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Experts believe study of 700-year-old handwriting unveils leading Byzantine painter's true identity

Published

12 months ago

December 5, 2024

Experts believe study of 700-year-old handwriting unveils leading Byzantine painter's true identity

THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Crime-solving techniques applied to a medieval illuminated manuscript in Paris may have solved a centuries-old puzzle — the true identity of a leading Byzantine painter who injected humanity into the rigid sanctity of Orthodox religious art.

A contemporary of Giotto, considered the father of Western painting, the artist conventionally known as Manuel Panselinos was equally influential in a totally different tradition that’s largely overlooked in the West.

But nothing is known of his life, and scholars now believe Panselinos was just a nickname that eventually supplanted the real name of the man for whom it was coined — likely Ioannis Astrapas, from the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki.

The art of Byzantium, that decorates churches across Greece, Serbia and other Orthodox countries, stands out for the stark formalism of its elongated, glowering saints, quasi-cubist mountains and doe-eyed Madonnas.

Work attributed to Panselinos, from the late 13th and early 14th centuries, is considered the finest produced in an empire that straddled Europe and Asia and endured from the fall of Rome until the capture of the imperial capital Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks in 1453.

Art historians had long suspected that the name — Greek for “full moon” — could have originated as a nickname for some member of the so-called Macedonian School of painting, based in Thessaloniki.

Recent research by a Greek monk and linguistics scholar linked “Panselinos” with Macedonian School painter Astrapas. Now court handwriting expert Christina Sotirakoglou has matched lettering on a manuscript tentatively attributed to Astrapas with characters on a church painting in northern Greece, long seen as Panselinos’ best work.

Father Cosmas Simonopetritis, a former senior administrator in Mount Athos, the semiautonomous monastic community where the Protato church stands, says Sotirakoglou’s and his own research “clearly prove” Panselinos’ real identity.

“Panselinos was a real person, and (the name) was just the nickname by which Ioannis Astrapas became known,” he told The Associated Press.

Constantinos Vafiadis, a professor of Byzantine art in Athens who was not involved in the studies, said he found merit in the nickname theory and Astrapas link, even though it appeared more than one painter had undertaken the Protato project.

“I agree with attributing part of the paintings to Ioannis Astrapas,” he said. “But again there remains much ground for future research into that person, because other Mount Athos monuments from the same period have not yet been sufficiently published.”

“Panselinos” — a role model for generations of painters — and his contemporaries are associated with a renaissance of kinds in Orthodox art that revived forms and techniques inherited from antiquity. Facial expressions acquired a deeper humanity, and greater attention was paid to proportion and depth of field in composition.

Father Cosmas said Astrapas was an “extremely gifted painter … with vast knowledge who harmonically combined the ancient, classical world with Orthodox Byzantine spirituality.”

“And that … makes his work unique worldwide,” he added.

Artists’ signatures were not common at the time, although some survive from members of the Astrapas family. There are none by “Panselinos.”

The trail started with earlier research linking Astrapas with the artist and scholar who wrote and illustrated Marcian Codex GR 516, an early 14th century Greek handwritten text treating subjects from astronomy to music theory. Among the painted illustrations was a full moon.

“For me … that was the main proof,” Father Cosmas said.

With a name found for the hand that produced the manuscript, the next step was to check its style against writing on the Protato painting, traditionally linked with “Panselinos.”

“Mrs Sotirakoglou, who is a handwriting expert, filled in that blank,” Father Cosmas said.

There was one problem: Women have for more than 1,000 years been banned from entering Mount Athos.

“I was forced to study the Protato paintings based on photographs,” Sotirakoglou, who works as a court consultant on identifying or authenticating handwriting in criminal cases, told the AP.

“(The work) was very difficult, because the writing on the wall paintings is in capital letters, and the painters subdued their personal handwriting to conform” with the traditional format, she said — rather like anonymous letter-writers’ attempts to disguise their true style. “The Marcian codex is written in very small lower-case letters.”

The first clue came from the Greek letter Phi, the English F.

“It’s a Phi that stands out, and is similar” in both the manuscript and the Protato painting, she said. “Matches also followed with other letters, T, with its proportions, which is bigger, covering the other letters and is topped with a curve, the proportions of the K.”

“But when the Phi was revealed, the code of the writing was broken and the job became much easier,” she added.

Father Cosmas said that during his administrative duties on Mount Athos he attended services at the Protato church on a daily basis.

“That’s where my desire was born … to explore the mystery around the name and the identity of Panselinos,” he said, adding that he thinks the artist “has now acquired his true identity.”

___

Paphitis reported from Athens, Greece.

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World

Armed attackers in Nigeria kidnap 25 girls from boarding school

Published

52 minutes ago

November 18, 2025

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Armed attackers in Nigeria kidnap 25 girls from boarding school

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Gunmen kidnapped 25 girls from a boarding school in Nigeria’s Kebbi State and killed at least one staffer, authorities said Monday.

