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SEPTEMBER 2004 Tel. (02) 9559 7022 Fax: (02) 9559 7033

THE GREEK AUSTRALIAN

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TRAVEL:

Scaling Corinth’smythical peaks

In this issue... Our Primate’s View

VANDALISMPAGE 5/23

‘Dream Games’The Athens 2004 Games, the 28th Olympiad of the modernera, ended on August 28 with a closing ceremony that cele-brated 16 days of competition and the nation that had playedhost to the world. Athens presented the Games with state-of-the art venues, and, through an unprecedented multinational

effort, it provided security in the air, the sea and on land. Butin the end, it was the athletes who were at the heart of theGames, setting as they did several new world and Olympicrecords.

FULL REPORT PAGE 20-38

SEPTEMBER 2004The Greek Australian VEMATO BHMA2/20

THE GREAT NEW ENGLAND HURRICANE:

September 21, 1938

Without warning, a powerful Category 3 hurri-cane slams into Long Island and southern NewEngland, causing 600 deaths and devastatingcoastal cities and towns. Also called the LongIsland Express, the Great New EnglandHurricane of 1938 was the most destructivestorm to strike the region in the 20th century.

MUNICH PACT SIGNED:September 30, 1938

British and French prime ministers Neville Chamberlain and ýdouard Daladier sign the Munich Pact with Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. The agreement averted the outbreak of war but gave Czechoslovakia away to German con-quest.

SPUTNIK LAUNCHED:October 4, 1957

The Soviet Union inaugurates the "Space Age"with its launch of Sputnik, the world's first arti-ficial satellite. The spacecraft, named Sputnikafter the Russian word for "satellite," waslaunched at 10:29 p.m. Moscow time from theTyuratam launch base in the Kazakh Republic.Sputnik had a diameter of 22 inches andweighed 184 pounds and circled Earth onceevery hour and 36 minutes. Traveling at 18,000

miles an hour, its elliptical orbit had an apogee (farthest point from Earth) of584 miles and a perigee (nearest point) of 143 miles.

WHITE HOUSE CORNERSTONE LAID:

October 13, 1792

The cornerstone is laid for a presiden-tial residence in the newly designatedcapital city of Washington. In 1800,President John Adams became the firstpresident to reside in the executivemansion, which soon became knownas the "White House" because itswhite-gray Virginia freestone contrast-ed strikingly with the red brick of near-by buildings.

Your SayDear Editor

I must take umbrage at yourjournalist K I Angelopoulos, whodared to repeat that pathetic non-sense which accords Pierre deCoubertain as the Founder of theModern Olympics.

He is so glorified because hehimself wrote the book, so tospeak. The truth is closer tohome. The de Coubertain mythbelittles and denies the pioneer-ing thoughts of Alexander Sout-sos, the personal and financialsupport of Epirotes EvangelosZappas and George Averoff andthe sporting leadership of thevery first IOC President, Dimi-trios Vikelas.The idea for reviving the Gamesfirst came from the famous Helle-nic poet, Alexandros Soutsos. In1833, the newspaper Helios pub-lished his poem, where he refer-red to the necessity for revivingthe Olympic Games. The news-paper was published in Nafplio,the first capital of the new bornHellenic state, in the Pelopon-nese.

Influenced by the ideas of thatpoem, the great philanthropistEvangelos Zappas proposed therevival of the Olympic GamesAND set about to achieve thatgoal.

Evangelos Zappas was born in1800 in a village at Epirus,Northern Hellas. In 1831 he emi-grated to Bucharest, where hebecame one of the most wealthi-est land-owners in the country.Inspired by Alexandros Soutsos’idea of reviving the ancientOlympics Games EvangelosZappas, proposed to the Hellenicgovernment to personally financethe foundation of Modern Olym-pics.

After his agreement with theHellenic Government, the[Zappian] Olympic Games werefoun-ded. Zappas financed theerection of a building for exhibits,as well as the excavation andrestoration of the ancient Panat-henaic Stadium in Athens.

The athletic competition hadmore game-like than sportivecharacter. As there were not ath-letes at that time, the OrganisingCommittee accepted the partici-pation of workers, porters, etc.,who were attracted by the mone-tary prizes of the Games. Accor-ding to the press of the time,many anecdotes took place dur-ing the Games: a policeman whowas there keeping the order, lefthis post and participated in theraces. Even a beggar, who pre-tended to be blind, participated inthe races as well!

While the press criticized theGames, the ideal of the athleticcompetition was generally accep-ted, and this was the beginning ofthe whole process of the OlympicGames. The [later] Games of1870’s took place in the restoredStadium.

There were nine games: threeclassic ancient games, four

ancient, but not classic games,and two modern. Prizes wereboth monetary and symbolical.There was a band playing anOlympic Hymn, specially com-posed for the occasion. Thejudges were professors of theUniversity, and a herald an-nounced the winners. The Kingawarded prizes to winners to thesound of the Olympic hymn.

More Games were to follow inyears to come. Zappas died in1865, leaving his immense for-tune for the benefit of the modernOlympics with the purpose to beheld every four years “in themanners of our ancestors”. DeCoubertain was to use this moneyto achieve what Zappas hadbegun.

According to his will, his bodywas buried in Romania, and hisskull at the new Olympic build-ing located in Zappeion, Athens.Visitors can still see the inscrip-tion at Zappeion: “Here lies thehead”. De Coubertain copied theidea and had his heart buried atMt Olympus with the inscription“Here lies the heart”.

Demetrios Vikelas was born in1835 in Syros, one of theHellenic islands of the Aegean,and died in 1908 in Athens. Hewas a merchant in London, butsince literature was his real love,he soon became a well-knownwriter.

In 1894, he took over the initia-

tive of establishing the modernOlympic Games. After becominga member of the PanhellenicGymnastic Society in Athens, herepresented the Society in theInternational Athletic Congressof 1894 held in Paris. There, hemade the first speech suggestingthat Athens should be the site ofthe First International OlympicGames to be held in 1896.

“I claimed Hellas rights withregard to the re-establishment ofa Hellenic institution. Indeed, asVictor Hugo put it, the whole civ-ilized world has a commongrandmother, but we [the Helle-nes] have her as our mother. Sowe are in a way the uncles of therest of the peoples. Here is ouronly advantage, if it is an advan-tage. Here is the source of myrequest that the restored OlympicGames be inaugurated on ourHellenic soil”. After the accep-tance of the proposition, Athensbecame the site of the first institu-tionalized Olympic Games andVikelas became the first presidentof the new-born InternationalOlympic Committee.

George Averoff, anotherHellenic benefactor from Epirus,was a resident of Alexandria. Hepersonally financed the erectionof the Athens PolytechnicSchool, the Military Academyand the High School and the GirlsInstitution at Alexandria.

When the Committee for the

renovation of the PanathenianStadium asked him to contribute,Averoff stated that he wouldundertake the renovation of theancient Panathenian Stadium, athis own expense.

Subsequently, George Averoffwas greeted by all Hellenes as theprincipal establisher of theOlympic Games. In memory ofhis patriotism, his statue waserected in front of the Stadium onthe eve of the beginning of theGames.

So given all of the foregoing,available on the internet and con-firmed via IOC Archives, how isit that the Hellenic nation hasever allowed Pierre de Cou-bertain to claim all of the creditfor founding the modernOlympics? Even the Athens 2004website erroneously gives himcredit without any mention ofSoutsos, Zappas, Vikelas andAveroff.

Yet without these men therewould have been no idea forreviving the Games, no motiva-tion and impetus and certainly nomoney.

It is time that the world recog-nized what the Hellenes did overa century ago, but which they toohave now forgotten.

Ange Kenos Olympic Certified WeightliftingCoach and Volunteers Member

of the Olympic Academy

Who was the Founder of the Modern Olympics?

SEPTEMBER 2004 The Greek Australian VEMA TO BHMA 3/21

What can one say about recent events?The Athens Olympics have come and gone,although the Paralympics are still to beheld. Many a Greek-Australian was seen topuff out his or her chest with pride duringthe Olympics, with its ‘best ever’ athletes’facilities and spectacular sports complexes.We basked in reflected glory as commenta-tors marvelled at the beautifully restrainedtheatre of the Opening Ceremony, such acontrast to the exuberant ‘big fat Greekparty’ that was the Closing Ceremony.

Many of us nodded our heads knowing-ly every time a sportsperson, or journalist,heaped praise on the Greeks for their hospi-tality, warmth, kindness, generosity...the listgoes on and on. We even slapped ourselveson the back at the wonderfully liberatingdisplays of unbridled passion exhibited byso many contestants, many of whom repre-sented countries not usually known for out-ward signs of emotion. There must besomething in the water, I heard someonesay.

Of course, being no-one’s fools, those ofus who know people returning from holi-daying in Greece, who combined a vaca-tion with a spot of Games volunteering, are

eagerly awaiting their return. Then the seri-ous business of pumping for every lastdetail can get underway; to get the ‘real’story, so to speak.

Greece did well. If Athens had not beenready (what’s a roof over a pool betweenfriends?), or had they not made the interna-tional visitors feel welcome, the shamewould have been felt amongst Greeksworldwide. We all share in each others suc-cesses, but suffer terribly when even justone of us falls short of the mark. Whilesome Greek-Australians are Greek nation-als, many are not - but for all, it was a goodtime to reflect on our common ancestry.

Universally, people everywhere were fearful that the Games might be used as astage for terrorism. That someone mayhave wanted to take advantage of the pres-ence of so many international media repre-sentatives and cameras by striking a blowto one or more countries through an attackon their elite athletes, seemed a real possi-bility. But we were spared such a catastro-phe.

As the Games ended we could all breathea collective sigh of relief...only to wake upand find that, while we were congratulatingourselves , others had been busy in a schoolcomplex, setting a deadly trap.

Overcome by the scale of the tragedy, itseemed that most people were lost forwords. Despite the constant news updates,I noticed many people were unwilling totalk about events in Beslan. All but forgot-ten in our modern and insular world, wemight once have turned to funeral laments, traditionally sung by women, for somecomfort. Instead, in times such as these, it isto poets, past and present, that we need toturn to give us courage, and to express ourpain.

Talking Point

by Ann Coward

EditorialUsing an Olympic

opportunity (Kathimerini, 31-8-2004)

Congratulations, praise and thanks from everywhere! That isthe reaction of the international media to the Olympic Gamesin Athens now that they are over.

The Athens Games brought in a fresh new spirit, accordingto the major American television network ABC, which praisedthe superb sports venues as perhaps the best in history.

The habitually reserved Times of London did not hide itsenthusiasm for what it called fantastic Olympic Games, say-ing they surpassed all expectations in terms of perfect organi-zation, quality and the excitement of the events themselves;Greece outdid itself and has proved wrong those who doubt-ed its ability.Meanwhile, strange as it may seem, some who had criticized

Greece harshly during the preparatory stage are now retract-ing their words.

“I owe an apology. I’m sorry for the way we behaved. Wewere paranoid and stupid. We were wrong. We made fun ofyou and predicted you wouldn’t be ready,” was the messageconveyed by CNN; and the speaker added that he had feltmuch safer in Athens these three weeks than in Los Angelesor Detroit.

The Philadelphia Inquirer’s correspondent wrote muchalong similar lines, apologizing and saying Greece was betterprepared than the US was in 1996. “Greece assumed a hugeundertaking and succeeded, and its competitiveness is equal toyour warmth.”

“You embraced my family as if it was yours and we havealready decided to visit again.”

This is the essence of the benefits gained from the Olympics- Greece’s regeneration as a tourist destination through high-lighting its contemporary face to billions of television viewersand hundreds of millions of newspaper readers.

The Games may be over, but now for many months andyears what are needed are persistent, systematic coordinatedefforts to make the most of the tremendous advantage of thispromotion of Greece around the world.

The government and entrepreneurs must do their best to cap-italize on this unique opportunity.

End the travelling circus; bring the Games home

John Psaropoulos (Athens News , 27/08/2004)Barring an unforeseen attack or a disastrous turn of organi-

sation, the Athens Olympics have turned out to be an enor-mous success. Buses ran on time, and to the right places; lawenforcement has been noticeable but discreet, leaving peopleto enjoy themselves; even the favourite Greek pastime of pricegouging seems to have been restrained in the name of anational event.

The Greeks have also distinguished themselves athletically.Not only is the overall medal count impressive (Greece leadsthe leagues for countries of comparable size), but Greecebrought gold in judo, diving and the speedwalk - events atwhich it has never won at an Olympics before. Greek athleteshave also qualified for finals in team events that have no tra-dition here, such as volleyball, beach volleyball, basketballand handball.

Both the organisational and the athletic success are clearlythe result of years of hard work, and are worthy of the nationthat believed in the Olympic idea strongly enough to organisethe first modern Olympics against tremendous odds in 1896. Sitting on this historic milestone for a well-deserved break,Greece can muse upon three options for the Olympic future.

Its first and easiest option is to be content as spiritual godfa-ther of the modern Games, bidding for them once every cen-tury or so. The benefit of doing this is not small - the 2004Games will have an impact on Greece's image for many yearsto come. Yet the option seems a little anaemic for a country that invent-

ed competitive athletic gatherings in ancient times, and hasbeen interested in repatriating the modern revival in yearswhen it was still seen as a money-loser. Greece's second option is to re-launch its bid one day to bringthe Games permanently back to Greece. After 2012, theGames could return to become Athens' trademark event, like

the Boston Marathon or the Frankfurt Bookfair. This will be harder to do today than it was the last two times

Greece tried, in the early 20th century and in the late 1970s.Enormous corporate interests are now tied up in the Games'viability. Countries are lining up to host what in some nebu-lous accounting logic is a profitable event.

Yet Greece has some powerful arguments. For the foresee-able future, Athens will have the most advanced sporting facil-ities in Europe. It possesses the transport infrastructure to ferryenormous amounts of people to and from the airport andaround the city. A new investment of comparable size to theestimated 8.5 billion euros spent on these Games is not need-ed to re-host them.

