Greece or Hellas. Greeks or Hellenes

"Five the cleanest seas, hundreds of ancient monuments, a thousand colorful islands, millions of golden beaches, cozy hotels and luxurious resorts, taverns and boutiques...", - only a small fraction of what the director of the ITService travel company Dmitry Ignatiev told us, his ward tourists, about Greece. Neither the generously poured welcome glasses of "Metaxa", nor the eloquence of the guides, nor the two-week life "in Greek" helped to quickly assimilate the abundance of information. The unique versatility of Hellas is truly realized after the fact. When you look at each freshly printed photograph for half an hour, you involuntarily and inopportunely insert your catchphrase into any conversation " But in Greece..."and for the tenth time you enthusiastically describe your impressions to your friends ... Impressions from mountain serpentines with a ride reminiscent of Formula 1 races, from the lulling gaze of the velvet greenery of the Kastorian valleys, the hypnotic smoothness of the lakes hidden in them, which in half an hour are replaced by an indefatigable breeze sea ​​waves on the coast Cassandra. From the grottoes immersed in water and the road pink from flowering oleanders to Heraklion. From the enchanting sunset over the Acropolis, smoothly turning into the illumination of the Athenian night clubs... The kaleidoscope of landscapes of this small country will captivate the most pretentious aesthete. Even we, a group of basically morally stable journalists, could hardly restrain ourselves from asking for citizenship in some piece of paradise. Well, at least in a small province with villas buried in hibiscus bushes under tiled roofs and a flock of geese imposingly walking along the main street. Or in a village surrounded by olive plantations with white sheep grazing peacefully on the hills. Not to mention the resort centers, where you understand that you were born for the celebration of life, gourmetism and other bourgeois pleasures.

I admit, in the end, we still staged a "sabotage", at the cost of superhuman efforts, forcing the driver to turn to a picturesque place on the way to the airport. Half an hour of bliss with a glass of aromatic wine in a cafe near a mountain lake - "poly orea!", "omorphos!". We call it "beauty"! We are still surprised how we allowed ourselves to be "packed" back into the bus and transported to our homeland ...

Athens

Long narrow streets, a minimum of greenery, buildings with dilapidated gray plaster, drizzling rain - this is the first, not the best impression of the capital of Greece. But when the sun's rays breaking through the clouds suddenly sparkle on the carved shutters of old mansions, the austere facades of state institutions, the wrought-iron fences of private houses, the city simply enchants. In any street tavern there is always a free place, each waiter has a smile for the visitor, the guide has the patience to repeat the centuries-old history of the Mycenaean civilization to the clumsy tourist, and passers-by have time to take the guest to the Acropolis. Which, by the way, is located in the very center of the metropolis and is the main attraction of the country. Although in Ancient Hellas there were such "upper cities" in every locality: they were built on the highest hill with palaces for royal family and temples for worship. Only the Athenian survived. And let all the sculptures, caryatids and interior decorations be replaced with copies, and part of the Pentelian marble from which it was built, with modern slabs, striking white against the yellowish tint of millennial masonry. Let be! After all, you can see with your own eyes the dilapidated amphitheater of Herodes Atticus, where music festivals are now held, a real olive tree, allegedly planted by the goddess herself, a square polished by the feet of tourists, where once there was a statue of Zeus's daughter cast in bronze by Phidias himself and dressed in gold. And the Parthenon, remembered from the picture from school textbook history... Its ten-meter columns are indeed located at different distances from each other and seem to be tilted inward! The cunning trick of the architects Kallikrates and Iktin still works: because of optical illusion The temple looks grandiose from any point of view. And especially from the terrace of the nearby fashionable restaurant "Akropolis" - under the fish baked in cheese and a shot of ouzo, Greek aniseed vodka - one thinks so well of eternal values ​​...

What to visit. National Archaeological Museum, Acropolis Museum and Benaki Museum, National Park, antique shops in the old part of Athens - Plaka and boutiques on Kolonaki street.

Athena and Poseidon fought for the right to be the patron of the capital of Greece, who were supposed to present the most valuable gift to its inhabitants. The god of the seas granted water, the goddess of victory - an olive tree. Since this area did not lack water, Athena received patronage and the right to give the city its name.

One third of the population lives in the country.

