Aristotle, who was the teacher of Alexander the Great, would often respond with “I do not know” to many questions asked by the courtiers. “Why does the king even pay you if you do not know anything?” asked one courtier. “The king pays me only for what I know,” replied Aristotle. “If he paid me … Read more
Monasteries in Tibet and India safeguard highly valuable illuminated manuscripts of sacred texts from Buddhist and Hindu traditions. Me from rural and courtly life with scenes characteristic of certain months in the year (sowing, harvesting, etc). A Greek manuscript from the 14th century, entirely executed in the Byzantine style, describes scenes from the Life of … Read more
In ancient cultures, libraries were special places where a large number of selected and carefully preserved manuscripts, symbolic representations, and maps, written or engraved on different materials, were stored. They were usually part of a much larger separate complex within the city center for which we do not have a unique name today. These kind … Read more
The Hellenistic period in history began with the conquests of Alexander the Great in 334 BC and was a time of military and political domination of the Greek Macedonians in the Mediterranean and the Near and Middle East. The political domination of the Macedonians over other peoples from Egypt and Syria to India was accompanied … Read more
One of the most beautiful examples of Greek art found in our area is undoubtedly the damaged relief of the Greek god Kairos from the 4th century BC. It is now preserved in the Monastery of St. Nicholas in Trogir as part of the “Kairos” art collection. It was found in the attic of a … Read more
Beros, a Babylonian priest, astronomer, and historian, lived, as he himself claims, during the time of Alexander the Great, at the turn of the 4th to the 3rd century BC. In addition to his astronomical works, he also wrote the History of Babylon (Babyloniaka) in three books in the Greek language, however, only fragments and … Read more
On the occasion of the 2400th anniversary of his birth… Three years after the founding of the Academy, when Plato was forty-three years old, Aristotle, the most distinguished student of Plato and a philosopher scientist, was born in Stagira on the Halkidiki peninsula in 384 BC. He arrived in Athens as an eighteen-year-old and joined … Read more
