LIFE & CULTURE
XpatAthens
Thursday, 29 December 2016 07:00
The Ancient Greeks’ Six Words For Love
Looking for an antidote to modern culture's emphasis on romantic love? Perhaps we can learn from the diverse forms of emotional attachment prized by the ancient Greeks.
Today's coffee culture has an incredibly sophisticated vocabulary. Do you want a cappuccino, an espresso, a skinny latte, or maybe an iced caramel macchiato?
Today's coffee culture has an incredibly sophisticated vocabulary. Do you want a cappuccino, an espresso, a skinny latte, or maybe an iced caramel macchiato?
The ancient Greeks were just as sophisticated in the way they talked about love, recognizing six different varieties. They would have been shocked by our crudeness in using a single word both to whisper 'l love you' over a candlelit meal and to casually sign an email 'lots of love.'
So what were the six loves known to the Greeks? And how can they inspire us to move beyond our current addiction to romantic love, which has 94 percent of young people hoping—but often failing—to find a unique soul mate who can satisfy all their emotional needs?
1. Eros, or sexual passion
So what were the six loves known to the Greeks? And how can they inspire us to move beyond our current addiction to romantic love, which has 94 percent of young people hoping—but often failing—to find a unique soul mate who can satisfy all their emotional needs?
1. Eros, or sexual passion
The first kind of love was eros, named after the Greek god of fertility, and it represented the idea of sexual passion and desire. But the Greeks didn't always think of it as something positive, as we tend to do today. In fact, eros was viewed as a dangerous, fiery, and irrational form of love that could take hold of you and possess you—an attitude shared by many later spiritual thinkers, such as the Christian writer C.S. Lewis.
Eros involved a loss of control that frightened the Greeks, which is odd, because losing control is precisely what many people now seek in a relationship. Don't we all hope to fall 'madly' in love?
2. Philia, or deep friendship
The second variety of love was philia or friendship, which the Greeks valued far more than the base sexuality of eros. Philia concerned the deep comradely friendship that developed between brothers in arms who had fought side by side on the battlefield. It was about showing loyalty to your friends, sacrificing for them, as well as sharing your emotions with them. Another kind of philia, sometimes called storge, embodied the love between parents and their children.
We can all ask ourselves how much of this comradely philia we have in our lives. It's an important question in an age when we attempt to amass friends on Facebook or followers on Twitter—achievements that would have hardly impressed the Greeks.
3. Ludus, or playful love
This was the Greeks' idea of playful love, which referred to the affection between children or young lovers. We've all had a taste of it in the flirting and teasing stages of a relationship, but we also live out our ludus when we sit around in a bar bantering and laughing with friends, or when we go out dancing.
3. Ludus, or playful love
This was the Greeks' idea of playful love, which referred to the affection between children or young lovers. We've all had a taste of it in the flirting and teasing stages of a relationship, but we also live out our ludus when we sit around in a bar bantering and laughing with friends, or when we go out dancing.
Dancing with strangers may be the ultimate ludic activity, almost a playful substitute for sex itself. Social norms may frown on this kind of adult frivolity, but a little more ludus might be just what we need to spice up our love lives.
4. Agape, or love for everyone
The fourth love, and perhaps the most radical, was agape or selfless love. This was a love that you extended to all people, whether family members or distant strangers. Agape was later translated into Latin as caritas, which is the origin of our word 'charity.'
C.S. Lewis referred to it as 'gift love,' the highest form of Christian love. But it also appears in other religious traditions, such as the idea of mettā or 'universal loving kindness" in Theravāda Buddhism.
There is growing evidence that agape is in a dangerous decline in many countries. Empathy levels in the U.S. have declined sharply over the past 40 years, with the steepest fall occurring in the past decade. We urgently need to revive our capacity to care about strangers.
To read this article in full, please visit: Yes Magazine
4. Agape, or love for everyone
The fourth love, and perhaps the most radical, was agape or selfless love. This was a love that you extended to all people, whether family members or distant strangers. Agape was later translated into Latin as caritas, which is the origin of our word 'charity.'
C.S. Lewis referred to it as 'gift love,' the highest form of Christian love. But it also appears in other religious traditions, such as the idea of mettā or 'universal loving kindness" in Theravāda Buddhism.
There is growing evidence that agape is in a dangerous decline in many countries. Empathy levels in the U.S. have declined sharply over the past 40 years, with the steepest fall occurring in the past decade. We urgently need to revive our capacity to care about strangers.
