AG Leventis Research Projects 2000-2016

Transcription

A. G. Leventis Research Projects
2000-2016
Reviews and Contribution
General Editing
Athanasios Gagatsis
Professor,
Vice Rector for Academic Affairs
Coordination/Editing
Pantelitsa Eteokleous
University Officer,
Research and International Relations Service
Design/Layout
Popi Palma Constantinou
Research and International Relations Service
Printing
Cassoulides Masterprinters
ISBN 978-9963-700-85-1
Copyright©2014 University of Cyprus
Message from the Rector of the University of Cyprus .................................................................... 5
Message from the Chairman of the A. G. Leventis Foundation .................................................. 6
Introduction by the Vice Rector for Academic Affairs of the University of Cyprus .............. 7
Chapter One
Humanities and Letters
A New Critical Edition of the Chronicle of Leontios Makhairas ................................................ 17
Michalis Pieris and Angel Nicolaou-Konnari
Romanorum Grammatices Fragmenta saec. II, III, IV .................................................................... 25
Ioannis Taifacos
Victor Hugo et le Monde Grec (Nineteenth Century Periodical Press Database)................ 27
May Chehab and Despina Provata
Language and Style in the Speeches of Thucydides .................................................................... 41
Antonis Tsakmakis
The Prehistoric Settlement under the Heraion of Samos ............................................................ 51
Ourania Kouka
Byzantine Documentary Sources of the Nicean Empire - The Cartulary of
Lembiotissa: Prospects and Possibilities of a New Critical Edition and Analysis ................ 65
Alexander Beihammer
Moulding Expressions of Culture: The Terracotta Figurines from the House
of Orpheus, Nea Paphos .......................................................................................................................... 75
Demetrios Michaelides
The Ancient Scholia to Sophocles’ Oedipus Coloneus: A New Critical Edition.................... 93
Georgios A. Xenis
Stirring Pots on Fire: A Diachronic and Interdisciplinary Study of Cooking
Pots from Cyprus...................................................................................................................................... 107
Athanasios K. Vionis
Chapter Two
Economics
International Trade in Used Goods: An Empirical Investigation of Consumer
Welfare Gains and Repercussions on Markets for New Goods................................................ 131
Sofronis Clerides
Mixed Data Sampling Regression Models: Applications in Business Cycle,
Growth and Structural Breaks (2006-2009) .................................................................................... 141
Elena Andreou
Understanding the Composition of Household Wealth............................................................ 151
Michael Haliassos
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Chapter Three
Mathematics
Inequalities for Special Functions and Applications to Geometric Function
Theory and Related Fields .................................................................................................................... 153
Stamatis Koumandos
Non–linear GARCH models for Time Series of Counts................................................................ 167
Konstantinos Fokianos
Chapter Four
Pure and Applied Sciences
Studies in Strong Interactions: Renormalization, Confinement and Chiral
Symmetry Breaking ................................................................................................................................ 183
Constantia Alexandrou
Regulation of Glycogen and DNA Repair by the Formation of
Biomolecular Complexes: Understanding via Biomolecular Modeling
and Free-Energy Simulations. ............................................................................................................ 189
Georgios Archontis, Spyros Skourtis, Athanasios Nicolaides
Molecular Motors: Investigating their Role in Human Neurodegenerative
Disease ........................................................................................................................................................ 205
Niovi Santama
Equol Reduces Tamoxifen Associated Toxicity in Sprague-Dawley Rat
Hepatocytes and Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells ............................................................ 213
Andreas Constantinou
Probing Carrier Dynamics on a Femtosecond Timescale Using Ultrafast
Pulse-Shaping .......................................................................................................................................... 229
Andreas Othonos
Thermodynamic Stability of Biomolecular Mixtures in Pure Water and
Electrolyte Solutions: Insights from Molecular Dynamics Simulations................................ 241
Georgios Archontis and Epameinondas Leontidis
Examining the Role of Telomeres and Telomerase in the Onset and
Progression of HPV-related Cancers ................................................................................................ 259
Katerina Strati
Studying Nuclear Matter Under Extreme Conditions of High Temperature
and High Baryonic Density: The International Experiment HADES at the
Heavy-ion Research Center of GSI Darmstadt, Germany .......................................................... 267
Haralambos Tsertos
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Table of Contents
Chapter Five
New Research Programmes 2014-2016
ΚΑΡΑΒΟΙ: The Ship Graffiti on the Medieval Monuments of Cyprus: Mapping,
Documentation and Digitisation ...................................................................................................... 285
Stella Demesticha
The Church of the Transfiguration at Sotera (Famagusta District) in Context:
History – Architecture - Murals .......................................................................................................... 289
Maria G. Parani
Adaptation of the MacArthur-Bates CDI in Cypriot-Greek........................................................ 293
George Floros
Scientific Models: Describing the Abstract and Representing the Real .............................. 295
Demetris Portides
The Vocabulary of Byzantine Classicizing and Literary Koine Texts:
A Database of Correspondences........................................................................................................ 299
Martin Hinterberger
The Contribution of Gestures in Geometrical Thinking Development
in Early Childhood .................................................................................................................................. 301
Iliada Elia
Cypriot Presence and Public Diplomacy in Africa: A Historical Perspective ...................... 305
Costas M. Constantinou
GRECO (Retaining Greek in “Enclaved” COmmunities): Greek as a mother
tongue among Turkish Cypriots in Cyprus and Cunda Cretans in Turkey .......................... 309
Elena Ioannidou
Adapting Parent-Child Interaction Therapy for disruptive behavior in Greek
Cypriot children........................................................................................................................................ 313
Kostas Fantis
A Re-Constitution Process for the Cypriot Constitution: Towards a New
Transit Basic Law ...................................................................................................................................... 315
Constantinos Kombos
Historical and Etymological Dictionary of Turkish (continuation) ........................................ 317
Martin Strohmeier
Concepts and Functions of European Philhellenism in the era of the
Restoration (1815-30) ............................................................................................................................ 319
Martin Vöhler
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Message from the Rector of the University of Cyprus
High-calibre scholarly research is one of the main pillars of development of the University
of Cyprus (UCY) and has been a central tenent in its mission statement since the University's
establishment in 1989. UCY supports and promotes research firmly, with all the means at
its disposal, since, apart from being a knowledge incubator, is also a vibrant cell connecting
science with society.
At the same time, being aware of its multifaceted role, as an economic-growth engine, UCY
has adopted the Knowledge Triangle framework, that is, Research - Education – Innovation,
in order to contribute to the upgrading of technology, strengthening of the knowledge
society, improvement of the natural environment, public health, social organization, selfactualization of the individual and in general Cyprus economy and its people’s wellbeing.
The significant research of high quality conducted at UCY in its 22-year life span makes up
the largest proportion of country’s total research activity, while constituting UCY as the
preeminent research institution of higher education in Cyprus. Meanwhile, the significant
number of research achievements and distinctions has established the University of Cyprus
in the global research map as a research center of excellence of European standards.
Apart from the state funding, UCY has worked through the years with patience and
perseverance to attract the maximum possible external support for funding its research,
having reached today the amount of €100 million. One of the main loyal supporters of the
research conducted in UCY research centers and units is the A. G. Leventis Foundation,
which since 2000 has funded a total of 22 research programmes.
This edition presents both the results of the 14-year research funded by the A. G. Leventis
Foundation and the 12 research projects recently funded by the Foundation (2014-2016)
aiming to make them known to the wider academic community locally and internationally,
but also to become a form of guide for future researchers of Leventis research grants.
On behalf of the university community, I would like to extend my sincere appreciation and
gratitude to the President and the members of the Board of Trustees of the A. G. Leventis
Foundation for their loyal support to the UCY all these years and their substantial
contribution to the achievement of the University’s research goals.
Professor Constantinos Christofides
Rector, University of Cyprus
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Message from the Chairman of the A. G. Leventis Foundation
I feel particular satisfaction that the University of Cyprus has undertaken the publication
of final reports on the research programmes carried out between 2000 and 2013 with
funding provided by the A. G. Leventis Foundation. To these have been added summaries
of subsequent research programmes scheduled for the period 2014-2016. Contents of this
extensive volume are excellent indicators of the University’s research priorities and their
scope, as well as of wider practical applications for the public good. We are given an insight,
also, into the methods employed and of course, into scholarly results of this research.
Reports make clear the enthusiastic participation by the University of Cyprus’ scientific and
technical personnel in this multi-disciplinary undertaking.
The Foundation, inspired by the ideals of its founders, has long supported education and
research. It grants a significant number of postgraduate fellowships yearly and finances
research programmes in a number of Cypriot educational organisations in addition to the
University of Cyprus. It believes that, through research, intellectual curiosity is stimulated
not only for the benefit of Cyprus and its people, but so that young people—those being
trained in research programmes and those collaborating with other research institutions
in Cyprus and abroad—benefit as individuals and as citizens.
An independently-selected University committee is responsible for the selection of highquality proposals. In arriving at its decisions, this Committee is mandated as far as possible
to compensate for gaps in international, multilateral, or direct government support for
research in certain fields. For this reason, during recent years, the committee has focused
on its support for the humanities.
The Foundation has enjoyed a close cooperation with the University of Cyprus since its
founding. The Foundation’s first President, Dinos Leventis, was for many years a member
of the University Council and played a decisive role in its establishment and growth. The
Foundation continues to provide material support to the University for its core operation
and organization. Furthermore, as is evident from the research programmes described in
this volume, it supports both teaching and research in specific fields. The University of
Cyprus has gained an enviable reputation for the high quality of its teaching, and has
distinguished itself in research, which is a particular source of satisfaction to the
Foundation’s Board of Trustees, given the A. G. Leventis Foundation’s long-standing
involvement. It is my belief that independent funding of this nature, whereby the
University’s proven and academically rigorous internal selection processes are
supplemented by well-informed external advice and guidance, will further assist the
University in its ambitions to achieve a comprehensive and well-structured research
portfolio across a wide spectrum of subjects and disciplines.
Anastasios P. Leventis
Chairman of the A. G. Leventis Foundation
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Introduction
The current edition is a tribute to the research programmes of the University of Cyprus that
have received funding from the A. G. Leventis Foundation from 2000 onwards. It is a
collection of scientific articles and publications that were the product of the funded
research programmes. From its early years the University of Cyprus has aim to enhance and
promote research, innovation, knowledge and education. The academic and research staff
of the University of Cyprus has shown important achievements in the European and
International research area and has achieved significant funding beyond national funds,
mostly through its participation in European research programmes. Thus, the University of
Cyprus, through the years, has managed to attract a significant amount of external funding.
In this context, the A. G. Leventis Foundation has played an instrumental and decisive role
in the development of research through its funding at a time when the University of Cyprus
was still in its infant stages of its research activity. The provision of research grants by the
Foundation encourages excellence since the Foundation provides grants only to high level
research programs. Through its funding, the A. G. Leventis Foundation aims to promote
research and science that is considered valuable for Cypriot society and to provide
opportunities for knowledge and an outlet for career advancement for the younger
generation.
The management of the annual funding from the A. G. Leventis Foundation is undertaken
by the A. G. Leventis Committee. The Committee has a monitoring role and among its
responsibilities is to call for the submission of proposals and to evaluate and select research
proposals eligible for funding. It is important to note that before the Committee takes any
decision regarding the provision of grants for those selected research programmes, an
evaluation of the proposals is also carried out by external evaluators. The Committee is
composed of three external members assigned by the Leventis Foundation, usually two
from abroad and one based in Cyprus, and two members from the University of Cyprus.
The president of the Committee is the Vice-Rector for Research and Academic Affairs of the
University of Cyprus. The Committee is in constant communication with the A. G. Leventis
Foundation and convenes once a year or once every other year. The Research Committee,
one of the University of Cyprus Senate´s Committees, is also involved in the implementation
process and plays an administrative role in running the programmes. Its´ role is mainly
confined to financial tasks such as approving budget transfers among cost categories of
the project at hand as well as changes in the duration of the funded projects where it is
considered necessary. The A. G. Leventis Committee and the A. G. Leventis Foundation are
briefed about the decisions taken internally at the University of Cyprus that affect the
funded research programmes.
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The significance of the first volume
This volume is the first of its kind to be published since the first funding from the A. G.
Leventis Foundation and its importance is outlined below:
• firstly, the results of these 14 years of research funding from the A. G. Leventis Foundation
are made known to the wider academic community and to the general public, in Cyprus
and beyond.
• secondly, to present how funding from the A. G. Leventis Foundation promotes and
contributes to the development of research within the University of Cyprus and how
these programs foster the well being of the Cypriot society. Furthermore, it is important
to mention the desire of the A. G. Leventis Foundation to support research on
Humanities, Letters and Social Sciences that addresses sensitive issues relevant to Cypriot
society. To this end, the A. G. Leventis Committee decided that in the future Leventis
grants will be restricted only to the following three faculties of the University of Cyprus:
the Faculty of Humanities, the Faculty of Social Sciences and Sciences of Education and
the Faculty of Letters.
• last but not least, this volume is expected to become a form of guide for future applicants
for Leventis research grants since the goals, methodology and results of the funded
projects as well as their connection to Cypriot society are presented.
The 22 research programmes that received funding and have already been completed are
presented below. The five Chapters of this volume are divided based on the scientific
domain of each research programme namely, 1) Humanities, Philosophy and Social
Sciences, 2) Economics and Management, 3) Mathematics and 4) Pure and Applied Sciences.
Furthermore, the recently selected twelve programmes that received their first funding in
2014 are presented in a separate section.
One of the first funded research projects was a research project devoted to Leontios
Makhairas titled, “A New Critical Edition of the Chronicle of Leontios Makhairas”. The project
was coordinated by Professor Michalis Pieris, Department of Byzantine and Modern Greek
Studies. In 2003, with the Leventis foundation grant a diplomatic edition of the Chronicle
of Leontios Makhairas was published as the volume 48 of the Cyprus Research Centre series
Texts and Studies in the History of Cyprus.
In 2013, the University of Cyprus lost a distinguished member of its academic staff, Professor
Ioannis Taifacos. Professor Taifacos received a grant from the A. G. Leventis Foundation for
the period 2008-2011, titled, “Romanorum Grammatices Fragmenta saec. II, III, IV”. This
research project collected and critically edited the extant fragments of nearly fifty Latin
grammarians, who had been active between the 2nd and 4th centuries AD and composed
grammars, lexica, commentaries on works of Latin literature and other similar works. The
contribution of this project was the development of the first edition establishing and
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categorizing a group of fragmentary authors, who were used as models by later
grammarians: F. Caper, Aemilius Asper, Terentius Scaurus, Statilius Maximus etc and it also
supplemented relevant bibliography creating a data base for the study of the Latin
grammatical tradition in its entirety.
The only text published in French in this volume, due to its uniqueness, «Victor Hugo et le
Monde Grec» was the work of Associate Professor May Chehab, Department of French
Studies and Modern Languages. The project aspired to address a missing gap in the
literature since no in-depth study of the resonance of Hugo’s political and social thought
in the Greek press had been carried out up to the time that the project received funding.
The identification and classification of the articles on Victor Hugo was a project of
systematic and long-term endeavour. The documents were brought together, digitised and
properly classified in a single data base, something which was rendered possible by the
support of the A. G. Leventis Foundation. As of January 2013, the bilingual database Victor
Hugo and the Greek World has been hosted on the server of the library of the University of
Cyprus and is freely accessible to the public.
Associate Professor Antonis Tsakmakis was the principal investigator of the project “The
Speech of the Corcyraeans (1.32-6) in Thucydides: Style and Interpretation”. This study dealt
with the first speech in Thucydides’ work, the speech of the Corcyraeans in 1.32-36 and
studied the language and style of these speeches. Its importance lies in the fact that
Thucydides was the first historian to include complete rhetorical speeches in his work,
which are attributed either to individual speakers or to anonymous representatives of
groups. The examination has revealed a conscious rhetorical and stylistic composition and
it has contributed to the understanding of Thucydides’ literary technique. As a result of this
study there have been various publications, presentations in international conferences, a
topic for a doctoral thesis and a book that is in process.
The Heraion is one of the most glorious sanctuaries of Ionia, dedicated to the goddess Hera,
and is located in the southern coast of the island of Samos, in the biggest, most fruitful and
best watered plain of the island. The project, “The Prehistoric Settlement under the Heraion
of Samos”, by Associate Professor Ourania Kouka, included excavations north of the Sacred
Road of Heraion of Samos and has been conducted within the framework of the
excavations of the German Archaeological Institute and thanks to the permit of the Greek
Ministry of Culture. This is the first University of Cyprus excavation abroad – and has been
granted in 2009-2011 as a research programme of the A. G. Leventis Foundation. One of
the goals of the project was to testify the participation and the specific role of Samos in
local and extensive trade networks not only within the Aegean, but also between the
Aegean and Western Anatolia, as well as between the Aegean and the Eastern
Mediterranean including Cyprus in Prehistoric Times. The new data north of the Sacred
Road illuminates so far unknown phases of the settlement history at Heraion.
Another project that belonged to the Department of History and Archaeology, was run by
Associate Professor Alexander Beihammer, titled “Byzantine Documentary Sources of the
Nicean Empire”, and aimed to embark on the exploration of the two main corpora of
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documents surviving from the period in question. These were (1) the acts of the patriarchs
of the Nicean period from Michael Autorianos (1208-1214) to Arsenios (1254-1260/12611264), and (2) the cartulary of the Monastery of Lembiotissa (near Smyrna/Izmir), preserved
in MS Historicus graecus 125 of the Austrian National Library. The major outcomes of the
project are a reliable transcription of the surviving patriarchal documents of the Nicean
Empire and the documents transmitted in the Lembiotissa cartulary, and a database of
persons, toponyms, Byzantine realia and diplomatics.
Professor Demetrios Michaelides, received a research grant for the project “Moulding
Expressions of Culture: The Terracotta Figurines from the House of Orpheus, Nea Paphos”. The
project examined the Hellenistic and Roman material of the earlier Cypriot terracotta
figurines. Though, Cypriot terracottas were widely examined by the large corpus of
published data, material from the Hellenistic and Roman period had remained much
neglected. Thus, the terracotta figurines from the House of Orpheus in Nea Paphos form
part of a significant material assemblage that spans in time from the Hellenistic to the
Roman periods. These high-quality terracotta figurines fall within the mainstream of Cypriot
art and its associated ancient technological and cultural systems. Among the deliverables
of the project are the digitization of terracottas, the development of an electronic database
with all the characteristics of the terracottas, a virtual museum and other interactive virtual
environments, educational material to be used by students and museum visitors and finally
the organisation of an international conference on the study of Hellenistic and Roman
terracottas.
The scholia vetera to Sophocles are of fundamental importance to anybody working on
the interpretation of the Sophoclean drama or on its reception in antiquity. They are also
important for those with interests in ancient literary criticism and scholarship. As a result,
the project “The Ancient Scholia to Sophocles’ Oedipus Coloneus: a New Critical Edition” funded
by the A. G. Leventis Foundation, addresses shortcomings of the pertinent literature and
will allow the publication of a whole new edition on the subject. The goal of this new edition
is to restore the scholia vetera of Sophocles’ Oedipus Coloneus in their earliest recoverable
version, undertaken by Professor George Xenis.
“Stirring Pots on Fire: A Diachronic and Interdisciplinary Study of Cooking Pots from Cyprus”,
was a study which spanned chronologically the period from Cypriot Bronze Age, when the
first direct fire-boiling vessels were manufactured on the island, to the beginning of the
Early Modern era with the rise of capitalism in the 16th century (ca. 2500 BC – AD 1500).
Assistant Professor, Athanasios Vionis, carried out this interdisciplinary study of ancient
pottery, being the largest one of its kind undertaken on the island by that time. The main
outcome of the study is a major publication, a monograph, with contributions by all the
site excavators, archaeologists and material scientists collaborating for the implementation
of this research to be used as a reference book for future studies that is still under
development. Other deliverables were a number of publications, a databank and
conferences participations that have been already carried out.
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Economics
As the Principal Investigator, Associate Professor Sofronis Clerides ran the project:
“International Trade in Used Goods: An Empirical Investigation of Consumer Welfare Gains and
Repercussions on Markets for New Goods Engineering, Pure and Applied Sciences”. Trade in
used goods has some distinctive features that set it apart from conventional trade in new
goods. This link between secondary and primary markets is important in terms of
production and prices. Cyprus was the ideal case to study this phenomenon because it is
a rare example of a country that opened up its markets to used vehicles in a drastic manner.
A research team working on the project produced a number of presentations, seminars
and publications on this intriguing subject.
Associate Professor, Elena Andreou, from the Department of Economics coordinated the
project “Mixed Data Sampling Regression Models: Applications in Business Cycle, Growth and
Structural Breaks”. The objectives of this Leventis project were twofold. The first objective
was to investigate the theoretical properties of estimators of regression models that involve
data sampled at different frequencies, the so called Mi(xed) Da(ta) S(ampling), or MIDAS,
regression models. The second objective was to develop a new, general asymptotic theory
framework for deriving the asymptotic variance of residual-based statistics and two-step
estimators. The techniques developed have been adopted by other researchers and are
also used by research departments of e.g. Central Banks, in terms of improving economic
forecasts and nowcasts. Last but not least, this Leventis project has been granted in a crucial
time for the academic career of the principal investigator providing the support to start
pursuing more challenging areas of research and securing also a European Research
Council (ERC) Starting Grant in 2008-2013.
“Understanding the Composition of Household Wealth”, Professor Michalis Chaliasos. The
factors that motivate households to participate in risky financial assets and the composition
of their wealth are the main objectives of this project. Data had been collected from the
United States and other European countries that formed the background for analysis of
Cypriot households.
Mathematics
The project titled, “Inequalities for Special Functions and Applications to Geometric Function
Theory and Related Fields” was run by Professor Stamatis Koumandos, Department of
Mathematics and Statistics. The project dealt with special function theorems and
inequalities of several types. It also established inequalities for trigonometric sums and
sums of standard orthogonal polynomials and applied these results on specific problems
of complex analysis dealing with subordination and convolution of certain classes of
analytic functions. In this program the researchers discovered new ways in which the
classical Fourier analysis and geometric function theory are interrelated. Apart from
publications and participation in international conferences, book chapters as well as a
Doctoral thesis were the outcomes of the project.
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Professor Konstantinos Fokianos ran the project “Nonlinear INGARCH Models for Time Series
of Counts”. The main objectives of the project were to define non - linear models for time
series of counts, develop maximum likelihood estimation and testing theory for such
models, develop goodness of fit test statistics for count time series models and software
for fitting such models. These objectives were successfully being completed and so far
articles in peer reviewed journals and in conference proceedings have been published and
one post doctoral assistant was hired and trained for the specific needs of the project.
The research project “Studies in Strong Interactions: Renormalization, Confinement and Chiral
Symmetry breaking” of Professor Constantia Alexandrou was the first one from the Faculty
of Physics to receive funding from the A. G. Leventis Foundation. The major theoretical
challenge addressed by this project was to understand the confinement mechanism by
using lattice simulations in order to provide new insights on what the effective degrees of
freedom relevant for confinement might be. The theoretical framework for the study was
Lattice Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). This project has received external funding from
other sources in order to continue on the investigation of its results and has produced a
number of important publications and presentations in international conferences.
The following project was coordinated by three principal investigators affiliated with two
different Departments, Chemistry and Biology. Associate Professors Georgios Archontis,
Spiros Skourtis, and Athanassios Nicolaides run the project: “Regulation of Glycogen and
DNA Repair by the Formation of Biomolecular Complexes: Understanding via Biomolecular
Modeling and Free-Energy Simulations”. The aim of the project was to design new
compounds with therapeutic action against diabetes or cancer by understanding
quantitavely and in great detail the structures, interactions and stability of complexes
between these molecules and GP or DNA. A number of publications and presentations in
conferences, development of collaborations with other research centers and support of a
post-doctoral researcher were the main outcomes of this project.
Associate Professor Niovi Santama, was the principal investigator of the project “Molecular
Motors: Investigating their Role in Human Neurodegenerative Disease”. The Leventis grant
supported the work on Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the most common form of
human motor neuron disease, characterized by upper and lower motor neuron
degeneration in the motor cortex brainstem and spinal cord, leading to progressive atrophy
and paralysis of skeletal muscles and the disease is invariably fatal. Students working on
the project received further financial support from the Leventis Foundation in the form of
studentships. Two major publications and an invited review stemmed directly from this
work and two further publications extended the original findings. These identified for the
first time two motor proteins as candidates for disease pathology and highlighted the
relevance of several drug targets for symptomatic therapy. In the context of this research,
the first and only DNA databank from ALS sufferers in Cyprus to date was generated.
“Equol Reduces Tamoxifen Associated Toxicity in Sprague-Dawley Rat Hepatocytes and
Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells”, was the title of Professor´s Andreas Constantinou
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research project. The context of the project was breast cancer in women where it aims to
determine the individual and combined effects of tamoxifen and equol on tumor cell
growth, toxicity, oxidative DNA damage and apoptosis. Knowledge on these basic
molecular mechanisms of action assists in the rational design of efficacious cancer
preventive agents. Contribution to research was obtained by producing a number of
scientific publications and speeches in international conferences.
A project by the Department of Physics, “Probing Carrier Dynamics on a Femtosecond
Timescale Using Ultrafast Pulse-Shaping” was coordinated by Professor Andreas Othonos.
The main objective of the project was the development of various ultrafast time resolved
techniques for probing carrier dynamics in novel semiconductor materials utilizing a
unique high-efficiency throughput femtosecond pulse shaper. The results of the project
have an impact in semiconductor devices and optoelectronic applications in general. A
number of publications have also being produced as a result of the project.
The principal investigators of the project, “Thermodynamic Stability of Biomolecular Mixtures
in Pure Water and Electrolyte Solutions: Insights from Molecular Dynamics Simulations” were
Associate Professor George Archontis and Professor Epameinondas Leontidis, representing
the Departments of Physics and Chemistry, respectively. The goal of the present
investigation was to understand the phenomenon of salting-out of organic molecules and
biomolecules in aqueous solutions in the presence of various electrolytes. A number of
sub-problems of the salting-out effect were investigated and simulations were carried out.
These simulations led to models of the molecular arrangement of the peptides in their
nanostructures, and identified stabilizing interactions. Furthermore, they allowed the
design of metal-binding nanostructures, with potential technological applications. Along
with the future planned calculations this work can provide better understanding of the
underlying factors that stabilize the helical conformations of model oligopeptides, and the
nanostructures formed by specific peptides.
Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) are associated to a number of human malignancies HPVs.
The project of Lecturer Katerina Strati, Department of Biology, “Examining the Role of
Telomeres and Telomerase in the Onset and Progression of HPV-Related Cancer”, focused on
the importance of telomere maintenance as key to the survival of cancer cells frequently
mediated by the upregulation of telomerase, the cellular enzyme responsible for
maintaining telomeres. The importance of this lies to the potential for therapeutics when
the telomere maintenance pathway is identified. A number of important findings have
been published on this important subject.
Professor Charalambos Tsertos, coordinated the project “Studying Nuclear Matter Under
Extreme Conditions of High Temperature and High Baryonic Density”. This study attempted
to understand the behavior of baryonic matter. This is of central importance since baryonic
matter serves as a building block of all the atoms we know today. Baryonic genesis, the
formation of baryonic matter, is believed to have formed on a time scale of 10 to 20
microseconds after the beginning of the creation of the physical world around us. In the
Big Bang theory, a singularity in time started the existence of our universe, its evolution
thereafter being determined by physical processes that occur in different time scales. The
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only way of studying baryonic genesis in the laboratory is by means of high-energy heavyion collisions. In such collisions, nuclear matter is produced at high density and high
temperature, and thus creating the physical environment necessary for the study of
baryonic genesis. The aim of this proposal is a better understanding of the various processes
contributing to di-lepton production in hot and compressed nuclear matter, leading
ultimately to a search for signals of the partial restoration of the chiral symmetry of QCD.
Research programmes funded for the period 2014-2016
In the final chapter of this volume, summaries of the twelve recently funded research
programmes are presented. As is evident from the aforementioned description of funded
projects during the previous years, research programmes from other disciplines had been
funded. Taking into consideration the will of the A. G. Leventis Foundation into
consideration to support the Faculties of Humanities, Letters, Social Sciences and Sciences
of Education, the A. G. Leventis Committee with its new composition decided to provide
funding only to these Faculties. The current Committee is composed of Professor Athanasios
Gagatsis, President of the Committee, Professor Charalambos Bakirtzis, Sir Michael
Llewellyn-Smith and Professor Aristoula Georgiadou as external members appointed by
the A. G. Leventis Foundation and Professor Andreas Charitou as the member from the
University of Cyprus. These programmes are expected to produce important outcomes and
continue the excellent work that has been carried out so far by previously funded projects.
These twelve recently funded research programmes are presented here according to their
Faculty affiliation. Thus, from the Faculty of Letters, four research programmes are funded.
Those are “ΚΑΡΑΒΟΙ: The Ship Graffiti on the Medieval Monuments of Cyprus: Mapping,
Documentation and Digitisation” by Assistant Professor Stella Demesticha; “The Church of
the Transfiguration at Sotera (Famagusta District) in Context: History – Architecture – Murals”
by Assistant Professor Maria Parani; “Adaptation of the MacArthur-Bates CDI in Cypriot-Greek”
by Assistant Professor George Floros; “Scientific Models: Describing the Abstract and
Representing the Real” by Associate Professor Demetris Portides; and “The Vocabulary of
Byzantine Classicizing and Literary Koine Texts” by Associate Professor Martin Hinterberger.
Five research programmes belong to the Faculty of Social Sciences and Education, “The
Contribution of Gestures in Geometrical Thinking Development in Early Childhood” by Assistant
Professor Iliada Elia; “Cypriot Presence and Public Diplomacy in Africa: A Historical Perspective”
by Professor Costas M. Constantinou; “GRECO (Retaining Greek in “Enclaved” COmmunities):
Greek as a Mother Tongue Among Turkish Cypriots in Cyprus and Cunda Cretans in Turkey” by
Assistant Professor Elena Ioannidou, “Adapting Parent-Child Interaction Therapy for Disruptive
Behavior in Greek Cypriot Children”, by Assistant Professor Kostas Fantis and “A Re-Constitution
Process for the Cypriot Constitution: Towards a New Transit Basic Law” by Assistant Professor
Konstantinos Kombos. Finally, three programmes come from the Faculty of Humanities, the
“Historical and Etymological Dictionary of Turkish (continuation)” from Professor Martin
Strohmeier, and “Concepts and Functions of European Philhellenism in the Era of the
Restoration (1815-30)” by Assistant Professor Martin Vöehler.
14
At this point, I would like to warmly thank the A. G. Leventis Committee for its contribution
to the management of the annual funding that the University of Cyprus receives from the
Leventis Foundation as well as the A. G. Leventis Foundation itself for the all the support
that it has provided to the University of Cyprus during all these years. Lastly, I would like to
draw your attention to the decision of the A. G. Leventis Committee to update this volume
at regular intervals so as to include scientific work carried out by all research programmes
that receive funding from the A. G. Leventis Foundation throughout the years to come. The
collection of the material and the editing of the current volume were carried out with the
assistance of Ms Pantelitsa Eteokleous, Officer at the Research and International Relations
Service of the University of Cyprus to whom I extend my appreciation.
I do hope that this volume will respond to the will and fulfill the expectations of the A. G.
Leventis Foundation as well as become the paradigm both for future research proposals
of the research and academic community of the University of Cyprus and for the future
renewal and update of the current volume.
Professor Athanasios Gagatsis,
Vice - Rector for Academic Affairs
University of Cyprus
15
Chapter One
16
Research Programmes - A. G. Leventis Foundation
A New Critical Edition of the Chronicle of Leontios Makhairas
Principal Investigator: Michalis Pieris, Professor, Department of Byzantine and
Modern Greek Studies, Faculty of Letters, University of Cyprus
Research Associate: Angel Nicolaou-Konnari, Assistant Professor, Department
of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, Faculty of Letters, University of Cyprus
Abstract
The goal of the aforementioned research project of the University of Cyprus was the
critical edition of the chronicle as well as an edition for the general public. During
the first phase of the project (1993-1996), the diplomatic transcription of the text
of the three manuscripts that preserve the chronicle (Marc. Gr. VII, 16, 1080, Oxon.
Bodl. Selden, supra 14, and Raven. Gr. Class. 187) was completed by Angel NicolaouKonnari under the supervision of Michalis Pieris. The close study of the manuscripts
led the two participants in the project to acknowledge the necessity for the
publication of a diplomatic edition before the critical one.
As a result, during the second phase of the project (2001-2003), which was
associated with the Cyprus Research Centre project Leontios Makhairas, Chronicle of
Cyprus. Parallel Diplomatic Edition of the Manuscripts (2002-2003), co-directed by
Michalis Pieris and Angel Nicolaou-Konnari, the diplomatic edition of the chronicle
was prepared. It was published in 2003 as volume 48 of the Cyprus Research Centre
series Texts and Studies in the History of Cyprus with a lengthy introduction by the
two editors.
The project has also instigated further research by the two participants, who have
published extensively on a number of issues concerning various aspects of medieval
and early modern Cypriot history writing, in general, and the chronicle, in particular.
The importance of the project was duly acknowledged by the A. G. Leventis
Foundation, which sponsored its second phase (2001-2003).
Gr. Class. 187) was completed by Angel
Nicolaou-Konnari under the supervision
of Michalis Pieris. The close study of the
manuscripts led the two participants in
the project to acknowledge the necessity
for the publication of a diplomatic edition
before the critical one.
1. Scope and Results
The goal of the aforementioned research
project of the University of Cyprus was the
critical edition of the chronicle as well as
an edition for the general public. During
the first phase of the project (1993-1996),
the diplomatic transcription of the text
of the three manuscripts that preserve
the chronicle (Marc. Gr. VII, 16, 1080,
Oxon. Bodl. Selden, supra 14, and Raven.
As a result, during the second phase of the
project (2001-2003), which received a grant
from the A. G. Leventis Foundation and was
17
by Michalis Pieris and Angel NicolaouKonnari and published in 2003 by the
Cyprus Research Centre. This edition
offers to the scholarly community the
parallel diplomatic transcription of the
text of the three manuscripts that
preserve the chronicle (Marc. Gr. VII,
16, 1080, Oxon. Bodl. Selden, supra
14, and Raven. Gr. Class. 187), of which
the Ravenna one is published for
the first time. The text of the three
manuscripts is transcribed faithfully,
without any corrective interventions
by the editors, who meticulously preserve
all the palaeographical traits and
linguistic particularities, and is presented
in three corresponding as to their content
columns. The text is preceded by a
lengthy introduction, which includes a
detailed description of the manuscripts,
an edition of all the marginal notes, a
study of the intertextual relationship
among the manuscripts, biographical
information about Leontios Makhairas, an
explanation of the editorial principles and
of the symbols used as well as a bibliography and photographic reproductions
of twelve pages from the manuscripts.
associated with the Cyprus Research Centre
project Leontios Makhairas, Chronicle of
Cyprus. Parallel Diplomatic Edition of the
Manuscripts (2002-2003), co-directed by
Michalis Pieris and Angel Nicolaou-Konnari,
the diplomatic edition of the chronicle was
prepared. It was published in 2003 as
volume 48 of the Cyprus Research Centre
series Texts and Studies in the History of
Cyprus with a lengthy introduction by the
two editors.
The project has also instigated further
research by the two participants, who
have published extensively on a number
of issues concerning various aspects of
medieval and early modern Cypriot
history writing, in general, and the
chronicle, in particular, such as historicity
and ideological bias, sources and
intertextual relationships, manuscripts
and scribes, literary genre and influences,
language and translations (see list of
publications below). Michalis Pieris is
currently preparing the critical edition of
the chronicle.
2. Contribution to the Cypriot Studies
The chronicle attributed to Leontios
Makhairas is unanimously acknowledged
by the scholarly community as one of the
most important historical sources for the
history of Cyprus under the rule of the
Lusignan dynasty (1192-1489), a significant
literary work, and a valuable linguistic
monument for the development of the
Greek Cypriot dialect. It has, thus, attracted
the attention of many scholars and men of
letters, its multifaceted character opening
vistas on an important range of topics
worthy of research, from purely historical
to philological, literary, linguistic, or
narratological studies.
The two critical editions of the chronicle by
C. Sathas in 1873 and R. M. Dawkins in 1932
followed the principles of nineteenthcentury Greek philology, which tended to
correct or purify the corrupt language of
medieval vernacular manuscripts and
which today is considered to be outdated.
Naturally, the diplomatic edition was not
intended to replace a new critical edition
but to satisfy the demands of modern
scholarship through a global approach of
the text, which serves the historian, the
philologist, and the linguist as well as the
student of textuality, literality, orality and
generaly stylistic and narrative technique.
While a critical edition constitutes a
specific interpretative approach of the text,
The main outcome of the project was the
diplomatic edition of the chronicle, edited
18
a diplomatic edition allows the researcher
to study a text, especially a vernacular
one, in its primary form in a way that
respects its particularities. Such an
approach encompasses many disciplines
and necessitates detailed information
that was previously considered to be
superfluous or too bulky to be included in
the apparatus (spelling mistakes and
variants, omissions, deleted words and
scribal corrections, repetitions, rubrics,
punctuation and page layout, marginalia
and reading marks, etc.).
3. Dissemination of the Results of the
Project: Publications
Pieris, Michalis and
Nicolaou-Konnari, Angel:
- Λεοντίου Μαχαιρά, Χρονικό της Κύπρου.
Παράλληλη διπλωματική έκδοση των
χειρογράφων, Texts and Studies in the
History of Cyprus XLVIII (Nicosia: Cyprus
Research Centre, 2003).
- «Λεοντίου Mαχαιρά, Eξήγησις της γλυκείας
χώρας Kύπρου η ποία λέγεται κρόνικα τουτέστιν χρονικόν, Bιβλιογραφικός Oδηγός»,
Eπετηρίς Kέντρου Eπιστημονικών Eρευνών
(Kύπρου), 23 (1997), 75-114.
Consequently, the parallel diplomatic
edition of the text of the three manuscripts that preserve this important text of
medieval Cypriot literary production
constitutes a valuable database that
provides the modern researcher with the
most faithful and accurate testimony of
the historical, linguistic, and ideological
reality in Cyprus at the time. The
publication of the diplomatic edition in
digital form within the framework of the
University of Cyprus research project
Digital Makhairas (2014-2015), under the
direction of Assistant Professor Angel
Nicolaou-Konnari with the collaboration
of Professors Michalis Pieris and Charlotte
Roueché, Centre for Hellenic Studies,
King’s College, London, will further
enhance the text’s accessibility. Digital
Makhairas is the first volume of a Digital
Library of Medieval Cyprus Sources, one of
the four projects included in the research
project Digitising Medieval Cyprus, a
cooperation of the University of Cyprus
and King’s College, London.
Pieris, Michalis:
- «Ossrvazioni sulla letteratura medievale e
rinascimentale di Cipro», στον τόμο Aspetti
di Linguistica e dialettologia Neogreca.
Όψεις της νεοελληνικής γλώσσας και
διαλεκτολογίας, επιμ. Anna Zimbone e
Matteo Miano, Bonanno editore (Catania
2010) 55-63.
- «Circulation of Books from Venice to
Cyprus during the Turkish-Venetian War of
1645-1669», Επετηρίδα της Κυπριακής
Εταιρείας Ιστορικών Σπουδών, τομ. Θ΄
(Λευκωσία 2010) 85-102
- «Λογοτεχνία και λογοτεχνικότητα κατά το
πέρασμα της Κύπρου από τον Μεσαίωνα
στην Αναγέννηση», in Angel NicolaouKonnari (ed.), Η Γαληνοτάτη και η
Ευγενεστάτη. Η Βενετία στην Κύπρο και η
Κύπρος στη Βενετία (Nicosia: Bank of
Cyprus Cultural Foundation, 2009), pp.
120-144.
- «Από τη δυναστική χρονογραφία του
Μαχαιρά στην ερωτική μυθιστορία του
Κορνάρου», in Stephanos Κaklamanis (ed.),
Ζητήματα ποιητικής στον Ερωτόκριτο,
(Herakleion: Vikelaia Municipal Library,
2006), pp. 237-247.
19
- (ed.), Λεοντίου Μαχαιρά, Το Χρονικό της
Κύπρου (programme of the theatrical
performance), TH.Ε.PΑ.Κ. (Nicosia, 1998).
- ‘The Medieval Cypriot Chronicler Leontios
Makhaeras. Comments on His Life and
Work», in Beiträge zur Kulturgeschichte
Zyperns von der Spätantike bis zur Neuzeit
Symposium, München 12-13 juli 2002
(Münster/New York/ München/Berlin:
Waxmann, 2005), pp. 107-115.
- «Σχόλιο στη δραματοποίηση του Χρονικού
του Μαχαιρά», in Μ. Pieris (επιμ.), Λεοντίου
Μαχαιρά, Το Χρονικό της Κύπρου TH.Ε.PΑ.Κ.
(Nicosia, 1998), pp. 167-170.
- ‘Cronaca e poesia popolare: Arodafnusa
e Zuana L’Aleman. Interrogative e problemi», in A. Proiou and Α. Armanti (eds.),
La presenza femminile nella letteratura
neogreca (Rome: Universitá di Roma La
Sapienza, 2003), pp. 49-62.
- «Γύρω από τον Λεόντιο Mαχαιρά. Iστορική
και θρησκευτική συνείδηση/γλώσσα
και λογοτεχνικότητα/αφηγηματική και
δραματική δομή του Xρονικού», in
L. Loïzou- Hadjigabriel (ed.), Πρακτικά
του Συμποσίου «Λεόντιος MαχαιράςΓεώργιος Bουστρώνιος. Δύο Xρονικά της
Mεσαιωνικής Kύπρου» (Nicosia: Leventis
Museum, 1997), pp. 35-54.
- «Χρονικό και δημοτική ποίηση: Η Αροδαφνούσα ως ποιητική αποτύπωση της
Τζουάνας Λ’Αλεμάν», Κονδυλοφόρος, 2
(2002), 38-49.
- «Για τη δραματική υφή του κειμένου του
Xρονικού του Λεοντίου Mαχαιρά», in J. M.
Egea and J. Alonso (ed.), Prosa Y Verso
en Griego Medieval, Rapports of the
International Congress «Neograeca Medii
Aevi, III», Vitoria 1994 (Amsterdam, 1996),
pp. 297-300.
- «Eκδοτικά ζητήματα διαλεκτικών κειμένων
της Kύπρου», in Eκδοτικά προβλήματα και
απορίες. Πρακτικά συνεδρίου στη μνήμη
του Γ. Π. Σαββίδη (Athens: Σπουδαστήριο
Nέου Eλληνισμού, 2002), pp. 118-129.
- «T’ αδόνιν κείνον που γλυκά θλιβάται».
Eκδοτικά και ερμηνευτικά ζητήματα της
δημώδους ελληνικής λογοτεχνίας στο
πέρασμα από τον Mεσαίωνα στην Aναγέννηση (1400-1600), Πρακτικά του Δ΄
Διεθνούς Συνεδρίου Neograeca Medii
Aevi, Nicosia, Νovember 1997, ed. in
collaboration with P. Agapetos (Herakleion: University of Crete Publications,
2002).
- ‘Leontios Makhairas’, Cyprus Today, XXXIV,
nos. 3-4 (Dec. 1996), 1-16.
- «Για μια νέα κριτική έκδοση του Xρονικού
του Mαχαιρά», in N.P. Panayiotakis (ed.),
Aρχές της Nεοελληνικής Λογοτεχνίας»,
Πρακτικά του Δεύτερου Διεθνούς Συνεδρίου
«Neograeca Medii Aevi», I (Venice, 1993),
pp. 343-348.
- «Γύρω από τη χρονολόγηση του Λεοντίου
Mαχαιρά», Aριάδνη (Eπιστημονική Eπετηρίδα Φιλοσοφικής Σχολής Πανεπιστημίου
Kρήτης), 5 (1989), 229-254.
- «Για την καταλανική τύχη της Ελεονώρας
της Αραγωνίας, Βασίλισσας της Κύπρου»,
Επετηρίδα Κέντρου Επιστημονικών Ερευνών (Kύπρου), 26 (2001), 11-32.
- «Σταθμοί της Kυπριακής Λογοτεχνίας
(από την Eξήγησιν της γλυκείας χώρας
Kύπρου στην Aμμόχωστο Bασιλεύουσα)»,
Παλίμψηστον, 5 (1987), 115-155.
- Λεοντίου Μαχαιρά, Εξήγησις της γλυκείας
χώρας Κύπρου (theatrical adaptation),
TH.E.PA.K (Nicosia, 1998).
20
William of Tyre, Cyprus and the Military
orders presented to Peter Edbury (FerhernBurlington: Ashgate, 2014), pp. 115-134.
Nicolaou-Konnari, Angel:
- ‘A Neglected Relationship: Leontios
Makhairas’s Debt to Latin Eastern and
French Historiography’, The French of
Outremer: Communities and Communications in the Crusading Mediterranean,
34th Annual Conference, Center for
Medieval Studies, Fordham University,
New York, March 2014 (forthcoming).
- ‘Alterity and Identity in the Work of
Philippe de Mézières (1327-1405) and
Leontios Makhairas (ca. 1360/80-after
1432)’, in G. Saint-Guillain and T. Papacostas (eds.), Identity / Identities in Late
Medieval Cyprus [Proceedings of the
Joint Newton Fellowship and Annual
ICS Byzantine Colloquium, Centre for
Hellenic Studies, King’s College, London,
and Cyprus Research Centre, Nicosia
(London, 13-14 June 2011)] (Nicosia:
Cyprus Research Centre, forthcoming).
- ‘Leontios Makhairas’ Greek Chronicle of
the ‘‘Sweet Land of Cyprus’’: History of
Manuscripts and Intellectual Links’,
in Bonds, Links, and Ties in Medieval
and Renaissance Chronicles [Oxford/
Cambridge International Chronicles
Symposium, The Ioannou Centre for
Classical and Byzantine Studies (Oxford,
5-7 July 2012)] (Oxford, forthcoming).
- ‘Apologists or Critics? The Reign of Peter I
of Lusignan (1359-1369) Viewed by
Philippe de Mézières (1327-1405) and
Leontios Makhairas (ca. 1360/80-after
1432)’, in R. Blumenfeld-Kosinski and K.
Petkov (eds.), Philippe de Mézières and His
Age: Piety and Politics in the Fourteenth
Century, The Medieval Mediterranean.
Peoples, Economies and Cultures, 4001500, 91 (Leiden – Boston: Brill, 2012),
pp. 359-401.
- ‘ ‘‘A poor island and an orphaned realm...,
built upon a rock in the midst of the
sea..., surrounded by the infidel Turks
and Saracens’’: The Crusader Ideology in
Leontios Makhairas’s Greek Chronicle of
Cyprus’, Crusades, 10 (2011), 119-145.
- ‘Diplomatics and Historiography: The Use
of Documents in the Chronicle of Leontios
Makhairas’, in A.D. Beihammer, M.G. Parani,
and C.D. Schabel (eds.), Diplomatics in
the Eastern Mediterranean 1000-1500:
Aspects of Cross-Cultural Communication,
The Medieval Mediterranean. Peoples,
Economies and Cultures, 400-1500, 74
(Leiden – Boston: Brill, 2008), pp. 293-323.
- «H Kύπρος στις απαρχές της Tουρκοκρατίας: τα ιστορικά σημειώματα στα φφ.
239v-240r του κώδικα Ven. Marc. Gr. VII, 16,
1080», Eπετηρίς Kέντρου Eπιστημονικών
Eρευνών (Kύπρου), 31 (2005), 193-238.
- ‘A New Manuscript of Leontios Makhairas’ Chronicle of the ‘‘Sweet Land of
Cyprus’’: Edition of the Extracts in
British Library, MS Harley 1825’,
Eπετηρίς Kέντρου Eπιστημονικών Eρευνών
(Kύπρου) (forthcoming).
- «H ονοματολογία στα χειρόγραφα του
Xρονικού του Λεοντίου Mαχαιρά", στο E.
Jeffreys and M. Jeffreys (eds.), Aναδρομικά
και Προδρομικά, Approaches to Texts in
Early Modern Greek, Πρακτικά Συνεδρίου
Neograeca Medii Aevi V, Exeter College,
University of Oxford, September 2000
(Oxford, 2005), pp. 327-371.
- ‘A New Manuscript of Leontios
Makhairas’ Chronicle of the ‘‘Sweet Land
of Cyprus’’: British Library, MS Harley
1825 and the Circulation of Manuscripts
of Cypriot Interest in Stuart England’, in
S. Edgington and H. Nicholson (eds.),
Deeds Done Beyond the See. Essays on
21
- «H διασκευή του χειρογράφου της
Pαβέννας της Eξήγησης του Λεοντίου
Mαχαιρά και η Narratione του Διομήδη
Strambali», in P. Agapetos and M.
Pieris (eds.), «T’ αδόνιν κείνον που γλυκά
θλιβάται», Eκδοτικά και ερμηνευτικά
ζητήματα της δημώδους ελληνικής λογοτεχνίας στο πέρασμα από τον Mεσαίωνα
στην Aναγέννηση (1400-1600), Πρακτικά
του Δ΄ Διεθνούς Συνεδρίου Neograeca
Medii Aevi, Nicosia, November 1997
(Herakleion: University of Crete Publications, 2002), pp. 287-315.
- ‘Ethnic Names and the Construction of
Group Identity in Medieval and Early
Modern Cyprus: The Case of Kυπριώτης’,
Kυπριολογία. Αφιέρωμα εις Θεόδωρον
Παπαδόπουλλον, Kυπριακαί Σπουδαί,
64-65 (2000-2001), 259-275.
- ‘La chronique de Léontios Machéras:
Historicité et identité nationale", in P.
Odorico (ed.), Matériaux pour une histoire
de Chypre (IVe-XXe s.), Études Balkaniques,
Cahiers Pierre Belon, 5 (1998), 55-80.
- «H προφορικότητα στα χειρόγραφα του
Xρονικού του Λεόντιου Mαχαιρά: Mεταγραφικά και εκδοτικά προβλήματα», in
L. Loïzou-Hadjigabriel (ed.), Πρακτικά
του Συμποσίου «Λεόντιος MαχαιράςΓεώργιος Bουστρώνιος. Δύο Xρονικά της
Mεσαιωνικής Kύπρου» (Nicosia: Leventis
Museum, 1997), pp. 55-77.
22
Curricula Vitae
Μichalis Pieris. Poet, translator and university professor Michalis Pieris was born in Eftagonia,
Cyprus, in 1952. He studied philology and theatre in Thessalonica (B.A.: 1976, M.A.: 1978) and in
Sydney (PhD.: 1982), and worked as a scholar and an academic professor in numerous research centres
and universities in Greece, Europe (Saint Petersburg, Moscow, Rome, Granada, Palermo, Catania,
Venice, and elsewhere), North America and Australia. He has authored many books and has published
a significant number of research studies on Medieval and Modern Greek literature. He has travelled
to various cities across the world to stage performances, give lectures, teach classes, and present
literary readings, always combining his research and academic activities with a quest for poetry. Since
1993, he has been living permanently in Nicosia, teaching poetry and theatre at the University of
Cyprus. Prof. Pieris is currently the Dean of the School of Letters at the University of Cyprus. He also
serves as the Director of the School of Modern Greek.
As founder and director of the Cultural Centre at the University of Cyprus, Michalis Pieris is actively
involved in promoting culture and the arts in Cyprus. Upon his initiative the University launched an
International Cultural Festival, which is currently in its twelfth year and has emerged as a respectable
institution on the cultural map of Cyprus. Having as a central theme the cultural traditions, dance,
music, and theatre of the greater Mediterranean region, the Festival provides a stage for independent
artists who promote the rich and diverse cultural heritage of their native lands or address in a creative
way topical problems of their societies. Particular attention is awarded to artistic projects that
highlight the peripheral culture of island territories and coastal areas.
An important part of the Festival’s programme are also the performances of the Theatrical Workshop
of the University of Cyprus, which Prof. Pieris established in 1997 in an effort to bring a new dimension
to the study of Classical, Medieval and Renaissance Greek literature. Under his guidance, the Theatrical
Workshop developed into a full-fledged research theatre with six productions so far, which have been
presented with much success across Cyprus, as well as in Greece (Athens, Thessaloniki, Ancient
Olympia, Crete and elsewhere), Germany (Munster and Hamburg), France (Strasbourg and the
Richelieu Theatre of the Sorbonne), the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.
Michalis Pieris has published nine poetic books, one collection of short stories, and two theatrical
works. He has translated foreign poetry and ancient Greek drama, and has adapted and staged as a
director several Medieval and Renaissance works. His poems have been translated into all major
European languages. He has been invited to attend the 16th International Poetry Festival of Barcelona
(May 2000) and the Festivaletteratura in Mantova (September 2005). Special issues dedicated to his
poetry have been published by the Planodion literary journal (Athens, December 2004), the Poesia
literary magazine (Milan, February 2005), the Foro Ellenico magazine (Rome, October – November
2008).
Michalis Pieris has received the Melina Mercouri Award for his translation of Euripides’ Phoenician
Women into Modern Greek (2002), the Best Stage Direction Award at the 21st Panhellenic Festival of
Non-professional Theatre for the performance of Leontios Machairas' medieval Chronicle on the Sweet
Land of Cyprus by the Theatrical Workshop of the University of Cyprus (1998), the International Award
“Lazio between Europe and the Mediterranean” for his poetic oeuvre (2009), and the State Award for
Excellence in Letters of the Republic of Cyprus for his overall contribution to literature, culture and
the arts (2010).
23
He is a Corresponding Member of the Bruno Lavagnini Institute of Byzantine and Modern Greek
Studies (Palermo, Sicily), and a member of the Hellenic Authors’ Society (Athens), the Centre for NeoHellenic Studies (Athens), the Hellenic Literary & Historical Archives (Athens), the Greek Society of
General and Comparative Studies (Athens).
Dr Angel Nicolaou-Konnari is Assistant Professor in Medieval History at the University of Cyprus
in the field of study ‘Hellenism under Latin Rule’. Her research interests focus on the Latin-ruled Greek
world (late twelfth-seventeenth centuries) and, particularly, the history of Cyprus under the
domination of the Lusignan dynasty (1191/2-1489) and the Republic of Venice (1489-1571). This
mainly involves the various aspects of cultural interaction and exchanges between Greeks and Latins
and related phenomena in the domains of social institutions, language, and religion as well as
ethnicity, self-perception, and the perception of the Other. She also studies the important corpus of
Cypriot historiographers (late twelfth-eighteenth century) and Cypriot prosopography in the Middle
Ages and Early Modern Times. She is further interested in gender relations in the medieval Cypriot
society as well as the depiction and appropriation of Cypriot medieval history in eighteenth and
nineteenth-century opera and French historiography.
She is co-editor with Michalis Pieris of the diplomatic edition of the Chronicle of Leontios Makhairas
[Nicosia: Cyprus Research Centre, 2003] and co-editor with Chris Schabel of the collective volume
Cyprus. Society and Culture 1191-1374 [Leiden: Brill 2005]. She also edited the proceedings of the
conference ‘La Serenissima’ and ‘La Nobilissima’: Venice in Cyprus and Cyprus in Venice [Nicosia: Bank of
Cyprus Cultural Foundation 2009]. She has published many articles on a variety of topics concerning
Cypriot historiography, ethnicity and prejudice in medieval Cyprus and Latin Greece, and the Cypriots
of the post-1570 diaspora.
She is currently completing a book on two Cypriots of the late sixteenth-early seventeenth century,
Pietro and Giorgio de Nores, as well as a study of the social relations and cultural interaction and
exchanges between Greeks and Franks in medieval Cyprus (The Encounter of Greeks and Franks in
Cyprus in the Late Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries. Phenomena of Acculturation and Ethnic Awareness).
She is also preparing with a number of contributors two collective volumes on the history of the
towns of Famagusta and Limassol. Moreover, she is one of the coordinators of the joint research
programme of the University of Cyprus in Nicosia and the King’s College in London Digitizing Medieval
Cyprus; one of the projects of the programme is the creation of a prosopographical database of
medieval Cyprus and another one the creation of a digital library of medieval Cypriot sources.
24
Romanorum Grammatices Fragmenta saec. II, III, IV
Principal Investigator: ✝Ioannis Taifacos, Professor, Department of Classical
Studies and Philosophy, Faculty of Letters, University of Cyprus
Last summer the University of Cyprus lost
a distinguished member of its academic
staff, Ioannis Taifacos. Though he was
afflicted by one of the most atrocious
forms of cancer, his courage and
determination to complete his academic
work shone through even the darkest of
days. Alas, his traits of character proved
insufficient, and after a very short battle
with the disease, he passed away leaving
a multitude of projects unfinished. One of
these is his Leventis project ‘Romanorum
Grammatices Fragmenta saec. II, III, IV’.
In the following we give an English
translation of his description of the
project:
The purpose of the research project
‘Romanorum Grammatices Fragmenta
saec. II, III, IV (RGrFr)’ is to collect and
critically edit the extant fragments of
nearly fifty Latin grammarians, who were
active between the 2nd and 4th centuries
AD and composed grammars, lexica,
commentaries on works of Latin literature
and other similar works.
It is clear that the chronological period
covered in the edition begins with the age
of Latin archaism and ends with the
composition of the great fourth-century
Artes Grammaticae by Fl. Sosipater
Charisius and Diomedes, which were edited
in the first volume of H. Keil’s Grammatici
Latini (1855). The collection is thus a
continuation of the two previous editions
Grammaticae Romanae Fragmenta by H.
Funaioli (1907) and Grammaticae Romanae
Fragmenta aetatis Caesareae I by A.
Mazzarino (1955), which contain all extant
grammatical fragments from the earliest
period of Roman activity to the end of the
1st century AD.
The academic benefit of the project is
self-evident. The edition is the first to
establish and categorise a group of
fragmentary authors, who were used as
models by later grammarians: F. Caper,
Aemilius Asper, Terentius Scaurus,
Statilius Maximus etc. The project also
supplemented the bibliography that had
been compiled earlier in the context of
two other projects of mine, ‘Diomedes’
and ‘Charisius’, and thus created a data
base for the study of the Latin grammatical tradition in its entirety.
Additionally the project covered part of
the needs of the postgraduate programme of the Department of Classics and
Philosophy. For example, a student wrote
a Master’s dissertation on the criteria of
Latinitas and is now engaged in a Ph.D.
thesis in the area of the prosopography of
the Latin grammarians. Another student
wrote a Master’s thesis on Aemilius
Asper. Likewise a host of other students
may derive great benefit from the
aforementioned project.
25
26
«VICTOR HUGO ET LE MONDE GREC» Nineteenth Century
Periodical Press Database (bilingual French-Greek)
Principal Investigator: May Chehab, Associate Professor, Department of French
Studies and Modern Languages, Faculty of Humanities, University of Cyprus
Research Associate: Despina Provata, Associate Professor, Faculty of French
Language and Literature, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Deliverables of the project
The main deliverable of the digital thematic research collection “Victor Hugo dans le Monde
grec” (Victor Hugo in the Greek World) is more than a DataBase. The contribution of this
online resource to digital scholarship goes beyond necessary ‘digitizing and encoding’.
Editorially related tasks need historical knowledge, theoretical sophistication, and analytical
strengths to the creation of a sound text or texts and accompanying scholarly apparatus.
Notable for its depth and breadth of coverage that enriches the corpus of secondary
literature on French philhellenism, the Collection produced a series of sets of deliverables:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
identification and classification of the articles on Victor Hugo
full texts of various editions
high resolution reproductions
precise guides to the provenance and significance of their contents
accurate transcriptions
bibliographies
unknown material
27
«VICTOR HUGO ET LE MONDE GREC» Nineteenth Century Periodical Press Database (bilingual French-Greek)
• press articles
• sociological material
• contemporary reviews
These deliverables per se also allow for the retrospective study of cultural contexts. Such is
the following original article, an in-depth study of Hugo’s political and social thought.
• Provata Despina, “The resonance of Hugo’s political and social thought in the Greek
press”, Leventis Programs Volume.
The theoretical possibility of digital scholarship – its indefinite expansibility – is also one
of its characteristics. As such, it benefits from and responds to past work, but also avoids
constraints on thought and action that were a result of print-based limitations. Thus, the
digital thematic research collection “Victor Hugo dans le Monde grec”, with its uncollected
data, will allow new discoveries to emerge.
ΤHE RESONANCE OF VICTOR HUGO’S POLITICAL AND SOCIAL THOUGHT IN
THE GREEK PRESS, by Despina Provata
Abstract
The corpus of secondary literature on French philhellenism is most extensive, with
writing on Victor Hugo’s Greek connection constituting a particularly sizeable
archive. And yet to date there has been no in-depth study of the resonance of Hugo’s
political and social thought in the Greek press. This deficit is principally due to two
factors: firstly, the sheer number of Greek press outlets in the 19th century; and
secondly, the fact that these various sources are scattered across several libraries
both within Greece itself and in the countries of the Greek diaspora.
The identification and classification of the articles on Victor Hugo was of necessity
a project of systematic and long-term endeavour. Moreover, given the material
condition of this vast corpus, more specifically the damaged or compromised state
of the paper on which it was printed, it was vital for the research community that
the documents be brought together, digitised and properly classified in a single
data base.
This project was rendered possible by the support of the Leventis Foundation. As
of January 2013, the bilingual database Victor Hugo and the Greek World has been
hosted on the server of the library of the University of Cyprus. It is freely accessible
to the public and has facilitated the kind of in-depth, not to say exhaustive, research
of which the present study represents one of the first projects to come to fruition.
Keywords: Crete, Ionian Islands, Greece, Europe. Abolitionism, independence,
insurrection, liberalism, liberty, political amnesty, politics, opposition, republicanism,
right to self-determination, social protest. Canellopoulos, Flourens, Kazazis, Panas,
Philaretos, Rhigas.
28
AVANT-PROPOS
La littérature spécialisée sur le philhellénisme français est abondante. Celle sur les
rapports entre Victor Hugo et la Grèce presque tout autant1. Cependant aucune
étude poussée de la réception de la pensée politique et sociale de Victor Hugo dans
la presse grecque n’avait pu à ce jour être entreprise, en raison notamment du grand
nombre de titres de la presse grecque du XIXe siècle et de la dispersion de ces feuilles
dans plusieurs bibliothèques de Grèce ou de pays de la diaspora grecque. La
localisation et le dépouillement de ces articles consacrés à Victor Hugo nécessitaient
un travail systématique de longue haleine. De surcroît, l’état matériel de ce vaste
corpus (supports dégradés ou fragilisés) rendaient vitales, au regard de l’intérêt de
la communauté scientifique, la collecte, la saisie électronique et le rassemblement
raisonné des documents au sein d’une base de données. L’entreprise a été rendue
possible grâce au soutien de la Fondation Leventis: depuis janvier 2013, la base
bilingue Victor Hugo et le monde grec, hébergée sur le serveur de la Bibliothèque de
l’Université de Chypre et librement accessible au public, a permis d’effectuer des
recherches poussées proches de l’exhaustivité. Le présent travail en propose un
premier exemple.
Mots clés: Crète, Îles Ioniennes, Grèce, Europe. Abolitionnisme, droit des peuples,
indépendance, insurrection, amnistie politique, libéralisme, liberté, opposition,
politique, républicanisme, revendications sociales. Canellopoulos, Flourens, Kazazis,
Panas, Philarétos, Rhigas.
LA RÉCEPTION DE LA PENSÉE POLITIQUE ET SOCIALE DE VICTOR HUGO
DANS LA PRESSE GRECQUE, par Despina Provata
La presse hellénique a le mérite d’avoir
introduit Victor Hugo auprès des lecteurs
grecs et d’avoir recueilli dans ses pages les
divers articles publiés à ce propos.
Aussi divers que biographies plus ou
moins longues et approfondies, articles
présentant sa vie privée et ses
villégiatures, anecdotes sur sa vie familiale
ou entrefilets, ces textes ont contribué à
façonner l’image de Hugo dans le pays.
C’est aussi la presse qui prépare le grand
public à aborder son œuvre à travers les
annonces de parution des traductions de
ses ouvrages ou en publiant des extraits
1
de ses œuvres. La presse hellénique a
suivi sans interruption son parcours
depuis 1842, date à laquelle est repérée la
première mention de son nom, jusqu’à sa
mort s’efforçant de n’omettre aucun côté
de cette personnalité polyvalente2.
Or, Hugo, avant d’être consacré en Grèce
comme le poète des Orientales et l’auteur
des Misérables, a été introduit auprès
du public comme penseur et homme
politique. En effet, une des premières, et
brève, mention de son nom dans la presse
hellénique en 1845 le présente comme
«pair de France et poète célèbre»3.
Pour une vue d’ensemble sur la réception de Victor Hugo en Grèce, voir Despina Provata, Victor
Hugo en Grèce (1842-1902), Thèse de doctorat, Université de Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV), 1994.
Pour une bibliographie générale sur Victor Hugo, on consultera le site du «Groupe Hugo»
de l’Université Paris 7 http://groupugo.div.jussieu.fr/
2
Voir à ce sujet, Despina Provata, op.cit., p. 19-140.
3
Αιών (Éon), n° 648, 18 août 1854, p. 4.
29
Cependant on ignore à cette date ses
villégiatures politiques, qui l’ont conduit
du camp des royalistes à celui de
l’opposition polarisée en 1848 autour de
Louis Napoléon Bonaparte. C’est alors que
commence à se préciser en Grèce son
portrait d’homme politique. On apprend,
sans davantage de commentaires, son
élection à l’Assemblée Législative , puis sa
participation au Congrès de la Paix en
août 1849, mais on s’attarde davantage
sur l’Affaire de Rome, qui marque au cours
du second semestre 1849 sa rupture
définitive avec la droite. La presse
hellénique signale alors le passage de
Hugo à l’opposition républicaine et son
éloignement du bonapartisme cléricalisé.
Il est alors qualifié de «fervent défenseur
des droits et libertés du peuple
romain» tandis que son opposition à
Montalembert et présentée sous un jour
favorable:
Quelques jours plus tard, le même
journal insère à «la une» de longs extraits
des discours que Hugo prononça à
l’Assemblée. C’est sans doute la première
fois que l’expression de la pensée et de la
parole politique de Hugo parvient au
lecteur grec6. Ainsi, c’est avant tout
comme une personnalité importante sur
le plan politique qu’il est introduit auprès
du public grec, au moment même où a
lieu sa transfiguration démocratique et
tandis qu’aucune de ses œuvres n’est
encore traduite en grec. Signalons ici que
seuls quelques poèmes lyriques avaient
été traduits en grec à cette date7. Son
nom est d’ores et déjà associé à trois
principes : liberté, garantie des droits des
peuples et indépendance nationale,
autour desquels se forgera en Grèce son
image d’homme politique. D’ailleurs ces
trois principes répondent aux aspirations
des hommes politiques grecs qui luttaient
pour la libération et la réunification du
pays8.
De nos jours, rien que le fait de
prononcer les mots liberté, garantie
des droits des peuples et
indépendance nationale, suffit pour
se faire traiter de démagogue,
même si l'on est un honnête
homme. C'est ce qui est arrivé à
Victor Hugo; pour avoir défendu les
droits du peuple romain et dénoncé
que l'Autriche exécutait la noblesse
hongroise, il est considéré comme
révolutionnaire5.
Les événements se précipitent en France
et la presse hellénique tient au courant
ses lecteurs, notamment de la position
prise par Hugo. Son opposition au régime,
le coup d’État, sa participation au comité
de résistance, son expulsion et son refus
enfin de l’amnistie, figurent dans des
articles insérés dans la presse hellénique
mais dans la plupart des cas, et surtout
4
Αιών (Éon), n° 964, 18 mai 1849, p.1.
Εφημερίς της Σμύρνης (Ephiméris tis Smyrnis), n° 30, 4 novembre 1849, p. 3: «Ώστε την σήμερον,
μόνον τας λέξεις ελευθερία, ασφάλεια των δικαίων των λαών και εθνική ανεξαρτησία αν
προφέρη τις, θεωρείται ως δημαγωγός, όσον και αν ήναι τίμιος και χρηστός ανήρ. Τούτο συνέβη
εις τον Βίκτωρα Ούγον. διότι εζήτησε να υπερασπισθή τα δικαιώματα του ρωμαϊκού λαού, διότι
είπεν ότι η Αυστρία πολλούς απαγχονίζει ευγενείς ούγγρους, θεωρείται ως σφόδρα
επαναστατικός».
6
Εφημερίς της Σμύρνης (Ephiméris tis Smyrnis), n° 31, 11 novembre 1849, p. 1-2.
7
Pour les traductions grecques des œuvres de Hugo au cours du XIXe siècle, voir Despina Provata,
op.cit., p. 142-236, 383-398, et 414-423.
8
Consulter à ce sujet l’ouvrage de Elli Scopétéa, Το «Πρότυπο βασίλειο» και η «Μεγάλη Ιδέα». Όψεις
του εθνικού προβλήματος στην Ελλάδα (1830-1880) [Le “Royaume modèle” et la “Grande Idée”.
spects du problème national en Grèce (1830-1880)], Athènes, Polytopo, 1988.
5
30
pour ce qui est de la presse gouvernementale, sans commentaires et en
évitant de manifester des sentiments de
sympathie9.
Donc, malgré les apparences, on connaît
mal Hugo homme politique. Il est de
notoriété publique que le poète se trouve
en exil en raison de son opposition à la
politique de Louis Napoléon, mais on
ignore sa pensée politique, ses écrits, son
rapport même avec les événements
historiques.
évoque à peine l’engouement politique
de Hugo pour la cause de l’indépendance
grecque, l’exaltation des nationalités,
l’aide aux peuples qui se battent contre
les tyrans: une brève mention de la revue
Pandora en 1862 est à peu près tout
ce qu’apprend le lecteur grec sur ses
activités11.
Or, en 1862 paraît, peu après la
publication des Misérables, la traduction
grecque du roman, qui constitue une
étape essentielle de la consolidation de la
présence de Hugo dans le pays. Aussitôt,
dans les histoires entrecroisées du roman,
on relève son message humanitaire.
Skylitsis, le traducteur grec, écrivait dans
sa Préface: «Le monde attendait un mythe
et a vu un évangile»12. À ce titre, ce livre
arrivait comme un message d’espoir et
satisfaisait la demande formulée en Grèce
de textes célébrant la charité, le repentir,
la réhabilitation de l’âme13. Mais le roman
est aussi reconnu et accepté comme
l’expression d’un romantisme socialisant.
En 1867, une adaptation de la première
partie des Misérables servira à un jeune
dramaturge, idéologue républicain, à
dénoncer l’arrogance du pouvoir et à
exposer les revendications politiques
des jeunes étudiants grecs de son
époque qui réclamaient non seulement
l’assainissement de la vie publique mais
aussi l’abolition des privilèges accordés
aux hommes du pouvoir14. Plus tard, vers
la fin du XIXe et surtout dans les premières
D’autre part, dans les revues littéraires, on
parle peu de lui en termes d’idéologie et
de politique. Efterpi qui en 1851-1852 est
la première revue à présenter l’écrivain et
son œuvre au public, note que
l’inspiration de certains de ses poèmes
publiés dans sa jeunesse, situait
nettement le poète du côté du régime
établi mais qu’ «aujourd’hui Hugo est l’un
des [poètes] les plus républicains» et le
qualifie de «bastion de la république
française»10.
En 1862, son image d’homme politique
reste aussi vague et imprécise. On signale
parfois sa fascination admirative pour
Napoléon Bonaparte pour accentuer
son opposition au régime de Napoléon III.
On parle de son exil, des valeurs
républicaines qu’incarne Hugo mais
le lecteur grec ignore tout de
leur expression littéraire, notamment
Napoléon le Petit et Les Châtiments. On
9
Despina Provata, op.cit., p. 34-35.
Ευτέρπη (Efterpi), 5(1851-1852), p. 93 : «Σήμερον ο Ουγκώ είνε εις των μάλλον δημοκρατικών,
και τελευταίαι τινές αγορεύσεις αυτού εν τη εθνοσυνελεύσει εθαυμάσθησαν. […] ο πρόμαχος
αυτής».
11
«Βίκτωρ Υγώ» (« Victor Hugo »), Πανδώρα (Pandora), 12(1861-1862), p. 535-540.
12
Ημέρα (Himéra), n° 345-346, 20/2 mai, p. 1.
13
Voir à ce sujet Z. Stéphanopoulos, « Περί του γαλλικού μυθιστορήματος και της επιρροής αυτού
επί τα εν Ελλάδι ήθη » (Du roman français et de son influence sur les mœurs en Grèce),
Πανδώρα (Pandora), 20(1869), p. 72-76, 81-86.
14
Ioannis Palamas, Φαντίνα (Fantine). Drame en cinq actes, Athènes, 1867.
10
31
décennies du XXe siècle, selon le progressisme de chacun, on se penche davantage
sur les enjeux idéologiques que comporte
le roman. Mais pour cela il faudra attendre
un peu.
emblématique car son nom se trouve
associé à l’espoir de voir se constituer un
nouveau mouvement philhellène aussi
efficace et dynamique que le premier qui
avait ébranlé, en 1821, l’Empire ottoman.
On attend de lui qu’il influence les
gouvernements et change le cours de
l’histoire. Désormais, le penseur politique
fait partie de l’histoire de la régénération
de la Grèce et accède aux dimensions
d’un symbole.
Pour l’instant l’admiration qu’on
commence à porter à l’écrivain sera
bientôt complétée par la reconnaissance
dans les faits de sa dimension politique.
L’occasion fut l’intervention de Hugo en
faveur du peuple crétois. Les Grecs
découvrent alors une nouvelle expression
du philhellénisme des Orientales mais
aussi «le défenseur de toute cause
légitime et humanitaire»15. Les lettres de
Hugo publiées dans la presse révèlent à
l’opinion publique grecque un agitateur
des consciences européennes qui
restaient passives devant le drame de l’île.
Il apparaît comme le défenseur des droits
du peuple grec qu’il appuie dans sa
lutte pour la souveraineté nationale.
Hugo reconnaît au peuple crétois ce
que lui refusaient la diplomatie
européenne et – du moins officiellement–
le gouvernement grec, le droit à
l’insurrection, et il justifie la résistance
armée face au tyran: «La Crète s’est
révoltée et elle a bien fait» écrit-il16. Pour
le lecteur grec, qui lit les traductions des
lettres de Hugo en faveur de la Crète dans
la presse, ces textes sont une révélation: il
y découvre, outre une voix solidaire avec
le drame du peuple crétois, un homme
qui se veut le porte-parole de tout un
peuple en détresse17. Dans la mémoire
collective des Grecs, il s’impose alors
comme une personnalité politique
Si le retour de Hugo en France en 1870
marque le début de la marche du poète
vers l’apothéose et la fixation de son
image de Père de la République, ses faits
et gestes ne semblent plus intéresser
l’opinion publique en Grèce. Bien plus, on
constate pour la première fois un
changement d’attitude face à Hugo. Ce
n’est plus le penseur politique qu’on
vénérait lors de l’insurrection crétoise,
en qui étaient déposés les espoirs de
tout un peuple. On conteste ses idées
politiques, notamment son attitude au
moment de la Commune, et on s’indigne
à l’idée que Hugo, en réclamant l’amnistie
des communards, puisse contribuer
à l’instauration d’une république
révolutionnaire en France18. Il est évident
que le philhellène mécontentait alors,
sinon l’ensemble de l’opinion publique en
Grèce, du moins une grande partie de
celle-ci19.
Cependant, si le parcours politique de
Hugo est parfois présenté avec
circonspection dans les pages de certains
journaux de sorte que l’opinion publique
ne peut se faire qu’une idée assez vague
L’Indépendance Hellénique, n° 46, 3 janvier 1867, p. 4.
Victor Hugo, Œuvres Complètes. Actes et Paroles II, R. Laffont, Bouquins, p. 581.
17
Voir à ce sujet le chapitre «Victor Hugo et l’Insurrection Crétoise (1866-1869)» dans D. Provata,
op.cit., p. 48-80.
18
Παλιγγενεσία (Palighénessia), n° 2415, 21 avril 1872, p. 3.
19
Pour l’attitude de la presse hellénique face à Hugo pendant cette période, voir D. Provata,
op.cit., p. 83-87.
15
16
32
chef des républicains d’Athènes»23 et il
semble que le contact des deux hommes
se soit poursuivi au moins jusqu’en 1869.
Rigopoulos, comme Hugo, est l’homme
de la liberté et du progrès. Malgré la
constatation douloureuse que fait sa
génération de la dépravation dans
laquelle se trouve le pays, Rigopoulos ne
perd pas foi dans l’avenir.
de ses engagements politiques et sociaux,
et si c’est surtout le philhellène que l’on
reconnaît en lui, sa pensée exerce
néanmoins une forte impression sur les
hommes politiques grecs.
André Rigopoulos fut l’un des plus
passionnés et sans doute le premier à
suivre ses engagements politiques20. Des
réflexions de Hugo lui servent souvent
pour illustrer ses propos dans ses propres
discours21, preuve non seulement de
l’admiration qu’il porte au proscrit mais
aussi d’une affinité de pensée qui
mériterait d’être examinée de plus près.
Rigopoulos, qui selon R. Milliex aurait fait
la connaissance de Hugo en 185122, est un
fervent républicain et un ardent patriote
dont la vie fut une lutte constante pour les
revendications du peuple grec. Il soutient
lui aussi la réunification de l’Italie et
partage avec Hugo sa vision pour
l’Europe. «Travaillez à l’unité des peuples
[…]. Devenons, individus et peuples, de
moins en moins égoïstes, et de plus en
plus hommes» lui écrit en 1856 Hugo. Ce
dernier considère Rigopoulos comme «le
Cette constance idéologique, propre aux
penseurs qui liaient l’avenir de
l’Hellénisme à la réalisation de la Grande
Idée, réapparaît d’ailleurs dans le titre
d’un poème composé en 1857 par
Panayotis Synodinos et dédié à Hugo, le
premier d’une longue série qui seront
composés en son honneur24. Dans «La
dépravation de l’humanité, hymne au
génial Victor Hugo», le philhellène
français est identifié à l’idée même
de la liberté et le poète lui accorde la
mission transcendante de sauveur de
l’humanité25. Dans sa vision, il emprunte
le principe, souvent évoqué par Hugo luimême, des trois nations, la France, l’Italie
et la Grèce, appelées à travailler pour la
20
Voir à ce sujet Nikos Bacounakis, Μια στιγμή της Ευρώπης στην Ελλάδα του 19ου αιώνα. Ο λόγος,
η εικόνα, ο μύθος του Ανδρέα Ρηγόπουλου (Un moment de l’Europe dans la Grèce du XIXe siècle.
La parole, l’image, le mythe d’André Rigopoulos), Athènes, Polis, 2008.
21
Par exemple un extrait des Contemplations est inséré dans un discours prononcé aux funérailles
de Pétros Métaxas. Voir «Λόγος του κ. Ανδρέου Ρηγοπούλου εκφωνηθείς εις τον τάφον του
μακαρίτου Πέτρου Μεταξά την 11η Ιουλίου», Αθηνά (Athina), n° 2686, 30 juillet 1858, p. 3-4.
22
Roger Milliex, Ανδρέας Ρηγόπουλος («André Rigopoulos») (tiré à part), Ιστορία και Ζωή (Histoire
et vie), 1(14 mai 1856) p. 5.
23
«A Paul Meurice, 17 mai 1857», Victor Hugo, Oeuvres Complètes. Correspondance, éd. de
l’Imprimerie Nationale, p. 274: «Mme A Masson vous a-t-elle envoyé quelques lignes de moi
adressées aux Grecs sur la demande du chef des républicains d’Athènes, Rigopoulos?»
24
Les dix-sept poèmes repérés jusqu’à ce jour, inspirés par la personnalité exubérante de Victor
Hugo et écrits en son honneur par des poètes plus ou moins connus et des versificateurs
anonymes grecs, sont recueillis et présentés dans D. Provata, op. cit., p. 302-317 et p. 433-457.
25
P. Synodinos, «Η εξαχρίωσις της ανθρωπότητος. Ύμνος προς τον δαιμόνιον Βίκτωρα Ούγον»
(«La dépravation de l’humanité. Hymne au génial Victor Hugo»), Η ελληνική Άνοιξις (Le Printemps
grec), Patras, 1857, p. 39-52.
33
régénération de l’humanité et l’unité des
peuples26.
italiens fut active et sa présence aux
manifestations patriotiques fréquente. Il
n’hésita pas à partir en Hongrie pour
assister les révolutionnaires. Dans son
engagement en faveur de la liberté des
peuples et ses réflexions sur la politique,
fréquentes dans sa correspondance, on
reconnaît aisément les nombreuses luttes
de Hugo, avec cette différence que l’exilé
de Guernesey les mena avec sa plume
tandis que Valaoritis, lui, se trouva
également sur le terrain.
«Unité, Europe, Humanité. C’est là l’avenir»
écrivait Hugo à Rigopoulos qui fit de ces
trois principes ses mots d’ordre. Il ne fut
d’ailleurs pas le seul. En Grèce où
romantisme et libéralisme vont de pair, où
l’action et même l’action politique est le
but de tout poète de la première
génération des romantiques27, se forme
un noyau d’écrivains et de penseurs qui
s’inspirent, voire imitent Hugo dans ses
engagements. Hugo devient pour eux la
preuve vivante que la parole romantique
se traduit en acte.
De retour en Grèce, Valaoritis constate le
malheur dans lequel se trouvait le pays et
le mécontentement grandissant à
l’encontre de la personne du roi Othon
désigné par les Grandes Puissances pour
être le roi des Grecs. Les insurrections qui
éclatent dans les provinces grecques
encore soumises à l’Empire ottoman
enflamment le poète qui participe de
maintes façons aux combats pour la
libération de ces régions. Il secourt les
insurgés en Épire et en Thessalie en 1854,
1860 et 1861, et en 1862, élu membre de
la Chambre des Députés ionienne, est
celui qui remettra au représentant du
gouvernement anglais une déclaration
par laquelle les Iles Ioniennes réclament
leur union à la Grèce. Puis, du haut
de la tribune de la Chambre des
Députés, Valaoritis devient, comme Hugo,
l’apôtre de la liberté, le défenseur de la
Cette association du vers romantique
et de l’action politique est manifeste
chez Aristote Valaoritis, considéré par
Emmanuel Roïdis «comme le meilleur
élève de Hugo28». Non seulement son
œuvre poétique porte de nombreuses
traces de l’admiration qu’il a pour l’œuvre
de Hugo, mais l’itinéraire des deux poètes
dans la vie culturelle et politique de leurs
pays respectifs présente certaines
analogies29. Ils y ont tous deux joué un
rôle important dans la vie politique.
Aristote Valaoritis, après avoir passé des
années tumultueuses de jeunesse en
France et en Italie où il vit l’agitation
révolutionnaire de 1848, rentre s’installer
à Leucade, son île natale, en 1850. Sa
participation aux cercles révolutionnaires
26
Notamment dans sa lettre à Rigopoulos: «Travaillez à l’unité des peuples. C’est aux nations les
plus illustres, à la Grèce, à l’Italie, à la France, qu’il appartient de donner l’exemple. Mais d’abord
et avant tout, il faut qu’elles redeviennent elles-mêmes, il faut qu’elles s’appartiennent; il faut
que la Grèce achève de rejeter la Turquie; il faut que l’Italie secoue l’Autriche, il faut que la
France déchire l’empire».
27
C. Th. Dimaras, Ελληνικός Ρωμαντισμός (Le romantisme grec), Athènes, Hermès, 1994, (1ère éd.
1982), p. 187.
28
E. Roidis, «Αριστοτέλης Βαλαωρίτης», Άπαντα. Φιλολογική επιμέλεια Άλκης Αγγέλου («Aristote
Valaoritis», Œuvres Complètes, Éditées par Alkis Anghélou), t. II, Athènes, 1978, p. 144.
29
Voir à ce sujet Egbertha Kohnhorst, L’influence de Victor Hugo sur l’œuvre d’Aristote Valaoritis,
Amsterdam, H.J. Paris, 1933 et D. Provata, op.cit., p. 318-333.
34
souveraineté nationale, un patriote exalté.
À l’exemple de son poète préféré, il profite
de chaque occasion qui se présente pour
prononcer des discours, embraser son
public, transmettre sa flamme patriotique.
Fervent patriote, Valaoritis n’admettait
pas l’indifférence de ses compatriotes et
leur reprochait souvent leur lâcheté et
leur manque d’enthousiasme. Sa parole,
poétique ou politique, était toujours une
invitation à la révolte.
ancêtres. Il le dit lui-même : «Victor Hugo
était lié à l’histoire contemporaine de
l’État grec, et de Guernesey il ne
soupçonnait pas du tout qu’il aurait pu
être indirectement mêlé aux luttes
internes de sa Grèce bien aimée»31. Car la
lecture de Hugo mais aussi de Lamennais,
de Lamartine, de Louis Blanc et de
Mazzini, leur insufflait l’amour de la patrie
et de la liberté et cultivait en eux l’espoir
d’un meilleur avenir pour l’hellénisme.
Dans le tourbillon romantique qui
s’emparait de la Grèce, Hugo devenait une
source d’inspiration et un exemple à
suivre pour la jeunesse libérale. Ulysse
Ialémos, jeune intellectuel actif dans les
débats politiques autour de l’abolition de
la royauté, nous livre, plusieurs années
plus tard, son témoignage sur l’impact
qu’avait sur la jeunesse de sa génération
la lecture des textes de Hugo30. Il relate le
bouleversement que provoqua en lui la
lecture de la dernière partie de Cromwell,
la nuit même de janvier 1858 où la ville
d’Athènes se parait pour célébrer
l’anniversaire du règne d’Othon. La pièce
circula par la suite de main en main dans
les cercles des jeunes idéologues de sa
génération. Pour eux, comme pour
d’autres penseurs politiques, Hugo n’était
pas seulement le poète qui avait célébré
en des vers immortels l’héroïsme de leurs
Hugo fait aussi partie des lectures de
Panayotis Panas, qui s’inscrit dans la
lignée des écrivains et penseurs du XIXe
siècle qui se veulent des réformateurs
de la société hellénique. Proche de
Rigopoulos, qui fut pour lui un modèle
dans sa lutte pour l’indépendance
nationale et la république, Panas,
«romantique radical», poète et journaliste
militant, lui-même proscrit pour avoir
farouchement lutté pour l’abolition de la
monarchie en Grèce, rêvait aussi de
l’union et de la fraternité des peuples32.
Pour Panas, le projet de création de la
société de la «Fédération Républicaine de
l’Est» en 1865-1867, serait le germe pour
arriver finalement à une fédération de
tous les pays européens33. Il milite,
d’ailleurs pour cette idée dans son journal
L’Ouvrier, où sont publiés des extraits des
discours de Hugo34.
30
Ulysse Ialémos, «Ο Κρόμβελ του Βίκτωρος Ουγώ και η τω 1858 εικοσιπενταετηρίς του Όθωνος»
(«Cromwell de Victor Hugo et le 25e anniversaire du règne d’Othon en 1858), Ημερολόγιον Κ.
Σκόκου (Almanach de C. Skokos), 2(1887), p. 112-125.
31
Ibid., p. 112: «Ο Βίκτωρ Ουγκώ παρίστατο προ των οφθαλμών μου συνδεδεμένος […] μετά της
συγχρόνου του ελληνικού κράτους ιστορίας, ουδαμώς υποπτεύων από της Γερνεσέης ότι εν
ταις εσωτερικαίς διαμάχαις της προσφιλούς αυτώ Ελλάδος εμμέσως ποτέ ήθελέ τις αυτόν
αναμίξει».
32
Voir à ce sujet Erasmia-Louisa Stavropoulou, Παναγιώτης Πανάς (1832-1896). Ένας ριζοσπάστης
ρομαντικός (Panayotis Panas (1832-1896). Un romantique radical), Athènes, Epikérotita, 1987.
33
Ε. Stavropoulou, op. cit., p. 87-88.
34
Εργάτης (L’Ouvrier), 20 septembre 1875.
