1. Greece is the cradle of civilization and gave the world History.
2. Greece is the birthplace of Democracy. The legacy of Ancient Greece has influenced world development and progress throughout history since and is still the foundation of today’s society and politics.
3. Ancient Greeks were the first to establish theoretical thinking which is why the words theory and theorem derive from the Greek language.
4. Most concepts of the modern world are based on the Greek language and meaning. From Technology to Biology to Politics to Theater to Mathematics to Music to Pharmaceuticals to Chemistry to Graphics to Theology, to Bible.
5. Greek is the oldest written language in the world and has been spoken for over 3000 years while the roots of thousands of words in various languages of the world come from the Greek language like the cosmos, alphabet, academy, democracy, and much more.
6. Athens is one of the oldest capitals in the world.
7. Greece has the most archaeological museums out of every country in the world.
8. Greeks wear fustanella to pay tribute to Greek fighters. Fustanella is the multifaceted white cotton men’s skirt with 400 folds, as many as the years of Turkish slavery. The white color that dominates the entire “EVZONE” uniform symbolizes the purity of the national games.
9. The real name of the country is HELLAS or ELLADA and the Romans were the first to call it Grecia (meaning the land of Greek people).
10. Greece has the second-largest maritime fleet in the world.
11. Greece is one of the sunniest countries in the world with over 250 sunny days each year.
12. Greece has over 2000 islands and only 170 of them are populated.
13. In Greece, there are over 120.000.000 olive trees and some of them are from the 7th century and still producing olives. All meals are cooked with extra virgin olive oil in order to be considered healthy.
14. The Greek food is always served with feta, a traditional cheese that has its roots in the era of Homer.
15. Greeks are always passionate about everything and every way, they love life, whatever they do, they do it with “MERAKI“, with all their heart and soul.
16. Greeks are tremendously hospitable, friendly, welcoming and generous people due to their tradition of Xenios Zeus, the god of hospitality or the god “PHILOXENIA“.
17. Greece had the oldest currency in Europe (2560 years), called Drachma.
18. Syrtaki is one of the most known dances around the world, also known as Zorba’s dance. Greeks dance with all their soul even upon tables, clapping and cheering “OPA!”.
19. In Greece, the family is what it’s all about and they try to spend their time mostly eating all together as well as catching up on news and gossip.
20. Greeks have their own mentality, especially when approaching difficulties with a sense of humor. While inside they are terrified, unsure of the future, to the world still they put on a brave face.
21. The real Santa Clause was Greek and was called Saint Nicholas.
22. Greece is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world and it is not a surprise because the Greeks invented tourism.

Let’s face it! It’s all Greek to everyone!

The post 22 things you didn’t know about Greece appeared first on MYTHICAL GREECE.

It is universally known that the Temple of Poseidon has attracted international celebrities and historical personalities, such as the romantic poet Lord Byron. Enchanted by the Greek landscape, the British philhellene wrote to his friend “If I am a poet, … the air of Greece has made me one”. It should be stressed out that Lord Byron was inspired by Sounio to write his poem “Isles of Greece” and until today his calligraphy signature is exposed to one of the marbles of the Temple of Poseidon, dated 1810.

Place me on Sunium’s marbled steep,
Where nothing, save the waves and I,
May hear our mutual murmurs sweep;
There, swan-like, let me sing and die:
A land of slaves shall ne’er be mine—
Dash down yon cup of Samian wine!

Visit today the Temple of Poseidon through a full-day private tour to Cape of Sounio. We offer 2 differernt combinations, which are Athens & Sounio or Marathon & Sounio.

The post The Temple of Poseidon appeared first on MYTHICAL GREECE.

