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Ischia

Ischia

Ischia is a volcanic island in the Tyrrhenian Sea, at the northern end of the Gulf of Naples. The roughly trapezoidal island lies 17.5 miles from Naples and measures around 10 km East to West and 7 km North to South with a 34 km coastline and a surface area of 46.3 km². It is almost entirely mountainous with the highest peak being Mt. Epomeo at 788 meters. Population: nearly 58.000 people. Ischia was settled by Greeks from Euboea who called it Pithecoussai (Island of the Monkeys). The ceramic Euboean artifact "Nestor's cup" was discovered in a grave on the island in 1953. Engraved upon the cup are a few lines written in the Cumae alphabet. Dating from c.730 BC, it is the oldest written reference to Homer (the Iliad) and may be the earliest extant precursor to the Latin alphabet. Virgil referred to it as Inarime and still later as Arime. The Romans called it Aenaria, perhaps for its flowering vines or perhaps as a corruption of the Ionic Greek ainos meaning vehement or terrifying. The current name appears for the first time in a letter from Pope Leo III to Charlemagne in 813 (iscla from insula) though there is an argument made for a Semitic origin in I-schra, "black island". It is unknown whether the island was inhabited in the prehistoric period. The Greeks arrived in the 8th century BC and are thought to have fled to Cuma on the coast of Campania in the 6th century due to volcanic activity. In 474 BC Hiero I of Syracuse came to the aid of the Cumeans against the Etruscans and defeated them on the sea. He occupied Ischia and the surrounding Parthenopean islands and left behind a garrison to build a fortress before the city of Ischia itself. This was still extant in the Middle Ages, but the original garrison fled before the eruptions of 470 BC and the island was taken over by Neapolitans. The Romans seized Ischia (and Naples) in 322 BC. In 6 AD Augustus restored the island to Naples in exchange for Capri. Ischia suffered from the barbarian invasions, being taken first by the Heruli then by the Ostrogoths, being ultimately absorbed into the Eastern Roman Empire. The Byzantines gave the island over to Naples in 588 and by 661 it was being administered by a Count liege to the Duke of Naples. The area was devastated by the Saracens in 813 and 847; in 1004 it was occupied by Henry II of Germany; the Norman Roger II of Sicily took it in 1130; the island was raided by the Pisans in 1135 and 1137 and subsequently fell under the Suebi and then Angevin rule. After the Sicilian Vespers in 1282, the island rebelled, recognizing Peter III of Aragon, but was retaken by the Angevins the following year. It was conquered in 1284 by the forces of Aragon and Charles II d'Anjou was unable to successfully retake it until 1299. As a consequence of the island's last eruption, the population fled to Baia where they remained for 4 years. In 1320 Robert of Anjou and his wife Sancia visited the island and were hosted by Cesare Sterlich, sent by Charles II from the Holy See to govern the island in 1306 and was, by this time, nearly 100 years of age. Ischia suffered greatly in the struggles of the Angevin-Durazzan period. It was taken by Carlo Durazzo in 1382, retaken by Louis II of Anjou in 1385 and captured yet again by Ladislav Durazzo in 1386; it was sacked by the fleet of the Antipope John XXIII under the command of Gaspare Cossa in 1410 only to be retaken by Ladislav the following year. In 1422 Joan II gave the island to her adoptive son Alfonso V of Aragon, though, when he fell into disgrace, she retook it with the help of Genoa in 1424. In 1438 Alfonso reoccupied the castle, kicking out all the men and proclaiming it a Castilian colony to whom he married the wives and daughters of the expelled. He set about building a bridge linking the castle to the rest of the island and he carved out a large gallery, both of which are still to be seen today. In 1442 he gave the island to one of his favorites, Lucretia d'Alagno, who in turn entrusted the island's governance to her brother-in-law, Giovanni Torella. Upon the death of Alfonso in 1458, they returned the island to the Angevin side. Ferdinand I of Naples ordered Alessandro Sforza to chase Torella out of the castle and gave the island over, in 1462, to Garceraldo Requesens. In 1464, after a brief Torellan insurrection, Marino Caracciolo was set up as governor. In February of 1495, with the arrival of Charles VIII, Ferdinand II landed on the island and took possession of the castle, and, after having killed the disloyal castellan Giusto di Candida with his own hands, left the island under the control of Innico D'Avalos, Marquis of Pescara and del Vasto, who ably defended the place form the French flotilla. With him came his sister Costanza and through them they founded the D'Avalos dynasty which would last on the island into the 1700's. Throughout the fifteenth century, the island suffered the incursions of pirates and Barbary privateers- in 1543-44 Khair ad Din, called Barbarossa, laid waste to the island, taking 4,000 prisoners in the process. In 1548 and 1552 Ischia was beset by his successor Dragut Rais. With the increasing rarity and diminishing severity of the piratical attacks later in the century and the construction of better defenses, the islanders began to venture out of the castle and it was then that the historic center of the town of Ischia was begun. Even so many inhabitants still ended up slaves to the pirates, the last known being taken in 1796. During the 1647 revolution of Masaniello, there was an attempted rebellion against the feudal landowners. With the extinction of the D'Avalos line in 1729, the island reverted to state property. In March, 1734 it was taken by the Bourbons and administered by a royal governor seated within the castle. The island participated in the short-lived Republic of Naples starting in March, 1799 but by April 3, Commodore Trowbridge- under the command of Lord Nelson had put down the revolt on Ischia as well as on neighboring Procida. By decree of the governor, many of the rebels were hung in a sqaure on Procida now called Piazza dei martiri (Square of the Martyrs). Among these was Francesco Buonocore who had received the island to administer from the French Championnet in Naples . On February 13, 1806, the island was occupied by the French and on the 24th was unsuccessfully attacked by the English. In 1948, American author Truman Capote stayed in room number 3 in the Pensione Lustro in the town of Forio on the island. He wrote an essay about his stay there, which later appeared in Local Color, published in 1950 by Random House. Ischia is also the principal city (pop.17,256) of the island, divided into Ischia Ponte and Ischia Porto. Its main industry is tourism. Villa La Colombaia (Lacco Ameno - Forio) The Villa, surrounded by a park, was made by Luigi Patalano famous local socialist giornalist. It is now the seat of the cultural Institution dedicated to Visconti, which is involved in cultural activities promotion such as music, cinema, theatre, art exhibitions, work-shops, cinema reviews. A museum dedicated to Luchino Visconti. The Villa and the the Park are accessible to public visits. Villa La Mortella (Forio - San Francesco) This park is located at Forio d’Ischia and was originally the property of the English composer William Walton, who lived in the Villa next door with his wife. When the composer arrived on the island in 1946, he immediately called a botanical expert from England to lay out the garden, planting wonderful tropical and Mediterranean plants, some of which have now reached amazing proportions

