Ancient Greece is the birthplace of antiquity. Ancient Greece - the birthplace of antiquity Holidays in Greece

Surprisingly, there is no other country in the world that would be as clear and close to us literally from childhood as Greece. Let's remember what our Houses of Culture look like even in the most remote cities - these are, at a minimum, copies of ancient Greek temples with Greek porticoes on columns!.. And what about the myths and legends of the ancient Greeks? Didn’t they read them to you at night?.. Plaster heads in circles?.. Greek salad for the holiday?.. “Thais of Athens” by Ivan Efremov, finally, after which the boys quit smoking and ran to the rocking chair, and the girls to the hairdresser, so that together resemble ancient Greek heroes and lovers.

By the way, about love - about that same one! In the late USSR, we also learned about it exclusively from the “Greek Fig Tree” - remember that tape?.. It was with it that the video recorder and civilization came to our homes, which, as we know, was also founded by the ancient Greeks!..

What about this one now? beautiful country? We have heard that something is still missing in it now, contrary to the statement of Anton Pavlovich Chekhov: “Greece has everything!..” (“Wedding”). But it's not enough Russian tourists, well, really – very! You need a lot of them at once. No less than a million! This is exactly how many “guys from Tagil” or oil workers from Salekhard, with their children and wives, friends and colleagues, the Greeks are ready to accept this year. Because it is tourism, and nothing else, that is the engine of the Greek economy.

And already in mid-April, almost everything here is ready for the big season: the beaches have been swept, tables have been set up in street cafes and restaurants, the bronze on pleasure boats has been polished, and in some places even musicians have appeared, carefully testing their vocal cords on the first tourists. Not demis roussos, of course, but feta and ouzo (aniseed vodka) go much easier under their strumming...

In the central part of Rhodes (city), an ancient fortress and partially temple buildings have been preserved. Local kids, without any reverence, immediately play football and ride bikes. Literally, huge ships are moored to the ancient walls of the fortress. cruise ships. And right there, tiny by today’s standards, is the entrance to the bay, within the gates of which the famous Colossus of Rhodes once stood. The same Colossus that was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. What is also curious: four of those seven miracles were performed by the Greeks!..

And now, after centuries and millennia, it’s good to sit on this embankment, along which no one has walked or ridden chariots, and think about what the world was once like. And even if you are the most inveterate cynic, you cannot take away the merits of the Greeks. And even now, when there is a terrible crisis in their country, the Greeks, like the Soviet people once, do not lose historical optimism. They live and work quite like Greek - with dignity and without whining. Therefore, the next time you are in trouble, try to throw everything to hell and be born again, but as Greeks!..

Anatoly Strunin

Greece, Rhodes

👁 Do we book the hotel through Booking as always? Booking is not the only thing in the world that exists (🙈 for a huge percentage from hotels - we pay!) I have been practicing for a long time

Classmates

Greece is a magnificent combination of cultures of East and West. This is the place where many myths, legends and adventures of antiquity originated. This country is associated with art, the Olympic Games and much of history.

The history of the country is not just a period of existence, but fundamental to the entire culture of our time. So the Greeks are always friendly to guests and travelers, because legends have long said that the gods loved to travel in the guise of ordinary mortals. Every resident of Greece is very kind, hospitable and polite.

Famous places in Greece give a feeling of magic and mysticism, as if staying in Athens or on the island of Rhodes, you can penetrate into the very legends that unfold their events here. And it’s quite understandable to want to buy a piece of this for yourself. magical world, these stories that we have heard since childhood. Since excavations are still being carried out throughout Greece, there is a great chance of getting an ancient fragment of ancient ceramics and a bronze candlestick.

But Greece doesn't end there. It also has some of the best sandy coastlines in the world, washed by three seas - the Aegean, Mediterranean and Ionian, what could be better than lying in a hammock on the seashore? Greece is also famous for its mineral springs and healing mud. So after your vacation you will be left with not only a magnificent bronze tan, but also excellent health. Almost all hotels in Greece provide medical treatments, which turns them more into sanatoriums high class. They can offer you wide range health and medical procedures. After all, Greece is the birthplace of the god of healing, Asclepius, and for many millennia the Greeks developed their view of medicine.

Civilizations and democracies

From the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. Ancient Eastern civilizations began to lose priority in historical development and gave way to a new civilizational center that arose in the Mediterranean Sea, called the “Ancient Civilization of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome.” It was based on qualitatively different, democratic foundations in economic, political and socio-cultural relations, and was more dynamic compared to ancient Eastern civilizations. Based on the achievements of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, the entire modern Western and Russian civilization was formed. Features of the development of modern civilizations cannot be understood without knowledge ancient history and culture.

