Apeiron

Apeiron (ἄπειρον) is a Greek word meaning "(that which is) unlimited," "boundless", "infinite", or "indefinite" from ἀ- a-, "without" and πεῖραρ peirar, "end, limit", "boundary", the Ionic Greek form of πέρας peras, "end, limit, boundary"

The apeiron is central to the cosmological theory created by Anaximander, a 6th-century BC pre-Socratic Greek philosopher whose work is mostly lost. From the few existing fragments, we learn that he believed the beginning or ultimate reality (arche) is eternal and infinite, or boundless (apeiron), subject to neither old age nor decay, which perpetually yields fresh materials from which everything we can perceive is derived. Apeiron generated the opposites, hot-cold, wet-dry etc., which acted on the creation of the world. Everything is generated from apeiron and then it is destroyed by going back to apeiron, according to necessity. He believed that infinite worlds are generated from apeiron and then they are destroyed there again.

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Apeiron Brittanica

Hippocrates manuscript

Archaeology news

Text by father of medicine found

Ptolemy tomb

Archaeology news

Ptolemy tomb

Hippasus

Hippasus of Metapontum (5th century BC), was a Pythagorean philosopher. Little is known about his life or his beliefs, but he is sometimes credited with the discovery of the existence of irrational numbers. The discovery of irrational numbers is said to have been shocking to the Pythagoreans, and Hippasus is supposed to have drowned at sea, apparently as a punishment from the gods for divulging this. However, the few ancient sources which describe this story either do not mention Hippasus by name (e.g. Pappus) or alternatively tell that Hippasus drowned because he revealed how to construct a dodecahedron inside a sphere. The discovery of irrationality is not specifically ascribed to Hippasus by any ancient writer. Some modern scholars though have suggested that he discovered the irrationality of √2, which is believed to have been discovered around the time that he lived.

Ancient Roman Cement

Archaeology news

Scientists explain ancient Rome's long-lasting concrete

Diogenes and Alexander

Thereupon many statesmen and philosophers came to Alexander with their congratulations, and he expected that Diogenes of Sinope also, who was tarrying in Corinth, would do likewise. But since that philosopher took not the slightest notice of Alexander, and continued to enjoy his leisure in the suburb Craneion, Alexander went in person to see him; and he found him lying in the sun. Diogenes raised himself up a little when he saw so many people coming towards him, and fixed his eyes upon Alexander. And when that monarch addressed him with greetings, and asked if he wanted anything, "Yes," said Diogenes, "stand a little out of my sun." It is said that Alexander was so struck by this, and admired so much the haughtiness and grandeur of the man who had nothing but scorn for him, that he said to his followers, who were laughing and jesting about the philosopher as they went away, "But truly, if I were not Alexander, I would be Diogenes."

Diogenes and Alexander

Diogenes

Diotima

Diotima of Mantinea was a philosopher and priestess circa 440 B.C.E. who plays an important role in Plato's Symposium. Her ideas are the origin of the concept of  Platonic love.

The name Diotima means Zeus Honor, either in the active sense of a woman who honors Zeus, or in the passive sense of a woman honored by Zeus.

Damascian Sword

This video documents Tony over the course of several days as he forges and constructs a modern take on a Roman Gladius Sword that features damascus steel. It was a special few days shooting with Tony.

Galen of Pergamon

Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus ( Greek: Κλαύδιος Γαληνός; September 129 AD – c. 200/c. 216), and better known as Galen of Pergamon  was a prominent Greek physician, surgeon and philosopher in the Roman Empire. Arguably the most accomplished of all medical researchers of antiquity, Galen influenced the development of various scientific disciplines, including anatomy, physiology, pathology, pharmacology, and neurology, as well as philosophy and logic.
 Galen's understanding of anatomy and medicine was principally influenced by the then-current theory of humorism (also known as the four humors – black bile, yellow bile, blood, and phlegm), as advanced by ancient Greek physicians such as Hippocrates. His theories dominated and influenced Western medical science for more than 1,300 years. His anatomical reports, based mainly on dissection of monkeys, especially the Barbary macaque, and pigs, remained uncontested until 1543, when printed descriptions and illustrations of human dissections were published in the seminal work De humani corporis fabrica by Andreas Vesalius where Galen's physiological theory was accommodated to these new observations. Galen's theory of the physiology of the circulatory system endured until 1628, when William Harvey published his treatise entitled De motu cordis, in which he established that blood circulates, with the heart acting as a pump. Medical students continued to study Galen's writings until well into the 19th century.