The Games are increasing in size. Re-locating them everyfour years is increasingly difficult, risky and expensive. Thecourting of International Olympic Committee members is alsoa shameful exercise in pampering and indirect bribery that iscosting the IOC credibility and prestige. A permanent home isa practical need, and for historical reasons that home couldonly be Greece.

There is yet a third option. Greece can simply considerlaunching its own Olympian Games. These Games need notcompete with those of the IOC - they can be held at two-yearintercalary intervals.

Athens could do something never before attempted - turnitself into a global athletic village, inviting teams and individ-uals to train here throughout the four years between Olympics. In time, it could divert more and more sports to the countrysurrounding Olympia, creating there a sanctuary for sport thatwould restore to the Olympics the sense of inviolate ritual ofthe ancient Games, and work on enforcing the Olympic trucethrough a dedicated network of allies. There should be no illusions about the third option. If Greece

does create its own Games, it will need international support.All the dangers of corruption, embezzlement and doping willstill exist. But the Greeks are perhaps the best equipped to restore

integrity to an event they have only ever seen as a vital com-ponent of their sense of nationhood, an event that makes themproud to be Greek.

Beyond our wildest imaginings

Mark Dragoumis (Athens News, 30/8/2004)

Truly bilingual people often find themselvesin a quandary.

The more idiomatic their Greek and English,the more conscious they are of the wealth ofboth languages and the more demanding theybecome in their endeavour to render text fromone into the other.

By looking at those who have more or lesssucceeded in this venture, one can deriveknowledge and pleasure.

There is by now ample linguistic evidencethat the use of words of Greek origin gives cer-tain advantages to English speakers.

Not just because it helps them study politics,history, philosophy and economics or definescientific concepts in the branches of electron-ics, cybernetic, entomology and crystallogra-phy but also to cope with tricky situations ineveryday discourse. Suppose for instance that you want to act out

your aggression against someone withoutimmediately incurring his wrath. You can callhim oligophreniac (ÏËÉÃÏÖÑÅÍÇÓ) ratherthan dim-witted. It sounds much less of aninsult, almost a diagnosis.

If you really want to show off you can call abeer lout thersitical which shows you arefamiliar with the Homeric anti-hero Thersites(ÈÅÑÓÉÔÇÓ) the lame, bow-legged, round-shouldered, foul-mouthed ugliest man at Troy.

A particularly effective form of concealedinsult is to call someone a platyrrhine pithe-canthrope (ÐËÁÔÕÑÑÉÍÏ ÐÉÈÇÊÁÍ-ÈÑÙÐÏ) and hope that if he is anything likeyou say he is, by the time he finds out that youcalled him a flat-nosed ape-man you will bewell out of range of his fists.

Always in the same vein you could also try

to call him dasypygal (ÄÁÓÕÐÕÃÏÓ) - ahairy- buttoc-ked male.

On the more positive side, Greek gives a per-son an aura of high culture. It sounds muchbetter to make anodyne (ÁÍÙÄÕÍÅÓ)remarks rather than just painless ones and itsounds much more scholarly to detect anantinomy (ÁÍÔÉÍÏÌÉÁ) instead of just dis-covering a simple contradiction between twoequally binding pieces of legislation. Greekwords often act as euphemisms (ÅÕÖÇ-ÌÉÓÌÏÉ). Thus policemen can raise their sta-tus by taking a actylogram (ÄÁÊÔÕËÏ-ÃÑÁÌÌÁ) instead of routine fingerprints andthe Australian aborigines could improve theirimage by calling themselves autochtons(ÁÕÔÏ×ÈÏÍÅÓ). Unfortunately kleptoma-nia (ÊËÅÐÔÏÌÁÍÉÁ) has been so widelyused to describe the thieving sprees of middle-class Greek ladies in places like Marks &Spencer's that it can no longer be safely usedas a euphemism.

When it comes to philosophy, Greek trumpsmost words of other origins. Compare forinstance aporia (ÁÐÏÑÉÁ) referring toSocratic attitudes to ordinary doubt. The samegoes for the Stoic notion of ataraxia (ÁÔÁ-ÑÁÎÉÁ) conveying in a so much loftier fash-ion the notion of absolute calm and freedomfrom anxiety than the much more down-to-earth tranquillity or relaxation.

When you feel indecisive on certain issuesyou can gain points by saying that you areephectic (ÅÖÅÊÔÉÊÏÓ/Ç). By the time oth-ers realise that what you meant was that youare suspending judgement, you might evenhave made up your mind.

There is no doubt about it. The Greeks didhave a word for it, it being a way to gain theupper hand in the use of language.

Greek into English will go

SEPTEMBER 2004The Greek Australian VEMATO BHMA4/22

HHAACCCCII

BBuussiinneessss BBuulllleettiinn

Mary Tsouvalakis is a solicitor and directorof Exedra Entertainment since 1995. Heraim has always been to bridge Australia’srelative isolation from Hellas, particularlyin the arts by bringing world renown enter-tainers such as Mikis Theodorakis, KostasHatzis, Giorgos Dalaras, Maria Farantouriand Savina Yannatou to Australia to per-form in concert halls. Events are selectednot only to display the pinnacle of humanimagination and creativity but also to pro-mote cultural diversity, freedom, compas-sion and friendship.

What I know aboutThe Hellenic addiction to freedomI invited the 205 piece Greek NationalOpera to perform Zorba the Ballet in 2002in five concerts around Australia. The tourwas the only Australian event to be spon-sored by the Cultural Olympiad 2004.Moving a plane full of 205 entertainers and15 members of the press and televisionfrom Athens, including singers, balletdancers and musicians was fascinating.204 of the 205 entertainers could not ethi-cally accept the concept of “no smoking”.They smoked anywhere they wanted toincluding airports, hotel lobbies, venues,restaurants. “Mary, Hellenes are not par-rots, they cannot be put into boxes.” onesaid.Highlights of my positionFrequent travel to Athens to arrange toursand being entertained in the homes ofMikis Theodorakis, Kostas Hatzis, Gior-gos Dalaras, Maria Farantouri and SavinaYannatou.Understanding artists and their idiosyn-crasies. It does not take long to realise thatthe very famous have the same problems,insecurities, fears, romance issues as thenext person.I am passionate about travel; Highlightsinclude cruising the Nile in Egypt, 2months in London, Paris, Florence, Viennaand obviously the Greek islands, particu-larly Crete, Kefalonia, Santorini, Milos,Alonissos, (and of course Athens)Greek Community- I feel that we are allcompelled to make a contribution so thatHellenism may continue to be a prevalentforce in the world. By this, I mean a com-mitment to the promotion of Hellenic his-tory, literature, culture, music.

My interests- I am fascinated by humannature. I love travel, snorkelling, the beach.I collect antiques, art and books.

My wisdom- Promoting Hellenism by fill-ing your life with beauty through newexperiences, exploration, truth, friendship,compassion and love. Live like a Hellene;fear not, love deeply, live passionately, diefor what you believe.

HACCI (Hellenic Australian Chamber ofCommerce and Industry) is a well-recognisedand respected business chamber that has formany years supported Hellenic businesses byproviding guidance to people & businesseswanting to trade or network. Our vision is oneof the networked economy where businessoccurs seamlessly and information movesfreely across borders.

Today’s business environment is made up ofa series of relationships that span the globe.Businesses are influenced by events thatoccur half way around the world, with imme-diate impacts on their balance sheets.

As the European Union continues to growwe are seeing the emergence of a trade bodythat rivals the US economy and has a signifi-cant bearing on the global economy. On theother side of the world in Asia, many of thepolitical issues that inhibited trade have beencast aside as new players like China and Indiaenter the market to create great opportunitiesfor trade in markets that for many years havebeen closed or isolated.

Specialisation and leadership in chosenindustries can create global opportunities.Flexibility and your ability to harness thehuman and intellectual capital is a key ingre-dient for success in the knowledge economy.

Technology has a crucial part to play in thefuture of all business. As an enabler it pro-vides a platform for seamless communica-tion, creating an efficient marketplace wherebuyers and suppliers can engage, learn andconduct their business quickly.

We envisage establishing an “incubator” that will have strong links in both Greece andAustralia. This incubator concept will serveto provide opportunities to both business andprofessionals. For business it will act as a dis-tribution point for products and services intothe host country and wider region. It willserve as an educator providing local knowl-edge and opportunities for individuals toexperience first hand the local business land-scape through coordinated sabbaticals wherebusiness owners work with partner compa-nies to gain expertise in the culture, businessprocess and regional issues. For professionalsthe Incubator will serve as a vehicle for exten-sive human capital transfer. Professionals willbe given the opportunity to work in foreignenvironments and gain invaluable expertiseand knowledge that will later deliver highvalue trade opportunities.

HACCI is committed to the use of technol-ogy to create a global platform for businesses

and professionals to communicate andengage with one another. We believe a globalportal will deliver benefits to the wider com-munity and help promote Hellenic businesseson a global stage. We further believe that wecan use business relationships to not onlyenhance trade but to also promote Hellenicculture and maintain the Greek language.

Changing Face of Trade

There have been a number of developmentsin the world economy that have seen globali-sation with respect to free movement of tradeamongst nations across the world. Theseinclude:-

The maturing of the European Union (EU)economy with the phasing in of the EU cur-rency, creating a trade bloc in Europe for thefree movement among nations that now com-petes against the USA on trade volumes. Thiscreates a number of opportunities for compa-nies to use Greece as the gateway to the widerEU and the Balkan states.

The acceptance of China back into the freemarket economy and opening up of southEast Asia has opened up the doors to one ofthe largest consumer populations in the worldand created great opportunities for companiesto expand into an untapped market

Explosive growth from countries that haveadopted an innovative view to trade and haveinvested in developing competencies that aremarketable across the globe. Ireland is onesuch nation that has contributed significantlyto exports from the European Union throughits development as a smart economy.

We cannot live in isolation. Our countries’economies are impacted by events in ourneighbourhood or with our trading partners.Recent events in the Gulf highlight howquickly news impacts economies and how theworld’s economies are dependent on eachother.

We are seeing traditional services beingexported to foreign countries (example of thisis the explosion of call centres in 3rd worldcountries like India and Pakistan).

IssuesGreece has traditionally exported food and

commodity based products. Trade relation-ships in these products are usually basedaround price. Recently with the Olympicsand the extension of the Ferry System,Greece has seen an imbalance of trade withAustralia. Many Australian based Companies

have been called on to provide professionalservices and to help with infrastructure pro-jects in the preparation of the 2004 Olympics.In addition there is increased competitionfrom new global manufacturers who haveinvested heavily in large plants to maximisethe manufacturing process who are having animpact on the products traditionally suppliedby the Greek manufacturers.There are a number of issues facing the trade

between the two countries.Historically the Greek road network infra-

structure inhibited the transportation ofgoods. The government has addressed thiswith major roadworks and infrastructure pro-jects like the recently completed airport.Each of the two countries are small markets

in global terms.The distance between the two countries has

inhibited the trade of certain goods and thesize of the populations has meant thatexporters in many cases will chose countrieswith a larger market.Free movement of supplier and buyer infor-

mation to create a fluid trade environment hasbeen restricted. There are a number of whole-salers who have been the conduit between thesupplier and buyer. In many cases these peo-ple manage the distribution of goods into thecountry, making it very difficult for newentrants to break into the foreign market.Incentives for bodies to focus on the promo-

tion of products have not existed. Otherchambers are provided funding to engagewith the corporate world to achieve greaterpenetration of trade within Australia. HACCImanages to exist through the tireless efforts ofits committee and the belief in an ideal thatextends further than the notion of trade.

Our View The free movement of information between

suppliers and buyers is an imperative to con-duct a free trade flow. Being able to access allinformation regarding our countries’ legaland organisational structure helps businessesmake well-informed decisions about theexpansion into new markets.An expanded trade relationship between our

two countries needs to be a priority. Althoughboth economies are small in world terms,they provide the gateway into much largertrade blocs, those being Asia, Balkans andEuropean Union. Using both countries asgateways to these larger trade blocs could bea source of great opportunity.

To be continued next month

CommentSam Saltis sam@hacci.com.au

August was a thrilling month for all Greeksaround the world. All of us have read the greatstories of achievement and accomplishmentby Hellenes all around the world. On behalf ofHACCI I would like to take this opportunityto congratulate all the Greeks around theworld for their efforts.

There has been considerable emphasis ontrade this month with the visit of PanagiotisDrosos President/Managing Director of theHellenic Foreign trade board who was in Mel-bourne as part of the Fine food show. A meet-ing was held with Mr Drosos where we pre-sented him with a Strategy paper on Trade.

This month HACCI is proud to publish a

white paper on Trade and the 21st Century.We’d like to share with you our thoughts andStrategy on where we believe Future Tradeopportunities could be derived for bothGreece and Australia. As a committee,HACCI is committed to fundamentallyexploiting the opportunities that exist to pushtrade in the 21st century to a new level. We seetrade as being generated from a set of funda-mental building blocks that include,u The positioning of Greece and Australiawithin their geographic regions. u The untapped skill base of bilingual speak-ing professionals.u The motivation of governments to see tradeincrease beyond the current levels.

Over the past three years HACCI has iden-tified a shift in the potential trade relationshipbetween Greece and Australia and has been

working to establish the infrastructure todeliver a set of services that will drive highervalue Trade opportunities for both countries.Moreover HACCI is working to create oppor-tunities for professionals to create long termrelationships with Businesses and profession-als in each other’s country that will then inturn drive sustainable trade.

Finally, I’d like to introduce you to MaryTsouvalakis who is an active member of theHACCI committee with a passion for art andculture. Mary provides us some interestingcultural views in her getting of the wisdompiece.

Your feedback to the views expressed wouldbe most welcome. For further informationabout HACCI please visit our website atwww.hacci.com.au

HACCI Trade Strategy for the 21st Century

Getting of Wisdom

SEPTEMBER 2004 Greek Australian VEMA TO BHMA 5/23

Our Primate’s View

The phenomenon of ‘vandal-ism’ unfortunately is not uncommon,today at least, even in developednations and societies.

