Greece is Great!
Jan Migenda
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In 2016, I did a guided tour through Greece with a group of Irish students! From Athens to Sparta and more ... enjoy lots of history!
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Delphi Museum 2: Marble and Music!
The second part of the museum contained lots of marble in the form of inscriptions and statues. Check it out! This inscription is written in Latin, but it's not classical Latin. It's from the Hellenistic Period or Late Antiquity as the dedicator's name L. Aimilius is...
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Delphi Museum 1
The Archeological Museum in Delphi offers some mixed findings from the site. Be curious and explore! Here, votive weapons and bronze infantry helmets in the Corinthian style are to be found in the section about warfare. Someone took this photo of me (with bad posture)...
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Delphi: Theatre and Stadium
Finally, Delphi was not only a religious, but also a cultural centre! Read and marvel! The theatre of Delphi was home to the first Pythic Games which consisted in singing along to a kithara. They were held every eight, later every four years. Think of it as an ancient...
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Delphi: The Temple of Apollon
Delphi not only had the famous oracle I wrote about in my last post, but also a sacred site with many temples. I will now introduce them to you: The Hall of the Athenians was built after the wars against the Persians to store the spoils of war inside. It was built like...
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Delphi: The Centre of the World and the Oracle
Delphi was considered to be the centre of the world in Ancient Greece. How come? This oval stone (unfortunately a bit broken over time) is the Omphalos, the navel of the world (or at least a copy of it). According to legend, it fell down from the sky as a meteor after...
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Delphi: Introduction
Delphi - a famous place. It even has a programming language named after it (we learned to use it in school). After a short trip by bus, we arrived in the small village nearby, made our way past overpriced souvenir shops (40€ for a SD card for a camera!) and came to...
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Boeotia
Time to take a break from the cloister as the weather was really nice. The final view from the restaurant in the sunset showed us some hills, trees and the sea in the distance ... meanwhile, we had a Greek salad (of course)! Look at this lovely sunset over Mount...
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Curiosities at Hosios Loukas
This is the last post from the monastery, I promise! There were just some curiosities that I think you would need to see: Sometimes it's the little things that you normally overlook walking by: This platoon of ants carrying a large breadcrumb seems insignificant next...
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Osios Loukas Monastery - The Crypt
If you go downstairs, you will see the richly decorated crypt of the monastery: With its wide vault and floral as well as geometrical motives, it is surely an inspiring place, even if it may be a bit dark. This is the gravestone (taphos) of the holy man Loukas, though...
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Inside Osios Loukas Monastery
Entering the monastery through the main entrance, you see the main nave flooded with light: Up high, you see the figure of Christ surrounded by angels and Biblical scenes in the corners, all in golden mosaics. A smaller nave behind the main one is plain, with only...
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Osios Loukas Monastery
One of the major monasteries in Greece (also a UNESCO world heritage site) is the Osios Loukas monastery near Delphi in Boeotia. It was founded in the 10th century by the monk Lukas of Steiris, also called Thaumaturgos (Doer of Wonders), as he lived an ascetic life from...
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Gla - Mycenean Mountain Fort
Driving into Boeotia, a more rural region of Greece with maybe Thebes as a well-known city, we visited the mountain fort Gla. Passing modern buildings on our way, we had to get on top of the mountain to enter the fortified position. The thick and high walls were...
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The Plain of Marathon
If you watched the movie "300" and "300-Rise of an Empire", you are familiar with the wars of Greece against the Persians. A famous event is the Battle of Marathon taking place on Greek shores 490BC after the Persian King Darios I thought it would be a good idea to...
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National Museum: Marble, Marble, Marble
Classical Athens must have been an amazing sight: Lots of marble (though probably not in all areas) and some of it in vivid colours! Here I present you some marble reliefs and statues (unfortunately, I had to skip some marble statues and life-like bronze statues with...
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National Museum: Funny Ceramics
This post will be a hopefully welcome relief from the dead serious posts of last time, at least partly. Some things the ancient Greeks did would be ridiculous or scorned today. For example, Old Comedy had leather penises as props for the theatre, and public religious...
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National Museum: More Artifacts
It's not even finished yet! The museum holds treasures from millennia ... This marble relief shows young men engaged in a philosophical discussion; remarkably, also women are by their side. A bronze statue of a child (symbol of Eros, the god of love?) riding a horse...
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National Museum: Wonders of Archeology
Returning to the National Museum of Archeology is really worth it: Wonders of ancient technology and awesome artifacts are waiting for you! For example proof that Nazis already existed in Ancient Greece, that's why Hitler and his companions occupied the Acropolis ......
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War Museum 4: The Western World
The long history of Greece has not only seen striking developments in military technology, but also lots of influx from the rest of Europe. Greek warriors (especially Spartans) were famous for their strength and courage, while the Athenians were also adept at naval...
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War Museum 3: Tribal Warfare
Skipping a bit back in time and over the continents, the souterrain floor of the museum exhibits archaic weapons used in different tribes. If I remember correctly, these spears, swords and bow and arrow are from the Eastern Mediterranean or Scythian. The shield with a...
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War Museum 2 - Modern Warfare
The War Museum in Greece, the country being part of the EU and NATO (together with Turkey), also exhibits some modern weapons, among them some from World War 2 (see below). Here's a fighting jet with the blue and white ribbon of the Greek airforce who have an eagle as...
