1.
Athens
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Athens is the capital and largest city of Greece. In modern times, Athens is a cosmopolitan metropolis and central to economic, financial, 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, finance, commerce, media, entertainment, arts, international trade, culture, education 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 also the southernmost capital on the European mainland. The city also 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 later 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 later 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, Athena, 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, Satine, and Astines, today the caption η πρωτεύουσα, the capital, has become somewhat common
2.
Greece
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Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, historically also 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, Asia, 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, Macedonia, Central Greece, the Peloponnese, Thessaly, Epirus, the Aegean Islands, Thrace, 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 also 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, locations 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
3.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
4.
Hellenic Olympic Committee
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Hellenic Olympic Committee is the governing Olympic body of Greece. It is one of the oldest National Olympic Committees in the world, being founded in 1894 and it is based in Athens, Greece. The HOC was founded in Athens on 3 February,1894 on the name Commiittee of the Olympic Games with first chairman Crown Prince Constantine of Greece, on the same day, the committee held first meeting to organize the first modern Olympic Games. After the dissolution of this committee because of crisis in the country. Finally, after problems, the Games were opened on 6 April. Which was restored in white marble thanks to the donation of one million drachmas from George Averoff, one year later after the Games has formed first permanent committee on the proposal of king George II to held every 4 year Panhellenic Games in Athens. Because of debate who is chairman in sports events, government gave to E. O. A, full responsibility to cooperate with other sports federations, spread Olympic spirit and his structure of 12 members led by successor. In 2000, for organisation 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, the E. O. A, changed its name to the Hellenic Olympic Committee
5.
Seating capacity
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Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats hundreds of thousands of people. The International Fire Code, portions of which have adopted by many jurisdictions, is directed more towards the use of a facility than the construction. It specifies, For areas having fixed seating without dividing arms and it also requires that every public venue submit a detailed site plan to the local fire code official, including details of the means of egress, seating capacity, arrangement of the seating. Once safety considerations have been satisfied, determinations of seating capacity turn on the size of the venue. For sports venues, the decision on maximum seating capacity is determined by several factors, chief among these are the primary sports program and the size of the market area. Seating capacity of venues also plays a role in what media they are able to provide, in contracting to permit performers to use a theatre or other performing space, the seating capacity of the performance facility must be disclosed. Seating capacity may influence the kind of contract to be used, the seating capacity must also be disclosed to the copyright owner in seeking a license for the copyrighted work to be performed in that venue. Venues that may be leased for private functions such as ballrooms and auditoriums generally advertise their seating capacity, seating capacity is also an important consideration in the construction and use of sports venues such as stadiums and arenas. The seating capacity for restaurants is reported as covers, a restaurant that can seat 99 is said to have 99 covers, seating capacity differs from total capacity, which describes the total number of people who can fit in a venue or in a vehicle either sitting or standing. Use of the term public capacity indicates that a venue is allowed to more people than it can actually seat. Again, the total number of people can refer to either the physical space available or limitations set by law
6.
AEK Athens B.C.
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The club was established in Athens in 1924 by Greek refugees from Constantinople in the wake of the Greco-Turkish War. AEK was the first-ever Greek basketball team, not only to reach a European Cup Final, on April 4,1968, AEK defeated Slavia VŠ Praha by a score of 89-82, in Athens in front of 80,000 fans. They have won the Greek Basket League 8 times, and the Greek Basketball Cup 3 times, the large Greek population of Constantinople, not unlike those of the other Ottoman urban centres, continued its athletic traditions in the form of numerous athletic clubs. These were amongst a dozen Greek-backed clubs that dominated the landscape of the city in the years preceding World War I. After the war, with the influx of mainly French and English soldiers to Constantinople, many of the city participated in regular competition. Taxim, Pera, and Tatavla became the scene of weekly competitions in not only football, but of athletics, cycling, boxing, of the clubs in the city though, football was dominated by Enosis Tataoulon and Hermes. Hermes, one of the popular clubs, was formed in 1875. Forced by the Kemalist regime to change its name to Pera Club in 1923, many of its athletes fled to Greece and settled in Athens, the basketball team of AEK is actually the most successful among A. E. Ks athletic departments. The obvious reason is the successes in general of the Greek basketball, under Konstantinos Karamanlis guidance, AEK won the clubs first Greek championship in 1958. Kostas Dimopoulos, one of the creators of AEK club and footballer of the years, had the idea of creation also a basketball team. His efforts quickly were matched by others who loved with passion this nice sport and he took over, then, the leadership of the department and together with the brothers Simeonidi, Eumenis Athanasiadis and others made the first team. In the beginning they took part in matches with a good impression. After, AEK won the first championship played in Athens, that was organized by the YMCA in 1924, in 1929 the Greek basketball Championship was not conducted and AEK did not played anywhere. In 1930 basketball section was not declared in no organization with the efforts of Kostas Dimopoulos. The section remained in obscurity for years, however in 1949 reappeared. In 1953 AEK took part for the time in the Greek basketball Championship after 1928. In the Championship of 1955 AEK did a run, however missed the final by Panellinios. In 1958 AEK B. C. with player-coach Konstantinos Karamanlis conquered the first Greek Championship defeating Panellinios in final 67-54, postwar, was also founded and worked for a short time and a section of womens basketball
7.
Slavia Prague
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SK Slavia Prague is a Czech professional football club founded in 1892 in the city of Prague. They are the second most successful club in the Czech Republic since its independence in 1993 and they play in the Czech First League, the highest competition in the Czech Republic. They play the Prague derby with Sparta Prague, an important rivalry in Czech football, Slavia has won 16 titles, several Czech cups and the Mitropa Cup in 1938. The club has won three league titles since the foundation of the Czech league in 1993, the club reached the semi-finals of the 1995–96 UEFA Cup and qualified for the 2007–08 UEFA Champions League group stage for the first time in their history. In addition to their mens squad, Slavia Prague also has reserve, youth, womens, Slavia was founded on 2 November 1892 by medicine students in Vinohrady, Prague, as a sport club aimed at increasing sport activity among students. Initially the club focused on cycling, and expanded to football in 1896, on 25 March of that year, Slavia won their first match against AC Prague 5–0. Four days later, Slavia played against Sparta Prague, with the match finishing 0–0, in 1905, Scottish manager and former Celtic player John Madden brought new tactics and views on football from his home country to the club. He managed to set up a golden age for the club that lasted 25 years. Under Madden Slavia won 134 domestic matches out of a total of 169, in 1930, Madden retired from Slavia and professional football at the age of 66, though he remained in Prague for the rest of his life. In the 1934 FIFA World Cup, the Czechoslovak national team included eight Slavia players, the second golden period came when Slavia bought Josef Bican from Admira Vienna. Slavia with Bican won titles in 1940,1941,1942 and 1943, in 1951 Slavia finished in 11th position in the league. Poor results continued during the 1950s and 1960s when Slavia were relegated twice and they next played in the top level of football in 1965. In 1996, Slavia won their 14th title after 49 years, during this season, Slavia played in the semi-final of the UEFA Cup and four players of this team had big importance for the silver-medal winning Czech team from UEFA Euro 1996. For the group stage, Slavia were drawn in Group H along with Arsenal, Steaua București and they started with a 2–1 win at home against Steaua and a 4–2 loss to Sevilla. Next came two matches against Arsenal, Slavia lost 7–0 at the Emirates Stadium, but in the leg they managed to draw 0–0. In Bucharest came a 1–1 draw, which qualified the Czech team for the UEFA Cup round of 32, from third place in Group H, in October 2006, the construction of the new and long-awaited stadium at Eden for 21,000 spectators began. The stadium was opened on 7 May 2008 with a match against Oxford University. In the 2009–10 season the club managed only 7th place in the league, in the autumn of 2010, the club found itself in crisis due to its economic problems
8.
Herodes Atticus
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Herodes Atticus, or Atticus Herodes, was a distinguished and rich Greek aristocrat and sophist who served as a Roman senator. Appointed consul at Rome in 143, he was the first Greek to hold the rank of consul ordinarius, in Latin, his full name was given as Lucius Vibullius Hipparchus Tiberius Claudius Atticus Herodes. According to Philostratus, Herodes Atticus was a proponent of the Second Sophistic. Herodes Atticus was a Greek of Athenian descent and his ancestry could be traced to the Athenian noblewoman Elpinice, a half-sister of the statesman Cimon and daughter of politician Miltiades the Younger. He claimed lineage from the Athenian King Theseus, the Athenian Monarch Cecrops, King Aeacus and he had an ancestor four generations removed from him called Polycharmus, who may have been the Archon of Athens of that name from 9/8 BC-22/23. His family bore the Roman family name Claudius, there is a possibility that a paternal ancestor of his received Roman citizenship from an unknown member of the Claudian gens. Herodes Atticus was born to a distinguished and very rich family of consular rank and his parents were a Roman Senator, Tiberius Claudius Atticus Herodes and the wealthy heiress Vibullia Alcia Agrippina. He had a brother named Tiberius Claudius Atticus Herodianus and a sister named Claudia Tisamenis and his maternal grandparents were Claudia Alcia and Lucius Vibullius Rufus, while his paternal grandfather was Hipparchus. His parents were related as uncle and niece, Herodes Atticus was born in Marathon, Greece and spent his childhood years between Greece and Italy. According to Juvenal Satire III, he received an education in rhetoric, throughout his life, however, Herodes Atticus remained entirely Greek in his cultural outlook. The Roman Emperor Hadrian in 125 appointed him Prefect of the cities in the Roman province of Asia. He later returned to Athens, where he became famous as a teacher, in the year 140, Herodes Atticus was elected and served as an Archon of Athens. Later in 140, the Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius invited him to Rome from Athens to educate his two adopted sons, who were the future Roman Emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus. Sometime after Herodes Atticus came to Rome from Athens he was betrothed to Aspasia Annia Regilla, a wealthy aristocrat, when Regilla and Herodes Atticus married, she was 14 years old and he was 40. As Herodes Atticus was in favor with the Emperor, as a mark of his friendship Antoninus Pius appointed him Consul in 143, Herodes Atticus and Regilla controlled a large area of land around the Third Mile of the Appian Way outside Rome, which was known as the Triopio. For his remaining years he travelled between Greece and Italy, some time after his consulship, he returned to Greece with his wife and their children. Herodes Atticus was the teacher of three students, Achilles, Memnon and Polydeuces. Herodes Atticus had a reputation for his literary work, most of which is now lost
9.