35
irrépressible goût de la liberté expliquent
pourquoi Philarétos reconnaît en Hugo,
non seulement un philhellène pur, mais
aussi un modèle à suivre. Philarétos
compte parmi le nombre des
personnalités grecques qui ont établi une
relation épistolaire avec Hugo. En réponse
à la lettre que Philarétos lui adresse en
1883, Hugo répond par sa devise «aimer
c’est agir», et qui aurait pu être celle de
tous les républicains grecs qui, comme
Rigopoulos, Panas, Philarétos et d’autres
encore, furent des passerelles entre la
pensée de Hugo et la Grèce39. L’influence
hugolienne est d’ailleurs explicite dans le
titre d’un ouvrage de Philarétos qui
menait une lutte acharnée contre le roi
Constantin, intitulé Au milieu des calamités
de la guerre. Constantin le petit40.
D’autre part, dans certaines revendications sociales de Panas, notamment ses
propositions pour l’amélioration des
conditions de vie des ouvriers et la
nécessité d’instruire le peuple, on
reconnaît des accents hugoliens35. À
partir de 1867, il se lie avec Miltiade
Canellopoulos, rédacteur en chef de
l’Indépendance Hellénique et subit son
influence idéologique couplée à celle de
Gustave Flourens, qui sont alors les
intermédiaires entre Hugo et les Crétois36.
C’est dans ces milieux républicains
d’Athènes que fait ses premiers pas en
politique celui qui fut plus tard nommé
«le père de la république» en Grèce,
Georges Philarétos37. Imprégné des idées
de la Révolution française, Philarétos
milite pour le changement de régime
politique et lutte pour l’instauration de la
république. En 1875 il participe avec
Panas et d’autres républicains à la création
de l’association politique «Rhigas»,
dont le programme coïncide avec
l’identité idéologique de la «Fédération
Républicaine de l’Est», notamment sur la
collaboration et la fraternisation des
peuples du Sud-Est européen38. Ses luttes
pour la justice, la protection des faibles,
ses revendications sociales, ainsi que son
Philarétos avait aussi fait preuve d’une
sensibilité particulière pour les questions
d’amnistie politique et de peine de mort .
Il n’était pas le seul. Cette question
se trouvait en effet au centre des
préoccupations de plusieurs érudits et
penseurs politiques. Or, il n’est pas facile,
voire impossible, de définir à partir de
quelle date l’opinion publique commence
à être au courant du combat mené par
35
Ε. Stavropoulou, op. cit., p. 97.
Ε. Stavropoulou, op. cit., p. 73. Sur Gustave Flourens consulter l’ouvrage de Léonidas Kallivrétakis,
Η ζωή και ο θάνατος του Γουσταύου Φλουράνς (La vie et la mort de Gustave Flourens), Athènes,
M.I.E.T., 1998 et, en français, Gustave Flourens et la Grèce, Thèse, Université de Paris-Sorbonne
(Paris IV), 1983.
37 Sur G. Philarétos, voir l’Introduction de Th. Papadopoulos dans G. N. Philarétos, Ξενοκρατία και
βασιλεία εν Ελλάδι (Domination étrangère et royauté en Grèce), Athènes, 1973.
38
Voir à ce sujet Hariton Korizis, Συμβολή στην έρευνα της ελληνικής πολιτικής ζωής και κοινωνίας
στο 19ο αιώνα. Ο σύλλογος Ρήγας (Contribution à la recherche de la vie politique et de la société
grecques au XIXe siècle, Athènes, 1969.
39
Ριζοσπάστης (Rizospastis), no 107 (1907).
40
G. N. Philarétos, Εν πολεμική θεομηνία. Κωνσταντίνος ο μικρός 1914-1917 (Au milieu des calamités
de la guerre. Constantin le petit), Athènes, Pétrakos, 1918.
36
36
Hugo contre la peine de mort41. On l’a vu,
on a en Grèce une connaissance
approximative de ses actions. Des
références éparses dans la presse à partir
de la décennie 1860 signalaient son
engagement dans la lutte abolitionniste.
À partir de 1861 était disponible une
traduction de Claude Gueux et on avait pu
lire, aussitôt après leur publication, les
deux lettres de Hugo sur la peine de mort,
rédigées en 186542.
pas fortuit. Néoclis Kazazis43, jeune juriste
alors et professeur de Philosophie du
droit par la suite, se sert de cet ouvrage
pour soutenir sa propre prise de position
contre la peine de mort, «cette saleté qui
infecte encore malheureusement la
législation pénale de plusieurs nations,
sauf quelques exceptions»44. Hugo, avait
été, semble-t-il, très optimiste dans sa
lettre de 1865 qui annonçait l’abolition
prochaine de la peine de mort en Grèce45.
Le débat venait à peine d’être ouvert et le
texte de Hugo sera toujours d’actualité à
chaque fois que la question sera posée.
Mais il faudra attendre jusqu’en 1868 pour
une traduction du Dernier jour d’un
condamné, qui arrivait d’ailleurs à un
moment où la réputation de Hugo, en
tant qu’écrivain et homme politique, était
solidement établie en Grèce –après le
grand succès remporté par les Misérables,
qui avaient déjà connu deux éditions, et
son intervention en faveur de la Crète qui
avait révélé sa dimension d’homme
politique à un plus large public. À présent,
les lecteurs grecs vont découvrir un des
grands engagements humanitaires de
Hugo. Le choix du traducteur de
présenter cette œuvre au public n’était
La publication du Dernier Jour d’un
condamné est aussi l’occasion, pour le
penseur libéral qu’est Kazazis, de
reconnaître dans les idéaux de Hugo les
siens et de parler de l’exilé en termes de
politique46. Cette admiration de Kazazis
pour Hugo ne fut pas passagère. Plus tard,
un an après la mort du poète, il a fait, dans
l’étude sur Hugo la plus complète parue à
cette date, la première tentative de
présentation des luttes idéologiques et
politiques menées par Hugo47.
41
Il avait traduit en 1869 l’œuvre d’Alexandre Dumas Murat. Voir à ce sujet, Th. Katsikaros,
Alexandre Dumas père et la Grèce, Thèse, INALCO, 2002.
42
L’une adressée aux membres du comité central italien et l’autre à M. Lilly. Voir Victor Hugo,
Œuvres Complètes. Actes et Paroles II, Paris, R. Laffont, Bouquins, p. 677-678. Ces lettres furent
publiées dans Harmonia, n° 97, 27 février 1865, p. 1.
43
Sur Kazazis, consulter l’Introduction de Roxanne D. Argyropoulos, «Ο Νεοκλής Καζάζης,
ιστορικός της γαλλικής Επανάστασης» («Néoklis Kazazis, historien de la Révolution française»)
dans Néoklis Kazazis, Η Γαλλική Επανάστασις [édité par Roxanne D. Argyropoulos], Athènes,
Trochalia, 1993; Georges Kokkinos, Ο πολιτικός ανορθολογισμός στην Ελλάδα. Το έργο και η σκέψη
του Νεοκλή Καζάζη (1849-1936) (L’irrationalisme politique en Grèce. L’œuvre et la pensée de Néoklis
Kazazis), Αθήνα, Τροχαλία, 1996.
44
Victor Hugo, Η τελευταία ημέρα ενός καταδίκου (Le Dernier Jour d’un condamné). Traduction de
Néoklis Kazazis, Athènes, 1868, p. 13.
45
«À M. Lilly», Victor Hugo, op.cit., p. 678.
46
Victor Hugo, Η τελευταία ημέρα ενός καταδίκου (Le Dernier Jour d’un condamné). Traduction de
Néoklis Kazazis, p. 16: «Βίος καθαγιασθείς δια μαρτυρικών αγώνων και αφοσιώσεως ου μόνον
της ιδίας αυτού πατρίδος αλλ’ ολοκλήρου της ανθρωπότητος».
47
N. Kazazis, «Βίκτωρ Ουγγώ» («Victor Hugo»), Ποικίλη Στοά. Εθνικόν Ημερολόγιον του έτους 1886
(Le Poecile. Almanach National pour l’année 1886), p. 244-299.
37
La mort de Hugo marque en effet une
étape dans la présence de sa pensée
politique et sociale en Grèce. Lorsque Hugo
disparaît en 1885, l’hommage sans
précédent que lui rendent les Hellènes est
unanime: «Le peuple grec pleure en lui le
plus ancien, le plus généreux et le plus
constant des philhellènes», lit-on dans la
dépêche officielle du Président du Conseil.
C’est donc en termes politiques que l’on
parle de lui. Son engagement auprès du
peuple grec lui valut une mythification qui
ne peut être comparable qu’à celle de
Byron. Sa présence dans la conscience
nationale se définissait ainsi par la relation
particulière que son œuvre littéraire et son
action politique avaient pu établir avec
l’histoire du jeune État grec, lors du grand
soulèvement de 1821 d’abord, puis lors de
l’insurrection crétoise.
Un contact profond et durable avec sa
pensée avait cependant pu être établi entre
Hugo et les penseurs politiques grecs du
XIXe siècle qui traçaient les voies du jeune
État. Il devint pour eux une source
d’inspiration, un modèle à suivre. Leur
culture majoritairement francophone leur
permettait d’avoir une connaissance
meilleure et certainement plus complète de
sa pensée. Ils ont pu ainsi adopter les trois
mots d’ordre qui, selon Guy Rosa, résument
la politique du Hugo républicain – liberté,
réformes sociales et États-Unis d’Europe48.
Pour preuve, la création en 1890 d’une
association politique appelée «Victor Hugo»
dont le but était de promouvoir tout
progrès social, autrement dit d’appliquer sa
pensée sociale, de s’inspirer de ses idéaux49.
Le recul que l’on commence à prendre
face à l’homme et son œuvre au
lendemain de sa disparition va permettre
progressivement de voir s’éclipser la
figure du philhellène au profit de celle du
penseur politique républicain qui séduira
les penseurs grecs du XXe siècle.
De sa pensée politique et sociale, dont la
majorité du peuple ne pouvait avoir
qu’une connaissance fragmentaire, on
avait retenu ce qui convenait ou ce qui
servait aux combats idéologiques de
l’espace grec. À quelques exceptions près,
dont l’ampleur ou le nombre ne peuvent
constituer un paramètre important, Hugo
ne fit pas dans le monde grec l’objet de
critiques visant à discréditer sa vision
politique: quand on ne le suit pas dans ses
choix, quand on n’adopte pas ses grands
engagements, on se tait, tant sa figure
profondément ancrée dans la conscience
publique comme l’un des plus ardents
philhellènes, faisait de lui un symbole
intouchable.
Voir à ce sujet l’article de Guy Rosa, «’Ce que c'est que l'exil’ de Victor Hugo», disponible sur le
site du Groupe Hugo http://www.groupugo.univ-paris-diderot.fr/Groupugo/01-10-20rosa.htm
[consulté le 27/10/2014].
49
Néa Ephiméris, no 130, 10 mai 1890, p. 5.
48
38
Curricula Vitae
May Chehab is Associate Professor of General and French Comparative Literature at the University
of Cyprus, where he has been teaching since 2000 after having studied in Beirut (French Baccalauréat,
“Philosophie-Lettres”), Athens (BA in English & American Literature and BA in French Literature),
France (MA in Philosophy, “Art and Civilization Critique”, University of Panthéon-Sorbonne Paris-I and
Ph.D., “Literature and Arts”, University of Aix-en-Provence). She also holds a diploma in Constitutional
Law from the University of Sorbonne Paris-IV.
A 2005 Visiting Fellow at the University of Princeton and Jean Monnet Professor for History of
European Integration, May Chehab has published monographs (Saint-John Perse, neveu de Nietzsche,
Paris, Honoré Champion, 2009. Saint-John Perse. Amers [απόσπασμα]. Δοκιμή Μετάφρασης Γιώργος
Σεφέρης, Gavrielides, Athens, 2001), edited or coedited collective volumes (Méditerranée: ruptures et
continuité, 2003; Marguerite Yourcenar entre Littérature et Science, 2007; AutoBioPhagies, 2011),
chapters for books (10), dictionary entries (30) and several scientific articles on her research interests,
which include today’s Antiquity, new Autobiography, interaction between science, philosophy and
literature, Modern and Contemporary French Literature, European Studies. For her sustained
contributions in the field of Saint-John Perse, Marguerite Yourcenar and European studies, May
Chehab has been invited to international events as a keynote speaker (Bogotà 2011, Paris 2014) and
has taught or given lectures in numerous Universities (Montreal, Aix-Marseille, Dartmouth, Athens,
Paris 3, Cergy-Pontoise, Princeton, École Normale Supérieure, Geneva). Teaching and Research
Grants/Fellowships: ‘Stanley J. Seeger Visiting Fellow’ at the University of Princeton (2005) - Jean
Monnet Professor for History of European Integration (2003-2008) European Commission C03/0020,
Leventis 03/2008 (2009-2011).
Despina Provata is an Associate Professor of History of French Civilization at the University of
Athens, specializing in the cultural transfers between France and Greece. She has been teaching at
the University of Athens since 2004 and she also teaches a course on History of the European
Literature at the Hellenic Open University (since 2000).
After graduating from the French Department of the University of Athens (BA in French Literature),
she pursued her studies in France, at the University of Paris-Sorbonne-Paris IV where she obtained a
Masters Degree (Diplôme d’Études approfondies) and a Ph.D. in General and Comparative literature.
In France she had a scholarship from the Greek National Foundation of Scholarships (IKY).
Despina Provata has published monographs (Etienne-Marin Bailly. A Saint-simonian in Revolutionary
Greece, Athens, Sokolis, 2008; History of the European literature (18th-20th century) in collaboration
with Georgia Gotsi, Patras, Hellenic Open University, 2000), coedited collective volumes (journal
Documents, no 49, 2012; History of the European Literature from the 18th to the 20th century (in
collaboration with Dimitris Kargiotis); A Tribute to the Philhellene Jacques Lacarrière, 2008; Victor Hugo
(1802-1885). The romantic author, the visionary, the thinker, the philhellene. 200 years from his birth (in
collaboration with Anna Tabaki), chapters for books (4), and several scientific articles on her research
interests that include comparative literature, cultural transfers and translation studies.
D. Provata is Vice-president of the SIHFLES (Société Internationale pour l’Histoire du Français Langue
Étrangère ou Seconde) and co-editor of the peer reviewed periodical Documents pour l’histoire du
français langue étrangère ou seconde (Dhfles).
39
40
Language and Style in the Speeches of Thucydides
Principal Investigator: Antonis Tsakmakis, Associate Professor, Department of
Classical Studies and Philosophy, Faculty of Letters, University of Cyprus
Summary
The aim of this project was to study the language and style of speeches in
Thucydides’ work. Thucydides was the first historian to include complete rhetorical
speeches in his work, which are attributed either to individual speakers or to
anonymous representatives of groups. They are mostly regarded as uniform in style.
A working hypothesis of this project was to examine whether there is differentiation
of style between speeches, and whether this differentiation is significant, either in
revealing individual characteristics of specific personalities, or as rhetorical models
for the tretament of a special subject in a given situation.
Traditional rhetorical theory and stylistics was combined with text linguistics and
literary pragmatics in a systematic way, in an attempt to decode the principles
underpinning the composition of Thucydides’ text. This required an eclectic textual
approach: an overall study of the textual structure of the speeches with reference
to the cohesion and coherence of the text, the intentionality, acceptability,
informativity, situationality, intertextuality etc. Besides, the overall significance of
linguistic choices in the context of the work has been assessed by using all the
available contextual information, which is crucial for their interpretation: word
information, lexical distribution, textual pragmatics and semantics, contextual
information.
The combined examination of data concerning all speeches allows for the
determination of marked elements in individual speeches or groups of speeches.
In the stage of literary interpretation these features have been examined in the
context of the work, in order to assess their possible meaning.
The examination has revealed a conscious rhetorical and stylistic composition and
it has contributed to the understanding of Thucydides’ literary technique.
The Speech of the Corcyraeans (1.32-6) in Thucydides: Style and Interpretation
Introduction
This paper deals with the first speech in
Thucydides’ work, the speech of the
Corcyraeans in 1.32-36. The limitations
of space do not allow an exhaustive
presentation of all results of the stylistic
and linguistic analysis. Hence, we only refer
to those data which support the principal
idea of the paper, which is to indicate
stylistic variation between Thucydidean
speeches and to demonstrate (also to the
non-specialist) its importance for the
interpretation of Thucydides’ History of the
Peloponnesian War.
41
principal instigators of the war, mainly
through their rhetorical activity. They
deliver three speeches in the same
book (between 1.37-1.124; no other
anonymous group will be given even a
second speech in the work. The
Corinthians’ speeches are all deliberative;
only Pericles and Nicias deliver three
speeches within a more limited space,
namely less than a book, but they are not
all of the same kind: Pericles 1.140-2.64,
the second speech – Epitaphios – is
epideictic; Nicias 6.9-6.64, the third
speech is a military exhortation).
The speech is one of nine speeches which
are not attributed to a named individual,
but to a collective group identified by
means of an ethnic name (the first
four speeches in the work are all
attributed to envoys from Greek cities
who present their case at Athens and
Sparta during the pre-war period:
Corcyraeans and Corinthians, Corinthians
and Athenians respectively). This is a
standard practice in Thucydides, when
envoys address a foreign audience during
a diplomatic mission (with the notable
exception of Hermocrates and Euphemos,
who are named as the representatives of
the Syracusans and the Athenians in
Kamarina, 6.76-87). Necessarily, any
stylistic peculiarities of these speeches
cannot be related to the personal
style of the speakers, but have to be
interpreted either as indications of
national characteristics or as the result of
rhetorical composition, according to the
needs which result from a given situation
and serve specific communicative aims
(this is likely to be what Thucydides calls
τά δέοντα, 1.22.1, when he explains the
principles underlying the composition of
his speeches). Both possibilities will be
explored; parallel examination of the
answering speech of the Corinthians will
provide additional evidence. As both
Corcyraeans and Corinthians appear in
other parts of the work, as well, it will be
helpful to examine whether the style of
the speeches is in any way related to their
treatment in the narrative.
The debate of the Corcyraeans and the
Corinthians took place during an Assembly
in Athens in 433 B.C. The skirmish between
the two cities began with their dispute over
the city of Epidamnus. Having been
defeated in the war with Corcyra, Corinth
starts getting prepared by building ships in
order to form a strong fleet and attack the
Corcyraeans. These actions alarm the latter
(ἐφοβοῦντο, 31.2), who by then belonged
to no Greek confederacy. Consequently, the
Corcyraeans decide to repair to Athens and
seek help. Αfter being informed of the
Corcyraeans’ intentions, the Corinthians
send delegates to Athens in order to
prevent an alliance between Athens and
Corcyra. This Assembly was convoked by
the Athenians, so that the Corinthians and
Corcyraeans could speak out and expound
their views and overtures.
The speeches are explicitly labeled as
ἀντιλογία in Thucydides’ introduction. It is
possible that a first (separate) meeting
with each party took place in the
boule, which refered the case to the
ekklesia, where both parties were
present simulataneously. More important
is the fact that the use of the term, which
is also known from a title attributed
to Protagoras’ and Antiphon’s three
surviving antilogies, inevitably implies
The Corcyraeans do not deliver further
speeches, nor do they play a major role in
the events. Nevertheless, the civil war in
Corcyra will be treated in a pardigmatic
manner in Book 3 – quite unexpectedly.
The Corinthians, on the other hand, are
outstandingly (and disproportionally)
active in Book 1; they are treated as the
42
that the two speeches were composed
and are to be studied as rhetorical
compositions by the same author. It is
noteworthy that, whereas Thucydides’
practice is to provide only the bare
essentials in the settings of his speeches,
the postscript of the antilogia between
Corcyraeans and Corinthians is one of the
most extensive and detailed ones. The
importance of antilogic composition for
Thucydides is further highlighted by the
fact that in the next set of speeches the
Athenians see themselves obliged to
explicitly state that their speech is not
conceived as part of an antilogia (1.73.1).
The speeches were neither successful
nor unsuccessful; this at least can
be adduced from the Athenians’ decision
vis-à-vis the Corcyrean overture. After
hearing both the Corcyrean and
Corinthian envoys, the Athenians decided
to accept the Corinthians’ proposition. In
a latter assembly, however, they changed
their mind and decided to make a
defensive alliance with the Corcyraeans.
According to Thucydides, even though
the Athenians did not want to have a
direct conflict with Corinth, they were
convinced that the war against the
Peloponnesians was inevitable and,
accordingly, they wanted to ensure that
they would have the Corcyrean fleet on
their side. Another reason was Corcyra’s
good strategic position on the route to
Sicily and Italy. (Both of these issues are
raised up and emphasized in the
Corcyraeans’ speech). The vacillation and
difficulty in making a decision clearly
indicates that there must have been a hot
debate on the issue; the reader is
encouraged to realize it and is forced to
evaluate herself/himself the situation, the
validity of arguments and the criteria of
the decision. Immediate and final
decisions which are taken under the
influence of a single speech are not
as common as one would expect in
Thucydides. Through his speeches
Thucydides does not simply intend to
provide historical information about the
circumstances (including the background
of and the motivation behind political
decisions), but he also signals the
epistemological limitations of the analysis
attributed to his speakers: there is no
absolute truth; the events cannot be
explained by means of a single theory,
safe predictions are impossible; humans
cannot blank out the subjective factors
which influence their decisions. The
speeches frequently raise questions of
certainty and delve into the pre-requisites
of sound or valid predictions; in the
present case in particular this is reflected
in the use of terms such as ἀσφάλεια,
ἀσφαλής, βέβαιος, ἐχυρός (Corcyraeans: 6;
Corinthians: 5). This emphasis is primarily
due to the Corcyraeans’ anxiety to
persuade their audience (as will be stated
below, their case is morally controversial).
Since the Corcyra affair is regarded by
Thudydides as a prelude to the war, the
Corcyraeans’ line of reasoning acquires
additional importance and has to be
assessed accordingly.
The balance of the two speeches’
effectiveness is reflected in the almost
equal average length of their syntactic
periods. In other antilogies, the second
speech, which prevails, consists of
shorter periods (by more than 3 words
or 1/8 of the total on average). In
contrast, the average period length of
both speeches in this antilogy is comparable, and they both display longer periods than any successful speech within a
set of contrary speeches (Cleon/Diodotus:
26,1/22,2; Plataeans/Thebans: 25/22,1;
Nicias/Alcibiades: 26,2/23,3; Hermocrates/
Athenagoras: 28,7/24; Corcyraeans/
43
Corinthians: 25,9/26,4; the speeches of
Archidamus and Sthenelaidas are not
treated as an antilogy, because of their
remarkable difference in length).
and Sparta (35); if Corinth manages to
subdue Corcyra, the consequences for
Athens will be mischievous, as in the
impendent war against Sparta she will
have to fight against the united fleets of
Corcyra and the Peloponnesians (36).
The interdependence of the two speeches
as parts of an artful antilogia is further
suggested by the use of rhetorical means.
In the speech of the Corcyraeans there is
only one instance of formal address to
the audience (in the opening phrase
1.32.1: ὦ Ἀθηναῖοι); there is none in
the Corinthians’ Speech. The formal
suppression of the primary audience
detaches the speeches from the specific
communicative situation (the reader is
not constantly reminded to whom they
are addressed) and suggests their reading
as corresponding parts of a rhetorical
composition; the lack of any address
in the Corinthians’ speech reduces
its verisimilitude and increases its
dependence on the previous one. Thus,
the speeches obtain a certain autonomy
within the historiographic framework;
they constitute a level of discourse which
does not sustain the exact representation
of historical truth, it rather helps the
reader search for meaning, disclose a
more profound truth.
The Corcyraeans do not feel welcome in
Athens: they cannot appeal to any
genealogical, political, moral, military or
social ties; their unique point is that, since
the war is inevitable, the Athenians
should take the opportunity to join forces
with them. The distance between
speakers and audience is reflected in
the speakers’ strategies of reference,
especially regarding the three cities and
the way they are related to each other.
They mainly refer to their own city and its
people in the 3rd person; this minimizes
the identification of the speakers who are
physically present before the audience
and the “Corcyraeans”, whom they are
talking about (“what was wrong in the
past does not affect you and us, but a
third party, the Corcyraeans”); this also
requires that references to the audience
are concealed under the third person in
the epilogue, accompanied by a 3rd
person reference to “Athens”. Since the
speakers cannot rely on the audience’s
positive sentiments, they try to turn the
misfortune into a blessing. Their neutral
tone suggests objectivity; and the
speakers set themselves beyond criticism
for any possible complaints, as they
artfully suppress their identification with
the subject of their discourse – they
appear as “representatives”, not as part of
the problem they are talking about. By so
doing, they treat the “Corcyraeans” as they
would like the Athenians to regard them;
in other words they project their own
point of view to the audience. At the same
time, the combined and balanced use of
1st and 2nd person pronouns (see below)
The Corcyraeans try to demonstrate that
an alliance between Athens and Corcyra
would be beneficial and advantageous for
both cities. They explain the reasons
which kept Corcyra away from alliances
in the past (32), demonstrate the
advantages for the Athenians of an
alliance between Athens and Corcyra
(33-34), namely that a) they will help a city
that is facing injustice, b) they will ensure
the Corcyraeans’ gratitude, and c) they will
have Corcyra’s fleet on their side, a
significant addition given the imminent
war with Sparta; finally they stress that
such an alliance would not contravene
the 30-year peace treaty between Athens
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advances a (previously non-existent)
relationship between Athenians and
Corcyraeans. Contrarily, the Corinthians
are at pains to destroy these impressions
created by the Corcyraeans’ style
by repeatedly using demonstrative
pronouns (forms of ὅδε) in a derogatory
tone whenever they refer to the
Corcyraeans; by treating the Corcyraean
envoys as a common spectacle of
themselves and their audience, they rebut
the idea of the Corcyraeans’ “remoteness”
and they project, in turn, their own
contemptuous disposition towards them
to the Athenians. They force the audience
to regard them in the same manner as
they claim in their speech.
Furtheron, we observe that the
Corcyraeans show a remarkable preference for impersonal expressions. This is
a way to avoid deontic modality. From 4
imperative forms used by them only 1 is
in the 2nd person, 3 are in the 3rd; two
infinitives and an optative are also used
instead of imperative forms. Inversely, the
Corinthians’ imperatives are three in the
2nd person and one in the 3rd. Besides,
the Corcyraeans repreatedly use the
conditional participle (33.1: γενήσεται δὲ
ὑμῖν πειθομένοις καλὴ ἡ ξυντυχία; 35:
δεχόμενοι ἡμᾶς... πεισθέντων ὑμῶν... μὴ
πείσαντες ὑμᾶς; 36: δεξάμενοι δὲ ἡμᾶς
ἕξετε πρὸς αὐτοὺς πλείοσι ναυσὶ ταῖς
ἡμετέραις ἀγωνίζεσθαι – this is the last
sentence!). Deontic modality is also
masked behind the frequent use of the
future. What the Athenian ought to do is
presented as a logical consequence
resulting from epistemic certainty about
what is expected to happen. On the other
hand, the Corinthians’ self-confidence is
reflected in the proportion of 1st and 2nd
person pronouns (ἡμεῖς: 25; ἡμέτερος, -α,
-ον: 3; ὑμεῖς: 9; ὑμέτερος, -α, -ον: 2;
corresponding data for the Corcyraeans
45
show a remarkable balance: ἡμεῖς: 18;
ἡμέτερος, -α, -ον: 5; ὑμεῖς: 16; ὑμέτερος, α, -ον: 5). The self-confidence of the
Corinthians announces their prominent
role in Book 1; the reader is indirectly
prepared for their determined appeal for
military action and for their merciless
criticims of Sparta’s reluctance.
Furtheron, we observe that the
Corcyraeans show a remarkable preference for impersonal expressions. This is
a way to avoid deontic modality. From 4
imperative forms used by them only 1 is
in the 2nd person, 3 are in the 3rd; two
infinitives and an optative are also used
instead of imperative forms. Inversely, the
Corinthians’ imperatives are three in the
2nd person and one in the 3rd. Besides,
the Corcyraeans repreatedly use the
conditional participle (33.1: γενήσεται δὲ
ὑμῖν πειθομένοις καλὴ ἡ ξυντυχία; 35:
δεχόμενοι ἡμᾶς... πεισθέντων ὑμῶν... μὴ
πείσαντες ὑμᾶς; 36: δεξάμενοι δὲ ἡμᾶς
ἕξετε πρὸς αὐτοὺς πλείοσι ναυσὶ ταῖς
ἡμετέραις ἀγωνίζεσθαι – this is the last
sentence!). Deontic modality is also
masked behind the frequent use of the
future. What the Athenian ought to do is
presented as a logical consequence
resulting from epistemic certainty about
what is expected to happen. On the other
hand, the Corinthians’ self-confidence is
reflected in the proportion of 1st and 2nd
person pronouns (ἡμεῖς: 25; ἡμέτερος, -α,
-ον: 3; ὑμεῖς: 9; ὑμέτερος, -α, -ον: 2;
corresponding data for the Corcyraeans
show a remarkable balance: ἡμεῖς: 18;
ἡμέτερος, -α, -ον: 5; ὑμεῖς: 16; ὑμέτερος, α, -ον: 5). The self-confidence of the
Corinthians announces their prominent
role in Book 1; the reader is indirectly
prepared for their determined appeal for
military action and for their merciless
criticims of Sparta’s reluctance.
The most striking aspect of the
Corcryraeans’ speech is how often it
explicitly refers to expediency – even
though the first word of the Corcyraeans
to the Athenians is δίκαιον, justice plays
an otherwise small role in building up
their argument. The bulk of their
appeal to the Athenians repeats the
idea that helping them is in Athens’
best interest (33: ξύμφορα, ἀξύμφορον,
35: ξυμφέροντα, 36: ξυμφέροντα,
ξυμφορώτατον). If Malcolm Heath is
right that it is a distinctive characteristic
of Athenian speakers to ‘dismiss
considerations of justice as irrelevant to
decision-making’ and instead focus on the
expedient, then the Corcyraean strategy
of centering their argument on the
Athenians’ best interest can be considered
an aspect of their ethopoeia. The
Corcyraeans speak to the Athenians in the
language of expediency, which is the only
one their audience would recognise as
valid in planning their own policy.
Perhaps this is one of their reasons why
the Corcyraeans end up having their way
with the Athenians, whereas the plea of
the Corinthians, whose speech centres on
justice, is at the end rejected. (A further
opposition is the one between ἁμαρτία –
the Corcyraeans’ explanation for their past
behaviour – and ἀδικία – the Corinthian
interpretation of it).
persuade the Athenians to follow their
suggestions, which is a face-threatening
act (FTA), as they obstruct the freedom of
action of the audience, thus damaging
their “negative face”. The impersonal tone
of their introduction and the evocation of
the δίκαιον mitigates the formulation of
the message; it is to be noted that the
first reference to an “obligation” (δίκαιον
[sc. ἐστί]…) refers to themselves, not
to the audience, a further mitigation
strategy. By expressing their intentions in
such a general way, the Corcyraeans
achieve to minimise the danger of
imposition that the future indicative of
the verb ἀναδιδάσκω would have. The
same attitude explains further linguistic
choices: Even though the Corcyraeans
admit the lack of any ties between them
and the Athenians in the past, they try to
reduce this social distance by defining
them as their “neighbours” (παρὰ τοὺς
πέλας, 31.1). This characterisation is
striking, considering that the Corcyraeans
and the Athenians were anything but
neighbours. Not only is the distance
between these two places great, but also
Corcyra’s position to the NW of Greece
rendered her independent of the rest
of the Greek cities, a feature which,
according to the Corinthians (37.3), she
exploited for her own benefit. To be sure,
their claim on the Athenians’ proximity
should be seen as an attempt intended to
forge certain links with them, thus
indicating some sort of intimacy and
closeness. Moreover, from the very
opening of their speech the Corcyraeans
venture to ensure their listeners that such
an alliance would be expedient for them,
or at least safe (δίκαιον....ἀναδιδάξαι.....
μάλιστα μὲν ὡς καὶ ξύμφορα δέονται, εἰ δὲ
μή, ὅτι γε οὐκ ἐπιζήμια); they also assure
them that they will not get angry if they
fail to convince them. The pessimism
The paradoxical appeal to justice at the
beginning of the speech of the
Corcyraeans is better understood if we
take into consideration the answering
speech and the importance of justice in it;
in a set conceived as an antilogia it
implicitly challenges in advance the
Corinthians’ claim to monopolize the
δίκαιον. On the other hand it is also
reasonable from a rhetorical point of view,
since it results from an effective politeness
strategy. The Corcyraeans’ real aim is to
46
The speech closes with the Corcyraeans
emphasising the advantages of the
alliance for Athens, making the bold
statement that alliance or not with
Corcyra can even determine the outcome
of the imminent war for Athens. What is
more, the expediency of such an alliance
for Athens is here focalised through the
eyes of the Athenians themselves (καὶ
ὅτῳ τάδε ξυμφέροντα μὲν δοκεῖ λέγεσθαι,
φοβεῖται δὲ μὴ δι᾽ αὐτὰ πειθόμενος τὰς
σπονδὰς λύσῃ…).
expressed in this last sentence is not
insignificant, but should be understood as
one of the strategies employed by the
Corcyraeans in order to minimise the
threat evoked by the infinitive ἀναδιδάξαι
to their hearer’s face.
Overall, the Corcyraeans are particularly
careful to redress possible FTAs by
employing a wide range of mitigating
strategies. The language they use and the
way in which they shape their requests in
the first part of their speech clearly reflect
the hierarchical nature of their relation to
the Athenians, while at the same time
they serve to reinforce this relationship.
The Corcyraeans are fully aware of the
urgency of the situation and their
helplessness, and do not refrain from
saying so.
The Corcyraeans’ awareness that their
realist argumentation, which ignores
traditional principles and morality, may
be rejected by many contemporaries is
reflected in the indirect manner they
introduce crucial arguments: we notice
a frequent use of ἅμα which is used
for the introduction of novel ideas which
are seemingly not highlighted but
introduced as secondary (5 times, 3 of
which as a discourse marker, not as a
temporal adverb; the Corinthians use it
only once); in this way the Corcyraeans try
to smoothen their bold assertions. This is
the most frequent occurrence of the
adverb, paralleled only in Pericles 1st
speech (5 instances, but 4 of them are
temporal); interestingly the speeches
which come next in the frequency of ἅμα
(4) also defend questionable cases:
Alcibiades 6.16-18 (inciting the Sicilian
expedition); Alcibiades 6.89-91 (trying to
defend his earlier opposition to Sparta,
but also treachery); Hermocrates, 6.76-80
(not a weak case, but twice temporal). On
the other hand, a prevailing characteristic
of the speech of the Corinthians is
the frequent use of contrastive focus
expressed with ἀλλά (used 10 times
after a negation, against only 5 by the
Corcyraeans). This reflects the fact that
their speech is a detailed refutation of
the preceding one, or of its background
Yet, their stance and language change
gradually as their speech progresses, in
order to reach a climax at the very end.
From ch. 33 onwards, the power dynamics
between the two parties seem to alter.
The Corcyraeans still appeal to the
Athenians’ help, but now a potential
alliance between the two cities is not
presented as beneficial to Corcyra alone,
but to Athens as well. By accepting
Corcyra as an ally Athens can become not
only the distant first power among the
naval powers of Greece, but also even to
surpass in power its equal Sparta.
As the speech progresses to its end, the
shift in power dynamics becomes even
greater. After declaring that the alliance
will be equally advantageous for Corcyra
and Athens, the Corcyraeans even dare to
cast a threat against the Athenians. What
at the beginning was deemed just, and
later expedient, it is now presented as an
obligation – the Athenians have to assist
Corcyra.
47
frequent in their speech than in the
speech of the Corcyraeans: φημί (5), λέγω
(4), λόγος (3), ἀντιλέγω (1), δηλῶ (1),
κελεύω (1), παραίνεσις (1), παρακαλῶ (1),
προβάλλομαι (1), προλέγω (1), προκαλῶ (1)
– Corcyraeans: πείθω (5), λέγω (3),
ἀναδιδάσκω (1), λόγος (1) δέχεσθαι (7),
ὑπολέγω (1). Finally, the most frequent
verb in both speeches is δέχεσθαι. It refers
to the Athenians response to both the
Corcyraeans’ speech (accept their
argumentation) and to its content (accept
the offer of an alliance); see for example
1.37.1-2. They focus on the Athenians’
possible response and warn them about
the consequences: δέχεσθαι is particularly
frequent in both speeches, slightly
prefered by the Corinthians (10 against 7).
Its dominant position in the the duel
divulges the principal issue and
underpins the importance of the
Athenians’ decision. It also suggests that
this decision will be voluntary, as the
Athenians’ freedom at this very moment
is not restricted by any inhibiting factors.
The use of καιρός by the Corinthians, 3
times towards the end of the speech,
corroborates this idea, as well.
suppositions. They also use sentenceinitial καὶ (7) in sentences which mostly
express anger and contempt (while the 5
instances in the Corcyraeans’ speech are
transitional) and καίτοι twice (it is found
18 times in the speeches, twice in Pericles’
apologetic last speech, in Nicias’ answer
to Alcibiades and in the lengthy and
forensic in character speeches of the
Plataeans and the Thebans).
Apart from the preference for specific
particles and connectoras, presistent
reccurence of lexical elements makes core
ideas more visible to the reader. Among
favorite “Corcyraean” key-works are ναῦς
(3), ναυτικόν (3), ναυτικός (1), ναυμαχέω (1),
ναυμαχία (1): the last two create a link to
the preceding narrative, but are
significantly absent from the speech of
the Corinthians, who ignore the navy
since they reject realist argumentation;
the Corcyraeans also underline the
importance of ξυμμαχία (7; Corinthians 2)
and ἐπικουρία (3, Corinthians none). The
Corinthians would be satisfied if the
Athenians remained neutral and appeal
to moral obligation; they use 4 times
φίλος (the Corcyraeans once); further
preferred terms of the Corinthians are
ἀξιόω (3), ἀξίωσις (2), ἄξιος (1) as they
principally appeal to ideological
arguments. Typically “Corinthean” appear
words from the semantic field “violence”,
always characterizing the Corcyraeans:
βία (2), βιάζω (2), βίαιος (1). The
association of the Corcyraeans with
violence foreshadows probably the
characterization of the war as a “βίαιος
διδάσκαλος” (3.82.2), in a passage inspired
by events which take place in Corcyra.
Finally, a further peculiarity of the speech
of the Corcyraeans is the high proportion
of predicative adjectives used in it. In the
speech of the Corcyraeans there is a strong
preference for predicative adjectives (34
against 20). This is more striking if we
realize that in the rival speech of the
Corinthians there is a balance between
attributive and predicative adjectives (23
each). The importance of predicative
adjectives increases if we consider the
higher frequency of adjectives in this
speech (6,49% of the total number of
words against 4,84% in the speech of the
Corinthians). One is tempted, again, to
associate this peculiarity with a remark by
Thucydides in his general comments on
While the Corcyraeans were concerned
with the world “out there” (especially
with military issues), the Corinthians focus
on the debate: verbs and nouns from
the semantic field “speak” are twice as
48
civil war, which are inspired by the
incidents in Corcyra: one of the most
penetrating remarks concerns the change
of meaning of the words: “The words
normally used to evaluate deeds were
changed to fit what was thought justified”
(3.82.4; transl. Rhodes). In linguistic terms,
the phenomenon described here is a
case of predication. A traditional belief,
expressed in the proposal “A is/means x” is
replaced by a new, provocative assertion
“A is/means y”. Thus, the speech of the
Corcyraeans in Book 1 foreshadows a
severe disturbance of human behaviour, as
a result of the war. The speech reveals the
mentality which made this possible, it is
the first episode in the evolution which
culminated in the events of the civil strife.
Deliverables - Publications
• Tsakmakis, A./Kostopoulos, Y., “Cleon’s
Imposition on his Audience”, in:
Rechenauer G./Pothou, V. (eds.),
Thucydides a Violent Teacher? History
and Its Representations, Göttingen 2011,
171-183.
• Tsakmakis, A./Themistokleous Ch., “Textual
Structure and Modality in Thucydides’
Military Exhortations”, in: A. Tsakmakis –
M. Tamiolaki (eds.), Thucydides between
History and Literature, Berlin – New York
2012, 391-408.
• Pavlou, M., “Attributive Discourse in the
Speeches in Thucydides” in: A. Tsakmakis
– M. Tamiolaki (eds.), Thucydides between
History and Literature, Berlin – New York
2012, 409-433.
• Tsakmakis, A., “Rhetorical Speeches in a
Narrative Context”, in: E. Foster - S. Forsdyke
- R. Balot (eds.), Oxford Handbook of
Thucydides (to appear December 2014).
• Presentations in Conferences (Regensburg
2009, St. Petersburg 2009, Athens 2010).
49
• A doctoral thesis by Maria Kythraiotou
concerning the antithesis in Thucydides
speeches is being written at the Department under the supervision of Prof.
Tsakmakis.
• Α book-length publication by A. Tsakmakis
and various articles by A. Tsakmakis and
C. Themistocleous are under preparation.
Collaborators
Yannis Kostopoulos
Charalambos Themistocleous
Maria Pavlou
Photini Chatzitofi
Curriculum Vitae
Antonis Tsakmakis
He was born in Thessaloniki, Greece. He studied Greek Literature at the Universities of Thessaloniki
and Munich and received his PhD from the Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich in 1991.
Scholarships: Greek Scholarships Foundation (IKY), Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD),
Alexander-von-Humboldt Stiftung.
He has been a faculty member at the University of Cyprus since 1992.
His research interests include Greek historiography, Old comedy (esp. Aristophanes), Euripides, The
sophistic movement, Archaic lyric poetry, Greek stylistics, Reception of antiquity, Greek in the
Secondary Education.
Major Publications: Thukydides über die Vergangenheit, Tübingen 1995 (x + 270 pp.); Όρνιθες. Όψεις
και Aναγνώσεις μιας Aριστοφανικής Kωμωδίας (ed. with M. Christopoulos), Athens 1997; Brill’s
Companion to Thucydides (ed. with A. Rengakos), Mnemosyne Supplements, Leiden: Brill 2006;
Thucydides between History and Literature (ed. with M. Tamiolaki), Berlin – New York 2012.
Articles and book reviews on Thucydides, Herodotus, Xenophon, Aristophanes, Pindar, Greek
historiography and biography, Greek religion, Greek athletics, the reception of classical antiquity in
modern Greek education, Classical Philology in the Rennaissance, Wilamowitz, Werner Jaeger etc. in
various journals, Festschriften, edited volumes, lexica and encyclopedias.
Textbooks for the teaching of Greek in secondary education.
50
The Prehistoric Settlement under the Heraion of Samos
Principal Inverstigator: Ourania Kouka, Associate Professor, Department of History and
Archaeology, Faculty of Letters, University of Cyprus
Summary
Heraion of Samos is one of the most glorious sanctuaries of Ionia, dedicated to
goddess Hera. Excavations of the German Archaeological Institute since 1911
brought to light impressive buildings and votives from the Early Iron Age through
the Late Roman Periods (1050 BC-400 AD). Architecture discovered in the area of
the Hera Temple (1953, 1955, 1973) indicate the existence of a big settlement, which
in the mature Early Bronze Age (2550-2000 BC) has been, besides Troy, Liman Tepe
(Izmir) and the island settlements of Poliochni on Lemnos, Thermi on Lesbos and
Emporio on Chios, one of the biggest early urban settlements in the Aegean.
The project has been planned as a 5-year excavation – the first excavation of the
University of Cyprus abroad – and has been granted in 2009-2011 as a research
programme of the A. G. Leventis Foundation1. It included excavations north of the
Sacred Road of Heraion and has been conducted within the framework of the
excavations of the German Archaeological Institute and thanks to the permit of the
Greek Ministry of Culture.
The entirely fulfilled goals of the project can be summarized as follows:
a) investigation of the Late Chalcolithic, the early phases of the Early Bronze, the
Middle and Late Bronze Age settlement phases (4000-1700 BC), b) examination of
the spatial distribution of economic activities through all phases, c) study of the
external contacts of these settlements, d) diagnosis of the political and social
organization and their changes through time, e) illumination of the early urbanism
process in the Early and the Middle Bronze Age, and f ) examination of the
participation and the specific role of Samos in local and extensive trade networks
not only within the Aegean, but also between the Aegean and Western Anatolia, as
well as between the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean including Cyprus in
Prehistoric Times.
Introduction
Heraion is located on the southern coast of
the island of Samos, in the biggest, most
fruitful, and best-watered plain of the
island, which was the only microregion
suitable for habitation from the Neolithic
Period through the Late Antiquity.
Prehistoric habitation on Samos goes back
to the Late and Final Neolithic (LN, FN) as
stratified levels at the promontory of
1
I would like to express my deep gratitude to the A. G. Leventis Foundation and the members of
the Research Committee of the Foundation for a generous funding of the project in 2009-2011.
During these years excavations at Heraion have been also financed by the Department of History
and Archaeology of the University of Cyprus. The excavations have been continued in 2012-2013
thanks to the financial support of the University of Cyprus, the Institute for Aegean Prehistory
(INSTAP) and the Fritz Thyssen Stiftung für Wissenschaftsförderung.
51
of the Samos Excavations aimed7: a) to
investigate the possible existence of the
LCh, the early phases of the EB, the MB
and LB settlement phases, b) to examine
the spatial distribution of economic
activities through all phases, c) to study
the external contacts of these
settlements, d) to diagnose the political
and social organization and their changes
through time, e) to illuminate early
urbanism process in the EB and the MB,
and f ) to testify the participation and the
specific role of Samos in local and
extensive trade networks not only within
the Aegean, but also between the
Aegean and Western Anatolia, as well as
between the Aegean and the Eastern
Mediterranean including Cyprus in
Prehistoric Times.
Kastro-Tigani, 7 km east of Heraion,
demonstrate. Stratified Early Bronze Age
(EB) habitation has been documented at
Kastro-Tigani and at Heraion. The Middle
(MB) and the Late Bronze Ages (LB) are
known through stray finds at Heraion,
Fanari and Mesokampos and through late
Mycenaean chamber tombs at Heraion
and Myloi.2
The prehistoric settlement at Heraion
extended on flat ground between the
two main branches of the Imvrassos River
in an area covering 35,000m2. This
settlement was the biggest island
settlement in the EB in the eastern
Aegean, as indicated by the published
excavations of Milojčić3 and by the ones
known only from preliminary reports by
Walter4 and by Isler5 in the area of the
Hera Temple. The EB phases, Heraion I–V,
as defined by Milojčić, were synchronous
with Troy II–Troy IV (ca. 2500–2000 BC).
Earlier finds, dating in phase Heraion I,
were excavated in 1981 by Kyrieleis and
Weisshaar beneath the Late Roman
settlement north of the Sacred Road.6
The recent excavations north of the
Sacred Road brought to light successive
architectural phases dating from the LCh
through early EB II, which represent the
earliest known core of settlement at the
Heraion.8 In addition, part of the MB
fortified settlement was investigated for
the first time, demonstrating a longer use
of the area for habitation purposes than
previously thought.
The excavations of the University of
Cyprus in 2009-2013 conducted under
the direction of the author, within the
framework of the excavations of the
German Archaeological Institute, thanks
to the kind invitation for cooperation by
W.-D. Niemeier, Director of the German
Archaeological Institute at Athens and
Very important for the research strategy
of the project have been the results
of the geomagnetic prospection and
prospection with Georadar undertaken
2009 by Dr. Harald Stümpel and Christina
2
Kouka 2002, 279-80, map 28.
Milojčić 1961.
4
Walter 1963, 286–289.
5
Isler 1973.
6
Kyrieleis et al. 1985, figs. 2, 35–37.
7
I would like to thank Wolf-Dietrich Niemeier and the DAI for offering the University of Cyprus
the opportunity to undertake under my direction the excavations north of the Sacred Road at
the Heraion of Samos (2009–2013).
8
Morgan et al. 2009–2010; Niemeier and Kouka 2010; 2011; 2012; Kouka 2013; Niemeier and
Kouka forthcoming (a); forthcoming (b).
3
52
Klein of the Institute for Geophysics of the
University of Kiel, that showed only a
limited occupation in the upper levels of
the areas of our interest north of the
Sacred Road. For the purposes of the
excavation a new grid system for Heraion
has been created by the topographer
Hans Birk.
cookings pans (so-called cheese-pots).
Flintstone and obsidian blades and flakes
have also been found. The documentation of a LCh cultural level fulfils our
assumption, that the huge EB settlement
at Heraion had a LCh predecessor, as it
was also the case at Poliochni on Lemnos,
Emporio on Chios, Liman Tepe and
Bakla Tepe in the Izmir Region. This
oldest habitation level of Heraion is
contemporary with Tigani IV, Emporio
VII-VI, Liman Tepe VII and Miletus I.10
Three sectors of ca. 500m2 in total have
been so far excavated north of the Sacred
Road. The South Sector is located directly
north of the deep soundings of 1981,
where four EB habitation levels have been
unearthed by Kyrieleis. In this area,
directly beneath house complexes of the
2nd and the 4th c. AD9, six successive
prehistoric architectural phases have
been investigated from 2009 to 2011.
Architectural phases EB 1-4 (Frühe
Bronzezeit 1-4) date in the early EB II
(2750-2500/2450 BC) and architectural
phase EB 5 (Frühe Bronzezeit 5) dates in
the EB I (ca. 3200-2750 BC). A sixth
cultural level, dates in the LCh (Spätes
Chalkolithikum) and lies directly on virgin
soil (Figure 1).
More evidence is known about the EB I–II
(early) settlement (3200–2500 BC) (Fig. 2).
It consisted of long-room houses with
stone foundations assigned to five
successive architectural phases. The
settlement also had a communal storage
building11 and a stone-built fortification
supported by a stone ramp and flanked
by rectangular bastions (cf. Troy I,
Poliochni Blue, Liman Tepe VI).12 The
house remains allowed the identification
of areas for food preparation (installations
for grinding, cooking in hearths) and
storage (pithoi, amphorae). Important is
the occurrence in the early EB II of wine
production, as well as – according to our
Palaeobotanist Evi Margariti – the earliest
so far in the Aegean limited olive oil
production. It seems that, as in the other
settlements of the northern and eastern
Aegean, demographic (population
growth), economic (wealth, interaction),
social, and political factors in phase
Heraion I precipitated an extension of the
The LCh cultural level (4500-3200 BC) is
strongly destroyed from the foundation of
phases EB 4 and EB 5 and includes limited
architectural evidence (roof clay, wooden
beams, a hearth and pebble floors).
Pottery includes orange, reddish brown to
black coated and/or burnished bowls
with thickened rim, bowls with rolled-rim,
collar-necked jars with narrow, vertical
and unpierced lugs, as well as parts of
9
The debris beneath the foundation of the Roman houses included architectonic fragments,
pottery and small finds from earlier periods. The most important among them is the base and
the lower part of a Cypro-Archaic Kore sculpted in limestone, that depicts one of the numerous
Cypriot votives to the Hera Sanctuary, the biggest known so far from Samos (Niemeier and
Kouka 2010, 113, Abb. 15).
10
Kouka forthcoming (a); forthcoming (b).
11
Morgan et al. 2009–2010, 157, fig. 163; Niemeier and Kouka 2010, 113, fig. 16; 2011, 104–105,
figs. 17, 18; 2012, 100–1, fig. 21.
12
Kyrieleis et al. 1985, figs. 2, 35–37.
53
EB settlement toward the west, to the
area of the Hera Temple, and highlighted
the need for a new fortification wall.
erection in the MB of three enclosurefortification walls for the protection of the
settlement from natural destructions
caused by the flooding of the Imvrasos
River at the same place and with the same
direction as the EB III fortification wall.
Long-room houses belonging to six
successive architectural phases testify a
long-lived settlement until the end of the
MB (2000-1700 BC) (Fig. 3-4).
The strong fortification used in phases
Heraion I-V, the erection of a ‘Communal
Storage Building’ in Heraion I, the central
‘Cyclopean Building’ in Heraion III as well
as the radiating settlement plan of longroom rectangular and trapezoidal houses
with antae on both sides, which was
uncovered in this area by Milojčić, Walter
and Isler can be understood under the
existence of a political authority, while the
quality, quantity and distribution of finds
(pottery, small finds, imports) show
evolved economic structures and a
wealthy, social stratified settlement, with
an elite, that was using in the late EB II and
in the EB III fine drinking cups, which
imitate metallic prototypes, and are
similar with the ones used also at Miletus
and Tarsus during communal feastings.
Ceramic evidence in the North Sector
north of the Sacred Road indicates the use
of this area also in the EB II and in the
EB III. In the latter phase dates part of
a strong and well built enclosurefortification wall, that depicts the limit of
the extensive early-urban settlement of
Heraion IV-V of the EB III period towards
east, (Figure 1) and testifies that Heraion
was the most extensive settlement on the
insular East Aegean. The EB III local
material has the same character as the
material known from Western Anatolia,
while the imported pottery indicates
connections with the Cyclades (e.g. askoi
with incised decoration).
The pottery and the small finds indicate
domestic activities (food preparation and
consumption), as well as industrial
activities (working of flintstone and
obsidian) and intensive trade connections
with the central and S Aegean. The
majority of the pottery belongs to the
local produced beige and orange/red
ware with washed or light polished
surfaces. Besides, a remarkable amount of
imports from Mainland Greece (Minyan
Ware), the Cyclades (Akrotiri) and of
Minoan Crete (Protopalatial Period) has
been recorded, among the latter
ones typical Middle Minoan IIA–IIIA
domestic pottery (tripod cooking pots,
handless conical cups). Based on a
preliminary examination of the pottery
the chronological difference of the
architectural phases MB 1-6 is not big
and is synchronous with Liman Tepe III,
Miletus III, Ialysos on Rhodes und
Beycesultan V-IV.
The erection of such a communal
construction as well as the trade with the
rest of the Aegean, and in particular with
the Protopalatial Crete indicate evolved
political, economic and social structures at
the MB Heraion. Furthermore, the erection
of such a communal building at the end of
the MB may indicate a habitation of this
part of Heraion also in the early LB.
No gap, neither in architecture nor in
the rest of the material culture,13 has
been noticed at Heraion at the end of the
EB III.14 This became obvious by the
13
14
Kouka 2013.
Kouka 2013, 576.
54
It is the first time that the MB has been
documented stratified at Heraion. So far,
the use of Heraion for settlement
purposes in the MB has been assumed
only by some stray finds from the area of
the Hera Sanctuary. The evidence N of the
Sacred Road can be characterized as the
missing link between the early urban
settlement of the EB and the LB cult place
for fertility after the Minoan typikon,
which has been testified 2009 by the
German Archaeological Institute in the
area of the Altar: Late Minoan IA conical
cups were found in an upside position on
a paved area together with Minoan lamps,
just beneath the pavements of the
Archaic and the Geometric altars.15 The
documentation of intensive cultural
contacts of Heraion with Minoan Crete
already in the MB explains the ritual
actions for fertility at Heraion in the early
LB following the Minoan typikon at least
a millennium before the Sanctuary of
Hera received a Panionic glory.
the southeast Aegean by founding
emporia like Miletus18 and Tavşanadası
at Didyma,19 or by worshipping cult
places, such as Heraion, or by ruling
control posts, such as Mikro Vouni on
Samothrace, in order to reach new
sources of raw materials through Central
Anatolia and the Black Sea respectively.
Western Anatolia showed at that period
an Anatolian cultural profile, and bridged
the two emerging political entities of the
eastern Mediterranean, the Hittites and
the Minoans.
Bibliography
Bertemes, F., and K. Hornung-Bertemes.
2009. “Minoer in Didyma: Ein Siegel und
seine Geschichte.” In Zurück zum
Gegenstand: Festschrift für Andreas E.
Furtwängler. Vol. 1, edited by R. Einicke,
S. Lehmann, H. Löhr, G. Mehnert,
A. Mehnert, and A. Slawisch, 169–194.
Schriften des Zentrums für Archäologie
und Kulturgeschichte des Schwarzmeerraumes 16. Langenweißbach: Beier &
Beran.
Conclusions
The new data north of the Sacred Road
illuminate so far unknown phases of the
settlement history at Heraion. Besides, it
demonstrates the participation of Heraion
in the cultural koine, which was evident in
the east Aegean islands and in Western
Anatolia littoral from the 4th through the
3rd mill. BC thanks to well established searoutes.16 The well known sea-routes17
have been used furthermore in the 2nd
mill. by Cycladic and Minoan people.
Some of them led to the establishment of
the Minoans at the beginning of the LB in
Efe, T. 2007. “The Theories of the ‘Great
Caravan Route’ Between Cilicia and Troy:
The Early Bronze Age III Period in Inland
Western Anatolia.” AnatSt 57:47–64.
Isler, H.-P. 1973. “An Early Bronze Age
Settlement on Samos.” Archaeology
26:170–175.
Kouka, O. 2002. Siedlungsorganisation
in der Nord-und Ostägäis während der
Frühbronzezeit (3. Jt. v.Chr.). Internationale
Archäologie 58. Rahden: Marie Leidorf.
15
Niemeier and Kouka 2010; Morgan et al. 2009-2010.
Kouka forthcoming (b).
17
Efe 2007; Şahoğlu 2005.
18
Niemeier 2007.
19
Bertemes and Bertemes 2009.
16
55
Niemeier, W.-D. and O. Kouka 2010.
Jahresbericht 2009 des Deutschen
Archäologischen Instituts. Abteilung
Athen: Samos, Heraion, AA 2010/1 Beiheft
1(Jahresbericht 2009): 112-114.
Kouka, O. 2013. Minding the Gap: Against
the Gaps: The Early Bronze Age and the
Transition to the Middle Bronze Age in
the Northern and Eastern Aegean/
Western Anatolia, American Journal of
Archaeology 117.4:569-580.
Kouka, O. Forthcoming (a). “Local and
Imported in Action: Western Anatolian
and Cycladic Figurines in the Early Bronze
Age Miletus.” In Ein Minoer im Exil:
Festschrift zum 65. Geburtstag von
Wolf-Dietrich Niemeier, edited by I. Kaiser,
O. Kouka, and D. Panagiotopoulos. Bonn:
Rudolf Habelt.
Kouka, O. Forthcoming (b). “Past Stories–
Modern Narratives: Cultural Dialogues
Between East Aegean Islands and
Western Anatolian Mainland in the Fourth
Millennium BC.” In Western Anatolia
Before Troy: Proto-Urbanisation in the 4th
Millennium BC?, edited by B. Horejs and
M. Mehofer. Vienna: Österreichische
Akademie der Wissenschaften.
Niemeier, W.-D. and O. Kouka Forthcoming (a). Jahresbericht 2012 des Deutschen
1(Jahresbericht 2012).
Niemeier, W.-D. and O. Kouka Forthcoming (b). Jahresbericht 2013 des Deutschen
Kyrieleis, H., H.J. Kienast, and H.-J. Weisshaar.
1985. “Ausgrabungen im Heraion von
Samos 1980/81.” AA 100:365–418.
Milojčić, V. 1961. Die prähistorische Siedlung unter dem Heraion: Grabung 1953
und 1955. Samos Band I. Bonn: Rudolf
Habelt.
Şahoğlu, V. 2005. “The Anatolian Trade
Network and the Izmir Region During the
Early Bronze Age.” OJA 24(4):339–61.
Morgan, C., R.K. Pitt, D. Mulliez, and D.
Evely. 2009–2010. “Archaeology in Greece
2009–2010.” AR 56:156–157.
Walter, H. 1963. “Ausgrabungen im Heraion
von Samos (1952–1962).” ArchDelt 18
B2:286–96.
Niemeier, W.-D. 2007. “Milet von den
Anfängen menschlicher Besiedlung
bis zur Ionischen Wanderung.” In
Frühes Ionien: Eine Bestandsaufnahme.
Panioion-Symposion Güzelçamlı, 26.
September–1. Oktober 1999, edited by
C. Justus, V. Von Graeve, W.-D. Niemeier,
and K. Zimmermann, 3–20. Milesische
Forschungen 5. Mainz: Philipp von
Zabern.
Publications of the project
KOUKA, O. (in press). Η προϊστορική
κατοίκηση στο Ηραίον Σάμου: Οι
ανασκαφές 2009-2013 βόρεια της Ιεράς
Οδού, in: Tριανταφυλλίδης Π. (εκδ.), Το
Αρχαιολογικό Έργο στα νησιά του
Αιγαίου, Διεθνές Επιστημονικό Συνέδριο,
Ρόδος, 27 Νοεμβρίου-1 Δεκεμβρίου 2013,
Αρχαιολογικό Ινστιτούτο Αιγαιακών
56
Σπουδών, Υπουργείο Πολιτισμού και
Αθλητισμού.
NIEMEIER, W.-D. & KOUKA, O. (in press).
NIEMEIER, W.-D. & KOUKA, O. (in press).
KOUKA, O. (in press). Bordered by the
Sea: Heraion and Miletus in the Fourth
Millennium BCE, in: Dietz, S. et al.
(eds.), Communities in Transition: The
Circum-Aegean Later Neolithic Stages
(c. 5000/4800-3200/3000 BCE), Athens,
June 7 to 9 2013, Monographs of the
Danish Institute at Athens, Athens: Danish
Institute at Athens.
KOUKA, O. (in press). Built Environment and
Cultural Connectivity in the Aegean Early
Bronze Age, in: Molloy, B. (ed.), Of Odysseus
and Oddities: Scales and Modes of
Interaction Between Prehistoric Aegean
Societies and their Neighbours, Sheffield
Aegean Round Table 2013, Sheffield,
January 25th -27th 2013, Sheffield Studies
in Aegean Archaeology, Oxford: Oxbow
Books.
KOUKA, O. (in press). Past Stories –
Modern Narratives: Cultural Dialogues
between East Aegean Islands and Western Anatolian Mainland in the Fourth
Millennium BC, in: Horejs, B. & Mehofer, M.
(eds.), Western Anatolia before Troy.
Proto-Urbanisation in the 4th Millennium
BC?, Wien: Österreichische Akademie der
Wissenschaften.
KOUKA, O. 2013. Minding the Gap: Against
the Gaps: The Early Bronze Age and the
Transition to the Middle Bronze Age in the
57
Northern and Eastern Aegean/Western
Anatolia, American Journal of Archaeology
117.4, 569-580.
KOUKA, O. 2012. Prehistoric Ionia
Reconsidered: New Excavations at the
Heraion, Samos, and on the Western Littoral
of Asia Minor (The Mycenaean Seminar
2010-11), Bulletin of the Institute of
Classical Studies University of London 55.2,
125-126.
NIEMEIER, W.-D. & KOUKA, O. 2012. Jahresbericht 2011 des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts. Abteilung Athen: Samos,
Heraion, AA 2012/1 Beiheft 1(Jahresbericht 2011): 100-101.
Further Presentations of the project
International Conferences
September 2014: Annual Conference of the
European Association of Archaeologists,
Istanbul, 9-14 September 2014.
November 2013: Το Αρχαιολογικό Έργο
στα νησιά του Αιγαίου, Διεθνές Επιστημονικό Συνέδριο, Ρόδος, 27 Νοεμβρίου - 1
Δεκεμβρίου 2013, Αρχαιολογικό Ινστιτούτο Αιγαιακών Σπουδών, Υπουργείο
Πολιτισμού και Αθλητισμού.
June 2013: Bordered by the Sea: Heraion
and Miletus in the Fourth Millennium
BCE, in: Communities in Transition: The
Circum-Aegean Later Neolithic Stages
(c. 5000/ 4800-3200/3000 BCE), Athens,
June 7 to 9 2013, Danish Institute at Athens
(invited speaker).
2013
Universities of Bern, Lausanne
and Geneve
January 2013: Built Environment and
Cultural Connectivity in the Aegean Early
Bronze Age, in: Of Odysseus and Oddities:
Scales and Modes of Interaction Between
Prehistoric Aegean Societies and their
Neighbours, Sheffield Aegean Round Table
2013, Sheffield, January 25th -27th 2013
(invited speaker).
2013
Society of Cypriot
Archaeologists, Nicosia
STAFF 2009-2011
Assoc. Prof. Ourania Kouka – Department
of History and Archaeology-University
of Cyprus, Director of the project ‘The
Prehistoric Settlement under the Heraion of
Samos’
January 2013: Against the Gaps: The Early
Bronze Age and the Transition to the Middle
Bronze Age in the North and Eastern
Aegean/Western Anatolia, in: Gold Medal
Colloquium in Honor of Jeremy B. Rutter:
Minding the Gap: A Problem in Eastern
Mediterranean Chronology. Then and Now,
114th Annual Meeting of the American
Institute of Archaeology, Seattle, January
3rd-6th 2013 (invited speaker).
Prof. Dr. Dr.h. c. Wolf-Dietrich Niemeier –
Director of the German Archaeological
Institute and General Director of the
excavations on Samos
Dipl-Ing. Hans Birk – Topographer, German
Arcaheological Institute, Processing of
architectural plans and profile drawings in
AutoCAD for the final publication
Dr. Harald Stümpel and Dr. Christine
Klein, Christian Alberts-Universität zu Kiel,
Institut für Geowissenschaften, GeophysikArchäometrie, Geophysical Prospection
November 2012: Past Stories – Modern
Narratives: Cultural Dialogues between
East Aegean Islands and Western
Anatolian Mainland in the Fourth
Millennium BC, in: Western Anatolia
before Troy. Proto-Urbanisation in the
4th Millennium BC?, Symposion Wien,
21-24.11.2012, Kunsthistorisches Museum
(invited speaker).
Dr-Ing. Nils Hellner – Architect, German
Archaeological Institut
Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Norbert Benecke, Archaeozoologist, German Archaeological Institute
Berlin
Public lectures
Prof. Sturt Manning – Director of the
Malcolm and Carolyn Wiener Dendrochronology Laboratory at Ithaca University,
Radiocarbon dating
2009-2013 German Archaeological
Institute (Winckelmann Feier)
2010
University of Istanbul
2010
University of Vienna
2011
‘Mycenaean Seminar’,
University College London
Dr. Yiannis Maniatis - National Research
Center of Natural Sciences ‘Demokritos–
Laboratory for Archaeometry, Radiocarbon
dating
2011
Austrian Archaeological
Institute at Athens
Dr. Evi Margaritis, Palaeobotanist, Leventis
Fellow-British School at Athens
58
Aikaterini Ragkou, Archaeologist, MA,
University of Cyprus, Field Assistant,
Processing of pottery of historical periods
Sergios Menelaou, Archaeologist, MSc,
University of Sheffield, Ph.D. candidate,
Field Assistant, Processing of prehistoric
pottery
Venetia Niarchou, Archaeologist, MA, PhD
candidate, University of Paris, Processing of
Lithics
Sophia Vakirtzi, MA, PhD candidate,
University of Crete, Processing of tools
reated with the textlile production
Andreas Kontonis, Painter/Illustrator, 3rd
Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical
Antiquities
Chronis Papanikolopoulos, Photographer,
Institute for Aegean Prehistory-Study
Center for East Crete
Ioannis Papagrigoriou, Restaurator, German
Archaeological Institute
Alexandra Tanner, MA, Architect
38 Undergraduate/Postgraduate students
of the Universities of Cyprus, Athens,
Vienna, Bosporus and Ithaca
25 Workers from Samos
59
Figure 1
Heraion, Sacred Road. Plan of the
excavated areas (by H. Birk, O. Kouka,
N. Hellner, K. Ragkou, A. Tanner, M.
Jaumann)
Figure 2
House remains of the Early Bronze
Age II (Photo by O. Kouka)
60
Figure 3
Fortification wall (left) and house remains of the Middle
Bronze Age (Photo by O. Kouka)
Figure 4
Fortification walls of the Middle
Bronze Age (Photo by O. Kouka)
61
Curriculum Vitae
Ourania Kouka
She was born in 1962 in Piraeus, Greece. Undergraduate Studies at Ethnikon & Kapodistriakon
University at Athens, Greece: B.A. in History and Archaeology (1985). Graduate studies in Prehistory
and Protohistory, Classical and Christian Archaeology at the Ruprecht-Karls Universitat Heidelberg
(Ph.D. 1997 at the Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte und Vorderasiatische Archäologie). She worked
at the 19th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities in Komotini, Thrace for the Archaeological
and Ethnographical Research Project on Samothrace (1982–1989). She was a scientific assistant at
the Institute for Prehistory, Protohistory and Archaeology of the Near East, University of Heidelberg
(1991–1996). As the Head of the Group for Prehistory and Protohistory, Foundation of the Hellenic
World-Internet Applications Systems she was responsible for the organization of the production,
planning, research and composition of texts of web sites on all periods of the Aegean Prehistory
(1997–2000). Furthermore, as a scientific collaborator of the programme ‘Corpus Artis Cycladicae’
under the auspices of the Archaeological Society at Athens and the scientific supervision of Prof.
emer. Chr.G. Doumas, she worked on the organization of the documentation, publication and editing
of volumes, including various categories of Early Cycladic artefacts stored at Museums and Private
Collections in Greece (2000–2003). She tought ‘Archaeological Documentation’ within at the «College
Year in Athens» (2001–2003). Furthermore, she was a visiting lecturer in: the Interdisciplinary
Postgraduate Program of the Institute of Mediterranean Studies and the Department of History and
Archaeology of the University of Crete on the ‘Management of Cultural Heritage’ (2002–2003); in the
graduate program of the Department of History and Archaeology of the University of Crete (2003–
2004); in the graduate program of the Department of History and Archaeology of the University of
Cyprus, where she taught Prehistory of the Aegean and Anatolia (2003-2005). Since September 2005
she belongs to the Academic staff of the Department of History and Archaeology and the
Archaeological Research Unit of the University of Cyprus. She is also the director of the Laboratory
for Archiving, Study and Publication of Excavation/s Projects (Archaeological Research Unit, University
of Cyprus).
2008 she was elected as a Corresponding Member of the German Archaeological Institute. She is also
member of the Association of Greek Archaeologists ‘Heos’, the Association of Cypriot Archaeologists,
the European Association of Archaeologists and the Archaeological Institute of America.
She participated in numerous conferences and has given public lectures on the Aegean and Anatolian
Prehistory in Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Great Britain, Ireland and
the USA.
Fieldwork: Heraion on Samos (Director), Liman Tepe (Izmir - Izmir Region Excavations and Research
Project (Ankara University), Agios Mamas/Nea Olynthos, Chalkidice (Freie Universitat Berlin), Tiryns,
Argolid (Deutsches Archaologisches Institut Athen), Mikro Vouni, Samothrace, Archaeological and
Ethnographic Survey on Samothrace (19th EPCA, Komotini), Akrotiri, Thera (University of Athens) and
Maroneia, Komotini (19th EPCA).
Major research projects: 2009-present: Director of the Project “The Prehistoric Settlement at the
Heraion of Samos (Sacred Road); 2005-present: Study of the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age
settlement at Miletus; 2003-present:Organization and coordination of the interdisciplinary
project‘Kastri Group Pottery: The Transmission of Style and Technology in the Early Bronze Aegean;
2000-present:Collaborator of the Izmir Region Excavations and Reseasch Project, conducted by the
University of Ankara.
62
Research interests: Historiography of Prehistoric Archaeology in Europe and the Eastern
Mediterranean. Theoretical and Methodological Approaches in Prehistory. Process of Neolithization
in the Near East and Europe. Transition from the Stone to the Early Bronze Age. Fourth and Third mill.
BC in the Aegean, Anatolia, Cyprus and the Near East. Second mill. BC in the Aegean and Anatolia.
Island Archaeology – diachronic approaches. Inter- and intra-site organization in Prehistory. Policy,
economy and society in Prehistory. Industrial installations, early metallurgy, ceramic technology in
Prehistoric Aegean and Anatolia. Trade and cultural networks in the Balkans and the Eastern
Mediterranean during the Stone and Bronze Ages.
Select publications:
KOUKA, O. 2002. Siedlungsorganisation in der Nord- und Ostägäis während der Frühbronzezeit (3. Jt.
v.Chr.), Ph. Dissertation Universität Heidelberg 1996, Internationale Archäologie 58, VML Verlag Marie
Leidorf GmbH, Rahden/Westf.
KARAGEORGHIS, V. & KOUKA, O. (eds.) 2009. Cyprus and East Aegean: Intercultural Contacts from 3000
to 500 BC, International Archaeological Symposium – Pythagoreion Samos, 17th -18th October 2008,
A.G. Leventis Foundation.
KARAGEORGHIS, V. & KOUKA, O. (eds.) 2011. On Cooking Pots, Drinking Cups, Loomweights and
Ethnicity in Bronze Age Cyprus and Neighbouring Regions, International Archaeological Symposium
– Nicosia, November 6th-7th 2010, A.G. Leventis Foundation.
KAISER, I., KOUKA, O. & PANAGIOTOPOULOS, D. (eds.) (in press). Ein Minoer im Exil. Festschrift zum 65.
Geburtstag von Wolf-Dietrich Niemeier, Bonn: Habelt Verlag GmbH.
63
64
Byzantine Documentary Sources of the Nicean Empire
The Cartulary of Lembiotissa: Prospects and Possibilities of
a New Critical Edition and Analysis
Principal Investigator: Alexander Beihammer, Associate Professor, Department
of History and Archaelogy, Faculty of Letters, University of Cyprus
Research Associates: Myrto Veikou, PhD, and Paraskevi Sykopetritou, PhD
Candidate, University of Cyprus
Abstract
This article gives a brief outline of some important findings which resulted from
the research program “Byzantine Documentary Sources of the Nicean Empire
(1204-1261).” The analysis of the legal documents transmitted in the cartulary of the
Lemviotissa monastery, one of the main centers of Byzantine monasticism in
thirteenth-century Asia Minor situated near Smyrna/Izmir, gives us the opportunity
for a fruitful combination of philological-paleographical and historicalarchaeological approaches and methods. A careful transcription of the almost 200
documents transmitted in MS Vind. Hist. gr. 125, which is nowadays preserved in
the Austrian National Library, enables us to establish a reliable text which meets all
criteria of modern editions and includes numerous hitherto neglected passages,
new readings, and corrections especially with respect to personal names and
toponyms. A second goal of this project was the creation of a comprehensive data
base of terms concerning space and landscape. This material allows us to pose
questions concerning the environmental history of thirteenth-century Western Asia
Minor and to reconsider issues related to the economic and social history of the
region on the basis of a systematic terminological analysis of the Lemviotissa
documents. The data base also forms a useful tool for archaeological survey
campaigns which will be carried out in the near future.
The cartulary of the monastery of
Lembiotissa is undoubtedly one of the
most important collections of Byzantine
imperial, ecclesiastical and private
documents of the thirteenth century.
The cartulary, which is preserved in MS
Historicus graecus 125 of the Austrian
National Library,50 contains transcriptions
50
of original documents connected to
the foundation, privileges and legal rights
of the monastery of Lembiotissa. The
documents focus on the years between
1192 and 1294 and are organized in a
loose geographical order, based on the
monastery’s main estates in the region of
Smyrna.
For a description of the Codex Vindobonensis Historicus graecus 125, see: H. Hunger, Katalog
der griechischen Handschriften der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek, 1, Codices historici, codices
philosophici et philologici, Wien 1961, p.127.
65
The Cartulary of Lembiotissa: Prospects and Possibilities of a New Critical Edition and Analysis
The Lembiotissa cartulary was first
published in 1871 by F. Miklosich and J.
Müller in the fourth volume of the Acta
and Diplomata Graeca series51. Since 1871,
the Miklosich-Müller edition has inspired
a number of publications associated not
only to the cartulary of Lembiotissa and
its content, but also to the broader social,
economic, administrative and historical
context, in which the cartulary was
produced.52 The Miklosich-Müller edition,
albeit considered invaluable in the field of
Byzantine studies, contains mistakes,
lacunae of words which could not be
deciphered and deliberate omissions of
formulaic structures; nevertheless, its first
edition has still not been replaced. The
project “Byzantine Documentary Sources
of the Nicean Empire (1204-1261),” which
was carried out under the direction of
Prof. Alexander Beihammer (University of
Cyprus), offered an ideal framework for
the re-examination of the manuscript that
transmits the corpus of documents from
the Lembiotissa cartulary, as well as for
the revision of the problematic parts of
Miklosich and Müller’s edition. The
re-examination of the manuscript has
led to two significant results: a reliable
transcription of all the documents of the
cartulary and a draft database of persons,
toponyms, Byzantine realia and diplomatics. The advantages of these results are
briefly presented in this report in order to
highlight the project’s contribution to the
study of the Lembiotissa cartulary.
For the transcription of the documents
an intermediary solution between a
diplomatic and a literary edition was
applied. The transcription draws upon the
principles formulated by Herbert Hunger
and Otto Kresten regarding the edition
of documents transmitted as copies,
and follows the model of Alexander
Beihammer’s recent publication on
Griechische Briefe und Urkunden aus dem
Zypern der Kreuzfahrerzeit, which follows
51
The full bibliographical reference for this book is: F. Miklosich and I. Müller (eds.), Acta et
Diplomata Graeca medii Aevi Sacra et Profana, vol . 4, Monasteriorum et Ecclesiarum Orientis,
Vienna 1871, pp. 1–289 (henceforth Miklosich-Müller edition).
52
Indicatively, see: E. Mitsiou, Untersuchungen zu Wirtschaft und Ideologie im “Nizänischen” Reich,
Wien 2006; C. Morrisson, “Coinage and Money in Byzantine Typika,” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 56
(2002), pp. 263–275; P. Gounaridis, “Τὰ τοῦ μετοχίου τῶν Παλατίων χαρτῶα δικαιώματα:
Σύσταση, τοπιογραφικά δεδομένα και εντοπισμός ενός μετοχίου της Λεμβιώτισσας (Σμύρνη),”
Byzantina Symmeikta 14 (2001), pp. 95–142; P. Gounaridis, “Για μιαν αγοραπωλησία στη Σμύρνη,”
Byzantina Symmeikta 13 (1999), pp. 167–176; P. Gounaridis, “La pêche dans le golfe de Smyrne,”
in M. Balard et al. (eds.), Ευψυχία, Melanges offerts a Helene Ahrweiler, I, [Byzantina Sorbonensia
16], Paris 1998, pp. 265–272; P. Gounaridis, “Σημείωμα για ένα (;) έγγραφο της Λεμβιώτισσας,”
Byzantina Symmeikta 11 (1997), pp. 83–96; H. Saradi, “Evidence of Barter Economy in the
Documents of Private Transactions”, Byzantinische Zeitschrift 88/2 (1995), 405–418; S.N.
Kaplaneres, Zur Datierung zweier Urkunden des Lembiotissa-Klosters (MM IV, XXX, XXXVIII),
Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinistik 41 (1991), pp. 237–239; M. Angold, A Byzantine
Government in Exile. Government and Society under the Laskarids of Nicaea (1204-1261), Oxford
1975; H. Ahrweiler, «L’histoire et la géographie de la region de Smyrne entre les deux occupations torques (1081-1317),» Travaux et mémoires 1 (1965), pp. 1–204; F. Dölger,„Chronologisches
und Prosopographisches zur byzantinischen Geschichte des 13. Jahrhunderts,“Byzantinische
Zeitschrift 27 (1927), pp. 291–320; G. Ferrari, I documenti greci medioevali di diritto privato
dell'Italia meridionale e loro attinenze con quelli bizantini d'oriente e coi papiri greco-egizii, Leipzig
1910; A. M. Fontrier, «Le Monastère de Lembos près de Smyrne et ses possessions au XIIIe siècle
(pl. XVIII)», Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 16 (1892), pp. 379–410. See also: H. Hunger,
Katalog der griechischen Handschriften, p.127, where further bibliography is given.
66
similar principles.53 The advantages of this
new method of transcription are the
decrease of the excessive use of diacritic
signs that had often been employed
for the transcription of the charters in
traditional diplomatic editions, and
the preservation of morphological and
accentuation particularities of the original
text.54 Thus, in comparison to the one
in Miklosich-Müller edition, the new
transcription respects orthographical and
even phonetic characteristics of the
original text; hence, it may contribute to
a better understanding of the language of
the Byzantine legal documents.
century legal documents, such as the
opening and concluding formulas.
Moreover, depending on the content
of these formulaic structures, valuable
information can be drawn regarding the
mechanisms of administrative organization of the emperor’s communication
with his officials,55 the forms of selfperception, identity or projection of
status,56 as well as the historical developments of the Byzantine chancery
practices after 1204, in general.
A further advantage is that the new
transcription corrects the mistakes of the
Miklosich-Müller edition in relation to the
names of persons, which were probably
made either due to the abbreviations of
the endings in the manuscript, or due to
the carelessness of the editors Miklosich
and Müller. A case in point is Μιχαὴλ ὁ
Ἄγγελος, who in Miklosich-Müller edition
is mentioned with two different
variations,57 as “Μιχαὴλ τῷ Ἀγγέᾳ”
(p. 241) and as “Μιχαὴλ τοῦ Ἀγγέλου”
(p. 244), which made the identification
of the person difficult, but not impossible
if one compared the content of the
Another advantage of the new
transcription is that it includes those
formulas of the cartulary’s documents,
which were deliberately omitted by the
Miklosich-Müller edition, or were left to
the reader’s imagination, by using
expressions such as “et eadem formula” or
“et subscriptio […] ut saepius.” Formulas
are an integral part of the documents
under consideration and may enhance
our knowledge concerning the different
formulaic patterns of the thirteenth
53
See: H. Hunger and O. Kresten, Das Register des Patriarchats von Konstantinopel, [Corpus
Fontium Historiae Byzantinae 19/1], Vienna, 1981, pp. 72–98 and A. Beihammer, Griechische
Briefe und Urkunden aus dem Zypern der Kreuzfahrerzeit, Nicosia 2007.
54
Regarding morphology, an indicative example is σίγνον. Σίγνον, starting form Cod. Vind. Hist.
gr. 125, fol. 68v onwards, is written as σίγγνον. The verb σιγγνογραφώ carries the same
morphology. Regarding accentuation, an indicative example is Γύρος, a βιβάριον near the bay
of Smyrna. Although Γύρος is sometimes accentuated with circumflex ( ͂ ) following the
polytonic orthography of the standard system of the Attic Greek, it is most of the times
accentuated with acute accent ( ´ ), which is more common in Medieval Greek.
55
A formula employed in the emperor’s communication with his officials is to be seen in the
following example: Οἰκεῖε τῇ βασιλείᾳ μου, δοὺξ τοῦ θέματος τῶν Θρακησίων, κῦρ
Κωνσταντῖνε Λάσκαρι (Cod. Vind. Hist. gr. 125, fol. 151v). Cf. Miklosich-Müller edition, p. 182.
56
An example of a formula with elements of self-perception, identity and projection of status
which was omitted by Miklosich and Müller is: Ὁ πριμμικήριος τῶν ταβουλλαρίων τῆς
ἁγιωτάτης μητροπόλεως Σμύρνης καὶ ἐνορίας Μανταίας, Νικόλαος ὁ Φιλοκυνηγίτης, τὰ
ἄνωθεν γράψας, ὑπέγραψα (Cod. Vind. Hist. gr. 125, fol. 104r). Cf. Miklosich-Müller edition,
p. 130: et subscriptio Nicolai τοῦ Φιλοκυνηγίτου ut saepius.
57
For this observation, see also: Dölger, „Chronologisches und Prosopographisches,“ p. 317,
footnote no. 3.
67
the persons involved in the issuing
procedure. Moreover, analytical statistics
drawn from the relevant database can
shed more light on the organization of
the notaries during the thirteenth
century.
documents. An even more striking
example is found in a selling document of
Μαρία, widow of Γεώργιος Χρυσοβέργης,
where one of the transaction witnesses,
Νικολάος ὁ Καβαδάτος, in the MiklosichMüller edition, is incorrectly referred to as
Λέων (p. 123) instead of Νικόλαος, as in
the manuscript.58 The correction of
names and their inclusion into the
prosopographical database will enhance
the knowledge about the persons
involved in the legal transactions, who
represent either the issuing authority or
the notaries or the litigants and their
witnesses.
Additionally, several corrections of
geographical names and names of
administrative units or locations have
been made. For instance, on p. 240 of the
Miklosich-Müller edition, we read “μέχρι
τῆς Λαμπιδίου τοῦ Κουρτίκη.” However,
although the word is abbreviated in the
manuscript,61 based on other documents,
we can conclude that “Λαμπιδίου” is to be
replaced by the word “λάμπη,”62 which
denotes a wetland with fish ponds.63
Similar observations from the Lembiotissa
cartulary portray a wealth of information
on the topography and geography of the
Byzantine region of Smyrna (now Izmir),
where the monastery’s properties were
located. The database, which also
includes various geographic features,
such as rivers, roads and mountains, is a
good starting point on which researchers
can build and reconstruct – up to a certain
extent – updated topographic maps of
the area.64
The new transcription corrects not only
the mistakes on people’s names, but
also the information regarding their
profession and status. Indicatively, on p.
194, the Miklosich-Müller edition notes
that Λέων ὁ Σκορτζίδης was ἱερεὺς καὶ
πρωτέκδικος in Smyrna. However, a more
careful examination of the original
text proves that Λέων ὁ Σκορτζίδης
was actually ἱερεὺς καὶ κληρικὸς
τῆς ἁγιωτάτης μητροπόλεως Σμύρνης.59
Moreover, according to the manuscript,
Κωνσταντῖνος ὁ Καθαρὸς, who is in fact
omitted by the Miklosich-Müller edition,
was the εὐτελὴς ἱερεὺς καὶ πρωτέκδικος
τῆς ἁγιωτάτης μητροπόλεως Σμύρνης.60
Such information is invaluable and can
alter our perception over the content
of the cartulary’s documents, as well as
A final advantage is that the new
transcription fills in the lacunae of words,
which – either completely or partly –
could not be deciphered by the editors
Miklosich and Müller. For example, an
58
Cod. Vind. Hist. gr. 125, fol. 98r.
Cod. Vind. Hist. gr. 125, fol. 98r.
60
Cod. Vind. Hist. gr. 125, fol. 162v.
61
Cod. Vind. Hist. gr. 125, fol. 162v.
62
Cod. Vind. Hist. gr. 125, fol. 200v
63
The same is suggested by F. Dölger in „Chronologisches und Prosopographisches,“ p. 317, footnote
no. 2, although he is not sure about the meaning of the term λάμπη.
64
For the meaning of the term λάμπη, see: H. Ahrweiler in «Smyrne,» p. 19, footnote 83; Gounaridis,
“La pêche dans le golfe de Smyrne,” p. 266 and footnote 8; Cf. Gounaridis, “Τὰ τοῦ μετοχίου τῶν
Παλατίων χαρτῶα δικαιώματα,” p. 140.
59
68
into thematic categories, is expected to
play a key role in the further investigation
of the above aspects of Byzantine history
and civilization and provide the impetus
for further publications.
abbreviated name of a coin, mentioned
several times in the manuscript, troubled
the first editors of Lembiotissa cartulary,
who left a gap whenever the relevant
abbreviation appeared. Franz Dölger was
one of the first researchers who pointed
out the need to fill in this gap with the
word τρικέφαλον.65 Notably, although the
abbreviation could also be read as
γέλλιον, perhaps another type of coin (?),
the modern research suggests that
γέλλιον is “a word that the Byzantines
probably never used and a misreading for
trikephalon.”66 Thus, the new transcription
employs the word τρικέφαλον rather than
γέλλιον, in order to fill in the relevant
lacunae of the Miklosich-Müller edition.
The above example proves that a new
edition and a systematic analysis of the
Lembiotissa material would allow us not
only to resolve a number of thorny issues
regarding undeciphered words of the
manuscript, but also to enrich our
knowledge on coins, and other Byzantine
realia.
Continuity and change in the perception
of natural space, land use and
settlement in the area of Smyrna/Izmir
in Asia Minor during the 12th and 13th
centuries
The transformation of natural space into
a socially constructed landscape is a
complex phenomenon of crucial interest
not only for historical but also for
environmental and social studies. The
proposed research aims to contribute to
our understanding of diverse constructive
mechanisms of the human presence
into medieval natural environments.
Based on the new transcription of the
cartulary of the Monastery of Lembiotissa
(preserved in MS Historicus graecus 125
of the Austrian National Library) in the
area of Smyrna/Izmir in Asia Minor an
investigation of space perceptions, land
use and settlement as well as their
transformations during the thirteenth
century (or even earlier) is under way.
These issues are examined within the
context of a comparative study of
such mechanisms in Byzantine Southern
Balkans and Asia Minor during the
6th-13th centuries as part of the
project «Continuity and change in the
perception of natural space, the land use
and settlement in Byzantine Eastern
Mediterranean (6th-13th centuries), A
reappraisal of the cases of Southern
To conclude, the aforementioned results
of the research program on the
Lembiotissa cartulary enable us to
reconstruct important aspects of the
Byzantine culture during the transitory
period from the Comnenian to the
Palaeologian Empire. Moreover, upon
their publication, they can stimulate
fruitful comparisons with similar data
from other documents issued during that
period. On the whole, the new
transcription of the Lembiotissa cartulary,
along with the thematic database which
classifies the content of the documents
66
C. Morrisson, “Coinage and Money in Byzantine Typika,” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 56 (2002),
p. 270.
