The original proposition
In July 2021, following an earlier delivered collaboration in Alexandroupolis, the Regional Unit of Evros invited Georgios Katsos and Archaeopolis to develop and cost a two-day historical experience for 27–28 August.
The initial brief was extensive: an ancient harbour and market, a thermopolion with historical tastes, menus from different periods, live ancient music and dance, instruments, dress and dyeing, beauty practices, children’s games, professional performers and the transport and static presentation of the reconstructed Olkas merchant vessel.
Georgios Katsos was identified in the submitted response as Art Director and project lead, responsible for supervision and the historical, stylistic and aesthetic integrity of the production. Archaeopolis subsequently redesigned the programme to fit the available institutional budget and the health requirements of the period.
The proposal was not delivered. The institutional request, dates, requirements, production plan and revised costing are documented in writing. According to Georgios Katsos’s direct account, the organisers later communicated by telephone that the event would not proceed because of the COVID-19 situation; this cancellation reason is therefore recorded as first-person project testimony rather than as a written institutional notice.
01
Why the harbour returns
The invited proposal sought to turn regional history, maritime trade and local cultural production into a two-day destination event for residents, families, school-age visitors and cultural tourists. The plan anticipated up to 600 visitors per day and deliberately offered both observation and participation.
02
The harbour opens
- Arrival through the visual threshold of an ancient harbour and local agora.
- Free movement among food, craft, dress, beauty, games and music stations.
- Repeated live interventions—music, dance, mime and talks—giving the open environment a changing rhythm.
- The Olkas merchant vessel as the orienting landmark and maritime narrative centre.
- A programme that could be entered at different points without requiring every visitor to follow one fixed route.
03
Food as harbour economy
Food was not designed as a separate catering service, but as part of the reconstructed harbour economy. Visitors would encounter breads, pulses, olives, wine, prepared dishes and ceramic serving vessels as elements of trade, hospitality and everyday life.
- A thermopolion-style food station serving historically informed tastes in reconstructed ceramic vessels.
- A menu spanning mythological, Cycladic, Minoan, Mycenaean, Magna Graecia, Spartan, Classical and Hellenistic/Alexandrian frames.
- Thracian bread and historically framed wine as regional points of connection.
- Individual portions and service adaptations developed for the health conditions of 2021.
04
A market that changes through the day
- Live reconstructed music and dance with an exhibition of instruments.
- Lyre-making and instrument interpretation.
- Mythological mime and professional actor-led scenes around harbour and ship life.
- Children's historical games, dress and dyeing demonstrations, beauty practices and public talks.
- Interactive encounters for adults and children linked to trade, travel and everyday life.
05
The Olkas at the centre
- The full-scale Olkas merchant vessel, displayed statically as the event's central interpretive object.
- Market stalls or tents forming food, craft, dress, games and music zones.
- Reconstructed ceramics, instruments, garments and practical demonstration materials.
- Historically coherent costume for hosts and performers, unified by the art direction rather than presented as unrelated acts.
06
A festival that can change scale
- The open market format supports timed entry, distributed audiences and modular programming.
- Regional traders, artists and cultural organisations can be integrated after evidence, rights, safeguarding and operational responsibilities are confirmed.
- The ship may remain central, be replaced by a digital or scenic maritime installation, or become one station within a smaller touring version.
- A current edition could run as a two-day festival, a compact waterfront evening, or a museum-and-port partnership.
Gastronomy in the visitor journey
Food moving through harbour and market
The gastronomic sequence follows the visitor from the market's provisions to the thermopolion and the maritime hospitality surrounding the Olkas.
Act 01
Arrival at the market
Bread, olives and pulse preparations could make the first encounter legible as both provisions for sale and shared tastes. The ceramic vessels mattered as much as the food: they turned service into an interpretation of movement, storage and exchange.
Bread of Pan
A bread combining red, yellow and brown lentils with hard wheat. Its mixture of grain and pulses gives the mythological menu a tangible link between pastoral imagery, staple foods and the figure of Pan.
Etnos elaion
Crushed olives with honey, olive oil and aromatic plants balance saline, sweet and fragrant notes. Served with bread, the preparation makes the olive both food and a story of cultivation, trade and hospitality.
Etnos of Herakles
Crushed peas with dill and leek, finished in the dossier with a pomegranate-and-honey dressing. The pulse base and vivid sweet-herbal accompaniment carry the mythological menu's association with Herakles.
Act 02
The thermopolion
The food station was planned as the market's active centre, with individual portions adapted to the health conditions of 2021. These substantial archive dishes are representative of the proposed range, not a record of a final service.
Chicken with polysporia
Chicken, wheat, chickpeas and spices make grain and pulses part of the principal dish, giving a visitor a clear sense of several staples working together.
Kreokakkavos
Pork belly is balanced with honey, thyme and vinegar and accompanied by a smooth chickpea purée. The dish demonstrates the sweet, sour and aromatic combinations that recur in the reconstructed ancient Mediterranean food research.
Act 03
Wine, Thrace and maritime hospitality
Historically framed wine and Thracian bread connected the wider menu research with the proposed region. Drink, vessel and exchange would place hospitality inside the harbour story rather than outside it.
Melikratos wine
Wine with pomegranate juice, while related dossiers also describe honeyed wine. Its colour, sweetness and ceremonial character allow the drink to function as both taste and a narrated symposium object.