Francesco Morosini

In his wonderful "Book of Travel," famed Ottoman explorer Evliya Celebi (1611-1682) said that writers of all faiths regard Athens as the "home of wise men." Celebi sang the city's praises in a beautifully written paean after visiting Athens in 1668. He encountered a medieval city, where the Parthenon was still almost intact.

The year 2019 marked 400 years since the birth of Francesco Morosini (1619-94), who was elected doge of Venice in 1688, and Maria Georgopoulou, director of the Gennadius Library, and Alexis Malliaris, archivist at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, have curated an exhibition that showcases several important events in his military and administrative career.

The mere utterance of the word Vikings, or Northmen as they were also known, used to strike fear in the hearts of the British just before and during the high middle ages, once these raiders found their way to the west and mainland Europe. Their contact with the French and British has been a subject of extensive research, not to mention successful movies and TV series.

The remonstration by the Greek Foreign Ministry regarding the seizure of Greek properties in Albania, lead to Albanian PM Edi Rama uploading an outrageous and unhistorical post on his Facebook page concerning Athens and its inhabitants.