Holidays of Greece

Even though Greece's rival Rome invented the toga party, Greece can still boogie down! Greece has many holidays that give families a chance to get together, eat some food, and just party the night away! Below is a list of holidays that Grecians everywhere celebrate:

Greek flag

1) National Holiday Greece - March 25
2) Orthodox Good Friday - April 18
3) Orthodox Easter Monday - April 21
4) Labour Day - May 1
5) Orthodox Whit Monday - June 9
6) Assumption Day - August 15
7) Ochi Day - October 28
8) Christmas - December 25
9) Second Christmas - December 26

Tourist Sites

Although Athens is known for its history, there are many historical sites that you can tour and visit! Some of the many points of interest in Athens are the Parthenon, the Acropolis, the Agora of Athens, National Archeological Museum of Athens, Temple of Zeus, Odeon of Herodes Atticus, and many more religious and historic sites. You can tour these sights and learn a lot about ancient Athenian culture and history, how ancient Athens has affected the world today, and how ancient Athens compares to modern day Athens. I can't tell you how much I learned so you should go and learn it yourself at these many sites of wonder and amazement. Here's a link to get you started: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g189400-Activities-Athens_Attica.html

Athens in the night

Economy of Athens

Compared to Grecian economy today, ancient Athenian economy was very good. Athenian economy was and is still based on mostly trade. In ancient times, Greece started trading pork and cheese from Sicily, perfumes from Arabia, glass, barley and wheat from Egypt, rugs from Carthage and ivory from Ethiopia. Greece would give these countries olives, olive oil, jewelry, pottery, fresh-water fish and wine in return. Later on in the seventh century BC, the first coins similar to modern coins were born. Small pieces of metal with weight and value were set and the impression of an official seal with the mark of who issued the warrant and its value were made. These minted silver coins were designed in Greece and Lydia, and were designed as small oval ingots of an alloy made of gold and silver called electrum. This type of ancient Greek money reflected the mentality of a people and their times. They were observed as political, economical, technological and cultural currency. Impressions found on coins, like we have today, showed important people of those countries. Probably the first historical figure to have recorded on currency was Alexander the Great of Macedonia, around the year 330 BC.

Today, Grecian economy is ranked 119th worldwide and has an economy point average of 55.7. It has been characterized between a "moderately free" and "mostly unfree" economy. Greece's highest economy score was about 63 in 2010 and since then, it has declined. Although Greece does not have the best economy right now, it still has one of the best trading ports in the Mediterranean, even after all these millennia.

Even though present day Grecian economy is not as good as ancient Athenian economy, Greece still holds the title for one of the most efficient and most popular ports of the Mediterranean.

Social Structure of Athens

Honestly, there is not much to tell about social structure because it is nonexistent in modern day Athens. However in ancient Athens, they had a simple yet complex social structure. Women were considered to be outside of the social class system. Women had no place outside of the home, she were in whatever group your husband or father was. Also, women were not considered citizens and could not vote or own their own property. Next up at the bottom of the social society were the slaves. Slaves were common among all Athenian citizens, and even though they are at the bottom of the social structure, they are treated fair and can be freed. The next rank up is the lower class. The lower class was mostly free men who were once slaves or very poor families. These people were not citizens and had very little, if any, rights or say in politics. The second to top was the middle class. The middle class in Athens was mostly noncitizens who could not vote or own land. These people were usually merchants or traders who lived in Athens because of the economic stability and guarantee of work. Also, many middle class families were citizens and could vote and own land. Lastly, the top was the upper class. To be considered upper class in Athens, you have a citizen, a man, and to either have a high rank in the military or no job. This was considered a leisure class of sorts and to fully enjoy it, you had to be free from the economic burdens of society. Very few families were considered upper class.

Many ancient civilizations like Athens had social structures similar to this one, but also many of the cultures made the social structures extinct. So one main difference between ancient and present day Athens is that present has no social society, as ancient did.

Political Systems of Athens

When I went to Athens, I found that in terms of government, similar to the USA, Athens had a democracy of their own at one time. Athens is claimed to be the birthplace of democracy. Ancient Athens had a direct democracy which is where people decide policy initiatives directly. The USA has a representative republic where the people elect representatives to vote and decide decisions for them. Present day Athens however does not have any form of democracy; instead it has a parliamentary republic. A parliamentary republic is a type of republic that operates under a parliamentary system of government where the executive branch derives its legitimacy from and is accountable to the legislature.

I did not gain as much information on politics as I did with culture, but I did learn that government has defintiely switched between anicent and present day Athens.

Culture of Athens

The culture of present day and ancient Athens have some similarities, but mostly they are different from each other. I will start with ancient Athenian culture.

