News update on the Thessaloniki metro dig and the Asopos river project

In what has become an ongoing saga on this blog, I bring you news about the Thessaloniki metro dig.

In March of last year, I blogged about an excavation conducted at the Venizelos metro station which brought to light a very well preserved 70-meter section of a marble-paved road, the remains of buildings dating back to the sixth to ninth centuries AD, as well as big public buildings of the 7th century; a rarity for the Byzantine world. Trouble was (and is) that the site of the find is part of a new subway tunnel and platform which are being built to transport 250,000 passengers daily, and thus decrease traffic congestion and air pollution in the city. The entire subway project has a price-tag of 3.5 billion euros (4.6 billion dollars), and was co-financed by the European Union. To keep the road, the entire subway project would have to be abandoned. To save the subway project, the road would need to be moved, or destroyed--the same thing, according to archaeologists.

By April it looked like Thessaloniki's government and archaeological institutions had found a solution to the problem: they were going to temporarily remove the finds during the station's construction and then restore about 85 percent to 95 percent after the station was completed. The solution proposed had a low cost--0,6 percent to 0.8 percent of the budget--with zero or only a few months delay to the works’ completion. Only a 45 square meter space (out of the area’s 1.600 square meters) would not be restored, due to the placement of vents and escalators.

By February of this year, word got out that the removal of the antiquities from the construction site was suspended in July of last year following a decision reached by the Council of State. In the beginning of April I blogged about the estimation that it will take at least another three years and some 40 million euros for the excavation of ancient ruins to be completed. Well, it seems that that was a careful estimate: the new numbers are in and it isn't pretty.

Haris Kyprianidis, speaking on behalf of the metro workers, told journalists that numerous archaeological finds, problems with land appropriations and a lack of funding means that the project will not be completed before 2020. Another union representative, Dimitris Pappas, who is also an archaeologist, added that the government might need to find more than the 42 million euros in funding for the archaeological work it has lined up to complete the digs, on top of 92 million already spent. He also said that 28 percent of the digs for ancient artefacts have yet to be completed.


In other news, Ekathimerini reports that plans are in the final stage for the ecological restoration of the Asopos river in Central Greece following a deal to install an integrated water resources management system.

The levels of a potentially carcinogenic form of chromium in the Asopos River in central Greece are 100 times higher than the maximum safety standard. Asopos has been troubled for many years by the presence of hexavalent chromium in its water as a result of firms dumping or burying toxic waste in the river.

The Asopos river is a well-known feature in Hellenic mythology, being guarded by the river-God Asopos. He is most often considered a son of Okeanos and Tethys, or according to others, of Poseidon and Pero, of Zeus and Eurynome, or lastly of Poseidon and Cegluse. He was married to Metope, the daughter of the river god Ladon, by whom he had two sons and twelve, or, according to others, twenty daughters. Diodorus Siculus, in his 'Library of History', speaks of them, for example:

"We shall now recount the story of the daughters of Asopus and of the sons who were born to Aeacus. According to the myths there were born to Oceanus and Tethys a number of children who gave their names to rivers, and among their number were Peneius and Asopus. Now Peneius made his home in what is now Thessaly and called after himself the river which bears his name; but Asopus made his home in Phlius, where he married Metopê, the daughter of Ladon, to whom were born two sons, Pelagus and Ismenus, and twelve daughters, Corcyra and Salamis, also Aegina, Peirenê, and Cleonê, then Thebê, Tanagra, Thespeia, and Asopis, also Sinopê, and finally Ornia and Chalcis.

One of his sons, Ismenus, came to Boeotia and settled near the river which received its name from him; but as for the daughters, Sinopê was seized by Apollo and carried off to the place where now stands the city of Sinopê, which was named after her, and to her and Apollo was born a son Syrus, who became king of the Syrians, who were named after him. Corcyra was carried off by Poseidon to the island which was named Corcyra after her; and to her and Poseidon was born Phaeax, from whom the Phaeacians afterwards received the name they bear. To Phaeax was born Alcinoüs, who brought about the return of Odysseus to Ithaca. Salamis was seized by Poseidon and taken to the island which was named Salamis after her; and she lay with Poseidon and bore Cychreus, who became king of this island and acquired fame by reason of his slaying a snake of huge size which was destroying the inhabitants of the island. Aegina was seized by Zeus and taken off by him from Phlius to the island which was named Aegina after her, and lying with Zeus on this island she gave birth to Aeacus, who became its king. " [72]

The 37.6-million-euro deal to clean the river was signed by Alternate Environment Minister Nikos Tagaras, Athens water company (EYDAP) CEO Antonis Vartholomaios and Tanagra Mayor Evangelos Georgiou. It foresees the construction of a water treatment plant, a network connecting the unit to local reservoirs and a supply line to industrial and agricultural areas in northern Attica. It will be funded by Public Investments Program and the National Strategic Reference.