The schoolgirls were taken around 4 a.m., and no group immediately claimed responsibility for the incident.

Police spokesperson Nafi’u Abubakar Kotarkoshi told The Associated Press the gunmen had “sophisticated weapons” and exchanged fire with guards before abducting the girls.

“A combined team is currently combing suspected escape routes and surrounding forests in a coordinated search and rescue operation aimed at recovering the abducted students and arresting the perpetrators,” he said, adding that one person was killed and another was injured.

NIGERIAN FILM RAISES AWARENESS ABOUT DOZENS OF GIRLS ABDUCTED FROM SCHOOL IN 2014

A woman looks on as she walks past a classroom in Shehu Kangiwa Model Primary School in Argungu, Kebbi State, in northern Nigeria on April 12, 2025. (Leslie Fauvel/AFP via Getty Images)

“Our security agencies are treating this as a kidnapping carried out by organized criminal groups that operate for profit. Whether they have any ideological ties is still under investigation, and we do not want to fuel speculation while the facts are being verified,” Nigerian Information Minister Mohamed Idris told Fox News Digital.

“This is not about religion Muslim or Christian. These criminals attack anyone they believe is vulnerable. Our priority is the protection of all Nigerian children, and we remain fully committed to dismantling these networks and holding every perpetrator accountable.”

Abdulkarim Abdullahi Maga, a resident who said his daughter and granddaughter were abducted in the raid, told the AP that the attackers entered the school with motorcycles.

AMERICAN MISSIONARY KIDNAPPED IN NIGER BY SUSPECTED ISLAMIST MILITANTS, SOURCES SAY

“They first went straight to the teacher’s house and killed him before killing the guard,” said Maga.

Idris told Fox News Digital that the government is working to ensure the girls are safely returned home and the perpetrators are brought to justice.

“The Federal Government expresses deep concern and solidarity with the families of the female students abducted from Government Girls Secondary School, Maga, in Danko/Wasagu Local Government Area of Kebbi State. We share in their pain and are firmly committed to bringing the girls home safely,” he said.

RAPPER NIKKI MINAJ AND UN AMBASSADOR JOIN VOICES AGAINST CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION IN NIGERIA

“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has reiterated that the protection of every Nigerian especially schoolchildren remains a solemn responsibility of the State. The government condemns the reprehensible attack on innocent students and the killing of school officials who were carrying out their noble duty.”

FILE – The name of a student is written on a chair in a deserted classroom at the Government Girls Secondary School, the day after the abduction of over 300 schoolgirls by gunmen in Jangebe, a village in Zamfara State, northwest of Nigeria on Feb. 27, 2021. (Kola Sulaimon/AFP via Getty Images)

The latest abductions come amid a string of mass kidnappings in northern Nigeria in recent years.

In 2024, 280 students were abducted from a school in Kaduna State and at least 200 others, mostly internally displaced women and children, were abducted in Borno State while reportedly searching for firewood, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk.

More than 200 schoolgirls were kidnapped from a Chibok secondary school in 2014 by Boko Haram militants, sparking international outrage and a #BringBackOurGirls campaign.

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Ashley Carnahan is a writer at Fox News Digital.

World

France and Germany support simplification push for digital rules

Published

3 hours ago

November 18, 2025

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France and Germany support simplification push for digital rules

As the European Commission prepares to simplify digital rules with a new omnibus plan due to be presented on Wednesday, Berlin pulled out the red carpet in a glitzy summit dedicated to digital sovereignty.

“I’m very curious about what tomorrow will bring. Hopefully it’s a big bold step in the right direction,” said German Minister for Digital Transformation Karsten Wildberger on a panel at the Berlin gathering.

The European Commission has been working for months on a new proposal to “simplify” rules, reduce administrative burden for companies, in particular SMEs, which struggle to comply with complex EU rules, to keep talent in Europe and stay competitive in a global race.

The Commission, supported by France and Germany, hopes that the digital simplification plan that will be announced on Wednesday, after months of negotiations, will “save billions of euros and boost innovation”.

Still, the push text has been met with scepticism among the progressive forces of the European Parliament and civil society, citing a dismantling of protections.

The text proposes amending the rules on data protection and the recently adopted AI Act.

According to a draft version, the rules for “high-risk AI systems”, AI technologies used for sensitive purposes such as analysing CVs, evaluating school exams or loan applications, which were originally scheduled to take effect in August 2026, are now expected to be delayed until December 2027. The European Commission cites difficulties in establishing the necessary standards as the reason for the postponement.

Under the original text, the classification of the system as “high-risk” would have been evaluated by a national authority. The leaked draft, which is still to be officially approved, suggests that this provision would now be replaced by a simple self-assessment, potentially weakening the safeguards intended to ensure compliance with the rules.

Anne Le Hénanff, French minister for AI and digital affairs, said during the Berlin summit that she supports the postponement.