The perpetrators are usuallyunknown! Yet they are certainlyuncouth, cowardly and malicious.These lamentable and woeful individ-uals obviously function under the illu-sion that they derive a sense of ‘recre-ation’, even ‘satisfaction’, whendestroying other people’s property,small or large, at a moment when noone will see them.

If only for this display ofincomprehensible malevolence, theysurely deserve our pity in the firstinstance, and not merely our anger orabhorrence.

Nonetheless, we must admitthat the unhealthy attitude of suchproblematic types can also be pro-voked and aggravated by what couldbe described leniently as carelessactions of excessive zeal, or pointlessexhibitionism on the part of the …unsuspecting potential ‘victims’.

A characteristic example isone that occurred recently with thevandalism of the tomb of an Archi-mandrite of our community whodeparted this life a year ago. In thiscase, the indiscreet actions by someof his relatives, together with a calcu-lated but distasteful campaign bysome of his belated ‘friends’ (eventhough for years they were hisstaunchest enemies!) all but ‘canon-ized him a saint’. As though ‘every-one had lost their memory’, and asthough the official ecclesiasticalauthority had suddenly been abol-ished.

Despite this, the Archiman-

drite’s responsible Archbishop of 30years, who patiently endured his con-secutive rebellions and his altogetherheadstrong and provocative Priest-hood (things which ‘count’ especiallyfor a celibate Cleric and theologian!)does not wish to remind readers ofeverything he declared formally at hisfuneral in the presence of all.

Certainly no one expected –including the deceased, as he con-fessed in a letter prior to his death –that the Prelate who had been pro-voked and deceived for decadeswould have found the spiritualstrength to visit him without invita-tion at his bedside during his terminalillness and to support and forgivehim, then later to conduct his funer-

al compassionately, as he did.

In any event, without thistruly irreverent vandalism on thetomb of the departed priest ceasing tobe an atrocious and condemnable actperpetrated by unknown persons, onemust consider an even deeper ‘van-dalism’ which many pretend not tosee. It is in regard to the provocativeusage of the biblical passage 2 Tim.3:12 on his headstone, with a clearinsinuation as to a supposed ‘perse-cution’ of the deceased priest, sup-posedly because he wanted to “live agodly life in Christ”.

This deliberately hushed‘vandalism’ against the entire Rev-erend Clergy of NSW from whom thedeceased had so provocatively differ-

entiated himself during these decadesof his turbulent life, should haveentailed at least a ‘respectfulsilence’. Here, an expressive sayingof our people applies: “you don’tspeak about rope in the home of onewho has hung himself”. This shouldsuffice, at least for those who are sin-cerely concerned for the ‘repose ofhis soul’.

We shall restrict ourselvestoday to these constructive remarks,not only for those who “have ears tolisten with” but above all for thosewho retain even a little ‘fear of God’!

If necessary, let no one doubtthat we shall return to this topic.Indeed, with specific evidence from

the Archives regarding people, issuesand situations which will not be at allpleasing to those ‘implicated’, norespecially for the memory of thedeceased.

It is erroneous for pedagogi-cal leniency and the ‘period of grace’to be interpreted as weakness ortimidity.

When narrow-minded dese-cration is not limited just to the life-less slabs of the tombs, but defiles thesacredness of life itself, then we havethe most horrid examples of vandal-ism, whether we admit to it or not.

This sort of vandalism willalways be within the capacity of the‘shameless’ and, above all, the ‘unre-pentant’.

By ArchbishopStylianos

of AustraliaVANDALISM

To the Reverend Clergy [translation from the Greek]and Administrative Committeesof the Parish-Communities of our Greek Orthodox Archdiocese

Dearly beloved,

The unprecedented cruelty involved in the recent tragedy within a Russianschool on the first day of the school year, carried out by terrorists for purelypolitical reasons and rivalries, has not yet resulted in a precise number of vic-tims, most of whom were young innocent children.

However, up until now, the media have reported over 400 victims, and twicethat number of casualties.

As a small sign of sincere support, we are all called upon to offer a specialprayer in all our Churches immediately following the Divine Liturgy this Sun-day (12-9-2004) “for the repose of the souls of innocent students, parents andteachers, whose lives were taken by unknown terrorists”.

In the hope that the Lord of heavenly power and compassion shall always pro-tect the innocent against similar barbaric and inhuman attacks, I invoke uponyou all the blessing and mercy of the All-loving God.

In Sydney 6th September, 2004With fatherly love

Archbishop S T Y L I A N O SPrimate of the Greek Orthodox Church in Australia

E N C Y C L I C A LGREEK ORTHODOX ARCHDIOCESE OF AUSTRALIA

NOTE: The above Encyclical was forwarded by His Eminence on 6 September 2004, and it was read in all our Churches on Sunday 12-9-2004

SEPTEMBER 2004The Greek Australian VEMATO BHMA6/24

On Site Insight:An Australian Archaeological

Excavation in EgyptA Major Photographic Exhibition

Egypt’s ancient memory lies buried in its vastsands. For almost 200 years, scholars and archaeol-ogists have attempted to retrieve and decipher frag-ments of this memory from numerous sites. Inrecent decades, Australian archaeological teamshave joined in this painstaking detective work.

This major exhibition reveals the story of one suchteam, the significance of its labours and the impor-tance of its site. Through unique photographicimages and sensitive, enlightening text, the exhibi-tion delves into the magic of discovery, the richdelights of shared personal experiences, and thevivid joy of cultural contrasts – all arising throughthe intricacies of scholarly investigation and con-stant daily toil.

The Macquarie University archaeological team,led by Egyptian-born Professor Naguib Kanawati,has been making the long journey from Sydney tothe dig site at Saqqara, some twenty-five kilometerssouth of Cairo, for several years now. Their excava-tion and recording centres upon the Teti cemeteryand the largest Old Kingdom (3000 - 2125 BC)courtier’s tomb yet uncovered: that of Mereruka,vizier and overseer of priests, the highest officialunder the Pharaoh Teti.

“Containing 32 chambers and covering an area of1000 square meters, the walls of this enormoustomb are magnificently decorated with rich, highlycrafted wall scenes depicting Mereruka’s life,”explains Kanawati. “This exhibition animates thosescenes and positions them against the daily rituals ofmodern life in the village of Saqqara.”

The photographs in On Site Insight were taken byMacquarie University photographer Effy Alexakis,who also curated the exhibition. A DVD video pre-sentation created by Macquarie University film-maker, Fabian Astore, wonderfully complementsAlexakis’ still images.The exhibition celebrates 25 years of the Australian

Centre for Egyptology (ACE) at Macquarie Univer-sity and is the closest to actually being part of thearchaeological process as many of us may get.

On Site Insight: An Australian ArchaeologicalExcavation in Egypt is on display at Fountain Court,NSW Parliament House, Sydney until 1 October.

Official OpeningThe official opening was undertaken by MeredithBurgmann MLC on Wednesday, 15 September at6.30pm. It was co-hosted by Professor Di Yerbury,Vice Chancellor, Macquarie University and MrBrendan Stewart, Chairman, Australian WheatBoard Ltd.

SEPTEMBER 2004 Greek Australian VEMA TO BHMA 7/25

Facts & StatsResearchers received a $42 million funding

boost from the federal government to helpcoordinate projects across Australia.Themoney will be provided over 5 years so that 24research networks can be set up to helpresearchers collaborate on different projects.

The networks will bring together 3,400researchers from Australia and overseas.

They will also cover a variety of researchareas, including health, the environment andhow best to protect critical infrastructure.

Education Minister Brendan Nelson said thefunding marked the beginning of a new era ofcollaboration among Australian researchers.

"Australia's best researchers have told us thatthey increasingly need to find ways to workacross organisational, geographic and disci-pline boundaries," he said in a statement.

"These network grants will help our bestminds to exchange ideas, to collaborate and towork together for the benefit of Australia'sfuture."The money is being provided through the

Australian Research Council and the NationalHealth and Medical Research Council.The funding is part of the government's $8.3billion Backing Australia's Ability program.

AAP

Researchers get $42 million to improve collaboration

Heaters linked to childhood asthma

(02)

Exposing children to fume-emitting heatersduring their first year of life increases their riskof developing asthma later in childhood.That was the finding after scientists from the

Woolcock Institute in Sydney studied morethan 500 children aged between eight and 11,Woolcock's head of epidemiology Dr GuyMarks said."Children ... who were exposed to fume-emit-

ting heaters during the first year of life wereapproximately one-and-a-half times more like-ly than children who were not exposed to thistype of heating to have recent wheeze and air-way hyper-responsiveness," Dr Marks said.

"They were about twice as likely to have thecombination of these."

There appeared to be no correlation betweenexposure to the heaters and doctor-diagnosedasthma, but Dr Marks said wheezing and air-way hyper-response were excellent indicatorsof asthma.

Gas heaters without flues, gas cookers andother fume-emitting heaters included in thestudy might need to be reviewed to determine

whether they should be deemed unsafe forhouseholds in which young children live, hesaid, adding that more research was neededfirst.The research was prompted by medicos' sug-

gestions that exposure to gas heaters and cook-ers might have an adverse effect on respirato-ry health.Dr Marks said his team did not attempt to

explain why exposure to such devices waslinked to a greater risk of asthma."Without direct measures of specific expo-

sures to fume-emitting heaters it is not possibleto draw conclusions about the specific agentsresponsible for the study's key finding," hesaid."Nitrogen dioxide is one product of combus-

tion of hydrocarbons that has been shown tohave effects on airway mucosa and respiratoryhealth."

Further studies should measure the level ofexposure to different emissions during a child'sfirst year of life, Dr Marks added.

AAP

Good on you, Ladies!

Earlier this year a group of ladies mettogether in Brisbane to have a look at someof the embroideries belonging to the Queens-land Art Gallery, at the suggestion of theVema’s Ann Coward. Some of the Gallery’sembroideries are of unknown origin, espe-cially christening bonnets from Turkey. Sev-eral of the women in the group, from Castel-lorizo, were able to identify the goldwork inone bonnet as being very similar to work car-ried out on that particular island. Thewomen’s visit was organised with the co-operation of QAG staff members, GlennCooke, Shirley Everett and WendyMourilyan, who made everyone feel verywelcome. The afternoon’s visit was roundedoff with cups of tea and coffee in the meetingroom set aside for the Friends of the Queens-land Art Gallery, with visitors providing plat-ters of baklava and kourambiethes.

A week after the visit, a one-day show andtell was held at the hall of the Church of theDormition of the Theotokos, Mt Gravatt. Anumber of women from Brisbane parishesand community associations met together toshare stories and to show each other treasuresfrom their own, or their mother’s or grand-mother’s dowries. There were many exam-ples, from a magnificent blue silk bedspread,with peacocks embroidered in couched goldthread, to cotton pantaloons and chemises,and schoolgirls’ embroidered samples. Theday was organised by Mrs Irene Cayas, VicePresident of the Ladies Auxiliary, at the sug-gestion of Mrs Helen Passaris, and formspart of an ongoing discussion on the conser-vation of these very valuable heritage items.Guest speakers on the day were Ann Coward

and Dr Michael Marendy. Ann gave thosepresent some ideas on how individuals couldmake records of their own embroidery col-lections, and suggested a range of optionsopen to the women, by referring to otherwomen’s community groups who haveattempted to preserve their history throughartefacts and stories. Dr Marendy, who com-pleted his degree in textile conservation inCanada, was extremely generous in hisadvice on how to conserve textiles within thehome. He brought along some beautifulexamples of conserved items woven by hismother, on the island of Kythera.

The two-days have generated interest, bothamongst heritage institutions (including theQueensland Museum which has expressedan interest in working with the women toform a collection of Greek embroideries),and other women’s groups within a numberof ethnic communities. In her capacity asSenior Vice President of the Ethnic Commu-nities Council of Queensland, Mrs IreneCayas conveyed to the Council details of thewomen’s activities. Other representatives onthe Council requested that events be organ-ised in the future between the Greek womenand ladies from other ethnic communities,along similar lines to the first embroideryshow and tell day.

The Brisbane women’s initiatives are beingfollowed closely in some other Australiancities and towns. In Sydney, especially, thereis particular interest amongst Greek-Aus-tralians who have long been concerned aboutthe lack of presence within the public muse-um collections and exhibits of NESB com-munities.

Visitors and staff at the Queensland Art Gallery. Front row (l-r): Eleni Kalligeros, Voula James,Helen Licourinos, Julie Nichles. Middle row: Florence Kalligeros, Tina Ganis, Ann Kyranis, Irene

Cayas, Georgia Levonis, Wendy Mourilyan.

SEPTEMBER 2004The Greek Australian VEMATO BHMA8/26

Windows to OrthodoxySIN: MISSING THE MARK OF GOD’S ORIGINAL PLAN

FOR HUMANKIND(Part II)

What is sin? How does it work? Did God create it? What is‘original’ sin? How does ‘original’ sin affect us since we didnot take part in it? How does it come down through the gener-ations? It is these questions that the following two articles ofVEMA seek to reflect upon.