Anastasios Metaxas
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Anastasios Metaxas was a Greek architect and shooter. He also competed at those Games, entering the military and free rifle events and he placed fourth in both competitions, with scores of 1,701 in the military rifle event and 1,102 in the free rifle contest. Metaxas won a medal in the trap shooting event at the 1908 Summer Olympics. In 1912 he finished fourth in the competition and 35th in the 25 metre rapid fire pistol event. He also designed the expansion of the east wing of the National Archaeological Museum of Athens
10.
Greek language
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Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean. It has the longest documented history of any living language, spanning 34 centuries of written records and its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the major part of its history, other systems, such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary, were used previously. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, Gothic and many other writing systems. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world, during antiquity, Greek was a widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world and many places beyond. It would eventually become the official parlance of the Byzantine Empire, the language is spoken by at least 13.2 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey, and the Greek diaspora. Greek roots are used to coin new words for other languages, Greek. Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around the 3rd millennium BC, the earliest written evidence is a Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the worlds oldest recorded living language. Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now extinct Anatolian languages, the Greek language is conventionally divided into the following periods, Proto-Greek, the unrecorded but assumed last ancestor of all known varieties of Greek. The unity of Proto-Greek would have ended as Hellenic migrants entered the Greek peninsula sometime in the Neolithic era or the Bronze Age, Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Mycenaean civilisation. It is recorded in the Linear B script on tablets dating from the 15th century BC onwards, Ancient Greek, in its various dialects, the language of the Archaic and Classical periods of the ancient Greek civilisation. It was widely known throughout the Roman Empire, after the Roman conquest of Greece, an unofficial bilingualism of Greek and Latin was established in the city of Rome and Koine Greek became a first or second language in the Roman Empire. The origin of Christianity can also be traced through Koine Greek, Medieval Greek, also known as Byzantine Greek, the continuation of Koine Greek in Byzantine Greece, up to the demise of the Byzantine Empire in the 15th century. Much of the written Greek that was used as the language of the Byzantine Empire was an eclectic middle-ground variety based on the tradition of written Koine. Modern Greek, Stemming from Medieval Greek, Modern Greek usages can be traced in the Byzantine period and it is the language used by the modern Greeks, and, apart from Standard Modern Greek, there are several dialects of it. In the modern era, the Greek language entered a state of diglossia, the historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of the Greek language is often emphasised. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than a foreign language and it is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, Homeric Greek is probably closer to demotic than 12-century Middle English is to modern spoken English, Greek is spoken by about 13 million people, mainly in Greece, Albania and Cyprus, but also worldwide by the large Greek diaspora. Greek is the language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population
11.
Marble
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Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Geologists use the marble to refer to metamorphosed limestone, however. Marble is commonly used for sculpture and as a building material and this stem is also the basis for the English word marmoreal, meaning marble-like. In Hungarian it is called márvány, Marble is a rock resulting from metamorphism of sedimentary carbonate rocks, most commonly limestone or dolomite rock. Metamorphism causes variable recrystallization of the carbonate mineral grains. The resulting marble rock is composed of an interlocking mosaic of carbonate crystals. Primary sedimentary textures and structures of the carbonate rock have typically been modified or destroyed. Pure white marble is the result of metamorphism of a very pure limestone or dolomite protolith, green coloration is often due to serpentine resulting from originally magnesium-rich limestone or dolostone with silica impurities. These various impurities have been mobilized and recrystallized by the intense pressure, examples of historically notable marble varieties and locations, White marble has been prized for its use in sculptures since classical times. This preference has to do with its softness, which made it easier to carve, relative isotropy and homogeneity, construction marble is a stone which is composed of calcite, dolomite or serpentine which is capable of taking a polish. More generally in construction, specifically the dimension stone trade, the marble is used for any crystalline calcitic rock useful as building stone. For example, Tennessee marble is really a dense granular fossiliferous gray to pink to maroon Ordovician limestone that geologists call the Holston Formation. Ashgabat, the city of Turkmenistan, was recorded in the 2013 Guinness Book of Records as having the worlds highest concentration of white marble buildings. According to the United States Geological Survey, U. S. domestic marble production in 2006 was 46,400 tons valued at about $18.1 million, compared to 72,300 tons valued at $18.9 million in 2005. Crushed marble production in 2006 was 11.8 million tons valued at $116 million, of which 6.5 million tons was finely ground calcium carbonate and the rest was construction aggregate. For comparison,2005 crushed marble production was 7.76 million tons valued at $58.7 million, of which 4.8 million tons was finely ground calcium carbonate, U. S. dimension marble demand is about 1.3 million tons. The DSAN World Demand for Marble Index has shown a growth of 12% annually for the 2000–2006 period, the largest dimension marble application is tile. In 1998, marble production was dominated by 4 countries that accounted for almost half of production of marble
12.
Panathenaic Games
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The Panathenaic Games were held every four years in Athens in Ancient Greece since 566 BC. They continued into the 3rd century AD and these Games incorporated religious festival, ceremony, athletic competitions, and cultural events hosted within a stadium. The competitions for which this came to be known were only part of a much larger religious occasion. These ritual observances consisted of numerous sacrifices to Athena as well as Poseidon, a sister-event to the Great Panathenaea was held every year - the Lesser Panathenaea, which was 3–4 days shorter in celebration. The competitions were the most prestigious games for the citizens of Athens, the first Great Panathenaea was held during the rule of Peisistratos in 566 BC, and was modelled on the Olympic Games. Peisistratos also added music and poetry competitions, which were part of the Pythian Games, the games were divided into games for Athenians only, and games for Athenians and any other Greeks who wanted to participate. These games in only the Athenians were allowed to participate were somewhat different. These included a race from the Piraeus to the Acropolis, mock infantry and cavalry battles, a javelin throw on horseback, the apobatai, the pyrriche. The prestigious event was a four-horse chariot race and the received a prize larger than for any of the athletic contests. In later years there was also a rowing competition, the procession to the Parthenon was more important than the games themselves. During the Great Panathenaia, a robe was made by the women of Athens for the statue of Athena. There was also a large sacrifice made to Athena, the hekatombe and the meat from the animals was used in an enormous banquet on the final night of the festival. Many scholars believe that this procession is the theme of the inner Ionic Parthenon Frieze, award ceremonies included the giving of Panathenaic amphora which were the large ceramic vessels that contained the oil given as prizes. The winner of the race received as a prize one-hundred. The Panathenaea also included poetic and musical competitions, prizes were awarded for rhapsodic recitation of Homeric poetry, for instrumental music on the aulus and cithara, and for singing to the accompaniment of the aulus and cithara. In addition, the Games included a reading of both the Odyssey and the Iliad, the athletic events were staged at the Panathenaic Stadium, which is still in use today. The Panathenaic stadium has hosted modern Olympic Games in 1870,1875,1896,1906 and 2004, the Panathenaic Games held contests in a number of musical, athletic, and equestrian events. Due to the fact there were so many contests held
13.
Zappas Olympics
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The Zappas Olympics, simply called Olympics at the time, were a series of athletic events held in Athens, Greece, in 1859,1870, and 1875 sponsored by Greek businessman Evangelis Zappas. These games were one of the first revivals of the ancient Olympic Games in the modern era and their success provided further inspiration for William Penny Brookes in England, whose games had been running since 1850, and the International Olympic Committee series from 1896. The same stadium would also host the first IOC Games of 1896, the 1906 Intercalated Games, and archery, sporadic references to the revival of the ancient Olympic Games were made by various personalities during the 19th century, inspired by a certain degree of romanticism. In his 1833 poem Dialogue of the Dead, the Constantinople-born, Panagiotis Soutsos editor of a Greek newspaper, soon after, he explicitly proposed the revival of the games by the newly formed Greek state, even sending a memorandum to that effect to the Greek government in 1835. His proposal was accepted by King Otto of Greece, but in the event, nothing was done, in 1852, the German archaeologist Ernst Curtius, during a romantic lecture, also stated that the Olympic events would be revived. Evangelis Zappas, a businessman and member of the Greek diaspora in Romania, was inspired by Soutsos and resolved to revive this ancient tradition through his own efforts. In early 1856, Zappas sent a letter through diplomatic channels to King Otto of Greece, offering to fund the project of the Olympic revival. However, this initiative was not without opposition, there was a wide belief among part of the Greek politicians that athletic games were just a throwback to archaic times. They feared that Greece would seem primitive among the nations of Europe if it revived, as they claimed. In July 1856, an article in the Greek press by Panagiotis Soutsos, finally, Otto agreed upon competitions at four-year intervals, on the occasion of industrial and agricultural expositions, and allowed the realization of athletic events with Zappas full sponsorship. Consequently, Zappas offered the necessary funds to the Greek government in order to establish an Olympic Trust Fund, on November 15,1859 the first modern revival of the athletic Olympic Games took place in Athens. As the renovation of the ancient Panathenaic stadium was not yet complete, although they could be termed as the first Olympic Games of the present tradition, it was far from being an international festival. They had a national character, since the participants were exclusively of Greek ethnicity. Athletes competed in a variety of disciplines, similar to those of the ancient Olympic games, running, discus, javelin throwing, wrestling, jumping and pole climbing. Attendees included the king, officers and other dignitaries in rows of seats, since it was one of the first mass gatherings in the citys modern history, neither the people nor the police had any previous experience with maintaining the order at such an event. The site was also unsuited for the sports and the weather was too cold, who were attracted by the monetary prizes of the Games. Even a beggar, who pretended to be blind, participated in the races, the Wenlock Prize was the largest prize on offer and was won by Petros Velissarios of Smyrna from the Ottoman Empire who was of Greek ethnic descent. In July 1869, the dates of the 1870 Olympics were announced, followed by organizational plans, the committee paid for participating athletes to undergo three months of training prior to the Games
14.
