ATHENS
HISTORY, CULTURE AND
TRADITIONS
S. AVGOULEALINARDATOU SCHOOL
ATHENS
GREECE
ATHENS: the cradle
of Western
civilization
Athens is the capital and
largest city of Greece. Athens
dominates the Attica region
and is one of the world's
oldest cities, as its recorded
history spans around 3,400
years. Classical Athens was a
powerful city-state. Being
the centre for the arts,
learning and philosophy,
home of Plato and Aristotle,
it is widely referred to as the
cradle of Western civilization
and the birthplace of
democracy, largely due to
the impact of its cultural and
political achievements
during the 5th and 4th
centuries BC on the rest of
the then known European
continent.
Today a cosmopolitan
metropolis, modern Athens
is central to economic,
financial, industrial, political
and cultural life in Greece.
According to Eurostat, the
Athens Larger Urban Zone
is the 7th most populous in
the European Union (the 4th
most populous capital city of
the EU) with a population of
4,013,368 (in 2004). Athens is
also the southernmost capital
on the European mainland.
The heritage of the classical
era is still evident in the
city, represented by a
number of ancient
monuments and works of
art, the most famous of all
being the Parthenon,
widely considered a key
landmark of early Western
civilization. The city also
retains a vast variety of
Roman and Byzantine
monuments, as well as a
smaller number of
remaining Ottoman
monuments projecting the
city's long history across
the centuries. Athens is
home to two UNESCO
World Heritage Sites, the
Acropolis of Athens and
the medieval Daphni
Monastery.
Landmarks of the
modern era, dating back
to the establishment of
Athens as the capital of
the independent Greek
state in 1833, include the
Hellenic Parliament
(19th century) and the
Athens Trilogy
consisting of the
National Library of
Greece, the Athens
University and the
Academy of Athens.
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.
Athens is home to the
National Archaeological
Museum, featuring the
world's largest
collection of ancient
Greek antiquities, as
well as the new
Acropolis Museum.
Today, like 3000 years ago, Athens
can claim its role of great cultural
centre by hosting an increasing
number of contemporary artists,
researching new aesthetic trends,
defending its past and at the same
time ambitiously planning its
future.
It is a dynamic city, rich in culture
and technological innovations. Its
eagerness for renovation however,
still links it inevitably to its
glorious past. The modern
architecture is daring, yet it has a
strong classical influence, the
postindustrial areas are filling up
with theatres, art galleries and
nightlife.
Athens
and the
Sea
The Sea south of Athens
is the Aegean Sea.
Athens is located at the
Argosaronikos Gulf. The
ancient port of Athens is
Piraeus, which today is a
modern district and a
big commercial harbour.
Athens is known for its cultural events. The city that gave
birth to theatre offers today a large variety of performances,
ranging from text-based drama to physical theatre, site
specific performances and productions of international
calibre. Cultured evenings featuring performing arts,
cinema, ancient Greek tragedies and comedies can be
enjoyed in open air venues, under the stars of the Athenian
sky during the warm months. A unique experience is a
performance or a concert held at the Odeon of Herodes
Atticus at the foot of the illuminated Acropolis. The Athens
Concert Hall welcomes top artists, composers and
ensembles from all over the world. Visual arts play a large
role in contemporary Athenian cultural life with a number
of festivals on video and media arts, the Athens Biennale,
large contemporary exhibition spaces and museums and
numerous small private galleries scattered in many arty
districts within the city centre.
Major Greece
cultural events
Hellenic Festival
It takes place in Athens
Herodes Atticus Theatre
and offers a large range
of performances:
modern and ancient
theatre, ballet, opera,
jazz and classical music,
dances, symphonic music
and great singers and
many other special events.
The festival takes place
from June to September.
The International Jazz
and Blues Festival
which takes place in
Athens, in June, is
welcomed by the
theatre of Lycabettus.
Lycabettus also
welcomes every year
many other events,
such as music, dances
and theatrical
performances from the
national and
international scene.
