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Category: Culture
What role does belly dancing play in Greek culture?
I’ve read Dimitris M Papadakis’ response, and I’m quite happy to vehemently disagree with him. And of course… Many modern Greek citizens may, of course claim otherwise, but there ought to be a distinction between those who happen to be Greek citizens and those who have a Greek mind and adhere to a Greek, that […]
What do modern Greek speakers think of the phonetics of ancient Greek as it is taught in textbooks and performed (in, say, readings of Homer)? Do they think these reconstructions are accurate? Why?
What do they think? *sigh* The students at the Classics Department in the University of Auckland have this channel on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/… In which they have published three recordings of pop songs sung in Ancient Greek, with Erasmian pronunciation. They are exceedingly clever renderings, both in translation and staging. Mama Mia even has a Sappho […]
Did the Orthodox Christian church have any equivalent to the Protestant movement?
Patriarch Cyril Lucaris made overtures towards Calvinist theologians in the 1620s, and many though not all specialists believe he was pursuing a reform of the church along Calvinist lines. His contemporaries certainly thought so, and attributed the Calvinist Confession of Cyril Lucaris to him. The Synod of Jerusalem (1672) repudiated both the Confession, and Cyril’s […]
When did Orthodox Christians (normal citizens, not clergy) get access to the Bible?
I am not aware of any Orthodox ban on laypeople buying bibles, if they could afford them. It may or may not have been seen as odd before the invention of printing. The Greek Orthodox Church did have a massive problem with translating the Bible into Modern Greek, to the extent of getting a ban […]
If a language dies does a culture die also?
Language is one of the primary vehicles of culture, and expressions of cultural distinctiveness. But it is not the only one. When a language dies, the language community has been linguistically assimilated into another community (assuming the community hasn’t been genocided). That is typically associated with cultural assimilation. But not always. As a counterexample to […]
What Is a Byzantine Catholic?
A follower of one of the Eastern Catholic Churches. These churches are doctrinally Roman Catholic, but their ritual practice is a continuation of Eastern Christian practice (Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and the Church of the East). Byzantine Catholic in particular refers to a follower of a church that is doctrinally Catholic, but whose ritual is […]
What are all the animal forms that Zeus took in Greek Mythology?
Lucian Dialogues of the Gods has Zeus speaking to Eros: The pranks you have played me! Satyr, bull, swan, eagle, shower of gold — I have been everything in my time; and I have you to thank for it. Those are the most famous ones Bull: Europa Swan: Leda Shower of gold: Danae Satyr: Antiope […]
BS in English Linguistic and literature are different courses?
Not A2A. Michael Masiello, who is awesome in every way, is right in the question he answered, but wrong in the question I think OP intended. Linguistics and literature are indeed quite different fields of study. In fact, they have become more separate. Linguistics was invented to help literature study (rhetoric); and literature scholars draw […]
Why does the third generation of Greek immigrants in Belgium use only French, while their counterparts in Germany speak excellent Greek?
Really, the question boils down to, why are Greeks in Belgium assimilating faster than Greeks in Germany. At a guess, critical mass: lots more Greeks in Germany, so much more community life, much more community use of Greek. I don’t know enough to speculate further, and I invite others to. Other factors could include: Demographics […]
Do the Ancient Cretans have their own Cretan mythology?
Like Niko Vasileas said, we don’t have deciphered writings from the Minoans, so we don’t know for certain much of anything. But: We know the Greeks were Indo-European, and the Minoans likely were not. We know much of Greek mythology has Indo-European content in it. We know some things about Minoan religion from their sculptures […]