Save the Diolkos

[Spartan]

I received an e-mail today from koinonia forum about an often overlooked site. This site is the Diolkos in Corinth. Before the advent of the Corinth Canal the Greeks instead of passing all the way around the Peleponnese used to pay to have their ships pulled out of the water and across the Isthmus into and out of the Corinthian Gulf. This short ordeal would save traders and navies days in travel time. Over the past 40+ years since it was first excavated it has been left unprotected. This has resulted in the destruction of a large part of this "road". A fellow Greek has started a petition to present to karamanlis so that he may put forth an effort to help protect and preserve the remains of the Diolkos.

We know the Diolkos is not aesthetically pleasing as many of the other Ancient Greek structures but it is still a national treasure and needs to be treated as such. Help save an important part of Greek history.

Please all sign the petition and pass it on to friends and family to have them also sign.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/petition/870477005

[Spartan]

Here is a site in Greek that discusses the Diolkos and has photos showing it at the time of excavation and today.

. Greek Architects - Ôï ÅëëçÃ*éêü portal ãéá ôçÃ* Ã�ñ÷éôåêôïÃ*éêÞ . (http://www.greekarchitects.gr/index.php?maincat=8&newid=890)

[Sofia Loverdou]

Diolkos has never been protected. It has been shocking for me to gradually find out about its long "modern history" of neglect and that the decay of Diolkos has not only been allowed by the Ministry of Culture but it has also been favored.

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

1960 - c.1985; the relevant documents are missing from the ephorate's files!

1985 - after an "understanding" of the Canal Company and the Ministry of Culture, a term calling for a restoration study is "forgotten". From now on, the Diolkos is going down with the Greek Ministry of Culture not only responsible for NOT taking action but also as accomplices in the "active" destruction !!!

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 (then at the opposition) present written questions about Diolkos. The official answer of the Minister, Mrs. Papazoi, is 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 Directorate for the Restoration of Ancient Monuments (DAAM) wasn't even invited to participate! The local ephorate (and Mr Mantis) 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 as regards 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 wake of passing vessels.

A first "master plan" approved by the KAS on september 4th 2007, can be falsely reassuring: no rescue action has yet been taken. The Plan in itself is actually a body of information and considerations for actions to be taken - information that should have ALWAYS been known (and at hand) but which the relevant services of the Ministry simply ignored all these years.

Characteristic of the "care" the relevant Services take of Diolkos is the fact that the Ephorate for Underwater Antiquities, instead of doing everything to ensure rescue operations, which call for no approval, WAITED for the plan to be approved BEFORE sending for a first reconnaissance dive...

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 defenceless monument.

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 start a 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!

[Sofia Loverdou]

You can see one more article in greek, at in.gr (look at column on the left hand side)

As you can see, the long silence about Diolkos is finally breaking up...

[Ptolemy]

Good job Sofia!! I hope the officials and not only, finally wake up!!!

[Sofia Loverdou]

More damage for Diolkos as one more block has recently fallen... Although the Archeological Service knew for months now that this particular block was half in air, the stone was not secured. One more stone, standing next to it, had fallen eight months ago…

This section of the monument is the smaller part of Diolkos found on the Peloponnese side of the Canal, which one can see at their right before crossing the moving bridge on the Corinth-Loutraki road. The erosion reached it around 1992; an antiquities guard notified the local Ephorate about it BUT no action was undertaken. This part was left at the mercy of the erosion although rescue operations - at least temporary ones - would have been rather childish...

Recently, various internet portals have presented the unbelievable modern-time sufferings of Diolkos and the inefficiency of the mechanisms that were SUPPOSED to protect the monument.

[akritas]

Bravo sou Sofia. :clapping:
Carry on your efforts.:)

[Sofia Loverdou]

Although the Greek Ministry of Culture has been forced to some movimentation for Diolkos, no substantial rescue operations have taken place as yet, other than supporting a few stones of the long erosion front..

