1.
Greek nationalism
Greek nationalism refers to the nationalism of Greeks and Greek culture. As an ideology, Greek nationalism originated and evolved in pre-modern times and it became a major political movement beginning in the 18th century, which culminated in the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire. Today Greek nationalism remains important in the Greco-Turkish dispute over Cyprus, the establishment of Panhellenic sites served as an essential component in the growth and self-consciousness of Greek nationalism. When the Byzantine Empire was ruled by the Paleologi dynasty, a new era of Greek patriotism emerged, accompanied by a back to ancient Greece. Some prominent personalities at the time proposed changing the Imperial title from basileus, popular movements calling for enosis resulted in the accession of Crete, Ionian Islands and Dodecanese. Calls for enosis were a feature of Cypriot politics during British Rule, during the troubled interwar years, some Greek nationalists viewed Orthodox Christian Albanians and Bulgarians as communities that could be assimilated into the Greek nation.
Greek irredentism, the Megali Idea suffered a setback in the Greco-Turkish War, since then, Greco-Turkish relations have been characterized by tension between Greek and Turkish nationalism, culminating in the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. Nationalism played a significant role in Greek politics during the first century and a half of existence of the Greek state
2.
Votive offering
A votive deposit or votive offering is one or more objects displayed or deposited, without the intention of recovery or use, in a sacred place for broadly religious purposes. Such items are a feature of modern and ancient societies and are made in order to gain favor with supernatural forces. In buddhism Votive offerings as construction of stupas was a prevalent and holy practice in ancient india which can be observed in ruins of vikramshila university, the modern construction practice called topping out can be considered as an example of a votive practice that has very ancient roots. In Europe, votive deposits are known from as early as the Neolithic, with polished axe hoards, high status artifacts such as armor and weaponry and cult symbols, various treasures and animals were common offerings in antiquity. The votive offerings were sacrificed and buried or more commonly cast into bodies of water or peat bogs, in certain cases entire ships have been sacrificed, as in the Danish bog Nydam Mose.
Often all the objects in a ritual hoard are broken, possibly killing the objects to put even further beyond utilitarian use before deposition. The purposeful discarding of valuable items such as swords and spearheads is thought to have had ritual overtones, the items have since been discovered in rivers and present or former wetlands by construction workers, peat diggers, metal-detectorists, members of the public and archaeologists. In Mesoamerica, votive deposits have been recovered from the Olmec site of El Manati, in archaeology, votive deposits differ from hoards in that although they may contain similar items, votive deposits were not intended for recovery. Some archaeologists have recovered some votive offerings in ancient Sparta from the 5th century BC and these votive offerings give evidence to the presence of literacy in Spartan culture. One piece of pottery was found that may have had measurement signs on it and this would indicate an everyday literacy among the Spartans if this is true.
Unfortunately, scholars have not recovered any other piece of pottery with an inscription to support that single find. The 13 Ancient Votive Stones of Pesaro were unearthed in 1737 on a local Pesaro farm in the Province of Pesaro e Urbino and they are inscribed with the names of various Roman gods such as APOLLO, MAT-MATVTA, SALVS, FIDE, and IVNONII. A curse tablet or defixio is a sheet of tin or lead on which a message wishing misfortune upon someone else was inscribed. The two largest concentrations are from the springs at Aquae Sulis, where 130 examples are recorded, and at Uley. The usual form of divine invocation was through prayer, many unrecovered ancient votive offerings are threatened in todays world, especially those submerged in wetlands or other bodies of water. Wetlands and other aquatic sites often protect and preserve materials for thousands of years, therefore many remaining objects are in danger of oxidation and eventual rapid deterioration. The Torah makes provision for free-will offerings which may be made by any individual.
These are different from votive offerings which are linked to a vow. cf Leviticus 22.23 where the Hebrew root letters for an offering are נדב
3.
Athens
Athens is the capital and largest city of Greece. In modern times, Athens is a cosmopolitan metropolis and central to economic, industrial, maritime. In 2015, Athens was ranked the worlds 29th richest city by purchasing power, Athens is recognised as a global city because of its location and its importance in shipping, commerce, entertainment, international trade, culture and tourism. It is one of the biggest economic centres in southeastern Europe, with a financial sector. The municipality of Athens had a population of 664,046 within its limits. The urban area of Athens extends beyond its administrative city limits. According to Eurostat in 2011, the Functional urban areas of Athens was the 9th most populous FUA in the European Union, Athens is the southernmost capital on the European mainland. The city retains Roman and Byzantine monuments, as well as a number of Ottoman monuments. Athens is home to two UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the Acropolis of Athens and the medieval Daphni Monastery, Athens was the host city of the first modern-day Olympic Games in 1896, and 108 years it welcomed home the 2004 Summer Olympics.
