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This paper explores pedestrian mobility patterns in Kypseli, a dense and socio-economically diverse neighborhood in Athens, Greece, that it is considered as a typical Greek residential area, in terms of its built environment and road network characteristics. The research method included crowdsourced geospatial data overlayed on cadastral maps, and semi-structured interviews with residents and visitors to understand the routes they usually take, the routes they could take, and the routes they would like to take. The study also applied space syntax analysis, using angular integration and choice tools, to assess how the urban layout impacts the pedestrian flow. Findings showed that the walking routes are primarily influenced by safety, accessibility, and pavement width, with well-connected streets and streets with intense mixed land-use. The study highlights the importance of urban design and land management in promoting the perceived walkability. It also recommends enhancing pedestrian spaces to create more sustainable, livable, and socially inclusive cities to support the implementation of the Sustainable Development Agenda 2030 SDG 11. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the geographies of migrant schooling in Athens following the 2015–2016 crisis, which left thousands of migrants stranded in the country. Drawing on a multi‐sited ethnography of everyday bordering (2017–2018), I examine the school as an ordinary bureaucratic institution and as a physical space in relation to the border. I discuss the processes that rendered the schooling of racialised children a problem to be managed and solved. These migrant schooling timescapes, I argue, were marked by contradictory state logics, and temporalities, and were shaped by context‐specific colonial and racialisation discourses. These tensions shaped the encounters between families on the move and the state throughout the academic year. The paper argues that the school became an everyday space of bordering, controlling membership and reproducing the families’ marginalisation. In this way, it contributes to the literature that highlights the role of ordinary institutions and temporal forms of governance conditioning migrant lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 has provoked what seems to be an unprecedented rupture of life as we knew it. This article draws out key insights into the ways solidarity infrastructures were organized in Athens, Greece, during the general lockdown imposed in the country between March and May 2020. Immediately upon the imposition of the restrictions, people devised ways to provide support to those vulnerable, through a combination of local, decentralized and online solidarity movements. In order to make sense of collective action during a period when collective coexistence was banned, we read solidarity movements through the lens of social reproduction as infrastructure, aiming to unearth the visible and invisible materials, ideas, people and technologies that make up for what sustains social movements more broadly. The article draws on ethnographic research in Athens – including participant observation of solidarity movements, along with 82 questionnaire responses. Our findings suggest that emergent solidarity infrastructures build upon and expand solidarity movements forged during previous crises periods, while further contributing new ways of understanding collective action. Accordingly, solidarity movements of the current period adopted prior and novel forms of organizing, which involved groups and individuals already assuming vulnerable positions, as well as those whose vulnerability emerged during the pandemic. While aligning with health emergency measures, this solidarity infrastructure encompassed care, affect and interdependence and challenged the government's crisis-management agendas. Eventually, thinking solidarity movements as infrastructure unsettles the divisions often encountered in relevant studies between solidarity and protest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ancient accounts of Kleisthenes's democratizing reforms to the Athenian constitution in 508/507 B.C.E. do not elaborate on the reasons why these reforms found widespread support and thus proved stable. While scholars are confident that Kleisthenes divided Athenian citizens into ten geographically representative tribes and assigned them to local units of government, they do not agree about why these reforms produced a thoroughgoing democracy. This paper argues that Kleisthenes instituted reforms to religious practices and structures that supplied ideational content to the political reforms. This paper also attempts to demonstrate that some of the religious elements that Kleisthenes repurposed to serve the democratic constitution had been politicized in the previous century. Religious observance was thus one of the sites where contestation about Athens' political direction furnished democratic conceptual vocabulary. Athenians who wished to see civic institutions become more inclusive could be and were appealed to through reforms to everyday religious practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: After the 2008 Global Financial Crisis and resulting economic austerity, the rise in illicit drug use engendered an increased need for people who use drugs (PWUD) to access medical care, compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic. Research shows that perceptions of medical staff towards PWUD facilitate or act as a barrier to accessing health care. This study provides a better understanding of health and social work professionals' perceptions by assessing stigma levels towards PWUD in Athens, Greece. Methods: This is a mixed-method study. It calculates the stigma score for professionals (n = 60) and the stigma score associated with specific drugs based on the Medical Condition Regard Scale through a quantitative analysis of responses to a semi-structured online survey about attitudes of health and social work professionals towards PWUD. It draws on the qualitative analysis of 12 semi-structured interviews with 16 service managers, providers, and health services advocates working in the charity sector to determine whether perceptions of PWUD affect writing and implementing policy and protocols for services. Results: Stigma towards PWUD exists amongst health and social work professionals in Athens. Professionals who have worked with PWUD for longer periods of time, professionals who have had specific training on working with PWUD, and professionals who feel that they have the necessary training to work with PWUD all demonstrated a higher stigma score than those reporting the opposite. Cannabis and opioids were associated with lower stigma scores while shisha had the highest level of stigma associated with it. Finally, professional environments are not conducive to alleviating stigma as the lack of training specific to stigma, the lack of professional supervision, and worker burn-out are key barriers faced by professionals in their everyday practice. Conclusions: Reducing and eliminating stigma towards PWUD among health and social workers requires immediate action. Measures to be taken include: introducing training programs focused on stigma towards PWUD to healthcare providers, social workers, lawyers, police, the media; increasing professional supervision on field work for health and social workers; introducing low barrier health care and specialist units. Peers and field-focused organisations should meaningfully participate in drug and alcohol policymaking, program development, and implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence and expansion of the digitally mediated, short-term rental (STR) market in Athens underplayed a key role in the rising inaccessibility to affordable housing, interrelating with broader transformations of the housing landscape, including i) the translation of the