There is no boredom in Greece

"What a hardworking people the Greeks are!" - the tourists who arrive in Greece in the morning and on the way to the hotels, watching the locals going somewhere at dawn. Yes, the Greeks are hardworking and believe: whoever works, so rests. And they "come off" before the first roosters, thereby misleading naive guests. Fortunately, entertainment establishments are at every step, whether it be a tiny town or a tourist complex. "We have better than in Ibiza!" - the Greeks say pathetically. Want - night club with a cocktail show, if you want - a disco with indefatigable DJs. Or restaurants with stiff serving and well-trained waiters. Or bouzouki - clubs in the national style with live music and sirtaki until you drop. With real sirtaki! When only one person dances to the applause of kneeling "spectators". Dancing with his soul, and facial expressions, and gestures, conveying some kind of tragedy folk song on eternal theme"and this abyss swallowed up Iago." The Greek "dance" with ornate knees, familiar to foreigners, is also danced here, but only with tourists. For example, we were "taught" the choreography by pharmacists, who were intelligently resting at the next table in the tavern. Either the joint viewing of the Eurovision broadcast brought us so close, or the heady aroma of eucalyptus and fine wines, but the fraternization of peoples under the discordant "We are rich!" - My Number One and unanimous "Yamas!" - "Be it!" did not take long to wait. True, for some reason, none of our group could repeat all the “pas” in the morning ... Yes, and there was no time - excursions, excursions, excursions! And you definitely won't get bored with them. Ancient fortresses, ancient burials, Byzantine churches and Orthodox monasteries are everywhere. In addition, you can just wander around the "old town" of any village, go to wineries, olive plantations or fur coat factories, look into a pottery workshop or a souvenir market - in Greece any doors are open for the guest and always sounds "yasas!" - "Hello!". Greece washed by the Ionian, Aegean, Libyan, Mediterranean, Cretan Seas - tourists have plenty to choose from!

The Greeks lovingly call this peninsula the trident of Poseidon, piercing the Aegean Sea. When you look at the golden beaches stretching from below, emerald pine groves and vineyards, wooden bays, a crystal-blue bay from the hotel pool, located right at the cliff, you understand how generously the god of the seas gave this land. The measured life of cities and fishing villages, the aromas of sequoia, tamarisk and olives floating in the air, the sparing sun ... The coast of Sithonia and Kassandra - two parts of the peninsula - are simply created for doing nothing. Although no: women will not be able to be lazy for a long time - after all, nearby, in Kastoria, fur factories, the world's mecca for fashionistas. True, this town is completely different from the capital of mink coats and chinchilla boas. Hidden between mountain hills, it resembles a crescent red from tiled roofs, admiring the mirror waters of a saucer lake. Fairy panorama! Which, alas, you barely have time to notice, running through hundreds of fur coat centers in search of "the same, but with mother-of-pearl buttons", bargaining hoarsely with the seller and trying to finally learn what exactly he said: "yes" (in Greek " ne") or "no" (Greek "ooh")? But fur shopping in Greece- that's a completely different story.

What to visit. The tomb of King Philip, father of Alexander the Great, in Virginia; ruin ancient city Olynth; fur coat factories in Kastoria.

Beaches of five hundred kilometers of coast Halkidiki included in the register of the cleanest in the European Union.

Athos

Everyone has heard of this mountain. But few people know that it is located in the only monastic republic in the world on the third part of the Halkidiki peninsula - Agios Oros. The ascetic restraint of twenty men's monasteries of this state, the first cloisters of which were founded a thousand years ago at the behest of Emperor Basil the First, tourists can only see from the deck of a ferry that slowly circles the territory estranged from the world. True, with permission from higher dignitaries Athos ordinary men can also visit. This "flagrant injustice" caused righteous anger among the female half of our group, frivolous jokes among the male half and bewilderment among the Greeks. True Christians are very sensitive to religion. The question "Are you Orthodox?" practically means "You are a Greek" In Hellas, a student who comes to light a candle in broad daylight, or a business woman who retires in the evening in a temple is a normal phenomenon. They believe with their hearts, not for show, without fanaticism and moralizing. This is probably why there are so many tiny churches in quiet, remote places and there is practically no crime. Here you go up the serpentine, and on a hill, outside the city, there is a miniature chapel: the doors are open, there is nobody inside, the icons are intact, the candles are free. You will come in, calm down, admire the city spreading from below ... Do you really want to do something bad after this?

According to legend, towering two thousand meters above the sea, it is named after the giant who threw this "block" into the sea, thereby trying to hit the gods.

There is no arrogance in Greece

Only in Hellas, kids can easily run around the hall of the city hall of their town. A real millionaire has breakfast with journalists, a good-natured prefect dances sirtaki with the guests of his region ... No arrogance, pride, swagger. Although, it would seem, to whom, if not the Greeks with their richest history and it is fitting to ascend with royal blood. Of course, they will not fail to recall the origins of aristocracy, democracy and aesthetics, but with such enthusiasm, so directly! Of course, for them their own dignity is the holy of holies, which often becomes the cause of temperamental dialogues. No one is surprised to hear loud bickering between simpleton drivers or oil-lined businessmen. Well, violent quarrels (and instant reconciliations) between newly embracing spouses are a common sight. Despite the fact that the family for the Hellenes is no less valuable than honor. The whole way of his life is subordinated to family interests. Apparently, therefore Greece takes last place in Europe in terms of divorces and one of the first in terms of the number of family businesses.

