Greek-Romanian Symbiotic Patterns in the Early Modern Period: History,Mentalities, Institutions - I

The patriarchal decree validating the establishment of the Wallachian archdiocese in 1359; a series of documents pertaining to the early history of the Koutloumousiou monastery on Mount Athos; the surviving redactions of Patriarch Niphon II's lost vita; the proceedings of the interrogation of a Greek priest arrested by the Polish authorities on charges of conspiracy and espionage; and an emphatically digressive section in Matthew of Myra's verse chronicle known as History of Wallachia. This article, of which the first part is presently published, offers a discussion of these textual materials - which span four crucial centuries of Balkan history and represent an intriguing variety of discursive practices and traditions. It aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of the intricate mechanisms that generated a climate of toleration, mobility and inter-ethnic contact in the Ottoman Balkans, enabling a symbiotic relationship between Greeks and Romanians, which found its vital space in the semi-autonomous and strategically located Danubian principalities, and endured throughout the early modern period despite having been severely undermined by opposing tendencies and conflicting interests. The two sections at hand focus on the Bishop of Myra's pivotal text, as well as on written records related to the early, and yet formative, contacts between the nascent Romanian states and the late Byzantine Empire; in the two remaining sections, which will appear in the next volume of The Historical Review, this endeavour will be brought to a conclusion by means of a (necessarily selective) presentation of evidence dating from the period after the fall of Constantinople and up to the beginning of the seventeenth century

Greek-Romanian Symbiotic Patterns in the Early Modern Period: History, Mentalities, Institutions - II

This is the second part of a larger study seeking to contribute to a better understanding of the sustained process of religious, socio-political and cultural contact between Greek and Romanian ethnic groups in the early modern period. The two sections published here bring forward and discuss little-known and yet important evidence covering the first two post-Byzantine centuries and are intended to elaborate, supplement or contextualise the materials presented in the first part (which appeared in the previous volume of this journal). Not accidentally, this article ends with an unavoidable reference to the very text that ignited our exploration into the historical landscape of the pre-modern Balkans, a short but striking passage from Matthew of Myra's early seventeenth-century chronicle known as History of Wallachia. Indeed, Matthew's testimony stands out as one of the first conscious attempts to account for the uneasy, but also prolific, dynamic and multi-layered, relationship between the two peoples. It has been the aim of this paper to illustrate the basic patterns of that intricate, as much as intriguing, relationship as it was being shaped in the aftermath of the Byzantine Commonwealth's absorption into the challenging world of the Ottoman Turks. 

Greek-Romanian Symbiotic Patterns in the Early Modern Period: History, Mentalities, Institutions - II

This is the second part of a larger study seeking to contribute to a better understanding of the sustained process of religious, socio-political and cultural contact between Greek and Romanian ethnic groups in the early modern period. The two sections published here bring forward and discuss little-known and yet important evidence covering the first two post-Byzantine centuries and are intended to elaborate, supplement or contextualise the materials presented in the first part (which appeared in the previous volume of this journal). Not accidentally, this article ends with an unavoidable reference to the very text that ignited our exploration into the historical landscape of the pre-modern Balkans, a short but striking passage from Matthew of Myra's early seventeenth-century chronicle known as History of Wallachia. Indeed, Matthew's testimony stands out as one of the first conscious attempts to account for the uneasy, but also prolific, dynamic and multi-layered, relationship between the two peoples. It has been the aim of this paper to illustrate the basic patterns of that intricate, as much as intriguing, relationship as it was being shaped in the aftermath of the Byzantine Commonwealth's absorption into the challenging world of the Ottoman Turks. 