In Ancient Greek, the name of the city was Ἀθῆναι a plural, in earlier Greek, such as Homeric Greek, the name had been current in the singular form though, as Ἀθήνη. It was possibly rendered in the on, like those of Θῆβαι and Μυκῆναι. During the medieval period the name of the city was rendered once again in the singular as Ἀθήνα, an etiological myth explaining how Athens has acquired its name was well known among ancient Athenians and even became the theme of the sculpture on the West pediment of the Parthenon. The goddess of wisdom and the god of the seas, Poseidon had many disagreements, in an attempt to compel the people, Poseidon created a salt water spring by striking the ground with his trident, symbolizing naval power. However, when Athena created the tree, symbolizing peace and prosperity. Different etymologies, now rejected, were proposed during the 19th century. Christian Lobeck proposed as the root of the name the word ἄθος or ἄνθος meaning flower, ludwig von Döderlein proposed the stem of the verb θάω, stem θη- to denote Athens as having fertile soil.
In classical literature, the city was referred to as the City of the Violet Crown, first documented in Pindars ἰοστέφανοι Ἀθᾶναι. In medieval texts, variant names include Setines and Astines, today the caption η πρωτεύουσα, the capital, has become somewhat common
4.
Theseus
Theseus was a founder-hero, like Perseus, Cadmus, or Heracles, all of whom battled and overcame foes that were identified with an archaic religious and social order. As Heracles was the Dorian hero, Theseus was a hero, considered by Athenians as their own great reformer, his name comes from the same root as θεσμός. The myths surrounding Theseus—his journeys and family—have provided material for fiction throughout the ages, Theseus was responsible for the synoikismos —the political unification of Attica under Athens, represented emblematically in his journey of labours, subduing ogres and monstrous beasts. Because he was the king, Theseus built and occupied a palace on the fortress of the Acropolis that may have been similar to the palace that was excavated in Mycenae. Pausanias reports that after the synoikismos, Theseus established a cult of Aphrodite Pandemos, Plutarchs vita of Theseus makes use of varying accounts of the death of the Minotaur, Theseus escape, and the love of Ariadne for Theseus.
Plutarchs sources, not all of whose texts have survived independently, included Pherecydes, Philochorus, one of the primordial kings of Athens, was childless. Desiring an heir, he asked the oracle at Delphi for advice and her cryptic words were Do not loosen the bulging mouth of the wineskin until you have reached the height of Athens, lest you die of grief. Aegeus did not understand the prophecy and was disappointed and he asked the advice of his host Pittheus, king of Troezen. Pittheus understood the prophecy, got Aegeus drunk, and gave Aegeus his daughter Aethra, but following the instructions of Athena in a dream, Aethra left the sleeping Aegeus and waded across to the island of Sphairia that lay close to Troezens shore. There she poured a libation to Sphairos and Poseidon, and was possessed by the sea god in the night. The mix gave Theseus a combination of divine as well as mortal characteristics in his nature, such double paternity, with one immortal, after Aethra became pregnant, Aegeus decided to return to Athens.
In Athens, Aegeus was joined by Medea, who had left Corinth after slaughtering the children she had borne and consort together represented the old order in Athens. Thus Theseus was raised in his mothers land, when Theseus grew up and became a brave young man, he moved the rock and recovered his fathers tokens. His mother told him the truth about his fathers identity, young and ambitious, Theseus decided to go alone by the land route and defeated a great many bandits along the way. At the Isthmian entrance to the Underworld was a robber named Sinis and he would capture travelers, tie them between two pine trees that were bent down to the ground, and let the trees go, tearing his victims apart. Theseus killed him by his own method and he became intimate with Siniss daughter, fathering the child Melanippus. In another deed north of the Isthmus, at a place called Crommyon, he killed an enormous pig, some versions name the sow herself as Phaea. The Bibliotheca described the Crommyonian Sow as an offspring of Typhon, near Megara, an elderly robber named Sciron forced travellers along the narrow cliff-face pathway to wash his feet
5.
