The Estia (Greek polytonic Ἑστία, monotonic Εστία) is an Athenian daily newspaper. In 1995 it had about 3900 readers. Politically and culturally, the Estia is known as a very conservative paper which also supports national ideas. Especially, it is used to warning of various threats that the Greek language might be exposed to according to the Estia (foreign words, the Latin alphabet, etc.) Since in Greece the political opinion and the language used by a newspaper are closely connected, the Estia makes use of an archaic and puristic language, the Katharevusa, which has been abolished as administrative language in 1976 and which is not used by any other newspaper anymore. The Estia, however, is written in a very moderate form of Katharevusa. Except for the Eleftheri Ora (which has meanwhile switched to the monotonic system), the Estia is also the only newspaper that does not follow the Greek spelling reform which has taken place in 1982, i. e. it still uses the polytonic system. Katharevousa (Greek Καθαρεύουσα, IPA: ) is a form of the Greek language, created during the early 19th century by Adamantios Korais (1748-1833). ... Polytonic orthography for Greek uses a variety of diacritics (πολύ = many + τόνος = accent) to represent aspects of Ancient Greek pronunciation. ...

History

In 1876, a weekly publication named Ἑστία was founded in Athens by Adonis Kyrou. Rather than a news-focused newspaper, this paper was a literary magazine similar to the present-day Νέα Ἑστία; Not until 1894 is was published as a daily newspaper for politics, culture and economy. In 1941, during the occupation of Greece by the German army, the Estia closed, but soon after the liberation it was founded again. Since it was founded, the Estia has been managed by the Kyrou family. Today's editor-in-chief is Adonis Kyrou - he has the same name as the founder -, who has also written several books. The Estia was the last newspaper in the world that was printed in the old method of linotype/stereotyping, until it switched to a modern computer system in 1997 (source: newspaper To Vima of 21.12.1997; article also on the Internet).

Sources and Links

The Website of the Estia (under construction)
The article from To Vima
Kyrou as an archaeologist
Greek Mass Media Presentation
Press Reference: Greece
A frontpage of the Estia