9
W
ith the volume in your hands, the Secretariat General for the Aegean, Minis-
try of Marine and the Aegean, concludes a publishing project and achieves
a major scientific goal. Seventeen years after the publication of the “Archae-
ological Atlas of the Aegean” and twelve years from the appearance of the respective
volume on Geological Monuments, this work finishes the concise, yet scientifically
substantiated, presentation of the natural and manmade monuments of the Aegean in
antiquity, and offers for the first time a complete catalogue of monuments bequeathed
by Christianity on the islands and coastlines of the Archipelago from the establish-
ment of the religion until the fall of Constantinople.
The goal was precisely this: to fit the Aegean of the Christian years into a modern
work with comprehensible and attractive texts, written and illustrated by experts in
the appropriate scientific field and time. And for readers to be able to organise their
visits to the monuments and reach even the most inaccessible of them, by using the
elegant and informative maps of each site.
The scientific committee deserves nothing but praise for organising and supervising
this work that highlights the cultural particularities of each geographical zone (islands,
coastline, mainland), penetrates the contemporary borders of faith, and records the
history, architecture and art of cult and secular monuments, outlining the political and
religious circumstances that generated them.
Fruit of long publishing activity by the Culture Directorate, this volume emerges in
the international literature to fill a gap in the scientific knowledge of antiquity and to
familiarise the general public with the monuments and historical scene in the Christian
Aegean. Our wish is that the contribution of the Secretariat General of the Aegean to
publications is not concluded with this work.
Ν. Zoidis
Secretary General
Secretariat General for the Aegean
Mytilene, 6 September 2014
Greetings from
N. Zoidis
,
Secretary General at the Secretariat General for the Aegean on the publication
of
“Atlas of the Christian Monuments of the Aegean”