Battle of Marathon
The Battle of Marathon took place in 490 BC, during the first Persian invasion of Greece. It was fought between the citizens of Athens, aided by Plataea, and a Persian force commanded by Datis, the battle was the culmination of the first attempt by Persia, under King Darius I, to subjugate Greece. The Greek army decisively defeated the more numerous Persians, marking a point in the Greco-Persian Wars. The Athenians and Eretrians had succeeded in capturing and burning Sardis, in response to this raid, Darius swore to burn down Athens and Eretria. Also he charged one of his servants, to say Master, remember the Athenians, three times before dinner each day. At the time of the battle and Athens were the two largest city states, once the Ionian revolt was finally crushed by the Persian victory at the Battle of Lade in 494 BC, Darius began plans to subjugate Greece. In 490 BC, he sent a task force under Datis and Artaphernes across the Aegean, to subjugate the Cyclades. Reaching Euboea in mid-summer after a campaign in the Aegean.
The Persian force sailed for Attica, landing in the bay near the town of Marathon, the Athenians, joined by a small force from Plataea, marched to Marathon, and succeeded in blocking the two exits from the plain of Marathon. The Athenians sent a message asking for support to the Spartans, when the messenger arrived in Sparta, the Spartans were involved in a religious festival and gave this as a reason for not coming to aid of the Athenians. The Athenians and their allies chose a location for the battle, with marshes and mountainous terrain, the Athenian general, ordered a general attack against the Persians. He reinforced his flanks, luring the Persians best fighters into his center, the inward wheeling flanks enveloped the Persians, routing them. The Persian army broke in panic towards their ships, and large numbers were slaughtered, the defeat at Marathon marked the end of the first Persian invasion of Greece, and the Persian force retreated to Asia. Darius began raising a new army with which he meant to completely subjugate Greece, however, in 486 BC, his Egyptian subjects revolted.
After Darius died, his son Xerxes I restarted the preparations for an invasion of Greece. The Battle of Marathon was a watershed in the Greco-Persian wars, showing the Greeks that the Persians could be beaten, the battle showed the Greeks that they were able to win battles without the Spartans, as they had heavily relied on Sparta previously. This win was due to the Athenians, and Marathon raised Greek esteem of them. The main source for the Greco-Persian Wars is the Greek historian Herodotus, who has been called the Father of History, was born in 484 BC in Halicarnassus, Asia Minor
6.
Ceryneian Hind
In Greek mythology, the Ceryneian Hind, called Cerynitis or the Golden Hind, was an enormous hind, who lived in Keryneia, Greece. It was sacred to Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, animals. It had golden antlers like a stag and hooves of bronze or brass, the capture of the hind was one of the labours of Heracles. After beginning the search, Hercules awoke from sleeping and he could see the hind from the glint on its antlers, Heracles chased the hind on foot for a full year through Greece, Thrace and the land of the Hyperboreans. In some versions, he captured the hind while it slept, in other versions, he encountered Artemis in her temple and she told him to leave the hind and tell Eurystheus all that had happened and his third labour would be considered to be completed. Yet another version claims that Hercules trapped the Hind with an arrow between the forelegs of the creature, Eurystheus had given Hercules this task hoping to incite Artemis anger at Hercules for his desecration of her sacred animal.
As he was returning with the hind, Hercules encountered Artemis and he begged the goddess for forgiveness, explaining that he had to catch it as part of his penance, but he promised to return it. Artemis forgave him, foiling Eurystheus plan to have her punish him, upon bringing the hind to Eurystheus, he was told that it was to become part of the Kings menagerie. Hercules knew that he had to return the hind as he had promised, so he agreed to hand it over on the condition that Eurystheus himself come out and take it from him. The King came out, but the moment Hercules let the hind go, it sprinted back to its mistress, upset that Hercules had managed to overcome yet another creature, told him to bring the fearsome Erymanthian Boar back to him alive. A doe bearing antlers was unknown in Greece, but the story of the hind is suggestive of reindeer, the myth relates to the northern Hyperborea, which may have been the archaic origin of the myth itself, as Robert Graves thought. When the sun is in the sign of Scorpio, the constellation Hercules rises, the Greeks referred to the constellation of Hercules as the Stag, the identification of the constellation with Hercules was made by the Romans.
Deer in mythology Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca ii.5.3 Media related to Ceryneian Hind at Wikimedia Commons
7.