economic crisis into a housing one, ii) the unfolding of touristification processes in central Athenian districts and iii) the increased involvement of international investors and funds in the real estate market. In this paper, we bring out the role of STRs in the commodification and financialisation of housing and the unfolding of touristification processes in central Athens. We delineate the aforementioned developments as a series of successive waves, arguing that the STR market initially enabled the commodification of housing through its disassociation from the sphere of households' social reproduction and its assetisation, facilitating the engagement of domestic and foreign investors and the association of the housing landscape with financial flows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Operating from dual locations in London and Athens, the output of Night Kitchen, the experimental architectural research lab of Ifigeneia Liangi and Daniel Dream, often takes the form of anarchitectural story books, illustrated with congested, postmodern interiors full of colourful objects and artefacts. But these are not random juxtapositions of stuff – they are elaborate, multilayered tableaux, their cross‐currents haunted with associations that stretch far and wide across film, sport, literature, memorabilia, art practice and time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the multifaceted nature of Athenian politics during the "Golden Age," particularly during the Peloponnesian War, and its enduring influence on modern political thought. While democracy is commonly associated with ancient Athens, this study reveals that Athens' political landscape was characterized by a triad of interwoven ideologies, including democracy, imperialism, and a quest for Hellenic unity, each comprising various sub-ideologies. The research draws from ancient literary and epigraphic sources as well as modern scholarship to deconstruct the Athenian statecraft of the time. It argues that Athens employed a citizen-based democracy alongside economic exploitation, military imperialism, and a search for unity in classical Greece. The paper also provides a historical review of scholarship spanning from the 18 th century to the 20 th century, followed by an exploration of Athens' political policies and relations within the Delian League. By highlighting the complex coexistence of democratic ideals and imperialistic actions, this paper underscores the importance of reevaluating historical and modern concepts of governance. It suggests that the intricate dynamics of Athens during this period offer valuable insights for contemporary historians engaged in discussions regarding democracy, empire, and neo-colonialism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the supralocal role of medium to large-scale urban parks in Attica, Greece, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research includes literature review and fieldwork. A statistical sample of 783 individuals was designed to investigate the community's outlook towards urban parks in Attica. The study establishes a theoretical framework based on the available literature that focuses on factors influencing individuals' willingness to commute so as to reach urban parks. These factors may include household characteristics, green space characteristics, and local accessibility. The paper also examines engaging factors for distant park use, such as relaxation, physical exercise, and social contact. The study adds to existing knowledge on the role of medium to large scale urban parks in Attica, by providing findings on visitation patterns during the pandemic. One of the study's most important finding is the car dependent travel mode which should be taken into consideration so as to promote sustainable urban mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the main findings of a research conducted in the metropolitan region of the capital of Greece, focusing on the Asia Minor post-refugee urban neighborhoods. The research took place in 2009-2014, with parts of it updated during 2016-2019 and 2020-2023. The main findings of the research outline the issue of changing socio-spatial identity, emphasizing on the socio-economic discrepancies in the housing sector, as met within the urban refugee settlements. The paper explores the contemporary physiognomy of the post-refugee Attica that faces dereliction and demolitions of the old refugee houses. To explain the significance of these settlements, the paper combines literature review and field work. Field work includes original cartographic depiction, quantitative and qualitative methods. The aim of the paper is to provide findings on the contemporary situation of the urban refugee settlements of Attica, describing representative cases within the spectrum of urban socio-spatial identity transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immigrants' access to housing is often the outcome of self-settlement practices within a context of limited social policies that often characterizes Southern European metropolises. Hence, immigrants are facing multiple constraints and remain vulnerable towards diverse socioeconomic fluctuations. This article focuses on the housing practices followed by Albanian immigrants, the largest immigrant group in Athens's municipality, to examine how spatial inequalities are intertwined with ethnicity in the Greek capital. The objective is twofold: to discuss ethnic segregation on the micro-scale of Athenian central neighborhoods and examine how immigrants' housing practices are being challenged within a rapidly changing socio-spatial context. The methodology follows a mixed approach, aiming at identifying differentiations and inequalities both on the macro- and micro-spatial scale. First, differentiations among Greeks, Albanians, and other third-country nationals in Athens (2011) are traced and compared, based on quantitative data. Second, for the purpose of highlighting micro-geographies in the city, this article presents an analysis of collected narratives of Albanian immigrants, through semi-structured interviews held in 2023. The main results indicate that the population under study finds itself in an "in-between" socio-spatial condition: an "in-between", compared to the housing experiences of Greek households and other third-country nationals, that produces (and reproduces) segregation trends visible on the micro-scale. Moreover, this article attempts to highlight how the lack of housing policies put in peril the successful self-settlement practices of Albanian immigrants, in the current context of financialization of the Athenian housing market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hannah Arendt is widely known as a philosopher who attempted to rehabilitate the ancient Greek conception of politics. According to established readings of The Human Condition, Arendt is generally regarded as a ‘Graecophile’ whose thought is underwritten by ‘Athenian nostalgia’. Arendt’s sympathies for the Greeks are hard to deny: she did indeed turn to the Athenian understanding of politics in an attempt to crystallise in it the core elements of authentic politics. However, this interpretation is excessively one-sided. In Arendt’s view, the greatest contribution to the understanding of politics was offered by the Romans, not the Greeks. The Romans were much better at dealing with the problem of stability, continuity and order of politics. In Arendt’s view, an exclusive focus on action, spontaneity and extraordinary deeds threatens to destabilise the life of the political community. By introducing concepts such as tradition, authority, the sacredness of foundation, the law (lex), as well as the political significance of promise and forgiveness, the Romans opened up a dimension of political sedimentation which was alien to the Greeks. Political sedimentation provides safeguards, without which a sustainable political existence would become impossible.