To read this article in full, please visit: Yes Magazine
Published in
Greek Language & Culture
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Monday, 30 May 2016 07:00
Five Top Kid Friendly Islands Close To Athens
Kids Love Greece blogger Anastasia Valti-Spanopoulou writes about the top 5 kid friendly islands close to the city of Athens!
If you haven’t been to the Argosaronikos Islands and Kea, you’re definitely missing out on a truly unique family holiday, especially as you don’t need to travel far from Athens to find the true beauty of the Greek islands.
If you haven’t been to the Argosaronikos Islands and Kea, you’re definitely missing out on a truly unique family holiday, especially as you don’t need to travel far from Athens to find the true beauty of the Greek islands.
The islands of Argosaronikos and Kea (part of Cyclades) are definitely at the top of an ‘islands to visit with kids’ list. Why? First of all, they are conveniently located next to Athens which means less stress on the journey to and from. What’s more, on some of those islands, such as Hydra, cars, motorbikes and even bicycles are forbidden. This means you can feel assured that your children will be perfectly safe playing around while you can sit back and enjoy your holiday. Also, the islands are small and therefore can easily be explored with the family. You’ll come across several isolated bays that have crystal clear water. If you can rent a boat and do a mini family cruise, then do so, as some of the beaches are only accessible by boat.
The tiny island of Agistri has some of the cleanest and most unspoilt beaches in Greece. At the port of Skala you will find Copa Cabana Café, popular for its good quality food and snacks that are suitable for kids. It also has free Wi-Fi, as well as and sunbeds for a relaxed day at the beach.
Aegina is known for its picturesque villages and its delicious pistachios and olives. Make sure you visit the stunning ancient Greek temple of Aphaia with its breathtaking view of the Saronic Gulf, as well as St. Nectarios church, one of the biggest Greek Byzantine churches in the world.
The kids will love Hydra as the only permitted means of transport, other than your own two legs, is by donkey. No wonder UNESCO has declared it as being the best preserved Mediterranean island! Choose Cotommatae 1810 Boutique Hotel for a quiet stay, and the bonus of a freshly baked breakfast. Play hide and seek in the whitewashed alleyways before you wind up at Paradosiako for a lovely family dinner.
To read more, please visit: Kids Love Greece
Published in
Kids Life
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Monday, 01 June 2015 07:00
Greece's Bathing Waters Of Excellent Quality
"The quality of water in Greece's seas and lakes is known and constitutes a competitive advantage of the country," Alternate Environment Minister Yiannis Tsironis said.
Of the 1540 bathing waters, 1518 were assessed, as 22 points were monitored for the first time in 2014. The new points have not been evaluated for 2014 since the minimum number of samples required by the Directive has not yet been collected. However, from the initial results of 2014 it is evident that the concentrations of microbiological parameters remain below the respective criteria values of excellent quality.
For the remaining 1518 bathing waters, the classification results are the following report: 1495 bathing waters are classified as “excellent quality”. One of them are located in inland waters and the 1494 in coastal waters. 23 bathing waters are classified as “good quality”, one of which is located in inland waters and 22 in coastal waters. None of bathing waters have been classified as “sufficient" or "poor quality”.
"It is everyone's care and obligation - the state and the citizens - to continuously protect our seas and coasts in the best possible way. It is up to us to maintain the quality of our waters forever," Tsironis added.
To read more, please visit: ANA-MPA
Published in
Local News
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Monday, 01 June 2015 07:00
Wines That Greece Can Bank On
The country may be in a difficult state of affairs, but Greece has an export business with a very bright future—its wines.
You may think that someone who spends their professional life tasting dozens of wines a week will have sipped just about everything the world has to offer. It’s true—to a point. But like the art critic who stumbles across a rare masterpiece at auction or the literary critic who discovers the next big thing, there are times when a wine knocks even a critic sideways, surprising with both its flavor and its quality.
This happened to me a few weeks ago. I was handed a white wine at a tasting, and its pale yellow color, floral aroma, cushion-soft texture and crisp, refreshing, salty tang left me in raptures.
It wasn’t that it was the best wine I had ever tasted; it was just that it had a particularly unusual and enjoyable flavor. And it was from Greece. Not that this should have made any difference, but given the current state of affairs in the country, it caught my attention. As I took a second sip, it occurred to me that if Greece can keep producing wines of this quality, there will be at least one export business with a bright future.
