The Story of the Real-Life Alexis Zorbas Unfolds in New Greek Museum

Anthony Quinn (left) as Alexis Zorbas in the iconic 1960’s film Zorba the Greek

The Alexis Zorbas character in “Zorba the Greek” is one of the most memorable in all of film history and the Nikos Kazantzakis book on which it is based is one of the best pieces of modern Greek literature.

Yet it is not widely known that Alexis Zorbas was a real person and not a fictional character. Nor that the real person had never set foot on Crete, or that his first name was actually Giorgos.

When Nikos Kazantzakis met Giorgos Zorbas on Mount Athos in 1915, the man impressed the writer so much that he befriended him and he was later inspired to write a novel based on his carefree personality and lust for life.

Giorgos Zorbas was born in Livadi, in the Pieria Prefecture of Macedonia in 1865, the son of Fotis and Eugenia Zorbas. As an adult he left his hometown for Halkidiki and settled in the village of Paleochori. He stayed with a friend there and worked as a lumberjack, blacksmith, tinker, stableman, and even once as a miner for a French mining company in Stratoniki.

Zorbas met the manager of the mine, Giannis Kalkounis, and then “stole” and married his daughter Eleni. Giorgos and Eleni settled in Paleochori and had twelve children, but only seven, or possibly eight, of them survived. His wife then died as well and the family lived in a miserable condition for years thereafter.

In 1915 Zorbas left for Mount Athos and became a monk. It was there that he met Kazantzakis and a strong friendship bonded the two men. The two fast friends then moved to Mani, where Kazantzakis was assigned to manage the Prastova mine near Stoupa, a seaside village of the municipality of Lefktro in Messinian Mani.

Greek author Nikos Kazantzakis. File photo

Zorbas brought with him five of his orphaned children and Kazantzakis made him the chief miner. Living in the beautiful seaside village, away from war, hunger and trouble, the intellectual writer and the restless, peripatetic miner bonded. The two men spent hours every day on the majestic Kalogria Beach, talking about life.

Those endless hours of conversations with the man, as well as his exuberant personality and behavior, inspired Kazantzakis to create the lovable, near-mythical Alexis Zorbas of the book and later the movie.

Kazantzakis admired the way Zorbas enjoyed life, love, food, motion, and dance to the fullest. He was amazed by the man’s restlessness, his kind heart, his open-mindedness, and his laid-back attitude. Kazantzakis later described Zorbas succinctly as “an excellent eater, drinker, hard worker and a hobo.” A jack of all trades that no four walls could keep in.

In 1920, Zorbas followed Kazantzakis to the Black Sea region, as the writer was appointed an envoy of the Greek state after the Pontian genocide. There Kazantzakis rescued approximately 100,000 Pontians, transporting them to Thessaloniki, according to Greek Foreign Ministry records.

After the end of the Pontus mission, the two friends separated and they never met again. Yet Giorgos Zorbas continued to live and dance and drink and eat and tell jokes and bask in the sun in Kazantzakis’ mind.

The house belonging to Giorgos Zorbas. Photo: thestival.gr

Zorbas’ house in Paleochori to become a museum

The house in Paleochori, Halkidiki where Nikos Kazantzakis’ hero, Giorgos Zorbas, lived for 22 years, raising a family and having twelve children, working mainly as a miner, will soon be turned into a real-life and digital museum.

The heirs of the property decided to donate it to the Aristotle municipality. The plan to promote the Zorbas house was presented on Friday at an event held in Paleochori in the presence of the Deputy Minister of the Interior, Theodoros Karaoglou, responsible for Macedonia-Thrace issues.

Speaking at the event, Aristotle mayor Stelios Valianos announced that a financial and technical proposal is already being prepared for the submission and integration of the restoration project and the promotion of “Alexis” Zorbas’ house.

“This is where the miner who later inspired Nikos Kazantzakis lived, after they met on a trip to Mount Athos. This is the place where his personality was shaped and later became a Kazantzakis book translated into 34 languages and a film by Michael Cacoyiannis that won three Oscars, while it was nominated for four more, today reaching the point of being a global brand name,” the mayor stated.