Abstract A little-known Athenian financial magistracy: the poristai The essay examines the role of the poristai, a financial magistracy that functioned in Athens between the 5th and 4th centuries BC, and to which scholars have devoted scarce attention. The importance that Athens ascribed to the poroi was a central factor in its politics from as early as the 5th century. Management of the Athenian economy underwent a series of substantial changes from the end of the Peloponnesian War onwards, and since the state required increasingly specialized financial management skills, these authorities seem to have played a prominent role. The difficult economic situation that ensued from the Sicilian defeat of 413 had necessitated the creation of this unusual board of magistrates known as the poristai, whose unusual task was most likely that of administering public funds and state revenues. This essay focuses on references to the board in ancient sources, and on the often ‘technical’ use of the verb porizo, in order to shed light on the functions and identity of some of these magistrates, and on the possibility that this initially anomalous office gradually gained a permanent status during the 4th century.

Using the example of Aeschylus’ tragedies Persians, Agamemnon, and Eumenides, the author shows how a native Athenian and soldier worked with the theme of war. It analyses the degree to which military success and warfare are portrayed positively and ideologically in these plays or, by contrast, critically, which is manifested above all by the emphasis on the price that must be paid for war and warfare. The themes of all the dramas under discussion are seen as being topical in the present time. In the case of Persians, it is a study of the collapse of the imperial ambitions of the despotic Persian Empire in its clash with the free world of Greece and, above all, Athens. The tragedy of Agamemnon dramatises the effects of a long, albeit just, war on the hegemon of the coalition forces, the city-state of Argos, and its ruling family. Military success is accompanied by a long-lasting domestic crisis and the collapse of the ruling family. In Eumenides, this crisis of the divided society and ruling family subsides and then fades away.

This article explores the political messaging present on the walls and street furniture of the city of Athens in the context of displacement, border crossing and asylum seeking. It engages with photographs of graffiti, posters, and stencils, taken by the authors between 2017 and 2022, to demonstrate how 'banal' artefacts tell stories of the changing relationship between the city and seekers of sanctuary. We examine what roles graffiti might play in creating and supporting emotional proximity between groups of city dwellers, whose paths might not necessarily cross. Taking inspiration from Tazzioli's notion of the 'ethnography of vanishing spaces' (Tazzioli 2020: 150) the article maps the memories and histories of transient lives in Athens and how changing political responses and narratives can be read on its walls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New perceptions in Greek national historiography during the late nineteenth century brought forward new heritage paradigms. In the interwar, Athens' Byzantine heritage was thoroughly studied, protected by special laws, and popularized to wider audiences. After the Second World War Byzantine and ancient remains were given equal attention. The nineteenth-century neoclassical legacy came to take a place in the discussion about heritage at a time when the first apartment blocks made their appearance and it, too, would be protected by special laws. Through aspects of identification, protection, and restoration of Athens' built heritage, this paper explores the physical and discursive articulation of the city's past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

States establish ambitious policies and important measures to achieve targets for the energy upgrade of buildings but although some important barriers prevent their implementation in space, they are rather overlooked by research. In this paper, it is argued that extensive multi-ownership (MO) and weak performance of the real estate market in degraded urban areas impede the mass energy retrofitting of multi-owner buildings (MOBs), which are an important part of the urban building stock A deprived area of central Athens (Greece) that serves as a case study. With a pluridisciplinary approach based on extensive field surveys, cadastral data analysis and cases of energy renovation of buildings through a public–private partnership financing scheme as well as ways to overcome the MO issue were explored, according to the provisions of the Greek legal framework. The integrated urban regeneration approach is promoted as a means to encounter the MO issue and enhance the functioning of the real estate market by the generation of surplus values that will render the energy retrofitting of buildings more attractive to investors and thus achieve the deep renovation of MOBs towards the sustainability of the urban environment. This paper ultimately advocates the integration of energy planning with spatial planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Mass gatherings (MGs) usually represent significant challenges for the public health and safety sector of the host cities. Organizing a safe and successful mass event highly depends on the effective collaboration among different public and private organizations. It is necessary to establish successful coordination to ensure that all the key stakeholders understand their respective roles and responsibilities. The inconsistency between the variety of participating agencies because of their different culture can result in delays in decision making. Interorganizational knowledge transfer can improve the success of the event; however, knowledge transfer among professionals and agencies in MGs is not well-documented. Objective: This