 2007 ; Jejak-Jejak masa lalu Depok. Warisan Cornelis Chastelein (1657-1714) kepada para budaknya yang dibebaskan, Jakarta 2015 ; Drie eeuwen Depok. De erfenis van Cornelis Chastelein (1657-1714) aan zijn vrijgemaakte christenslaven, Hilversum 2024) ; Trois siècles de Depok. L'héritage de Cornelis Chastelein (1657-1714) à ses esclaves chrétiens affranchis, 2024). L'histoire de Depok et les traditions au sein de la communauté de Depok – les Kaum Depok – sont désormais illustrées par des images. Cet album montre ce qui a été autrefois, ce qui a été perdu, mais aussi ce que l'on peut encore retrouver à Depok. Des images qui font référence à plus de trois siècles d'histoire de Depok.

This essay reconstructs the post 1861 trajectory of former soldiers of the Bourbon Kingdom of the Two Sicilies following Italian unification, emphasizing the coercive mechanisms— forced oaths of allegiance, demotion, detention, and deportation—through which the new state sought to neutralize or absorb a defeated military constituency. Drawing on contemporary accounts that describe mass arrests and transfers to Northern Italy, the narrative highlights the material conditions of transport and confinement (notably Genoa and sites such as Fenestrelle, San Maurizio Canavese, and Alessandria) and frames these practices within a broader politics of repression and delegitimation, including a sustained propaganda campaign portraying Bourbon troops as inherently undisciplined or criminal. Against this backdrop, the essay traces an unexpected channel of “redemption” via transatlantic mobilization: the recruitment of roughly 1,800 former Bourbon soldiers by the American veteran Chatham Roberdeau Wheat in early 1861 and their incorporation into the Italian Guard within Wheat’s Louisiana Tigers. The study argues that, beyond symbolic rehabilitation, these veterans contributed transferable tactical experience—particularly in light infantry mobility, skirmishing, and field engineering—within Confederate military structures. Wheat’s death at Gaines’ Mill (1862), the subsequent dispersal of the unit, and the post war disappearance of many survivors into generic occupational records underscore the fragility of collective identity once institutional anchors are removed, raising wider questions about memory, defeat, and historical visibility in nation building narratives.

This thesis examines the migration of Chians to the United States and Canada from the
early twentieth century until the Greek Postcolonial period. It explores the causes of
migration, the processes of settlement and professional integration, the forms of social
organization within the diaspora, and the ways in which migrants maintained their
connection to the island of Chios. The study combines historical and bibliographical
research with primary oral sources, drawing on thirteen semi-structured interviews with
first- and second-generation Chian migrants.
The findings highlight that migration was primarily driven by economic necessity
and facilitated by family and community networks. Early employment was often
characterized by long working hours and limited opportunities, while gradual social
and professional mobility emerged over time, particularly through education in the
second generation. Chian associations, the Church and collective activities played an
important role in maintaining cultural identity, although this process weakened over the
generations. Finally, the relationship with Chios was maintained through remittances,
donations, visits and, in some cases, repatriation, underlining the lasting emotional and
material ties between immigrants and their place of origin.
Despite the limitations resulting from the lack of sufficient bibliography, and in
particular from the absence of studies focusing on the lived everyday life of Chian
immigrants in America and Canada, oral testimonies proved to be particularly fruitful.
As primary and empirical material, they not only filled the bibliographic gaps to a
significant extent, but also substantially enriched the research, illuminating aspects of
the immigrant experience that are difficult to capture in written sources. In this sense,
the present work does not aspire to be a comprehensive or definitive assessment, but to
function as a starting point for further study and more systematic research into the
history and daily life of Greeks in the diaspora.

Since 2016, on the initiative of the Hellenic History Foundation (Athens) and
in collaboration with Ecrans des Mondes (Paris), Beyond Borders Kastellorizo
International Documentary Festival has offered audiences an annual, immer-
sive experience comprised of films with historical and multicultural content.
Held during the last week of August, the Festival takes place every year on
the Greek border island of Kastellorizo, located just off the southwest coast
of Turkey. A merchant island that thrived in the second half of the nineteenth
century, Kastellorizo was devastated during the Second World War, with
almost all its remaining population migrating overseas, mainly to Australia,
in the immediate post-war years. In recent decades, Australian-Kastellorizians have returned to rebuild the island and – as is the case with other European film festivals – Beyond Borders has contributed (particularly in the wake of the Greek Economic Crisis in 2009) to the regeneration of its community. This article investigates the broader ecology of the Festival: not only its events but also its relationship to Kastellorizo’s local and diasporic communities. It examines the cultural and economic impact of Beyond Borders and the ways in which this endeavour has helped the island of Kastellorizo regain a place in the international cultural scene.