Minotaur
In Greek mythology, the Minotaur was a creature with the head of a bull and the body of a man or, as described by Roman poet Ovid, a being part man and part bull. The Minotaur dwelt at the center of the Labyrinth, which was an elaborate maze-like construction designed by the architect Daedalus and his son Icarus, the Minotaur was eventually killed by the Athenian hero Theseus. The term Minotaur derives from the Ancient Greek Μῑνώταυρος, a compound of the name Μίνως, in Crete, the Minotaur was known by the name Asterion, a name shared with Minos foster-father. Minotaur was originally a noun in reference to this mythical figure. The use of minotaur as a noun to refer to members of a generic species of bull-headed creatures developed much later. After he ascended the throne of the island of Crete, Minos competed with his brothers to rule, Minos prayed to Poseidon, the sea god, to send him a snow-white bull, as a sign of support. He was to kill the bull to show honor to the deity and he thought Poseidon would not care if he kept the white bull and sacrificed one of his own.
To punish Minos, Poseidon made Pasiphaë, Minoss wife, fall deeply in love with the bull, Pasiphaë had craftsman Daedalus make a hollow wooden cow, and climbed inside it in order to mate with the white bull. The offspring was the monstrous Minotaur, Pasiphaë nursed him, but he grew and became ferocious, being the unnatural offspring of a woman and a beast, he had no natural source of nourishment and thus devoured humans for sustenance. Minos, after getting advice from the oracle at Delphi, had Daedalus construct a labyrinth to hold the Minotaur. Its location was near Minos palace in Knossos, the Minotaur is commonly represented in Classical art with the body of a man and the head and tail of a bull. One of the figurations assumed by the river spirit Achelous in seducing Deianira is as a man with the head of a bull, from Classical times through the Renaissance, the Minotaur appears at the center of many depictions of the Labyrinth. This alternative tradition survived into the Renaissance, and still figures in modern depictions.
Androgeus, son of Minos, had killed by the Athenians. Others say he was killed at Marathon by the Cretan bull, his mothers former taurine lover, the common tradition is that Minos waged war to avenge the death of his son and won. Catullus, in his account of the Minotaurs birth, refers to another version in which Athens was compelled by the plague to pay penalties for the killing of Androgeos. Aegeus had to avert the plague caused by his crime by sending young men at the time as the best of unwed girls as a feast to the Minotaur. Minos required that seven Athenian youths and seven maidens, drawn by lots, when the third sacrifice approached, Theseus volunteered to slay the monster
8.
French School at Athens
The French School at Athens is one of the seventeen foreign archaeological institutes operating in Athens, Greece. Founded in 1846, the EfA is the oldest foreign institute in Athens and its early foundation, still a source of considerable prestige, is to be seen culturally connected with French philhellenism and politically with the French East Mediterranean strategy of the time. It operates a programme of research in all fields of Greek studies. The EfA conducts an extensive programme of scholarships and bursaries and its library holds 80,000 volumes,550,000 photographs and 35,000 maps. Unlike most of the other institutes, the EfA has a status more akin to a university graduate school than a simple research institute. Its formal status is referred to as an Établissement public à caractère scientifique, some of its sought-after scholarships are renewable for periods up to four years, providing students with the opportunity to conduct most or all of their PhD research in Athens. Radet, Lhistoire et lœuvre de lÉcole française dAthènes, Paris,1901, cent cinquante ans de fouilles de lÉcole française dAthènes, Fayard,1996.
Foreign Archaeological Schools in Greece -160 Years, Hellenic Ministry of Culture,2006, EfA Website EfA Library Catalogue Complete list of French members and former members of the EfA
9.
Stylobate
In classical Greek architecture, a stylobate is the top step of the crepidoma, the stepped platform upon which colonnades of temple columns are placed. The platform was built on a course that flattened out the ground immediately beneath the temple. Others use the term to refer to the entire platform, the stylobate was often designed to relate closely to the dimensions of other elements of the temple. In Greek Doric temples, the length and width of the stylobate were related, the Romans took a different approach, using a much higher stylobate that typically had steps only in the front, leading to the portico. A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture
10.
Greece
Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, historically known as Hellas, is a country in southeastern Europe, with a population of approximately 11 million as of 2015. Athens is the capital and largest city, followed by Thessaloniki. Greece is strategically located at the crossroads of Europe, situated on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to the northeast. Greece consists of nine regions, Central Greece, the Peloponnese, Epirus, the Aegean Islands, Crete. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of the mainland, the Ionian Sea to the west, the Cretan Sea and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the longest coastline on the Mediterranean Basin and the 11th longest coastline in the world at 13,676 km in length, featuring a vast number of islands, eighty percent of Greece is mountainous, with Mount Olympus being the highest peak at 2,918 metres. From the eighth century BC, the Greeks were organised into various independent city-states, known as polis, which spanned the entire Mediterranean region and the Black Sea.
