Saving Ancient Diolkos, in Greece

[sofiagreekslg50]

The Ancient Diolkos, in Greece, is the famous paved road constructed around 600 BC and used to transport ships by land over the Isthmus of Corinth.

Diolkos is mentioned by Thucydides in connection with transport of fleets during the Peloponnesian War as something granted, thus already ancient. Its use is mentioned in various sources, almost exclusively for warships. After Actium in 31 B.C. Octavian shipped warships across the diolkos to pursue Antony and Cleopatra to Asia and then Egypt.

Athough the monument is unique in its kind, it has never been protected since the time of excavation (1956-1962).

In an effort to save and restore the structure, we have created an international petition at

www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/870477005

We invite you to sign and help preserve this historical monument.

Sofia Loverdou - Freelance science journalist
Yiannis Balafoutas - Retired teacher, writer

P.S. People from 75 countries have already signed this petition, so help from Morocco would add one more country to the list and make it more clear that the world's ancient heritage should be protectd!!!
For more information and images, please go to
http://www.greece.org:8080/opencms/o...jects/DIOLKOS/ (in english, with gallery images)

[sofiagreekslg50]

Some friends are asking me various questions about the Ancient Diolkos petition. I guess a lot of you reading about Diolkos are wondering about the same things, so I give some explanations here.

MONEY.
Signing the petition does not mean asking the Greek State to give money that it presumably cannot afford for restoring the monument. The protection of the monument should have been presented for funding (with European Union contribution or other similar projects) LONG AGO. Unfortunately, by not having even the most elementary information about the monument, the services in charge were KEEPING THEMSELVES UNPREPARED even to ASK for funding…

WHY SPEAK...
The monument is not a piece of property OWNED by someone free to destroy it. Unfortunately, this is what has happened up to now. This petition says that we want this to stop. The Diolkos is a common heritage of mankind (as many other monuments and sites all over the world).

IS THE PETITION JUST A PLEA?
No, it is more dynamic that that. The Prime Minister’s Office is being often notified about the progress and knows that many people from many countries know of the problem. Consequently, the Diolkos cannot be left to decay in silence (as was the situation up to now).

INFORMATION GIVEN
The information given at the petition site cannot cover 45 years of neglect and destruction. It would be too long (and maybe also very shocking). If anybody feels like having more information, I will be glad to provide both information AND documentation, so please send me an e-mail at sofia-l@tellas.gr.

[sofiagreekslg50]

Yesterday the most popular portal in Greece, in.gr, presented the Diolkos case.

It is a good thing to see the veil of silence about Diolkos begin to fall and a kind of "greek tradegy", complete with an innocent victim which is no other thatn the monument itself, slowly come to light...

For those interested, the link is Åéêüíåò ôçò ÅëëÜäáò êáé ôçò Êýðñïõ

[sofiagreekslg50]

I am writing again after quite some time to give you news of the ANCIENT DIOLKOS, the Greek monument of 600 BC that has been left to decay since its excavation (~1960).

International ridicule and Justice investigations have finally induced the Greek Ministry of Culture to some movimentation. In 2009, some elementary protection work has been done at two erosion fronts.



But the rest of the exposed Diolkos is still deteriorating, as you can see in a recent video, at YouTube - sofiagreek's Channel

I invite you to watch this short video and, in case you haven't done so already, please sign the petition
at http://www.thepetitionsite.com/petition/870477005

Although "authorities" say they "will" take care of Diolkos, the monument was falling down for 50 years under false assertions of care (!!!). This shows that they cannot be trusted and that more pressure is needed...