In spite of different social, religious, political and economical features, Greece, Italy, Egypt and Jordan are united by a common cultural and historical heritage which derives from the Greco-Roman influence. As part of the CulMe-WeOnCT project ('Culture in the Mediterranean and Europe - Weaving on Common Threads'), an impressive number of tangible and intangible cultural assets - including monuments, literature, dialects, customs, inventions, superstitions or symbols - was highlighted with a view to promote mutual understating and enhanced dialogue.

The project final study, which lists hundred of archeological sites from the Hellenistic and Roman periods, reveals the plurality of common threads in the Eastern Mediterranean countries that have been weaved through ages. For instance the theaters and odeons (roofed theaters) built during the Greco-Roman times had very similar construction principles; modern thermae (baths) hydraulic system has remained more or less the same; city planning, known as Hippodameion system, followed a same arrangement with straight roads and streets intersecting each other at a 90 degree angle. The common legacy also concerns some stereotyped expressions from Latin which are widely used, such as mea culpa, de facto or casus belli. Other Mediterranean shared assets are related to food, customs and morals.

The results of the project were presented during its final conference on 31st January 2014 at the University of Macedonia in Thessaloniki, Greece. On this occasion, a documentary dealing with the most important monuments of the Greek-Roman period saved in Greece, Italy, Jordan and Egypt was shown. 

The project has been implemented over a period of two years by the Interbalkan Institute of Public Administration (Greece, Kentriki Makedonia) together with the following five organizations:

• Institute for Balkan Studies (Greece, Kentriki Makedonia)
• Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Alexandria and Mediterranean Research Center (Egypt, Al Iskandanyah)
• Yarmouk University(Jordan, Irbid)
• Foundation "New Cultural Proposals" (Italy, Puglia)
• Municipality of Catanzaro (Italy, Calabria)

The project is an EU funded project under the ENPI CBC Program and amounts to € 449.280 (90% of project total budget is funded by the program).

For more details about the project activities and outputs as well as joinning the project forum please visit: http://culmed.eu/index.php