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From the film ‘The Sentimentalists’.

Delphi Bank’s program showcases cutting-edge cinema steeped in Greece’s time-honoured culture of storytelling.

Following Australia’s recent crash course in Greek politics, get ready to immerse yourself in Greece’s (and Greek Australians’) finest cinematic offerings.

Jam-packed with 14 feature films, four documentaries and a ’60s classics retrospective on the work of Aliki Vougiouklaki, The Delphi Bank 22nd Greek Film Festival runs from 14 October to 1 November at Leichhardt’s Palace Norton Street Cinema.

A highlight of the Sydney art scene and a must for film lovers and Greek Aussies alike, the GFF not only features legends of Greek cinema but also the new-wave of Hellenic film and documentary making.

“Following such a successful festival last year, we are excited to be back with a program rich in history and culture,” says festival chair Nia Karteris.
“We are proud to showcase the latest and greatest of Greek cinema, that is bound to capture the hearts of Greeks and Australians alike.”

After seven years of sold out shows across Australia, the hit Australian stage play.

Alex and Eve (2014) makes its big screen debut on the festival’s opening night. The film is a feel-good Australian story exploring multicultural dating in Sydney’s inner west. Greek Orthodox Alex meets Lebanese Muslim woman Eve. In defiance of Alex’s disapproving parents, the pair can’t stop themselves from falling in love. The timely feature-length documentary titled

Agora: From Democracy to the Market comes to take a blistering look at the political, social, and economic issues currently unsettling the birth place of civilisation. Agora is a collaboration between Small Planet (Greece), Westdeutscher Rundfunk (Germany) and Al Jazeera Arabic (Qatar), featuring in-depth interviews with key policy makers, politicians and financial experts and is also the Winner of the Orpheus Award for Best Documentary at the Los Angeles Greek Film Festival 2015.

Love Struck (Από Έρωτα) (2014) claimed the Audience Award and was nominated for Best Screenplay at the Hellenic Film Academy Awards 2015, and follows the love story between Antonis and his old flame Anna, as they reconnect on the eve of Antonis’ wedding to Natassa. Adapted from Thodoris Atheridis’ stage play and starring Smaragda Karydi (Sto Para 5) and Panayiota Vlanti (Mavra mesanyhta).

Nominated for Best Narrative Feature at Tribeca Film Festival 2015, Wednesday 04:45 (2015) follows the story of Stelios, who has less than 48 hours to come up with the money he owes ‘The Romanian’ in order to save his family and his dream of running a jazz club.

Other feature films on the bill include:

7 Kinds Of Wrath (2014) from director Hristos Voupouras (Mirupafshum, Deserter) following the story of Petros and his complex relationships with a cast of characters of varying sexualities and cultural backgrounds.

Marinos Kartikkis’ Family Member (2015) tells the story of an average Cypriot family who hide the death of their grandfather in order to continue collecting his pension, the source of financial support for the family of four.

Fan (Ανεμιστήρας) (2014), a psychological thriller in which a girl takes her parents hostage, is the directorial debut from Dimitris Bitos (Mikro vouno, Kontra).

Handmade on 35mm film, Forget Me Not (2015) is a road movie at sea and a love adventure, bringing to life a tale of two lovers at the world’s edge, shot on location in the North Pacific, the Bering Sea, Alaska and New Orleans.

Magic Men (2014) follows the cross-culture journey of a Greek Holocaust survivor and his son, as they search for the magician who saved his father’s life during World War II.

Riverbanks (Ohthes) (2015) is the romantic tale of Yannis, a young kamikaze soldier adept at clearing land mines, and a single mother Chryssa, who assists children of illegal immigrants to cross the river between Greece and Turkey.

The Sentimentalists (Οι Αισθηματίες) (2014) is a tale of The Master’s (a black market trader posing as a bourgeois art dealer) henchmen, Hermes and John, who both commit the fatal mistake of mixing business and pleasure. One falls for the Masters daughter, the other for a prostitute.

Amore Mio (2015) Christos Dimas’ remake of Italian 2010 film Maschi contro Femmine features a tapestry gender-dominated stories.

In Out of The Blue (Sta Kala Kathoumena) (2014) Multi-award-winning director Nikos Zapatinas (Enas & Enas) follows the road trip adventure of Babis and Athena and their entanglement with Eva the runaway.

FOR LOVERS OF DOCUMENTARIES THE 2015 GFF HAS IT ALL:

A Family Affair (2015) documents Greece’s most famous musical clan: the Xylouris family. This stunning documentary features performances by The Dirty Three’s drummer Jim White.

