Greece

A snippet of paradise
 Greece
Greece is a country whose historical and cultural
heritage continues to influence the modern world
through art, philosophy and politics. Greece is
located in southern Europe. Critically placed at the
byroads of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa.
Greece shares land borders with four countries:
Albania, Bulgaria, Turkey, and the Republic of
Macedonia. The country has got many islands, over
140,000 of them, the largest one being Crete. Over
eighty percent of Greece is of mountains, the
largest and most culturally significant being mount
Olympus, which in Greek mythology is the home of
the twelve Olympians.
 Greek Mythology
Greek mythology is the body
of myths originally told by the ancient
Greeks and a genre of Ancient Greek
folklore. These stories concern
the origin and the nature of the world, the
lives and activities of deities, heroes,
and mythological creatures, and the origins
and significance of the ancient Greeks'
own cult and ritual practices. Modern
scholars study the myths in an attempt to
shed light on the religious and political
institutions of ancient Greece and its
civilization and to gain understanding of the
nature of myth-making itself.
 The Greek People
Most Greek people are very family oriented. Once
their trust has been earned, they are very open
and generous. They love to talk and tell stories,
often leading to "Greek time." Greek people are
very laid back. A common custom in Greece is the
siesta. A siesta is an afternoon nap. After lunch,
everyone goes home and relaxes or takes a nap.
During this time, stores, restaurants, and other
public places shut down. The Greek people
respect their history and cherish the value found In
It. As a country hundreds of thousands of years
old, Greece has centuries of history. The history
begins with ancient Greece, leading to the Roman
Empire and into modem Greek independence.
Each of these eras has created priceless
monuments and cultures that have all been woven
into Greek culture.
 ATHENA
The city gets its name from the ancient Greek
goddess. In Ancient Greek mythology, Athena was
the goddess of wisdom , handicraft and warfare. She
was one of the most prominent deities in the Greek
pantheon and there are numerous myths featuring
her. Athena was the daughter and the favorite
child of Zeus, the king of the Gods. Athena in the
ancient era was a powerful city-state. A center
for the arts, learning and philosophy, home
of Plato's Academy and Aristotle's Lyceum,it is
widely referred to as the cradle of Western
civilization and the birthplace of democracy,largely
because of its cultural and political impact on the
European continent, and in particular the Romans.In
modern times, Athens is a large
cosmopolitan metropolis and central to economic,
financial, industrial, maritime, political and cultural life
in Greece.
 Athens
Athens is Europe’s oldest capital. Records show the city’s
origins go back to around 3,400 years ago, also making it
one of the oldest cities in the world. Having been
inhabited for over 4,000 years, Athens has been
submitted to nearly every form of government known to
this day: monarchy, democracy, socialism, capitalism,
even communism. Democracy was established in Athens
around 500 B.C. It was based on a direct democracy
system, in which eligible citizens directly voted on laws.
Athens is Greece’s second capital city. During and after
the War of Independence, the capital of the new Greek
State was Nafplio, 1821–1834. Records show the city’s
origins go back to around 3,400 years ago, also making it
one of the oldest cities in the world.
 The history of Athens
The oldest human presence in Athens is attested at the
Shale Cave, dated to be around the ninth to seventh
millennia BC Athens has been permanently inhabited for
at least 7,000 years. By 1400 BC. Unlike other
Mycenaean centers, such as Mycenae and Pylos , it is not
known whether Athens suffered any destruction around
1200 BC, an event often attributed to a Dorian invasion,
and the Athenians have always claimed to be Ionians. "
pure ”, without Doric influence. However, Athens entered a
period of decline, as did many other Bronze Age
settlements, for 150 years after that. Iron Age burials, the
remains of which have been found at Kerameikos and
elsewhere, show that from 900 BC.
 The culture of Athens
The most successful songs during the period
1870–1930 were the so-called Athenian
serenades, based on the Heptanesean kantádhes
and the songs performed on stage in revues,
musical comedies, operettas and nocturnes that
were dominating Athens' theatre scene. Despite
the fact that the Athenian songs were not
autonomous artistic creations and despite their
original connection with mainly dramatic forms of
Art, they eventually became hits as independent
songs.
 Myths
The history of Athenians begins with a
myth. In Athens,like a bit everywhere else
and from immemorial times,the inhabitants
have transmitted to each generation the
history of their city. According to the
legend,in the begging was a
goddess,Athena which was identified at the
city she created. But,another version of the
myth claims that Athena was not the
founder but only the goddess who gave it
her name and became its protective.
 Anavryta Model Senior High School
-History
The former Anavryta Classical Lyceum was an elite
Greek lyceum (originally a boys-only boarding
school) that was established in 1940, shortly before
Greece's entry into World War II, in order to provide
education to the members of the Greek royal family
and notable Athenian families. In 1971, the school
was named a Lykeion Aristouhon which only
admitted students who had distinguished
themselves in other schools. After several
educational reforms in Greece, the school lost its
elitist character in 1976, but continued to have
higher admissions standards until the end of the
1980s.
 Anavryta Classical Lyceum
-nowadays
The school complex is located in the area of
Maroussi, near Athens, in the middle of the pine
forest of Anavryta, formerly the estate of
banking magnate Andreas Syngros. In recent
years the Anavryta experiment has been
reinstated and the selective admission
approach restored in 2013, when the Greek
Government made it mandatory for students to
pass written examinations. The students who
performed best in this exam were selected to
attend the school.