Sin in St PaulNo theology of sin and indeed ‘original sin’ would be wholewithout a reflection of the reality of sin as it is depicted by StPaul particularly in his letter to the Romans. Now, in theGospels, even though the sin of Adam (ie the ancestral sin) isnot mentioned explicitly it is definitely presumed in that Jesusis depicted beginning his earthly ministry with a call to repen-tance for the sake of the immanent kingdom. Repentanceimplies a ‘change of mind’ (meta-noia) where one chooses toforego a sinful way of life in favour of a life in Christ. St Paulon the other hand, in his letter to the Romans deals with the per-vasive subject of sin in a systematic way. Not only does he suc-cinctly describe the reason for sin in chapter one in terms ofpeople’s refusal to offer glory and thanksgiving to God1 – thatis humanity’s denial to remain in communion with God – butalso lists the effects of sin in the world today. Written some twothousand years ago, St Paul’s words still echo true in societytoday. In a very long passage yet one worthy of quoting in full,St Paul describes the reality and results of sin in the followingway:

“for though they knew God, they did nothonour him as God or give thanks to him,but they became futile in their thinking, andtheir senseless minds were darkened.Claiming to be wise, they became fools; andthey exchanged the glory of the immortalGod for images resembling a mortal humanbeing or birds or four-footed animals orreptiles. Therefore God gave them up in thelusts of their hearts to impurity, to thedegrading of their bodies among them-selves, because they exchanged the truthabout God for a lie and worshiped andserved the creature rather than the Creator,who is blessed forever! Amen. For this rea-son God gave them up to degrading pas-sions. Their women exchanged naturalintercourse for unnatural and in the sameway also the men, giving up natural inter-course with women, were consumed withpassion for one another. Men committedshameless acts with men and received intheir own persons the due penalty for theirerror. And since they did not see fit toacknowledge God, God gave them up to adebased mind and to things that should notbe done. They were filled with every kind ofwickedness, evil, covetousness, malice. Fullof envy, murder, strife, deceit, craftiness,they are gossips, slanderers, God-haters,insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil,rebellious toward parents, foolish, faithless,heartless, ruthless. They know God’sdecree, that those who practice such thingsdeserve to die - yet they not only do thembut even applaud others who practicethem.” (Rom 1:21-32).

Further to the universal reality of sin, St Paul also describes, invery personal terms, his own reality of sin in a very movingpassage in Romans 7:

“but I see in my members another law atwar with the law of my mind, making mecaptive to the law of sin that dwells in mymembers.” (Rom. 7:23)

Due to sin at work within them, human beings, like Paul, findit hard to do what is good, and easier to separate themselvesfrom life. Not only can all human persons identify with StPaul’s reality of sin on a personal level, but his remarks affirmthe universal nature of sin as well.

From all that has been said thus far on the reality of sin as por-trayed by St Paul, a question, which justifiably arises is why

should the sin of Adam and Eve affect subsequent generationssince they did not take part in Adam’s particular sin? This typeof question has to do with the transmission of sin. At least twoanswers can be given to this problematic. The first has to dowith the relational or communal character of existence imply-ing that a person’s actions has consequences on all around. Sec-ondly different Christian denominations have traditionallybased their answer on how sin is transmitted throughout histo-ry on Romans 5:12, a particularly difficult verse from St Paul.It is to these two areas that we now turn our attention.

Relational ExistenceThe first point, which must be mentioned is that since humanpersons are relational beings, this implies that all subsequentgenerations are affected by the sin of Adam. Since all humanpersons and indeed the entire created realm is organicallylinked, then the actions of one person affect the environment atlarge. Therefore being communal in being, human persons, inthe fall, caused the reality of sin to become universal. Exceptfor Jesus, no person lived on earth without falling into sin. Justas no person is saved alone so too no one sins alone. One of thegreatest myths of society today is the belief that human beingsare independent from one another. Rather the truth lies in thefact that they are interdependent and cannot exist isolated. Aperson is not an arithmetic unit or an entity within itself. Theword ‘person’ comes from the Greek word ‘prosopon’ – theprefix (pros) means – to, or towards, and the noun (opsis),means “look”, “eye”, or “face”. A person can only be knownin a direct, personal encounter of immediacy with another per-son. The sin of the primordial couple is clearly related to allpersons, indeed the entire created realm, just as the salvation ofChrist touches all people and all created things. Yet whilstaffirming the extensive or universal consequences of Adam’sdisobedience on all the world thereafter, the Orthodox Christ-ian tradition does not speak of any inherited culpability. Fromthe time of the ancestral fall, the Orthodox tradition teaches thathuman persons inevitably have a strong propensity towards sin.That is to say, human persons do not inherit Adam’s guilt or sinautomatically; yet they do so in so far as they too freely chooseto imitate the ways of the primordial couple. Since the imageof God within human persons was distorted by sin but not total-ly destroyed, they were still capable of doing good. Howeverthis is not to overlook the reality that humanity’s loss of com-munion with God did in fact set up a barrier which could onlybe overcome by the gift of Christ’s way of life offered to theentire world with his incarnation, life, death and resurrection. Aclose study on Romans 5 verse 12 will shed further light on theOrthodox doctrine on the transmission of ‘original sin’.

A Case Study of Rom 5:12A Scriptural text which has played a key role in discussions on‘original’ sin throughout the history of the Church and even upto this day, is a verse in St Paul’s letter to the Romans:

“Therefore, just as sin came into the world

through one man, and death came throughsin, and so death spread to all because allhave sinned [åö’ þ ðÜíôåò Þìáñôïí].” (Rom.5:12)

The difficulty of the passage, which has formed the basis of theChurch’s teaching on ‘original sin’ lies in the last four words ofPaul’s phrase. The reason for this is that these words “åö’ þðÜíôåò Þìáñôïí” can be interpreted in at least three differentways. These are as follows: 1) in whom all have sinned; 2)because all have sinned and 3) because of death all have sinned.And these diverse readings give different understandings ofhow sin is transmitted.

Firstly, the West, based on Jerome’s Vulgate, translated the dif-ficult Greek phrase as “in whom all have sinned”2 which ledto the belief that Adam’s sin was passed onto future generationsand that human persons today carry this sin of Adam. This gaverise to the belief that human beings throughout the centurieshave inherited the sin of Adam and therefore are guilty in thatthey share in his sin as they share in his nature. Whereas theOrthodox Christian tradition would claim that the world todayshares in the effects of the sin of Adam which was death, thisunderstanding believes that human persons share in the sin ofAdam directly. The consequences of such an doctrine is thatGod is seen to punish subsequent generations unjustly since Hejudges them not on their actions but on the deeds of Adam.

Asecond rendering of this difficult phrase and one espoused bymost scholars today is to translate this verse not as “in whomall have sinned” but as “because all have sinned”. Such anunderstanding implies that human persons today have notinherited Adam’s transgression or guilt but rather that they havereplicated it in their lives by sinning themselves. Simply put, inthis understanding, Adam sinned causing death which inturncaused a likely propensity on the part of human persons to sinthemselves. This subtle difference makes each person respon-sible for their sin and consequently takes away any inheritednotions of culpability. In agreement with this view, St Mark theMonk affirmed: “When evil thoughts become active withinus, we should blame ourselves and not ancestral sin.”3

Understood in this way, Adam’s sin is not passed down tohuman persons today causing them to sin. Rather Adam’s sin isa prototype of all future sin in the world and therefore all peo-ple are responsible for their own sin. There is yet a third reading of the text which takes the Greekwords usually translated as “because all have sinned” to mean“because of death all have sinned.”4 In this case, the relativepronoun, åö’ þ is taken to be masculine, as was the case in thefirst interpretation, but in this case it does not relate back toAdam but rather to the word “death”. Grammatically speaking,it makes more sense to have the relative pronoun relate back tothe word “death” since it is this word which immediately pre-cedes and substantiates the phrase in question. Understood in

Questions & AnswersWhat was the original Christian Commu-nity like?

Fortunately, we have a first hand account of thelife of the original Christian Community. Thefirst Christian lived in Jerusalem ans sought toshare as much as possible all aspects of their

lives. They shared meals together, meeting in one place,with all contributing toward the provision of the meals.They worshipped together, receiving Holy Communion atevery celebration of the Eucharist (Divine Liturgy). Theyshowed concern for the poor and widows. During this peri-od, we also see that some, such as Ananians and Sapphira,his wife, were not as faithful and true as they should be, butthat the Church maintained strong moral and spiritual stan-dards. We also learn how the Church, under the guidanceand direction of the Apostles, adapted its organisation andinstitutional structure to practical needs. The first Chris-tians, in general, were committed, faithful and dedicated.

They are and always be an example and inspiration forChristians of every place and time. To read their story, turnto the book of Acts of the Apostles in your New Testamentand read the first seven chapters for the background ofwhat is summarized above. You will find it a fascinatingstory.

QA

***From the Orthodox Church: 455 Questions and Answers,

by Stanley S. Harakas, published by Light and Life.If you have any questions about the Orthodox faithwhich you would like answered in the VEMA, send

them toVema -Q.&A.,

P.O.Box M59 Marrickville South, NSW 2204

or e-mail them to: vema@bigpond.net.au

SEPTEMBER 2004 The Greek Australian VEMA TO BHMA 9/27

Cont. from previous page

this way, it is the cosmic reality of death whichexplains the reality of sin in the world and notthe other way around. In other words, this sub-tle yet profound saving truth affirms thathuman persons sin or break communion withGod because of the reality of death and not thathuman persons are punished to death becausethey have sinned. Therefore the verse couldread in the following way:

“Therefore, just as sin cameinto the world through oneman, and death camethrough sin, and so deathspread to all; because ofdeath all have sinned” (Rom.5:12)

From this understanding, the Eastern Ortho-dox tradition would claim that it is not the sinof Adam which is propagated to future gener-ations as St Ambrose and Augustine5 believedbut the reality of death. And because of deathhuman beings personally sin as well. In con-trast to Augustine’s view St John Chrysostomwrote:

“With Adam’s guilt, alsothose who did not eat fromthe tree became all mortals,coming from Adam.”6

And thus the human person could not be liber-ated from the predicament of death except bythe grace of God who by his Son’s incarnationwe have the culmination of our salvation.

All human beings are born into a world subjectto death caused by humanity’s refusal to sharein the real life of God by being in communionwith Him. Instead of a life of immortality,incorruptibility realised in communion or in aloving relationship with God, humankindbelieved that life could be realised outside ofGod’s life and this caused death. God’s com-mandment not to eat of the fruit of knowledgeof good and evil was not a law given by Godto Adam and Eve, which if they broke wouldbring about their punishment in order to satis-fy God’s wrath. Rather, in these words Godsimply made a statement – that life exists incommunion with Him and outside of Himthere is death. By eating of the fruit of the tree,God was declaring that this would remove thepresuppositions of life and lead to death. Ineating of the tree, Adam and Eve were in factattempting to realise “life” in a way whichdoes not constitute God’s communal and lov-ing way of life. Therefore it is death which ren-ders sin inevitable in so far as in one’s strugglefor life there is prevalent an overwhelmingpressure to sin in order to survive. It would beChrist as the second Adam, in his obedience tothe Father, who would come to reverse thereign of sin in death and bestow eternal lifethrough grace:

“Therefore just as oneman’s trespass led to con-demnation for all, so oneman’s act of righteousness

leads to justification and lifefor all. For just as by the oneman’s disobedience themany were made sinners, soby the one man’s obediencethe many will be maderighteous. But law came in,with the result that the tres-pass multiplied; but wheresin increased, grace abound-ed all the more, so that, justas sin exercised dominion indeath, so grace might alsoexercise dominion throughjustification leading to eter-nal life through Jesus Christour Lord” (Rom 5:18-21).

In this case the inheritance of the Fall is seenas an inheritance of mortality rather than ofsinfulness.

Concluding RemarksFrom the above it was shown that in the entireadventure of life God does not intervene toremove the result of Adam’s use of free choicesince this would remove the way of life feelychosen by Adam. Rather as we shall see Godwill intervene to transform this self-afflictedpunishment into a salvific opportunity for rela-tionship or communion with God, which isnothing other than a restoration of the world toeternal life. Jesus Christ God would make pos-sible this transformation from death into lifeagain without eliminating human freedom. Forthis reason in this continual state of tension theanticipated Messiah will come and assure theworld saying:

“In the world you face per-

secution. But take courage;I have conquered theworld!” (Jn 16:33).

In fact the entire Old Testament Scriptureswhich is nothing other than God’s increasingcommunion with the world in the covenantthat He initiates with Abraham, Isaac andJacob will find its ultimate purpose in the birth,life, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension andultimate glorification of God’s only begottenSon, Jesus Christ the Messiah. It will be Hewho will come to save the entire world fromtheir sin thereby granting them the possibilityonce again of eternal life.

Philip KariatlisAcademic Secretary and Associate Lecturer

St Andrew’s Greek Orthodox Theological College

1 Cf Rom 1:21.2 The form åö’ þ is a contraction of the preposition“åðß” (literally meaning upon) with the relative pronoun“þ” (meaning which). If the pronoun is believed to be inthe masculine form, then the antecedent of the relativepronoun is Adam. This therefore justifies the belief thatoriginal sin has been inherited from Adam. 3 On Those Who Think That They Are Righteous ByWorks, 120. 4 See J. Meyendorff, Byzantine Theology: HistoricalTrends and Doctrinal Themes (NY: Fordham UniversityPress, 1987). 5 For example St Ambrose says: “We all sinned in thefirst man, and by natural inheritance an inheritance ofguilt has been transferred from on man unto all…. Adamwas in each of us: for in him nature sinned, becausethrough one man sin passed over into all.” (ExpositioEvangelii secundum Lucum, 7, 234, quoted by H. Betten-son, The Later Fathers, 177. 6 Epistle to the Romans, 10. PG 60: 474-75.

Windows to Orthodoxy

Koutsogiannis family provide enormoussupport to Cure Cancer Australia

Mrs Irene Koutsogiannis, a member ofthe Greek community in Western Sydney,has been providing enormous support toCure Cancer Australia.

Mrs Koutsogiannis and her family growplants for sale and give the profits to theFoundation. Irene has also successfully col-lected donations for the Foundation, in par-ticular from members of the Greek Churchesat Rookwood, St Mary’s and Springwood.

All funds raised by the Koutsogiannis fam-ily - or any one else - are directed to support-ing the critical early work of brilliant investi-gators searching for cures for cancers.

Cure Cancer Australia’s vision is a worldwithout cancer, nothing less. Cure CancerAustralia is very grateful for this communitylevel support - on which it depends.

The Foundation encourages anyone whohas been touched by cancer to help it supportthe work of its brilliant young researchers.

