Last Sunday 8 November, my father and I, in our city of Melbourne, celebrated the 2,500 years of the Battle of Thermopylae. No one knows for certain when the battle took place – research shows it took place either on the 20 August or 8-10 September, in 480 BC. However, since Melbourne was in lockdown during those periods, we were able to finally celebrate on Sunday.
My father and I had planned for this event all year. He made two large olive branch wreaths, from the olive trees in his garden, along with printing out two signs (each placed in a plastic sleeve) which he tied to each wreath. The signs read: IN COMMEMORATION OF THE 2500TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BATTLE OF THERMOPYLAE. “GO TRAVELLER PASSING BY AND TELL THE SPARTANS THAT HERE WE LIE, OBEDIENT TO THEIR LAWS”.
Firstly, we visited King Leonidas’ statue in Sparta Place, Brunswick, off Sydney Road. Dad’s close Italian friend, and honorary Greek, Robert, meet us here too and we placed one of the wreaths on the top of the memorial, also taking many photos of each other in front of it. We then visited the local Pantheon Cakes café a few doors up for a coffee and a long overdue catch-up.
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After saying goodbye to Robert, dad and I drove to the Australian Hellenic Memorial in Kings Domain. Here we placed the second wreath, took more photos and spent some time there in reflection.
Later that night, I just had to share what dad and I had done that day with the relatives in Greece, through Facebook, of course. They were very happy, excited and proud of us.
I will cherish this experience for the rest of my life. My father turned 70 this year, and when the time comes that he is no longer with us, I will be able to look back on these precious memories and be proud of the fact that we did this together. We have shared many special experiences together and we continuously strive to create new ones too.
Love you so much dad and thank you once again for this experience.
Stacey Zarifopoulos