69
Balkans and Asia Minor from an
interdisciplinary approach». Due to
the complexity of this social issue,
an interdisciplinary methodological
approach drawn from a post-modern
and new-positivist (contextual-focused)
theoretical background will be selected.
of the ways it was being conceived by
Byzantine people. While historians
generally acknowledge the role of
space in the course of history,69
most archaeologists, though working
essentially with natural environments,
have not developed an effectively
updated theoretical framework to deal
with the extent and limitations of its own
importance. On the contrary, most of the
archaeologists of landscape employ a
work methodology revealing their
acknowledgement of the problem, they
however, tend to restrain themselves
within a positivist or processualist
theoretical framework, thus dismissing
the latest contribution by social and
historical sciences.70 The cross- and
inter-disciplinary and more flexible
methodological approaches, as well as
the hermeneutical efforts which are
inscribed within a broader and more
'open' and more up-to-date theoretical
framework, are possibly able to allow
better coverage of existing gaps and grey
areas in our knowledge of Byzantine
human geography. Such approaches
combine, for instance, different
methodological and hermeneutical tools
from the fields of history, archaeology,
architecture, geography and social
sciences.71 The theoretical framework of
this work refers exactly to counterprocessual archaeological reflection as
well as post-modern and new-positivist
(contextual-focused) historical and
geographical thought. This framework
allows a more flexible use of working
tools offered by the contemporary
Space-related fields of research in
Byzantine Studies, such as landscape
archaeology and history of demography
and settlement, have demonstrated
significant progress over the last
couple of decades. This research has so far
produced several studies which provide a
more or less clear picture of the lands
occupied by the empire at different
periods of time, some demographic
changes as well as a rough cartography of
cultures mainly deriving through a
process of evaluation and interpretation
of metropolitan and regional architecture
/art and the relations between the two.67
A lot of work has been done in order to
define ways in which settlement patterns
change and shift over time as they
become subject to a variety of influences
and pressures, both natural and manmade within a positivist theoretical
context.68
Nevertheless, at this particular time when
postmodern theory has been developed
and questioned for more than a decade,
the recently available concepts may
generate new approaches and solutions
to old problems. A good example is the
problem of the historicity of natural space
in the Byzantine culture, especially of its
role in land use and settlement as a result
67
Belke et al. 1976-2008; Foss 1996; Laiou 2002; Jeffreys et al. 2008; Stephenson 2010.
Koder 1984, 2006; Koder in: Lampakis 1998: 245-265.
69
See e.g. the Annales School of historiography; in respect to Byzantine historiography see Belke
et al., TIB 7; Koder 1984; J. Koder in: Lampakis 1998: 245-265.
70
Haldon 2007; Dunn 2009; Veikou 2009.
71
Kioussopoulou 1998; Dunn 1997, 2006, 2009; Horden, Purcel 2000; Lavan 2003-2010; Lefort et
al. 2005; Poulter 2007; Haldon 2007; Henning 2007; Veikou 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014.
68
70
research in different fields of relevant
research. It encourages qualitative rather
than quantitative evaluations of written
sources and material remains so as to
allow for more sensitive interpretations of
the historicity of natural space when it
comes to settlement in the particular
Byzantine contexts.
Cyprus, Southern Albania and Turkey. The
geographical, geological, historical and
archaeological data are examined in order
to produce a contextualized set of
arguments on the perceptions of
natural space, the land use and the
settlement in Byzantium with a main
focus on the selected geographical
areas. Relevant discussion focuses on
matters of continuities, discontinuities
and transformations emerging from an
interaction of natural phenomena and
human agency and culture.
Τhe wider Research Project, whose part is
the investigation of the area of Smyrna
during the 13th century is carried out
through the collaboration of the two
Departments of History and Archaeology
at the University of Crete and the
University of Cyprus72 Its main aim is to
explore the question of spatiality in
Byzantine settlement by identifying and
explaining constructive mechanisms of
the human presence in medieval natural
environments.73 It intends to do so
by comparing and contrasting three
different aspects of these mechanisms:
(a) the perceptions of space in Byzantine
thoughts, (b) the use of land emerging
from such perceptions, (c) the settlement
patterns as eventual results of both
previous conditions (a, b).
An essential part of this process
will be the study of the – extremely
rich in settlement representations –
approximately 200 surviving documents
of the thirteenth-century cartulary
of the Monastery of Lembiotissa near
Smyrna/Izmir. The reliable new and
revised transcription of this text from the
MS Historicus graecus 125 of the Austrian
National Library,74 undertaken by the
University of Cyprus in the context
of the Research Project "Byzantine
Documentary Sources of the Nicean
Empire (1204-1261)" funded by the
Leventis Foundation, resulted in a
reevaluation of relevant information
deriving from a great variety of Byzantine
documents, such as imperial edicts,
judicial acts, ecclesiastical acts and
numerous private documents such as
wills, donations, purchases etc.
Data sources for this investigation are:
a) historical evidence on the perception
of natural space, land use and settlement
in the Byzantine Balkans and Anatolia
(6th-13th centuries) retrieved from
medieval texts, b) contextual geological
evidence and c) contextual archaeological
evidence related to architecture, pottery
and metalwork from modern Greece,
72
Τhis Research Project (http://byzantinespaces.ims.forth.gr/en/index.php) is implemented
within the framework of the Action «Supporting Postdoctoral Researchers» of the Operational
Program "Education and Lifelong Learning" (Action’s Beneficiary: General Secretariat for
Research and Technology), and is co-financed by the European Social Fund (ESF) and the Greek
State.
73
Haldon 2007; Veikou 2012α, Dunn 2009.
74
First Edition: F. Miklosich - J. Müller, Acta and Diplomata graeca, vol. IV (Vienna, 1871), pp. 1-289.
71
Apt contributions of the research will be a
WEB_GIS_Database working together with
a visualization of the research results in the
form of GIS Maps, all available online at the
Project's Webpage. As a result of the
research's particular multidisciplinary
approach and theoretical framework,
these tools may be used not only as
reference works but also as an evaluation
of historical and archaeological evidence
inscribed within its geographical and
historical context. An important benefit is
expected to be the promotion of many
research aspects of Byzantine settlement
and culture and the elaboration on
their theoretical basis, through the
dissemination of the results and the
deriving scientific dialogue but also
through the work of postgraduate
students of both implicated University
Departments in the Project.
Τoponyms found in the documents in
combination with associated persons and
agencies, have been considered with the
help of the aforementioned methodology so as to reveal a series of spatial
representations of everyday life. The
interpretations of these representations
have, in turn, allowed for possible
reconstructions of physical and social
spaces in thirteenth-century (or even
earlier) Smyrna and its hinterland.75 The
interpretations of these reconstructions
concern:
− Aspects of continuity in the perception of
natural space, land use and settlement as
expressed by recurring land use and
settlement patterns or diachronically
settled sites or persisting architectural
practices.
− Changes in land use and settlement
related to demographic aspects,
geophysical changes, chronological factors etc.
Selected Bibliography
K. Belke, F. Hild, J. Koder, A. Külzer, M.
Popovic, P. Soustal, Tabula Imperii Byzantini
1-12, Wien 1976-2008 (esp. Byzanz Als Raum,
Zu Methoden und Inhalten der Historischen
Geographie des Östlichen Mittelmeerraumes, TIB 7, 2000)
W. Bowden, L. Lavan, C. Machado (eds.),
2004, Recent Research on the Late Antique
Countryside, LAA2, Leiden
A.W. Dunn, 1997, “Stages in the transition
from the Late Antique to the middle
Byzantine urban centre in S. Macedonia
and S. Thrace, Αφιέρωμα N. Hammond,
Thessaloniki, 137-150.
− Regional or temporal changes in the
perception of natural space as a result of
cultural change or difference.
The main aim of the project is to provide
a visualization of the material spatiality of
land use and settlement as resulting from
– similar or different – perceptions of
natural space in two physically different
medieval geographical contexts, i.e. the
southernmost part of the Balkan
Peninsula and Asia Minor (including
their insular areas) during the 6th13th centuries, with a more detailed
investigation of the area of Smyrna/Izmir.
75
The term "spatial representations" (Lefebvre 1975) means the spatial imaginaries of a society,
which can be nothing but lived, i.e. that spatial dimension which integrates cultural experience
("lived space", at the original "espace vécu"). See the discussion of this concept in respect to
Byzantine Archaeology, see Veikou 2014.
72
____ , 2006, “The rise and fall of towns,
loci of maritime traffic, and silk production:
the problem of Thisvi-Kastorion”, in: E.
Jeffreys (ed.), Byzantine Style, Religion and
Civilization in honour of Sir S. Runciman,
Cambridge
A. Poulter (ed.), 2007, The transition to Late
Antiquity on the Danube and Beyond,
Oxford
P. Stephenson (ed.), 2010, The Byzantine
World, London − New York: Routledge
M. Veikou, 2009, “‘Rural towns’ and ‘inbetween or third spaces’. Settlement
patterns in Byzantine Epirus (7th-11th c.)
from an interdisciplinary approach”,
Archeologia Medievale 36: 43-54.
C. Foss, 1996, Cities, fortresses, and villages
of Byzantine Asia Minor, Variorum
J.F. Haldon, 2007, “Cappadocia will be given
over to ruin and become a desert.’
Environmental evidence for historicallyattested events in the 7th and 10th c.” in:
Mediterrannea, Festschrift J. Koder, Wien,
215-230.
____ , 2010, “Urban or Rural? Theoretical
Remarks on the Settlement Patterns in
Byzantine Epirus (7th-11th c.)”, Byzantinische
Zeitschrift 103/1: 171-193.
J. Henning, 2007, Post-Roman Towns, Trade
and Settlement in Europe and Byzantium,
Berlin
____ , 2012a, Byzantine Epirus: A topograhy
of transformation, The Medieval Mediterranean 95, Leiden - Boston: Brill NV.
P. Horden, N. Purcell, 2000, The Corrupting
Sea. A Study of Mediterranean History,
Oxford
____ , 2012b, “Byzantine Histories, Settlement Stories: Kastra, “Isles of Refuge”, and
“Unspecified Settlements” as In-between
or Third Spaces», Πρακτικά Διεθνούς
Συμποσίου «Οι Βυζαντινές πόλεις, 8ος–15ος
αιώνας. Προοπτικές της έρευνες και νέες
ερμηνευτικές προσεγγίσεις», Ινστιτούτο
Μεσογειακών Σπουδών, Τμήμα Ιστορίας
και Αρχαιολογίας, Πανεπιστήμιο Κρήτης
(Ρέθυμνο 18-20 Οκτωβρίου 2009) 159-206.
E. Jeffreys, J. Haldon, R. Cormack, 2008,
The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies,
Oxford
J. Koder, 1984, Der Lebensraum der Byzantiner, Wien
____ , 2006, «Land Use and Settlement» in:
J.F. Haldon (ed.), General Issues in the Study
of Medieval Logistics, Leiden, 169-181.
____ , 2014, "The Reconstruction of
Byzantine Lived Spaces: A Challenge for
Survey Archaeology" (forthcoming)
J. Lefort, C. Morrisson, J.-P. Sodini (eds.),
2005, Les villages dans l’empire byzantine
(IVe-XVe siècle), Paris
A. Laiou (ed.), 2002, The Economic History of
Byzantium, 7th-15th centuries, Washington
D.C.
S. Lampakis (ed.), 1998, Byzantine Asia
Minor (6th-12th centuries), Athens: IBR-NHRF
H. Lefebvre, La production de l'espace,
Paris 1975
F. Miklosich - J. Müller, 1871, Acta and
Diplomata graeca, vol. IV, Vienna, 1-289.
73
Curriculum Vitae
Alexander Beihammer
Education
1999: PhD, Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, University of Vienna
1995: BA, Arabic Studies, Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, University of Vienna
Pertinent publications
Books
Nachrichten zum byzantinischen Urkundenwesen in arabischen Quellen (565–811) (Freie Universität
Berlin, Byzantinisch-Neugriechisches Seminar, ΠΟΙΚΙΛΑ ΒΥΖΑΝΤΙΝΑ 17), Bonn 2000. lxxxvii + 514 pp.
Quellenkritische Untersuchungen zu den ägyptischen Kapitulationsverträgen der Jahre 640–646 (ÖAdW,
phil.-hist. Klasse, Sitzungsberichte 671), Wien 2000. 71 pp.
Regesten der Kaiserurkunden des oströmischen Reiches von 565–1453, bearbeitet von Franz Dölger. 1.
Teil, 2. Halbband: Regesten von 867–1025. Zweite Auflage neu bearbeitet von Andreas Müller, unter
verantwortlicher Mitarbeit von Alexander Beihammer, München 2003. 248 pp. (Mein Anteil umfasst
292 Regesten bzw. 46% des Gesamtbandes).
Griechische Briefe und Urkunden aus dem Zypern der Kreuzfahrerzeit. Die Formularsammlung eines
königlichen Sekretärs im Vaticanus Palatinus Graecus 367 (Zyprisches Forschungszentrum, Quellen und
Studien zur Geschichte Zyperns 57), Nicosia 2007. 434 pp.
A. Beihammer, M. G. Parani, C. D. Schabel (Hrsg.), Diplomatics in the Eastern Mediterranean 1000–1500.
Aspects of Cross-Cultural Communication (The Medieval Mediterranean 74), Leiden, Boston 2008.
Articles
“‘Reiner christlicher König’ - πιστὸς ἐν Χριστῷ τῷ Θεῷ βασιλεύς: Eine Studie zur Transformation
kanzleimäßigen Schriftguts in narrativen Texten am Beispiel kaiserlicher Auslandsbriefe des 10.
Jahrhunderts an muslimische Destinatäre”, Byzantinische Zeitschrift 95 (2002), pp. 1–34.
“Die Kraft der Zeichen: Symbolische Kommunikation in der byzantinisch-arabischen Diplomatie des 10.
und 11. Jahrhunderts”, Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinistik 54 (2004), pp. 159–189.
“Gruppenidentität und Selbstwahrnehmung im zyprischen Griechentum der frühen Frankenzeit. Ein
Interpretationsversuch anhand von zeitgenössischen Briefen und Urkunden”, Jahrbuch der
Österreichischen Byzantinistik 56 (2006), pp. 205–237.
“Byzantine Chancery Tradition in Frankish Cyprus: the Case of the Vaticanus MS Palatinus Graecus 367”,
in: S. Fourrier, G. Grivaud (Hrsg.), Identités croisées en un milieu méditerranéen: le cas de Chypre (Antiquité
– Moyen Âge). Rouen 2006, pp. 301–315.
“Byzantinische Diplomatik: (Dead or Alive?)”, in: E. Jeffreys (Hrsg.), Proceedings of the 21st International
Congress of Byzantine Studies, London 21-26 August 2006, vol. I: Plenary Papers, Aldershot 2006, pp.
173–187.
“‘Der byzantinische Kaiser hat doch noch nie was zustande gebracht’. Diplomatische Bemerkungen zum
Briefverkehr zwischen Kaiser Isaak II. Angelos und Sultan Saladin von Ägypten”, in: K. Belke, E. Kislinger,
A. Külzer, M.A. Stassinopoulou (Hrsg.), Byzantina Mediterranea. Festschrift für Johannes Koder zum 65.
Geburtstag, Wien 2007, pp. 13–28.
“Eastern Mediterranean Diplomatics: The Present State of Research”, A. Beihammer, M.G. Parani, C.D.
Schabel (Hrsg.), Diplomatics in the Eastern Mediterranean 1000-1500. Aspects of Cross-Cultural
Communication (The Medieval Mediterranean 74), Leiden, Boston 2008, pp. 1-24.
74
Moulding Expressions of Culture: The Terracotta Figurines
from the House of Orpheus, Nea Paphos
Principal Investigator: Demetrios Michaelides, Professor, Department of History
and Archaeology, Faculty of Letters, University of Cyprus
Research Associates: Giorgos Papantoniou, PhD and Maria Dikomitou-Eliadou,
PhD, Department of History and Archaeology, Archaelogical Research Unit,
Faculty of Letters, University of Cyprus
Abstract
The multifaceted significance of Cypriot terracottas has been acknowledged by the
large corpus of published data, which addresses a series of interlinked issues, related
to their typological, stylistic and chronological classification, the technology and
techniques employed in their manufacture, their provenance, the mode of their
production, the scale of their distribution, and their role as cultural artefacts in differing
social contexts. However, despite the substantial studies on earlier Cypriot terracotta
figurines, the Hellenistic and Roman material remains – with very few exemptions –
highly neglected, and outside recent theoretical and scientific developments.
The terracotta figurines from the House of Orpheus in Nea Paphos, excavated by the
Cypriot Department of Antiquities between 1982-1992 and by the University of Cyprus
since 2010, form part of a significant material assemblage that spans in time from the
Hellenistic to the Roman periods. These high-quality terracotta figurines fall within the
mainstream of Cypriot art and its associated ancient technological and cultural systems.
This project, bringing together scholars from different backgrounds, aimed at a
systematic and holistic assessment of this assemblage. Stylistic, analytical and
theoretical methods of study were employed, tackling the aforementioned issues for
these later periods of Cypriot Antiquity. Additionally, through comparative studies with
other Cypriot and Mediterranean sites, the project examined continuing and changing
patterns of production, distribution and function of Cypriot terracottas, as a result
of the interplay between local structures and incoming Ptolemaic and Roman
socio-political and socio-cultural impositions.
More specifically, the project undertook: 1. a typological, stylistic and iconographic
analysis of the figurines; 2. their compositional study focusing on fabrics, slips and
pigments; 3. a systematic attempt to interpret the analytical data addressing issues
related to chronology, technology of manufacture, provenance and distribution; 4. the
study of the inscriptions incised on some of the figurines; 5. the contextualisation of
the figurines within their individual depositional intra-site context, as well as their
broader socio-cultural and socio-political Cypriot and Mediterranean contexts; and 6.
the reconstruction and visualisation of specific fragmented specimens in their
anticipated full shape and colour. The implementation of this project was achieved
using a range of multidisciplinary approaches and methods, such as traditional
examinations of style, statistics, social theory, chemical analyses, and drawing software.
75
Moulding Expressions of Culture: The Terracotta Figurines from the House of Orpheus, Nea Paphos
Introduction
The House of Orpheus
The terracottas from the House of
Orpheus form a significant material
assemblage that spans from Hellenistic to
Roman times. Earlier studies of Hellenistic
and Roman terracottas in Cyprus are very
limited and mostly focused on an objet
d’art descriptive approach. For this reason,
the launch of the inter-/multi-disciplinary
study of the Hellenistic and Roman
terracottas from the House was an
innovative attempt for a holistic study
of this significant material assemblage
employing, stylistic, iconographic, physiochemical, computational and theoretical
methods of analysis.
Let us now examine briefly the
archaeological context of the terracottas.
The House of Orpheus was partly
excavated between 1982-1992 by the
Cypriot Department of Antiquities, under
the direction of D. Michaelides, then
Archaeological Officer for the District of
Paphos. After several failed attempts,
Michaelides succeeded in returning to the
site in 2010, and establish a new project
for the Archaeological Research Unit of
the University of Cyprus, with the aim of
completing the excavation and preparing
the publication of the results, which will
be crucial, not only to our understanding
of Hellenistic and Roman Cyprus, but also
to positioning the island into its broader
Mediterranean socio-political and socioeconomic contexts of the periods under
discussion.
The aim of this article is to provide an
overview of the project, which was funded
by the A.G. Leventis Foundation via the
University of Cyprus, also summarising
some of the results. The presentation of the
material in its archaeological context will
be followed by the presentation of the
qualitative and quantitative data provided
by the employment of portable X-ray
Fluorescence Spectroscopy (pXRF) and
Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis
(INAA), two methods of chemical analysis
that allowed us to develop arguments
regarding the technology of production
and the scale of distribution of these
figurines. The employment of 3D scanning
technology offered the opportunity to
visualise and further explore aspects of the
technology and functions of the terracottas
in a digital form, and provided the
groundwork for the creation of moulds to
be used for the physical reproduction of
selected specimens. The overall aim of the
article is to explain how this inter-/multidisciplinary study of the terracottas from
the House of Orpheus has led to the
enhanced understanding of the function/s
of these artefacts in a Cypriot domestic
environment.
The main phase of the building dates to
the late 2nd/early 3rd century AD, and owes
its name to a fine mosaic depicting
Orpheus charming the beasts. Deeper
trenches and sondages have revealed a
series of structures the initial one going
back to early Hellenistic times. The
importance of the House of Orpheus is
inferred not only from the rare character
of finds, but also from its location, situated
as it is in one of the most prestigious
neighbourhoods of the city, adjacent to
the Villa of Theseus, which is believed to
have been the administrative centre of
the Roman capital of the island.
The Project
One of several projects relating to the
study of the finds from the site is that
funded by the Anastasios G. Leventis
Foundation, initiated in late 2011, and
dedicated to the study of the terracottas
found at the site. The project addresses a
76
series of interlinked issues, related: a/ to
the typological, stylistic and chronological
classification of the terracottas, as well as
to their role as cultural artefacts in differing
social contexts; b/ to their provenance and
to the scale of their distribution; c/ to the
technology and techniques employed in
their manufacture; and, lastly, d/ to their
digital restoration and the development of
dedicated applications for visualising and
exploring the digitised specimens.
from anthropomorphic and zoomorphic
figurines ranging from about 10 to 25 cm
in height. Where possible, the iconographic types and possible chronologies
have been established. Moreover, it is
hoped that, in some rare cases, the
chemical characterisation of the ceramic
fabrics will contribute to the identification
of fragments that belong to the same
artefact, something that would not have
been possible otherwise.
The realisation of the project relies heavily
on the sharing of the various tasks
amongst the different competences of
the members of the research team and
the continuous interaction between the
different disciplines collaborating for the
implementation of the theoretical and
analytical tasks. For the aims of the project
the Archaeological Research Unit of the
University of Cyprus has collaborated
with specialists from the Department of
Multimedia and Graphic Arts of the
Cyprus University of Technology, the
Institute of Materials Science of the
Demokritos National Centre for Scientific
Research (Athens), and the Laboratory of
THETIS Authentics LTD (Athens).
Some figurines bear inscriptions. Studies
of inscribed specimens, for both Cyprus
and the broader Mediterranean, suggest
that such inscriptions represent the
signatures of the coroplasts (cf. Higgins
1967; Uhlenbrock 1990, 15; Barrett 2011,
107), an argument reinforced by the
fact that these are placed on the back of
the figurines. In any case and generally
speaking, the examples bearing possible
signatures are very few in number,
something which confirms that it was
atypical for coroplasts to sign their work
(Barrett 2011, 107, 364 n. 1483).
Aphrodite features most prominently in
the corpus. A nearly complete figurine
with remnants of a white slip, and red,
pink and yellow colour, for example,
represents the naked goddess fastening
her strophion. Related to the imagery of
Aphrodite are fragments showing Eros,
while other deities such as Dionysos,
Tyche and probably Isis are represented.
Zoomorphic figurines form another
significant group amongst the material
under study. There are representations of
deer and at least one possible sow, cow or
bull; but the most common type is that of
the so-called Maltese spitz or terrier,
found in other Cypriot sites and in many
areas of the Mediterranean (e.g. at Delos:
see Barrett 2011, 187).
The Terracottas
The House of Orpheus has so far yielded
more than 400 terracotta fragments.
These have all been catalogued,
described, drawn and photographed. All
this information has been linked to an
electronic database, which allows for a
more practical processing of the material
leading to the production of more
controlled stratigraphic, spatial and
statistical results and correlations.
Most of the terracottas survive in small
fragments and only a very small number
is preserved nearly intact or complete.
The identifiable fragments come mainly
77
that in the majority of cases colour was
detected in folds and incisions on the
terracottas, and never on larger flat areas,
indicating the fugitive nature of the
colouring material.
Raw Materials, Provenance and
Technology: The employment of
p-XRF and NAA
In the course of the multidisciplinary
study of the terracotta figurines, the
characterisation of their ceramic fabrics
was thought essential for an enhanced
understanding of the technology of
their production, and for allowing an
examination of their compositional
variability, and, if possible, for determining
their provenance. Considering various
factors (e.g. the quality and fineness of
the ceramic fabrics, the degree of
preservation of the terracotta figurines,
and the permissions from the Cypriot
Department of Antiquities for physicochemical analyses of these artefacts),
portable X-ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy
(pXRF) and Instrumental Neutron
Activation Analysis (INAA) were thought
the most appropriate methods for their
chemical analysis.
Considering both the pXRF and NAA data,
it can be argued that the terracotta
figurines from the House of Orpheus are
mostly products of local manufacture
made in local or regional ceramic centres.
There is only a very small number of
specimens that deviate from the two
larger chemical clusters defined through
the employment of pXRF and NAA, which
are characterised as outliers. Statistical
analyses, including principal components
analysis and cluster analysis have been
used to test the correspondence between
the analytical datasets.
According to the obtained chemical data
and their statistical processing, the largest
number of terracotta figurines from the
House of Orpheus was made at the same
production centre, or adjacent workshops
located within the same geological
region. A smaller group comes from other
production centres, mainly within Cyprus.
This argument is justified by all different
methods of data processing. It is thus
suggested that the inhabitants of the
House of Orpheus did not use exclusively
only one source for obtaining their
terracotta figurines but that they or their
supplier addressed their needs to
different workshops; among them one
production centre or production complex
being their main source of supply.
Moreover, these classificatory and
reduction statistical techniques have
been used for defining groupings among
the compositional data, and for displaying
in graphical representations any
relationships between the chemical
composition, the chronology, the fabric or
the type of the samples under study.
In order to facilitate the use of this data by
other scholars working on similar material
from other Cypriot and Mediterranean
sites, we have combined a series of
macroscopic and microscopic methods of
qualitative and quantitative analysis
supported by images of the sections
taken by a USB-microscope. Overall, at
least macroscopically, it seems that there
was a common technology followed in
the manufacture of the terracotta
figurines with minor variations in their
composition, as different workshops used
different sources of raw materials, and
possibly different techniques of fabric
preparation. The general observation is
that the ceramic fabrics of the terracotta
figurines are fine and more rarely semifine. Some preserve remains of a white
slip and various colours, including red,
reddish brown, pink, yellow, orange,
green, black and blue. It should be noted
78
focused on raw materials selection and
processing, shaping techniques, and firing
temperatures.
Generally speaking, in pre-Hellenistic
times, as well as the snowman technique,
the Cypriot coroplasts sometimes used
moulds for the production of figurines
(Serwint 2000). It was only towards the
end of the Hellenistic period that mouldmade, hollow figurines became the norm
(Queyrel 1988); and from then on
manufacturing processes and techniques
drew heavily upon the advances made
elsewhere, adapting various new
methods of ante- and post-firing treatments. Hitherto there has been no
detailed, point-by-point comparison of
the Cypriot coroplasts’ manufacturing
techniques within an island and a broader
Mediterranean sphere, in order to identify
hands or workshops and regional
techniques.
Digitisation of the Figurines
In addition, the project aimed to raise
public interest in this type of artefacts
through the development of novel
applications related to the production of
replicas, both digital and physical. The aim
of this work-package was to use 3D
scanning for generating 3D models of
terracotta figurines. The resulting models
have been used as the basis for creating
moulds used for experimental work
related to the physical reproduction of
selected figurines. Apart from the physical
reproduction process we also aimed to
develop dedicated tools suitable for
processing the resulting 3D models. The
tools we developed are divided into those
involving the use of computational
methods for processing the 3D models,
and those involving the development of
interactive tools that aim to engage
museum visitors in exploring terracotta
figurines (Papantoniou et al. 2012).
With the exception of larger terracottas,
the figurines from the House of Orpheus
are hollow and double-moulded. In some
cases, extra detail was incised with a sharp
tool (Michaelides 1992, 324). Practically all
the figurines that preserve their back are
equipped with a circular hole. Although it
has sometimes been argued that the hole
was probably used for suspending the
figurines on walls (Nicolaou 1967, 125),
there can be no doubt that, as supported
by Muller (2010, 101) and others, these
have another, practical role: they are vent
holes, as well as a means of access that
enabled the coroplast to consolidate
the joins between the two halves of
the figurines from the inside. Visible
finger-prints on the inside of joining
parts of several of our terracottas add
validity to this interpretation. The
examination and recording of the
techniques employed for the manufacture
of the terracotta figurines has been
evaluated by means of a macroscopic and
microscopic study of the samples, but also
by experimental work. Special interest was
The digitisation process is divided
into two main tasks, namely the 3D
scanning phase and the post-processing
phase. The application of automated
virtual restoration techniques capable of
predicting the appearance of the missing
parts of digitised fragments was among
the main aims of the project. Within
this framework, information from the
undamaged parts of an object was
utilised in combination with other,
relevant sources of information, in an
attempt to re-create the appearance
of the complete object and group
various fragments together. This effort
required close co-operation between
archaeologists and 3D modellers. In
addition, the aforementioned computa-
79
tional analysis tasks aimed to provide
tools for both archaeologists and other
specialists.
any religious significance from these
animal figurines (cf. Tӧrӧk 1995, 172-173;
Barrett 2011, 189).
As part of the project we also aimed to
produce interactive tools that will allow
the general public to explore, visualise and
obtain knowledge related to the terracotta
fragments in question. In particular
we have developed a virtual museum
environment where visitors will have the
chance to visualise the items and obtain
information on specific items, as well as
the overall theme of “The Terracotta
Figurines from the House of Orpheus”.
Edutainment is considered a very efficient
way of disseminating information and
knowledge, especially to the younger
generation. Along these lines, apart
from visualising the data in a virtual
environment, visitors will have the chance
to interact with the virtual objects in a way
that will stimulate the learning process. In
order to accomplish this aim we have
developed various 3D puzzle applications
and applications related to augmented
reality-based experimentation.
It is more than obvious that the
terracottas from the House of Orpheus
had more than one function: some were
decorative or prestige items, others were
related to the cognitive systems of their
owners, and yet others were probably
toys or simply decorative objects. Some of
the figurines of deities should probably
be studied within the sphere of domestic
cult; however, it must be remembered
that in some instances, a single object
may have incorporated more than one of
the functions mentioned above.
It is possible that some of the figurines
representing deities may have related to a
domestic cult. Domestic cult usually
conceals a surprisingly wide range of
practices; individuals usually use household
cult to express aspects of their social
identities or cultural affiliations. By domestic
cult we do not necessary imply the
presence of a domestic shrine. In the House
of Orpheus, the intra-site distribution of the
terracottas and the existing archaeological
evidence cannot help us identify a specific
room as a domestic shrine.
Functions and Meanings
Let us now examine briefly what the
function and meanings of these figurines
in a domestic context might be. The
animal terracottas are particularly
pertinent to the discussion of function. In
an Egyptian context these dog figurines
have been related by Tӧrӧk (1995, 172)
and Barrett (2011, 187) to the cult and
iconography of the dog-star Sothis. In the
Hellenistic and Roman periods, however,
these dog figures are relatively frequent
subjects in Egyptianising terracottas from
the broader Mediterranean, and the dogs
themselves are also attested as household
pets in many geographic regions (cf.
Barrett 2011, 189). We suggest that in a
Cypriot context we should better detach
Much remains unknown not only about
the producers, but also about the
owners of these figurines. Nonetheless,
something can be said about the
economic status of the latter. The number
of the terracottas found in the elite
context of the House of Orpheus suggests
that they were completely integrated into
the everyday life of the Cypriot upper
classes. While we need more studies on
the relative distribution of figurines in
households, tombs and sanctuaries
before we can associate them with
specific social classes, it is more than
obvious that the common perception
80
2012, 260-261). The contextualisation of
the figurines within their individual
depositional intra-site context, as well as
their broader socio-cultural and sociopolitical Cypriot and Mediterranean
contexts, is a most valuable undertaking
when attempting to understand their use
and function in a Cypriot domestic
context.
that, because of their inexpensive nature,
these objects are primarily related to the
poor, is wrong in the case of Hellenistic
and Roman Cyprus.
Conclusions and Future Directions
In order to understand the ways in which
people in Hellenistic and Roman Cyprus
used terracotta figurines within an
elite domestic context (at least), one
also needs to determine which of
these objects were locally produced,
and which were imported. Our studies
on the technology, provenance, and
icono-graphy of the terracotta figurine
assemblage form the House of Orpheus in
Nea Paphos have further illustrated the
reception of various Mediterranean types
within a Cypriot context.
While this A. G. Leventis funded project
served as an example for the examination
of objects coming from a stratified
context, it also contributed to further
illuminating long-standing issues related
to the understanding of unstratified
terracottas found through looting
or the antiquarian approaches of early
explorations. Moving beyond the
individual analytical datasets at an intrasite level, the project has successfully
provided a reference collection for future
inter-site research, setting the scene for
the further systematic study of Hellenistic
and Roman terracottas from Cyprus and
the wider Mediterranean world.
Our future study aims to examine the
reinterpretation of the figurines and the
interaction of multiple cultural traditions
in a regional, imperial context. We hope
that further calibration of the stratigraphy
in the future, and a GIS-based intra-site
analysis of the finds will help us to further
clarify the function and meanings of these
objects. One thing that we must certainly
look into is why the largest concentration
of terracottas was found in the rooms
west of the atrium, and a slightly smaller
one in the rooms on the east.
Bibliography
Barrett C.E., 2011, Egyptianizing Figurines
from Delos: A Study in Hellenistic Religion
(Columbia Studies in the Classical Tradition
36), Leiden: Brill.
Burn L., 2000. “Three Terracotta Kourotrophoi”, in G.R. Tsetskhladze, A.J.N. Prag,
and A.M. Snodgrass (eds), Periplous. Papers
on Classical Art and Archaeology Presented
to Sir John Boardman, 41-49. London:
Thames and Hudson.
In summing up we can reiterate that
terracottas, over and above their arthistorical importance, should be seen as
active and symbolic elements in their
depositional and social contexts. Each
region under the influence of the
Hellenistic monarchies and, later, the
Roman Empire produced terracottas in
distinctive local styles with similar ranges
of subjects, but often including themes
deriving from local traditions (Connelly
1990, 97-98; Burn 2000; Papantoniou
Connelly J.B., 1990a. “Hellenistic Terracottas
of Cyprus and Kuwait”, in J.P. Uhlenbrock
(ed.), The Coroplast’s Art. Greek Terracottas
of the Hellenistic World, 37-46, New York:
College Art Gallery, The College at New
Paltz, State University of New York/A.D.
Caratzas Publisher.
81
Higgins R.A., 1967, Greek Terracottas, London:
Methuen.
(Λευκωσία, 16-20 Απριλίου 1996), Vol. 1,
649-666. Nicosia: Society of Cypriot Studies.
Michaelides D., 1983-1998, interim excavation reports in the Annual Reports of the
Department of Antiquities Cyprus, and the
"Chronique de Fouilles et Découvertes
archéologiques à Chypre …" in the Bulletin
de Correspondence Hellénique.
Török L,. 1995. Hellenistic and Roman
Terracottas from Egypt (Bibliotheca
Archaeologica 15/Monumenta antiquitatis
extra fines Hungariae reperta 4), Rome:
L’Erma.
Uhlenbrock J.P., 1990. “The Coroplast and
his Craft”, in J.P. Uhlenbrock (ed.), The
Coroplast’s Art. Greek Terracottas of the
Hellenistic World, 15-21, New York: College
Art Gallery, The College at New Paltz, State
University of New York/A.D. Caratzas
Publisher.
Michaelides D., 1992, "The Tyche of
Alexandria in Cyprus?", in G.C. Ioannides
(ed.), Studies in Honour of Vassos
Karageorghis, 323-327, Nicosia: Society of
Cypriot Studies.
Muller A., 2010, “The Techniques of Tanagra
Coroplasts. From Local Craft to ‘Global
Industry’”, in V. Jeammet (ed.), Tanagras:
Figurines for Life and Eternity. The Musée du
Louvre's Collection of Greek Figurines,
142-159, Valencia: Fundación Bancaja.
Queyrel A., 1988. Amathonte IV: Les figurines
hellénistique de terre cuite (Études chypriotes
10), Athens: École française d’Athènes.
Deliverables:
Nicolaou K., 1967, “Excavations at Kato
Paphos. The House of Dionysos. Outline of
the campaigns 1964-1965, Report of the
Department of Antiquities Cyprus 1967,
100-125.
Papantoniou G., 2012, Religion and Social
Transformations in Cyprus. From the Cypriot
Basileis to the Hellenistic Strategos,
(Mnemosyne Supplements 347), Leiden:
Brill.
Papantoniou G., Loizides F., Lanitis A.,
and Michaelides D., 2012, “Digitization,
Restoration and Visualization of Terracotta
Figurines from the ‘House of Orpheus’, Nea
Paphos”, in M. Ioannides et al. (eds),
EuroMed 2012. (Lecture Notes on Computer Sciences 7616), 543–550, Berlin Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.
1.
Archaeological recording and study
of the terracottas from the House of
Orpheus
2.
An electronic database with all the
characteristics of the terracottas
3.
Physicochemical analysis of the terracottas and study of their provenance
and technology
4.
Digitisation of the terracottas
5.
An experimental tool for virtual
restoration and visualisation of fragmented figurines
6. A virtual museum and other interactive
virtual environments
7. Copies of 10 selected terracotta
figurines and moulds in thermoplastic
material produced by 3D printing
Serwint N., 2000. “Technical Aspects of
the Coroplast’s Art: The Evidence from
Ancient Marion”, in G.K. Ioannides, and
S.A. Hadjestylle (eds), Πρακτικά του
Τρίτου Διεθνούς Κυπρολογικού Συνεδρίου
8.
82
Reproduction of specific terracotta
figurines in clay by using thermoplastic
moulds
9.
Reproduction of all artefacts involved
in the chaine operatoire for selected
terracottas
10. Documentation of the production
process
11. Replicas for the collection of the
Archaeological Research Unit of the
12. Educational material to be used by
students and museum visitors
• Papantoniou G., Michaelides D. and
Dikomitou-Eliadou M. (eds) (in preparation), Hellenistic and Roman Terracottas:
Mediterranean Networks and Cyprus.
Leiden: Brill.
This is a peer-reviewed volume and, as well
as many articles by an international panel
of experts, it will include the following
contributions by the collabora-tors in the
programme:
• Michaelides D. and Papantoniou G.,
“Moulding Expressions of Culture: The
Terracotta Figurines from the House of
Orpheus in Nea Paphos”.
• Dikomitou-Eliadou M., Kilikoglou V.,
Aloupi-Siotis E., Papantoniou, G.,
Michaelides, D., “Qualitative vs quantitative data: The application of portable
X-ray Fluorescence and Neutron
Activation Analysis for the study of
Hellenistic and Roman Figurines from
the House of Orpheus in Nea Paphos”.
13. Organisation of an international
conference on the study of Hellenistic
and Roman terracottas
Publications:
• Papantoniou G., Loizides F., Lanitis A.
and Michaelides D. 2012, “Digitization,
Restoration and Visualization of
Terracotta Figurines from the ‘House of
Orpheus’, Nea Paphos”, in M. Ioannides
et al. (eds), EuroMed 2012. Lecture Notes
on Computer Sciences 7616, 543–550.
Berlin Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.
• Michaelides D., Papantoniou G. 2012,
“Moulding Expressions of Culture: The
Orpheus’, Nea Paphos”, Newsletter of the
Coroplastic Studies Interest Group 7, 10.
• Papantoniou G., Michaelides D., Loizides
F., and Lanitis A., 2013, “Digitization,
Restoration and Visualization of
Orpheus’, Nea Paphos”, Newsletter of the
Coroplastic Studies Interest Group 9, 7-8.
• Dikomitou-Eliadou M., Papantoniou G.,
and Michaelides D., 2013, “The
Employment of pXRF Analysis for the
Qualitative Study of Hellenistic and
Roman Terracottas from the House of
Orpheus in Nea Paphos”, Newsletter of
the Association for Coroplastic Studies
10, 10-11.
• Dikomitou-Eliadou M., Papantoniou G.,
Aloupi-Siotis E., and Michaelides D., “A
technological assessment of terracotta
figurines from the House of Orpheus in
Nea Paphos, Cyprus”.
• Loizides F., Lanitis A., Papantoniou G.
and Michaelides D., “The Use of
Information Technology Applications
for Supporting the Study and Interpretation of Terracotta Figurines from
the House of Orpheus in Nea Paphos”.
Collaborators:
1. Dr Giorgos Papantoniou, University of
Cyprus/ Trinity College Dublin
2. Dr Maria Dikomitou-Eliadou, University
of Cyprus
3. Dr Andreas Lanitis, Cyprus University of
Technology
83
4. Dr Eleni Aloupi-Siotis, THETIS Authentics
LTD
5. Dr Vasilis Kilikoglou, National Centre for
Scientific Research “Demokritos”/
Athens Technological Educational
Institute
6. Dr Fernando Loizides, Cyprus University
of Technology
7. Dr Christos Markou, National Centre for
Scientific Research “Demokritos”
8. Iphigenia Nalbani, THETIS Authentics
LTD
9. Artemi Chaviara, THETIS Authentics LTD
10. Prof. Michael D. Glascock, University of
Missouri-Columbia
Figures
1. Plan of the House of Orpheus
2. The Orpheus Mosaic Floor
7. A terracotta figurine in a Virtual
Museum
3. Fragments of terracottas from the
House of Orpheus in the Paphos
District Museum
8. Augmented reality-based
experimentation on using terracotta
figurines
4. Figurine of Aphrodite from the House
of Orpheus
9. Statistical analysis of the terracotta
figurines from the House of Orpheus
5. The Tyche of Alexandria figurine from
the House of Orpheus
10. Reconstruction of a terracotta figurine
from the House of Orpheus
6. Digitisation of the terracotta figurines
from the House of Orpheus
84
Figure 1
Figure 4
Figure 2
Figure 5
Figure 3
85
Figure 6
Figure 9
Figure 10
Figure 7
Figure 8
86
Curricula Vitae
Professor Demetrios Michaelides studied at the Courtauld Institute, University of London (1969:
B.A., History of European Art), at the Institute of Archaeology, University of London (1971: M.A.,
Archaeology of the Roman Provinces; 1981: Ph.D., "The Pavements of Roman Benghazi, Libya"). He
has taught at the Università per gli Stranieri of Perugia, Italy (Part-time Lecturer, 1975-77), and worked
at the British School at Rome (Assistant Director, 1978; Cultural Adviser and Assistant Librarian, 198182). He has been a Fellow of the M. Aylwin Cotton Foundation, 1978-79, and Archaeological Officer
at the Cyprus Department of Antiquities, 1982-92. He works at the University of Cyprus since 1992.
He is on the Scientific Board of the Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae, and that of the
Association Internationale pour l' Etude de la Mosaϊque Antique. He is Vice-President of the Historical
Society of Cyprus, and President of the International Committee for the Conservation of Mosaics.
Research Interests: His research interests include: Hellenistic and Roman mosaics and frescoes;
ancient medicine the ancient trade in marble, amphoras and worked seashells; the topography of
Hellenistic and Roman Cyprus; and the topography of Nicosia
SelectedPublications: "A Roman Surgeon's Tomb from Nea Paphos", Part 1, Report of the
Department of Antiquities of Cyprus 1984.
"Some aspects of Marble Imitation in Mosaic", in P. Pensabene (ed.), Marmi Antichi. Problemi
d'Impiego, di Restauro e d'Identificazione (Studi Miscellanei 26), Roma 1985.
"A new Orpheus mosaic in Cyprus", in Acts of the International Colloquium: "Cyprus between the
Orient and the Occident", Nicosia, 8-14 September 1985. Nicosia 1986.
Cypriot Mosaics, Department of Antiquities, Nicosia 1987; 2nd revised edition 1992.
Guide to the Paphos Mosaics (with W. A. Daszewski), Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation in
collaboration with the Department of Antiquities, Nicosia 1988; Greek, French and German editions
in 1989.
Mosaic Floors in Cyprus (Biblioteca di Felix Ravenna 3) (with W. A. Daszewski), Ravenna 1988.
"The Tombs, their Excavation and Architecture", Chapter I in V. Karageorghis, Tombs at Palaepaphos:
1. Teratsoudhia. 2. Eliomylia. Nicosia 1990.
"The Roman Period", in Sir David Hunt (ed.), Footprints in Cyprus, an illustrated history (revised edition).
London1990; repr. 1994.
"Οι Ροδιακοί Αμφορείς και ένα Ταφικό Έθιμο της Πάφου" (Rhodian amphorae and a funerary custom
of Paphos), in Πρακτικά της Β΄Επιστημονικής Συνάντησης για την Ελληνιστική Κεραμεική:
Χρονολογικά Προβλήματα της Ελληνιστικής Κεραμεικής. Ρόδος,22-25 Μαρτίου 1989. Αθήνα 1990.
"Roman Wall Paintings from Berenice (Benghazi), Libya", in Akten d. 4. InternationalesKolloquium zur
Römischen Wandmalerei, Köln, 20-23 September 1989 (Kölner Jahrbuchfür Vor- und Frühgeschichte
24). Köln 1991.
D. Michaelides and D. Wilkinson (eds), Excavations at Otranto, vol. 1. Università di Lecce. Dipartimento
di Scienze dell'Antichità. Collana del Dipartimento 5. Lecce 1992.
"Opus sectile in Cyprus", in A.A.M. Bryer and G.S. Georghallides (eds), 'The Sweet Land of Cyprus'.
Papers given at the Twenty-Fifth Jubilee Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, Birmingham, March
1991. Nicosia 1993.
"Cyprus and the Persian Gulf in the Hellenistic and Roman Periods: The Case of Pinctada margaritifera",
in V. Karageorghis and D. Michaelides (eds), Cyprus and theSea. International Symposium organized
87
by the Cyprus Ports Authority and the Archaeological Research Unit of the University of Cyprus, 2526 September. Nicosia 1993.
"Το Magenta Ware στην Κύπρο" (Magenta ware in Cyprus), in Γ' Επιστημονική Συνάντηση για την
Ελληνιστική Κεραμική: "Χρονολογημένα Σύνολα-Εργαστήρια". Θεσσαλονίκη, 24-27 Σεπτεμβρίου 1991
(Βιβλιοθήκη της εν Αθήναις Αρχαιολογικής Εταιρείας, Αριθ. 137). Αθήναι 1994.
V. Karageorghis and D. Michaelides (eds), Cyprus and the Sea. Proceedings of the International
Symposium organized by the Cyprus Ports Authority and the Archaeological Research Unit of the
University of Cyprus, Nicosia, 25-26 September. Nicosia 1995.
"The Economy of Cyprus during the Hellenistic and Roman Periods", in V. Karageorghis and
D. Michaelides (eds), The Development of the Cypriot Economy from the Prehistoric Period to the
Present Day. International Conference organized by the Bank of Cyprus, the Archaeological Research
Unit and the Department of Economics of the University of Cyprus, Nicosia, 28-29 April. Nicosia 1996.
V. Karageorghis and D. Michaelides (eds), The Development of the Cypriot Economy from the
Prehistoric Period to the Present Day. International Conference organized by the Bank of Cyprus, the
Archaeological Research Unit and the Department of Economics of the University of Cyprus, Nicosia,
28-29 April. Nicosia 1996.
"Food in Ancient Cyprus", in P. Lysaght (ed.), Food and the Traveller: Migration, Tourism and Ethnic
Food. Proceedings of the 11th Conference of the International Commission for Ethnological Food
Research. Cyprus, Nicosia, June 8-14, 1996. Nicosia 1998.
The Pavements of Berenice (Vol. IV of Excavations at Sidi Khrebish (Berenice) = Supplements to Libya
Antiqua V), London 1998. M. Iacovou and D. Michaelides (eds), Cyprus. The Historicity of the Geometric
Horizon. Workshop organized by the Archaeological Research Unit, Department of History and
Archaeology, University of Cyprus. Archaeological Research Unit, Nicosia, 11 October 1998. Nicosia
1999.
"Some characteristic traits of a mosaic workshop in Early Christian Cyprus", in D. Paunier and C.
Schmidt (eds), Actes du VIIIéme Colloque International sur la Mosaϊque Antique et Médiévale,
Lausanne, 6-11 October (Cahiers d'Archéologie Romande No. 86). Lausanne 2001.
"Archeologia Paleocristiana a Cipro", in XLIV Corso di Cultura sull'Arte Ravennate e Bizantina: "Le grandi
isole del Mediterraneo orientale tra tarda antichità e medioevo",Ravenna 1998. Ravenna 2001.
"The Excavation of a Late Roman 1 Amphora kiln in Paphos"(with S. Demesticha), in E. Villeneuve and
P.M. Watson (eds), La Céramique Byzantine et Proto-Islamique en Syrie-Jordanie (IVe-VIIIe siècles apr.
J.-C.). Actes du colloque tenu à Amman les 3, 4 et 5 décembre 1994 (= IFAPO: Bibliothèque
Archéologique et Historique T. 159). Beyrouth 2001.
"The ambo of Basilica A at Cape Drepanon", in J. Herrin, M. Mullett and C. Otten-Froux (eds), Mosaic.
Festschrift for A.H.S. Megaw; British School at Athens. Studies 8, 2001.
"'Αραβικοί' αμφορείς στην Κύπρο" ("Arab" amphoras of Cyprus) (with Ch. Bakirtzis), in Ch. Bakirtzis
(ed.), VIIe Congrès International sur la Céramique Médiévale en Méditerranée. Thessaloniki, 11-16
October 1999. Edition de la Caisse des Recettes Archéologiques. Athens 2003.
D. Michaelides (ed.), Mosaics make a Site. The Conservation in situ of Mosaics on Archaeological Sites.
Proceedings of the VIth International Conference of the International Committee for the Conservation
of Mosaics (ICCM), Nicosia 1996. The ICCM, the Getty Conservation Institute and ICCROM, 2003.
88
"Cypriot painted tombs and their ceilings", in L. Borhy (ed.), Plafonds et voûtes à l'époque antique'.
Actes du VIIIe Colloque International de l'Association Internationale pour la Peinture Murale Antique,
Budapest - Veszprém, 15-19 Mai 2001. Budapest 2004.
"'Ayioi Pente' at Yeroskipou. A new Early Christian site in Cyprus", Musiva et Sectilia 1, 2005.
«Ιατροί και Ιατρική στην Αρχαία Κύπρο». Κεφάλαιο στον τόμο Η Ιατρική στην Κύπρο, από την
Αρχαιότητα μέχρι την Ανεξαρτησία. Πολιτιστικό Κέντρο Ομίλου Λαϊκής. Λευκωσία 2006, 12-68./
"Doctors and Medicine in Ancient Cyprus". Chapter in Medicine in Ancient Cyprus (in Greek). Cultural
Centre of the Popular (Bank) Group, 2006.
"Lessons not Learnt: The Shelters of Kourion" (with Niki Savvides), in A. Ben Abed, M. Demas and Th.
Roby (eds), "Lessons Learned: Reflecting on the Theory and Practice of
Mosaic Conservation". Proceedings of the 9th Conference of the International Committee for the
Conservation of Mosaics. Hammamet, Tunisia, November29–December 3, 2005. The Getty
Conservation Institute, Los Angeles 2008.
Dr. Giorgos Papantoniou did his B.A. in History and Archaeology at the University of Cyprus (2003)
and his Ph.D. in Classics at Trinity College Dublin (2008), where he also held an Irish Research Council
(IRC), Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship (2009-10). He has temporarily worked as an
archaeologist in the Department of Antiquities, Republic of Cyprus, and as a researcher and visiting
lecturer in the Department of History and Archaeology, University of Cyprus. He is currently holding
an Irish Research Council (IRC)/Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship to work on the project entitled
“Unlocking Sacred Landscapes: A Holistic Approach to Cypriot Sanctuaries and Religion”. His main
agenda for research is based on interdisciplinary approaches. Bringing together archaeological,
textual, epigraphic, art-historical, and anthropological evidence, he works on ancient Cypriot ritual
space, sanctuaries and religion from the Late Bronze Age to the Roman period. His broader area of
interest includes the interaction of Cyprus with other Mediterranean and Near Eastern cultures,
particularly mainland Greece, the Syro-Palestinian coast and Egypt. He is specifically interested in
Greek sanctuaries and religion, Greek and Roman mystery cults, Greek sculpture and terracotta
figurines, Hellenistic royal image on coins and statues, Alexander the Great, Hellenistic ruler cult,
Ptolemaic Alexandria, classical mythology, ancient imperialism, landscape archaeology and
approaches to ancient art and iconography.
Selected publications
Monographs
• Papantoniou, G. 2012. Religion and Social Transformations in Cyprus. From the Cypriot Basileis to the
Hellenistic Strategos. Mnemosyne Supplements 347. Leiden: Brill.
Edited Books
• Papantoniou, G. ed. 2008. POCA 2005. Postgraduate Cypriot Archaeology. Proceedings of the Fifth
Annual Meeting of Young Researchers on Cypriot Archaeology, Department of Classics, Trinity College,
Dublin, 21-22 October 2005. British Archaeological Reports, International Series 1803. Oxford:
Archaeopress.
89
Journals
• Papantoniou, G. 2013. “Cypriot Autonomous Polities at the Crossroads of Empire: The Imprint of a
Transformed Islandscape in the Classical and Hellenistic periods”. Bulletin of the American School
of Oriental Studies 307: 169-205.
• Papantoniou, G. 2013. “Cyprus from Basileis to Strategos: A Landscape Approach”. American Journal
of Archaeology 117.1: 33-57.
• Papantoniou, G. 2012. “From Segmentation to Unification: Sacred Landscapes and Sculpture in the
Construction of Hellenistic Island Identities”. Keryx 2: 91-105.
• Papantoniou, G. 2009. “’Revisiting’ Soloi-Cholades: Ptolemaic Power, Religion and Ideology”. Cahier
du Centre d’Études Chypriotes 39: 271-87.
Chapters in Edited Books
• Papantoniou, G. forthcoming. “Ritual, Cult and Iconography in Context: The Transplantation of Late
Cypriot ‘Archetypes’ into the Iron Age”. In Materiality and Visibility of Rituals in the Ancient World,
edited by I. Mylonopoulos. Berlin: DeGruyter.
• Papantoniou, G. 2013. “The ‘Cypriot Goddess’ at the Transition from the Bronze to the Iron Age: A
‘Cypro-Centric’ Approach”. In J.R.B. Stewart: An Archaeological Legacy. Studies in Mediterranean
Archaeology, Pocket Books 139, edited by A.B. Knapp, J.M. Webb, and A. McCarthey, 161-73.
Uppsala: Åströms Förlag.
• Papantoniou, G., and C.E. Morris. 2013. “Island Cultures at the Opposite Ends of Europe: Cypriot
Studies in Ireland”. In Ireland-Cyprus: Parallel Journeys. Common Aspirations, edited by G. Georgis,
and G. Kazamias, 282-311. Nicosia: Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
• Papantoniou, G. 2012. “Cypriot Sanctuaries and Religion in the Early Iron Age: Views from Before
and After”. In Cyprus and the Aegean in the Early Iron Age – The Legacy of Nicolas Coldstream, edited
by M. Iacovou, 285-319. Nicosia: Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation.
• Papantoniou, G. 2011. “‘Hellenising’ the ‘Cypriot Goddess’: ‘Reading’ the Amathousian Terracotta
Figurines”. In From Pella to Gandhara. Hybridisation and Identity in the Art and Architecture of the
Hellenistic East. British Archaeological Reports, International 2221, edited by A. Kouremenos, S.
Chandrasekaran, and R. Rossi, 35-48. Oxford: Archaeopress.
Dr. Maria Dikomitou-Eliadou has received her B.A. in History and Archaeology from the University
of Cyprus (2003). She was awarded an MA in Mediterranean Archaeology by the University of Bristol
(2004) and an MA in Artefact Studies by University College London (2005). Dikomitou-Eliadou received
her doctoral title at University College London (2012). During her postgraduate studies she has
worked as a teaching assistant at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London, and then
as a research fellow at the Archaeological Research Unit of the University of Cyprus, where she still
works as a postdoctoral researcher. She is currently managing a multi-partner, large-scale
interdisciplinary research project on the study of ancient materials from the Mediterranean, funded
by the European Commission, and coordinated by the University of Cyprus. Her research interests
mainly focus on pottery analysis and ceramic technology in ancient Cyprus. She is actively involved
either as the principal researcher or a research collaborator in many projects in Cyprus, funded by
local, Mediterranean or European institutions.
90
Publications
Dikomitou-Eliadou, M., Kiriantzi, E. and Vionis, A. K. 2013. Appendix IV. Petrographic analysis of Late
Cypriot cooking pots and Late Minoan pottery from Pyla-Kokkinokremos. In Karageorghis, V and
Kanta, A., Pyla-Kokkinokremos. A late 13th century BC fortified settlement in Cyprus. Excavations 20102011. Uppsala: Åströms Förlag Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology CXLI, 189-196.
Dikomitou-Eliadou, M. 2013. Interactive communities at the dawn of the Cypriot Bronze Age: an
interdisciplinary approach to Philia phase ceramic variability. In: A.B. Knapp, J.M. Webb and McCarthy
A. (eds), J.R.B. Stewart: An Archaeological Legacy. Uppsala: Åströms Förlag Studies in Mediterranean
Archaeology CXXXIX, 23-31.
Charalambous, A., Dikomitou-Eliadou, M. and Kassianidou, V., 2013. Appendix: A preliminary
chemical study of Grey and Black Polished II (IV) pottery with the employment of pXRF. In: Georgiou,
G. and Karageorghis, V. (eds) A Cypro-Archaic tomb at Xylotymbou and three Cypro-Classical tombs at
Phlasou: From Exuberance to Recession. Uppsala: Åströms Förlag Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology
CXL, 59-63.
Dikomitou, M. and Martinòn-Torres, M., 2012. Fabricating an island-wide tradition. Red Polished
pottery from Early and Middle Bronze Age Cyprus. In: Zacharias, N., Georgakopoulou, M., Polikreti, K.,
Facorellis, Y. and Vakoulis, T. (eds) Proceedings of the 5th HSA Symposium (October 2008, Athens).
Athens: Papazese Publications, 423-442.
Dikomitou, M., 2010. A closer look at Red Polished Philia fabrics. Inquiring into ceramic uniformity in
Cyprus, ca. 2500-2300 BC. The Old Potter’s Almanack 15 (2), 1-6
Dikomitou, M., 2007. Analysis of clays and fabrics. In: Frankel, D., and Webb, J., The Bronze Age
cemeteries at Deneia in Cyprus. Sävedalen: Paul Åströms Förlag. Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology
CXXXV, 107-122.
Sarris, A., G. Stamatis, N. Papadopoulos, E. Kokkinou, S. Topouzi, E. Kokkinaki, E. Moissi, Iacovou, M.,
Kassianidou, V., Papasavvas, G., Papantoniou, G. and Dikomitou, M., 2006. “Palaepaphos, Cyprus: The
Contribution of Geographical Information Systems and Geophysical Prospection in the Study of the
Archaeological Topography and Settlement Patterns.” In The World is in your Eyes. CAA 2005.
91
92
The Ancient Scholia to Sophocles’ Oedipus Coloneus: A New
Critical Edition
Principal Investigator: Georgios A. Xenis, Associate Professor, Department of
Classics and Philosophy, Faculty of Letters, University of Cyprus
Summary
The scholia vetera to Sophocles are of fundamental importance to anybody working
on the interpretation of the Sophoclean drama, or on its reception in antiquity. They
are also important for those with interests in ancient literary criticism and
scholarship. However, in contrast to the scholia to other dramatic poets
(Aristophanes, Aeschylus), which have lately seen up-to-date texts, the Sophoclean
scholia are still available for the most part in the antiquated 1888 Teubner edition
by Petros Papageorgiou. Moreover, Georgios Christodoulou’s 1977 edition of the
scholia to the Ajax and Vittorio de Marco’s of the scholia to the Oedipus Coloneus
(1952) are also blurred by a number of shortcomings which necessitate their
replacement too.
That is the reason why Walter de Gruyter and the directors of its series ‘Sammlung
griechisher und lateinisher Grammatiker’ (Professor Klaus Alpers and Mr Ian
Cunningham) suggested to me per litteras that I should undertake a complete new
edition of the scholia vetera to all seven Sophoclean plays.
Following their suggestion, I have already established a new critical text for the
scholia of two of the Sophoclean tragedies, i.e. Electra and Trachiniae. The editions
were published in the above-mentioned series in 2010.
In 2011 I requested funding from the Leventis Foundation with the aim of taking a
step forward in carrying out the remaining part of this project, and in particular of
preparing a new critical edition of the scholia vetera to the Oedipus Coloneus.
Thanks to the generosity of the Leventis Foundation, the funding was granted, and
now, three years later, the edition is almost finished. What has been achieved in
respect of the quality of the established text will be judged by the academic
community once the book is published. For the time being, I may rest content with
describing the general features of the new edition. Before that, a brief look at the
previous edition is necessary.
The previous edition
The choice of the scholia to Oedipus
Coloneus, a work with a relatively recent
edition requires a word of apology. The
obvious choice would be to give priority to
the scholia to the Antigone or Philoctetes or
Oedipus Tyrannus. However, the scholia to
the first two tragedies are the subjects of
two recent Ph.D. dissertations by Paolo
Scattolin and Timothy Janz respectively
93
The Ancient Scholia to Sophocles’ Oedipus Coloneus: A New Critical Edition
been shown to descend from T), and the
a-version (A, U and Y). Since each version
involves authorial intention, it qualifies of
its being edited in its own right. Also in an
edition it is unacceptable to mix elements
belonging to different versions and thus
versions, thereby creating a hybrid text.
Therefore the editor should keep the
versions firmly distinct from one another
and should define very clearly the
particular version which he seeks to edit.
This methodological awareness is absent
from the work of previous editors.
and may appear as published books.
Moreover, Prof. Georgios Christodoulou
has planned to edit the scholia to the
Oedipus Tyrannus. So I should want to see
these editions before I decide if there is any
scope for further improvement.
As regards the shortcomings of the edition
by de Marco, he offers no systematic
treatment of the various versions in which
the scholia to the OC appear, and he
sometimes creates hybrid text by mixing
elements belonging to different versions.
He does not record systematically the
readings of the important Triclinian
manuscript1 T (Ta is an apograph of Ta, as I
have demonstrated), and neglects the
family composed of A, U and Y. Finally, he
provides a very slender apparatus locorum
similium, and thus deprives us of the
opportunity to contextualise the scholarly
work of the Scholiast.
Let me now return briefly to the goal of
the edition. What exactly the earliest
recoverable version represents and why it
is preferable to seek after this one at the
expense of the others are questions
which are fully dealt with in the first
chapter of my Electra scholia (‘Editing
scholia: methodological considerations
and the scope of the present edition’);
therefore I may be allowed to refer the
reader to that place, which I reproduce at
the end of the methodological section of
this presentation. Let me only mention
here that the sought-after version is not
to be identified with any of the four
versions. However, it is very close to the
Laurentian version and should be based
upon it.
The methodology of the new edition
The goal of the new edition is to restore
the scholia vetera of Sophocles’ Oedipus
Coloneus in their earliest recoverable
version. Part of the methodology by
which this goal will be achieved has
not been used by previous editors
of Sophoclean scholia, and therefore
involves an element of innovation. To
begin with, the transmission of scholia is
not stable and is prone to creating
different versions of basically the same
material. In the case of the OC scholia
vetera, there are four such versions: the
Laurentian (represented by L; Λ has been
shown to be an apograph of L), the
Roman (M and R), the Triclinian (T; Ta has
The other three versions were also
employed in the attempt to achieve the
goal of my edition. As regards the Roman
version, it is a systematic reworking of a
(now lost) copy of the Laurentian version,
and this copy, once reconstructed, is seen
to provide good readings absent for the
surviving copies of the Laurentian
version. But how can we be certain that
1
The symbols of the Sophoclean manuscripts are the following: L = Laurentianus 32.9; Λ =
Lugdunensis Bibl. Publ. Gr 60A; M = Mutinensis a. Τ. 9.4; R = Vaticanus gr. 2291; T = Parisinus graecus
2711; Ta = Venetus Marcianus graecus 470; A = Parisinus graecus 2712; U= Marcianus graecus 467;
Y = Vindobonensis phil. gr. 48.
94
an element picked up from the Roman
version goes back to the base Laurentian
copy of this version and is therefore not
an innovation of the author of the
version? This is possible, provided that the
conscious alterations of the base text are
easy to detect; then, what remains in the
version can be supposed to have been
borrowed from the base text. In regard to
the other two versions, although they
depend on a surviving copy of the
Laurentian version, the famous L, they do
contain true readings which were
recovered by the conjectural activity of
their authors. Therefore they were called
into use too.
text from the transmissional point of view.
Scribes or scholars would frequently not
copy faithfully the scholia which stood in
their exemplars, but to respond to the
differing needs of their readership or for
other reasons, they would consciously
modify them in many ways. They would
also limit or expand the corpus of scholia
of their exemplars leaving some notes out
from their copies or creating some new
ones to treat topics which they would
happen to think important themselves.
The scholia vetera to Sophocles are no
exception to this process of reproduction
and in what follows I shall take up some
of those to the Electra to illustrate the
different types of scribal intervention
involved. The simplest form of conscious
alteration is the replacement of a word
with a synonym. In e.g. sch. El. 727 the
manuscripts HΔ have substituted
λεγομένη for καλουμένη which is the
reading of LVGMR:
The above part of the methodology is
innovative, while the rest of the research
is based on the application of traditional
procedures typical of any critical edition.
I reproduce below the first chapter of my
book on the Electra scholia, in which I
describe in detail the methodology I
followed in my edition of the Electra
scholia. Since that methodology is
comparable to the one I have followed in
my new text, this chapter should shed
ample light to the steps I took in pursuing
my goal with regard to the OC scholia. Let
me mention that from the chapter I have
excluded all footnotes and references to
other works.
… Βάρκη γὰρ πόλις Λιβύης, ἡ νῦν
Πτολεμαῒς καλουμένη. L V r(GΜR)
… Βάρκη γὰρ πόλις Λιβύης, ἡ νῦν
Πτολεμαῒς λεγομένη. q(ΗΔ)
Another example is sch. El. 185–6 where
GMR have replaced ἐκδικίας and
πέπρακται:
… ἐπεὶ μέχρι νῦν οὐδὲν ὑπὲρ ἐκδικίας
Ἀγαμέμνονος πέπρακται. L q(HΔ)
… ἐπεὶ μέχρι τοῦ νῦν οὐδὲν ὑπὲρ
ἐκδικήσεως Ἀγαμέμνονος γέγονεν.
r(GΜR)
Editing Scholia: Methodological
considerations and the scope of the
present edition2
Scholia share with other forms of
paraliterary material, such as glossaries,
lexica, and grammatical treatises, the
feature that they are not a stable type of
2
The alteration could be on a larger scale.
The scholion on El. 199a μορφάν appears
in the principal manuscripts (disregarding
minor variants) as follows:
Georgios A. Xenis (Ed.), Scholia vetera in Sophoclis Electram, Berlin: de Gruyter 2011, pp. 15–22.
95
phrase ἐκλέλοιπε τῶν ἄστρων ἡ μέλαινα
εὐφρόνη. So considered from the point of
view of Lr’s text, q’s extra words should be
taken as an interpolation and thus
regarded as unoriginal. But considered
from the point of view of q’s text, these
words incorporate an element of
authorial intention and should be taken
as genuine material.
μορφάν: μορφήν, τύπον. τὴν δὲ μοιχείαν
φησὶ τοῦ Αἰγίσθου ἢ τὴν ὄψιν, ἣν
εἰργάσατο τοῦ φόνου. L V
(μορφάν): μορφήν, τύπον. λέγει τὴν
μοιχείαν τοῦ Αἰγίσθου ἢ τὴν ὄψιν τοῦ
φόνου ἣν εἰργάσατο. q(Ηs.l.Δ)
μορφὴν δὲ τύπον (scripsi: τύπων r). τὴν
μοιχείαν τοῦ Αἰγίσθου ἢ τὴν ὄψιν, ἣν
εἰργάσατο τοῦ φόνου. r(GMR)
Another type of intervention is the
conflation of originally distinct scholia,
but the most drastic one is, as has been
mentioned, the creation of a whole new
scholion which is not part of the corpus of
scholia in a manuscript’s exemplar. Almost
every manuscript that I have investigated
includes a certain number of scholia
and/or glosses which are either unique, or
are shared with only a few other
manuscripts. With regard to the ‘minority
scholia’, their content, their diction, and/or
some features of syntax set them apart
from the corpus of scholia of the famous
Laurentian manuscript 32.9 (L), which is
assigned to the mid-tenth century and is
thus the oldest extant witness to the
ancient scholia to Sophocles.
In other cases it may take the form of an
insertion of extra matter into the body of
a scholion. Here the example of sch. El. 19
may serve for many others:
μέλαινά τ' ἄστρων: ἐχρῆν οὕτως εἰπεῖν·
μελαίνης νυκτὸς τὰ ἄστρα ἐκλέλοιπεν,
ὡς τὸ
ὃ δὲ χασσάμενος πελεμίχθη.
ἢ οὕτως· ἐκλέλοιπε τῶν ἄστρων ἡ
μέλαινα εὐφρόνη, ἵν' ᾖ τὸ ἄστρων
πρὸς τὸ ἐκλέλοιπεν. L r(GΜR)
μέλαινά τ' ἄστρων: ἐχρῆν οὕτως εἰπεῖν·
μελαίνης νυκτὸς τὰ ἄστρα ἐκλέλοιπεν,
ὡς τὸ
ὃ δὲ χασσάμενος πελεμίχθη.
ἢ οὕτως· ἐκλέλοιπε τῶν ἄστρων ἡ
μέλαινα εὐφρόνη, ἵν' ᾖ τὸ ἄστρων
πρὸς τὸ ἐκλέλοιπεν. ἐλλιπὴς ἐγένετο
τῶν ἄστρων ἡ εὐφρόνη. q(ΗΔ)
L’s date offers a guarantee that there is
nothing in its corpus which is later
than the mid-tenth century, but on
internal evidence it is universally accepted
that the greater part of this corpus
goes much further back in the past,
reflecting Hellenistic scholarly work. In
respect of content, it is learned and
pays attention to plot construction,
characterisation, rhetorical practice,
methods of argumentation, anachronism,
factual matters, staging, and other
important aspects of the play.
The presence of the sentence ἐλλιπὴς
ἐγένετο τῶν ἄστρων ἡ εὐφρόνη in q can
be explained by two hypotheses. It
appears that either the scribes of L and r
carelessly omitted these words, or the
scribe of q deliberately created an
enlarged version of the scholion. Now,
there is much evidence to show that L’s
style favours condensation and here Lr’s
text is quite satisfactory; moreover, q’s
extra words look like the result of an
attempt to offer further clarification to the
The minority notes have, by contrast, a
very narrow scope and only an elementary
level. They consist almost exclusively of
grammatical rules, word meanings, word
96
etymologies, and similar rudimentary
forms of elucidation of a text. It is
reasonable to suppose that these date
from the Byzantine age and were intended
for Byzantine readers or, more precisely, for
readers to whom the ancient language
had ceased to be readily accessible. A
good example of the sort of thing typically
involved in minority scholia is a note in the
mss ΗΔ:
107 (μὴ οὐ): αἱ δύο ἀποφάσεις ἀντὶ
μιᾶς· ἀναιρεῖ γὰρ ἡ μία τὴν ἑτέραν.
ὥσπερ γὰρ πιών τις φάρμακον ἔπειτα
θηριακήν, ἀναιρεῖ ἡ θηριακὴ τὸ
φάρμακον καὶ πάλιν ἔχει ὑγιῶς τὸ
σῶμα, οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἐνταῦθα ἡ μία
ἀπόφασις ἀναιρεῖ τὴν ἑτέραν καὶ
οὕτως ἔχει ὑγιῶς ὁ λόγος.
Minority scholia may also differ in respect
of syntax and diction. This can be
illustrated by means of the following two
notes:
289 (σοὶ μόνῃ): ἀντὶ τοῦ διὰ σέ. καὶ
Ὅμηρος· σοὶ πάντες μαχόμεσθα (Il. 5.
875). V W
565 κείνης γὰρ οὐ θέμις μαθεῖν: λοιδοροῦσά φησι ταῦτα τῇ Κλυταιμήστρᾳ·
ἤγουν, οὐ δίκαιόν ἐστι τῆς θεᾶς
οὔσης παρθένου, σοὶ τῇ οὔσῃ πόρνῃ
συνομιλεῖν. V
We now pass to the case of ‘minority
glosses’ which are normally found in the
interlinear spaces of manuscripts and are
sometimes very numerous. Christodoulou
offers a very full picture of the kind of
dictionary material involved with regard
to the Ajax glosses, and as a typical
sample of Electra glosses I reproduce here
those on lines 1464–1508 from f. 128r of
the important manuscript Marcianus gr.
468 (V):
1463 (κολαστοῦ): τιμωροῦ. 1466
(φάσμα): ἀντὶ τοῦ φαίνεσθαι. 1468
(χαλᾶτε πᾶν κάλυμμα ἀπ’ ὀφθαλμῶν):
ἀποκαλύπτετε. 1470 (βάσταζ’): ἀποκάλυπτε. 1476 (ἀρκτυστάτοις): δικτύοις.
1488a (ταφεῦσιν): τοῖς σαρκοβόροις
θηρίοις. b (ὧν): οἷς. 1489 (ἄποπτον):
ἀπὸ τῆς ὄψεως. 1491 (χωροῖς ἂν): ἀντὶ
τοῦ χώρει. 1494 (δεῖ): καὶ χρεία ὑπάρχει.
1495 (μὴ τάσσε): μὴ πρόστασσε. 1499a
(σὰ): κακὰ. b (ἄκρος): καὶ ἄριστος. 1500
(ἀλλ’ οὐ πατρῴαν τὴν τέχνην ἐκόμπασας):
ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἦν ὁ Ἀγαμέμνων, ὁ σὸς πατήρ,
μάντις. 1502 (ὑφηγοῦ): προηγοῦ. 1504
(δεῖ): καὶ ἐνδέχεται. 1506 (πράσσειν): καὶ
ἐνεργεῖν. 1507 (πανοῦργον): κακόν.
There can be no doubt that these glosses
are mostly uninteresting, elementary, and
sometimes inept; nobody can seriously
suggest that they come from the same
source as L’s scholia. The genesis of such
material is to be explained by the same
assumption as the one which was used
before in connection with the ‘minority
scholia’: as time went on, readers’
knowledge of ancient Greek became
more and more limited and so scribes or
scholars thought it necessary to provide
them with as much dictionary material as
they thought fit.
In the first case the use of the preposition
διά with the accusative to express respect
is unparalleled in the Laurentian corpus
where this construction is invariably
employed in a causal sense. In note 565
the word ἤγουν is also absent from the
aforementioned corpus and is another
indication of late age. Herington is here
relevant:
‘In my experience the only mannerism that
is an almost infallible index of date – late
date – is the frequent occurrence of ἤγουν
or ἤτοι’.
Again considered from the standpoint of
L’s corpus, these extra scholia and glosses
can be designated as accretions or
97
χορὸν ἀλγεῖν ὑποκρίνεται, which presents
her sorrow as the result of hypocrisy. On
the other hand, the Suda (ω 35 = III 606, 20)
and the manuscripts GR, which are
independent from L, omit the last remark;
M gives it as a separate entity (without δέ)
and thus solves the problem. All this points
to the fact that in the common source of
the manuscripts this remark stood
independently and that its connection
with ἥδεται through δὲ was a deliberate,
albeit misguided, conflation by the scribe
of L.
interpolations or unoriginal matter; but
when examined on the basis of the
corpora of scholia and glosses in which
they are to be found, they have to be
taken as genuine material.
It is by now apparent that an editor of as
varied a sort of entity as scholia has to be
very clear about what specific corpus of
scholia and what specific version of
scholia he sets out to edit. It is the aim of
the present book to produce a critical
edition of the scholia vetera to Sophocles’
Electra in their oldest recoverable corpus
and version. The terminus ante quem for
scholia vetera as opposed to scholia
recentiora is here fixed at the tenth
century, the date of the earliest witnesses;
there is no objective method to go any
further back than this chronological limit.
One reason why L’s corpus cannot be
regarded as coextensive with the oldest
recoverable corpus of scholia is that it can
be proved to have lost some pristine
material, consisting of notes or glosses
which are comparable to L’s set in date (and
quality). It is needless to say that the
material which has been above thought
to belong to the Byzantine era is in no
case Laurentian-type and so should not
appear in the edition.
It should be stressed that the sought after
corpus and version is not to be identified
with the corpus and version contained in
L, although L offers the oldest extant
version and corpus of these scholia and
the closest approximation to the oldest
recoverable version and corpus. On the
basis of the evidence offered by the other
manuscripts and the indirect tradition, L’s
version of scholia can be proved to
contain conflations brought about by its
scribe. I may illustrate this by means of
sch. El. 766. L, which is here followed by
ΔV, offers the text of this scholion as
follows:
An instance of the required type of
material outside L can be furnished by the
Suda. This tenth-century lexicon quotes
the scholia vetera to Sophocles very
frequently and is comparable to L in
respect of age. In the entry ε 1999 = ΙΙ 334,
13–4 it includes the following scholion on
ἐπαυχῶ, a verb derived from Electra 65:
Ἐπαυχῶ: βεβαίως οἶδα. Σοφοκλῆς. ὡς
κἄμ’ ἐπαυχῶ τῆσδε τῆς φήμης ἄπο
δεδορκότ’, ἐχθροῖς ἄστρον ὣς λάμψειν
ἔτι.
ὡς μὲν γυνὴ κεκίνηται ἐπὶ τῷ πάθει.
πρὸς δὲ τὸν κίνδυνον ἀποβλέπουσα
ἥδεται, διὰ δὲ τὸν χορὸν ἀλγεῖν
ὑποκρίνεται.
The glossing of ἐπαυχῶ as βεβαίως οἶδα
is not part of L’s corpus but it can neither
be later than the tenth century nor be
taken as elementary; ἐπαυχῶ is not here
used in its common meaning of ‘exult’,
and so an interpretation of it is needed
even for the learned reader. The note is
The opening words ὡς μὲν γυνὴ κεκίνηται
ἐπὶ τῷ πάθει show that Clytaemnestra’s
sorrow is sincere and genuine; but this
involves an apparent contradiction with
the last element of this note διὰ δὲ τὸν
98
1345 (καὶ τὰ μὴ καλῶς): ὁ [δὲ] νοῦς· καὶ
τὰ μὴ καλῶς ἀλλὰ κακῶς αὐτοῖς ἔχοντα
καὶ αὐτὰ νῦν καλῶς ἔχει, ἕως οὐδέπω
τιμωρίας τυγχάνουσιν· ἅπερ λεγόμενα
πρὸς ἄκρον ἐστὶ παροξυντικά. L r(GMR)
therefore Laurentian-type and should
figure among the scholia of our edition. It
is reasonable to suppose that the Suda
had independent access to the source of
L and thus preserved material which L
itself failed to preserve.
It is thus clear that the editor can
sometimes take a step still further back
than the common source of the
manuscripts and recover an even older
state of scholiastic material.
One is by now likely to form the
impression that the oldest recoverable
corpus and version of the scholia vetera is
to be identified with the now lost source
of the L’s corpus and version of these
scholia, which is simultaneously the
common source of all the manuscripts.
That this is not the case either can be
shown with the aid of sch. El. 1344:
θαυμαστῶς ὑπὲρ τοῦ μὴ ἐπὶ πλέον
διατρίβειν, ὡς καὶ Ὀρέστης ἐν τοῖς
ἔμπροσθεν
τὰ μὲν περισσεύοντα τῶν λόγων ἄφες.
ὁ δὲ νοῦς· καὶ τὰ μὴ καλῶς ἀλλὰ
κακῶς αὐτοῖς ἔχοντα καὶ αὐτὰ νῦν
καλῶς ἔχει, ἕως οὐδέπω τιμωρίας
τυγχάνουσιν· ἅπερ λεγόμενα πρὸς
ἄκρον ἐστὶ παροξυντικά. L r(GMR)
The fact that the above version of the
scholion has the support of all the
manuscripts suggests that it was the
version contained in their common
source. However, once the content of this
version is closely examined, it becomes
apparent that the scribe of the common
source conflated here two notes which
were independent from each other in his
model. Brunck already saw this and
divided the text accordingly making the
necessary adjustments:
We need to raise one question at this
point: why is it preferable to seek the
earliest recoverable corpus and version of
scholia and not to stop at the state of
affairs offered by the common source of
the manuscripts? The answer is suggested
by Brunck’s treatment of the above
scholion: the further back we get, the
more intelligible the text becomes. This is
natural, since we free the text from
internal contradictions, intolerable
repetitions, and similar flaws, which are
the result of unwarranted, though
deliberate, conflations by copyists. It
should be stressed, however, that this
approach is legitimate only so far as some
sort of internal evidence is available,
otherwise it degenerates into an arbitrary
and subjective exercise.
So far it has been made clear that the
present book is devoted to an edition of
the scholia vetera to Sophocles’ Electra in
their earliest recoverable corpus and
version. It has also become clear that this
corpus and version are Laurentian-type. It
should now be mentioned that there
exists a systematic reworking of a copy of
the common source of our manuscripts,
namely the Roman version contained in
G, M and R. In the endeavour to achieve
the goal of the edition, the Roman version
is useful and should not be excluded,
since:
1344 τελουμένων εἴποιμ' ἄν: θαυμαστῶς
ὑπὲρ τοῦ μὴ ἐπὶ πλέον διατρίβειν, ὡς καὶ
Ὀρέστης ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν
τὰ μὲν περισσεύοντα τῶν λόγων ἄφες.
L r(GMR)
99
1. the Roman reviser obviously employed
a now lost copy of the common source
of our manuscripts as base text for his
revision.
Bibliography
Editions of the OC scholia (in chronological
order)
2. we can establish the conscious alterations contained in his version, and
thus isolate all the elements which he
adopted unchanged from his base
text.
Lascaris J. 1518, Commentarii in septem
tragedias (sic) Sophoclis quae ex aliis eius
compluribus iniuria temporum amissis, solae
superfuerunt. Σχόλια τῶν πάνυ δοκίμων
εἰς τὰς σωζομένας (sic) τῶν Σοφοκλέους
τραγῳδιῶν, Romae.
3. these elements demonstrate that his
base text was stemmatically independent from surviving copies of the
common source and can therefore
provide us with good readings not to
be found elsewhere.
Francinus Varchiensis A. 1522, Σοφοκλέους
τραγωδίαι (sic) ἑπτὰ μετὰ σχολίων
παλαιῶν καὶ πάνυ ὀφελίμων (sic).
Sophoclis tragoediae septem cum interpretationibus vetustis et valde utilibus,
Florentiae (per haeredes Philippi Iuntae).
In other words, the Roman version is
useful for our purposes, so far as it allows
us to reconstruct its base text.
I would like to conclude this section by
emphasising that in using the Roman
version for our purposes we should be
careful to use elements which do not
belong to the reviser but can be traced
back to his base text. For in the former case,
we would mix two different versions.
We would end up creating a hybrid
version and establishing a scholion which
originated from nobody’s conscious
decision but the editor’s; such an item
never had any existence in the real world.
Products of the research
The results of the research have been
incorporated in a book, which will be
published by Walter de Gruyter as part of
the series Sammlung griechischer und
lateinischer Grammatiker. It will thus be a
continuation of my previous two editions
Scholia vetera in Sophoclis Electram and
Scholia vetera in Sophoclis Trachinias.
Turnebus A. 1553, Δημητρίου τοῦ Τρικλινίου
Εἰς τὰ τοῦ Σοφοκλέους ἑπτὰ δράματα, Περὶ
μέτρων οἷς ἐχρήσατο Σοφοκλῆς, περὶ
σχημάτων, καὶ σχόλια, Parisiis.
Stephanus H. 1568, Σοφοκλέους αἱ ἑπτὰ
τραγῳδίαι. Sophoclis tragoediae septem una
cum omnibus Graecis scholiis & cum Latinis
Ioach. Camerarii. Annotationes Henrici
Stephani in Sophoclem & Euripidem seorsum
excusae, simul prodeunt.
Brunck R. 1786, Sophoclis quae extant omnia
cum veterum grammaticorum scholiis.
Superstites tragoedias VII, vol. II, Argentorati.
_________ 1788, Sophoclis tragoediae
septem cum scholiis veteribus, versione
Latina et notis, tomus II, Argentorati.
Elmsley P. 1825, Scholia in Sophoclis
tragoedias septem, Oxonii.
Dindorf G. 1852, Scholia in Sophoclis
tragoedias septem ex codicibus aucta et
emendata, volumen II, Oxonii.
Papageorgius P. 1888, Scholia in Sophoclis
tragoedias vetera, Lipsiae.
De Marco V. 1952, Scholia in Sophoclis
Oedipum Coloneum, Romae.
100
Other editions and works
(selection)
Βερναρδάκη Γ. 1898, ‘Περὶ τῶν παλαιῶν
τοῦ Σοφοκλέους σχολίων’, Φιλολογικὸς
Σύλλογος ΄Παρνασσός΄ Ἐπετηρίς, β΄ ἔτος
19–70.
Christodoulou G. 1977, Τὰ ἀρχαῖα σχόλια
εἰς Αἴαντα τοῦ Σοφοκλέους. Κριτικὴ
ἔκδοσις, ἐν Ἀθήναις.
De Marco V. 1936, ‘Sulla tradizione
manoscritta degli scolii sofoclei’ SIFC n.s. 13,
3–44.
________ 1937, ‘De scholiis in Sophoclis
tragoedias veteribus’, Atti della Reale
Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Memorie
della classe di scienze morali, storichi, e
filologiche, ser. VI, 6, 105–229.
________ 1951, ‘Gli scolii all’ Edipo a Colono
di Sofocle e la loro tradizione manoscritta’,
Rendiconti della Accademia di Archeologia,
Lettere e Belle Arti Napoli, n. s. 26, 1–43.
Havekoss J. 1960, Untersuchungen zu
den Sophokles – Scholien. Dissertation
zur Erlangung der Doktorwürde der
Philosophischen Facultät der Universität
Hamburg, aus Köln.
Heath B. 1762, Notae sive lectiones ad
tragicorum graecorum veterum Aeschyli,
Sophoclis, Euripidis quae supersunt dramata
deperditorumque reliquias, Oxonii.
Heimreich Chr. 1884, Kritische Beiträge zur
Würdigung der alten Sophokles-Scholien,
Ploen.
Janz T. 2004, The Scholia to Sophocles’
Philoctetes. A thesis submitted for the
degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the
University of Oxford, Faculty of Classics.
Kruytbosch B. 1882, Annotationes ad
scholia in Sophoclis tragoedias septem,
Lugduni Batavorum.
McNamee K. 2007, Annotations in Greek
and Latin Texts from Egypt (American
Studies in Papyrology 45).
Nauck A. 1890, ‘De scholiis in Sophoclis
tragoedias a P. N. Papageorgio editis’,
Bulletin de l’Académie Impériale des Sciences
de St. Pétersbourg n. s. 1, 411–41.
Nünlist R. 2009, The ancient critic at work:
Terms and concepts of literary criticism in
Greek scholia, Cambridge 2009.
Papageorgiou P. 1881, Kritische und
Paläographische Beiträge zu den alten
Sophokles-Scholien, Leipzig.
________ 1883, ‘Codex Laurentianus von
Sophokles und eine neue Kollation im
Scholientexte’, Jahrbücher für classische
Philologie, Supplementband 13, Leipzig,
403–40.
Pauli O. 1880, ‘Quaestiones criticae de
scholiorum laurentianorum usu’, Jahresbericht über das Archigymnasium zu Soest.
Peppink S. 1934a, ‘Ad Sophoclem eiusque
Scholiastam’, Mnemosyne, ser. IIIa. 1, 67–78.
Roemer A. 1892, ‘Die Notation der
Alexandrinischen Philologen bei den
griechischen Dramatikern’, Abh. d. I. Cl. d. k.
Ak. d. Wiss. XIX Bd. III. Abth., München,
631–82.
________ 1906, ‘Zur Würdigung und Kritik
der Tragikerscholien’, Philologus 65, 24–90.
