Download GREEK TRAIL - The Amazing Game of Ancient European Trails

Our Trail
GREECE
ATHENS-OLYMPIA
Our Trail: Athens-Olympia
Our path begins from Athens, the capital and the largest
city of Greece to Olympia, a sancturary of Ancient
Greece. During our trip we are going to pass from many
cities which have left their own mark in greek and
global history.These cities are Athens, Eleusina ,
Korinthos , Nemea , Mycenae , Tegea and Ancient
Olympia. Also we will meet many well-known
monuments like the Parthenon and the Panathenaic
Stadium. Additional fauna and flora is remarkable. At
the mountainous part of the path there is a multidude of
wild animals and a rich vegetation which consists of
trees, bushes and growing plants.
Athens- Parthenon
Athens is the capital and the largest city of Greece.
Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the
world's oldest cities, with its recorded history
spanning around 3,400 years. The Parthenon is a
temple on the Athenian Acropolis, Greece, dedicated
to the maiden goddess Athena, whom the people of
Athens considered their patron deity. Its construction
began in 447 BC when the Athenian Empire was at
the height of its power. It was completed in 438 BC,
although decoration of the building continued until
432 BC. It is the most important surviving building of
Classical Greece, generally considered the
culmination of the development of the Doric order. Its
decorative sculptures are considered some of the
high points of Greek art. The Parthenon is regarded as
an enduring symbol of Ancient Greece, Athenian
democracy, western civilization and one of the
world's greatest cultural monuments. The Greek
Ministry of Culture is currently carrying out a program
of selective restoration and reconstruction to ensure
the stability of the partially ruined structure.
Panathenaic Stadium
The Panathenaic Stadium or Panathinaiko,
also known as the Kallimarmaro (meaning
the "beautifully marbled"), is a multipurpose stadium used for several events
and athletics in Athens that hosted the first
modern Olympic
Games in 1896.
Reconstructed from the remains of an
ancient Greek stadium, the Panathenaic is
the only major stadium in the world built
entirely of white marble (from Mount
Penteli ) and is one of the oldest in the
world. In ancient times, the stadium on this
site was used to host the athletic portion of
the Panathenaic Games, in honor of the
Goddess Athena. During classical times, it
had wooden seating. In 329 BC it was rebuilt
in marble by the archon Lycurgus and in 140
AD was enlarged and renovated by Herodes
Atticus, giving a seated capacity of 50,000
Eleusis
Eleusis is a town and municipality in West Attica,
Greece. It is situated about 18 km northwest from
the centre of Athens. It is best known for having
been the site of the Eleusinian Mysteries, one of the
most famous religious events of the ancient Greek
religion,and the birthplace of Aeschylus, one of the
three great tragedians of antiquity. Today Eleusis is a
major industrial center, with the largest oil refinery
in Greece.T he archaeological Site in the town of
Elefsina is one of the most important in Greece It is
the place where the Eleusian mysteries were held.
The Eleusinian Mysteries were initiation ceremonies
held every year for the cult of Demeter and
Persephone based at Eleusis (Elefsina) in ancient
Greece. Of all the mysteries celebrated in ancient
times, these were held to be the ones of greatest
importance. These myths and mysteries, begun in
the Mycenaean period (c. 1600 BC) and lasting two
thousand years, were a major festival during the
Hellenic era and the Roman times.
The Temple of Apollo
The temple of Apollo, is archaic
temple in Ancient Corinth built with
monolithic Doric columns. Of the 40
that existed survives today only
seven standing prominently above
the ruins of the ancient agora. The
temple was built in 530 BC about.
To support the roof and interior
columns were along quite large in
size alcove, which was divided into
two rooms and also in the vestibule
and opisthodomos they had in their
front every two columns in antis.
The temple is a registered
trademark of Corinth.