External links

- [http://wikitravel.org/en/Ischia Wikitravel]
- [http://www.ischiaonline.it Ischiaonline.it]
- [http://www.ischiaonline.it/page.php?pag=STOR02&sez=STORIA&mysty=blue&langiol=EN Ancient history of Ischia including discovery of Nestor's Cup]
- [http://www.terraserver.com/imagery/image_gx.asp?cpx=13.909793&cpy=40.73010206&res=25&provider_id=320&t=pan Satellite image of Ischia]
- [http://www.ischiaonline.it/page.php?pag=CAMS00&sez=WEBCAM Ischia Webcams]
- [http://www.ischiatravelweb.it/special-on-ischia/ Special on Ischia]
- [http://www.ischiafoto.org Ischia and Photos]
- [http://imdb.com/title/tt0068240/ Ischia in the movie "Avanti"]
- [http://imdb.com/title/tt0044517/ Ischia in the movie "Crimson Pirate"]
- [http://ischiaitaly.blogspot.com Blog Of Ischia]
- [http://www.appartamentiischia.it/ischia_google_map.htm Ischia On satellite]
- [http://www.appartamentiischia.it/Ischia_Thermal_Gardens_and_Parks.htm Ischia Thermal Gardens]
- [http://www.appartamentiischia.it/Ischia_Events.htm Ischia Events]
- [http://www.appartamentiischia.it/Ischia_Thermal_Gardens_and_Parks.htm Ischia Thermal Gardens]

