Showing posts with the label Greece

Xerxes Canal

Feb 21, 2024

The Athos peninsula in northeastern Greece, that juts into the Aegean Sea for some 50 kilometers, was once bisected by a canal a hundred fee...

The Mysterious Phaistos Disc

Apr 7, 2022

The Phaistos Disc is an enigmatic disk of fired clay discovered in the Minoan palace of Phaistos on the Greek island of Crete, possibly dati...

Arkadiko Bridge: The World’s Oldest Bridge

Oct 28, 2021

One of the oldest arch bridges still in use is the Arkadiko Bridge or Kazarma Bridge, located near the modern road from Tiryns to Epidauros ...

Pericles' Funeral Oration, The Most Famous Speech in History

Nov 16, 2020

The Peloponnesian War between Sparta and Athens began in 431 BC and would last for almost 28 years. In the end, Sparta prevailed, but its he...

Arrhichion, The Olympic Champion Who Won After His Death

Aug 25, 2020

Pankration was a violet sport. Practiced in ancient Greece, this brutal combination of boxing and wrestling had virtually no rules. The obje...

The Tunnel of Eupalinos

Feb 10, 2020

Digging tunnels is probably among the most toughest engineering projects the ancient people undertook, because it required mastering several...

Helepolis: The Failed War Machine From Which Rose a Wonder of The Ancient World

Jul 26, 2019

At the entrance to the harbor of the city of Rhodes, on the Greek island of the same name, there once stood a colossal statue made of iron, ...

The Aqueduct of Loukous

Jul 18, 2019

In the Greek municipality of North Kynouria in Peloponnese, near the villa of Herodes Atticus, a wealthy Greek aristocrat and a Roman senato...

The Roadside Shrines of Greece

Mar 4, 2019

Roadside shrines erected in memory of those who lost their lives in road accidents are a common sight across Greece. They are found next to ...

A Short History of Showering

Jan 8, 2019

Personal hygiene hasn’t always been an integral part of grooming, yet the need to clean oneself easily and quickly was as pressing in ancien...

Diolkos: An Ancient Trackway That Carried Ships Over Land

Sep 12, 2018

In ancient times, Greek merchants sailed all around the Mediterranean Sea carrying goods from Spain to Phoenicia and from Carthage to Egypt ...

Tower of The Winds: The World’s First Weather Station

Jul 20, 2018

The Tower of the Winds, or the Horologion of Andronikos Kyrrhestes, is an elegant octagonal marble tower in the Roman Agora in Athens. It is...

Elgin Marbles: A Piece of The Parthenon in London

Feb 20, 2017

Should a museum keep artistic treasures it acquired under dubious circumstances a long time ago, or should it return them to their country o...

The Hermits of Karoulia of Mount Athos

Feb 8, 2017

Mount Athos, located on a Greek peninsula in the Aegean Sea, is home to one of the oldest surviving monastic community on Earth. The mountai...

The Sponge Divers of Greece

Nov 28, 2016

Most sponge that we use today are synthetic, but in the old days sponge was collected from the sea bed. Some of the finest-quality sea spong...

The Dance of Zalongo

Apr 30, 2016

Above the village of Kamarina, near Preveza, Greece, is the historic cliffs of Mount Zalongo. It was here in 1803, during the Souliote War, ...

The Windmills of Lasithi Plateau

Jan 28, 2016

The Lasithi Plateau in eastern Crete, Greece, is situated 800 meters above sea level. Despite the high altitude, the water table here is ext...

The Historic Bridge of Plaka

Oct 23, 2015

The Plaka Bridge, over Arachthos River, was the largest stone one-arch bridge in Greece and the Balkans, and the third largest one-arch ston...

Petaloudes: The Valley of Butterflies

Sep 25, 2015

The Valley of Butterflies, also known as Petaloudes Valley, is located on the western side of the Greek island of Rhodes, about 25 kilometer...

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier Around the World

Jul 11, 2015

Throughout history, thousands of wars have been fought and millions of soldiers have lost their lives, but only an insignificant fraction of...