…Galen's influence was so great that when dissections discovered anomalies compared with Galen's anatomy, the physicians often tried to fit these into the Galenic system. An example of this is Mondino de Liuzzi, who describes rudimentary blood circulation in his writings but still asserts that the left ventricle should contain air. Some cited these changes as proof that human anatomy had changed since the time of Galen…

Galen

Myth of Er

Epimenides paradox

Epimenides of Knossos (Crete) was a semi-mythical 7th or 6th century BC Greek seer and philosopher-poet.
While tending his father's sheep, Epimenides is said to have fallen asleep for fifty-seven years in a Cretan cave sacred to Zeus, after which he reportedly awoke with the gift of prophecy (Diogenes Laërtius i. 109–115). Plutarch writes that Epimenides purified Athens after the pollution brought by the Alcmeonidae, and that the seer's expertise in sacrifices and reform of funeral practices were of great help to Solon in his reform of the Athenian state. The only reward he would accept was a branch of the sacred olive, and a promise of perpetual friendship between Athens and Knossus (Plutarch, Life of Solon, 12; Aristotle, Ath. Pol. 1).

Paradox
Epimenides was a 6th-century BC philosopher and religious prophet who, against the general sentiment of Crete, proposed that Zeus was immortal, as in the following poem:

They fashioned a tomb for thee, O holy and high oneThe Cretans, always liars, evil beasts, idle bellies!But thou art not dead: thou livest and abidest forever,For in thee we live and move and have our being. (Epimenides, Cretica)

Epimenides paradox is as follows: "Epimenides the Cretan says, 'that all the Cretans are liars,' but Epimenides is himself a Cretan; therefore he is himself a liar. But if he be a liar, what he says is untrue, and consequently the Cretans are veracious; but Epimenides is a Cretan, and therefore what he says is true; saying the Cretans are liars, Epimenides is himself a liar, and what he says is untrue. Thus we may go on alternately proving that Epimenides and the Cretans are truthful and untruthful.

Pheidippides

Painting of Pheidippides as he gave word of the Greek victory over Persia at the Battle of Marathon to the people of Athens.Luc-Olivier Merson, 1869

Pheidippides is the central figure in a story that was the inspiration for a modern sporting event, the marathon race. Pheidippides is said to have run from Marathon to Athens to deliver news of a military victory against the Persians at the Battle of Marathon.The traditional story relates that Pheidippides (530 BC–490 BC), an Athenian herald or hemerodrome (translated as "day-runner""courier" "professional-running courier" or "day-long runner, was sent to Sparta to request help when the Persians landed at Marathon, Greece. He ran about 240 km (150 mi) in two days. He then ran the 40 km (25 mi) from the battlefield near Marathon to Athens to announce the Greek victory over Persia in the Battle of Marathon (490 BC) with the word nikomen "We win!", as stated by Lucian chairete, nikomen ("hail, we are the winners")and then collapsed and died.

Pheidippides

Sisyphus punishment

Persephone supervising Sisyphus in the Underworld, Attica black-figure amphora (vase), 530 BC

Sisyphus

Sophocles

Anthology of Antigone - Sophocleus Video clips

Military of Mycenaean

The military nature of Mycenaean Greece (c. 1600–1100 BC) in the Late Bronze Age is evident by the numerous weapons unearthed, warrior and combat representations in contemporary art, as well as by the preserved Greek Linear B records. 

Boar's tusk helmets were typical of Mycenaean warfare.

Military of Mycenaean Greece

Mother's of God icon with three hands

In the eighth century during the time of the Iconoclasts, Saint John of Damascus (December 4) was zealous in his veneration of holy icons. Because of this, he was slandered by the emperor and iconoclast Leo III the Isaurian (717-740), who informed the Damascus caliph that Saint John was committing treasonous acts against him. The caliph gave orders to cut off the hand of the monk and take it to the marketplace. Towards evening Saint John, having asked the caliph for the cut-off hand, put it to its joint and fell to the ground before the icon of the Mother of God. The monk begged Our Lady to heal the hand, which had written in defense of Orthodoxy. After long prayer he fell asleep and saw in a dream that the All-Pure Mother of God had turned to him promising him quick healing.
Before this the Mother of God bid him toil without fail with this hand. Having awakened from sleep, Saint John saw that his hand was unharmed. In thankfulness for this healing Saint John placed on the icon a hand fashioned of silver, from which the icon received its name “Of Three Hands.” (Some iconographers, in their ignorance, have mistakenly depicted the Most Holy Theotokos with three arms and three hands.) According to Tradition, Saint John wrote a hymn of thanksgiving to the Mother of God: “All of creation rejoices in You, O Full of Grace,” which appears in place of the hymn “It is Truly Meet” in the Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great.