Hotels, Apartments, B&Bs,

- [http://www.appartamentiischia.it Villa Marialuisa]
- [http://www.lavillarosa.it Villa Rosa]
- [http://www.hotelmiramare.it Hotel Miramare] Category:Stratovolcanoes Category:Campanian volcanic arc Category:Islands of Italy Category:Cumaean colonies Category:Thermals Category:Mediterranean ja:イスキア島

Island

in New York, USA]] An island or isle is any piece of land that is completely surrounded by water. Very small islands are called islets. Although seldom adhered to, it is also proper to call an emergent land feature on an atoll an islet, since an atoll is a type of island. A key or cay is also another name for a relatively small island. Groups of related islands are called archipelagos. There are three main types of islands: continental islands, river islands, and volcanic islands. There are also some artificial islands. The word island derives ultimately from the Old English word igland. It was originally spelled phonetically: iland. The letter "s" was added out of the mistaken belief that it derived from isle (< Old French < Latin insula) + land, where no such etymological relationship existed.

Continental islands

Continental islands are bodies of land that are connected by the continental shelf to a continent. That is, these islands are part of an adjacent continent and are located on the continental shelf of that continent. Examples include Greenland and Sable Island off North America, Barbados and Trinidad off South America, Sicily off Europe, Sumatra and Java off Asia, New Guinea and Tasmania off Australia. A special type of continental island is the microcontinental island, which results when a continent is rifted. The best example is Madagascar off Africa. The Kerguelen Islands and some of the Seychelles are also examples. Another subtype is the barrier island: accumulations of sand on the continental shelf.

River islands

River islands occur in river deltas and in large rivers. They are caused by deposition of sediment at points in the flow where the current loses some of its carrying capacity. In essence, they are river bars, isolated in the stream. While some are ephemeral, and may disappear if the river's water volume or speed changes, others are stable and long-lived.

Volcanic islands

Volcanic islands are built by volcanoes. Mid-ocean examples are not geologically part of any continent. One type of volcanic island is found in a volcanic island arc. These islands arise from volcanoes where the subduction of one plate under another is occurring. Examples include the Mariana Islands, the Aleutian Islands, and most of Tonga in the Pacific Ocean. Some of the Lesser Antilles and the South Sandwich Islands are the only Atlantic Ocean examples. Another type of volcanic island occurs where an oceanic rift reaches the surface. There are two examples: Iceland, which is the world's largest volcanic island, and Jan Mayen—both are in the Atlantic. The last type of volcanic island are those formed over volcanic hotspots. A hot spot is more or less stationary relative to the moving tectonic plate above it, so a chain of islands results as the plate drifts. Over long periods of time, this type of island is eventually eroded down and "drowned" by isostatic adjustment, becoming a seamount. Plate movement across a hot-spot produces a line of islands oriented in the direction of the plate movement. An example is the Hawaiian Islands, from Hawaii to Kure, which then extends beneath the sea surface in a more northerly direction as the Emperor Seamounts. Another chain with similar orientation is the Tuamotu Archipelago; its older, northerly trend is the Line Islands. The southernmost chain is the Austral Islands, with its northerly trending part the atolls in the nation of Tuvalu. Tristan da Cunha is an example of a hotspot volcano in the Atlantic Ocean. An atoll is an island formed from a coral reef that has grown on an eroded and submerged volcanic island. The reef rises above the surface of the water and forms a new island. Atolls are typically ring-shaped with a central, shallow lagoon. Examples include the Maldives in the Indian Ocean and Bora Bora in the Pacific.