By the way, a high-ranking official who saw off our group was sincerely surprised that we were leaving Greece V in full force! Many of our compatriots "remain married": indifferent to antique profiles and refined manners Greeks can only be puritans, first-graders and pensioners. Despite the patriarchal foundations, international marriages are not uncommon. Actually, for a Greek, it doesn't matter where you come from. The main thing is that a person should be a good person, who has something to say "eucharisto" - "thank you" for. How, for example, the musicians of the Ukrainian diaspora in Athens, which metropolitan authority in gratitude for the amazing performances, she offered to give a concert on the main square of the city.

If you mistakenly pronounce the name of the regional capital of Macedonia, no Greek will openly correct you out of politeness. But it will delicately emphasize the prefix "fes" lost in the Slavic transcription - Thessaloniki.

You will fall in love with this city once and for all. In the well-groomedness of its narrow streets and the echo of the sea surf, in the orderly rows of neat high-rise buildings with colorful flowerpots curling on each balcony. In the "orange" of orange trees along the sidewalks and in the evening promenade along the spacious embankment. Even in one-way traffic, because of which you wind around the city for a long time, but you find new low-key beauties. For example, triumphal arch A gallery of two thousand years ago with bas-reliefs that have survived to this day. The young people who chose it as a meeting place would not even think of tearing something off or writing painfully familiar to us "Here was ...". And the colonial villas of the century before last, hidden between new buildings! No one has the right to demolish the remnants of their former luxury, even if the owners did not appear here for half a century - private property!

However, you have not seen Thessaloniki, if you did not meet the sunset, sitting on the sheer walls of the former fort in the old city. A long time ago, only the nobility lived here, and now you, a mere mortal, are basking on the ancient bricks heated by the sun and waiting for Helios to sweep on his chariot, changing day to night and flooding the blue distance of the horizon with crimson. And it seems that in the melody of the waves of this port city you can hear the size of a hexameter...

City Thessaloniki Named by the Macedonian king Cassander in honor of his wife, sister of Alexander the Great.

What to visit. Monuments of Alexander the Great and Philip II of Macedon, Aristotle Square, Byzantine walls of Emperor Justinian I, the Rotunda, the temple of Dmitry Salunsky.

The city of rocks, a fantastic reserve, the eighth wonder of the world, a masterpiece of nature - no comparisons have been made to the sky-high mountain "towers" under the small town of Kalambaka. Polished by the winds for tens of millions of years (!) gray blocks have an inexplicable magnetism. They force brave climbers to conquer peaks again and again, curious tourists to climb incredible heights on foot to admire the most picturesque landscapes, and some cowardly ones to take pictures on the edge of the abyss and fearlessly look down at the valleys of red poppies. However mysticism Meteor not only in the enchanting rocks - dozens of monasteries have been erected on the "spiers" of the mountains. How a man managed to build impressive temples, chapels, sketes at such heights - one wonders! One of the monasteries seems to have been under construction for one hundred and sixty years. And if we take into account that then the hermits climbed to the peaks in baskets with the help of ingenious devices ... Fortunately, today pilgrims and visitors climb to the cloisters along a serpentine path of stone steps. And when it already seems that there is no strength to go, you suddenly find yourself in the refreshing coolness of one of the main monasteries - the Holy Transfiguration. Here - miraculous icons, ancient frescoes and monastic wineries. From the whirlpool of smells of dilapidated wood, church incense and melted wax, the head is slightly dizzy, from the next luxurious landscape that opens from the observation deck - a drunken state. I want to take a deep breath and jump from this colossal height, feeling like "floating in the clouds", as translated from ancient Greek " meteors".

What to visit. Monastery of the Holy Transfiguration, Mount Olympus, the ruins of the ancient city of Dion, the source of Aphrodite.

The first hermits began to settle in the gorges of the present Meteor in the 11th century. And in 1380, Saint Athanasius created the first male monastery.

No fuss in Greece

When the seller carefully packs every little thing bought, it touches. But when he does it so slowly that the driver of your tour bus, tired of waiting, honking furiously, is about to break the horn ... We, accustomed to the sprint rhythm of life, it is not easy to adapt to the measured life of the Greeks. First two days. On the third day of the journey, you involuntarily begin to be lazy. Slowly sipping a tonic frappe in a cafe, risking being late for an excursion, leisurely exploring the streets, hopelessly lagging behind the group, having a long and plentiful meal, philosophizing about the frailty of everything earthly. And gradually you acquire a taste for life, long lost by the Slavs in the hectic everyday life and carefully observed by the Greeks. They do not live, but contemplate life. They do not speak, but reflect on their murmuring common language - dimotic. They do not eat, but savor each of the dishes served at the table and mezedes (snacks). They do not pursue wealth, but earn according to the principle of sufficiency. And they will never refuse a three-hour siesta. At first, this tradition brings restless tourists to white heat, but upon returning home, they all enthusiastically undertake to introduce the notorious breaks in their native teams...

