Greece
Culture
108-Year-Old Greek Yiayia Prays For the Whole World Every Day
At 108 years of age, a Greek yiayia, or grandmother, named Anthi Katsouli stands in her yard every single day and prays for the entire world.
Born in the village of Katarraktis in the region of Arta in Epirus in...
Greece
The Liberation of Tripolitsa in the Greek War of Independence
The siege of Tripolitsa, Greece (today's city of Tripolis) was a pivotal moment in the Greek War of Independence, and it remains a point of contention between Greeks and Turks, as reflected in the way it is portrayed by...
Culture
Maria Pentagiotissa, the First Femme Fatale of Modern Greece
The story of Maria Pentagiotissa contains all the elements of an urban legend, yet she was a real person and some consider her to be the first femme fatale in modern Greece.
Maria Daskalopoulou is said to have been born...
Greece
Hydra Island, Where the Modern Greek Merchant Marine Began
Most Greeks have substantial familiarity with the graphically gorgeous island of Hydra due to the island's protagonist role in the epic struggle of the Greek War of Independence.
Most non-Greeks familiar with the island know it as a place of...
Ancient Greece
The Flower That Only Grows on the Acropolis of Athens
Found interspersed among the rocky terrain of the Acropolis of Athens is a small plant with pink flowers, the micromeria acropolitana.
Ancient Greece
The Scholars Who Deciphered the Ancient Greek Script Linear B
If not for the incredible determination and talent of two scholars, Alice Kober and Michael Ventris, the ancient Greek script Linear B would likely remain a mystery today.
While many linguists and archaeologists contributed to the decipherment of the script,...
Ancient Greece
The Greek Origins of the Word “Macaroni”
Macaroni, the ancestor of pasta, like so many other things in our world today, had its symbolic birth in Greece. This is the eighth in a series of stories by a Greek-Italian chef tracing the origins of Greek foods...
Greece
Kostas Georgakis, the Student Who Set Himself on Fire for Greece
Kostas Georgakis, a Greek geology student who was attending university in Italy, set himself on fire in Genoa on September 19, 1970 as a protest against the Greek military dictatorship of the time. The 22-year-old's last words were "Long...
Ancient Greece
Has the Mystery of the Ancient Phaistos Disc Been Solved?
The mystery of the Minoan Phaistos Disc has been "solved by 99 percent" says linguist and archaeologist Gareth Owens.
Greece
September 18, 1834: Athens Becomes the Capital of Greece
When Athens was officially declared the capital of the newly established Greek State on September 18, 1834, it was a small village of 7,000 residents living around Acropolis Hill.
Following the assassination of Governor Ioannis Kapodistrias in the Peloponnesian city...
Europe
Dassault: The Greek Connection of One of Europe’s Wealthiest Families
Dassault Aviation is the company behind the Rafale aircraft that Greece has acquired to help protect its borders.
Archaeology
Theopetra Cave: The Oldest Human Construction on Earth
Theopetra Cave, located in the Meteora limestone rock formations of Thessaly, Central Greece, is likely to be the place of the oldest human construction on earth, as findings indicate that the cave was inhabited as early as 130,000 years ago.
According...
Ancient Greece
The Most Prolific Couples in Ancient Greek Mythology
Greek mythology has captured people's imaginations for millennia, particularly the stories of love that feature adoring and often tragic couples, some of which produced countless children.
Oceanus and Tethys
Oceanus and Tethys seem to be one of the few monogamous couples...
Europe
The Greek Who Created the Early German Alphabet
The ancient Greek and German languages may seem worlds apart, but it was a Greek bishop and Christian missionary named Ulfilas, who played a surprisingly important role in the codification of the early German language into a written system.
Ulfilas...
Ancient Greece
The Ancient Roots of Greek Souvlaki, the World’s First Fast Food
Many would think that souvlaki is a type of street food originating from the many years of Ottoman rule in Greece, but this is not true.