By Nick Frantzis (A Class)

      Genghis Khan was born in Temüjin in 1162 and he died in 1227. He was the founder and Great Khan (Emperor) of the Mongol Empire. In 1206, when he came to power, he began a string of conquests which, if continued for the next 70 years by his successors, would have created the largest land empire in history. The death and destruction caused by the Mongols are legendary, but there was a positive side as well. For the first time in history, Asia came under one rule, and as a result, its diverse cultures came into contact with one another. These cultures had new opportunities to trade with and learn from each other.

• A statue of Genghis Khan

The name of Genghis Khan brings to mind the most completely ruthless and murderous of history’s conquerors. It is said that even on his death bed, he ordered the killing of the entire population of Xi Xia, a neighboring state that had defied him. Yet, the reputation of Genghis Khan as an utterly ruthless warrior may be worse than the reality. In the city of Nishapur, a chronicler wrote that the Mongols were brutal to the extent that even the city’s dogs and cats were killed. It is true that the Mongols under Genghis Khan committed ruthless acts, killing armies as well as peaceful citizens and forcing millions to accept their rules.

• The Ark of Heart was one of the few structures to survive when Genghis Khan ordered the slaughter of the city’s inhabitants.

At the age of about 60, after conquering much of continental Asia, Genghis Khan died, possibly after falling from his horse. His body was taken back to Mongolia for burial. Of his grave, like much of the societies he conquered, nothing remains.

• Genghis Khan’s tomb

In his homeland, Genghis Khan’s reputation needs a little enhancement. There he is revered as the first ruler of a united Mongolia and his face can be found on paper currency. It can be argued that Genghis Khan was simply a man of his time, a man who happened to be a brilliant military leader, who gave to his descendants the greatest empire – and the most powerful army – the world had ever seen.

• A stone tortoise is one of the few things that remain of Genghis Khan’s once great capital of Karakorum

By Andrikopoulos Thanos (B class)

             Auschwitz was the largest and most important Nazi camp, where hundreds of thousands of people were killed in the programme of the Nazis. It was a complex of concentration camps, forced labor and mass extermination of people. Since 1979 it belongs to the UNESCO World Heritage.

Overall more than 1.3 million people were deported to Auschwitz, and at least 1.1 million were killed. The most common implementation methods was poisoning with Cyclone B gas in special chambers (gas chambers).

As the largest extermination camp of the Third Reich, Auschwitz has become a symbol for the mass killings. In the gate of the camp remains suspended the inscription «ARBEIT MACHT FREI», namely «Working is freedom «.

Prisoners worked there in the industries. Their work was for the SS a good opportunity to profit at the expense of the prisoners. Also soldiers from the SS, but also employees of German companies, abused workers, many of whom eventually died exhausted.

Finally one of the survivors of this terrible camp, Mr. Isaac Mizan indicates the number that is in his hand (it was the number recorded in the hand of the prisoners to stand them) and says «This is a title of honor for me.»

By Christi Tzelili (B Class)

HISTORY: The El-Dorado was a king of a wealthy and imaginary land. It is said that every year people used to sprinkle him with golden dust and then they carried him to the lake Guatavita. They used to do this ceremony because they wanted to please their gods. This story became a thrill triggering off the fantasy of many greedy gold diggers.

WHERE DO THE ARCHAEOLOGIST’S SEARCH: The first who tried to find the city of El-Dorado was Sebastian de Benalcazar and then a German researcher called Alexander von Humbolt. Many more tried to find that city but most of them lost their lives. But now it seems that the glorious city of El-Dorado filled with gold is a myth.

(Source: SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED Magazine,Issue 65, February 2011, page 23)

By Thaleia Sfaelou  (A Class)

With their ingenious architectural techniques and sophisticated concepts of astronomy and mathematics, the Maya were among the greatest of all ancient civilizations. At their peak, around A.D. 800, the Maya totaled 15 million people ranging from present-day Mexico to Honduras. Then, suddenly, their society collapsed, leaving cities deserted and immense pyramids in ruins. What caused the collapse of the Maya civilization?

Researchers now suspect that climate change is the answer. According to one study, a long period of dry climate, with three intense droughts, led to the Maya’s end. These droughts matched downturns in the Maya culture, such as abandonment of cities and decreased stone carving and building activity. According to this thesis, the Maya were particularly at risk because 95 percent of their population depended wholly on lakes, ponds and rivers that provided just 18 months’ supply of water for drinking and agriculture.

Nevertheless, this drought theory is still controversial. Some archaeologists believe the Maya’s fall can only be understood in the context of the social and political conditions prevalent at the time. A weak economic base and a period of political instability, they, argue, made the Maya’s collapse more likely.

By Arvanitopoulou Vassia and Giannopoulou Maria (A Class)

The Carnival of Venice is an annual festival, held in Venice, Italy. The Carnival ends with the Christian celebration of Lent, forty days before Easter on Shrove Tuesday the day before Ash Wednesday. The festival is famed for its elaborate masks.

It is said that the Carnival of Venice was started from a victory of the «Serenissima Repubblica» against the Patriarch of Aquileia, Ulrico di Treven in the year 1162. In the honor of this victory, the people started to dance and make reunions in San Marco Square. Apparently, this festival started on that period and became official in the Renaissance.In the seventeenth century, the baroque carnival was a way to save the prestigious image of Venice in the world.It was very famous during the eighteenth century. It encouraged licence and pleasure, but it was also used to protect Venetians against the anguish for present time and future. However, under the rule of the King of Austria, the festival was outlawed entirely in 1797 and the use of masks became strictly forbidden. It reappeared gradually in the nineteenth century, but only for short periods and above all for private feasts, where it became an occasion for artistic creations.

