Why don't you turn to stone?

arCAKEology: an edible archaeology

The following is an excellent post with marvellous related illustrations written by archaeologist-museologist Dr Naya Dalakoura. 

Naya, it is a great pleasure and honour to have you on the Consuming Greek Antiquity blog. 

Dr Naya Dalakoura

ArCAKEology: an edible archaeology

Tasting the Parthenon as dessert could have never crossed the mind as perhaps archaeology is  not well known for being a discipline in which you bake cakes …seems though that human imagination is endless as there are some fantastic archaeology inspired cakes out there! Birthday cakes, puddings, fruity shots, cupcakes, all faithful replicas of original artifacts have inspired archaeo-lovers who are privileged with the knowledge of antiquity and the ability to create pastries, sharing their love of baking with the world.

Celebrating the end of a dig, archaeological course reunions, archaeological bakes off, museum fund raisings, birthdays or Christmas dinners are all potential reasons for consuming antiquity. From Megalithic temples to Bronze Age graves, funerary masks, mosaics, temples, archaeological trenches, excavations, models of archaeological sites are impressing, most original and ingenious examples of incorporating and often interpreting elements of world ancient culture, presenting almost every period in cake form (Stonehenge and the Parthenon are the most beloved ones!) . What makes these cakes good? Their correct or nearly correct proportions, their shaping and texturing, the coloured icing and their spicy details.

The confectioners, proud fathers of their culinary creations, cannot resist the temptation to respond to the calls of magazines as the Current Archaeology Magazine and post the photos on line contributing to the international must-do-trend of themed baking.  Some creators modestly ask to remain anonymous and others, as the Italian pastry cook Mirco della Vecchio, have gained international recognition for baking white chocolate world cultural heritage monuments.

Baking archaeo-cakes instructions are used as educational material (activity sheets) for teaching archaeology to children. According to the educators of the Archaeological Institute of America and the Council for British Archaeology, trying to make a stratigraphy layer cake can lead to learning archaeological concepts and skills, discovering more about how layers build up and what an archaeological section might look like – and it tastes pretty great too! All you need is some layers for the cake, chocolate, vanilla, butter icing, cream and jam!

Get the inspiration, bake archaeology, consume antiquity and offer us the taste!

Sandalous

Fellow archaeologist Peggy Ringa (thank you Peggy!) was the first to point out to me a hugely successful shoe design company producing high fashion ancient Greek style sandals, appropriately named... 

Ancient Greek Sandals. 

It should be noted that this is actually a Greek-based company doing very well in this time of crisis, producing high quality shoes of great taste. Their sandals appear in all the fashion magazines around the world and rightly so (see HERE) and are worn by Hollywood celebrities, like Michelle Williams. 

I particularly appreciate the fact that they produce both "classical" models, i.e. copying ancient sandals as we know them through classical iconography, and also tasteful and quirky modern versions. 

HERMES

In their own words: 

"Ancient Greek Sandals are handmade locally by skilled craftsmen using traditional techniques that have existed for centuries. A raw yet feminine aesthetic distinguishes this new sandal brand. The chemical-free, natural tan leather ages beautifully with time and wear. The collection is inspired by ancient Greek goddesses, nymphs and muses as well myths, pottery, jewellery and sculpture."

ATHENA

The company produces many designs for both women and men and they name them after mythological figures. It was really hard to choose some examples from their collection for this post. 
*I should note one complaint of mine though: no men's sandals named after Perseus!

PANDORA

*

ALCYONE

*

NEPHELE

*

THE MINOTAUR

*

IOLE

(these would look great one day on a little girl I know by that name)

*

DIONYSUS

*

MEDEA WEDGE

(this was Peggy Ringa's favorite I think, and mine too!)

*

ARES

*

CALYPSO

*

ZEUS

*

IKARIA

******
WANT MORE?

You may visit the company's site HERE and see more for yourselves.
You may also follow them on Facebook, HERE. 

And while I'm at it, you may now follow Consuming Greek Antiquity on Facebook too, HERE

Where's Achilles?

A Pirelli poster advertising shoe heels. 

A Centaur is galloping in the night under a blue star showing off a rubber shoe heel. 

Hmmm. 

I realise shoe heels must be a hard thing to advertise, but the message here seems rather obscure. I'm guessing the Centaur doesn't want the heel for himself (he would need three more, right?), he's probably bringing it to his student Achilles for his one vulnerable heel. 

Was that so obvious for viewers of the poster? Wouldn't that require a good command of mythology? 

Minos mint

Sometimes all I have to do to find the next post on this blog is to open a drawer. 

This is what I found in my grand-mother's house in Thessaly. 

Here it is: Minos Mint Tea 

with an appropriate symbol: a set of Horns of Consecration. Enjoy!

Clear message

This is the soap from the hotel I spend my vacations last summer. 

Sometimes I think finds like that tend to find me -instead of me finding them. 

****In other news, you can now follow the Consuming Greek Antiquity blog on Facebook! 

https://www.facebook.com/consumingantiquity

Deconstructing Crete

It's been a while since I uploaded a new post in the blog and it was about time to continue and add all the new material I have been collecting myself and through generous friends. 

This new relaunching will be properly celebrated with a sort of philosophical approach. 

The famous Greek poet O. Elytis in his work "Little Nautilus" said that if you deconstruct Greece, what you have left is an olive tree, a vine and a boat. Which means that this is pretty much what it takes should you want to construct it. 

Well, it seems that this kind of minimal approach was obviously in the mind of an artist/decorator who undertook the Herculean task to "construct" Crete and Rhodes with minimum means. 

This summer I visited a mall in Athens and came across this wonderful installation supposed to represent Crete. For those of you who can't speak Greek the sign says "Welcome to Crete"  - a rather strange welcome when you're so obviously in Athens. 

Anyway, I was totally blown away by the efficient way Crete was symbolised: the Knossos North Propylon, made of polystyrene, featuring as a modest stoa with three Minoan columns and only part of the bull fresco (actually not the bull but the tree), a few plastic olive trees and some soil surrounded by a low wooden white fence. 

This is evidently all it takes to denote Crete in any setting. 

Knossos North Propylon + olive trees = Crete. Makes you think, right? 

***

I wrote in the beginning that in the same mall there was also a composition for Rhodes and though there is no strict reference to ancient Greece, I shall post it here as well. 

It presents the well-known and much photographed column with a statue of a female deer from the port of Mandraki in Rhodes. In reality there is also a second column with a male deer and both columns supposedly lie on the spots where the giant statue of Colossus rested his legs in antiquity. In the mall composition there is a small plastic boat in front of the polysterene column to denote the Mandraki port. 

One final note: The mall in question lies on Kifissias avenue, far from any tourist attraction, other than the Athens Olympic stadium (does this count?) or any large hotels nearby. So I actually wonder what the purpose of this curious advertisement was.