study used the 2018 Athens Marathon as the empirical setting to examine how interorganizational knowledge transfer was perceived among the multiple public health and safety professionals during the planning stage of the event. Methods: Data comprised 18 semi-structured, in-depth interviews with key informants, direct observations of meetings, and documentary analysis. Open coding and thematic analysis were used to analyze the data. Results: Findings indicated that sharing the acquired knowledge was a necessary and challenging step to create an enabling collaborative environment among interacting organizations. Experiential learning was identified as a significant factor, which helped promote joint understanding and partnership work. Informal interpersonal exchanges and formal knowledge transfer activities facilitated knowledge sharing across organizational boundaries, helping to break down silos. Conclusion: Interorganizational knowledge transfer is a necessary step to achieve joint understanding and create an environment where interaction among agencies can be more effective. The study findings can be beneficial for organizers of marathons and other mass sporting events to support valuable interorganizational collaboration and conduct a safe event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the Programming Period 2014–2020, dozens of Greek cities drafted Integrated Territorial Investment programmes, based on Integrated Sustainable Urban Development Strategies (ITI SUDs). The Strategies justified the selection of intervention and activity areas using socio-economic analysis. The parameters of that analysis, as specified by the National Coordination Authority, reflected the socio-economic and functional parameters highlighted in the relevant EU regulations. This paper uses a recently published methodology in order to estimate and map deprivation in Greek cities with over 100,000 inhabitants, and compares the results with the activity areas identified in the ITI SUDs of those cities. The paper also makes an estimation of the potential for micro-segregation in deprived areas, in an effort to uncover the links between deprivation, built form and social composition at the micro-scale. The analysis shows that deprivation is comparatively more pronounced in Athens and Thessaloniki, and that the use of a common methodology to measuring deprivation, but with customized measurement scales, could support a more targeted allocation of urban policy resources. On the other hand, micro-segregation seems to be a factor worth exploring only in Athens and Thessaloniki, and not in Patra, Larissa, Volos and Heraklion, where the building stock in areas of deprivation is mostly low-rise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores pedestrian mobility patterns in Kypseli, a dense and socio-economically diverse neighborhood in Athens, Greece, that it is considered as a typical Greek residential area, in terms of its built environment and road network characteristics. The research method included crowdsourced geospatial data overlayed on cadastral maps, and semi-structured interviews with residents and visitors to understand the routes they usually take, the routes they could take, and the routes they would like to take. The study also applied space syntax analysis, using angular integration and choice tools, to assess how the urban layout impacts the pedestrian flow. Findings showed that the walking routes are primarily influenced by safety, accessibility, and pavement width, with well-connected streets and streets with intense mixed land-use. The study highlights the importance of urban design and land management in promoting the perceived walkability. It also recommends enhancing pedestrian spaces to create more sustainable, livable, and socially inclusive cities to support the implementation of the Sustainable Development Agenda 2030 SDG 11.

Abstract In 1688 two sculptural fragments, a head of bearded man and a head of an unbearded youth, arrived in Copenhagen, sent from Athens as a gift to King Christian 5. They were placed in the Royal Kunstkammer, their provenance given as the Temple of Artemis in Ephesos, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Almost a hundred and fifty years later, in the early 1820’s they were noticed and studied by two scholars independently visiting the Kunstkammer. However, both concluded that the two heads belonged to one of the metopes decorating the south side of the Parthenon temple on the Acropolis in Athens, showing fighting between Greeks and the mythical Centaurs, part man and part horse. In the 1830’s another sculptural fragment, a horse’s hoof, obtained through the German archaeologist and state antiquary of Greece, Ludwig Ross, reached Copenhagen. It was forwarded by the Danish consul to Athens, C.T. Falbe, as a gift to King Christian 8. The inventory reads: ‘… was found on the Acropolis near the Parthenon temple and is supposed to belong to one the Centaurs on the metopes.’ The present paper focuses solely on the head of the Centaur. A brown stain was noticed on the Parthenon marbles as early as 1830 by the British Museum and has ever since eluded a deeper understanding of its genesis despite many investigations and attempts of analyses. A quite similar brown stain can be observed on the Centaur’s head in Copenhagen as well. The present study reports analyses by LA-ICP-MS, SEM–EDX, µXRD, GC–MS, and LC–MS-MS, as well as optical microscopy of five small samples sequestered in 1999 from the Centaur head curated by the National Museum of Denmark. Our analyses show that the brown stain consists of two consecutively added surficial layers of the calcium oxalate minerals whewellite and weddellite. Despite a thorough search using proteomics, we have found no viable organic precursor material for the oxalates. Our results do not solve the mystery of the formation of the brown stain, but they do further qualify the structure and characterization of the brown stain.

