Classical Greece didn’t have the best track record as a society promoting the equality of women, at least in Athens (it would seem that Spartan women had rather more freedom than their Athenian sisters). However, I wanted to celebrate some of the great women from Greece’s past for International Women’s Day on March 8th.
I think Aspasia (usually described as lover and partner of Pericles, but I’m not sure it’s right to be defining her in terms of her relationship with a man) sounds like a remarkable woman. The extent to which she is referred to in complementary – albeit patronising – terms by giants of classical Athens such as Socrates, Plato and Xenophon suggests that she was someone very distinctive among women of her time.
She appears to have been both loved and disliked, lauded and loathed, but anyone that was one of Judy Chicago’s dinner guests (other Greek historical figures include Sappho and Hypatia – see below) is all right by me.
I’m not sure how far afield we should consider Greek extends for this but I’ll also put in a word for Hypatia of Alexandria who was certainly working in the Greek language and was presumably Greek by culture if not by country of birth. She seems to have been a highly educated, principled and outspoken woman who paid for her beliefs as a pagan martyr (described in Catherine Nixey’s book : The Darkening Age).
From more recent times I will add Laskarina Bouboulina, who looks from her portrait to have been a formidable woman. Heroine of the Greek war of independence, she was a commander of a fleet of ships, funded by herself, that were involved in the blockade of Nauplio and the Siege of Momenvasia in 1821.
Bouboulina was sadly killed on Spetses in a family feud with the father of the girl her son was eloping with.
I will also include the Souliot women who chose to commit suicide in the face of Ottoman troops in Epirus in 1803. Choosing to die with their children rather than to face enslavement.
The memorial at Zalongo that marks the spot is a moving and disturbing reminder of the cost of freedom.
This post was inspired by a Facebook conversation with a Greek friend and is another diversion into the alleyways of language that I find fascinating.
Today (28th October) is Όχι Day (literally “No! Day”) in Greece when they remember the defiance of prime minister Ioannis Metaxas in 1940. He is supposed to have replied with the single word “No!” when presented with an ultimatum by Axis forces threatening to enter Greek territory.
While Papadiamantis was writing in the formal, “
The book is a compact (16x12cm) softcover book of 63 pages, covering 15 of the most famous myths. Each myth gets a short (typically two or three pages) description in straight-forward modern Greek. Some will be familiar to everyone (Daedalus & Icarus, Narcissus & Echo, Orpheus & Eurydice), others less so.
I found Nixey’s portrait of the early Christian world chimed well with my own (Roman Catholic) upbringing of only fifty years ago where certain books were denounced from church pulpits as “polluting”, where piety was valued over knowledge, where the mission of the church justified any behaviour by those responsible for its ministry and where those who sought to convert other-believers to the true faith were lauded – irrespective of their impact on the cultures they disrupted. These are all themes that Nixey explores and we can still see these behaviours in some faith-based societies today.
My attention was attracted to the modern Greek word δώρο (“gift”) by 
In particular, she has brought together a post on the work of Francois Perilla who produced a number of paintings and guides to different places in Greece starting during the 1920’s & 30’s.
Like their other collaborations, the play is performed in Greek with English surtitles.
“Καλημέρα σας, Ονομάζομαι Μαργαρίτα Ιωαννίδου, και θα ήθελα να σας ενημερώσω για ένα βιβλιαράκι που εξέδωσα. Είναι το «Μόνο της Ζωής του Ταξίδι» του Γεώργιου Βιζυηνού, σε απλοποιημένη μορφή, κατάλληλη για μαθητές που μαθαίνουν ελληνικά σαν δεύτερη/ξένη γλώσσα. Είναι κυρίως κατάλληλο για μέσο επίπεδο γλωσσομάθειας (Β1 – Β2) σύμφωνα με το Ευρωπαϊκό Πλαίσιο Αναφοράς για τις γλώσσες. Σας στέλνω ένα δείγμα του. Με την διδασκαλία των ελληνικών ως δεύτερης γλώσσας, ασχολήθηκα εθελοντικά για δυο χρόνια, κάνοντας μαθήματα σε μετανάστες. 
In a series of dramatic vignettes, the play explores the way we think about ourselves and the ways that, in giving our feelings voice, we change how we feel and how those feelings and expressions affect those around us. The cast portrays the mixture of friends, lovers, family members and individuals with an energy that lets the audience share in their characters’ confusions, pathos, joy and pain.
Lord Byron
The series is well worth a watch. It raises questions about the role of drama then and now. In one section it explores the links between Euripides play “The Trojan Women” and the actions of the Athenian polis at Melos. What’s less clear, of course, is whether this had any impact on the thoughts and actions of the Demos.