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Despina Iosif, «Christianos ad Leonem». The Case of Perpetua Two Greek editions of the diary of Perpetua have recently appeared, one by Polymnia Athanassiadi and the other by Thanassis Georgiadis, both bound to attract attention. Perpetua lived at Thuburbo Minus, west of Carthage in North Africa. She was an upper class, well-educated Roman citizen, twenty-two years of age, newly married and mother of a baby boy, who converted to Christianity and chose martyrdom instead of sacrificing to the traditional gods of the Roman Empire. Her decision was interpreted as an insult to the gods and the emperors, and a direct challenge to the established order and resulted in her being sentenced to death to the beasts of the arena in Carthage in 203 CE. It was a well-established Roman belief that the traditional gods offered military victories, stability, prosperity and grandeur to the Roman people. In return and to secure the continuation of this benevolence, the Roman people carried certain strictly defined rites in honour of their gods. Pagan religion was less a matter of personal devotion than of national significance. The Christians despised the traditional gods, declaring that they did not exist or that they were malevolent demons and neglected or obstructed the traditional religious rites. This conduct disrupted the agreement the Romans had made with their gods and made the empire vulnerable. From the second century on, natural disasters were being attributed to the wrath of gods as a result of the Christian atheism and the hatred Christians allegedly had for the world. It is extremely fortunate that Perpetua's diary, which she kept while in prison awaiting her death, has survived. It is a bold, vivid and honest account of her prison life, her dreams and the hopeless efforts of her father to persuade her to conform and sacrifice. The fact that the text praised prophesy and placed martyrs above the established church hierarchy led scholars to believe that is was a Montanist product. Fourth and fifth century bishops felt uncomfortable with Perpetua's diary and surrounded it with homiletic commentaries. Instead of letting the text speak directly to the community of the faithful, they guided the understanding of words, subtly changing its messages, and controlled its dissemination. They made Perpetua less appealing as a role model and less threatening to the social order. The impression and fascination her diary exerted, however, remain unchanged. ; Despina Iosif, «Christianos ad Leonem». The Case of Perpetua Two Greek editions of the diary of Perpetua have recently appeared, one by Polymnia Athanassiadi and the other by Thanassis Georgiadis, both bound to attract attention. Perpetua lived at Thuburbo Minus, west of Carthage in North Africa. She was an upper class, well-educated Roman citizen, twenty-two years of age, newly married and mother of a baby boy, who converted to Christianity and chose martyrdom instead of sacrificing to the traditional gods of the Roman Empire. Her decision was interpreted as an insult to the gods and the emperors, and a direct challenge to the established order and resulted in her being sentenced to death to the beasts of the arena in Carthage in 203 CE. It was a well-established Roman belief that the traditional gods offered military victories, stability, prosperity and grandeur to the Roman people. In return and to secure the continuation of this benevolence, the Roman people carried certain strictly defined rites in honour of their gods. Pagan religion was less a matter of personal devotion than of national significance. The Christians despised the traditional gods, declaring that they did not exist or that they were malevolent demons and neglected or obstructed the traditional religious rites. This conduct disrupted the agreement the Romans had made with their gods and made the empire vulnerable. From the second century on, natural disasters were being attributed to the wrath of gods as a result of the Christian atheism and the hatred Christians allegedly had for the world. It is extremely fortunate that Perpetua's diary, which she kept while in prison awaiting her death, has survived. It is a bold, vivid and honest account of her prison life, her dreams and the hopeless efforts of her father to persuade her to conform and sacrifice. The fact that the text praised prophesy and placed martyrs above the established church hierarchy led scholars to believe that is was a Montanist product. Fourth and fifth century bishops felt uncomfortable with Perpetua's diary and surrounded it with homiletic commentaries. Instead of letting the text speak directly to the community of the faithful, they guided the understanding of words, subtly changing its messages, and controlled its dissemination. They made Perpetua less appealing as a role model and less threatening to the social order. The impression and fascination her diary exerted, however, remain unchanged.

Δεν παρατίθεται περίληψη στα ελληνικά. ; Alexandros N. Teneketzis, Art and Politics in Cold War. The International Sculpture Competition for the Monument to the Unknown Political Prisoner The gradual transfer of the metropolis of the western art world from Paris to New York and specifically in circles around the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) under the leadership of Alfred H. Barr Jr. and with the theoretical foundation by Clement Greenberg, but practically under the guidance and financing from the CIA, was also visible in the case of public memory and art about the Second World War. The international institution that was the cause for the widespread diffusion of the artistic standards grown in USA was the "International Sculpture Competition for the Monument to the Unknown Political Prisoner", which was organized under the auspices of the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London and the Tate Gallery, but actually with the encouragement, blessings and supervision of the CIA. The competition was from the beginning a large turnout and the proposals submitted until January 1953 surpassed 3.500 –mainly abstract or semi­abstract stylistic suggestions. The biggest names at the time in the international arena of sculpture in West took part, while artists from the Eastern Bloc boycotted the process. Therefore were precluded any realistic academic representative works and of course any relationship with socialist realism, giving thus the tone for both the style, and for all other future monuments in the western world. Eventually, the first prize of 2.500 pounds awarded to the British sculptor Reg Butler, unknown to the general public until that time but with a decisive commitment to abstraction. However, the work of Butler was never completed, principally because of the changing international circumstances and relationships after the death of Stalin in '53 and Khrushchev's secret speech in '56. The new "Thaw" era in East­West relations imposed the final rejection in 1960. A public monument like that of Butler's, which would refer to the previous tense situation, was no more possible. Nevertheless, the dual objective of recognition and legitimization of abstract art in the western world and at the same time of the weakening of socialist realism and therefore of communism was promoted and achieved up to a certain degree.

Δεν παρατίθεται περίληψη στα ελληνικά. ; Basil C. Gounaris, The Adventures of Constantis Calamattas and of other Greek Privateers in British Service (1756-1763) The story of the Angligrecs is not an untold one; nor is the name of Constantis Calamattas, a privateer from Mahon (Minorca) who raided French ships during the Seven Years War commissioned by the British Admiralty. It is, however, the first time, we learn, through the use of various British archival sources, in detail his adventures in Minorca, London, the Archipelago and Constantinople, where he ended up a prisoner of the Ottomans. The study of his correspondence with the British ambassadors reveals that bravery and a British letter of marque were not enough for a Greek Orthodox privateer to survive in the Archipelago. His protection was subjected to the complicated politics between the Levant Company and the Embassy. Curtailing French trade could be a serious threat for the provisioning of the Ottomans. Dissatisfaction also endangered British diplomatic maneuvering. To make thing even worse for Calamattas, his arrested crew participated in a slave revolt and the capture of an Ottoman man-of-war. Under these circumstances his release was not a British priority and his sympathies with the Royal Navy insufficient to get him off the Ottoman hook without the employment of bribery.