The Greek Australian VEMATO BHMA10/28 SEPTEMBER 2004

The Greek Australian VEMA TO BHMA 11/29SEPTEMBER 2004

SEPTEMBER 2004Greek Australian VEMATO BHMA12/30GREEK ORTHODOX ARCHDIOCESE OF AUSTRALIA

ST ANDREW’S GREEK ORTHODOX THEOLOGICAL COLLEGE

ENQUIRIES AND APPLICATIONS WELCOME

St Andrew’s was established in 1986 by the Greek OrthodoxArchdiocese of Australia in order to provide tertiary leveleducation and training of Christian Orthodox clergy, theolo-gians, lay teachers and ministers in order to meet the cate-chetical and pastoral needs of the Orthodox Church inAustralia. It is also intended to be a centre of ecumenicalscholarship and learning.

St Andrew’s is fully accredited through the Sydney College ofDivinity, a federation of Christian theological educationproviders. All the awards and degrees of the Sydney Collegeof Divinity are approved by the NSW Department ofEducation and Training.

St Andrew’s offers the following accredited awards:

BACHELOR OF THEOLOGY and HONOURSThe BTh degree is a primary qualification in theology and isthe basis for further study at postgraduate level. It is a com-prehensive three-year course combining both theological andpractical studies.

At present, the BTh serves as the principle means of trainingmen for ordination or active ministry within the Church andas such admission to this program is limited to persons aspir-ing to this end. Such persons are also expected to complete afourth year of study in either the Master of Arts in PastoralMinistry program (see below) or the BTh Honours programas part of their overall education and training.

Discreet units within the BTh may be available to externalnon-award students and auditors upon consultation with theRegistrar.

MASTER OF ARTS IN THEOLOGICAL STUDIESThis is a graduate level program intended for both men andwomen who wish to prepare themselves for church serviceoutside the ordained ministry in such fields as religious edu-cation, or who would benefit professionally from a formalqualification in theological studies. It is also appropriate forthose seeking personal enrichment. Men or women who holda three-year tertiary qualification in a non-theological disci-pline can formally enrol into this program.

The MATS program requires the completion of 12 units.However, students may exit with a Graduate Diploma of Artsin Theological Studies (8 units) or a Graduate Certificate inTheological Studies (4 units).

Units within the MATS are available to external non-awardstudents and auditors. Auditors may receive a CollegeTestamur after satisfactorily participating in four foundation-al units.

Units are offered by one-week intensives during summer andwinter school holidays as well as by regular weekly lecturesduring each semester. The schedule of intensives for 2005 isas follows: The Sacred Arts through the Liturgical Year (10-14 Jan) Looking Beyond Division: An Introduction toEcumenical Studies (17-22 Jan) Exploring the Patristic Mind:An Introduction to Patristic Studies (4-8 July) EarlyChristianity (11-15 July).

MASTER OF ARTS IN PASTORAL MINISTRYThe MAPM is a specialised program of graduate level studyin preparation for ordination or active ministry within theChurch, especially in the area of pastoral care for the aged. Itsprogram of study is broad enough to serve both candidates forthe priesthood as well as men and women seeking a formal

qualification in pastoral care, although the sequence ofassigned units will be distinct for each category of student.Applicants who possess a previous three-year degree or itsequivalent are eligible for admission. There are several entryand exit points for students, and each is appropriate to theneeds, interests, prior study and academic abilities of the stu-dent. The program of studies is also open to those who havecompleted an undergraduate degree in theology but with aweak or minimal pastoral component.

BASIC CLINICAL PASTORAL EDUCATION (CPE)IN AGED CAREThis unique 30-week/400-hour course offers male and femaletrainees the opportunity to learn from their own pastoral inter-actions with residents in an aged care setting (St Basil’sHomes, Lakemba NSW), using the action-reflection methodof supervised pastoral training under the guidance andinstruction of CPE accredited mentors. It is offered throughthe Rozelle Centre for Clinical Pastoral Education and com-prises shorter CPE courses situated at Canterbury Hospitaland the Royal Rehabilitation Centre, Ryde.

MASTER OF THEOLOGYThe MTh is a degree by coursework. Eligible students mayundertake this award after the completion of the BTh. At pre-sent, St Andrew’s only offers units within the specialisationarea of Theology.

St Andrew’s is located at 242 Cleveland Street, Redfern NSW.Persons interested in obtaining more information about anyof the programs outlined above are invited to contact theRegistrar via email at sagotc@bigpond.net.au or by phoneon (02) 9319 6145 during office hours. The College’s websiteis located as www.sagotc.orthodox.nsw.edu.au.

Tasos Kalogerakis

College Library Intensive course July 2004

SEPTEMBER 2004 The Greek Australian VEMA TO BHMA 13/31

Well Spring has arrived and the NationalAsthma Week (1st -7th September 2004) hasjust passed, but throughout the month of Sep-tember, The Asthma Foundation is encourag-ing people to SPRING INTO ACTION byasking them to:

4 ‘BE ACTIVE WITH ASTHMA’4 ‘FIND OUT THE ASTHMA TRIG-

GERS’

WHAT IS ASTHMA

Asthma is an inflammatory disorder of thelungs and air passages. The air passagesbecome sensitive to certain triggers and causenarrowing, making it difficult to breathe.

In Australia, asthma affects over two millionpeople and there is evidence that the preva-lence and severity is increasing particularly inchildren . It is thought that 1 in 5 children haveasthma.

WHAT CAUSES ASTHMA?

There is no known cause for asthma, but cer-tain trigger factors may initiate an episode ofasthma. Trigger factors include: exercise, cig-arette smoke, coughing, laughing, deepbreathing, change in temperature and infec-tions.

Other trigger factors include: some chemi-cals such as paint, fumes and perfume. Certainallergens, which are substances that may causean allergic reaction; such as pollen, dust mites,moulds and animal fur may trigger asthma or

asthma symptoms. Certain foods and foodadditives can also be trigger factors for asth-ma.

Dairy foods have often been suggested as acommon trigger for asthma. However, recentscientific evidence suggests that this is not thecase, and a study in over three thousand pre-school children found that those who con-sumed regular varieties of dairy products eachday had a significant lower rate of asthmasymptoms.

There is an association between some med-ical conditions. Asthma is more common inpeople who have hay fever and eczema.

Many medications are well known as asth-ma triggers. Aspirin and anti-inflammatorymedication used to treat arthritis and somebeta-blockers used to treat migraines, highblood pressure, heart conditions and glaucoma may cause asthma. An importantpart of asthma management is to avoid suchtrigger factors.

The common symptoms of asthma arewheeze (a whistling sound in the chest), short-ness of breath, a tight feeling in the chest,cough and production of sputum. These symp-toms are due to the difficulty of the air passingthrough the narrow inflamed airways. Thecough may be worse at night or during exer-cise and in children can be a persisting cough.

ASTHMA MANAGEMENT

The management of asthma depends on theseverity of asthma. Essentially asthma man-agement is divided into treating an acuteepisode or prevention of episodes.

Treating an acute episode of asthma involvesusing drugs known as bronchodilators. Thesedrugs are also called relievers. These are usu-

ally given by inhalers or puffers. More severeepisodes may require the use of steroid drugs.

Preventing asthma is an important part ofmanaging asthma.

A preventer is a medicine which helps con-trol the inflammation in the airways.

A symptom controller can be used in combi-nation with a preventer to further reduce thesymptoms of asthma. Preventer medicinehelps reduce the inflammation in the airwaycaused by asthma. It works by making the air-ways less sensitive to things that trigger asth-ma. The preventer reduces the swelling in theairway and decreases the production ofmucous. We now recognise that the preventermedicine treats the cause of the asthma, notjust the symptoms.

A symptom controller will relax the tight-ened airway muscles. However, while areliever will only work for around 4-6 hours,symptom controllers can control the symp-toms for double this length of time.

Most asthma medications are delivered byinhaler. It is very important that a person withasthma learns to use an inhaler effectively. It iscritical that the person with asthma learns toactivate the inhaler at the moment of taking adeep breath so the fine particles get deep intothe lungs. It is now believed that ‘spacers’have revolutionised asthma treatment. A spac-er is a large plastic container into which theinhalers fit into one end and are ‘fired’ into thespacer. At the other end is a one way valve,allowing the user to breathe the contents.

We do not have a cure for asthma! But wecan control the underlying inflammation of theairways and reduce the symptoms of asthma.The medications we have today are very effec-tive, but will only work if taken as prescribedand taken correctly.

BE ACTIVE WITH ASTHMA

Having asthma should not hinder a personfrom exercise. People who have asthma do nothave to stop exercising. Indeed children andadults with asthma should be encouraged toexercise to achieve fitness goals. When exer-cising, it is important to remember to use theblue reliever medication five to ten minutesbefore warming up and spend 15 minutesdoing light exercise or stretching before get-ting really active.

KNOW YOUR TRIGGERS

In asthma management it is essential torecognise what triggers an individual’s asth-ma, to monitor the symptoms, to be reassessedby the doctor regularly so your doctor can tai-lor your asthma management programme.

LIVE WELL WITH ASTHMA

To live well with asthma, one needs to:4 Find out what triggers one’s asthma4 Always carry the reliever medication4 Be active and exercise4 Make your car, home and workplace

smoke-free.4 Speak with your doctor about your asth-

ma4 Use your preventer medicine as prescri-

bed by your doctor.

* The information given in this article is of a gen-eral nature and readers should seek advice fromtheir own medical practitioner before embarking onany treatment.

HEALTH NEWS

WITH DR. THEO PENKLIS

Asthma

NSW

SEPTEMBER 2004The Greek Australian VEMATO BHMA14/32

Book reviewsOLYMPIC GAMES: ETERNAL MESSAGES

FOR THE MODERN WORLDAnastassios Matsopoulos ISBN 960-92340-0-03

After many years and attempts theOlympic Games returned to Greece and inthe process showed the value of the Hellenicideals and traditions to the whole world.

As the Kathimerini newspaper, so rightlypointed out, the opening pageant was a chancefor the world to see itself and its origins. Yet,paradoxically those of Greek descent in theDiaspora may justifiably know little about thespirit and meaning of the Olympics.

The short book ‘Olympic Games. EternalMessages for the Modern World’ by Anastas-sios Matsopoulos provides a readable intro-duction to the nature and spirit of the OlympicGames.

Professor Matsopoulos dedicated this bookto those who believe and promote the Olympicideals and he opened the text with the symbol-ic and meaningful Olympic anthem written bythe national poet Costis Palamas:

Immortal spirit of antiquity,Father of the true, beautiful and good,Descend, appear, shed over us thy lightUpon this ground and under the skyWhich has first witnessed thy unperishable fameGive life and animation to those noble games.

Throw wreaths of fadeless flowers to the victorsIn the race and in the strife!Create in our breasts hearts of steel!In thy light, plains,mountains and seasShine in a roseate hue and form a vast templeTo which all nations throng to adore thee, O immortal spirit of antiquity!

Do not expect to find a detailed lifeless his-tory of the Olympic Games in this book or alisting of records, events and dates.

This book brings a different aspect of theOlympics to life in each of its short chapters.Unlike most books you do not even need toread the book from cover to cover to benefit.Select any chapter; start where you wish.

Be warned, however, that this book is aboutideals, ethics and ways of living. TheOlympics is used as a framework for spread-ing ideas and thoughts.

There are chapters on peace and unity, onparticipation being more important than victo-ry (if only some prominent Greek athletes hadnoted this).

You will read about patience, persistenceand discipline, about body and mind, truth andwisdom. These are not dry accounts but vividideas derived from our Greek heritage.

At the same time, this book is also modernwith chapters on terrorism and globalisation,volunteerism, culture and the Paralympics all

getting a mention in its 21 chapters and 93pages.

I recommend this book to a wide audience.Readers of the VEMA are alerted to the factthat there is little mention of religion or ourOrthodox faith which acted as the catalyst forthe maintenance of modern Hellenism. Ofcourse, this may not have been possible orintended within the limitation of some 90pages.

Otherwise you will find a useful and helpfulintroduction to the Olympics that will help youthink meaningfully about the Olympics andwill help you to speak authoritatively to otherson this topic.

In Australia (especially Sydney) more sothan in many other nations, we looked forwardwith underlying anxiety to the staging of theOlympics in Athens and throughout thisprocess we bore the brunt of many jokes andmuch ridicule until that spectacular openingwhen all the critics were silenced.

We were reminded of our past and who weare and from where we came. We realized inawe that we developed in the image of our eth-nic archetype.

I encourage you to read this book that dealswith the significance of these origins andwhich also glorifies the same ideals.

Copies of the text are available from theauthor, Professor Anastassios Matsopoulos, 10Dechiostak Street 74100 Rethimnon, Crete,Greece or Department of Paedagogy, Univer-sity of Crete, Perivolia, Rethimnon, Crete,Greece.

James A AthanasouUniversity of Technology, Sydney

For the bibliophiles...

Athens Past and Present

By Emanuele Greco (Vision, 2004)

A Frommer’s publication, it is subtitled:“Guide with Reconstructions, AncientAthens, Cape Sounion, Aegina, andOlympia. Past and present.” This small spiral-bound book is chock-ablock full of historical details. Thisdoesn’t make for easy reading, but whetsthe appetite for more. Of most interest are the colour pho-tographs of ruins, overlaid with illustra-tions of how the monuments once looked.It’s not a substitute for a travel guide, butdefinitely worth looking at.

It’s All Greek to Me! A Tale of a Mad Dog and an Englishman,

Ruins, Retsina - and RealGreeks

By John Mole (Nicholas Brealey Publishing, 2004)

When writers attempt to be humorous itcan be risky. They may be misunder-stood, or simply fail to amuse. Moleavoided these traps, but his determinationto be funny is slightly irritating initially. After a few chapters, though, his stylebecomes familiar and the book starts togrow on you. The tale, simply told, makesfor enjoyable, and very light, reading.