Thousand and one island

When you fly over the night Greece, the islands surrounding its mainland are like a thick scattering of multi-colored beads. Located within sight of each other, they often have a completely different past: the Ionian Islands were once under the rule of Venice, the islands of the Aegean Sea and the Southern Sporades belonged to the Genoese and Crusaders, the islands of the Saronic Gulf were inhabited by Albanians. To visit at least some, it will take at least a week. And then only a fraction of their splendor will be remembered from the marathon run: the cave sanctuary of the nymphs in Ithaca, the birthplace of Odysseus, the blue caves, the fruit paradise of Skopelos, the healing springs of Lesvos, horse-drawn carriages instead of cars on Poros, volcanic rocks and black sand beaches - "a fragment of the disappeared Atlantis", the marine reserve of the Northern Sporades, whose night waters luminesce from the glow of the smallest living organisms. And to taste all the delights of the large islands - the Cyclades - it will take two weeks for each! They too separate story: cypress forests, picturesque harbors, as if yachts and boats strung on the coastline, vibrant nightlife after a day's rest in nice hotels or trips to numerous historical monuments - worthy of a separate article. As well as the richest underwater world, which every swimmer can see. It is possible that, while cruising between the islands on specially designed steamboat ferries or rented boats, some of the non-divers will be lucky enough to see a flock of common dolphins or a sailing jellyfish fluttering on the waves ...

Greece belongs to more than 2 thousand large and small islands, but only a hundred of them are inhabited. Islands make up one fifth of the country's territory

Corfu (or Kerkyra)

Goethe, Oscar Wilde, Alfred Sisley immortalized this tiny island in their creations, which you can drive around in just three hours. From the sparkling azure of the Ionian Sea and the juicy malachite slopes, at first your eyes get tired, in the unusual diversity of cultures that have mixed over a long history, you start to get confused. Venetian labyrinths of streets, Italian courtyards with openwork balconies, exquisite arches of French arcades, colonial villas of the British who dominated in the distant past - all this diversity is at every step in the capital of the island. Where starched laundry dries directly above a cobbled and full of passers-by street, where you can get fed up with elegant cafes on Liston Boulevard, built in the image of the Parisian Rivoli, and proudly walk along the shady alleys of the Esplanade - a park-like city square, which was once allowed to walk exclusively to the nobles. Only in Kerkyra there is a croquet field, laid out by the British on the site of a Venetian shooting range, the old fortress of Palio Frurio, in which grandiose light and sound shows thunder on summer evenings, and the Canal of Love, which guarantees eternal passion for couples sailing through it. And exclusively for Corfu Ichthyander's followers can dive to their heart's content in the coastal arches of the caves and see the 100-kilogram carriage-carriage turtles migrating here from Africa to lay their eggs.

What to visit. Museum paper money, Byzantine Museum, patron church Kerkyra Saint Spyridon, Cathedral, Byzantine Museum.

Rest on Corfu is rightfully considered elite: everything on the island is of the highest standard - in affordable hotels available to ordinary tourists, in campsites in mountain villages, and in luxurious five-star complexes.

And also in Greece no time. You don't feel it, you just get lost in it. Maybe because of the ubiquitous interweaving of antiquity with modernity, mythology with reality, characteristic of this country. Or maybe from the "point" measurement inherent in the Greeks - life according to the principle "here and now" ...

But the Slavic nature still takes its toll, returning to the "vector" perception of time - with the present and the past. Which I really want to return to. At least when viewing freshly printed photographs.

Helpful information

• Greece 10 million tourists visit each year
• , the city of three civilizations - Antique, Roman and Byzantine, founded in 315 BC. e. The apostle Paul called it "the golden gate of Christianity."
• Fortress walls Thessaloniki saw the invasion of the Celts, Normans, Bulgarians, Mongols, Arabs. Now only lovers and tourists come to them.
• It is believed that in place Meteor sixty million years ago, the ocean raged, and the mountains themselves were underwater reefs.
• evoke a mystical feeling, as if in another dimension.
• monks Athos everything necessary for their modest existence is produced by themselves.
• The Acropolis was built in the 5th century BC. e. on top of a 155-meter hill. In the halls of the Parthenon in those days they kept the treasury of the Athenian state and made sacrifices to the gods.
• For the removal of pieces of marble from the Acropolis faces six years in prison.
• Africans trading in the center Athens bags-fake famous brands - a common occurrence.
• The best souvenirs from Greece: olive soap and oil, ceramics and spices - for loved ones, Metaxa, wine and ouzo - for a loved one and a mink coat - for yourself.
• Even the dogs in Hellas lazily recline at the houses, not wanting to burden themselves with watchdog duties - after all, everything around is calm!