The beginning of ancient civilization was laid in Greece. King Hellenes is considered the legendary ancestor of the Greeks. Therefore, the Greeks themselves called themselves Hellenes and their country Hellas. But at first relatively sparsely populated Ancient Greece developed in the general mainstream of ancient Eastern civilizations. For example, the oldest civilization in Europe is the Aegean civilization, usually called Minoan, after its legendary founder, King Minos. It existed in the 3rd – first half of the 2nd millennium BC. on islands Aegean Sea, partly in mainland Greece and Asia Minor; known from the monuments of the Knossos Palace of King Minos on the island of Crete, explored in the first half of the 20th century. English archaeologist A. Evans. This palace had about 300 rooms, the walls of which were decorated with numerous frescoes. In total, there were four palaces in Crete, in which the kings, their entourage and servants lived. Around the palaces there were settlements of farmers, cattle breeders and artisans.

Other regions of Greece, which was poor in fertile lands, were inhabited by small tribes of Danaans, Ionians, Aeolians, etc., led by kings or basileus. Some of the Hellenic tribes, in search of more fertile lands, migrated to the North of the Balkan Peninsula. The Pelasgians lived in Thrace; they mastered agriculture before anyone else in Europe. One part of the Pelasgians moved to the lands of continental Greece, the other, together with the Thracians and, possibly, with part of the Wends (the future Western Slavs) - to Asia Minor. On the banks of the Danube, right up to the Northern Black Sea region, lived the Hellenic tribes of the Achaeans and Dorians, who managed to largely preserve the traditions of “military democracy”. By the end of the 3rd millennium BC. The Achaeans and Dorians came into contact with the Aryan tribes - descendants of the Hyperboreans - the Rus (Rus) and the Wends with no less developed traditions of “military democracy”. From the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. The Achaeans and part of the Aryans began to move to the south. This ethnic expansion, which also captured Crete, was called the “Achaean conquest” of Greece. The Minoan civilization was seriously weakened. But she died as a result of a powerful earthquake and eruption of the Santorini volcano in the middle of the 17th century. BC. Some of the Rus (Rus) remained in Greece after this, but the majority returned across the Danube to their fellow tribesmen.

From the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e. In the south of Greece, freed from the power of Crete, a new Mycenaean civilization emerged, centered in the city of Mycenae on the Peloponnesian Peninsula. Its creators, the Achaean Greeks, borrowed many of the achievements of the Minoans from Crete. The centers of Mycenaean civilization were the well-fortified palaces of tribal leaders (kings, basileus), to whom rural settlements gravitated. Homer's Odysseus, for example, was the king (basileus) of the Achaean tribe living on the island of Ithaca. The Achaeans waged frequent wars among themselves. But sometimes, for the sake of victory over a common enemy, they united in alliances. It was an alliance of Achaean tribes that fought the Trojan War, which ended around 1270 BC. the capture and destruction of the rich city of Troy (Ilion) in Asia Minor. Some of the Hellenic tribes that migrated to Asia Minor, primarily the Pelasgians, as well as the Thracians and Wends, fought on the side of Troy. The real reason for the war was that the Hellenic city of Troy, located near the Dardanelles, blocked its competitors, other Greek cities, from reaching the Black Sea colonies, and not the abduction of Helen, the wife of the king of Sparta, Menelaus, by the son of the Trojan king Priam, the handsome Paris. These events are reflected in Homer's poems "Iliad" and "Odyssey".

The Mycenaean civilization of the Achaean Greeks, weakened by the Trojan War, suffered at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. a new invasion from the north. The next conquerors were the Dorian tribes, who were again supported by the tribes of the Slavic-Russians (Russians) and the Wends. The Iron Age was beginning and the new conquerors were already armed with iron swords, against which the bronze weapons of the Achaeans were ineffective. The small states of the Achaeans were quickly destroyed by the Dorians. After this, part of the Slavic-Russians and Wends, who supported the Dorians and showed themselves to the Hellenes as brave and “glorious warriors,” returned to the north. The remaining Wends and Slavic-Russians settled in Crete, the Peloponnese, Asia Minor, in the middle part and in the north of the Apennine Peninsula. Weakened by the Trojan War, Greece was thrown back to the time of the birth of civilization.