Mediterranean Kitchen

Vivien Valk (Murdoch Books, 2004)

The photos are great, and the formatslightly unusual. Ingredients are pho-tographed in colour, and there is a recipefor each. Historical notes are given, aswell as information on buying, storing,etc. The recipes are a mixture of traditionaland modern, so while there are the usualstandbys such as tzatziki, and pastitsio,there are also instructions for figs inhoney syrup, quince paste, poached pearsin saffron citrus syrup, and peach andcampari sorbet. If you’re not licking your lips by now, thisbook is not for you!

A.C.

The Greek Australian VEMAis now on the net

Visit us atwww.tovema.com.au

SEPTEMBER 2004 Greek Australian VEMA TO BHMA 15/33

The Central Youth Committee ofSouth Australia has launched a seriesof talks based on the Orthodox Faithentitled Orthodox Discussion Ses-sions. Fr Constantin Iana spoke asguest speaker in the ongoing series,and his topic was Science and Reli-gion. The talk was held at St Spyri-don Parish on Wednesday the 25th ofAugust 2004.

Fr. Constantin Iana is a retired Priestof the Romanian Orthodox Church.He was born in Romania, where afterfinishing primary school, he attendedthe Theological Seminary for fiveyears, then studied Theology at theBucharest Theological Institute forfour years, followed by six years ofpost-graduate studies in Romania andFrance, specializing in Patristics. In1970 he was appointed Secretary andHead of Cultural Affairs at the Arch-diocese of Oltenia, and worked in thiscapacity for three years. In 1973 Fr.Constantin was ordained as a Deaconand posted to Sts. Peter and PaulRomanian Orthodox Parish in Mel-bourne. In July 1974 he wasordained as a Priest and appointed toSt. Nicholas’ Romanian OrthodoxParish in Adelaide, where he serveduntil his retirement in September2002.

Fr Constantin began his talk bydefining and clarifying the terms ‘sci-ence’ and ‘religion’. He pointed outthat in the modern acceptation of theword, ‘science’ is used in a limitedway, being applied exclusively to theknowledge acquired from the Latin‘scientia’ (knowledge), but no onecan argue that at any given point intime researchers and scientists have acomplete knowledge of the matterthey investigate. Perhaps a moreaccurate name for any branch ofhuman knowledge would be that of‘discipline’, from the Latin ‘disco’ (Ilearn), which could better describethe relativity of the so-called ‘scien-tific truth’. Fr Constantin Ianaexplained that Science should beexpanded to include the totality ofhuman knowledge.

On the contrary, when speakingabout religion, Fr Constantinexplained, it is absolutely necessaryto indicate precisely to which area ofreligious belief one is referring, asthere are widely different interpreta-tions between religions and evenbetween different branches of Chris-tianity.

In the second part of his talk FatherConstantin presented a historicaloverview of science and religion inAntiquity. The Church Fathersretained not only the philosophicalachievements compatible with theGospel, but also its methodology,appreciating pre-Christian philoso-phy as preparatory for the Gospel.Later the rapprochement of Chris-tianity and ancient philosophy wascontinued by Christianizing the latter.

In the Latin West the role of Greekphilosophy in the life of the Churchstarted to be estimated more positive-ly beginning with Augustine, Bishopof Hippo, who developed the so-called ‘handmaiden’formula, accord-

ing to which natural sciences are use-ful tools to Christian theology and theChurch.

Beginning with the 17th century itwas argued that if the knowledge ofthe universe did not help our partici-pation in the Divine, then should be adivorce between natural sciences andtheology.

The investigation of nature aided byfaith was perceived in the East asconducive to belief in God, and thecontemplation of the divine reasonsin the creation was seen as a neces-sary step towards man’s union withGod. Through the incarnation of theDivine Logos, human nature and theentire universe become sacramental

in character, able to be divinised bygrace, the uncreated energy comingfrom the Holy Spirit.

After the talk there were questionsraised dealing with the moral and eth-ical stance of the Orthodox Churchwith regards to ‘modern science’. Itwas suggested that in the future therewould be further discussion on these

topics. On behalf of the CYC of SAwe thank Fr Constantin Iana for thetalk, Fr John Psalios and the GreekOrthodox Philoptohos of St Spyridonfor all their help and who kindly pre-pared food and beverages in theadjoining hall for all to enjoy.

Kosmas Damianides

SCIENCE AND RELIGION

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SEPTEMBER 2004The Greek Australian VEMATO BHMA16/34

TravelBeauty behind the ordinary: Scaling Corinth’s mythical peaks

A little imagination brings to life thevivid history and fantasy behind theold city straddling the Peloponneseand Attica

DIANA FARR LOUIS

The Isthmus of Corinth

In 1947 Osbert Lancaster wrote: “The Isth-mus of Corinth is one of the dreariest stretch-es of country in Greece.” And that was beforehighways, factories, petrol stations and facto-ry-sized cafes obliterated any trace of scenery.As we hurtle by Corinth on the way to Patrasor Tripoli, the blur of flat-roofed greyish-whitebuildings crammed against the Gulf holds nopromise worth a detour. The only landmark wemight half glance at is the crenellated rock ofthe High City, Acrocorinth, but on we rush.

Acrocorinth’s legacy

Thousands of years ago, however, if we hap-pened to look up as we crossed over the Isth-mus to Pelops’ Island, we might have seenPegasus rising from its craggy summit.Bellerophon, a son of Poseidon who’d beenadopted by King Glaukos of Corinth, foundhim grazing there, a gift from his godfather,and with some help from Athena he managedto tame the winged stallion. Corinthos - anyname ending in “inthos” is pre-Greek - wasfounded by his grandfather Sisyphus, whosewiliness makes Odysseus look like a boyscout.

Albert Camus thought he must have beenhappy in Hades, at least he had a job to do, butthe ancients viewed his eternal boulder-push-ing as an example of the worst possible fate.Sisyphus lost Zeus’ favour when he wasstrolling on the heights of Acrocorinth one dayand just happened to see the father of gods andmen flying by with a nymph named Aigina inhis embrace.

And of course, he saw where they landed,because then as now from Acrocorinth youcan see forever (on a clear day). When herfather, Asopos the river god, passed through insearch, Sisyphus offered to trade his secret fora spring that would never run dry. And so theGibraltar-like rock received its water, andSisyphus - much later - his punishment. It was said that Acrocorinth initially belonged

to Helios, the sun god, who gave it toAphrodite. Medea had the first temple to herbuilt there and centuries later, when Corinthwas the richest city in Greece, Aphrodite had athousand handmaidens serving her and mak-ing thousands more sailors and travellingsalesmen happy in the name of love. There are no traces of Mycenaean occupation

on this wonderfully fortified rock, but there aremany reminders of later residents. You have toclimb up three stretches of loose cobbling and

pass through three gates to enter the citadel. The first gate was built by the Turks, the sec-

ond is part-Frankish with Venetian reinforce-ments, while the huge blocks in the third areunmistakeably ancient Greek. Inside, piles ofrubble poking through the yellow mustard andwhite pear blossom hint at just how denselythis place was inhabited from Byzantinethrough Ottoman times. There are shells of churches with ogival arch-

es and domed mosques with truncatedminarets, but not a whiff of perfume nor a mar-ble couch to conjure up the atmosphere ofwhat must have been a vast bordello. The city proper lay directly below, some dis-

tance from the sea and a few kilometres fromthe modern town, which didn’t exist until the1850s. The ruins, which the American Schoolhas been excavating since 1896, are essential-ly Roman, because General Mummius razed itto the ground in 146 BC, when its peopleshouted their preference for independencerather than Roman rule. The only building heleft standing was the stolid, Doric temple ofApollo, which still has seven columnsunbudged by earthquake or invader. He evendemolished the South Stoa, the longest colon-nade in ancient Greece, and made off withcountless statues that now grace Italian muse-ums.

The ancient Isthmus

Controlling all traffic over the Isthmus,Corinth was a power for at least three centuriesbefore Athens started to look westward. Shefounded colonies in Sicily and Corfu, dis-patched ships loaded with scented oils and finepottery to Spain, the Black Sea, Egypt andPhoenicia, and may have invented the trireme.Its most famous ruler, Periander, was one of

the Seven Sages and built the diolkos, orpaved slipway, by which boats could bedragged across the Isthmus from the Saronicto Corinthian Gulf and vice versa. But by themid 5th century BC being midway betweenSparta and Athens was less than desirable, andthe city was squashed by both belligerents.Nevertheless, trade continued and so musthave debauchery, because that’s what is left ofCorinth’s reputation.

Still, it must have been fun. You could watchgladiators fighting lions in the odeon, mocksea-battles raging in the theatre, and all thosebeautiful women adding spice to every event.When Pausanias was writing his travelogue inthe late 2nd century AD, among the first thingshe noticed was a statue, not of a deity or dis-tinguished statesman but of the most famouscourtesan, Lais, which shows where Corinthi-an priorities really lay, even after the Romansresettled it under Augustus.

Another landmark was Glauke’s fountain,and that is the first monument we see evenbefore entering the site. Glauke threw herselfinto its waters after donning the poisoned robeMedea had sent as a wedding gift to spite hererstwhile lover Jason, but nothing could stopits burning.

The Corinthians thereupon stoned Medea’schildren, who had brought the robe, and ashrine to them was erected nearby in penance,though that has disappeared. (It seems Euripi-des bent the myth to forge a better tragedy.)The fountain today looks like a misshapencube and it’s hard to see where the waterwould have been. A much finer example ofRoman fountain art is Peirene.

Corinth’s forum

The Corinth forum is a spacious area, belowApollo’s temple and above the Peirene foun-

tain, bounded to the north, west and south bythe remains of arcades that housed dozens ofshops, mostly taverns judging from the incred-ible amount of drinking vessels found in theirwells and rubble. Most of them were of twostoreys and might have been used as hostels; afew vaulted roofs can still be seen.

The site is criss-crossed with drains andpipes; the Romans were nothing if not excel-lent plumbers. Here and there are weatheredstatues with pleated togas and column capitals,the majority with the acanthus leaves that werethe city’s trademark. And smack dab in themiddle of the forum is the Bema, a large ros-trum, where it is thought the Roman consulGallio told the amassed crowds that he had nointention of prosecuting (St) Paul as some ofthe Jewish population were begging him to do.

St Paul spent 18 months in Corinth, trying toconvert the townspeople to Christianity. After his case was dismissed, he left for Eph-

esus and from there wrote his two famous Let-ters to the Corinthians, the first of which hasmore memorable quotes than the rest of hisEpistles combined. It is ironic that his famouspassage on love (mistranslated charity in theKing James version) and his caution, “It is bet-ter to marry than to burn”, should have beenaddressed to them.

For with a thousand courtesans in residencethere is no indication that anyone was burningwith frustration. Instead, judging from thenumber of genitals among the terracotta votiveofferings on display in the museum, and espe-cially in the locked room with finds from theAsklepion, they may have been itching withvenereal disease. Poor Paul really had hiswork cut out for him.

* Excerpt from ‘Athens and beyond: 30 Day Trips& Weekends’, published by ‘Athens News’, 2003

ATHENS NEWS , 28/08/2004

Acrocorinth initially belonged to Helios, the sun god, who gave it to Aphrodite The Isthmus gave Corinth power for at least three decades

Travel news in brief If you plan to visit the French countryside,where to stay but in a castle? Historic oldchateaux such as Chambord andFontainebleau are public museums, whileothers such as Chateau d'Esclimont canaccommodate overnight guests.

French Travel Connection is offeringtravellers the opportunity to live for a nightor two of at Chateau d'Esclimont, home ofthe Rochefoucauld family who weredescendents of Francois I.The 16th-century chateau, with five-star

rooms, is set in 61 hectares of parkland.It is one of ten Grandes Etapes Chateauxavailable throughout France.

From November until the end of nextMarch, French Travel Connection is offer-ing three nights (pay for two) or four nights(pay for three) at the rate of $420 per dou-ble room per night including breakfast.Details: call (02) 9966-1177 or visitwww.frenchtravel.com.au

AAT Kings has a full-day "Aboriginal Expe-riences" tour from Sydney - allowing its pas-sengers to learn about and experience Aborig-

inal culture.They visit the Muru Mittigar Aboriginal Cul-

tural and Education Centre near Penrith NSWand take a tour of the cultural museum, take anature walk, listen to a didgeridoo and trytheir hand at boomerang throwing.

A BBQ lunch and a Bushtucker Taste Testinclude native meats such as kangaroo andcrocodile.

The visit, part of the company's SydneySight-seeing Tours, costs $99pp and includeslunch, hotel pick-ups and all activities.Details: call (02) 9700-0133 or visitwww.aatkings.com or travel agents.

The Illawarra Folk Festival at JamberooNSW presents a program of dance, song,poetry, food, drink and more between Sep-tember 15-19.

It includes more than 210 concerts andevents performed by over 400 performersfrom around Australia.Among them are Gary Shearston, Maria

Forde, Joe Dolce, Brisbane gypsy bandDoch, Cantolibre, David Beniuk & TheInland Sea and Alan Musgrove.Details:visit www.illawarrafolkclub.org.au

AAP

Tea for Two

D’Arenburg The Money SpiderRoussane 2003

Produced in SouthAustralia’s McLarenVale, this wine is paleyellow in colour withjust the slightest hintof gold. Rich fruityaromas, reminiscentof a good Riesling areaccompanied by fullflavours of fresh fruitwith melon, citrus andgreen apple notes. Theflavours are well bal-anced with acidity anda slightly sharp, inde-finable flavour givesthis wine a crisp edgepeculiar to Roussane.This wine is bestserved slightly chilled and would comple-ment summer meals, especially fish with alight, Mediterranean salad or lightly steamedgreen vegetables.

Cost: under $25

Two Rivers ThunderboltShiraz 2000

Deep ruby red incolour, this winehas pungent Shi-raz aromas ofpepper and spicewith a hint oftoasted oak. Theflavours are simi-larly powerfulwith spicy mintnotes hidden un-der a fair dose ofacid and tannin.The strength offlavours in thiswine make itwell suited tohearty red meat dishes. At this stage, the wineis somewhat overpowering, and will proba-bly benefit from 5-10yrs cellaring. If you dowant to drink this wine young, decant itbefore serving.