1896 Summer Olympics
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The 1896 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the I Olympiad, was the first international Olympic Games held in modern history. Organised by the International Olympic Committee, which had created by Pierre de Coubertin, it was held in Athens, Greece. Winners were given a medal, while runners-up received a copper medal. Retroactively, the IOC has converted these to gold and silver, ten of the 14 participating nations earned medals. The United States won the most gold medals,11, host nation Greece won the most medals overall,46, the highlight for the Greeks was the marathon victory by their compatriot Spyridon Louis. The most successful competitor was German wrestler and gymnast Carl Schuhmann, the main venue was the Panathenaic Stadium, where athletics and wrestling took place, other venues included the Neo Phaliron Velodrome for cycling, and the Zappeion for fencing. The opening ceremony was held in the Panathenaic Stadium on 6 April, during which most of the athletes were aligned on the infield. After a speech by the president of the committee, Crown Prince Constantine. Afterwards, nine bands and 150 choir singers performed an Olympic Hymn, composed by Spyridon Samaras, the 1896 Olympics were regarded as a great success. The Games had the largest international participation of any sporting event to that date, the Panathenaic Stadium, the only Olympic stadium used in the 1800s, overflowed with the largest crowd ever to watch a sporting event. However, the 1900 Summer Olympics were already planned for Paris and, except for the Intercalated Games of 1906, during the 19th century, several small-scale sports festivals across Europe were named after the Ancient Olympic Games. The 1870 Olympics at the Panathenaic stadium, which had been refurbished for the occasion, had an audience of 30,000 people. In 1890, Coubertin wrote an article in La Revue Athletique, Coubertin also took inspiration from the earlier Greek games organised under the name of Olympics by businessman and philanthropist Evangelis Zappas in 1859,1870 and 1875. This the Greek government did despite the fact that the cost of refurbishing the stadium in marble had already been funded in full by Evangelis Zappas forty years earlier. With deep feeling towards Baron de Coubertins courteous petition, I send him, on 18 June 1894, Coubertin organised a congress at the Sorbonne, Paris, to present his plans to representatives of sports societies from 11 countries. Following his proposals acceptance by the congress, a date for the first modern Olympic Games needed to be chosen, Coubertin suggested that the Games be held concurrently with the 1900 Universal Exposition of Paris. Concerned that a waiting period might lessen public interest, congress members opted instead to hold the inaugural Games in 1896. With a date established, members of the congress turned their attention to the selection of a host city and it remains a mystery how Athens was finally chosen to host the inaugural Games
15.
2004 Summer Olympics
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10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team officials from 201 countries. There were 301 medal events in 28 different sports, Athens 2004 marked the first time since the 1996 Summer Olympics that all countries with a National Olympic Committee were in attendance. 2004 marked the return of the games to the city where they began, a new medal obverse was introduced at these Games, replacing the design by Giuseppe Cassioli that had been used since the 1928 Games. This rectified the long lasting mistake of using a depiction of the Roman Colosseum rather than a Greek venue, the new design features the Panathenaic Stadium. The cost of the 2004 Athens Summer Games has been cited as a contributor to the Greek government-debt crisis, some of the venues lie vacant and rotting, while others are in use, the Independent newspaper reports as many as 21 out of 22 are unused. The final medal tally was led by the United States, followed by China, several World and Olympics records were broken during the games. Several concerns were raised over the preparations of the Games and these included excessive budget overruns, infrastructural compromise, the games were deemed generally successful with the rising standard of competition amongst nations across the world. Athens was chosen as the host city during the 106th IOC Session held in Lausanne on 5 September 1997, Athens had lost its bid to organize the 1996 Summer Olympics to Atlanta nearly seven years before on 18 September 1990, during the 96th IOC Session in Tokyo. 1996 coincided with the 100th Anniversary of the first modern Olympics, under the direction of Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, Athens pursued another bid, this time for the right to host the Summer Olympics in 2004. After leading all voting rounds, Athens easily defeated Rome in the 5th, cape Town, Stockholm, and Buenos Aires, the three other cities that made the IOC shortlist, were eliminated in prior rounds of voting. Six other cities submitted applications, but their bids were dropped by the IOC in 1996 and these cities were Istanbul, Lille, Rio de Janeiro, San Juan, Seville, Saint Petersburg and Cali. The 2004 Summer Olympic Games cost the Government of Greece €8.954 billion to stage, the Athens 2004 Organizing Committee, responsible for the preparation and organisation of the games, concluded its operations as a company in 2005 with a surplus of €130.6 million. ATHOC contributed €123.6 million of the surplus to the Greek State to cover other related expenditures of the Greek State in organizing of the games, as a result, ATHOC reported in its official published accounts a net profit of €7 million. The State’s contribution to the total ATHOC budget was 8% of its expenditure against an originally anticipated 14%, the overall revenue of ATHOC, including income from tickets, sponsors, broadcasting rights, merchandise sales etc. totalled €2,098.4 million. The largest percentage of income came from broadcasting rights. The overall expenditure of ATHOC was €1,967.8 million. e, the large projects required for the upgrade of the country’s infrastructure, including sports infrastructure, roads, airports, hospitals, power grid etc. This cost, however, is not directly attributable to the organisation of the Games. Such infrastructure projects are considered by all standards as fixed asset investments that stay with the hosting country for decades after the Games
16.
Athens Classic Marathon
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The Athens Classic Marathon is an annual marathon road race held in Athens, Greece, normally in early November. The race attracted 43.000 competitors in 2015 of which 16.000 were for the 42.195 km course, the rest of the runners competed in the concurrent 5 and 10 kilometres road races and the racewalking contest. The provenance of the race is traced back to the Marathon race at the 1896 Olympics. The Athens Classic Marathon began in 1972 as a joint venture between the Greek tourist board and athletics association. The race came under the auspices of the current organisers and SEGAS in 1983 and has become a major race. It is perhaps the most difficult major marathon race, the course is uphill from the 10 km mark to the 31 km mark – the toughest uphill climb of any major marathon. The course begins in the town of Marathon, where it passes the tomb of the Athenian soldiers, following the steep rise, the course goes lightly downhill towards the city of Athens. Since 2007 the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races has organised an annual International Marathon Symposium in Marathon town the day prior to the race, the 2010 edition of the event was combined with the celebration of the 2500th anniversary of the Battle of Marathon. Greek competitors have traditionally strong in the mens and womens competitions. However, East Africans and Japanese runners have increasingly become the dominant runners from 1999 onwards, since 1990, the Athens Classic Marathon has often served as the Greek national championships for the marathon event. The current course records are 2,10,37 hours for men, set by Felix Kandie in 2014, in 2016, a refugee team competed in the concurrent 5 kilometre road race. Key, Course record Greek championship race A separate race from the town of Marathon to Athens was regularly held in April from 1955 to at least 1989 and this unrelated race, known as the Athens Marathon, frequently served as the Greek championship race but it is now discontinued
17.
Olympic flame
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The Olympic flame is a symbol of the Olympic Games. Commemorating the theft of fire from the Greek god Zeus by Prometheus, its origins lie in ancient Greece, the fire was introduced at the Games of the IX Olympiad 1928 in Amsterdam and it has been part of the modern Olympic Games ever since. The first fire of the Olympic Winter Games was introduced at the IV Olympic Winter Games 1936 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the Olympic Torch today is ignited several months before the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games at the site of the ancient Olympics in Olympia, Greece. Eleven women, representing the Vestal Virgins, perform a celebration at the Temple of Hera in which the torch is kindled by the light of the Sun, its rays concentrated by a parabolic mirror. The torch briefly travels around Greece via short relay, and then starts its transfer to the host city after a ceremony in the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, the Olympic Torch Relay ends on the day of the opening ceremony in the central stadium of the Games. The final carrier is often kept unannounced until the last moment, the final bearer of the torch runs towards the cauldron, often placed at the top of a grand staircase, and then uses the torch to start the flame in the arena. It is considered to be an honor to be asked to light the Olympic flame. After being lit, the continues to burn throughout the Games, until the day of the closing ceremony and celebration. In the time of the games within the boundaries of Olympia. For the ancient Greeks, fire had divine connotations—it was thought to have stolen from the gods by Prometheus. Therefore, fire was present at many of the sanctuaries in Olympia. During the Olympic Games, which honoured Zeus, additional fires were lit at his temple, the modern Olympic flame is ignited at the site where the temple of Hera used to stand. The tradition was reintroduced during the 1928 Games, an employee of the Electric Utility of Amsterdam lit the first Olympic flame in the Marathon Tower of the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam. The modern convention of moving the Olympic flame via a system from Greece to the Olympic venue began in 1936 in Germany. Carl Diem devised the idea of the relay for the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin that was organized by the Nazis under the guidance of Joseph Goebbels. The Krupp armaments company produced the torches in wood and metal, the Olympic flame was lit by a concave mirror in Olympia, Greece and transported over 3,187 kilometres by 3,331 runners in twelve days and eleven nights from Greece to Berlin. Leni Riefenstahl later staged the torch relay for the 1938 film Olympia, adolf Hitler saw the link with the ancient Games as the perfect way to illustrate his belief that classical Greece was an Aryan forerunner of the modern German Reich. There were minor protests in Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia on the way, although most of the time the torch with the Olympic flame is still carried by runners, it has been transported in many different ways
18.
