Stories
Read interesting stories on history, arts, cuisine and contemporary lifestyle. Follow historic routes and celebrate the timeless essence of Greek culture.
The Kore of Thera: One of the great mysteries of Greek archaeology
A century after the systematic excavation of the cemetery of Ancient Thera, the distinguished Santorini-born archaeologist Charalambos Sigalas made an extraordinary discovery just a few centimetres beneath the surface of the earth.
The wives of Philip II of Macedon
Although most people are likely to recognise the name Olympias, the Epirote princess and Alexander the Great’s mother, very few people realise that Philip II, despite dying at the young age of forty-six, is believed to have entered into no less than seven marriages in the effort to strengthen the kingdom of Macedon through political alliances.
From Asterix to Prehistoric Greece: A menhir at the Diachronic Museum of Larissa
One of the very few menhirs discovered in Greece is female and represents an exceptionally rare, early attempt to depict the human form on a monumental scale.
The celebrated ladies of Greek prehistory
Carved from marble or modelled in clay, priestesses or goddesses lending their shapely silhouettes to votive offerings and ritual objects, female figures dominate the figurative art and pottery of prehistoric Greece, from the islands of the Aegean all the way to Minoan Crete.
The unconventional Kouros of Palaikastro
The undisputed centrepiece of the Archaeological Museum of Sitia is unlike any other discovered to date: a diminutive chryselephantine statue of a young man, rightfully considered one of the most extraordinary masterpieces of Minoan art.
The Kouros of Samos, the great survivor
The colossal Kouros of Samos, rising to nearly 5 meters (4.80 to be precise), is the largest of its type to have survived almost intact to this day.
A woman possessed: The deviant burial of high-born Neiko
Episkopi of Sikinos, a unique palimpsest monument in almost constant use from the 3rd century AD straight through to the present day, revealed its greatest and darkest secret during the restoration works of 2018.
Iphigenia in black and white
The statue of Iphigenia - a female figure in flight - may not be the most famous exhibit of the Archaeological Museum of Pythagoreio in Samos, but it is a rare example of hybrid sculpture well worth seeing in person.
The Phaistos Disc: An eternal enigma
The Phaistos Disc is not just one of the most iconic discoveries of the Minoan civilization, but also one of the most enigmatic, with countless theories attempting to decipher its content.
The Antikythera Mechanism: The world’s first analog “computer”
The Antikythera Mechanism does not give away its secrets all at once. It would actually be pretty easy to pass it up while walking around a museum, since it is not the most visually stunning find recovered from the famous Antikythera shipwreck.