A debut documentary feature from Marsia Tzivara, Burning From The Inside (2015) is a socio-political examination of the re-emergence of the far right in Greek politics and culture.

In contrast is San Roma: We Are Gypsies (2014), documenting the previously inaccessible world of the Greek Roma people, giving voices to all-singing, all-dancing, all-partying Greek gypsies, for whom survival is an everyday challenge.

ALIKI VOUGIOUKLAKI RETROSPECTIVE Featuring the unprecedented career of Greek goddess Aliki Vougiouklaki and legends of classic Greek cinema is this year’s GFF retrospective.

The line-up includes Madalena (1960), in which Vougiouklaki stars as the brave young girl who faces the challenge of her late father’s trade in order to feed her six brothers and sisters.

One of the greatest filmmakers of the golden era of the Greek cinema Dinos Dimopoulous teams up with Vougiouklaki for the unparalleled blockbuster The Lady and The Tramp (1968) and The Fairy And The Man (1969).

Long before Christos Tsiolkas gave Australians his divisive book The Slap, there was Alekos Sakellarious’ comedy The Slap That Came From Paradise (1959), where a young teacher and a party of elite girl school girls are at loggerheads; Vougiouklaki plays the most undisciplined of all the group and falls head-over-heels in love with her teacher nemesis. Also from Sakellarious comes the classic Ace of Spades (1964).

This year’s program features something special for everyone. From psychological thrillers to romantic comedies and avant-garde music and investigative socio-political documentaries in between – to miss this year’s GFF would surely be a tragedy of Greek proportions.

When: Wednesday 14 October- Sunday 1 November, 2015
Where: Palace Norton Street, 99 Norton Street, Leichhardt, NSW 2040

source:neos kosmos

The pleasures of Greek wines have passed most of us by in the UK, where sales are dominated by Australia, France and Italy.

Greece doesn’t even come near the top 10, which also features the US, Spain, South Africa, Chile, New Zealand, Germany and Argentina, according to the Wine and Spirit Trade Association.

The first London Greek Wine Festival, running October 2-4, offers a chance to get to know grape varieties such as Assyrtiko and Malagousia, which are slowly gaining attention in London.

Greece is gaining from a tiny base. Wine exports to the UK in the first seven months of this year surged 64 percent from a year earlier to 1.94 million pounds ($2.95 million). Sales in 2014 were up 24 percent from a year earlier at 2.18 million pounds. That’s barely a drop in the 15-billion-pound British wine market that year, according to Euromonitor.

Nonetheless, some varieties now make it onto London wine lists, including that of the Ivy, where 2014 Hatzidakis Assyrtiko Santorini costs 41 pounds.

“Greek wine is really, really interesting and distinctive,” Master of Wine Jancis Robinson says. “There are fantastically varied regions and natural terroirs: All those great islands with their own character.”

The festival is taking place near King’s Cross, centered on King’s Place and the Greek Larder. That’s the establishment of festival founder Theodore Kyriakou, best known as creator of the the Real Greek restaurant, which has grown into a chain since he sold it.

The festival includes talks and tastings, plus matchings of food and wine and a pop-up wine bar.

“I love Assyrtiko,” says Robinson, who is an ambassador for the festival. “It’s indigenous to the island of Santorini, which itself is a lovely place. It’s amazing that it can produce such a refreshing wine so far south.

“Greek wine has got better and better,” she says. “And the wine that people bother to import is of a very high standard. You don’t find Greek plonk here. It’s got to be good.”

source:ekathimerini.com

Deer farmers say they are getting paid less than beef producers for their meat.

Beef prices are breaking records, while the variability in the venison market, and the difficulty of processing deer, has reduced the price processors will pay.

Deer Industry Association of Australia Victorian president Andrew McKinnon stocks cattle, sheep and deer, and said he was getting paid the least for deer.

“It’s down quite a bit, and it has been for a couple of years,” he said.

“We sold cattle there a couple of weeks ago and were getting $3 per kilogram live weight, or a bit over $6 a kilogram hook price.

“So it’s about $2.50 per kilogram below what cattle are selling for at the moment.”

In Gippsland, Terramirra Park Deer Farm at Koonwarra sells venison under its own brand.

Owners Michael and Jill Vella have been in the industry for 35 years.

Mrs Vella said while there were ongoing challenges around processing deer and accessing markets, they would not have it any other way.

“Once you’ve had a deer, it’s very hard not to have a deer,” she said.

