About Ancient Diolkos

The 45-year long deterioration of Ancient Diolkos is the subject of a petition started last November.

The petition, which you can find at  www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/870477005, asks the Greek Prime Minister to intervene and put an end to the destruction of this monument of 600 BC.

The Diolkos was the paved way over which ships could be hauled from the Saronic to the Corinthian Gulf and viceversa.

After the excavation (~1960), the monument was left at the mercy of its position near the Corinth Canal. Rescue actions continued to be denied even when the erosion had left considerable portions of this registered archaeological site in a state of demolition!

Under the pressure coming from many parts (including the Prime Minister's Office, which is being notified about this petition), a first master plan was approved by the Central Archaeological Council on  Sept. 4th, 2007.

Having by now at their heels two Justice Authorities and a Public Administration Control Body, the Ministry appears struggling to understand the monument's needs - but still leaving the monument unprotected...

I invite everybody to sign. The petition has already been signed by concerned citizens from 74 countries:                     
Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, USA, Canada, Australia, Germany, Netherlands, France, Luxemburg, Malta, Portugal, Brazil, Switzerland, Denmark, Finland, Austria, Poland, Ireland, Iceland, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, Hungary, Russia, Georgia, Estonia,  Slovakia,  Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czech Republic,  Lithuania, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Serbia and Montenegro, Turkey, Israel, Japan, Repubic of Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Macao, South Africa, Liberia, Togo, Nigeria, Bahamas, New Zealand, Fiji, Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago, Chile, Colombia,  Argentina, Venezuela, Guatemala, Maldives, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Seychelles, Iran, Iraq, United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine

WARMEST THANKS TO ALL!!!

For more information and images, please go to http://www.greece.org:8080/opencms/opencms/HEC_Projects/DIOLKOS/

Edited by sofia-l - 13-Sep-2007 at 10:55

Report about the �modern history� of Diolkos

SAD BUT TRUE......

Diolkos has never been protected. It has been shocking for me, to gradually find out about its long "modern history" of neglect. Knowing I am addressing people who love our country and who assume its treasures are adequately kept, does not make it easy on me to say what I will say, but I think that looking straight at the truth is the only way out.

The decay of Diolkos has not only been allowed by the Ministry of Culture but it has also been favoured.

Very briefly, some information (and anybody is welcome to ask me for the relevant documentation at sofia-l@tellas.gr).

1960 - c.1985; documentation is missing from the ephorate's files but it is clear that no protection measures were taken.

1985 - after an "understanding" of the Canal Company and the Ministry of Culture, a term calling for a restoration study is "forgotten"

1989 - a ludicrous "study" to embellish Diolkos is produced. It leaves completely out a large part of the monument which has been cut out from the rest by the erosion. After more than a decade it is actually suspended by KAS. SIX weeks after the KAS decision, the (then) ephor, Mrs Spathari, writes to the Corinth Court of Law that the study would soon be approved!

1992 - an antiquities guard notifies the ephorate that the erosion approaches the smaller part of Diolkos on the Peloponnese side. No action is taken, although the morphology of the ground at that point was favorable to practically ANY rescue approach.

1999 - Mr Papaligouras and Mr Dimas (two members of the parliament then at the opposition) present written questions about Diolkos. The official answer of the Minister, Mrs. Papazoi, was that a "study of the currents" had been asked to the Canal Company in order for measures to be proposed. The answer is ridiculous in itself but there is more: appallingly, as clearly denounced in the local post, NO SUCH STUDY HAD EVER BEEN ASKED.

.... in 2005, when I first met Mr Mantis (ephor between the summer of 2001 and november 2006) he told me that he was proposing to restore Diolkos. As I found out, however, the ephorate had NO documentation on how the monument looked initially... Mr Mantis was not only totally unprepared for any submission regarding funds, etc., but he also vehemently denied any rescue operations. In a meeting held at the Ministry on February 13th, 2006, the Direction for the Restoration of Ancient Monuments (DAAM) wasn't even invited to participate! The local ephorate kept for themselves the role of gathering "restoration standards" within 20 days... Mr. Mantis left the ephorate nine months later without having presented anything...

... to cut a VERY long story short, by now DAAM has the call to the Diolkos operations (from what I gather, at least). A few stones of the long erosion front have been supported last March, while the erosion keeps eating away the substrate underneath them. The already fallen part of Diolkos is suffering terribly from the waves and the wakes of passing vessels.

Having by now at their heels two Justice Authoroties and a Public Administration Control Body, the Ministry has proceeded to compose a  "master plan" which was approved by the KAS (Cntral Archaeological Council) on september 4^th. This can be falsely reassuring: no rescue action has yet been taken and the various relevant bodies are still largely ignorant � and non caring - of the monument�s needs. (For example the Ephorate for Underwater Antiquities, instead of doing everything to ensure rescue operations, which call for no approval, WAITED for the master-plan to be approved BEFORE sending a reconnaissance diving team to Diolkos...)

As can be easily deduced, the Services of the Ministry have completely overlooked their obligations towards our heritage for long decades.

The things I have pointed out are only SOME peaks in a sea of illegality, neglect and this outrageous "assisted demolition" of the defenseless monument.

Presumably "responsible" people are STILL ignorant of basic facts about Diolkos - but this doesn't deter them from signing documents, placing "decisions" etc...

As the terrible condition of Diolkos brings out, there has been no control mechanism for either the monument's condition or the responsibilities involved. Only covering-up mechanisms are always alert.

Last October, notified about my intention to open up the petition, the Prime Minister's Office asked the Ministry of Culture about the monument. Although two Justice Authorities and the Public Administration Control Body were ALREADY investigating the Diolkos case, the General Secretary of the Ministry, Mr. Zachopoulos (presumably copying Mr Mantis), "informed" Mr. Caramanlis' Office that the waves "have by now begun to erode the monument's substrate", actually, that is, hiding even the condition of Diolkos!