Kathimerini English
A Trojan horse returns, and the world follows
A giant 11-meter Trojan horse appeared in London's Trafalgar Square on Tuesday, days before the premiere of Christopher Nolan's `The Odyssey,' becoming the most visible symbol of a worldwide surge of interest in the filmmaker's adaptation of Homer's...
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After an explosion, a reckoning over workplace safety
A 59-year-old worker, identified as Dimitrou Nikou and believed to be Romanian, died after suffering burns over 90% of his body in a fire at a truck suspension repair shop in Aspropyrgos' industrial district of Mavri Ora. He died after four days in the...
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Marfin probe returns from archive
Police and judicial authorities reopened the arson case at the Marfin bank branch and obtained arrest warrants for three suspects after a lengthy forensic analysis prepared by the Hellenic Police Directorate of Criminal Investigations, based on...
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The garden that held an island's history
A visitor takes photos of bronze Roman emperors in Rhodes. For 75 years, the Pervola, a 2-hectare archaeological tract beside the Palace of the Grand Master in Rhodes' UNESCO-listed Medieval City, remained closed, serving as a storage yard, workshop...
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Vacation photos unlock deadly Marfin case
Sixteen years after the deadly arson attack on the Marfin Bank branch in Athens that killed three employees, Greek authorities have arrested two men and issued a warrant for a third suspect, reopening one of the country’s most high-profile unsolved...
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A musical odyssey back to Homer
Greek musician and musicologist Rosa Fragorapti discovered only upon arriving in London that a confidential recording session she had accepted was for Christopher Nolan’s forthcoming ‘Odyssey.’ Invited without a score and bound by secrecy, she spent...
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The battle to save an iconic shipwreck
In a bid to preserve one of Greece’s most recognizable tourist landmarks, authorities have launched a major project to expand the beach surrounding the wreck of the Panagiotis, a smuggling vessel that ran aground on Zakynthos in 1980 and gave Navagio...
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Greece reaches for a sharper view of earth
Greece gained new Earth-observation capabilities on Tuesday after the microsatellite Hyperion GR-1 was successfully launched and entered orbit under the National Microsatellite Program. The launch marks another step in expanding the country’s space...
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A second act for Mycenae’s Xenia
The Culture Ministry has announced the restoration and reuse of the historic Xenia tourist pavilion in Mycenae, one of the earliest buildings erected by the Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO) in the 1950s as part of its Xenia promotion program....
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Anti-systemic tide is growing in America
A deep, anti-systemic current is gathering momentum in the United States. This time around, it isn’t flowing to the right, as was the case with Donald Trump’s election, but to the left. The signs that something of this kind was brewing were certainly...
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Strike protests inadequate port
The port of Rafina, east of Athens, was hit by a seamen’s strike, supported by local residents. The reason for the strike is the port’s notoriously poor infrastructure. The port, the gateway to many of the Cycladic islands in the Aegean Sea, has only...
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Psyttalia wastewater plant upgrade planned
Athens’ water utility EYDAP has launched the first step toward a major upgrade of Psyttalia, the country’s largest wastewater treatment plant, aiming to modernize operations, reduce pollution and improve energy efficiency. The company’s board has...
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One dead, 4 hurt in arson hits
A string of arson attacks against officials of the ruling New Democracy party in Thessaloniki early Wednesday has resulted in one death and four injuries. A woman, identified by authorities as the mother of former parliamentary candidate for New...
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Apartment building turns to rubble
Fire Service rescuers search through the rubble of a four-story apartment building that collapsed in the downtown Athens district of Petralona on Tuesday. As rescue operations wrapped up after nightfall, no human casualties were reported and everyone...
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Santorini winemakers adapt to heat and drought
In Santorini, low rainfall and searing temperatures from 2023-2025 have increased the price of grapes, slashed wine production and intensified concerns over water supply on the island – an issue blighting much of Greece as climate change makes summers...
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TIF speech to be crafted as election appeal
Pundits agree that, by the time Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis makes the trip north to deliver the keynote address at the Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF) on September 5, he will have made up his mind on the timing of the next national...
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First modern Olympics site gets first major upgrade
(Kallimarmaro), the marble venue that hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 in Athens, is undergoing its first comprehensive renovation. The Hellenic Olympic Committee has launched a multiphase upgrade program that begins with the full...
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The gospel according to Nick Cave
The legendary Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds delivered a commanding two-and-a-half-hour performance at Plateia Nerou in Athens on Wednesday as part of the Release Festival, drawing on a catalog that spans 48 years. Backed by a four-member gospel choir and...
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The criticism over the government's policy on Russia and Israel
A country's foreign policy is shaped by the national interest. This is the core principle that has also guided Greece in relation to the two major conflicts of our times. Sure, there are values, traditional ties and, in some cases, even the personal...