The aim of the present comparative study is to find out whether there are any differences in self-esteem between Pontian and Greek students at the 6 th Grade level. Pontians are a particular type of immigrant in the sense that they are in fact 're-patriated': they are Greeks whose ancestors lived around Pontos in the Black Sea area during the seventh century before Christ. They moved to the interior of the ex-Soviet Union in 1916, and then returned to Greece in 1986. Although Pontians share a common history, religion, and several cultural elements with the Greeks, 'natives' regard them as 'foreigners' and as a result they are a marginalized population in Greece. This study set out to analyse the self-concept of a total sample of 1558 students attending 6 th Grade. 552 of these students were Pontian immigrants, 864 were native Greeks while 172 were Pontian natives. The results of the present research lead us to conclude that there is a statistically significant difference in the self-concept between the Pontian and Greek population. It also seems that the marginalized immigrant family, whether belonging to the same ethnic group or not, comprises a population at risk as far as the self-concept of the children is concerned.

Nel secondo quarto del secolo XVIII a Venezia fu attuato un tentativo di risollevare il commercio mercantile veneziano - languente dopo che le condizioni economiche generali erano mutate e la II guerra di Morea aveva sottratto alla Serenissima i residui domini ellenici - con una serie di misure che da un lato agevolassero chi intraprendeva un' attività mercantile, concedendo agevolazioni su dazi e imposte, dall' altro sviluppassero la cantieristica e le attività legate alla navigazione, specie nel teatro di Ponente.

There are two sides to every story. Arguably many more. That of the Ottoman legacy in Ottoman Arab spaces is no exception. Arab societies often actively attempted to forget their Ottoman past or rejected it entirely as if it had never existed. Yet, an increasing number of researchers suggest that the Ottomans have been remembered in different ways since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. In this chapter, I explore these traces and contend that memory of the Ottoman Empire was never fully absent in Arabic-speaking spaces. I show that Arab historians have, in fact, provided complex, nuanced and often ambivalent reflections on the imperial period
preceding the formation of national states. To do this, I rely on early historiographies of the Ottoman Empire produced in former Arabic-speaking provinces of the Empire, focusing on Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Palestine, Sudan, Iraq, the Hijaz (in today’s Saudi Arabia), and Yemen, as well as on vibrant secondary literature on the topic. In doing so, I eventually hope to “unpack neo-Ottomanism,”2 which is often yet inaccurately restricted to a recent and artificial form of longing for an Islamic Empire.

Deyr Sultan, the rooftop monastery situated above the Chapel of St. Helena in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre complex, stands as one of Jerusalem's longest-running and symbolically charged inter-Christian property disputes. For centuries, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria have contested its ownership. This article presents a multidisciplinary analysis of the conflict, drawing on historical accounts, legal documents, religious manuscripts, and political archives spanning the medieval period through the Ottoman, British Mandate, and modern Israeli eras. The findings demonstrate that the Ethiopian claim is historically older, more continuous, and better documented than the Coptic claim, which emerged primarily through political advantage during periods of Ethiopian vulnerability. A resolution affirming Ethiopian ownership is legally, historically, and ethically warranted. Author's Note This research was inspired by the 2025 appointment of His Eminence Archbishop Aba Nathanael D. Belay to lead the Ethiopian Orthodox Diocese in Jerusalem and the Holy Land. His transfer renewed attention within the global Ethiopian Orthodox community to the centuries-long struggle over Deyr' Sultan. Although Jerusalem holds a significant place in Ethiopian Christian spirituality, many believers remain unaware of the complex historical and political struggles connected to this location. This study aims to shed light on Ethiopia's historical presence in the Holy Land and encourage deeper engagement with its enduring sacred significance.

This workshop does not intend to suggest a hierarchy of the already constructed images or even resolve these seemingly contradictory interpretations of the late Ottoman port cities. Instead, it intends to use this kaleidoscope as a point of departure to prepare the ground for a debate which will hopefully lead to a better insight of 19 century Eastern Mediterranean urbanity. The political, social, and economic culture of the Ottoman port cities was certainly multifaceted and contested. Rather than debating which discourse was predominant, we raise the question of how groups and individuals navigated between them and made their choices utilizing a range of possibilities. It is our thesis that the competing orders did not produce neatly divided camps among the city population, but rather a terrain permitting or even demanding individual interpretation and amendment.

À la fin du XIXe siècle les grandes maisons commerciales de la puissante colonie grecque de Marseille ferment graduellement. Lors des premières décennies du XXe siècle, et surtout entre 1923 et 1928, des réfugiés et des immigrants grecs s’installent dans la région. Une nouvelle société hellénique émerge et s’organise progressivement. Dans le cadre des nouvelles associations qui se créent, des nouveaux individus se distinguent et visent à redonner de la splendeur à la vie intellectuelle, artistique et économique de la ville. L’Union Hellénique de Marseille, fondée en 1944, est la plus importante expression associative de cette nouvelle société. Au sein de cette association est créé en 1947 le Comité des Relations Franco-Helléniques Littéraires et Artistiques. Deux illustres personnes sont à l’origine de cette création : un grand helléniste, le professeur Gaston Broche et un Grec, le poète et membre de l’Académie d’Athènes, Sotiris Skipis. Le professeur Gaston Broche, chevalier de la Légion d’honneur et fondateur de l’Académie racinienne d’Uzès, est l’auteur de « Pythéas le Massaliote » et également de nombreuses œuvres littéraires inspirées par l’Antiquité grecque. Sotiris Skipis, poète lyrique, connu du public grec par son œuvre poétique, est également célèbre en France. Il est particulièrement apprécié et aimé par les Grecs et philhellènes de Marseille. En octobre 1947, le bulletin trimestriel « Hellas-Gallia » voit le jour sous la direction des deux fondateurs du Comité. Il sera publié jusqu’à 1952, l’année de la mort de Sotiris Skipis. Ce Comité, initiative née au cœur de la société intellectuelle franco-hellénique marseillaise de l’après-guerre et financée par une association d’immigrants grecs, constitue un aspect de modernité qui s’est inspiré et exprimé à travers d’une Antiquité grecque idéalisée. De fervents hellénistes français étant pour la plupart des universitaires, ou des écrivains se sont progressivement regroupés autour du Comité, soutenant son œuvre et promouvant l’Antiquité grecque comme un idéal fondamental de la culture française et européenne moderne.
Franco-Hellenic Relations Committee in Marseille from 1947 to 1952: Greek antiquity through the cooperation between Sotiris Skipis and Gaston Broche.



