LATEST NEWS
28th of October – ‘Oxi’ Day
At the Pallaconian Brotherhood, we are proud to commemorate the 28th of October. On this day in 1940, Ioannis Metaxas the Prime Minister of Greece, rejected Fascist Italy’s ultimatum, with a simple ‘oxi’ or no!
Although it it is argued that he instead replied with the French “Alors, c’est la guerre!”, the laconic sentiment of ‘Oxi’ is still appropriately implied.
Each year, we commemorate Greece’s rejection of a foreign ultimatum, which would have rendered Greece a puppet state. This proud defiance in pursuit of freedom, stirred the Greek people on to achieve the first Allied victory in the war, pushing back the Italians and Albanians at the Pindus Mountains.
ζήτω το όχι! ζήτω η Έλλας!
“Ta Leme” Episode #1 Art & Identity (NUGAS + Pallaconians)
Congratulations to our Youth and a warm Thank You to NUGAS and their Vice-President Eleni Nzifas for hosting our Youth President Miltiadis Paikopoulos and committee member Olympia Nelson!
“Ta Leme” is NUGAS’ flagship podcast, now streamed on a major platform to reach a bigger and broader audience around the world!
For those who prefer audio/visual please click the attached YouTube link: https://youtu.be/qG8QxLu3d4o
Miltiadis discussed the Parthenon Marbles, touching on their history, conservation and significance, and made a case for their repatriation. Olympia spoke about her role as Muse and Daughter, as well as the history and controversy surrounding the conversion of the Hagia Sophia.
Published with Spotify on Thursday 20th of October 2020, “Ta Leme” and Episode #1 Art & Identity are freely available at the link below: https://spoti.fi/3kuWwn9
Thermopylae Commemorative Lecture Series
From the 20th of August to the 10th of September, the Pallaconian Brotherhood hosted a series of four Commemorative Lectures to honour the 2500th anniversary of The Battle Thermopylae. The Battle is itself thought to have been fought anywhere from the 20th of August to 10th of September.
Our speakers were composed of young Greeks from the international diaspora, hailing from Australia, America and even Greece itself. We made presentations on topics such as iconography, archaeology, history and genealogy digestible to all Greek Australians and youth in particular, by combining important content with professionalism and accessibility befitting the digital age.
Thank you to Daphne Martin, Mark Selleck, Gregory Kontos and Olympia Nelson for putting in boundless effort, time and passion to help us create a lecture series that will inspire and encourage another generation of Greek Youth here in Melbourne, and around the world.
Pallaconian YouTube Channel
We’ve been hard at work creating an ALL-NEW Pallaconian YouTube Channel where we will be uploading our latest lectures and footage from future events.
So, log into your Google Accounts to Like and Subscribe What’s more, we’ll even dive into the Pallaconian Archives and share with some classic scenes from Laconian events of years gone by!
Visit the NEW Pallaconian Brotherhood YouTube Channel to see some of our recent Commemorative Lectures uploaded which will stimulate and excite your love of Greek culture, ancestry and history. Stay tuned for our next upload!
To view our NEW YouTube Channel use the link below, or click the button which will take you there automatically: https://youtube.com/channel/UCEi7s9kO-4MHe6aQeZf3IOw
Webinar #4 – Archaeology in Sparta
The Pallaconian Brotherhood was extremely pleased to welcome Daphne Martin as the speaker for our fourth digital lecture on Thursday 10th of September at 7pm. Daphne has studied Classics and Art History at Yale and is a PhD candidate at the University of Cambridge.
She is the founder and director of the Embracing Our Monuments in Sparta Initiative. https://www.facebook.com/embracingsparta Daphne is also DIAZOMA’s Ambassador for the Ancient Theatre of Sparta, dedicated to the restoration of this amazing site. https://www.diazoma.gr/…/ambassador-diazoma-u-s…/
For those interested in supporting the Amyklaion Research Project:
https://amyklaion.gr/en/friends/registration/ or https://archsocwordpresscom.wordpress.com/donate/
Webinar #3 – The Battle of Thermopylae
It was the Pallaconian Brotherhood’s pleasure to present Mr. Mark Selleck as the speaker for the third of a series of lectures commemorating the 2500th Anniversary of the Battle of Thermopylae.
Mark has been studying history for some 15 years, both formally and personally. He is the writer, presenter and producer of the Casting Through Ancient Greece Podcast series.
The podcast is designed to be both accessible for newcomers to Ancient Greek history and can found as well as those with an already developed interest. The podcast can be found at:
https://castingthroughancientgreece.com/ and https://www.facebook.com/castingthroughancientgreece
Webinar #2 – Laconian Ancestry
On Friday the 21st of August the Pallaconian Brotherhood was delighted to introduce Mr. Gregory Kontos as our second speaker in our digital lecture series commemorating the Battle of Thermopylae.
A fellow Laconian with roots in Geraki, Gregory has completed a Bachelor of Arts (History) at the University of Athens and Masters in Research (History) from Leiden University. Between 2016 and 2019 he served as MyHeritage’s Greek projects manager and in 2020 he founded his own business, Greek Ancestry, based in Patras, Greece. https://greekancestry.net/
He is a leader in the field of Greek genealogy and family history. Gregory has participated in all major Greek genealogy initiatives.
This lecture explained the purpose and functionality of Gregory’s research as well as providing tips, tricks and examples for exploring your own Greek Ancestry!
Webinar #1 – The Mystery of Mystras
We were overjoyed to have Olympia Nelson as our first speaker in our digital lecture series commemorating the 2500th anniversary of the Battle of Thermopylae. The lecture was held on Thursday 20th of August 2020 at 6:30pm.
Olympia has completed a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) at the University of Melbourne with a focus on Medieval and Renaissance art, especially Venetian.
The topic for the lecture was the Art, Iconography and Influence found in the Byzantine stronghold and cultural hub of Mystras, located in the heartland of Lakonia.
Olympia recently joined our Pallaconian Youth Committee, so thank you Olympia for joining and thank you for putting in the time and effort to create such an informative lecture involving our regional culture!