For starters, slavery was a practice for many ancient Greecians. Even the simple shoemaker or tradesman had at least one or two slaves. Slavery was not seen as a sign or torment, more of a sign of power over others. Next, women in ancient Athenian society were treated unfair. Women were expected to have secluded lives, staying at home, making clothes,making meals, and supervising the slaves. They were not allowed go out except to visit other women, or to attend religious festivals. Women also did not take part in polotics, but some did accpeted into performing at religious festivals and maybe even becoming a preistess. Lastly, ancient Athenian culture. In ancient Athens, they had a polotheistic culture where even the slightest flaw against religion could upset the gods. Some of the main gods were Zues, king of gods and god of thunderstorms, Poseidon, brother of Zues and god of the sea, horses, and earthquakes, Hades, brother of Zues and Poseidon and god of the underworld, and Hera, wife of Zues and queen of godesses and goddess of marraige. Each Greek city-state had their own god called a patron god. Athens patron god was Athena(hence where they got the name Athens), goddess of war and wisdom.


Women dancing at a religious festival

Now let us focus on modern day Athenian culture. Slavery, unlike like anceint Athens, does not exist in Athens today and is ruled illegal for anyone to have a slave. Also, woman's role in society has changed dramatically. Women can now partake in politics as well as still perticipating in religious festivals like past Athenian women. Also, women can leave the house freely and do not have to do all the chores of the household. Finally, religion is probably the part of culture that has changed the most. Today, Athens is monotheistic religion containg Catholicism and Greek Orthodox. Some people still believe in the many gods, but 90% of greece today is either Catholic or Greek Orthodox.

Unlike the geography of Athens that was described earlier, the culture of Athens has dramatically changed over the many thousand over years. The main differences between the cultures is that slavery is illegal now, women have more rights today, and religion has changed the most from being polytheistic to monotheistic.

Geography and Natural Resources of Athens

Athens sprawls across the central plain of Attica that is often referred to as the Athens or Attica Basin. The basin is bounded by four large mountains: Mount Aegaleo to the west, Mount Parnitha to the north, Mount Penteli to the northeast and Mount Hymettus to the east. The Saronic Gulf lies to the southwest. Athens is built around a number of hills. Lycabettus is one of the tallest hills of the city proper and provides a view of the entire Attica Basin. In weather, Athens has a Mediterranean climate and receives enough precipitation to not be classified as a semi-arid climate. The dominant feature of Athens's climate is changing between prolonged hot and dry summers and mild, wet winters. With an average of 414.1 millimeters of yearly precipitation, rainfall occurs largely between the months of October and April. July and August are the driest months, where thunderstorms occur once or twice a month. Winter is usually cool and rainy with snowfalls more frequent in the north. In summary, Athens is a mountainous, rainy, and warm area to be. 

View of Attica Basin from the hill Lycabettus

Athens has many natural resources. Although, the soil is not very fertile. Only about 30 percent of the total land area in Greece can support crops. Wheat is Greece’s main crop. Other major crops include corn and other grains, cotton, figs, olives, oranges, peaches, potatoes, sugar beets, tobacco and tomatoes. Greece is one of the world’s leading producers of olive oil and raisins. Some natural vegetation found in Greece is small shrubs and pine trees. 

In the Mycenaean times, Greece was a land of thickly forested mountains. Farmers were limited  in the amount of crops they could grow other than a bit of barley and wheat, a few grape vines, fig trees and olive trees. By 650 BC, much of the forest was cut down for shipbuilding and the creation of coal for the metal workings. You would think that this would be good for farmers so that they can have more land. However this was disastrous as the rain fell in the winter along the mountainsides. It washed away any fertile soil that may have been there. This resulted in the land becoming even more infertile. The situation got so bad that in Athens, the statesman decided to import grains from Egypt to feed its population. This explains why Greece has so many olive trees today. These trees have become conditioned to the limited amount of moisture and grow with minimal watering. 

Trip to Amazing Athens

At first, I thought a trip to Athens would be great, but when I arrived, I realized that it would be an amazing trip. My perfect summer is sitting on the beach in South Carolina with the waves rolling and the sun shining on my face. When my parents told us that we were taking a trip to Athens, my summer dream just turned into an a winter blizzard. But what I didn't know is that Athens is full of beauty and ancient history. I went there and I was astonished with the modernization of Athens. I thought it would still look like a city of marble; I came to find only historic monuments like the Parthenon and some ancient buildings stand in marble, and everywhere else is modern day buildings. Also I found some similarities between ancient and present day Athens in government. Along with government, I looked for similarities between ancient Athens and the present in economy, social culture, geography, and other extra things.

Present day Athens