Ilissos
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The Ilisos or Ilisus is a river in Athens, Greece. Originally a tributary of the Kifissos River, it is now largely channeled underground, during antiquity, it ran outside the defensive walls of Athens, Plato wrote in Critias that the river was one of the borders of the ancient walls. The temple of Pankrátēs, a hero, was located there. Ilisos was also a demi-god, the son of Poseidon and Demetra and this area was called Cynosarges in antiquity, and the spring of Kallirrhóē was located there. The stream drains the slopes of Mount Hymettus, and originates from multiple converging seasonal creeks. It then flows to the flank of the ruined Columns of Olympian Zeus. In older times the river at this point would expand into shallow marshland, called Vatrachonisi in the vicinity of the ancient spring of Kallirrhóē, now submerged under Kallirois Avenue. It then flows under Theseos Avenue, in the suburb of Kallithea, its original course turning sharply northwest to join the Kifissos River, the Ilisos is now routed straight to sea, coming to surface and running into the Saronic Gulf in the middle of Phaleron Bay. Media related to Ilissos river at Wikimedia Commons
19.
Pangrati
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Pangrati or Pagrati is a neighborhood in the Municipality of Athens, Greece. It is not to be confused as a suburb, as it is part of the City of Athens proper. However, it is mistaken as such, possibly because of it bordering the actual suburbs of Vyronas. One of the most important landmarks of Pangrati is the Panathinaiko Stadium that hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, the First Cemetery of Athens, the official cemetery for the City of Athens, lies within Pangrati. Pangrati has numerous squares, Plastira, Pangratiou, Messolongiou, Proskopon, Profitis Ilias, Deliolani, Plyta, Pangratiou Square is home to the Pangratiou Park, together with a major street named Spirou Merkouri, which runs into Konstandinou Ave and up towards Evangelismos Metro Station. The Arcadia Center, a cultural institution, is also located in Pangrati. The center operates study-abroad programs through the College of Global Studies at Arcadia University, Pangrati is served by buses #054,203,204,209,732 and trolleys #2,4 and 11
20.
National Garden, Athens
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The National Garden is a public park of 15.5 hectares in the center of the Greek capital, Athens. The Garden also encloses some ancient ruins, tambourines and Corinthian capitals of columns, mosaics, on the Southeast side are the busts of Ioannis Kapodistrias, the first governor of Greece, and of the Philhellene Jean-Gabriel Eynard. On the South side are the busts of the celebrated Greek poets Dionysios Solomos, author of the Greek National Hymn, the Royal Garden was commissioned by Queen Amalia in 1838 and completed by 1840. It was designed by the German agronomist Friedrich Schmidt who imported over 500 species of plants and a variety of animals including peacocks, ducks, unfortunately for many of the plants, the dry Mediterranean climate proved too harsh and they did not survive. Other botanists planning and managing the garden include Karl Nikolas Fraas, Theodor von Heldreich, a part of the upper garden, behind the Old Palace, was fenced off and was the private refuge of the King and Queen. The garden was open to the public in the afternoons, close to the garden in 1878 the neo-classical Zappeion Hall was built. It was donated by Evangelis Zappas and designed by Theophil Freiherr von Hansen, Zappas had started the Zappian Olympic Games, a precursor to the modern Olympic Games. The Zappeion was the Olympic village for the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, starting in the 1920s, the area in front of the Zappeion was also a major transportation hub for trams and buses. Today it is used for public exhibitions, the Royal Garden was the scene of an unusual turning point in Greek history. In 1919, they began the Greco-Turkish War with the support of their former allies Britain, while walking in the Garden on September 30,1920, King Alexander was bitten by a pet monkey and he died of sepsis three weeks later. His death ushered the return of his father, King Constantine I who had been deposed for his pro-German sympathies during the First World War. Upon his return to power, King Constantine assisted in the defeat of his political nemesis, the new Prime Minister, Dimitrios Gounaris, a monarchist, began replacing the Venezelist military staff with officers more loyal to the new King. As a result of change in political environment and it is argued, the reduction in military experience by the Armys General Staff. Winston Churchill wrote, it is no exaggeration to remark that a quarter of a million persons died of this monkeys bite. In the 1920s the park was opened to the public and renamed National Garden, in honour of Amalia of Greece, the entrance was moved to the 12 palms she planted and the street in front was renamed Queen Amalia Avenue. Since then the National Garden, is open to the public from sunrise to sunset, henry Miller wrote in 1939, It remains in my memory like no other park I have known. It is the quintessence of a park, the thing one feels sometimes in looking at a canvas or dreaming of a place one would like to be in, in 2004 the Greek state gave the garden for 90 years to the city of Athens. The National Garden, is open to the public from sunrise to sunset, the main entrance is on Leoforos Amalias, the street named after the Queen who envisioned this park
21.
Zappeion
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The Zappeion, is a building in the National Gardens of Athens in the heart of Athens, Greece. It is generally used for meetings and ceremonies, both official and private, the ancient Panathenian stadium was also refurbished as part of the works for the Olympic Games. Following some delay, on 20 January 1874, the cornerstone of the building was laid, finally, on 20 October 1888, the Zappeion opened. The Austrian Parliament Building was also designed by Hansen and followed the theme in the exterior. The Zappeion was used during the 1896 Summer Olympics as the fencing hall. A decade later, at the 1906 Intercalated Games, it was used as the Olympic Village and it served as the first host for the organizing committee for the 2004 Games from 1998 to 1999 and served as the press center during the 2004 games. In 1938, the Athens Radio Station, the countrys first national broadcaster, the building continued to house the National Radio Foundation until the inauguration of the House of Radio in 1970. The head of Evangelos Zappas is buried underneath his statue which is located just outside the Zappeion, the Zappeion is currently being used as a Conference and Exhibition Center for both public and private purposes. The building contains about 25 distinct rooms that range in size from 97 square metres to 984 square metres, in the obverse of the coin, a front view of the building is depicted. Official Zappeion Megaron Website Virtual Tour of the Zappeion Zappeion Remodelling Project,2000 Old Photos of Zappeion
22.
Athena
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Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is the goddess of wisdom, craft, and war in ancient Greek religion and mythology. Minerva is the Roman goddess identified with Athena, Athena is known for her calm temperament, as she moves slowly to anger. She is noted to have fought for just reasons. Athena is portrayed as a companion of heroes and is the patron goddess of heroic endeavour. She is the patroness of Athens. The Athenians founded the Parthenon on the Acropolis of her city, Athens. Veneration of Athena was so persistent that archaic myths about her were recast to adapt to cultural changes, in her role as a protector of the city, many people throughout the Greek world worshipped Athena as Athena Polias. While the city of Athens and the goddess Athena essentially bear the same name, Athena is associated with Athens, a plural name, because it was the place where she presided over her sisterhood, the Athenai, in earliest times. Mycenae was the city where the Goddess was called Mykene, at Thebes she was called Thebe, and the city again a plural, Thebae. Similarly, at Athens she was called Athena, and the city Athenae, Athena had a special relationship with Athens, as is shown by the etymological connection of the names of the goddess and the city. According to mythical lore, she competed with Poseidon and she won by creating the olive tree, the Athenians would accept her gift and name the city after her. In history, the citizens of Athens built a statue of Athena as a temple to the goddess, which had piercing eyes, a helmet on her head, attired with an aegis or cuirass, and an extremely long spear. It also had a shield with the head of the Gorgon on it. A large snake accompanied her and she held Nike, the goddess of victory, therefore, Mylonas believes that Athena was a Mycenaean creation. On the other hand, Nilsson claims that she was the goddess of the palace who protected the king, a-ta-no-dju-wa-ja is also found in Linear A Minoan, the final part being regarded as the Linear A Minoan equivalent of the Linear B Mycenaean di-u-ja or di-wi-ja. Divine Athena also was a weaver and the deity of crafts, whether her name is attested in Eteocretan or not will have to wait for decipherment of Linear A. Perhaps, however, the name Theonoe may mean she who knows divine things better than others. Thus for Plato her name was to be derived from Greek Ἀθεονόα, Plato also noted that the citizens of Sais in Egypt worshipped a goddess whose Egyptian name was Neith, and which was identified with Athena. Neith was the war goddess and huntress deity of the Egyptians since the ancient Pre-Dynastic period, in addition, ancient Greek myths reported that Athena had visited many mythological places such as Libyas Triton River in North Africa and the Phlegraean plain
23.
Ashlar
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Ashlar is finely dressed masonry, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared or the masonry built of such stone. It is the finest stone masonry unit, generally cuboid, mentioned by Vitruvius as opus isodomum, one such decorative treatment consists of small grooves achieved by the application of a metal comb. Generally used only on softer stone ashlar, this decoration is known as masons drag, ashlar is in contrast to rubble masonry, which employs irregularly shaped stones, although sometimes minimally worked or selected for similar size, or both. Ashlar is related but distinct from other stone masonry that is finely dressed but not quadrilateral, such as curvilinear masonry, ashlar may be coursed, which involves lengthy horizontal courses of stone blocks laid in parallel, and therefore with continuous horizontal joints. Ashlar may also be random, which involves stone blocks laid with deliberately discontinuous courses, in either case, it generally uses a joining material such as mortar to bind the blocks together, although dry ashlar construction, metal ties, and other methods of assembly have been used. The dry ashlar of Inca architecture in Cusco and Machu Picchu is particularly fine, the word is attested in Middle English and derives from Old French aisselier, from Latin axilla, diminutive of axis, plank. Ashlar blocks have been used in the construction of buildings as an alternative to brick or other materials. In classical architecture, ashlar wall surfaces were contrasted with rustication. The term is used to describe the dressed stone work of prehistoric Greece and Crete. For example, the tombs of Bronze Age Mycenae use ashlar masonry in the construction of the so-called beehive dome. This dome consists of finely cut ashlar blocks that decrease in size and these domes are not true domes, but are constructed using the corbel arch. Ashlar masonry was also used in the construction of palace facades on Crete. These constructions date to the MM III-LM Ib period, ca, in modern European masonry the blocks are generally about 35 centimetres in height. When shorter than 30 centimetres, they are called small ashlar. In some Masonic groupings, which such societies term jurisdictions, ashlars are used as a metaphor for how ones personal development relates to the tenets of their lodge. Ablaq Dimension stone Opus quadratum Rustication Stone cladding Stone veneer
24.
