Month: November 2020

Unravelling Pythia’s words

Pythia, is known worldwide as the mysterious woman who gave oracles at Delphi in ancient Greece and her words were respected and feared by all Greeks. Actually, Pythia was not the name of one sole woman but the title of a number of women who served that office. It derives from ancient greek “pinthanomai” (πυνθάνομαι) which means to find out, but also to the Python, the sacred snake guardian of Delphi which, like all snakes, was a symbol of wisdom and secret knowledge. Snakes live in the earth, and in Greek mythology. Python was son of Gaia (Γη) which means Earth (geometry, geography, geology). Read more

The byzantine oikoumene

Have you ever wondered who was the first and the last Roman Emperor? I am sure that you must have found the first one: Julius Ceasar. But what about the last one? The man who represented the last emperor of the Roman legacy is known as Constantine Paleologos. He died fighting against the Ottomans during the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 and he spoke Greek.

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Learning Greek means more than learning a language

Are you thinking of learning a new language and Greek is among your possible choices? You may find below some arguments that can help you make up your mind.

First of all, believe it or not, Greek can help you improve your English. How is this possible? About 20% of all English vocabulary comes from Greek. Consequently, there are many words that can come in handy when you speak English and you know the Greek language. Take for example the sciences such as maths, medicine, chemistry, and astronomy. The vast majority of the relevant vocabulary and terminlogy derives from Greek. Let alone philosophy .

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The Orthodox parish: A modern arc for the community

The Greek civilization brought to light democracy. A democracy of direct representation without middlemen or other electoral bodies in between. Since the 5th century B.C the citizens of Athens, who had completed the 20th year of their life, could take part in an assembly called “ecclesia of demos”, which meant: the call of the people.

It was within this assembly that the Athenians were gathered to make decisions about all the important issues of their City-State.Major issues such as the foreign policy or the declaration of war were thorougly discusssed. Each citizen could express his opinion and in case the assembly had been misled by someone’s proposal, an imminent punishment was to be imposed on the citizen who caused a political and social unrest to the city of Athens.

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