The ancient theatre
of Epidaurus
welcomes a festival
of Classical and some
Modern drama
performances every
summer during the
months of July and
August. This is one of
Greece's top events
which attract
thousands of visitors
every year.
The Rockwave Festival welcomes
every summer international
bands and musicians. Rock
concerts take place in a special
area in Malakasa, about 40 km
north of Athens. The festival lasts
for three days and concerts are
performed all day long.
European Music day
The Music Day which also
welcomes every summer in
Athens, during 3 days,
international and national bands
and musicians for all night long.
Each year, more of the ancient
traditions of carnival are being
revived in Greece.
Already, the carnival in the Greek city
of Patras ranks in the top three
carnival celebrations in the world,
right after much better-known
events in new Orleans and Rio de
Janeiro.
Epiphany in Greece is known
as Theofania or Fota. The first
sanctification of the Epiphany
(The Enlightenment) takes
place in church on the eve of
the holiday. Afterwards, the
priest goes from house to
house holding a cross and a
basil branch. As he walks
through each house, he uses
the basil to sprinkle (bless) all
the areas of the home. At the
end of the sanctification
ceremony a priest throws a
cross into the water, thus
blessing the waters.
Then, those who dare - mostly
the younger people of the
village - jump in the usually
icy water and compete in
retrieving the cross. The one
who brings the cross up to the
surface will enjoy good luck
and health for the entire year.
The church plays an important
role in the daily lives of the
Greeks, and religion and
tradition are intrinsically
interwoven. According to
tradition, children are named
after their grandparents, but
until a baby is baptised, its
name is not used. Children get
their birthday parties, but the
religious name days are
considered much more
important and celebrated
intensely. Civil weddings do
take place, but they are rare: the
large majority of Greek
weddings take place in church
(even if the bride and groom are
not practicing religion).
Easter is the most important religious holiday in Greece, and is preceded by 40 days
of fasting during which, with a few exceptions, no animal products are eaten. People
don’t stick to the 40-days rule so much any more (young people who do so are often
motivated by health reasons!), but on ‘Clean Monday’, that marks the end of the
Carnival period and the beginning of Lent, everybody goes out to fly kites and eat a
traditional Lent meal of pickled vegetables, dips and a few types of seafood allowed
during Lent (octopus, squid, mussels, shrimps). On Holy Saturday the fasting of Lent
ends and when returning from church we eat a soup called “magiritsa” and chink
red eggs. In many areas people light fireworks.
March 25th Greek Independence Day and
Annunciation Day
The celebration of the successful Greek
revolution against the Ottoman occupation
coincides with the religious holiday of the
Annunciation of Mary. Throughout Greece
major Independence Day parades are held.
May 1st (Protomayia) Labour Day - The
Feast of Flowers
A delightful spring holiday that often
allows for day trips near or far. Tradition has
it that on this day you collect flowers and
create a wreath to decorate your front door.
Flower vendors help out with wreaths to
buy.
June-Pentecost Monday – Holiday of the
Holy Spirit (Agiou Pnevmatos) Depending
on Easter, this holiday, (50 days after Easter
Sunday) usually falls in early June.
August 15 -- The Day of Panagia (Virgin
Mary) – One of the most significant of
religious holidays that coincides with the
busy summer holiday season.
Arriving for the first time in Athens the
second important thing you probably do
after visiting the Acropolis will be a taste
of the Greek kitchen.The Greek cuisine is
a Mediterranean cuisine sharing
characteristics with the cuisines of Italy,
the Balkans, Turkey. Contemporary Greek
cookery makes wide use of olive oil,
vegetables and herbs, grains and bread,
wine, fish, and various meats, including
poultry, rabbit and pork. Also important
are olives, cheese, aubergine, courgette,
and yogurt. Greek desserts are
characterized by the dominant use of nuts
and honey
One of the most famous people in Ancient Greece was Plato
(429-327 BC) who is said to have been one of the most brilliant
students of Socrates and later carried on his work. It was Plato
who gathered the ideas of Socrates into one book and also he who
founded the world's first university. He wrote down his
teachings and people all over the world, even today, study the
Greek philosophers.