Short-term house rentals constitute a growing component of tourist accommodation in several countries and the determination of factors affecting rents is an important consideration in relevant studies. Short-term rentals have shown increasing trends in the city of Athens, Greece; however, this activity has not been adequately studied. In this paper, spatial data of Airbnb rentals in Athens are analyzed in order to indicate the factors which are important for the spatial variation of rents. Factors such as property capacity, host attributes and review characteristics are considered. In addition, several locational attributes are examined. Regression analysis techniques are used to predict the cost per night, according to various explanatory factors, while the results of two models are presented: ordinary least squares (OLS) and geographically weighted regression (GWR). The results of the OLS model indicate several factors determining the rent, including capacity and host characteristics, as well as locational attributes. The GWR model produces more accurate results with a smaller number of independent variables. For the residuals analysis several additional amenities were examined that resulted in a small impact on rents. The unexplained spatial variation of rents may be attributed to neighborhood characteristics, socioeconomic conditions and special characteristics of the rentals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Greater Athens Area (GAA), situated in the southern part of the European continent (in Greece), has a Mediterranean climate characterized by hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters. As a result of increased sunshine and high temperatures, exceedances in ozone concentrations are often recorded during the hot period. In the present study, the monthly as well as daily variations of O3 concentrations at thirteen stations in the GAA were investigated for the period 1987–2019. Moreover, the impact of O3 on the people's health in Greece was examined by using data from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study with the socio-economic conditions of the country. Ozone concentrations were found to be particularly high during the summer months, especially in suburban stations. Values ranged from 65 μg/m3 to 90 μg/m3 during the night, in contrast to urban areas and remain high for several hours. Comparing estimates from GBD, it was found that exposure to ozone can impair respiratory function, leading to death or susceptibility to respiratory diseases that reduce quality of life, especially for people over 55 years of age. Finally, since 2009, when the economic crisis began in Greece, an upward trend was observed for deaths and disability adjusted life years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Air pollution is one of the most important problems in big cities, resulting in adverse health effects. The aim of the present study was to characterize the personal exposure to indoor and outdoor pollution in the Greater Athens Area in Greece by taking measurements during a journey from suburban to mixed industrial–urban areas, encompassing walking, waiting, bus travel, and metro travel at various depths. For this reason, low-cost (LC) sensors were used, and the inhaled dose of particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of less than or equal to 2.5 μm (PM2.5) in different age groups of passengers was calculated. Specific bus routes and the Athens metro network were monitored throughout different hours of the day. Then, the average particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure for a metro passenger was calculated and evaluated. By considering the ventilation rate of a passenger, an estimation of the total PM2.5 inhaled dose for males and females as well as for different age groups was made. The results showed that the highest PM2.5 concentrations were observed inside the wagons with significant increases during rush hours or after rush hours. Furthermore, there should be a concern regarding older individuals using the subway network in Athens during rush hours and in general for sensitive groups (people with asthma, respiratory and cardiovascular problems, etc.). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The public perception of buildings belonging to different architectural movements is a largely unexplored area from a quantitative scientific perspective. However, a better scientific understanding of perceptions of architectural movements is important for the formation of improved planning and design policies. In this work, we carry out an initial exploration of the public preferences of the architectural movements of Neoclassicism, Eclecticism, Modernism, and Postmodernism. To this aim, a total of 103 citizens from Athens (Greece) and Paris (France) were presented with the same questions regarding their opinions on buildings belonging to those movements. In the analysis and interpretation of the collected data, the different cultural, professional, and demographic characteristics of participants were then considered, as well as the role of the urban landscapes of Athens and Paris as the historical, societal, and aesthetic contexts that influence and shape perceptions. The results demonstrated a clear and uniform prevalence of Neoclassical architecture in terms of positive public perception in both cities. Similarly, in both cities, Eclecticism followed with a relatively more positive perception than Modern and Postmodern architectural styles, which were rated the lowest. However, a significant difference between the two cities was that when participants singled out their primary favorite style, Modernism enjoyed higher favorability in Athens than in Paris. These findings and their theoretical exploration provide inferences into the complexities of public perceptions of architectural styles, with potential implications for the integration of citizen preferences into future research on architectural/urban design and planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The observed weights of ancient coins are usually less than the nominal "ideal" weights of the coin standards to which they belong because state authorities took a fee—"seigniorage"—for minting coins to cover costs and to make a profit. The basis for calculating the amount taken by the state and the way it administered manufacture are not well