D’Estaing attends Thissio Square renaming in honour of Jacqueline de Romilly

“Jacqueline de Romilly loved Greece. She is not here to tell us herself, that is why we are mentioning it on her behalf,” d’Estaing said during the dedication ceremony. “Despite the fact she lived in Paris, despite the fact she was at the French Academy every Thursday, we knew that her spirit and her heart were constantly attuned to Greece, especially Athens.

That is why I thank the City of Athens for its kind gesture of giving her name to a square and for choosing it in such a way so that Jacqueline de Romilly would only have had to take a few steps to meet ancient Greece, the Greece of the 5th century she loved especially,” the former president said, referring to the location that is next to the site of the ancient Agora of Athens and from which the Acropolis is visible.

The event began at the Athens Town Hall and then moved to the square, near the electric train station of Thissio.

D’Estaing also said that “the friends of Greece, among whom I count myself” are beginning to see the end of the troubles of Greece, and urged that people remember de Romilly’s words, about urging “those who want and those who can, to take to the floor and propose something good for the homeland.”

The event was opened by the president of the Greek Cultural Centre in Paris Alexandra Mitsotakis, who had suggested the renaming of the square, and attended by Mayor of Athens Giorgos Kaminis. Speakers included Greek Academician and philosopher Constantine Despotopoulos (who turned 100 this year), and Ecole Normale Superieure professor emerita Monique Trede-Boulmer, a student of de Romilly.

Also attending were former prime minister Constantine Mitsotakis, Culture and Sports Minister Panos Panagiotopoulos, former minister Dora Bakoyiannis, Benaki Museum director Angelos Delivorias and former deputy Ioannis Manos.

Source: AMNA