“Here, in this house, in Paleochori, a point of historical reference for Alexis Zorbas, Giorgos Zorbas — as his fellow citizens knew him — will be created,” Valianos declared.

The mayor also stated that the goal is for the museum to become a destination for visitors. It will combine digital technology and folklore exhibits, and will have daily guides. It will be connected by walking routes to other reference points in the area and will provide networking opportunities with other places where Alexis Zorbas visited or stayed.

For his part, the Deputy Minister said that “Alexis Zorbas is a global brand name that has been identified with Greece and the indestructible power of the Greek soul” adding that the museum will become a tourist landmark.

A folklore museum representing the period during which Zorbas lived and worked in Paleochori will be created on the first floor. The second floor will house the main digital museum, with the conversion of rooms into panoramic viewing screens.

With the recruitment of actors and the use of new technologies, Alexis Zorbas will be “revived” once again to welcome visitors and guide them into his life, with references to real historical sources in the work of Nikos Kazantzakis and in the Michael Cacoyiannis film.

Comments

The World’s Oldest Living Olive Tree is on Crete

The most ancient olive tree in the world, in Crete. Credit: Dimitra Damian/Greek Reporter The oldest olive tree in the world is located in the village of Ano Vouves of Kissamos in Chania, Crete. The ancient tree is 3000 years old, as determined by the international scientific community. The ancient olive tree in Vouves has a trunk with a circumference of 12.5 meters (41 feet), and a diameter of 4.6 meters (15 feet). It belongs to the local tree variety of tsounati, and was grafted at a height of 3 meters onto a wild olive tree. Because of the grafting, its trunk has been so beautifully shaped by nature that it resembles a sculpture. In 1990, after a unanimous decision in the prefecture of Chania, the Vouves Olive Tree was declared a Natural Monument of great importance due to its status as the world’s oldest tree of its kind. The oldest olive tree still produces high-quality olives The fruits of the ancient olive tree make the best olive oil in the world, making the area...

Ten Unforgettable Things to Do Around Syntagma Square in Athens

Syntagma Square, Athens. Credit: Public Domain Syntagma Square has literally been the very heart of Athens ever since the city became the capital of the modern Greek state. With the Greek Parliament building and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier looming over it, it is rich with history and is the place where most major events of the last two centuries have taken place. Its name in Greek means “Constitution Square,” a name granted by Greece’s first modern royal, King Otto, on September 3, 1843, after an uprising of the people. This was a smart political move, since the royal palace overlooked the square. In 1934, the royal palace was turned over to the Greek Parliament, and ever since that time, Syntagma Square has been the place where all public protests and demonstrations have taken place. Syntagma Square home to historic demonstrations and protests In December of 1944, just after the departure of the occupying Nazi troops, a people’s rally at the square was marred b...

The Greek Who Taught the Japanese to Eat Feta Cheese and Olive Oil

Credit: Facebook/ Thanasis Fragkis Pioneering businessman Thanasis Fragkis was the very first person to introduce olive oil and other traditional Greek products to Japan more than a decade ago. Olive oil, wine, feta cheese and Greek yogurt, relatively unknown food items to this Far Eastern country, are now being enjoyed as the great gourmet delicacies they are. Speaking to Greek Reporter from his home in the town of Mito, around 120 km (76 miles) north of Tokyo, Fragkis was justifiably proud of his achievement. “We have taught the Japanese to eat olive oil, cheeses, including feta, yogurt that were not part of their diet. They hardly knew of olive oil,” he says in wonderment. Originally from the town of Kymi on the island of Evia, Fragkis emigrated to England, where he met his future wife, who is Japanese. “When we got married we thought ‘you are Japanese, I am Greek, what is the point of living in England?’. Greece was a difficult place to start a business in at the ti...

