The Ancient Greeks, who designed temples in honor of gods, goddesses and heroes, usually oriented them facing the rising sun or to the cardinal directions. But a new study shows that a few of the...
Nothing sends a clearer message than an angry punishment handed down from the gods. In belief systems of cultures around the world deities have been disciplining their flocks since time immemorial,...
Read Part 1 In the ancient legend surrounding the goddess Europa, the Greeks were essentially telling the story of how Phoenicians ended up getting scattered, founding and settling, in the various...
The usual derivation of the term Europe recalls the Greek myth of Europa. This origin is no mystery, in fact the Euro, their official coin, depicts the famous virgin seated on her bull-god. A popular...
The statue of Zeus at Olympia, Greece, was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world and arguably the most famous statue of its day. Once built as a shrine to honor the Greek god Zeus, this...
The Dikteon Cave is one of the most important and famous cult places of Minoan Crete. It is located in the high mountains on the island of Crete in Greece and is associated with the birthplace of the...
The ancient Greeks believed that many aspects of a person’s life were determined by the three mythical women known as Fates. These were three sister goddesses that appeared in Greek and Roman...
Phidias was a master sculptor in ancient Greece. Very little is known of his life, but his accomplishments are famous throughout the world. Phidias worked masterfully with bronze and other materials...
Read Part 1 The Iliad of Homer concerns the tenth and final year of the Trojan War. Throughout this tale, Helen regrets her part in causing the war and longs to return to her husband and daughter,...
When we look into the accounts of many different mythologies and religions, it becomes clear that the gods are either immortal or live a life of many thousands of years. What is rarely mentioned is...
The ancient Olympic stadium of Nemea is under threat of closure as a result of steep budget cuts in the country as Greece enters its sixth consecutive year of recession. The Nemean Games were founded...
In 332 BC after Alexander the Great defeated the Persian army of Darius III at Issus in Syria, he entered triumphantly with his army into Egypt. The twenty-four year old Macedonian king was hailed by...
A team of Bulgarian archaeologists have unearthed an unusually large votive relief of the ancient Greek God Zeus near the Bulgarian village of Starosel. According to the National History Museum for...
Archaeologists have found a Thracian temple and a sanctuary of Zeus and Hera in Sredna Gora, a mountain range in central Bulgaria. The Thracians were a group of Indo-European tribes inhabiting a...
Zakynthos is the third largest Greek Island in the Ionian Sea. The name of the island comes from a legendary Arcadian King Dardanus, son of God Zeus and Electra, founder of the mythical city of...
The Greek gods had much in common with Sumerian deities. Zeus was the Greek equivalent of Enlil (later Ammon), Babylonian God of Heaven and Earth. Poseidon was the Greek equivalent of Oannes , the...