Scattolin P. 2012, ‘Precisazioni sul rapporto
tra il Laur. pl. 32,9 e il palinsesto Leid. BPG
60A nella tradizione manoscritta di Sofocle’
Eikasmos 23, 135–8.
________ 2013, ‘Tra Didimo ed Esichio: Tre
casi di tradizione indiretta dell’Edipo A
Colono (vv. 312, 390, 900)’, Prometheus 39,
25–43.
Thompson E. – Jebb R. 1885, Facsimile of
the Laurentian Manuscript of Sophocles,
London.
101
Trendelenburg A. 1867, Grammaticorum
graecorum de arte tragica iudiciorum
reliquiae, Bonnae.
Xenis G. 2010. Scholia vetera in Sophoclis
Electram, Berlin – New York [to be published by de Gruyter (series: SGLG no. 12)
Turolla E. 1934, ‘Note agli scolî Laurenziani
di Sofocle’, Atti del Reale Istituto Veneto
di scienze, lettere ed arti, 93.2 (1933–4)
1325–74.
________ Scholia vetera in Sophoclis
Trachinias, Berlin – New York [to be
published by de Gruyter (series: SGLG
no. 13).
Turyn A. 1944, ‘The manuscripts of
Sophocles’, Traditio 2, 1–41.
Zielinski Th. 1892, ‘Zametki k tragediam
Sofokla I k scholiam na nikh’, Zhournal
ministerstva narodnago prosvescheniya,
(July – Aug. 1892) 1–62.
________ 1949, ‘The Sophocles recension of
Manuel Moschopulus’, TAPhA 80, 94–173.
________ 1952, Studies in the manuscript
tradition of the tragedies of Sophocles,
Urbana.
Wansink H.J.F.A. 1895, De scholiis in
Sophoclis tragoedias veteribus a P. N.
Papageorgio editis, Lugduni Batavorum.
Wilson N. 2007, ‘Scholiasts and Commentators’, GRBS 47, 39–70.
Wolff G. 1843, De Sophoclis scholiorum
laurentianorum variis lectionibus, Lipsiae.
"The new edition of the scholia to the Oedipus Coloneus will be included in the same series
(SGLG) as Xenis's previous editions of the scholia to the Electra and the Trachiniae"
http://www.degruyter.com/view/product/43507?rskey=0QCQy7&result=1
102
Curriculum Vitae
Georgios A. Xenis
University of Athens, 1993—1997: Bachelor's Degree (B.A.) in Greek Philology (Awarded with
'Excellent'; the 1997 Class Valedictorian in a 300-member graduating class).
University of Oxford, 1997—1998: Master's Degree (M.St.) in Greek and/or Latin Languages and
Literature (Awarded with 'Distinction').
University of Cyprus, 1998—2001: Ph.D. in Classics (Ungraded Degree).
Prizes and Main Scholarships
1. Prize of the Academy of Athens: Prize of the Academy of Athens 'for the best monograph on, or
critical edition of, a work of classical literature, published in the last five years'. Awarded (29th Dec.
2011) for G. Xenis, Scholia vetera in Sophoclis Electram, Berlin - New York 2010 (please see below).
2. National scholarship of Greece: Four-year full scholarship from the Foundation of State Scholarships
of Greece (IKY)
3. National scholarship of Greece: Three-year full scholarship from the Foundation of State
Scholarships of Greece (IKY) for graduate studies.
Academic Appointments
1. Lecturer in Ancient Greek, 2002-2006,
Department of Classics and Philosophy, University of Cyprus.
2. Assistant Professor of Ancient Greek, 2006-2011,
3. Associate Professor of Ancient Greek, 2011-,
II. Research Interests
Greek textual criticism
Εditorial practice
Scholiasts
Grammarians
Ancient literary criticism
Papyrology
History of classical scholarship
Teaching Ancient Greek in Secondary School: methodological issues (see below under 'TEXTBOOKS')
III. Selected Publications
Academic And Professional Βooks
1. G. Xenis, Scholia vetera in Sophoclis Electram, Berlin – New York: de Gruyter (Sammlung griechischer
und lateinischer Grammatiker 12) 2010.
(More information about the edition is available on de Gruyter's site
http://www.degruyter.com/view/product/43504?rskey=1ZZE00&result=1 )
103
The Ancient Scholia to Sophocles’ Oedipus Coloneus: A new Critical Edition
--Reviewed by:
(i) Patrick Finglass, Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2011.07.22 http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2011/2011-07-22.html.
(ii) Tiziano Dorandi, Prometheus 37.2 (2011) 188-91.
(iii) Pat Easterling, Journal of Hellenic Studies 131 (2011) 201-3.
(iv) Andrea M. Cuomo, Jahrbuch der oesterreichischen Byzantinistik 62 (2012) 338–40.
2. G. Xenis, Scholia vetera in Sophoclis Trachinias, Berlin – New York: de Gruyter (Sammlung
griechischer und lateinischer Grammatiker 13) 2010.
http://www.degruyter.com/view/product/43507?rskey=0QCQy7&result=1)
--Reviewed by:
(i) Patrick Finglass, Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2011.07.22 http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2011/2011-07-22.html.
(ii) Tiziano Dorandi, Prometheus 37.2 (2011) 188-91.
(iii) Pat Easterling, Journal of Hellenic Studies 131 (2011) 201-3.
3. G. Xenis, Iohannis Alexandrini Praecepta Tonica, Berolini et Novi Eboraci: Walter de Gruyter
(Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana), not yet published - available from
June 2014.
http://www.degruyter.com/view/product/128550?rskey=C5gJyO&result=1&q=praecepta tonica)
Articles in Refereed Journals
G. Xenis, 'Michael Syncellus: A neglected source for Aelius Herodian's Περὶ καθολικῆς προσῳδίας',
Classical Quarterly, forthcoming.
G. Xenis, 'Two old hypercorrections in contemporary editions of Euripides' Medea 497 and Strattis' fr.
9 K.-A.', Classical Quarterly 64.2 (2014), forthcoming.
G. Xenis, ‘Herodian and Strattis: a further link?’, Rheinisches Museum 156.1 (2013) 106-11.
G. Xenis, ‘An unnoticed fragment of Orus' treatises De Orthographia and Vocum Atticarum collectio,
and Phrynichus' Praeparatio sophistica?’, Mnemosyne 66.1 (2013) 122-8.
G. Xenis and E. Dickey, ‘Philemon fr. 193 K.-A.', Hermes 140.3 (2012) 386-9.
G. Xenis, ‘Problematical conflations in schol. vet. Soph. El. 87’, Classical Quarterly 62.1 (2012) 184-8.
G. Xenis, ‘Plato Politicus 305d1 – 306b5’, The Oxyrhynchus Papyri vol. LXXVI (2012) 80-3.
G. Xenis, ‘Corrupt passages in the scholia vetera to Sophocles’Trachiniae’, Philologus 154.2 (2010) 209-22.
G. Xenis, ‘Commentary on Odyssey xv’, The Oxyrhynchus Papyri vol. LXXI (2007), no. 4821, 104-10.
G. Xenis, ‘A new witness to the text of Simonides, PMG 605’, Hermes 133 (2005) 382.
G. Xenis, ‘LXX Genesis 8:19 – 20; 9:1 – 2’ [= edition of P.Oxy. 63 6Β.63/D(1-2)a], forthcoming in The
Oxyrhynchus Papyri.
G. Xenis, ‘A Fragment with Mention of a Loan upon Mortgage’, Tyche 16 (2001) 217-9.
104
Book Reviews
X. Π. Συμεωνίδη, Ετυμολογικό λεξικό των νεοελληνικών οικωνυμίων. τόμ. I-II. Λευκωσία–Θεσσαλονίκη:
Κέντρο Μελετών Ιεράς Μονής Κύκκου, 2010. Σελ. (τόμ. I-II) 1952. ISBN 978-960-92762-0-7. (= Ch. S.
Symeonides, Etymological Lexicon of Modern Greek oeconyms. vol. Ι-II. Nicosia–Thessaloniki: Research
Centre of the Holy Monastery of Kykkos, 2010. Pp. (vol. I-II) 1952. ISBN 978-960-92762-0-7), Zeitschrift
fuer Balkanologie 48.1 (2012) 144-7.
Text Books
Χ. Συμεωνίδης – Γ. Ξενής – Α. Φλιάτουρας, Λεξικό αρχαίας ελληνικής γλώσσας Α΄, Β΄, Γ΄ Γυμνασίου,
Αθήνα (Οργανισμός Εκδόσεως Διδακτικών Βιβλίων) 2007.
The dictionary has been compiled in collaboration with Emeritus Professor of Linguistics at the
Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki Dr Charalambos Symeonides and Dr Asimakis Fliatouras
(Ph.D. in Linguistics) for the use of the Pedagogical Institute, Ministry of National Education and
Religions of Greece. We were assigned the task of composing the dictionary because of our success
in the open competition organised by the Pedagogical Institute of Greece. 1st impression (2007) in
165 thousand copies. 2nd impression (2008) in 181 thousand copies. 3rd impression (2009) in 155
thousand copies.
105
106
Stirring Pots on Fire: A Diachronic and Interdisciplinary Study
of Cooking Pots from Cyprus
Principal Investigator: Athanasios K. Vionis, Assistant Professor, Department of
History and Archaeology, Faculty of Letters, University of Cyprus
Research Associate: Maria Dikomitou-Eliadou, PhD, Archaeological Research Unit,
Abstract
The chronological framework of this diachronic and interdisciplinary study spans
between the Cypriot Bronze Age, when the first direct fire-boiling vessels were
manufactured on the island, and the beginning of the Early Modern era with the
rise of capitalism in the 16th century (ca. 2500 BC – AD 1500). The primary objectives
of our Project have been the identification of individual stages in the production
sequence, such as the selection of raw materials and their processing for the
production of the ceramic fabrics, the shaping and building of the vessels, drying,
firing etc. Moreover, the evaluation of the production process in correlation with
the mineralogical and chemical distinction of the ceramic fabrics recorded in the
samples and the recording of variation between contemporary sites and
technological changes through time were also amongst our primary aims. The final
goal of this Project has been the study of the cooking pots’ prime use: the
preparation of specific foodstuffs according to food availability, dietary rules and
local traditions.
Thus, the methodology employed for approaching and implementing the Project’s
research objectives can be divided into five main categories: (a) the typochronological analysis of the archaeological evidence, (b) the compositional
characterisation of the sampled cooking pots, (c) the analysis of food residues
preserved in the ceramic matrix of cooking-pot samples, (d) the study of relevant
ancient and medieval textual references, and (e) the collection and evaluation of
pictorial evidence. The scientific techniques we used for analysing cooking-pot
technology include petrography, Wavelength X-ray Fluorescence spectroscopy (WDXRF), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Gas Chromatography – Combustion
– Isotope Ratio Mass Spectometry.
The great importance of this research Project lies in the combined typochronological and technological study of approximately 600 samples from 30
archaeological sites across Cyprus. This is the largest interdisciplinary study of
ancient pottery currently undertaken on the island, its final objective being a major
publication with contributions by all the site excavators, archaeologists and material
scientists collaborating for the implementation of this research. The anticipated
monograph will provide comprehensive information about cooking pot typologies,
cooking pot fabrics, the evolution of the cooking pot as a functional pottery class,
and culinary practices in ancient and pre-modern Cyprus.
107
Stirring Pots on Fire: A Diachronic and Interdisciplinary Study of Cooking Pots from Cyprus
Introduction
Forming the most abundant category of
material culture, ceramics and pottery
studies have enjoyed a prominent position
in Mediterranean prehistoric and historical
archaeology. Although primarily used as a
dating agent on archaeological sites,
ceramics offer an indirect indicator of past
technologies, economic, social and cultural
behaviour. More attention has normally
been given, however, to decorated wares
(thanks to their aesthetic value) as
opposed to the bulk of featureless body
fragments of undecorated common wares
(because of their unattractive coarse
nature).
It is true that pottery represents a fragile
domestic item produced, distributed
and used by people of the upper as
well as lower social strata. A ceramic
artefact is normally subjected to a
sequence of four distinct behavioural
practices: manufacture, use, maintenance
and discard (Pena 2007, 6). These practices
correspond to the most significant stages
of the pots’ chaîne opératoire and were set
in the centre of this Project’s research
agenda.
Project Aims
The primary objectives of our Project have
been the identification of individual
stages in the production sequence, such as
the selection of raw materials and their
processing for the production of the
ceramic fabrics, the shaping and building
of the vessels, any surface treatments,
drying, firing and any potential postfiring surface treatments. Moreover, the
evaluation of the production process in
correlation with the mineralogical and
chemical distinction of the ceramic fabrics
recorded in the samples and the recording
of variation between contemporary sites
and technological changes through
time were also amongst our primary
aims. The final goal of this Project has
been the study of the cooking pots’
prime use: the preparation of specific
foodstuffs according to food availability,
dietary rules and local traditions.
The chronological framework of this
diachronic and interdisciplinary study
spans between the Cypriot Bronze Age,
when the first direct fire-boiling vessels
were manufactured on the island (Frankel
and Webb 2006, 100), and the beginning
of the Early Modern era with the rise
of capitalism in the 16th century (ca. 2500
BC – AD 1500). More specifically, the aims
of the Project can be defined as follows:
(a) Establishing a general typo-chronological
development of the Cypriot cooking pot. In
order to answer all kinds of questions
related to the production, distribution,
use and socio-cultural meaning of
cooking vessels, the need was felt to create
a more general typological framework
encompassing the entire chronological
spectrum of the Cypriot past (down to the
beginning of the Early Modern era in the
16th century AD). Thus, one of the ultimate
goals of this Project is the creation
of a ‘map’ demonstrating the novel as
well as the shared/continuing morphological concepts of the cooking vessel
diachronically, tracing innovations and
identifying differentiations (in cooking pot
forms) of each period in question (Figure
1). This was a basic yet an essential part of
our research in order that our subsequent
interpretation of changes in cooking-pot
technology and cooking culture are placed
in their correct chronological context.
(b) Evaluating the technological evolution of
the Cypriot cooking pot. The class of ceramic
vessel studied here, although ‘unattractive’
and ‘coarse’ in composition, it is most often
highly specialised, its effective function
108
requiring good knowledge of the raw
materials’ and the end products’ mechanical
and thermal properties. It is only recently, in
parallel with the advances made in the field
of archaeological sciences that cooking
pots have drawn scholarly attention, when
various experimental and ethnographic
studies have shown that cooking pots are
often highly specialised, its intended
function requiring good knowledge of the
mechanical and thermal properties of raw
materials and finished products. Thus, the
second goal of this Project was the reevaluation of the technological significance
of the Cypriot cooking pot diachronically, as
well as the linkage between cooking pot
studies and pre-modern technologies.
This is essentially a systematic and a
diachronic interdisciplinary study of
cooking pots from the Cypriot Bronze Age
to the Post-Medieval period, combining
different scientific techniques, such as
optical polarising microscopy and
scanning electron microscopy for the
compositional and micro-morphological
study of the pots, in order to provide
information regarding the selection of
raw materials, how these were further
processed, and what technical solutions
past potters followed in order to
enhance the vessels thermal shock
resistance, strength and toughness, and
thermal conductivity. This study also
provides a good prospect to test the
many and varying hypotheses and
technical arguments made by previous
experimental and technical studies (Hein
et al. 2008; Tite et al. 2001; Kilikoglou et al.
1998) on actual archaeological material.
Different ceramic and technological
attributes, such as the clay type, temper,
firing temperature, shape and design
have been studied and recorded in detail
for the evaluation of cooking pot recipes
throughout Antiquity and down to the
16th century AD, and how these change
with time and in differing historical and
socio-political contexts. The examination
of Cypriot cooking-pot technologies and
fabrics through time has supplied us with
direct evidence for the gradual evolution
of ceramic technology in general, and
of the cooking vessels in particular. This is
an important insight not only to past
technologies but also to everyday life,
considering the common daily use of the
ceramic cooking-pot for the production of
foods essential to human survival crossculturally and diachronically by all social
strata.
(c) Approaching the functional dimension
of the Cypriot cooking pot in the domestic
sphere. Cooking-pot shapes provide
information not only about the way such
vessels were used over the fire while
cooking; their shape also directed the
selection of foodstuffs and how those
were processed. Thus, the third goal of
this Project was the examination of the
actual use of the Cypriot cooking vessel in
the domestic sphere through time,
combining vessel shapes, texts and
iconography.
(d) Approaching Cypriot food preferences
through the analysis of residues in Cypriot
cooking pots. Food preparation and eating
manners are sometimes documented in
ancient and medieval sources, yet, modern
scientific methods in archaeology can
nowadays offer new and detailed insights
into past food choice and food processing.
The repeated use of cooking vessels for the
cooking of food results in the absorption
into the vessel wall of food residues.
The chemical analysis of the organic
compounds preserved within the ceramic
matrix gives information about food
prepared in the past (Romanus et al.
2007, 729-30). Thus, the final goal of our
Project was the analysis of food residues
109
preserved within the ceramic matrix of
Cypriot cooking vessels in order to trace
the history of food on the island and
whether socio-political changes are
reflected on Cypriot food culture.
Methodology
The methodology employed for approaching and implementing the Project’s
research objectives can be divided into five
main categories: (a) the typo-chronological
analysis of the archaeological evidence,
(b) the compositional characterisation of
the sampled cooking pots, (c) the analysis
of food residues preserved in the ceramic
matrix of cooking-pot samples, (d) the
study of relevant ancient and medieval
textual references, and (e) the collection
and evaluation of pictorial evidence.
(a) Typo-chronological analysis of the
archaeological evidence. One of the
methodological tools that this Programme
develops is the identification of a non- or
less-diagnostic common-ware type in
Cyprus, i.e. the cooking vessel. Indeed,
Cyprus represents a fairly unique study
domain (with clearly defined geographical
boundaries) in which ceramic production,
distribution and use can be documented
from early prehistory to yesterday. The
incentive provided by this Project is to
open up the way to the systematic
classification of understudied coarse
pottery types of all periods. The general
typo-chronological sequence of Cypriot
cooking vessels that we have been
building up primarily relies on the
collection and digitisation of published
cooking-pot examples from within
Cyprus, i.e. from rescue and systematic
excavations, field surface surveys and
museum collections (Figures 2-3). This task
was divided amongst members of our
research group according to the period
each one of them is specialised in:
(i) Bronze Age, (ii) Cypro-Geometric, CyproArchaic and Cypro-Classical, (iii) Hellenistic
and Roman, and (iv) Late Roman/Late
Antique, Byzantine and Frankish/Venetian.
(b) Physicochemical analysis of the fabrics
of cooking-pot samples. The scientific
methods and techniques we used
for analysing cooking-pot technology
include petrography for the mineralogical
characterisation of the cooking pot
samples and the determination of raw
materials used in cooking pot fabric
production (Figure 4-5). Petrography has
been proven an essential method for the
characterisation of the ceramic fabric, the
description of the clay groundmass and
the identification of aplastic inclusions, but
also for the accumulation of technological
information relating to clay mixing,
tempering and in general clay processing.
Following the distinction of the cooking
pot samples into separate fabric
groups with the use of petrography,
Wavelength X-ray Fluorescence spectroscopy (WD-XRF) was used for the chemical
characterisation of the ceramic samples, in
order to test the degree of correspondence
between the minera-logical and chemical
results. Moreover Scanning Electron
Microscopy (SEM) was used for the study
of the samples’ microstructure, and the
accumulation of high magnification
images illustrating the degree of clay
particles’ vitrification with the ultimate
goal to determine the temperatures of
firing the respective cooking pots
(Maniatis and Tite 1981). The elemental
datasets were further manipulated using
Principal Components Analysis and
Hierarchical clustering. These statistical
analyses have been used to test the
correspondence between the analytical
datasets and define any groupings
among the compositional data, and
display in graphical representations any
110
relationships between the mineralogical
and chemical composition of the samples
under study, their chronology, type and
provenance. Finally, the comparative study
of all the information and data deriving
from the chemical, mineralogical and
microstructural studies of the cooking pot
samples provide the baseline for the
assessment of mechanical properties.
(c) Analysis of food residues preserved in the
ceramic matrix of cooking-pot samples. A
programme of residue analysis has been
executed in collaboration with the
National Centre for Scientific Research
‘Demokritos’ and the laboratories of
Harokopio University at Athens of some
sixty samples (while another thirty are to
follow) of Cypriot cooking-pots of all
periods from selected sites across the
island (from assemblages that are
currently kept at the Cyprus Museum of
Nicosia or any of the district Museums of
the Republic of Cyprus), in order to
determine the type(s) of foodstuffs once
contained and cooked within them. It is
nowadays possible to identify organic
compounds that are not visible on the
surface of ceramic vessels; these can be
absorbed and retained by porous ceramic
materials (within the ceramic matrix)
leaving no visible trace on the vessel’s
walls (Orton et al. 1993, 224-26). Most
research on organic residues has recently
focussed on lipids, since these
compounds are not easily leached upon
burial (Romanus et al. 2007). There is a
number of different gas chromatographic
techniques used for detecting lipid
compounds; we are currently employing
Gas Chromatography – Combustion –
Isotope Ratio Mass Spectometry (for the
quantification of stable carbon isotope
contents). The method undertaken
provides us with evidence for the
potential presence of animal and dairy
fats in Cypriot cooking-pots, determining
the Cypriotes’ preferences for specific
types of meat and/or other foodstuffs, or
even for specific dishes (also with the aid
of relevant information retrieved from
textual references and pictorial evidence).
(d) Study of relevant ancient and medieval
textual references. There is a variety of
textual references to food, agricultural
production and animal husbandry from
all historical periods. There is ancient and
medieval documentary, epigraphic and
literary evidence that provides a large
corpus of information about cooking
ingredients, dishes and dinning manners.
It should be noted, however, that there is
also a number of methodological issues
one could refer to when it comes to
studying and evaluating the written
record, which we are well aware off, and
surely one needs to be cautious about the
texts’ weight and use. The final objective
has been to include as many references to
cooking practices, ingredients and dishes
as possible in our collection in order to
test their validity against results from the
analysis of cooking-pot fabrics, the
analysis of organic residues and the study
of vessel shapes and their particular
functions.
(e) Collection and evaluation of pictorial
evidence. The pictorial evidence from
Cyprus consists of a number of mosaics,
frescos and icon paintings, especially from
the Roman, Byzantine and Medieval
times, where the use of cooking vessels
and food consumption in the countryside
and in the dining room is depicted. One
may wonder whether a vessel on a mosaic
or a painting is what we really see or
whether it is possible to draw any
historical conclusions on the social
meaning and context of the pots
portrayed; sometimes we may be looking
at formalistic religious schemes depicting
111
fixed theological scenes (Figure 6).
All these are crucial methodological
problems when dealing with pictorial
evidence as a source of everyday reality
and the use of secular objects. We cannot
exclude, however, the fact that beyond
the lack of the artists’ interest -in some
cases- in depicting the everyday reality of
their time as precisely as possible
following stereotyped compositions,
there are certainly changes in the
appearance of ceramic cooking vessels
through time and, as a result, artistic
representations should be depicting to a
certain extent such contemporary
changes in objects (Mango 1981; Parani
2003).
Preliminary Results: The case
studies of Early and Middle Bronze
Age Marki Alonia and Late Bronze
Age Pyla Kokkinokremos
The great importance of this research
Project lies in the combined typochronological and technological study
of approximately 600 samples from
30 archaeological sites across Cyprus
(Figure 7). This is the largest interdisciplinary study of ancient pottery
currently undertaken on the island, its final
objective being a major publication with
contributions by all the site excavators,
archaeologists and material scientists
collaborating for the implementation of
this research. The anticipated monograph
will provide comprehensive information
about cooking pot typologies, cooking pot
fabrics, the evolution of the cooking pot as
a functional pottery class, and culinary
practices in ancient and pre-modern
Cyprus. This comprises a well-needed
reference book for future studies on
cooking pots in Cyprus and the broader
region of the Eastern Mediterranean.
For the purposes of this short written
contribution, the results of two case
studies dating to the Cypriot Bronze
Age will be presented in order to
underline the nature and significance of
the accumulated compositional and
technological information deriving from
this Project. The two case studies involve
representative cooking pot types from the
Early and Middle Bronze Age community
of Marki Alonia and the Late Bronze Age
settlement of Pyla Kokkinokremos.
Cooking pots were unknown in the Late
Chalcolithic; they appear for the first time
in Cyprus at the transition from the
Chalcolithic to the fully developed Early
Bronze Age, the earliest stratified
examples coming from the Philia contexts
of Marki Alonia, approximately between
2400 and 2200 BC. The appearance of
these earliest known direct fire-boiling
vessels in Cyprus (Frankel and Webb 2006,
100-101) is one of the main cultural
features delineating the introduction of
new food preparation activities and
changes in food preferences and dietary
habits; they form a significant part
of the broader social and economic
transformations that manifest the gradual
introduction of Cyprus to the Bronze
Age (Frankel 2005; Knapp 2013). Marki
Alonia is the only settlement, at present,
to offer stratified material from Philia
and Early Cypriot I-II domestic contexts,
in an uninterrupted succession with
Early Cypriot III and Middle Cypriot I/II
strata of settlement activity, facilitating a
diachronic study of Philia, Early and
Middle Cypriot pottery at a single
settlement (Frankel and Webb 2006, 306).
During the Philia phase, there are two
different types of cooking pots, which are
similar in size, but differ in body shape
and fabric. They have been named Types
a and b by Frankel and Webb, simply for
purposes of clarity (Frankel and Webb
112
2006, 100-101). A number of parallels to
cooking pot Type a from Marki have been
found in tombs elsewhere on the island,
while cooking pots of this Philia Type b are
not yet evidenced elsewhere, and
believed to be the direct forerunners of
the EC-MC cooking pots at Marki, the
settlement under study (Frankel and
Webb 2006, 100-101). The existence of
two vessel forms, of distinct fabrics, is
extremely interesting in terms of their
production, distribution and their use for
processing different foodstuffs. It should
be emphasized once again that while
Philia cooking pot Type a ceased to be
used in Early Cypriot I and II, while the
cooking pot Type b carried into the
subsequent period (Frankel and Webb
2006, 100-101). EC I–II cooking pots are
poorly preserved. Two specific shapes
appear to be represented, both types
deriving from Philia Type b. It seems that
the fabric associated with cooking pots is
not truly distinct from Red Polished, the
predominant ware of the period, but
rather adapted to a specific use within the
broader Red Polished tradition (Frankel
and Webb 2006, 133-135). By Early Cypriot
III and Middle Cypriot I, cooking pot
shapes and fabrics become more easily
identified as they become more refined
and standardised (Frankel and Webb
2006, 133-135).
Thirty-three cooking pot samples were
selected from the Marki diagnostic
assemblage for a combined physicochemical characterisation of the Philia,
Early and Middle Cypriot cooking pots.
An attempt was made to select a
representative sample including all the
different types macroscopically identified
and recorded by the excavators from all
periods of occupation. The petrographic
analysis of the thirty-three cooking pots
from Marki has indicated that from the
Philia phase until the MC II period,
when the settlement was eventually
abandoned, four different fabrics were
used for the production of cooking vessels.
A significant observation is that no outliers
were recorded among the cooking pot
samples indicating that specific fabrics
were used throughout the lifespan of the
settlement for the production of cooking
vessels without any arbitrary imports or
random local use of raw materials.
As anticipated, two very different fabrics
are used for the production of the Philia
cooking pot Types a and b (Figures 8-9).
Philia cooking pot Type a is a very distinct
fabric, extremely different from all the
other recorded cooking pot fabrics,
characterised by the presence of micritic
limestone and bioclasts, and some
fragments of chert, and very rarely small
laths of muscovite mica. On the other
hand the fabric of Philia cooking pots of
type b is made primarily of igneous
materials, characterised by almost a total
absence of any calciferous inclusions.
Actually, this fabric is one of the most
abundant fabrics in the Marki sample, and
it was used not only for cooking pots but
also for the production of other ceramic
shapes. The Philia examples made with
this fabric are essentially the predecessors
of one of the most widely used fabrics
throughout the lifespan of the settlement.
This is a relatively homogeneous fabric
with a strong igneous nature. In addition
to olivine, other frequent minerals are
pyroxenes, and in the form of rock
fragments, basalts. The petrographic
analysis has indicated that this second
fabric was used not only for the Philia
cooking pots of Type b, but also for
cooking pots dated to the EC I and II
periods, justifying the argument first
formed by Frankel and Webb that the
Philia cooking pots of Type b were indeed
113
the forerunners of the subsequent EC and
MC cooking pots recorded at Marki
(Frankel and Webb 2006, 100-101).
The third cooking pot fabric recorded at
Marki is actually a refined version of fabric
II, and includes cooking pots dated to EC
III and MC I and II periods. This third fabric
is characterised also by the presence of
olivine but in much lower density
han in the second fabric, with some
clinopyroxenes, quartz and plagioclase
feldspars. Basalts remain the most
frequent rock recorded also in this fabric
but in smaller fragment size. A fourth
fabric is used for the production of
cooking pots dated to the last periods
of the settlement, distinguished from
the rest by the presence of intrusive
igneous rocks such as granodiorite,
containing polycrystalline quartz. The
rocks contained in this fourth fabric seem
to be natural constituents of the clay used
for the production of cooking pots and
not artificially added. This fourth fabric
seems to have an overlapping use with
fabric III, suggesting their synchronous
use, and the exploration of adjacent but
differing clay sources during the last
phases of the settlement’s occupation.
The fabric variability suggested by
petrography is also justified with the
employment of ED-XRF for the chemical
characterisation of the cooking pot fabrics
and the testing of the correspondence
between the petrographic and elemental
datasets (Figure 10). It is clearly evident that
while there is some overlap between the
igneous fabrics used at Marki, Philia
cooking pot Type a fabric is significantly
different, the raw materials deriving from a
totally different geological environment,
away from the Troodos mountain range,
from the northern part of Cyprus. The raw
materials for the production of fabrics II, III
and IV can be found at the foothills of the
Troodos mountain range, in the vicinity of
the settlement. As other types of utilitarian
shapes in the broader Red Polished
repertoire were also found to be made with
fabrics II and III, including pans and mealing
bins, it is argued that these fabrics were
locally produced at Marki.
The mineralogical and chemical variation
observed among the Marki Alonia Philia
cooking pots in correlation with the
results of analytical work conducted on
other Philia wares, suggests that pottery
was both locally produced at this
settlement, and imported from other
production centres. The identification of
Fabric II, which deviates from the standard
Philia tradition, indicates that at a regional
level and towards the Early Cypriot Bronze
Age there is a shift from calcareous to
igneous clays. While non-calcareous
fabrics continued to be used for the
production of cooking pots, the
calcareous fabric characterising Philia
Type a ceased to be imported to Marki in
EC I-II. This technological change in the
use of cooking pot fabrics could be
associated with cultural factors, including
the breakdown of the Philia island-wide
network of material exchange, and the
search for available materials within the
new social and economic status quo of
the EC period, as well as possible changes
in dietary preferences, which made this
calcareous Philia cooking pot fabric
unsuitable for heating.
Ten cooking pot samples were selected
from the ceramic assemblage recovered
at Pyla Kokkinokremos during the
excavation season 2010–2011, representing the main types of cooking vessels
recorded at the settlement (Dikomitou et
al. 2013; Georgiou 2013). The ten samples
come from handmade, small- and largesized cooking pots, including the small,
one-handled cooking pot with a flaring
114
rim, short neck and globular body, and
the larger two-handled cooking pot with
a thick rim, short concave neck and
globular to ovoid body. As on other LC
settlements (cf. South et al. 1989, 6, fig.
10), Coarse Ware jars were also used for
cooking. The small number of samples
selected corresponds to the small
number of cooking pots recorded at the
site (Georgiou 2013). The number of
recorded cooking pots is remarkably
small considering the fact that Pyla
Kokkinokremos is a settlement site. In
addition to the small size of the overall
cooking pot assemblage, the lack of
typological variability (Georgiou 2013) is
another factor that explains the collection
of a small number of samples for
petrographic analysis.
The petrographic analysis of the cooking
pot samples from Pyla Kokkinokremos
aimed at their technological and
compositional
characterisation,
in
order to assess technological and fabric
variability within this small and relatively
homogeneous assemblage from a shortlived settlement, with a lifespan of about 50
years. These results are currently being
integrated in the broader, diachronic
investigation of the technological and
typological development of ancient Cypriot
cooking pots.
Macroscopic study of the cooking pot
samples both in terms of their typology
and their fabric, as studied in clean sherd
sections, shows that the cooking pot
assemblage from Pyla Kokkinokremos is
relatively homogeneous, with minor
variations in the thickness of rims, the size
of the vessel necks, the degree of oxidation
during firing, and/or the density of
inclusions across the section. Petrographic
analysis gave rise to similar observations,
as almost all of the cooking pot samples
were found to be made with the same
igneous fabric, which is characterised by
the presence of intermediate volcanic
minerals, such as plagioclase feldspars,
pyroxenes, amphiboles and olivine, and
gabbros in the form of rocks (Figure 11).
Only two specimens from the cooking-pot
sample were categorised as outliers due to
their differing composition, while all the
other samples were made with the
abovementioned dominant fabric.
A core of a dark brown colour is visible in
most of the cooking pot specimens,
characterising particularly the samples
made with the predominant fabric. The
presence of a core suggests that these
vessels were not fired in an oxidized
atmosphere and/or in a high temperature
for long enough for the organic materials
to thoroughly burn out. The optical
inactivity of the samples is also suggestive
of low firing temperatures. In terms of the
production of the ceramic fabrics, the
bimodal grain distribution of the samples
made with the predominant fabric at the
site, and the density of the inorganic,
igneous inclusions, suggests that sand
was added to the clay to increase the
number of aplastic components in the
fabric.
This dominant fabric can be directly
associated with the Troodos Ophiolite
Complex and its plutonic and volcanic
stratigraphic orders (Cohen et al. 2011;
Constantinou 2002). The presence of basic
volcanic minerals and rocks, in the form of
orthopyroxenes, clinopyroxenes and
gabbros, and the very rare presence of
basalts, suggest that the raw materials for
the production of the predominant fabric
at Pyla were collected from the southern
foothills of the Troodos mountain range,
and specifically from river valleys in
contact with the Troodos Plutonics,
among the main cumulate rocks of
which are gabbros and pyroxenites. It is
115
important to note that cooking pots
of an identical fabric to that of Pyla
Kokkinokremos are recorded at the urban
settlement of Kalavasos Ayios Demetrios,
which is another site included in this
study. The typological and compositional
similarity between the cooking pots from
these two sites, as well as the proximity of
Kalavasos to the foothills of the Troodos
mountain range, where gabbros and
pyroxenites are the dominant rocks,
suggest that the cooking pots from Pyla
and Kalavasos could have been made
with raw materials collected from the
same sources, located between the
southern foothills of the Troodos and the
south coast. More detailed comparative,
typological and compositional analyses of
cooking pot samples from Pyla, Kalavasos
and other LC sites are, however, needed
to confirm this suggestion and assess
cooking pot variability during this period.
Overall, it can be argued that most of the
cooking vessels at Pyla Kokkinokremos,
including both the small, single-handled
type and the larger two-handled type
with the short concave neck, are made
with the same fabric, characterised by the
presence of basic volcanic rocks, most
probably added to the clay to reduce its
initial plasticity. Only a very small number
of cooking pots are made with other
fabrics, such as the Coarse Ware jar also
used during this period for cooking.
This preliminary petrographic analysis
suggests that during the settlement’s
short lifespan, its inhabitants predominantly used cooking vessels made by a
single production centre, or by multiple
production centres exploiting raw
materials from a specific geological
area, with some restricted variation in
the types and fabrics of vessels
used for cooking. The typology and
composition of the cooking vessels at Pyla
show many similarities with those of
other LC communities, particularly the
cooking vessels from Kalavasos Ayios
Demetrios. More systematic typological
and compositional investigations are
under-way in order to determine the
degree of similarity of the cooking
pot assemblage from Pyla with those
from Kalavasos and other LC sites, in
order to assess local versus non-local
production and the scale of cooking pot
distribution and shed more light on Pyla
Kokkinokremos.
Cyprus and Cooking Pots,
Diachroneity and
Multidisciplinarity
It is widely accepted that Cyprus, being
an island, represents an ideal study
domain with clearly defined geographical
boundaries, where cultures are archaeologically present at all periods, from the
prehistoric to the most recent past. On the
other hand, pottery, being the most
abundant and distinct archaeological
find, usually constitutes the main means
of dating and defining the functional
character and the socio-economic status
of an archaeological site and its past
occupants. It is ironic that although
undecorated/common utilitarian wares
(e.g. cooking pots, transport and storage
vessels) constitute the vast majority
of the total ceramic assemblage on
a site (sometimes more than 80%),
many excavation directors and pottery
specialists tended to study and finally
publish solely the aesthetically beautiful
decorated table wares, with heaps of
unstudied undecorated common wares
accumulating in museum storerooms.
The study of this particular artefact-type
itself constitutes one of the originalities of
our Project. Although a humble item
made of coarse clay, the cooking-pot’s
116
technological qualities and its functional
and social meaning within a society is of
immense value. Pottery, and cooking
vessels in particular, has been argued to
also carry ritual and symbolic meanings,
distinguishing between social, ethnic or
other groups (Orton et al. 1993, 227-28);
Cyprus represents a unique case, for
our Project embodies the first attempt
to tracing cultural and technological
changes on a land where many ethnic
groups and cultures left their material
traces. There has been no complete study
of the technological and cultural value of
the cooking vessel in either Cyprus or the
Mediterranean as a whole, apart from
individual articles focusing on a single
methodological approach, a single period
or a single site; see for example, D. Frankel
and J. Webb’s technological study on Early
and Middle Bronze Age cooking pots
from Marki Alonia (1996; 2006), L. Joyner’s
excellent paper on cooking pots
from Byzantine and Frankish Corinth,
published in Hesperia 76 (2007), or A.K.
Vionis et al. paper on ceramic vessels from
Middle Byzantine Sagalassos and their
association with food culture on the basis
of typological approaches, archaeozoological and palynologocal analyses,
chemical analysis of organic residues and
literary evidence, published in Hesperia 79
(2010). There is recently, however, a
growing interest in the technological and
socio-cultural study of cooking pots, thus,
the forthcoming publication of our
Project will form the first substantial
volume within the emerging field of
kitchen-ware technological and culinary
studies in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Our Project, using the Annales theory as a
starting point, contributes -for the first
time- to illustrating how elements of
social time, such as technological styles,
Cypriot ceramic technologies and food-
117
culture changed in the long-term (Braudel
1972). However, diachroneity in material
studies does not simply mean the study
of an artefact-type through its entire
chronological spectrum (in our case, from
the Bronze Age to the Post-Medieval era),
which is indeed a core innovation of our
Project. Diachroneity also means the
cultural elements maintained by the
artefact and its technological development through time due to its diachronic
function and link to cultural mentalities
and identities. Thus, we examine social
and cultural aspects of technologies and
style, linking them strongly with
their individual local contexts and
mentalities. While we totally appreciate
the importance of style in the creation
of chronological sequences and the
definition of evolutionary trajectories,
we have been applying a more
anthropological/sociological approach to
the concept of style. We regard the
dichotomy between style and function
as artificial. Style is linked to collective
and personal identities and a holistic
approach to the Cypriot cooking wares
should decode mere typologies through
a holistic approach of style, considering
not only formal elements but also formal
relationships and qualities, which derive
from and produce context and cultural
identities, mentalities and meaning.
Recent advances in archaeological
thought, techniques, and materials’
analysis have paved the way for
the employment of multi-disciplinary
approaches to the study of past
cultures. A series of experimental and
ethnographic studies (e.g. Hein et al.
2008; Buxeda i Garrigós et al. 2003; Tite
and Kilikoglou 2002; Tite et al. 2001;
Longacre et al. 2000; Kilikoglou et al. 1998;
Vekinis and Kilikoglou 1998; Schiffer et al.
1994; Feathers 1989; Bronitsky and Hamer
1986; Woods 1986; Braun 1983) have
recently shown that this ‘unattractive’
functional class of pottery is often highly
standardised, its effective function
associated with the selected raw
materials’ and end products’ mechanical
and thermal properties, which in their
turn depend on the technological choices
of the ancient potters.
‘Stirring Pots on Fire’ constitutes a
truly multi-disciplinary programme,
investigating various aspects related
to kitchen-wares (such as the history
of technology, production, distribution,
food culture and identity) through a
variety of methods and techniques,
ranging from ‘traditional’ to positivistic
and theoretically-informed approaches.
This synthesis of information gathered
from all fields of research, namely
the typo-chronological study, the physiochemical, microstructural, and residue
analyses, and the consulting of available
textual and pictorial evidence, establishes
itself as a new approach to Cypriot
material culture studies and will be of
permanent value not only to those
working on Cypriot archaeology and its
promotion to the public through cultural
heritage management, but it can also
function as a paradigmatic study in a panMediterranean context.
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Orton, C., Tyers, P. and A. Vince. 1993. Pottery
in Archaeology. Cambridge.
Parani, M. 2003. Reconstructing the Reality
of Images: Byzantine Material Culture and
Religious Iconography (11th-15th centuries).
Leiden.
Rye, O. 2002. Pottery Technology: Principles
and Reconstruction. Washington.
Schiffer, M.B., Skibo, J.M., Boelke, T.C.,
Neupert, M.A. and M. Aronson. 1994. New
perspectives on experimental archaeology:
surface treatment and thermal response of
the clay cooking pot. American Antiquity 59
(2), pp. 197-217.
South, A., Russell, P. and P.S. Keswani. 1989:
VasilikosValley Project 3: Kalavasos-Ayios
Dhimitrios II. Ceramics, Objects, Tombs,
Special Studies. Studies in Mediterranean
Archaeology, LXXI: 3. Göteborg.
Tite, M.S., Kilikoglou, V. and G. Vekinis. 2001.
Review article. Strength, toughness and
thermal shock resistance of ancient ceramics,
and their influence on technological choice.
Archaeometry 43 (3), pp. 301-324.
Tite, M. and V. Kilikoglou. 2002. Do we
understand cooking pots and is there an
ideal cooking pot? In: V. Kilikoglou, A. Hein
and Y. Maniatis (eds.), Modern Trends in
Scientific Studies on Ancient Ceramics:
Papers Presented at the 5th European
Meeting on Ancient Ceramics, Athens 1999.
BAR International Series 1011. Oxford,
pp. 1-8.
Vekinis, G. and V. Kilikoglou. 1998.
Mechanical performance of quartztempered ceramics: Part II, Hertzian
strength, wear resistance and applications
to ancient ceramics. Archaeometry 40 (2),
pp. 281-292.
119
Vionis, A.K., Poblome, J., De Cupere, B. and M.
Waelkens. 2010. A Middle – Late Byzantine
pottery assemblage from Sagalassos: typochronology and socio-cultural interpretation.
Hesperia 79, pp. 423-464.
Woods, A.J. 1986. Form, fabric, and function:
some observations on the cooking pot in
Antiquity. In: W. D. Kingery (ed.), Technology
and Style. Ceramics and Civilization, 2.
Columbus, pp. 157-172.
APPENDIX
Participation of Internal and External
Collaborators in Conferences and Events:
The Art and Archaeology of Lusignan and
Venetian Cyprus (1192-1571): Recent
Research and New Discoveries, 12-14
December 2014, Department of History
and Archaeology, University of Cyprus,
Nicosia. Organised by M. Olympios and M.
Parani. Paper to be presented: “CookingPot Technology and Culinary Culture in
Medieval Cyprus”. Athanasios K. Vionis
and Maria Dikomitou-Eliadou (UCY).
M. Dikomitou-Eliadou, A. Georgiou and
A.K. Vionis, “Cooking Fabric Recipes: an
interdisciplinary study of Cypriot cooking
pots of the Late Bronze Age”. NARNIA
International Conference, University of
Cyprus, 17-19 September 2014.
A.K. Vionis and M. Dikomitou-Eliadou,
“Stirring Pots on Fire: a diachronic and
interdisciplinary study of cooking pots
from Cyprus (CCP)”. The 33rd Annual CAARI
Archaeological Workshop in Collaboration
with the Department of Antiquities Cyprus,
University of Cyprus, 28th June 2014.
Researcher’s Night 2013, European
Research in Cyprus, EURECY, 27 September
2013. Thematic activity Archaeology
Today: poster presentation of the aims and
preliminary results of the Project “Stirring
Pots on Fire”.
12th European Meeting on Ancient
Ceramics, 19-21 September 2013, Padova,
Italy. Paper presented: “Stirring Pots on
Fire! Cooking Pot Technology, Ceramic
Production and Distribution Patterns at
an Early and Middle Bronze Age
Community in Cyprus”. Maria DikomitouEliadou (UCY) with Noemi Mueller and
Vassilis Kilikoglou (N.C.S.R. Demokritos).
6th Symposium of the Hellenic Society for
Archaeometry, 16-18 May 2013, Athens,
Greece. Paper presented: “The Earliest
Cooking Pots of the Cypriot Bronze Age:
The Social Dimension of a Technological
Study”. Maria Dikomitou-Eliadou (UCY)
with Noemi Mueller and Vassilis Kilikoglou
(N.C.S.R. Demokritos).
78th Annual Meeting of the Society for
American Archaeology, 3-7 April 2013,
Honolulu, Hawaii. Paper presented: “Calcite
Tempering and Thermal Properties of
Ceramic Cooking Ware: The Case of
Prehistoric Marki Alonia in Cyprus”. Noemi
Mueller and Vassilis Kilikoglou (N.C.S.R.
Demokritos), Maria Dikomitou-Eliadou
(UCY).
A Posthumous Conference and Festschrift
in Honour of the 100th Birthday of
J.R. Stewart, organized by the Cyprus
American
Archaeological
Research
Institute, 1-3 March 2013, Nicosia, Cyprus.
Paper presented: “Interactive Communities
at the Dawn of the Cypriot Bronze Age:
Addressing Ceramic Variability During the
Philia Phase Using an Interdisciplinary
Approach”. Maria Dikomitou-Eliadou
(UCY).
Second Workshop on Levantine Ceramic
Production and Distribution, 8-10 February
2013, Danish Institute of Archaeology,
Athens, Greece. Organised by Andrea M.
Berlin, Boston University. Paper presented:
“On Ceramic Technology and Function: An
Interdisciplinary Study of Early and Middle
120
Bronze Age Cooking Pots from Cyprus”.
Maria Dikomitou-Eliadou.
Researcher’s Night 2012, European
Research in Cyprus, EURECY, 28 September
2012. Poster presentation of the aims and
preliminary results of the Project “Stirring
Pots on Fire”.
Publications:
Dikomitou-Eliadou, M. 2013. Interactive
communities at the dawn of the Cypriot
Bronze Age: an interdisciplinary approach
to Philia phase ceramic variability. In: A.B.
Knapp, J.M. Webb and A. McCarthy (eds),
J.R.B. Stewart: An Archaeological Legacy.
Uppsala: Åströms Förlag, Studies in
Mediterranean Archaeology, CXXXIX,
pp. 23-31.
Dikomitou-Eliadou, M., Kiriatzi, E. and
Vionis, A.K. 2013. Appendix IV: Petrographic analysis of Late Cypriote cooking
pots and Late Minoan pottery from
Pyla-Kokkinokremos. In: V. Karageorghis
and A. Kanta (eds), Pyla-Kokkinokremos: A
Late 13th Century B.C. Fortified Settlement
in Cyprus. Excavations 2010-2011. Uppsala:
Åströms Förlag, Studies in Mediterranean
Archaeology, CXLI, pp. 189-196.
G. Papantoniou, A. Georgiadou, S.
Christodoulou, D. Michaelides, N. Mueller
and V. Kilikoglou). The volume will also
with short contributions by the
excavators of the sites where samples
were selected from (F. Chatzichristofi, M.
Chatzikosti, S. Fourrier, S. Gabrieli, G.
Georgiou, V. Karagiorgis, H. Meyza, D.
Michaelides, E. Papuci-Wladyka, S.
Perdikis, T. Petit, D. Pilides, E. Procopiou, E.
Raptou, M. Rautmann, A. Satraki, A. South,
M. Toumazou, C. von Rüden).
Archaeological Sites – Databank of
Cooking-Pot Fabrics and Organic
Residues:
1.
Athienou Malloura
2.
Aktrotiri Katalymata ton Plakoton
3.
Amathous Palais, Bothros and
Rampart Nord
4.
Geroskipou Agioi Pente
5.
Idalion Ambeleri
6.
Idalion Plathkia
7.
Kalavasos Agios Dimitrios
8.
Kalavasos Kopetra
9.
Kantou Agia Marina
Dikomitou-Eliadou, Μ. and Vionis, A.K.
(forthcoming). Petrographic examination
of cooking pot diagnostics from the Evreti
wells: a complimentary study of cooking
pot fabrics. In: C. von Rüden (ed.), The
Evreti Wells at Palaepaphos. Athens:
German Archaeological Institute.
10. Kition Kathari and Kition Bamboula
Vionis, A.K. and Dikomitou-Eliadou, M.
(eds) (in preparation). Stirring Pots on Fire:
A Diachronic and Interdisciplinary Study of
Cooking Pots from Cyprus. An edited
volume dedicated to the results of the
Project, with major contributions from the
internal and external collaborators of the
Project (A.K. Vionis, M. Dikomitou-Eliadou,
15. Kouklia Fones
11. Kouklia Arkalon
12. Kouklia Evreti
13. Kouklia Plakes
14. Kouklia Skales
16. Larnaka Terra Umbra
17. Nicosia Yard of the Archbishopric of
Cyprus
18. Nicosia Hill of Agios Georgios
19. Maa Palaikastro
121
20. Marki Alonia
21. Panagia Galaktotrofousa Fasouri
22. Panagia Kofinou
23. Paphos Ancient Theatre
24. Paphos Evreti
25. Paphos House of Orpheus
26. Paphos House of Theseus
27. Paphos Ancient Agora
28. Paphos Various Ancient Tombs
29. Pyla Kokkinokremos
30. Pyrgos Tyllirias Avli
Project Research Team Members
Dr Athanasios K. Vionis (UCY), Project
Coordinator, Advisor, Byzantine –
Medieval
Dr Maria Dikomitou-Eliadou (UCY),
Principal Investigator, archaeometry,
Bronze Age
Dr Giorgos Papantoniou (UCY and Trinity
College Dublin), Researcher, CyproGeometric–Cypro-Classical
Dr Anna Georgiadou (Aix-en-Provence),
Researcher, Cypro-Geometric–CyproClassical
Dr Skevi Christodoulou (UCY),
Researcher, Hellenistic – Roman
Prof. Demetrios Michaelides (UCY),
Advisor, food preferences
Dr Noemi Noemi Mueller (N.C.S.R.
Demokritos), External Collaborator,
laboratory analyses
Dr Vassilis Kilikoglou (N.C.S.R.
Demokritos), External Collaborator,
laboratory analyses
122
Figures
Marina, 10: Kition Kathari and Kition
Bamboula, 11: Kouklia Arkalon, 12:
Kouklia Evreti, 13: Kouklia Plakes, 14:
Kouklia Skales, 15: Kouklia Fones, 16:
Larnaka Terra Umbra, 17: Nicosia Yard
of the Archbishopric of Cyprus, 18:
Nicosia Hill of Agios Georgios, 19: Maa
Palaikastro, 20: Marki Alonia, 21: Panagia
Galaktotrofousa Fasouri, 22: Panagia
Kofinou, 23: Paphos Ancient Theatre, 24:
Paphos Evreti, 25: Paphos House of
Orpheus, 26: Paphos House of
Theseus, 27: Paphos Ancient Agora,
28: Paphos Various Ancient Tombs,
29: Pyla Kokkinokremos, 30: Pyrgos
Tyllirias Avli.
1. Representative Cypriot cooking-pot
shapes (1-2: Late Bronze Age, 3-5:
Cypro-Geometric, 6-7: Cypro-Archaic, 8:
Cypro-Classical, 9-11: Hellenistic, 12-13:
Roman, 14-15: Late Medieval).
2. Examining a cooking-pot assemblage
from the Amathous palace.
3. Preparing a complete cooking-pot for
photography. The entire cooking pot
assemblages from the sites under study
were examined and whole examples
were photographed for the enhanced
understanding of intra-site typologies.
4. Cutting a cooking-pot sample in the
Museum of Nicosia for laboratory
analysis using the Electric Wet Saw of
the Archaeological Research Unit.
5. The sections of all selected cooking
pot samples were photographed
with a USB microscope in order to
record fabrics, even before the
commencement of petrographic study.
The illustrated cooking pot sample is
dated to the Medieval period and
comes from the courtyard of the
Archbishopric of Cyprus.
6. A Cypriot representation of serving and
cooking vessels. Fresco depicting the
birth of Virgin Mary from the Church of
Timios Stavros at Pelendri, 14th century.
7. Map of Cyprus showing the 30 sites of
different periods where samples were
selected from for laboratory analyses
(produced by A. Vionis based on digital
geological data provided by the
Cyprus Geological Survey). 1: Athienou
Malloura, 2: Aktrotiri Katalymata ton
Plakoton, 3: Amathous Palais, Bothros
and Rampart Nord, 4: Geroskipou Agioi
Pente, 5: Idalion Ambeleri, 6: Idalion
Plathkia, 7: Kalavasos Agios Dimitrios,
8: Kalavasos Kopetra, 9: Kantou Agia
8. The rounded limestone inclusion in the
centre of the photomicrograph is the
dominant characteristic of the cooking
pot fabric imported at the settlement
of Marki Alonia during the Philia
cultural period. The presence of micritic
limestone in this fabric is a result of
tempering (SE, full scale: 500 μm).
9. The good preservation of the
microfossil structure in the clay matrix
of the Early Bronze Age cooking pot
from Marki suggests that the firing
temperatures for the production of
cooking pots did not surpass the 850
degrees Celsius (SE, full scale: 100 μm).
10 PCA scatterplot based on the ED-XRF
elemental dataset. The samples marked
are cooking pot fabrics from Marki
Alonia (in the legend, IV, V and VIII
correspond to the cooking pot fabrics
as defined by petrography).
11. The predominant cooking pot fabric
recorded at Pyla Kokkinokremos (XP,
full scale: 1 mm).
123
Figure 4
Figure 1
Figure 5
Figure 2
Figure 6
Figure 3
124
Figure 7
Figure 8
Figure 10
Figure 11
Figure 9
125
Curriculum Vitae
Athanasios Vionis, born in 1975 on the island of Paros, Greece, was appointed Lecturer in
Byzantine Archaeology and Art at the University of Cyprus in August 2009. He was evaluated and
promoted to the rank of Assistant Professor in May 2013.
Education
He completed his undergraduate studies in archaeology at the University of Durham, England (BA
Honours in History and Archaeology, 1997). He undertook his doctoral research at the Faculty of
Archaeology of Universiteit van Leiden in the Netherlands (Doctor of Archaeology, 2005). He carried
out archaeological fieldwork on seven Cycladic islands in the framework of his PhD research in
collaboration with the British School of Archaeology at Athens (1999-2000) with the financial
support of the Ernst-Kirsten-Gesellschaft (Historische Geographie der Alten Welt, Stuttgart, 1999),
the Margaret Fergusson Award (St Mary’s College, University of Durham, 1999), and the Rosemary
Cramp Fund (Department of Archaeology, University of Durham, 1998). Part of his PhD research
was carried out at Ankara Universitesi and the American Research Institute in Ankara and Istanbul,
with fellowships granted by the University of Leiden (LUSTRA Research Fellowship, 2000-2001)
and the American School of Classical Studies at Athens (Aegean Fellowship, 2004).
Post-Doctoral Research
He undertook post-doctoral research at the Faculty of Archaeology of Katholieke Universiteit
Leuven in Belgium, within the framework of the Sagalassos Archaeological Research Project,
holding a grant from the Flemish government (Post-Doctoral Fellowship in International Mobility,
2007-2008).
Teaching
He has been offering classes on Byzantine and Medieval archaeology to archaeology students
from the University of Leiden (since 2000) and the University of Cyprus (since 2011) during the
summer-school seasons of the Ancient Cities of Boeotia Project in central Greece. He taught as a
visiting lecturer at Universiteit van Leiden (2006-2007), Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (2007-2008)
and the University of Cyprus (2008-2009). He supervises doctoral theses (as an external supervisor)
undertaken at the Faculty of Archaeology of Universiteit van Leiden. Since his appointment at the
University of Cyprus in 2009, he has been contributing to the undergraduate programme of the
Department of History and Archaeology and the interdepartmental MA programme in Byzantine
Studies, by offering lecture courses and seminars in both Byzantine art and archaeology.
Research Interests
His main research interest involves the study of urban and rural landscapes and material culture
of the Byzantine and post-Byzantine Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean (6th-19th c. AD). More
specifically, his research interests include the transition from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle
Ages, the archaeology of identity (social, religious, ethnic), the built environment and spatial
analysis (cities, castles, towers, rural settlements-villages), sacred landscapes, the use of domestic
space, urban and rural life-ways and economy through the sources (texts – pictorial evidence –
126
material culture), the history and archaeology of food consumption, and technology/production
– distribution – use of ceramic vessels.
Research-Project Collaborations
Athanasios Vionis has been collaborating with the Ancient Cities of Boeotia Project of the
University of Leiden in central Greece as a scientific advisor and ceramic specialist since 2002 and
as assistant director since 2007. He worked as an employee of the 2nd Ephorate of Byzantine and
Post-Byzantine Antiquities for the Cyclades Islands (Ministry of Culture, Greece), within the
framework of the Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Paros Research Project (2001-2002) and the
Archaeological Evidence for Byzantine Naxos Research Project (2006). He was a member of the
team of the Sagalassos Archaeological Research Project of the University of Leuven (funded by
the Flemish Government) in present-day Turkey as a scientific collaborator (2005-2006) and as a
post-doctoral researcher (2007-2009). He participated in the Project Unlocking Historic
Landscapes in the Eastern Mediterranean of the University of Newcastle (funded by the Arts and
Humanities Research Council, UK) as a specialised researcher in 2007, while in the same year he
collaborated with the Research Project Digital Crete: Muslim Tomb Stones of the Institute of
Mediterranean Studies and the University of Crete (funded by the 3rd Community Support
Framework of the European Union). In 2011 he collaborated as a byzantine-diet specialist with
the research group of the Cyprus Virtual Food Museum of the University of Cyprus (funded by
the Research Promotion Foundation, Cyprus), for the recording, diachronic study, preservation
and digital presentation of food culture in Cyprus through the ages. He has also been collaborating
with a number of other archaeological research projects in Greece, Cyprus and Turkey as an advisor
and ceramic specialist, namely with the Southern Euboea Exploration Project (Karystos, Greece)
of the American Centre of Oriental Research, the Kato Phana Survey and Excavation Project
(Chios, Greece) of the University of Sydney, with the ongoing Çeşme‐Bağlararası Excavation
Project (Izmir region, Turkey) of the University of Ankara, the Polis Chrysochous Excavation
Project (Polis Chrysochous, Cyprus) of the University of Princeton, the French Archaeological
Mission, Amathus (Asvestoton – Ayios Tychonas, Cyprus) of the Ecole Française d’Athènes, and
with the new Apalirou Environs Project (Naxos, Greece) of the Universities of Newcastle and
Edinburgh in collaboration with the University of Oslo and the 2nd Ephorate of Byzantine
Antiquities.
Research-Project Coordination
Apart from the Stirring Pots on Fire (CCP) research project, funded by the A.G. Leventis Foundation
(2012-2013), Athanasios Vionis has been coordinating the Byzantine – Post-Byzantine Boeotia
Digitisation Project (2010-2012), for the recording and 3D reconstruction of Byzantine and PostByzantine sites and monuments in Boeotia, in collaboration with the Ancient Cities of Boeotia
Project of the University of Leiden. Since 2014, he has been co-directing the Settled and Sacred
Landscapes, Cyprus (SESALAC) archaeological research project (together with Dr Giorgos
Papantoniou and Doria Nicolaou), for the systematic archaeological exploration of the district of
Kophinou (Larnaka) and the urban and extramural territory of the ancient city of Kourion (Limasol).
127
Meanwhile, he is the director of the Mobile Research Unit for the Recording, Study and
Interpretation of Landscape Archaeology (MRURSILA) of the Archaeological Research Unit of the
University of Cyprus, which he set up with his start-up grant through his application approved by
the UCY Research Committee.
Conference and Exhibition Organisation
Athanasios Vionis is the coordinator and main organiser of the trilogy of international research
workshops Byzantium in Transition (2011-2013-2015). The first workshop in the series, The
Byzantine Early Middle Ages, 7th-8th centuries, took place at the University of Cyprus
(28-30/10/2011), while the second (co-organised with Dr Maria Parani), The Middle – Late
Byzantine/Frankish Era, 12th-13th centuries, took place on the island of Paros (24-26/05/2013). He
was also the organiser of the Museum exhibition “Pottery on Paros, 12th-20th c. AD” at the HistoricalFolklore Museum of Naoussa Paros (24/06-10/07/2005), in the framework of the Paros International
Pithoi Symposium. Finally, he co-organised (with Dr E. Sigalos) the thematic session “Pathways into
Medieval and Post-Medieval Greece” of the 8th Annual Meeting of the European Association of
Archaeologists at the University of Thessaloniki (24-29/09/2002).
Conference Participation with Paper Presentation
Athanasios Vionis has participated in 29 International Conferences and International Research
Workshops in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Bulgaria,
Turkey, Greece and Cyprus. He has also given 15 invited public lectures and seminars at academic
institutions in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece and
Cyprus.
Publications
His monograph A ‘Crusader’, ‘Ottoman’ and ‘Early Modern’ Aegean Archaeology: Built Environment
and Domestic Material Culture in the Medieval and Post‐Medieval Cyclades, Greece (Leiden:
Archaeological Studies Leiden University 22) was published in 2012, while his edited volume,
Byzantium in Transition: The Byzantine Early Middle Ages, 7th-8th c. AD is currently in preparation,
to be published with Cambridge University Press. Athanasios Vionis has also published 11 articles
in peer-review Journals (e.g. Hesperia, Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology, Bulletin de
Correspondence Hellènique, Annual of the British School at Athens, Anatolian Studies, Medieval
Settlement Research, Medieval Ceramics, Journal of Post‐Medieval Archaeology, Pharos), 10
specialised chapters in edited (and peer-reviewed) books (e.g. Ashgate, University of Cambridge
McDonald Institute Monographs, Peeters, Presses Universitaire de Provence, Baker Academic Press),
9 articles in edited (and peer-reviewed) Conference volumes, and 4 electronic/internet publications.
Membership
Trinity College, University of Dublin (associate researcher, 01-05/2014), the Cyprus Association of
Byzantinists (founding member, 2012-), the Association of the Cyprus Food Museum (founding
member, 2012-), the Cyprus State Scholarship Foundation (applications Evaluation Committee
member, 2010-), the European Association of Archaeologists (member, 2013-2014, 2009-2010, 20022003), the Paros and the Cyclades Institute of Archaeology (member, 2007-), MOnuMENTA (member,
128
2007-), the Hellenic Society, Durham University (founding member, 1995-), the Archaeological
Society, Durham University (member, 1995-).
Dr. Maria Dikomitou-Eliadou has received her B.A. in History and Archaeology from the
University of Cyprus (2003). She was awarded an MA in Mediterranean Archaeology by the University
of Bristol (2004) and an MA in Artefact Studies by University College London (2005). DikomitouEliadou received her doctoral title at University College London (2012). During her postgraduate
studies she has worked as a teaching assistant at the Institute of Archaeology, University College
London, and then as a research fellow at the Archaeological Research Unit of the University of Cyprus,
where she still works as a postdoctoral researcher. She is currently managing a multi-partner, largescale interdisciplinary research project on the study of ancient materials from the Mediterranean,
funded by the European Commission, and coordinated by the University of Cyprus. Her research
interests mainly focus on pottery analysis and ceramic technology in ancient Cyprus. She is actively
involved either as the principal researcher or a research collaborator in many projects in Cyprus,
funded by local, Mediterranean or European institutions.
Publications
Dikomitou-Eliadou, M., Kiriantzi, E. and Vionis, A. K. 2013. Appendix IV. Petrographic analysis of Late
Cypriot cooking pots and Late Minoan pottery from Pyla-Kokkinokremos. In Karageorghis, V and
Kanta, A., Pyla-Kokkinokremos. A late 13th century BC fortified settlement in Cyprus. Excavations
2010-2011. Uppsala: Åströms Förlag Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology CXLI, 189-196.
Dikomitou-Eliadou, M. 2013. Interactive communities at the dawn of the Cypriot Bronze Age: an
interdisciplinary approach to Philia phase ceramic variability. In: A.B. Knapp, J.M. Webb and McCarthy
A. (eds), J.R.B. Stewart: An Archaeological Legacy. Uppsala: Åströms Förlag Studies in Mediterranean
Archaeology CXXXIX, 23-31.
Charalambous, A., Dikomitou-Eliadou, M. and Kassianidou, V., 2013. Appendix: A preliminary
chemical study of Grey and Black Polished II (IV) pottery with the employment of pXRF. In: Georgiou,
G. and Karageorghis, V. (eds) A Cypro-Archaic tomb at Xylotymbou and three Cypro-Classical tombs
at Phlasou: From Exuberance to Recession. Uppsala: Åströms Förlag Studies in Mediterranean
Archaeology CXL, 59-63.
Dikomitou, M. and Martinòn-Torres, M., 2012. Fabricating an island-wide tradition. Red Polished
pottery from Early and Middle Bronze Age Cyprus. In: Zacharias, N., Georgakopoulou, M., Polikreti,
K., Facorellis, Y. and Vakoulis, T. (eds) Proceedings of the 5th HSA Symposium (October 2008, Athens).
Athens: Papazese Publications, 423-442.
Dikomitou, M., 2010. A closer look at Red Polished Philia fabrics. Inquiring into ceramic uniformity
in Cyprus, ca. 2500-2300 BC. The Old Potter’s Almanack 15 (2), 1-6
Dikomitou, M., 2007. Analysis of clays and fabrics. In: Frankel, D., and Webb, J., The Bronze Age
cemeteries at Deneia in Cyprus. Sävedalen: Paul Åströms Förlag. Studies in Mediterranean
Archaeology CXXXV, 107-122.
Sarris, A., G. Stamatis, N. Papadopoulos, E. Kokkinou, S. Topouzi, E. Kokkinaki, E. Moissi, Iacovou, M.,
Kassianidou, V., Papasavvas, G., Papantoniou, G. and Dikomitou, M., 2006. “Palaepaphos, Cyprus: The
Contribution of Geographical Information Systems and Geophysical Prospection in the Study of the
Archaeological Topography and Settlement Patterns.” In The World is in your Eyes. CAA 2005.
129
Chapter Two
Economics
130
International Trade in Used Goods: An Empirical Investigation
of Consumer Welfare Gains and Repercussions on Markets for
New Goods
Principal Investigator: Sofronis Clerides, Associate Professor, Department of
Economics, Faculty of Economics and Management, University of Cyprus
Abstract
The objective of the project was to investigate the impact of international trade in
used goods on consumer welfare, production and trade flows by exploiting a unique
policy change in Cyprus. A 1993 relaxation of import restrictions on used vehicles
made possible the importation of used cars from Japan into Cyprus. Used Japanese
imports were of high quality and sold at attractive prices. The consequences were
dramatic: by 1998 the market share of used Japanese imports reached 72% of all
first-time car registrations. The prices of local used cars dropped substantially, while
it is widely thought that prices of new cars also dropped in the wake of increased
competition.
Two papers emerged from the project. The first paper quantified the impact of used
car imports on consumer welfare. Estimates from a structural demand system
indicated a welfare gain of close to $2,000 per used car purchaser during the period
1997–2000. New car purchasers also benefited because increased competition from
used cars lowered new car prices. Most of the welfare gains were due to the
introduction of new products rather than to price decreases for existing products.
These findings are suggestive of the potential benefits from a wider expansion of
trade in used goods.
The second paper developed a theoretical framework for analyzing international
trade in used goods in the presence of asymmetric quality standards for used
durable goods (such as cars). It shows that asymmetric quality standards can
generate trade in used goods and alter trade flows in new goods. Strict quality
standards benefit manufacturers in exporting countries (like Japan) at the expense
of their consumers, while consumers in importing countries (like Cyprus) are clear
beneficiaries. The findings suggest that quality standards may be used as an
industrial policy instrument and should therefore be monitored by the World Trade
Organization.
131
The project
Gains from trade can arise through a
variety of channels. Classical trade theory
has focused on the gains from pure
exchange and from specialization while
more recent research has emphasized
alternative channels such as preference
heterogeneity and imperfect competition.
For example, gains from trade can be
realized when markets are imperfectly
competitive because opening up to trade
exposes domestic firms to competition
from foreign firms. When consumers
have heterogeneous preferences, trade
can raise welfare by increasing the
number of product varieties available for
consumption and thus leading to a better
matching of consumers with products.
On the empirical front, economists have
had a difficult time producing robust
evidence to support and quantify
the theoretical predictions. Numerous
studies have analyzed macroeconomic
or microeconomic data in an effort to
evaluate trade's impact on the world's
economies. Although the overall evidence
is generally thought to be positive, it is far
from conclusive. This paper aims to
contribute to this literature by exploiting a
unique natural experiment in trade
liberalization. Case studies of the impact of
trade liberalization episodes in specific
countries have been widely used in the
literature. The current paper also adopts
the case-study approach but differs from
most existing work in one important
respect. The policy experiment analyzed
here is limited to a single market rather
than affecting the entire economy and the
analysis is based on market-level rather
than firm-level data. The clarity and
specificity of the policy allow us to focus on
the particular market and to isolate the
effects of trade liberalization on prices,
market shares and consumer welfare. Even
though the market in question may be too
small to allow for sweeping general
conclusions, the strength of the results and
the uniqueness of the setting are highly
instructive.
The stage was set in 1993 when Cyprus
relaxed existing restrictions by raising the
maximum allowable age of an imported
vehicle from two years to five years.
The policy change, which was by all
accounts unanticipated, enabled the
mass importation of used vehicles into
the country from Japan and made Cyprus
the theater of a fascinating policy
experiment. Used Japanese imports were
typically in very good condition; they
came with many extras, and were selling
at prices considerably lower than those
prevailing in the local secondary market
at the time. The consequences were
dramatic. Registrations of used imports
shot up from 7.2% of all first-time car
registrations in 1992 to a high of 72.4% in
1998. They settled down at about 60%
until a 2003 tax reform that was
unfavorable for used cars pushed them
further down to 50%, still a remarkable
percentage.
A market overhaul of such a scale must
have had important implications for
consumer welfare. I quantify these
implications by estimating a differentiated
product demand system for the Cyprus
automobile market. Estimation of a
structural demand system makes it
possible to compute consumer welfare
and to conduct counterfactual analysis.
The model implies that welfare gains from
the influx of used cars averaged close to
$2000 per purchaser per year during the
period 1997–2000. Average family income
during that period was of the order of
$25,000, meaning that the welfare gain
132
was roughly equivalent to a typical family's
monthly income. In aggregate terms the
annual consumer welfare gain equaled
0.24% of GDP, a substantial amount for a
policy affecting a single market. This is a
conservative estimate in a number of
dimensions. For example, it does not take
into account possible benefits from a
drop in prices of new cars or from an
improvement in their quality, both of which
are reported to have occurred as a result of
increased competition from used cars.
Nonetheless, the model suggests that most
of the welfare gains were due to the
introduction of new products rather than to
price decreases for existing products. This
finding provides support for theories
suggesting that increased product variety is
an important benefit of trade liberalization,
perhaps more important than its impact on
prices.
The finding also has important implications regarding the distributional impact of
freer trade. The introduction of new
varieties primarily benefits consumers who
choose to purchase those varieties. The
new varieties introduced in Cyprus were of
lower quality than existing ones and hence
more likely to be purchased by low income
consumers. Data from the Cyprus Survey of
Consumer Finances confirm that in the late
1990s low and middle income households
were more likely than high income
households to purchase used vehicles. Thus
the benefit from the availability of used
vehicle imports accrued disproportionately
to lower income households. The common
argument that trade liberalization hurts the
poor does not hold here; freer trade had a
positive distributional impact.
An important contribution of this paper is
that it brings attention to international
markets for used goods. Secondary
markets have been studied extensively in
the industrial organization literature, yet
the ramifications of international trade in
used goods have largely been ignored. This
may be part of the reason why substantial
trade barriers persist in used good markets
in general and the market for used
automobiles in particular. Many countries
maintain tight restrictions on imports of
used goods even as they open up their
other markets to foreign competition. Such
restrictions are allowed even within free
trade zones such as NAFTA and Mercosur.
For example, Mexican tariffs on used cars
are not expected to be phased out
until 2019. Despite these barriers, an
international market for used automobiles
does exist and it has great potential for
growth as trade barriers are removed. The
policy analyzed in this paper provides an
instructive account of the possibilities
opened by increased trade in used goods
and raises interesting questions regarding
its possible effects on international trade
flows and production.
Quality standards on used durables
Most countries enforce automobile safety
and emission standards. New vehicles must
meet certain specifications in order to be
allowed on the market, while used cars are
required to pass periodic tests of
roadworthiness. While quality requirements for new vehicles are broadly similar
across countries, they can vary substantially
when it comes to used vehicles. For
example, Japan is known to enforce very
stringent testing procedures for used cars.
New cars in Japan are sold with a shaken, a
fitness certificate that is valid for three
years. In order for the shaken to be
renewed, the vehicle must go through a
rigorous quality certification process that is
both expensive and time-consuming. The
pecuniary cost of this procedure is reported
to average around a thousand dollars,
133
although some reports put it even higher.
Once renewed the shaken is good for two
years, at which point the whole process
must be repeated and the renewal cost
must be incurred again. Although many
other countries have motor vehicle
inspection procedures, there is no
country that we are aware of where the
cost is nearly as high.
High quality standards for used durable
goods increase the cost of holding on to
them and induce consumers to upgrade
their holdings more frequently than they
otherwise would have. Most Japanese
consumers replace their vehicles after
only three or five years. This creates a
large supply of used cars with a very
low value on the Japanese market.
Automobiles of the same quality
have a much higher value in other
countries where the cost of holding
on to a used vehicle is much lower. A
trade opportunity thus arises, whereby
countries with high quality standards will
export used cars to countries with low
quality standards. Japan exports $2.7
billion worth of used automobiles
annually, compared to just $0.7 billion for
the US. Given that the US car fleet is
roughly four times that of Japan, the
proportion of the used car fleet that is
exported every year is 16 times higher in
Japan than in the US.
Quality standards have been prescribed
as a way to address problems created by
informational asymmetries and by
externalities. Informational asymmetries
arise when prospective buyers are
unable to assess a good's quality
prior to purchase. Theoretical models
have shown that minimum quality
standards can improve welfare in this
context. Externalities typically relate to
environmental or safety concerns. It has
been shown, for example, that minimum
quality standards can be used as an
environmental policy tool as they force
firms to produce goods that are more
environmentally friendly.
The above literature suggests that
different countries will impose different
quality standards if they differ in the
degree of information asymmetries, the
environmental or safety costs they face, or
their preferences towards safety and the
environment. For example, Japan may
impose high standards for used vehicles
because it places an unusually high value
on safety and a clean environment. One
can credibly claim that the marginal social
cost of a vehicle in Tokyo is high because
of congestion and lack of parking space.
We have also been told by more than one
seminar participant that Japanese culture
attaches a stigma to purchases of used
goods. These observations may go some
way towards explaining differences in
observed quality standards, but it seems
unlikely to be the whole story. The
pollution or safety risk from a three-year
old car is not very different from a brand
new car. The main goal of this paper is
to put forth an alternative explanation
that is based on political economy
considerations. High quality standards
that lead to frequent replacement of
vehicles are likely to benefit the
automobile industry, while the rigorous
inspection process should be a boon to
the service sector. Hence the imposition
of high quality standards may be
motivated by a desire to boost domestic
industry rather than (or at least in addition
to) the need to protect the environment.
In order to explore this possibility we
construct a theoretical framework that
incorporates durable good production in
an international trade environment. The
framework allows for the imposition of
asymmetric quality standards and can be
134
used to address a number of interesting
questions. How does the presence of
quality standards for used goods affect
trade flows of both used and new goods?
What is the impact on producers and
consumers in each country? Are durable
good producing countries more likely to
require high quality standards than nonproducers? Do imports of used durables
hurt domestic industry?
Our framework is similar in spirit to the
models developed in the 1970s to
address the link between durability and
market structure. The literature was
sparked by Swan's classic paper showing
that durability is independent of
market structure. The stream of papers
that followed focused on testing the
robustness and generality of the result.
Our model abstracts from the issue of
quality choice as it is not directly related
to the questions we are interested in. Our
modeling focus is rather on the link
between the primary and secondary
markets.
Durable goods in our model live for two
periods. Consumers have the choice of
buying either a new or a used durable,
or of spending all their income on
nondurables. The durable is produced
by a monopolist firm which is allowed to
sell the good but not to lease it. The
government may require that used goods
adhere to costly quality standards. Our
analysis focuses on the steady state of this
economy. We first describe the equilibrium
in the context of a single country. We then
introduce a second country, which is not a
producer of durables, and analyze the
effects of international trade in the new
equilibrium.
Because of durability, trade in used goods
will impact trade flows in the new good
market also. The model shows that when
used goods are freely traded, the
imposition of quality standards in the
exporting country benefits its producers
at the expense of its consumers. Thus the
exporting country has an incentive to
impose such standards only if it wants to
win favor with its producers. This is
because the increased cost of owning a
used good pushes consumers towards
new goods, leaving used goods to be
exported to the country with lower
standards. The latter country benefits
because prices of both new and used
goods are lower. Since it has no
producers, it has no incentive to impose
quality standards.
Intuitively, the benefit to producers
arises because the imposition of quality
standards mitigates the competition they
face from their own products. This is a wellknown problem that has been studied
extensively in the industrial organization
literature. The crux of the issue is that new
durable goods have to compete in the
marketplace with the used incarnations of
the durables that were sold in previous
periods. Firms try to reduce the problem
with practices that limit the scope of the
second-hand market, such as leasing
instead of selling or making the product
less durable (“planned obsolescence”). The
imposition of minimum standards by the
government serves the same purpose by
increasing the cost of owning used goods.
We caution that our welfare calculations
do not take into account any benefits
from reduced pollution, congestion, and
accident risk. It could very well be that the
welfare gains from internalizing these
externalities are greater than the losses
consumers suffer because of increased
prices. This is an open empirical question
that is beyond the scope of this paper.
Similarly, we do not claim that minimum
quality standards must necessarily be
135
interpreted as indirect subsidization of
industry. Our point here is that industry
subsidization is one possible motive for
imposing minimum standards. It is also
useful to approach this model from a
different angle. Given that differential
quality standards for used goods do exist,
what is the impact of free trade in used
goods on welfare for a given set of such
standards? This question is motivated by
the fact that many countries impose
restrictions on imports of used goods,
particularly cars. Our model suggests that
opening up trade in used goods hurts
consumers in the high-standard country
and benefits its producers. Consumers are
hurt by trade in this second-best world
because of the producer's monopoly
power. Consumers in the low-standard
country, on the other hand, are
unambiguously better off.
We extend the model to examine the
impact of quality standards in the
presence of international competition in
production. The main result, that quality
standards raise profits, is shown to hold in
this case also. In fact, quality standards are
likely to be even more beneficial for
exporters when competition is more
intense in their export market compared
to their home market. We also show that
importing countries have an incentive to
impose quality standards of their own or
restrict trade in used goods to protect
domestic industry. This may explain the
prevalence of such restrictions in
automobile-producing countries.
Deliverables of the Project
Publications
Clerides Sofronis and Costas Hadjiyiannis,
“Quality Standards for Used Durables: An
Indirect Subsidy?,” Journal of International
Economics 75(2), 268-282, July 2008.
Clerides Sofronis, “Gains from Trade in
Used Goods: Evidence from Automobiles”,
Journal of International Economics 76(2),
322-336, December 2008.
The findings of the second study were
also published in Greek by the University
of Cyprus’ Economics Research Centre
(Economic Policy Paper 05-05, “Οι Επιπτώσεις της Εισαγωγής Μεταχειρισμένων
Αυτοκινήτων στην Κυπριακή Αγορά”).
Research presentations
International conferences
2003 Midwest International Economics
and Economic Theory Meetings.
Pittsburgh, USA.
2003 CEPR Conference on Applied Industrial
Organization. Leuven, Belgium.
2003 Econometric Society North American
Summer Meeting. Evanston, USA.
2003 European Association for Research
in Industrial Economics. Helsinki,
Finland.
2004 International Industrial Organization
Conference. Chicago, USA.
2004 Conference on Research in Economic
Theory and Econometrics. Syros,
Greece.
2004 European Trade Study Group Annual
Conference. Nottingham, UK.
2004 ASSET Conference. Barcelona, Spain.
136
2005 American Economic Association
meeting. Philadelphia, USA.
2005 International Industrial Organization
Conference. Atlanta, USA.
2007 European Trade Study Group Annual
Conference. Athens, Greece.
2007 ASSET Conference. Padova, Italy.
Invited seminars
Central European University, Penn State
University, World Bank, University of
Toronto
University of Guelph, Yale University,
London School of Economics, University
of Macedonia, University of Virginia,
University of Illinois, Tel Aviv University,
ALBA Graduate Business School, Hebrew
University of Jerusalem, Telecom Paris,
Erasmus University, Research team
The project was coordinated by Sofronis
Clerides, currently an Associate Professor
at the Department of Economics of the
University of Cyprus. The team also
included Costas Hadjiyiannis, also an
Associate Professor at the Department of
Economics, and Adamos Adamou, who
was a Ph.D. student at the time and has
since completed his degree.
137
Curriculum Vitae
Sofronis Clerides
Research Affiliations
Research Affiliate, Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR).
Senior Fellow, Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis (RCEA).
Academic Council Member, Economic Research Centre, University of Cyprus.
Education
• Yale University, Ph.D. Economics, 1998
• University of Wisconsin, B.A. (Honors) Economics & Mathematics, 1993.
Previous Positions
•
•
•
•
•
•
Visiting Scholar, Northwestern University, 2009-2010.
Visiting Professor, European University Institute, November 2008.
Assistant Professor, University of Cyprus, Department of Economics, 2003-2009.
Visiting Lecturer, Yale University, Department of Economics, 2002-03.
Lecturer, University of Cyprus, Department of Economics, 1998-2003.
Researcher, World Bank, International Economics Department, International Trade Division, summers
of 1995, 1996.
Fields of Interest
Research: industrial organization, international trade, empirical microeconomics.
Teaching: industrial organization, microeconomics, regulation.
Courses Taught
• European University Institute
• 10-hr course in Empirical Industrial Organization (PhD).
• University of Cyprus
• Industrial Organization (undergraduate)
• Firm Structure and Strategy (undergraduate)
• Regulation Theory and Policy (undergraduate)
• Microeconomics (Master)
• Industrial Organization (Master/PhD)
• Microeconomic Analysis (Master/PhD)
• Business Economics (MBA)
• Firms and Markets (MBA)
• Yale University
• Industrial Organization (undergraduate)
• Empirical Analysis of Firms and Markets (undergraduate seminar)
• International Trade (undergraduate)
138
Professional Activities
Editorial positions:
• Editorial Board member, Spoudai, 2013-.
• Associate Editor, Economica, 2009-.
• Associate Editor, International Journal of Industrial Organization, 2005-.
• Managing Editor, Ekonomia, May 2000- Oct. 2005.
Conference organization:
• Organizer, 2012 CEPR Conference on Applied IO.
• Scientific committee member, 2005-2014 CEPR Conferences on Applied IO.
• Referee, 2005, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2014 EARIE conferences.
• Program committee member, 2002, 2008, 2012 ASSET conferences.
• Refereeing:
Journals: American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Review, Bulletin of
Economic Research, Canadian Journal of Economics, Eastern Economic Journal, Econometrica,
Economic Development and Cultural Change, Economic Inquiry, Economic Journal, Economica,
Economics Letters, Ekonomia, Empirical Economics, European Economic Review, Information
Economics and Policy, International Journal of Industrial Organization, Journal of Applied
Econometrics, Journal of Applied Economics, Journal of Applied Mathematics and Decision Sciences,
Journal of Development Economics, Journal of Development Studies, Journal of Economic Education,
Journal of Economic Geography, Journal of Economic Growth, Journal of Economics and
Management Strategy, Journal of the European Economic Association, Journal of Industrial
Economics, Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Journal of International Economics, Journal
of International Trade and Economic Development, Journal of Macroeconomics, Journal of Media
Economics, Journal of Political Economy, Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Quarterly
Journal of Economics, RAND Journal of Economics, Review of Economics and Statistics, Review of
International Economics, Review of World Economics / Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv, Scandinavian
Journal of Economics, Southern Economic Journal, Tourism Economics, Tourism Management,
Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and
Transportation Review, World Development.
• Funding bodies: US National Science Foundation, Athens University of Economics & Business,
University of Crete, Israel Science Foundation.
Grants, Honors, Awards
• Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship for Career Development, 2009-2011.
• “Analysis of Tourists' Evaluation of Cyprus.” Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation, 2007-2010
(scientific advisor).
• “International Trade in Used Goods. “Leventis Foundation, 2004-2006 (principal investigator).
• “The Economic Impact of Foreign Workers in Cyprus,” Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation, 20042006 (team member).
• Yale Dissertation Fellowship, Fall 1997.
139
• Yale Graduate School Fellowship, 1993-97.
• Anna M. Ely Undergraduate Economics Award for senior honors thesis: “Effects of Interest Rate
Regulation: The Case of Cyprus.”
• Fulbright Scholarship for undergraduate studies, 1989-93.
Publications
1. “National Sentiment and Consumer Choice: The Iraq War and Sales of US Products in Arab Countries,”
Scandinavian Journal of Economics (forthcoming) (with Peter Davis and Antonis Michis).
2. “Welfare Implications of Car Feebates: A Simulation Analysis,” The Economic Journal (forthcoming)
(with Adamos Adamou and Theodoros Zachariadis).
3. “Love thy Neighbor, Love thy Kin: Strategy and Bias in the Eurovision Song Contest,” Ekonomia 15(1),
22-44, 2012 (with Thanasis Stengos).
4. “Trade-offs in CO2-Oriented Vehicle Tax Reforms: A Case Study of Greece,” Transportation Research
Part D: Transport and Environment 17(6), 451-456, August 2012 (with Adamos Adamou and
Theodoros Zachariadis).
5. “Peer Review vs Metric-Based Assessment: Testing for Bias in the RAE Ratings of UK Economics
Departments,” Economica, forthcoming (with Panos Pashardes and Alexandros Polycarpou).
6. “Prospects and Limits of Tourism-Led Growth: The International Evidence,”Review of Economic
Analysis 2(3), 287-303, 2010 (with Adamos Adamou).
7. “Modeling the Diffusion of Strategies: An Application to Exporting,” Industrial and Corporate Change,
18(3), 415-434, June 2009 (with George Kassinis).
8. “Gains from Trade in Used Goods: Evidence from Automobiles,” Journal of International Economics
76(2), 322-336, December 2008.
9. “The Effect of Standards and Fuel Prices on Automobile Fuel Economy: An International Analysis”,
Energy Economics 30(5), 2657-2672, September 2008 (with Theodoros Zachariadis).
10.“Quality Standards for Used Durables: An Indirect Subsidy?” Journal of International Economics 75(2),
268-282, July 2008 (with Costas Hadjiyiannis).
11.“Intermediaries as Quality Assessors: Tour Operators in the Travel Industry,” International Journal of
Industrial Organization, 26(1), 372-392, January 2008 (with Paris Nearchou and Panos Pashardes).
12.“A Textbook Example of International Price Discrimination,” Economics Letters, 95(1), 91-95, April
2007 (with Christos Cabolis, Ioannis Ioannou and Daniel Senft).
13.“Price Discrimination with Differentiated Products: Definition and Identification,” Economic Inquiry
42(3), 402-412, July 2004.
14.“Book Value: Intertemporal Pricing and Quality Discrimination in the US Market for Books,”
International Journal of Industrial Organization 20(10), 1385-1408, December 2002.
15.“Is Learning by Exporting Important? Micro-Dynamic Evidence from Colombia, Mexico, and
Morocco,” Quarterly Journal of Economics 113(3), 903-947, August 1998 (with Saul Lach and James
Tybout).