“The sinking within the eternal is the end of philosophy, just as the end of religion is the sinking within the Mysteries”

Plutarch, biographer, essayist, philosopher, priest, ambassador, magistrate (AD 46 – AD 120, aged 73–74)

Cretan Mysteries: In Cretan mysteries, people worshiped Mother Earth. By failing to tame the powers of nature, they deified them and worshiped them as deities. Mythologically, the birth of Zeus in the cave “Idaion Andron” and other Greek Gods as well as the conduction of the first mysterious rituals, seem to have catalytically influenced the later Greek mysteries. Characteristic of the importance of the Minoan mysteries is the fact that Pythagoras visited Crete to initiate the Minoan mysteries. The basis of Minoan religion, as well as all primitive religions, is “the cycle of vegetation”.

Kaviria Mysteries: The Kaviria mysteries were the religious ceremonies that honored the Kaviries. There was the division into minor and great holy Mysteries. Contrary to Eleusinian, the Kaviria Mysteries honored the Birth. The mysteries consisted of five parts. The purge, the deliverance of the ceremony, the supervision, the wreathing, the Perfection and the bliss. The initiations were conducted at a certain period every year and lasted nine days.

Dionysian – Orphic Mysteries: Orpheus was the first teacher of Dionysian Worship. The places where he could teach his worship were many in Greece, for example in Thassos, in Tempi in Thrace. The descendants had three classes of initiation for either men or women. The mysteries began with a Hymn to God and then became a celebration of instruments and drums. As they approached the evening, the candidates were preparing for the initiation, which was completed in an underground cave. No one knows what was taking place in the cave, as there are no written testimonies.

Eleusinian Mysteries: Unlike the Kaviria Mysteries, the purpose of the Eleusinian Mysteries was to give knowledge to people about immortality, not of course as a body but as a soul. Eleusinian mysteries were distinguished in minor and great and were held twice a year. The minor mysteries took place in Agra, a suburb of Athens, near Ardittos on the banks of the Ilissos river, in three periods:
A) during the month of Anthousirona (February – March)
B) after seven months (September)
C) one year after the first meeting

The post Mysteries and Mysticism in Ancient Greece appeared first on MYTHICAL GREECE.

The Greeks from Thira named their colony in North Africa Cyrene from the water source Cyrus, dedicated to the god Apollo, who he gifted the Greeks with the plant Silfio. According to the myth, Vattos A’ disembarked in Cyrenaica and was led by the indigenous people to an area that had a “hole in the sky”, probably because it was raining. There was a sanctuary of god Apollo and Thirai from Greece/ Hellas decided to establish their city by honoring the holy territories of the god of light.

Silfio herb was used by all medics or mystics in the Mediterranean as a medical aid for contraception and abortion, but also as a panacea for almost everything from a sore throat, fever, indigestion, aches and pains, warts, and all kinds of maladies to leprosy. Silfio refers to one of the 500 species of plants recorded in the works of Theophrastus and Dioscorus. Hippocrates applied it as a cataplasm. But its use was not only for medicine. Athenaeus of Naucratis in “Deipnosophistae” (Ancient Greek: Δειπνοσοφισταί, Deipnosophistaí, lit. “The Dinner Sophists/Philosophers/Experts”) reports that they ate salted fish, marinated with wine, oil and silfio. By the Roman era, the herb silfio had become so adorable that it appeared in almost all recipes of the Romans’ cooking “bible” as well as in Apicius Caelius 10 volumes “De re Culinaria”. Julius Caesar acquired large quantities of the plant, which he gave to the treasury of the Roman state. The Romans called the juice of the plant laserpicium and they considered that it “worth its weight in denarii” (silver coins), or even gold.

According to Theophrastus, silfio could not be cultivated. It began to disappear and it is said that the last branches of the plant were offered as a gift to Emperor Nero. Silfio herb was particularly cultivated and consumed in the 2nd and 3rd centuries BC, during which it was considered the favorite plant of the ancient Greeks, Romans and Egyptians. It is believed to have extincted in the 1st century BC. Although humans had tried to cultivate it elsewhere, the plant silfio had nowhere to grow except in the Cyrene. To date, botanists have not been able to identify it.

The post Silfio… the extinct herb appeared first on MYTHICAL GREECE.