Category: Greece: ancient and modern

Plato’s Academy Athens – First University in the World

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...

A few Replicas of Praxiteles’ Aphrodite of Knidos

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...

The thyrsus, staff of Dionysus, Greek god of wine and symbol of fertility, prosperity and immortality

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...

Smyrna Catastrophe September 1922

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 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...

Jewelry of Ancient Greece

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...

Utopia or Dystopia?

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....

The Ancient Greek Underworld

The Ancient Greek Underworld

    The ancient Greeks believed that existence does not end with death; there is no death, only a transition from one state of being to another; every human died only to live again...

Greek Key or Meander motif

Greek Key – Meander – Origins and Meanings

    More than likely we’ve all come across the “Greek key” also known as the “meander” (a repeating geometric motif) at some time or another. During 18th century Europe along with the rejuvenated...

Sirius - Dog Star - Brightest Star in the Sky

Ancient Greece and Sirius – The Dog Star

    The ancient Greeks knew the star Canis Majoris by various names including: Sirius, derived from the Greek word Σείριος (Seirios), meaning glowing or scorching, Sothis (Σῶθις), which is also the Egyptian word for...