140
Mixed Data Sampling Regression Models: Applications in
Business Cycle, Growth and Structural Breaks
Principal Investigator: Elena Andreou, Associate Professor, Department of
Economics, Faculty of Economics and Management, University of Cyprus
Abstract
The Leventis project entitled “Mixed Data Sampling Regression Models: Applications
in Business Cycle, Growth and Structural Breaks (2006-2009)” has two main
objectives. The first objective investigate the properties of the estimators of a new
family of statistical models the so called Mi(xed) Da(ta) S(ampling), or MIDAS,
regression models which involve data sampled at different frequencies. These are
new models are useful for studying the time series relationship of variables that are
sampled at different/mixed sampling frequencies. In addition, the project proposes
two novel economic applications of the MIDAS models which provide additional
insights into the cross country economic growth regressions as well as the
forecasting key macroeconomic variables using high frequency financial data. The
second objective of the project is to develop a new, general asymptotic theory
framework for deriving the asymptotic variance of residual-based statistics and twostep estimators and propose a number of new tests for location-scale dynamic
models.
Project objectives and result
The objectives of this Leventis project are
twofold. The first objective it to investigate
the theoretical properties of estimators of
regression models that involve data
sampled at different frequencies, the so
called Mi(xed) Da(ta) S(ampling), or
MIDAS, regression models. These are new
models for studying the time series
relationship of variables that are sampled
at different/mixed sampling frequencies.
In addition, the project proposes two
novel economic applications of the
MIDAS models which provide additional
insights into the cross country economic
growth regressions as well as the
forecasting key macroeconomic variables
using high frequency financial data. The
second objective of the project is to
develop a new, general asymptotic theory
framework for deriving the asymptotic
variance of residual-based statistics and
two-step estimators.
The first objective of the project relates to
regression models with mixed sampling
frequencies and their advantages. We
provide both econometric theory and
empirical contributions related to
MIDAS models. MIDAS regressions were
introduced in both filtering and regression
context by Ghysels et al. (2005), Ghysels et
al. (2006) and Ghysels and Wright (2007),
among others. These regressions deal with
a situation often encountered in practice.
For example, macroeconomic data is
typically sampled at monthly or quarterly
frequencies while financial time series are
141
Mixed Data Sampling Regression Models: Applications in Business Cycle, Growth and Structural Breaks
sampled at almost arbitrarily higher
frequencies. Despite the fact that most
economic time series are not sampled at
the same frequency the typical practice of
estimating econometric models involves
aggregating all variables to the same (low)
frequency using an equal weighting
scheme. However, there is no a priori
reason why one should (i) ignore the fact
that the variables involved in empirical
models are in fact generated from
processes of different/mixed frequencies
and (ii) estimate econometric models
based on an aggregation scheme of equal
weights. In fact one would expect that for
most time series declining weights would
be a more appropriate aggregation
scheme and that an equal weighting
scheme may lead to information loss and
thereby to inefficient and/or biased
estimates.
While the project relates the MIDAS
regression model to the traditional
temporal aggregation literature (e.g. Sims
(1971), Engle and Liu (1972), Phillips
(1972, 1973, 1974), Tiao and Wei (1976),
Geweke (1978), Hsiao (1979), Granger
(1987) among many others), it also shows
the flexibility and generality of the MIDAS
regression model. While both the
temporal aggregation literature and the
MIDAS regression model study the
consequences of temporal aggregation,
the MIDAS regression models do not
assume that all processes are sampled at
the same (high) frequency and do not
impose an equal weighting scheme.
Furthermore, our approach does not
infer the temporally aggregated (low
frequency) model from the disaggregated
(high frequency) process and does not
assume that the high frequency process
is closed under temporal aggregation.
From the empirical perspective our
approach does not have to specify the
functional form of the high frequency
process and is not confined to a window
of lags defined over a specific temporal
aggregation horizon. Instead, we consider
regression models where the variables
have different sampling frequencies such
that the high frequency process is
projected into the low frequency process
with a parsimonious weighting scheme.
The contributions of the project related to
the first objective on MIDAS regressions are:
First, we introduce a new decomposition for
the MIDAS regression. Namely, we
decompose the conditional mean of the
MIDAS regression model into two terms: an
aggregated term based on equal or flat
weights and a nonlinear term which
involves weighted, higher order differences
of the high frequency process. This allows
us to link the MIDAS regression model with
the traditional temporal aggregation
literature, which omits the MIDAS term. We
derive the asymptotic properties of the
MIDAS Nonlinear Least Squares (NLS)
estimator, denoted as MIDAS-NLS and
compare them with the traditional Least
Squares (LS) estimator that involves
regression models with a flat aggregation
scheme that we call FLAT-LS. Moreover, we
use our decomposition to study MIDAS
models with various high frequency
processes. In addition, we propose new
tests for examining the hypothesis of equal
weights in aggregating time series data
involved in regression models. We assess
the finite sample properties of our
estimators using an extensive Monte Carlo
simulation. Second, we also illustrate the
relevance of the MIDAS regression model in
the context of two applications: (i) We show
that the MIDAS-NLS estimates of the Solow
growth model provide a better explanation
of the cross-country growth differences
than the standard LS estimates using
aggregation based on an equal weighting
142
scheme. Our empirical analysis has useful
economic policy implications. (ii) In the
context of forecasting key policy macroeconomic variables such as quarterly
economic growth we show that dynamic
MIDAS regression models that involve
daily financial data provide substantial
forecasting gains over traditional forecasting benchmarks in the literature.
The second objective of the project
relates to an alternative method to
derive the limiting distribution of
residual-based statistics. Residual-based
tests are generally used for diagnostic
checking of a proposed statistical model.
Such specification tests are covered in
many textbooks and remain of interest in
ongoing research. Similarly, residualbased estimators (often referred to as
two-step estimators) are widely applied
in econometric work. Traditionally, the
asymptotic distribution of residualbased statistics (be it tests or estimators)
is derived using a particular model
specification, some more or less stringent
assumptions about the statistic, and
conditions on the first-step estimator
employed. A key assumption is some
form of (asymptotic) smoothness of the
statistic with respect to the parameter to
be estimated as formalized first in Pierce
(1982) and Randles (1982). Since then, this
approach has been significantly extended
in, e.g., Pollard (1989), Newey and
McFadden (1994), and Andrews (1994).
We present a new and alternative approach
that does not involve explicit smoothness
conditions for the statistic of interest.
Instead, we rely on a locally uniform weak
convergence assumption which is shown to
be generally (automatically) satisfied by
residual-based statistics. Our approach
offers a useful and unifying alternative,
especially when smoothness conditions are
nontrivial to establish or require additional
regularity. Some examples of such statistics
are, for instance, rank-based statistics (see,
e.g., Hallin and Puri, 1991) and statistics
based on non-differentiable forecast error
loss functions (e.g. McCracker, 2000).
Abadie and Imbens (2009) present an
application of our method to derive the
asymptotic distribution theory of matching
estimators based on the estimated
propensity score that can be a non-smooth
function of the estimated parameters and
for which standard bootstrap inference is
often not valid (Abadie and Imbens, 2008).
In applications where the statistic of
interest is smooth, our conditions can be
checked along the traditional lines. In order
to illustrate our approach, we derive the
limiting distribution of a new test based on
Kendall's tau for omitted variables in binary
choice models and a runs-based test for
conditional symmetry in dynamic volatility
models.
Our proposed method applies to general
model specifications, as long as they satisfy
the Uniform Local Asymptotic Normality
(ULAN) condition. Most of the standard
econometric models satisfy this condition;
see Section 3.1 below for a more detailed
discussion. The ULAN condition is central in
the Hajek and Le Cam's theory of
asymptotic statistics (see, e.g., Bickel et al.,
1993, Le Cam and Yang, 1990, Pollard, 2004,
and van der Vaart, 1998). We use this theory
to derive our results. Other advances in
econometric theory using the LAN
approach can be found in, e.g., Abadir and
Distaso (2007), Jeganathan (1995), and
Ploberger (2004). For ULAN models, our
results offer a simple, yet general, method
to derive the asymptotic distribution of
residual-based statistics using initial root-nconsistent estimators. Under the conditions
imposed, our main Theorem 3.1 asserts that
the residual-based statistic is asymptotically
normally distributed with a variance that is
143
a simple function of the limiting variances/
covariances of the innovation-based
statistic1, the central sequence (the ULAN
equivalent of the derivative of the loglikelihood), and the estimator. Using this
approach, we can readily obtain the local
power of such residual-based tests, which
can also be interpreted in terms of
specification tests with locally misspecified
alternatives such as in Bera and Yoon (1993).
In particular, this allows one to assess in
which situations the local power of the
residual-based test exceeds, falls below, or
equals that of the innovation-based test.
To illustrate our method, we consider two
applications. First, we derive the asymptotic distribution of a new nonparametric
test for omitted variables in a binary
choice model. Second, we discuss a
runs-based test for conditional symmetry
in dynamic volatility models. These
applications purposely focus on nonparametric statistics as these are usually
defined in terms of inherently nonsmooth statistics like ranks, signs, runs,
etc. For these applications, an appropriate
form of asymptotic smoothness can
probably be established, but our
technique offers a useful alternative for
which this is not necessary. Our
applications are introduced in Section 2.
A number of additional applications of
our method can be found in Andreou and
Werker (2009). Although the present
paper mainly deals with residual-based
testing, the results can directly be applied
in the area of two-step estimation when
assessing the estimation error in a
second-step estimator calculated from
the residuals of a model estimated in a
first step. This problem has received large
attention in the econometrics literature,
see, e.g, Murphy and Topel (1985, 2002)
and Pagan (1986).
In summarizing the results of this Leventis
project have been published in top
international journal in Econometrics and
Economics as listed below and have been
cited by other academic papers. They
have also been presented in international
conferences both as regular presentations
and as invited presentations. The econometric techniques developed in this
project not only opened new directions
for research in time-series modelling but
also provided new empirical results
especially in forecasting key economic
variables. The techniques developed have
been adopted by other researchers and
are also used by research departments of
e.g. Central Banks in terms of improving
economic forecasts and nowcasts. A
detailed list of the deliverables of the
project is provided below. Last but not
least, this Leventis project has been
granted in a crucialtime of my academic
career providing the support to start
pursuing more challenging areas of
research and securing also a European
Research Council (ERC) Starting grant in
2008-2013.
Deliverables
International Journal Publications:
(1) Andreou E., E. Ghysels and A. Kourtellos
(2013),
“Should
macroeconomic
forecasters use daily financial data?”.
Journal of Business and Economic
Statistics, 31,2, 1-12.
(2) Andreou E. and B.J.M. Werker (2012) “An
alternative asymptotic analysis of
residual-based statistics”. The Review of
Economics and Statistics, 94, 1, 88-99.
(3) Andreou E., E. Ghysels and A. Kourtellos
(2010), “Regression models with mixed
sampling frequencies”. Journal of
Econometrics, 158, 246-261.
144
(4) Andreou E. and E. Ghysels (2008),
“Quality control for structural credit
risk models”. Journal of Econometrics,
146, 2, 364-375.
- NBER/NSF Time Series Conference, Aarhus,
Denmark, 2008.
(5) Andreou E. (2008), “Restoring monotone power in the CUSUM test”,
Economics Letters, 98, 1, 48-58.
(1) Local co-organizer of the University
of Cyprus/Journal of Econometrics
conference in the honour of Prof.
Phoebus Dhrymes, 2007.
Chapters in Handbooks (refereed):
(2) Member of the European Econometric
Society Meeting (ESEM) and Econometrics and Empirical Economics (EEE)
academic programme committee in
2006-2008.
(1) Andreou E. and E. Ghysels (2009)
“Structural breaks in financial time
series”. Handbook of Financial Time
Series, edited by T. Andersen, R.A.
Davis, J.-P. Kreiss and T. Mikosch,
Springer, ISBN: 978-3-540-71296-1.
Promotion of Research:
(2) Andreou E., A. Kourtellos and E. Ghysels
(2012) “Forecasting with mixedfrequency data”, The Oxford Handbook
of Economic Forecasting, edited by M.P.
Clements and D. F. Hendry, ISBN:
9780195398649.
Conferences Presentations:
Invited Speaker at the:
- 10th IWH-CIREQ Macroeconometric
Workshop: Recent Advances in Macroeconomic Forecasting, December 2009,
Germany.
- 4th CIREQ Time Series conference,
University of Montreal, May, 2010.
Selected regular conference presentations
at:
- NBER/NSF Time Series Conference,
Heidelberg, Germany, 2005.
- Breaks and Persistence in Econometrics,
London, 2006.
- European Conferences of the Econometrics
Community (EC-square), Rotterdam, 2006.
- European Econometric Society Meetings
(ESEM), Milan, 2008.
145
Curriculum Vitae
Elena Andreou
Employment History
Associate Professor, Department of Economics, University of Cyprus (2008 – today).
Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, University of Cyprus (2002-2008).
Visiting Assistant Professor, Econometric Institute, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands
and Visiting Scholar at the Statistical & Applied Mathematical Sciences Institute (SAMSI), Research
Triangle Park, USA (2005-2006).
Marie Curie Individual Fellowship, Finance and Econometrics Groups, Tilburg University, The
Netherlands (2002-2003).
Lecturer, Department of Economics, University of Cyprus, Cyprus, (2000-2002).
Lecturer in Econometrics (with tenure), School of Economic Studies, University of Manchester, U.K
(1997-2000).
Education
B.Sc. in Economics, Queen Mary College, University of London, U.K., 1991.
MBA in Finance, School of Management, University of Nottingham, U.K., 1993.
Ph.D. School of Economic Studies, University of Manchester, U.K., 1998. Ph.D. Thesis: “Essays in
Modelling Speculative Prices: Non-linear Dependence, Distributional and Heterogeneity Aspects”.
Research Area
Econometrics with emphasis in Financial Econometrics and in Time Series Econometrics including
topics such as forecasting, factor models, forecast combination methods, mixed frequency data
models, nonparametric predictive regression, volatility models, structural break analysis.
Research Publications
Published research papers:
Kasparis I., E. Andreou and P.C.B. Phillips (2014), “Nonparametric Predictive Regression”. Accepted by
the Journal of Econometrics.
Andreou E., E. Ghysels (2014), “Comment”, Journal of Business and Economic Statistics, 32,2, 1-4.
Andreou E., M. Matsi and A. Savvides (2013), “Stock and Foreign Exchange Linkages in Emerging
Economies”. Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, 27, 248-268.
Andreou E., E. Ghysels and A. Kourtellos (2013), “Should macroeconomic forecasters use daily financial
data?”. Journal of Business and Economic Statistics, 31,2, 1-12.
Andreou E. and B.J.M. Werker (2012) “An alternative asymptotic analysis of residual-based statistics”.
The Review of Economics and Statistics, 94, 1, 88-99.
Andreou E., E. Ghysels and A. Kourtellos (2010), “Regression models with mixed sampling frequencies”.
Journal of Econometrics, 158, 246-261.
146
Andreou E. and E. Ghysels (2008), “Quality control for structural credit risk models”. Journal of
Econometrics, 146, 2, 364-375.
Andreou E. (2008), “Restoring monotone power in the CUSUM test”, Economics Letters, 98, 1, 48-58.
Andreou E. and E. Ghysels (2006), “Monitoring disruptions in financial markets”, Journal of
Andreou E. and E. Ghysels (2006), “Sampling frequency and window length trade-offs in data-driven
volatility estimation: Appraising the accuracy of asymptotic approximations”, Advances in
Andreou E. and E. Ghysels (2004) “The impact of sampling frequency and volatility estimators on
change-point tests”, Journal of Financial Econometrics, 2, 290-318.
Andreou E. and E. Ghysels (2003), “Tests for breaks in the dynamic co-movements of asset returns”,
Statistica Sinica, 13, 1045-1074.
Andreou E. and A. Spanos (2003), “Statistical adequacy and the testing of trend versus difference
stationarity”, Econometric Reviews, 22, 3, 217-237 (lead article with contributed comments).
Andreou E. and E. Ghysels (2002), “Detecting multiple breaks in financial market volatility dynamics”,
Journal of Applied Econometrics, 17, 5, 579-600.
Andreou E. and E. Ghysels (2002), “Rolling volatility estimators: Some new theoretical, simulation and
empirical results”, Journal of Business and Economic Statistics, 20, 3, 363-376.
Andreou E., N. Pittis and A. Spanos (2001), “Modelling stock returns: The empirical literature”, Journal
of Economic Surveys, 15, 2, 187-220.
Andreou E., D.R. Osborn and M. Sensier (2000), “A comparison of the statistical properties of financial
variables in the USA, UK and Germany over the business cycle”, The Manchester School, 68, 4, 396-418.
Chapters in Handbooks (refereed):
Andreou E. and E. Ghysels (2009) “Structural breaks in financial time series”. Handbook of Financial
Time Series, edited by T. Andersen, R.A. Davis, J.-P. Kreiss and T. Mikosch, Springer, ISBN: 978-3-54071296-1.
Andreou E., A. Kourtellos and E. Ghysels (2012) “Forecasting with mixed-frequency data”, The Oxford
Handbook of Economic Forecasting, edited by M.P. Clements and D. F. Hendry, ISBN: 9780195398649.
Revise and Resubmit Papers:
Andreou E., A. Pelloni and M. Sensier (2012), “The effects of nominal monetary shocks on growth”.
Andreou E. and B.J.M. Werker (2013), “Rank-based residual specification tests for GARCH-type models”.
Monographs:
Andreou E., A. Spanos and G. Syrichas (1997), The vector autoregressive approach for macroeconomic
modelling, Central Bank of Cyprus Research Publication, Vol. I.
147
Research Grants and Scholarships
Principal Investigator, European Research Council (ERC) Grant, 2008-2013. Granted by the European
Union. Proposal title: New Results on Structural Change tests: Theory and Applications.
Collaborator, University of Cyprus Competitive Internal Grant 2010-2012. Project title: Robust
Estimation of Cointegrated Models with Applications to the Predictability of Stock Returns. Project
participants: Ioannis Kasparis (principal investigator), Peter C. B. Phillips (collaborator).
Principal research investigator, Leventis Research Grant, 2006-2009. Granted by the University of
Cyprus. Research Proposal title: Mixed Data Sampling Regression Models: Applications in Business
Cycle, Growth and Structural Breaks. Project partners: Yannis Billias, Andros Kourtellos.
Visiting scholar, SAMSI (Statistical and Applied Mathematical Sciences Institute), Fall 2006, Research
Triangle Park, USA.
Principal research investigator, Small-Scale Research Grant, 2004-2005. Granted by the University of
Cyprus.
Marie Curie Individual Research Fellowship, 2002-2003. Granted by the European Union. Research
proposal title: Evaluating and Monitoring Financial Risk in the Presence of Economic Change and
European Integration. Hosting Institution: Tilburg University.
Project co-investigator (with Prof. M. Artis of European University Institute and Profs. D. R. Osborn and
K. Blackburn of Manchester University), on a Levelhulme Trust U.K. funded research project entitled
International Growth and Business Cycles, GC 752/PH--.
Project co-investigator (with Prof. D. R. Osborn, University of Manchester) on an ESRC U.K. funded
research project entitled Financial Variables and the Business Cycle, R000222374.
Scholarship for MBA tuition fees 1992-1993, Leventis Foundation, Paris.
Participation in Professional Activities, Promotion of Research and Referring
Academic Programme Committee member in the following conferences:
- The 24th EC^2, Econometrics of the European Community conference. Local Organizer: University
of Cyprus.
- ASSET 2012 conference (Programme committee member chaired by Prof. M. Michael).
- Money, Macro, Finance (MMF) Conference 2010 (Member of the academic programme committee
chaired by Prof. P. Demetriades).
- European Econometric Society Meeting (ESEM) 2008 conference (Member of the Econometrics and
Empirical Economics (EEE) academic programme committee chaired Prof. T. Magnac).
Empirical Economics (EEE) academic programme committee chaired by Prof. N. Shephard).
- University of Cyprus/Journal of Econometrics conference in the honor of Prof. Phoebus Dhrymes,
2007.
Empirical Economics (EEE) academic programme committee chaired by Prof. O. Linton).
- ASSET 2002 conference (Programme committee member chaired by Prof. L. Christofides).
148
Editorial duties.
Associate Editor at the Journal of Financial Econometrics 2012-present
Referee for the following journals:
Econometric Theory, Economia, Journal of American Statistical Association, Journal of Applied
Econometrics, Journal of Business and Economic Statistics, Journal of Econometrics, Journal of
Empirical Finance, Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Econometrics, Journal of International
Economics, Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Studies in Nonlinear Dynamics and
Econometrics, The Manchester School.
Membership in professional associations: American Economic Association, Econometric Society,
European Economic Association.
Other affiliations:
-Member of the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)
-Member of the Economic Research Centre (ERC) at the University of Cyprus
149
150
Understanding the Composition of Household Wealth
Principal Investigator: Michael Haliassos, Professor, University of Cyprus, now
Goethe University Frankfurt
Abstract
The objective of the project is to deepen our economic understanding of household
participation in risky financial assets and of the composition of household wealth.
It employs the full arsenal of research techniques available to economists, analytical,
computational, and econometric, to study factors that induce households to
participate in the stock market, to rebalance their portfolios over time, and to
undertake financial or other risks. It also examines economy-wide implications of
such risk taking behavior, as well as of options available to households to use their
political power to influence future risk-sharing. Results are expected to shed light
on a number of unresolved puzzles in data from the United States and various
European countries, as well as to provide the theoretical backdrop for the analysis
of Cyprus household-level data currently being collected.
151
Chapter Three
Mathematics and Statistics
152
Inequalities for Special Functions and Applications to
Geometric Function Theory and Related Fields
Principal investigator: Stamatis Koumandos, Professor, Department of
Mathematics and Statistics, University of Cyprus
Research Associates: Stephan Ruscheweyh, Professor, Mathematisches Institut,
Universitat Wurzburg, Germany; Henrik Laurberg Pedersen, Professor,
Department of Mathematics, University of Copenhagen, Denmark; Horst Alzer,
PhD, Mathematisches Institut, Universitat Wurzburg, Germany; Martin
Lamprecht, PhD, University of Cyprus
Abstract
We were concerned with special function theorems and inequalities of several types.
In this project we established inequalities for trigonometric sums and sums of
standard orthogonal polynomials and applied these results on specific problems of
complex analysis dealing with subordination and convolution of certain classes of
analytic functions. In this program we explored new ways in which the classical
Fourier analysis and geometric function theory are interrelated. Our motivation to
this was the extensions of the celebrated Vietoris' inequalities and their significance
in geometric function theory. We investigated monotonicity and convexity
properties of several special functions and study the remainders of certain
asymptotic expansions in order to establish sharp bounds and best approximations.
Our main tool was the structural and invariance properties of certain classes of
analytic functions in the unit disc which are normally considered only in the
somewhat narrow context of special classes of univalent functions, but which have
a strong and much more general potential. In order to make these tools better
available we formulated the relevant parts of this theory in a way that stresses the
structural properties and more or less completely ignores the univalent functions
context. We also established generalizations and extensions of results associated
with the Suffridge classes of complex polynomials. Since these classes can be used
in the characterization of the pre-starlike functions they produced results with many
interesting applications. Even more interesting than these applications are the
generalizations of the famous theorems of Gauss-Lucas and Grace in the analytic
theory of polynomials. In this research project we found extended versions of
several classical theorems of the analytic theory of polynomials which go beyond
Suffridge's work. In addition, we found new applications of our results in other areas
such as, number theory, approximation theory, numerical analysis. It was necessary,
in this connection, to investigate previous work on monotonicity and convexity
properties of several special functions involving the Gamma and Psi functions. This
gave a very close relation of our project with a contemporary and rapidly expanding
153
Inequalities for Special Functions andApplications to Geometric Function Theory and Related Fields
area of research, having remarkable applications in statistics and probability theory
especially on problems dealing with innately divisible distributions. In this
connection, we studied the remainders of certain asymptotic expansions in order
to establish sharp bounds and best approximations. In particular, one of the main
achievements of the project was the study of the asymptotic formulae of
Ruijsenaars' of Multiple Zeta and Gamma functions that produced several best
possible results.
1. Research Report
We have been concerned with special
function theorems and inequalities of
several types. More precisely, we have
established inequalities for trigonometric
sums and sums of standard orthogo¬nal
polynomials and applied these results on
specific problems of complex analysis
dealing with subordination and
convolution of certain classes of analytic
functions. In this program we have
discovered new ways in which the
classical Fourier analysis and geometric
function theory are interrelated. Our
starting point was the extensions of the
celebrated Vietoris’ inequalities and their
applications to geometric function
theory. It was necessary, in this
connection, to investigate monotonicity
and convexity properties of several
special functions and study the
remainders of certain asymptotic
expansions in order to establish sharp
bounds and obtain best approximations.
As it turned out, these inequalities took a
very nice and natural form when the
notion of complex subordination was
employed, and that form suggested new
methods, far reaching extensions and
demanding conjectures. Our main tool
was the structural and invariance
properties of certain classes of analytic
functions in the unit disc which are
normally considered only in the
somewhat narrow context of special
classes of univalent functions, but which
have a strong and much more general
potential. In order to make these tools
better available we formulated the
relevant parts of this theory in a way that
stressed the structural properties and
more or less completely ignored the
univalent functions context.
We naturally broadened the scope
around specific problems arisen in
our work on trigonometric sums and
starlike functions. In attempting to
find and exploit common themes we
have established generalizations and
extensions of results associated with the
Suffridge classes of complex polynomials.
Since these classes can be used in the
characterization of the pre-starlike
functions they produced results with
many interesting applications. Several
theorems concerning the convex hull and
extreme points of the set of starlike
functions as well as convolution theorems
on certain classes of analytic functions
were obtained by this route. The most
spectacular example of the use of these
methods were generalization of the
famous theorems of Gauss-Lucas and
Grace in the analytic theory of
polynomials. Moreover, we found
extended versions of several classical
theorems of the analytic theory of
polynomials which go beyond Suffridge’s
work.
154
We have been attempting to find new
applications of our results in other areas
such as, number theory, approximation
theory and numerical analysis. It was
necessary, in this connection, to
investigate monotonicity and convexity
properties of several special functions
involving the Gamma and Psi functions
arising
throughout
our
project.
Preliminary work in this area, needed at
several stages of the work on sharp
trigonometric estimates, indicated that
some of the functions we studied were
not only convex but they were completely
monotonic. This gave a very close relation
of our project to a contemporary and
rapidly expanding area of research,
having remarkable applications in
statistics and probability theory especially
on problems dealing with infinitely
divisible distributions. The above
considerations led to the study of
complete monotonicity of the remainders
of certain asymptotic expansions in order
to establish sharp bounds and obtain best
approximations.
Next, I give and outline of the topics
considered, the results produced along
with the relevant bibliography.
1.1 Trigonometric inequalities and
applications to geometric function
theory
In [10], which extended work already
partly developed in [4] and [18]
as the project began, we present
several new results concerning the
following conjecture of Koumandos and
Ruscheweyh [18]: If μ(ρ)
denotes
the maximal number in (0,1] for which
then μ(ρ) is equal to the unique solution
in of the equation
We showed, among other things, that this
conjecture is equivalent to the positivity
of a family of trigonometric sums, namely
Our study of the asymptotic formulae of
Ruijsenaars’ of multiple zeta and gamma
functions produced some interesting
results and created new questions
concerning complete and absolute
monotonicity of the remainders in
asymptotic expansions of Barnes multiple
zeta and gamma functions. These
required an insight of the so-called Appel
sets whose particular cases are the
multiple Bernoulli polynomials appearing
in the asymptotic formulae we studied.
difficult.
This highly successful project ended in
mid-2011 and led to 17 research papers
and a Ph. D. Thesis at the University
of Cyprus. All questions studied are of
very concrete nature, the solutions are
creative and often technically extremely
complicated.
Bibliographic item [7] gives a systematic
account of some recent results on positive
trigonometric sums motivated by and
applied to specific problems of geometric
function theory. Most of these results
sharpen and extend some classical
ones, seen from a different point of view.
We verified Koumandos and Ruscheweyh’s
conjecture of [18] for
and
used this result in order to settle this
conjecture for all in an open neighborhood
of .This is surprising and technically
155
This work also presents some recent
and current investigations concerning
generalizations and extensions of the
celebrated Vietoris’ inequalities for
trigonometric sums. The new inequalities
are used to solve some problems of
geometric function theory concerning
the partial sums of starlike functions.
Furthermore, some new positivity results
for sums of Gegenbauer polynomials are
obtained as applications.
In paper [1] we used kernel methods
and integral representations in order to
obtain sharp inequalities for various
trigonometric sums arising in several
applications. This is motivated by the
success of such techniques applied to
Fourier Analysis.
1.2 Inequalities for the Gamma, Psi and
other special functions
Preliminary work in the area, dealing with
inequalities for functions involving the
gamma
and
functions, see [6],
needed at several stages of the work on
sharp trigonometric estimates, indicated
that some of the functions we studied
were not only convex but they had
the stronger property of complete
monotonicity. The function
plays a key role in these considerations. In
[11] we completely determined the range
of
for which the function
In [2] we discovered an extension of the
famous Vietoris sine inequality of different
type: Let
.
It was shown by Vietoris that
for all
and
. The new kind of
refinement for Vietoris’ sine inequality
amounts to determining all positive
algebraic polynomials p of lowest degree
that satisfy
for all
and
. We also proved an extension
of an elementary inequality in harmonic
analysis that may be of use in determining
a polynomial lower bound for Vietoris’
cosine inequality. This result is of interest
in Harmonic Analysis itself.
The Chapter [8] gives a systematic
account of all results obtained in this front
along with a plethora of applications that,
as indicated above, exceed the original
expectations.
is concave or convex in the whole of
. This result can be used to verify
the complete monotonicity of certain
functions that involve the function
defined above and this played an
important role in our method for proving
the positivity of trigonometric sums with
coefficient sequences of the form
.
In [13] we completely determined the set
of
for which the function
is a Bernstein function, that is
is
positive with completely monotonic
derivative on
. The complete
monotonicity of several closely related
functions was also established. These
properties entail the sharp inequalities
156
which are particularly useful in estimating
the remainders of a wide class of
trigonometric series. We have carried out
much analytical work in the study of this
type of inequalities. The proof of
some special cases of this problem
uses several asymptotic formulae.
Fundamental properties of the ordinary
and generalized Bernoulli polynomials
and numbers, play an important role in
our proofs. The attack on the problem just
mentioned led also to many partial results
and subordinate problems, several of
which are interesting in their own right
and which suggested new methods and
surprising applications. All of this
becomes visible in our recent papers [5],
[6], [11], [13].
A combination of the investigations
described in 1.1 and 1.2 led to some
interesting properties of the zeros of
Lommel functions of the first kind (cf.
is a
[12]). Lommel’s function
particular solution of the differential
equatio
1.3 Analytic theory of complex
polynomials
Most of the work in this area was
completed by Dr. Martin Lamprecht who
has been employed in this project as a
research associate. This work represents
part of his Doctoral dissertation and
subsequent
research
under
my
supervision.
The paper [20] is dedicated to a
conjecture of Sugawa et al. about the
space of starlike functions in the Hornich
space. The author solves this conjecture in
the affirmative, and by doing so he proves
a very interesting general estimate for
starlike univalent functions in the unit
disc. More precisely, the author proves
that if is a starlike function, Ζ lies in the
unit disc, and
, then
This new property of starlike functions is
used to show that if is starlike and, then
. In [12]
we
presented
estimates
and
monotonicity properties of the positive
zeros of
when
.
The positivity of a closely related integral
is also considered. This paper is full of
technical details and requires skills in
handling trigonometric integrals and
integrals of Bessel functions. There are
direct applications of these results in the
theory of trigonometric sums and starlike
functions. This work may be considered as
a precursor of the recent papers [3] and
[9] in which we have been able to
establish Turan type inequalities for
Lommel functions of the first kind, using
techniques from the theory of entire
functions.
is also starlike. Moreover, he proves that
the corresponding statement for spirallike
functions is not true and determines the
exact range of
for which
univalent for all starlike functions f.
is
The paper [21] deals with the famous
Suffridge polynomials, their general
properties and the relation to the classical
Grace’s Theorem. It follows from the
theorems of Grace and Gaufi-Lucas that if
157
and
are
polynomials of degree n. and n-1,
respectively, that have all their zeros in the
closed unit disk, then the polynomial
also has all its zeros in the closed unit disk.
In [21] the author proves that this result
has an extension to Suffridge’s classes of
polynomials with restricted zeros on the
unit circle. He also shows that there seems
to be no extension of the theorem of
Laguerre to Suffridge’s polynomial classes
and gives an answer to an old question
posed by Suffridge regarding the
theorem of Gaufi-Lucas. Here the author
very clearly describes the questions, the
connection between the previous
approaches and he also makes very clear
statements about the direction further
investigation has to proceed. In addition,
the author disproves the conjecture of T.
Suffridge about the zeros of certain
iterated polynomials, which makes the
whole question a good deal more
mysterious.
The results of the Ph. D. thesis of Martin
Lamprecht have been the subject matter
of five research papers, that is, [2], [10],
[11], [20] and [21], published in leading
mathematical journals.
Moreover, the results of [21] laid the
groundwork for the paper [22] in
which a true breakthrough in Suffridge’s
polynomial theory was obtained: a
completely new and much simplified
proof of the main results in Suffridge’s
original work. In fact, this new proof led to
results slightly stronger than those
originally obtained by Suffridge; it also
revealed a much closer connection
between Suffridge’s polynomial theory
and the geometric convolution theory
which was developed by Ruscheweyh
and Sheil-Small.
So far, the methods developed in [22]
have led to one further paper [23], in
which analogs of Suffridge’s results for
polynomials and entire functions having
only real zeros are established. In a second
paper [24], which is based on the results
of [22], an analog of Suffridge theorem for
polynomials with zeros in the closed unit
disk is verified.
1.4 Completely monotonic functions
and remainders in asymptotic
expansions
Completely monotonic functions play an
eminent role in areas, such as, probability
theory, numerical analysis, mathematical
physics and theory of special functions.
Due to their importance in applications
in various branches of mathematics,
the characterization of specific special
functions as completely monotonic is a
very active field of research.
The starting point of our investigations in
the area is the paper [5], where we
considered the complete monotonicity of
the remainders in asymptotic expansions
of the logarithm of Euler’s gamma
function and Barnes double gamma
function.
In our work [14] we offered a new
beautiful and simple characterization of
the class of functions f such that
is
completely monotonic, where 𝘳 is a fixed
positive real number, in the spirit of
Bernstein’s classical result. We call such
a function 𝑓 completely monotonic of
order 𝘳. Thus, completely monotonic
functions of order are the ordinary
completely monotonic functions, while
completely monotonic functions of order
1 are the strongly completely monotonic
158
functions connected to the important
question of superadditivity.
In addition, we showed in [14] that the
remainder
in the classical
asymptotic expansion of the logarithm of
the Gamma function,
is
completely monotonic of order k on
for 𝑛 ≥ 𝑘 for any 𝑘 ≥ 0. A key of the
proof of this result is an appropriate
expression for the measure in the
Bernstein representation of 𝘙𝑛.
In attempting to find and exploit
common themes we have investigated
the remainders of certain asymptotic
formulae for the case of Barnes’ multiple
gamma functions.
The multiple zeta and gamma functions
have been introduced by E. W. Barnes
in an impressive series of papers
published in the beginning of the
twentieth century. The multiple zeta
function
depends
on the positive parameters
and may be defined by the multiple series
This function has a meromorphic
continuation in, with simple poles only at
. The multiple gamma
function
defined by
is then
where
.
These functions have been studied in
recent years by many researchers, due to
their important role in analytic number
theory and mathematical physics. In
particular, they have many interesting
properties which can be applied to the
theory of elliptic and theta functions. They
are also related to Selberg zeta functions
and determinants of Laplacians occurring
in symmetric space theory. In 2000, S. N.
M. Ruijsenaars studied multiple zeta and
gamma functions from the point of view
of Mellin-Laplace transforms and analytic
difference equations and gave complete
asymptotic expansions of these functions
in terms involving powers of 1/x and
generalized Bernoulli polynomials. In
the paper [14] we showed that the
remainder of even order in Ruijsenaars’s
asymptotic formula for the logarithm of
the double gamma function
is
a completely monotonic function of order
on
for 𝑛 ≥ 𝑘 + 1 and using this
result we derived a sharp bound for the
error term of this formula. We also showed
that the complete monotonicity fails to
hold for the remainder of odd order.
There has been also interest in obtaining
analogous results for the remainders of
Ruijsenaars’s asymptotic formula for the
logarithm of of Barnes’ triple gamma
function. In the subsequent paper [15],
we proved that this remainder is
completely monotonic when its order
is sufficiently large. We have presented
in detail the different behaviour of
remainders of even and odd order for the
case of triple gamma functions and we
have derived sharp error bounds for these
asymptotic formulae. These required, of
course, an appropriate expression for the
Bernstein representing measure of these
159
remainders and this is a technically more
difficult task than the case of double
gamma function. Surprisingly, we
obtained two different expressions for
this measure employing real and complex
analysis techniques respectively. It is
worth mentioning that in this work we
obtained some intermediate results
which are of interest in their own sake,
such as, a Turan-type inequality for odd
Bernoulli polynomials and a result
concerning monotonicity of the quotient
of two series of functions. Fundamental
properties of the ordinary and
generalized Bernoulli polynomials and
numbers play an important role in our
proofs. These ideas and techniques were
important to significant later progress on
related problems.
At several stages of this part of our
project, in dealing with the error
estimates of asymptotic expansions of
multiple zeta and gamma functions, some
of the special functions involved are not
only positive but they are absolutely
monotonic, that is, they have positive
power series coefficients.
In our paper [16], we showed that the
remainders in the above described
asymptotic expansions of the logarithm of
Euler’s gamma function and Barnes double
and triple gamma function are Laplace
transformations of positive multiples of
absolutely monotonic functions. As an
application of these results we obtained
positive sums involving ordinary and
generalized Bernoulli numbers.
The attack on the problem just mentioned
led also to many partial results and
subordinate problems, several of which are
interesting in their own right. More
importantly, several of our earlier results
are considerably strengthened.
All of the results obtained in [14, 15, 16]
are important contributions in the field
and pointed new directions of research.
Indeed, in [17], Turan type inequalities for
the partial sums of the generating
functions of the Bernoulli and Euler
numbers are established. They are shown
to follow from a general result relating
Turan inequalities of partial sums with
Turan inequalities of the corresponding
remainders in any Taylor expansion. This
is achieved by an investigation of the
remainders in the Taylor expansions of the
generating functions. Remainders in
asymptotic expansions of the β- function
are shown to be completely monotonic of
positive order. There is a close link
between the type of results obtained here
and theory of entire functions that belong
to the Lagurerre-Polya class.
These results inspired us to characterize
the generalized Stieltjes functions
corresponding to measures on the
positive real axis having moments of
all orders in terms of monotonicity
properties of the remainders in asymptotic
expansions of these functions. A special
case furnishes a half line analogue of a
classical theorem of Hamburger and
Nevanlinna about asymptotic expansions
of Stieltjes transforms of measures having
moments of all orders.
References
[1]
Horst Alzer and Stamatis Koumandos.
Sharp estimates for various trigonometric sums. Analysis (Munich). International Mathematical Journal of
Analysis and its Applications 33, no. 1,
(2012), 9-26. *
[2] Horst Alzer, Stamatis Koumandos and
Martin Lamprecht. A refinement of
Vietoris’ inequality for sine polynomials.
160
Mathematische Nachrichten 283, no.
11, (2010), 1549-1557.
[3] Arpad Baricz and Stamatis Koumandos.
Turan type inequalities for some
Lommel functions of the first kind.
Submitted.
[4]
Stamatis Koumandos. An extension of
Vietoris’s inequalities. The Ramanujan
Journal 14 (2007), no. 1, 1-38.
[5] Stamatis Koumandos. On Ruijsenaars’
asymptotic expansion of the logarithm
of the double gamma function.
Journal of Mathematical Analysis
and Applications 341 (2008), no. 2,
1125-1132.
[10] Stamatis Koumandos and Martin
Lamprecht. On a conjecture for
trigonometric sums and starlike
functions II. Journal of Approximation
Theory 162 (2010), no. 5, 1068-1084. *
Lamprecht. Some completely monotonic functions of positive order.
Mathematics of Computation 79
(2010), no. 271, 1697-1707. *
Lamprecht. The zeros of certain
Lommel functions. Proceedings of the
American, Mathematical Society 140,
no. 9, (2012), 3091-3100. *
Stamatis Koumandos. Monotonicity of
some functions involving the gamma
and psi functions. Mathematics of
Computation 77 (2008), no. 264, 22612275.
Lamprecht. Complete monotonicity
and related properties of some
special functions. Mathematics of
Computation 82, no. 282, (2013),
1097-1120. *
[7] Stamatis Koumandos. Positive trigonometric sums and starlike functions.
Approximation and Computation
(edited by W. Gautschi, G. Mastroianni
and Th. Rassias), Springer Optimization
and its Applications, Vol. 42 (2011),
Chapter 12, pp. 157-182. ISBN: 978-14419-6593-6.*
[14] Stamatis Koumandos and Henrik
L. Pedersen. Completely monotonic
functions of positive order and
asymptotic expansions of the
logarithm of Barnes double gamma
function and Euler’s gamma function.
Journal of Mathematical Analysis and
Applications 355, no. 1, (2009), 33-40.
[8] Stamatis Koumandos. Inequalities
for trigonometric sums. Nonlinear
Analysis: Stability, Approximation and
Inequalities. Edited by P. M. Pardalos,
Η. M. Srivastava and P. G. Georgiev.
Springer Optimization and Its
Applications, Vol. 68, Chapter 24,
pp. 387-416. Springer Science and
Business Media, New York, 2012. *
L. Pedersen. On the asymptotic
expansion of the logarithm of Barnes
triple gamma function. Mathematica
Scandinavica 105 (2009), no. 2, 287-306.
[6]
[9] Stamatis Koumandos. The zeros of
entire functions associated with some
Lommel functions of the first kind.
Preprint 2013.
L. Pedersen. Absolutely monotonic
functions related to Euler’s gamma
function and Barnes’ double and triple
gamma function. Monatshefte fur
Math- ematik 163 (2011), no. 1, 51-69.*
L. Pedersen. Turan type inequalities for
161
the partial sums of the generating
functions of Bernoulli and Euler
numbers. Mathematische Nachrichten
285, No. 17-18, (2012), 2129-2156. *
[18] Stamatis Koumandos and Stephan
Ruscheweyh. On a conjecture for
trigonometric sums and starlike
functions. Journal of Approximation
Theory 149 (2007), no. 1, 42-58.
[19] Martin Lamprecht. Topics in Geometric
Function Theory and Harmonic
Analysis. Ph. D. Thesis, University of
Cyprus, April 2010.
Note:
All the bibliographic items listed above
are available on request.
*Publications marked with start acknowledge
the contribudion of Leventis grant. Added to
these publications, is the following PhD thesis:
• PhD Thesis, M. Lamprecht, Topics in Geometric
Function Theory and Harmonic Analysis,
Department of Mathematics and Statistics,
University of Cyprus (April, 2010).
[20] Martin Lamprecht. The set of starlike
functions in the Hornich space,
Computational Methods and Function
Theory, (CMFT) 7 (2008), No. 2, 573-582.
[21] Martin Lamprecht. An extension
of Suffridge’s convolution theorem.
Journal of Mathematical Analysis and
Applications 367, no. 1, (2010), 229-241.*
[22] Martin Lamprecht. Interspersion
in Suffridge’s polynomial theory.
Computational Methods and Function
Theory, (CMFT) 11 (2011), no. 1, 325351. *
[23] Martin Lamprecht. Suffridge’s convolution theorem for polynomials and
entire functions having only real zeros.
arXiv:1210.1102 [math. CA]
[24] Martin Lamprecht. Suffridge’s convolution theorem for polynomials
having all zeros in the unit disc,
preprint 2013.
162
Curriculum Vitae
Stamatis Coumandos
Department of Mathematics & Statistics, University of Cyprus, email: [email protected]
Personal Data
Place and date of birth: Chalkis, GREECE, October 19, 1963.
Education
1985:
B.Sc. in Mathematics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, GREECE
1989-1990: Postgraduate student at the Department of Mathematics,
University of Rome La Sapienza, ITALY
1991:
Ph.D. in Mathematics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, GREECE
Area οf Specialization
Mathematical Analysis, Harmonic Analysis, Approximation Theory, Special functions
Positions Held
2008-
present, Professor, Dept. of Math. & Stat., University of Cyprus
1999-2008: Associate Professor, Dept. of Math. & Stat., University of Cyprus
1996-1999: Assistant Professor, Dept. of Math. & Stat., University of Cyprus
1994-1995: Research fellow in Cooperative Research Center for Sensor Signal and Information
Processing, Adelaide, AUSTRALIA.
1992-1995: Post-doctoral research fellow, Department of Pure Mathematics, University of Adelaide,
AUSTRALIA.
1991-1992: Post-doctoral research fellow, School of Mathematics, University of New South Wales,
Sydney, AUSTRALIA.
1987-1991: Teaching Assistant, Department of Mathematics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki,
GREECE.
Research Interests
Harmonic Analysis, Fourier Analysis, Orthogonal Polynomials and Special Functions, Approximation
Theory, Geometric Function Theory, Analytic Number Theory.
Grants/Awards
Grants
Research grant from the A. G. Leventis Foundation for the research project: "Inequalities for
special functions and applications to geometric function theory and related fields" (84746.63 EUROS)
2008-2011.
163
Awards
Prize from the Greek Academy of Sciences (Academy of Athens) for my research paper A class of
equivalent measures, 1992.
Publications (selected)
1.
Stamatis Koumandos and Martin Lamprecht, Complete monotonicity and related properties of
some special functions Mathematics of Computation 82, no. 282, (2013), 1097-1120.
2.
Stamatis Koumandos and Martin Lamprecht, The zeros of certain Lommel functions Proceedings
of the American Mathematical Society 140, no. 9, (2012), 3091-3100. inequality for sine
polynomials, Mathematische Nachrichten 283, no. 11, (2010), 1549-1557.
3.
Stamatis Koumandos and Henrik L. Pedersen, On the asymptotic expansion of the logarithm of
Barnes triple gamma function, Mathematica Scandinavica 105 (2009), no. 2, 287-306.
4.
Stamatis Koumandos and Henrik L. Pedersen, Completely monotonic functions of positive order
and asymptotic expansions of the logarithm of Barnes double gamma function and Euler's
gamma function, Journal of Mathematical Analysis and Applications 355 no. 1, (2009), 33-40.
5.
Horst Alzer and Stamatis Koumandos, On the partial sums of a Fourier series, Constructive
Approximation 27 (2008), no. 3, 253{268.
6.
Stamatis Koumandos and Stephan Ruscheweyh, On a conjecture for trigonometric sums and
starlike functions, Journal of Approximation Theory 149 (2007), no. 1, 42-58.
7.
Stamatis Koumandos, An extension of Vietoris's inequalities, The Ramanujan Journal 14 (2007),
no. 1, 1-38.
8.
Stamatis Koumandos and Stephan Ruscheweyh, Positive Gegenbauer polynomial sums and
applications to starlike functions, Constructive Approximation 23 (2006), no. 2, 197-210.
9.
Horst Alzer and Stamatis Koumandos, Sharp inequalities for trigonometric sums, Mathematical
Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society 134 (2003), no. 1, 139-152.
10. Gavin Brown, Stamatis Koumandos and Kun-Yang Wang, On the positivity of some basic Legendre
polynomial sums, Journal of the London Mathematical Society 59, (1999), no. 3, 939-954.
Conference Presentations and Invited Lectures (selected)
- Some strongly completely monotonic functions and applications, 9th International Conference on
Orthogonal Polynomials, Special Functions and Applications, held in Centre International de
Rencontres Math_ematiques (CIRM), Luminy Campus of Universite de la Mediterranee, Marseille,
France, July 2-6, 2007.
- Absolutely and completely monotonic functions related to Euler's gamma function and Barnes'
double gamma function, 10th International Symposium on Orthogonal Polynomials, Special
Functions and Applications, held in Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, July 20-25, 2009.
- Positive trigonometric sums and starlike functions, Harmonic Analysis in Samos, held in the
Department of Mathematics, University of the Aegean, Karlovassi, Samos, Greece, September
22-25, 2009.
164
- On certain Bernstein functions and their connection with geometric function theory and estimation
of trigonometric sums, Workshop on Integral Transforms, Positivity and Applications, held in the
Department of Mathematics, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, September 1-3, 2010.
- Positive trigonometric integrals and zeros of certain Lommel functions, International Workshop on
Special Functions and their Applications, held in the Department of Mathematical Sciences,
University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark, August 28-30, 2013.
Member of the organizing committee of 6 international conferences
Student Supervision
Advisor for Martin Lamprecht who received a Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Cyprus in
2010.
External Examiner
Served on 6 M.Sc. thesis committees and on 8 Ph.D. dissertation committees. Served on 5 promotion
committees for academic positions. Member of the (five-member) External Experts Committee (EEC)
for the evaluation of the Department of Mathematics of the University of Ioannina.
Professional Activities
Referee for the following journals: SIAM Journal on Mathemetical Analysis, Journal of the London
Mathematical Society, Constructive Approximation, Journal of Mathematical Analysis and Applications,
Journal of Approximation Theory, Journal of the Australian Mathematical Society, Mathematica
Scandinavica, Complex Variables and Elliptic Equations, Mathematics of Computation, Computational
Methods and Function Theory, Proceedings of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society, Journal of Number
Theory.
Member of AMS, SIAM, Mathematical Association of America, European Mathematical Society,
International Mathematical Union (IMU).
Reviewer of 120 papers and 1 book in Mathematical Reviews. Reviewer of 295 papers and 2 books in
Zentralblatt für Mathematik. Member of the Editorial Board of 6 international journals.
Visitor in Mathematics Departments
Flinders University of South Australia. University of Melbourne, Australia. University of Massachusetts,
Boston, USA. Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China. University of Sydney, Australia. University of
Adelaide, Australia. University of Athens, Greece. University Marie Curie-Sklodowska, Lublin, Poland.
University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA. University of Copenhagen, Denmark. University of Würzburg,
Germany. University of Patras, Greece. Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium. Universidad Carlos III
de Madrid, Spain. University of Jaén, Campus Las Lagunillas, Spain. City University of Hong Kong.
165
166
Non-linear GARCH models for Time Series of Counts
Principal investigator: Konstantinos Fokianos, Professor, Department of
Research Associate: Xanthi Pedeli, Post-doctoral researcher, Department of
Abstract
We consider the application of non-trivial methods, like the saddlepoint
approximation and the Cholesky decomposition approach for the estimation of
high-dimensional time series data. Such data are frequently met in several different
disciplines, with epidemiology and finance constituting two highly representative
fields. The analysis of this type of data is quite demanding and standard statistical
methods often prove inadequate in practice. In contrast, saddlepoint techniques
have been used successfully in many applications, owing to the high accuracy with
which they can approximate intractable densities and tail probabilities. We focus
on a particular class of time series models for counts, namely the Integer-valued
AutoRegressive, INAR (p), processes. The methods of conditional least squares (CLS)
and maximum likelihood (ML) have previously been used for INAR (p) model
estimation. However, CLS is inefficient for estimating parametric models, and as the
order p increases, ML becomes difficult to implement. To overcome such difficulties,
we propose a simple saddlepoint approximation to the log-likelihood that performs
well even in the tails of the distribution and with complicated INAR models. We
consider two specific parametric cases and we study the accuracy of the suggested
approach and the statistical properties of the produced estimates. In a similar spirit,
we also concern parsimonious estimation of high dimensional covariance matrices,
which is of fundamental importance in multivariate statistics. Multivariate GARCH
processes have been established as a standard approach for modeling such data.
However, estimation in this case involves several computational complexities. We
consider two alternative decompositions of a time- varying covariance matrixΣt The
first approach is based on the so called Cholesky decomposition. The other
approach decomposes the correlation matrix Rt instead. Both approaches provide
statistically meaningful and unconstrained parameterizations and ensure positive
definiteness of the estimated covariance matrix. We show that both approaches can
neatly be combined with the application of independent log-GARCH models for
the estimation of time-varying volatilities.
Keywords: Cholesky decomposition; count data; estimation; GARCH model; INAR
model; saddlepoint approximation; time series.
167
Non-linear GARCH models for Time Series of Counts'
1. Estimation of the INAR (p) model
by saddlepoint approximation
Saddlepoint techniques were introduced
into statistics in seminal work of Daniels
(1954). Their range of application is now
very wide, with extended accounts by
Field and Ronchetti (1990), Jensen (1995)
and Butler (2007). The associated theory
appears complex, but their use is fairly
straightforward, and the increasing
availability of high performance
computing has facilitated their practical
application. Competing and more
prevalent approaches such as bootstrap,
Markov chain Monte Carlo and Bayesian
approaches have their own drawbacks for
parametric inference in small samples,
which do not arise in the context of
small sample asymptotics; see Brazzale
and Davison (2008). An advantage of
saddlepoint methods is that they provide
accurate approximations even in the tails
of a distribution and even for very small
samples; see, e.g., Davison (2003, Ch 12).
Statistical modeling often leads to
likelihood
functions
based
on
convolutions of commonly used
distributions, but it is not always possible
to compute them exactly, so an
approximation for the density may be
needed; see Huzurbazar (1999). Such
difficulties arise in the case of higherorder integer-valued autoregressive,
INAR (p), processes. Integer valued
autoregressive (INAR) processes were
introduced by McKenzie (1985) and AlOsh and Alzaid (1987) as a convenient
way to transfer the usual autoregressive
structure to discrete valued time series.
Several attempts have since been made
to extend and generalize the simplest,
INAR(1), process. Comprehensive reviews
can be found in McKenzie (2003) and
Jung and Tremayne (2006, 2011). The
Markovian structure of continuous
autoregressive processes allows simple
efficient inference based on a readilycomputed likelihood, whereas integer
autoregressive models are much harder
to fit efficiently.
Maximum likelihood (ML) and conditional
least squares (CLS) estimation have been
proposed for INAR (p) models. The former
involves a convolution and can be difficult
to implement as the order p increases. The
latter is computationally straightforward
but statistically inefficient. An alternative
is saddlepoint approximation to the loglikelihood. Our key observation is that the
awkward convolutions that appear in the
conditional density function of the
INAR(p) model can be removed by
considering the correspoding cumulant
generating function.
Saddlepoint approximations can be
obtained for any statistic which admits a
cumulant generating function. If the
cumulant generating function is known
the moment generating function may be
easily determined and the density and
the distribution may be computed by
numerically evaluating the convolution
formulae or by integrating its inversion
formula. But, in practice the first approach
may be time-consuming and inaccurate.
The second uses the Fourier inversion
formula for the exact density and chooses
the contour of integration to pass
through the saddlepoint of the integrand
on the line of steepest descent. In this
form the argument is similar to the termby-term inversion used to obtain the
Edgeworth expansion, but is based on the
theory of asymptotic analysis. The
saddlepoint approximation to the
distribution of a statistic is obtained by
integration of its density estimate
(Kuonen, 2001).
168
Following this approach, we approximated the log-likelihood function of INAR (p)
processes with Poisson and negative
binomial innovations. More specifically,
the log- likelihood function was approximated by summing the logarithms
of the corresponding density approximations. The vector of parameter
values maximizing the approximate loglikelihood is called the saddlepoint
maximum likelihood estimator (SPMLE).
We proved the existence of a unique
finite saddlepoint and we studied the
asymptotic properties of the SPMLE. In
particular, it was shown that under mild
regularity conditions the SPMLE has the
same limiting distribution as the usual
maximum likelihood estimator (MLE).
Moreover, the likelihood approximation is
better when the marginal mean of the
stationary time series is large and this is
precisely the situation in which exact
computation of the likelihood is
burdensome. This fact is illustrated in
Figure 1 which shows the quality of
the proposed approximation for four
simulated series of length 𝑛 = 50. The
relative error is at most ±2.5. All ratios
fluctuate around 1 indicating the high
quality of the saddlepoint approximation.
The accuracy increases for large mean
values of the generated process, which is
ths case where the convolutions become
more awkward.
Our dataset consists of the weekly
number of meningococcal disease cases
in Germany for the years 2001-2006. The
data (𝑛 = 312) and their autocorrelations
are shown in Figure 2.
We fitted several INAR (p) models to the
data with model selection and parameter
es-timation comprasing our main
challenges. After comparisons between
nested models we concluded that an
INAR (3)model with negative binomial
innovations best fits to our data.
According to this model, the incidence of
meningococcal infections presents a time
dependence (autocorrelation) up to lag 3
(three weeks ago) and significant
seasonality. Our results showed that the
method of conditional least squares fails
to adequately account for autocorrelation
at lags 2 and 3, which is eliminated
by the saddlepoint approximation (see
Figure 3). Moreover, results suggested
that the saddlepoint residuals are more
compatible with white noise than are
those based on conditional least squares
estimation.
The suggested approach was illustrated
with its application to a real dataset on
meningococcal infections. The analysis of
time series on infectious disease counts
is of particular interest owing to the
special features that they present, which
include long-term trends, seasonality and
occasional outbreaks. Apart from these
features, such series often present
overdispersion and hence a simple
Poisson model proves to be inadequate.
169
Figure 1: Quality of the proposed approximation for four simulated series of length
n = 50, shown in the left panel, generated from an INAR (1) process with α = 0.2 or 0.8,
λ = 2 or 5. The right panel shows the ratio of the true log-likelihood function to the
approximate log-likelihood obtained by the saddlepoint method.
2. Some Cholesky-log-GARCH
modeling approaches for
multivariate volatilities
During the last three decades, parsimonious modeling of covariance
structures has received increased interest
(Engle, 1982, 2002; Tsay, 2005). In this
context, two important challenges need
to be addressed. The positive definiteness
of a covariance matrix Σ and its possible
high dimensionality. The complexity of
the problem increases with the number of
correlated series or groups under study. In
particular, a dinstict 𝑚 𝑥 𝑚 covariance
matrix Σ𝑖𝑖 = 1,..., n with m(m-1)/2
constrained parameters need to be
estimated for each series / group. Hence,
as 𝑚 and n increase, efficient estimation of
Σｉ‘s becomes a quite cumbersome task.
A typical example is the case of
multivariate volatility in finance (see e.g.
Bollerslev, 1990; Engle, 2002) where the
number of covariances to be estimated is
the same as the number of observations.
Several multivariate extensions of the
univariate GARCH models (Bollerslev,
1986) have been proposed in the literature.
Early variants of multivariate GARCH
models (Engle and Kroner, 1995) heavily
depend upon a growing number of free
parameters (Sims, 1980). Simplifications
can occur when the coefficients are
diagonal matrices (Alexander, 2001,
Chap. 7), but then complicated restrictions
170
Figure 2: Time series (upper panel) and correlogram (lower panel) for the weekly
number of meningococcal disease cases in Germany, 2001-2006.
Figure 3: Time series plots and correlograms for the saddlepoint and CLS residuals
obtained after fitting model 9 to the meningococcal disease data.
171
on the coefficient parameters are required
to ensure their positive definiteness.
Meanwhile many variants of multivariate
GARCH models for financial time series
have been developed (Francq and Zakoian,
2010, Chap.11, for example). Most of them
are either based on strong assumptions
that may not be realistic (for instance, the
assumption of constant correlation of the
CCC-GARCH model) or require restrictions
that are often too hard to be satisfied in
practice.
Such problems are resolved simultaneously
by relying on the idea of Cholesky
de-composition of a covariance matrix.
More specifically, Cholesky decomposition
provides statistically meaningful and
unconstrained parameterizations and it
also guarantees the positive definiteness
of the estimated covariance matrix
(Pourahmadi, 1999, 2000; Pourah madi et
al., 2007; Pourahmadi, 2011). The basic idea
of the Cholesky decomposition of a
covariance matrix Σ is associating a unit
lower triangular matrix T and a unique
diagonal matrix D with Σ:
The elements of T and the logarithms
of the diagonal of D are unconstrained.
In addition, they are interpreted as
regression coefficients and prediction
variances when regressing a measurement on its predecessors.
While the bulk of applications to
longitudinal data grows rapidly, see for
example Pourahmadi (1999); Pan and
MacKenzie (2003); Wu and Pourahmadi
(2003); Leng et al. (2010), examples of
using Cholesky decomposition for the
estimation of multivariate volatilities
remain rather sparse. Up to our
knowledge, such an approach has been
used for multivariate time series data only
by Tsay (2005, Chap. 10), Dellaportas and
Pourahmadi (2004, 2012) and Lopes et al.
(2012).
Even though the (modified) Cholesky
decomposition and related joint meancovariance modeling approaches (see
Pourahmadi, 1999,2000; Pourahmadi et
al., 2007; Pan and MacKenzie, 2003; Ye and
Pan, 2006; Daniels and Pourahmadi, 2009;
Leng et al., 2010; Zhang and Leng, 2012,
for instance), are effective parsimonious
methods, they lack interpretability. More
specifically, the resulting variance
functions cannot be directly interpreted
as identical to those of the observations.
In order to get the variances and
correlations of the observed data,
covariance matrix estimation is required
initially. So, in practical applications extra
effort is needed for interpreting features
in the variance function and studying the
correlation matrix R.
An obvious alternative could be a direct
Cholesky decomposition on the correlation matrix. However, such a decomposition also encounters difficulties due to the
constraintsof positive semi-definiteness,
element values ranging from -1 to 1 and
unit diagonal elements. A less obvious
but effective alternative has been
proposed by Rebonato and Jackel (2000)
and used by some other authors thereafter, (see for example Creal et al., 2011;
Numpacharoen and Atsawarungruangkit,
2012, and the references therein).
The general idea is parameterizing
the correlation matrix R in terms of
hyperspherical coordinates, by applying
the decomposition
R = BB’,
where B is a lower triangular matrix
whose elements are given by b11 = 1
172
1990) and the dynamic conditional
correlation (DCC) (Engle, 2002) models of
order (1,1) were used for comparison
purposes. To measure the accuracy of a
and
covariance matrix estimate
Then, the covariance matrix Σ is given by
Σ = HRH,
we used
the entropy loss Δ₁t the Kullback-Leibler
loss Δ₂t and two quadraticloss functions
Δ₃t and Δ₄t see Chang and Tsay (2010):
where H
Obviously, this
decomposition deals directly with the
variances and correlations of the data and
it provides parameters that are
unconstrained on their support and
directly interpretable with respect to
correlations.
We combine both the ideas of Cholesky
decomposition and of the hyperpherical
specification approach with the
application of independent log-GARCH
models (Geweke, 1986; Pantula, 1986;
Milhoj, 1987; Sucarrat and Escribano,
2010; Francq et al., 2012) for the
estimation of time-varying variances and
covariances of a vector of correlated time
series. Modeling the diagonal entries of D
or H using log-GARCH models comes as a
natural choice since working with the
logarithm of these matrices achieves the
positive definite constraint of Σ.
The forecasting performance of the
methods discussed in the previous
Section is through two real data
examples. The data have been used
for several illustration purposes in
Tsay (2005) and are available online
at
http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/ruey.tsay
/teaching/.
Apart from the suggested Cholesky
decomposition and hyperspherical
specification approaches, the constant
conditional correlation (CCC) (Boller- slev,
To compare any pair of methods, say M₁
and M₂, we define the measure,
where 𝑖 = 𝟷,...4.
In the first instance, we consider the
monthly log returns of the IBM stock
and S&P 500 index from January 1926
to December 1999 with n = 888
observations. The returns consist of
dividend payments and are in
percentages. Figure 4 includes the time
series plots and a scatterplot between the
two series. The two return series are
obviously volatile and significantly
correlated with a correlation coefficient
equal to 0.64.
Table 1 includes the results obtained after
alternative model fitting in terms of the
previously described measures of
comparison Si, i = 1,2,3,4. These numbers
should be compared with 50%. For
instance, the entry in the first cell is
35.47%. This implies that the Cholesky
decomposition provides an inferior
measure of performance when compared
to the CCC model. Similarly we can read
173
the other entries of Table 4. The Cholesky
decomposition approach fails to beat
both the CCC and DCC models in terms of
all δ/s. In contrast, the hyperspherical
specification approach has a better
predictive ability than the dynamic
conditional correlation model, performing very similarly to the constant
conditional correlation model. Moreover,
comparing the suggested approaches
to each other, the method based
on hyperspherical coordinates clearly
outperforms Cholesky decomposition for
this particular parameterization.
Our second application concerns a
trivariate series of the daily log returns
of the stocks of Cisco Systems and
Intel Corporation and the S&P 500
index. The database consists of n = 2275
observations collected from January 2,
1991 to December 31, 1999. The series
have been ordered according to the AIC
obtained from linear regression models of
the form
.
Figures 5 and 6 includethe time series plot
of yt and their scatterplots. The three
series are significantly correlated with
,
and
.
Table 2 summarizes the results obtained
after comparing the forecasting performance of different models fitted to the data.
As in the previous example, the Cholesky
decomposition approach performs worse
than the constant conditional correlation
and dynamic conditional correlation
models. Regarding the hyperspherical
specification approach, it proves again
better than the Cholesky decomposition.
However, when compared to the CCC and
DCC models, a discordance between alternative criteria is observed. In particular,
δ3 and δ4 that are based on quadratic loss
functions, support the outperformance of
the hyperspherical specification approach
while opposite conclusions follow
according to δ1 and δ2.
Hence, we denote the daily log returns of
Cisco and Intel stocks and the S&P 500
index by
and
respectively.
174
Table 1: Results from the comparison of different modeling approaches for the monthly
log returns in percentages for the IBM stock and the S&P 500 index. All values have
been multiplied by 100. 'CHOL', 'HYP', 'CCC'and 'DCC' stand for the Cholesky
decomposition, hyperspherical specification, constant conditional correlation and
dynamic conditional correlation approaches respectively.
Figure 5: Time series plots of daily log returns in percentages for the stocks of Cisco
Systems, Intel Corporation and the S&P 500 index for the period January 2,1991 December 31, 1999.
175
Conclusively, our results can be considered
as an early indication that the suggested
methodology, and particularly the hyperspherical specification approach, is
promising in parsimonously modeling
multivariate volatilities. However, it is
important to emphasize that there is no
gold standard approach. Actually, one has
often to choose between parsimony and
ease of implementation versus a potential
higher flexibility, and what determines
such a decision is the data at hand.
Figure 6: Scatterplots between the daily log returns in percentages for the stocks of
Cisco Systems, Intel Corporation and the S&P 500 index for the period January 2, 1991
- December 31, 1999.
Table 2: Results from the comparison of different modeling approaches for the daily
log returns in percentages for the stocks of Cisco Systems, Intel Corporation and the
S&P 500 index. Ah values have been multiplied by 100. 'CHOL', 'HYP', 'CCC'and 'DCC'
stand for the Cholesky decomposition, hyperspherical specification, constant
conditional correlation and dynamic conditional correlation approaches respectively.
176
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Research Output of Grant
Peer Reviewed Articles
1. K. Fokianos and M. H. Neumann (2013).
A goodness-of-fit test for Poisson count
processes, The Electronic Journal of
Statistics, 7, 793-819.
2. Doukhan, K. Fokianos and X. Li (2012).
On Weak Dependence Conditions: The
Case of Discrete Valued Processes",
Statistics and Probability Letters, 82,
1941-1948. With a corrigendum in vol.
83, 674-675, 2013.
3. X. Pedeli, K. Fokianos and M. Pourahmadi
(2014). Two Cholesky-log-GARCH models
for multivariate volatilities, to appear in
Statistical Modeling.
4. X. Pedeli, A.C. Davison and K. Fokianos
(2015). Likelihood estimation for the
INAR (p) model by saddlepoint approximation, to appear in the Journal of
the American Statistical Association.
Peer Reviewed Articles in Conference
Proceedings
1. X. Pedeli, K. Fokianos and M. Pourahmadi
(2013). Cholesky decomposition of
multivariate volatilities, in Proceedings
of the 28th International Workshop on
Statistical Modelling, (Muggeo VMR,
Capursi V, Boscaino G, Lovison G, editors),
vol.1, 325-331.
2. X. Pedeli, A.C. Davison and K. Fokianos
(2012). Saddlepoint approximation for
INAR (p) processes, in Proceeding of
COMPSTAT 2012, Eds. A. Colubi et al,
725-733.
Conference Presentations
1. X. Pedeli, K. Fokianos and M.
Pourahmadi. Cholesky decomposition
for multivariate volatilities. 28th
International Workshop on Statistical
Modelling, Palermo, Italy, July 8-12,
2013.
2. K. Fokianos. Saddlepoint approximation
for INAR (p) processes. Department
of Statistics, University of Dortmund,
Germany, June 2013 (invited presentation).
3. X. Pedeli, A.C. Davison and K. Fokianos.
Saddlepoint approximation for INAR
(p) processes. NBER-NSF Time Series
Conference, Texas A&M University,
College Station, Texas, October 26-27,
2012 (poster presentation).
(p) processes. 20th International Conference on Computational Statistics,
Limassol, Cyprus, August 27-31, 2012.
5. K. Fokianos, Saddlepoint approximation
for INAR (p) processes. Multifractals, Non
- stationarity, and Risk, Paris, France, July
2012 (invited).
179
(p) processes. International Workshop
on Recent Advances in Time Series
Analysis, Pro- taras, Cyprus, June 9-12,
2012 (poster presentation).
7. K. Fokianos. Count time series analysis.
IEA Advanced Studies Institute,
University Cergy-Pontoise, thematic
cycle on "Non-stationary processes, in
discrete and contin¬uous time", May
2012 (invited presentation).
Collaborators
1. Paul Doukhan, University Cergy-Pontoise,
Department of Mathematics, France
2.
Anthony C. Davison. Ecole Polytechnique Federate de Lausanne, EPFLFSB-MATHAA-STAT, Station 8, 1015
Lausanne, Switzerland.
3. Michael H. Neumann, Friedrich-SchillerUniversity of Jena, Department of
Mathematics, Germany.
4.
Mohsen Pourahmadi. Department of
Statistics, Texas A&M University, USA.
180
Curriculum Vitae
Konstantinos Fokianos
Undergraduate studies at the University of Ioannina, Greece (B. Sc. in Mathematics, 1991), graduate
studies at the University of Maryland, College Park, USA (M.A., 1993 and Ph.D. in Statistics, 1996).
He is with the Department of Mathematics & Statistics since 1999 (Lecturer 1999-2001, Assistant
Professor 2001-2006, Associate Professor 2006-2011 and Professor since 2012). He also held visiting
appointments at the Ohio State University, Ludwig Maximillians University, National Institutes of
Health, EPFL, University Cergy-Pontoise and University of Bergen. He is an elected member of ISI since
2005 and Associate Editor for Statistics and Probability Letters, Computational Statistics and Data
Analysis and Statistics (2010--2013), Statistics and Journal of Time Series Analysis.
Research Interests:
Categorical Time Series, Generalized Models for Time Series, Semiparametric Models, Spatial Data
Analysis, Bioinformatics, Analysis of Large Data Sets.
Selected Publications:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
B. Kedem and K. Fokianos:Regression Models for Time Series Analysis, John Wiley, Hoboken,
NJ, 2002.
K. Fokianos and B. Kedem: Regression Theory for Categorical Time Series, Statistical Science, 18,
357-376, 2003.
S. Wichert, K. Fokianos and K. Strimmer: Identifying Periodically Expressed Transcripts
inMicroarray Time Series Data, Bioinformatics, 20, 5-20, 2004.
K. Fokianos: Merging Information for Semiparametric Density Estimation, Journal of Royal
Statistical Society, Series B, 66, 941-958, 2004.
K. Fokianos, I. Sarrou and I. Pashalidis: A Two-sample Model for the Comparison of Radiation
Doses, Chemometrics and Intelligent Laboratory Systems, 79, 1-9, 2005.
A. Savvides, V. Promponas and K. Fokianos: Clustering of Biological Time Series by
CepstralCoefficients Based Distances, Pattern Recognition, 41, 2398-2412, 2008.
K. Fokianos and A. Savvides : On Comparing Several Spectral Densities, Technometrics, 50,
317--331, 2008.
K. Fokianos, A. Rahbek and D. Tjostheim: Poisson Autoregression, Journal of the American
Statistical Association, 104, 1430--1439, 2009.
K. Fokianos and R. Fried: Interventions in INGARCH models, Journal of Time Series Analysis, 31,
210--225, 2010.
O. Davidov, K. Fokianos and G. Iliopoulos: Order Restricted Semiparametric Inference for the
Power Bias Model, Biometrics, 66, 549--557, 2010.
K. Fokianos and D. Tjostheim: Loglinear Poisson Autoregression, Journal of Multivariate Analysis,
102, 563--578, 2011.
K. Fokianos: Count Time Series Models, in Handbook of Statistics Vol 30: Time Series - Methods
and Applications, eds. T. Subba Rao, S. Subba Rao and C. R. Rao, Elsevier B.V., Amsterdam,
315--347, 2012.
K. Fokianos and M. H. Neumann: "A goodness-of-fit test for Poisson count processes", The
Electronic Journal of Statistics, 7, 793--819, 2013.
181
Chapter Four
182
Studies in Strong Interactions: Renormalization, Confinement
and Chiral Symmetry breaking
Principal Investigator: Constantia Alexandrou, Professor, Department of
Physics, Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, University of Cyprus
Research Associates: H. Panagopoulos, Department of Physics, University
of Cyprus; Ph. De Forcrand, Theory division, CERN and ETH, Zurich, Switzerland;
A. Di Giacomo, University of Pisa, Italy; E. Vicari, University of Pisa, Italy, L. Del
Debbio, Theory Division, CERN, Switzerland; J. W. Negele, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA
Abstract
Lattice Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) provides a well-defined theoretical
framework for the study of hadron substructure and dynamics. Understanding the
confinement mechanism is a major theoretical challenge and lattice simulations
can provide new insights on what the effective degrees of freedom relevant for
confinement might be. During this project we studied the baryonic potential as well
as two and three- density correlators from which the charge radius of the nucleon
and the deformation of the rho and the Δ can be extracted. Another line of research
was the calculation of the transition form factors for N to Δ over a range of
momentum transfers. We also investigated the gluon propagator at finite
temperature within the Laplacian gauge. In addition we computed higher loop
renormalizations of improved fermionic operators, which are used in large scale
simulations by international lattice collaborations; such analytic computations can
be extremely complicated and we have developed a software package to perform
them. Finally we extended our investigations of SU(N) gauge theories in the largeN limit focusing on finite temperature phase transitions and on the string tension
in different gauge group representations; recently, string theory has shed new light
on this long-standing subject, calling for detailed comparison with numerical
results.
Summary
The approved two-year research program
started 1st October 2002 and ended 30
Sept. 2004. The funding provided allowed
us to both hire talented young researchers
and start activities with other research
groups in Europe and the US. We
summarize the activities of the program:
• Dr. A. Tsapalis who was selected as the
best candidate for the postdoctoral
183
position, allocated for this research
project worked on the research topics at
the Department of Physics. Dr. Tsapalis,
received his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology in 1998 and was
postdoctoral associate at the University of
Wuppertal in Germany before joining our
group. He contributed in a significant way
to the research activities of this project.
He is currently Assist. Prof. at the Hellenic
Studies in Strong Interactions: Renormalization, Confinement and Chiral Symmetry breaking
Naval Academic in Athens, Greece. The
project also enabled the engagement of
two talented graduate students, A.
Athenodorou and G. Koutsou who joined
the research activities of this project. They
are both continuing research activities in
this area having held researcher positions
at leading Institutions in Germany (DESYZeuthen and University of Wuppertal,
respectively). G. Koutsou is currently an
Assist. Prof. at the Cyprus Institute.
• The research carried out during the project
is in forefront of Theoretical Strong
Interaction Physics and utilizes the biggest
supercomputers in the world. QCD, the
fundamental theory of strong interactions,
which binds quarks to form protons and
neutrons, has been known for 40 years.
However we are still very far from a
complete solution of the theory. QCD is
different from all known fundamental
theories in that it is a confining theory,
i.e. it forbids break-up of hadrons into
their constituent quarks. This is the first
in nature that a physical system cannot
be broken into its constituents. This
property poses fundamental difficulties in
applying to QCD the classical analytical
methods of Quantum Field Theory, which
were very successful in solving Quantum
Electrodynamics. The best method, at
present, to evaluate hadronic observables
is using the discrete version of QCD known
as Lattice QCD and can only be carried
out by numerical simulation on the fastest
possible supercomputers. Results from
such computations are needed either
directly as predictions or as inputs to
phenomenological models, both of prime
importance to ongoing experiments.
1
The following topics were studied:
1. Investigation of hadron structure by the
calculating the transition form factors in N
to Δ. The results were presented at the
yearly International Conference “Lattice
2004” that took place at Fermilab, USA. Our
work on hadron structure attracted
worldwide interest and we were invited to
give talks on this work at the Hadron
deformation workshop that took place at
MIT, USA and at the 21st school on
Electromagnetic Interactions at Bosen,
Germany. We give below the publications
that resulted from this work1. We would
like to point out that the time consuming
computations were carried out on the
Teraflop/s supercomputer at NERSC,
Berkeley. The necessary CPU time was
allocated to us after submission and
successful evaluation of our proposal. We
have resubmitted a proposal this year for
a continuation of this project, which was
approved and we are currently pursuing
this area of research further.
2. As part of our training program, undergraduate student G. Koutsou studied the
baryonic potential and then continued to
calculate the tetraquark and pentaquark
potentials which are very relevant after the
reports for the discovery of a stable
pentaquark state in various laboratories.
This part of the project was carried out
on the parallel cluster that the group
has for lattice calculations. In addition
we investigated the mass of the the
pentaquark and its quark distribution. The
results were presented at the “Lattice 2004”
International Conference.
3. An extended investigation was carried
out of SU(N) gauge theories, with a
particular view to connecting large-N
predictions from string theory to QCD.
In all publications the A. G. Leventi Foundation is explicitly acknowledged
184
We studied the spectrum of the confining
strings in different gauge group
representations, using Monte Carlo
simulations. Our results are consistent
with the "sine" formula, emerging in
various realizations of supersymmetric
SU(N) gauge theories; at the same time our
results show deviations from the Casimir
scaling hypothesis. In the case of SU(3), we
provide direct evidence that the string
spectrum is according to predictions
based on n-ality.
We also studied the dependence of the
free energy on the CP-violating parameter
θ. Our results support a conjecture by
Witten. In particular, we verify that the
topological susceptibility has a nonzero
large-N limit, in substantial agreement
with the Witten- Veneziano formula for the
mass of the η’ particle. We calculate also
higher order corrections in θ.
4. We are presently calculating the
expectation value of the plaquette in
3-loop perturbation theory, using the
improved "clover" action. This quantity
is useful in establishing an effective
coupling in certain improved perturbation
theory schemes; it is also an essential
ingredient in a determination of the
running coupling αs. This work is done in
collaboration with Dr. A. Tsapalis, who is
funded by the Leventis foundation grant,
and two students in our Department, A.
Athinodorou and M. Ioannou. Another
perturbative calculation which is coming
to an end is that of the renormalization
group invariant quark mass. This quantity
is very important for extracting physical
properties 1 In all publications the Levendis
Foundation is explicitly acknowledged. of
hadrons from lattice simulations, and it is a
forerunner to the calculation of fermionic
current renormalization functions.
Publications Resulting from this Project
1. Hadron deformation from Lattice QCD, C.
Alexandrou, Invited talk at the second
International Workshop on “Lattice
Hadron Physics”, Nucl. Phys. Proc. Suppl.
128, 1 (2004).
2. The matter density distribution for
mesons and baryons, C. Alexandrou, P. de
Forcrand, A. Tsapalis, Nucl. Phys. Proc.
Suppl. 129, 221 (2004).
3. γ N → Δ transition form-factors in
quenched and Nf=2 QCD, C. Alexandrou,
P. de Forcrand, T. Lippert, H. Neff, J. W.
Negele, K. Schilling, W. Schroers, A.
Tsapalis, Nucl. Phys. Proc. Suppl. 129, 302
(2004).
4. N to Δ electromagnetic transition formfactors from lattice QCD, C. Alexandrou,
P. de Forcrand, T. Lippert, H. Neff, J. W.
Negele, K. Schilling, W. Schroers, A.
Tsapalis, Phys. Rev. D. 69 114506 (2004).
5. The N to Delta electromagnetic transition
form factors from lattice QCD, C.
Alexandrou et al., Phys. Rev.Lett. 94,
021601 (2005), hep-lat/0409122.
6. The tetraquark and pentaquark static
potentials, C. Alexandrou and G. Κoutsou,
Phys. Rev. D 71, 014504 (2005), heplat/0407005.
7. Momentum dependence of the N to Delta
transition form-factors, C. Alexandrou et
al., 22nd International Symposium on
Lattice Field Theory (LATTICE 2004),
Fermilab, Batavia, Illinois, USA, 21-26 Jun
2004, Nucl.Phys.Proc.Suppl.140, 293,
(2005), hep-lat/0408017.
8. The pentaquark potential, mass and
density-density correlators, C. Alexandrou,
G. Koutsou and A. Tsapalis, 22nd International Symposium on Lattice Field
Theory (LATTICE 2004), Fermilab, Batavia,
Illinois, USA, 21-26 Jun 2004, Nucl. Phys.
185
Studies in Strong Interactions: Renormalization, Confinement and Chiral Symmetry breaking
Proc. Suppl. 140, 275 (2005), hep-lat/
0408017.
Panagopoulos, P. Rossi, E. Vicari, J. High
Energy Phys. 01 (2002) 009
9. The three-loop β-function of QCD with the
Clover Action, A. Bode, H. Panagopoulos,
Nucl. Phys. B625 (2002) 198.
13. θ-Dependence of SU(N) Gauge Theories,
L. Del Debbio, H. Panagopoulos, E. Vicari,
J. High Energy Phys. 08 (2002) 044.
10. k-String Tensions in SU(N) Gauge
Theories, L. Del Debbio, H. Panagopoulos,
P. Rossi, E. Vicari, Phys. Rev. D65 (2002)
021501.
14. Confining Strings in Representations
with Common N-ality, L. Del Debbio, H.
Panagopoulos, E. Vicari, J. High Energy
Phys. 09 (2003) 034.
11. The Critical Hopping Parameter in O(a)
Improved QCD, H. Panagopoulos, Y.
Proestos, Phys. Rev. D65 (2002) 014511.
15. Free energy and θ dependence of SU(Ν)
gauge theories, L. Del Debbio, H.
Panagopoulos, E. Vicari. Proceedings,
“Lattice 2002”, M.I.T., Cambridge, USA.
Nucl. Phys. B(PS), 119 (2003) 661.
12. Spectrum of Confining Strings in SU(N)
Gauge Theories, L. Del Debbio, H.
Study of the phenomenon of deconfinement as predicted in QCD using gold on gold
collisions at the laboratory RHIC, USA. The goal is to search for a new state off matter,
the quark-‐gluon plasma that existed ~10-10s after creation. Information from our
calculations provide input for these experimental searches.
APE computers constructed by Theoretical Physicist for the purpose of solving
Quantum Chromodynamics and used in this project.
We thank the Leventis Foundation for the generous support, which helped us established
an internationally acclaimed research program at a time when basic research had no or
very little funding available.
186
Curriculum Vitae
Constantia Alexandrou is Professor of Physics at the Department of Physics of the University of
Cyprus and Institute Professor at the Computation--‐based Science and Technology Research Center
(CaSToRC) of The Cyprus Institute. She received a First Class BA degree in Physics from Oxford
University in 1980, and a PhD in Theoretical Nuclear Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology in 1985.
From 1985---1992 she worked as a Research Associate at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland,
and at the University of Erlangen in Germany.
Constantia’s major research interests are in strongly interacting field theories. She is well known for
her pioneering work in Hadron Physics using large-scale simulations Of Quantum Chromodynamics
(QCD). Since the 1990s she has been leading efforts in Cyprus to develop computational research
infrastructure. She spearheaded the development of the Lattice QCD computational laboratory at
the Universit of Cyprus attracting competitive funding for parallel clusters and for postdoctoral fellows
and students to work in lattice QCD. She is invited regularly as a keynote speaker in conferences and
workshops and has organized a number of workshops and conferences in Cyprus and abroad.
She has been strongly engages in the promotion of research and education beyond her own field of
research becoming in 2005 Vice-Chair of the Interim Governing board of The Cyprus Institute, a private
non‐profit research institution based in Cyprus with a regional perspective. As Chair of the Interim
Governing board, and current Acting Director of CaSToRC, she led efforts to create the first national
supercomputing center in Cyprus. She was the Scientific Leader of the project that gave the Center
competitive funding in 2010 to buy its first large-scale computer, a hybrid cluster of CPUs and GPUs
of 30 Tflops peak performance. She is the coordinator of a number of national and EU projects, notably
the EU infrastructure project. Linking Scientific Computing in Europe and in the Eastern
Mediterranean (LinkSCEEM) that aims at developing computational resources and research in the
Eastern Mediterranean region. She is currently a member of C20 (Computational Physics) of the
International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) and from 2008 to 2011 she served as a
member of C12 (Nuclear Physics) of IUPAP. She has been on the board of Computations Physis of EPS
since 2011. She is the representative of Cyprus to the Council of PRACE the Parnterhsips for Advance
Computing in Europe. She also acted as a delegate of Cyprus to SESAME (the Synchrotron Facility
being developed in Jordan).
10 Selected recent publications
1. Lattice investigation of the scalar mesons a0(980) and κ using four quark operators, C. Alexandrou,
J. O. Daldrop, M. Della Brida, M. Gravina, C. Urbach, M. Wagner, JHEP 1304 (2013), 137
2. The Shape of Hadrons, C. Alexandrou, C. N. Papanicolas and M. Vanderhaeghen, Rev. Mod. Phys. 84
(2012), 1231.
3. Evaluation of fermion loops applied to the calculation of the η’ mass and the nucleon scalar and
electromagnetic form factors, C. Alexandrou, K. Hadjiyiannakou, G. Koutsou, A. O’ Cais, A.
Strelchenko, Comput. Phys. Commun. 18 (2012) 1215
4. Moments of nucleon generalized parton distributions from lattice QCD, C. Alexandrou, J. Carbonell,
M. Constantinou, P. A. Harraud, P. Guichon, K. Jansen, C. Kallidonis and T. Korzec et al.., Phys. Rev. D
83, 114513 (2011).
5. Renormalization constants for 2-twist operators in twisted mass QCD, C. Alexandrou,
M. Constantinou, T. Korzec, H. Panagopoulos and F. Stylianou, Phys. Rev. D 83, 014503 (2011).
187
Regulation of Glycogen and DNA Repair by the Formation of Biomolecular Complexes:
Understanding via Biomolecular Modeling and Free-Energy Simulations
6. The Δ(1232) axial charge and form factors from lattice QCD, C. Alexandrou, E. B. Gregory, T. Korzec,
G. Koutsou, T. Sato, A, Tsapalis. Phys. Rev. Lett. 107 (2011) 141601
7. The electromagnetic form factors of the Ω– in lattice QCD, C. Alexandrou, G. Koutsou, J. W. Negele,
Y. Proestos, Phys.Rev. D82 (2010) 034504
8. Quark charge densities transverse densities in the Δ(1232) from lattice QCD, C. Alexandrou et al.,
Nucl. Phys. A825 (2009) 115
9. A study of hadron deformation in lattice QCD, C. Alexandrou, G. Koutsou,m Phys.Rev. D78 (2008)
094506
10. The axial N to Delta transition form factors from lattice QCD, C. Alexandrou, T. Leontiou, J.W. Negele
and A. Tsapalis, Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 052003 (2007).
5 recent invited presentations
1. Keynote Speaker, 13 th International Conference on Meson-Nucleon Physics and the Structure of
the Nucleon - MENU 2013, 30 Sept.- 4 Oct. 2013, Rome, Italy
2. Keynote Speaker, Conference on the Intersections of Particle and Nuclear Physics, May 29-June 3,
2012, St. Petersburg, Florida, USA.
3. Invited Lecturer, From Quarks and Gluons to Hadrons and Nuclei, International School of Nuclear
Physics, Sept. 16-24, 2011, Erice, Italy.
4. Keynote Speaker, 9th European Research Conference on “Electromagnetic Interactions with
Nucleons and Nuclei”, Oct. 31 - Nov. 4, 2011, Paphos, Cyprus.
5. Plenary Speaker 8th International Workshop on the Physics of Excited Nucleons, May 17-20, 2011,
Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility Newport News, Virginia USA.