This zigzag in development had serious historical consequences. The Achaeans, Dorians and the Rosas (Russ) who remained in Greece mixed with the local population and adopted its mythology and religion. In its turn, local population took the name of the new settlers and began to be called the Hellenes - Dorians. Ancient Greece at this stage of its history was a country with an ethnically mixed population, a significant part of which came from the north. In the Hellenic states that were revived after the Dorian invasion, the power of the kings disappeared over time, and where it remained, it was limited. Greece has become a conglomerate big cities-states (polises), which at the same time remained communities. Every free, full-fledged resident of such a state-community or polis had the right to his own plot of land, had civil rights, participated in the elections of rulers.

What is the reason for the unique social mutation that occurred in Hellas, the only one in the history of the Ancient World? Firstly, the Hellenes adopted the art of shipbuilding and navigation from the Phoenicians and became brave sailors. And sailors already in ancient times were people of a special kind. Let us recall, for example, Homer’s Odysseus and how much initiative, ingenuity, independence, activity, courage, and desperate courage he showed during his many-year return to Ithaca. On the shores and islands of the Mediterranean, Marmara, Black and Azov seas The Hellenes, following the example of the Phoenicians, founded over a hundred colonies that supplied mainland Greece with bread, other products, and slaves, which they bought from local rulers. These colonies, together with the metropolis in the south of the Balkan Peninsula, formed Magna Graecia.

Secondly, the religion and mythology of the ancient Greeks, which established itself after the Achaean and Dorian conquests, were fundamentally different from the ancient Eastern myths and religions. The ancient Gods, according to Hellenic myths, “descended from heaven to earth” and settled on Mount Olympus. The Olympian gods of the ancient Greek pantheon constantly argued and quarreled among themselves, fought, and committed adultery. These were Gods with “human faces”, and not with animal heads, as in Egypt or Mesopotamia. They, according to myths, directly communicated with the Hellenes, helped or hindered them, and set examples of pluralism, independence, ingenuity, initiative, and spiritual looseness. The Hellenes, in turn, sought to imitate the Olympian Gods and learn from their experience and examples.

Hellenic myths mention that Hephaestus, the God of fire and blacksmithing, had mechanisms (industrial robots) with which he forged weapons and armor. Jason's Argonauts, during their journey to Colchis, observed the Golden Fleece on Black Sea coast Caucasus, created by “Gods who descended from heaven”, mechanisms (tractors and tractor plows), with the help of which the land was plowed, etc. But this is in myths. The Hellenes, unlike the Sumerians and ancient Egyptians, did not have common affairs and did not meet with the real “Alien Gods,” but sometimes (as we will see later) they used their help. And Callisthenes is a historian and writer of the last third of the 4th century. BC. he himself became the author of a novel about Alexander the Great that has survived to this day, acting as the creator of a myth popular in Hellas, calling his hero and contemporary nothing less than the son of Zeus himself - the head of the pantheon of the Olympian Gods.

It was in Hellas that classical ancient society was formed, based on democracy, pluralism in political relations and private property. Nothing like this Ancient East It never happened. The emergence of private property relations and the emergence of market-oriented commodity production contributed to the emergence of fundamentally different socio-political and legal structures that determined the specifics of ancient society. Namely: the emergence of a polis (city-state) in Ancient Greece or “civitas” - a civil community in Ancient Rome as the main form of political organization of society; the presence of concepts of popular sovereignty and democratic government; a developed system of legal guarantees for the protection of the rights and freedoms of every citizen, recognition of his personal dignity, a system of socio-cultural principles that contributed to the comprehensive development of the individual.

A distinctive feature of ancient Greek life was its agonistic character (from the Greek “agon” - struggle, competition) - an uncontrollable desire for competition in all spheres of life. For example, sports competitions, the Olympic Games, held since 776 BC. once every four years. From the middle of the 2nd century. BC. to 394 AD they already took place within the framework of the Roman state, of which Greece became an integral part. During the Olympic Games, frequent wars between the ancient Greek city-states ceased. Musical and poetic competitions were also favorite in Hellas - the Delphic or Pythian games in honor of Apollo, the god of harmony, spiritual activity and the arts. Common in everyday life was the desire of the Hellenes to do something better than a neighbor in the community did, to build a temple in honor of the Olympian Gods more beautiful than in the neighboring polis, etc. This contributed to the powerful development of all spheres of life of Hellenic society. Sports and other competitions were very common in Ancient Rome, and gladiator fights became a favorite spectacle of the Romans.

