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Greece

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...

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...

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...

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...

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.

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,...

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...

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...

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.

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...

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.

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...

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...

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...

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.