Victoria Pasichnyk

Synopsis keywords: Ancient Greece, Hellas, Greek civilization, periodization, content of periods.

Ancient Greece(Hellas) - an ancient Greek civilization in the southeast of Europe, the highest flowering of which occurred in the 5th-4th centuries. BC e. - the period that received the name classical in its history. The origins of modern European civilization lie in the culture of Ancient Greece.

In historical science, it is customary to distinguish the following stages of the history of ancient Greece:

1. Cretan-Mycenaean(late III-II millennium BC). (Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations). The emergence of the first state formations. The development of navigation. Establishment of trade and diplomatic contacts with the civilizations of the Ancient East. The emergence of original writing. For Crete and mainland Greece, at this stage, different periods of development are distinguished, since on the island of Crete, where the non-Greek population lived at that time, statehood developed earlier than in Balkan Greece, which was subjected to the end of the III millennium BC. e. the conquest of the Achaean Greeks.
2. (XI-IV centuries BC). Ethnic consolidation Greek world. Formation, flourishing and crisis of polis structures with democratic and oligarchic forms of statehood. Highest cultural and scientific achievements of ancient Greek civilization.
   1. Homeric (prepolis) period , « dark ages"(XI-IX centuries BC). The final destruction of the remains of the Mycenaean (Achaean) civilization, the revival and dominance of tribal relations, their transformation into early class relations, the formation of unique prepolis social structures.
   2. Archaic Greece (VIII-VI centuries BC). Formation of polis structures. Great Greek colonization. . Ethnic consolidation of the Hellenic society. The introduction of iron in all spheres of production, economic recovery. Creation of the foundations of commodity production, distribution of elements of private property.
   3. classical greece (V-IV centuries BC). The flourishing of the economy and culture of the Greek city-states. Reflection of the aggression of the Persian world power, the rise of national consciousness. Growing conflict between trade and craft types of policies with democratic forms state structure and backward agrarian policies with an aristocratic structure, the Peloponnesian War, which undermined the economic and political potential of Hellas. The beginning of the crisis of the polis system and the loss of independence as a result of the Macedonian aggression.
3. (IV-I centuries BC). Short-term assertion of the world power of Alexander the Great. The origin, flourishing and collapse of the Hellenistic Greek-Eastern statehood.
   1. First Hellenistic period (334-281 BC). Campaigns of the Greco-Macedonian army of Alexander the Great, a brief period of existence of his world power and its disintegration into a number of Hellenistic states.
   2. Second Hellenistic period (281-150 BC). The heyday of Greek-Eastern statehood, economy and culture.
   3. Third Hellenistic period (150-30 BC). Crisis and collapse of the Hellenistic statehood.

With a center on the territory of the Balkan Peninsula, the islands of the Aegean Sea and the western coast of Asia Minor, during the colonization, Ancient Greece (Hellas) spread to Southern Italy, the island of Sicily and the Black Sea region. The history of Ancient Greece is considered in a chronological framework from the III millennium BC. e. until the 1st century BC e., when the Hellenistic states lost their independence and became part of Ancient Rome. The Greeks themselves still call their country - Hellas, and themselves Hellenes. The name "Greece" was received by them from the Romans.

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The sun is the god Helios, the moon is the goddess Selene, her sister Eos is the goddess of the dawn. The constellations, plunging from time to time into the Ocean, bathe in it and renew their brilliance. The dungeon consists of Erebus, Hades and Tartarus. The entrance to Erebus is beyond the Ocean. In the Homeric epic, almost everything natural and much of the social has its own supernatural anthropomorphic hypostasis. Supernatural mythological personalities are among themselves in a relationship of consanguinity. For example, the god of sleep Hypnos is the twin brother of the god of death Thanatos, the god of horror Phobos is the son of the god of war Ares. Earth, water and sky (air and ether) are personified by the brothers Hades, Poseidon and Zeus.

Medicine is represented by the god Pean, madness by Ata, vengeance by the Erinyes, discord by Eris, etc. The gods can take the form of birds, Hera is represented by the "eye", in the oldest layer of the Odyssey, images of fantastic creatures are preserved, combining the features of man and animal. The human likeness of the gods also concerns their moral qualities. The moral level of the gods is low. The gods are corporeal, they can be hurt, they experience pain. However, the gods differ from people in eternal youth and immortality. They have special blood. They feed on nectar and ambrosia and move at the speed of thought. The gods are not the creators of the universe, either as a whole or in its parts. They are only supernatural twins of natural processes and phenomena.

The sculptor Phidias was very proud of his creation - the "wonder of the world", the statue of Olympian Zeus. Once he was asked if Zeus himself descended to him or did the master ascend to heaven to see the idol? Phidias modestly replied that he depicted Zeus according to the description of Homer in the first book of the Iliad.

