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Category: Culture
Is it possible to have a Greek-Turkish Confederation in the future?
You know how people put A2A at the top of their answers, because they like the asker, but are ambivalent about the question? Sofia, if we ever meet up for coffee in Oakleigh (you’re a Greek in Melbourne, you probably live inside an Eaton Mall patisserie), I will be asking you: WHY YOU ASK ME […]
What are some great threats one can make?
NSFW, and rather instructive in attitudes towards anal sex as punishment. There was a threat made by Georgios Karaiskakis, the foul mouthed general of the Greek War of Independence, that I’ve just discovered. It has a kind of magnificent menace to it. For it to even be intelligible in English, I have to cite from […]
Who is the most famous Greek who was named Alexander in the previous 15 centuries (one for each century)?
Imma skip 19th and 20th centuries, which my Greek peers have already amply answered. EDIT: Filled in with the help of Uri Granta, for which my humble thanks. V century: Alexander of Apamea [Uri] VI: Alexander of Tralles, medical author VII: Alexander, bishop of Cotrada, participated in the 6th Ecumenical Council, 680–81 (Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen […]
What is that one picture that best describes your city / country / state?
A2A Pegah. I was going to post something smart-alecky about my country, Australia. But I see that it has already been covered: Shayne Bradbury’s answer to What is that one picture that best describes your city / country / state? User-10398731632804616022’s answer to What is that one picture that best describes your city / country […]
In the Matrix, why is the Oracle’s message “Know Thyself” in Latin, instead of the original Greek?
Because Latin was always better known in the West than Greek. Greek proverbial expressions are almost uniformly quoted in the West in Latin; e.g. Deus ex machina, not apo mēchanēs theos; Et tu Brute, not kai sy teknon; quod erat demonstrandum, not hoper edei deixai. Gnothi seauton seems to be as prevalent as nosce te […]
What do Greeks think of Yusuf Islam?
A2A Hansolophontes. (Sorry, Khateeb, but you walked into that one.) (Ἁνσολοφόντης. Looks nice…) I’ll say what I think they feel, but I’ll go a roundabout way about it. What do Greeks of my upbringing and circumstances feel about ethnic Greek converts to Islam? Well, if they were pre-population exchange, they’re not around any more, and […]
What are the reasons why Apollo finally befriends Hermes?
People of Quora. Before you read this my answer, read Amy Louisa’s answer. And before you upvote my answer, upvote Amy Louisa’s answer. It would be a bad thing if you upvote the linguist over the classicist. It would be an even worse thing if you upvoted the writing of a Greek screenwriter over the […]
What do you like about Athens, Greece?
Me? Yes, Athens is crowded and outsize and horrid and smoggy. But. The Sacred Rock: The back streets of Plaka. A reminder that once, this used to be a chic 19th century town: … with a lot of 21st century Greeks jammed in: The peekaboo of antiquities against the cityspace. Like the Roman Forum: The […]
What are some Greek folklore stories?
Category:Greek fairy tales – Wikipedia Category:Greek folklore – Wikipedia That’s a start. We’ve got Christmas goblins (kalikantzaros), we’ve got vampires (vrykolakas), we’ve got mermaids (gorgona). Fairy tales involve, interchangeably, fairies (neraida), ogres (drakos), and black men (arapis). And saints. My favourite fairy tale rather incongruously involves Jesus Christ. The Blessed Card Deck, from Kephallonia. Let […]
Do other countries have an Uncle Sam figure?
Besides the Positive personification of Greece, Athena, there’s also the negative personification of Greece, Ψωροκώσταινα Psorokostena, “Kostas’ Mangy Wife”. In fact the cartoonist Bost (Chrysanthos Mentis Bostantzoglou) in the ’60s drew Psorokostena as a Mangy Athena: Although the contemporary blog Psorokostena has adopted a homelier figure: The story of the historical Kostas’ Mangy Wife is […]