The emergence of the optimal form of slavery for that time was associated with Greek colonization. They began to turn into slaves not compatriots who were debtors, but captured foreigners. Most often in large quantities they were bought in the colonies from local rulers and sold in the markets of Greek policies. Slave labor was used in all spheres of the economy, and free citizens had more free time to engage in politics, sports, literature, art, and philosophy. Literate slaves helped Hellenic intellectuals, rewrote, “replicated” their works for sale or for use in public libraries.

For the Hellene, the polis, and for the Roman, his civil community - “civitas” - were the only place where a free person felt like a member of a society whose life was regulated by laws, protected from arbitrariness and under the protection of the Gods. So Jupiter (the Roman analogue of Zeus) patronized Rome, and Pallas Athena - Athens, etc. The economic basis of the polis was the ancient, dual form of ownership: on the one hand, the ownership of the civil community over the entire territory and wealth of the polis, and on the other, the individual ownership of the citizen’s house (“oikos”) in which he lived. The free Hellene simultaneously acted as the owner of the house - “oikon”, as a citizen - “polites”, and as a militia warrior, ready to defend his native city with his own weapons in his hands. The formation of ancient democracy and civil society took place in an acute struggle between the people - the “demos” and the tribal aristocracy. In those policies where the demos won, democracy was established - the power of the people. But even where the aristocracy managed to defend its power (for example, in Sparta), it existed in the form of an aristocratic or oligarchic republic, but not a monarchy. In Sparta there were elected kings, but their power concerned only the army and military affairs.

The great Hellenic legislators played a major role in establishing democratic values: the Athenians - Solon, Cleisthenes, Peisistratus and the Spartan - the legendary Lycurgus. The most significant among the reforms of Solon in the 6th century. BC. became a reform of debt law, the so-called “shaking off the burden.” All debts and interest on them were declared invalid, the sale of family members into slavery and self-mortgage transactions were prohibited. Previously concluded such transactions were canceled by law. This saved a significant part of the Athenians from enslavement and made it possible further development democracy. The heyday of Athens, the most brilliant era in the history of the Athenian polis, occurred during the reign of Pericles (444-429 BC). He was elected 15 times to the highest position of strategist in Athens, the de facto head of the polis. Pericles satisfied the demands of the average and poor Athenian citizens to involve them in the management of the policy and introduced payment for elected positions. Impoverished citizens were given land. The highest legislative power in Athens was the people's assembly - the Areopagus, at which all officials, including strategists, were elected. The executive power was in the Council of Five Hundred, which dealt with current affairs and prepared them for discussion and approval at the Areopagus. The Athenian polis turned into the largest economic, political and Cultural Center of the entire Hellenic world, became a standard, an example for other ancient Greek city-states.

In the everyday life of the Athenian polis, naturally, antagonisms between the upper and lower classes existed and developed. Equality of citizens in practice was often formal; it concerned only a minority of the population of Athens. Women and metics, which included all residents of Athens not of purely Athenian origin, did not enjoy civil rights. There is no need to talk about slaves and freedmen at all. At the Council of Five Hundred, for example, the issue of introducing insignia for slaves was once raised. But this idea was immediately abandoned, because... it may turn out that slaves made up the majority of the population of Athens. This is how it actually happened. A similar situation occurred in other policies. It was not uncommon to be suspicious of anyone who rose above the masses, even if he stood out for his selfless service to the Athenian polis. Themistocles - the organizer of the Greek victory over the Persian fleet in the Battle of Salamis 480 BC. a few years later he was expelled from Athens and ended his life in the service... of the Persian king. In the last years of his life, Pericles, even being elected by the Areopagus to the highest position of strategist, was under investigation on charges of financial abuse during the reconstruction of the Acropolis. The great sculptor Phidias, an active participant in the reconstruction of the Acropolis and creator giant statue Zeus Olympus in Olympia, considered one of the "seven wonders of the world", ended his life in prison. The famous philosopher Socrates was accused of anti-democracy, imprisoned, where he was forced to take a cup of poison.

The Greco-Persian wars of the first half of the 5th century became a serious test for Hellas and the Hellenes. BC, which began with the conquest of the Greek city-states in Asia Minor by the Persians, led by Xerxes, the Persians even occupied part of Greece, including Athens, whose inhabitants left the city. As a result, the victory in the wars with the Achmenid Empire was won by the Greek city-states, united in the name of this goal. The most famous events of this era were the battles: 490 BC. near the village of Marathon, 42 km from Athens, 480 BC. - defeat of the Persian fleet near the island of Salamis in the Aegean Sea. In the memory of the Greeks, the feat of 300 Spartans led by King Leonidas, who died heroically in 480 BC, but did not allow the Persians to enter the center of Greece through the Thermopylae mountain pass, remained forever.

