History, art, philosophy, traditions
Knossos and Mycenae, Athens and Sparta, Byzantium and 1821, Socrates and Cavafy, rebetiko and Orthodox Easter: four thousand years of culture.
History
The history of Greece from prehistory to the present, era by era: Cycladic, Minoan and Mycenaean civilisations, the Dark Age, the Archaic age and…
Timeline
A detailed timeline of Greek history from prehistory to the present: the key dates of the Bronze Age, Archaic and Classical Greece, Alexander the…
Cycladic civilisation
The Cycladic civilisation of the Early Bronze Age (about 3200-2000 BC): the islands and villages, seafaring and the obsidian trade from Milos, the…
Minoan civilisation
The Minoan civilisation of Crete (about 3000-1100 BC, peak 1900-1450 BC): Arthur Evans's discovery, the great palaces of Knossos, Phaistos, Malia and…
Mycenaean civilisation
Mycenaean civilisation (about 1600-1100 BC), the first Greek-speaking civilisation: the citadels of Mycenae, Tiryns, Pylos and Thebes, Cyclopean…
Greek colonies
Greek colonisation of the 8th-6th centuries BC explained: the causes (land hunger, trade, political conflict), how a colony was founded, the role of…
Sparta vs Athens
Sparta and Athens, the two great cities of classical Greece, compared: government, society, education and women's roles, the causes of the…
Alcibiades
Life of Alcibiades (c. 450-404 BC): his upbringing in Pericles' house, friendship with Socrates, beauty and excess, the Sicilian Expedition, the…
Demosthenes
Life and works of Demosthenes (384-322 BC): an orphan's childhood and lawsuits against his guardians, practising with pebbles in his mouth to…
Alexander the Great
Alexander the Great (356-323 BC), king of Macedon: childhood at Pella, Aristotle as tutor, Bucephalus, accession to the throne, the battles of the…
Hellenistic age
The Hellenistic age (323-31 BC): the division of Alexander's empire among the Diadochi, the kingdoms of the Ptolemies in Egypt, the Seleucids in Asia…
Roman Greece
Greece under Rome (146 BC-AD 330): the Macedonian Wars and the destruction of Corinth, the province of Achaea, Sulla's sack of Athens, Athens as…
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire (330-1453), the Christian, Greek-speaking Eastern Roman Empire: Constantinople, Justinian, Iconoclasm, relations with Rome and…
Ottoman Greece
Greece under Ottoman rule (15th century-1821/1913): the conquest after 1453, the millet system and the Patriarch's role, taxes and the devshirme…
War of Independence
The Greek revolution of 1821 explained: the Filiki Eteria, the outbreak on 25 March, the leaders (Kolokotronis, Bouboulina, Kanaris, Ypsilantis…
The 20th century
The history of Greece in the 20th century: Venizelos and the Balkan Wars, the First World War and the National Schism, the Asia Minor catastrophe and…
Greek philosophy
The history of Greek philosophy explained clearly: why it began in Greece, the natural philosophers of Miletus, Pythagoras, Heraclitus and…
Socrates and Plato
Socrates and Plato, teacher and pupil at the origins of Western philosophy: Socrates' life, "I know that I know nothing", irony and maieutics, the…
Aristotle
Aristotle (384-322 BC): birth at Stagira, twenty years at Plato's Academy, tutor to Alexander the Great, the Lyceum and the Peripatetics, his works…
Pythagoras
Pythagoras of Samos (6th century BC): his life between legend and history, exile from Samos and the school at Croton in Magna Graecia, the…
Democritus
Democritus of Abdera (c. 460-370 BC): the life of the "laughing philosopher", his teacher Leucippus, the theory of atoms and void, a mechanical…
Archimedes
Archimedes of Syracuse (287-212 BC), the greatest scientist of antiquity: life at the court of Hiero II, the king's crown and the cry "Eureka", the…
Greek science
The scientific achievements of ancient Greece: the mathematics of Thales, Pythagoras and Euclid, astronomy from Aristarchus to Hipparchus and…
Ancient literature
An overview of ancient Greek literature by period and genre: the epic of Homer and Hesiod, the lyric poetry of Sappho, Alcaeus and Pindar, the…
Greek theatre
The theatre of ancient Greece explained: its birth in the festivals of Dionysus, the City Dionysia of Athens, tragedy, comedy and satyr play, the…
Modern literature
Modern Greek literature from the 19th century to today: the language question between katharevousa and demotic, the independence poets Solomos and…
Greek language
The Greek language from Mycenaean Linear B tablets to today's Greek: ancient dialects, classical Attic, Hellenistic koine, Byzantine Greek, the…
