Kastellorizo and its Gold

YouTube clip provided by the Greek Community of Melbourne – Greek History & Culture Seminars
09 May, 2024

Synopsis

Kastellorizo has an extraordinary history of prosperity and destruction. Without soil or water it sustained a population of 9,000 through trade. Trade brought with it opportunity and wealth, reflected in the homes, clothing and jewellery. Gold was the medium of trade and the reflection of status. Trade also brought new ideas that challenged a strongly held cultural identity. This strength of identity seems to have carried through for many of the diaspora in Australia. Many migrated before the island was destroyed. They brought with them items that today make for an important cultural archive of the island, in their photographs, traditional clothing and jewellery – an unrecorded archive randomly distributed across individual families.

Bio

Nick Bogiatzis’s family was a part of the Kastellorizian diaspora of the early twentieth century. He has retained a strong interest in the island, with a particular focus on its social history. He has published Kastellorizian Jewellery - A Dispersed Archive of a Past Culture, and together with Dr Nicholas G Pappas AM An Island in Time - Castellorizo in Photographs 1890-1948. He resides in Canberra and regularly visits Kastellorizo.