The Greeks defended their independence. The result was the strengthening of Athens, which led the Athenian Maritime League. He united democratic cities. Over time, the Athenians began to interfere in the internal life of the allies. Their monetary contributions to the treasury of the union actually turned into tribute to Athens, part of which was used under Pericles for the reconstruction of the Acropolis. The unity of Hellas turned out to be fragile and short-lived. In 431 BC. A war began between the Peloponnesian (led by Sparta) League and the Athenian Naval League. The war ended in 404 BC. the defeat of Athens and the dissolution of the Athenian Maritime League, the establishment of Spartan dominance in Greece. The winners imposed oligarchic rule everywhere. Many city policies continued grueling wars with Sparta. The crisis of the polis system was manifested in increasing economic inequality between citizens. Many of them went bankrupt, got into debt, and lost their livelihood.

To the north of Greece was Macedonia, where a population related to the Hellenes lived. In the middle of the 4th century. BC. Philip II, an admirer of Hellenic culture, an outstanding diplomat and commander, became the king of Macedonia. Many Greeks hoped that Philip would restore order and stop the wars between the policies. Some of the Greeks, led by the Athenian Demosthenes, called for a unification of forces to fight Macedonia. But in 338, in the battle of the town of Chaeronea, the Greeks were defeated. Hellas came under the rule of Philip. He was preparing for war with Persia, but in 336 BC. was killed. His son Alexander, soon nicknamed the Great, became king of Macedonia. He suppressed the anti-Macedonian uprising in Greece, and in 334-31. BC. defeated the main enemy of Hellas - the Achmenid Empire. The chronicles of the campaigns of Alexander the Great repeatedly mention the appearance of unknown disc-shaped objects (UFOs) in the sky. So during the assault in 332 BC. of the Phoenician city of Tyre, 5 “flying shields” appeared above the city, from which lightning flashed, forming gaps in the walls of the fortress. The delighted Greeks rushed to storm and captured the city. After this, the “flying shields” rose up and disappeared.

The conquests continued. Alexander the Great became the founder and ruler of a huge empire, which included, in addition to Greece, the territories of Egypt, the Eastern Mediterranean, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, Persia, Afghanistan, parts of Transcaucasia, Central Asia and India. Alexander’s main goal was to unite the West and the East into a single civilization, the capital of which he made Babylon. Only about a dozen cities with the name “Alexandria” appeared in the conquered territories. They were intended to become strongholds of a new civilization and centers of a new Hellenistic culture with theaters, libraries, and scientific centers. True, most of these “Alexandrias” were not newly built cities (such as Alexandria in the Nile Delta), but renamed old cities. In 327 BC. Alexander led his army to India. On east coast Indus he defeated the army of the local king Porus. When it became clear to the Greeks that the world inhabited by India in the East was far from ending, and that endless China lay ahead, the army rebelled. Alexander returned to Babylon. He was planning new trips. But in 323 BC. The “conqueror of the world,” who had not known a single defeat, suddenly died of tropical fever before reaching the age of 33.

After the death of Alexander, the struggle for his legacy began between the diadochi - former comrades-in-arms, commanders of the great conqueror. The collapse of the state was inevitable. The conquered lands were too large, and the system of governing them was too weak. In place of Alexander's empire, several Hellenistic states arose from the Balkan Peninsula to the lower reaches of the Indus. The Antigonid dynasty established itself in Macedonia, the Ptolemies in Egypt, the Attalids in Pergamum, and the Seleucids in Mesopotamia, Syria and part of Asia Minor. They developed a unique culture that combined Greek and Oriental features to varying degrees. This was precisely the prerequisite for the spread of Hellenic civilization and culture far beyond the borders of Hellas and giving them global significance.

The most significant center of Hellenistic culture was Egypt, with its capital at Alexandria, founded by Alexander the Great in the Nile Delta. Alexandria, built very quickly, occupied an area of ​​about 100 square meters. km and amazed contemporaries with the wealth, luxury and uniqueness of its layout, architecture, multi-story public buildings and residential buildings, maintained in the best traditions of antiquity. The city was divided into four quarters by two straight highways, intersecting in the center and running from north to south and from west to east. The secondary streets were also straight. The most famous center of Hellenistic culture was Museion (Greek “place of residence of the muses”) - the largest Ancient world The Library of Alexandria, which contained over 700 thousand books (papyrus scrolls) in various branches of knowledge. The Ptolemies spared no expense in purchasing books from other countries or copying them. Due to the high consumption of papyri, their export outside Egypt was prohibited. Scientists from another major center of Hellenistic culture - Pergamon in the north of Asia Minor - discovered a method of using parchment - specially treated calfskin - as a writing material. Established in the 2nd century. BC. the production of parchment satisfied the needs of the Pergamon Library, which successfully competed with the Library of Alexandria.