Icon of the Mother of God

Hylomorphism

Hylomorphism (or hylemorphism) is a philosophical theory developed by Aristotle, which conceives being (ousia) as a compound of matter and form.

The word is a 19th-century term formed from the Greek words ὕλη hyle, "wood, matter" and μορφή, morphē, "form."
Aristotle defines X's matter as "that out of which" X is made. For example, letters are the matter of syllables. Thus, "matter" is a relative term: an object counts as matter relative to something else. For example, clay is matter relative to a brick because a brick is made of clay, whereas bricks are matter relative to a brick house.Change is analyzed as a material transformation: matter is what undergoes a change of form. For example, consider a lump of bronze that's shaped into a statue. Bronze is the matter, and this matter loses one form (that of a lump) and gains a new form (that of a statue).According to Aristotle's theory of perception, we perceive an object by receiving its form with our sense organs. Thus, forms include complex qualia such as colors, textures, and flavors, not just shapes.Aristotle applies his theory of hylomorphism to living things. He defines a soul as that which makes a living thing alive. Life is a property of living things, just as knowledge and health are. Therefore, a soul is a form—that is, a specifying principle or cause—of a living thing. Furthermore, Aristotle says that a soul is related to its body as form to matter.
Hence, Aristotle argues, there is no problem in explaining the unity of body and soul, just as there is no problem in explaining the unity of wax and its shape. Just as a wax object consists of wax with a certain shape, so a living organism consists of a body with the property of life, which is its soul.

Hylomorphism

Daemon - J. Morisson's grave

James Douglas Morrison (December 8, 1943 – July 3, 1971) was an American singer, songwriter, and poet, best remembered as the lead singer of the Doors. Due to his poetic lyrics, distinctive voice, wild personality, performances, and the dramatic circumstances surrounding his life and early death, Morrison is regarded by both music critics and fans as one of the most iconic and influential frontmen in rock music history. Morrison was buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, In the early-1990s, Morrison's father, after a consultation with E. Nicholas Genovese, Professor of Classics and Humanities, San Diego State University, placed a flat stone on the grave. The bronze plaque thereon bears the Greek inscription: ΚΑΤΑ ΤΟΝ ΔΑΙΜΟΝΑ ΕΑΥΤΟΥ, literally meaning "according to his own daemon, i.e., guiding spirit," to convey the sentiment "True to Himself."

In the ancient Greek religion, daimon designates not a specific class of divine beings, but a peculiar mode of activity: it is an occult power that drives humans forward or acts against them: since daimon is the veiled countenance of divine activity, every deity can act as daimon; a special knowledge of daimones is claimed by Pythagoreans; for Plato, daimon, is a spiritual being who watches over each individual, and is tantamount to a higher self, or an angel; whereas Plato is called ‘divine’ by Neoplatonists, Aristotle is regarded as daimonios, meaning ‘an intermediary to deities' – therefore Aristotle stands to Plato as an angel to a deity; for Proclus, daimones are the intermediary beings located between the celestial objects and the terrestrial inhabitants.

Daemon  Wikepedia

J

Mount Athos

An Orthodox spiritual centre since 1054, Mount Athos has enjoyed an autonomous statute since Byzantine times. The 'Holy Mountain', which is forbidden to women and children, is also a recognized artistic site. The layout of the monasteries (about 20 of which are presently inhabited by some 1,400 monks) had an influence as far afield as Russia, and its school of painting influenced the history of Orthodox art.

UNESCO World Heritage mount Athos

Ring of Gyges

The Ring of Gyges is a mythical magical artifact mentioned by the philosopher Plato in Book 2 of his Republic (2:359a–2:360d). It granted its owner the power to become invisible at will. Through the story of the ring, Republic considers whether an intelligent person would be moral if he did not have to fear being caught and punished for doing injustices.

