Understanding the Greeks

Understanding what it is to be Greek will help you to understand the Greek language.

• The ancient Greeks are the forefathers of Western Civilisation.
• One of the world’s most famous empires, that of Alexander the Great, began in Greece and stretched to Egypt and beyond.
• Greece looks to the sea – shipping has been important to Greece across the mellennia.
• To this day Greeks see themselves as people of the sea.
• Greece once existed as separate City States or ‘polies’.
• Athens was named after Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom.
• Athens became the Capital of Greece in 1833 after the war of independence.
• Greeks generally sleep in the middle of the day (το μεσημέρι) but party until very late at night.
• School/work starts very early in the morning.
• Traditionally adults return to work in the late afternoon after lunch (largest meal of the day) and a sleep.
• Kids (παιδιά) normally go back to schools called φροντιστήρια in the evening, usually to learn languages.
• Everyone seems to get called kid by someone. Friends call each other παιδιά, older people call younger people παιδιά, even if the younger people are 40. It is used in the same way as ‘guys’ in English.