6. Invited Lecturer, Aurora school in Computational Physics, ECT* (European Center for Theoretical
Nuclear Studies and Related Areas), 20 Sep. - 1 Oct. 2010, Trento, Italy.
Organization of 5 recent Conferences
1. 2013: Computational Science Conference 2013, Dec. 3-6, 2013 Paphos, Cyprus (Chair).
2. 2013: 10th European Research Conference on Electromagnetic Interaction with Nucleons and
Nucleon (EINN 2013) 28 Oct-2 Nov. 2013, Paphos, Cyprus, (Vice-Chair).
3. 2010: Workshop on Computational Strong Interactions, Marie-Curie ITN project STRONGnet, Aug.
2010, Paphos, Cyprus, (Chair).
4. 2008: Workshop on Hadron Electromagnetic Form Factors, ECT* May 12-23, Trento, Italy (member
of the organizing committee).
188
Regulation of Glycogen and DNA Repair by the Formation of
Biomolecular Complexes: Understanding via Biomolecular
Modeling and Free-Energy Simulations
Principal Investigators: Georgios Archontis1, Associate Professor; Spiros
Skourtis1, Associate Professor; Athanasios Nicolaides2, Associate Professor
Research Associates: Martin Karplus3, Nikos Oikonomakos4,5, Kim Watson5, Qian
Xie1, Mahid Monajjemi1, Evangelia Chrysina4,5, Spyros Zographos4,5, G. Andreou1
1
Department of Physics, University of Cyprus
2
Department of Chemistry, University of Cyprus
3
Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, USA and
Laboratory of Biophysical Chemistry, University Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg,
France
4
Institute of Physical and Organic Chemistry, National Hellenic Research
Foundation, Athens, Greece
5
Institute of Biological Research and Biotechnology, National Hellenic Research
Foundation, Athens, Greece
Abstract
Type-2 diabetes is the most well known form of diabetes, accounting for 90–95%
of all cases. Treatment of type-2 diabetes is focusing mainly on approaches that
aim to decrease the high concentration of glucose in the blood by means of
hypoglycemic drugs. The protein Glycogen Phosphorylase (GP) catalyzes the
degradative phosphorylation of glycogen (Glc) to Glc-1-P, and is directly implicated
in the regulation of glucose levels in the organism. As part of a long-term study in
identifying inhibitors of glycogen phosphorylase (GP), in the present project we
studied by theoretical methods (molecular dynamics simulations, free-energy
calculations, energy minimization methods) and experimental techniques (X-ray
crystallography, measurements of binding constants) the properties and mode of
action of small molecules implicated in the regulation of Glycogen Phosphorylase
(GP). A second target of the project was to provide a theoretical model for a small
molecule (flavopiridol), that is implicated in the repair of DNA. A detailed and
quantitative understanding of the structures, interactions and stability of complexes
between these molecules and GP or DNA might lead to the design of new
compounds with therapeutic action against diabetes or cancer.
189
I. Introduction
Glycogen Phosphorylase catalyzes the
degradative phosphorylation of glycogen
(Glc) to Glc-1-P, providing in muscle the
energy for muscle contraction. In the
liver, Glc-1-P is converted to glucose
and provides energy for other tissues.
Glucose acts as a regulator of glycogen
metabolism in the liver in two ways
(Figure 1) [1-3]. First, it binds weakly to the
catalytic site of GP, and stabilizes the less
active T state of the enzyme. In addition,
glucose binds to a phosphorylated form
of the enzyme (GPa), which normally
exists in the active R state. Glucose
binding induces a conformational
transition of GPa from the R to the
less active T state, which in turn is
dephosphorylated to produce the GPb
form. The reaction of dephosphorylation
is catalyzed by PP1, an enzyme that is
regulated in response to insulin. The
conversion of GPa to GPb relieves the
allosteric inhibition that GPa exerts on the
glycogen-associated PP1, which converts
glycogen synthase D to the I form, thus
allowing the phosphatase to stimulate
the synthesis of glycogen. Thus, design of
glucose-based inhibitors of GPb could
help shift the balance from glycogen
degradation to glycogen synthesis, and
lead to compounds that suppress the
level of glucose in the blood. This would
be of therapeutic value for the treatment
of the non-insulin-dependent form of
diabetes mellitus.
Figure 1. Schematic representation of the GP regulation. The rectangles and ovals
symbolize, respectively, the GP monomers in their inactive (T) and active (R) states. The
rounded rectangles symbolize an alternative inactive state (T’) induced by binding of
compound W1807 at the allosteric site [4]. GPa and GPb refer to the phosphorylated and
unphosphorylated forms of the enzyme.
190
The action of GP is regulated by several
small molecules, which bind at various GP
sites. The structure of GP is shown in
figure 2, with the catalytic, inhibitor,
allosteric and new allosteric site clearly
indicated.
Figure 2. Structure of Glycogen Phosphorylase with its regulatory sites (catalytic,
inhibitor, allosteric and new allosteric
CP320626 binding site) shown in detail.
Glucose binds at the catalytic site. The
allosteric activator AMP binds at the
allosteric site, which is situated at the
subunit–subunit interface, ~30 A˚ from the
catalytic site. Purine compounds such as
caffeine bind at the inhibitor site, and, in the
T state, obstruct the entrance to the
catalytic site tunnel. The CP320626 binding
site is ~15 A˚ from the allosteric effector site,
33 A˚ from the catalytic site and 37 A˚ from
the inhibitor site [1].
Structure-assisted design, synthesis,
kinetic characterization, and X-ray
structure determination has produced a
large number of glucose-analogue
catalytic site inhibitors of GPb, as well as
inhibitors that bind to other regulatory
sites [5].
The catalytic site of GP has been
investigated in detail by our collaborating
group of Prof. N. Oikonomakos using
glucose and glucose analogs. Although
glucose is a natural regulator of GP that
binds to the catalytic site and stabilizes
the inactive T state, it is a poor inhibitor (Ki
of 1.7 and 7.4 mM, for α- and β-D-glucose,
respectively). Substitution at the anomeric
C1 position of glucose in either the α- or
the β-orientation, has produced several
inhibitors of GP with varying degrees of
affinity (from mM to μM). Several of these
analogs were shown to bind favorably to
GP with affinities, for the T state, of up to
three orders of magnitude better than the
parent glucose moiety. In addition, some
of these compounds were shown to
exhibit a positive hypoglycaemic effect by
maintaining tighter control over the
activities of GP and glycogen synthase [6].
Ιn the present work we examined by
computational and experimental methods
the catalytic-site binding of a series of
promising glucose analogues with a
spirohydantoin group [2-3]. One of the
most potent catalytic-site inhibitors of
GPb is the spirohydantoin of glucopyranose (hydan), with an inhibition
constant (Ki) that is approximately 550
times lower than the corresponding value
for the native ligand D-glucose [7]. The
chemical structure of this compound is
shown in Figure 3. A high-resolution (1.8
Å) crystal structure of the GP-hydan
complex was determined by Gregoriou
et al. [8] at a temperature of 100 K.
Moreover, a number of spirohydantoin
analogues were synthesized, and their
binding to GP was studied by kinetic
and crystallographic methods. The
crystallographic structures of the various
complexes were determined at room
temperature at a resolution of 2.3–2.4 Å
[3]. Examination of the structures of the
complexes suggested that the stronger
binding of these inhibitors, compared
191
to glucose, resulted at least in part
from improved interactions with the
protein catalytic site and particularly
with the main-chain oxygen of His377.
To supplement the insights from t
hese structural studies, we performed
molecular dynamics calculations and free
energy difference simulations for three
spyrohydantoin analogues. The results
were reported in [2-3], and are briefly
outlined below.
DNA repair ET proteins [10]) or synthetic.
Flavopiridol (figure 4) has been shown to
have antitumor activity and is currently
on clinical trials for treatment of leukemia,
e.g. [11]. It is now known that Flavopiridol
acts as an inhibitor of transcription and
in particular as an inhibitor of CyclinDependent Kinase activity.
Figure 3. Basic stereochemical structure of
spirohydantoin of glucopyranose. In the
present work we studied three ligands, in
which the group R was set to H (hydan),
NH2 (n-hydan) and CH3 (methyl-hydan),
respectively.
Figure 4. Chemical structure of Flavopiridol.
A second goal of the project was
to develop a computational model
for flavopiridol, a compound that is
implicated in the regulation/repair of
DNA (figure 4). DNA damage is a central
driver of disease [9]. This damage often
relates to the oxidation of DNA (i.e.,
the subtraction of electrons from the
molecule, for example by ultraviolet
radiation or by oxidants). Molecules that
bind to oxidized DNA and that donate
electrons to it are of interest for medical
applications because they may repair
damaged DNA. Such molecules can be
biological and intrinsic to the cell (e.g.,
Due to its ability to bind to DNA [11] it was
also suggested that Flavopiridol could
repair damaged DNA by binding and
transferring electrons to DNA (as an
antioxidant) [12]. This possibility motivated
the work related to Flavopiridol in this
project. There was no later experimental
evidence of any significant antioxidant
action of this molecule. The main aim of
the work was to use quantum electronic
structure computations in order to obtain
molecular dynamics force-field parameters
that would enable simulations of docking
of Flavopiridol to damaged DNA followed
by electron transfer rate computations
[13].
192
II. Methodology
Binding Free Energy Calculations of GP:
glucose analogue complexes
The GP ligands considered in this work
differed by a single chemical group (figure
3). The methodology followed in the
computation of the relative affinity of two
ligands for GP is illustrated by the
thermodynamic cycle of figure 5 [2, 14].
This cycle connects four different states;
the unbound, solvated ligands L1 and L2
(lower panel of the cycle) and the
corresponding ligand:protein complexes
(upper panel). To compare the relative
affinities of L1 and L2 for the protein, we
simulated the transformation of one
ligand into the other (vertical arrows),
both in the unbound state (lower arrow)
and in the protein complex (upper arrow).
Each of these two transformations is
associated with a free energy difference,
which is computed by a statistical
mechanical formula involving averages
over the trajectory (see below). The
experimental relative binding affinity ΔG2
– ΔG1 is equal to the relative free-energy
difference ΔG3 – ΔG4 along the two
transformations (see caption to figure 5).
Figure 5. Thermodynamic cycle employed
in the calculation of relative affinities of
ligands L1 and L2 for a protein P [2, 14]. The
vertical arrows (1) and (2) describe the
actual experimental binding processes, with
corresponding binding free energies ΔG1
and ΔG2. The horizontal arrows (3) and (4)
describe artificial (“alchemical”) conversions
of the ligand from form L1 to form L2
[Equation (1)], both when it is bound to the
protein (process 3) and in its unbound,
solvated state (process 4). The free energy
changes ΔG3 (process 3) and ΔG4 (process
4) are computed from the simulation
trajectories and an appropriate statisticalmechanics formula [Equation (2)]. The total
free energy change along the complete
cycle is zero, implying ΔG2 – ΔG1 = ΔG3 –
ΔG4. Τhus, the computation of free energies
ΔG3 and ΔG4 from the free-energy
simulations yields the relative experimental
affinity ΔG2- ΔG1.
To realize the transformation from one
ligand to the other, we created a «hybrid»
molecule, that contains all atoms of both
ligands (dual topology methodology [14]).
The total energy function of the system
«ligand + environment» was given by the
equation
(1)
where HA and HB are the energy functions
of the two ligands and H0 is the function
of the surrounding environment (solvent
in the unbound state, or solvent plus the
surrounding protein in the bound state).
By setting H0 to the energy function of the
surrounding water solvent, we simulated
the transformation between two ligands in
their unbound state (lower arrow of figure
5). Similarly, setting H0 to the total energy
function of the surrounding protein
(and water solution), we simulated the
transformation between the same two
ligands in the solvated protein complex.
The energy function was progressively
changed from its initial to its final form,
by varying the parameter λ from a value
193
λ = 0 to a value λ = 1. The corresponding
change in free energy is:
thermodynamic cycle of figure 5 and the
application of equations 1-2, and are
summarized in Table 1:
(2)
where <...> denotes a Boltzmann average
over the energy function H(λ). The last
two terms arise, respectively, from the
electrostatic and van der Waals part of the
energy difference HB – HA; they are
referred to as electrostatic (ΔGelec) and
van der Waals (ΔGvw) «components» of
the total free energy change [2, 14].
III. Results
A. Glycogen Phosphorylase Complexes
Computational studies
Objective of this work was to compute
and interpret the relative binding affinities
for GP of three analogues with the
characteristic stereochemistry of figure 3;
the spirohydantoin of glucopuranose
(hydan), in which group R corresponds
to a hydrogen atom (R = H), n-hydan
(R = NH2) and methyl-hydan (R = CH3). The
corresponding experimental binding
affinities of n-hydan and methyl-hydan,
relative to hydan, were, respectively, 2.3
kcal/mol and 3.6 kcal/mol [2, 3].
We simulated the complexes of GP
with the three ligands (hydan, methylhydan and n-hydan), as well as the
transformations hydan à methyl-hydan
and hydan à nhydan both when the
ligands were bound to the protein and
in their unbound, solution state. The
corresponding free energy changes
were evaluated with the aid of the
194
Table 1: Free-energy changes in the transformations between the ligands hydan (H),
methyl-hydan (M) and n-hydan (N), in the complex with GP and in solution [2].
195
Elplanation to table 1: All quantities in
kcal/mol. (a)Van der Waals and electrostatic
free energy components [last two terms of
Eq. (2)]. (b)An asterisk denotes a simulation
carried out in a direction opposite to the
indicated arrow (from the rightmost to the
leftmost ligand). H’ denotes an intermediate
ligand, with the topology of hydan (figure
3) but the charge on selected atoms set to
zero. When an intermediate ligand H’ is
used, the total transformation H à N = H à
H’ à N = (H à H’) + (H’ à N). (c)Difference =
protein – solution result; from the thermodynamic cycle (fig. 5), this corresponds to
the relative binding free energy between
the two ligands. (d)Sum of the two
processes (H à H’) + (H’ à N). (e)Average over
the underlined numbers. (f )Difference
between italicized numbers.
The transformation H -> M involves the
substitution of an H atom at position R
of the ligand (fig. 3) by a significantly
bulkier methy group. This substitution
is unfavored, resulting in positive freeenergy changes, both in solution (4.85
kcal/mol) and in the protein complex (8.6
kcal/mol). The introduction of a methyl
group in solution is not favored due to the
hydrophobic character of the methyl
group; However the same process is even
less favored in the protein. Examination of
the MD simulation structures of the
complex shows that the free-energy
change results from steric interactions
between the methyl group and a nearby
residue (Asp283) as well as a proximal
water molecule (W176) (figure 6). Overall,
the net free energy change (H -> M in
196
protein – H -> M in solution) is 3.65
kcal/mol, very near the experimental
binding free energy ΔGM – ΔGH = 3.6
kcal/mol. In conclusion, methyl-hydan
binds GP less strongly compared to
hydan, due to steric interactions with
protein and water residues in the GP
catalytic site.
The transformation H -> N involves the
substitution of H by an NH2 group
(figure 3). The latter group is bulkier than
group
in
water
because
the
NH2 group. Inside the protein, the
transformation H -> N is associated
with a free-energy difference of 1.55
kcal/mol. This is significantly smaller than
the corresponding result for the
transformation H ->M (8.6 kcal/mol). The
H-> N substitution is associated with a
very negative electrostatic free energy
component (-2.35 kcal/mol), suggesting
that the introduction of the NH2 group
improves the electrostatic interactions of
Figure 6. MD snapshots of the catalytic-site structure of the GP:hydan complex (left panel)
and GP:methyl-hydan complex (right panel). The proximal residues Asp283 (D283) and water
molecule W176 make key interactions with the H atom of the hydantoin moiety. Substitution
of H by CH3 (as in methyl-hydan) displaces Asp283 and W176 away from the ligand, and
reduces the ligand affinity for GP.
H, but can form improved electrostatic
interactions with surrounding residues.
This behavior is clearly reflected in the
unfavorable van der Waals (2.15 kcal/mol)
and favorable electrostatic (-1.5 kcal/mol)
free-energy component of the transformation H->N in solution. The two
components partly cancel, resulting in a
total free-energy change of 0.65 kcal/mol.
This is significantly smaller than the
corresponding total free-energy change
for the transformation H ->M in solution
(4.85 kcal/mol), reflecting the fact that the
introduction of an NH2 group is favored
relative to the introduction of a CH3
the ligand with the surrounding protein
and water (in contrast to the H->M
substitution). Furthermore, the corresponding vw free-energy component is
much smaller (3.9 kcal/mol, compared to
7.0 kcal/mol), due to the smaller size of
the NH2 group. A typical MD snapshot
of the catalytic site structure of the
GP:n-hydan complex is shown in figure 7.
The ligand NH2 group makes electrostatic
interactions with two protein residues
(Asp283, Asn284) and a water molecule
(W176).
197
A second pathway involves switching off
selected charges on hydan (state H’) and
then replacing the H atom with the NH2
group (transformation H’ -> N). The total
free energy change in this composite
transformation is 1.75 kcal/mol, very near
the value for the direct pathway (1.65
kcal/mol). Overall, the net free-energy
change («H - > N in protein» – «H -> N in
solution») is 0.9 kcal/mol, somewhat
smaller than the corresponding
experimental result (2.15) but still
positive. Even though n-hydan makes
improved electrostatic interactions with
the protein, compared to hydan, the NH2
group is too bulky to be accomodated in
the GP catalytic site, resulting in a net
decrease in the binding free energy of nhydan relative to hydan.
three β-D-glucopyranosylamine analogs
[3]. Depending on the functional group
introduced, the Ki values varied from 16.5
μM to 1200 μM. In order to rationalize the
kinetic results, the collaborating group
determined the crystal structures of the
analogs in complex with GP. All the
inhibitors bound at the catalytic site of the
enzyme, by making direct and watermediated hydrogen bonds with the
protein and by inducing minor movements of the side chains of Asp283 and
Asn284, of the 280s loop that blocks
access of the substrate glycogen to the
catalytic site, and changes in the water
structure in the vicinity of the site. The
differences observed in the Ki values of
the analogs were interpreted in terms of
variations in hydrogen bonding and van
der Waals interactions, desolvation
effects, ligand conformational entropy,
and displacement of water molecules on
ligand binding to the catalytic site.
Subsequent studies
Figure 7. MD snapshot of the catalytic-site
structure of the GP:n-hydan complex. The
NH2 group of the n-hydan hydantoin
moiety forms key interactions with Asp283,
Asn284 and water molecule W176.
Experimental studies
Our collaborators (group of Dr.
Oikonomakos) determined by X-ray
crystallography and studied by kinetic
experiments the binding properties of GP
complexes with four spirohydantoin and
The GP project enabled the participating
groups to strengthen their collaboration.
In a following study [16] we examined
GP binding of the compound
glucosyltriazolylacetamide (4-Phenyl-N(b-D-glucopyranosyl)-1H-1,2,3-triazole-1acetamide). Kinetic experiments in the
direction of glycogen synthesis showed
that this compound is a better inhibitor
(Ki = 0.18 mM) than the parent compound
a-D-glucose (Ki = 1.7 mM) or b-D-glucose
(Ki = 7.4 mM) but less potent inhibitor
than the lead compound N-acetyl-b-Dglucopyranosylamine (Ki = 32 μM).
Structural determination of the GP glucosyltriazolylacetamide complex at
1.88 A resolution showed that the
inhibitor binds at the catalytic site of
the enzyme, and its glucopyranose
moiety interacts in a manner similar to
198
that observed in the GPb-a-D-glucose
complex, while the substituent group in
the b-position of the C1 atom makes
additional hydrogen bonding and van der
Waals interactions to the protein.
Furthermore, we investigated [17] via
kinetic experiments and computation
(docking, molecular dynamics and freeenergy calculations) the potential of
indirubin (IC50 > 50 lM), indirubin-30oxime (IC50 5 144 nM), KT5720 (Ki 5 18.4
nM) and staurosporine (Ki 5 0.37 nM) as
phosphorylase kinase ATP-binding site
inhibitors. All inhibitors were predicted
to bind in the same active site area as
the ATP adenine ring, with binding
dominated by hinge region hydrogen
bonds to Asp104:O and Met106:O (all four
ligands) and also Met106:NH (for the
indirubins).
The free-energy calculations revealed the
source of staurosporine’s low nM potency
to be favorable electrostatic interactions,
while KT5720 has strong van der Waals
contributions.
B. Modeling of Flavopiridol
The parameterization of Flavopiridol was
carried out using an iterative procedure
that conformed with the methodology of
parameter derivation for the CHARMM27
force field [18-19]. In particular quantum
mechanical computations (using the
program Gaussian98 [20]) were combined
with energy minimization and molecular
dynamics simulations using the program
CHARMM [15]. Energy minimization and
normal mode computations were used to
derive parameter values (force constants,
equilibrium lengths and equilibrium
angles) for two-center bonds, threecenter angles. This process was coupled
to simultaneous partial atomic charge
parameterization geometry optimization
of the distance between chosen
Flavopiridol atoms and water molecules.
Finally, dihedral parameter values were
derived for important dihedral angles of
Flavopiridol using quantum mechanical
computations [18].
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14. T. Simonson, G. Archontis, M. Karplus
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15. B.R. Brooks, C.L. Brooks III, A.D.
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Skaltsounis, S.E. Zographos, N.G.
Oikonomakos (2011). Kinetics, in silico
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MM-GBSA binding studies on prototype
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L. Kuchnir, K. Kuczera, F. Lau, C. Mattos, S.
Michnick, T. Ngo, D. Nguyen, B. Prodhom,
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Stratmann, J.C. Burant, S. Dapprich, J.M.
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O. Farkas, J. Tomasi, V. Barone, M. Cossi, R.
Cammi, B. Mennucci, C. Pomelli, C. Adamo,
200
S. Clifford, J. Ochterski, G.A. Petersson, P.Y.
Ayala, Q. Cui, K. Morokuma, P. Salvador, J.J.
Dannenberg, D.K. Malick, A.D. Rabuck, K.
Raghavachari, J.B. Foresman, J. Cioslowski,
J. V. Ortiz, A. G. Baboul, B. B. Stefanov, G. Liu,
A. Liashenko, P. Piskorz, I. Komaromi, R.
Gomperts, R. L. Martin, D.J. Fox, T. Keith, M.A.
Al-Laham, C.Y. Peng, A. Nanayakkara, M.
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Appendix
Publications related to the Program
1. G. Archontis, K.A. Watson, Q. Xie, G.
Andreou, E.D. Chrysina, S.E. Zographos,
N.G. Oikonomakos and M. Karplus
(2005). Glycogen Phosphorylase Inhibitors:
A Free Energy Perturbation Analysis of
Glucopyranose Spirohydantoin Analogues.
Proteins: Structure, Function and
Bioinformatics 61:984-998.
2. K.A. Watson, E.D. Chrysina, K.E.
Tsitsanou, S.E. Zographos, G. Archontis,
G.W.J. Fleet and N.G. Oikonomakos (2005).
Kinetic and Crystallographic Studies
of Glucopyranose Spirohydantoin and
Glucopyranosylamine Analogs Inhibitors
of Glycogen Phosphorylase. Proteins:
Structure, Function and Bioinformatics 61:
966-983.
Participation in Conferences with
Invited Talk
1. «Catalytic inhibition of Glycogen
Phosphorylase: Insights from Molecular
Dynamics Free Energy Simulations».
International Society of Quantum Biology
and Pharmacology, Presidents Μeeting,
24-27 June 2006, Strasbourg, France.
2. «Thermodynamical Stability of Biomolecular Systems: Insights from Molecular
Dynamics, Free Energy Simulations and
Continuum Electrostatics.» CECAM meeting
on Continuing challenges in Free Energy
Calculations: Theory and Applications in
Chemistry and Biology, Lyon, 12-14 May
2004 (organizers: Christophe Chipot,
Equipe de dynamique des assemblages
membranaires, Université Henri Poincaré,
Unité mixte de recherche CNRS/UHP 7565,
Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy Cedex, France, και
Andrew Pohorille, Exobiology branch, NASA
Ames Research Center, Moffett Field,
California, USA).
3. «Free Energy Calculations: Modern
Applications to the Understanding of
Protein Specificity and to the Design of
new Ligands». 1st Congress of the Greek
X-ray Crystallography Society, Athens,
17-18 May 2002.
Poster Presentation
1. «Understanding Protein-Small Molecule
Interactions With Molecular Dynamics
Simulations and Continuum Electrostatics
Calculations.» 3rd International Multidisciplinary Workshop on the Selfassembly of Proteins and Peptides,
Herakleion, Crete, August 1-5, 2003
(organizers: Prof. Shuguang Zhang, Center
for Biomedical Engineering, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, USA, Michael
Hecht, Department of Chemistry,
Princeton University, USA, Amalia Aggeli
και Νeville Boden, Center for SelfOrganizing Molecular Systems, University
of Leeds, UΚ).
201
Development of Collaborations
Under this program, we invited the
following experts: (i) Prof. Alexander
Mackerell, Grollman-Glick Professor of
Pharmaceutical Sciences and Director of
the Computer-Aided Design Center in the
School of Pharmacy, University of
Maryland. Prof. Mackerell is an expert on
drug design and Molecular Dynamics
simulations, and the most authoritative
world expert on the parameterization
of the CHARMM energy function. Prof.
Mackerell visited our laboratory in
January 2003 and June 2004, and
discussed with us methods of energyfunction parameterization and molecular
dynamics simulations. (ii) The leader of
the collaborating group, Dr. Nikolaos
Oikonomakos (Director, Laboratory of
Physical Chemistry, NHRF, Athens Greece
). Dr. Oikonomakos was a world expert on
Glycogen Phosphorylase, and his
laboratory had determined the structure
of over 100 Glycogen Phosphorylase
complexes. Dr. Oikonomakos visited our
laboratory in April 2002 and January 2003.
Financial support of post-doctoral
researcher. The program supported postdoctoral researcher Dr. Mahid Monajjemi
during the period February 2003 –
September 2003.
202
Curricula Vitae
Georgios Archontis is Associate Professor in Theoretical and Computational Biophysics at the
Department of Physics of the University of Cyprus. Following undergraduate studies at the University
of Athens (B.Sc. in Physics, 1987), he obtained a Ph.D. in Biophysics (Harvard University, 1994) and
conducted postdoctoral research (University Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg, 1994 - 1996) with Martin
Karplus (Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 2013). His current research investigates: (1) the Microscopic origin
of stability and specificity of biomolecular complexes by Molecular Dynamics; (2) the development
and use of many-body implicit solvent free-energy functions for protein design; (3) the self-assembly
of peptide-based nanostructures; (4) Properties of electrolyte solutions. His present and past
international collaborations include groups at Harvard University (Cambridge, USA), University Louis
Pasteur (Strasbourg, France), Ecole Polytechnique (Paris, France), University of California Riverside
(USA), University of Crete (Herakleion, Greece), Princeton University (Princeton, USA), Tel Avivi
University (Israel), National Hellenic Research Foundation (Athens, Greece). During 1996-present he
has coordinated 13 grants from the Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation, the University of Cyprus
and the AG Leventis Foundation. He has 43 refereed publications with 2,969 citations (ISI Web of Sci.,
9/14) (h-index = 21). He has supervised 3 PhD Theses, 6 Masters Theses and 8 undergraduate Theses.
He is currently supervising 2 Ph.D. students.
Spiros S. Skourtis is Associate Professor, at the Department of Physics, UCY. He obtained a Ph.D in
Theoretical Biophysics at University of California (UC) Berkeley (U.S.A.). He then held postdoctoral
positions at UC San Diego, the University of Rochester NY, and the University of Pittsburgh (U.S.A).
His past academic positions include Research Assistant Professor at the University of Pittsburgh
(U.S.A), Assistant Professor at UCY, Visiting Professor at Duke University (U.S.A), and Visiting Professor
the Institute of Advanced Studies, Hebrew University (Israel). At UCY he has served as the Department
of Physics Chair and as a Member of the Academic Council of the School of Pure and Applied Sciences.
His research is in the broad area of Biophysics and Chemical Physics theory and computation. His
specializations are; (i) charge and energy transport processes in biological and molecular systems
(solution, molecular junction, single molecule settings), (ii) open quantum systems theory for
molecular rate processes in condensed phase environments, (ii) biomolecular structure/dynamicsfunction relationships. His research is highly interdisciplinary and includes publications in journals
such Science, Physical Review Letters, the Journal of the Americal Chemical Society, and NanoLetters.
His most recent international collaborations include academic and research institutions in the USA
(Duke University), Israel (Tel-Aviv University, Hebrew University, Weizmann Institute), Europe (KIT
Germany, DTU Denmark, UAM Spain) and China (Shanghai University). He has 52 publications with
1195 citations (ISI Web of Sci. 4/14) (h-index=22). His research funding includes grants from the
Leventis Foundation, the Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation and the EU (FP7). He has served as
a referee for the Israel Science Foundation, the US National Science Foundation and the US
Department of Energy. He is currently supervising one Ph.D. student.
Athanassios Nicolaides is Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry of the University
of Cyprus. Following undergraduate studies at the Department of Chemistry, University of Athens,
Greece (B.Sc. in Chemistry, 1986) he completed graduate studies at the Department of Chemistry,
University of Washington, Seattle, USA (Ph.D in Chemistry, 1992). Subsequently (1993-1996) he was
a Post-doctoral Fellow (1993-1996) at the Research School of Chemistry, Australian National University,
Australia, and a JSPS Fellow at the Department of Materials, Faculty of Engineering, Mie University,
Japan. His research interests include the application of computational methods (ab initio, DFT) into
chemistry, reactive intermediates, carbenes, pyramidalized olefins and their organometallic
complexes.
203
204
Molecular Motors: Investigating Their Role in Human
Neurodegenerative Disease
Principal Investigator: Niovi Santama, Associate Professor, Department of
Biological Sciences, Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, University of Cyprus
Research Associates: Maria Pantelidou, University of Cyprus, now Assistant
Professor, Frederick University; and Carsten W. Lederer, University of Cyprus,
now Assistant Professor, Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics
Background/topic
The A. G. Leventis grant supported at the
time my group’s work on Amyotrophic
lateral sclerosis (ALS), the most common
form of human motor neuron disease. ALS
is an adult-onset neurological disorder
characterised by upper and lower motor
neuron degeneration in the motor cortex,
brainstem and spinal cord, leading to
progressive atrophy and paralysis of
skeletal muscles. The disease is invariably
fatal with a rapid and dramatic decline
associated with very severe symptoms, and
although relatively rare, it has a high
societal impact. Approximately 10% of ALS
is familial (FALS) and about 20% of FALS
cases are associated with mutations in the
copper/zinc superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1)
gene. The remaining 90% of ALS are
without family history and therefore
considered sporadic (SALS). With the vast
majority of all ALS cases of unknown
genetic aetiology and with the molecular
mechanisms of motor neuron death still
unclear, several models have been put
forward to explain the pathogenesis of ALS
and it remains, todate, a field of intensive
research worldwide. Disease models
include oxidative stress, glutamate
excitotoxicity, excitotoxic influx of Ca2+
through AMPA receptors, neurofilament
aggregation, mitochondrial dysfunction,
apoptosis, and impaired axonal transport.
The machinery that mediates cytoskeletonbased, bi-directional axonal transport
comprises a large number of molecular
motors, together with adaptors, effectors
and regulators of transport complexes, as
well as diverse interacting proteins and
cellular cargoes. Motor proteins, in
particular, have been implicated in the
pathogenesis of motor neuron disorders by
a number of studies: early evidence
indicated that mutations in the fast axonal
transport motor protein kinesin in
Drosophila cause organelle jams that
disrupt retrograde as well as anterograde
fast axonal transport, leading to defective
action potentials, dystrophic terminals,
reduced transmitter secretion and
progressive distal paralysis, all typical
manifestations of motor neuron disorders.
More recent work revealed that a loss-offunction mutation in the motor protein
KIF1Bβ, that transports synaptic vesicle
precursors along the axon, is a cause of the
most common inherited human peripheral
neuropathy, Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT)
disease type 2A.
205
Molecular Motors: Investigating their Role in Human Neurodegenerative Disease
Furthermore, Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia
(SPG10) was found to be associated with a
missense mutation in the motor domain of
the neuronal kinesin heavy chain KIF5A
gene. Intriguingly, targeted disruption of
the KIF5A heavy chain in transgenic mice
causes abnormal neurofilament transport,
abnormal neurofilament transport, a
hallmark cytopathic manifestation of
motor neuron disease.
Along the same line, functional inhibition
or mutations of the dynein/dynactin
complex, involved in retrograde transport, cause a late-onset progressive
motor neuron degeneration in mouse
models that phenocopies human motor
neuron disease. Therefore, independent
and diverse studies have established a
tantalising link between defective motor
proteins that compromise axonal transport and the pathogenetic mechanisms
of different types of motor neuron
disorders. This was the aspect that my
group focussed on at the time of the Leventis grant.
Publications from this work
The work that was funded by the Leventis
Foundation culminated in 2 main
publications and one invited review
article, as follows:
1. Pantelidou, M., Zographos, S.E., Lederer,
C.W., Kyriakides, T., Pffafl, M.W., and
Santama, N. (2007). Differential expression
analysis of molecular motors in ALS motor
neuron disease. Neurobiology of Disease
26: 577-589.
2. Lederer, C.W., Torrisi, A., Santama, N. and
Cavallaro, S. (2007). Pathways and genes
differentially expressed in the motor cortex
of patients with sporadic ALS. BMC
Genomics 8:26 (p.1-26).
3. Lederer, C.W. and Santama, N. (2007)
ALS-The tools of the trait. Biotechnology
Journal 2: 608-621. (Invited Review)
In our manuscript by my post doctoral
fellow Maria Pantelidou (Pantelidou et
al. 2007) in the journal Neurobiology of
Disease, the stepping stone was a
systematic identification of kinesin-like
motor proteins expressed in normal
human motor cortex and rat cultured
spinal motor neurons as, surprisingly, little
was known about motor-neuron-specific
expression of motor proteins in man or
mammals in general. This analysis
determined the expression of 15 kinesinlike motors in healthy human motor
cortex, including three novel isoforms. By
a comprehensive quantitative analysis of
motor protein expression in post-mortem
specimens of sporadic ALS (SALS) patients
with quantitative real-time RT-PCR,
we detected statistically significant
SALS-specific down-regulation of motor
proteins KIF1Bβ and KIF3Aa, a novel
isoform particularly enriched in the motor
cortex (Figure 1). We collected samples
of all ALS sufferers in Cyprus (with
institutional procedures and their written
consent), constructed the first and only
ALS DNA bank in Cyprus and performed
mutation analysis of the exome the 15
motor proteins. This screening revealed
no mutations in their respective genes,
indicating that for the SALS population
under study this down-regulation was
caused at the transcriptional level and
possibly induced under conditions that
are conducive to the culmination of the
neurodegenerative pathogenesis. Motor
proteins KIF1Bβ and the novel KIF3Aa are
particularly interesting targets as KIF1B
and KIF3A isoforms have already been
206
implicated in other neurodegenerative
diseases. Importantly, reduction of
heterotrimeric kinesin II, of which KIF3A
is a constituent, has been linked to
neurodegeneration in mammals: kinesin
II is a selective transporter of opsin
and arrestin, but not a–transducin, in
mammalian photoreceptors, and removal
of KIF3A by photoreceptor-specific
conditional mutagenesis causes a rapid
degeneration of photoreceptor cells. In
human, KIF1B is expressed in two types of
isoforms, KIF1Bβ, originally reported as a
mitochondria transporter but also shown
to interact with post synaptic density and
synaptic scaffold proteins, and at least
three KIF1Bβ-like forms, one of which,
KIF1Bβ (NM015074), is a transporter
of synaptic vesicle precursors and
implicated in Charcot Marie Tooth type 2A
motor neuron disease. KIF1Bβ motor was
the target of our continued investigation
and was further characterised in our
recent work by Charalambous et al., 2013
in the journal Cellular and Molecular Life
Sciences. Overall, the study by Pantelidou
et al. was, at that time, the most
comprehensive identification of kinesinlike proteins expressed in motor neurons
and the human motor cortex, and
identified for the first time two motor
proteins as possible candidates involved
in SALS pathology.
Over and above the Pantelidou study, the
diversity of processes likely involved in
ALS pathogenesis still represented a
major impediment to disease models and
effective therapies. We joined forces with
the Functional Genomics Centre, led by
Prof. Sebastiano Cavallaro, at the Italian
CNR, to perform a powerful wholegenome expression profiling of a sizeable
207
collection of SALS and non-SALS motor
cortex specimens in our possession. In a
breakthrough publication in the journal
BMC Genomics, the work by my post
doctoral fellow Carsten Lederer (Lederer
et al., 2007) described our analysis,
including stringent significance tests that
combined genes and gene groups deregulated in SALS, thus expanding current
disease models. The importance of our
study lies in the fact that at the time of its
publication this was the first microarray
analysis with central motor neurons of the
motor cortex (rather than spinal cord
motor neurons) and this was valuable and
of high clinical relevance because
differential effects of ALS in central and
spinal motor neurons create problems
both in the definition and diagnosis of
ALS. Our findings emphasized the
significance of pathways of neuronal
differentiation and signalling, indicated
induction of defence responses including
inflammatory, stress and immune
responses, down-regulation of cytoskeletal (microtubule and neurofilament)
core units, dysfunction of mitochondrial
energy metabolism and the proteasome,
and implicated impaired ion homeostasis,
solute transport and impaired glycolysis
in ALS pathogenesis (Figure 2). The
comprehensive analysis offered in the
manuscript provided a full molecular
portrait of the changes occurring in the
motor cortex of SALS patients and
highlighted new leads for the development of effective ALS therapies. Indeed,
for the manipulation of many of the genes
and pathways implicated by this study,
experimental or therapeutic drugs, not
yet discussed in the context of ALS, are
already available. Moreover, our findings
suggested that several drugs, currently
Molecular Motors: Investigating their Role in Human Neurodegenerative Disease
used to treat unrelated diseases, might be
of benefit to ALS patients and indicated
medication, already applied to unrelated
illnesses, as possible drugs for symptomatic ALS therapy. While it is clear from
SOD1-linked FALS that all the alterations
detected in ALS can have a common
root and are therefore interrelated,
therapy of ALS might also require
combined medication to combat disease
progression at multiple fronts. Many of
the potential targets of this battle were
outlined by our study.
Other support from the Leventis Foundation:
Two of my former PhD students received
support from the Leventis Foundation, in
the form of studentships, during the
course of their studies.
These are:
• Dr Andri Christodoulou, graduated in
2006 and produced a major publication in
a high-impact factor journal in Cell Biology.
Christodoulou, A., Lederer, C.W., Surrey, T.,
Vernos, I. and Santama, N. (2006). Motor
protein KIFC5A interacts with Nubp1 and
Nubp2 and is implicated in the regulation
of centrosome duplication. Journal of Cell
Science 119:2035-2047.
• Dr Despina Charalambous, graduated
in 2012 and her work was a direct
continuation of the discoveries of the
Pantelidou work, resulting in another
high-impact publication.
Charalambous, D.C., Pasciuto, E., Mercaldo,
V., Pilo Boyl, P., Munck, S,, Bagni, C,,
Santama N. (2013). KIF1Bβ transports
dendritically localized mRNPs in neurons
and is recruited to synapses in an activitydependent manner. Cellular and Molecular
Life Sciences 70: 335-356.
208
Figure 1: Motor neurons from an ALS patient, as seen by immuno-fluorescence
microscopy. This type of neurons are specifically degenerated in ALS. Green
fluorescence indicates the expression of motor KIF3A. Image taken from Pantelidou et
al., 2007, Neurobiology of Disease, 26: 577-589.
Figure 2: Results from oligonucleotide microarray analysis, high-lighting genes and
pathways specifically up- or down-regulated in the motor cortex of ALS patients. Image
taken from Lederer et al., 2007, BMC Genomics 8:26 (p.1-26).
209
Molecular Motors: Investigating their role in human neurodegenerative disease
Curriculum Vitae
Niovi Santama, Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Pure and Applied
Sciences, University of Cyprus
Studies
• Degree in Biology (B.Sc.) (awarded with grade 83.3%), University of Athens, Greece (1987)
• Master of Science (M.Sc.) in Genetic Manipulation and Molecular Biology. University of Sussex, UK.
(1988)
• Ph.D. in Neuroscience, University of Sussex, UK (1992)
Professional Posts
• Post-doctoral Research Fellow at the Sussex Centre for Neuroscience (an Interdisciplinary Research
Centre of Excellence) at the University of Sussex, U.K. (1992-93)
• EMBO Fellow at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany
(1994-95)
• Marie Curie HCM Fellow at the EMBL in Heidelberg, Germany (1995-97)
• Lecturer at the Department of Natural Sciences, University of Cyprus (1996-98)
• Assistant Professor at the Department of Natural Sciences, University of Cyprus (1998-2002)
• Transfer as Assistant Professor at the newly-established Department of Biological Sciences,
University of Cyprus (2002-07)
• Associate Professor Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cyprus (since 2007)
Niovi Santama, Ph.D. is a molecular cell biologist, trained at the European Molecular Biology
Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, and at the University of Sussex in Brighton, UK. She was
the recipient of long-term postdoctoral Fellowships from EMBO and the Marie Curie HCM Programme
(EU).
Her research background and contributions are in the fields of the molecular and cell biology of
neuropeptide gene expression in the brain, the structure and function of subnuclear domains in
mammalian neurons and, currently, the field of molecular motor proteins and ciliogenesis in
mammalian cells.
She has published 30 papers in international refereed journals, including papers in the EMBO Journal,
The Journal of Cell Science, The Journal of Biological Chemistry, Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences, in
which she is first or corresponding author. For her publications, she scores an H-factor of 16 and total
citations (excluding self-citations) about 680. During the period 2000-2011, she has attracted about
1.5 million Euro in external research funding, obtained by the European Commission, the US Muscular
Dystrophy Association, the Telethon Foundation (Cyprus), the A. G. Leventis Foundation (France) and
the Research Promotion Foundation (RPF, Cyprus). She collaborates with research groups
internationally (Singapore, Germany, Spain, Italy, Greece, Belgium, the UK) and has received funding
for collaborative research.
She has supervised several undergraduate (15), postgraduate (10 M.Sc awarded and 1 in progress),
doctoral (3 Ph.D.s awarded, and 2 in progress) and post-doctoral (6) researchers. Members of her
group received short-term Fellowships during their studies in her group (5 EMBO and 1 FEBS) to visit
210
European laboratories for collaborative research. At the University of Cyprus she designed and taught
6 new undergraduate courses and 4 new postgraduate courses.
She represents Cyprus at EMBO, is the National Contact Point for the EMBO Young Investigator Award,
and is an invited Reviewer in Life Sciences (Panels LS1, LS3) of the European Research Council (ERC,
Starting Grants) since 2007 (and ongoing), in European Commission-funded programs and invited
reviewer for the Wellcome Trust, UK (Neuroscience and Mental Health Projects).
Current research interests
• Centrosome and cilogenesis regulation in mammalian cells
• Molecular and cell biology of motor proteins and cytoskeleton in mammalian mitotic cells and in
the mammalian nervous system
• Mechanisms of nuclear envelope formation in human cells
Previous work
• Identification and functional characterisation of receptors for motor proteins in the nervous system
• Neurodegeneration and motor neuron disease in humans
• RNA metabolism and nuclear organisation in the mammalian neuron
• Molecular and cell biology of neuropeptidergic systems in the central nervous system of simple
model organisms
Selected publications (out of 30)
1.
Santama, N., Krijnse-Locker, J., Griffiths, G., Noda, Y., Hirokawa, N. and Dotti, C.G. (1998). KIF2β, a
new kinesin superfamily protein, is associated with lysosomes and may be implicated in their
centrifugal translocation. EMBO J. 17:5855-5867.
2.
Santama, N., Er, C.P., Ong, L.L. and Yu, H. (2004). Distribution and functions of kinectin isoforms.
J. Cell Science117:4537-4549.
3.
Santama, N., Ogg S.C., Malekkou A., Zographos S.E., Weis K. and Lamond A.I. (2005).
Characterization of hCINAP, a novel coilin-interacting protein encoded by a transcript from the
transcription factor TAFIID32 locus. J. Biological Chemistry 280:36429-36441.
4.
Christodoulou, A., Lederer, C.W., Surrey, T., Vernos, I. and Santama, N. (2006). Motor protein
KIFC5A interacts with Nubp1 and Nubp2 and is implicated in the regulation of centrosome
duplication. J. Cell Science 119: 2035-2047.
5.
Lederer, C.W., Torrisi, A., Santama, N. and Cavallaro, S. (2007). Comprehensive expression profiling
of motor cortex in sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Pathways and genes differentially
expressed in the motor cortex of patients with sporadic ALS. BMC Genomics 8:26 (p.1-26).
6.
Pantelidou, M., Zographos, S.E., Lederer, C.W., Kyriakides, T., Pffafl, M.W., and Santama, N. (2007).
Differential expression analysis of molecular motors in ALS motor neuron disease. Neurobiology
of Disease 26: 577-589.
7.
Lederer, C.W. and Santama, N. (2007) ALS-The tools of the trait. Biotechnology Journal 2:608-621.
211
Molecular Motors: Investigating their role in human neurodegenerative disease
8.
Lederer, C.W. and Santama, N. (2008) Neural Stem Cells: mechanisms of fate specification and
nuclear reprogramming in regenerative medicine. Biotechnology Journal 3: 1521-1538.
9.
Malekkou, A., Lederer, C.W., Lamond, A.I., Santama, N. (2010) The nuclear ATPase/adenylate
kinase hCINAP is recruited to perinucleolar caps generated upon RNA pol.II inhibition. FEBS
Letters 584:4559-4564.
10. Drakou, C.E., Malekkou, A., Hayes, J,M,, Lederer, C.W., Leonidas, D.D., Oikonomakos, N.G., Lamond,
A.I,, Santama, N., Zographos, S.E. (2012) hCINAP is an atypical mammalian nuclear adenylate
kinase with an ATPase motif: structural and functional studies. Proteins 80: 206-220.
11. Charalambous, D.C., Pasciuto, E., Mercaldo, V., Pilo Boyl, P., Munck, S,, Bagni, C,, Santama N. (2013).
KIF1Bβ transports dendritically localized mRNPs in neurons and is recruited to synapses in an
activity-dependent manner. Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences 70: 335-356.
12. Ioannou, A, Santama N, Skourides PA. (2013) X. laevis nucleotide binding protein 1 (xNubp1) is
important for convergent extension movements and controls ciliogenesis via regulation of the
actin cytoskeleton. Developmental Biology 380: 243-258.
13. Kypri, E., Christodoulou, A., Maimaris, G., Lethan, M., Markaki, M., Lyssandrou, C., Lederer, C.W.,
Tavernarakis, N., Geimer, S., Pedersen, L.B. Santama, N. (2014). The nucleotide binding proteins
Nubp1 and Nubp2 are negative regulators of ciliogenesis. Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences
71(3):517-538.
212
Equol Reduces Tamoxifen Associated Toxicity in SpragueDawley Rat Hepatocytes and Peripheral Blood Mononuclear
Cells
Principal Investigator: Andreas Constantinou, Professor, Department of
Biological Sciences, Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, University of Cyprus
Research Associate: Bethany E. Perez White, Department of Biopharmaceutical
Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois at Chicago
Abstract
We have recently reported that diets containing daidzein significantly reduced the
incidence of oxidized guanine residues in normal mammary tissue of SpragueDawley rats (Constantinou, 2005). These results have been attributed to the daidzein
metabolite equol, due to an almost 100% metabolic conversion determined by
plasma levels. These data suggest that the combination of tamoxifen and daidzein
protects DNA from oxidative damage in normal mammary tissue. Tamoxifen has
been established as an agent that induces secondary toxicities in the rat liver and
possibly peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) by inducing DNA damage
resulting from adduct formation. In an effort to determine the effects of these diets
on tamoxifen-induced toxicity in secondary tissues, we examined DNA damage in
PBMCs and isolated liver cells by single cell gel electrophoresis (comet assay), a
sensitive method for assessing DNA damage in single cells. Comet scores were
elevated in liver cells and PBMCs in animals fed the DMBA and DMBA plus tamoxifen
diets. However, when administered in combination, dietary daidzein significantly
reduced the levels of DNA damage in hepatocytes and PBMCs. Further, we
determined the effects of the above diets on tamoxifen induced DNA damage in
the absence of DMBA to discern the effects of tamoxifen alone. In liver cells,
tamoxifen significantly induced DNA damage. However, the tamoxifen plus daidzein
diet showed a significant reduction in DNA damage, indicating a protective effect
by equol. There was no significant effect on DNA damage in PBMCs by any diet. Our
results indicate that daidzein, by way of its metabolite equol, can help to reduce the
toxic influence of DMBA and tamoxifen in the breast, liver, and PBMCs in rats. These
results indicate that equol may serve to counter the toxic effects of tamoxifen and
may have application as an adjunct treatment.
Key Words: equol, daidzein, DNA damage, tamoxifen, DMBA
213
Equol Reduces Tamoxifen Associated Toxicity in Sprague-Dawley Rat Hepatocytes and Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells
Brief Summary of the funded project
Tamoxifen, an estrogen receptor (ER)α
antagonist, is an effective chemopreventive
agent against breast cancer. The soy
phytoestrogens genistein, daidzein, and
equol selectively bind to ERβ. Theoretically,
these soy phytoestrogens may enhance or
negate tamoxifen’s chemopreventive
effects. Women at high risk for developing
breast cancer, or breast cancer patients
with ER+ tumors, are now treated with
tamoxifen to prevent primary breast
tumors or the development of recurrences,
respectively. However, it is presently
uncertain if these women are benefited or
harmed by consuming soy products, or by
taking phytoestrogens as supplements.
Based on our previous animal studies and
emerging literature we hypothesisze that
diaidzein through its metabolite equol
improves tamoxifen’s efficacy and therefore
it provides additional protection against
mammary carcinogenesis. The main
objective of this proposal is to determine
the mechanism of action of this combined
effect by: determining the individual and
combined effects of tamoxifen and equol
on tumor cell growth, toxicity, oxidative
DNA damage and apoptosis. Knowledge on
these basic molecular mechanisms of
action will assist in the rational design of
efficacious cancer preventive agents
1. Introduction
Tamoxifen is currently used for the
prevention and treatment of primary and
secondary breast tumors. However, the use
of tamoxifen presents its beneficial effects
with risks for untoward secondary effects
including an association to an increased
incidence of endometrial malignancies
(Swerdlow and Jones, 2005; Cuzick, 2003;
International Agency for Research on
Cancer, 1996). Tamoxifen acts as a selective
estrogen receptor modulator in hormone-
responsive tissues and must be activated in
the liver and carried through the blood to
mammary tissue. As such, there is
opportunity for interaction with hepatocytes, circulating peripheral mononuclear
blood cells such as lymphocytes, and other
secondary tissues.
Tamoxifen is metabolized by phase I
enzymes leading to reactive tamoxifen
intermediates and reactive oxygen
species (ROS) such as H2O2 and the highly
reactive hydroxyl radical causing increased
oxidative stress in the hepatic environment.
Specifically, tamoxifen metabolism includes
hepatic cytochrome P450 family member
CYP2B6 (Sridar, 2002) and CYP3A4 which is
responsible for the conversion of tamoxifen
to its DNA-adduct forming metabolite
(Boocock, 2002). It has also been
determined that tamoxifen metabolites
further stimulate breakdown of the parent
compound (White, 1993). There is evidence
that tamoxifen intermediates react directly
with DNA in murine hepatocytes forming
adducts (Phillips, 2005; da Costa, 2001;
Han and Liehr, 1992) and that such adducts
are inefficiently repaired (Kim, 2006).
Administered at a high dose of 35 mg/kg
tamoxifen was shown to induce aneuploidy
in rat liver cells (Sargent, 1996). Exposure to
tamoxifen promotes tumors in rat liver after
one and two year studies raising concerns
about long-term administration in humans
(Greaves, 1993; Williams, 1993). In addition,
peripheral blood mononuclear cells
(PBMCs) are susceptible to interaction
with circulating carcinogens. Tamoxifen
metabolites have been shown to interact
with the DNA of rat PBMCs (Hemminki,
1995).
In a previous report, we demonstrated that
a diet containing a combination of the
soy isoflavone daidzein and tamoxifen
was more effective in preventing DMBAinduced rat mammary carcinogenesis
214
(Constantinou, 2005). The combination was
more effective than tamoxifen alone and is
attributed to the metabolite daidzein equol
due to nearly one hundred percent
conversion. LC-MS-MS analysis revealed
that the daidzein diet, which is converted
to equol, reduced oxidative DNA damage in
normal mammary tissue as determined by
the reduced incidence of oxidized guanine
residues (8-oxo-dG/dG) (Constantinou,
2005).
Equol possesses a number of inherent
qualities that may explain its many
expressions of cancer prevention and may
contribute in a number of ways to an overall
effect. The present study is designed to
evaluate the potential of tamoxifen to
produce secondary toxicity in rat liver and
PBMCs in the absence or presence of the
carcinogen DMBA and determine the
effects of the daidzein metabolite equol. We
report here, for the first time, that equol can
reduce tamoxifen-induced DNA breakage
both in the rat liver and PBMCs. This finding
may have implications prevention trials
with tamoxifen and soy.
diet daidzein, and the combination for the
tamoxifen, daidzein, and daidzein/
tamoxifen combination, respectively. Both
the positive control and negative control
groups were fed the basal diet. The positive
control was administered DMBA while the
negative control group was only given the
oil vehicle. During the experimental period
animals were weighed weekly and assessed
everyday for overall health. Animals were
exposed to a 12-hour light/dark cycle and
housed at ambient temperature. Animals
were provided appropriate experimental
diets and water ad libitum. At 185 days of
age rats were sacrificed by CO2
asphyxiation and blood was immediately
collected by hepatic arterial puncture and
placed in tubes containing dipotassium
EDTA as anticoagulant (1 mg/1 ml blood).
Livers were excised and frozen on dry ice.
The experiment and protocol were
approved and performed in compliance
with relevant laws and institutional
guidelines according the Animal Care
Committee (01-142) and Animal Welfare
Assurance (A3460.01) at the University of
Illinois at Chicago (Chicago, Illinois USA).
2. Materials and Methods
All chemicals were obtained from SigmaAldrich (St. Louis, Missouri USA) unless
otherwise stated. Daidzein was obtained
from Indofine Chemical Company
(Hillsborough, New Jersey USA).
2.1 In vivo Chemoprevention Study
At age 35 days, virgin female SpragueDawley rats were randomized by weight
and put into groups according to diet.
Animals were then started on appropriate
diets made from the basal AIN-76A diet
(Harlan-Teklad, Madison, Wisconsin USA) for
one week before being administered 12.5
mg DMBA intragastrically in a sesame oil
vehicle. Diet components consisted of
0.125 mg/kg diet tamoxifen, 105 mg/kg
2.2 In vivo Dietary Study
At 35 days, virgin female Sprague-Dawley
rats were randomized by weight and put
into groups according to diet. Diet
components consisted of 0.125 mg/kg diet
tamoxifen, 105 mg/kg diet daidzein, and
the combination for the tamoxifen,
daidzein, and daidzein/tamoxifen combination, respectively. The control group was
fed the basal diet. During the experimental
period animals were weighed weekly and
assessed everyday for overall health.
Animals were exposed to a 12-hour
light/dark cycle and housed at ambient
temperature. Animals were provided
appropriate experimental diets and water
ad libitum. At 28 days of age rats were
215
sacrificed by CO2 asphyxiation and blood
was immediately collected by hepatic
arterial puncture and placed in tubes
containing
dipotassium
EDTA
as
anticoagulant (1 mg/ ml blood). Livers
were excised and frozen on dry ice. The
experiment and protocol were approved
and performed in compliance with relevant
laws and institutional guidelines according
the Animal Care Committee (01-142) and
Animal Welfare Assurance (A3460.01) at the
University of Illinois at Chicago (Chicago,
Illinois USA).
2.3 Isolation of peripheral blood
mononuclear cells (PBMCs)
For PBMC extraction, blood was diluted
with ice cold PBS (pH = 7.4, Ca++ and Mg++
free) and layered on 3 mL of Ficoll-Paque
PLUS (Amersham) in a 15 mL centrifuge
tube. The sample was centrifuged at 400 x
g for 40 min at 4º C with the brake off. The
plasma was drawn off to the PBMC-plasma
interface and transferred to another tube.
The PBMCs were diluted with 6 mL ice
cold PBS (pH = 7.4, Ca++ and Mg++ free)
and pelleted at 100 x g. The cells were
resuspended and washed in ice cold PBS at
approximately 1 x 106 cells/mL.
2.4 Evaluation of DNA damage in primary
PBMCs and hepatocytes by the comet
assay
All isolated cells were kept on ice and used
immediately in the comet assay. After
harvest, cells were combined with low
melting point agarose (1:10 v/v), applied to
a CometSlide® (Trevigen, Inc., Gaithersburg,
Maryland USA), and allowed to set for 30
min at 4° C. Cells were then gently lysed in
lysis buffer (proprietary formula, Trevigen,
Inc.) for 1 h. Slides were briefly and gently
rinsed in cold dH2O and then immersed in
alkaline solution (1 mM EDTA, 300 mM
NaOH, pH>13) for 40 min at RT. Slides were
then electrophoresed for 30 min in alkaline
solution at 1 V/cm, 300 mA at 4° C.
Following electrophoresis, slides were
gently and briefly rinsed in cold dH2O and
dried in 70% EtOH for 5 min. Slides were
then allowed to completely air dry.
Data were visualized by epifluorescence
microscopy (excitation/emission: 494 nm/
521 nm) after staining the samples with
SYBR Green I (Invitrogen). Cells were
given a visual semiquantitative score (au)
between 0 and 4 based on the length
and overall size of their tail. For each
group 4-5 individual tissue samples were
used. Individual samples were run in
quadruplicate.
2.3 Isolation of hepatocytes
Approximately equal volumes of frozen rat
livers were cut into relatively large pieces (12 mm3) in 10 mL ice cold 20 mM EDTA in
PBS (Ca++ and Mg++ free) for 5 min in a 60
mm Petri dish on ice. The liquid was
aspirated and the tissue cut into very small
pieces in 2 mL of ice cold 20 mM EDTA in
PBS (Ca++ and Mg++ free) and allowed to sit
on ice for 30 min. The cell suspension was
collected in 2 mL microcentrifuge tubes
and spun at 380 x g at 4° C for 10 min
followed by resuspension in ice cold PBS at
approximately 1 x 106 cells/mL.
2.5 Statistical Analyses
All statistical analyses were performed by
unpaired t-tests using GraphPad Prism 4.0
software (San Diego, California USA).
3. Results
The chemopreventive and countertoxic
capacity of equol in the liver and PBMCs of
animals fed daidzein-containing experimental diets was measured using the
comet assay. DMBA and tamoxifen are
metabolized in the liver and generate DNAreactive species that can lead to the
216
initiating step of carcinogenesis and can
increase the risk of secondary toxicities.
The comet score, a measure of DNA
damage, is significantly elevated in animals
administered DMBA only and DMBA plus a
diet containing tamoxifen in relation to the
oil-treated negative control (P < 0.0001,
Fig. 1). Animals fed the daidzein containing
diets had hepatic DNA damage that did not
differ from the negative control group
(oil + basal) but that was significantly lower
than the DMBA plus tamoxifen group,
indicating a protective effect attributed to
the daidzein metabolite equol. Similarly to
the liver cells, DMBA and tamoxifen caused
extensive DNA damage to the PBMCs
compared to the oil-treated negative
control (P < 0.0001, Fig. 2); in fact, DMBA
plus tamoxifen induced significantly
greater damage than DMBA alone
(P = 0.0033). The DNA damage observed in
the PBMCs of animals fed the daidzein
containing diets was substantially reduced.
To dissociate the effects of the diets from
those of the DMBA carcinogen, we
designed a dietary study as described in
Materials and Methods. In this study rats
were fed experimental diets in the absence
of DMBA to test the toxicity of the test
compounds. Tamoxifen considerably
induces DNA damage in isolated
hepatocytes of animals compared to
the group consuming only the basal diet
(P < 0.0001). Daidzein does not cause DNA
damage and protects hepatic DNA from
tamoxifen-induced DNA damage when
administered in combination (P < 0.0001,
compared to tamoxifen only group).
Interestingly, none of the experimental
diets induce DNA damage in PBMCs.
4. Discussion
These results indicate equol, a metabolite
of dietary daidzein, protects secondary
tissues including liver and circulating white
blood cells in female Sprague-Dawley
rats from DNA damage introduced by
tamoxifen and DMBA administration.
According to plasma concentration levels,
dietary daidzein was converted almost
100% to equol allowing us to attribute
experimental outcomes to equol and not
daidzein (Constantinou, 2005). The target
tissue of tamoxifen and DMBA is the
mammary gland, but these compounds
and their metabolites can interact with liver
and PBMC DNA causing undue stress and
genotoxic events that may lead to
potentially dangerous side effects. Equol
may work by directly or indirectly
preventing DNA damage and may find
application as an adjunct treatment to help
reduce tamoxifen-related toxicity.
Cytochrome P450 gene products are
detoxifying enzymes that convert
xenochemicals into potentially hazardous
mutagenic metabolites. A common
supplement dose of isoflavones was shown
to inhibit human P450 enzyme CYP2A6
activity, a hepatic activating enzyme that is
involved in the metabolism of tamoxifen
(Nakajima, 2006). CYP2A6 was shown to
have the greatest reducing capabilities in
the interconversion of tamoxifen-N-oxide
back to tamoxifen (Parte and Kupfer, 2005).
Isoflavones may prevent this conversion
and possible subsequent catalysis of
tamoxifen to a more reactive metabolite,
such as α-hydroxytamoxifen and 4hydroxytamoxifen, preventing DNAtamoxifen metabolite adduct formation.
Beyond inhibiting phase I enzymes, there is
evidence soy induces phase II enzymes
(Appelt and Reicks, 1999) possibly
increasing the clean-up of ROS and reactive
metabolites.
Soy phytoestrogens including equol have
been shown in a number of studies to
protect against oxidative DNA damage
(Chen YC, 2005; Rimbach, 2003; Sierens,
217
2001). Anderson and colleagues showed
that exposure to estrogenic compounds
including equol induces damage in cultured
human lymphocytes as determined by the
comet assay (2003). It is important to note
that the concentration used was more than
500-fold higher than the levels found in the
plasma of animals fed effective experimental
diets in the present study (Constantinou,
2005). One study suggests that daidzein
generates ROS at high nonphysiologically
relevant concentrations (Cemeli, 2004) but
not at physiologically obtainable levels (Foti,
2005; Sierens, 2001). In healthy human
lymphocytes, isoflavone supplementation
was shown to protect DNA from oxidative
stress in part by inhibiting oxidative stress
and inhibiting NFκB activation and DNA
adduct formation (Davis, 2001).
In the second part of the study, we evaluated
the DNA damage in livers of rats exposed to
tamoxifen for only 28 days finding that DNA
damage is significantly elevated compared
to nontreated controls within this exposure
period. This indicates that carcinogenesis
may begin after short-term administration.
Interestingly, the rats fed a diet containing
daidzein and tamoxifen combination had
levels of damage comparable to the
nontreated control group. One study has
shown that tamoxifen may act as an
estrogen in the rat liver increasing the
likelihood of neoplasms (Wanless and
Medline, 1982). The increased DNA damage
in the tamoxifen treated rats indicates that
any possible estrogenic promoting role for
tamoxifen may be secondary to DNA
damage in rat hepatocarcinogenesis.
Tamoxifen induced DNA damage in the
PBMCs of animals exposed to DMBA. In
contrast tamoxifen did not induce DNA
damage in the PBMCs of animals not
exposed to DMBA. This suggests an
increased sensitivity to oxidative stress when
both agents are circulating.
Data stemming from in vivo data utilizing
rats and mice must be carefully extrapolated
to the human condition because these
animals are more sensitive to the toxic
effects of tamoxifen. Murine sensitivity to
tamoxifen may be exacerbated by the
effects of the metabolite-induced selfregulatory activation and constituent
activity of cytochrome P450 enzymes.
Evidence in nonhuman primates indicates
that the metabolism of tamoxifen leads to
the formation and accumulation of enzyme
inhibitory metabolites suggesting a
protective mechanism (Cogmolio, 1996).
The protective metabolite was confirmed to
be N-didesmethyltamoxifen, a metabolite
that is detectable in the serum of patients
on tamoxifen (Kisanga, 2004). Further
investigations are required to determine if
there is a similar compound protective effect
in human liver involving the accumulation of
inhibitory tamoxifen metabolites and equol.
Adduct formation was seen in human liver
microsomal activation systems implicating
that tamoxifen could be genotoxic in human
tissue as well (Pathak and Bodell, 1994) but
the level of adduct formation is much higher
in rat than human liver cells in vitro (Kim SY,
2005). There is evidence that tamoxifen
forms DNA adducts in human PBMCs
(Hemminki, 1995) but this is contested using
similar detection methods (Phillips, 1996).
DMBA is also recognized as a carcinogen
that is capable of inducing nonphysiological
stress in the liver as well as PBMCs and
has long been recognized as a model
carcinogen. DMBA metabolites have also
been shown to form adducts with DNA in
cultured human lymphocytes resulting in
increased DNA damage (Pero, 1976). All of
the evidence indicates that tamoxifen is
genotoxic in the rat liver. These side effects
have not been observed in humans, but the
apparent risk is appreciated by members of
the medical field (Poirier and Schild, 2003).
218
To our knowledge this is the first time
dietary daidzein, which is converted to
equol, has been shown to decrease the
genotoxic influence of DMBA and
tamoxifen in vivo in secondary tissues
by reducing the levels of DNA damage
in PBMCs and the liver. Additional
experiments must be done to clearly define
the mechanism(s) of the protective effect of
equol in the rat liver and PBMCs. Further,
according to these observations, equol may
also have a protective effect in endometrial
tissue which would greatly enhance the
value of adding equol to tamoxifen
regimens. The protection could result from
the prevention of adduct formation,
scavenging of potentially genotoxic ROS,
and/or enzyme inhibitory mechanisms.
These observations should be evaluated in
future chemoprevention studies in humans
with tamoxifen and soy taking into
consideration our findings which suggest
that a soy compound not only reduces the
risk of breast cancer but may also help
reduce the side effects of tamoxifen.
Acknowledgment:
This project was funded by a grant from the
A. G. Leventis Foundation.
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A. Scientific Publications
1. Tonetti DA, Zhang Y, Zhao H, Lim SB,
Constantinou AI. The effect of the
phytoestrogens genistein, daidzein, and
equol on the growth of tamoxifen-resistant
T47D/PKC alpha. Nutrition and Cancer
58:222-229, 2007
2. Charalambous C., Pitta C. and
Constantinou AI. Equol enhances
tamoxifen’s antitumor activity by induction
of caspace-mediated apoptosis. BMC
Cancer. 13:238-247, 2013.
B. Presentations in International
Conferences
3. K.A. Nicolaou, B.E. Perez White, M.C.
Demetriou, P. A. Stylianou, A. I. Constantinou.
The soy isoflavone daidzein lowers the
increased risk of endometrial cancer
produced by tamoxifen in rats. Proceedings
of Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research 197
(B222), 2006
4. P.S. Vraka, A. I. Constantinou. Equol and
Genistein enhance the Apoptotic effects of
γ-tocotrienol in Prostate Cancer LNCaP cells.
Proceedings of Frontiers in Cancer Prevention
Research, 158 (B80), 2006
5. B.E. Perez White and A.I. Constantinou.
Equol, a metabolite of daidzein, reduces
DMBA- and tamoxifen-associated DNA
damage in peripheral blood mononuclear
cells and liver cells. Proceedings of Frontiers in
Cancer Prevention Research, 154 (B65), 2006
221
6. B. E. Perez White, P.Vraka, D. Tonetti, and
A.I. Constantinou. Equol enhances the
in vitro effects of tamoxifen. Proceedings of
the American Association for Cancer Research
48: 2274, 2007
7. B. E. Perez White, K. A. Nikolaou and A.I.
Constantinou. Equol reduces tamoxifenassociated toxicity and the risk of
endometrial cancer in rats. First International
Congress on Nutrition and Cancer. Antalya,
Turkey. May 19-23, 2008.
8. K. Α. Nicolaou and A. I. Constantinou.
Equol Diminishes Tamoxifen-induced
endometrial banormalities in Sprague Dawley rats. 8th International Symposium on
the Role of Soy in Health Promotion and
Chronic Disease Prevention and Treatment.
Tokyo, Japan. November 9-12, 2008.
Figures
1. Experimental diets containing daidzein
protect hepatocyte DNA from damage.
DMBA was administered to experimental
groups except the oil-treated negative
control (OIL + Basal). Experimental diets
contained the basal diet (DMBA + Basal),
tamoxifen (DMBA + TAM), daidzein
(DMBA + DAI), and tamoxifen and
daidzein (DMBA + TAM + DAI). At 185
days of age animals were sacrificed
and livers were excised and frozen.
Hepatocytes were isolated and subject to
the comet assay.
A) The DMBA and DMBA + TAM groups
had significantly elevated levels of DNA
damage in hepatocytes (comet score)
control (*** P < 0.0001). Comparison of
the DMBA + TAM and DMBA + TAM + DAI
groups revealed a significant reduction
in DNA damage detectable by the comet
assay (## P = 0.006). Data points
represent the mean of n = 5 for all
groups. Error bars represent ± SD. Oneway t-tests were used for all statistical
analyses.
C. People that worked on the project
1. Bethany E. Perez White, PhD
2. Christiana Charalampous, PhD
3. Katerina Nicolaou, PhD
4. Panayiota Vraka, PhD
B) Representative photographs of liver
cells showing varying levels of DNA
damage depending on experimental
diet. Total magnification 400x.
2. Experimental diets containing daidzein
protect DNA from peripheral blood
mononuclear cells (PBMCs) against
damage. DMBA was administered to
experimental groups except the oiltreated negative control (OIL + Basal).
Experimental diets contained the basal
diet (DMBA + Basal), tamoxifen (DMBA
+ TAM), daidzein (DMBA + DAI), and
tamoxifen and daidzein (DMBA + TAM +
DAI). At 185 days of age animals were
222
sacrificed, blood was collected, and
PBMCs were harvested. The DMBA and
DMBA + TAM groups had significantly
increased levels of DNA damage
control (*** P < 0.0001). Compared to
DMBA, the DMBA + TAM group had
higher levels of damage (## P = 0.0033).
The dietary combination of TAM + DAI
resulted in significantly lower levels of
DNA damage compared to TAM alone
(⧫⧫⧫ P < 0.0001). Data points represent
the mean of n = 3 for DMBA, DMBA +
TAM, DMBA + DAI, and DMBA + TAM +
DAI groups and n = 2 for OIL group. Error
bars represent ± SD. One-way t-tests
were used for all statistical analyses.
3. Tamoxifen causes DNA damage in liver
cells in the absence of DMBA and dietary
daidzein is protective. Animals were fed
experimental diets in the absence of
DMBA to test the toxicity of the test
compounds and to separate the effects
of DMBA. Animals were fed diets
containing basal diet, tamoxifen (TAM),
daidzein (DAI), and tamoxifen plus
daidzein (TAM + DAI). After 28 days of
being on the test diets, animals were
sacrificed and livers were excised
and frozen. TAM induces DNA damage
in isolated hepatocytes of animals
fed the experimental diet (*** P < 0.0001
compared to basal diet group). DAI does
not cause DNA damage and protects
hepatic DNA from tamoxifen-induced
DNA damage when administered in
combination (TAM + DAI), comet scores
are significantly less than the TAM group
(### P < 0.0001). Data points represent
the mean of n = 4 for all groups. Error
bars represent ± SD. One-way t-tests
were used for all statistical analyses.
(B) Representative images DNA damage
in liver cells of rats fed basal diet,
tamoxifen (TAM), daidzein (DAI), and
TAM + DAI. Total magnification 100X.
4. Experimental diets do not cause DNA
damage in PBMCs. Animals were fed
experimental diets in the absence of
DMBA to test the toxicity of the test
compounds and to dissociate the effects
of DMBA. Animals were fed diets
containing basal diet, tamoxifen (TAM),
daidzein (DAI), and tamoxifen plus
daidzein (TAM + DAI). After 28 days of
being on the test diets, animals were
sacrificed, blood was collected and
peripheral blood mononuclear cells
(PBMCs) were harvested. None of the test
agents induce DNA damage in PBMCs
after a 28 day administration period.
223
Figure 1. Experimental diets containing daidzein protect hepatocyte DNA from damage
Figure 2. Experimental Diets containing daidzein protect DNA from PBMCs against damage
224
Figure 3. Tamoxifen causes DNA damage in liver cells in the absence of DMBA and
dietary daidzein is protective
Figure 4. Experimental diets do not cause DNA damage in PBMCs
225
Curriculum Vitae
Andreas I. Constantinou (PhD) is a professor of Molecular Biology. He served as the director of
Research, Functional Foods for Health Program, University of Illinois (2000-2002), chairman of the
department of Biological Sciences, University of Cyprus 2004-2006) and Dean of the Faculty of Pure
and Applied Sciences, University of Cyprus (2006-2008). He identified genistein as a topoisomerase
II specific inhibitor and a potent inducer of tumor cell differentiation in human leukemia cells (Cancer
Res. 50: 2618-2624, 1990). He identified the molecular pathway by which genistein can induce
apoptosis in breast cancer cells. His research also showed that phosphorylation on specific sites of
topoisomerase II can cause changes in nuclear architecture that may explain alterations in the
transcriptional expression of clusters of genes (Cancer Res. 56: 4192-4199, 1996). He contributed to
the discovery of several antitumor drugs and one is currently in phase III clinical studies against
ovarian cancer (Phenoxodiol). His current research focuses on the discovery of potential
chemopreventive agents, the molecular aspects of cancer prevention, and the reversal of tamoxifen
resistance. In his previous position at the University of Illinois (Chicago, IL) he had participated in
clinical studies to evaluate lycopene (a component of tomatoes) as a chemopreventive agent against
prostate cancer. As a member of a team of investigators he evaluated the effects of botanicals in
women's health, especially postmenopausal symptoms and he identified a number of compounds
with strong antioxidant activity. His laboratory is actively pursuing bioactive botanical constituents
and their derivatives in the prevention of breast and prostate cancer and the discovery of small
molecules in targeted cancer therapeutics. His research utilizes in silico modeling, cultured cells,
animal models, and human subjects. He has over 80 original publications (from a total of 200) that
received 2899 citations and with an H-index = 35 (as of 5/6/2014, Google Scholar). He is an associate
editor for the journals “Nutrition and Cancer” and “in vivo”. He served in National Scientific Advisory
Boards (where he participated in the review of research applications) such as the Army Breast Cancer
Research Projects (1994-1996), National Institutes of Health (1995-1998, 2000-2003), the American
Cancer Society (2004- 2007) and the Californian Breast Cancer Research Board (2004 - 2006).
Recent Scientific Artices (since 2012)
1. Constantinou C., Neophytou C.M., Vraka P., Hyatt J.A., Papas K.A., Constantinou AI. Induction of
DNA Damage and Caspase-Independent Programmed Cell Death by Vitamin E. Nutr Cancer.
64:136-152 2012
2. Nicolaou K.A., Liapis V., Evdokiou A., Constantinou C., Magiatis P., Skaltsounis A.L., Koumas L.,
Costeas P.A., Constantinou AI. Induction of discrete apoptotic pathways by bromosubstituted indirubin derivatives in invasive breast cancer cells. Biochem Biophys Res Commun.
425:76-82. 2012
3. Kakas A.C., Lazarou S., Neophytou C.M., Constantinou AI. Logical Modeling of Cancer and
Chemoprevention. Learning and Discovery in Symbolic Systems Biology. 36-54, 2012
4. Antoniades A., Keane J., Aristodimou A., Philipou C., Constantinou AI., Georgousopoulos C.,
Tozzi F., Kyriacou K., Hadjisavvas A., Loizidou M., Demetriou C., Pattichis C. The effects of applying
cell-suppression and perturbation to aggregated genetic data. Bioinformatics & Bioengineering
(BIBE), 12th International Conference 644-649, 2012
5. Odiatou E.M., Skaltsounis A.L., Constantinou AI. Identification of the factors responsible for the in
vitro pro-oxidant and cytotoxic activities of the olive polyphenols oleuropein and hydroxytyrosol.
Cancer Lett. 330:113-21, 2013.
226
6. Charalambous C., Pitta C. and Constantinou AI. Equol enhances tamoxifen’s antitumor activity by
induction of caspace-mediated apoptosis. BMC Cancer. 13:238-247, 2013.
7. Pitta C., Papagiorges P., Constantinou AI. Combination treatment with TSA and 5-aza-dc restores
response to tamoxifen in tamoxifen resistant ER-β negative breast cancer cells. Cancer Lett. 337:
167-176, 2013
8. Cretu E., Karonen M., Salminen J.P., Mircea C., Trifan A., Charalambous C., Constantinou AI.,
Miron A. In vitro study of the antioxidant activity of a polyphenol-rich extract from Pinus brutia
bark and its fractions J Med Food16:984-91, 2013
9. Lazarou S., Kakas A.C., Neophytou C.M., Constantinou AI. Automated Scientific Assistant for Cancer
and Chemoprevention. Artificial Intelligence Applications and Innovations: 96-109, 2013
10. Hasapis P., Ntalaperas D., Kannas C.C., Aristodimou A., Alexandrou D., Bouras T., Georgousopoulos
C., Antoniades A., Pattichis C.S., Constantinou A. Molecular clustering via knowledge mining
from biomedical scientific corpora. Bioinformatics and Bioengineering (BIBE), 2013 IEEE 13th
International Conference, Pages: 1-5, 2013
11. Neophytou C.M., Constantinou C., Papageorgis P., Constantinou AI. D-alpha-tocopheryl
polyethylene glycol succinate (TPGS) induces cell cycle arrest and apoptosis selectively in
Survivin-overexpressing breast cancer cells. Biochem Pharmacology, 89:31-42, 2014.
12. Cretu E., Salminen J.P., Karonen M., Miron A., Charalambous C., Constantinou AI. and Aprotosoaiea
A.C. In Vitro Antioxidant Activity and Phenolic Content of Cedrus brevifolia Bark. Natural Product
Commun. 9: 481-482, 2014.
227
228
Probing Carrier Dynamics on a Femtosecond Timescale
Using Ultrafast Pulse-Shaping
Principal Investigator: Andreas Othonos, Professor, Department of Physics,
Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, University of Cyprus
Abstract
Most of our information technology is based on on the fast response of small and
high-speed microelectronics semiconductor devices. Therefore, understanding the
fundamental interactions in semiconductors, on an ultrafast time scale, is of great
importance for the advancement of such devices. In view of this, the main objective
of this project was the development of various ultrafast time resolved techniques
for probing carrier dynamics in novel semiconductor materials utilizing a unique
high-efficiency throughput femtosecond pulse shaper. This programmable pulse
shaper uses a four-prism arrangement for dispersing the femtosecond pulses into
a two-layer spatial light modulator (SLM) based on two arrays of liquid crystals and
reshaping the frequency component back into an ultra-short pulse. Using the
complete electric field as feedback, arbitrary laser pulse shapes can be optimally
generated; using a local convergence algorithm to apply reliable and accurate
spectral chirps as well as an evolutionary algorithm to reach specific temporal
profiles. This pulse shaper served as the source for ultrafast pulses in time-resolved
transmission/reflection as well as Terahertz measurements for studying carrier
dynamics in semiconductors and novel semiconducting nanostructures on a very
short time scale.
1.0 Introduction
Much of information technology is based
on the fast response of small and highspeed microelectronics devices. In the last
thirty years there has been considerable
interest in exploring the limitations of
semiconductors used in this technology by
investigating at a fundamental level the
underlying fast microscopic processes,
which occur on a picosecond or even a
femtosecond time scale. Fundamental
processes like momentum and energyrelaxation, as well as mechanisms such as
carrier-carrier scattering, intervalley and
intravalley scattering, optical phonon
scattering, and carrier diffusion, have been
investigated thoroughly.
In semiconductor microelectronics devices
high speeds and small distances are closely
related. Transistors with effective lengths of
only few tens of nanometers have electrons
transit time that can be as short as a
picosecond and sometimes as short as a
few hundreds of femtoseconds. This very
fact has motivated a great deal of interest
in very small-scale electronic devices. In
other words making semiconductor
devices smaller allows a faster response.
229
Probing Carrier Dynamics on a Femtosecond Timescale Using Ultrafast Pulse-Shaping
The development of such high-speed
devices requires clear understanding of the
various dynamical properties of carriers as
well as phonons in semiconductors on an
ultrashort time scale. For example, the
maximum attainable speed of gallium
arsenide field-effect and heterojunction
bipolar transistors is limited by the rate at
which electrons transfer between highmobility and low-mobility region in the
conduction band of this material. Another
interesting example is the rate at which
energy relaxation occurs in a semiconductor material, the rate for this process
may be limited by relaxation of the nonequilibrium phonon generated during
carrier equilibration.
One of the first challenges that were facing
researches in the early days of photoexcitation of semiconductors by laser
pulses was to achieve high temporal
resolution. The shorter the duration of the
pulse used in the excitation of the material
the better the temporal resolution of the
various dynamical processes. The
motivation was to generate very short
optical pulses that would allow researchers
to probe faster processes. By the early
1980s this challenge was met with the
availability of subpicosecond laser pulses
allowing researchers to time resolved
ultrafast processes. However, time resolved
measurements with ultrashort resolution is
a formidable task. The traditional approach,
which uses high-speed electronic
instruments, failed since the response time
of such instrumentation is several orders of
magnitude slower than the ultrashort
optical pulses themselves. Novel and
precise optical techniques are now being
used to explore the properties of
semiconductors on a time scale much
shorter than those previously believed to
be attainable. The development of exciteand-probe techniques have shown the way
of probing extremely short lived processes
with resolution limited only by the laser
pulse itself.
Figure 1 - A Ti:Sapphire Femtosecond Laser
oscillator at the Department of Physics of the
University of Cyprus.
Over the two decade the progress in
generating extreme short laser pulses has
been spectacular. Pulses as short as few fs,
that is only a few optical cycles in duration
are now available from mode-locked
titanium sapphire lasers. The widespread
access to femtosecond laser systems has
accelerated the already considerable
interest in this technology for studies of
ultrafast phenomena in solid state
materials, generation and investigation of
high density plasmas, for fundamental
studies of extremely high intensity
laser-matter interaction as well as for
characterization of high-speed electronic
and optoelectronic devices and systems,
optical
communications,
chemical
and biological materials, and other
applications.
2.0 Shaping Ultrashort Pulses
Femtosecond lasers constitute the world’s
best pulse generators. However, many
applications require not only optical pulse
230
generators, but also ultrafast optical
waveforms generators, in analogy with
electronic function generators. Typically an
input pulse from a femtosecond laser is
directed to a pulse-shaping set-up, which
reshapes the input pulse into the desired
waveform. The sharpest features in the
reshaped waveform may have duration
comparable to the input pulse (Fourier
limited transform) duration. One may think
of the new waveform as consisting of a
multiplicity of such features pasted
together, with each feature independently
controllable in phase as well as amplitude.
In the first phase of this project we have
developed a programmable pulse shaper.
This system was used in the second part of
the project where we have designed and
constructed state of the art pump-probe
experimental setups for investigating
carrier dynamics with femtosecond
resolution in novel semiconductor
nanostructures for photovoltaic and in
general optoelectronic applications.
Figure 2 - Basic arrangement of the prismbase programmable pulse shaping system for
ultrafast laser pulses.
Figure 2 shows the layout of the
programmable femtosecond pulse-shaping
setup, which consists of two pairs of
prisms and a liquid crystal display. The
arrangement is the typical dispersion
compensation setup often utilized in
ultrafast laser work. We use a Ti:sapphire
oscillator to generate approximately 40-fs
pulses at a center wavelength of 840 nm
with output power 500mW and a repetition
rate of 100 MHz. The output pulses strike
the first prism where different wavelengths
emerge at different angles and then they
are incident on the second prism of the first
pair. With the laser pulse horizontally
polarized and the prisms placed in a
Brewster configuration, the arrangement
offers the minimum losses. In the pulseshaper configuration, the first prism serves
as a dispersive element, producing groupvelocity dispersion, while the second prism
produces a parallel output ray. The distance
between the two prisms and the total
optical path length through the dispersive
materials were estimated so as to maintain
transform-limited pulses. After the second
prism, in the symmetrical plane of the
system, the spatially separated spectral
components are manipulated by phase
and/or amplitude masks. In our system, this
is accomplished using a two-layer SLM,
which is suitable for phase and/or
amplitude modulation. Each layer of the
SLM consists of 128 separate pixels, sized
100 mm width by 2 mm height. The z axis
defines the direction of propagation,
whereas the preferential orientation axes of
the nematic liquid crystal molecules in the
first and in the second SLM layers are
located in the x-y plane, rotated by -45 and
45 deg, respectively, from the x axis. In
our configuration, an x-polarized input light
has polarization components of equal
magnitude along these two orientation
axes (1,2). If suitable voltages are applied to
the separate pixels, the liquid crystal
molecules are tilted in the 1-z and 2-z
planes, respectively, thereby enabling
independent changes of the refractive
231
indices for the two corresponding lightpolarization components at 128 individual
wavelength intervals throughout the laser
spectrum. The modified spectrum of the
pulse follows exactly the same optical
path in a second antiparallel pair of
prisms in a Brewster configuration. In this
arrangement, the spectrum is recombined
to form a collimated output beam. The
temporal profile of the output field is then
given by the Fourier transform of the
pattern transferred by the mask onto the
pulse spectrum. The major dispersion
contribution from the prism arrangement
consists of a negative term due to angular
dispersion and a positive term due to the
finite glass the beam propagates through.
The sign difference in the two types of
group velocity dispersion (GVD) offers the
ability to adjust the total GVD through zero
by translating the apexes of the prisms
toward or outward with respect to the laser
beam. The energy throughput of our pulseshaper setup was measured to be ~97% of
the incident pulse energy, not including the
losses due to the SLM. The prisms used in
the pulse shaper were made out of Schott
SF10 glass, and the distance between them
was set at 75 cm to have approximately
10-mm expansion of the beam coming out
of the second prism where the SLM was
placed. The spectral profile and content of
the ultrafast laser beam coming out
of the second prism was investigated in
detail using a slit and a spectrometer.
The measurements indicate a spectral
resolution of 0.65 nm in 100-mm steps and
an intensity profile like the original ultrafast
pulse that was measured before the prism
setup, confirming that the prism assembly
did not affect the spectral content of our
ultrafast laser pulse.
3.0 Probing Dynamics on a
Femtosecond Timescale
In the second and final phase of the project
various pump-probe experimental setups
utilizing the pulse shaper were developed
to investigate the temporal characteristics
of novel semiconductor nanostructures.
The techniques were based on a variation
of the typical pump-probe setups utilized
throughout ultrafast femtosecond spectroscopy. Before discussing these techniques
we will begin with a brief overview of the
various interactions that occur in a
semiconductor following short pulse
excitation.
3.1 Semiconductor interactions
In a semiconductor under equilibrium
conditions free carriers are distributed
according to Fermi-Dirac statistics,
whereas phonons characterizing lattice
excitations follow Bose-Einstein statistics.
In the absence of an external force,
energy and momentum interchanged
through carrier-phonon interactions keep
the two distributions at a common
temperature. Under this condition the
average momentum of the carrier and
phonon systems is zero, with their
average energies corresponding to
their common temperature. When
electromagnetic radiation (laser pulse)
is absorbed by a semiconductor the
equilibrium is disturbed and under such a
condition the two systems may have
different thermal states. However, the
carriers return to equilibrium as soon as
the external disturbance is removed. The
average momentum relaxes to zero, while
the average carrier temperature relaxes to
the lattice temperature value as carriers
loose momentum and energy to phonons
through various scattering processes. The
232
relaxation rate of the momentum and
energy of the carriers to the equilibrium
value is determined by the nature of the
scattering, and the number of the
processes involved.
Figure 3 - A schematic diagram of the of the
typical ultrafast carrier relaxation processes in
semiconductors.