Delian problem

The problem owes its name to a story concerning the citizens of Delos, who consulted the oracle at Delphi in order to learn how to defeat a plague sent by Apollo. According to Plutarch it was the citizens of Delos who consulted the oracle at Delphi, seeking a solution for their internal political problems at the time, which had intensified relationships among the citizens. The oracle responded that they must double the size of the altar to Apollo, which was a regular cube. The answer seemed strange to the Delians and they consulted Plato, who was able to interpret the oracle as the mathematical problem of doubling the volume of a given cube, thus explaining the oracle as the advice of Apollo for the citizens of Delos to occupy themselves with the study of geometry and mathematics in order to calm down their passions.

Doubling the cube, also known as the Delian problem, is an ancient  geometric problem. Given the edge of a cube, the problem requires the construction of the edge of a second cube whose volume is double that of the first, using only the tools of a compass and straightedge. 

Quick tour Olympia

In western Peloponnese, in the beautiful valley of the Alpheios river, lies the most celebrated sanctuary of ancient Greece. Dedicated to Zeus, the father of the gods, it sprawls over the southwest foot of Mount Kronios, at the confluence of the Alpheios and the Kladeos rivers, in a lush, green landscape. Although secluded near the west coast of the Peloponnese, Olympia became the most important religious and athletic centre in Greece. Its fame rests upon the Olympic Games, the greatest national festival and a highly prestigious one world-wide, which was held every four years to honour Zeus. The origin of the cult and of the festival went back many centuries. Local myths concerning the famous Pelops, the first ruler of the region, and the river Alpheios, betray the close ties between the sanctuary and both the East and West. 

Hellenic Olympic Committee Olympia video

Pankration

Pankration  (Greek: παγκράτιον) was a sporting event introduced into the Greek Olympic Games in 648 BC and was an empty-hand submission sport with scarcely any rules. The athletes used boxing and wrestling techniques, but also others, such as kicking and holds, locks and chokes on the ground. The only things not acceptable were biting and gouging out the opponent's eyes. The term comes from the Greek παγκράτιον [paŋkrátion], literally meaning "all of power" from πᾶν (pan-) "all" and κράτος (kratos) "strength, might, power".

Ships in Age of bronze

The Aegean has since prehistoric times been a sea that has united rather than separated the large or small islands. Between these islands, there were narrow sea passages and shallow gulfs, accessible by some primitive sailing means. Navigation in the Aegean, has been testified by the tools made of Melian obsidian which were found in Franchthi Cave in Hermionid (at the eastern coast of the Peloponnese, a distance of 80 nautical miles (approximately 150 kilometers) from Melos. Tools made of Melian obsidian also found on Crete (Knossos) and on Cyprus, substantiate the existence of sea routes in the Aegean from the Early till the Final Neolithic (6800-3200 BC). They made a boat exclusively from papyrus, an aquatic plant which can be found near water areas of Greece ( as well as on the river Nile in Egypt). A similar boat was used until recently in Kerkyra. The "papyrela" could easily travel from Lavrion to Milos. Its crew would use kayak oars for navigation. It has also been proven that men in the Greek prehistoric period could travel by sea using natural material offered by the domestic world of Greece and also using simple techniques such as the one of straw mats.

Greek ships in age of bronze 

The great vespers of Pentecost

In third prayer added:

Great and most high God, You alone are immortal, abiding in unapproachable light. In wisdom You created the world; You separated the light from the darkness, and set the sun, the greater light, to rule the day, and the lesser light, the moon, and the stars, to rule the night. You have judged us, though sinners, at this present hour to come into Your presence, giving thanks and offering You our evening praise. Loving Lord, let our prayer rise as incense before You, and accept it as a fragrant offering. Make this evening and the coming night peaceful for us. Gird us with the armor of light. Deliver us from the terror of the night and from everything that lurks about in the darkness. And let our sleep, which You have given us for rest, given our weakness, be free of all demonic images. Yes, Master of all, source of all blessings, so that, even as we slumber in our beds, we may speak Your Name in the night, and so, enlightened by the contemplation of Your statutes, we may rise, our souls rejoicing, to glorify Your goodness, offering prayers and supplications to Your compassion, for our own sins and for those of all Your people, asking that, at the intercession of the holy Theotokos, You will show them mercy.