Greek-Romanian Symbiotic Patterns in the Early Modern Period: History,Mentalities, Institutions - I

The patriarchal decree validating the establishment of the Wallachian archdiocese in 1359; a series of documents pertaining to the early history of the Koutloumousiou monastery on Mount Athos; the surviving redactions of Patriarch Niphon II's lost vita; the proceedings of the interrogation of a Greek priest arrested by the Polish authorities on charges of conspiracy and espionage; and an emphatically digressive section in Matthew of Myra's verse chronicle known as History of Wallachia. This article, of which the first part is presently published, offers a discussion of these textual materials - which span four crucial centuries of Balkan history and represent an intriguing variety of discursive practices and traditions. It aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of the intricate mechanisms that generated a climate of toleration, mobility and inter-ethnic contact in the Ottoman Balkans, enabling a symbiotic relationship between Greeks and Romanians, which found its vital space in the semi-autonomous and strategically located Danubian principalities, and endured throughout the early modern period despite having been severely undermined by opposing tendencies and conflicting interests. The two sections at hand focus on the Bishop of Myra's pivotal text, as well as on written records related to the early, and yet formative, contacts between the nascent Romanian states and the late Byzantine Empire; in the two remaining sections, which will appear in the next volume of The Historical Review, this endeavour will be brought to a conclusion by means of a (necessarily selective) presentation of evidence dating from the period after the fall of Constantinople and up to the beginning of the seventeenth century

EMPIRICAL EVALUATION OF THE HORIZONTAL-TO-VERTICAL SPECTRAL RATIO TECHNIQUE: RESULTS FROM THE “SESAME” PROJECT

In order to empirically evaluate the horizontal-to-vertical (H/V) spectral ratio technique, ambient noise measurements performed in about two hundred sites mainly in Europe where weak or/and strong motion data was recorded. Standard Information Sheets (SIS) and earthquake information data were included in the SESAME [Site EffectS assessment using AMbient Excitations] project database, specially designed to facilitate data selection. All noise recordings were processed with JSESAME software to calculate (H/V) spectral ratio, whereas weak and strong motion earthquake recordings were processed with a similarly standardized procedure. For the latter, (H/V) receiver function for all sites were calculated. Experimental site transfer functions obtained from earthquake recordings were compared with the (H/V) spectral ratios from noise recordings in terms of fundamental frequency, amplification bandwidth and amplification level. Similarities and differences between (H/V) spectral ratio of noise and earthquake recordings are presented and discussed. In addition, a dense grid of noise measurements were performed within urban environment of cities affected by strong earthquake (Greece: Thessaloniki, Kalamata, Italy: Palermo). It seems that the (H/V) spectral ratio may satisfactorily indicate areas favorable to the occurrence of higher damage in urban environment. However, quantitative correlation between (H/V) spectral ratio properties and damage distribution (macroseismic intensity, damage grades) in some cases, is difficult to be established given the complexity of parameters involved

Cyanobacteria of Greece: an annotated checklist

The checklist of Greek Cyanobacteria was created in the framework of the Greek Taxon Information System (GTIS), an initiative of the LifeWatchGreece Research Infrastructure (ESFRI) that has resumed efforts to compile a complete checklist of species reported from Greece. This list was created from exhaustive search of the scientific literature of the last 60 years. All records of taxa known to occur in Greece were taxonomically updated. The checklist of Greek Cyanobacteria comprises 543 species, classified in 130 genera, 41 families, and 8 orders. The orders Synechococcales and Oscillatoriales have the highest number of species (158 and 153 species, respectively), whereas these two orders along with Nostocales and Chroococcales cover 93% of the known Greek cyanobacteria species. It is worth mentioning that 18 species have been initially described from Greek habitats. The marine epilithic Ammatoidea aegea described from Saronikos Gulf is considered endemic to this area. Our bibliographic review shows that Greece hosts a high diversity of cyanobacteria, suggesting that the Mediterranean area is also a hot spot for microbes

Local Site Effects Investigation in Durres City (Albania) Using Ambient Noise, after the 26 November 2019 (M6.4) Destructive Earthquake

