Ancient Greece

The Greek Culture Ministry on Friday denied press reports according to which the human remains discovered in an excavation at the site of Ancient Amphipolis in northern Greece have been identified, referring to «groundless 'information' and speculation."

 British Museum’s loan of Parthenon sculpture to Hermitage rouses political, cultural passions

By Elis Kiss

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Responding to the British Museum's initiative to send one of the Parthenon Marbles statues to Russia on a loan, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said on Friday that the decision "was a provocation to the Greek people."

Part of the Elgin Marbles has left Britain for the first time since they were taken from the Parthenon in 1803, on loan to a Russian museum, the British Museum said on Friday.

The museum has loaned one of the statues -- taken from Greece by British diplomat Lord Elgin and which Athens has repeatedly demanded be returned -- to Russia's State Hermitage Museum.

As speculation mounts following the discovery of human remains at a huge ancient tomb at Amphipolis, northern Greece, Culture Ministry’s general secretary Lina Mendoni revealed on Monday that it could take more than eight months for experts to complete DNA tests that will yield clues about the individual’s identity.

A couple of years back; I was attending an International Traditional Foods Symposium in the Thracian city of Tekirdağ, which turned out to be a very interesting discovery for me. During the closing reception, a stocky guy walked directly toward me and introduced himself. He was a professor at Namık Kemal University. He somehow had spotted my journalism background and wanted to talk to me.

The Ancient Amphipolis tomb on Kasta Hill in northeastern Greece will most certainly attract a large number of tourists from across the world, Tourism Minister Olga Kefaloyianni said on Thursday.

A large marble door and the head of a sphinx found inside the ancient tomb at Amphipolis were moved to a nearby museum on Friday.

The door, which is in two pieces, and the marble sphinx head will be cleaned up and preserved.

The removal of the door from the tomb frees up space for the archaeologists to work in.

Archaeologists digging at a tomb dating to the era of Alexander the Great in ancient Amphipolis in northern Greece have found the missing head of one of the two sphinxes guarding the entrance of the grave.

According to a statement yesterday by the Culture Ministry, the head, which was found inside the tomb’s third chamber, belongs to the statue on the eastern side of the entrance.

 Clooney backs Greek campaign; minister says legal action not on cards yet

Human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin Clooney, who is married to American actor George, on Wednesday said that Greece had “just cause” in seeking the return of the Parthenon Marbles from the British Museum, speaking of an “injustice that has persisted for too long.”