The Pentecost kneeling 

Pentecost

Deucalion

Deucalion and Pyrrha casting stones, relief in the Parc del Laberint d’Horta, Barcelona, Spain., Till F. Teenck

Deucalion and Pyrrha

Temple of Poseidon

The sanctuary at Sounion is one of the most important sanctuaries in Attica. Sporadic finds point to the conclusion that the site was inhabited in the prehistoric period but there is no evidence of religious practice in such an early date. "Sounion Hieron" (sanctuary of Sounion) is first mentioned in the Odyssey, as the place where Menelaos stopped during his return from Troy to bury his helmsman, Phrontes Onetorides. Finds dated to the 7th century BC onwards increase in number, indicating the existence of organized cult on two points of the promontory: at the southern edge where the temenos of Poseidon was situated, and about 500 m. to the NE of it, where the sanctuary of Athena was established.

Pandora

In Greek mythology, Pandora (Greek: Πανδώρα, derived from πᾶν, pān, i.e. "all" and δῶρον, dōron, i.e. "gift", thus "the all-endowed", "the all-gifted" or "the all-giving") was the first human woman created by the gods, specifically by Hephaestus and Athena on the instructions of Zeus. As Hesiod related it, each god helped create her by giving her unique gifts. Zeus ordered Hephaestus to mold her out of earth as part of the punishment of humanity for Prometheus' theft of the secret of fire, and all the gods joined in offering her "seductive gifts"

Griffin warrior

Discovery of the warrior’s tomb near the palace of king Nestor

Derveni papyrus

The Derveni papyrus is an ancient Greek papyrus roll that was found in 1962. It is a philosophical treatise that is an allegorical commentary on an Orphic poem, a theogony concerning the birth of the gods, produced in the circle of the philosopher Anaxagoras.

Asclepeion of Epidaurus

Asclepius, god of Healing, had many sanctuaries erected in his honour. However, amongst those the sanctuary at Epidaurus is arguably the most important. Not only because it was believed to be the birthplace of Asclepius, but also due to the variety of treatments it could offer within its large complex.

Sanctuary of  Asclepios

Minoan eclipse calculator

A stone die of the Minoan period, discovered near Palaikastro in Crete, Greece, in 1899, was selected for this study as bearer of astronomical significance. Strong evidence is presented in favor of its use (especially of the “ray-bearing” disc on its right-hand side) as a die for the construction of a device that could determine eclipse dates during the Minoan period (circa 15th century BC); additionally, two more practical uses for it are examined: as a sundial and as an instrument for the determination of the geographical latitude.

Minoan calculator

Pythagorean theorem

In mathematics, the Pythagorean theorem, also known as Pythagoras's theorem, is a fundamental relation in Euclidean geometry among the three sides of a right triangle. It states that the square of the hypotenuse (the side opposite the right angle) is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides. The theorem can be written as an equation relating the lengths of the sides a, b and c, often called the "Pythagorean equation" a² + b² = c²

Posidonius

Posidonius was celebrated as a polymath throughout the Graeco-Roman world because he came near to mastering all the knowledge of his time, similar to Aristotle and Eratosthenes. He attempted to create a unified system for understanding the human intellect and the universe which would provide an explanation of and a guide for human behavior.

Song of Seikilos

Oldest complete ancient Greek song

Ideas of Socrates

Ideas of Socrates

Ancient Greek helmets replicas

Ancient Greek helmets

Penthesilea

Achilleus and Penthesilea, British Museum

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Penthesilea

Mycenaean Pottery

The pottery of the Mycenaean civilization (1550-1050 BCE), although heavily influenced by the earlier Minoans based on Crete, nevertheless, added new pottery shapes to the existing range and achieved its own distinctive decorative style which was strikingly homogenous across Mycenaean Greece. Mycenaean wares typically display stylized representations of marine and plant life and show a fondness for minimalistic linear designs, a trend which would go on to influence the early pottery of Archaic and Classical Greece from the 9th century BCE.  
Mycenaean pottery