Figure 3 shows a schematic representation
of the major processes following photoexcitation of a semiconductor with a
monochromatic polarized laser light that is
a delta function in time. The absorption of
an optical electromagnetic radiation such
as a laser pulse by a semiconductor where
the energy quanta ℏω0 is higher than the
band gap energy Eg of the semiconductor,
it results in the creation of electronhole pairs with excess kinetic energy
corresponding to the residual energy
ℏω0-Eg. This initial excitation by a
monochromatic and polarized radiation
produces distributions of electrons and
holes that are narrow in energy and peaked
in particular directions of momentum
space. However, elastic as well as inelastic
scattering events randomize momentum
within tens of femtoseconds. Following
photo-excitation the electrons will possess
most of the excess kinetic energy since their
effective mass is much lighter than that of
the holes. This means that initially electrons
and holes have to be considered as
separate systems each with their individual
thermal distributions. Electron-electron and
hole-hole collisions are density dependent.
For carrier densities greater than 1019 cm-3
these collisions occur on ~10-13 sec timescale, which thermalizes the carriers (time
required to establish a carrier temperature)
into a Fermi-Dirac distribution. The
distribution functions for electrons and
holes possess different temperatures which
may be higher or lower than the lattice
temperature depending on the photon
energy (ℏω0). As time evolves the hot
carriers lose their excess kinetic energy
while attempting to reach thermal
equilibrium with the lattice through various
scattering mechanisms, with the most
efficient mechanism being the optical
phonon scattering.
3.2 Pump-probe techniques
In order to observe these extremely fast
phenomena one utilizes transient
measurements which are based on a
technique known as pump-probe (exciteprobe). As the name implies these
techniques use a pump beam to excite the
material under study followed by a probing
beam to investigate the effect of the
excitation. In more detail, in the pump-andprobe techniques an ultrashort laser pulse
is separated into two pulses, the pump and
the probe with a variable optical delay
between them (Δt). The two incident
ultrashort laser pulses are made to overlap
233
spatially on the sample under investigation.
The intense pump pulse excites the sample,
causing a change in its properties. Whereas
a much weaker probe pulse monitors these
changes initiated in the sample by the
pump pulse. The time evolution of the
excited state is investigated by varying the
time delay (Δt) between the pump and the
probe pulses. Figure 4 shows a basic
schematic diagram of a typical pump-andprobe technique.
Figure 4 - An ultrashort pulse is separated
into a pump and probe beam with a variable
optical delay (Δt) between them.
Time resolve transmission and reflection
are proven to be some of the key
ultrafast experiments providing important
information on the dynamics of photogenerated carriers following short pulse
excitation. In a typical setup for such timeresolved experiments (Figure 5) an
ultrashort laser pulse is divided into two
parts, the pump, which is the more intense
of the two and the probe pulse, which is
much weaker in order to produce the
minimum perturbation on the sample. The
separated beams follow different optical
paths with one having a variable path
length. Varying the path length will in effect
vary the time delay between the pump and
probe pulses. The delay is typically done
with a precise motorized transitional stage
due to the extreme accurate requirements
for temporal resolution (light travels 0.33
μm in a single femtosecond). Following the
different optical paths the pump and probe
beams are then directed and focused on
the same spatial area on the sample, always
taking care such that the probe beam is
completely within the excitation beam.
3.3 Pump-Probe Transmission and
Reflection Experiments
Figure 6 – Transient Transmission and
Reflection setup at the Department of Physics
University of Cyprus.
Figure 5 - A simplified schematic of non
collinear pump-probe setup.
The reflection (transmission) beam is then
detected with a photodiode or a photomultiplier (depending of the wavelength of
probing). To improve the sensitivity of
the experiment in many cases a lock-in
234
amplifier is utilized along with an optical
chopper. The chopper is normally placed in
the path of the pump beam, which
modulates the excitation thus giving a
synchronization signal to the lock-in
amplifier.
comparing the shape of the original
subpicosecond THz pulses with the shapes
of pulses that have been propagated
through the sample, one is able to deduce
the frequency-dependent absorption and
dispersion along with the temporal
behaviour following ultrafast excitation.
3.4 Pump-Probe Terahertz
Experiments
Here we should point out that terahertz
radiation can be generated by several
methods. The method utilized in this
project is based on the rapidly changing
current distribution in a semiconductor
material, which acts as a source of freely
propagating electromagnetic radiation.
Within the context of the project a terahertz
generator was developed based on the
femtosecond laser pulse shaper. These
ultrashort terahertz pulses were used in a
pump-probe configuration to investigate
the temporal characteristics of novel
semiconductor structures.
The dynamics of carriers in semiconductors
is important from both the scientific and
the technical point of view. The most
interesting
phenomena
occur
at
frequencies comparable to either the
plasma frequency or the damping rate.
Unfortunately, this usually occurs in the
sub-millimetre region, which is difficult to
reach with microwave as well as with farinfrared techniques. Bellow 100 GHz,
microwave techniques have been used for
single-frequency studies. The highfrequency behaviour of semiconductors
has been investigated with classical
far infrared spectroscopy. However,
for moderate doping, the strongest
absorption of the free carriers lies below 2
THz, where classical far-infrared spectroscopy becomes very difficult. Consequently
the investigation of the most important
frequency range from 0.1 to 2 THz has
remained incomplete. Recently a new
system has become available for
spectroscopy studies in the range from 0.1
to 2.0 THz. This system is based on the
optoelectronic generation and reception of
a beam of subpicosecond THz pulses. By
inserting a sample in the beam and
Following absorption of light by a
semiconductor, its surface conductivity
increases due to free carriers which are
being generated by the photons. When the
light is switched off the transient
conductivity vanishes. This type of a devices
is known as Auston switch and it is usually
a semiconductor with conductive micrometersized metal lines lithographically
defined on the top surface. A laser pulse
incident on an absorbing semiconductor
creates charge carriers in the conducting
band. The acceleration of these carriers in
an electrical bias field gives rise to a
transient photocurrent that radiates
electromagnetic waves as shown by
Maxwell’s equations. In the far field the
radiated electric field is given by
where
is the time
dependent surface current. This method is
typically used in conjunction with a dipole
antenna structure, which allows an external
bias field to be applied. In the electro-
235
magnetic wave equation, the time
derivative of a current distribution
represents a source hence the radiation will
be proportional to the time derivative of
the current. Changes in the current
distribution in the Auston-switch, induces
by a femtosecond laser pulse, occurs on a
sub-picosecond timescale.
Critical to the temporal response of the
Auston switch and to effect of the temporal
profile of the THz radiation is the
photoconductive material used in these
devices. Photoconductive materials with
subpicosecond response times have been
used as terahertz emitters. Their dynamic
responsivity depends mainly upon the
carrier lifetime, the carrier mobility and the
dark resistivity. A detailed understanding of
the mechanisms of the ultrafast response is
of crucial importance that can allow the
optimization of the photoconductive THz
emission.
Figure 8 - Schematic diagrams of the THz
transmitter and receiver
The detection of THz radiation is based on
the same principles as the generation
principles described above. A femtosecond
laser pulse is used to open a photoconductive switch, but no static bias is
applied to the gap. Therefore no current is
flowing if no external electric fields are
present. However, if the THz pulse arrives at
the detector while the detector is open, a
current proportional to the instantaneous
THz field will flow across the gap. Clearly if
the gating laser pulse is shorter than the
THz field it is possible to detect the
temporal shape of the THz field simply by
gradually delaying the arrival of the gate
pulse with respect to the THz field
A schematic overview of an experimental
setup utilized in this project is shown in
Figure 8. In this particular configuration the
ultrafast laser pulse is divided into two
synchronized beams. One of the beams will
be used to excite the material under
investigation. The second beam after
passing through the pulse shaper is used to
generate and detect the THz pulses. A small
part of the shaped pulse is continuously
been monitored using Frequency Resolved
Optical Gating (FROG) technique. This
allows us to modify the phase and
amplitude of the shaped pulse as sequence
of the phase and amplitude of the Terahertz
radiation.
Figure 9 - Experimental set-up for measuring
dynamics in photogenerated carriers using
pulse shaped femtosecond THz radiation.
One of the advantages of this experimental
arrangement is the ability to monitor and
control continuously the LC SLM with the
help of a feedback signal from the
experiment. These effects to the shapes of
the optical pulses providing a further
control on the shape of the terahertz pulse
radiation, which is the required goal.
236
Conclusions
In this project we have developed a novel
high throughput prism based femtosecond
pulse shaper providing a means of
controlling the shape of a pulse in typical
time-resolved
ultrafast
experiment.
Furthermore we have designed and
construed various pump-probe experimental setups utilizing the pulse shaper
thus offering a more precise control in a
typical pump-probe experiment. This
unique technology has allowed us to obtain
a better understanding of the various
interactions and processes in novel
semiconductor material which will have an
impact in semiconductor devices and
optoelectronic applications in general.
Research Associates working on the
project:
Emmanouil Lioudakis - Research
Associate ( PhD. Candidate during the
program)
Katerina Adamou - Research Associate
(MSc. Candidate during the program)
Alexandros Emboras - Research
Associate ( MSc. Candidate during the
program)
Demetra Tsokkou - Research Associate
(MSc. Candidate during the program)
237
Curriculum Vitae
Andreas Othonos received his B.Sc. in theoretical physics (1984) and M.Sc. in high-energy physics
(1986) from the University of Toronto. In 1990 he has been awarded a Ph.D. degree by the University
of Toronto for his work in the area of Ultrafast Laser Semiconductor Interactions. His experimental
research was conducted between 1986-1990 at the University of Toronto, the Ontario Laser and
Lightwave Research Centre and the National Research Council of Canada (NRC). From 1990 to 1996
he has been with the Ontario Laser and Lightwave Research Centre at the University of Toronto
working on ultrafast dynamics in semiconductors and fiber Bragg gratings. Since 1996 he has been
in the Department of Physics at the University of Cyprus. He is also the Head and Principal Investigator
of the Research Center of Ultrafast Science. His current research interest involves Ultrafast Carrier
Dynamics in Semiconductors and Nanostructures, Optoelectronics, Nanotechnology, Laser-matter
Interactions, Non-linear Optics, and Fiber Bragg gratings. Othonos is the author of one book and over
120 journal papers. He participated in number of research programs in Europe and a number of
research programs from Research Promotion Foundation of Cyprus. Last three years he has been
awarded three infrastructure programs (total funding > €1,500,000) from the Research Promotion
Foundation of Cyprus which allowed him to create and manage the Research Center of Ultrafast
Science (http://ultrafast.ucy.ac.cy/) at the University of Cyprus.
1. Publications:
2. A. Othonos, E. Lioudakis, A.G. Nassiopoulou “Surface-Related States in Oxidized Silicon
Nanocrystals Enhance Carrier Relaxation and Inhibit Auger Recombination” Nanoscale Res Lett,
3, p. 315, (2008).
3. E. Lioudakis, A. Othonos, Ch. B. Lioutas and N. Vouroutzis “Transient Photoinduced Absorption in
Ultrathin As-grown Nanocrystalline Silicon Films” Nanoscale Res Lett, 3 p.1 (2008).
4. A. Othonos, D. Tsokkou, E. Lioudakis, “Observation of Quantum Confinement Effects with
Ultrashort Excitation in the Vicinity of Direct Critical Points in Silicon Nanofilms” Research Letters
in Physics, Vol 2008 doi:10.1155/2008/837503, (2008).
5. A. Othonos, E. Lioudakis, U. Philipose and Harry E. Ruda “Ultrafast carrier dynamics in band edge
and broad deep defect emission ZnSe nanowires” Applied Physics Letters, 91 p. 241113 (2007).
6. E. Lioudakis, A. Othonos “Time-resolved ultrafast carrier dynamics in as-grown nanocrystalline
silicon films:the effect of film thickness and grain boundaries” Rapid Research Letters, 2 p.19
(2008).
7. E. Lioudakis, A. Othonos, A.G. Nassiopoulou “Influence of grain size on ultrafast carrier dynamics
in thin nanocrystalline silicon films” Applied Physics Letters, 90 p.191114 (2007).
8. E. Lioudakis, A.G. Nassiopoulou, A. Othonos “Ultrafast transient photoinduced absorption in silicon
nanocrystals: Coupling of oxygen-related states to quantized sublevels” Applied Physics Letters,
90 p. 171103 (2007).
9. E. Lioudakis, C. Christofides and A. Othonos, “Optical and structural properties of implanted Si
wafers: effects of implantation energy and subsequent isochronical annealing temperatures”,
Semicond. Sci. Technol., 21 p.1059 (2006).
238
10. E. Lioudakis, A.G. Nassiopoulou and A. Othonos, “Femtosecond Carrier Dynamics in Implanted
and highly Annealed Polycrystalline Silicon: the influence of intensity”, Semicond. Sci. Technol, 21
p.1041. (2006).
11. E. Lioudakis, A.G. Nassiopoulou and A. Othonos, “Probing Carrier Dynamics in Implanted and
Annealed Polycrystalline Silicon Thin Films using white light”, Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 88 (18), p.
181107, (2006).
12. E. Lioudakis, A.G. Nassiopoulou, and A. Othonos “Ultrafast Carrier Dynamics in Highly Implanted
and Annealed Polycrystalline Silicon Films”, Journal of Physics: Conference Series, Vol. 10, p.263,
(2005).
13. E. Lioudakis, K. Adamou and A. Othonos, “Prism Based Ultrafast Pulse Shaping Apparatus”, Opt.
Eng., Vol. 44 (3), 034203, (2005).
239
240
Thermodynamic Stability of Biomolecular Mixtures in Pure
Water and Electrolyte Solutions: Insights from Molecular
Dynamics Simulations
Principal Investigators: Georgios Archontis, Associate Professor1, Epameinondas
Leontidis, Professor2, Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, University of Cyprus
Research Associates: Ehud Gazit3, Anna Mitraki4, Louise Serpell5, Phanourios
Tamamis1, Cosmina Dutan1, Filippos Ioannou1,2, Lihi Adler-Abramovich3,
Emmanouil Kassotakis4.
1
Department of Physics, University of Cyprus.
Department of Chemistry, University of Cyprus.
3
Department of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology, Tel-Aviv University,
Israel.
4
Department of Materials Science and Technology, University of Crete.
5
Department of Biochemistry, University of Sussex, UK.
2
Summary
The initial goal of the present investigation
was to understand the phenomenon of
salting-out of organic molecules and
biomolecules in aqueous solutions in the
presence of various electrolytes. From the
numerous aspects of the salting-out effect,
we chose to study (via classical Molecular
Dynamics simulations) the following subproblems: (a) The thermodynamics of
simple alcohols in the bulk and at the
surface of aqueous electrolyte solutions. In
particular we addressed the issue how the
electrolyte affects the chemical potential of
the alcohol in the bulk and at the surface.
(b) The effect of salt on the stability of the
α-helix, an important secondary-structure
protein motif. Using a systematic
procedure, we proved that (i) electrolytes
do not affect strongly the backbone
preferences of very short (e.g. two-residue)
alanine oligopeptides; (ii) for helix-forming
peptides, we showed that salts promote
helix initiation due to the screening of
unfavourable electrostatic interactions
between proximal peptide groups, but can
hinder helix elongation due to competing
interactions between the protein groups
and solution components, and due to
entropic factors. Overall, for small (2-6
residues) alanine-based oligopeptides,
chaotropic anions favor the helical state,
whereas for longer sequences the randomcoil state is favored. This systematic work is
being completed by examination of specific
salt effects on selected oligopetides,
which have the affinity to form
intermolecular salt bridges. (c) We also
examined systematically the aggregation of
specific model oligopeptides with selfassembly properties. Our goal was to
examine the early stages in the peptide self-
241
Thermodynamic Stability of Biomolecular Mixtures in Pure Water and Electrolyte Solutions: Insights from Molecular Dynamics Simulations
assembly, first in pure water and
subsequently in salt solutions. All MD
simulations were carried out using
the biomolecular simulation software
CHARMM (Chemistry at Harvard, Molecular
Mechanics). In the computations of part (a)
atomic interactions were described with a
new Drude-oscillator force field, which
allowed the study of induction forces
and induced polarizability effects. These
simulations led to models of the molecular
arrangement of the peptides in their
nanostructures, and identified stabilizing
interactions. Furthermore, they allowed the
design of metal-binding nanostructures,
with potential technological applications.
Future calculations will examine the selfassembly of these peptides in electrolyte
solutions.
I. Introduction
The initial goal of the present investigation
was to understand the phenomenon of
salting-out of organic molecules and
biomolecules in aqueous solutions in the
presence of various electrolytes. This is an
important problem of basic and applied
research in the areas of Physical Chemistry
and Molecular Biophysics, but also in
Environmental Science, and one for which
no extensive computational studies exist.
From the numerous aspects of the
salting-out effect we chose to study (via
classical Molecular Dynamics simulations)
the following sub-problems: (a) The
thermodynamics of simple alcohols in the
bulk and at the surface of aqueous
electrolyte solutions. In particular we
addressed the issue how the electrolyte
affects the chemical potential of the alcohol
in the bulk and at the surface. All MD
simulations were carried out using
the biomolecular simulation software
CHARMM (Chemistry at Harvard, Molecular
Mechanics) [1]. Atomic interactions were
described with a new Drude-oscillator force
field, which allowed the study of induction
forces and induced polarizability effects
[2-4]. Previous simulations in the University
of Cyprus had verified that the force field
predicts correctly the stabilization of iodide
ions at the air-water interface [3], in
agreement with spectroscopic experiments
and other MD simulations that used
alternative polarizable models. Through
free energy calculations we had proved that
the strong affinity towards the interface
increases for ions with a large size and a
large polarizability [4]. In a later set of
simulations we examined the enthalpic/
entropic contribution to interfacial affinity
running MD simulations at different
temperatures. In addition, we focused on
the competition between ethanol (which is
a model water-soluble organic molecule)
and iodide ions for the surface of
mixed water-ethanol-iodide solutions.
Calculations of the potential of mean field
between iodide ions and the surface in
pure water, pure ethanol and a waterethanol mixture with ethanol mol fraction
equal to 5% showed that iodide anions
have a preferential solvation at the surface
of all three solutions.
Our next large scale investigation
concerned anion effects on the equilibrium
of the secondary structure of selected
oligopeptides (as protein models) in
electrolyte solutions. In this work we
followed a systematic procedure, which
proved that: (a) Electrolytes do not affect
strongly the backbone preferences of small
alanine oligopeptides towards the helix or
the random coil state [5]. (b) For small
alanine-based oligopeptides with 2-6
amino acid residues, chaotropic anions
favor the helical state, whereas for longer
sequences the random-coil state is favored
[6]. We could rationalize this very
interesting behavior by examination of the
242
Lifson-Roig helix nucleation and helix
propagation parameters. We proved that
the nucleation parameter is enhanced by
salts (especially by chaotropic anions), but
that on the contrary the helix propagation
parameter is reduced when salts are
present. This systematic work is being
completed by examination of specific salt
effects on selected oligopetides, which
have the affinity to form intermolecular salt
bridges.
In a separate set of calculations, we studied
the formation of nanostructures by
selected peptides [7-10]. The self-assembly
of oligopeptides into crystals, amyloids,
nanotubes, and systems responsive to
external stimuli (e.g., pH, temperature, and
concentration of specific solutes) has been
the focus of extensive experimental and
computational studies in recent years, as it
has potential applications in biomaterial
synthesis, nanodevice fabrication, and
tissue engineering. Our goal was to
examine the early stages in the selfassembly of selected oligopeptides, first in
pure water and subsequently in salt
solutions.
We first studied the self-assembly of
phenylalanine dipeptides (FF) and
tripeptides (FFF) [7-8]. Our collaborator
Ehud Gazit had shown that FF selfassembles into well- ordered nanotubes,
which can serve as casts for the fabrication
of silver nanowires [11]. Furthermore,
the phenylalanine (F) aromatic group
is thought to promote the formation
of nanostructures with amyloid-like
characteristics. Our simulations showed
that the peptides tend to form
characteristic ring-like or linear networks,
which are stabilized by hydrogen-bonding
interactions between the peptide end
groups, and by interactions between the
peptide side-chains.
Furthermore, we studied the self-assembly
of peptides extracted from the fiber shaft of
adenovirus [9-10]. Experiments from the
collaborating group of Anna Mitraki had
shown that these peptides spontaneously
self-assemble into nanostructures with the
structural features of amyloid fibers [12].
Our calculations identified important
interactions that stabilized the observed
structures [9-10], and aided the design of
modified peptides, which self-assembled
into metal-binding nanostructures [13].
Future calculations will examine the selfassembly of these peptides in electrolyte
solutions.
II. Results
Competition of ethanol with chaotropic
ions for the air-solution interface.
General goals
Ions – charged atoms – have fundamentally
important effects on physicochemical and
biological systems. To date many ionic
effects have not been fully understood,
salting-out of molecules by ions being one
of those. By salting-out we define the
reduction of aqueous solubility of various
substances, including gases, small organic
molecules and proteins, due to the
presence of the ions. In this project
we decided to focus on two particular
aspects of salting-out phenomena: (1) The
competition between large “chaotropic”
ions and organic molecules for the water
surface, and (2) the electrolyte solution
effects on the formation of peptide
nanostructures, such as aggregates or
fibrils, which are implicated in several
diseases (e.g., Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s
disease), or have significant applications in
nanotechnology.
The first part of this project was the natural
continuation of previous research [3-4],
which proved that large, polarizable anions
243
tend to accumulate close to the airwater interface, thus playing significant
roles in many atmospheric and other
environmental phenomena. Knowing that
the presence of electrolytes in bulk water
reduces the solubility of organic molecules,
such as ethanol, we wished to address two
questions: (a) Do the ions still concentrate
at the surface of water-ethanol mixtures, or
does ethanol, which is surface-active and
covers a large part of the surface, change
the situation with respect to ions? (b) Does
the ionic presence lead to an increase of
ethanol at the surface because of saltingout of ethanol from the bulk solution?
The methodology of this investigation was
based on the use of Molecular Dynamics, a
computational method which simulates
mixtures of water, ethanol and sodium salts
(here sodium iodide) on the computer and
examines the structures and interatomic
interactions in these systems [2].
The Drude Model
To study the ethanol/water mixtures and
the salting-out effects in ethanol/water/salt
mixtures, we used a new computational
model, in which the polarizabilities of
water [2], ions (sodium and iodide) [14]
and organic molecule (ethanol [15])
were represented via the introduction of
imaginary pseudo-atoms (dummy atoms),
which have negligible mass but a
considerable charge, and behave as
Drude oscillators. This model was proved to
successfully represent basic physicochemical properties of water and aqueous
solutions, such as the structure, dielectric
constant and diffusion coefficient [2]. The
model also reproduced the preference of
anions (e.g. chloride and iodide) for the airwater interface [3-4]. The nature of the
model allows for the first time the
transparent analysis of the total energy
of the system into individual components
(e.g. electrostatic interactions between
permanent and induced dipoles). This
flexibility allows one to understand the role
of polarizability in the salting-out effect and
to examine the assumptions behind the
several existing theories for salting-out.
These simulations also provide detailed
information about the molecular solution
structure (water, ions) around a model
organic solute (ethanol).
Simulations of water/ethanol mixtures
We studied the molecular organization of
the surface of ethanol/water mixtures,
with varying ethanol/water concentration
(0 – 100 % ethanol). The simulation system
consisted of a cubic-shaped mixture with
dimensions 31.05 x 31.05 x 31.05 Å, placed
in a tetragonal box with size 31.05 x 31.05 x
93.3Å. The box was replicated periodically
in all dimensions. The longer box size in the
z-direction allows the creation of two
mixture/air interfaces (see Figure 1).
Figure 1. The simulation system employed
in the study of ethanol/water mixtures.
Ethanol molecules are shown in a ball-and-
244
stick representation (carbon atoms in
green, oxygen in turquoise, hydrogens in
white). Water molecules are shown in a
liquorice representation (oxygen in red,
hydrogen in white). A tetragonal box of
dimensions 31.05 x 31.05 x 93.3 Å,
containing a simulation box of 31.05 x 31.05
x 31.05 Å, is periodically replicated in all
directions. The slab presents two
mixture/air interfaces oriented parallel to
the xy plane.
The maxima of the C1 and C2 probability
distributions occur at z = ± 15Å, with the C2
maximum slightly closer to the surface. The
O1 distribution has a local maximum at z =
± 14Å. Τhis shows that the ethanol
molecules are oriented at the interface with
their hydrophobic moiety (methyl C2 group
and methylene C1 group) pointing toward
the air and the hydroxyl moiety toward the
bulk of the liquid mixture.
Figure 2 shows the chemical structure of
ethanol. The two carbon atoms are denoted
as C1 and C2 and the oxygen atom as O1.
Figure 3 displays probability distributions of
the z-coordinate of these ethanol atoms
and of the water oxygen OH2, computed
from simulations of various ethanol/water
mixtures as well as of pure ethanol. At lower
ethanol concentrations (up to 30 % in
water) the distributions exhibit pronounced
peaks at the interface, followed by small
local minima. These peaks reflect the
accumulation of ethanol molecules near
the free surface of the mixture.
Figure 3. Position probability distributions
of selected atoms along the z direction of
the simulation slab of Figure 1. The plots
from top to bottom correspond to ethanol
atoms C2, C1, O1 (see Figure 2) and the
water oxygen OH2.
Figure 2. The ethanol molecule (chemical
type CH3CH2OH). Carbon atoms are shown
in black, oxygen in red and hydrogens in
white. Atoms C1, C2 and O1 are discussed
in the text. The Drude degrees of freedom
are not shown.
245
Figure 4. Left: Variation of the mean induced dipole moment component <pz(z)>/
(lower curves) and <p(z)>/ (upper curves) with the distance (z) from the slab center,
for various ethanol mixtures (10% - 100%). Right: Variation of the mean permanent dipole
moment component <pz(z)>/ with the distance z; The coloring is as in the left plot.
The left panel of Figure 4 shows the
dependence of the normalized zcomponent of the induced ethanol dipole
moment, <pz(z)>/ (lower family of
curves) and the normalized magnitude of
the induced ethanol dipole moment,
<p(z)>/ (upper family of curves) on the
distance z from the slab center. The zcomponent is near zero at the interior of
the slab due to the random orientation of
the dipole moment vector, and becomes
non-zero near the interface. The maximum
value of the normalized pz component (at
the slab interface) is reduced when the
ethanol concentration increases; For
example, for a 10% ethanol mixture,
<pz(z)>/ is ~0.3 and for 90% ethanol
mixture it is ~ 0. For all mixtures the dipole
moment vector points toward the interface.
In pure ethanol (100%) the induced dipole
moment acquires a small negative value (0.0.2) at the positive interface, reflecting the
fact that the dipole moment changes
orientation in pure ethanol.
The right panel of Figure 4 shows the
dependence of the normalized zcomponent of the permanent ethanol
dipole moment on the distance z from the
slab center. Again, the dipole moment
acquires non-zero values near the interface,
and points toward the air side of the
interface.
Figure 5. Schematic representation of the
average orientation of water and alcohol
molecules in regions A and B of the slab.
A detailed analysis of the average
orientations of various bonds of water and
ethanol was based on the simulation
results. The slab was divided into three
regions, A (16 Å < |z| < 21 Å), which is at the
surface, B (11 Å < |z| < 16 Å), and C (6Å < |z|
< 11 Å), which is more or less the bulk of the
solution. Of more interest is the deduced
average orientation of ethanol and water
246
molecules at the surface, which is depicted
in Figure 5 and is in general agreement with
what is known from the literature on the
orientation of ethanol molecules at the
surfaces of water/ethanol mixtures [15].
It was also possible to measure directly
from the simulation the surface excess of
ethanol over water. The numbers obtained
were in reasonable agreement with the
literature [15], and a maximum of the
surface excess was found at 30% ethanol in
the mixture.
The project then examined the structure of
the ethanol/water mixtures in the presence
of roughly 1.2 M sodium iodide (NaI), an
electrolyte which contains the chaotropic,
surface-active iodide anion. Figure 6
contains the probability density profile for
various atoms in a 10% ethanol/water
mixture containing NaI.
Figure 6. Normalized density probability
diagram for 22 Na+ cations, 22 I- anions,
and 85 ethanol molecules in 765 water
molecules. The water probability density is
given with a thin line with blue dots. Iodide
ions are with a thin black line and sodium
ions with a thick black line. Atoms C2, C1
and O1 of ethanol molecules are given by
the red, green and magenta lines.
An important result is that the presence of
ethanol enhances the presence of iodide
ions close to the surface, compared to the
case of pure water. This means that in the
presence of ethanol some additional
interactions “drive” the anions to the
surface. We extracted the average induced
dipole moments on the iodide ions (in our
Drude model the ions themselves are
polarizable) and plot it in Figure 7.
Figure 7. Averages of various components
of the induced dipole moment of iodide
ions (<px(z)> red, <py(z)> green and
<pz(z)> blue), as well the average
magnitude of the total induced dipole
moment, as functions of z. Every
component has been divided by the
average iodide dipole moment for the
whole system.
From Figure 7 it is clear that the only really
important induced moment is along the z
direction, and it develops as the ions
approach the surface and interact with the
oriented water and ethanol molecules
there. The orientations of water and ethanol
molecules at the surface were examined,
and it was found that the average ethanol
orientation is rather insensitive to the
presence of the ions, while that of the water
molecules is affected. This finding and the
enhanced presence of iodide ions at the
interface imply that the ions get there at the
expense of water molecules. Unfortunately
the statistics of these simulations did not
permit a useful calculation of the relative
surface excess of the anions.
247
Specific Ion Effects on the Helical
Stability of Alanine-based
Oligopeptides
Simulations of Alanine Dipeptide and
Alanine Tetrapeptide.
stabilization caused an increase in the
occurrence of α-helical and β-turn
conformations by the tetrapeptide (Figure
9). This increase is much more pronounced
for the more chaotropic, less hydrophilic
iodide anion.
Current literature contains very limited
information on salt effects on protein
conformations, even though salts affect the
stability and solubility of proteins, and play
a role in aggregation phenomena leading
to the formation of amyloid fibrils and other
nanostructures. We first studied the impact
of ions on the conformational stability of
the protein backbone, using two simple but
informative model systems; the alanine
dipeptide (the usual model of the protein
backbone) and the alanine tetrapeptide,
the smaller peptide that can form an ahelical hydrogen bond (Figure 8) [5].
Figure 9. Cumulative average helicity of
the alanine tetrapeptide, plotted versus
simulation time in (a) NaCl and (b) NaI
solutions of various concentrations; purewater results are also included (“no salt”).
Figure 8. Terminally-blocked alanine
dipeptide (Ac-Ala-Nme) and tetrapeptide
(Ac-Ala3-Nme).
We simulated both peptides in aqueous
NaCl or NaI solutions with salt
concentrations of 0.0 M, 1.0 M, and 2.0 M.
The salt had a small effect on the
conformational preferences of the
dipeptide, but stabilized the formation of
hydrogen bonds between the tetrapeptide
main-chain NH and CO groups. This
A very detailed analysis of all major pairwise
interatomic interactions showed that the
reason behind this behaviour is quite
complex. We were in fact able to show that
enhanced peptide-ion interactions are not
responsible for this behaviour, which is
related to entropic effects that are difficult
to analyse, and also to ion-water
interactions in the bulk and at the peptide
vicinity.
248
Simulations with Longer Alaninebased Oligopeptides
Figure 10. Temperature dependence of the
LR propagation (upper plot) and nucleation
(lower plot) parameters for peptide AQ.
To investigate the effect of salts on longer
peptides, we simulated the model
molecules Ace-(AAQAA)3-Nme (AQ) and
Ace-A8-Nme (A8) in pure water and
aqueous 1 M and 3 M NaCl and NaI
solutions [6] (Ace and Nme denote,
respectively, the end groups CH3CO and
NH-CH3). The important originality of the
present work was the extraction of LifsonRoig helix nucleation and propagation
parameters from the simulations in the
absence and in the presence of electrolytes.
It was ascertained that electrolytes enhance
the initiation of helices, by screening the
unfavorable electrostatic interactions
between the aligned dipole moments of
the peptide groups forming the first
helical term. This observation is in line with
the stabilization of the α-helical turn and
the 1-3 β-turns in the tetrapeptide
simulations. The elongation of helices was
destabilized, however, in the presence of
salts (Figure 10).
Examination of the water and ion structure
around the peptide showed that the
formation of helical structures facilitated
the formation of ion−water and ion−ion
interactions at the expense of ion− peptide
interactions. Hence, helical structures
should be more stabilized by ions
exhibiting a strong affinity for water and
other ions. This was the case for NaCl
solutions, where the Cl- anion exhibited a
strong affinity for water and its
accompanying cation. In the NaI solutions
we observed a much weaker affinity of
iodide for water and sodium, in line with
the lack of enhancement of helical
conformations in the NaI solutions. Another
important outcome of this work is the
contrast to the results obtained for smaller
peptides. While chaotropic anions enhance
the helicity of short peptides, they reduce
it for longer peptides, something which had
not been realized in the literature.
Ion Effects on Ion-Bridge Formation within
the Alanine-based Oligopeptides
Finally, we quantified the strength of
electrostatic interactions between solventexposed charged side chains in a helix and
the impact of these interactions on helix
stability in the presence of ions. More
specifically, we conducted simulations of a
model helical peptide with negatively
charged (glutamic acid, E) and positively
charged (lysine, K) residues placed at
different intervals (Ace-AAQAA-EAQKAAAQAA-Nme, Ace-AAQAA-EAQAK-AAQAANme and Ace-AAQAA-EAQAA-KAQAANme), in aqueous NaCl and NaI solutions of
0 M, 1M and 3M. Due to the geometry of
the a-helix (3.6 residues per turn), the
interactions between the charged side
chains E and K are expected to be stronger
249
in the first two peptides, where the E – K
distance is, respectively, equal to 3 and 4
residues. The simulations provided
information on the dependence of the
average peptide helicity on electrolyte type
and concentration in a range of solution
temperatures, and on the interaction
between the charged side chains and the
distribution of ions around the nonpolar,
polar and charged groups.
Self-assembly of Peptide-Based
Nanostructures
In the last part of this project we studied the
early aggregation steps of peptides capable
to self-assemble into nanostructures with
potential technological or medical interest.
We focused on (a) phenylalanine-based
oligopeptides [7-8], and (b) peptides
extracted from the fiber shaft of the
adenovirus [9-10].
assembled into with b-sheet content.
Despite these results, our understanding of
the factors responsible for the formation
and stabilization of the FF and FFF
nanostructures was not complete. For
example, an FF analogue with uncharged
terminal ends (Ac-Phe-Phe- NH2) selfassembled into highly ordered tubular
structures despite the lack of charge in its
termini. Other chemical modifications of
the termini promoted the formation of
macroscopic hydrogels, amyloid-like fibers,
or closed-cage nanostructures; thus, the
nanostructures seemed to depend on the
chemical nature and interactions of both
the termini and side chains. Furthermore,
work by Goerbitz had provided evidence
that the FF nanotubes might be structurally
similar to three-dimensional FF crystals,
which contained parallel helical channels
with six peptides per helical turn and a
diameter of 9.2 A° (Figure 11).
Self-assembly of Phenylalanine
Oligopeptides
The diphenylalanine peptide (L-Phe-L-Phe;
FF) has attracted a lot of scientific interest,
because it corresponds to the core
recognition motif of the Alzheimer’s βamyloid peptide. A series of studies have
shown that FF and its derivatives can selfassemble into highly ordered structures
and other forms with nanoscale order, such
as hydrogels [Ref. 8 and references therein].
Our collaborator Ehud Gazit has shown that
FF self-assembles into discrete, hollow, well
ordered nanotubes, and its derivatives form
nanoassemblies of various morphologies
[11]. These assemblies can serve as casts for
the fabrication of silver nanowires and have
remarkable stiffness. The vibrational spectra
and birefringence of nanotubes suggest
that they may share some structural
properties
with
amyloid
fibrils.
Furthermore, they showed that the related
phenylalanine tripeptide (FFF) self-
250
Figure 11. Left: Top view of FF crystals. Six
FF peptides interact via their terminal ends,
forming a channel that is full of water (not
shown); the FF sidechains are oriented
toward the exterior of the channel and
interact with sidechains of peptides in
adjacent channels. Right: Typical network of
6 interacting FF peptides, observed in the
MD simulations. The peptide mainchain
interactions and sidechain orientations are
similar to the ones seen in the crystal.
To understand this behavior, we conducted
self-assembly simulations of aqueous
solutions of phenylalanine dipeptides
(FF) and tripeptides (FFF). The results
were reported in detail in reference [8]. In
the simulations the peptides formed
aggregates, which often contain ring-like
(Figure 11) or open peptide networks, as
well as elementary and network-containing
structures with β-sheet characteristics
(Figure 12).
Figure 13. Models of aligned (left) and
partly unaligned sheets (right), in which
adjacent peptides interact (i) via head-totail interactions along each strand and (ii)
via β-sheet like interactions across strands
(from Ref. [8]).
Based on the observed interactions, we
proposed possible two-dimensional
arrangements that might explain the
formation of the observed nanostructures
by the FF peptides (Figure 13, [8]).
Figure 12. Two open networks interacting
with hydrogen bonds.
Α free-energy analysis showed that the
networks were stabilized by polar and
nonpolar interactions, and by the
surrounding aggregate. In particular, the
charged termini of neighbor peptides were
involved in hydrogen-bonding interactions
and their aromatic side chains formed ‘‘Tshaped’’ contacts, as in three-dimensional
FF crystals. These interactions might assist
the FF and FFF self-assembly at the early
251
stage, and may also stabilize the mature
nanostructures. The FFF peptides had
higher network propensities and increased
aggregate stabilities with respect to FF,
which was interpreted energetically. Based
on these results, we proposed that
the initial formation of aggregates could
be promoted by hydrophobic interactions,
and that backbone hydrogen-bonding
interactions could be subsequently
facilitated due to the reduced screening of
electrostatic interactions in the presence of
the aggregates.
stranded sheets formed by NSGAITIG are
shown in Figure 14. The N-terminal residues
Asp1 and Ser2 of the octapeptide remained
disordered in the sheets (left panel of Figure
14), suggesting that these residues are
exposed at the exterior of the fibrils and
accessible.
Self-assembly of Peptides from the
Adenovirus Fiber Shaft
The self-assembly of peptides and proteins
into nanostructures is related to the
fundamental problems of protein folding
and misfolding and has potential
applications in medicine, materials science
and nanotechnology. Natural peptides,
corresponding to sequence repeats from
self-assembling proteins, may constitute
elementary building blocks of such
nanostructures [12]. Thus, understanding
the self-assembly of such peptides is of
significant interest. In this work, we studied
the self-assembly of two sequences that
were derived from the naturally occurring
fiber shaft of the adenovirus; the
octapeptide NSGAITIG (Asparagine-SerineGlycine-Alanine-Isoleucine-Threonine-Isole
ucine-Glycine) and its hexapeptide
counterpart, GAITIG [9]. Experimentally,
both sequences formed fibrous structures
with amyloid characteristics [12]. In
accordance with this amyloidogenic
capacity, both peptides readily formed
intermolecular β¬-sheets in our MD
simulations, stabilized by extensive mainand side chain contacts involving the Cterminal moieties (segments 3-8 and 2-6,
respectively) [9]. The interactions between
the central and edge peptides in three-
Figure 14. Mainchain-mainchain (left) and
sidechain-sidechain interactions (right) in
between the edge and central strand in
three-stranded β-sheets of the NSGAITIG
peptide (from Ref. [9]).
Based on insights provided by the
simulations, cysteine residues were
substituted at positions 1 and 2 of
NSGAITIG; the designed peptides
maintained their amyloidogenic properties
and could bind to silver, gold and platinum
nanoparticles [13].
252
III. Concluding Remarks
A range of Molecular Dynamics simulations
has revealed the rich and complex effects
of electrolytes on the structure of organic
molecules and oligopeptides in aqueous
solutions. Although the term salting-out
refers to the reduction of the solubility of
molecules in the presence of electrolytes,
we have investigated salting-out
interactions in indirect ways, by examining
several important complementary model
systems.
(a) From the simulations of ions at the
surfaces of ethanol-water mixtures we
found that ions do not in fact affect greatly
the structure of the interfacially adsorbed
and oriented ethanol monolayer. Surfaceactive ions, such as iodide, and
surface-active molecules appear to be able
to share interfacial sites. Iodide
concentration was in fact enhanced at the
surface in the presence of ethanol.
(b) From the alanine oligopeptide work we
were able to obtain some very significant
insights, namely that salts stabilize helical
conformations for short peptides and
destabilize them for longer peptides. This
finding has relevance for protein stability
and solubility in electrolyte solutions.
(c) From the examination of the selfassembly of peptide-based nanostructures
we were able to obtain insight on the
molecular arrangement of the peptides in
the nanostructures and on the stabilizing
interactions.
Upon completion of this work, we have
obtained a better understanding of the
underlying factors that stabilize the helical
conformations of model oligopeptides, and
the nanostructures formed by specific
peptides. In the case of helix-forming
peptides, it would be interesting to study
explicit-polarizability effects, using a Drude
model for the peptide, ion and water
components, as was done for the
ethanol/water mixtures. In the case of
peptide nanostructure formation, an
important extension would be to study the
effect of salts on the peptide self-assembly.
This is especially interesting, since
nanostructures of medical importance are
formed in vivo in the salt-containing
environment of the cell.
Bibliography
1. B. R. Brooks, C. L. Brooks III, A. D.
Mackerell Jr., L. Nilsson, R. J. Petrella, B.
Roux, Y. Won, G. Archontis et al. (2009).
CHARMM. The Biomolecular Simulation
Program. J Comp. Chem. 30:1545-1614.
2. G. Lamoureux, A. D. Mackerell, B. Roux
(2003). J. Chem. Phys. 119:5185-5197.
3. G. Archontis, E. Leontidis and G.
Andreou (2005). Attraction of Iodide
Ions by the Free Water Surface,
Revealed by Simulations with a
Polarizable Force Field Based on
Drude Oscillators. J. Phys. Chem. B 109:
19757-19766.
4. G. Archontis and E. Leontidis (2006).
Dissecting the stabilization of iodide
at the air-water interface into
components: A free energy analysis.
Chemical Physics Letters 420: 199-203.
5. F. Ioannou, G. Archontis, E. Leontidis
(2011). Specific Interactions of Sodium
Salts with Alanine Dipeptide and
Tetrapeptide in Water: Insights from
Molecular Dynamics. J. Phys. Chem. B
115: 13389-13400.
6. F. Ioannou, E. Leontidis, G. Archontis
(2013). Helix Formation by AlanineBased Peptides in Pure Water and
Electrolyte Solutions: Insights from
Molecular Dynamics Simulations. J.
Phys. Chem. B 117: 9866-9876.
253
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P. Tamamis, L. Adler-Abramovich, E.
Gazit and G. Archontis (2008). Insights
into the Self-assembly of Phenylalanine
Oligopeptides by Replica Exchange MD
Simulations with the GBSW ImplicitSolvent Model. NIC Series 40: 393-396.
P. Tamamis, L-A. Abramovich, M. Reiches,
K. Marshall, P. Sikorski, L. Serpell, E. Gazit
and G. Archontis (2009). Self-Assembly
of Phenylalanine Oligopeptides: Insights
from Experiments and Simulations.
Biophysical Journal 96: 5020-5029.
P. Tamamis, E. Kasotakis, A. Mitraki
and G. Archontis (2009). Amyloid-Like
Self-Assembly of Peptide Sequences
from the Adenovirus Fiber Shaft:
Insights from Molecular Dynamics
Simulations. J. Phys. Chem. B 113:
15639-15647.
10. P. Tamamis and G. Archontis (2011).
Amyloid-like self-assembly of a
dodecapeptide sequence from the
adenovirus fiber shaft: Perspectives
from molecular dynamics simulations.
J. of Non-Crystalline Solids 357:
717-722.
11. M. Reches, E. Gazit (2003). Casting
metal nanowires within discrete selfassembled peptide nanotubes. Science
300: 625–627.
12. K. Papanikolopoulou, G. Schoehn, V.
Forge, V. T. Forsyth, C. Riekel, J. F.
Hernandez, R. W. H. Ruigrok, A. Mitraki
(2005). J. Biol. Chem. 280: 2481–2490.
13. E. Kasotakis, E. Mossou, L. AdlerAbramovich, E. P. Mitchell, V. T. Forsyth,
E. Gazit, A. Mitraki (2009). Design of
Metal-Binding Sites onto SelfAssembled Peptide Fibrils. Biopolymers
92: 164-172.
14. G. Lamoureux, B. Roux (2006). Absolute
Hydration Free Energy Scale for Alkali
and Halide Ions Established from
Simulations with a Polarizable Force
Field. J. Phys. Chem. B 110: 3308-3322.
15. S. Yu. Noskov, G. Lamoureux, B. Roux
(2005). Molecular Dynamics Study of
Hydration in Ethanol-Water Mixtures
Using a Polarizable Force Field. J. Phys.
Chem. B 109: 6705-6713.
Publications Related to the Present
Grant
F. Ioannou, E. Leontidis, G. Archontis (2013).
Helix Formation by Alanine-Based Peptides
in Pure Water and Electrolyte Solutions:
Insights from Molecular Dynamics
Simulations. J. Phys. Chem. B 117: 98669876.
F. Ioannou, G. Archontis, E. Leontidis (2011).
Specific Interactions of Sodium Salts with
Alanine Dipeptide and Tetrapeptide in
Water: Insights from Molecular Dynamics. J.
Phys. Chem. B 115: 13389-13400.
P. Tamamis and G. Archontis (2011).
Amyloid-like self-assembly of a dodecapeptide sequence from the adenovirus
fiber shaft: Perspectives from molecular
dynamics simulations. J. of Non-Crystalline
Solids 357: 717-722.
P. Tamamis, L-A. Abramovich, M. Reiches, K.
Marshall, P. Sikorski, L. Serpell, E. Gazit and
G. Archontis (2009). Self-Assembly of
Phenylalanine Oligopeptides: Insights from
Experiments and Simulations. Biophysical
Journal 96: 5020-5029.
P. Tamamis, E. Kasotakis, A. Mitraki and G.
Archontis (2009). Amyloid-Like SelfAssembly of Peptide Sequences from the
Adenovirus Fiber Shaft: Insights from
Molecular Dynamics Simulations. J. Phys.
Chem. B 113: 15639-15647.
P. Tamamis, L. Adler-Abramovich, E. Gazit
and G. Archontis (2008). Insights into
the Self-assembly of Phenylalanine
Oligopeptides by Replica Exchange MD
254
Simulations with the GBSW Implicit-Solvent
Model. NIC Series 40: 393-396.
G. Archontis and E. Leontidis (2006).
Dissecting the stabilization of iodide at the
air-water interface into components: A free
energy analysis. Chemical Physics Letters
420: 199-203.
Participations in Conferences with
Invited Talks
Insights on the Self-Assembly of Oligopeptides
by Implicit-Solvent Simulations. CHARMM
developers meeting, June 26-27 2009,
Stockholm, Sweden.
Oligopeptide nanostructure Formation:
Insights fromo Experiments and ImplicitSolvent Simulations. 6th International
Discussion Meeting on relaxations in
Complex Systems: Special session “Frontiers
in Biophysics”. August 30- September 5
2009, Universita di Roma la Sapienza.
Self-Assembly of Phenylalanine Oligopeptides: Insights from experimental and
computational studies. European Biophysics Congress 2009, July 11-15 2009,
Genoa, Italy (Presented by Phanourios
Tamamis).
Self-Assembly of Phenylalanine Oligopeptides and Peptide Sequences from the
Adenovirus Fiber Shaft. “Biomolecular
Modeling and Simulations 2009”, Weizmann
Institute and Israel Science Foundation.
(Presented by Phanourios Tamamis).
September 13-16 2009, Safed, Israel.
Computational and experimental insights
into the self-assembly of diphenylalanine
and triphenylalanine peptides. 4th
Conference of the Hellenic Society for
Computational Biology, HSCBB09”, National
Hellenic Research Foundation. (Presented
by Phanourios Tamamis). December 18-20
2009, Athens, Greece.
From adenovirus peptidic sequences self
assembly to nanocircuitry: Can MD
simulations bridge up the gap? 4th
Conference of the Hellenic Society for
Computational Biology, HSCBB09”, National
Hellenic Research Foundation. (Presented
by PhanouriosTamamis). December 18-20
2009, Athens, Greece.
Insights on Biomolecular Association from
implicit-solvent simulations. Approaches
to Computational Biophysics. December
5-6, 2008, National Hellenic Research
Foundation, Athens.
Insights into the Self-assembly of
Phenylalanine Oligopeptides by Replica
Exchange MD Simulations with the
GBSW Implicit-Solvent Model. From
Computational Biophysics to Systems
Biology 2008 (presented by Phanourios
Tamamis). Juelich, Germany, May 19-21,
2008.
Conformational Investigation of an
Octapeptide Amyloidogenic Sequence
from the Adenovirus Fiber Shaft by
Replica-Exchange Simulations in Implicit
SIMBIOMA2008,
Molecular
Solvent.
Simulations in Biosystems and Material
Science (European Science Foundation
(presented by Phanourios Tamamis).
Konstanz, Germany, April 02-05, 2008.
Poster Presentation
Conference on Molecular Simulations in
Biosystems and Material Science,
University of Konstanz, Germany, Sept.
28th – Oct. 1st 2011.
Nanotheranostics International Conference
Ayaia Napa, Cyprus – 27 to 30 April 2010.
Self-assembly of Phenylalanine Oligopeptides: Insights from MD Simulations
With an Implicit-solvent Model. International Congress on Protein Assemblyin
255
Materials, Biology and Medicine: Direct
Impact to Biological Nanosciences. Capsis
Hotel, Heraclion, Crete, July 08-11 2007.
Funding of Personnel
The program financed one post-doctoral
researcher (Dr. Cosmina Dutan) and one
graduate student (Phanourios Tamamis).
Development of Collaborations
During the program we had the
opportunity to foster collaborations with
(i) Prof. Ehud Gazit (Department of
Molecular Biology and Biotechnology,
Tel Aviv University), who served as Vice
President for Research and Development
for Tel-Aviv University in the period 20082012. (ii) Prof. Anna Mitraki (Department
of Materials Science and Technology,
University of Crete). Both Professors are
world renowned experts in peptide selfassembly. They both were invited and
visited the University of Cyprus.
256
Curricula Vitae
Georgios Archontis is Associate Professor in Theoretical and Computational Biophysics at the
Department of Physics of the University of Cyprus. Following undergraduate studies at the University
of Athens (B.Sc. in Physics, 1987), he obtained a Ph.D. in Biophysics (Harvard University, 1994) and
conducted postdoctoral research (University Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg, 1994 - 1996) with Martin
Karplus (Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 2013). His current research investigates: (1) the Microscopic origin
of stability and specificity of biomolecular complexes by Molecular Dynamics; (2) the development
and use of many-body implicit solvent free-energy functions for protein design; (3) the self-assembly
of peptide-based nanostructures; (4) Properties of electrolyte solutions. His present and past
international collaborations include groups at Harvard University (Cambridge, USA), University Louis
Pasteur (Strasbourg, France), Ecole Polytechnique (Paris, France), University of California Riverside
(USA), University of Crete (Herakleion, Greece), Princeton University (Princeton, USA), Tel Avivi
University (Israel), National Hellenic Research Foundation (Athens, Greece). During 1996-present he
has coordinated 13 grants from the Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation, the University of Cyprus
and the AG Leventis Foundation. He has 43 refereed publications with 2,969 citations (ISI Web of Sci.,
9/14) (h-index = 21). He has supervised 3 PhD Theses, 6 Masters Theses and 8 undergraduate Theses.
He is currently supervising 2 Ph.D. students.
Epameinondas Leontidis is a Professor of Physical Chemistry (specializing in Colloid and Interfacial
Chemistry) in the Department of Chemistry of the University of Cyprus. After undergraduate studies
in the Metsovion Technical University of Athens (Diploma of Chemical Engineer, 1985), he obtained
a PhD in Chemical Engineering (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1990) and conducted postdoctoral work in the Department of Materials of the Swiss Federal Technical University (Zurich,
1992-1994). Since 1995 he has been in the University of Cyprus. His current research areas are: (1) The
investigation of specific salt effects in physicochemical and biological systems. (2) The production
and characterization of organized colloidal structures at interfaces. (3) The use of sol-gel chemistry
for the production of porous nanoparticles and organized oxide films at surfaces. (4) General
surfactant science and its applications in the synthesis of materials and active interfaces. His current
and past scientific collaborators include groups from the Swiss Federal Technical University, the Max
Planck Institute for Colloids (Golm, Germany), the Marcoule Insitute for Chemical Separations
(Marcoule, France), the University of Regensburg (Germany), the University of Graz (Austria), the
University of Grenada (Spain), the Universities of Patras and Crete, the Hellenic National Institute of
Research, and the Demokritos Research Center in Greece. In the last 12 years he has coordinated 7
projects from the Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation, 1 from the University of Cyprus, and has
represented Cyprus in 2 COST thematic networks. He has 48 refereed publications with 1,550 citations
(ISI Web of Sci., 3/14) (h-index = 22). He has supervised 8 PhD Theses, 5 Masters Theses and more than
50 undergraduate Theses. He is currently supervising 1 Ph.D. and 1 M.Sc. student.
257
258
Examining the Role of Telomeres and Telomerase in the
Onset and Progression of HPV-related Cancers
Principal Investigator: Katerina Strati, Lecturer, Department of Biological
Sciences, Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, University of Cyprus
Background
Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) are
associated to a number of human
malignancies HPVs were first associated
with cervical cancer due to the detection of
HPV DNA in tumor biopsies (zur Hausen,
2009). An overwhelming majority of
cervical cancers (>99%), are now attributed
to HPVs, mainly types 16 and 18
(Walboomers, et al., 1999). These viruses
have been associated to other types of
cancer, such as a subset of head and neck
cancers and most other anogenital cancers.
Consequent to integration, expression of
the viral proteins E6 and E7 is upregulated.
The sustained co-expression of these
early gene products is required not
only for cancer development but also
for maintenance (Jabbar, et al., 2012).
Interestingly, our lab has recently published
that the expression of E6 and E7 promotes
an aberrant tissue stem cell compartment
in addition to the previously described
oncogenic function (Michael, Lambert, &
Strati, 2013) (Fig1).
During carcinogenesis the virus typically
integrates into the host genome.
These oncoproteins lack known enzymatic
functions and mediate their cellular
functions via interactions with anumber of
cellular binding partners. Thus the study
of E6 and E7 could identify important
therapeutic targets and may also be useful
as a tool for elucidating cellular pathways
(Roman & Munger, 2013; Vande Pol &
Klingelhutz, 2013).
Even though the HPV oncoproteins have
been abundantly characterized for their
interactions with multiple cellular
components, the mechanisms of tumorigenesis are not conclusively defined. It
should be noted that even though E6 and
259
Examining the Role of Telomeres and Telomerase in the Onset and Progression of HPV-Related Cancers
E7 have previously been shown to interact
with important tumour suppressors p53
and pRb respectively these interactions do
not account for the full spectrum of E6 and
E7-mediated phenotypes in vivo (Balsitis,
Dick, Dyson, & Lambert, 2006; Balsitis, et al.,
2005; Shai, Nguyen, Wagstaff, Jiang, &
Lambert, 2007; Strati & Lambert, 2007). One
important pathway targeted by both E6
and E7 is telomere homeostasis. Both E6
and E7 have been shown to modulate
telomere homeostasis in vitro by enhancing
telomerase activity in a number of ways or
promoting ALT respectively (Liu, et al., 2009;
Liu, Roberts, Dakic, Zhang, & Schlegel, 2008;
Miller, et al., 2013; Stoppler, Hartmann,
Sherman, & Schlegel, 1997; Veldman,
Horikawa, Barrett, & Schlegel, 2001). The
true contribution of these interactions to in
vivo carcinogenesis remains controversial.
Telomeres are the capping nucleoprotein
structures protecting the ends of
chromosomes from cellular DNA damage
surveillance systems. In most somatic cells
telomeric repeats are lost with consecutive
rounds of replication slowly reaching a
critical telomeric length which is thought to
be limiting to the cellular life span. However
in certain cell types such as stem cells and
cancer cells, which need to undergo
constant rounds of cell division, attenuation
of telomere shortening is crucial (Blasco,
2003).
Due to the important role of telomeres
and telomerase in cell biology, continued
investigation of molecular pathways
involved in the deregulation of telomere
homeostasis is a topic of constant
investigation.
Telomere attrition is thought to be a critical
barrier to oncogenic transformation (Blasco,
2003). Cancer cells often act to counteract
the growth inhibitory effects of shortening
telomeres by activating the transcription of
the enzyme telomerase, which elongates
telomeres or by activating ALT (alternative
lengthening of telomeres), a telomerase
independent pathway.
Methodology
We will use mouse models to investigate
the in vivo interaction between the HPV16
oncogenes and telomere homeostasis.
K14E6 and K14E7 mice (Song, Gulliver, &
Lambert, 1998), direct expression of E6 or
E7 in the basal layer of stratified squamous
epithelia of mice, the host tissue for natural
infection. Terc-/- mice lack the RNA
component of the telomerase enzyme
(Blasco, et al., 1997). The first generation of
Terc-/- mice (derived from heterozugous
mice) lack detectable telomerase activity
but inherit normal telomeres. Subsequent
generations of these mice show progressively shortening telomeres and related
pathologies. By crossing the above
described mice we plan to assess the in vivo
contribution of telomere homeostasis to E6
and E7-mediated phenotypes.
Importance
Telomere maintenance has been
recognized as key to the survival of cancer
cells frequently mediated by the upregulation of telomerase, the cellular
enzyme responsible for maintaining
telomeres. Accumulating evidence on the
importance of telomeres and telomerase in
cancer provided impetus for the telomere
maintenance pathway to be identified as a
candidate target for therapeutics. The
importance of telomerase activation and
telomere maintenance in HPV-related
cancers has been a long-standing debate in
the field of HPV molecular biology.
260
Recent Related Publications
by the lab
Iacovides, D., Michael, S, Achilleos, C., and
Strati, K. (2013). Shared mechanisms in
stemness and carcinogenesis: lessons from
oncogenic viruses. Front Cell Inf Micro. 3, 66
Michael, S., Lambert, P. F., & Strati, K. (2013).
The HPV16 oncogenes cause aberrant stem
cell mobilization. Virology, 443(2), 218-225.
References:
Balsitis, S., Dick, F., Dyson, N., & Lambert, P.
F. (2006). Critical roles for non-pRb targets
of human papillomavirus type 16 E7 in
cervical carcinogenesis. Cancer Res, 66(19),
9393-9400.
Balsitis, S., Dick, F., Lee, D., Farrell, L., Hyde,
R. K., Griep, A. E., et al. (2005). Examination
of the pRb-dependent and pRbindependent functions of E7 in vivo. J Virol,
79(17), 11392-11402.
Blasco, M. A. (2003). Telomeres in cancer
and aging: lessons from the mouse. Cancer
Lett, 194(2), 183-188.
Blasco, M. A., Lee, H. W., Hande, M. P.,
Samper, E., Lansdorp, P. M., DePinho, R. A.,
et al. (1997). Telomere shortening and
tumor formation by mouse cells lacking
telomerase RNA. Cell, 91(1), 25-34.
Liu, X., Roberts, J., Dakic, A., Zhang, Y., &
Schlegel, R. (2008). HPV E7 contributes to
the telomerase activity of immortalized
and tumorigenic cells and augments
E6-induced hTERT promoter function.
Virology, 375(2), 611-623.
Michael, S., Lambert, P. F., & Strati, K. (2013).
The HPV16 oncogenes cause aberrant stem
cell mobilization. Virology, 443(2), 218-225.
Miller, J., Dakic, A., Chen, R., Palechor-Ceron,
N., Dai, Y., Kallakury, B., et al. (2013). HPV16
E7 protein and hTERT proteins defective for
telomere maintenance cooperate to
immortalize human keratinocytes. PLoS
Pathog, 9(4), e1003284.
Roman, A., & Munger, K. (2013). The
papillomavirus E7 proteins. Virology,
445(1-2), 138-168.
Shai, A., Nguyen, M. L., Wagstaff, J., Jiang, Y.
H., & Lambert, P. F. (2007). HPV16 E6 confers
p53-dependent and p53-independent
phenotypes in the epidermis of mice
deficient for E6AP. Oncogene, 26(23),
3321-3328.
Song, S., Gulliver, G. A., & Lambert, P. F.
(1998). Human papillomavirus type 16 E6
and E7 oncogenes abrogate radiationinduced DNA damage responses in vivo
through p53-dependent and p53independent pathways. Proc Natl Acad Sci
U S A, 95(5), 2290-2295.
Jabbar, S. F., Park, S., Schweizer, J., BerardBergery, M., Pitot, H. C., Lee, D., et al. (2012).
Cervical cancers require the continuous
expression of the human papillomavirus
type 16 E7 oncoprotein even in the
presence of the viral E6 oncoprotein.
Cancer Res, 72(16), 4008-4016.
Stoppler, H., Hartmann, D. P., Sherman, L.,
& Schlegel, R. (1997). The human
papillomavirus type 16 E6 and E7
oncoproteins dissociate cellular telomerase
activity from the maintenance of telomere
length. J Biol Chem, 272(20), 13332-13337.
Liu, X., Dakic, A., Zhang, Y., Dai, Y., Chen, R.,
& Schlegel, R. (2009). HPV E6 protein
interacts physically and functionally with
the cellular telomerase complex. Proc Natl
Acad Sci U S A, 106(44), 18780-18785.
Strati, K., & Lambert, P. F. (2007). Role of Rbdependent and Rb-independent functions
of papillomavirus E7 oncogene in head
and neck cancer. Cancer Res, 67(24),
11585-11593.
261
Examining the Role of Telomeres and Telomerase in the Onset and Progression of HPV-Related Cancers
Vande Pol, S. B., & Klingelhutz, A. J. (2013).
Papillomavirus E6 oncoproteins. Virology,
445(1-2), 115-137.
Veldman, T., Horikawa, I., Barrett, J. C.,
& Schlegel, R. (2001). Transcriptional
activation of the telomerase hTERT gene
by human papillomavirus type 16 E6
oncoprotein. J Virol, 75(9), 4467-4472.
Walboomers, J. M., Jacobs, M. V., Manos, M.
M., Bosch, F. X., Kummer, J. A., Shah, K. V., et
al. (1999). Human papillomavirus is a
necessary cause of invasive cervical cancer
worldwide. J Pathol, 189(1), 12-19.
zur Hausen, H. (2009). Papillomaviruses
in the causation of human cancers - a
brief historical account. Virology, 384(2), 2
60-265.
262
Curriculum Vitae
Katerina Strati
Professional Appointments
Jul 2009-present Lecturer, University of Cyprus, Cyprus
Jan 2008- May 2009 Post-doctoral Fellow, Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), Madrid,
Spain
Aug 2007- Dec 2007 Post-doctoral Fellow, University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA
Formal Education
Aug 2003- Aug 2007 PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA
Aug 1999-May 2003 Bachelors in Microbiology and Genetics, Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, USA
(graduated with highest honors, summa cum laude)
Research Experience
• 2008-2009: Post-doctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Maria Blasco at the CNIO, I investigated the
effects of the roles of Telomeres and Telomerase in Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells.
• 2003-2007: PhD Student and post-doctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. Paul Lambert where I investigated
the in vivo roles of HPV16 oncogenes in carcinogenesis, using mouse models.
• 2000-2002: Undergraduate student in the lab of Dr. Gerry Goldstein at Ohio Wesleyan University.
I performed screens to identify novel antiviral agents modulating the replication of adenoviruses
in mammalian cells.
• 2001-2001: Summer student in the lab of Dr. Deborah Fowell at the University of Rochester.
I investigated the effects of CD4+CD25+Tregs on target effector T cell populations.
• 2000-2000: Summer student in the lab of Dr. Hartmut Land at the University of Rochester. I focused
on the role of the TCF4/beta-catenin complex in the Wnt pathway.
Formal Training Courses
• 2006: AACR Edward Smuckler Memorial Pathobiology of Cancer Workshop, Snowmass Village,
CO,USA.
Research Funding:
• Start up Grant (University of Cyprus)
• Role of HPV16 E7 in modulating DNA Damage (Cyprus Research Promotion foundation,
collaboration with Japan Cancer Centre)
• Examining the role of telomeres and telomerase in the onset and progression of HPV-related
cancers (Leventis Foundation)
• Development of computational tools and services for assessment of oncological diseases (European
Union Territorial Cooperation program and national funds of Greece and Cyprus) (collaborator)
(Co-ordinator Dr. Georgios Mitsis)
263
Examining the role of telomeres and telomerase in the onset and progression of HPV-related cancers
Research and Academic Awards
• 2008-2009: Postdoctoral Fellowship sponsored by the AECC (Spanish Association Against Cancer)
• 2006:
Travel Award from the International Papillomavirus Society
• 2006:
One of two honorable mentions for basic science poster presentation at the AACR Edward
Smuckler Memorial Pathobiology of Cancer Workshop, Snowmass Village, CO, USA
• 2005:
Travel Award from the International Papillomavirus Society
• 2003:
Member of the Phi Beta Kappa honorary society for undergraduate excellence
• 2003:
Member of the Phi Sigma honorary society for excellence in Biological Sciences
• 1999-2003: Ohio Wesleyan University Dean’s list, all undergraduate semesters
• 1999-2003: Fulbright Scholarship for duration of undergraduate studies
• 1999-2003: Ohio Wesleyan University Presidential Scholar
Collaborators
Paul Lambert
University of Wisconsin, Madison (Madison USA)
Topic: Modulation of Tissue Stem Cells by HPV16 E6 and E7
Georgios Mitsis University of Cyprus, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
(Nicosia, Cyprus)
Topic: Algorithms for Modeling of Carcinogenesis
Professional Memberships
European Society of Virology
Participation in Committees
2014-current National Committee on Environment and Children’s Health
2010-current Core Equipment Committee (UCY, Dept of Biol. Sciences)
2009-current Undergraduate Affairs Committee (UCY, Dept of Biol. Sciences)
Publications
Original Research Articles:
Michael, S., Lambert, P.F., and Strati, K. (2013) The HPV16 Oncogenes Cause Aberrant Stem Cell
Mobilization. Virology 443, 218-25.
✉corresponding author
Park, J.W., Pitot, H.C., Strati, K., Spardy, N., Duensing, S., Grompe, M. , and Lambert, P. F. Deficiency in
Fanconi Anemia Pathway Sensitizes Mice to HPV-Associated Head and Neck Cancer. (2010) Cancer
Res. 70, 9959-68.
Jabbar, S., Strati, K., Shin, M. K., Pitot, H. C., and Lambert, P. F. (2010). Human papillomavirus type 16 E6
and E7 oncoproteins act synergistically to cause head and neck cancer in mice. Virology 407, 60- 67.
264
Marion, R. M., *Strati, K., Li, H., Murga, M., Blanco, R., Ortega, S., Fernandez-Capetillo, O., Serrano, M.,
and Blasco, M. A. (2009). A p53-mediated DNA damage response limits reprogramming to ensure iPS
cell genomic integrity. Nature 460, 1149-1153.
*co-first author contribution
Li, H., Collado, M., Villasante, A., Strati, K., Ortega, S., Canamero, M., Blasco, M. A., and Serrano,
M. (2009). The Ink4/Arf locus is a barrier for iPS cell reprogramming. Nature 460, 1136-1139.
Marion, R. M., *Strati, K., Li, H., Tejera, A., Schoeftner, S., Ortega, S., Serrano, M., and Blasco, M. A. (2009).
Telomeres acquire embryonic stem cell characteristics in induced pluripotent stem cells. Cell Stem
Cell 4, 141-154.
*co-first author contribution,
Strati, K., and Lambert, P. F. (2007). Role of Rb-dependent and Rb-independent functions of
papillomavirus E7 oncogene in head and neck cancer. Cancer Res 67, 11585-11593.
Strati, K., Pitot, H. C., and Lambert, P. F. (2006). Identification of biomarkers that distinguish human
papillomavirus (HPV)-positive versus HPV-negative head and neck cancers in a mouse model. Proc
Natl Acad Sci USA 103, 14152-14157.
Reviews
Iacovides, D., Michael, S, Achilleos, C., and ✉Strati, K. (2013). Shared mechanisms in stemness and
carcinogenesis: lessons from oncogenic viruses. Front Cell Inf Micro. 3, 66
✉corresponding author Strati, K., and Lambert, P. F. (2008). Human Papillomavirus Association with
Head and Neck Cancers: Understanding Virus Biology and Using It in the Development of Cancer
Diagnostics. Expert Opin Med Diagn 2, 11-20.
Book chapters
Li, H., Strati, K., Dominguez, V., Martin, J., Blasco, M.A., Serrano, M. and Ortega, S. (2011) Induced
Pluripotency: generation of iPS cells from mouse embryonic fibroblasts, In Advanced Protocols for
Animal Transgenesis (Springer), pp.477-500.
Lambert, P. F., and Strati, K. (2009). Oncogenic Viruses, In Encyclopedia of Microbiology (Elsevier),
pp. 421-429.
265
266
Studying Nuclear Matter under Extreme Conditions of High
Temperature and High Baryonic Density: The International
Experiment HADES at the Heavy-ion Research Center of GSI
Darmstadt, Germany
Principal Investigator: Haralambos Tsertos, Professor, Department of Physics,
Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, University of Cyprus
Research Associate: Vlasios Petousis, PhD, Department of Physics, Faculty of
Pure and Applied Sciences, University of Cyprus
Abstract
Heavy-ion collisions at relativistic energies provide a unique opportunity to create and
investigate in the laboratory hadronic matter properties, such as effective masses, decay
widths, electromagnetic form factors etc., under extreme conditions of high density
and high temperature. A special class of hadrons is the so-called light vector mesons
ρ, φ, and ω. These mesons have a rare electromagnetic decay channel into an electronpositron pair, which is considered as one of the most promising decay modes for
studying in-medium properties. By changing the experimental conditions (beam
energy, reaction target) one can measure the decay properties of these vector mesons
at different hadronic densities and temperatures.
The HADES spectrometer is designed to study the nuclear matter and its underlying
properties under the influence of high baryonic densities high temperatures,
produced in central heavy-ion collisions at relativistic energies. Moreover, the HADES
spectrometer allows for a better understanding of in-medium properties of vector
mesons by measuring the dielectron pairs, with high momentum and mass
resolution (1%).
Since 2006, the Nuclear and Heavy Ions Physics Laboratory (NHIPL), uses an efficient
High Performance Computer Cluster (HPCC) and also methodology procedures for
simulation (UrQMD) and real data analysis of the HADES experiment outcomes. More
specifically, experimental results on charged pion production in 12C+12C collisions at
beam energies of 1 and 2 GeV/u and also in p+p collision at 3.5 GeV, studied and
successfully completed. In April 2012 a very interesting experiment carried out
successfully in the most difficult so far, in terms of multiplicity, collision system
(beam+target) of Au+Au at energies of 1.25 GeV/u. The Nuclear and Heavy-Ion Physics
Laboratory at the University of Cyprus, actively involved in the analysis of the new data
and also in the simulation for comparison with the actual experimental measurements.
That was a really challenge in multiple levels. In order to follow that challenge, the
existing High Performance Computing Cluster (HPCC), had to be upgraded completely.
The outcome was an successful upgrade from scratch. The data analysis procedure due
to high multiplicity and complexity is still in progress. Also in May 2013, the NHIPL
267
Studying Nuclear Matter under Extreme Conditions of High Temperature and High Baryonic Density
triggered another challenging opportunity using HADES detector. That was the use of
experimental data in the research for that so called Dark Photon, a light mass candidate
for Dark Matter. This effort resulted a publication which will be available soon at Physics
Letters B, 731(2014), 265-271.
The HADES Collaboration is a European collaboration, consisting of about 38
institutions and more than 240 scientists, among them the Nuclear Physics Laboratory
of the Physics Department, University of Cyprus, as a founding member.
1. Overview
It is a great challenge to understand the
processes, which led to the creation of the
physical world around us. In the Big Bang
theory, a singularity in time started the
existence of our universe, its evolution
thereafter being determined by physical
processes that occur in different time scales.
Baryonic genesis, the formation of baryonic
matter, is believed to have formed on a time
scale of 10 to 20 microseconds after the
beginning. The understanding of the
behavior of baryonic matter is of central
importance since baryonic matter serves as
a building block of all the atoms we know
today. The only way of studying baryonic
genesis in the laboratory is by means of
high-energy heavy-ion collisions. In such
collisions, nuclear matter is produced at
high density and high temperature, and
thus creating the physical environment
necessary for the study of baryonic genesis.
The main goals of modern nuclear physics
is the investigation of hadron properties,
such as effective masses, decay widths,
electromagnetic form factors etc., inside
nuclear matter under extreme conditions of
high density and high temperature. The aim
of this proposal is a better understanding of
the various processes contributing to dilepton production in hot and compressed
nuclear matter, leading ultimately to a
search for signals of the partial restoration
of the chiral symmetry of QCD. Electronpositron pair spectroscopy of the vector
meson decays is assumed to be a promising
tool to investigate these properties, as
leptons do not undergo strong final-state
interaction with the surrounding nuclear
medium. They carry information from the
inside of strongly interacting matter to the
outside world, and bring forth information
not accessible by measuring purely
hadronic final states. For such decay
studies, the light short-lived vector mesons
ρ and ω are of particular interest since they
have a direct electron-positron- decay
branch. While the ρ mesons mainly decay
inside a nucleus or a reaction medium of
comparable volume, even the longer living
ω mesons might do so to a substantial
fraction.
The new High Acceptance DiElectron
Spectrometer (HADES) [1] is set up at GSI by
an international collaboration of 22
institutions from 9 European countries.
The physics programme for HADES can be
summarized by the following broad
research goals.
• The study of electron-positron pair emission in relativistic heavy-ion collisions.
• Di-lepton production in elementary
reactions and experiments aimed at
studying the structure of hadrons.
• The study of vector meson mass
distributions.
• The study of chiral symmetry restoration.
268
The HADES spectrometer is a secondgeneration experiment for high-resolution
electron pair spectroscopy, produced in
nucleon-nucleon and nucleus-nucleus
collisions. The key features of this
experiment are an excellent mass
resolution (δm/m ~1%) and a very large
acceptance (ε=40%) for comprehensive
studies of the behavior of ρ, φ, and ω
mesons in the nuclear medium. Apart from
this, the new instrument provides strong
background rejection power, high
granularity, and advanced count rate
capability to cope with the heaviest
collision systems (238U+238U at E=1xA GeV),
which are necessary to achieve nuclear
energy densities (2-3 times normal nuclear
matter density).
The new accelerator facility will provide
beam energies a factor of 15 higher than
presently available at GSI for all ions, from
protons to uranium. The physics for the new
Compressed Baryonic Matter (CBM) [2]
experiment can be summarized as follows:
• The first goal is to achieve a comprehensive and quantitative understanding of all aspects of matter that are
governed by the strong (nuclear) and
the weak force, that critically determine
the structure of matter at the microscopic level. Matter at the level of
nuclei, nucleons, quarks and gluons are
governed by the strong interaction and
are often referred to as hadronic matter.
• The second goal addresses many-body
aspects of matter. Research during the
past century found that the structure of
matter has an intrinsic complexity, which
is more than just the linear superposition
of its components. These many-body
aspects govern the behavior of matter as
it appears in our physical world as well as
on the hadronic level.
These two broad science aspects, the
structure and dynamics of hadronic matter
and the complexity of the physical manybody system, transcend and determine the
more specific research programmes that
will be pursued at the future facility. These
include:
I. The study of in-medium properties of
hadrons,
II. The search for the chiral and deconfinement phase transition at high baryon
densities,
III. The study of the nuclear equation of
state of baryonic matter at high
densities,
IV. The search for the critical point strongly
interacting matter,
V. The search for new states of matter at
highest baryon densities.
Our experimental approach is to measure
simultaneously observables, which are
sensitive to high-density effects and phase
transitions. The key observables include:
• Short-lived light vector mesons (ρ, ω, φ),
which decay into electron-positron pairs.
Since the leptons are almost unaffected
by the passage through the high-density
matter, they provide, as a penetrating
probe, almost undistorted information
on the conditions in the interior of the
collision zone.
• Strange baryons (anti-baryons), which
contain more than one strange (antistrange) quark. Hyperons serve as a
probe for high baryon densities. The
phase-space distributions of baryons are
expected to be sensitive to the early and
dense stage of the collisions.
• Mesons containing a charm or an
anti-charm quark (open charm, e.g. D
mesons). An experimental investigation
269
of charm production mesons at threshold
beam energies will shed light on the inmedium production processes.
• Macro-dynamical effects, like collective
flow of nuclear matter during the
expansion of the initially compressed
system and critical event-by-event
fluctuations. These observables contain
information on the nuclear equation of
state at high densities. The identification
of a critical point would provide direct
evidence for the existence and the
character of a deconfinement phase
transition in strongly interacting matter.
• Charmonium production and propagation
as a probe for quark-gluon matter at high
baryon densities.
2. Physics motivation
The standard model of particle physics
describes the current physics understanding of matter on a microscopic
scale. It uses two fundamental forces: The
electroweak force and the strong force.
These forces can in principle describe the
dynamics of matter in our world.
Quantum ChromoDynamics (QCD) is the
theory of the strong force. Strongly
interacting matter – which constitutes
more than 99% of the visible mass in our
world – exists in different forms:
• Quarks, the elementary particles of QCD,
which have not been observed so far as
free particles.
• Hadrons, consisting of three quarks,
which include the nucleons, the building
blocks of the matter, and the mesons
consisting of a quark and antiquark.
Quarks are bound together by the
exchange of gluons, the mediators of the
strong force.
• Atomic nuclei, consisting of up to about
270 protons and neutrons. These
nucleons are bound by a short-range
attraction.
• Neutron stars, consisting of about 1057
neutrons, which are bound by gravitation.
For processes at high energies, where large
4-momentum transfers are involved, the
equations of QCD are perturbatively
solvable. For low 4-momentum transfers a
numerical solution is achieved by Lattice
QCD calculations, which are strongly
limited by the computing technology
available today. Therefore, one needs to use
effective theories for describing processes
at low 4-momentum transfer. These
theories are based on principle symmetries
of the QCD or use model assumptions from
phenomenological indications resulting in
solvable equations.
QCD describes the dynamics of quarks and
gluons [3] and is able to explain the
properties of hadronic matter. It has the
remarkable feature that the interaction
between two particles, quarks or gluons,
becomes weak as the separation between
them is reduced. This phenomenon,
called asymptotic freedom, simplifies
the description of certain high-energy
processes and is the main reason behind
the successful account of short distance
phenomena in QCD. Conversely, at large
distances, comparable to the size of the
nucleon, the interaction between two
quarks is strong.
The characteristics of the hadrons can be
found listed for example in the Particle
Physics Booklet [4], where the world data is
summarized. The most essential properties
include the charge, the mass, the life-time,
the decay channels and the spin, etc. Many
of these fundamental features are well
known and understood, but there are still
270
many open questions. These properties are
measured in vacuum and one expects
changes when these particles are
surrounded by hadronic matter. By analogy,
this is similar to the effective mass of an
electron moving in a crystal lattice, the
surrounding potentials of the lattice result
in a change of the mass used in the
differential equations of their motion.
A great effort is being made for the
experimental observation and theoretical
interpretation of this fundamental issue, to
get a better understanding of the laws of
nature. A special class of hadrons is the socalled light vector mesons. These mesons
have a rare electromagnetic decay channel
into an electron-positron pair. One
remarkable feature of this decay channel is
the fact that the leptons do not interact
strongly with hadronic matter and
therefore penetrate hadronic matter
undisturbed.
Heavy-ion collisions provide the unique
possibility to create and investigate in
the laboratory hadronic matter at high
temperatures and high densities [5]. By
colliding two nuclei at relativistic energies
in the range from 0.2 to 10 GeV, baryonic
densities can reach values up to 10 times
the normal nuclear matter density and
temperature of 50 to about 200 MeV. This
provides the opportunity to investigate
the equation of state of nuclear matter,
the phase transitions, and the possible
restoration of chiral symmetry. The
knowledge of the nuclear equation of state
is essential for understanding the dynamics
of supernova and the stability of neutron
stars by varying the density with energy.
One of the goals of the experimental
programme is to produce dense and hot
fireball in a collision between two nuclei at
high energies, which may serve for the
study of fundamental properties of the
strong interaction and its underlaying
theory, Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD).
Some of the most fascinating features of
strong interaction physics are still not
quantitatively understood: why are quarks
not observed as individual particles? Why is
a hadron that is composed of light quarks
much heavier than the sum of the masses
of its constituents? The nucleon (p=uud,
n=udd), for instance, is roughly 50 times
heavier than the sum of the mass of its
three basic constituents (Mu = 1-5 MeV, Md
= 3-9 MeV). Does mesons change their
mass inside dense nuclear matter? Is this an
indication of chiral symmetry restoration?
The phenomenology indicates that if QCD
is to describe the real world, then the u and
d quarks must have very small masses. But
if these quarks have indeed very small
masses, then the equations of QCD possess
some additional symmetries, called chiral
symmetries. These symmetries allow
separate transformations among the righthanded quarks (spinning, in relation to their
motion, like ordinary right handed screws)
and left-handed quarks. But according to
QCD theory, the interaction of a quark with
gluons does not change the orientation of
the quark spin relative to its momentum.
The conservation of chirality is a
consequence of chiral symmetry. It is
strictly valid only in the limit of vanishing
quark masses. So if QCD is to describe the
real world, the chiral symmetry must be
spontaneously broken, much like the
breaking of the rotational symmetry of a
ferromagnet below the Curie temperature.
An important consequence of the
spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking is
the existence of an almost massless
Goldstone boson (the π meson) and the
absence of parity doublets in the hadron
spectrum. Chiral symmetry is expected to
be restored at high baryon density even at
271
low temperature. Many theoretical studies
are addressed to this phenomenon up to
now [6].
The experimental programme on heavy
ion collision at CERN-SPS and RHIC has
the outstanding goal of searching for the
QCD phase transition. This transition from
deconfined quark and gluon matter, the
so-called Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP), to
colorless hadrons is believed to have
happened in the early universe, a few
microseconds after the Big Bang. Among
the many phase transitions, which
occurred in the early universe, the QCD
phase transition is the only one, which is
experimentally reproducible today. This is
because the temperatures and energy
densities needed for the transition can be
reached in ultra relativistic heavy ion
collisions (see figure 2.1).
In collaboration with scientists from all
over the world, GSI plays a leading role in
the field of relativistic heavy ion collisions.
In particular, a rich experience exists in the
investigation of dense nuclear matter as
created in central collisions between two
heavy nuclei at beam energies of up to
2xA GeV. Data on strange meson
production and the collective flow of
nucleons obtained with the KaoS and
FOPI detectors at GSI provide information
on the nuclear matter equation of state
up to about three times the saturation
density. Experimental results indicate that
the properties of strange mesons are
modified in dense nuclear matter. The
modification of in-medium properties of
vector mesons, which is expected to
occur if chiral symmetry is restored, is
experimentally studied with the Dilepton
Spectrometer HADES at GSI. The HADES
detector can measure hadrons and
electrons emitted in heavy ion collisions
also at higher beam energies up to about
7xA GeV and, hence, will be part of the
experimental equipment at the new
accelerator facility of GSI.
A direct implication of such experiments
is that they provide the possibility of
obtaining information on the nuclear
equation of state at high baryon densities
and on the properties of hadrons in dense
nuclear matter. The equation of state of
Fig. 2.1: High temperature and baryonic density did exist in the early universe, a few
microseconds after the Big Bang and can be created in the laboratory by means of heavyion collisions and ultra-relativistic energies.
272
nuclear matter plays an important role in
the dynamics of a supernova explosion
and the stability of neutron stars. In
neutron stars or during the collapse of
very heavy stars that have burned their
nuclear fuel, much higher densities can
be achieved. That is because the
gravitational force of such massive
objects compresses the nuclear matter.
Nuclear collisions are the only way that
one can compress nuclear matter in the
laboratory and learn what the
relationship is between the density of
nuclear matter and the pressure needed
to compress it. The information obtained
from collision experiments can help us
understand why neutrons stars do not
collapse into black holes and help us
predict some of the properties of the
interiors of neutron stars, the densest
objects observed in the universe so far.
3. The HADES Experiment (a short
summary)
The HADES spectrometer is a rotationally
symmetric, large acceptance toroidal
spectrometer and it consists of 6
symmetric sectors each covering an
azimuthal range of
The
angular and momentum acceptance
were chosen according to the two-body
decay kinematics at SIS energies
assuming thermal emission from a midrapidity (Y=0.8-1.0) zone. For masses up
to 1.5 GeV/c2 and transverse momenta up
to 1.5 GeV/c this geometry results in a flat
acceptance.
273
Fig. 3.1: Schematic view of HADES
spectrometer
Figure 3.1 shows 6 sectors of the spectrometer, which consists of the following
components:
➢ A diamond START detector, composed
of two identical 8-strip diamond
detectors of octagonal shape placed 75
cm downstream respectively 75 cm
upstream of the HADES target.
➢ A first electron identification over the
full acceptance is done by a fast Ring
Imaging Cherenkov (RICH) detector
with gaseous radiator surrounding the
target, covering the full azimuthal range
and polar angle range between 18o and
88o. Due to Cerenkov threshold of
all protons produced at
,
SIS energies as well as pions up to 3
GeV/c can be rejected. A high angular
resolution is needed by the RICH
detector to assure that the lepton
identification can be assigned to the
corresponding lepton track.
➢ Momentum and angular distributions
are achieved by a trajectory reconstruction in the 2 sets of Multilayered
Drift Chambers (MDC) positioned in 6
spectrometer sectors, in front and
behind the magnetic field region for
tracking.
➢ A superconducting toroidal magnet
with 6 coils that are mounted on
separate vacuum chambers. The coil
cases are aligned with the frames of the
MDC's to reduce dead space in the
spectrometer. The magnet provides the
momentum kick necessary to obtain
charged particle momenta with a
resolution of about 1%.
➢ A multiplicity/electron trigger array
(META) consisting of granular preshower detectors placed at small polar
angles (θ<45o) and two walls of
scintillators: the time-of-flight wall (TOF)
at angles above 45o and the TOFINO
wall at angles below 45o. The preshower and the TOF serve for the
second electron identification. The
identified positions of electron hits in
the RICH are then combined with
identified electron hit positions in META
in order to investigate their angular
correlation.
(The HADES setup has been recently
described in a detailed and comprehensive
publication, see European Physical Journal
A 41,243-277, 2009).
4. Research activities at UCY
4.1 List of Tasks
1. Computing Power – Upgrade of Linux
Cluster
2. Particle Identification
3. Data Summary Tapes (DST) production
of 2xA GeV C+C
4. Analysis of 2xA GeV C+C
5. Study of di-lepton production in pp
collisions
6. Study of di-lepton production in Au+Au
collisions
4.2 Computing Power
(High Performance Computing
Cluster - HPCC)
Modern high-energy and heavy-ion
experiments produce incredible amounts
of data (several TBytes per week). In order
to be able to process and analyze such
large amounts of data, high performance
computing systems are needed. This
is also true for the analysis of the
experimental data produced by the
HADES experiment at GSI.
The Nuclear Physics Laboratory of the
University of Cyprus has recently made a
significant step towards high-performance
computing by building a new modular
Linux cluster that is based on the new
generation Intel Xeon dual processors. The
cluster comprises of 1 master node and 20
computing (slave) nodes each comprising
of two 2.33 GHz Intel Xeon processors, 4 GB
of RAM on the master and each node (see
figure 4.1). Four direct storage systems are
also attached to the master node and NFS
shared to the nodes. The nodes are
connected to Gigabit Ethernet network for
communication management. The current
configuration of the system provides a peak
performance of 100 Gflops and a total disk
capacity of 23 TBytes. This dedicated highperformance Linux cluster enables the
analysis and simulations of complex
experimental data obtained by HADES and
other experiments very efficiently. It
provides also the possibility to compile and
run jobs that are based on parallel
algorithms. A fast Internet connection is
available, which allows data transfer to the
274
Nuclear Physics laboratory at the University
of Cyprus for local analysis and storage.
Fig 4.1: High performance Linux cluster
features
The operating system running is Linux
(Scientific Linux (CERN) 6.3 64 bit). The
operation system provides of the GNU
C/C++ compilers (gcc 4.4.6) to pre-process,
assemble, and link C/C++ language source
files. The complete HADES analysis and
simulation software packages have been
installed and tested on this cluster. More
specifically the following packages have
been compiled under the compiler gcc 4.4.6:
5. Project Summary and Results
Since 2006, the Nuclear and Heavy Ions
Physics Laboratory, uses an efficient High
Performance Computer Cluster (HPCC)
and also methodology procedures for
simulation (UrQMD) and real data analysis
of the HADES experiment outcomes.