The Alexandria Museyon was serious scientific center Hellenistic era. The scientists who worked there studied problems of philosophy, philology, mathematics, astronomy, botany and zoology, using the most modern scientific instruments and equipment of that time. One of the outstanding scientists of antiquity was Claudius Ptolemy, the author of works on many branches of knowledge, incl. on history. The most famous thing is that in the 2nd century. AD he substantiated the geocentric system of the world, which was refuted by the heliocentric system of N. Copernicus only in 1453. At the beginning of the 3rd century. BC. on the island of Pharos near Alexandria seaport A 110-meter lighthouse, unique in its design, was built, the light of which was visible more than 100 miles away. Faros lighthouse- one of the “seven wonders of the world” - stood until 1326 and collapsed, probably as a result of an earthquake. The Museion with its library, the last citadel of ancient science and culture, was destroyed by Christian fanatics at the end of the 4th century. during fierce religious strife with the pagans.

The most important result of Alexander’s conquests was the further weakening of Greece and its subjugation in the middle of the 2nd century. BC. Roman Republic as a province. As for the Hellenistic states, in most of them, with the exception of Egypt, which became a Roman province, the influence of antiquity turned out to be fragmentary and formal. In the final historical result, everything returned “to normal”: the West remained the West, and the East remained the East. Nevertheless, the influence of Greece and the charm of its highly developed Hellenistic culture was exceptionally great. The Romans even called themselves barbarians compared to the Hellenes. Libraries, some marble sculptures, many of which have survived to this day in Roman bronze copies, and educated slaves were taken to Rome from Greece. The Greek intellectual elite became an integral part of the intellectual elite of the Roman Republic, and then the empire. The Roman poet Horace wrote at the end of the 1st century. BC: “Greece, having become a captive, captured the rude victors.” Differences between ancient Greece and Rome remained, but we can confidently talk about common features in their subsequent political and socio-cultural development. The very era of the political dominance of the Roman Republic, and then the empire, as one of the eras of antiquity, is often called Hellenistic-Roman.

All ancient Greek gods were ardent patriots. But this did not prevent each of them from loving their own specific corner of Hellas and patronizing it and taking every possible care of its prosperity. Therefore, for every tourist, a trip to Greece is a kind of “test”: if both your and divine tastes coincide, then, logically, your characters have some similarities. Let's check this statement?

Athens is the city of patronage of the goddess of wisdom.

According to myth, the local hills were valued with equal passion and adoration by both the ruler of the seas, Poseidon, and the goddess of wisdom, Athena. The dispute between them was resolved democratically, by appealing to the “voice of the people.” They say, whose divine gift is of “higher quality” will own the city.

Poseidon struck the rock with his trident, and a spring gushed out of the rock. Athena and, in turn, being a wise and practical lady, she presented people with an olive branch as a gift - supposedly the ancestor of the famous (and very profitable) olive groves. The city began to bear the name of Athena. The right choice was made. Under the patronage of the goddess of wisdom, the city of Athens flourishes to this day. Athens the capital of the country - and that says it all.

Located between the mountains in a kind of bowl, the city is large, full of life and amazes with its striking modernity. You know speculatively about the ancient splendor of the area. The past of Athens is fragments from which everyone tries to recreate an image. The Acropolis helps with this. The majestic Parthenon - Temple of Athena Parthenos, as if floating above the city and visible from any point.

The temple hill that surrounds Plaka- this is an area where, behind the tinsel of various tourist coffee shops, souvenir shops and bustling crowds, one can see the pattern of local ancient streets, untouched by 25 centuries. Local writing does not look alien to the eyes of our tourist. And unexpectedly for yourself, you can easily read “metaphor” on a truck, “Aphrodite” on a hotel, and “charter” on a trash bin. The sounds of “divine speech” invigorate the imagination, and everyone involuntarily tries to imagine what was here two and a half thousand years ago.