External links

- [http://www.un.org/Depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/unclos/part8.htm Definition of island] from United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea Category:Islands Category:Landforms zh-min-nan:Tó-sū ko:섬 ms:Pulau ja:島 simple:Island th:เกาะ

Gulf of Naples

The Gulf of Naples is located off the southwestern coast of Italy (province of Naples, Campania region). It opens to the west into the Mediterranean Sea. It is bordered on the north by the cities of Naples and Pozzuoli, on the east by Mount Vesuvius, and on the south by the Sorrentine Peninsula and its main town Sorrento; the Peninsula separates it from the Gulf of Salerno. The islands of Capri, Ischia and Procida are located in the gulf. The area is an important tourist destination for Italy with the Roman ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum (destroyed in the A.D. 79 eruption of Vesuvius) nearby.

Naples

:Alternate uses: See Naples (disambiguation) Naples (Italian Napoli, Neapolitan Napule, from Greek Νέα Πόλις - Néa Pólis - meaning "New City"; see also List of traditional Greek place names) is the largest city in southern Italy and capital of Campania Region and the Province of Naples. The city has a population of about 1 million, and together with its suburbs, the metropolitan area has 3.7 million inhabitants (Neapolitans). It is located just halfway between the Vesuvius volcano and a separate volcanic area, the Campi Flegrei, all part of the Campanian volcanic arc. Napoli is where pizza originally came from. It is rich in historical, artistic and cultural traditions and gastronomy. Neapolitan is a colourful, rich italian dialect- known in Naples as Napulitano. The metropolitan area of Naples is second in Italy by population, with over 4,400,000 inhabitants. The city is served by Naples International Airport.

History

see main article History of Naples History of Naples

Food and drink

Naples is by tradition the home of pizza. It is the birthplace of the Pizza Margherita, which traditionally is made with mozzarella cheese, pomodoro (tomato) and basil - each representing the red, white, and green of the Italian flag. The pizza was created as homage to Queen Margherita when she visited the city. La vera pizza ("true pizza") should be made in a wood-burning oven similar to a Tandoori oven. Naples is also famous for its pasta dishes, where spaghetti is often served with sugo di pomodoro, a tomato sauce which gets its full flavour from sun-ripe Campanian San Marzano tomatoes. Another excellent Campanian dish found in Naples is melanzane alla parmigiana, which is fried slices of aubergine (eggplant) gratinéed with tomato sauce and parmesan cheese. Often one can get another version of melanzane alla parmigiana with an addition of mozzarella cheese. Naples offers several kinds of unique pastry, the most famous of which is perhaps the babà, followed by choux (Neapolitans write it as sciù) and the Pastiera, a cake prepared for Easter. The babà (also known as savarin) is a mushroom-shaped piece of leavend sweet paste, soaked with an orange flavoured mixture of Pastiera and water. Choux is a small "bubble" of leavened paste stuffed with light cream, usually coffee or chocolate flavored. The Pastiera is a cake with a complicated recipe, varying by the county in which it is prepared. The ingrediants are typically annealed grain, eggs, and sometimes cream. It is always combined with boiled rice. Another typical Neapolitan pastry is the Sfogliatella (riccia or frolla). Naples is also known for its gelato. Gelato is not ice cream, but rather iced milk.

Tourist attractions

gelato Naples itself is less visited than some of the surrounding attractions. There are, however, many attractions within the city. La Villa Comunale (formerly a royal park) has been refurbished and stretches along the seafront in the smarter western end of the city. It contains an aquarium which is possibly Europe's oldest and is favoured by the locals for family walks on Sunday mornings. The Museo Archeologico Nazionale Napoli contains a large collection of Roman artifacts from Pompeii and Herculaneum as well as the Farnese Marbles, some of the greatest surviving Roman statues, an amazing numismatical collection; The Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte contains art collections including works by Michelangelo, Raphael, Botticelli and Caravaggio. Naples is the home of the Teatro di San Carlo, the oldest active opera house in Europe, which opened its doors on November 4, 1737. Other notable monuments are: 1737
- Castel dell'Ovo
- Castel Nuovo with the Arch of Triumph of Alfonso I
- Palazzo Reale
- Piazza del Plebiscito
- Cathedral of St. January
- church of Santa Chiara
- church of San Lorenzo Maggiore
- church of Santa Maria Donna Regina
- church of Gesù Nuovo ("new Jesus")
- church of San Domenico Maggiore