At the end of the 19th century, the great trading houses of the powerful Greek colony of Marseille gradually closed. During the first decades of the 20th century, and especially between 1923 and 1928, Greek refugees and immigrants settled in the region. A new Hellenic society emerges and gradually organizes itself. Within the framework of the new associations which are created, new individuals stand out and aim to restore the splendor to the intellectual, artistic, and economic life of the city. The Hellenic Union of Marseille, founded in 1944, is the most important associative expression of this new society. Within this association, the Franco-Hellenic Literary and Artistic Relations’ Committee was created in 1947. Two illustrious individuals are at the origin of this creation: a great Hellenist, Professor Gaston Broche and a Greek, the poet and member of the Academy of Athens, Sotiris Skipis. Professor Gaston Broche, Knight of the Legion of Honor, and founder of the Racinian Academy of Uzès, is the author of “Pythéas le Massaliote” and many other literary works inspired by Greek Antiquity. Sotiris Skipis, lyric poet, known to the Greek public for his poetic work, is also famous in France and particularly appreciated and loved by the Greeks and philhellenes of Marseille. In October 1947, the quarterly bulletin “Hellas-Gallia” was born under the direction of the two founders of the Committee. It will be published until 1952, the year of the death of Sotiris Skipis. This Committee, an initiative born at the heart of post-war Franco-Hellenic Marseille’s intellectual society and financed by an association of Greek immigrants, constitutes an aspect of modernity that was inspired and expressed through idealized Greek Antiquity. Fervent French Hellenists, most of whom were academics or writers, gradually gathered around the Committee, supporting its work, and promoting Greek antiquity as a fundamental ideal of modern French and European culture.

After the Asia Minor Catastrophe, the Marseille region gradually received a large wave of refugees, most of whom had initially attempted to settle in Greece and arrived in the region later, having had the bitter experience of the chaos and miserable housing and living conditions that prevailed in the country. However, a large number of Asia Minor refugees were transported by French ships to the port of Marseille and the neighboring port of Toulon immediately after the destruction of Smyrna. In the context of this announcement and for the period from September to November 1922, we are monitoring the publications of the three largest local newspapers of the time that refer to the Greco-Turkish War of 1922 and the Asia Minor Catastrophe. These are the Sémaphore de Marseille, a maritime news newspaper, and the Petit Provençal and Petit Marseillais, center-left newspapers with political and general content.
Through the relevant articles, we examine how the course of the Greco-Turkish War and political developments in Greece were presented, as well as the role of France during the Asia Minor Catastrophe. We also examine descriptions of the conditions under which refugees disembarked at ports in the region after the destruction of Smyrna, its ethnic and cultural composition, as well as the activities of local actors aimed at providing immediate care and assistance in the city's facilities. Finally, and again based on relevant publications, we present and analyze the reception of refugees and the first solidarity actions and initiatives organized by the local Greek community in Marseille.

G. SERRELI - A. COCCO, Porti minori del Regno di Sardegna alla fine del Cinquecento. Alcuni casi studio: Carbonara e Teulada, in Porti minori di Mezzogiorno, Sicilia e Sardegna dal Medioevo a oggi. Fisionomie storiche e prospettive di riqualificazione. Atti del Convegno (Messina, 20 - 21 febbraio 2025) a cura di Francesco Paolo Tocco, “plumelia” edizioni - Centro Studi Ruggero II Città di Cefalù, Palermo 2026, pp. 315-350
ISBN: 979-12-82368-09-4

Les informations que nous possédons sur la première période de la vie du grand peintre grec Dominicos Théotocopoulos (1541 -1614), et notamment sur l'époque pendant laquelle il vivait à Candie, capi tale de Crète, son île natale, alors sous domination vénitienne, vers le milieu du XVIe siècle, sont extrêmement pauvres. En effet, jusqu'à présent, on ne disposait que d'une seule mention de son existence en Crète, comprise dans un document découvert et communiqué, il y a déjà quatorze ans, par Constantin Mertzios \ Ce document, un acte de vente d'immeubles, ne nous apporte rien d'autre sur la personne du peintre que sa signature, apposée en qualité de té moin et enregistrée par le notaire dans ses minutes. Cependant, même ce témoignage nous est précieux, parce qu'il prouve la présence de Dominicos Théotocopoulos, en tant que peintre déjà reconnu («maî tre») 1 2, à Candie, à une date avancée (6 juin 1566), date à laquelle les historiens et les critiques d'art le considéraient établi, depuis déjà cinq ou six années, à Venise. La présence du peintre à Venise, avant le 16 novembre 1570,