Rolls-Royce Names Panos Kakoullis New CFO

Rolls-Royce aircraft engine. Credit: Mark Kobayashi Hillary/ CC BY 2.0 British aircraft engine maker Rolls-Royce will name Panos Kakoullis as its new CFO, Reuters reported on Monday. Kakoullis will start in his new role on May 3. The company hopes that the Greek-British Kakoullis, former head of audit and assurance at Deloitte, will successfully guide the company through the coronavirus pandemic. As the the second-largest maker of aircraft engines, Rolls Royce has taken major hits due to the dramatic decrease in air travel caused by the coronavirus. Airlines pay the company by the number of hours each plane is in flight. Accordingly, as the travel industry has come to a standstill, Rolls Royce faced severe financial difficulty in the past year. Rolls Royce CEO Warren East highlighted Kakoullis’ over 30 years experience at Deloitte in a statement: “Panos delivered significant transformational change at Deloitte, streamlining and simplifying the business and we look forwa...

Inside the Magnificent Minoan Palace of Knossos in Crete

The Minoan palace at Knossos. Credit: Gary Bembridge /Wikimedia Commons/ CC-BY-2.0 The Palace of Knossos, located about five kilometers (three miles) south of Heraklion on Kephala hill, was the largest of all the Minoan palaces in Crete. It was also at the core of the highly sophisticated civilization that flourished on the island over 3,500 years ago. The discovery of the Minoan Palace of Knossos The discovery and subsequent excavation of the palace dates back to the beginning of the twentieth century. Before then, Knossos had only served as a place mentioned in Greek mythology. The first modern scholar to take a serious interest in the area was the German Heinrich Schliemann, who in 1870 had excavated the site believed to be Troy. Schliemann was certain that a major Minoan palace lay hidden near Heraklion, but the Ottoman authorities who still ruled the island at the time denied any permission to dig there. Years afterward, the British archaeologist Arthur Evans, inspired b...

Άρης: «Είναι ωραία στη 2η θέση, είναι και δίκαιο»

Έχοντας σε μεγάλη μέρα τον Κρίστιαν Γκάνεα, ο οποίος πέτυχε ένα γκολ και μοίρασε άλλο ένα, ο Άρης επικράτησε 3-0 του Ατρομήτου και βρέθηκε ξανά στην δεύτερη θέση της βαθμολογίας και πλέον ρίχνει το βάρος στο παιχνίδι Κυπέλλου που ακολουθεί με τον Ολυμπιακό στο Βικελίδης. Ο Άρης έδιωξε με εντυπωσιακό τρόπο μια κατάρα δέκα χρόνων απέναντι στους Περιστεριώτες, καθώς επικράτησε του Ατρομήτου 3-0 στο «Κλεάνθης Βικελίδης» χάρη στα τέρματα των Γκάνεα, Σάσα και Σίλβα. Με τη λήξη της αναμέτρησης οι «κιτρινόμαυροι» χτύπησαν στα social media για τη νίκη επί των Περιστεριωτών και τη συνέχεια σε Πρωτάθλημα και Κύπελλο: «Είναι ωραία στη 2η θέση. Είναι και δίκαιο. Δεν σταματάμε...».

Έκανε το εμβόλιο της Johnson και δεν μπορεί να περπατήσει

Την περιπέτειά του μετά από τον εμβολιασμό του με το σκεύασμα της Johnson & Johnson περιγράφει μέσω του Instagram o Γιώργος Βαγιαννίδης. Όπως αναφέρει στην ανάρτησή του, έκανε το εμβόλιο την 1η Σεπτεμβρίου και σήμερα νοσηλεύεται σε νοσοκομείο αφού δεν μπορεί να σταθεί όρθιος, ούτε να περπατήσει. Μάλιστα δημοσιεύει και φωτογραφίες από το νοσοκομείο. Δείτε αναλυτικά όλα όσα αναφέρει στην ανάρτησή του: Καλησπέρα σας, ονομάζομαι Γεώργιος Βαγιαννίδης. Επειδή τον τελευταίο καιρό έχουν ακουστεί πολλά, οφείλω να ξεκαθαρίσω τη θέση μου, για να μην υπάρχουν περαιτέρω αερολογίες σχετικά με την κατάσταση της υγείας μου. Τετάρτη, 1 Σεπτεμβρίου, έκλεισα το ραντεβού για τον εμβολιασμό μου (Johnson’s and Johnson’s). Να τονίσω πως ήταν καθαρά δική μου επιλογή και ΚΑΝΕΝΑΣ δε μου προέτρεψε να το κάνω. Πήγα λοιπόν στο ΓΝ Κατερίνης και το έκανα. Όλα αυτά γύρω στις 16.00. Πολύ τυπικά τα πράγματα. Το μόνο που μου είπαν είναι «Περίμενε...