Mount Pentelicus
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Mount Pentelicus or Pentelikon is a mountain range in Attica, Greece, situated northeast of Athens and southwest of Marathon. Its highest point is the peak Pyrgari, elevation 1,109 m, the mountain is covered in large part with forest, and can be seen from southern Athens, the Pedia plain, Parnitha, and the southern part of the northern suburbs of Athens. Houses surround the mountain, especially in Vrilissia, Penteli, Ekali, Dionysos, in ancient times it was also called Brilissos or Brilittos which is the origin of the name of the nearby suburb of Vrilissia. Even since antiquity, Mount Pentelicus has been famous for its marble, pentelic marble is flawless white with a uniform, faint yellow tint, which makes it shine with a golden hue under sunlight. The ancient quarry is protected by law, and used exclusively to obtain material for the Acropolis Restoration Project, the roadway used to transport marble blocks from the quarry to the Acropolis in antiquity is a continual downhill, and follows the natural lay of the land. It has been researched and fully documented by the chief Acropolis restoration architect, Professor Manolis Korres, a monastery is also located in the middle of the mountain, north-east of city centre. A fire in early July 1995 consumed much of the mountain forest, the volume of smoke was tremendous, it nearly covered the entire northeastern part of Athens, and all terrestrial televisual media covered the fire. The blaze lasted about 5 days, it reached east of Penteli about 5,30 p. m and it consumed three quarters of the slopes of Mount Pentelicus, and was the worst forest fire Athens and Greece had seen in the 20th century. Housing development took place in the half of the mountain which removed what was left of nature from the mountain. Many are luxurious and several houses were added, a mining area also removed what was left from nature in the eastern half. The northern half remains heavily forested, a series of fires also occurred after the major fire devastated the mountain range, from 1998 to 2001. Many of the fires were arson-related and suspects were arrested, the fire even burnt its dry grass which was the chief pattern of spread, the people of the area now favour removal of dry grass from future wildfires. The blaze burnt tens of hectares and lasted through the afternoon to the late-night hours. One and a months later, a huge fire yet again battered the forests adjoining Penteli. This time the wildfire was larger and more destructive, with flames towering as high as 50 to 60m, and almost blocking any view of the sky, along with an attendant smoke. The blaze spread, burning tens or hundreds buildings, many of them near the areas, and a western portion 10 km long from north to south. Firefighters along with the panicked residents battled the blaze on neighbourhood streets. The fire had begun in the hours and quickly spread
25.
Stadium of Domitian
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The Stadium of Domitian, also known as the Circus Agonalis, was located to the north of the Campus Martius in Rome, Italy. The Stadium was commissioned around 80 AD by the Emperor Titus Flavius Domitianus as a gift to the people of Rome, and was used mostly for athletic contests. The Stadium of Domitian was dedicated in 86 AD, as part of an Imperial building programme at the Field of Mars and it was Romes first permanent venue for competitive athletics. It was patterned after the Greek model and seated approximately 15,000 -20,000 – a smaller, the substructures and support frames were made of brick and concrete – a robust, fire-retardant and relatively cheap material – clad in marble. Stylistically, the Stadium facades would have resembled those of the Colosseum, its floor plan followed the same elongated, U-shape as the Circus Maximus and this arrangement offered a clear view from most seats. The typically Greek layout gave the Stadium its Latinised Greek name, the flattened end was sealed by two vertically staggered entrance galleries and the perimeter was arcaded beneath the seating levels, with travertine pilasters between its cavea. The formation of a continuous arena trackway by a raised spina or strip has been conjectured, the Stadium of Domitian was the northernmost of an impressive series of public buildings on the Campus Martius. To its south stood the smaller and more intimate Odeon of Domitian, used for recitals, song, the southernmost end of the Campus was dominated by the Theater of Pompey, restored by Domitian during the same rebuilding program. The Stadium was used almost entirely for athletic contests, for a few years, following fire-damage to the Colosseum in 217 AD, it was used for gladiator shows. In Christian martyr-legend, St Agnes was put to death there during the reign of the emperor Diocletian, substantial portions of the structure survived into the Renaissance era, when they were mined and robbed for building materials. The Piazza Navona sits over the arena of the Stadium. The sweep of buildings that embrace the Piazza incorporate the Stadiums original lower arcades and they include the most recent rebuilding of the Church of SantAgnese in Agone, first founded in the ninth century at the traditional place of St. Agnes martyrdom
26.
Cavea
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In Roman times the cavea referred to the seating sections of Roman theatres and amphitheatres. It was usually preserved for the upper echelons of society, the media cavea directly follows the ima cavea and was open to the general public, though mostly reserved for men. The summa cavea is the highest section and was open to women and children. Similarly the front row was called the cavea and the last row was called the cavea ultima. The cavea was further divided vertically into cunei, a cuneus was a wedge-shaped division separated by the scalae or stairways
27.
Theodosius I
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Theodosius I, also known as Theodosius the Great, was Roman Emperor from AD379 to AD395. Theodosius was the last emperor to rule both the eastern and the western halves of the Roman Empire. On accepting his elevation, he campaigned against Goths and other barbarians who had invaded the empire. He failed to kill, expel, or entirely subjugate them and he fought two destructive civil wars, in which he defeated the usurpers Magnus Maximus and Eugenius at great cost to the power of the empire. He also issued decrees that effectively made Orthodox Nicene Christianity the official church of the Roman Empire. He neither prevented nor punished the destruction of prominent Hellenistic temples of antiquity, including the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He dissolved the order of the Vestal Virgins in Rome, in 393, he banned the pagan rituals of the Olympics in Ancient Greece. Theodosius was born in Cauca, Gallaecia, Hispania or Italica, Baetica, Hispania, to a military officer. Theodosius learned his lessons by campaigning with his fathers staff in Britannia where he went to help quell the Great Conspiracy in 368. In about 373, he became governor of Upper Moesia and oversaw hostilities against the Sarmatians and he was military commander of Moesia, a Roman province on the lower Danube, in 374. However, shortly thereafter, and at about the time as the sudden disgrace and execution of his father. The reason for his retirement, and the relationship between it and his fathers death is unclear and it is possible that he was dismissed from his command by the emperor Valentinian I after the loss of two of Theodosius legions to the Sarmatians in late 374. The death of Valentinian I in 375 created political pandemonium, fearing further persecution on account of his family ties, Theodosius abruptly retired to his family estates in the province of Gallaecia where he adopted the life of a provincial aristocrat. In 378, after the disastrous Battle of Adrianople where Valens was killed, as Valens had no successor, Gratians appointment of Theodosius amounted to a de facto invitation for Theodosius to become co-Augustus of the East Roman Empire. After Gratian was killed in a rebellion in 383, Theodosius appointed his own son, Arcadius. By his first wife, the probably Spanish Aelia Flaccilla Augusta, he had two sons, Arcadius and Honorius and a daughter, Aelia Pulcheria, Arcadius was his heir in the East, both Aelia Flaccilla and Pulcheria died in 385. His second wife was Galla, daughter of the emperor Valentinian I, Theodosius and Galla had a son Gratian, born in 388 and who died young, and a daughter Aelia Galla Placidia. Placidia was the child who survived to adulthood and later became an Empress
28.
Duchy of Athens
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The first duke of Athens was Otto de la Roche, a minor Burgundian knight of the Fourth Crusade. Although he was known as the Duke of Athens from the foundation of the duchy in 1205, instead, Otto proclaimed himself Lord of Athens. The local Greeks called the dukes Megas Kyris, from which the shortened form Megaskyr, like the rest of Latin Greece, however, the Duchy recognized the suzerainty of Charles I of Sicily after the Treaties of Viterbo in 1267. The Duchy occupied the Attic peninsula as well as Boeotia and extended partially into Thessaly, sharing a border with Thessalonica. It did not hold the islands of the Aegean Sea, which were Venetian territories, the buildings of the Acropolis in Athens served as the palace for the dukes. The Duchy was held by the family of la Roche until 1308, walters son Walter VI of Brienne retained only the lordship of Argos and Nauplia, where his claims to the Duchy were still recognized. In 1312, the Catalans recognized the suzerainty of King Frederick III of Sicily, the ducal title remained in the hands of the Crown of Aragon until 1388, but actual authority was exercised by a series of vicars-general. In 1318/19 the Catalans conquered Siderokastron and the south of Thessaly as well, part of Thessaly was conquered from the Catalans by the Serbs in the 1340s. The principal towns and villages were represented by the síndic, which had their own councils, judges and notaries were elected for life or even as inherited offices. In 1379 the Navarrese Company, in the service of the Latin emperor James of Baux, conquered Thebes, meanwhile, the Aragonese kept another part of Neopatras and Attica. After 1381 the Duchy was ruled by the Kings of Sicily until 1388 when the Acciaioli family of Florence captured Athens, from 1395 to 1402 the Venetians briefly controlled the Duchy. In 1444 Athens became a tributary of Constantine Palaeologus, the despot of Morea, in 1456, after the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire, Turahanoğlu Ömer Bey conquered the remnants of the Duchy. Despite the Ottoman conquest, the title of Duke of Athens and Neopatras continued in use by the kings of Aragon, Athens was the seat of a metropolitan archdiocese within the Patriarchate of Constantinople when it was conquered by the Franks. The see, however, was not of importance, being the twenty-eighth in precedence in the Byzantine Empire, nonetheless, it had produced the prominent clergyman Michael Choniates. It was a metropolitan see with eleven suffragans at the time of conquest, Euripus, Daulia, Coronea, Andros, Oreos, Scyrus, Karystos, Porthmus, Aulon, Syra and Seriphus, and Ceos and Thermiae. The customs of the church of Paris were imported to Athens, antonio Ballester, however, an educated Catalan, had a successful career in Greece as archbishop. The Parthenon, which had been the Orthodox church of the Theotokos Atheniotissa, the Greek Orthodox church survived as an underground institution without official sanction by the governing Latin authorities. The Greek clergy had not typically been literate in the century and their education certainly worsened under Latin domination
29.