“The AI Act now comes with too many uncertainties. These uncertainties are slowing our own ability to innovate,” Le Hénanff said. “The United States and China are leading the way in the AI race. We simply cannot afford to hinder our companies’ ability to innovate.”

Germany’s Wildberger said that his country also supports a delay, adding that “it’s important to continue this conversation because the world is moving so fast that we have to continuously rework the rules.”

Wildberger said he prefers a “learn-by-mistakes” approach.

“We do not rule out ex ante all the risks. Let’s first build the products, and then take very seriously how these products work – that they are safe, that we have the right processes in place,” he added.

Resistance from the Parliament to open damaging Pandora’s box

Still, members of the European Parliament fear that the Commission’s proposal will open “pandora’s box”, increase risks for consumers and ultimately benefit US Big Tech.

MEPs consulted by Euronews who did not wish to be named as the Commission’s plan is not yet official and talks are ongoing.

They suggested Big Tech companies have been dragging their feet to avoid complying with the current rules and have paid more than ever in lobbying.

Members of the European Parliament from political groups ranging from the traditional majority, which includes The Left and centrist-liberal Renew, have already signalled their intention to vote against the proposal.

Other provisions include exemptions from reporting obligations for smaller companies, or the delay in the labelling of AI-generated content until 2027. Recently, deep fakes created with AI disturbed the Irish presidential elections with viral AI video depicting a fake version the presidential candidate Catherine Connolly saying she was withdrawing from the race.

Another part of the omnibus focuses on simplifying the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). It aims to make it easier to access data for training AI models, reduce the number of cookies displayed to users, and harmonise GDPR implementation across all member states. At present, national authorities interpret data protection obligations differently, which can lead to inconsistencies.

Online rights advocates believe that the omnibus overreaches its mandate to the point of undermining fundamental rights.

A letter signed by three major NGOs and addressed to Commissioner Henna Virkkunen reads, “the legislative changes now contemplated go far beyond mere simplification. They would deregulate core elements of the GDPR, the e-Privacy framework and AI Act, significantly reducing established protections.”

On Wednesday, the Commission will also launch a “digital fitness check” to examine how effective existing digital rules, such as the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act, are, and explore areas where overlaps may be happening. This could prompt another wave of simplification from the Commission.

“We are going to have a deeper dive into our regulation also, and after that we will also propose the next simplification effort,” said Commissioner Virkkunen.

World

Sinclair Snaps Up 8% Stake in Scripps in Advance of Potential Merger

Published

17 hours ago

November 17, 2025

Press Room

Sinclair Snaps Up 8% Stake in Scripps in Advance of Potential Merger

Sinclair, which owns and/or operates 185 television stations in 85 markets, has disclosed that it has taken an 8.2% equity stake in E.W. Scripps, with an eye toward acquiring the local broadcaster.

In a Monday filing with the Securities Exchange Commission, Sinclair reported it has picked up what amounts to $15.6 million in Scripps’ Class A common stock on the open market. The acquisitions were made “in contemplation of a possible combination with the issuer.”

In the same document, Sinclair went on to state that it has been “engaged in constructive discussions with [Scripps] for several months regarding a potential combination of the two companies.” Should an agreement be reached, Sinclair believes that a “transaction could be completed within nine to 12 months.”

Sinclair believes that a buyout of Scripps could unlock some $300 million in synergies. A takeover would add another 61 stations in 41 markets to Sinclair’s local TV portfolio.

Scripps also owns the Ion TV network, which in June hammered out a multiyear extension of its deal to carry Friday night WNBA games. Ion began partnering with the WNBA in 2023, inking a three-year pact worth $40 million. In the last month, Ion has averaged 549,000 viewers per day, making it the fifth-biggest broadcast draw behind NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox.

In addition to its WNBA slate, Ion also airs Saturday night NWSL doubleheaders.

Shortly after Sinclair filed its Schedule 13D form with the SEC, Scripps responded with a statement in which it emphasized that its board “will take all steps appropriate to protect the company and the company’s shareholders from the opportunistic actions of Sinclair or anyone else.”

Scripps went on to note that its board “has and will continue to evaluate any transactions and other alternatives that would enhance the value of the company and would be in the best interest of all company shareholders.”

The Sinclair gambit comes on the heels of Nexstar’s $6.2 billion acquisition of rival Tegna. While that deal awaits regulatory approval, FCC chairman Brendan Carr appears poised to eliminate or otherwise relax the legacy regulations that prohibit any station group from owning a portfolio that reaches more than 39% of all U.S. TV households. A review of the cap is currently underway.

Investors were bullish on the announcement, as shares of Scripps closed Monday up 39.87% to $4.28. On Friday, the stock closed at $3.06. Sinclair ended Monday’s trading up 4.91% to $16.87.

Sinclair owned the Bally Sports-branded suite of RSNs from August 2019 until late 2022, when subsidiary Diamond Sports Group moved to block its parent company from having any further say over the day-to-day operation of the channels.