Mr. Tom Holland, author of Rubicon and most recently, Persian Fire, will be our guest here at Ancient Worlds from November 20th to November 27th. The first half of the week will be devoted to Rubicon and Roman history and the second half of the week will be devoted to Persian Fire and Greek/Persian history. The week will end with a live chat on Sunday, November 27th (time to be announced). If you have an interest in either or both of these eras/regions of history, we hope you will join us!

Please help us welcome Bacchus Isocrates to the post of Scribe of Hellas! Bacchus has been a very active member of Hellas for quite a while, and is the leader for many groups in AW. We figured we'd put his leadership skills to use on a World scale as well. Drop him a gram to say "Hi!" if you see him online, or leave him a note at his house.

The Goldfest '05 Greek Island Tour is now a permanent addition to our Greek Islands hood. Many thanks to Kallistos Alexandros , Anna Hippon, Iak Ariston, Lorelei Aristophanes, Bacchus Isocrates and Rhadamantys Glaucon for their research and graphic work, and special thanks to Laurels Curius for her help and for letting us use her web space.

Thanks go out to Alerissa Nestor and Kallistos Alexandros for researching and helping put together the Wizard of AWs. (The featured article, "The Binding Curse", was written for the tour. Check it out!)

Sponsored by Avatar Alley, the Hellas Costume Contest was a smashing success. A total of 24 contestants entered and three winners were voted on by the populous of AW. The first place winner was Louisa Agis, second place winner was Bree Burgundian, and the third place winner was Branwen Cenel Conaill. A complete list of the results can be seen here.

We never seem to get enough quizes here in Hellas, and GoldFest added to our growing list! You can find the hard work of Kallistos Alexandros and Helen Theocritos at Quiz Central.

Careful decoding of clues in Homer's Odyssey has led researchers to name the Greek Island of Kefalonia as the home of his hero Odysseus. You can read more about it in the following articles:

• Archeologists make historic discovery
• Lost island home of Odysseus found after 3,000 years

The Acropolis Museum, which was orginally slated to have opened in time for the last year's Athens Olympics, is scheduled to open by the end of 2007. Read more about it here, and take a virtual tour of the existing museum here!

Hellas is proud to bring you a way to send friends and loved ones notes of Holiday cheer this December. We're calling it Eortastikh Karta which means "Holiday Card" in Greek. While it is still in the planning stages, we'd love to get graphics for these cards from anyone willing to spend time creating them! If this describes you, talk to Alerissa.

Graphics should be no wider than 380px and no bigger than 100K. These need to be formatted as .gif, .jpg &/or .png files. Stay tuned to the Hellas' Holiday E-card Center thread for more details!

If you have any articles you wish to submit or a group event you would like to see in a future edition of the Hellenic World News please contact me, Anna Hippon. I love to highlight everything that's happening around Hellas & AW, but I need help scouting them out.

"A Beginner's Guide to Ancient Worlds"
Hellas Welcome Board
Hall of Personas
Ancient Worlds Code of Conduct
Arachne FAQ

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Featured Articles:
Bronze Statuary in Ancient Greece by Alerissa Nestor
Ithaca: the Homeric Island by Damon Harmodios
The Binding Curse by Kallistos Alexandros
Laughter from the Golden Age: Rhadamanthys by Rhadamantys Glaucon

Group Spotlight: If you're looking for a place to get a snazzy new avatar to represent you here on AncientWorlds, look no farther than Avatar Alley. As their summary states: "Need an avatar? Come to Avatar Alley! Got an avatar? Come share it with the world!"

Member Spotlight: Iak Ariston has done so much for Hellas that he is this month's featured member. He helped out with the recent GoldFest's Greek Island Tour, and has also helped build up Hellas's hoods. Iak has even designed plaques for all the Greek families. So say hello to this very nice guy who's always willing to lend a hand!

Featured Location: The region of Macedon is one of the more wild regions in all of Ancient Greece. It is the home of fierce tribes, and her people have produced such warriors as Alexander the Great and his father Phillip. Despite this history of war, the hood is one of the most developed in all of AW. Activities include a quiz and also the Ask The Gorgon thread. Visit Macedon today!