“For me it’s the sound of them in the morning, it’s watching them in the paddock, even the smell of them, which I have to say is fairly rank.

“It gets in your blood and we’re good at it. It’s what I am, I’m a deer farmer.”

She said the price discount for venison was a marketing point when asking chefs to feature the meat on their menus.

“We’re ringing them up and saying, ‘Have you thought about venison on this menu?’

“It’s easier to get [than beef]. A lot of our butchers are finding good quality beef hard to source.”

Huge distance for processing venison

It is a 300 kilometre one way trip from the Vella’s deer farm in South Gippsland to Orbost where the deer are processed in East Gippsland.

Mr Vella said while the deer coped well with the travel, it was an expensive exercise.

“Large abattoirs are not interested in niche market products,” he said.

“It makes it very hard to get into one of the bigger abattoirs.”

Mrs Vella said she worried about the decreasing number of local abattoirs.

“Local communities have lost the capacity to kill animals locally,” she said.

“You can’t process for instance a bird in this area, you have to go north of Melbourne.

“It’s the elephant in the room when it comes to local food. Suddenly there’s a step missing from the local experience, and I don’t know what the answer is to that.”

source:abc.net.au

With the first long weekend of spring approaching, thousands of people will be on their way to the beach.

But for holiday-makers along the far north New South Wales coast, that comes with the reality of swimming in waters notorious for a spate of shark attacks over winter.

Real estate agent and seasoned surfer Neil Cameron has lived in Byron Bay most of his life and says the recent attacks have left the whole surfing community in fear.

“I think it’s really impacted the town. I’ve never seen it so quiet around town,” he said.

“It’s got to be having an effect.

“We’ve had some beautiful days and we haven’t had many people on the beach because they’re probably going somewhere a bit safer to swim like the Gold Coast or even Sydney, where they’ve got protection management plans in place.”

Mr Cameron witnessed paramedics trying to save 50-year-old Paul Wilcox on Byron Bay’s main beach after he was fatally mauled by a shark in 2014.

He said the State Government should introduce shark nets while they consider other options.

“There’s other things being trialled with tagging and things like that which are not going to stop a shark from attacking anyone at the moment,” he said.

Marine scientist questions effectiveness of nets

Marine scientist Dr David Powter from the University of Newcastle said nets are not as useful as people think.

“I think one thing that people don’t understand about nets is that they’re not an entire barrier; they don’t stretch from headland to headland and provide a full protection for the beach,” he said.

“Across a typical beach, there’s hundreds of metres either side of the net … for any organism to move between.”

Some of the world’s leading shark scientists were among 70 people who gathered at a “shark summit” in Sydney this week to come up with an effective shark management strategy for the New South Wales Government.

Acoustic buoys, electronic shark shields and even shark repellents are among the options being considered.

Ballina Shire Mayor David Wright said his council is looking to install a number of electronic signs to alert beach goers to danger while he awaits an outcome from the summit.

“We’ve got the technology available where some person can sit there and actually type in on the computer and have those messages up,” he said.

“We’re also looking at building a new marine rescue tower into the sand hills [at Lighthouse Beach] and that would be very useful for monitoring anything to do with the sharks and of course river safety and surf safety.”

Club captain of the Lennox Head Surf Life Saving Club and president of the local Chamber of Commerce, Neil Kennedy, said despite all the recent hype about sharks, the school holiday season has still been very busy.

“Winter is traditionally a slow period for us and we haven’t noticed any particular additional slowness because of the situation,” he said.

“The caravan parks are full, what we definitely don’t want is a perception that people shouldn’t come here because of danger.

“The community is very well catered for here; the community is doing its best to look after the place and in general our main street businesses are looking forward to having another bumper summer.”

source:abc.net.au

Six hour working days on Swedish agenda

While Australians are committing themselves to longer working hours, their Swedish counterparts are moving towards six hour working days, in an effort to give locals greater time at home.

The changes are thought to be centred around ensuring greater productivity from workers, with workers thought to be more relaxed and just as productive from shorter working days.

Director of Melbourne University’s centre of workplace leadership, professor Peter Gahan told The Age shorting working days could result in greater health benefits.

“Health and medical research shows that people who work much longer hours tend to fall off the perch in the end, and are more likely to suffer more serious health consequences later in their life,” he said.

Studies conducted by The Lancet last month showed a 33 per cent increase in the chances of stroke for people who work 55 hour weeks, compared to those who work 35 to 40 hours.