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How architecture became part of the cure
A new hospital rising in Komotini is being embraced locally not simply as a healthcare facility but as a catalyst for change in Thrace. `For us, the new general hospital of Komotini is much more than a building. It is a vision,' said hospital...
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A Medea for the ages returns to Epidaurus
of Luigi Cherubini's `Medea' at the Ancient Theater of Epidaurus last Saturday overcame two formidable challenges: returning opera to the venue after decades of absence and reconstructing a landmark production first staged 65 years ago. The sold-out...
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Scattered houses, last guardians of old Piraeus
In a historic quarter of Piraeus, where old residential blocks descend from Kastella and Profitis Ilias toward the city's dense interior, a handful of aging houses remain as vestiges of an earlier urban landscape. At the corner of Miltiadou and...
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Paradise, gated: Notes from a Santorini shoreline
The municipality of Thira has filed a formal complaint against unauthorized construction on the shoreline at Chanas in Vlychada, on the island of Santorini, alleging violations of Greek coastal protection law. The site, home to a beach bar for more...
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Parthenon unbound after two centuries
For the first time in roughly 220 years, the western facade of the Parthenon has been returned to what the Culture Ministry described as its fullest possible form, free of external scaffolding. The milestone marks the completion of a painstaking...
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Fixed, for now: Corinth Canal reopens after slope repairs
The Corinth Canal reopened to maritime traffic Wednesday after the successful completion of the primary phase of critical slope stabilization and restoration work. The decision to resume vessel transits followed a systematic evaluation of the technical...
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A blue edge in Europe's sea rankings
Europe's latest bathing-water assessment offers reassuring news for Greece and a stark warning for Albania. According to data released by the European Environment Agency, Greece ranked second in Europe, with 97.1% of monitored bathing waters rated...
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A chorus of grief behind bars
Behind the bars of the Women's Prison of Eleonas in Thiva, 12 incarcerated women stepped onto a stage and into a public light that many had never known. Their performance, `GYNAI,' emerged from the National Theater's personal development workshop, a...
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Global beats lift the vibe at central Athens park
As summer settles into Athens, dozens of DJs are working the decks at the capital's Pedion tou Areos Park through June 28, in a free-admission festival presented through a partnership between the Attica Regional Authority and the Onassis Foundation's...
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New military drone factory marks Greece's defense push
Greece's armed forces have drawn key conclusions about the state of the country's domestic unmanned-systems sector following the national joint exercise “Doureios Ippos (Trojan Horse) 2026,” which concluded Thursday after testing unmanned aerial...
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The Garden of Heroes and the weight of remembrance
As Messolonghi marks the 200th anniversary of the Exodus of Messolonghi – a defining tragedy and act of defiance during the Greek War of Independence – a new bilingual volume published by the Messolonghi Byron Society turns fresh attention to the...
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New strategy to shield infrastructure
Greece is advancing a national plan to strengthen the protection of critical infrastructure against a growing range of hybrid and cybersecurity threats, with a particular focus on energy facilities that officials regard as increasingly vulnerable amid...
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Plato’s Academy, lost in neglect
Plato’s Academy, the birthplace of ideas that helped shape Western civilization, stands today as a monument to neglect rather than learning. A visit to the archaeological site reveals graffiti scrawled even on ancient stones, makeshift shelters for...
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Fourteen years to fix a sidewalk
Fourteen years after a fire gutted Athens' beloved Attikon cinema complex on Stadiou Street, the only visible progress is a repaved sidewalk. The building, torched during anti-austerity riots on February 12, 2012, has stood charred and scaffolded ever...
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Women step forward in khaki
Seventy-two women reported for duty Thursday at the Army's Training Center for War Material in Lamia, marking the first cohort to serve voluntary military service in Greece. The recruits, ages 20 to 26, were welcomed by center officials and the Army...
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Kafka after midnight: A basement, a flashlight, a shared silence
Just before midnight on May 30, readers descended into the basement of the Monocle bookshop for an unusual encounter with Franz Kafka. Announced on social media as `Kafka Underground,' the event replaced the conventions of a book launch with a hybrid...
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Apollo's island slipping beneath the tide
Delos, the sacred island of Apollo and a UNESCO World Heritage site, is losing ground to the sea, according to findings presented at the Academy of Athens. Researchers from the academy, the National Observatory of Athens and the Ephorate of Antiquities...
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Introducing children to the toys of ancient Greece
Across European classrooms, ancient Greek toys are finding new life through Greektoys, a program created by Sofia Pavlaki (photo), her husband Luis Santos and her sister Fotini. Using 3D replicas, animation and a digital museum, the project introduces...
