P Gopakumar

Kathmandu

Too many tourists and vehicles crowding archaeological sites and monuments of significance harm tourist attraction and are counter-productive. Authorities have been forced to regulate the number of tourists visiting the pyramids in Egypt, the Parthenon in Greece and the Taj Mahal in India.

In 2004, the Olympic games come home to Greece and Athens is agog with preparations to host a global sporting event with a major gathering of sportsmen, athletes, spectators and media personnel. Not many realise that in ancient Greece, the Olympic games were a four-yearly festival and that they were organised 293 times, from 776 BC onwards, in Olympia.

In its anxiety to put its best foot forward, the Greek officialdom, as elsewhere, sometimes makes mistakes. Greek historians, archaeologists and environmentalists were filled with horror and surprise when the government proposed to locate the proposed Olympic boating and rowing events at the historic venue where the Battle of Marathon was fought in 490 BC between the ancient Greece and the invading Persian army.

The battle in the Schimias beach, 40km north of Athens, was won by the Athenians, even though the invading Persian army outnumbered them. An unnamed courier ran all the way (26 miles) from the battlefield to the capital with the news. He, however, died from exhaustion.

The Olympic marathon race commemorates this magnificent feat and in 1942 the authorities standardised the race as 42.7km. Historians say that an ancient settlement has been identified in the Schinias valley and authorities should not disturb it for new rowing events in the upcoming Olympics. Greek minister for culture, Evangelos Vengelos, has now agreed to change the venues for those events away from the historic sites.