Site characterization of metropolitan areas, especially after an earthquake, is of paramount importance for interpretation of spatial damage distribution and taking measures that assure realistic design actions to strengthen existing constructions and create new ones. Such a case is the city of Durres, Albania, that was hit by the disastrous earthquake of 26 November 2019 (M6.4). Significant differences in structural damage were observed throughout the city, despite its uniform epicentral distance (approximately 15 km); this could be either due to varying vulnerability of the affected constructions and/or to spatial variation of strong ground motion in the city, resulting from local site effects; the latter factor was investigated in this study. This was achieved by taking single station ambient noise measurements throughout the city, at approximately 80 sites. Ambient noise measurements are favorable, as acquiring ambient noise data is an easy and effective noninvasive approach within urban environments. Measurements were processed using the widely applied Horizontal-to-Vertical Spectral Ratio (HVSR) method, following the SESAME project (2004) guidelines. Their fundamental and dominant frequencies, fo and fd, respectively, were calculated and related to the iso-depth contours of the investigated area, as well as their corresponding amplitudes, Ao, and Ad. These experimental parameters and the HVSR curves were used to group all examined sites into classes with similar properties. This clustering provided a zonation map with four categories consisting of similar shapes and amplitudes, applicable to the city of Durres. This map can be utilized as a first level zonation of local site effects for the city. In addition, dynamic properties of soil profiles in selected sites were investigated and tested using 1D synthetic ambient noise data, based on the Hisada (1994, 1995) simulation method, and compared to experimental HVSRs in proximity to the selected sites. A comparison of the proposed four categories zonation map to the observed damage of the 26 November 2019, mainshock is attempted and evaluated. The four categories zonation map with similar expected local site effects proposed in this study can be used as a first level seismic microzonation of Durres. Undoubtedly, corrections for 2D/3D effects on ground shaking must be applied to sites lying in the edges of the Durres basin

Local Site Effects Investigation in Durres City (Albania) Using Ambient Noise, after the 26 November 2019 (M6.4) Destructive Earthquake

Site characterization of metropolitan areas, especially after an earthquake, is of paramount importance for interpretation of spatial damage distribution and taking measures that assure realistic design actions to strengthen existing constructions and create new ones. Such a case is the city of Durres, Albania, that was hit by the disastrous earthquake of 26 November 2019 (M6.4). Significant differences in structural damage were observed throughout the city, despite its uniform epicentral distance (approximately 15 km); this could be either due to varying vulnerability of the affected constructions and/or to spatial variation of strong ground motion in the city, resulting from local site effects; the latter factor was investigated in this study. This was achieved by taking single station ambient noise measurements throughout the city, at approximately 80 sites. Ambient noise measurements are favorable, as acquiring ambient noise data is an easy and effective noninvasive approach within urban environments. Measurements were processed using the widely applied Horizontal-to-Vertical Spectral Ratio (HVSR) method, following the SESAME project (2004) guidelines. Their fundamental and dominant frequencies, fo and fd, respectively, were calculated and related to the iso-depth contours of the investigated area, as well as their corresponding amplitudes, Ao, and Ad. These experimental parameters and the HVSR curves were used to group all examined sites into classes with similar properties. This clustering provided a zonation map with four categories consisting of similar shapes and amplitudes, applicable to the city of Durres. This map can be utilized as a first level zonation of local site effects for the city. In addition, dynamic properties of soil profiles in selected sites were investigated and tested using 1D synthetic ambient noise data, based on the Hisada (1994, 1995) simulation method, and compared to experimental HVSRs in proximity to the selected sites. A comparison of the proposed four categories zonation map to the observed damage of the 26 November 2019, mainshock is attempted and evaluated. The four categories zonation map with similar expected local site effects proposed in this study can be used as a first level seismic microzonation of Durres. Undoubtedly, corrections for 2D/3D effects on ground shaking must be applied to sites lying in the edges of the Durres basin

Sesame Project - Deliverable D20-04 - WP04 H/V Technique : Empirical Evaluation - Comparisons of Damage Distribution in Modern Urban Areas with Results from (H/V) Spectral Ratio

In this Report comparisons of seismic damage distribution with the (H/V) spectral ratio results is attempted, under the framework of the SESAME Project (Site Effects Assessment Using Ambient Excitations, EC-RGD, Project No. EVG1-CT-2000-00026 SESAME), Task A (H/V technique), Work Package 04 (WP04– H/V Technique: Empirical Evaluation)