Agora- This market Square ancient Athens, it was here that all city life boiled over. On the market square there were wells and pools, poplars and plane trees grew, here are the ruins of a once painted colonnade - Motley stand, who gave his name to the school of the Stoics. Under the walls of the Temple of Hephaestus, local merchants traded bronze, and a stock exchange was located right there. It's quiet here now.

The spirit of the bazaar “moved” to Monastiraki Square. The ancient word “agora” is still alive in the name of the covered market “Kendricky Agora”. There is a mountain of weight here - a mountain of oranges, a mountain of lemons and a mountain of eggplants. The fish lies on the counters in mounds: each type of fish has its own preparation. You can try it nearby. There are many taverns here. The best taverns are taverns without a sign; there was something above the entrance, but it has long been erased. The interior of establishments is also an indicator: the simpler the decoration, the better. Here you can order a jug of retsina - this is wine with a resinous aftertaste and fried drumstick with a “choir” of appetizers. And after the third glass of retsina, you will understand for yourself that the wise spirit of Athens is still alive.

Athens does not knock you down with a large abundance of monuments. Here everything is in moderation and everything is proportionate to a person. And all thanks to the fact that twenty-five centuries ago they wisely decided for themselves that luxury is the absence of the need for necessities.

Delphi - the patrimony of Apollo

In Greece there are areas that are deeply immersed in antiquity: Olympia, which amazes with its kind of physical authenticity; Temple of Athena Aphaia, which is located in a pistachio grove on Aegina and forbidden for the night, forever virgin Business with. The mysterious Delphi with its gloomy beauty occupy a special place in this list. Delphi was the spiritual center of the Hellenic world. A city that enjoyed equal authority among the Thracians, Lydians, Phoenicians and even the Romans. The Greeks themselves considered the city of Delphi to be the center of the earth.

According to the legend Zeus from the 2 outskirts of the world he sent swift-winged eagles, which met in Delphi. At the meeting place of the eagles, an omphalos was installed, which means the symbolic “navel of the earth.” This large cone-shaped stone was interpreted in ancient times as the “circle of the sun,” the seat of inner light. Therefore, the patron god of the arts was chosen as the main deity of Delphi. Apollo. However, the son of Zeus had other merits before Delphi: it was Apollo who walled up the evil snake that exuded a stench into the rock - Python.

However, the snake spirit was so strong that fetid vapors seeped even into the crack of the rock. And people who inhaled poisonous fumes acquired the gift of prophecy. A temple was built over a crack in the rock, and in Delphi itself, priestesses and prophetesses called Pythia appeared. The ritual that accompanied the prophecies was quite lengthy and complex, and the omens of the prophecy were often vague. However, the authority of the Delphic oracles themselves was undeniable.

Rich gifts were brought to the priests and Apollo. The gifts very quickly made Delphi one of the richest and the most beautiful cities the ancient world. The center of the city was the majestic temple of Apollo. Time has not been kind to the building, but several marble columns surrounded by cypresses and laurels still rush to the sky. The branches cast shadows on the shining white marble road.

The water flowing from the Kastalsky spring, which gave purity of thoughts to the prophetesses, is still clear and cold. They say that Apollo gave these jets a special power: it endowed athletes with energy and youth; and gave poets inexhaustible inspiration. It is not surprising that the famous Delphic Games took place here, which included competitions of harpers, poets, horsemen and athletic competitions.

The heyday of Delphi is long gone, but even today the city of Apollo is still crowded. It is best to come here early in the morning and, after looking around, hide from the crowds of tourists in the archaeological museum. Even those who are not fans of museum exhibitions will truly enjoy contemplating the magnificent sculpture of Auriga and the magnificent beauty of the marble Antinous.

And if you are lucky enough to observe a phenomenon that impressed the ancient Greeks: only under certain weather conditions the word that is spoken at the temple of Apollo is reflected from the rocks of the Delphic Gorge, becomes more distinct and louder and returns to you with almost deafening thunder. This nymph Echo frolics. This is what Delphi is like.

Crete - Island of the Thunderer

In one of the caves on the island of Crete, the winner of the titans, Zeus, was born. Milk of the Divine Amalthea goats endowed him with the power that allowed him to become the ruler of Olympus. It was here that Zeus brought the beautiful Princess Europe who gave birth to a wise man Minos. And later a skilled architect Daedalus here he built his own labyrinth, in which Theseus fought with the minotaur, and Icarus flew up to the Sun. And it seems that since those distant times the island has not aged or changed at all. Above it the blue of the sky is still transparent, and its air is filled with the aroma of blossoming orange trees and the sea.

