My 10 Most Popular Posts – About Greece – Greeks and all things Greeker

 

 

It’s all here, all you need to know about Greece and the Greeks, what makes them tick,  how they think, where they came from and how they got here.

Weird and wonderful facts, Ancient Greek Myths, Greek art, the Greek language, Greek traditions, ancient and modern and Greek inventions, yes, the Greeks did it first!

Here are my ten most-liked posts, some have been on the list since day one, others shot in from nowhere, some went up, some went down, what remains stable, is your love of lists!

 

1. What Makes a Greek a Greek?

 

 

 

I wrote this post to celebrate my forty years of living in Greece, and to inform you of what I had discovered about the wonderful Greek people, and what makes them tick.

I had the idea in mind weeks before my forty years was up, and then, me being me, put it on the back burner and promptly forgot all about it, until February 5th, the anniversary of the day my life changed forever, came around.

I wanted so much to write this post, and wanted to publish it on the exact day, so, I quickly sat in front of my laptop and started speed typing, not good as I type with one finger, I jabbed away at the keys, angry with myself for being absent minded and having to do a quick job of it which would no way be anything like I had in mind originally.

How wrong I was, every cloud has a silver lining, the post went crazy as soon as I published it, I couldn’t believe it, I was looking at my blog analytics every two minutes, it was on the up and up; I did a little happy dance!

 

 

2. 25 of the Most Famous Ancient Greek Statues and Sculptures:

Where Are They Now?

 

 

 

The ancient Greeks are legendary for many reasons; their story-telling through mythology, for their twelve glorious gods, their esteemed philosophers, and their proud, brave warriors, but maybe we remember them most for their love of beauty.

 Beauty, which the ancient Greeks honoured, by constructing some of the most amazing architectural wonders of the world, and beauty represented in spectacular, life-like statues and sculptures.

It’s heartbreaking to to see how many of these wonderful Greek works of art, now reside in foreign countries, they just want to come home, and home, and their rightful place is Greece.

This is a long post, I began with the idea of the top ten most famous Greek statues but there are so many, one more beautiful than the next, how can you choose?

I went to fifteen, then twenty and at twenty five I thought I had better stop, but oh, I could have added so many more.

 

 

3. A celebration of Angels

 

 

 

In Heaven, as on Earth, things didn’t inevitably run smoothly.

There’s invariably that one entity, who considers himself superior to others, so it was with Lucifer.

Lucifer was originally created by God, as the perfect being, wise and righteous, so “why”, thought Lucifer, puffed up with pride, “should I not be God?”

Gathering the other angels around him, Lucifer managed to persuade a third of them, to join him in battle, against God, for the great throne of Heaven.

Lucifer lost the war; God remained in power, and banished Lucifer and his followers from Heaven, causing them to fall to Earth, where they became the fallen angels, the seven princes of Hell.

Each fallen angel, now a prince of Hell, is said to have been allotted one of the seven deadly sins, and they now roam Earth, doing their best to lead people astray.

I am surprised this post is so popular, again, as with  ‘What Makes a Greek a Greek’,  I wrote it in haste, in time to publish on November 8th when  the Greek Orthodox Church celebrates  archangels  Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, and other bodiless and heavenly orders, the Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Dominions, Powers, Authorities, Principalities.

Most days this is my most popular post.

 

 

4. Meraki :

Greek Word of the day: Doing it with love, passion and a lot of soul

 

 

 

Meraki, a verb, or adverb, a Modern Greek word, derived from the Turkish “Merak” (Labor of love, to do something with pleasure), is applied to tasks, usually, creative or artistic tasks, but can be applied to any task at all and  means to do something with passion, with absolute devotion, with undivided attention.

This was one of my first posts, and the first word in my category of ‘Untranslatable Greek Words’.

Day after day it was my number one post, until ‘What Makes a Greek a Greek’, knocked it off its pedestal.

 

 

5. 26 Famous Movies Filmed in Greece and the Greek Islands

 

 

 

Location, location, location, that’s what it’s all about, and what better location is there than Greece, with her sparkling deep blue seas, and sunny skies, the land of mystical mythology?

