Understanding Greece..

The ancient greeks lived in Greece, and in countries that we now know as Bulgaria and Turkey. The ancient greeks were once a powerful empire, and had developed ideas for government, science, philiosphy, religion and art.

Ancient Greece was split into many different states, each state were ruled differently, having their own laws, government and money, although they shared the same language and religion. Athens and Sparta were to two most important city states.

Religion was important to the ancient Greeks, as they believed that it would make their lives better, and the gods would take care of them when they died. They believed in many different gods and goddesses, and that these gods and goddesses controlled everything in their lives and environment. Hence, to show their gods how important the were, the ancient greeks built temples in every town for one god or goddess. These temples were not like the modern places of worship, where worshipers could pray in, but were actually homes for statues of gods, which were cared for by priests.

In ancient times, where there were no means of communication other than by word of mouth, stories were created of their gods and goddesses. These stories were then spread around by travelers. Many of these stories are still known today, ie. Pandora’s Box, King Midas, The Trojan Horse, the Story of the Odyssey and Jason and the Golden Fleece to name a few.

To understand the Principal Gods, click here. This would help you when you travel around Greece looking for Ancient sites :p

Geographically, Greece consists of a mountainous, peninsular mainland jutting out into the sea at the southern end of the Balkans, the Peloponnesus peninsula and numerous islands.

The greeks, like their latin counterparts like Spain and Italy, have a few things in common – the production of olive oil, their afternoon siestas, and their active night life.