The wine in question was an Assyrtiko from Santorini. When its identity was revealed, I nearly dropped my glass. Not long afterward I bumped into Mark Squires, who covers the wines of Greece for Robert Parker’s consumer newsletter, the Wine Advocate, and I told him about my experience. “It’s a sleeper,” he said. “No doubt about it. Greece is your classic emerging region. When you look at what is happening in Greece, this is a country that is simply a great wine-producing region—they just don’t have much to prove it with yet.”
The wine in question was an Assyrtiko from Santorini. When its identity was revealed, I nearly dropped my glass. Not long afterward I bumped into Mark Squires, who covers the wines of Greece for Robert Parker’s consumer newsletter, the Wine Advocate, and I told him about my experience. “It’s a sleeper,” he said. “No doubt about it. Greece is your classic emerging region. When you look at what is happening in Greece, this is a country that is simply a great wine-producing region—they just don’t have much to prove it with yet.”
The country has hundreds of grape varieties, and some, like Assyrtiko, may have the potential to become truly world-class. But few wine lovers have discovered them. That’s Greece’s first problem: unfamiliarity. After all, Malagousia, Xinomavro and Limnio hardly roll off the tongue like Chardonnay and Merlot.
But for anyone with just a passing interest in wine, Greece is a fascinating country to explore. Where to start? Well, the main grape varieties for red are Agiorgitiko, which is widely planted and makes full-bodied, smooth, easy-drinking reds; Limnio, which is often blended but on its own produces distinctly herbaceous wines with high-alcohol content; and Xinomavro, which is planted in the north, where it makes wines with high acidity and an appealing savory character. There are also plantings of French varieties like Grenache, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.
To read more, please visit The Wall Street Journal
By: Will Lyons
By: Will Lyons
Published in
Greece In The News
Tagged under
Friday, 29 May 2015 16:10
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Uncategorised
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Friday, 29 May 2015 11:32
First Greek Beer And Brewing Museum Opens In Athens
ATHINEO, the first Creative Brewery and Beer Museum in Greece, opened its doors to the public recently and aims to become a reference point for beer history and tradition in the country. It is located in the exact place where the Athenian Brewery opened its first plant fifty years ago.
Through the museum exhibition and a training center, ATHINEO will host interactive workshops, while the micro-brewery will also test innovative recipes for unpasteurized beer that will be released to the market four times a year at selected distribution places.
The exhibition mainly includes objects found at three Athenian Brewery plants, which were identified and archived by Greek historian and curator Iris Kritikou. ATHINEO will feature a permanent exhibition of original ceramic beer cups, following its history through the centuries.
To read more, please visit: Greek Reporter
Location: Athenian Brewery ~ 102 Kifissou, Aigaleo 12241
Visitor Hours: Every Saturday during the month of June from 13:00 - 20:00. Regular operation will begin in September 2015.
To read more, please visit: Greek Reporter
Location: Athenian Brewery ~ 102 Kifissou, Aigaleo 12241
Visitor Hours: Every Saturday during the month of June from 13:00 - 20:00. Regular operation will begin in September 2015.
Published in
City Discovery
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Friday, 29 May 2015 07:00
The Greek Behind Bulgari
Sotirios Voulgaris (1857-1932) was the Greek creator of Bulgari, one of the world's most famous jewellery brands today. Born in the Greek village of Kalarites in March of 1857, Sotirios began his career as a jeweller in his home village of Paramythia (Epirus, Greece), his parents were George Voulgaris and Eleni Strougari. Of the eleven children of the family, Sotiris Voulgaris was the only one who survived and managed to continue the family tradition. The passion with jewellery started from his grandfather Constantine, who was a street vendor in the villages of Epirus. The talent to create jewellery was inherited by Sotiris, who along with his father opened a jewellery shop in Paramythia.
At that time, Paramythia and other villages in the region were facing problems from the Turks. Continuous burning of the village and serious damage to the shop, forced the Bulgari family to move to Corfu and then to Naples, Italy. In Naples, the family opened their first gold jewellery shop. The city crime posed a major problem for their valuable jewellery. So, after several burglaries, they were forced to close.
In 1881, Sotirios Voulgaris and his family moved to Rome. Three years later, in 1884, he founded his company and opened his second shop in Via Sistina. The store in Via Sistina was then replaced by the current flagship store in Via dei Condotti opened in 1905 by Bulgari with the help of his two sons, Constantino (1889–1973) and Giorgio (1890–1966).
After Giorgio's death in 1966, his son Gianni led the company as co-chief executive with his cousin Marina. As chairman and CEO of Bulgari in the early 1970s. Bulgari opened its first international locations in New York City, Paris, Geneva, and Monte Carlo in the 1970s.