L’idea di dare alle stampe un volume dedicato alla presenza dei Genovesi nell’Oltremare fra il tardo medioevo e la prima età moderna è nata in occasione dello svolgimento del Convegno Internazionale organizzato dal Comune di Genova su ‘Tabarca, l’Oltremare genovese, Terre e Comunità identitarie’, tenutosi presso il Museo del Mare di Genova il 2-3 febbraio del 2024. L’obiettivo dell’incontro era quello di indagare sotto una nuova luce e al contempo di contestualizzare la cosiddetta ‘epopea tabarchina’ nel più ampio scenario della presenza dei Genovesi nell’oltremare, delle loro strategie e modalità di penetrazione sotto il profilo sia economico che politico. L'evento ha riunito studiosi, ricercatori ed appassionati provenienti, oltre che dal contesto accademico nazionale, da tutte le comunità le cui origini discendono dalla diaspora della popolazione tabarchina avvenuta in più riprese nel corso del Settecento, ovvero Carloforte, Calasetta e Nueva Tabarca. Il convegno è stato inoltre arricchito da una mostra temporanea allestita presso il Museo del Mare dedicata proprio alla storia del popolo tabarchino, realizzata grazie alla preziosa collaborazione e al supporto del Comune di Genova, degli Ambasciatori di Genova nel mondo, delle comunità e istituzioni di Carloforte e Calasetta.
Queste due iniziative hanno rappresentato inoltre una sorta di naturale conclusione di un percorso di valorizzazione della storia di Tabarca e del suo legame con il territorio ligure avviato alcuni anni fa e culminato nel luglio del 2023 con la seconda edizione della traversata storica in barca a vela Pegli-Tabarca-Carloforte-Calasetta e, grazie all’iniziativa della comunità pegliese, con la parallela realizzazione del Tabarca Village,. L’evento, denominato Sulla Rotta del Corallo, è stato promosso e realizzato dalla Compagnia Genovese d’Oltremare ed inserito nell’ambito degli eventi collaterali dell’Ocean Race, la grande regata intorno al mondo che proprio in quei giorni aveva come tappa finale la città di Genova. Ripercorrendo il percorso dei primi Pegliesi, che, alla guida della famiglia Lomellini, lasciarono la Liguria per andare a fondare il famoso insediamento genovese sull’isolotto tunisino, la traversata ha riportato agli onori della cronaca questa vicenda dalle peculiarità uniche nel contesto mediterraneo. Il risultato mediatico e divulgativo di questa parte importante della storia genovese, ai più sconosciuta, è stato significativo e si inquadra nell’ottica di sostenere e fornire nuova linfa alla proposta di riconoscimento da parte dell’UNESCO della Grande Epopea del Popolo Tabarchino quale Patrimonio Culturale Immateriale dell’Umanità.
La pubblicazione di questo volume si propone quindi il medesimo obiettivo, ovvero fornire un solido contributo scientifico utile a supportare il suddetto progetto presso l’UNESCO attraverso la valorizzazione della storia della presenza genovese a Tabarca e di ciò che ne consegue, ovvero la nascita e la sopravvivenza delle comunità tabarchine di Pegli, Carloforte, Calasetta e Nueva Tabarca, attraverso un adeguato inquadramento del fenomeno nel contesto economico, politico e sociale dell’epoca. Il primo contributo di Steven Teasdale esamina infatti le reti mercantili genovesi intorno all'isola di Tabarca durante il secolo che precede la concessione del monopolio del corallo alla famiglia genovese dei Lomellini - all'incirca dal 1450 al 1550. L’Autore analizza il ruolo delle basi commerciali di Annaba, Skikda ed El Kala (oggi in territorio algerino) come centri di pesca di corallo e di scambio per le merci importate ed esportate, fornendo spunti utili a comprendere le motivazioni che spingono al successivo sviluppo della pesca a Tabarca. In secondo luogo, esplora come le attività della famiglia Lomellini nel Maghreb durante il XV e l'inizio del XVI secolo abbiano stabilito e rafforzato network socioeconomici che risulteranno essenziali per garantire la lunga presenza genovese sull’isola. Il saggio di Carlo Taviani si focalizza anch’esso su un periodo precedente agli esordi della presenza genovese a Tabarca, in quanto prende in esame gli anni tra il 1446 e il 1562, quando un organismo finanziario e politico importante centro di potere per la storia genovese, ovvero la Casa di San Giorgio, ottiene il controllo di alcuni territori dell’oltremare per governarli per oltre un secolo. L’Autore, dopo avere descritto le funzioni finanziarie e fiscali di questa istituzione, si focalizza su quelle territoriali, meno conosciute, aventi ad oggetto la gestione di territori lontani nell’Egeo e nel Mar Nero, mettendone in risalto le specificità: l’obiettivo è quello di dimostrare come la percezione del potere genovese fosse estremamente sfumata in tali possedimenti e di comprendere altresì quale fosse invece la percezione del potere di San Giorgio da parte delle popolazioni soggette. Tale approccio consente di effettuare un interessante confronto con le vicende che caratterizzano la gestione di Tabarca da parte della famiglia Lomellini, in un contesto nel quale il potere politico della Repubblica sembra essere quasi del tutto assente. Il lavoro di Antonio Iodice prende in esame la Custodia Francescana di Terra Santa, un’istituzione religiosa transnazionale, mettendola in relazione con gli aspetti più prettamente legati allo sviluppo dei traffici commerciali che caratterizzano i due secoli di gestione dell’isola di Tabarca da parte dei nobili genovesi. L’Autore analizza infatti il ruolo della Repubblica di Genova nel suo apparato organizzativo, evidenziando il supporto logistico e finanziario offerto nel XVII secolo. Attraverso fonti inedite, tra cui si segnalano i libri contabili del Commissariato di Terra Santa di Genova, ricostruisce i flussi economici verso Gerusalemme, confrontandoli con quelli di altre città portuali italiane. Infine, esplora le difficoltà dei viaggi in Terra Santa nel periodo in esame, soffermandosi su rischi, costi e implicazioni teologiche per i francescani, vincolati dalle restrizioni sul denaro.
Il contributo di Luisa Piccinno sposta l’attenzione sulle motivazioni che nel XVI secolo spingono i Lomellini ad investire i loro capitali a Tabarca dando origine ad un significativo flusso migratorio dal territorio genovese. L’Autrice si propone innanzi tutto di indagare il ruolo della pesca del corallo nel Mediterraneo occidentale della prima età moderna come stimolo all’emigrazione e alla conseguente nascita di nuovi insediamenti in terre lontane, ma anche all’avvio di attività imprenditoriali alquanto remunerative e di lunga durata. Entra poi nel merito della storia tabarchina focalizzandosi sugli  aspetti organizzativi, gestionali e di redditività  della pesca del corallo barbaresco esercitata nelle acque circostanti l’isola tra XVI e XVIII secolo ponendo in evidenza i fattori di successo da un lato, e le criticità dall’altro. Sullo stesso filone di studi si muove infine Enrico Ottonello Lomellini di Tabarca, che presenta un saggio avente ad oggetto le vicende e la vita della comunità genovese di Tabarca tratte dall’analisi di due relazioni redatte nel corso del XVIII secolo a margine di un progetto di cessione dell’isola al Re di Sardegna. Tale indagine fornisce un interessante quadro delle modalità e delle problematiche inerenti la gestione del possedimento da parte dei Lomellini, dei rapporti che intercorrevano tra i nobili genovesi, le autorità locali e soprattutto quelle spagnole, che, si ricorda, formalmente avevano il controllo politico dell’isola.
Speriamo che la lettura di questi atti possa offrire nuove conoscenze e ispirazioni, e che contribuisca a stimolare ulteriori ricerche aventi ad oggetto la storia di Tabarca ed i suoi legami con Genova, Carloforte, Calasetta e Nueva Tabarca, ma anche collaborazioni utili a valorizzarne il patrimonio sia materiale che immateriale rappresentato da una vicenda unica nel panorama Mediterraneo dell’età moderna.

