The ARCADIA Site is a university sub-project and website. The site is published in the web by the Department of Computer Engineering and Informatics, University of Patras and hosted by the ARCADIA web server of the Laboratory of Pattern Recognition. It is created and maintained by Dr. Christos Alexopoulos and his project team at the University of Patras, since May 10, 1999.

The main objective of this site is the promotion and diffusion of the cultural heritage and the various sights and literary aspects of ARCADIA. Thus, the term "Arcadia", or "Arkadia", or even "Arcady" ("Arcadie" in french), refers here both to real Arcadia, - the specific mountaneous and historic region of Greece (located in the middle of Peloponnesos) -and to its impact in the formation and evolution of the so-called European "golden age", mostly substantiated as the literary "dream" of the "arcadian ideal", or the one of "arcadian (pastoral) idyll" in poetry and art.

Thereby, Arcadia brings two parallel but supplementary senses: reality and utopy. The first is based on real Arcadia, its nature and vestal landscapes, its history and tradition, its character as a Greek region, its people. The second relies on the european heritage and the literary trends inspired by the "Arcadian Myth", a european dream composed by a set of diachronic and humanistic values, ideals and reflections, a dream that tramped in Europe since Renaissance. This heritage is widely recognized in our days as a fundamental part of the European Culture.

Major site general topics and issues included are history, mythology, nature, envoronment, tradition, literature, philosophy, poetry, art and architecture. They are also reflected in the site map. The site is also aiming in bringing together the worldwide Arcadians, those living in Greece with those of Diaspora via Web Technology.

The ARCADIA Site makes part of the ARCADIA Project within the Department of Computer Engineering and Informatics of the University of Patras. This project includes various other activities and tasks in the areas of  Web Technology, Multimedia Systems, (website development, CD-ROM titles, etc), Data Bases and Virtual Reality Management Systems.

The ARCADIA Site makes use of the Department of Computer Engineering and Informatics (CEID) infrastracture and some student projects. It has restricted funds. It is supported by the ARCADIA project which is sponsored by the Cultural Institution "M. Stassinopoulos". It accepts also some tenuous support from the Network of Arcadian Municipalities sub-project. On the content level, the site is partialy based on the cooperation of some people, contributing by authoring texts or by providing various resources (photos, video and audio releases etc).

The material in the ARCADIA Site includes texts, images, maps, graphics, tables, audio and video resources.

Texts are divided into descriptions, articles or introductory ones. The main part of them is written and arranged by C. Alexopoulos. Some texts are written by various contributors of the site, whose names are indicated at the end of each text. Images are divided into images illustrating the texts and Photo Galleries-Albums. The main part of them belongs to C. Alexopoulos' personal photo archive.

Except stated otherwise all material in this site is copyright. For details see the site Copyright Policy.

The first and second level site map of the ARCADIA Site is mapped on the left frame-panel of the site. They are both also given graphically, together with some third level ones, at the Site Map section.

Seven language versions are provided and can be accessed from the Home Page: Greek version (the main and more wide one) English (the more wide next to greek one), French, Spanish, Italian, Deuch and Turkish (2 pages). Extending and enriching rationally these versions is one of our main objectives and this is actually in progress.

On the technical level, the ARCADIA Site is designed and implemented so as to provide compatibility with both widespread browsers Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator under Windows 95/98/2000/XP. Site resource code contains HTML code, Java scripts, Java applets, DHTML code, PERL code, CGI and PHP scripts. To view the whole site content, Java script browser option must be unabled. However, greek fonts are not generated properly by some Java applets on browsers using Java Virtual Machine/Sun (such us Mogila and Netscape Navigator ones). This is especially the case of the left tree-based menu panel content of the greek version (based on a Java applet), which is not displayed correctly under Mogila browser. In this case, to be able to view the menu and navigate into the site content,  it is suggested to use and activate the Old Site Version. To face this problem, the development of a new and more flexible tree driven menu navigation system is actually in progress.

The ARCADIA site is being continuously updated and new entries are frequently added. Some new additions are announced in Last Updates section.

Christos Alexakos, Kostas Paraskevopoulos (Computer Engineers), Kostas Togias (B.Sc. Mathematics, Ms.Sc): technical support, PHP programming & scripting.

Manos Skarparis (B.Sc. Computer Science) and Kostas Siregelas: PHP programming, coding and scripts.

Nikolas Galanis, Phanis Michail, Panagiotis Mpalomenos and Petros Tsampoukas (Computer Engineers), Themis Mavroedis and Dimitris Doukas (students), Dimitis Ballas: page design, coding, scripting, graphics.

Dafni Boussiou (Computer Engineer), Kyriakos Kanellos and Dimitris Alexopoulos: graphics design & implementation, elaboration of some audio and video resources.

Dimitra Siregela, Georgia Kosmopoulou and Ageliki Haritou: text organizing, filling & proof-reading.

A number of contributing authors of original articles, texts, descriptions or articles (featuring below and in the related webpages).