To read more, please visit: Greek Getaway
Published in
People
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Thursday, 28 May 2015 07:00
Greek Car Market Reacts Positively To Car Taxation Plans
Greek car market officials positively reacted to a Finance ministry plan to change car taxation although officials said the market will wait for the ministry's final proposals to judge the result.
Market officials said a plan to link car taxation to the car's pre-tax retail price, instead to its power under the current system, is a fair measure, while they positively reacted to plans to change current living standard criteria for the use of cars -considered in some cases to be excessive- and to plans to offer exemptions to circulation fees for cars using the latest environmental friendly technology and fuel.
The Finance ministry plan envisages linking registration fees with pre-tax retail price of a car, which means higher registration fees for expensive cars and lower fees for cheaper cars.
For more, please visit: ANA-MPA
Market officials said a plan to link car taxation to the car's pre-tax retail price, instead to its power under the current system, is a fair measure, while they positively reacted to plans to change current living standard criteria for the use of cars -considered in some cases to be excessive- and to plans to offer exemptions to circulation fees for cars using the latest environmental friendly technology and fuel.
The Finance ministry plan envisages linking registration fees with pre-tax retail price of a car, which means higher registration fees for expensive cars and lower fees for cheaper cars.
For more, please visit: ANA-MPA
Published in
Local News
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Thursday, 28 May 2015 07:00
Patras University Student Develops Eye-Typing Technology App
The University of Patras in Greece has once again been put under the spotlight, thanks to Evangelos Skodras’ double distinction for the development of EyeType. Skodras is a PhD student at the Wire Communications Laboratory of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Patras.
Skodras developed an Android app called EyeType that gives the user the possibility to control what is typed on the device’s keyboard with his eyes, by recording the person’s eye movement.
This is a real innovation in the field that will enable people suffering from ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), LIS syndrome (Locked-In Syndrome) or quadriplegia – who are only able to move their eyes – to communicate by using a smartphone or tablet.
To read more, please visit: Greek Reporter
To read more, please visit: Greek Reporter
Published in
Greece In The News
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Thursday, 28 May 2015 07:00
Homemakers With The Golden Touch: Making Something Out Of Nothing
Perhaps the most touching part of tradi -tional Greek cooking is what we call “Recipes Made from Scratch.”
Loukoumades (fried dough pastry), tiganites (pancakes), kourkoubinia (little phyllo rolls)… “Fried sweets” are among the most popular pastries in traditional Greek cuisine and they have made generations and generations of children’s faces gleam with joy over the years. And yet, these countless moments of pure childhood delight were masterfully made “from scratch:” a handful of flour and water with some olive oil for frying. Freshly baked bread is also made from “scratch,” and even today when it comes out of the oven nice and hot, even the most conscientious carb counter cannot resist reaching over for a slice. Flour, olive oil, and water are also the basic ingredients in a pita (pie), which often contained nothing more than a few wild greens that some homemaker picked along a trail on the way back home from the field and carefully stashed in her apron.
They say that the foundation of traditional Greek cooking is the trio of flour, olive oil, and wine. And when we hear the word “foundation,” it is usually implied that it will serve as the basis for some “superstructure” that will soon follow, where all the ingredients will ultimately come together to form the entirety of a dish. The (somewhat bitter) irony in the whole matter is that, as we have seen, Greek folk cooking has some very popular recipes to showcase where the initial foundation and the final product are one and the same – while the gastronomical “superstructure” never appears. And the irony is somewhat “bitter” because this observation testifies to the existence of a cuisine in which everyday cooks –the housewives with the “golden touch” – learned their art not at some culinary seminar, but from the necessities of life.
These women had to bear the burden of providing for the daily sustenance of a typically large family living in a poor and harsh natural or social environment. Some were farmers who were not fortunate enough to be born in the so-called “blessed” lands of the Mediterranean, next to fertile plains with well-fed livestock, fruit-bearing trees, plentiful gardens, abundant water, and cultivable soil, but rather in some “hellacious” mountainous crag also located in the Mediterranean, where you’d shudder in fear when it started to snow, or in some weather beaten, scalding “barren island,” where the only thing you’d think grew there were rocks. Still others were members of the early “urban” working class… You know the ones… those who lived in Athens in the 1920s, 77 percent of whom packed their entire family into a one-room home, with 41 percent of them (adults and children alike) sharing the same bed. And then again, there were others whose destiny included having to feed their entire family amidst wars and displacement.
To read more, please visit: i Cook Greek
To read more, please visit: i Cook Greek
Published in
Greek Food & Diet
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