understood. Here we analyze the weights of 1344 of the earliest coins of Athens (c. 550–479 bce). We reveal a parabolic relationship between the cost of the silver and the weights of the coins whereby a progressively higher proportion was taken as the denomination decreased, meaning that the smaller the coin, the larger was the proportion of silver taken from it. There was tight control of the minting process and mathematical sophistication in precisely adjusting the silver content from the first introduction of coinage. It also made minting a profitable business. Changes in minting practice can be detected with the introduction of the Athenian "owl" coins, when the percentage of silver taken by the state increased and the spread of weights widened to include coins weighing more than the nominal weight. The latter indicates a significant shift toward monetization of the economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The city of Athens, with its urban landscape adorned by graffiti, murals, and non-institutional interventions, serves as a living text constantly under revision and editing. These interventions, whether in the form of political slogans or artistic expressions, disrupt the city's narrative and engage its users in an ongoing dialogue. Drawing parallels to text editing, these interventions act as annotations, deletions, and corrections, shaping the urban experience. Phosphorescent pink markings document the aftermath of clashes between protesters and security forces, offering a socio-political narrative that combats collective forgetfulness. Vandalized historic monuments, like the Polytechnic building, become focal points, sparking debates about public art and state tolerance. Just as text editing can be a tool for care or manipulation, interventions in Athens reflect the complex relationships between citizens, the state, and public space. In this dynamic interplay, the city becomes a negotiated text, continually reinterpreted with each editorial act, reflecting the diverse voices and perspectives of its users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the representation of urban space and human habitation in Greek literature, particularly in the aftermath of the financial crisis that began in 2008. The narrative focuses on the city of Athens as it grapples with economic turmoil, the shock of the pandemic, and the ongoing war in Ukraine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This short preface is meant to explain the purpose of the present volume and point to the diverse approaches and lines of argument pursued by the contributors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heracleia Pontica despite having such an important place in the ancient world, the settlement constitutes one of the areas in the southwestern Black Sea where the need for archaeological studies is felt intensely. Therefore the subject of the research constitutes the examination of our knowledge of the development of the Heracleia Pontica between the Archaic and Hellenistic periods (5th and 4th centuries BC). The evidences which are uncovered from an abroad polis is evaluated in the context of regional archaeology, and a group of finds consisting of funerary relief stelae and proxeny decrees revealed by Aegean archaeology - associated with Paphlagonian city - are discussed. These artifacts, dated between the 5th and 4th centuries BC were unearthed in Athens since the 19th century. The funerary relief stelae and proxeny decrees are unique in that they belong to the people from Heracleia as indicated in their inscriptions. Moreover, they form various arguments in examining the social turmoil, exiles, and commercial activities of the associated city or the relations between Athenai and Heracleia Pontica. The finds discussed in this study constituting four funerary relief stelae and two proxeny decrees are considered to be related to Heracleians based on the inscriptions. Although they belong to the Heracleians, the fact that they were unearthed in Athenai makes them particularly remarkable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the research paper is to analyze the evidence of the published 2020 honorific decree of Rhamnous garrison which was constituted in honor of its commander, Aristeides son of Mnesitheos, and told about the participation of the latter in the Athenian embassy to Asia to King Antigonos II Gonatas, as well as to date and determine the historical context of the specified diplomatic mission. Scientific novelty. K. Clinton's preliminary assumption regarding the dating of the Athenian embassy to Antigonos Gonatas with the participation of Aristeides during the war of the mentioned king with the ruler of the Seleucid state, Antiochos I Soter (ca. 280-278 BCE) is developed, clarified, and properly argued. Based on the above- mentioned dating, a number of assumptions associated with the historical realities of the Early Hellenistic era are made. Conclusions. The year when Antigonos Gonatas acquired royal status (284/283 BCE) is proposed as the terminus post quem for the Athenian embassy mentioned in the decree from Rhamnous. A hypothesis is put forward regarding the authenticity of Gonatas granting 661 silver talents to the Athenians as a price for preserving royal control over Piraeus. Assumption of R. Waterfield regarding the meeting of Gonatas with the Athenian ambassadors in the Carian Kaunos, dated by the above-mentioned researcher to the end of the 270s BCE, is refuted. The current state of the source base of the war between Antigonos Gonatas and Antiochos Soter is summarized. The involvement of Antigonos in the mentioned war is indicated as the reason for the latter's voluntary agreement to hand over the city of Eleusis to the Athenians in accordance with the demand of the embassy with the participation of Aristeides. An assumption is made regarding the connection between the arrangements of the Athenian embassy with Gonatas and the long break in the contacts of Hellenistic Athens with the Seleucid Royal House. Several arguments are offered in favor of preceding the embassy with the participation of Aristeides, to the Galatian invasion of Greece, which began in the fall of 279 BCE. Given K. Clinton's assumption according to which the nephew of Demosthenes Demochares participated in the aforementioned embassy, an additional clarification of the date of the said diplomatic