Greek bronze statues

The Copper Statue "Henioxos" from Delphi, Greece 

7 Greek bronze statues

Pilate's letter to Ceasar Tiberius

The correct transcript of Pilate's court

Ancient crypto stick

In cryptography, a scytale (rhymes approximately with Italy; also transliterated skytale, Greek σκυτάλη "baton") is a tool used to perform a transposition cipher, consisting of a cylinder with a strip of parchment wound around it on which is written a message. The ancient Greeks, and the Spartans in particular, are said to have used this cipher to communicate during military campaigns.
The recipient uses a rod of the same diameter on which the parchment is wrapped to read the message. It has the advantage of being fast and not prone to mistakes—a necessary property when on the battlefield. It can, however, be easily broken. Since the strip of parchment hints strongly at the method, the cipher text would have to be transferred to something less suggestive, somewhat reducing the advantage noted. 
Skytale

Temple of Aphaea

The Temple of Aphaia (Greek: Ναός Αφαίας) or Afea is located within a sanctuary complex dedicated to the goddess Aphaia on the Greek island of Aigina, which lies in the Saronic Gulf. Formerly known as the Temple of Jupiter Panhellenius, the great Doric temple is now recognized as dedicated to the mother-goddess Aphaia. It was a favorite of the neoclassical and romantic artists such as J. M. W. Turner. It stands on a c. 160 m peak on the eastern side of the island approximately 13 km east by road from the main port.

Temple of Aphaea Aigina

Lucian True History

A True History or A True Story (Ancient Greek: Ἀληθῆ διηγήματα, Alēthē diēgēmata; Latin: Vera Historia) is a parody of travel tales, by the Greek-speaking Assyrian author Lucian of Samosata, the earliest known fiction about travelling to outer space, alien life-forms and interplanetary warfare. Written in the 2nd century, the novel has been referred to as "the first known text that could be called science fiction". The work was intended by Lucian as a satire against contemporary and ancient sources, which quote fantastic and mythical events as truth.

Lucian

Treasury of Atreus

Atreus tomb

The Phaeacians ships

Therefore, Sir, do you on your part affect no more concealment nor reserve in the matter about which I shall ask you; it will be more polite in you to give me a plain answer; tell me the name by which your father and mother over yonder used to call you, and by which you were known among your neighbours and fellow-citizens. There is no one, neither rich nor poor, who is absolutely without any name whatever, for people's fathers and mothers give them names as soon as they are born. Tell me also your country, nation, and city, that our ships may shape their purpose accordingly and take you there. For the Phaeacians have no pilots; their vessels have no rudders as those of other nations have, but the ships themselves understand what it is that we are thinking about and want; they know all the cities and countries in the whole world, and can traverse the sea just as well even when it is covered with mist and cloud, so that there is no danger of being wrecked or coming to any harm. Still I do remember hearing my father say that Neptune was angry with us for being too easy-going in the matter of giving people escorts. He said that one of these days he should wreck a ship of ours as it was returning from having escorted some one, and bury our city under a high mountain. This is what my used to say, but whether the god will carry out his threat or no is a matter which he will decide for himself. 

The Odyssey  Book VIII

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Scheria

Nature Music and Video

Aristarchus of Samos

Aristarchus of Samos 

the Greek astronomer who maintained that Earth rotates on its axis and revolves around the Sun. 

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Copernican System

Bibliotheque of Alexandria

Carl Sagan Video

Echetleos: The Mysterious Warrior

According to historical records a mysterious warrior appeared on the battlefield of Marathon (490BC) on the side of Greeks fighting against the Persians. The name given to this mystery man is Echetleos.
 Pausanias in his book “Attika” describes the whole incident.
” They say that a man happened to be present looking like a farmer. Killing many of the foreigners (Persians) with his plow handle (a plow handle looks like a modern day gun as shown in the image below), he disappeared after the battle. When the Athenians asked the oracle, the god just gave the order to honour Echetleos as a hero. They constructed a monument made of white marble. Although the Athenians testify that they buried the Persian as the divine laws in any case commands that the dead body has to be buried, I was not able to locate a tomb.”

Echetleos: The MysteriousHigh-Tech Warrior of the Battle of Marathon

The legent of Daidalus

Daedalus is a figure from Greek mythology famous for his clever inventions and as the architect of the Minotaur’s labyrinth on Crete. He is also the father of Icarus who flew too close to the sun on his artificial wings and so drowned in the Mediterranean. By the Roman period, Daedalus had acquired a long string of accomplishments and he came to represent, in general, the supreme master craftsman. The myths of Daedalus appear in the works of such noted writers as Homer, Herodotus, Ovid, and Virgil.

