Grecians 2000
From Mr Antony Sharpies Sir: I greatly enjoyed Taki's column (High life, 18 November) on the cultural achieve- ments of modern Greece, reminiscent as it was, in both scope and length, of Dr John- son's chapter on the snakes of Iceland and my own 'Eating Out in Powys'. I think, however, he underestimates the contribu- tion his country has made to the dissemina- tion of Hellenic civilisation, particularly by its sale of the movable parts of the Parthenon to Lord Elgin.
I am also unsure if there is real continuity between ancient and modern Greece. Taki's own rather dusky complexion testi- fies to the successive waves of immigration which have overtaken that part of the world for two millennia, and the evidence of one's own eyes does not suggest any strong link- age. While Alexander the Great would no doubt have looked very fetching in one of those colonels' caps, I find it difficult to envisage Plato munching a kebab. And, in my copy of Thucydides at least, Pericles does not begin his tragic oration with the words, " ello, boys'.
Antony Sharpies
anthony.zena@virgin.net
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