Corruption in Ancient Greece

The phenomenon of corruption is very ancient and is one of the characteristic of the human nature. History is full of examples verifying this assumption. 

The great legislator Solon established in the 5th century BC the Seisachtheia, i.e. the debt cancellation. As Aristotle writes, just before the announcement of the debt cancellation, he informed his friends to rush and get large loans, which eventually were cleared of any debt, hence making them really rich. Themistocles claimed that it has no value to be a leader if you cannot enrich your friends. Agisilaos, King of Sparta believed exactly the same thing.  Even the monuments on the Acropolis were connected to the biggest scandal of abuse during the Golden Century of Pericles (5th century BC).  The main issues were both, using money from the treasury of the Athenian Alliance by Pericles and the suspicion that Phidias had distorted the gold in the statue of Athena. Plutarch writes that Pericles introduced the "secret funds" by taking 10 talents, an enormous sum for that period. When questioned in Pnika he answered "I gave them where they were needed", without explaining further. 

Demosthenes was exiled and imprisoned twice due to corruption charges. The first time he took money of Alexander the Great's treasurer, Arpalo, who took the funds from Babylon and fled to Athens. The second time he took money from the Amfises in order to cover a scandal at Delphi. Arpalos had escaped to Athens in order to avoid the wrath of Alexander the Great because he stole the army's finance and the treasury of Babylon, which had been entrusted to him. Finally, Demosthenes was convicted and exiled from Athens in 324 BC for choosing to work with the biggest abuser of his time, Arpalo. 

In ancient Greece, the laws and the constitution did not work by divine right but by the right of the people. That is why Pericles was given a trial date, although he was never tried, since during that time the Peloponnesian War commenced. Nevertheless, before the temple of Athena Nike began, the auditors looked thoroughly at Kalikratis' designs. As for Phidias, he achieved to demonstrate his innocence in court, however he didn't escape prison. The key reason was his arrogance in immortalizing Pericles and himself on the shield of the goddess Athena.

It is evident, through these few examples that the phenomenon of corruption is timeless, however it is not a characteristic of one people or nation, but of all of mankind, starting from Adam and Eve. Nevertheless that does not mean that regulations and laws shouldn't exist in order to prevent and minimise this bad habit.

Ancient Cyprus in the Ashmolean

The Ashmolean Museum has a large collection of archaeological material from Cyprus. The collection represents the human history on the Mediterranean island. The Oxford based museum has been associated with the study of Cypriot archaeology since the late 19th century, sponsoring many excavations carried out there. 

The collections within the museum provides a fantastic resource for the study of the island, providing a surprising and amusing insight into the lives of the ancient inhabitants in Cyprus. 

The Ancient Cyprus room is part of the A.G. Leventis Gallery. 

The artefacts shown here emphasise the long history of the island and its people. The position of Cyprus and its wealth of natural resources led to close contact with the neighbouring mainlands and Greece to the west.

According to the Roman writer Pliny the Elder, Cyprius (Latin: Cypriot) also meant the metal copper. The people of Cyprus had grown rich from mining copper and shipping ingots of metal across the Mediterranean. The fertile island also produced timber, wine, textiles, corn and medicinal plans. 

Cyprus had at least 13 independent city states ruled by a king. Each territory included an urban centre, smaller towns and villages, and had a profitable inland mine or forest. Most also had a port for exporting commodities in return for luxury goods. Trading partners, often with an eye on winning political influence in Cyprus, were situated directly across the sea. 

The population of the cities consisted of various ethnic groups: Marion, Paphos and Salamis were predominately Greek, Kition and Lapethos were founded by Phoenicians, and Amathus was a stronghold of native Cypriots. Only after the Ptolemaic Greek kings of Egypt conquered Cyprus about 300 BC, and abolished the city kingdoms, did the culture of the island become more unified. 

The earliest writing in Cyprus is written in syllables. Known as Cypro-Minoan, this script was used from about 1550-1200 BC, mostly on expensive objects such as gold and silver cups, jewellery and copper ingots. However, some inscribed tablets and balls of clay have been found. Despite several attempts, Cypro-Minoan remains undeciphered. It is unlikely that the language is Greek. 

By about 1100 BC a new Cypriot syllabic script was developed from Cypro-Minoan. This script was used until 200 BC. It records at least two languages: a dialect of Greek and a local Cypriot language, still not deciphered. The Cypriot syllabary was deciphered in the 1870s, with the aid of an inscription written in Phoenician and Greek. 

Summer holidays in the ancient world

According to professor of Classical Archaeology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, M.A. Tiverios, those who first introduced holidays for purposes of relaxing were the ancient Romans. Although we all believe that this is a practice magnified today, we never considered that it was a habit that began thousands of years ago. 