The most “royal” and largest of all the Greek islands of Crete is conventionally divided into favorite with tourists, which has preserved the majestic, pristine picturesque, sparsely populated western Crete and comfortable eastern Crete. Only here you can experience the unique aromas of honey and herbs, the intoxicating astringency of wines and the unforgettable taste of peasant food - cheese, bread and olives.

To enjoy and experience all the charm of the homeland of Zeus, you need to have the muscles of an athlete and a brave heart. Don't believe it? Then go to Samaria. At first our journey will look very harmless. At the entrance to the gorge you will receive tickets, which you must present to the controllers at the exit from the gorge. Don't think about losing your ticket. After all, this is a sure way of counting whether all of those who entered the gorge came out of it.

There is only one road into the gorge. During the journey, you will have 6 hours of walking along a rocky path, first steeply down, and then straight ahead. But this “straightforward” costs a lot. You will have to wade the river 47 times and go around giant boulders at least 200 times. And no one can count how many times you will want to stop to gasp in delight or capture what you see with your camera. Pines of the most bizarre shapes; rocks that are shrouded in clouds and flowers of the most bizarre colors. Perhaps in all of Greece, the Samaria Gorge is the leader in the number of endemic plants.

By the way, only here and nowhere else do the descendants of the divine Amalthea- these are Kri-Kri goats. If you are lucky, you will be able to see it with your own eyes. Just look carefully. Somewhere in the middle of the path this becomes a difficult task, because... your legs fill with lead, and all your attention is focused only on not tripping.

Myths say that the goddess loved to hunt here Artemis. The goddess's tastes were very, very peculiar. But, when 14 rocky kilometers have already been covered, what a pleasure it is to wash away all the fatigue in the emerald sea wave and fall onto the black volcanic sand heated by the sun and feel like a hero. What more could a pampered European want?

By the way, in time immemorial, many ancient gods loved to travel around Greece incognito. Therefore, the Greeks invariably rejoiced at the appearance of each guest, showing him maximum hospitality - after all, anyone who knocked on the door could turn out to be a god.

Such a serious motivation served to create a tradition of hospitality, which now, many centuries later, you and I use: numerous luxury hotels in Greece and the modern service system are equipped only according to this principle. Every tourist here is not just a guest, but, at a minimum, a god for the locals - ancient Greek...

To the very popular places Holiday destinations in Europe in recent years include the Greek island of Samos, the birthplace of the famous mathematician Pythagoras. Why do more and more tourists come here especially from June to mid-September? There are several reasons!

There is no doubt that Samos is one of the greenest and most mountainous islands in the Aegean Sea. The idyllic dream of all aesthetes is enhanced by white-gold (pebble, sand and mixed) beaches and azure water, which literally attracts even those who usually prefer a hotel pool to swim. Interestingly, not far from the island is Türkiye, from which it is separated only by a canal about two kilometers wide.

Source and photo: Blue Style

Translation: Alla Kutserova

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Greece, Crete – an island of attractions, mountains and sea I

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Greece, Crete – an island of attractions, mountains and sea II

Upon arrival at international Airport In Heraklion, a representative of the company from which we ordered the car was already waiting for us. It can be seen that the competition here is very high. This is also reflected in the approach to clients. After completing all the documents, we get into our car and head west. There are no official highways in Crete, so there are no tolls to pay.

Greece, Crete – an island of attractions, mountains and sea III

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Greece, Crete – an island of attractions, mountains and sea V

On this day we planned to do at least short trip to the Lefka Ori mountains, but due to unfavorable weather they were forced to lose this beautiful part of the trip. So we decided that we would finally head straight to Moni Preveli Monastery, which was to be our next stop.

Greece, Crete – an island of attractions, mountains and sea VI

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Greece, Crete – an island of attractions, mountains and sea VII

The next morning we got up while it was still dark. But since we spent the night in a lodge, the packing process was relatively quick, and at about 6 o'clock in the morning we already set off in the direction of Kato Zakros, where the next of the large Minoan palaces is located. But, unfortunately, the weather was not favorable, and it rained almost all day. But this did not discourage us, and after 8 o’clock in the morning we were there. According to the guide, the palace was supposed to be open at 8 o'clock, but we learned that it would only open at 10. Thus, we had two more hours, which we used for a walk in the rain along the coast.

Greece, Crete – an island of attractions, mountains and sea VIII

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Greece, Crete - vacation on the largest Greek island

Greece, Crete - vacation on the largest Greek island

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