Daedalus and Icarus

Nicomachean Ethics Aristotle

But such a life would be too high for man; for it is not in so far as he is man that he will live so, but in so far as something divine is present in him; and by so much as this is superior to our composite nature is its activity superior to that which is the exercise of the other kind of virtue. If reason is divine, then, in comparison with man, the life according to it is divine in comparison with human life. But we must not follow those who advise us, being men, to think of human things, and, being mortal, of mortal things, but must, so far as we can, make ourselves immortal, and strain every nerve to live in accordance with the best thing in us; for even if it be small in bulk, much more does it in power and worth surpass everything. This would seem, too, to be each man himself,since it is the authoritative and better part of him. It would be strange, then, if he were to choose not the life of his self but that of something else. And what we said before' will apply now; that which is proper to each thing is by nature best and most pleasant for each thing; for man, therefore, the life according to reason is best and pleasantest, since reason more than anything else is man. This life therefore is also the happiest. 

Book X

Plato-Phaedo Socrates True earth

The true earth, viewed from above, is a sight to behold. It is marked by bright colors, some different from any colors we know. The plants are also pure and beautiful, and the mountains are smooth and made entirely out of rubies, emeralds, and other precious stones, as well as stones more precious than any of which we know.

Socrates, the earth from above 

Great Alexander diving bell

Alexander the Great's diving bell. 15th-century manuscript illustration of the 4th-century BC ruler Alexander the Great (356 BC-323 BC) being lowered into the sea in a glass barrel, an early form of diving bell. Alexander, from Macedon, become emperor of most of the known world. He was a student of the Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle who mentions diving bells, and Alexander is said to have used them in the siege of Tyre in 332 BC. Such stories were re-told in the Middle Ages in a tradition called the Alexander romances. This illustration is from a French translation known as the Shrewsbury Talbot Book of Romances, produced in Rouen prior to 1445.

Time line underwater exploration

Ancient Greek Pottery - Cyclops

Introduction
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Ancient Greek Pottery



Cyclops Eleusis neck-amphora 

Cyclops Calyx Bristish Museum

Blinding of Polephymous Louvre Museum

Sirens

Sirens were dangerous creatures, who lured nearby sailors with their enchanting music and voices to shipwreck on the rocky coast of their island.

Odysseus and the Sirens, eponymous vase of the Siren Painter, c. 480–470 BC, (Greek vase, British Museum)

See also 

Sirens Wiki

Sirens pictures archaeology

Death in Archaeology

The death of Sarpidon  New York Metropolitan Museum ,  Wikipedia
The Orphic myth teaches that the soul with the birth goes down to the material and sinful world as a divine foreigner. Enters to body, what becomes the "sign" (“to sima”, means “to soma” means the body) that is to say her grave. The soul however should be released from this prison, so that to return again to her spiritual homeland. That is why the Orphics put to the hands of deads small golden plates, to which they engraved the sign or emblem of faith: "Aytar emoi gender celestial" that is to say,  I come from the ground, but my origin is celestial. The deads would show this plates as a type. . passport, as soon as they would reach to the gates of the other world!

Figurine of a Mourning Woman7th century BC, Terracotta, H. 15.5 cm; Diam. base 9 cm
Crete, Cemetery of Arkades, tomb B
Heraklion Archaeological Museum, Π 7995
The woman is depicted as sitting with hands on her head, a typical gesture of female mourning that represents the ultimate expression of anguish at loss of the deceased.

Figure of a Mourning Woman, 
7th century BC, Clay, H. 31.5 cm, W. 12.5 cm
Santorini, Cemetery of Ancient Thera
Archaeological Museum of Thera, 392
"The rituals of death, the leading role played by women in them, and the emotions that death arouses—above all the fear of death—have remained the same from the first moments of human consciousness right up to our own day."
Read more: (in Greek)

http://www.egolpion.net/musthrio-thanatou.el.aspx 



The oldest depiction of the soul, the tiny rider form surrounded by mourners. Protoattiko cup with high foot from the Kerameikos of Athens. 680 BC Ceramic Museum (1153). 
Source: http://www.archaiologia.gr/
Read :
Ancient theories about the Soul

The Cave of Revelation - Patmos

Mt. Athos

Meteora monasteries

Medieval Byzantium Greek Orthodox monasteries, built on top of stunning sandstone peaks