Source: The Age

Holiday traffic getting heavy as Sydneysiders head north

Traffic is backed up along the Pacific Highway, Pennant Hills Road and the M2 as city folk make their escape for the long weekend.

Cars and buses are crawling from Linfield on the Pacific Highway up to the M1 as motorists head north.

Traffic in Pennant Hills road bound for the M1 is pretty heavy as well.

The M2 is bumper to bumper back to North Rocks.
source: smh.com.au

KOORAGANG Island’s $5 billion fourth coal loader has been given the green light – five years after the original plans were lodged at the height of the mining boom.

The Planning Assessment Commission, which approved the contentious terminal plan on Thursday, noted the project was ‘‘unusual’’ because there was no immediate need for the terminal to be built.

Port Waratah Coal Services chief executive officer Hennie du Plooy acknowledged much had changed within the industry since the project was conceived.

‘‘The world has changed since we originally lodged the application for Terminal 4 in 2010 and the need for extra coal export capacity is not so immediate,’’ he said.

‘‘Despite this, planning certainty will allow the industry to make the most of future opportunity if additional capacity is required.’’

The project has been opposed by health and environment groups concerned about its potential impacts on biodiversity, air quality and noise.

“T4 will increase respiratory and cardiovascular ailments in an air environment that already registers particle pollution levels well over the national standard,” Environmental Justice Australia researcher James Whelan said.

Newcastle Greens councillor Michael Osborne described the project as a white elephant.

“The high air pollution along the Hunter rail corridor alone was reason enough to stop this project in its tracks,” he said.

“The T4 will cause more damage to farming land and local natural habitat as coal owners race to expand their coal mines to push out exports before the coal price drops further.”

Greens NSW senator Lee Rhiannon described the approval as a setback but was confident the project could still be stopped by community action.

The Planning Assessment Commission originally approved the project in December 2014. But it held another round of public hearings and assessments earlier this year as part of a review of the commission’s decision. Department of Planning recommended approval for the latest version of the project in June this year.

A five-year lapse date has been applied to the latest development consent.

The commission said a 10-year approval, which the Department of Planning had recommended, could lead to delays in decontaminating the T4 site.

“The current volatility of the coal market and the timing uncertainties associated with the project were central considerations in the determination of the application,” the commission said.

If built, the project will expand capacity at the world’s largest coal export port by another 70 million tonnes per annum. It would bring significant employment and investment benefits to the region, including 1500 construction jobs and 80 permanent positions. Port Waratah has also agreed to pay Newcastle City Council $12 million in developer contributions for infrastructure.

Port Waratah records show the process has involved about 1700 days of assessment, dozens of individual technical studies, more than 125 days of public exhibition and more than 30 hours of public hearings.

The commission said its latest approval had bolstered existing conditions relating to biodiversity, contamination, air quality, cleaning of coal wagons, stormwater, noise and the implementation of the voluntary planning agreement between Port Waratah and Newcastle council.

“Should it be developed, the project will generate employment and economic inputs to the local and regional economy,” the commission said. “With priority site management works completed, the site has the potential for alternative port side uses, should it not be required to service the coal export market in the future.”

The project will be reviewed by the Commonwealth Government under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.

source:theherald.com.au

Ενωμένη η ελληνική παροικία συμμετέχει στην προσπάθεια της Ελληνικής Κοινότητας Μελβούρνης για τη διοργάνωση μιας μεγάλης παμπαροικιακής εκδήλωσης

Ενωμένη η ελληνική παροικία συμμετέχει στην προσπάθεια της Ελληνικής Κοινότητας Μελβούρνης για τη διοργάνωση μιας μεγάλης παμπαροικιακής εκδήλωσης-ετήσιου χορού με σκοπό την ενίσχυση του Ελληνικού Κέντρου Σύγχρονου Πολιτισμού της Κοινότητας, ενός πολιτιστικού κέντρου που είναι για όλη την ομογένεια.

Η παμπαροικιακή εκδήλωση, στην οποία συμμετέχουν πάνω από 50 παροικιακοί οργανισμοί, διοργανώνεται στις 17 Οκτωβρίου, 7.00μμ, στην αίθουσα εκδηλώσεων Stars International Reception, με πλούσιο καλλιτεχνικό πρόγραμμα, ελληνικά φαγητά και χορό, ενώ θα κληρωθούν την ίδια βραδιά και λαχεία με μεγάλης αξίας δώρα.

