Ancient Greeks ... The ancient Greeks (mainly the Athenians) were a unique people - and today, they still are - in my opinion! They believed that individuals should be free as long as they acted within the laws of Greece. This freedom allowed them the opportunity to excel in any direction they chose. Individuality and being free, as the Greeks viewed it, was the basis of their society.
The ability to strive for excellence, no matter what the challenge, was what the Athenians so dearly believed in. This strive for excellence was the method from which they achieved such phenomenal accomplishments; and they really were extraordinary. Their accomplishments astound us to this day. They also believed in the balance of mind and body. They were so far in advance of many others in the world. Although many of them strove to become soldiers and athletes, others ventured into
The two most important concepts which the ancient Greeks followed were found inscribed on the great shrine of Delphi, which read "Nothing in excess" and "Know thyself". This philosophy greatly impacted the Greek civilization.
It was named after Athena, the goddess of wisdom and the city's patron. In 508 BC, Athens became one of the first societies in ancient times to establish democracy. Democracy came from the Greek words, demos, meaning people, and kratein, meaning to rule. This form of government was used at a meeting place which the Greeks called the Assembly - sounds familiar? Here the citizens of Athens met monthly and discussed the affairs of state. There were no decisions made by government without first asking the Assembly.
There are several theories about the origins of the ancient Greek language. One theory suggests that it originated with a migration of proto-Greek speakers into the Greek peninsula, which is dated to any period between 2500 BC and 1700 BC. Another theory maintains that the migration into Greece occurred at a pre-proto-Greek (late PIE) stage, and the characteristic Greek sound-changes occurred later. The ancient Greeks language has been spoken in the Balkan Peninsula since around the late 3rd millennium BC. The earliest written evidence is found in the "Room of the Chariot Tablets", a region of Knosses, in Crete, making Greek one of the world's oldest recorded living languages. Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest attestation is matched only by Vedic Sanskrit and the extinct Anatolian languages.
The walk winds through overgrown olive groves and passes an ancient Greeks school where language and culture were taught in secret during the oppressive Ottoman regime. It feels like a long walk in the heat of the sun when you don't know where you're going, but as you can see, it's well worth the effort. They were a part of religion in Greece. Modern scholars refer to the myths and study them in an attempt to throw light on the religious and political institutions of Ancient Greece, on the Ancient Greeks civilization, and to gain understanding of the nature of myth-making itself.
Greek myth explains the origins of the world and details the lives and adventures of a wide variety of goddesses, gods, heroes, heroines, and other mythological creatures. These accounts initially were disseminated in an oral-poetic tradition; today the Greek myths are known primarily from Greek literature. The oldest known Greek literary sources, the epic poems Iliad and Odyssey, focus on events surrounding the Trojan War. Two poems by Homer's near contemporary Hesiod, the Theogony and the Works and Days, contain accounts of the genesis of the world, the succession of divine rulers, the succession of human ages, the origin of human woes, and the origin of sacrificial practices. Myths also are preserved in the Homeric Hymns, in fragments of epic poems of the Epic Cycle, in lyric poems, in the works of the ancient Greek tragedians of the fifth century BC, in writings of scholars and poets of the Hellenistic Age and in texts from the time of the Roman Empire by writers such as Plutarch and Pausanias. Archaeological evidence is a principal source of detail about Greek mythology, with deities and heroes featuring prominently in the decoration of many artifacts. Geometric designs on pottery of the eighth century BCE depict scenes from the Trojan cycle as well as the adventures of Heracles. In the succeeding Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic periods, Homeric and various other mythological scenes appear, supplementing the existing literary evidence. Greek mythology has exerted an extensive influence on the culture, the arts, and the literature of Western civilization and remains part of Western heritage and language. Poets and artists from ancient times to the present have derived inspiration from ancient Greek mythology and have discovered contemporary significance and relevance in these mythological themes.
The word music comes from the muses, the daughters of Zeus and patron goddesses of creative and intellectual endeavours.
Music played an integral role in the lives of ancient Greeks and was almost universally present in society, from marriages and funerals to religious ceremonies, staged dramas, folk music and the ballad-like reciting of epic poetry. There are significant fragments of actual Greek musical notation as well as many literary references to ancient Greek music, such that some things can be known—or reasonably surmised—about what the music sounded like, the general role of music in society, the economics of music, the importance of a professional caste of musicians, etc. Even archaeological remains reveal an abundance of depictions on ceramics, for example, of music being performed. Olympics | Philosophy | Government | Pottery | The Arts | Fashion | Jewelry | Food |
Athens was the intellectual center of the world. It was one of the first city-states of its time, and is still world renowned as one of the most famous cities in the world.
Fakistra is a sandy beach with rocky outcrops at each side creating a turquoise lagoon, with a waterfall and cool pool behind it. It's a 90-minute walk along the coast from Damouchari (Peloponnese). 
Greek mythology is embodied explicitly in a large collection of narratives and implicitly in representational arts, such as vase-paintings and votive gifts. 
Much of what defines western European culture in terms of philosophy, science, and the arts has origins in the culture of ancient Greece. Thus it is with music.