Cycladic frying pans

ASTRONOMICAL AND MATHEMATICALKNOWLEDGE AND CALENDARS DURINGTHE EARLY HELLADIC ERA IN AEGEAN“FRYING PAN” VESSELS

Plato's allegory of the cave

Plato's Allegory of the Cave

Minoans and Creta-Knossos and Acrotiri-Thera

See also: 

Minoans Civilization

Akrotirion Thera, the Santorini Volcano and the Middle and Late Cycladic Periods in theCentral Aegean Islands

Archaeology Santorini

Thera frescoes

Greece an eternal journey

Dreams of a Damne Soul

Sometimes the house of the future is better built, lighter and larger than all the houses of the past, so that the image of the dream house is opposed to that of the childhood home…. Maybe it is a good thing for us to keep a few dreams of a house that we shall live in later, always later, so much later, in fact, that we shall not have time to achieve it. For a house that was final, one that stood in symmetrical relation to the house we were born in, would lead to thoughts—serious, sad thoughts—and not to dreams. It is better to live in a state of impermanence than in one of finality. —Gaston Bachelard, The Poetics of Space
Three times my will urged me to clasp her, and I started towards her, three times she escaped my arms like a shadow or a dream.  And the pain seemed deeper in my heart. Then I spoke to her with winged words: “Mother, since I wish it why do you not let me embrace you, so that even in Hades’ House we might clasp our arms around each other and sate ourselves with chill lament? Odysseus in Hades, Odyssey

But what is someone, and what he is not ? A dream of a shadow... Pindaros

MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI The Damned Soul

Death and love are the two wings that bear the good man to heaven (Michelangelo)
Michelangelo's draw for me is ...
What is for you ? 

Golden Ratio

The Golden ratio is a special number found by dividing a line into two parts so that the longer part divided by the smaller part is also equal to the whole length divided by the longer part. It is often symbolized using phi, after the 21st letter of the Greek alphabet. In an equation form, it looks like this:
a/b = (a+b)/a = 1.6180339887498948420 …

Temple of Apollo Epicurius

8 min video, Biennale 1965

Temple of Apollo Epicurius

Europa - Greek Mythology

The myth of Europa's abduction by Zeus
In Greek mythology Europa  was the mother of King Minos of Crete, a woman with Phoenician origin of high lineage, and for whom the continent Europe was named. The story of her abduction by Zeus in the form of a white bull was a Cretan story; as classicist Károly Kerényi points out, "most of the love-stories concerning Zeus originated from more ancient tales describing his marriages with goddesses. This can especially be said of the story of Europa".
Europa's earliest literary reference is in the Iliad, which is commonly dated to the 8th century BC. Another early reference to her is in a fragment of the Hesiodic Catalogue of Women, discovered at Oxyrhynchus.  The earliest vase-painting securely identifiable as Europa dates from mid-7th century BC. 

Lord's Prayer

The Lord's Prayer (also called the Our Father or Pater Noster among other names) is a venerated Christian prayer that, according to the New Testament, Jesus taught as the way to pray.

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread. A
nd forgive us our sins, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one.

Secrets of the Parthenon

Video 53 min

The Minoans Civilization

Video HD 1:40 '

Hephaestus golden maidens

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Automatons

ANAXAGORAS Panspermia

Panspermia and the origin of life

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Anaxagoras

Shield of Achilleus

The shield's design as interpreted by Angelo Monticelli, from Le Costume Ancien ou Moderne, ca. 1820.

The Shield of Achilles is the shield that Achilles uses in his fight with Hector, famously described in a passage in Book 18, lines 478–608 of Homer's Iliad. The intricately detailed imagery on the shield has inspired many different interpretations of its significance, with no definitive answer.In the poem, Achilles lends Patroclus his armor in order to lead the Achaean army into battle. Ultimately, Patroclus is killed in battle by Hector, and Achilles' armor is stripped from his body and taken by Hector as spoils. The loss of his cousin prompts Achilles to return to battle, so his mother Thetis, a nymph, asks the god Hephaestus to provide replacement armor for her son. He obliges, and forges a shield with spectacular decorative imagery.Homer’s description of the shield is one of the first known examples of ekphrasis in ancient Greek poetry; ekphrasis is a rhetorical figure in which a detailed (textual) description is given of a (visual) work of art. Besides providing narrative exposition, it can add deeper meaning to an artwork by reflecting on the process of its creation, in turn allowing the audience to envision artwork that they can't see.