After a long absence, the Carnival returned to operate in 1979.The Italian government decided to bring back the history and culture of Venice, and sought to use the traditional Carnival as the centerpiece of its efforts. The redevelopment of the masks began as the pursuit of some Venetian college students for the tourist trade. Today, approximately 3 million visitors come to Venice every year for the Carnival. One of the most important events is the contest for la maschera più bella («the most beautiful mask») placed at the last weekend of the Carnival and judged by a panel of international costume and fashion designers.

Masks have always been an important feature of the Venetian carnival. Traditionally people were allowed to wear them between the festival of Santo Stefano (St. Stephen’s Day, December 26) and the start of the carnival season at midnight of Shrove Tuesday. As masks were also allowed on Ascension and from October 5 to Christmas, people could spend a large portion of the year in disguise. Maskmakers (mascherari) enjoyed a special position in society, with their own laws and their own guild.

Venetian masks can be made of leather, porcelain or using the original glass technique. The original masks were rather simple in design, decoration, and often had a symbolic and practical function. Nowadays, most of them are made with the application of gesso and gold leaf and are all hand-painted using natural feathers and gems to decorate.

There is little evidence explaining the motive for the earliest mask wearing in Venice. One scholar argues that covering the face in public was a uniquely Venetian response to one of the most rigid class hierarchies in European history.

The first documented sources mentioning the use of masks in Venice can be found as far back as the 13th century.The Great Council made it a crime to throw scented eggs. The document decrees that masked persons were forbidden to gamble.

Another law in 1339 forbade Venetians from wearing vulgar disguises and visiting convents while masked. The law also prohibited painting one’s face, or wearing false beards or wigs.

Near the end of the Republic, the wearing of the masks in daily life was severely restricted. By the 18th century, it was limited only to about three months from December 26. The masks were traditionally worn with decorative beads matching in colour.

(By Aristea Kanellopoulou, B΄class)

The Pomaks is a distinct tribal and historical minority living for the most part in Bulgaria and less in Thrace, Greece.

In Thrace, Greece, 23,000 Pomaks live in the Prefecture of Xanthi, 11,000 in the Prefecture of Rodopi and 2,000 in the Prefecture of Evros. The Pomaks are distinguished by their language, religion, traditions, attire, manners and customs, their way of living and even some physical characteristics.

Although claimed by different nations to be Turks, Bulgarians or Romanians, all evidence supports the fact that they are descendants of the ancient Thracian tribe called “Agrianes”.

The Pomak language was never recorded before 1996. That year, we have the edition of the first Pomak dictionary and grammar. The modern Pomak language is for its most part similar to the Bulgarian in grammar and vocabulary, with a lot of mixture of Greek and some Turkish lexis which is growing more these days.

It must be noted that Greek elements in Pomak are most often old-fashioned or even obsolete to Modern Greek, which is extra evidence that the Pomaks were Greek-spoken in the Medieval times after having been Hellenised in the Early Hellenistic era. There were purely Greek-speaking Pomaks earlier called Maridhes and Ghravakites, living in the area between Didymoteikho and Ortaköy.

The Pomaks wore their own traditional costumes only in the 20^th century A.D. Men’s attire was Europeanised following the rest of the Greek population, but Pomak women kept their splendid Pomak traditional costumes until late years when strong influence from Turkey has made most of them wear the overall flat robe prescribed for all Muslim moments.

(Source: Emine Buruji, President of the Pomaks of Xanthi)

By Christie Celili (Class A)

 What History Says:

In the Holy Bible there is no reference to the Holy Grail (graal). It appears for the first time in writings of the Middle Age, which refer to the myth of King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table. According to other stories, Joseph from Arimathea used it to collect the blood of Jesus at the time He was on the cross. Another theory claims that the Holy Grail is the one that Jesus used during the “Last Supper”.

The word “graal” means “vessel” in ancient French. Firstly, it was named as “san grail” (= holy vessel / grail). Later, it was renamed as “sang real” (= king’s blood). Nowadays, a new theory has come up by Dan Brown in his book “The DaVinci Code”. Brown believes that the Holy Grail is not an object, but the posterities of Jesus with Mary-Magdalene.

Places of Search:  

            Archaeologists have searched for the Holy Grail in the Glastonbury castle in England. Researches have also been expanded in Constantinople (Istanbul), Genova, Balenthia and the USA.

 Possibilities of Finding it:

            Less than 20%.

There are not a lot of possibilities of finding the actual Holy Grail.

(Source: Wikipedia: Science Illustrated, Issue 65, p. 18)

By Sotiropoulou Ioanna-Maria (class A)

          Sicily:a place where mafia and mystery dominate.But what happens below ground?

          In the catacombs of all the monasteries sicilian embalmed dead bodiesare located in common view like nowhere else in the world.This tradition began in 1599 and ended in most of the monasteries in 1871. It is amazing how people of different eras are buried side by side. Of course there is a distinction depending on age, sex and social class. But what makes impression is that virgins were buried in separate places since they were symbols of purity within a society of corruption and decay. The most tragic example found in the catacombs is Rozalia Lombardo, a two year old little girl who died of pneumonia in 1920. The sight is so natural that the little girl seems to be asleep. That’s whysheis named as «The Sleeping Beauty«.

           But why are the remains of the dead to be publicly viewed? Perhaps the dead are used as the saints, to strengthen the faith of Christians. Or maybe, in this way, they try to show that death is natural and inevitable, therefore we must accept it.

           These dead bodies constitute an eternal mystery for us that will always raise questions about death.

                                          Source: National Geographic February 2009