Another famous Greek person was
Aristotle (382-322 BC) who
discovered many things in science
and biology and after his 17th year
he went to Athens to study by Plato.
He also wrote books about physics,
biology, politics, governments and
even poetry and many more.
The famous mathematician and engineer, Archimedes. He designed the Archimedean screw, a
machine that could make water flow uphill and has been used for almost 2,000 years, to take
water from rivers to the fields. Archimedes was able to tell fool's gold from real gold.
Pythagoras - was a mathematician, well
known nowadays for the Pythagoras'
theorem on right-angled triangles.
Alexander the Great, born in 356 B.C. in Pella,
Macedonia, son of Philip of Macedon, who was an
excellent general and organizer. He got his nickname 'the
Great' because he conquered more lands than anyone
before him and became the overall ruler of Greece.
El Greco (1541 – 7 April 1614) was a painter, sculptor and
architect of the Spanish Renaissance. "El Greco" (The Greek) was
a nickname, a reference to his ethnic Greek origin, and the
artist normally signed his paintings with his full birth name in
Greek letters, Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος (Doménikos
Theotokópoulos), often adding the word Κρής (Krēs, "Cretan").
.
Odysseas Elytis was a Greek poet, born in Heraklio city of Crete in 1911.
Elytis is one of the most important representatives of modernism
in Greece and was awarded with the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1979.
Giorgos or George Seferis was one of the most important Greek poets of
the 20th century, and a Nobel laureate. He was also a career diplomat in
the Greek Foreign Service, culminating in his appointment as
Ambassador to the UK, a post which he held from 1957 to 1962.
Melina Merkouri (1920-1994) an Academy Award nominated
Greek actress, singer and political activist. She was a member
of the Hellenic Parliament, and in 1981 she became the first
female Minister for Culture in Greece. As a Minister of
Culture, she proposed the Cultural Capital of Europe ideal
and she fought for the return of the Parthenon Marbles that
Lord Elgin removed from the Acropolis, now a part of the
British Museum collection. In anticipation of the return of the
marbles, a new museum has been created under the
Parthenon to host the collection and other pieces from the
monument that are being removed and restored
Helena Paparizou embarked on a solo career in Greece in
2003 and released her debut album Protereotita. In 2005 she
won the Eurovision Song Contest for Greece for the first
time in the contest's history, with the song "My Number
One", significantly contributing to her career. Following the
victory, her album peaked at number one on the Greek
Albums Chart and has been very successful in Greece since
then.
I.
Eros
The archipelago
And the prow of its foams
And the gulls of its dreams
On its highest mast the sailor waves
A song
Eros
Its song
And the horizons of its voyage
And the echo of its nostalgia
On her wettest rock the betrothed awaits
A ship
II.
The playing waters
In shady passages
Speak the dawn with their kisses
Which begins
HorizonThe northwester gives the sail
To the sea
Caresses of hair
To the carefreeness of its dreams
Dew-
On the hidden shore
white as a dove
we got thirsty at midday;
but the water salt.
On the golden sand,
we wrote her name;
How lovely the wind blew
and the writing was wiped out.
With what heart, what spirit,
desires and passion
we took on our life. Wrong!
and we changed it.
You have a taste of tempest on your lips—But where did you wander
All day long in the hard reverie of stone and sea?
An eagle-bearing wind stripped the hills
Stripped your longing to the bone
And the pupils of your eyes received the message of chimera
Spotting memory with foam!
Where is the familiar slope of short September
On the red earth where you played, looking down
At the broad rows of the other girls
The corners where your friends left armfuls of rosemary.
But where did you wander
All night long in the hard reverie of stone and sea?
I told you to count in the naked water its luminous days
On your back to rejoice in the dawn of things
Or again to wander on yellow plains
With a clover of light on you breast, iambic heroine.
by Odysseas Elytis
S. AVGOULEA-LINARDATOU SCHOOL