Our family home-educates. The way we studied history was basically by starting with creation, and then moving on up till the Victorian era - at which stage my other sibblings went back to square one - you can never get enough history. Out of all the ancient civilizations, Greece was my favourite. The ancient Greek civilization played the second most influential part in the shaping of Western culture as we know it. (the most influential has been Christianity). We call the ancient Greek culture "helenistic". I really appreciated the ancient Greeks. For their battles won, their cool "gods", and their amazing buildings and massive empire.
It seems, on the whole, that the Greeks, though claiming allegiance to a host of "gods" living on Mount Olympus, were quite nominal in their belief. They were open to debate and new ideas, and they did not attempt to stamp out Christianity - at least, not to the extent that the Roman empire did. The Greeks loved everything that was aesthetically good, and pleasing. Culture, design and thought flourished throughout the Greek empire.
The Romans, on the other hand, I find to be quite repugnant. A grossly immoral and bloodthirsty nation of the dissipated rich. Partying, watching forced battles between slaves, and watching Christians burnt alive or ripped apart by lions were these people's chief recreation.
Several years previous to our family's visit to Greece, we had studied ancient Greece. Here's some pictures of ruins and stuff, a few of which, I stumbled into...
Souvilaki time.
Cool pics Andy... They bring back memories. I thought your fav. Ancient civilization was Egypt? Those Greek philosophers were interesting though. You never hear about the Roman philosophers. Maybe their philosophy was more the: Eat, drink and be merry... like your cellphone. The Greek Philosophers shaped the way people think for ages. I guess we still think along similar lines.
ReplyDeleteHmmm, yeah no Ancient Greece is my favourite. The Egyptions lose points because there were some pretty cruel Pharoes, like one who killed all Israelite boys under the age of two.
ReplyDelete"Well, my latest post is about when I was in Greece, beat that lol."
ReplyDeleteWelllll I don't want to beat you, how about I join you? Greece is an uber cool country, love that souvilaki and giros. Infact we were there at the same time, we might have even passed each other in Athens. Strange thought that. Did you see a group of young Americans and Canadians walk by you trying to get to the sea? My advice? never walk from the Plaka to the sea, it is a very long hot walk. Did you go much into the country side? Up towards Thessaloniki?
Hmmm, Ancient Greece is uber cool, but I'm not so sure about the present day. When it rains in Athens, it coats all the cars in a filthy brown powder. It's quite dirty and scummy in all the streets, though I suppose there are some nice parts of Greece.
ReplyDeleteWe went to Thessaloniki - ah, no, maybe it was Korinth. We took the train there, quite a long trip, but well worth it, and cool to be able to stand where the apostle Paul had stood, in the ancient market-place.
Hey! - I remember you now, we walked past each other... not.
Oh, and next time I need to get from the Plaka to the sea, I'll make a point of not walking
;)
You poor fish! Six out of 10 of your latest posts wallow in your childhood history. You've come over quite nostalgic - you must have officially reached adulthood.
ReplyDeleteI agree Athens isn't my most favorite city. However there were some neat parts (not the hostle I was staying in) did you go to the market in the Plaka? That was very interesting and it was quite amazing to stand where Paul stood. However they could build wonderful buildings back then but now? They can't even get the drains to work. Neither am I a fan of Greek men, uhhh to whistly if you ask me.
ReplyDeleteGrin, I see we have a sarcastic on our hands, amazing, they are born even in New Zealand.
Hah, we stayed at a hostel as well. Gungy little place with an elevator that only one person could go in. Yep, I think we went to the market, though I never heard the term Plaka mentioned. Dead right they were good builders back then, the stuff they're designing now, anywhere you look in the World, it's not on par with those ancient architects - up until a hundred years ago, they were building things to last, but these days it's all about looks and supposed functinality, however they don't often get that right either, do they?
ReplyDeleteHmmm, Greek men eh? These are no longer the noble race who excelled in military, philosophy and athletics. For the most part they're a country leaning heavily on tourism, losing that classical Helenism.
Eh, I'm completely at a loss to understand your last sentence there.
Yes Jono, it is a bit odd... I just haven't had the inspiration to write anything else, so have been going through the archives, pulling out some good things. :)
ReplyDelete