ATHENS HISTORY, CULTURE AND TRADITIONS

ATHENS HISTORY, CULTURE AND TRADITIONS S. AVGOULEA-LINARDATOU 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.

Cultural life 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 HerodesAtticus 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.

International Jazz and Blues Festival 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 Epidaurus Festival 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.

Rockwave Festival - European Music Day 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.

Carnival festival 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.

Traditions Epiphany in Greece is known as Theofaniaor 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.

Many of the Greek customs and traditions have their roots in the Greek Christian Orthodox religion 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 (AgiouPnevmatos) 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.

Greek cuisine 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

Famous Greeks 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. AND THE LIST CAN GO ON AND ON......

Moving to more modern years some famous people among many are: 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 (DoménikosTheotokópoulos), often adding the word Κρής (Krēs, "Cretan").

Nikos Kazantzakis (Greek: Νίκος Καζαντζάκης) was a Greek writer and philosopher, celebrated for is novel Zorba the Greek, which was considered his magnum opus. His epitaph reads "I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free." ( in Greek:"Δενελπίζω τίποτα. Δενφοβάμαι τίποτα.Είμαι λέφτερος." ) .

OdysseasElytis 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.

OrientationsOf the Aegean by Odysseas Elytis 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 Horizon- The northwester gives the sail To the sea Caresses of hair To the carefreeness of its dreams Dew-

On the hidden shore by George Seferis 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.

Marina of the rocks You have a taste of tempest on your lips—But where did you wanderAll day long in the hard reverie of stone and sea?An eagle-bearing wind stripped the hillsStripped your longing to the boneAnd the pupils of your eyes received the message of chimeraSpotting memory with foam!Where is the familiar slope of short SeptemberOn the red earth where you played, looking downAt the broad rows of the other girlsThe corners where your friends left armfuls of rosemary. But where did you wanderAll night long in the hard reverie of stone and sea?I told you to count in the naked water its luminous daysOn your back to rejoice in the dawn of thingsOr again to wander on yellow plainsWith a clover of light on you breast, iambic heroine. by Odysseas Elytis

THE END S. AVGOULEA-LINARDATOU SCHOOL

ATHENS HISTORY, CULTURE AND TRADITIONS