Σύμφωνα με τον πρόεδρο της Κοινότητας, κ. Βασίλη Παπαστεργιάδη, ο χορός αυτός διοργανώνεται για διάφορους λόγους. «Πρώτα απ’ όλα, είναι η αναβίωση του ετήσιου χορού της Κοινότητας, καθώς η τελευταία φορά που διοργανώθηκε ήταν πάνω από 30 χρόνια πριν. Είναι κάτι που το έχουν ζητήσει επανειλημμένα τα μέλη μας».

Ο κ. Παπαστεργιάδης επισημαίνει τον ιδιαίτερο χαρακτήρα που έχει η εκδήλωση αυτή, καθώς διοργανώνεται σε συνεργασία με δεκάδες ομογενειακούς οργανισμούς, ενώ στην ερανική επιτροπή συμμετέχουν και εκπρόσωποι πολλών παροικιακών οργανισμών.

«Η μεγάλη διαφορά είναι ότι παλιά ήταν απλώς ένας χορός της Κοινότητας, αλλά τώρα έχει ένα μεγαλύτερο ρόλο, καθώς αναδεικνύεται σε εκδήλωση όλης της παροικίας. Έχει παμπαροικιακό χαρακτήρα μια και συμμετέχουν περισσότεροι από 50 μικροί και μεγάλοι οργανισμοί. Με λίγα λόγια, η εκδήλωση αυτή ενώνει την παροικία μας και αποδεικνύει ότι όλοι μαζί μπορούμε να επιτύχουμε πολλά. Είμαι υπερήφανος ότι μέσα σε δύο εβδομάδες ανταποκρίθηκαν τόσες πολλές οργανώσεις και πωλήθηκαν 600 εισιτήρια. Πρόκειται για κάτι πρωτοφανές» τόνισε.

Σύμφωνα με τον ίδιο, η ανταπόκριση που υπήρξε στην προσπάθεια αυτή, υπογραμμίζει και την εμπιστοσύνη που έχει η παροικία στην Κοινότητα και τα προγράμματά της.

Ο κ. Παπαστεργιάδης επισημαίνει, παράλληλα, ότι «αυτή η εκδήλωση έχει εξίσου και ένα ακόμα σημαντικό ρόλο, καθώς μας δίνει την ευκαιρία να εγκαινιάσουμε έναν διάλογο για το μέλλον της παροικίας. Για να συνεχίσουμε τη συζήτηση που ξεκινήσαμε νωρίτερα φέτος, όσον αφορά στα επόμενα βήματα που θα πρέπει να κάνουμε ως ομογένεια, όλοι μαζί, για το μέλλον μας. Να σημειώσουμε ότι φέτος καλέσαμε τρεις φορές τους οργανισμούς σε συνάντηση για μια τέτοια συζήτηση.

»Συνεχίζουμε να πιστεύουμε στη συνεργασία και στην ενότητα, αλλά ως παροικία βρισκόμαστε σε μια κρίσιμη περίοδο και θεωρούμε ότι είναι αναγκαίο να συζητήσουμε διάφορα κρίσιμα θέματα. Η παμπαροικιακή αυτή εκδήλωση, ο ετήσιος χορός της Κοινότητας, θα μας δώσει την ευκαιρία να βρεθούμε όλοι μαζί και να συνεχίσουμε το διάλογο για τα θέματα αυτά».

Σύμφωνα με τον κ. Παπαστεργιάδη απαιτείται ο συντονισμός των ενεργειών με τους παροικιακούς οργανισμούς για την αντιμετώπιση σοβαρών προβλημάτων που αντιμετωπίζει η ομογένεια, με κυριότερο τη διατήρηση και προώθηση της γλώσσας και του πολιτισμού μας στις μελλοντικές γενιές, καθώς και το πρόβλημα επιβίωσης πολλών παροικιακών οργανισμών.

«Είναι άμεση ανάγκη να ασχοληθούμε το θέμα της τριτοβάθμιας εκπαίδευσης, τη λειτουργία και ενίσχυση των Προγραμμάτων Νέων Ελληνικών στα πανεπιστήμια,» λέει ο κ. Παπαστεργιάδης, προσθέτοντας πως για να έχει επιτυχία αυτό, πρέπει να γίνει από κοινού με όλους τους οργανισμούς.

«H Kοινότητα είναι ένα μικρό κομμάτι της παροικίας μας και στόχος της είναι η στενή συνεργασία με τους παροικιακούς οργανισμούς για το καλό όλων,» τόνισε. «Θέλουμε να είμαστε όλοι μαζί, να συνεργαζόμαστε και να δουλεύουμε για το μέλλον.»

