Rhodes Forum - World Public Forum "Dialogue of Civilizations"

Evgeny Yurievich Sergeev
Head of the Research Center ‘The Twentieth Century’,
The Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of World History

We are on the eve of stirring times; but if we
play the great game that is before us, the events
will be incalculably beneficial to us and to the
tribes whose destinies may change from turmoil,
violence, ignorance and poverty to peace, enlightenment
and varied happiness.

Arthur Connolly in a mail to his friend, 1840

Antony Wynn - writer, journalist, BA (Oxford) Oriental Studies

The case of a Levantine company in Ottoman Turkey 1907-1929

Since the times of Byzantium the Europeans in Constantinople and Smyrna lived in a commercial paradise. Benefiting from the ‘capitulations’ of the treaties with the Byzantines and then the Ottomans, they were subject to their own laws, which were administered by their own consuls and they paid practically no tax. Smyrna, with its large natural harbour and fertile hinterland, was a prosperous centre of export trade in dried fruit, tobacco and carpets. The city had a large Greek population, but was commercially dominated by a small number of Levantine French, Italian and English families, who owned the best houses around the harbour and up in the hill villages surrounding the bay. They lived like kings. The Turks had their own separate quarter and played little part in commercial life. The common language was Greek, while French was used in commerce.

Dr. Patrick Chi Ping Ho - Former Secretary for Home Affairs
of the Government of Hong Kong (China)

One week ago, on October 1, 2009, we celebrated the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

The founding of the People’s Republic of China on October 1, 1949 ushered in a new era on China’s history.  The Chinese people have since stood up and become masters of their own destiny. And they have been making the history of the New China.

Alessandro Gori - Assistant Professor,
Department of Linguistics - University of Florence

Prolegomena
The role played by travellers, explorers, adventurers, commercial agents, and more and less official envoys of European powers in paving the way for the colonial expansion in Asia and Africa cannot be underestimated. It is a well known fact that these forerunners of the military occupation were sometimes also scholars, sincerely interested in the culture of the local peoples, or at least they were conscious that it would have been impossible to control the “natives” without knowing their culture and languages. They thus promoted the collection of manuscripts, artefacts, oral histories and traditions to have a clear image of the peoples whose territories they were visiting.

Giorgos Konstantinou - Pianist MMus
Soloist and Pedagogue
President & Artistic Director of “Concert Theatre-Cohilia Festival Association”

There is no more impressive site in the world than the temple of Apollo at Delphi on Mount Parnassus; of all the glorious holy places, this site of the Oracle of Delphi established the link between music and mystery. The word music itself comes from the Greek word musiki meaning all the arts of the nine Muses.  Apollo, son of Zeus, was the leader of the Muses, as master athlete and warrior, as well as, master musician . Mount Parnassus came to be thought of as the home of music. Yehudi Menuhin “The Music of Man” Actually, there has always been a dialogue between Greek music and Music of other Nations initiated by the most eminent Greek composers. Here below I am presenting the most important contemporary ones.