Recently, the italian archaeology magazine SALTERNUM presented an article
(written by me) in which there is mention of the distorted information about the state of the monunent, given to the Prime Minister's Office by the General Secretary of the Ministry of Culture, Mr. Zahopoulos in october 2006. Between other untrue statements, Mr. Zahopoulos mentioned that the waves "have by now begun to erode the monument's substrate", hiding the tragic state of the monunent.

The information was clearly coming from the Corinth Ephorate, headed at the time by Mr. Alexandros Mantis, today head of the first ephorate (Acropolis). Although Mr Mantis was responsible for Diolkos from the summer of 2001 to November 2006, the Diolkos remained totally unprotected during all this time; Mr. Mantis was also vehemently denying rescue actions.

Articles about the dramatic decay of Diolkos have been also presented in the british edition of the TIMES in two articles (July 2006 and February 2007).

Although the TIMES archaeology correspondent, Norman Hammond, (Prof. of archaeology at the Boston University) mentions in his second article that rescue operations would be forthcoming (an information included in MY reports, too), the only thing done was to support some stones, letting the erosion go on beneath them! The situation at the monument is worse now, of course. As you know, two more ancient blocks have fallen since the last article hit the press; the deterioration of the already fallen parts of Diolkos is also constant...

Relevant authorities continue to say that good things are in store for Diolkos - but that remains to be seen. Words and papers are not enough - actions are needed!

Let's hope that international outcry and the intervention of Justice Authorities will save Diolkos since THIS is a task in which both "filotimo" and duty have tragically failed...

[Sofia Loverdou]

Although the Authorities advertise their "interest" in Diolkos, the erosion continues to expand under the supposedly "sane" part of the monument.

Respect and attention for the monument are still lacking... In November, the Directorate for the Restoration of Ancient Monuments (DAAM) sent a team to retrieve two ancient blocks fallen in 2007. Nevertheless, the second stone they brought up was NOT the one fallen last February (as instead they wrote in their official report!), although I had personally shown images of the stones (in two occasions) to the present Head of the Ephorate. Apparently, DAAM and the local ephorate did not coordinate NOR had sufficient knowledge about the monument...

During the same visit, in order to place some supports under the stones of the erosion front, the DAAM team entered the sane part of Diolkos WITH THEIR VAN although there is very convenient access from another point. Since the operation was done in collaboration with the local ephorate, it would seem that neither service KNEW or cared to look for the other access that wouldn't have a vehicle go over the ancient monument!

==-===

One more thing that shows how deplorable the role of the local ephorate has been under the former Head, Mr. Mantis (today at the Acropolis!!!), is this:

I had written to ask about a damage I had noticed on the part of Diolkos that is on the Attica side of the Canal (and is free from erosion). As I quite recently found out, Mr. Mantis wrote to his superiors stating that they had performed an autopsy and nothing was wrong!!!

However, the damage is there and it is quite obvious, too!!!

[Sofia Loverdou]

While officials are always ready to present presumed proofs of presumed interest for Diolkos, the level of mental, moral and operational decay of the Greek Ministry of Culture is breathtaking.

Its incompetence is such that a sum assigned last summer to a “study” has been lying useless since, as it seems, relevant services were unable to even SAY what they needed the money for and so the sum has reportedly been assigned to the wrong purpose.

This utter lack of coordination creates serious doubts as to how the Ministry is going to organize things with the Canal Company, as it is supposed to be doing.

The Diolkos continues to be essentially abandoned. Both a definite solution AND rescue actions should nevertheless have been undertaken long ago, springing naturally from the mechanisms of the Greek Ministry of Culture.

Since however, as seems to be the case, these mechanisms are unable to perform even the most childish task, then their workings should be questioned, and they should be reformed and provided with INTERNATIONAL SURVEILLANCE in order to fulfill the protection of Cultural Heritage.