Nemea
Nemea
is an ancient site in the
northeastern part of thePeloponnese, in
Greece. Formerly part of the territory of
Cleonae in Argolis, it is today situated in
the regional unit of Corinthia. The small
village of Archaia Nemea is immediately
southwest of the archaeological site,
while the new town of Nemea lies to the
west. This is an amforeas created in
approximately 530
BC.In the front of
the vase presented the controversy of
Hercules and the Lion of Nemea. In
Greek mythology, the lion of Nemea was
a terrible lion that lived in a cave on the
mountain top and devouring animals and
humans. Hercules found it and after
heavy fighting he killed it. That was one
of the many athlous of Hercules.
Mycenae
Mycenae is an archaeological site in Greece,
located about 90 kilometres (56 miles)
southwest of Athens, in the north-eastern
Peloponnese. From the hill on which the palace
was located, one can see across the Argolid to
the Saronic Gulf.In the second millennium BC,
Mycenae was one of the major centres of Greek
civilization, a military stronghold which
dominated much of southern Greece. The
period of Greek history from about 1600 BC to
about 1100 BC is called Mycenaean in reference
to Mycenae. The Lion Gate was the main
entrance of the Bronze Age citadel of Mycenae,
southern Greece. It was erected during the 13th
century BC in the northwest side of the
acropolis and is named after the relief sculpture
of two lionesses in a heraldic pose that stands
above the entrance.The Lion Gate is the sole
surviving monumental piece of Mycenaean
sculpture,as well as the largest sculpture in the
prehistoric Aegean
Tegea
Tegea was a settlement in ancient Greece, and it
is also a former municipality in Arcadia,
Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local
government reform it is part of the municipality
Tripoli, of which it is a municipal unit.Its seat
was the village Stadio.Head of the goddess
Hygeia is an ancient Greek sculpture found in
1900 or 1901 in the French excavations in
Tegea.An not sure, probably was part of the
statue that has been lost. But it sure was built
by the ancient Greek sculptor Scopas and built
in the 4th century BC.The temple of Athena Alea
at Tegea were and are the oldest of all.
According to legend Aleos , son unsparingness
had founded this Church , and from this temple
took the view name. The temple was burned in
394 BC and rebuilt in the architectural
supervision of the sculptor Scopas.The new
temple was Doric and was superior to all the
temples Peloponnese at the time.
BASSAE-EPICURIAN APOLLO
Bassae is an archaeological site in the
northeastern part of Messenia,
Greece. In classical antiquity, it was
part of Arcadia. Bassae lies near the
village of Skliros, northeast of Figaleia,
south of Andritsaina and west of
Megalopolis. It is famous for the wellpreserved mid- to late-5th century
BCE
Temple
of
Apollo
Epicurius.Although this temple is
geographically remote from major
polities of ancient Greece, it is one of
the most studied ancient Greek
temples because of its multitude of
unusual features. Bassae was the first
Greek site to be inscribed on the
World Heritage List(1986). Its
construction is placed between 450
BCE and 400 BCE.
Ancient Olympia
Olympia, a sanctuary of ancient
Greece in Elis, is known for having
been the site of the Olympic Games
in classical times, the most famous
games in history. The Olympic
Games were held every four years
throughout Classical Antiquity, from
the 8th century BC to the 4th
century AD. The first Olympic
Games were in honor of Zeus. The
Temple of Zeus at Olympia was an
ancient Greek temple in Olympia,
Greece, dedicated to the main and
most powerful god, Zeus. The
temple, built between 472 and 456
BC, was the very model of the fully
developed classical Greek temple of
the Doric order.
Hermes of Praxiteles
Hermes and the Infant Dionysos, also
known as the Hermes of Praxiteles or the
Hermes of Olympia is an ancient Greek
sculpture of Hermes and the infant
Dionysus discovered in 1877 in the ruins
of the Temple of Hera at Olympia. It is
displayed at theArchaeological Museum
of Olympia. It is traditionally attributed
to Praxiteles and dated to the 4th
century BC, based on a remark by the
2nd century Greek traveller Pausanias,
and has made a major contribution to
the definition of Praxitelean style. Its
attribution is, however, the object of
fierce controversy among art historians.