Η εργασία παρουσιάζει και αναλύει τη διαθήκη του Ιωάννη από την Άρτα, σαλπιγκτή στη Ραγούζα, που συντάχθηκε το 1457 και φυλάσσεται στο Κρατικό Αρχείο του Ντουμπρόβνικ. Περιλαμβάνει την πρώτη πλήρη κριτική μεταγραφή και νεοελληνική μετάφραση του εγγράφου, καθώς και ιστορικό σχολιασμό του ως μικροϊστορικού τεκμηρίου. Μέσα από τη διαθήκη εξετάζονται ζητήματα ταυτότητας, κοινωνικής ένταξης και διασποράς, με ιδιαίτερη έμφαση στην έννοια της πατρίδας, όπως αυτή εκφράζεται από έναν Αρτινό που ζει και εργάζεται μόνιμα σε αδριατικό αστικό περιβάλλον κατά τον 15ο αιώνα.

The study examines the relationship between Cardinal Bessarion and the Greek Confraternity of Venice through the lens of diasporic identity formation and indirect historical mediation. Despite the absence of direct archival evidence and the chronological gap between Bessarion’s death (1472) and the foundation of the Confraternity (1498), the analysis brings to light a dense constellation of personal networks, ecclesiastical arrangements, and unionist trajectories that render plausible the hypothesis of an indirect yet substantive influence. Papal authorisations permitting the exercise of Orthodox worship in Venice, together with the activities of clerics and scholars — most notably copyists and officiating priests affiliated with Bessarion’s intellectual and ecclesiastical circle —may be understood as indicators of a broader mechanism of cultural transmission and institutional preconditioning that facilitated the emergence of the Greek parochial community.
Concurrently, the study investigates the ways in which the Confraternity articulated and codified its core identity constants at the institutional level. The invocation of ancestry, the preference for the "maniera greca", and the emphatic assertion of the Orthodox iconographic tradition collectively constituted a system of symbolic boundary-making vis-à-vis the Latin-Venetian environment. Within this framework, “Greekness” emerges not as a fixed or monolithic essence, but as a composite and relational category, negotiated between ethnic provenance and confessional affiliation, thereby enabling the simultaneous processes of differentiation and integration.
A significant point of convergence with Bessarion’s intellectual programme becomes evident in the Confraternity’s sustained investment in education and the Greek language, which were conceived not merely as vehicles of religious comprehension, but also as the epistemic infrastructure for access to the sciences and as mechanisms for the reproduction of collective memory. Language and learning thus functioned as critical instruments for cultural continuity within the diasporic condition.
Finally, the nineteenth-century reception of Bessarion by the Confraternity’s historian, Ioannis Veloudis, brings into sharp relief the tension between the Romantic demand for authenticity and the historical reality of a hybrid, continually negotiated identity. Notwithstanding internal contradictions and shifting articulations, the imperative of continuity in collective identity transcends the binary opposition of “self” and “other” and converges upon a broader national-spiritual horizon, one that is repeatedly re-signified in accordance with changing historical conjunctures.