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What the Herod Atticus Theater hears
Researchers studying the acoustic behavior of the ancient Herod Atticus Theater in Athens will soon measure the vibrations caused by sound frequencies imperceptible to humans, as part of a broader restoration program commissioned by the Culture...
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Athens rejects Ankara sovereignty threats
Turkey escalated tensions with Greece over the eastern Aegean islands through remarks on Wednesday by Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler, who referred to the issue of their demilitarization and warned that Ankara would not remain indifferent to...
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Olive oil's health halo fuels global expansion
Six hundred sixty-two bottles of extra virgin olive oil from Europe, Asia, the Americas and Africa arrived in Athens this spring for the 11th ATHENA International Olive Oil Competition, underscoring how rapidly olive cultivation is spreading beyond the...
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A season of landmark performances
The Greek National Opera's 202627 season turns toward landmark works, tracing a path from Monteverdi's `L`Orfeo' to Stravinsky's `The Rake's Progress' and Beethoven's `Missa solemnis.' Announced this week, the program balances the origins of opera with...
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Spring showers to linger
Two young women walk in front of Parliament in central Athens during a brief downpour on Saturday. After a weekend of showers and storms across many parts of Greece, the springtime weather is expected to continue into the new week, with forecasters...
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Olympiakos storms into Euroleague final
Olympiakos Olympiakos advanced to Sunday's Euroleague basketball final in Athens after defeating Fenerbahce, 79-61, in a tense Final Four semifinal defined by momentum swings and defensive pressure. The Greek side started strong at the Telekom Center...
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What a Bronze Age warrior packed for eternity
A celebrated Bronze Age warrior is coming to Athens. The National Archaeological Museum opens `The Pylos of Nestor: A Mycenaean Kingdom Revealed' on Monday, presenting the `Griffin Warrior' to Athenian audiences for the first time. Discovered in 2015...
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Honoring compassion at the edge of exile
For decades, Swiss dentist Julien Grivel traveled to Greece to voluntarily treat Hansen's disease patients at Athens' `Agia Varvara' hospital, many transferred there from Spinalonga. Last week, at 83, he received honorary Greek citizenship, calling it...
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EU prosecutor protests rushed amendment
European Chief Prosecutor Laura Kovesi has sent a letter of protest to Greek Justice Minister Giorgos Floridis over a government amendment that would accelerate the handling of criminal cases involving lawmakers while excluding delegated European...
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Jellyfish return with a bloom
As summer begins in Greece, two jellyfish populations are surging in coastal waters: the purple jellyfish, Pelagia noctiluca, and the compass jellyfish, Chrysaora hysoscella. Most sightings have been concentrated in the North Evian Gulf, where...
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Athens wants Kyiv drones off its shores
Greece is about to send a stern message to Ukraine that it should withdraw all its drones from the country's coasts. This warning does not signify a change in policy, Greek officials say; as it has since the start of the Russian invasion in February...
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University violence and a lot of hot air
The government has failed to clamp down on violence and vandalism at the country's public universities. After the fiasco with the campus police force, it passed a new law last summer for campus security. That law has obviously not been put into force,...
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Long lines at Athens courthouse after security tightening
New security measures introduced after last month's shooting inside an appeals court chamber have changed the morning routine for citizens. At the entrance of the Athens Court of First Instance, visitors now queue from 8.30 a.m. as guards enforce...
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Turkish moves may signal new tension
A Turkish government-leaked consultation paper referring to a so-called “Blue Homeland Law” that will presumably be voted on in Parliament in early June and a minor naval incident – the fourth of its kind this year – have left officials in Athens...
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Revamped 40-year-old trains will boost Athens metro schedule
Fourteen revamped trains first used in 1985 will gradually join the Athens metro fleet starting this summer and ending in 2027. They will be exclusively used on Line 1 (Piraeus-Kifissia), the system's oldest, that is widely plagued by delays,...
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Onassis' legendary yacht struggles to sell
Once a floating palace for Aristotle Onassis and his celebrated guests, the yacht Christina O is struggling to find a buyer, even after its asking price fell from €90 million to €52 million. The vessel hosted figures including Maria Callas, Jacqueline...
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New museum maps Thessaloniki's buried past
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Saturday inaugurated a new museum in Thessaloniki, dedicated to archaeological remains found during excavations for the city's metro. Housed inside the Pavlos Melas Metropolitan Park, the `Thessalonikeon...
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PM opens debate over Constitution
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Thursday presented the governing New Democracy party's proposed framework for constitutional revision, outlining amendments to 30 articles that would reshape judicial appointments, electoral procedures, public...
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A filmmaker's gaze, unmoving
Yorgos Lanthimos, the Greek filmmaker whose unsettling visions have won him Academy Awards and global acclaim, is now turning gallery walls into cinematic frames. Since March 7, thousands of visitors have filed through the Onassis Stegi cultural center...
