History, Culture, Ecology & Peace in the Mediterranean
The
Phoenicians, the Greeks, the Romans and other ancient civilizations
used harbors and coves as anchorages for their ships, and it is where
the first settlements were created. Today, there have been identified at
least 272 such sites in 23 Mediterranean countries.
In the recent past, many of these areas have tried to come into
contact with each other, to network and collaborate on social, economic,
cultural and environmental level. Such a major collaborative initiative
began in 1995, when the Union of Ancient Greek Ports was founded, based
in ancient Agathe, today’s Agde in southern France. The cities that
formed this Union are:
a) Larnaca and Paphos in Cyprus, b) Alexandria in Egypt, c) Agathe-Agde,
Antipole-Antibes, Thilini-Arles, Nice-Nice, Olbia-Hyeres and Aleria in
France, d) Fasis-Poti in Georgia, e) Chalkis, Pythagorean, Patras,
Piraeus, Rhodes and Ithaca in Greece, f) Celery-Castel Vetrano,
Castor-Crotone, Sybaris-Cassano Ionio, Santa Severina, Bova, Cerenzia,
Cino Marina, Locri, Naxos-Naxos and Strongoli in Italy, g) Byblos -
Byblos in Lebanon, h) Callatis-Mangalia in Romania, i) Gadeira-Candix
and Trade-Escala Empuries in Spain, j) Djerba-Djerba in Tunisia and
finaly, k) Sevastoupolis-Sevastopol in Ukraine.
According to a popular saying "the culture comes from the sea". In
antiquity, a harbor was the key area of communication, trade and defense
of a city. The ships that left the ancient Greek ports, transported
goods, ideas and the democratic spirit of the colony, across the
Mediterranean, from Tanaida to Tartessos, outside
Gibraltar.
http://samos-webcms.aegean.gr/mediawiki/index.php/Main_Page
Mission
The mission of the Ancient Mediterranean Ports program
http://samos-webcms.aegean.gr/mediawiki/index.php/Mission