Under Naples

San Domenico Maggiore Guided tours operate around the Stratification of Naples which shows the city through the layers laid down across history. Subterranean Naples consists of old Greco-Roman reservoirs dug out from the soft tufo stone on which, and from which, the city is built. You can visit approximately one kilometer of the many kilometers of tunnels under the city. There are also large catacombs in and around the city.You can find, even, a lot of trash buried deep under the roads, dating to the Greeks and the Romans.

Also in Naples

Naples is the site of three major military bases. Naval Support Activity Naples, located in Capodichino is a major US Navy base which is responsible for the support and control of US Naval assets in the 6th Fleet area of responsibility, and Bagnoli, known as Joint Force Command South (formerly AFSOUTH, many Sailors still call it this) is a major NATO base, which is responsible for the coordination of NATO forces in the south European Region. There is also the Support Site, which consists mostly of housing and personnel support facilities, located in Gricignano di Aversa. Capodichino is the site of the Naples International Airport.

Around Naples

The islands of Procida, (famously used as the set for much of il Postino), Capri and Ischia can all be reached quickly by Aliscafi (twin-hulled ferries). Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast are situated south of Naples. The Roman ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum (destroyed in the A.D. 79 eruption of Vesuvius) are also nearby. Near Naples there is Pozzuoli and the Campi flegrei were the romans fuond a rich military colony.

Sporting Naples

Naples is the home of the underachieving soccer team Napoli. With the help of Diego Maradona, they achieved rare success in 1987 and in 1990 by winning the scudetto, the UEFA cup, italian supercup and the italian cup. In 2004 the football team was declared bankrupt and has been subsequently reborn into the lower division of Serie C1 as 'Napoli Soccer'.

The Neapolitan diaspora

Naples has seen many of its children spread throughout the world, setting up 'Little Italies' in many countries. The majority of these Neapolitans who left Italy went to the Americas, especially the United States, Canada, Brazil, and Argentina.

Gulf of Naples

- Ischia
- Capri
- Procida
- Sorrento
- Positano
- Pozzuoli

Famous Neapolitans

- Enrico Alvino architect
- Giambattista Basile poet, courtier, and fairy tale collector
- Gian Lorenzo Bernini
- Libero Bovio
- Giordano Bruno
- Battistello Caracciolo
- Renato Carosone
- Enrico Caruso
- Benedetto Croce philosopher
- Antonio de Curtis (Totò) writer and actor
- Eduardo De Filippo writer and actor
- Peppino De Filippo actor
- Titina De Filippo actress
- Massimo Troisi actor
- Enrico De Nicola jurist, journalist and politician
- Salvatore Di Giacomo writer, poet and lyricist
- Armando Diaz general and politician
- Gaetano Filangieri jurist
- Vincenzo Gemito sculptor
- Luca Giordano
- Giacinto Gigante
- Ruggero Leoncavallo
- Pirro Ligorio, mannerist architect
- Alfonso Maria de' Liguori jurist and writer (Catholic saint)
- Giovan Battista Marino
- Domenico Morelli painter
- Giovanni Paisiello
- Giovanni Battista Pergolesi
- Giovanni Pontano
- Basilio Puoti
- Salvator Rosa poet, satirist and Baroque era painter
- Ferdinando Russo poet, journalist and writer
- Raffaele Sacco poet and lyricist
- Ferdinando Sanfelice
- Jacopo Sannazaro
- Domenico Scarlatti
- Matilde Serao journalist and novelist
- Massimo Stanzione
- Domenico Antonio Vaccaro sculptor, architect and painter
- Giambattista Vico philosopher
- Raffaele Viviani
- Sophia Loren actress