mission is proposed, which most likely took place at the end of spring -- the first half of the summer of 279 BCE. It is noted that the decree from Rhamnous belongs to the few sources that elucidate the events of the war between Antigonos Gonatas and Antiochos Soter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cults for Greco-Egyptian gods such as Isis, Sarapis, Anubis, and Harpocrates enjoyed great interest in the Greek world of the Hellenistic period. This article analyses the agency of women in these cults in Hellenistic Athens and Delos. It poses the question whether the agency of women can be directly compared to the agency of men. It identifies, first, reservations in modern scholarship about women in positions of religious power, and, second, institutional boundaries that excluded women from official priestly positions. It demonstrates the ways in which women nonetheless held agency within family networks, and, third, possessed ritual competencies beyond formal offices and a relationship to deities on a personal level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Death rituals play a significant role in maintaining the cultural system of different societies by providing a specific form of behaviour in response to death. To that end, the significant role of women as patrons of culture can be identified by studying their role in the performance of death rituals. Classical Athens provides a good case study as women performed most phases of the mortuary treatment, and their role is recognised in both the textual and material evidence. This gives us the opportunity to diverge from the 'typical male perspective'-approach to the mortuary evidence, which focuses on the socio-political and economic dimensions, and shed light on the agency of women. The female agency was responsible for the continuity of some ancient rituals despite the laws made to restrict them. Moreover, relatively wealthier women were indirect agents influencing the Athenian public life by using excessive death rituals to reallocate power in society after the loss of powerful individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the landscape of labour in the platform economy and, more specifically, the ways local economic activities and actors are exposed to pressures of platformisation, building on the case of the Airbnb platform and the digitally-mediated short-term rental (STR) market in Athens. Conceptualising STR networks as infrastructural assemblages and through a qualitative study building on 27 semi-structured interviews with relevant actors, I focus on: tracing the wide range of workers who undertake essential tasks, the employment statuses, compensations and modes of engagement of workers, restrictions and gender-dimensions, as well as the content and attributes of STR-related work. My main argument is built around the notion of ‘platform worker’ and the need to expand it beyond workers that are directly related to the platforms, in order to include the on-site labour force upon which the creation and everyday operation of broader platform ecosystems and related infrastructure are depended.

State responses to COVID-19 were unevenly felt across society. Negative consequences of lockdowns and travel restrictions for the upper classes were largely restricted to not seeing friends or taking holidays. For those with little or no right to have rights (Arendt, 1970), those relegated to society’s margins—such as refugees and asylum claimants—state responses to COVID-19 metamorphosed into Kafkaesque restrictions, surveillance, and control. Informed by participant observations and 10 interviews with civil society actors conducted in Athens in 2021 and 2022 at the height of the pandemic, this paper shows how the Greek state weaponized COVID-19 to further exclude refugees from society, deny asylum procedures, and reduce service provision for those awaiting the outcome of their asylum claims.

Abstract The advances that have taken place in recent decades in the investigation of the ritual and topographical structure of the Sanctuary of Delphi have brought to light strong correspondences with the narrative structure of the Proem of Parmenides. These correspondences, of a ritual, topographical and narrative nature, could be a sign that Parmenides’ hymn was composed to be performed in a civic and religious festival of ancient Elea that followed the model of the Theophania of Delphi. In this paper I present the signs and evidence in favour of this thesis, which implies not only a revision of the traditional interpretations of the Proem, but also the possibility of using it as historical evidence to improve our knowledge of the religious festivals held at Delphi. According to this interpretation, the Proem would not describe a katabasis or an anabasis, but the epidemia or arrival of Apollo at Delphi from the land of the Hyperboreans. The narrator would be Apollo (and not Parmenides), and the itinerary of his journey, that of the places and stations of the Theophania procession. This reading also offers a consistent interpretation of the sculptures and inscriptions found in the Insula II of Velia. It is quite likely that the pholarchoi were priests of Apollo, whose ritual consecration took place at the festival for which Parmenides’ hymn was composed.

This article considers how the draft to the Athenian hoplite army was organized in the 5th–4th centuries B.C. The available historical sources do not describe the conscription system for hoplites until the 5th century B.C., so its functioning in the archaic period remains unknown. Interestingly, the conscription of hoplites was generally determined by the structure of the civilian part of Athenian society. It could have appeared with the introduction of the phalanx in Athens under Solon and finally took shape after the reforms of Cleisthenes. Over time, this original conscription system underwent major changes: at first, it was based on the conscription lists compiled by each phyle, i.e., the lists of citizens who were to be drafted for a particular campaign; later, the conscription was held by the eponyms, i.e., only citizens of certain age groups were drafted for service. The results obtained show that the new system must have been introduced between 386 and 366 B.C. The conclusion is made that the old conscription system was changed to improve the military structure of the polis.