In ancient Greece people travelled frequently. They even preferred to travel by sea, not of course during the winter period. The sea was seen as a more secure, faster and comfortable way of getting from A to B. Many were the reasons that made them travel and leave their city for a bit, mainly professional and health reasons, for example visiting the famous medical centres of Asclepieia of Epidauros and Kos, and also for religious reasons. They used to visit sanctuaries such as Olympia in order to participate in various religious events and attend the Olympic Games, they attended famous festivals, for example the Panathinaia and the Great Donysian in Athens, they also visited shrines, oracles (the most famous within the Hellenic World being the one dedicated to Apollo at Delphi to consult the deity in order to address a problem). Also a minority travelled the known world in order to observe the interesting sites of their time, i.e. site seeing.  

The rich Romans on the other hand had more than one country house, so the holidays did not take place at the same house and location each time. The holiday villas exist from the second century B.C., when the distinction between private and public life of the Roman aristocracy is made clear. The cottage represented the meaning of otium (leisure, life in rural areas) as opposed to the concept of negotium (duty, political activity). The holiday destinations preferred were the coastal areas and green mountainous slopes, in general areas with a healthy climate.The Roman nobility showed a strong preference for the Bay of Naples and the green hills around Rome. They resorted to the seaside in the spring months and the mountains in the summer period. They did this so they would avoid not only the hot weather but also the masses of people who resorted on the beaches. Many of the vacation mansions quickly evolved into a self and social recognition, emphasising the high social status of the owner; they were amazing with their wealth, having galleries, libraries, swimming pools, gardens with fountains and baths. Many aristocrats even built their houses near the sea, on the beach, in order to fish from their house and in many cases even from their bedrooms. The most luxurious also had farms that fed rare fish, including myrrh, a delicious dish for the Romans. 

A city in the Bay of Naples, which was particularly preferred by the Roman aristocrats, emperors and their families was Vaia, today known was Baia. It was not just a famous seaside resort but also a cosmopolitan spa town since it had hot springs. Often during the night, members of the high society would  travel around with their boats, whilst being accompanied by women with  low morals, often swimming naked and getting very drunk. However this was not a practice for only the aristocrats. During the 1 and 2 century A.D. many middle class people visited and holidayed in these areas. Naples was also the favourite tourist place for the intellectuals and lovers of Greek culture.  

Abortion, animal rights and alcoholism in the Ancient World

Hippocratis, in his vow, he binds the doctors to not practice abortion (even in Ancient Greece), and on the other side the stoic philosophers believed that the unborn child was merely a plant. Abortion was a serious matter in Ancient Greece and Rome as it is today. In Ancient Athens they considered it a crime against the dead husband to abort the baby which was conceived with him. Inscriptions in temples in Greece show how a woman would be unclean for 40 days after she had an abortion. The first law against abortion was institutionalized in Rome, 211 A.D. and the punishment was a temporary exile. However the expansion of Christianity hardened the attitude against abortion, believing that it is murder.  

In Ancient Greece philosophers analysed and examined animal rights. Pythagoras criticised the maltreatment of animals by man, whilst philosopher Porfirios was a great supporter of vegetarianism by even writing an essay entitled " For the absence from meat". This was also evident in Rome; a vivid example is when Pompey (soldier and politician) was in charge of an elephant slaughter, people in Rome were outraged by this, more than when fellow humans were slaughtered in war. 

 According to the "Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization" although Ancient Greeks loved wine and drank it on a regular basis, they were aware of alcoholism and its problems. Pythagoras stated that drinking alcohol in order to get drunk is a step before madness. Ploutarchos condemned the habit of getting drunk early in the morning, in order to get over a headache due to a previous hangover. In Ancient Rome, Pliny the Elder found it ironic how people spent money, which they acquired with great effort, in order to destroy their mind and cause madness. 

These are merely three common and serious issues which are also current and have still not been dealt with. 

The Rosetta Stone

The Rosetta Stone is one of the most famous artefacts in the British Museum, however its content is not well known to the visitor.  The inscription is a decree that affirms the royal cult of Ptolemy V, who was then 13 years old, on the first anniversary. Due to the Rosetta Stone and the translation given to us it was possible to start deciphering the hieroglyphs, by using the Greek text as a basis. 

The reason why this stone is written in three languages is simple. Alexander the Great conquered Egypt in 332 BC. His former general Ptolemy I, after Alexander's death, ruled Egypt and his descendants, known as the Ptolemies, ruled Egypt for 300 years. Due to this situation Greek and Egyptian cultures fused; Greek was the official language of the court, demotic Egyptian was the native script used for everyday purposes and hieroglyphs were only used by the priests. 

This historic fact can be used and can be understood as another fact which verifies how Alexander the Great of Macedonia was Greek and not a Slav, as many want to believe. Maybe the people who support this false idea and the countries who accept and have recognised F.Y.R.O.M. as Macedonia should look into their history books...