Πηγή:Νέος Κόσμος

Νεοζηλανδοί, Κινέζοι και Ινδοί στις πρώτες θέσεις

Σχεδόν 1,8 εκατομ. άτομα ζουν σήμερα στην Αυστραλία με βίζες προσωρινής διαμονής (temporary visas). Τα στοιχεία του υπουργείου Μετανάστευσης δείχνουν ότι υπήρξε αύξηση 4% περίπου της χορήγησης των θεωρήσεων αυτών το οικονομικό έτος 2014-15 έναντι του 2013-14. Οι περισσότεροι μετανάστες είναι επισκέπτες (τουρίστες), φοιτητές ή άτομα που ήρθαν από το εξωτερικό και εντάσσονται στη λίστα των εξειδικευμένων εργατών.

Πιο συγκεκριμένα, φοιτητικές βίζες χορηγήθηκαν σε 374,570 άτομα (αύξηση 10%), 227,160 σε επισκέπτες (αύξηση 12.8%) και σε 188,000 χορηγήθηκαν βίζες 457, δηλαδή σε ειδικευμένο εισαγόμενο εργατικό δυναμικό (πτώση 3.6%).

Από τα 1.76 εκατομμύρια άτομα με προσωρινές βίζες, οι 640,000 αφορούν βίζες που χορηγήθηκαν σε Νεοζηλανδούς που έχουν το δικαίωμα να ζουν και να εργάζονται στην Αυστραλία χωρίς περιορισμούς.

Μετά τους γείτονες, οι περισσότερες προσωρινές βίζες δόθηκαν σε Κινέζους (161,570), από τους οποίους οι 82,570 είναι φοιτητές και οι 44,960 απλοί επισκέπτες.

Ακολουθούν οι Ινδοί (145,000), με 48,950 φοιτητές και 41,000 ειδικευμένους εργάτες.

Επίσης, υπάρχουν 102,220 άτομα με bridging visas, αύξηση 8% μέσα σε μία χρονιά. Οι κυριότερες εθνικές ομάδες είναι Ινδοί, Κινέζοι, Ιρανοί, υπήκοοι Σρι Λάνκα και Μεγάλης Βρετανίας.

Πηγή:Νέος Κόσμος

Inscriptions link the Amphipolis monument to Hephaestion

An opulent underground monument in northern Greece that caused a stir when excavated last year may have been a symbolic grave – but not the final resting place – of the closest friend and general of ancient warrior-king Alexander the Great, the excavator claimed on Wednesday.

Archaeologist Katerina Peristeri said she believes the vaulted structure, decorated with sculptures and a mosaic floor, “was a funerary monument for Hephaestion”.

The Macedonian nobleman grew up with Alexander and died in Persia in 324BC, pre-deceasing the king by less than a year and driving him into a frenzy of grief during which he ordered a series of monuments to be built for Hephaestion across his newly-won empire.

But Peristeri said there was no evidence Hephaestion was actually buried at the tomb in Amhipolis, east of Thessaloniki, whose excavation grabbed headlines, provoking speculation that it might belong to Alexander himself, who lived from 356-323 B.C.

Another archaeologist however, who was not involved in the excavation, rejected her identification as “totally unfounded.”
Panayiotis Faklaris, associate professor at the University of Thessaloniki, told the Associated Press the tomb more likely belonged to some prominent ancient citizen of Amphipolis.

“There is no historic or scientific basis” for what Peristeri claimed, he said. “Hephaestion had no connection with Amphipolis.”

The discovery caused controversy from the outset. Other experts criticized Peristeri for digging too fast and creating unjustified expectations that the tomb was unplundered.

The monument contained twin marble statues of sphinxes and young women, had a painted frieze – parts of which survive – and, according to Peristeri, was topped with a large marble lion now standing a few kilometers away.

Peristeri has offered no explanation of one of the find’s strangest features – that it sheltered at least five skeletons, including an elderly woman and a baby.

She argued Wednesday that fragmentary inscriptions link the monument with Hephaestion, and said an Alexander-era coin found in the monument – which she thinks was filled with earth generations later to protect it from vandals – confirms it was built in 325-300 B.C.

Alexander led an army of Greeks to conquer a vast empire stretching as far as modern Pakistan. Ancient writers say he considered Hephaestion to be his alter ego, making him the second most powerful man in the empire.

When Hephaestion died, Alexander is recorded to have granted him hero’s rites, declared mourning throughout the empire and had him cremated in Babylon at enormous expense.

Source:AP