This article aims to advance our understanding of Athenian politics through a quantitative study of the proposers of decrees in the Assembly during the fifth century BC. Based on the accounts of Greek historians, biographers and orators, scholars have traditionally envisioned Athenian politics as dominated by an elite whose members competed for power and prestige and controlled the Assembly through dynamics of political friendship. Recent studies of the decree proposers attested in the epigraphical and literary sources have questioned this model. They have shown that, at least during the fourth century, political initiative was not the prerogative of an elite but was rather widespread among ordinary citizens. Yet, the traditional, elite-centred view of Athenian politics is still widely supported among scholars working on the fifth-century democracy. This article challenges this view through a comparative study of the respective pictures of fifth-century decree proposing provided by the literary and epigraphical evidence. By means of statistical tests and analyses, it argues that, while wealth certainly gave elites an advantage in the Assembly through rhetorical training as well as an edge in the run for elective offices, Athenian democracy since the fifth century provided occasional proposers and ordinary citizens with significant pathways for exerting political agency. By reviewing the problematic evidence for the practice of proposing decrees through proxies, this study also shows that the significant level of popular participation attested in the observed data was not a by-product of political friendship, and that Athenian democracy since its early history encouraged models of political aggregation which could cut through friendship groups and enable forms of participation not limited to passively supporting one's political leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers changes regarding the social physiognomy of apartment blocks in urban housing in the densely built neighbourhoods of Athens City Centre. The aim is to illuminate the changes that have been a main consequence of the residential mobility that began during the post-World War II period and continues today. Thus, I will provide evidence of two apartment blocks located in the Kypseli neighbourhood of the Municipality of Athens that I have thoroughly investigated. These blocks are among the 28 I have previously examined in a project about Athenian apartment blocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article estimates the effect of vertical segregation – across floors of apartment buildings – on educational attainment in the metropolitan area of Athens. This context offers an opportunity to evaluate and discuss the complementarity between horizontal segregation (across neighbourhoods) and vertical segregation. Using census microdata, we observe that the share of individuals dropping out of school early is much higher for young residents of disadvantageous lower-floor apartments than for those living in upper floors. This gap remains significant after controlling for all relevant personal, household, and neighbourhood characteristics. This result suggests an effect of vertical segregation on educational outcomes in addition to neighbourhood effects and individuals' socio-economic status. Moreover, the findings of this article corroborate the claim that the target for public policies to increase social mix is not enough to address inequalities at the local level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite early imperial portenta being largely ignored in secondary literature, the reports of such incidents demand increased scholarly attention. This paper contends that decoding reports of portents from the early empire can give us fundamental insights into key moments of identity negotiation in this period. This paper will primarily focus on two such reports, signs of divine displeasure reported in Athens and in Camulodunum. This paper contends that within such reports we can glimpse complex and contested issues of identity creation and redefinition at intra-local, trans-local, and global levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article contributes to contemporary urban studies debates on the role of civil society in governance, by critically considering the possibilities and limitations the bottom-linked approach entails for inclusive urban governance. Through an empirical analysis of bottom-linked initiatives developed in the city of Athens, it investigates emergent forms of cooperation and conflict between institutional and civil society actors. Further, it offers an analysis of the different dimensions the bottom-linked model may acquire, contributing insights into the entangled dynamics of self-responsibilization and self-emancipation implicated with emergent notions of citizenship and governance in Southern European cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay remaps geographies of belonging in Athens. It thinks the city in circles and circulations, writing an anticolonial Athens made out of nonlinear geographies and histories, anti-border struggles, anticolonial pasts and futures, migrations and mobilisations. The essay writes three circular movements: narrating how Athens is part of a Mediterranean feedback loop in which struggles are in constant circulation; thinking a circular square in the middle of the city as a polis not dictated by ideas of ethnos; and following the ways that people make new choreographies of belonging in the dance circle, finding footwork out of step with the restrictive rhythms of the nation. These movements are forms of spatial resistance, and the essay closes by sharing some methods of movement writing. Through these circular movements, the essay seeks to map ways out of the linear geographies and histories of empire, and the ongoing colonialities of citizenship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Allegory of the Cave (Pl. Resp. 514a1–520e2) is often analyzed in terms of metaphysical, epistemological, political, and psychic hierarchies that are clarified and reinforced by philosophical education. But the Allegory also contains an important historical allusion to the silver mining that took place in classical Attica. Examining the Cave in light of the enslaved miners around Lavrio leads us to reconsider the philosophical 'liberation' (λύσιν ... τῶν δεσμῶν , 515c4) at the Allegory's heart in the context of Athenian slavery and Plato's thoughts on the practice. Elsewhere in his work Plato generally uses servile metaphors in two ways: to depict 'bad' internal psychic subjection and 'good' submission to logos as manifested in various entities. This historical dimension of the Allegory works to undermine the ostensible naturalness of the slave/citizen distinction and suggest that philosophical education has the potential to 'free' the former and 'subjugate' the latter. The implication that these juridical categories are, to an extent, arbitrary and mutable reveals important differences between Plato's views and those of his classical peers, and it adds to the dialogue's protreptic dimension for its readers then and now. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]