Greek alphabet
The complete Greek alphabet with all 24 capital and small letters, each letter's name, its Modern Greek pronunciation and Latin transliteration…
Greek art
The history of ancient Greek art from Geometric to Hellenistic: black- and red-figure pottery, Archaic kouroi and korai, the classical sculpture of…
Architectural orders
A guide to the Greek architectural orders, Doric, Ionic and Corinthian: origins, proportions, columns, capitals and entablature, how to recognise…
Archaeology
A guide to archaeology in Greece: the must-see sites region by region, the full list of 20 UNESCO World Heritage sites, the main archaeological…
Ancient Olympics
The Olympics of ancient Greece: the founding myth, the traditional date of 776 BC, the five-day programme, the events (stadion, pentathlon…
Greek music
The history and genres of Greek music: ancient music and its modes, Byzantine chant, the folk music (dimotika) of different regions, traditional…
Bouzouki
The bouzouki, the long-necked lute that became the symbol of Greek music: origins in the saz and tambouras family, the three-course (trichordo) and…
Rebetiko
Rebetiko, the urban music born in Greek ports and among refugees from Asia Minor: roots in the Smyrna style, 1930s Piraeus, its themes (love…
Greek dances
A guide to traditional Greek dances: circle and line dances, the role of the leader, the most widespread (kalamatianos, syrtos, tsamikos, hasapiko…
Sirtaki
The sirtaki, the world's most famous Greek dance: its creation in 1964 for the film Zorba the Greek with Anthony Quinn, Mikis Theodorakis's music…
Maria Callas
Maria Callas (1923-1977), the most famous soprano of the 20th century: born in New York to Greek parents, trained in Athens during the occupation…
Festivals and traditions
A full calendar of festivals in Greece: public holidays with 2027 dates, religious feasts and name days, carnival (Apokries) in Patras, summer…
Easter
How Orthodox Easter is celebrated in Greece: why its date differs from Western Easter and the dates to 2030, Lent and Clean Monday, Holy Week day by…
Christmas
Greek Christmas traditions: the twelve days from 25 December to 6 January, children's kalanta carols, the karavaki (decorated boat) beside the tree…
Greek cuisine
A guide to Greek cuisine: the key ingredients (olive oil, vegetables, pulses, cheese, herbs), the best-known dishes from starters to sweets, the…
Eating out
A practical guide to eating out in Greece: types of place (taverna, estiatorio, psarotaverna, ouzeri, mezedopolio, psistaria, souvlaki shop…
Greek recipes
The best-loved traditional Greek recipes, explained step by step with ingredients and quantities: tzatziki, Greek salad (horiatiki), Santorini fava…
Moussaka
A traditional Greek moussaka recipe for 6-8 people: ingredients, preparing the aubergines, the cinnamon-scented meat sauce and the béchamel, assembly…
Feta
Feta, the cheese that symbolises Greece: its ancient history, PDO recognition in 2002 and the 2005 European court ruling, production areas, sheep's…
Greek cheeses
A guide to the cheeses of Greece: besides feta, hard cheeses (graviera, kefalotyri, ladotyri), semi-hard (kasseri, kefalograviera), fresh (mizithra…
Bread
Bread in Greek culture: village bread (horiatiko), souvlaki pitta, Thessaloniki's sesame koulouri, Cretan barley rusks (paximadia and dakos), Clean…
Sweets
A guide to the sweets of Greece: filo and syrup pastries (baklava, kataifi, galaktoboureko), loukoumades doughnuts, festive biscuits (melomakarona…
Drinks
What people drink in Greece: Greek coffee and how to order it, the frappé invented in Thessaloniki, freddo espresso and freddo cappuccino, spirits…
Ouzo
Ouzo, the anise spirit that symbolises Greece: its history and the origin of the name, EU geographical indication, how it is made from alcohol, anise…
Greek wine
A guide to the wine of Greece: four thousand years of history from Dionysus to the modern revival, the main native white and red grapes, regions and…
Kafenio
The kafenio (kafeneio), the traditional Greek café: Ottoman origins, the meeting place of village men, its plain furnishings with rush chairs, Greek…
Shopping
A guide to shopping in Greece: food to take home (olive oil, honey, olives, cheese, herbs, mastiha, ouzo, wine), traditional crafts island by island…
Glossary
An A-Z glossary of words you meet when talking about Greece: history and archaeology terms (agora, polis, hoplite, tholos), art and architecture…