La memoria storica rappresenta per le comunità, per i popoli, l i n f a vitale, energia, i l "luogo" ove trarr e f o r z a e v o l o n t à p e r s e n t i r s i v i v i , ove s i t r o v a n o le m o t i v a z i o n i p e r a n d a r e a v a n t i r i g e n e r a n d o se stess i . E ' f o n d a m e n t a l e per l ' u o m o s e n t i r e , p a l p a r e le p r o p r i e r a d i c i . Conoscere l a p r o p r i a s t o r i a consente d i c o m p r e n d e r e i l p r e s e n t e e p r o g e t t a r e i lf u t u r o pogg i a n d o l o s u s o l i d e f o n d a m e n t a . V i v e r e n e l luogo, v i v e r e i l m o m e n t o s t o r i c o , c o n v i v ere con a l t r i , determina lo stare assieme s o l i d a r i s t ico, c o s t i t u i s c e l a " c o m u n i t à " . C o m u n i t à , g r a n d e m a t r i o s k a " che cela n e l suo i n t e r n o l ' e n t i t à t e r r i t oriale, comunale. I l n o s t r o p a r t i c o l a r e m o m e n t o s t o r i c o , d i "trapasso" s i d i c e , c o m e se n o n t u t t i è m o m e n t i avessero l e c a r a t t e r i s t i c h e d e l t r a p a s s o d a l l ' u n o a l l ' a l t r o , d i r i c e r c a d i n u o v e certezze, d ' a n g o s c e e s i s t e n z i a l i , i n v i t a a volgere i n d i e t r o lo sguardo, m i r a t o a r i c e rcare î n n o i stessi l a f o r z a p e r r i n n o v a r c i e p r e d is p o r c i a lfuturo. Ecco, l a scelta d i r i p u b b l i c a r e i n t e g r a l m e n t e questo s c r i t t o del De Francesco i n occasione del 220 a n n iv e r s a r i o d e l l a s t i p u l a d e l l ' a t t o d i v a s s a l l a g g i o , discende d a queste c o n s i d e r a z i o n i . Uno s c r i t t o a i p i ù sconosciuto, p u b b l i c a t o n e l 1 9 0 2 , che consente u n a r a p i d a ed i n t e r e s s a n t e "passeggiata" nella storia gonnesina dal 1774 al 1900... I l 1°s ecolo dopo i l r i p o p o l a m e n t o . Questa pubblicazione ha i n se n o t e v o l i e profondiì l i m i t i , v a l e t t a c r i t i c a m e n t e , m a i d i m e n t i c a n d o n e l a d a t a d i p u b b l i c a z i o n e . N o n sappiamo se De Francesco fosse u n c r o n i s t a casualmente capitato a Gonnesa o u n qualche d i r igente d i m i n i e r a con l a p a s s i o n e d e l l a s c r i t t u r a . S t a d i f a t t o che t r a s m e t t e a n o i i m m a g i n i , f i g u r e , sensaz i o n i ed i n f o r m a z i o n i d i grandissimo interesse. Sta d i f a t t o che m o l t o intenso doveva essere i l suo r a p - p o r t o c o n G o n n e s a , i l s u o a m o r e p e r q u e s t a t e r r a . E c c o se q u e s t a i n i z i a t i v a p r o v o c a s s e n u o v a CUTrios i t à sul nostro passato, voglia d i approfondimento, d i conoscenza s u Gonnesa e i l t e r r i t o r i o a v r e m m o i n d u b b i a m e n t e c e n t r a t o l ' o b i e t t i v o e c o n c o r s o , sepp u r e i n modestissima parte, alla progettazione del N U O V O . I l libro s i legge d ' u n f i a t o , n o n o s t a n t e g l i a p p e s a n t i - m e n t i d i u n a p r o s a . ottocentesca, i n p a r t i c o l a r e l a s t o r i a d i Gonnesa. P i ù attenta s i f a la l e t t u r a quando l ' a u t o r e passa a raccontare le "gesta" del p i o n i e r e delle m i n i e r e d i carbone. A n s e l m o R o u x g i g a n t e g g i a quale f i g u r a d i "benefattore" e " d ' i n d o m i t o r i c e r c a t o -7e" ed operatore m i n e r a r i o . S e m b r a d i vedere, a t t r averso l a l e t t u r a , i l suo m o n u m e n t o f u n e b r e , L'unico a n c o r a oggi degno d i n o t a n e l cimitero d i Gonnesa, lo stesso che suscitò la c u r i o s i t à dell'autore del l i b r o u n secolo f à . oggi; c h i s s a cosa penserebbe delle m i n i e r e d i carbone, del "suo" carbone S u l c i s , f o n t e a n c o r a d i speranz a e d i s v i l u p p o p e r G o n n e s a e p e r i l t e r r i t o r i o . Caro lettore, i l r i t m o incalzante del presente e l'app u n t a m e n t o col f u t u r o che a b b i a m o i l dovere d i p r ep a r a r e , m a i deve f a r c i d i m e n t i c a r e u n p a s s a t o c a r i cao d i s a c r i f i c i , d i sofferenze, d i p a g i n e comunque ricche d i s i g n i f i c a t o e d i insegnamenti. P i e r G i u s e p p e M a n d i s Sindaco di Gonnesa Chi da un anno non abbia percorso la ferrovia p r i v a t a , che da Monteponi fa capo a Porto Vesme, ad u n gomito del tracciato che accenna a lambire l a m i n i e r a c a r b o n i f e r a d i B a c u A b i s , è a t t r a t t o d a l l a vista d'una massa i n f o r m e che, a sinistra, i n direzione del c i m i t e r o d i Gonnesa, s'erge i n mezzo ai n o n d e l t u t t o d i r a d a t i v a p o r i m a t t u t i n i . È u n a c o s t r u z i o n e c i c l o p i c a ? o v v e r o i l colossale s e p o l c r o d'un Raja indiano ? L a curiosità non è esclusiva caratteristica m u l i e b r e . Essa punge anche i vecchi, che co' b i m b i h a n comuni g l ' i s t i n t i , tanto