Greek War of Independence
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The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution, was a successful war of independence waged by the Greek revolutionaries between 1821 and 1832 against the Ottoman Empire. Even several decades before the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453, during this time, there were several revolt attempts by Greeks to gain independence from Ottoman control. In 1814, an organization called the Filiki Eteria was founded with the aim of liberating Greece. The Filiki Eteria planned to launch revolts in the Peloponnese, the Danubian Principalities, the first of these revolts began on 6 March 1821 in the Danubian Principalities, but it was soon put down by the Ottomans. The events in the north urged the Greeks in the Peloponnese into action and on 17 March 1821 and this declaration was the start of a spring of revolutionary actions from other controlled states against the Ottoman Empire. By the end of the month, the Peloponnese was in revolt against the Turks and by October 1821. The Peloponnesian revolt was followed by revolts in Crete, Macedonia, and Central Greece. Meanwhile, the makeshift Greek navy was achieving success against the Ottoman navy in the Aegean Sea, tensions soon developed among different Greek factions, leading to two consecutive civil wars. In the meantime, the Ottoman Sultan negotiated with Mehmet Ali of Egypt, although Ibrahim was defeated in Mani, he had succeeded in suppressing most of the revolt in the Peloponnese, and Athens had been retaken. Following years of negotiation, three Great Powers—Russia, Britain and France—decided to intervene in the conflict and each sent a navy to Greece. Following news that combined Ottoman–Egyptian fleets were going to attack the Greek island of Hydra, the battle began after a tense week-long standoff, ending in the destruction of the Ottoman–Egyptian fleet. As a result of years of negotiation, Greece was finally recognized as an independent nation in the Treaty of Constantinople of May 1832, the Revolution is celebrated by the modern Greek state as a national day on 25 March. The Fall of Constantinople on 29 May 1453 and the subsequent fall of the states of the Byzantine Empire marked the end of Byzantine sovereignty. After that, the Ottoman Empire ruled the Balkans and Anatolia, Orthodox Christians were granted some political rights under Ottoman rule, but they were considered inferior subjects. The majority of Greeks were called Rayah by the Turks, a name referred to the large mass of non-Muslim subjects under the Ottoman ruling class. Demetrius Chalcondyles called on Venice and all of the Latins to aid the Greeks against the abominable, monstrous, however, Greece was to remain under Ottoman rule for several more centuries. The Greek Revolution was not an event, numerous failed attempts at regaining independence took place throughout the history of the Ottoman era. Throughout the 17th century there was resistance to the Ottomans in the Morea and elsewhere
30.
Evangelis Zappas
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Evangelis or Evangelos Zappas was a Greek patriot, philanthropist and businessman who spent most of his life in Romania. These Games, known at the time simply as Olympics, came before the founding of the International Olympic Committee, the legacy of Evangelis Zappas, as well as the legacy of his cousin Konstantinos Zappas, was also used to fund the Olympic Games of 1896. During his youth, Zappas joined the Greek War of Independence, achieving the rank of Major, following Greek independence, he moved to Wallachia where he had a successful career as a businessman, becoming one of the richest men of that time in Eastern Europe. Evangelis Zappas was born of a Greek ancestry in 1800 in the village of Labovo, near Tepelenë, Zappas did not receive any education during his childhood. He left his village at the age of 13 and enrolled as a mercenary in the Ottoman militia of the local ruler Ali Pasha, Zappas became a member of the Greek patriotic organization Filiki Eteria and joined his compatriots when the Greek War of Independence broke out in 1821. During this period, Zappas reached the rank of Major in the army and became a personal friend of the Souliot captain. After Botsariss death in 1823, Zappas served under various commanders of the independence struggle, such as Dimitrios Panourgias, Kitsos Tzavelas. He participated in major conflicts, such as the siege of Souli, the first siege of Missolonghi. In his later correspondence with a Greek official, he claimed that he was wounded five times during the war, in 1831, Zappas emigrated to Wallachia and made a fortune in land and agriculture. In the 1850s, Zappas was considered one of the wealthiest entrepreneurs in Eastern Europe, at the time of his death in 1865, his total wealth was estimated at six million gold drachmas. The idea of reviving the ancient Olympic Games had been raised from time to time during the early and mid 19th century, inspired to a certain degree by romanticism and patriotism. In 1833, the romantic poet Panagiotis Soutsos, in his work Dialogue of the Dead, proposed the revival of the Games in the newly formed Greek state, in 1852, archaeologist Ernst Curtius stated during a lecture that the Olympic events would be revived. Zappas was notably inspired by Panagiotis Soutsos and resolved to revive this ancient tradition through his own efforts and resources. In early 1856, he sent a letter through diplomatic channels to King Otto of Greece, offering to fund the revival of the Olympic Games, however, this initiative was not without opposition. There was wide belief among some Greek politicians that athletic games were a throwback to ancient times, alexandros Rizos Rangavis, the Greek foreign minister and head of the conservative anti-athletics lobby in Athens, suggested an industrial and agricultural exposition instead of an athletics event. For months there was no answer from the Greek state. In July 1856, an article in the Greek press by Panagiotis Soutsos made Zappass proposal widely known to the public, King Otto agreed to the organization of athletics competitions at four-year intervals, with Zappas full sponsorship, to coincide with industrial and agricultural expositions. As a result, Zappas provided the Greek government with the financial resources to establish an Olympic Trust Fund
31.
Constantine I of Greece
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Constantine I was King of Greece from 1913 to 1917 and from 1920 to 1922. He succeeded to the throne of Greece on 18 March 1913 and his disagreement with Eleftherios Venizelos over whether Greece should enter World War I led to the National Schism. Constantine forced Venizelos to resign twice, but in 1917 he left Greece, after threats of the Entente forces to bombard Athens, his son, Alexander. After Alexanders death, Venizelos defeat in the 1920 legislative elections, and he abdicated the throne for the second and last time in 1922, when Greece lost the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922, and was succeeded by his eldest son, George II. Constantine died in four months later, in Sicily. Born on 2 August 1868 in Athens, Constantine was the eldest son of King George I and his birth was met with an immense wave of enthusiasm, the new heir apparent to the throne was the first Greek-born member of the family. As the ceremonial cannon on Lycabettus Hill fired the salute, huge crowds gathered outside the Palace shouting what they thought should rightfully be the newborn princes name. He was inevitably christened Constantine on 12 August, and his style was the Diádochos. An additional nickname adopted mainly by the royalists for Constantine was the son of the eagle, on 30 October 1882 he enrolled in the Hellenic Military Academy. After graduation he was sent to Berlin for further military education, Constantine also studied political science and business in Heidelberg and Leipzig. In 1890 he became a Major General, and assumed command of the 3rd Army Headquarters in Athens, in January 1895, Constantine caused political turmoil when he ordered army and gendarmerie forces to break up a street protest against tax policy. Constantine had previously addressed the crowd and advised them to submit their grievances to the government, Prime Minister Charilaos Trikoupis asked the King to recommend that his son avoid such interventions in politics without prior consultation with the government. King George responded that the Crown Prince was, in dispersing protesters, merely obeying orders. The incident caused a debate in Parliament, and Trikoupis finally resigned as a result. In the following elections Trikoupis was defeated, and the new Prime Minister, Theodoros Deligiannis, the organization of the first modern Olympics in Athens was another issue which caused a Constantine-Trikoupis confrontation, with Trikoupis opposed to hosting the Games. After Deligiannis electoral victory over Trikoupis in 1895, those who favored a revival of the Olympic Games, including the Crown Prince, coubertin assured that the King and the Crown Prince will confer their patronage on the holding of these Games. Constantine later conferred more than that, he assumed the presidency of the 1896 organizing committee. At the Crown Princes request, wealthy businessman George Averoff agreed to pay one million drachmas to fund the restoration of the Panathinaiko Stadium in white marble
32.
George Averoff
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George M. Averoff, alternately Georgios Averof, was a Greek businessman and philanthropist. He is one of the national benefactors of Greece. Born in the town of Metsovo Averoff moved to Alexandria while still young and he was known through most of his life for founding numerous schools in both Egypt and Greece. George Averoff was of Aromanian-Greek origin and he moved to Cairo, Egypt, in 1837 to work in his brother, Anastasios’s, shop. Thanks to his tactics and business activities he became the biggest merchant in Egypt. His business activities resulted in the accumulation of vast wealth which he used to donate to charity, the restoration of the Panathenian Stadium for the 1896 Summer Olympics was done at the request of Crown Prince Constantine. The stadium was refurbished in 1895, its second refurbishment in the 19th century, the cost was initially estimated at 585,000 drachmas but eventually reached 920,000. He also served as a member of the committee for the foreign competitors at the Games. Georgios Averof died in Alexandria in 1899, in addition, a Greek cruiser, the flagship of the Hellenic Navy, which was constructed largely with funds provided for under his will, was named after him. Chatzifotis, “Oi Metsovites stin Aleksandreia”, Minutes of the 1st conference of Metsovite Studies, Athens 1993, V. Skafidas, “Istoria tou Metsovou”, Epirotiki Estia 12/131,133, pp. 294–299, 392-396. G. Plataris-Tzimas, Kodikas Diathikon, Meizones kai elassones euergetes tou Metsovou, Vol. A’, publ. of the Prefecture of Ioannina, a. Politou, O Ellinismos kai I Neotera Aigyptos, Vol. A’, I istoria tou aigyptiotou ellinismou 1798-1927, publ. His life in short About the ship About the statue George Averoff at Find a Grave
33.