This is the official religion of the ancient Greek city-states. The name comes from Mount Olympus (in Thessaly), on which, according to the ancient Greeks, the gods lived. The snowy peak of Olympus, going into the clouds, was as inaccessible to the ancient Greeks as the sky. There were twelve main Olympian gods. This is Zeus, his brother Poseidon (another brother of Zeus Hades - the god underworld- did not visit Olympus, and therefore was not among the Olympians), sisters of Zeus - the goddess of the hearth Hestia, the goddess of earthly fertility Demeter, the sister-wife of Zeus Hera, the children of Zeus: Athena, Aphrodite, Apollo, Hephaestus, Hermes, Ares, Hebe.

Troy was plundered and burned - just like many other cities that became the prey of the conquerors. Fate was also unfavorable to the victors - on the way back, their fleet fell into a storm, and the few surviving ships were swept away to unknown shores. One of the Achaean leaders, Odysseus, wandered the seas for ten years before he reached his homeland; he visited the island of cannibals, in a dangerous strait between the rocks of Scylla and Charybdis, was captured by the one-eyed giants-cyclops and underwent many fabulous adventures - Homer tells about all this in the Odyssey.

The Iliad and the Odyssey left for us a picture of a distant world of the 2nd millennium BC - a world in which evil coexisted with good, wealth with poverty and love with hatred, but there was more evil and hatred than love and goodness. In those days, it was customary to gouge out the eyes of slaves who played the lyre to please their masters - and Homer was also blind.

Blind musicians wrote songs that glorified noble heroes; over time, half-forgotten songs turned into legends, and history, covered with a haze of time, acquired fantastic outlines: “From the shaft of a spear, Zeus created people - terrible and powerful. The people of the Copper Age loved pride and war, abundant in groans ... Zeus gave them enormous growth and indomitable strength. Indomitable, courageous was their heart and irresistible hands. Their weapons were made of copper, their houses were made of copper, copper tools they worked. They did not know even in those days of dark iron. With their own hands, the people of the Copper Age destroyed each other.

Hellas means Lada. Slavic Lada, also called the Heavenly Mother of God. El is just an article, like: -el, -al, i.e. El Lada. Lada - Slavic country, which is why it was named so, and not Greece, which arose much later in this place, namely, after the collapse of the Slavic-Aryan Empire, when the Greeks appeared on these lands, with whom the Slavs fought. The Greeks took, only a part Slavic alphabet and made their own alphabet. The culture of Hellas was all Slavic, therefore, after the disappearance of El Lada and the appearance of Greece, the culture without the Slavs began to dwindle and disappeared.
29.09.17 Mikhail

Flood, Deucalion, Hellenic. People who lived in ancient times passed on a tragic tradition from fathers to children. As if many thousands of years ago on Earth happened global flood: for several days there was a terrible downpour, raging streams flooded fields, forests, roads, villages, cities. Everything was hidden under water. People died. managed to escape the only person whose name was Deucalion. He had a son, who received the beautiful and sonorous name of Ellin. He chose for the settlement rocky ground in what is now the country of Greece. By the name of its first inhabitant, it was called Hellas, and its population - Hellenes.

Hellas. It was amazing country. A lot of work had to be spent on growing bread in its fields, olives in its gardens, and grapes on the slopes of the mountains. Each patch of land was watered with the sweat of grandfathers and great-grandfathers. A clear blue sky stretched over Hellas, mountain ranges crossed the whole country from end to end. The tops of the mountains were lost in the clouds, and how could one not believe that in the heights, hidden from human eyes, eternal spring reigns and immortal gods live!

On all sides, the beautiful country was surrounded by the sea, and there was no place in Hellas from which it would not be possible to reach its shores in one day's journey. The sea was visible from everywhere, it was only necessary to climb some hill. The sea attracted the Hellenes, and even more attracted their unknown overseas countries. From the stories of the brave sailors who visited there, wonderful stories were born. The ancient Hellenes were very fond of listening to them, having gathered around a hot fire after a day's work.

Homer, Hesiod and Myths. This is how myths and legends were born in ancient times, into the fascinating world of which we entered. The Greeks were cheerful, courageous, knew how to find the good in every day, knew how to cry and laugh, get angry and admire. All this was reflected in their myths, which, fortunately, have not been lost for centuries. Ancient writers beautifully presented ancient legends in their works - some in verse, some in prose. The wise blind poet Homer, who lived almost three thousand years ago, was the first to take up the retelling of myths. His famous poems The Iliad and the Odyssey are about Greek heroes, their battles and victories, as well as the Greek gods, their lives on the top of the impregnable Mount Olympus, feasts and adventures, quarrels and reconciliations.