p i ù quando. i n essi si è conservato giovane i l sentimento -dell'amicizia. Un cortese viaggiatore m'istruisce che colagg i ù , p e r v o l e r e m u n i c i p a l e , r i p o s a la s a l m a dell'ingegnere Anselmo Roux, d'un titano del lavoro, delle cui vicende fortunose f u i a l u n g o . testimone assiduo e t e n e r o . i | E d ecco, abbandonato i l treno, a v v i a r m i al cimitero e penetrarvi, n o n senza esser dominato da acute emozioni, che crescono a misura che: m ' a vvicino al monumento e pervengo a discernere, i n cima a l l ' i m i t a t o imbocco d i q u a t t r o gallerie, i linea-m e n t i dell'amico, memorabile per lealtà, abnegazione e' costanza, superiore alla n a t u r a umana. A l sindaco, sig. Toro, che non tramanda p r ofumi villerecci, chiedo perchè la rappresentanza municipale d i Gonnesa instò affinchè ' l e .reliquie d'Anselmo Roux avessero eterna requie nel campo santo gonnesinò. Con pochi t r a t t i un pennello ispirato riproduce un panorama incantevole. I l laconismo del sindaco Toro è magistralmente descrittivo e r i a ss u n t i v o : « L a v i t a d i Gonnesa è d o v u t a a Bacu Abis, d i c u i R o u x f u creatore ed anima. I p o p o l i g i o v a n i non obliano -i loro b e n e f a t t o r i , -massime q u a n d o de' b e n e f i c î s i a v v e r t o n o d u r e v o l i l e t r a c c i e . » D i q u i i l proposito mio d i n a r r a r e l e vicende della sensibile popolazione gonnesina, -e d e l l ' a m i c o ond'essa ha v o l u t o onorare l a memoria. ' N e l corso delle conquiste aragonesi nòn poche v i l l e erano state adeguate al suolo. T r a esse quella d i Conesi. Se ne 'raccoglie indicazione precisa i n u n d i p l o m a d i d o n A l f o n s o V d e l 6 f e b b r a i o 1 4 2 1 , che mira a rimunerare i servigi resi d a l visconte di Gessa. A' principi d'Aragona non tornava malagevole concretare la gratitudine: donavano l'altrui. A l possente signore r e Alfonso a t t r i b u i v a , a t i t o l o rimunerativo, i due salti situati nella Curadoria di Sols, l a , m o n t a g n a p o s t a a C a n a d o n i g a , l é v i l l e d i Nujs, A n t a s e F l u m i n i m a g g i o r e , non che le v i l l e spopolate d i Conesi e Calbisa, comprese nella Cu- radoria-di Sigerro, ed infine un censo d i l i r e sei s o p r a .i censi r e g i c a r i c a t i i n I g l e s i a s e i n a l t r i l u o g h i . Nel secolo X V dunque, come d a p p e r t u t t o , e ' c l a u s o l a i n f e u d u m secundum m o r e m f e u d o r u m I t aliae, la. v i l l a d i Casas a l l o r a popolata, colla g i u r i sdizione e misto impero, non che u n credito d i l i r e seicento alfonsine (moneta d i Barcellona) sulle v i l l e d i B a r a t u l i , B i n g i a r g i a e Sibulles, riservandone i n f a v o r e del re i l riscatto. | D a l l a m u n i f i c e n z a d i A l f o n s o V d e r i v ò a l gsignore di Gessa tale prestigio che i maggiorenti della regia c i t t à d'Iglesias lo elessero loro concittadino e capitano altresì. T r a t t o d i fiducia singolare, che successivamente doveva degenerare i n una serie sterminata d i dissidii e liti, inoculando nella pos t e r i t à i l dubbio se i l serpe riscaldato fosse i l cap i t a n o , o i l corpo civico. d'Iglesias. Nel g i u g n o del 1445, don E l i a , f i g l i o del sig n o r e d i Gessa, f u i n v e s t i t o de' f e u d i p a t e r n i , e 'nel 1498 a l t r e t t a n t o avvenne n e l l a persona d i don Nicolò, primogenito di don Elia. D o n Nicolò però si avvide che, essendo sardo, s i facevano m a g r i affari. Chiese q u i n d i , ed ottenne dal re Ferdinando, d i essere naturalizzato catalano. E r a uomo d i garbo, che conosceva bene i suoi t e m p i . I l 21 novembre 1530 Carlo V e l a r e g i n a Giovanna ripeterono Vl' investitura i n . favore di 6 don Girolamo, f i g l i o del neo catalano don Nicolò, ' n o n senza mentovare l a deserta Conesi. Costantemente fu ripetuta l'investitura dei l e g i t t i m i discendenti: nel-1546, i n favore di don Cesare Sebastiano, nel 1597, i n favore d i don Salv a t o r e , d i d o n F r a n c e s c o n e l 1599, d i d o n A n t i o c o nel 1644, e del figliuolo don Efisio n e l 1666. I l catalano don Antioco, imponendo al figliuolo i l nome del taumaturgo sardo, i n c l i n ò ad amoregg i a r e c o n l a Sardegna. I l che non p o r t ò fortuna, poichè don Efisio non ebbe prole mascolina. I n f a t t i u n diploma reale del 21 gennaio 1678 accerta che i l possesso feudale fu a t t r i b u i t o alla nobile donna Maria Gessa y Sanna, quale madre e t u t r i c e d i donna Eleonora, unica prole del f u . d o n Efisio. Conesi continuava ad essere disabitata. L ' a n n o seguente, l a g i o v i n e donna Eleonora fu menata a nozze da don I g n a z i o Asquer, che inaugurò una nuova serie d i v i s c o n t i d i Fluminimaggiore. È opinione generale che g l i Asquer provengano dalla Spagna. Invece sono o r i g i n a r i i : d ' I t a l i a , e precisamente' d i Alassio ( L i g u r...

