Naming Hurricanes

I have always wondered why hurricanes are given names and seeing that the last hurricane was given ironically the name Irene, which in Greek means Peace, made me research this topic. The first hurricanes to receive human names where in the Caribbean two centuries ago. There they used to give the name of the Saint who was venerated the day it was formed. 

Since 1953 the hurricanes were 'baptised'  according to a list formed by the National Hurricane Centre in the U.S.A. The names were small in order to be remembered. The name basis was simpler than using coordinations and areas the hurricanes actually hit. 

 

This list constituted of female names until 1979 when male names were introduced. Currently there are six lists of names and when a catastrophic hurricane occurs the name given to that is then replaced by a new one. For example in 2004 Mitch was replaced by Matthew due to the fact that in 1998 it killed nearly 10.000 people in Honduras.    

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.