Who Destroyed the Sacred Herms of Athens?
One bright and sunny morning in June, the seventh to be exact, in the year of 415 B.C., the citizens of Athens, awoke to the news, that during the night, all over...
Category: Greece: ancient and modern
Twin Flames – The Ancient Greek Story of One Soul Split into Two
“Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.” – Aristotle – Ancient Greek philosopher Thanks to the internet and social media, more and more people are becoming aware of the twin...
Plato’s Academy Athens – First University in the World
One of “The Big Three”, the philosopher, Plato, who was a student of Socrates and teacher of Aristotle, founded the Platonic Academy of Athens. The Academy of ancient Athens, the turning point...
Aphrodite of Knidos – The Most Copied Statue in the World
During the Hellenistic and Roman periods, statues of Aphrodite were everywhere; mostly modeled on Praxiteles’ Aphrodite of Knidos (around 364 BC), the first naked female Greek statue and the most widely copied...
Ancient Pinecone Magic and Symbolism
Images of pinecones, sacred eyes and not least, the thyrsus, the ancient Greek magic wand, have been associated with the pineal gland (named after the pinecone) since ancient times and pop up...
The Smyrna Catastrophe 1922 – End of Greco -Turkish War
On September 13th, 1922, Smyrna (now Izmir), one of the wealthiest cities of the Ottoman Empire, on the Aegean coast of Anatolia, inhabited mostly by Greeks, Jews and Armenians, went up in...
The Pharmakos – The Ancient Greek Scapegoat
The expression “scapegoat”, known as the “pharmakos”, in ancient Greece, describes an innocent person or group who is blamed and usually punished in some way for other people’s wrong-doings or problems. They...
Astra Planeta – When the Greek Gods Were Planets
The ancient Greek astronomers knew of five star-like planets visible to the naked eye, all named after Greek gods; Hermes (Mercury), Aphrodite (Venus), Ares (Mars), Zeus (Jupiter) and, Cronus (Saturn). They called...
Jewellery and Gemstones in Ancient Greece
Lusted for by royalty and sought after by collectors, rubies, diamonds, emeralds, sapphires and many more gemstones have inspired myths, legends and curses in all cultures. Today, we know of around two hundred...
Eutopia – Utopia – A Greek Neverland?
The word Utopia; used to describe an imaginary island, a perfect world, was first used by Sir Thomas More, an English lawyer, writer and statesman, in his book “Utopia”, written in 1516....