Greece was annexed by Rome in the second century BC, becoming a part of the Roman Empire and its successor. The Greek Orthodox Church shaped modern Greek identity and transmitted Greek traditions to the wider Orthodox World, falling under Ottoman dominion in the mid-15th century, the modern nation state of Greece emerged in 1830 following a war of independence. Greeces rich historical legacy is reflected by its 18 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, among the most in Europe, Greece is a democratic and developed country with an advanced high-income economy, a high quality of life, and a very high standard of living. A founding member of the United Nations, Greece was the member to join the European Communities and has been part of the Eurozone since 2001. Greeces unique cultural heritage, large industry, prominent shipping sector. It is the largest economy in the Balkans, where it is an important regional investor, the names for the nation of Greece and the Greek people differ from the names used in other languages and cultures.
The earliest evidence of the presence of human ancestors in the southern Balkans, dated to 270,000 BC, is to be found in the Petralona cave, all three stages of the stone age are represented in Greece, for example in the Franchthi Cave. Neolithic settlements in Greece, dating from the 7th millennium BC, are the oldest in Europe by several centuries and these civilizations possessed writing, the Minoans writing in an undeciphered script known as Linear A, and the Mycenaeans in Linear B, an early form of Greek. The Mycenaeans gradually absorbed the Minoans, but collapsed violently around 1200 BC and this ushered in a period known as the Greek Dark Ages, from which written records are absent. The end of the Dark Ages is traditionally dated to 776 BC, the Iliad and the Odyssey, the foundational texts of Western literature, are believed to have been composed by Homer in the 7th or 8th centuries BC. With the end of the Dark Ages, there emerged various kingdoms and city-states across the Greek peninsula, in 508 BC, Cleisthenes instituted the worlds first democratic system of government in Athens
11.
Marathon
The marathon is a long-distance running race with an official distance of 42.195 kilometres, usually run as a road race. The event was instituted in commemoration of the run of the Greek soldier Pheidippides, a messenger from the Battle of Marathon to Athens. The marathon was one of the original modern Olympic events in 1896, more than 800 marathons are held throughout the world each year, with the vast majority of competitors being recreational athletes as larger marathons can have tens of thousands of participants. The name Marathon comes from the legend of Philippides or Pheidippides and it is said that he ran the entire distance without stopping and burst into the assembly, exclaiming νενικήκαμεν, before collapsing and dying. Lucian of Samosata gives the story, but names the runner Philippides, there is debate about the historical accuracy of this legend. In some Herodotus manuscripts, the name of the runner between Athens and Sparta is given as Philippides, in 1879, Robert Browning wrote the poem Pheidippides.
Brownings poem, his story, became part of late 19th century popular culture and was accepted as a historic legend. This route, as it existed when the Olympics were revived in 1896, was approximately 40 kilometres long, and this route is considerably shorter, some 35 kilometres, but includes a very steep initial climb of more than 5 kilometres. When the modern Olympics began in 1896, the initiators and organizers were looking for a great popularizing event, the idea of a marathon race came from Michel Bréal, who wanted the event to feature in the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 in Athens. This idea was supported by Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympics. The Greeks staged a race for the Olympic marathon on 10 March 1896 that was won by Charilaos Vasilakos in 3 hours and 18 minutes. The winner of the first Olympic marathon, on 10 April 1896, was Spyridon Louis, the marathon of the 2004 Summer Olympics was run on the traditional route from Marathon to Athens, ending at Panathinaiko Stadium, the venue for the 1896 Summer Olympics.
The womens marathon was introduced at the 1984 Summer Olympics and was won by Joan Benoit of the United States with a time of 2 hours 24 minutes and 52 seconds. It has become a tradition for the mens Olympic marathon to be the last event of the athletics calendar, the mens marathon medals are awarded during the closing ceremony. The Olympic mens record is 2,06,32, set at the 2008 Summer Olympics by Samuel Kamau Wanjiru of Kenya, the Olympic womens record is 2,23,07, set at the 2012 Summer Olympics by Tiki Gelana of Ethiopia. The mens London 2012 Summer Olympic marathon winner was Stephen Kiprotich of Uganda, per capita, the Kalenjin ethnic group of Rift Valley Province in Kenya has produced a highly disproportionate share of marathon and track-and-field winners. Johnny Hayes victory at the 1908 Summer Olympics contributed to the growth of long-distance running and marathoning in the United States. Later that year, races around the season including the Empire City Marathon held on New Years Day 1909 in Yonkers, New York
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