C. Alexopoulos (Lecturer, University of Patras), Thanos Nikolaou (teacher), Georgia Dalkou (philologist), Sokrates L. Skartsis (philologist, ex. Professor, University of Patras), Professor Pavlos Spirakis (University of Patras), Prof. Argiris Petronotis (Ar. University of Thessaloniki), Dr. Pedro Olalla, Dr. Tasos A. Gritsopoulos, Giouli Papadopoulou, Panos Panagiotopoulos (philologist), Dr. Christina Tsardikos, Christos Toumanidis (poet), Karatzas Dionysios (philologist and poet), Stamatis Makris (teacher, Educational Councilor), Milio Kounia (Newspaper "Kynouria"), Fotis Dimitropoulos (philologist), Manolis Maglaras (philologist), Dimitra Siregela (philologist), Panos Karnezis (author), Marianthi Nega (avocat), Fani Athanasiadou (philologist), Nikos Polimenakos (educator), Athanasios Chondralis (teacher, Ed. Councilor), Christos Akridas (Mathematician), Filareti Karatzoglou-Zafeiropoulou (Associate Professor, University of Patras), Professor I. Pountourakis (National Polytechnic School), Ioannis Assimakopoulos, Dionysios Kontarinis (author & journalist), B. Zafeiropoulos (Associate Professor, University of Patras), Lemonia Mpastianou (archaelogist), Panagiotis Vemmos (Mathematician), Dr. Filippos Bekyros, Giorgos Vasilopoulos, Dr. Vivian Efthimiopoulou, Evagelos Filis, Kiki Kokota, Thomas Giokas, Kostas Kalivas, Chrisi Kosmatou (journalist), Angelique Touloumtzoglou, Christos Dravilas, Despoina Siempos, Sakis Papadimitriou (philologist), K. Tsilimantos (philologist), Lefteris Mizancioglu, Giorgos Theoharis, Vasilis Anastasopoulos, Ageliki Katsiavelou, Athanasios Chemes, Maria Bouli, Nikos Papageorgiou, Antonis Sarantopoulos and Dimitra Rouni-Pantelopoulou.

We owe aknowledgements to all the above and also to the following people:

• The Departmet of Comp. Engr. of the Universisty of  Patras for hosting the ARCADIA website.

• Nikolas Galanis (Computer Engrinner), for his valuable contribution during the first phase of site development. 
  

• A number of people for preparing (filling, proof-reading) or translating texts or providing any other resources and assistance to the  ARCADIA Web Site (licensing texts, suggestions, resources):
  
  Text filling: Thanos Nikolaou, Aris Ilias (Comp. Engr.,CEID), Nikolas Galanis (CEID), Georgia Kosmopoulou (Univ. pf Patras), Ageliki Haritou, Kostas Katapodis (CEID), Niarhakos Venetos (CEID), Dimitris Ballas, Stamatis Makris, Dimitra Siregela, Lucia Zaharias, Ageliki Katsiavelou.
  
  Translations: Thanos Nikolaou, Christina Tsardikos, Dominique Lardet (philologist), Kathy Welsh-Pentel, Panos Vasileiou, Marty Bonner, Angelique Touloumtzoglou (philologist), Evagelia Reppa (philologist), Efi Niarou (philologist), Eleni Manners-Sparagues, Faidon Vasileiou and Marie-Claude Mioche (philologist).
  
  Assistance: Georgia Dalkou, Milio Kounia, Giannis and Maria Theodorakis (journalists, "AIXMH" newspaper, Tripolis), Christina Tsardikos, Dr. Pedro Olalla, Dimitris Vosnos, Giorgos Vasilopoulos, Georgia Fourtouni, Nikos Polimenakos, Panos Vasileiou, Filippos Bekyros, Vagelis Kassavetis, Ioannis Kotsifas, Thomas Giokas, Athanasios Mporas, Makis Dimizas, Takis Lilis, Evagelos Filis, Dominique Lardet, Giorgos Sgourdos, Dr. Tasos Gritsopoulos, Angelique Touloumtzoglou, Theodoros Mantas, Michalis Michalopoulos, Christos Dravilas, Nikos Kolendrianos, Vivian Efthimiopoulou, Kostas Kalivas, Zaharias Zaharopoulos, Giorgos Theoharis, A. Vahaviolos, Maria Mpakirtzi, Vasilis Anastasopoulos, Panos Zafeiropoulos, Αthanasios Chymes, Eleni Galani, Ioannis Komninos, Dimitris Sklavounos, Dinos Maritsas and Kostas Douridas.
  

• A number of people for offering or licencing photos, video or audio resources:
  
  Giorgos Vasilopoulos, Dr. Pedro Olalla, Dimitris Vosnos, Panagiotis Lilis, Theodoros Papageorgiou, Agelos Kampilis, Milio Kounia, Thimios Chondralis, Stamatis Makris, Georgia Dalkou, Athanasios Boras, Nikos Polimenakos, Thanos Nikolaou, Dimitra Siregela, Christina Tsardikos, Kathy Welsh, Georgia Fourtouni, Giorgos Sgourdos, Ioannis Assimakopoulos, Nikos Pragastis, Arkadia Music Group (Calgary-Canada), Michalis Michalopoulos, Andreas Georgakopoulos, Dick Anastis, Victoria Hios Zevgolis, Oikonomakis Hlias, Maria Mpakirtzi, Zaharias Zaharopoulos, Dimitra Rouni-Pantelopoulou, Manolis Hiotis, Hara Iosifidi, Marie-Claude Mioche, Theodoros Panagoulias, Marc Delacroix and Vasilis Anastasopoulos.

• The mayors of Demetsana, Falanthos, Iraia, Tegea, Mantineia, Pays d' Astrée (France), Trikolonon, Tyros, Tripolis and V. Kynouria, for providing usage licences for documentation resources related to their municipalities.

• Vagelis Kassavetis (graphics designer) for providing usage licence of his map of Arcadia appearing in the arcadian places section (for map indexing and navigation). Also, InArcadia website for its scanned segments used in the latter. Note that a great part of these segments have been modified/adapted/corrected according to our needs.

• The ARKADIA Music Group (Calgary-Canada) for its permission to use exclusive releases of its songs in MP3 format.

• Cristos Akridas, Mathematicien, director of Akridas' Educational Group, Patras.

• Some members of the Arcadian Discussion Group (Arcadians) for providing usefull suggestions during the development of this site 

• The little son Thanos...