Government, Opposition Clash over Bill to Curb Demonstrations in Greece

As the vote for the bill to regulate demonstrations is about to go up for a vote in the Greek Parliament Thursday, there continue to be fierce reactions from the opposition, unions and other sectors of society. Greece’s public sector employees union ADEDY walked off their jobs on Wednesday, protesting the bill on public demonstrations by accusing the government of using a 1971 junta decree which restricted the right of assembly. The Greek Communist Party workers Union PAME, along with other leftist unions, are also organizing demonstrations in the center of Athens to take place on Thursday evening. Government argues in favor of regulation of demonstrations Speaking in Parliament on Thursday, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said that the bill “protects the citizens’ freedom of public expression; it protects it from both state authoritarianism and from the threat that this right will be usurped by those who oppose normalcy.” PM Mitsotakis emphasized that the r...

The Mystery of the Oldest Throne in Europe at the Palace of Knossos

Photo: Olaf Tausch /Wikimedia Commons/ CC BY 3.0 In the palace of Knossos in Crete, at the centre of Minoan civilization, a magnificent throne room built during the 15th century BC is considered the oldest such room in Europe. Knossos flourished for approximately two thousand years. It had large palace buildings, extensive workshop installations and luxurious rock-cut cave and tholos tombs. As a major center of trade and the economy, Knossos maintained ties with the majority of cities in the Eastern Mediterranean. The palace was a great labyrinthine complex of 20,000 meters in length, a ceremonial, religious and political center that reflected great wealth, power, and highly advanced architecture. It was based around a central courtyard with more than one thousand interlinked, maze-like halls and chambers. An artist’s recreation of the Palace of Knossos. Photo: Mmoyaq/Wikimedia commons/ CC BY-SA 3.0 The throne room was unearthed in 1900 by British archaeologist Arthur Ev...

Κορονοϊός Ινδία: Για πρώτη φορά πάνω από 50.000 κρούσματα σε ένα 24ωρο

Η Ινδία ανακοίνωσε σήμερα, Πέμπτη 30 Ιουλίου, πάνω από 50.000 νέα ημερήσια κρούσματα για πρώτη φορά, λόγω της αύξησης των μολύνσεων στις μη αστικές περιοχές σε μια περίοδο κατά την οποία η κυβέρνηση χαλαρώνει περαιτέρω τους περιορισμούς στις μετακινήσεις και το εμπόριο. Το τελευταίο 24ωρο καταγράφηκαν 52.123 νέα κρούσματα, σύμφωνα με τα στοιχεία των ομοσπονδιακών αρχών υγείας, με τον συνολικό αριθμό των κρουσμάτων να φθάνει σχεδόν το 1,6 εκατομμύριο. Το ίδιο διάστημα, 775 άνθρωποι έχασαν τη ζωή τους λόγω του κορονοϊού, με τον συνολικό αριθμό των θανάτων να πλησιάζει τους 35.000 –που αν και είναι χαμηλός συγκριτικά με τον συνολικό αριθμό των κρουσμάτων, δεν εμφανίζει ιδιαίτερες τάσεις επιβράδυνσης. Ενώ οι μεγάλες πόλεις, όπως το Νέο Δελχί και το Μουμπάι, καταγράφουν επιβράδυνση στον αριθμό των κρουσμάτων, τα περιστατικά στις αγροτικές περιοχές συνεχίζουν να αυξάνονται με αλματώδεις ρυθμούς, προκαλώντας ιδιαίτερη ανησυχία στους ειδικούς που φοβο...

Qoutes

Search This Blog