Cost: under $20

Wine ReviewBy Imogen Coward

SEPTEMBER 2004 The Greek Australian VEMA TO BHMA 17/35

Food & Wine

By Imogen Coward

Today it’s hard to envisage a time when tea,‘the most universally consumed of all bever-ages’ (according to the Larousse Gas-tronomique), did not exist. Where would webe without popular songs like “Tea for Two”or the nursery rhyme “Polly put the kettle on”?Imagine if, instead of the usual cup of coffeeor tea, the customary drink at breakfast timewas ale, as was the practice in 17th centuryEngland.

Tea in historyTea is derived from the leaves of Camellia

sinesis, family Theaceae, a small tree whichcan grow to a height of thirty feet and is nativeto China and Japan. Legend has it that tea hasbeen cultivated in China since around 2700BC, with written records of tea drinking inChina and Japan dating from AD 350 and AD593 respectively. Not surprisingly then, theword ‘tea’ comes from the Chinese t’e (pron.tay) while the colloquial English term ‘char’,is derived from the Cantonese ch’a (pron.char), as are other words such as chai (cur-rently in vogue in some of Australia’s ‘fash-ionable’ inner city coffee shops).

Tea was introduced to the West around 1610by Dutch traders. While the Continental Euro-peans were the first to enjoy this new bever-age, tea arrived in England around 1630 andfrom there it only took until around 1650 for it to reach America. Tea was rapidly promoted ashaving beneficial medicinal properties andquickly superseded coffee as the new fashion-able drink, especially in Britain. Amongst thefamous upper class Brits devoted to drinkingtea were the Duke of Wellington and DrSamuel Johnson (compiler of the first EnglishDictionary) who was said to have ‘swallowedhis tea in oceans’. In the 18th century tea wasan expensive commodity. Not only did it haveto be shipped from the Far East, but, in Britain

especially, it also attracted heavy taxes (notsurprisingly given its popularity). It was verymuch the drink of the upper classes. By the19th century taxes had fallen a little and teagradually became a common beverage acrossall classes.

Although it has a reputation for being a milddrink (e.g. in comparison to the stimulatingeffects of coffee), tea was at the centre of aninternational argument over taxes which somesay helped start the American War of Indepen-dence.

When the British and Dutch settled in Amer-ica during the 18th century, they took withthem their love of tea drinking. America wassupplied with tea primarily by the British andall was well (or at least reasonably so) until theBritish attempted to heavily tax commoditiesthey sold to their colonies, including the teathey sold to America. The Americans reactedby promptly establishing a brisk trade insmuggled tea from Holland. As a conse-quence, the East India Company, which hadsupplied America through their importers,were left with surplus stocks of tea and in 1773gained permission from the British Govern-ment to export directly to America without theinvolvement of importers (British or Ameri-can). When three East India Company shipsarrived in Boston Harbour to unload their tea,Bostonians (many of them tea importers), dis-guised as American Indians, reacted. On 16December, 1773 the Bostonians tipped theentire consignment of tea into the sea, an eventknown ever since as the Boston Tea Party.Soon after colonists and importers in otherAmerican ports refused to allow ships carryingtea to unload or instead destroyed their cargoesof tea. In 1774 the British took retaliatory mea-sures against these protests, including the clo-sure of Boston’s port. Soon after, the AmericanWar of Independence (1775-1783) began.While the degree to which the Boston TeaParty influenced the War of Independence is a

matter of contention amongst scholars, it isfairly well recognised that from this pointonwards there was a definitely marked declinein tea drinking in America!

Today, China, India and Ceylon are theworld’s largest tea producers, while India andCeylon are also the largest exporters. Russia,Britain and America are among the largestimporters of tea and many former Britishcolonies like Australia have maintained thehabit of having afternoon tea and enjoying tea in tea shops and cafés, trends that date fromthe late 19th century.

Tea Today

Just as there are numerous distinctionsbetween coffees and ways in which they maybe enjoyed, so too are there many differentvarieties of tea.

All teas (excluding herbal teas) come fromthe same plant Camellia sinesis. The differ-ences between the ‘varieties’ arise from whenthe leaves are picked and the treatment of thetea leaves after they’ve been harvested. Themain methods of processing the leaves essen-tially produce three different types of tea:black, green and oolong.

Black tea, the most commonly drunk in Aus-tralia, is produced by fermenting freshlypicked tea leaves. The leaves are spread out onwithering troughs which allow air to circulatethrough the leaves for 8-16 hours. When theleaves have become limp they are put throughrollers which twist and break the leaves’veins.On contact with the air, the juices released dur-ing rolling begin to ferment or oxidise. Theleaves are left in a cool humid atmosphere toferment and after this they’re dried in the airuntil the leaves turn black.

Green tea is generally produced by steam-ing, rolling and drying the fresh tea leaves. Theprocess retains the green colour of the leavesand produces a tea that is light and often some-

what grassy in flavour.Oolong is produced in a similar manner to

green tea but during processing the leaves areallowed to partially ferment.

Further distinctions between teas are createdthrough the grades of the tea leaves and extraflavourings that may be added later.

Grading: Tea is graded by the size of the leafpieces (rather than the quality or flavour). Thelarger the leaf, the higher the grade. Large leaf pieces tend to have more flavour and require alonger infusion time than smaller, lower gradeleaf particles. For example, grade wise OrangePekoe is a high grade followed by BrokenOrange Pekoe, Pekoe Fannings then Dust.

Generally, loose leaf tea is of a higher gradethan tea bags which often contain a high per-centage of the smaller leaf pieces giving astrong brew needing little infusion. The downside to the smaller leaf pieces is that they tendto produce tea with high tannin content whichcan overpower other flavours. (Tannin is thebitter, mouth puckering agent also found in red wine.)

Flavouring: Specialty teas can be flavouredwith a number of ingredients from flowers tofruit or herbs. One of the most well knownspecialty teas is Earl Grey. Traditionally, it is ablend of China and Indian Darjeeling teas,flavoured with bergamot oil (a small memberof the citrus family). Jasmine tea, one of theChina black teas, contains real jasmine flowerswhich give it a light fragrant edge. There aremany different specialty teas and, unlike the‘good old’ English breakfast blend, most arebest served hot, black and without sugar so asto best appreciate the subtle flavours. Thinkingof the coming summer, some specialty teas,particularly those flavoured with citrus (e.g.Earl Grey) also make fantastic iced tea.

More reading: There are some interesting books onthe tradition of afternoon tea. One, filled withmenus, recipes, table settings and photos is TriciaFoley’s Having Tea (Toronto, Bantam, 1987).

Old-time cookbooks provide food for the soul Old cookbooks never die - in fact, they are

not often willingly surrendered. One womaneven took her beloved Betty Crocker book tothe grave.

Cookbook connoisseur Bonnie Slotnick hasheard many of these tales, whispered orrecalled with laughter, about women soattached to their cookbooks that they end uppractically being "dragged out of dyinghands".

"The bottom line for a lot of people is ... thiscraving for comfort that cookbooks supply,"Slotnick said as curious customers browsed inher tiny Greenwich Village shop.

Often someone will be searching for the edi-tion her mother or grandmother had because ofa need to hold on to the comfort level it pro-vided "though they wouldn't know it if youasked them," she said.

Her store - Bonnie Slotnick's Cookbooks - isstocked floor to ceiling with some 3,000books, arranged neatly by category. The aver-age one costs $US20 ($A30) to $US22($A32), but there is also a $US5 ($A7) shelfand a $US1 ($A1.45) basket. Even non-cookshave left with vintage cookbooks to savour"like novels in bed".

"There are always customers for classics byJulia Child, James Beard, Craig Claiborne,"Slotnick said, adding that books by Child, whodied in August at the age of 91, have alwaysbeen popular.

"The importance of them in (everyday) use

and popularity may stay the same, but the col-lector value of the first editions and signedbooks definitely will go up," she said.

Slotnick, 50, said she opened the store in2000 "with no business plan" and was still"trying to figure out how I ended up doingthis" with a college degree in fashion illustra-tion.

Clearly, it was for her love of books. Afterworking in a library and for many years infood publishing, the native New Yorker beganseriously collecting cookbooks and worked ata bookstore as a searcher for out-of-printbooks.

"I love housekeeping books and etiquettebooks in the narrative form - such as older sis-ter teaching newly married, younger sisterhow to cook for her husband," she said.

One of her favourites is from 1871 - Com-monsense in the Household by Marion Har-land.

In May, Slotnick sold one of the oldest cook-books she has ever had, published in 1765, TheArt of Cookery Made Plain and Easy by Han-nah Glasse. She also has original cookbooksfrom the 1800s as well as reproductions.Occasionally, people call because they thinkthey have a gem, but "200-year-old cookbooksin wonderful condition" are rare, she said. Thefirst American cookbook, American Cookeryby Amelia Simmons, was published in 1796,and might be worth $US10,000 ($A14,500) toa collector. Reuters

SEPTEMBER 2004Greek Australian VEMATO BHMA18/36

Athens 2004Highlights of the Games

Day 1 - 14 AugustOn 14 August, day one of the OlympicGames, two world records were broken inSwimming and three in Weightlifting. InSwimming, Michael Phelps improved therecord he already held in the 400m IndividualMedley, while the women’s Australian teambroke the world record in the 4x100 FreestyleRelay.In total, 13 medal ceremonies took place andChina is currently first in the overall medalstanding with 4 gold medals.

Cycling Road: Men’s Road Race : BETTINI (ITA)wins gold in Road RaceDiving: Women’s Synchr 3m Springboard : Chinatakes first gold in DivingJudo: Japan wins two gold medals on first day ofJudoSwimming: Superpowers Australia and the USAdominate day one at the poolWeightlifting: World and Olympic records topple

Day 2 - 15 AugustA world record in Swimming from the SouthAfrica team in the 4x100m Men’ s FreestyleRelay and the defeat of USA‘ s team by Puer-to Rico characterised day two of theATHENS 2004 Olympic Games.

Basketball: Men : Puerto Rico crushes USA tomake historyCycling Road: Women: Sara CARRIGAN (AUS)surprises the favouritesFootball: Iraq fairytale continues with 2-0 winover Costa RicaShooting: Women’s 10m Air Pistol : KOSTEVY-CH (UKR) wins gold in shoot offSwimming: Men’s 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay: Goldand a new WR for South AfricaWeightlifting: Men’s 56kg : MUTLU (TUR) pow-ers his way into history

Day 3 - 16 AugustA rich Olympic day has ended with 14 finals,22 events held in 20 Competition Venueswith China still in the lead of the overallMedal Standings. In total, six Olympicrecords were broken on this day: 1 in Shoot-ing, 3 in Weightlifting, and 1 in Swimming.

Archery: Bhutan duo to make Olympic historyDiving: Men’s Synchr 3m Springboard : Greekdivers write historyGymnastics Artistic: Men’s Team : Japan is backon top after 24 yearsHandball: Men : Favourites remain undefeatedSwimming: Thorpe reigns supreme in 200mFreestyleVolleyball: Women : Day Two - Top teams provetheir class; Cuba win derby

Day 4 - 17 August11 Spectacular Finals in Artistic Gymnastics,Fencing, Judo, Shooting, and Swimming, aswell as 23 other Events, held in 20 Olympicvenues, characterised the fourth day of theATHENS 2004 Olympics.

Badminton: The top seeds keep fallingBaseball: Men : Canada only unbeaten team afterDay 4Gymnastics Artistic: Women’s Team : Romanianpowerhouse on the top againHockey: Men : Korea, Germany and Netherlandstracking nicelyShooting: RUS and UAE win gold medalsSwimming: USA wins fifth Olympic gold andavenges Sydney defeat

Day 5 - 18 AugustTwo new Swimming World Records and thehosting of the Men’s and Women’s Shot Putevents in the Ancient Stadium in Olympia for

the first time in modern history characterisedthe day. Yuriy BILONOG from Ukraine wongold at the Men’s Shot Put event, while at theWomen’s event Russia’s Irina KORZHA-NENKO became Olympic Gold medallist.

Athletics: Men’s Shot Put: Ukraine’s BILONOGclaims gold at Ancient OlympiaBeach Volleyball: Women: Seven teams movethrough pools to Round of 16Equestrian: Individual Eventing : Gold for Betti-na HOY (GER)Softball: Women’s Team : Japan comes up big,USA flexes muscles againSwimming: USA Women’s Relay team breaklongest standing record on booksTable Tennis: Women’s Singles Round 4: Shockdefeat of China’s No.3, NUI

Day 6 - 19 AugustDay 6 of the 2004 Olympic Games proved tobe a day where many new Olympic andWorld records were set.In Shooting, Manfred KURZER of Germany,broke the Men’s 10m Running Target worldrecord. In Weightlifting, Chunhong LIU fromChina, rewrote the women’s Weightliftingrecord books with a performance hailed asone of the greatest in the sport. Finally, inSwimming three new Olympic Records wereset by three athletes from the USA; AmandaBEARD, Aaron PEIRSOL, and MichaelPHELPS.

Archery: Men’s Individual : GALIAZZO wins goldfor ItalyBadminton: Two gold medals for ChinaBoxing: Gold medal favourites emerge at the Peri-steri Boxing HallSailing: Women’s 470 : BEKATOROU/TSOULFA(GRE) win gold with race to spareTennis: Women’s Singles : World’s top threewomen reach semifinalsWeightlifting: Women’s 69kg : Record bookrewritten in amazing event

Day 7 - 20 AugustAnother record-breaking day came to its end.Some of the day’s highlights were the follow-ing: In the Men’s 100m Butterfly SwimmingFinal, USA’s Michael PHELPS set a newOlympic Record (51.25). One world andthree Olympic records were broken on thefirst day of the Olympic Track Cycling pro-gramme.