Greek drachma
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Three modern Greek currencies, the first introduced in 1832 and the last replaced by the euro in 2001. The euro did not begin circulating until 2002 but the rate was fixed on 19 June 2000. It was also a unit of weight. The name drachma is derived from the verb δράσσομαι and it is believed that the same word with the meaning of handful or handle is found in Linear B tablets of the Mycenean Pylos. Initially a drachma was a fistful of six oboloí or obeloí used as a form of currency as early as 1100 BC and being a form of bullion, bronze, copper, a hoard of over 150 rod-shaped obeloi was uncovered at Heraion of Argos in Peloponnese. Six of them are displayed at the Numismatic Museum of Athens and it was the standard unit of silver coinage at most ancient Greek mints, and the name obol was used to describe a coin that was one-sixth of a drachma. Similar information about Pheidons obeloi was also recorded at the Parian Chronicle, ancient Greek coins normally had distinctive names in daily use. The Athenian tetradrachm was called owl, the Aeginetic stater was called chelone, the exact exchange value of each was determined by the quantity and quality of the metal, which reflected on the reputation of each mint. The 5th century BC Athenian tetradrachm coin was perhaps the most widely used coin in the Greek world prior to the time of Alexander the Great and it featured the helmeted profile bust of Athena on the obverse and an owl on the reverse. In daily use they were called γλαῦκες glaukes, hence the proverb Γλαῦκ’ Ἀθήναζε, the reverse is featured on the national side of the modern Greek 1 euro coin. Drachmae were minted on different weight standards at different Greek mints, the standard that came to be most commonly used was the Athenian or Attic one, which weighed a little over 4.3 grams. The Armenian dram also derives its name from the drachma. S, modern commentators derived from Xenophon that half a drachma per day would provide a comfortable subsistence for the poor citizens. Earlier in 422 BC, we see in Aristophanes that the daily half-drachma of a juror is just enough for the daily subsistence of a family of three. Fractions and multiples of the drachma were minted by many states, most notably in Ptolemaic Egypt, notable Ptolemaic coins included the gold pentadrachm and octadrachm, and silver tetradrachm, decadrachm and pentakaidecadrachm. This was especially noteworthy as it would not be until the introduction of the Guldengroschen in 1486 that coins of substantial size would be minted in significant quantities, for the Roman successors of the drachma, see Roman provincial coins. The weight of the drachma was approximately 4.3 grams or 0.15 ounces. It was divided into six obols of 0.72 grams, the New Testament mentions both didrachma and, by implication, tetradrachma in context of the Temple tax. Lukes Gospel includes a parable told by Jesus of a woman with 10 drachmae, the drachma was reintroduced in May 1832, shortly before the establishment of the modern state of Greece
34.
Julian calendar
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The Julian calendar, proposed by Julius Caesar in 46 BC, was a reform of the Roman calendar. It took effect on 1 January 45 BC, by edict, the Julian calendar gains against the mean tropical year at the rate of one day in 128 years. For the Gregorian the figure is one day in 3,030 years, the difference in the average length of the year between Julian and Gregorian is 0. 002%. The Julian calendar has a year of 365 days divided into 12 months. A leap day is added to February every four years, the Julian year is, therefore, on average 365.25 days long. It was intended to approximate the tropical year, as a result, the calendar year gains about three days every four centuries compared to observed equinox times and the seasons. This discrepancy was corrected by the Gregorian reform of 1582, consequently, the Julian calendar is currently 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar. Egypt converted on 20 December 1874/1 January 1875, turkey switched on 16 February/1 March 1917. Russia changed on 1/14 February 1918, Greece made the change for civil purposes on 16 February/1 March 1923 - the national day, which was a religious holiday, was to remain on the old calendar. Most Christian denominations in the west and areas evangelised by western churches have replaced the Julian calendar with the Gregorian as the basis for their liturgical calendars. However, most branches of the Eastern Orthodox Church still use the Julian calendar for calculating the date of Easter, some Orthodox churches have adopted the Revised Julian calendar for the observance of fixed feasts, while other Orthodox churches retain the Julian calendar for all purposes. The Julian calendar is used by the Berbers of the Maghreb in the form of the Berber calendar. In the form of the Alexandrian calendar, it is the basis for the Ethiopian calendar, during the changeover between calendars and for some time afterwards, dual dating was used in documents and gave the date according to both systems. In contemporary as well as texts that describe events during the period of change. The ordinary year in the previous Roman calendar consisted of 12 months, in addition, a 27- or 28-day intercalary month, the Mensis Intercalaris, was sometimes inserted between February and March. The net effect was to add 22 or 23 days to the year, some say the mensis intercalaris always had 27 days and began on either the first or the second day after the Terminalia. According to the later writers Censorinus and Macrobius, the ideal intercalary cycle consisted of ordinary years of 355 days alternating with intercalary years, alternately 377 and 378 days long. In this system, the average Roman year would have had 366 1⁄4 days over four years, Macrobius describes a further refinement whereby, in one 8-year period within a 24-year cycle, there were only three intercalary years, each of 377 days
35.
Easter Monday
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Easter Monday is the day after Easter Sunday and is a holiday in some countries. Easter Monday in the Western Christian liturgical calendar is the day of Eastertide. Formerly, the post-Easter festivities involved a week of secular celebration, in the Eastern Orthodox Church and Byzantine Rite Catholic Churches, this day is called Bright Monday or Renewal Monday. In Australia, Easter Monday is a public holiday, people enjoy outdoor sporting events, such as the Oakbank Easter Racing Carnival in South Australia, Australian Three Peaks Race in Tasmania as well as the Stawell Gift in Victoria. In Egypt, the ancient festival of Sham El Nessim is celebrated on the Coptic Easter Monday and it is celebrated by both Egyptian Christians and Muslims as an Egyptian national holiday rather than as a religious one. Traditional activities include painting eggs, taking meals outdoors, and eating feseekh, in the Republic of Ireland it is a day of remembrance for the men and women who died in the Easter Rising which began on Easter Monday 1916. Until 1966, there was a parade of veterans, past the headquarters of the Irish Republican Army at the General Post Office on OConnell Street, Śmigus-dyngus is the name for Easter Monday in Poland and the diaspora. In the Czech Republic it is called velikonoční pondělí, in Slovakia veľkonočný pondelok, also called Šibačka/Polievačka or Oblievačka. All countries practice a unique custom on this day, another related custom, unique to Poland, is that of sprinkling bowls of ashes on people or houses, celebrated a few weeks earlier at the półpoście. This custom is almost forgotten, but still practiced in the area around the borders of Mazuria and Masovia, in Germany, people go out into the fields early in the morning and hold Easter egg races. For Roman Catholics, Easter Monday is also a Holy Day of Obligation in Germany. Though not largely observed in the United States, the day remains informally observed in areas such as the state of North Dakota, and some cities in New York, Michigan. Easter Monday was a holiday in North Carolina from 1935 to 1987. Texas and Maryland schools often have two holidays on Good Friday and Easter Monday, in some states and districts, public schools and universities are closed on Easter Monday, often part of spring break. Traditionally Polish areas of the such as Chicago, and more recently Cleveland. Dyngus Day celebrations are widespread and popular in Buffalo, New York, Wyandotte and Hamtramck in Michigan, South Bend and La Porte in Indiana, the worlds largest organized Dyngus Day celebration occurs in Buffalo, New York. In Buffalos eastern suburbs and the citys Historic Polonia District, Dyngus Day is celebrated with a level of enthusiasm. Although Dyngus Day was celebrated in traditional Polish neighborhoods of Buffalo dating back to the 1870s, judge Ann T. Mikoll and her late husband Theodore V. Mikoll held the first party at the Societys clubrooms in the Buffalo Central Terminal
36.
Western Christianity
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Western Christianity consists of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church, and a variety of Protestant denominations. The name has applied in order to distinguish these from Eastern Christianity. Today, the distinction between Western and Eastern Christianity is not nearly as absolute, due to the spread of missionary activities, migrations. The adjectives Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity are thus used to refer to historical origins rather than present geographical locations. For most of its history the church in Europe has been divided between the Latin-speaking west, whose centre was Rome, and the Greek-speaking east, whose centre was Constantinople. Cultural differences and political rivalry created tensions between the two churches, leading to disagreement over doctrine and ecclesiology and ultimately to schism, like Eastern Christianity, Western Christianity traces its roots, directly or indirectly, to the apostles and other early preachers of the religion. In Western Christianitys original area Latin was the principal language, Christian writers in Latin had more influence there than those who wrote in Greek, Syriac, or other Eastern languages. With the last-named form of Eastern Christianity, reunion agreements were signed at the Second Council of Lyon and the Council of Florence, but these proved ineffective. The rise of Protestantism led to divisions within Western Christianity, which still persist, and wars—for example. In and after the Age of Discovery, Europeans spread Western Christianity to the New World, Roman Catholicism came to the Americas, Africa, Asia, Australia and the Pacific. Protestantism, including Anglicanism, came to North America, Australia-Pacific and this Western version also has the additional phrase God from God, which was in the Creed as adopted by the First Council of Nicaea, but which was dropped by the First Council of Constantinople. The date of Easter usually differs between Eastern and Western Christianity, because the calculations are based on the Julian calendar and Gregorian calendar respectively, for example, the Church of England continued to observe Easter on the same date as the Eastern Church until 1753. Even the dates of other Christian holidays differ between Eastern and Western Christianity, Western Christianity makes up about 90% of Christians worldwide, with the Roman Catholic Church accounting for over half and various Protestant denominations making up another 40%. Hussite movements of 15th century Bohemia preceded the main Protestant uprising by 100 years and evolved into several small Protestant churches, waldensians survived also, but blended into the Reformed tradition
37.