Many a film producer, through the years, seems to have agreed, and chose glorious Greece as the backdrop for some memorable films, and now, brilliant news: the island of Syros may soon be home to a Hollywood film studio and film school!

This is another long post, which could have gone on to be much longer as there are so many films, down the years, which have had Greece as their backdrop.

I loved writing this post, it brought back memories of long forgotten, loved, films, I spent the month after writing this watching all twenty six films again!

 

 

6. 20 of the Funniest and Dirtiest Nonsensical Greek Wisecrack Expressions and Phrases

 

 

 

Greek isn’t one of the easiest foreign languages to master and when it comes to everyday quips and wisecrack sayings, which usually contain Greek slang, unless you are Greek, or have lived in their country for about half a century, you will find some of them positively nonsensical.

As a non-Greek, when you do manage to finally grasp the meaning of these insanely absurd one-liners, which are thrown into conversation willy nilly by Greeks, without batting an eyelid, you may very well find yourself rolling around on the floor laughing with your legs in the air!

I had great fun writing this one, as my daughter is Greeker than I am, though she disagrees on this, she helped me lots.

I was rather nervous about including some of the more racier sayings but they are the funniest ones, and oh well, in for a penny, in for a pound, so to speak, and after all, always, with me, it’s all or nothing!

 

 

7. 21 Weird Greek Superstitions – Customs and Traditions

 

 

 

All countries and cultures have their own customs, traditions and superstitions, some happen to have more than others, take Greece for example, here are just a few weird Greek superstitions that any Greek worth his salt adheres to!

Many of these quirky superstitions, I already knew about, but searching on the internet I came across many I had never heard of, the belief in Corfu, that chewing on bat bones may bring you luck, I particularly liked!

 

 

8. 20 Everyday English Phrases, Sayings and Idioms with Greek Origins

 

 

 

We all use lots of phrases and sayings in our everyday conversations, right?

Probably, we have a vague understanding of their meaning, but, have we ever stopped to think from where they originate?

As around 150.000 words of the English language are derived from ancient Greek, it should come as no surprise then, that many sayings and idioms also have their roots in ancient Greek.

Some idioms are obviously of Greek origin, such as ‘Achilles heel’, ‘Beware of Greeks bearing gifts’ and ‘Pandora’s box’, but what about ‘between a rock and a hard place”, or ‘touch wood’, did you know they came from Greek history and mythology?

My favourite of all here has to be number 20; ‘ the wrong end of the stick’, click on the link below the post picture, you will see why!

 

 

9. 20 Amazing Ancient Greek Inventions Still in Use Today

The Greeks Did it First!

 

 

 

“Greece: the cradle of Western civilization”, “Athens: the birthplace of democracy”, “Greece: home to the Olympic Games”, we’re all familiar with these quotes and sayings, right?

 We’ve heard, maybe, that Hippocrates is the father of Western medicine, Socrates, Plato  and Aristotle are the father’s of Western philosophy, Thespis was the first recorded actor (hence The Thespians), and Homer, (The Iliad and The Odyssey) and Herodotus (The Histories), were the first historians, and surely, we all know a bit about Greek mythology.

 Did you know though, how many useful inventions, still in use today, have ancient Greek origins?

Check out twenty of these clever Greek inventions, that we would be hard put to live without today at the link below the post picture.

 

 

10. 20 Little-Known Intriguing Facts about Greece and the Greeks

 

 

 

After forty years of living in Greece, I thought I knew all there was to know about Greece and what makes a Greek a Greek but underneath every tidbit of information, under each of the nonsensical Greek Wisecrack Expressions and Phrases, there’s yet another story, and even more weird and crazy facts than before!

This is probably my favourite post, no matter how many times I read it, some of them still have me rolling around with laughter, especially number nineteen, click on the link below the  post picture  to see why.

I hope you enjoyed reading these posts, I certainly had fun writing them, let’s see what 2020 brings, it will be interesting to see how the list of popular posts evolves, maybe I’ll write that one post that takes the internet by storm!

A Happy 2020 to you all.