Greek News Agenda (GNA) is an online English language platform, issued by the Secretariat General for Public Diplomacy and Greeks Abroad (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), offering news, features, analysis and interviews that showcase political, economic, business, social and cultural developments in Greece.
As we are reaching the end of the year, we take a look back on the most popular articles and interviews published on GNA in 2020. We are including the top-ten most visited articles, and also the most popular feature in each of our main interview categories: Reading Greece, Filming Greece, Arts in Greece, Rethinking Greece, Innovative Greece and Government and Policy.
INTERVIEWS
Vassilis Papadopoulos on the lasting influence of the Greek language
Vassilis Papadopoulos, a career diplomat at the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as a scholar specialised in international and cultural relations, speaks to GNA on the particular dynamics of the Greek language and its evolution throughout History, on the occasion of his recently published essay “Language as a vehicle of civilisation. The influence of the Greek Language”.
Stelios Koukouvitakis on choices and consequences
An interview with London-based Filmmaker and scriptwriter Stelios Koukouvitakis on the occasion of his short film Sunday 11.00- 12.00, which has been screened at 20 international Film Festivals and has won several awards, such as the Remi Award at the 52nd WorldFest Houston (USA) and Best Europe film at the 4th European Cinematography Awards (Netherlands, October 2019).
Melancholia- Altar (detail), Dimitris Tzamouranis (courtesy of Gallery Michael Haas, Berlin)
Painter Dimitris Tzamouranis: “Art’s ultimate objective is the pursuit of beauty”
Berlin-based artist Dimitris Tzamouranis, an established painter and characteristic representative of the new figurative art movement, speaks to GNA about his influences, his style of painting which wavers between “lyrical photorealism and coloristic expressionism “, and his plans for the future.
GNA’s interview with Dr John Kittmer, British Ambassador to Greece from 2013 to 2016, passionate Hellenist and current Chair of The Anglo-Hellenic League, on the occasion of his lecture titled “Anglo-Hellenism: Adventures in Cultural Exchange” -organised in collaboration with the Centre for Hellenic Studies, King’s College London- where he spoke in Greek about the powerful cultural and educational bonds between Britons and Greeks.
Antonis Hadjikyriacou, Teaching Fellow in Ottoman history at Panteion University and Affiliated Scholar at the Center for Spatial and Textual Analysis (CESTA) at Stanford University, speaks to GNA about the innovative tools offered by digital humanities, the relevance of Ottoman history in contemporary studies and the unique challenge that the 1821 bicentenary represents for Greek academia.
Christos Michalakelis explains why Greece is the new studies destination in the COVID-19 era
Dr. Christos Michalakelis, Assistant Professor at the Department of Informatics and Telematics of the Harokopio University of Athens and President of the Study in Greece Organisation, explains the comparative advantages that studies in Greece have to offer to foreign students in the times of Covid-19 and the post-Brexit reality.
ARTICLES
Greece has long been identified as synonymous with unique archaeological sites and beautiful summers, yet maybe the country has more to think about while trying to build a new image in the post-COVID-19 world and its globalised challenges. This was one of the points stressed during the first PD Talks (Public Diplomacy Talks), launched on June 18 by the Secretariat for Public Diplomacy, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and featuring Professors Nicholas J. Cull (University of Southern California) and Stathis Kalyvas (University of Oxford).
USA city names of Greek origin – Part 1 and Part 2
There is probably no other country, outside of Greece and Cyprus, with quite as many place names of Greek origin as the United States of America. GNA published an extensive, though not exhaustive, list of names of Greek origin given to cities, towns, villages and communities in the USA, in two installments, providing some information about the names’ etymology and history.
Country names of Greek originThere are many words and names that have Greek roots without most speakers even realising this when they use them. In this article, GNA lists some examples of country names many might not know come from Greek.
2020 was declared “Year of Melina Mercouri” by the Greek Ministry of Culture, with a series of events planned to mark the 100-year anniversary since the birth of the internationally-acclaimed Greek actress, activist and much-loved former Minister of Culture. GNA dedicated a feature to her life and career.
Greece’s Green Agenda on Energy and Climate
A presentation of Greece’s new National Plan for Energy and Climate (NPEC), which was announced in December 2019 following a public consultation and a debate in the Greek Parliament. The NPEC is an ambitious plan in accordance with the UN Agenda 2030 and its 17 global Sustainable Development Goals as well as with the recently adopted European Green Deal, setting, in some cases, even higher goals at national level.
e-Academia: Learn Modern Greek online
A presentation of e-Academia, a new e-learning platform launched by Study in Greece, aiming to promote Greek culture and to function as a cultural and educational bridge between Greece and the world; e-Academia kicked off in April with the introduction of online Greek language courses.
Photograph from the “Fiscardo wreck” (courtesy of the Ionian Aquarium)
“Fiscardo wreck” in Kefalonia: The largest Roman shipwreck in the eastern Mediterranean
GNA publishes extracts from an article which appeared in the Journal of Archaeological Science in January 2020, where Dr. George Ferentinos, Emeritus Professor of Geology at the Laboratory of Marine Geology and Physical Oceanography of the University of Patras, along with nine of his fellow academics, unveil the discovery of the “Fiscardo wreck”, one of the largest Roman-era shipwrecks ever found.
Study Classical Greece in Athens
An introduction to the “BA Program in the Archaeology, History, and Literature of Ancient Greece”, the first-ever English-speaking undergraduate programme launched by a public university in Greece; the four-year BA programme, addressed exclusively to non-EU citizens, is offered by the School of Philosophy of the NKUA, in collaboration with the International Hellenic University (IHU), and it is oriented towards the study of ancient Greek culture, combining archaeology, ancient history and ancient Greek literature.
Pavlopetri: The Oldest Submerged City in the World
A feature on the little-known site of Pavlopetri, a submerged prehistoric town off the coast of Laconia in south-eastern Peloponnese; it is the oldest complete town ever found underwater -consisting of intact building foundations, courtyards, streets, graves, and rock-cut tombs- and is believed to have flourished in the period between 3000 and 1000 years BC.