Community Boards of Naples

Naples is politically divided in 10 Community Boards :
- 1 : Chiaia, Posillipo and S.Ferdinando
- 2 : Avvocata, Montecalvario, S.Giuseppe, Porto, Mercato and Pendino
- 3 : Stella and S.Carlo all'Arena
- 4 : S.Lorenzo, Vicaria and Poggioreale-Zona Industriale
- 5 : Arenella and Vomero
- 6 : Barra, Ponticelli and S.Giovanni a Teduccio
- 7 : Miano, S.Pietro a Patierno and Secondigliano
- 8 : Chiaiano, Piscinola-Marianella and Scampia
- 9 : Pianura and Soccavo
- 10 : Bagnoli and Fuorigrotta

External links

- [http://www.comune.napoli.it City Council's website]
- [http://www.compart-multimedia.com/virtuale/us/napoli/naples.htm Naples, Italy] Virtual reality movies and photo gallery
- [http://www.napoli.com/english Around Naples]
- [http://faculty.ed.umuc.edu/~jmatthew/naples/newAN.html Around Naples, slightly different version of above site.]
- [http://www.ctpn.it Compagnia Trasporti Pubblici (Public Transport Company)]
- [http://www.unicocampania.it/ing/home.htm Consorzio Unico Campania, English Home Page]
- [http://www.unina.it Università degli Studi di Napoli "Federico II"] University of Naples
- [http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=5207 Satellite image of Naples and Vesuvius] at NASA's Earth Observatory
- [http://www.verapizzanapoletana.org/vpn/charter.html Association of the Verace Pizza Napoletana (The True Pizza Society)]
- [http://www.marketplace.it/museo.nazionale/ Museo Archeologico Nazionale Napoli (National Archaeological Museum)]
- [http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/napoliwatch.html Napoliwatch - reports in English of all Napoli Soccer's matches]
- [http://www.bnnonline.it/traduzio/eng/engfirst.htm Biblioteca Nazionale di Napoli (National Library of Naples)] Category:Coastal cities of Italy
- Category:Cities in Campania Category:Cumaean colonies Category:Former countries in Europe ko:나폴리 ja:ナポリ simple:Naples

Greeks

:For other uses of the name "Greek", see Greek (disambiguation) The Greeks are a nation and ethnic group, who have populated Greece from the 17th century BC until the present day.

Identity of the Greek people

17th century BC

Classical and Roman

Herodotus states that the Athenians declared, before the battle of Plataea, that they would not go over to Mardonius, because in the first place, they were bound to avenge the burning of the Acropolis; and, secondly, they would not betray their fellow Greeks, to whom they were bound by:
- A common language¹ (the use of one of the dialects of the Greek language)
- Common blood² (descent from Hellen, son of Deucalion)
- Common shrines, statues and sacrifices (practice of the ancient Greek religion)³ and
- Common habits and customs. This notion that the Greeks had a common descent was then comparatively recent. As Thucydides observes, the name of Hellas spread from a valley in Thessaly to the Greek-speaking peoples after the formation of the text of Homer (the Panellenes of Il. 2.530 are the troops of Thessaly, contrasting with the Achaeans), not long before his own time. This places the idea in the Archaic period, when Greek-speakers discovered that the world was wider, wealthier, and more cultured than they had hitherto imagined. Homer's Trojan War is, indeed, a conflict among Greeks: the Trojans speak Greek, bear Greek names, and worship the Greek gods; and Priam is descended from Zeus (see Alaksandus). The Carians are the only people Homer considers barbarophonoi. Nor did the late and schematic myth of the sons of Hellen ever convince other mythographers to comply with it. Theseus is descended from Erechtheus, son of the Earth; Oedipus from the Phoenician Cadmus; Agamemnon from Phrygian Pelops; Heracles and Perseus from Egyptian Danaus. Whole cities were not descended from Hellen: Athens, Lemnos, and the Cretans were Pelasgian; and 1 Maccabees 12:21 attests that the Spartans are children of Abraham. The myth of Hellen combined into one group the smaller tribes that participated in the Delphic Amphictyon, such as the Aeolians, the Achaeans, and the Dorians. Traces of the older distinctions remained; Dorians were forbidden in the Parthenon; although the Spartan king Cleomenes I claimed this did not apply to him — as a descendant of Heracles, he was an Achaean. (As in this example, the Greeks almost always reckoned descent only through the male line.) So the exact nature of Greek identity has been an open question since ancient times. It has not become clearer with time: descent is at best a matter of tradition, and the Greeks have altered their language, religion, and customs since Herodotus. Nevertheless, there has been, in practice, a continuous Greek identity since ancient times, containing at least those who chose to be Greek and who had citizenship in a Greek city, or membership of a Greek community. As early as the 5th century BC, Isocrates, after speaking of common origin and worship, says: "the name Hellenes suggests no longer a race but an intelligence, and... the title Hellenes is applied rather to those who share our culture than to those who share a common blood". [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0144:speech=4:section=50|Panegyric 4.50]. After the 4th century BC, Greek became the lingua franca of the East Mediterranean region and was widely spoken by educated non-Greeks. After the 4th century AD, Greeks became Christian. (In the Judeo-Christian tradition, Greeks are descended from Javan, son of Japheth).