And about where the world itself and all the gods came from, the poet Hesiod, who lived a little later than Homer, wrote beautifully. His poem is called "Theogony", which means "The Origin of the Gods". The ancient Greeks were very fond of watching plays about the lives of gods and heroes. They were written by Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides. Until now, these plays (the Greeks called them "tragedies") are in many theaters around the world. Of course, they have long been translated from ancient Greek into modern languages, including Russian. From them you can also learn a lot of interesting things about the heroes of Greek myths.

The myths of ancient Hellas are beautiful, as the country itself is beautiful; the gods of Greek myths are in many ways similar to humans, only more powerful. They are beautiful and eternally young, for them there is no hard work and illness...

On the land of ancient Hellas, many ancient sculptures depicting gods and heroes are found. Look at them in the illustrations of the book - they are as if alive. True, not all statues are intact, because they have lain for many centuries in the ground, and therefore their arm or leg may be broken off, sometimes even their heads are beaten off, sometimes only the torso remains, but still they are beautiful, like the immortal gods of Hellenic myths themselves.

Ancient Hellas lives in works of art. And it is connected with many threads with mythology.

Read also other topics chapter I "Space, world, gods" of the section "Gods and heroes of the ancient Greeks":

• 1. Hellas and Hellenes

Many Greeks do not call themselves Greeks. They preserve old traditions and call their country Hellas, and themselves Hellenes. The very concept of "Greece" comes from the Latin word. Greece for several centuries BC was called a small place in the north-eastern part of the country. But later this name spread throughout the state. For some reason, they are called Greeks in most countries of the world, and the inhabitants of this country themselves imagined themselves as Hellenes in Hellas.

Where did the name Hellas come from?

In ancient times, not all of Greece was called Hellas. Now culturologists associate this name exclusively with Ancient Greece. In journalism, and in scientific literature, the word "Greeks" is constantly used. Hellas and Greece are identical concepts. Modern Greece did not always have the same boundaries. Territorial boundaries have changed over the centuries. Now some part of Greece belongs to the Turkish state, another to Italy. The lands occupied in antiquity by Italy passed to Greece. Undoubtedly, the civilization that is today part of Europe originated a very long time ago. Scientists call ancient times- Antiquity. If we translate this word into Russian from Latin, we will get the term "antiquity". With Antiquity, scientists associate both Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. Researchers used to call the ancient and the north of the Mediterranean along with North Africa, some part of Asia, all of Europe. The places where today scientists find traces of Greek and Hellenic civilization are usually considered to be the heritage of European and Greek culture.

Greece. Where is it, what country?

The southern part of the Balkans is Greece. In this state, they are accustomed to value their wealth. Among them are not only fossils, but also water resources. The country is washed by the Mediterranean, Aegean, Ionian. The water element of Greece is beautiful. Picturesque seascapes, a delightful island part. The lands of this state are fertile, but there is very little land. It is always dry and hot here, which at any time favored not crop production, but animal husbandry.

Antique myths provided the basis for the cultural traditions of this country. So, Pandora, who gave birth to several children, was married to the Supreme Thunderer Zeus. One of the sons was named Grekos. Two more - Makedon and Magnis. All historians say with one voice that Greece is named after the eldest son of Zeus. Grekos inherited courage, militancy, courage from his father. But at first, only one of the regions of the north-west of Athens was called Greece.

The eldest son of the supreme celestials never sat still. He traveled a lot, not for the sake of conquest, but more to establish new cities on empty lands. So a number of states appeared in Asia Minor. Formed Grekos and colonies in Italy. He took control of almost the entire Apennine Peninsula. It is known that the inhabitants of Italy, the townspeople, who were ruled by Grekos, were called Greeks. Other researchers believe that Greece is a Roman term, and the Greeks themselves called themselves Hellenes.

But the word "Greece" was well established in the minds of foreigners so that to this day few foreigners do not think of officially calling the Greeks Hellenes. This notion is limited to scientific world culturologists, historians and Greek scholars. Even Aristotle wrote that the Hellenes did not always refer to themselves as such. There is evidence that in ancient times they were called Greeks. Here, apparently, it makes itself felt ancient greek mythology. Later, the Greeks had a ruler named Hellenes. Allegedly, by the name of the king, they called themselves Hellenes. But this is just another theory that has the right to life.

Let's take a look at Homer's Iliad. In the part that describes the Greek campaign against Troy, there is a mention that among the alien warriors from almost the same region, there were those who called themselves residents of the city of Gray (Greeks) and Hellenes (from a place in Thessaly). All of them, without exception, were strong and courageous. There is another conjecture about the origin of the concept of "Greeks". There is evidence that there were once several policies and cities in the possessions of Achilles. One of them was called Ellas. And the Hellenes could come from there. The writer Pausanias mentioned in his works that Gray was quite big city. And Thucydides talked about Farrow as about Grey. That's what they called it before. Aristotle says that even before the inhabitants of present-day Greece began to be called Greeks, they called themselves that way in the pre-Hellenic period.