The unsigned one-act comedy The Good Bridegroom (Ὁ καλὸς γαμβρός, Smyrna 1870), depicts Polyphrontis's attempt to marry his daughter (Strepsinoe) to the elderly and cowardly Bambakis, despite her love for the impecunious Eustrophidis. Using a clever ruse at a cemetery, Bambakis is exposed as fearful, and Eustrophidis-later revealed as the heir to an Odessa fortune-wins both the father's consent and Strepsinoe's hand. The play seems never to have been staged. However, intertextual analysis reveals affinities with folktales and Greek shadow and puppet theatre. The narrative aligns with Aarne-Thompson-Uther type (ATU) 940, "The Three Suitors in the Cemetery," where rivals undergo trials disguised as corpse, angel, and devil. Variants exist in Turkey, and Boccaccio's Decameron provides a literary precedent. In Greek folk, puppet and shadow theatre, the theme appears under titles such as The Three Lovers, The Three Bridegrooms, or The Three Secretaries. In these adaptations, the daughter's agency is reduced, while Karagkiozis, as comic trickster, outwits the rivals. A. D. Nikolaras's Three Bridegrooms and a Bride (1876, theatre) bears resemblance to it, emphasizing parental preference and hidden wealth. Shadow and puppet theatre preserved folkloric motifs, including cemetery trials, humorous textual mishaps, and the climactic pun in which Karagkiozis embraces the bride as the "tree trunk." Overall, the circulation of these motifs across theatre, shadow theatre, puppet theatre, and folktale demonstrates the survival and transformation of The Good Bridegroom in popular performing arts, where the definition of a "good bridegroom" varies according to cleverness, inheritance, or female choice.
KEYWORDS: Greek puppet theatre (Fasoulis), Greek shadow theatre (Karagkiozis), Theatre, Folktale.
http://ojs.shen-org.es/index.php/estneogr/article/view/285