Athletics: Men’s 20km Walk : Brugnetti upsets thefavouritesCanoe/Kayak Slalom racing: France and Slova-kia each take home two gold medalsCycling Track: Fast track produces a collection ofrecords on day oneFencing: Women’s Team Epee : Russians defendtheir title against GermanyTennis: Women’s Doubles : China to claim its firsttennis medalWater Polo: Women : Australia and USA reachsemis

Day 8 - 21 AugustAnother exciting competition day has cometo an end with new World and Olympicmedals being set. Two World and oneOlympic Record were broken in Swimming.In Cycling, reigning World Champion SarahULMER from New Zealand has smashed theworld record in the Women’s Individual Pur-suit. In Weightlifting, China’s super heavy-weight Gonghong TANG set new world andOlympic records.

Athletics: Women’s 100m : NESTERENKO wins100m titleAthletics: Women’s Discus Throw Final: Sadovafinally gets the goldAthletics: Women’s Heptathlon: KLUFT (SWE)dominatesBasketball: Men : As champs fall, five morebecome quarterfinalistsSwimming: THOMPSON’s (USA) Olympic histo-ry overshadowed by world recordsSailing: Yngling : Impressive silver medal forUkraine’s teamWeightlifting: Men’s 85kg : DIMAS wins hearts,not gold medal

Day 9 - 22 AugustThe Men’s 100m Finals and the Women’sMarathon were the highlights of day nine ofthe ATHENS 2004 Olympic Games. In theMen’s 100m Final, four athletes finished inless than 9.90 seconds, but it was USA’sJustin GATLIN who won gold medal with9.85. Finally, in Cycling Track two worldrecords were broken.

Athletics: Men’s 100m : GATLIN wins 100m titleAthletics: Men’s High Jump Final: BrilliantHOLM winsAthletics: Women’s Marathon : Noguchi winswomen’s marathon

Beach Volleyball: Women: Favourites continueunfazed through quarter-finalsGymnastics Artistic: Apparatus Finals Day 1:Five medals go to five different countriesHockey: Women : Netherlands deny Australia thechance of a trebleSoftball: AUS v USA in Grand Final, Japanclaims bronzeTennis: Chilean takeover at Athens 2004 OlympicTennis EventVolleyball: Women : End of the preliminaries -USA get final quarterfinal spot

Day 10 - 23 AugustThe tenth day of the Olympic games includ-ed 20 disciplines, seven of which had finals.On Monday 23 August Gymnastics Artistic,Table tennis as well as Softball were com-pleted.

Athletics: Men’s 400m: USA completes cleansweep in 400mAthletics: Women’s Triple Jump : “They all hadsomething to smile about”Athletics: Women’s 20km Walk : TSOUMELEKAcollects surprise gold for GreeceCycling Track: Australia take gold while thesprinters heat upFootball: Women : USA qualifies for third consec-utive Olympic finalGymnastics Artistic: Apparatus Final Day 2:PONOR (ROM) wins two gold medalsSailing: Star : A win for CAN, extraordinarycomeback for BRA and USAWrestling: Women’s freestyle: JPN, UKR andCHN take historic medals

Day 11 - 24 AugustEighteen sports were held during Day Elevenof the ATHENS 2004 Olympic Games, six ofwhich included final matches. The end ofArtistic Gymnastics was also celebrated witha Gala event.The thousands of Athletics fans, gathered inthe Athens Olympic Stadium, watched the sixfinals that took place in that popular sport.

Athletics: Men’s 1500m final : EL GUERROUJfinally strikes Olympic goldAthletics: Women’s 100m Hurdles final : HAYESwins, FELICIEN fallsAthletics: Women’s 400m final : WILLIAMS-DAR-LING held off Mexican challengeBeach Volleyball: Women: The USA winsunprecedented two medals

Stefano Baldini of Italy rounds the last turn in the stadium before finishing first to win the gold medal at Panathinaiko Stadium in Athens on29/08/2004 © GETTY IMAGES/Andy Lyons

SEPTEMBER 2004 19/37Greek Australian VEMA TO BHMA

Athens 2004Cont. from previous page

Boxing: Men’s Light Fly (48kg): Favourites reachsemifinals Diving: Men’s 3m Springboard: China wins fourthgold medalHandball: Men: Final four decided in Men’s Hand-ballWater Polo: Men: Hungary, Greece qualify direct-ly to semifinals Day 12 - 25 AugustOne world record was broken today in Men’s+105kg Weightlifting category, while in Ath-letics a new world junior record was set in theWomen’s 200m Final and a new Olympicrecord in Women’s Hammer Throw.Other highlights of the day include the goldmedal matches in Baseball and Men’s BeachVolleyball and a spectacular finish in theWomen’s Triathlon. Greece’s Fani Chalkiawon the first gold medal of the competitionday in Athletics.Athletics: Women’s 400m Hurdles Final: HALKIA(GRE) wins goldAthletics: Women’s 200m Final: CAMPBELL(JAM) wins with a world leading timeBasketball: Women : Brazil outlasts Spain for thirdconsecutive semifinalEquestrian: Individual Dressage: vanGRUNSVEN defends gold medalHockey: Men: Australia cruises into finalSailing: Men’s Mistral : FRIDMAN wins first goldever for IsraelSynchronised Swimming: Duet: Russia takes goldwith perfect 10sTriathlon: Austrian Kate ALLEN steals gold medalin dash to the line

Day 13 - 26 AugustRussia’s Andrey Moiseev was the winner inMen’s Modern Pentathlon, while in the equal-ly demanding Triathlon New Zealand wongold and silver medal. In Women’s WaterPolo, Italy won the gold medal match in thesecond extra time, leaving to Greece the silver

medal. In Athletics, USA snatched five out ofnine medals that were awarded in tonight’sthree Finals.Athletics: Men’s 400m Hurdles: SANCHEZachieves Olympic dreamAthletics: Men’s Long Jump: PHILLIPS dominatesthe finalBasketball: Men: Undefeated Lithuania, Argenti-na, Italy and USA to semisCycling Track: Australia dominates at the OlympicVelodromeGymnastics Rythmic: Qualifications: Russia andKABAEVA leading the fieldsTaekwondo: Men’s Under 58kg: Taipei takes goldWater Polo: Women: Italy took gold in overtime

Day 14 - 27 AugustOn 27 August 2004, fourteenth day of theOlympic Games ATHENS 2004, the Equestri-an, Modern Pentathlon, Synchronised Swim-ming and Hockey events were completed.Today it was Russia’s day in Athletics - it wonsix medals.Athletics: Men’s 50km Walk : “KORZENIOWSKI the great” captures fourth goldAthletics: Men’s 110m Hurdles Final: LIU (CHN)wins, equals the world recordAthletics: Women’s Javelin Throw Final: MENEN-DEZ (CUB) wins, throws over 70m

Basketball: Men : Argentina ends USA reign insemisCanoe/Kayak Flatwater Racing: Two male kayak-ers aim for three Olympic titlesEquestrian: Individual Jumping: O’CONNORwins first jumping gold for IrelandHandball: Women: Denmark in the gold medalmatch after 29-20 against UkraineFootball: Men: Italy wins the bronze medalModern Pentathlon: Women: VOROS claims goldfor HungaryVolleyball: Women: Semifinals - Cuba out of theOlympic final after 12 yearsWrestling: Men’s Freestyle 84kg: Semifinalistsdecided after tough battles

Day 15 - 28 AugustIn the 15th day of the Olympic Games, 6 sportcompetitions came to an end: Basketball,Canoe/Kayak Flatwater Racing, CyclingMountain Bike, Diving, Football and Sailing.In Women’s High Jump, Russia’s Yelena SLE-SARENKO won gold with a new Olympicrecord (2.06). Men’s Football: Argentina isnew Olympic champion, having beatenParaguay 1-0 in the final.Athletics: Men’s 4 x 400m Relay : USA in a class oftheir ownAthletics: Men’s 5000m : EL GUERROUJ com-

pletes historic doubleAthletics: Men’s 4 x 100m Relay: Great Britainstuns the USABoxing: Russia and Cuba share medal honoursCycling Mountain Bike: Men’s Cross Country:ABSALON (FRA) wins goldDiving: Men’s 10m Platform: HU grabs sixth goldfor ChinaFootball: Men: TEVEZ fires Argentina to goldSailing: Star: Canada wins silver, France bronzeTaekwondo: Men’s Under 80kg: LOPEZ defendsOlympic title

29 August 2004 - Last Day and Closing Ceremony The Athens 2004 Olympic Games came to anend today with a warm Closing Ceremonywhich took place at the Olympic Stadium. Not long before, Stefano Baldini from Italiawas the first runner to cross the finish line ofthe Men’s Marathon race in the PanathinaikoStadium. Earlier in the last day of the Games, finals inBoxing, Gymnastics Rhythmic, Handball,Taekwondo, Volleyball, Water Polo andWrestling were held.In the overall medal standings, USA rankedfirst, China second and Russia third.

SPORTSThe Greek Australian VEMA

Highlightsof the

AthensGames

PAGES 18/36 & 19/37

A string of fireworks lights the skyabove the main Olympic Stadium onSunday August 29 for the last timeduring the Games of the 28thOlympiad. Following a cheerful clos-ing ceremony, the giant torch that hadheld the Olympic Flame over the sta-dium since Aug. 13 swiveled down tolight a lantern in a child’s hands. Thegirl blew upward gently and the giantflame went out.

The Athens 2004 Games, the 28thOlympiad of the modern era, ended onAugust 29 with a closing ceremony that cel-ebrated 16 days of competition and thenation that had played host to the world.Athens presented the Games with state-of-the art venues, and, through an unprecedent-ed multinational effort, it provided securityin the air, the sea and on land. But in the end,it was the athletes who were at the heart ofthe Games, setting as they did several newworld and Olympic records.

Four years ago, IOC President Juan Anto-nio Samaranch warned Athens that it mightlose the Games as it was falling seriouslybehind in its preparations. A major effort,which is now estimated to have cost some 7billion euros, was mounted. This resulted insuccessful and safe Games but also in majortransportation projects that transformedAthens.

Jacques Rogge, at the closing of his firstSummer Games as president of theInternational Olympic Committee, was fullof praise for the hosts. Starting his shortspeech in Greek, Rogge said, “Dear Greek

friends, you have won! You have won bybrilliantly meeting the tough challenge ofholding the Games.” He praised GiannaAngelopoulos-Daskalaki for leading theorganizing committee with “great vision andcharisma.” He also praised the governmentfor leaving Athens with “an extraordinaryurban and sporting heritage.” He thanked the“marvelous volunteers who have charmed uswith their confidence and kindness.”

The Olympic flag was handed over to themayor of Beijing, which will host the 2008Olympics.

The closing ceremony, which began with atribute to the folk music and dances andbucolic traditions of many parts of Greece,was tinged with melancholy as the OlympicFlame went out over the Olympic stadium.The giant spindle through which the flameburned, swiveled downward, like the beak ofa huge metal bird, and lit a lantern carried bya little girl. In an echo of the Greek Eastercelebrations, she then passed the flame on toothers in the audience. At 10.46 p.m., fromthe floor of the Olympic Stadium, the girlblew gently toward the flame high up in thesky and it went out.

A concert including some of Greece’s bestknown pop stars then began under a fullmoon and in a crowded stadium. DirectorDimitris Papaioannou had said the closingceremony would be “a human celebration,full of music and singing.”

The Greeks celebrated their best showingin the Olympics since their revival in modernform in Athens in 1896. Greece won sixgold, six silver and four bronze medals. Itwas placed 15 by gold medals and 17th by

total. The United States won the medals race,with 35 gold, 39 silver and 29 bronze. Chinawas second.

“Zeus smiled on Athens”

Zeus and the other gods of ancient Greecesmiled on the Athens Olympic Games,whose spectacular success surprised theworld, the head of the organising committeesaid in her first interview since the world’sbiggest sporting event ended on Sunday 29August.

Mrs Gianna Angelopoulos told Reuters theGreeks had earned and deserved the praisethat has poured in for the conduct of theonce-troubled Games.

“These were the most successful Gamesever,” she said, going further than IOC(International Olympic Committee) chiefJacques Rogge, who described them in hisclosing ceremony speech as an “unforget-table dream.”

“Not just Zeus, but all the Gods smiled onwhat we have done,” Angelopoulos said.She said the Games marked the emergenceof a new Greece and were worth every centof the billions of dollars that were spent tostage the homecoming of the Olympics toboth their ancient and modern birthplace.

Some economists estimate the cost of theGames have more than doubled from theoriginal 1997 budget of $US4.6 billion($A6.58 billion), setting the scene for a like-ly political battle in the weeks ahead.

But Angelopoulos, who even critics agreecarried the Athens Olympics across the fin-ishing line almost singlehanded after several

years of political infighting, said the Gameswere the spur for infrastructure work thatwas long overdue to make Athens a modernEuropean capital.

Much of the money went into upgradingtransport and other projects that have finallyuntied the knot of old roads that made thecity one of the world’s most congested.“There is also the human legacy of the skills

that our people have learned which can neverbe calculated,” she said.

Angelopoulos said Athens had also won abattle against fear by hosting the first sum-mer Games since the September 11, 2001attacks on the United States with a “flawless”security operation.

More than $US1 billion ($A1.43 billion)were spent on Europe’s biggest peacetimesecurity operation, which included theinvolvement of NATO in protecting Greece’sairspace and long coastline.

Angelopoulos praised the way securityforces had managed to protect the Gameswhile remaining unobtrusive, and said peo-ple had asked her: “Where are the troops?”Her advice to Beijing, which stages the next

summer Olympics in 2008, was to follow itsown dream because each city that hosts anOlympics is unique.

But she suggested there could be parallelsbetween Athens and Beijing because bothwere capitals of countries with famed ancientcivilisations that were knocking on the doorof the 21st century.

Angelopoulos gave no indication of whatlay in her own future but admitted: “Somesleep would be good.”

Reuters

“Dream Games”

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