As a result of simple deductions, we can say that the Greeks and Hellenes are 2 tribes that existed in the neighborhood or practically on the same territory, and originated at about the same time period. Perhaps they fought among themselves, and someone became stronger. As a result, culture and traditions were borrowed. Or perhaps they lived in peace and subsequently united. Scientists say that both Hellenes and Greeks existed until the adoption of Christianity. Later, people who did not want to become followers of the new religion were still called Hellenes (they were more “friends” with the gods of Olympus and Zeus the Thunderer), and adherents of Christianity were called Greeks. Researchers believe that the term "Hellenes" means "idolater".

Modern painting

Outside of Greece and now it is called differently. The inhabitants themselves now call themselves Greeks, the country - Hellas with the Hellenic language, sometimes Greece. However, all Europeans are accustomed to alternate names. In the Russian sense, Hellas is Ancient Greece. The inhabitants are Greeks. The language is Greek. In almost all European and Russian languages, Greece and Hellas have similar sounds and pronunciations. The East calls the inhabitants of this country differently. In some cases, the names change dramatically. Among them:

• Jonan.
• Yavana (in Sanskrit).
• Yavanim (Hebrew).

These names come from the concept of "Ionians" - residents and settlers from the coast of the Ionian Sea. According to another theory, Ion was the ruler of the Greek islands. So the inhabitants of Hellas and the coastal islands were called by the Persians, Turks, Jordanians, Iranians. According to another version, "ionan" are rounded headdresses, which the Greeks still wear to this day, protecting themselves from the sun's rays. The inhabitants of the East were the first to notice this, and now they call the Greeks Ionans. The practice of Georgians regarding the perception of the Greeks is interesting. The Greeks call Hellenes “berdzeni”. In their language, such a concept means “wisdom”. There are nationalities that call the Greeks "Romios", since a large period of the life of this state is connected with the history of the Roman Empire.

The experience of the Russians is remarkable. The ancient Russians never forgot the phrase "The way from the Varangians to the Greeks ...". The foundations of the Greek culture of the period when the main trade routes crossed with Russia will never be forgotten, as they are reflected in folk epic Slavs. At that time they were called Hellenes in Europe, but in Russia they are Greeks. However, scientists believe that it was the Greeks who were the merchants. Goods arrived in Russia from Byzantium, which was just inhabited by people from Grey. They were Christians and brought the foundations of their faith and culture to the Russians.

And today in Russian schools they study the legends and myths of Ancient Greece, the history and culture of Greece and Rome. In Russia, it is customary to refer to the inhabitants of this country as “Greeks”. This country has always been proud of its talented poets, historians, architects, sculptors, athletes, sailors, philosophers. All figures left an indelible mark on the minds of researchers and scientists around the world. Greece influenced the development of the culture of Europe and even the countries of Asia and the East.

Modern researchers have found evidence that the Greeks called some "gryks". This is the Illyrian people. According to mythology, the progenitor of this nation just bore the name "Greek". The concept of "Hellenism" began to revive by the beginning of the 19th century in the ranks of the Greek intelligentsia. Over time, the assertion that the Greeks are not Greeks also spread to the broad masses of the people.

As soon as the Greeks did not call themselves and did not hear different appeals addressed to them. The reason for everything is the origin of nationalities, linguistic dogmas, customs, traditions. Achaeans, Dorians, Ionians, Hellenes or Greeks? Now the inhabitants of this country have quite diverse roots and have the right to call themselves, according to the legends and myths that have developed in some areas.

Mini Hotel

Mini-hotel, ILIAHTIADA Apartments is a small modern hotel, built in 1991, located in Halkidiki, on the Kassandra peninsula, in the village of Kriopigi, 90 km from Macedonia Airport in Thessaloniki. The hotel offers spacious rooms and a welcoming atmosphere. This perfect place for an economical family vacation. The hotel is located on an area of ​​4500 sq. m.

Seas of Greece

For many tourists, it is not the Greek resorts themselves or the islands to which they plan to go that are important, but the seas washing the territories of recreation areas. Greece is almost the only country that is rich in different seas, however, almost all of them are in the Mediterranean, but they have their own characteristics, and distinctive features. There are three main seas. In addition to the Mediterranean, it is the Aegean and Ionian. They are marked on all maps.

Thessaloniki in Greece. History, sights (part three).

The ruins of the Roman Forum are a unique heritage of history and decoration of the central part of Thessaloniki. Forum - the heart of social life in antiquity - was built at the end of the II century. BC. on the site of the former Macedonian Agora. Until the 5th century it was the executive center of Thessaloniki, which played a great economic, political and social role in the life of the city, regularly gathering high-ranking, influential and authoritative personalities who came here to feel the rhythm of secular life.

Garden and vegetable garden in Greece

mediterranean diet