Eastern Orthodox Church
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The Eastern Orthodox Church teaches that it is the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church established by Jesus Christ in his Great Commission to the apostles. It practices what it understands to be the original Christian faith, the Eastern Orthodox Church is a communion of autocephalous churches, each typically governed by a Holy Synod. It teaches that all bishops are equal by virtue of their ordination, prior to the Council of Chalcedon in AD451, the Eastern Orthodox had also shared communion with the Oriental Orthodox churches, separating primarily over differences in Christology. Eastern Orthodoxy spread throughout the Roman and later Eastern Roman Empires and beyond, playing a prominent role in European, Near Eastern, Slavic, and some African cultures. As a result, the term Greek Orthodox has sometimes used to describe all of Eastern Orthodoxy in general. However, the appellation Greek was never in use and was gradually abandoned by the non-Greek-speaking Eastern Orthodox churches. Its most prominent episcopal see is Constantinople, there are also many in other parts of the world, formed through immigration, conversion and missionary activity. The official name of the Eastern Orthodox Church is the Orthodox Catholic Church and it is the name by which the church refers to itself in its liturgical or canonical texts, in official publications, and in official contexts or administrative documents. Orthodox teachers refer to the Church as Catholic and this name and longer variants containing Catholic are also recognized and referenced in other books and publications by secular or non-Orthodox writers. The common name of the Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, is a shortened practicality that helps to avoid confusions in casual use, for this reason, the eastern churches were sometimes identified as Greek, even before the great schism. After 1054, Greek Orthodox or Greek Catholic marked a church as being in communion with Constantinople and this identification with Greek, however, became increasingly confusing with time. Missionaries brought Orthodoxy to many regions without ethnic Greeks, where the Greek language was not spoken. Today, many of those same Roman churches remain, while a large number of Orthodox are not of Greek national origin. Eastern, then, indicates the element in the Churchs origin and development, while Orthodox indicates the faith. While the Church continues officially to call itself Catholic, for reasons of universality, the first known use of the phrase the catholic church occurred in a letter written about 110 AD from one Greek church to another. Quote of St Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans, Wheresoever the bishop shall appear, there let the people be, even as where Jesus may be, thus, almost from the very beginning, Christians referred to the Church as the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. The Orthodox Church claims that it is today the continuation and preservation of that same Church, a number of other Christian churches also make a similar claim, the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, the Assyrian Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches. The Church of England separated from the Roman Catholic Church, not directly from the Orthodox Church, the depth of this meaning in the Orthodox Church is registered first in its use of the word Orthodox itself, a union of Greek orthos and doxa
38.
George I of Greece
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George I was King of Greece from 1863 until his assassination in 1913. Originally a Danish prince, George was born in Copenhagen, and he was only 17 years old when he was elected king by the Greek National Assembly, which had deposed the unpopular former king Otto. His nomination was both suggested and supported by the Great Powers, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Second French Empire and he married the Russian grand duchess Olga Constantinovna of Russia, and became the first monarch of a new Greek dynasty. Two of his sisters, Alexandra and Dagmar, married into the British, King Edward VII and Tsar Alexander III were his brothers-in-law and King George V and Tsar Nicholas II were his nephews. Georges reign of almost 50 years was characterized by territorial gains as Greece established its place in pre-World War I Europe, Britain ceded the Ionian Islands peacefully, while Thessaly was annexed from the Ottoman Empire after the Russo-Turkish War. Greece was not always successful in its ambitions, it was defeated in the Greco-Turkish War. During the First Balkan War, after Greek troops had captured much of Greek Macedonia, compared to his own long tenure, the reigns of his successors Constantine, Alexander, and George II proved short and insecure. George was born at the Yellow Palace, an 18th-century town house at 18 Amaliegade and he was the second son of Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and Louise of Hesse-Kassel. Although he was of blood, his family was relatively obscure. In 1852, however, Georges father was designated the heir presumptive to the childless King Frederick VII of Denmark, Georges siblings were Frederick, Alexandra, Dagmar, Thyra and Valdemar. Georges mother tongue was Danish, with English as a second language and he was also taught French and German. He embarked on a career in the Royal Danish Navy, while Frederick was described as quiet and extremely well-behaved, George was lively and full of pranks. Many Greeks, seeking closer ties to the pre-eminent world power, Great Britain, rallied around Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, second son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. British prime minister Lord Palmerston believed that the Greeks were panting for increase in territory, hoping for a gift of the Ionian Islands, which were then a British protectorate. The London Conference of 1832, however, prohibited any of the Great Powers ruling families from accepting the crown, the Greeks nevertheless insisted on holding a plebiscite in which Prince Alfred received over 95% of the 240,000 votes. There were 93 votes for a Republic and 6 for a Greek, with Prince Alfreds exclusion, the search began for an alternative candidate. Eventually, the Greeks and Great Powers winnowed their choice to Prince William of Denmark, aged only 17, he was elected King of the Hellenes on 30 March 1863 by the Greek National Assembly under the regnal name of George I. Paradoxically, he ascended a royal throne before his father, who became King of Denmark on 15 November the same year, there were two significant differences between Georges elevation and that of his predecessor, Otto
39.
Olga Konstantinova of Russia
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Grand Duchess Olga Constantinovna of Russia, later Queen Olga of the Hellenes, was the wife of King George I of Greece and, briefly in 1920, regent of Greece. Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, is her grandson, a member of the Romanov dynasty, she was the daughter of Grand Duke Constantine Nikolaievich and his wife, Princess Alexandra of Saxe-Altenburg. She spent her childhood in Saint Petersburg, Poland and the Crimea, at first, she felt ill at ease in the Kingdom of Greece, but she quickly became involved in social and charitable work. She founded hospitals and help centers, but her attempt to promote a new, more accessible, on the assassination of her husband in 1913, Olga returned to Russia. When the First World War broke out, she set up a hospital in Pavlovsk Palace. She was trapped in the palace after the Russian Revolution of 1917, until the Danish embassy intervened, Olga could not return to Greece as her son, King Constantine I, had been deposed. In October 1920, she returned to Athens on the illness of her grandson. After his death, she was appointed regent until the restoration of Constantine I the following month. After the defeat of the Greeks in the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–22 the Greek royal family were exiled and Olga spent the last years of her life in the United Kingdom, France. Olga was born at Pavlovsk Palace near Saint Petersburg on 3 September 1851 and she was the second child and elder daughter of Grand Duke Constantine Nikolaievich and his wife, Grand Duchess Alexandra, a former princess of Saxe-Altenburg. Through her father, Olga was a granddaughter of Tsar Nicholas I and her childhood was spent at her fathers homes, including Pavlovsk Palace and estates in the Crimea. Her father was a brother of Alexander II, and her mother was considered one of the most intelligent and elegant women of the court. Olga was particularly close to her brother, Nicholas, and was one of the few members of the imperial family to keep in touch with him after he was banished to Tashkent. As a child, Olga was described as a simple and chubby little girl with a broad face, unlike her younger sister, Vera, she had a calm temperament, but she was also extremely shy. For example, when interrogated by her tutors during lessons, she burst into tears, in 1862, Grand Duke Constantine Nikolaievich was appointed viceroy of Russian Poland by his brother and moved to Warsaw with his wife and children. The stay in Poland proved difficult for the Grand Duke, who was the victim of a nationalist assassination attempt the day after his arrival in the Polish capital. Although Constantine embarked on a program of liberalization and re-instated Polish as an official language, finally, an uprising in January 1863 and the radicalization of the separatists pushed the Tsar to recall his brother in August. Olgas difficult experiences in Poland marked her profoundly, the young King George I of Greece visited Russia in 1863 to thank Olgas uncle Tsar Alexander II for his support during Georges election to the throne of Greece
40.
Athletics at the 1896 Summer Olympics
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At the 1896 Summer Olympics, the first modern Olympiad, twelve athletics events were contested. A total of 25 medals were awarded, the medals were later denoted as 37 modern medals. All of the events except the marathon were held in the Panathinaiko Stadium, Events were held on 6 April,7 April,9 April, and 10 April 1896. Altogether,64 athletes, all men, from ten nations competed and this made athletics the most international of the nine sports at the 1896 Games. The American team of 11, which featured only one champion, was dominant. No world records were set, because few international top competitors had participated, in addition, the curves of the track were very tight, making fast times in the running events virtually impossible. The heats of the 100 metres were the first Olympic event to be conducted, the first Olympic champion was crowned in the triple jump, Harvard student James Connolly. Connolly also did well in the jumping events, placing second in the high jump. Many other athletes were versatile as well, thomas Burke won both the 100 metres and 400 metres, a feat not since repeated, while London-based Australian Edwin Flack won the 800 and 1500 metres races. Robert Garrett, a Princeton student, won two first and two second places and his first title was in the discus throw, an event originating from the Ancient Olympics, but never before held at an international event. Garrett had attempted to train for the event with a 10 kilogram replica of a discus, but had given up as it was too heavy. When he learned the actual competition discus weighed only 2 kilograms, he entered the event after all, and won it, to the dismay of the Greek public, a second event held for the first time in international competition was the marathon foot race. It was conceived by Michel Bréal, a friend of Pierre de Coubertin, the race started in Marathon, and ran for 40 kilometres over dusty roads to Athens. The Greek public, disappointed as there had not yet been a Greek victor in athletics, was overjoyed when it was announced during the race that a Greek runner had taken the lead. When Spiridon Louis, a carrier from Maroussi, arrived in the stadium he was accompanied by the Greek Crown Prince on his final lap. Louis would never compete in a race, but his victory made him a national hero. The exploits of Louis, Garrett, Connolly, and Flack would be chronicled in the 1984 NBC miniseries, The First Olympics and these medals were retroactively assigned by the International Olympic Committee, at the time, winners were given a silver medal and runners-up bronze medals. Athletes coming third received no award. P, de Coubertin, Pierre, Philemon, P. J. & Anninos, C
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