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Ecumenical Patriarch: Peace is never a given
Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I addresses lawmakers after receiving the Gold Medal of the Greek Parliament. Speaking in a special session honoring his 35 years as patriarch and 65 years of priestly service, the spiritual leader of Orthodox...
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War-driven costs weigh on Greek economy
Rising costs and weakening demand are tightening pressure on Greece’s economy as the impact of the war in the Middle East deepens, with manufacturing and tourism showing increasing signs of strain and policymakers warning of broader risks. In the...
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Along the sacred hill, artisans fight for space
Every day, Pavlos Antoniadis, 69, carries his amplifier, chair and guitar to Dionysiou Areopagitou, where he has played for 19 years beside the Acropolis. He is among dozens of street musicians and artisans competing for space along Athens’ tourist...
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Universities rattled by harassment, vandals
Two serious incidents targeting university academics were reported in Greece in recent days, including the harassment of a senior administrator at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and vandalism at the residence of an Athens professor who has...
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Greece-Ukraine drone talks hit obstacles
Complications have emerged at the last minute in negotiations over a Greece-Ukraine agreement on cooperation in maritime drones, with differences persisting on several key points, according to information from the discussions. Because Kyiv possesses...
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Time to clean up beaches, but the right way
With the summer season inching closer, cleaning up beaches is becoming increasingly urgent. Environmental experts warn that, despite greater public awareness, pollution has not declined significantly. Sometimes awareness can take a wrong turn, such as...
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Traffic strain grows amid Ilissos construction delays
Work on the Ilissos River project in Athens has resumed after delays that disrupted traffic between Kallithea and Moschato, residents say. A bridge on Poseidonos Avenue was demolished months ago for reconstruction, forcing local traffic onto a small...
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France, Greece affirm close security ties
Greece and France renewed their defense pact Saturday as European nations seek to bolster their deterrence strategy. Visiting French President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis signed an overarching agreement titled «Enhanced...
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Macron: France will stand by Greece if its sovereignty is threatened
French President Emmanuel Macron said his country would stand by Greece if its sovereignty were threatened, underscoring a deepening defense partnership as tensions simmer in the Middle East. In a discussion titled `Challenges for Europe: The Way...
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The school where math, biology – and Homer – are all Greek to them
Founded 25 years ago by the Greek diaspora, Odyssey Charter School in Wilmington, Delaware, has grown into a distinctive public institution serving 2,500 students, 98 percent of whom are not of Greek origin. Yet more than 700 study in its...
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A humanoid joins the Greek factory floor
Greece is entering the race to build humanoid factory workers, unveiling its first domestically developed industrial robot, MARK One, ahead of its public debut this week (April 25-27) at the Automation & Robotics Expo 2026 in Athens. Kathimerini was...
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Athena and Hermes make their way home from Chicago
Five antiquities dating from the 6th century BC to the 2nd century AD are being repatriated from the US to Greece, the Culture Ministry announced. The objects include two Attic black-figure vessels from the 6th century BC: an amphora depicting Athena...
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Gov't warns farmers support payment contingent on compliance
A livestock breeders' blockade in Mesotopos, Lesvos. The island faces a deepening foot-and-mouth disease emergency, with confirmed cases reaching 43 and new outbreaks appearing 50 kilometers from the original sites – a sign, officials say, of failing...
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Vaccines save millions over decades
More than 150 million lives worldwide have been saved over the past 50 years thanks to vaccines, according to public health authorities, underscoring their central role in preventing disease and death. Vaccines today provide protection against more...
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Childhood online: Greece’s growing digital dilemma
Three out of four primary schoolchildren in Greece already maintain social media profiles, raising alarms among experts about early exposure to harmful content. The country also records the highest rate in Europe of excessive internet use among...
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Lesvos in the grip of foot-and-mouth disease
Anxious farmers wait at the port of Mytilini. Critical decisions are expected within hours as authorities move to contain an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease on Lesvos island, with a joint ministerial decree set to unlock emergency aid for farmers...
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A path through antiquity, paved with magnetic light
Athens is reimagining its National Archaeological Museum with a sweeping redesign that will transform how visitors experience ancient civilization. The newly approved museological study, developed by the Atelier Bruckner firm alongside architects David...
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NTUA reclaims historic buildings after decades of occupation
The Michanourgeio, a five-story, 996 sq.m. building on Athens’ Patission Avenue, was fully evacuated in May 2025 following the end of its occupation in July 2024. After years of squatting – some for as many as 29 years – several historic buildings...
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On Good Friday, grief becomes ritual
From a strictly rational perspective, it is a funeral. Yet every Good Friday, this lived ritual of grief gathers kin and community, reenacting a tradition spanning centuries. In one small village in the Pindos mountains, parishioners once carried the...
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