More specifically, experimental results on
charged pion production in C+C collisions
at beam energies of 1 and 2 AGeV/u and
also in p+p at 3.5 GeV collisions, studied
and successfully completed.
Pion production has provided us
information on the collision dynamics
(ie., dimensions and temperature of the
emitting source (fireball)) and an accurate
knowledge of their production yield.
This production was of uppermost
importance in our experimental approach,
since the measured dilepton yield in
these collisions is normalized to the
simultaneous measured pion production.
Also transverse-mass and rapidity
distributions, has been extracted for these
measurements. Most noticeably, the
angular distribution of charged pions has
been measured for the first time in this
collision systems.
It is worthwhile to underline that the most
interesting experimental outcome from
HADES experiment so far, was the
measured dilepton production in C+C
collisions at beam energies 1 and 2 GeV/u
(figure 5.1). HADES experiment has also
measured dilepton production in pp and
np collisions (figure 5.2). According to all
these results, an enhancement of the
measured lepton-pair yield is observed in
the invariant pair mass range between
0.15 and 0.5 GeV/c2, which cannot be
explained by a cocktail of free hadronic
decays of the long-lived π-zero, η, and ω
mesons. Quantitative comparison with
previous data of the DLS experiment has
275
shown a good agreement between the
two experiments, so that the so-called in
the literature “DLS Puzzle” has now
cleared up (figure 5.3). Further theoretical
input is therefore on the way and required
in order to understand completely the
origin of the pair excess established
experimentally in this collision system.
In April 2012 a very interesting
experiment carried out successfully in the
most difficult so far, in terms of
multiplicity, collision system (beam+
target) of Au+Au at energies of 1.25
GeV/u. The Nuclear and Heavy-Ion Physics
Laboratory at the University of Cyprus,
actively involved in the analysis of the
new data and also in the simulation for
comparison with the actual experimental
measurements. That was a really
challenge in multiple levels. In order to
follow that challenge, the existing High
Performance Computing Cluster (HPCC),
had to be upgraded completely. The
outcome was an successful upgrade from
scratch. The data analysis procedure due
to high multiplicity and complexity is still
in progress. Also in May 2013, the
NHIPL triggered another challenging
opportunity using HADES detector. That
was the use of experimental data in the
research for that so called Dark Photon, a
light mass candidate for Dark Matter.
The research activities of the Cyprus
group for the time period 2006-2014 are
presented in a comprehensive review.
Here a short summary of its main
ingredients:
• Organization and hosting of the
intentional annual meeting of the
HADES collaboration (about 100
people) in Cyprus (30.10. – 4.11.2007).
• Participation in conducting experimental measurements (late March to
early May 2012, the system Au+Au
(1.25GeV/u) Research Center GSI (with
HADES experiment).
• Install and test all necessary software
packages for analysis and simulation
events in High Performance Computer
Cluster (HPCC - Linux Cluster)
Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and
Heavy - Ions of the University of Cyprus.
• Participation in the annual meeting of
the HADES collaboration in Germany in
November 2012
the HADES collaboration in Prague in
May 2013
the HADES collaboration in Garching Munich in February 2014
• A contribution of HADES detector in the
research for that so called Dark Photon,
a light mass candidate for Dark Matter.
This effort resulted a publication which
has been accepted and published in
Physics Letters B, 731 (2014), 265-271
(http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.20
14.02.035), (figure 5.4).
• Participation in about 112 publications
in scientific papers and conference
proceedings.
• A significant upgrade of the computing
facilities of the Nuclear Physics
Laboratory due to the funding program
“upgrading of existing infrastructure”.
276
Fig.5.1: Efficiency- and backgroundcorrected electron-positron invariant-mass
distribution for dielectrons compared to a
thermal dielectron cocktail
Fig 5.2: Invariant mass distribution of
dielectron pairs measured within the
detector acceptance for p+p (left panel)
and n+p (right panel) interactions at a
beam energy of 1.25 GeV/u.
Fig 5.3: From the results one can see, that
the dielectron production in C+C
collisions at SIS energies can indeed
be explained by a superposition of
elementary p+p and n+p collisions.
Fig.5.4: The 90% CL upper limit on ε2
versus the U-boson mass obtained from
the combined analysis of HADES data
(solid black curve). This result is compared
with existing limits from the MAMI/A1,
APEX, BaBar, WASA, and KLOE-2
experiments, as well as with the g−2
constraints.
277
6. References
[1] http://www-hades.gsi.de
[2] http://www.fair-center.eu/for-users/
experiments/cbm.html
[3] F. Wilczek, Physics Today 53 (2000) 22
[4] Particle Data Group, Review of
Particle Physics, The European
Physical Journal C15 (2000) 1
[5] “THE SEARCH FOR THE QUARK GLUON PLASMA”, J. Harris, B. Muller,
Ann. Rev. Nucl. Part. Sci. 46: 71-107
(1996), hep-ph/9602235
[6] M. Lutz, S. Klimt, W. Weise, Nucl. Phys.
A 542 (1992) 521
278
Curriculum Vitae
H. Tsertos
Research and Teaching Profile
Name: Haralabos Tsertos
Position: Professor of Physics
Department of Physics
P.O BOX 20537
CY-1678 Nicosia
E-Mail: tsertos @ ucy.ac.cy
Telephone:+357 22892820 (secr.), 22892847 (off.), 22892868 (lab)
Fax: +357 22892821
Academic Qualifications:
1985: Ph.D in Physics at the Technical University Munich (TUM), Germany
1980: M.Sc in Physics at the Technical University Munich (TUM), Germany
1977: B.Sc in Physics at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
Professional Career:
2005–present: Professor of Physics at the Department of Physics of the University of Cyprus.
1997–2005:
Associate Professor of Physics at the Department of Physics of the University
of Cyprus.
1993–1997:
Assistant Professor of Physics at the Department of Natural Sciences of the University
of Cyprus.
1988–1993:
Senior Research Associate at the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung (GSI)
Darmstadt, Germany.
1986–1988:
Post Doctoral Research Fellow at the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung (GSI)
armstadt, Germany.
1. Main Research Interests and Expertise
Modern experimental Nuclear Physics with heavy ions at relativistic energies.
Particle detectors; Monte Carlo simulation techniques; high performance computing systems.
Nuclear Astrophysics and Cosmology.
Natural radioactivity and applications of nuclear radiation.
First gamma-radioactivity maps and radon maps in Cyprus
(See e.g. http://www-np.ucy.ac.cy/radio_isotopes/start.html
279
Funding of Research Grants
2. “Experiments at the Heavy-Ion Research Center of GSI” A research proposal funded by the
University of Cyprus (1995-1998).
About 90,000 euro were approved for a Post-Doctoral position, computer equipment and
traveling costs.
3. Member of an European Network (within the TMR program contracts ERBCHRX--CT94--0634
and ERBCIPD--CT94—0091), located at GSI.
About 350,000 Euro have been approved from which I got (as a subcontractor) about 20.000 Euro,
mainly for traveling costs.
4. “The International Experiment HADES at the Heavy-Ion Research Center of GSI ”
A research program funded by the University of Cyprus (2000-2005).
A total of about 120,000 Euro were approved for our participation in the HADES experiment, for
a Post-Doctoral position, computer equipment and traveling costs.
4. “HADES and secondary beams” EC-Funding program of Guest researchers of GSI.
A total of 20 person-days and additional travel and accommodation expenses have been granted
(2000 - 2003).
5. “Detection and determination of the activity of environmental radioisotopes in various places
of Cyprus” - “The Radioisotopes Project in Cyprus”. A total amount of about 85,000 Euro was
granted by the Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation (2001-2003).
6. “Installation of a High-Performance Linux Cluster for analysis and simulations of complex data
in physics experiments ”
A total amount of about 150,000 Euro was granted by the University of Cyprus (2002- 2003).
7. “HADES and secondary beams” EC-Funding program of Guest researchers of GSI.
A total of 30 person-days and additional travel and accommodation expenses have been granted
(2004 - 2006).
8. “I3HP FP6 Program” Transnational Access to Research Infrastructures (TARI)
Contract N. RII3-CT-2004-506078). EU-Funding program of guest researchers of GSI. A total of 30
person-days and additional travel and accommodation expenses have been granted for this year.
9. “Studying nuclear matter under extreme conditions of high baryonic density and
highemperature - The HADES and the CBM experiments at GSI Darmstadt, Germany”
An internal research programme funded by the University of Cyprus, about 127,000 euro were
granted mainly for a post doc position and travelling costs (2005 –2008).
10. “Dilepton Analysis of 12C+12C Collisions at 1A GeV”, ΑΠΟΝΕ/0505/01
A total amount of about 97,000 euro, Research Promotion Foundation (Cyprus) (2005-2008).
11. “Upgrade of the existing High-Performance Linux Cluster”, ΕΡΥΑΝ/0506/06
A total amount of about 126,000 euro, Research Promotion Foundation (Cyprus) (2006-2011).
280
12. “Studying nuclear matter under extreme conditions of high baryonic density and high
temperature - The HADES experiments at GSI Darmstadt, Germany”
An internal research programme of the University of Cyprus funded by the Cyprus Leventis
Foundation, about 70,000 granted mainly for a post doc position and travelling costs (2011 –2013).
Conferences
Organization and co-funding of the main HADES Collaboration Meeting XVIII, Oct. 30 – Nov. 4, 2007,
Ayia Napa, Cyprus (80 participants)
Main Administrative Duties
•
Chairman of the Department of Physics (2002)
•
Vice Dean of the Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences (2001-2002)
•
Vice Dean of the Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences (2002-2005)
•
Member of the Senate of the University of Cyprus (2001-2002)
•
Member of the Senate of the University of Cyprus (2003-2004, 2013 - )
•
Head of the Nuclear Physics Research Laboratory of the Department of Physics (1995-present).
International Collaborations
•
Founding member of the international collaboration HADES at GSI Darmstadt, Germany. (The
HADES Collaboration is composed of 18 institutions from 9 European countries and has presently
about 120 members).
•
Member of the HADES Collaboration Board Committee (1995-present).
•
Member of an external evaluation committee of the Greek higher-education institutions
(2010 - ).
Most Recent Publications in Refereed Journals [2013 - ]
1. PK +Λ final state: Towards the extraction of the p pK – contribution
(HADES Collaboration, Nuclear Physics A 914 (2013) 60-68
2. “Inclusive pion and η production in p+Nb collisions at 3.5 GeV beam energy”
(HADES Collaboration), Physical Review C88 (2) (2013), art. no. 024904.
3. “Baryonic resonances close to the K N threshold: The case of Λ(1405) in pp collisions”.
(HADES Collaboration), Physical Review C87 (2) (2013), art. no. 025201.
4. First measurement of proton-induced low-momentum dielectron radiation off cold nuclear
matter, (HADES Collaboration), Physics Letters B715 (4-5) (2012) 304-309.
5. Systematic grid-wise radon concentration measurements and first radon map in Cyprus.
G. Theodoulou, H. Tsertos, Y. Parpottas
Published in Radiation Measurements 47 (2012) 451-460.
DOI: 10.1016/j.radmeas.2012.03.019
6. Inclusive dielectron spectra in p+p collisions at 3.5 GeV kinetic beam energy
281
Agakishiev G, et al. (HADES Collaboration)
Published in European Physical Journal A48 (2012) 64.
DOI: 10.1140/epja/i2012-12064-y
7. Study of exclusive one-pion and one-eta production using hadron and dielectron channels
in pp reactions at kinetic beam energies of 1.25 GeV and 2.2 GeV with HADES
Published in European Physical Journal A48 (2012) 74.
DOI: 10.1140/epja/i2012-12074-9
8. Determination of the Σ(1385) 0/Λ(1405) ratio in p+p collisions at 3.5 GeV
Published in Hyperfine Interactions 210 (2012) 45-51.
9. Inclusive dielectron production in proton-proton collisions at 2.2 GeV beam energy
Published in Physical Review C85 (2012) 054005.
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevC.85.054005
10. The HADES-at-FAIR project.
K. Lapidus, et al. (HADES Collaboration)
Published in Physics of Atomic Nuclei 75 (2012) 589-593.
DOI: 10.1134/S1063778812050146
11. Inclusive dielectron production in proton-proton collisions at 2.2 GeV beam energy.
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevC.85.054005
12. Study of exclusive one-pion and one-eta production using hadron and dielectron channels
in pp reactions at kinetic beam energies of 1.25 GeV and 2.2 GeV with HADES.
Published in European Physical Journal A48 (2012) 74
DOI: 10.1140/epja/i2012-12074-9
13. Production of Σ± π± pK+ in p + p reactions at 3.5 GeV beam energy.
Published in Nuclear Physics A881 (2012) 178-186.
DOI: 10.1016/j.nuclphysa.2012.02.009
14. Baryonic resonances close to the threshold: The case of Σ(1385)+ in pp collisions.
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevC.85.035203
282
15. p p and pi pi intensity interferometry in collisions of Ar + KCl at 1.76A-GeV.
Published in European Physical Journal A47 (2011) 63
DOI: 10.1140/epja/i2011-11063-x
16. Dielectron production in Ar+KCl collisions at 1.76A GeV.
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevC.84.014902
17. Gamma radiation measurements and dose rates in commonly used building materials in Cyprus.
Michael F, Parpottas Y, Tsertos H
Published in Radiation Protection Dosimetry 142(2-4) (2010) 282-291.
DOI:10.1093/rpd/ncq193
•
Most of the publications can be retrieved from the SPIRES database .
283
Chapter Five
Research Programmes 2014-2016
284
Research Programmes
ΚΑΡΑΒΟΙ: The Ship Graffiti on the Medieval and postMedieval Monuments of Cyprus: Mapping, Documentation
and Digitisation
Principal Investigator: Stella Demesticha, Assistant Professor, Department
of History and Archaeology, Faculty of Letters, University of Cyprus
Graffiti depicting ships are known
throughout the Mediterranean from
the third millennium BC onward. The
archaeological record of such graffiti is
rich, as they have been found on the
walls of monuments of different character
(caves, temples, public buildings,
fortifications, churches) dating to various
periods.
The existence of ships’ graffiti on the
walls of medieval churches and secular
monuments on Cyprus thus far has
attracted the attention of only a few
scholars.
At least four, almost contemporaneous,
surveys have been conducted during the
past 20 years and have provided a
significant body of evidence, documented
by different teams in different ways: more
than 30 monuments with at least 120
ships’ graffiti have been recorded but the
data remain scattered and only partly
published.
This project aims to:
• collect all the available data in a database,
so that a comprehensive corpus is made
available for wide usage;
• digitise all existing drawings;
• apply new technologies in order to record
in detail each graffiti, thus correcting or
adding valuable information to the
existing drawings;
• preserve the maximum possible
information provided by graffiti, which
is a particularly vulnerable kind of
evidence, exposed to the decay of
the buildings but also to restoration
processes; very often unrecorded graffiti
go unnoticed and thus are destroyed by
mistake during restoration works;
• finally, disseminate
information.
the
available
Methodology: During the two years’ time
proposed for this project, all the recorded
Cypriot monuments will be revisited so
that a) the ships’ graffiti are documented
with high resolution digital methods; b)
their position on the walls are plotted; and
c) their locations on the island are
accurately mapped. All
these data will be stored in a database,
part of which will be specifically designed
for online availability.
During the second year of the project, a
team of specialists will be involved in the
publication of the research results in an
edited volume, in English and Greek.
Results: The most important result of this
project will be the creation of a corpus of
the ships’ graffiti on the island, which will
allow for their comprehensive study as
285
ΚΑΡΑΒΟΙ: The Ship Graffiti on the Medieval and post-Medieval Monuments of Cyprus
sources of information about several
issues related to the maritime aspects of
the Cypriot past, such as:
1. shipbuilding technology
2. ship’s types and provenance
3. seafaring, trade connections and
maritime activities
4. human behavior; graffiti have been
interpreted as ex votos (by sailors
or their families), signs of human
interaction with the living environment,
‘signatures’ of travellers etc. Moreover,
this body of primary evidence will
function as the basis for the further
enhancement of research in maritime
history and archaeology of the
medieval period, which has largely
escaped the attention of scholars in the
eastern Mediterranean.
286
Research Programmes
Curriculum Vitae
Stella Demesticha completed her undergraduate studies in Archaeology in 1992, at the National
University of Athens, Greece, (Department of History and Archaeology, Faculty of Philosophy,) and
she continued at the Department of History and Archaeology of the University of Cyprus, where she
got her PhD in Archaeology, in 2002. She worked for 7 years (2000- 2006) at the Piraeus Bank Group
Cultural Foundation, in Athens, Greece (as head of the Museums Department and in 2006, as vice
director of the Foundation). In 2006 she taught Maritime Archaeology at the University of
Peloponnese, Greece, and since 2007 she lectures at the University of Cyprus.
She specializes in maritime archaeology, with special interest in shipwrecks amphorae, ancient
seaborne trade routes and economy in the Eastern Mediterranean. Over the past 20 years, she has
participated in many land and underwater archaeological projects in Greece and Cyprus. Since 2007
she directs the Mazotos Shipwreck project in Cyprus. In 2012 she created the Maritime Archaeology
Research Laboratory at the Archaeological Research Unit of the University of Cyprus, under which
four research programmes have been conducted: (i) Sailing in Cyprus though the Ages, (ii) The
Xylophagou Anchorage Project, (iii) the Nissia Shipwreck project, and (v) traditional boats of Cyprus.
Demesticha, S., D. Skarlatos, and A. Neophytou 2014: The 4th-century B.C. shipwreck at Mazotos,
Cyprus: New techniques and methodologies in the 3D mapping of shipwreck excavations, Journal of
Field Archaeology 39, 134-150.
Demesticha, S. 2014: Late Roman Amphora Typology in Context, in N. PoulouPapadimitriou, E.
Nodarou and V. Kilikoglou (eds), LRCW 4: Late Roman Coarse Wares, Cooking Wares and Amphorae in
the Mediterranean Archaeology and Achaeometry The Mediterranean: a market without frontiers.
British Archaeological Reports International Series 2616 (I), Oxford: Archaeopress. 599-606.
Demesticha, S. 2013: Amphora typologies, distribution, and trade patterns: The case of the Cypriot
LR1s, in J. Lund, M. Lawall (eds), The transport Amphorae and Trade of Cyprus. Gosta Enbom
Monographs 3, Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, 169-178.
Demesticha, S. and El. Spondylis, 2012: The Hellenic Institute of Marine Archaeology Survey Project
at Pagasitikos Gulf, Greece: the late Roman and Byzantine wrecks, Skyllis 11.1, 34-40.
Skarlatos, D., S. Demesticha and S. Kiparissi 2012: An 'open' method for 3D modelling and mapping in
underwater archaeological sites. International Journal of Heritage in the digital era. Vol. 1, no 1, 25-44.
Demesticha, S., 2012: Harbours, navigation and trade, in Pilides D. and N. Papadimitriou (eds), Ancient
Cyprus: cultures in dialogue. Exhibition organized by the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus, on the occasion
of Cyprus’ Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2012. Royal Museums of Art and History, Brussels
October 31, 2012 – February 17, 2013. Nicosia: Department of Antiquities Cyprus, 80-83.
Demesticha, S. 2012: Late roman amphorae from the islets Peranisi and Talantonisi, Salamis, Greece,
in Yannos G. Lolos (ed.), Salamis I, A Contribution to the Archaeology of the Saronic Gulf, Dodoni Suppl.
83, University of Ioannina. 303-326 (in greek)
Demesticha, S. 2011: The Mazotos Shipwreck, Cyprus. A preliminary Report, International Journal of
Nautical Archaeology (2011) 40.1: 39–59.
Demesticha, S. 2010:The cargo of the Wreck no 7 in the Gulf of Pagasai: a preliminary interpretation,
in D, Papanikola – Bakirtzi, N. Kousoulakou (eds) Late Roman Pottery in Greece (3rd – 7th c. AD). Acts
of the 1st Scientific Meeting, Thessalonki, 12-16 November 2006. Papers of the Archaeological Institutute
of Macedonian and Thracian Studies no 8, 131-142.
287
288
Research Programmes
The Church of the Transfiguration at Sotera (Famagusta
District) in Context: History – Architecture – Murals
Principal Investigator: Maria G. Parani, Assistant Professor, Department of
History and Archaeology/Archaeological Research Unit, Faculty of Letters,
Discussions of artistic developments in
late 13th-century Cyprus have been
dominated
by
two
well-known
monuments, both located in the valley of
Marathassa on the Troodos Mountains,
namely the church of the Panagia at
Moutoullas (1280) and the katholikon of
the Monastery of St. John Lampadistes at
Kalopanagiotes (second half of 13th c.).
At the same time, art-historians lament
the lack of comparable evidence from
the urban centres of the island, which
could shed more light on the origins,
character, and wider resonances of a
new trend observed at the time
bespeaking an artistic re-orientation
of the island towards the Crusader
Levant. However, there is one little-known
unpublished Cypriot monument with
clear stylistic affinities to Moutoullas and
Kalopanagiotes, which can provide new
and important evidence so far not
considered in investigations of the art of
Cyprus and the Levant during the 13th
century. This is the church of the
Transfiguration at the village of Sotera,
which is located only 10 km south of
Famagusta, Cyprus’s major port at the
time and its gateway to the Crusader East
and beyond.
The proposed project, which is
undertaken in collaboration with the
Department of Antiquities of Cyprus
(archaeological officer in charge: Georgios
Philotheou), aims to address this gap
and to bring this very important
monument to the attention of the
international scientific community. More
specifically, it entails (a) the full
documentation of the structure and its
decoration; (b) the architectural study of
the monument and the clarification of its
various building phases; (c) the
iconographic and stylistic analysis of the
painted decoration; (d) the technical
examination of the murals (scientific
analyses of the plaster and pigments);
and, (e) the study of the historical, social,
and artistic context of the monument
both within the micro-region of Sotera
and within the broader context of
Cyprus and the Levant. The work is
undertaken by an international scientific
team, which includes, in addition to Maria
G. Parani and Georgios Philotheou,
Mat Immerzeel (Leiden Institute for
Religious Studies/Paul van Moorsel
Centre), Ioanna Kakoulli (Materials
Science and Engineering Department,
UCLA), Tassos Papacostas (King’s College
London), Athanasios Papageorgiou,
former Director of the Department of
Antiquities, Maria Paschali (Courtauld
Institute of Art), Philippe Trélat (Groupe de
Recherche d'Histoire de l'Université de
Rouen), and Andreas Zissimos (Geological
Survey Department, Cyprus).
289
The Church of the Transfiguration at Sotera
The end result will be the publication of a
volume dedicated to the monument in
which various aspects of its morphology,
history and context are discussed. The
expected outcomes of the proposed
project will significantly advance our
understanding of artistic creativity in late
13th-century Cyprus and will offer a basis
for re-evaluating the role of the island in
the artistic realities of the Eastern
Mediterranean at the time. Not least, they
will put Sotera more strongly on the
cultural map of Cyprus for the benefit of
the area and its people.
290
Research Programmes
Curriculum Vitae
Maria G. Parani is Assistant Professor in Byzantine and Post Byzantine Art and Archaeology at the
University of Cyprus, where she has been teaching since 2005. She studied History and Archaeology,
with a specialization in Archaeology and Art History, at the University of Athens (1991). She continued
her studies, first, at University College London (M.A. in Field and Analytical Techniques in Archaeology,
1993) and, then, at the University of Oxford (D.Phil. in Byzantine Art and Archaeology, 2000). Her research
interests comprise daily life in Byzantium and the exploration of alternative sources for the study of
Byzantine material culture to supplement archaeological data, such as written texts and artistic
representations; Byzantine dress; light and lighting in Byzantium; Byzantine imperial ceremonial and
interregional exchange in the field of court culture; and, the art and material culture of Byzantine and
Frankish Cyprus, especially from the 12th century AD onwards. She has participated in numerous
international conferences in Cyprus and abroad and has published especially on Byzantine material
culture and imperial ceremonial. One of her studies dealing with daily life on Cyprus during the 13th
and the 14th centuries AD, and a second one, dedicated to the murals of the Holy Trinity chapel at the
Monastery of St. John Chrysostom, Koutsovendis, in the occupied part of Cyprus, are in process of
publication.
Selected Publications
Reconstructing the Reality of Images: Byzantine Material Culture and Religious Iconography (11th-15th
centuries), The Medieval Mediterranean 41 (Leiden and Boston: Brill Academic Publishers, 2003).
With L. Bouras, Lighting in Early Byzantium (Washington D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and
Collection, 2008).
“Some Thoughts on the Architectural Backgrounds in the Work of the Painter Philippos Goul,” in
Antapodosi. Studies in Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Archaeology and Art in Honour of Professor Helen
Deliyianni-Doris, ed. S. I. Arvanite et al. (Athens, 2010), 341-368 (in Greek).
“Byzantine Cutlery: An Overview,” Δελτίον Χριστιανικής Αρχαιολογικής Εταιρείας,31 (2010), 139-164.
“Encounters in the Realm of Dress: Attitudes towards Western Styles in the Greek East,” in Renaissance
Encounters: Greek East – Latin West, ed. M. S. Brownlee and D. Gondicas, Medieval and Renaissance
Authors and Texts 8 (Leiden and Boston, 2012), 259-297.
“Le royaume des Lusignan (1192-1489): la tradition byzantine,” in Chypre entre Byzance et l’Occident,
IVe-XVIe siècle, ed. J. Durand and D. Giovannoni (Paris: The Louvre, 2012), 293-301.
“Dressed to Kill: Middle Byzantine Military Ceremonial Attire,” in The Byzantine Court: Source of Power
and Culture. Papers from the Second International Sevgi Gönül Byzantine Studies Symposium, Istanbul 2123 June 2010, ed. A. Ödekan, N. Necipoǧlu, and E. Akyürek (Istanbul: Koç University Press, 2013), 145-156.
“Look like an Angel: The Attire of Eunuchs and Its Significance within the Context of Middle Byzantine
Court Ceremonial”, in Court Ceremonies and Rituals of Power in Byzantium and the Medieval Mediterranean.
Comparative Perspectives, ed. A. Beihammer, S. Constantinou and M. G. Parani, The Medieval
Mediterranean 98 (Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2013), 433-463.
“‘Rise like the sun, the God-inspired kingship’: Light-symbolism and the Uses of Light in Middle and
Late Byzantine Imperial Ceremonials», in Hierotopy of Light and Fire in the Culture of the Byzantine World,
ed. A. Lidov (Moscow: Theoria Publishing House, 2013), 159-184.
“The Stuff of Life: The Material Culture of Everyday Living on Middle Byzantine Cyprus (11th-12th
centuries),” in Cyprus and the Balance of Empires. Art and Archaeology from Justinian I to the Coeur de Lion,
ed. Ch. A. Stewart, T. W. Davis, and A. Weyl Carr, CAARI Monograph Series 5 – ASOR Archaeological
Reports Series (Boston, 2014), 153-163.
291
292
Research Programmes
Adaptation of the MacArthur-Bates CDI in Cypriot-Greek
Principal Investigator: George Floros, Associate Professor, Department of
English Studies, Faculty of Humanities, University of Cyprus
Research Associates: Kleanthes K. Grohmann, Associate Professor, Department
of English Studies, University of Cyprus; Maria Kambanaros, Associate Professor,
Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Cyprus University of Technology; Loukia
Taxitari, PhD, Department of English Studies, University of Cyprus
The MacArthur-Bates Communicative
Development Inventory (CDI) is an
elaborate check-list which parents are
asked to fill in, providing information on
different aspects of the development of
their child’s communicative abilities, such
as understanding and saying words,
mimicking sounds, etc. Researchers of
language and cognition in infants and
young children worldwide have been
using the CDI for over 20 years as a tool
which allows them to obtain parental
reports about individual children’s
communicative development in order to
establish norms at different ages, to tailor
experimental investigations to children’s
cognitive apparatus at different stages in
development, and to also help identify
atypically developing children (Fenson et
al., 1994).
The objective of this project is the
adaptation of the CDI: Words and
Sentences for Cyprus and the collection of
norms for children between 18 and 30
months, in order to identify different
stages in young children’s cognitive–
linguistic development. A peculiar
sociolinguistic situation of diglossia exists
in Cyprus, where the official language,
Standard Modern Greek (SMG), co-exists
with the local dialect, Cypriot Greek (CG);
infants raised in this linguistic community
typically grow up bilectally (Rowe and
Grohmann, 2013), acquiring two varieties
of Greek: CG and SMG. This might have a
different impact in cognitive terms from
both typical monolingual and bilingual
populations. The adaptation of the CDI
will allow us to investigate the issue
further and help design experiments in
the development of various aspects of
language, in particular phonological,
lexical, and grammatical acquisition, with
an eye to the early identification of
atypical or possibly impaired language
development.
The collected data and the analysis of the
studies are expected to provide a number
of benefits. The establishment of a Cypriot
adaptation of the CDI will open a number
of new, exciting research possibilities on
the island providing researchers with the
necessary tool for conducting studies
with very young children for both typical
and atypical language development,
while at the same time it is expected to
provide international research on
cognitive development with important
insights into the manner in which bilectal
children growing up in diglossic
communities develop.
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Adaptation of the MacArthur-Bates CDI in Cypriot-Greek
Curricula Vitae
The project team consists of four researchers.
George Floros is Associate Professor of Translation Studies in the Department of English Studies at
the University of Cyprus. He received a PhD in Translation Theory and Applied Linguistics from
Saarland University, Germany, in 2001. His research interests include culture and translation,
terminology, text linguistics, and the use of translation in language teaching. He has published a. o.
a monograph on cultural constellations in texts and has co-edited a volume on Translation in
Language Teaching and Assessment with Cambridge Scholars Press.
Kleanthes K. Grohmann is Associate Professor of Biolinguistics in the Department of English
Studies at the University of Cyprus. He received his PhD in Linguistics from the University of Maryland,
College Park, in 2000. He has published widely, among others the monograph Prolific Domains: On
the Anti-Locality of Movement Dependencies (John Benjamins, 2003), and has edited a large number
of volumes and special issues with international journals. He is the founding editor of the open access
journal Biolinguistics and co-editor of the book series Language Faculty and Beyond.
Maria Kambanaros is Associate Professor of Speech Pathology, Multilingualism, and Language
Disorders in the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences at the Cyprus University of Technology. She
received her PhD from the Medical School of Flinders University, Australia, in 2004. She has published
the textbook Diagnostic Issues in Speech Therapy (in Greek), a university textbook adopted as
the standard text in Speech and Language Therapy programs in Greece and Cyprus, and has
translated two SLT textbooks into Greek. She is jointly in charge of the Cyprus Acquisition Team
(http://research.biolinguistics.eu/CAT) with Dr Grohmann.
Loukia Taxitari is a special scientist at the University of Cyprus. She received her PhD in Experimental
Psychology from the University of Oxford, in 2009, having worked at the Oxford Babylab for several
years with a team investigating language and cognitive development. After a short post-doc at the
University of Potsdam she joined the Cyprus Acquisition Team.
294
Research Programmes
Scientific Models: Describing the Abstract and Representing
the Real
Principal Investigator: Demetris Portides, Associate Professor, University
of Cyprus, Department of Classics and Philosophy, Faculty of Letters, University
of Cyprus
Scientific models are ubiquitous in
scientific discourse. They are the means
by which scientists relate the abstract
theoretical principles to the experimental
evidence. Philosophers of Science
have put models at the core of their
analysis of science. As a consequence, it
has become increasingly understood
that models are the primary agents of
scientific representation of phenomena.
Model-based learning has also received
attention in science education as a
paradigm that facilitates active student
engagement with learning objects
that combine concrete structure and
epistemological authenticity.
The models that emerge through either
process can be in an abstract form,
especially when expressed in particular
mathematical calculi, or in highly realistic
forms. In any form across this range, if
they are to fulfill their epistemological
role, models always combine all three
features. Often, they take the form
of computer simulations, where the
representation is immediately accessible
on the screen, and predictions can
be made by modifying the values of
variables or directly accessing the
computer code.
In both the philosophical and the
educational context, models can be
thought of as scientific constructs
that combine three features: they
are representations of a physical
phenomenon or an aspect of it, they can
be used to make predictions and they
highlight a mechanism as to how the
phenomenon operates. They can be
developed inductively by starting from
the phenomenon and abstracting from it
information of interest that can be used
to construct a model integrating all three
defining features. They can also be
developed deductively by applying the
basic theoretical principles for the analysis
of a phenomenon or class of phenomena
under study.
a. To investigate, from the perspective
of the Philosophy of Science, the
epistemological variety of models
that exists in different scientific
disciplines and the various functions
and purposes models serve in active
science. This epistemological mapping
exercise is intended to investigate and
philosophically analyze the nature
of scientific models, the processes
(i.e. abstraction/idealization) by which
these models are constructed, and the
relations that models exhibit to their
target systems. This study will also
highlight, with specific examples, the
diversity of skills that come into play in
designing, building and working with
models.
In this project, we have two main aims:
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Scientific Models: Describing the Abstract and Representing the Real
two workshops with international experts
in the domain in order to get feedback
on the philosophical/cognitive and
educational aspects of our findings,
respectively, but also in order to work
together on preparing two special
issues or collections of chapters for
dissemination of this work to the
international scientific community.
b. To investigate ways of assessing the
modeling competence in the science
classroom (age range 13-16 year olds).
We intend to develop procedures
for assessing student progress in the
context of model-based learning. This
effort will involve some method of
artifact analysis of actual student
constructed models and procedural
information collected during the process
of design, construction, use and
validation of models by students.
Through this, we intend to explore the
interplay between methodical modeling
and improved understandings of
scientific concepts and of scientific
methodology.
Our approach will involve philosophical,
cognitive and educational elements in an
attempt to bridge existing gaps between
the disciplines of Philosophy of Science,
Cognitive Science and Science Education
on the notion of ‘model’. To achieve
this, the proposed project consortium
includes experienced researchers from
the Philosophy of Science, Cognitive
Science and Science Education.
We plan to carry out a Delphi study
to investigate the nature of model
development and use in science and also
to identify the underlying cognitive
processes that are involved in modeling.
We will use the outcomes of the Delphi
study with experts in order to design an
Assessment Framework for Modeling
Based Learning in Science Education. We
will validate this Assessment Framework
be developing assessment instruments
and a web-based learning environment
and then organizing a series of classroom
implementations with a variety of
computer-based modeling tools in order
to examine the applicability of the
framework and assessment instruments
in practice. Finally, we plan to organize
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Research Programmes
Curriculum Vitae
Teaching:
The University of Cyprus. (January 2003- present)
Associate Professor of Philosophy
Research Interests:
The Nature and Structure of Scientific Theories, Model Construction in Physics and more generally in
Science, The ways by which Scientific Theories are applied, The Relation between Theories and Models
in science, Theoretical Representation of Phenomena, The Evolutionary History of Models of the
Nuclear Structure, Idealisations and Abstractions in Physics and more generally in Science, The role
of Models in Scientific Explanation, Unification and Explanation in Science, The History of Logical
Positivism, Formal and Modal Logic.
Indicative Publications:
Portides, D. (forthcoming), “How Scientific Models differ from works of Fiction”, in Model-Based
Reasoning in Science and Technology. Theoretical and Cognitive Issues, L. Magnani (ed.) Series Sapere,
Heidelberg/Berlin: Springer.
Portides, D. (2013), “Idealization in Physics Modeling”, in EPSA11 Perspectives and Foundational
Problems in Philosophy of Science, V. Karakostas and D. Dieks (Eds), Springer, 103-113.
Portides, D. (2013), “ Idealization in Economics Modeling”, in New Challenges to Philosophy of Science,
H. Andersen, D. Dieks, W.J. Gonzalez, T. Uebel, G. Wheeler (Eds), Springer, 253-263.
Portides, D. (2012), “Scientific Representation, Denotation and Explanatory Power”, in Raftopoulos, A.
and Machamer, P. (eds.) Perception, Realism and the Problem of Reference. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 239-261.
Portides, D. (2011), “Representation of Mathematical Entities”, in Sbaragli, S. (ed.) Mathematicas and
its Didactics forty years of commitment. Bologna: Pitagora Editrice Bologna, 181-184.
Portides, D. (2011) “Seeking Representations of Phenomena: Phenomenological Models”, Studies in
History and Philosophy of Science, 42, 334-341.
Portides, D. (2011) “What Notion of Representation is Useful for Mathematics Education?”, Quaderni
di Ricerca in Didattica (Matematica), 21, 45-52.
Portides, D. (2008) “Models”, in The Routledge Companion to the Philosophy of Science, Psillos, S. and
Curd, M. (eds.), London: Routledge, 385-395.
Portides, D., Psillos, S., and Anapolitanos, D., (2007) Formal Logic: The Structure of Argument, Athens:
Nefeli Publications. (IN GREEK)
Portides, D. (2007) “The Relation between Idealisation and Approximation in Scientific Model
Construction”, Science & Education, 16, 7-8, 699-724.
Portides, D. (2005) “Scientific Models and the Semantic View of Scientific Theories”, Philosophy of
Science, 72, 5, 1287-1298.
Portides, D. (2005) “A Theory of Scientific Model Construction: The Conceptual Process of Abstraction
and Concretization”, Foundations of Science, 10, 67-88.
297
298
Research Programmes
The vocabulary of Byzantine Classicizing and Literary Koine
Texts: A Database of Correspondences
Principal Investigator: Martin Hinterberger, Associate Professor, Department
of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, Faculty of Letters, University of Cyprus
The language of Byzantine literature can be
described as a highly diversified continuum
which stretches from an idiom close to the
spoken language to an extremely
classicizing form deeply influenced by
(yet never identical to) Ancient Greek.
The Byzantines themselves always
distinguished two levels of learned
language, high and low, characterizing
these two basic variants as hellenika and
koine glossa respectively (i.e. ‘classicizing’ or
even ‘atticistic Greek’ and ‘literary koine’).
In order to write and understand hellenika
the highest level of education was a
prerequisite. Next to certain morphological
and syntactical elements (entirely foreign
to the spoken language and therefore
avoided in the literary koine), vocabulary
was the most conspicuous feature which
distinguished hellenika from other forms of
Byzantine Greek.
Therefore, in simplified versions of a certain
text (so called metaphraseis), which recast
vocabulary and syntax according to the
rules of a much simpler stylistic and
linguistic register familiar to a broader
public, numerous lexical items which were
clearly not readily intelligible or were
decidedly unfamiliar, were replaced by
others; see for instance the replacement of
the classicizing τιτθεύτρια, παιδοκόμος,
δεόμενος, βαλάντιον, παρανοσφίζω found
in Nicetas Choniates’ History with
βυζάστρια, βαΐουλος, χρήζων, σακκούλια,
κλέπτω in the Metaphrasis of Choniates’
History. In the same text periphrases as οἱ
καθ’ αἷμα δήπου προσήκοντες are replaced
with a simple noun, in this case συγγενεῖς.
Whereas the Byzantines are supposed to
have been highly sensitive to the words
used in a certain text and to their literary
‘weight’, for the modern researcher it is
often difficult to determine the stylistic
quality of a certain word and consequently
to assess the degree of ‘learnedness’ of a
text’s vocabulary. Despite its undoubted
significance, register related differences in
vocabulary have hardly been investigated
so far. It is the goal of the research project
to provide Byzantine Studies with a tool for
the stylistic categorization of vocabulary.
The database which will be constructed in
the framework of the present research
project will provide a list of words
replaced in the metaphraseis (primarily
the metaphrasis of Choniates’ Chronike
Diegesis) together with their literary koine
equivalents and vice versa a list of new
terms together with their classicizing
equivalents. With the help of this database
which will be freely available to the
scholarly community, the assessment of a
substantial part of byzantine vocabulary
will be possible and future research on the
stylistic quality of the words of Byzantine
literature will be facilitated.
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The vocabulary of Byzantine classicizing and literary koine texts: A database of correspondences
Curriculum Vitae
Martin Hinterberger has an a MA and PhD in Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies from the
University of Vienna (1990 and 1996). 1995-2001 research fellow at the Center of Byzantine Studies
of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Since 2002 he has been teaching Byzantine philology at the
University of Cyprus. His major research interests are emotions in Byzantine literature and society,
literature in the vernacular and the history of medieval Greek, especially as a literary language. Martin
Hinterberger has obtained lexiographical experience as member of the Lexikon zur byzantinischen
Gräzität-research team (1994-2005). He also was member of the International Advisory Board of the
Cambridge Medieval Greek Grammar Project (2005-2009). He has (co)organized various conferences
and (co)edited collective volumes dedicated to the Study of Byzantine literature. He also is
collaborator of the bibliography of the Byzantinische Zeitschrift (vernacular literature).
Selected Bibliography
M. Hinterberger (ed.), The Language of Learned Byzantine Literature (Studies in Byzantine History and
Culture 9). Turnhout 2014.
M. Hinterberger, “The Genres of Hagiography”, in: S. Efthymiadis (ed.), Hagiography: A Handbook. Part
II. Farnham, Surrey, Ashgate 2014, 25-60.
M. Hinterberger, “The Hagiographer and His Work”, in: S. Efthymiadis (ed.), Hagiography: A Handbook.
Part II. Farnham, Surrey, Ashgate 2014, 211-246.
M. Hinterberger, Phthonos. Mißgunst, Neid und Eifersucht in der byzantinischen Literatur (Serta Graeca
29). Wiesbaden 2013.
M. Hinterberger, C. Schabel (eds.), Greeks, Latins, and Intellectual History 1204-1500 (Bibliotheca 11).
Leuven – Paris – Walpole, MA 2011.
M. Hinterberger, “Hagiographische Metaphrasen. Ein möglicher Weg der Annäherung an die
Literarästhetik der frühen Palaiologenzeit”, in: A. Rhoby, E. Schiffer (eds.), Imitatio — aemulatio —
variatio. Akten des internationalen wissenschaftlichen Symposions zur byzantinischen Sprache
und Literatur (Wien 22.-25. Oktober 2008) (Veröffentlichungen zur Byzanzforschung 21).
Vienna 2010, 137-151.
M. Hinterberger, “Zelotypia und Phthonos. Eifersucht in der byzantinischen Literatur”, in: Ἔξεμπλον. Studi
in onore di Irmgard Hutter I = Νέα Ῥώμη 6 (2009) 11-36.
M. Hinterberger, “Die Sprache der byzantinischen Literatur: Der Gebrauch der synthetischen
Plusquamperfektformen”, in: M. Hinterberger, E. Schiffer (eds.), Byzantinische Sprachkunst. Studien zur
byzantinischen Literatur, gewidmet Wolfram Hörandner zum 65. Geburtstag (Byzantinisches Archiv 20).
Munich–Leipzig 2007.
M. Hinterberger, “How should we define vernacular literature”, in: Unlocking the potential of texts:
interdisciplinary perspectives on Medieval Greek (paper delivered at the conference held in Cambridge
18-19 July 2006). http://www.mml.cam.ac.uk/greek/grammarofmedievalgreek/unlocking/Hinterberger.pdf
M. Hinterberger, “Les relations diplomatiques entre Constantinople et la Russie en XIVe siècle: Les lettres
patriarcales, les envoyés et le langage diplomatique”, in: M. Balard, E. Malamut, J.-M. Spieser (eds.), Byzance
et le monde extérieur. Contacts, relations, échanges. Actes des trois séances du XXe Congrès international
des Études byzantines. Paris, 19-25 août 2001 (Byzantina Sorbonensia 21). Paris 2005, 123-134.
M. Hinterberger, Autobiographische Traditionen in Byzanz (Wiener Byzantinistische Studien 22).
Vienna 1999.
300
Research Programmes
The Contribution of Gestures in Geometrical Thinking
Development in Early Childhood
Principal Investigator: Iliada Elia, Assistant Professor, Department of Education,
Faculty of Social Sciences and Education, University of Cyprus
Researchers of mathematics education
have currently turned their attention to
the development of mathematical
thinking in early childhood. This tendency
is induced by the findings of recent
studies indicating that the mathematical
knowledge young children bring to
school is related to their mathematical
learning for years thereafter (Duncan et al.,
2007; Sarama & Clements, 2009). An
integral component of mathematical
understanding is the use of multiple
semiotic representations (Duval, 2006).
Representations include not only written
symbols, language or graphs, but also
body movements, gestures and other
types of signs (Radford, 2009). Gesture has
privileged access to information that
children know but do not articulate. As
such, it can serve as an additional window
to the mind of the developing child.
Gesture might, however, do more than
merely reflect understanding (GoldinMeadow, 2000). Radford (2009) views
gesture as the very texture of thinking and
as an important source of abstract
thinking. Furthermore, gesture may be
involved in the process of cognitive
change itself (Goldin-Meadow, 2000).
Geometry is the study of shapes and
space and provides a powerful system for
representing, describing and understanding the spaces and objects around us.
Studying geometry enables children to
further develop their mathematical
reasoning abilities (National Research
Council, 2009). Two-dimensional shapes,
even very simple ones, have various
aspects that can be addressed. In
a cognitive analysis of geometrical
thinking, Duval (1995) distinguishes four
apprehensions for a “geometrical figure”:
perceptual, sequential, discursive and
operative. In the kindergarten it is more
feasible to teach mainly two basic
apprehensions of figures: the perceptual
apprehension, i.e., the recognition and
naming of geometrical figures, and the
operative apprehension with emphasis
on reconfiguration, i.e., investigating and
predicting the results of putting together
and taking apart geometrical figures.
Between the ages three and five, there is
a gesture explosion in children (McNeill,
2005), while written symbols do not yet
have a primary role in mathematical
cognition. Therefore, the need to improve
our knowledge of gestural uses and
functions in the learning of mathematics
in young children within this age range is
quite important. Furthermore, investigating children’s gestures and their
dynamics with verbalization in studying
changes in early geometrical understanding has received limited attention.
Another important but understudied
research area is the experimental
investigation of the effects of teachers’
gestures on children’s learning in
instructional contexts (Alibali, Nathan,
Church, Wolfgram, Kim & Knuth, 2013).
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The Contribution of Gestures in Geometrical Thinking Development in Early Childhood
This project aims to contribute to
improving our understanding of the
above issues. In particular, in this project
we are interested in gaining insight into
the nature and role of gestures, and the
variation that gestures and speech
undergo in communicating and building
understanding of geometrical concepts at
a kindergarten level. Another important
aspect of educational research which our
project aims to explore concerns the
role gestures might take in teacherchild and child-child interactions in
early geometry learning. Specifically, we
will examine how the kindergarten
teachers’ and peers’ gestures and speech
acts in the class exert their effects on the
processes children go through in the
understanding of geometrical figures and
spatial transformations (e.g., rotation,
translation). Furthermore, we aim to
examine whether a geometry teaching
approach which promotes the production
of specific mathematics-related iconic
gestures and the dynamics between
gestures, discourse and other semiotic
resources (e.g., visual representations of
geometrical figures), can contribute to
the development of young children’s
geometrical figure apprehension. Finally,
we intend to develop theoretically based
models which will capture the structure
of kindergarten children’s apprehension
of geometrical figures.
in geometry, focusing on their gestures
and their connections with verbal and
other representations, (c) development of
the project instruments, i.e., tests
assessing children’s geometrical abilities,
and of the classroom-based intervention
program, (d) implementation of an
experiment with a pretest-postestretention-test experimental -control
group design, (e) analysis of the
qualitative data about the processes the
children go through in making sense of
geometrical concepts with a focus on
their gesture and speech acts and their
changes over time, (f ) statistical analysis
of the quantitative data about children’s
geometrical abilities and the effects of the
intervention on their development, (g)
organization and dissemination of the
results and the implications of the study
by presenting them to educators and
educational policy makers, by developing
a webpage of the project, by preparing
and publishing the research findings in
international scientific journals and
proceedings of international conferences.
The proposed research project is
comprised of the following phases: (a)
review of the literature in mathematics
education and cognitive psychology in
relation to the role of gestures in learning,
geometrical understanding and communication with emphasis on early
childhood, (b) longitudinal observation of
groups of kindergarten children and their
interactions with their teachers and peers
during the teaching and learning process
Duncan, G. J., Dowsett, C. J., Claessens, A.,
Magnuson, K., Huston, A. C., Klebanov, P.,
et al. (2007). School readiness and later
achievement. Developmental Psychology,
43, 1428–1446.
References
Alibali, M., Nathan, M., Church, R.B.,
Wolfgram, M., Kim, S., & Knuth, E. (2013).
Teachers’ gestures and speech in
mathematics lessons: forging common
ground by resolving trouble spots. ZDM
Mathematics Education, 45, 425–440.
Duval, R. (1995). Geometrical Pictures:
Kinds of representation and specific
processes. In R. Sutherland & J. Mason
(Eds.), Exploiting mental imagery with
computers in mathematical education
(pp. 142- 157). Berlin: Springer.
302
Duval, R. (2006). A cognitive analysis of
problems of comprehension in learning
of mathematics. Educational Studies in
Mathematics, 61, 103- 131.
Goldin-Meadow, S. (2000). Beyond words:
the importance of gesture to researchers
and learners. Child Development, 71(1),
231-239.
McNeill, D. (2005). Gesture and thought.
Chicago: The University of Chicago
Press. National Research Council (2009).
Mathematics learning in early childhood:
Paths toward excellence and equity.
Washington, DC: The National Academies
Press.
Radford, L. (2009). Why do gestures matter?
Sensuous cognition and the palpability
of mathematical meanings. Educational
Studies in Mathematics, 70, 111-126.
Sarama, J., & Clements, D. H. (2009). Early
childhood mathematics education research:
Learning trajectories for young children. New
York: Routledge.
303
The Contribution of Gestures in Geometrical Thinking Development in Early Childhood
Curriculum Vitae
Iliada Elia is an Assistant Professor of Mathematics Pedagogy in Early Childhood at the Department
of Education at the University of Cyprus. She completed her undergraduate and graduate studies at
the University of Cyprus (B.A. in Education, 1998, M.A. in Education, 2003, Department of Education).
She received a Ph.D. degree in Mathematics Education in 2006 (University of Cyprus). Prior to her
appointment at the University of Cyprus (2009) she was a postdoctoral researcher at the Freudenthal
Institute of Utrecht University in the Netherlands (2007-2009). She is currently a guest researcher at the
Freudenthal Institute of Utrecht University (2009-2010, 2012-2014). She has been involved in projects
researching mathematics learning and teaching from different perspectives. She is a member of
professional and scientific associations on mathematics education and statistical research methods.
She has participated in a number of conferences and has published her work in international scientific
journals and edited books. Her research interests lie in the field of mathematics education with a focus
in the early years, and include among others the study of topics related to the semiotic approach in the
learning of mathematics, the understanding of geometrical figures and mathematical problem solving.
She is a member of the editorial board and a reviewer in a number of scientific journals in mathematics
education.
Elia, I., & Evangelou, K. (2014). Gesture in a kindergarten mathematics classroom. European Early
Childhood Education Research Journal, 22(1), 45-66.
Van den Heuvel-Panhuizen, M., & Elia, I. (2014). Early childhood mathematics education. In S. Lerman
(Ed.), Encyclopedia of Mathematics Education (pp. 196-201). Dordrecht, Heidelberg, New York, London:
Springer.
Van den Heuvel-Panhuizen, M., & Elia, I. (2013). The role of picture books in young children’s
mathematical learning. In L. English & J. Mulligan (Eds.), Reconceptualizing Early Mathematics Learning,
Advances in Mathematics Education (pp. 227-251). Dordrecht: Springer.
Van den Heuvel-Panhuizen, M., & Elia, I. (2012). Developing a framework for the evaluation of
picturebooks that support kindergartners’ learning of mathematics. Research in Mathematics Education,
14(1), 17-47.
Elia, I. (2011). Le rôle de la droite graduée dans la resolution de problèmes additifs. Annales de
didactique et de sciences cognitives, 16, 45-66.
Van den Heuvel-Panhuizen, M., & Elia, I. (2011). Kindergartners’ performance in length measurement
and the effect of picture book reading. ZDM - The International Journal on Mathematics Education, 43,
621-635.
Elia, I. (2010). Exploring the use of number line in additive problem solving by applying the Statistical
Implicative Analysis. Quaderni di Ricerca in Didattica (Mathematics), 20, 263-282.
Elia, I., Van den Heuvel-Panhuizen, M., & Georgiou, A. (2010). The role of pictures in picture books on
children’s cognitive engagement with mathematics. European Early Childhood Education Research
Journal, 18, 125-147.
Deliyianni, E., Monoyiou, A., Elia, I., Georgiou, Ch., & Zannettou, E. (2009). Pupils’ visual representations
in standard and problematic problem solving in mathematics: Their role in the breach of the didactical
contract. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 17(1), 95-110.
Elia, I. (2009). L’utilisation d’images dans la resolution de problèmes additifs : quel type d’image et quel
rôle? Annales de didactique et de sciences cognitives, 14, 5-29.
Elia, Ι., Gagatsis, Α., Panaoura, Α., Zachariades, Τ., & Zoulinaki, F. (2009). Geometric and algebraic
approaches in the concept of limit and the impact of the "didactic contract". International Journal of
Science and Mathematics Education, 7(4), 765-790.
304
Research Programmes
Cypriot Presence and Public Diplomacy in Sub-Saharan
Africa: A Historical Perspective
Principal investigator: Costas M. Constantinou, Professor, Department of Social
Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences and Education, University of Cyprus
This project will explore a highly
neglected topic from the perspectives of
Cypriot Studies and Diplomatic Studies.
The Cypriot involvement in sub-Saharan
Africa, including a series of migration
flows to the Continent dating back to the
late 19th and early to mid 20th centuries,
is registered in fragmented and anecdotal
fashion but largely unknown in scholarly
work. Although the Cypriot presence
significantly diminished in most African
states after decolonization (South Africa
being the notable exception), there are
still remnants of that presence in Africa
and this project will examine its historical
trajectory. It will also examine the ways
and extent to which Cypriot actors
promoted diaspora interests, foreign
policy goals and the Cypriot brand in the
Continent but also international and
intercultural relations, issue-specific
solidarity and understanding. The main
goals of the project are to:
• Advance our understanding of the
diverse Cypriot presence and activity in
sub-Saharan Africa
• Advance our understanding of official
and unofficial Cypriot public diplomacy
in sub-Saharan Africa, thereby
advancing our understanding of the
diplomacy of small actors in changing
geopolitical contexts.
To that extent, the broad research
questions of this project are: Where, how
and why have Cypriots settled in subSaharan Africa and what were their main
activities as compared to other foreign
settlers? What forms of public diplomacy,
specifically conducts, projections of power
and influence, and communications with
the local authorities as well as communities,
have they utilized in order to mediate
difference and promote national or
common interests? What can we learn from
this range of official and unofficial activities
about the diplomatic strategies and tactics
of subaltern actors and their ways and
means of enhancing power and influence?
The methodology for this project will
combine archival work, narrative
interviewing with Cypriot expatriates,
repatriates and local stakeholders,
focused and visual ethnography with the
same subjects, and discourse analysis. It
will also conduct two fieldwork trips in
Kenya and South Africa. The project will
thus comprehensively survey Cypriot
settlement and activity in sub-Saharan
Africa, and outline the status and social
function of Cypriot nationals in the
countries where they emigrated, while
also looking into ethnic convergences
and divergences of Greek-Cypriots and
Turkish-Cypriots.
The project will be chronologically
structured as follows: (1) It will examine
the proto-diplomatic phase of Cypriot
settlement and activities in sub-Saharan
Africa, specifically the ambivalent position
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Cypriot Presence and Public Diplomacy in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Historical Perspective
of Cypriots as both colonial agents and
intermediaries between the ruling elites
and the African natives. (2) It will then
examine the early postcolonial public
diplomacy, focusing on the historic and
high profile visits of Archbishop Makarios
III to Africa, which merged political with
religious work as well as the subsequent
missionary work of the Cypriot Orthodox
Church in East Africa. (3) Finally, it will
assess the current, late postcolonial public
diplomacy, going beyond the work of
official diplomatic service to look at the
role of diverse actors linked to Cyprus,
specifically
(a) the Makarios III theological seminary
and current missionary work in Kenya,
(b) the Greek- and Turkish - Cypriot
diaspora in South Africa, and (c) Cypriotlinked foundations and honorary consuls
operating in or for sub-Saharan states.
The expected results of the project will be
(1) an inventory of Cypriot migrations,
activities, and public diplomatic work
in sub-Saharan Africa; (2) accounts
of strategies and tactics and (3)
convergences and divergences in public
diplomatic endeavours; (4) a new
theoretical frame-work for understanding
hybrid diplomatic practice (i.e. official and
unofficial, hege-monic and subaltern
rationales); and (5) the introduction of
new research areas concerning Cypriot
diasporic activity in sub-Saharan Africa
and Cypriot public diplomacy. Public
diplomacy is a fast emerging field of
study, but has thus far been dominated by
soft power considerations and state
policy initiatives, mostly by the more
powerful states. Consequently, it has
broadly neglected the more contingent
small state and non-state actorship
and people-to-people encounters that
invariably promote less visible agendas
while also enhancing cross-cultural
communication and mediation of
estrangement. Moreover, international
relations’ scholarship on Cyprus has overly
concentrated on Cyprus Problem issues
and EU-centric policies, omitting Cypriot
international activity beyond these
realms. While considering Cypriot policy
concerns and governmental agendas,
this project avoids the reductionist
trend, examining Cypriot public
diplomacy in Africa holistically. Its
significance lies in bringing to light
unknown aspects of Cypriot history
and diplomacy, introducing a novel
theoretical framework that will help
in understanding the complexity of
diploma-tic practice, and opening up to
further research new areas of study.
The planned output is: (1) at least two
articles in reputable, internationally
ranked, peer-reviewed journals; (2) one
conference on the subject, organized in
Cyprus, bringing together scholars,
expatriates and other stakeholders, the
proceedings of which will be recorded
and posted on the Web; and (3) an
electronic photo chronicle combined with
commentary of Cypriot presence and
activity in Africa.
306
Research Programmes
Curriculum Vitae
Costas M. Constantinou is Professor of International Relations at the University of Cyprus since
2011. He has also taught at the Universities of Hull, Keele, Lancaster and Nicosia, and as a visiting
scholar at Taras Shevchenko University, Ukraine, and the Middle East Technical University, Turkey. His
research interests include diplomacy, conflict and international political theory. He has led and
collaborated on a number of international research projects, including externally funded ones by,
inter alia, the EU 7th Framework Programme, EEA Grants and the Leverhulme Trust. He has
disseminated his research through the publication of articles in international peer-reviewed journals,
books with academic publishing houses, the edition of special issues as well as the production of a
documentary. It includes:
Burgess, P. and Constantinou, C.M, eds, (2013) ‘The New Middle East: A Critical Appraisal’, Security
Dialogue, 44:5-6, 157 pp.
Constantinou, C.M., Demetriou O., and Hatay M., eds, (2012) ‘Conflicts of Heritage in the Balkans and
the Near East’, Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, 14:2, 136 pp.
'The Third Motherland' (Cyprus, 2011), documentary co-directed with G. Skordis.
Constantinou, C.M. and Der Derian, J., eds, (2010) Sustainable Diplomacies (Palgrave Macmillan)
Constantinou, C.M., Guest Editor (2010) ‘The State of Cyprus: Fifty Years After Independence’,
The Cyprus Review, 22:2, 306 pp.
Constantinou, C.M., Richmond, O.P and Watson, A., eds, (2008) Cultures and Politics of Global
Communication (Cambridge University Press)
Constantinou, C.M. (2004) States of Political Discourse: Words, Regimes, Seditions (Routledge)
Constantinou, C.M. (1996) On the Way to Diplomacy (Minnesota University Press)
307
308
Research Programmes
GRECO (Retaining Greek in “Enclaved” COmmunities): Greek
as a Mother Tongue among Turkish Cypriots in Cyprus and
Cunda Cretans in Turkey
Principal Investigator: Elena Ioannidou, Assistant Professor, Department
of Education, Faculty of Social Sciences and Education, University of Cyprus
The use of the Greek language as a mother
tongue by groups outside Greek-speaking
areas and communities is a phenomenon
not adequately documented in linguistic
research. Dispersed groups of Greek
speakers are located in Turkey (Dawkins,
1940; Defner, 1878, 1880; Mackridge, 1987,
et seq.; Kaltsa & Sitaridou, 2009; 2010,
inter alia), in South Italy (Rohlfs, 1934;
Katsoyannou, 1995; Profili, 1985
Karanastasis, 1997, inter alia) in Libya,
Syria and Lebanon (Tsokalidou, 2004;
Zarkadakis, 1995). In particular, for the
Greek-speaking populations residing in
the eastern Mediterrenean it has been
argued that historically these groups were
Christians who converted to Islam to avoid
persecution (Beckingham, 1957) or who
retained both religions (Killoran, 1998). The
revealing characteristics of these groups
are the way they move between languages
(usually their Greek/home language and
the host/dominant language) and the
interrelations these linguistic shifts have
on issues of ethnolinguistic identity. In
addition, preliminary studies of these
groups have documented that they use
forms and structures of the Greek
language in more archaic forms
(Mackridge, 1987; Rohlfs, 1934) that are
now extinct from the Greek used in Greece
and in Cyprus.
The proposed project focuses on two
groups, a sub-group of Turkish Cypriots
(“linobambakoi”) in Cyprus, and Cretans
now residing in Cunda Turkey (former
Moschonisi). Both groups have Greek as
their mother tongue; in particular, Cypriot
Greek and Cretan Greek in their more
basilectal forms. The Greek language
remains the mother tongue/first
language (L1) for older generations and a
second language (L2) for younger
generations. In either case, the Greek
language has a strong presence as a
home language among these families
both for communicative and symbolic
reasons, albeit the respective varieties
may significantly diverge from the current
form of Standard Modern Greek. Despite
residing in Turkish-speaking areas, these
communities resisted language shift and
maintained their language hence the
notion of ethnolinguistic vitality becomes
particularly relevant for these two
communities.
The current project aims first, to offer a
systematic documentation of the two
Greek varieties used by Turkish Cypriots
in Cyprus and Cunda Cretans in Turkey
and to identify those special linguistic
phenomena that characterize their
speech. Second, to investigate the
symbolic and communicative functions of
the Greek language in these Turkish
Cypriots’ and Cunda Cretans’ linguistic
repertoire, exploring their reported
language use and their language values
309
GRECO: Greek as a Mother Tongue among Turkish Cypriots in Cyprus and Cunda Cretans in Turkey
towards the Greek Cypriot Dialect (GCD)
and the Cretan Dialect respectively, as
well as towards Standard Modern Greek
and Turkish. Third, an effort will be made
to investigate whether the Greek
language functions as a marker (with
positive or negative connotations) of
the group’s sense of identity, while a
comparison will be drawn between
language use and language values
among these two groups, aiming to
investigate how issues of language and
identity are shaped and reconstructed in
such politically sensitive areas and
how spaces and boundaries are drawn in
cases where the home language and
its symbolic function does not coincide,
or often collides, with the dominant
language.
The principal method of investigation will
be ethnographic interviews, complemented
by observations of the participants in their
context. Participants will be located
through the sociolinguistic approach of
social networks where social and family
networks of Turkish Cypriots and Cunda
Cretans will be created, by locating “key
informants” and then expanding the
network around friends and family. The
interview data will be fully transcribed and
electronically stored, using digitization
technologies, for building two corpora of
naturalistic speech. Hence, a database will
be developed for each variety, which will
be also used for the classification and the
analysis of the linguistic phenomena.
Apart from the linguistic description, the
ultimate objective of data analysis is the
creation of personal narratives that will
lead the Research Team understand how
the interviewees incorporate issues of
language use, language maintenance and
language and identity in their life histories.
310
Research Programmes
Curriculum Vitae
Educational Background:
PhD Applied Linguistics / Sociolinguistics, Research and Graduate School of Education, University of
Southampton, UK
Thesis title: “This ain´t my real language, miss: On language and ethnic identity among Greek Cypriot
students”
1996-1997: MA (Ed) Applied Linguistics for Language Teaching, Department of Education, University
of Southampton, UK, Thesis title: “Nationalism in Greek Cypriot educational and language policy
context 1960-1994”
1992-1996: BA (Ed) in Educational Studies (Primary Education, Specialization Language/Linguistics),
Department of Education, University of Cyprus.
Research Interests:
Bidialectalism, Language Use, Language and Identity, Multilingualism, Language Policy,
Multiliteracies, Discourse Analysis, Linguistic Ethnography
Selected Publications:
Ioannidou, E. (2012). “Language Policy in Greek Cypriot Education: tensions between national and
pedagogical values”. Language, Culture and Curriculum, DOI:10.1080/07908318.2012.699967.
Tsiplakou, S. & Ioannidou, E. (2012). “Stylizing stylization: the case of Aigia Fuxia”. Multilingua: Journal
of cross-cultural and interlanguage communication. 31:277-296.
Mitchell, Rosamond, Dal Negro, Silvia and Ioannidou, Elena (2011) European multilingualism,
'multicompetence' and foreign language education. In, Perceptions and beyond: Unity in diversity
in Europe's knowledge-based society. Berlin, DE, Mouton de Gruyter.
Ioannidou, E., & Sophocleous, A.(2010), “Now, is this how we are going to say it?” Comparingteachers’
language practices in primary and secondary state education in Cyprus. Linguistics and Education
21 (4), December 2010:298-313.
Ioannidou, E (2009) “Using the improper language in the classroom: the conflict between language
use and legitimate varieties in education. Evidence from a Greek Cypriot classroom”, in Language and
Education 23 (3):263-278.
Ioannidou, E. (2008) “Language policy and ethnic identity in Greek Cypriot education”, in Cornillie, B;
Lambert, J and Swiggers, P Linguistic identities, language shift and language policy in Europe Leuven–
Paris: Peeters.
Ioannidou, E (2007) 'Using the improper language as a marker of ethnic identity in a Greek Cypriot
classroom', in Papapavlou, A and Pavlou, P (Eds) Sociolinguistic and pedagogical dimensions of
Dialects in Education, Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
311
312
Research Programmes
Adapting Parent-Child Interaction Therapy for Disruptive
Behavior in Greek Cypriot Children
Principal Investigator: Kostas Fantis, Assistant Professor, Department of
Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences and Education, University of Cyprus
The recent economic crisis in Cyprus
has led to rising stress levels for many
families who are experiencing significant
financial difficulties. Stressful life events
such as job loss and financial hardship are
known to negatively affect parenting
behaviours. Dysfunctional parenting is
one of the most common risk factors
associated with disruptive behaviour
disorders among children, such as
aggression, property destruction, and
deceitfulness, which suggests that
Cyprus may see rising crime rates in the
coming years. Several empirically based
treatments are available for preventing
and treating these disorders. For example,
Parent Child Interaction Therapy is a
theoretically grounded, assessment
driven, empirically supported treatment
for young children with disruptive
behaviour disorders. However, the
effectiveness of interventions such as
PCIT with children in Cyprus is scarce. The
proposed study aims to culturally adapt
Parent-Child Interaction Therapy for
Greek-speaking populations in order to
address child disruptive behaviour
disorders. The second aim of the
proposed project is to examine the
feasibility and acceptability of the
culturally adapted intervention through
an open trial of 40 families of 4 to 7 year
old children with severe conduct
problems. Screening conducted in
collaboration with the Ministries of Health
and Education will take place in order to
identify the most severe cases using the
translated Preschool Inventory of CallousUnemotional Traits and the Eyberg Child
Behavior Inventory. Psychophysiological
measurements of heart rate variability (i.e.
vagal tone) and skin conductance
response will be conducted in order to
assess parasympathetic and sympathetic
control in the child pre and post
intervention. These measures will be used
in order to determine whether treated
children show clinically significant
improvement as well as alterations in
psychophysiological functioning believed
to underlie disruptive behaviour
disorders. We hypothesize that families
who complete the treatment will show a
significant reduction in child conduct
problems, aggression related personality
traits, parental stress, and an increase in
positive parenting behaviour and child
compliance post-treatment, as well as
changes in physiological reactivity. The
findings are expected to improve the
prevention and treatment of severe
behaviour problems among GreekCypriot families, many of whom are
experiencing unprecedented stressors.
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Adapting Parent-Child Interaction Therapy for Disruptive Behavior in Greek Cypriot Children
Curriculum Vitae
Kostas Fantis is an Assistant Professor of Developmental Psychology in the Department of Psychology
at the University of Cyprus. Dr Fanti received his Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University
of New Orleans, and his M.A. and Ph.D in Developmental Psychology from Georgia State University. Dr
Fanti is the principal investigator of various international research programs aiming to understand the
development of behavioral and emotional problems in children and adolescents. His research follows
the Developmental psychopathology approach, combining environmental and biological risk and
protective factors to understand child psychopathology. Specifically, his research focuses on
understanding how biological, cognitive, individual, and environmental risk and protective processes
influence the development of antisocial behaviors and psychopathic personality traits from toddlerhood
to adolescence. Dr Fanti published more than 50 research articles, chapters, and books, and he
participated in more than 70 conference presentations.
Selected Peer Reviewed Journal Publications:
Fanti, K. A. & Henrich, C. C. (2014). Effects of self-esteem and narcissism on bullying and victimization
during early adolescence. Journal of Early Adolescence. DOI: 10.1177/0272431613519498
Kimonis, E. R., Fanti, K. A., Goldweber, A., Marsee, M. A., Frick, P. J., & Cauffman, E. (2014).
Callous-Unemotional Traits in Incarcerated Adolescents. Psychological Assessment, 26(1), 227-237.
doi:10.1037/a0034585
Georgiou, S. N., & Fanti, K. A. (2014). Transactional associations between mother-child conflict
and child externalising and internalising problems. Educational Psychology, 34(2), 133-153.
doi:10.1080/01443410.2013.785055
Fanti, K. A., & Muñoz Centifanti, L. C. (2014). Childhood Callous-Unemotional Traits Moderate the Relation
Between Parenting Distress and Conduct Problems Over Time. Child Psychiatry & Human Development,
45, 173-184. doi:10.1007/s10578-013-0389-3
Fanti, K. A., & Kimonis, E. R. (2013). Dimensions of Juvenile Psychopathy Distinguish “Bullies,”
“Bully-Victims,” and “Victims”. Psychology of Violence, 3(4), 396-409. doi:10.1037/a0033951 [Special Issue
on “Violence in Adolescence”]
Fanti, K. A., Hadjicharambous, M. Z., & Katsimicha, E. (2013). Adolescent callous-unemotional
traits mediates the association between conduct problems and media violence exposure. Societies, 3,
298-315. [Invited Special Issue on “Understanding Media Violence Effects”].
Fanti, K. A., & Georgiou, S. N. (2013). Bullying, Victimization, School Performance, and MotherChild Relationship Quality: Direct and Transactional Associations. Journal of Criminology.
doi:10.1155/2013/289689 [Invited Special Issue on “Bullying and Victimization”].
Fanti, K. A., Demetriou, C. A., & Kimonis, E. R. (2013). Variants of Callous-Unemotional Conduct Problems
in a Community Sample of Adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 42(7), 964-979.
Kimonis, E. R., Fanti, K. A., Isoma, Z., & Donoghue, K. (2013). Maltreatment Profiles Among Incarcerated
Boys With Callous-Unemotional Traits. Child Maltreatment, 18(2), 108-121. doi:10.1177/1077559513483002
Fanti, K. A. (2013). Individual, social, and behavioral factors associated with co-occurring conduct
problems and callous-unemotional traits. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 41, 811-824.
Fanti, K. A., Panayiotou, G., & Fanti, S. (2013). Associating parental to child psychological symptoms:
Investigating a transactional model of development. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders,
21(3), 193-210. doi: 10.1177/1063426611432171
Fanti, K. A., & Kimonis, E. R. (2012). Bullying and victimization: The role of conduct problems and
psychopathic traits. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 22(4), 617-631.
314
Research Programmes
A Re-Constitution Process for the Cypriot Constitution
Principal Investigator: Constantinos Kombos, Assistant Professor, Department
of Law, Faculty of Social Sciences and Education, University of Cyprus
The chronic lack of systematic review of
the state of Cypriot law, especially after
accession to the EU in 2004, has becomes
the primary problem for the efficiency
and functionality of the legal order. The
negative impact is projected on and
relates to the compliance rate of the
republic as to its obligations as a Member
State of the EU. The problem becomes
even ore acute given the constitutional
complexity resulting from the application
of the doctrine of necessity in
constitutional law that has created in
effect two parallel constitutional realities
since 1964.
The primary scientific task is to offer a
complete proposal for the constitutional
progression in the modern era. This would
entail a specific proposal for a new
Constitutional structure that will take the
form of a basic/fundamental law and will
serve as the transit constitutional setting
until the solution of the Cypriot problem.
The approach is to be applied in tier of
constitutional law refers to the reassessment of the Constitutional structure and
the proposal for a new Constitution for
Cyprus: the reconsti-tution process. The
need for reflecting on the Constitutional
law is becoming urgent given the
complexity of the Constitution 1960, the
creating of a permanent constitutional
paradox after the withdrawal of TurkishCypriots in 1964 through the adoption
of the doctrine of necessity as an
exceptional mechanism for maintaining
the Constitution in application yet with
temporary suspension of those provisions
that became impossible to comply with.
The need for scientific study of this
phenomenon and the proposal for a
bridge-system that will enable the
transition to a different subsequent
Constitution are therefore at the
epicentre of the project. The ambitious
nature of the task results from four
different factors. Firstly, from the inherent
complexity involved in any process of
constitutional restructuring. Secondly,
from the added complexity relating to
Cyprus where the system under study has
been resorting to exceptional solutions
(doctrine of necessity) in order to render
its functionality possible. Thirdly, there
is an essential need to create the
justification basis for making the
transition to the new constitutional phase
possible, given the fact that any
discussion about constitutional reform,
even in the form of minor amendments,
has faced reaction stemming from the
perception that the Constitution 1960 can
not be formally altered as it offers the
foundation for the international existence
of the Republic of Cyprus. Fourthly, there
is an added element of ambition in the
project resulting from the manifest lack of
legal literature in the area. In addition, the
study of constitutional law will also
include specific analysis of the status of
political parties, given the recent
worrying rise of extreme parties in
Europe, in order to introduce the
approach of the vigilant democracy.
Finally, the analysis will include a specific
assessment of the status of social rights in
the era of economic crisis that is
dominating parts of the EU.
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A Re-Constitution Process for the Cypriot Constitution
Curriculum Vitae
Assistant Professor of Public Law
Education and training: University of Hull, U.K., Ph.D. in European Constitutional Law. PhD Thesis on
the Constitutional Strategy of the ECJ, examiners Prof. Stephen Weatherill, Jacques Delors Professor
of European Community Law, University of Oxford; Professor Andrea Biondi, Co-Director Centre of
European Law, Kings College, London; Dr. Martina Kunnecke, University of Hull (internal examiner),
awarded unanimously and without need for corrections. Corpus Christi College, University of
Cambridge, U.K., LLM in European Law, 2000, University of Hull, U.K., LL.B (Hons.), 1999.
Awards received: Scholarship by Cypriot Government 1996-99., Scholarship by the Cambridge
Commonwealth Trust 1999-2000, German Public Law Price 1999, University of Hull, Andrew Marvell
Jackson Prize/ Lewenstein Price Fund, 1999, University of Hull, Josephine Onoh Memorial Scholarship,
2000-01, University of Hull, A.G.Leventis Foundation, Research Grant, 2001-2003 Professional
experience: Lecturer in Public law, University of Cyprus (2006-), Lecturer in Law, University of Hull
(2003-2006), Graduate Teaching Assistant, University of Hull (2001-2003).
Research Interests: EU law (Procedural,Institutional, Substantive, Constitutional), Cypriot
Constitutional law, English Constitutional Law, Comparative Constitutional law, European Public Law,
Legal Theory and Constitutional law
Books
Kombos, Locus Standi and action for annulment: the closed gateways, (Bruylant,2015)-forthcoming
Kombos, C., The Doctrine of Necessity, (Athens, Thessaloniki: Sakkoulas, 2014)
Kombos and Constantinides, 5 Decades of the Cypriot Constitution, (Sakkoulas, 2014)-forthcoming
Kombos and Constantinides, Kriton Tornaritis: A Selection of Writings with Contemporary Comments,
(Nomiki Vivliothiki, 2014)-forthcoming
Chapters in Books and Articles in refereed journals
Fundamental Rights in Cyprus, in Hans Junrgen Papier, Handbook on fundamental rights in Germany
and Europe, (Heidleberg, CF Muller, 2014)
Legitimacy and Judicial Activism: CJEU and Supreme Court of Cyprus, in Stragkas, I., Legal theory Studies
(2014)
“National report for Cyprus”, in Jacqueson and Holst-Christensen, XXVI FIDE CONGRESS 2014: UNION
CITIZENSHIP, (2014), pp. 385-439.
National report for Cyprus on Whistleblowing, 19th International Congress of Comparative Law, Vienna
2014.National report for Cyprus on Social Rights, 19th International Congress of Comparative Law,
Vienna 2014.Cyprus and the Impact of EU law”, co-author with Stephanie Shaelou, in Anneli Albi, 'The
Role and Future of National constitutions in European and Global governance (intersentia, 2014)
“Social Rights in Cyprus”, co-authored with Arestis, Constantinides, Paraskeva, in Stragka, J., Social Rights
in Europe (2013)-(in german)
“Human Rights post Lisbon-Cypriot Report”, co-authored with Pantazi, in FIDE 2012 Congress, Human Rights
Thematic Unit “Trade union representation in Cyprus”, in Carmen La Mechia, Trade Union Representation in
Europe, (2012, CGIL, funded by the EU Commission) (Editorial Bomarzo,2013)-Italian and English.
Whistleblowing in the EU, National Reporter for Cyprus, 2012
Le Droit de la Nècessitè à Chypre, in Agapiou, The Legal Framework in Cyprus (Mare & Martin, 2011)
316
Research Programmes
Historical and Etymological Dictionary of Turkish
(continuation)
Principal Investigator: Martin Strohmeier, Professor, Department of Turkish and
Middle Eastern Studies, Faculty of Humanities, University of Cyprus
Research Associate: Sena Dogan, PhD, Department of Turkish and Middle
Eastern Studies, University of Cyprus
The project aims at the continuation of
the Historical and Etymological Dictionary
of Turkish. Conceived and initiated
by the well-known Austrian Turcologist
Andreas Tietze (1914-2003), so far two
volumes (letters A-E, F-J) of this unique
reference work have been published
(Andreas Tietze: Sprachgeschichtliches
und etymologisches Wörterbuch des
Türkeitürkischen/Tarihi ve Etimolojik
Türkiye Türkçesi Lugatı. Istanbul/Wien
2002, 2009). Unfortunately, funding which
had been provided by the Austrian
Science Fund and the Austrian Academy
of Sciences, was discontinued. For this
reason, a new start is being proposed by
the Turcologists at the University of
Cyprus (UCY), especially since Tietze‘s
private library, to which access is an
indispensable condition for carrying out
the project, now constitutes a part of the
Turcological library at UCY.
Embedded in historical, regional and
social contexts, different usages of a
lexeme are demonstrated. From the point
of view of historical linguistics the
dictionary includes lexemes from the
earliest Ottoman and Old Anatolian
Turkish sources of the 13th century up
until contemporary Turkish novels.
The structure of the dictionary is such that
an entry may contain one or more
phonetic variants of a lexeme, followed by
a brief explanation of its meaning, its
lexicographical sources and the lexeme’s
etymology. Each lexeme is accompanied
by comments on morphological, stylistic
and syntactic aspects, some of which
are discussed in summary paragraphs.
317
Historical and Etymological Dictionary of Turkish: continuation
Curriculum Vitae
Martin Strohmeier is Professor of Turkish and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Cyprus.
He read Islamic and Turkish Studies at the Universities of Heidelberg, Hamburg, Ankara and Freiburg.
He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Freiburg in 1984 and received his qualification as professor
(“habilitation”) at the University of Bamberg in 1994. He worked as Research Associate at the OrientInstitute of the German Oriental Society in Beirut (1985-86) and Istanbul (1990-1993) and as Assistant
Professor at the University of Bamberg (1986-1990, 1993-1995). From 1995-1998 he taught as a
Visiting Professor at the Universities of Freiburg, Kiel and Würzburg. He became Full Professor at the
University of Cyprus in 1998.
Research interests: History of the Middle East in the modern era, history of the Ottoman Empire
and modern Turkey, especially history of the press and development of education in the Middle East;
the Kurds. Current research projects include: Clothing, religion and politics in the Middle East; the
history of exile and asylum in Cyprus; the Arab Revolt in World War I; the adventurous life of Karl
Neufeld, “the prisoner of the Khalifa”.
Books
Die Kurden. Geschichte-Politik-Kultur (The Kurds. History, Politics, Culture). München 2010 (3rd, revised
and updated edition, first published 2000) (with Lale Yalçın-Heckmann); Turkish translation: Kürtler.
Tarih-siyaset-kültür. Istanbul 2013 (Tarih Vakfı Yayınları)
The Economy as an Issue in the Middle Eastern Press. Wien 2008 (Neue Beihefte zur Wiener Zeitschrift
für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, 2) (co-edited with Gisela Prochazka-Eisl).
Crucial Images in the Presentation of a Kurdish National Identity: Heroes and Patriots, Traitors and Foes.
Leiden and Boston 2003 (Social, Economic and Political Studies of the Middle East and Asia, 86).
Al-Kullîya as-Salâhîya in Jerusalem: Arabismus, Osmanismus und Panislamismus im Ersten Weltkrieg
(Arabism, Ottomanism and Panislamism in World War I). Stuttgart 1991 (Abhandlungen für die Kunde
des Morgenlandes 49,4).
Seldschukische Geschichte und türkische Geschichtswissenschaft. Die Seldschuken im Urteil moderner
türkischer Historiker (Seljuk history and Turkish historiography. The Seljuks in the works of modern
Turkish historians). Berlin 1984 (Islamkundliche Untersuchungen, 97).
Articles
„Ibrahim Khalil Pasha and the Armenian massacres in the province of Sivas (1894-1896)”, in: Evangelia
Balta/Georgios Salakidis/Theocharis Stavrides (eds.): Festschrift in Honor of Ioannis P. Theocharides.
Studies on Ottoman Cyprus. Vol. 2, Istanbul: ISIS 2014, 475-499.
„Fakhri Pasha and the end of Ottoman rule in Medina (1916-1919), Turkish Historical Review 4 (2013),
192-223.
„Ein Verlierer der türkischen Militärrevolution von 1960“ (A loser of the military revolution in Turkey
in 1960), in: Börte Sagaster u.a. (eds.), Hoşsohbet. Erika Glassen zu Ehren. Würzburg 2011, 135-163
(Istanbuler Texte und Studien, 25).
„Economy and Society in the Aegean Province of the Ottoman Empire, 1840-1912“, in: Turkish Historical
Review 1 (2010), 164-195.
318
Research Programmes
Concepts and Functions of European Philhellenism in the
Era of the Restoration (1815-30)
Principal Investigator: Martin Vöhler, Assistant Professor, Department of French
Studies and Modern Languages, Faculty of Humanities, University of Cyprus
Research Associate: Stella Alekou, Post-Doctoral Researcher, University of
Cyprus
Central aspects of modern philhellenism,
like freedom, beauty and greatness, are
derived from antiquity; they have a
complex history and a huge importance
for the current European identity. The
conceptualization of philhellenism began
in antiquity, when Greek culture (from
Homer to Demosthenes) was idealized
and designed as a ‘classical model’ for later
periods. An important paradigm of this
kind of conceptualization is from PseudoLonginus, who in his essay, On the
sublime, connects the Greek character,
classical literature and political freedom
as a model for later periods. The loss of the
early Greek polis culture (as a result of the
Battle of Chaeronea) was responsible, he
believed, for the decline of art and
literature as well as the decline of the
sublime. Referring back to classical
literature, however, allows a return to
greatness.
The research project will concentrate on
this development of reunification of the
different traditions in order to re-establish
a strong political movement. Why is the
“Greek fire” (H. Heine) so different from
the support of other independence
movements at this time? The project will
examine the concepts of philhellenism, its
origins and dynamics, which brought
about a European identity – as Shelley
says in 1821 “We all are Greeks”.
European Renaissance led to a renewal of
the philhellenic movement, which almost
split into several national traditions. The
different ways in which antiquity was
received in Italy, England, France and
Germany created a wide spectrum of
images and ideals of classical antiquity.
However, during the Greek struggle for
independence (1821-28) these different
receptions regained a common focus.
319
Concepts and Functions of European Philhellenism in the Era of the Restoration (1815-30)
Curriculum Vitae
Martin Vöhler, Assistant Professor of European Studies (with the focus on German Studies) with the
University of Cyprus (Nicosia). Member of the Cluster of Excellence (Freie Universität Berlin) “Languages
of Emotion”.
Head of the following projects: “The pathologization of catharsis in the 19th century: Bernays, Freud,
Nietzsche” and “The rhetoric of mental disturbances“.
Co-Editor of the "Hoelderlin-Yearbook" (since 2004) and of the "Philologus, Zeitschrift für antike Literatur
und ihre Rezeption" (since 2014).
Doctorate in German Literature (Hoelderlin’s hymns). Habilitation in German and Greek Literature
(Pindar in Europe).
Teaching and research interests: German literature from the 17th to the 20th century with a special
emphasis on the age of Enlightenment, and classicism; The Classical Tradition in Germany and Europe;
German Philhellenism; Poetics, Rhetorics, Hermeneutics; Theater and Literature; Pindar, Horace and the
Lyric; History and Theory of Translation.
CHAPTERS IN BOOKS
Vöhler, Μ. (2013)‚ Correcting Ancient Myths: Brecht’s Approach to Antiquity. In: The Reception of
Classical Antiquity in German Literature, hrsg. von Anne Simon und Katie Fleming. München: Iudicium,
2013, 154–71.
Vöhler, Μ. (2013)‚ Prämissen und Perspektiven von Hölderlins Übersetzungen. Martin Vöhler im
Gespräch mit Harald Bergmann. In: Harald Bergmann: Hölderlin Edition. Supplement: Translations,
Traductions, Übersetzungen. Stuttgart, 411–26.
Vöhler, Μ. (2013)‚ Rhetorik der Verunsicherung. Platons Konzeption der Sokratischen Methode in der
Apologie. In: Wie gebannt. Ästhetische Verfahren der affektiven Bindung von Aufmerksamkeit, hrsg.
von Martin Baisch, Andreas Degen und Jana Lüdtke. Freiburg im Br. [u.a.], 73–94.
Vöhler, Μ. (2010)‚ Beau désordre‘: Aspekte eines poetologischen Topos im europäischen Kulturtransfer
des 18. Jahrhunderts. In: Translating Antiquity. Antikebilder im europäischen Kulturtransfer, hrsg. von
Stefan Rebenich, Barbara von Reibnitz, Thomas Späth, Basel, 133-152.
Vöhler, Μ. (2009) Von der, Humanität‘ zum‚ Humanismus‘. Zu den Konzeptionen von Herder, Abegg und
Niethammer. In: Humanismus und Antikerezeption im 18. Jahrhundert: Genese und Profil des europäischen
Humanismus, hrsg. von M. V. und Hubert Cancik, Heidelberg, 127-44.
JOURNAL PUBLICATION
Vöhler, Μ. (2010) Die‚ Erfindung‘ des Humanismus im 18. Jahrhundert. In: Humanismusperspektiven, hrsg.
von Horst Groschopp [Schriftenreihe der Humanistischen Akademie Deutschland, Bd. 1], Berlin, 30-41.
Vöhler, Μ. (2009) Bericht zum Arbeitsgespräch junger Hölderlinforscher. In: Hölderlin–Jahrbuch 36 (2008/09),
hrsg. zus. mit Michael Franz, Ulrich Gaier, Tübingen/Eggingen, 85-87.
CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
Früh, Ramona, Therese Fuhrer, Marcel Humar, Martin Vöhler: Irritationen – Rhetorische und poetische
Verfahren der Verunsicherung. Berlin/Boston: de Gruyter, 2014, 324 p.
Dirck Linck, Michael Lüthy, Brigitte Obermayr, Martin Vöhler (2010) Realismus in den Künsten der
Gegenwart, Berlin/Zürich: diaphanes, 272 p.
Gertrud Koch, Martin Vöhler, Christiane Voss (2010) Die Mimesis und ihre Künste, München: Fink, 258 p.
320

AG Leventis Research Projects 2000-2016

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