Byzantine and Ottoman

Japheth family of Byzantine emperors.]] After the creation of the Eastern Roman Empire, Greek culture shifted from Hellenic (Greek pagan) to Romaic (Greek paganism fused with Christianity), and the word "Hellene" became associated with the pagan past. All Roman citizens, and thus all subjects of the Byzantine Empire, were Romaic. Distinctions between nationalities among the citizens of the Eastern Roman Empire did not become extinct, but became secondary to religious considerations as the renewed Empire used Christianity to maintain its cohesion. It was religion that divided the Empire from the Muslims; and, along different lines, it came to divide the Empire from the Franks, Armenians, Copts, and Syrians. Greek nationalism was reborn after the fall of Constantinople to the Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade in 1204, and the establishment of a number of Greek kingdoms (such as the Empire of Nicaea and the Despotate of Epirus). When the empire was revived in 1261, it became essentially a Greek national state. Adherence to Greek Orthodox rites became the defining characteristic of the Greek people. During the Ottoman rule of Greece, Greek Orthodox Christianity was the only Greek community; the Ottomans considered religion to be the defining characteristic of "national" groups (millet). Greeks who adopted Islam during that period were considered 'Turks'. Following this definition, Alexander Ypsilanti expected the Moldavians and Wallachians, being Greek Orthodox, to rise for Greek independence; but they did not.

Modern independence

This strong relation between Greek national identity and Greek Orthodox religion continued after the creation of the modern Greek state in 1830, and when the Treaty of Lausanne was signed between Greece and Turkey in 1923, the two countries agreed to use religion as the determinant for ethnic identity. However, in many important respects, the Greek state adhered from its founding to remarkably secular principles. For instance, Jews were granted full citizens rights in 1830, the year Greece's independence was formally recognized, thus making Greece the second state in Europe (after France) with an emancipated Jewish community. Today, the deeper integration of Greece into the Western strategic system and the effects of migration (both emigration from Greece in the 1950s and 1960s, and immigration into Greece in more recent years) have led to a perception of Greek national identity similar to that of other Western European nations. The Greek Orthodox faith is now only one of a variety of factors that yield Greek identity.

Names used for the Greek people

Main Article: Names of the Greeks. Names of the Greeks Throughout the centuries, the Greeks have been known by a number of names, including:
- Hellenes (Έλληνες) - In mythology, Hellen, son of Deucalion and Pyrrha, received from the nymph Orseis three sons, Aeolus, Dorus and Xuthus, each of which founded a primary tribe of Hellas; Aeolians, Dorians, Achaeans and Ionians. Originally, only a small tribe in Thessaly were called Hellenes, but the word soon extended to the rest of the peninsula and came to represent all Greek people. In early Christian times it was sometimes used to mean "pagans". It remains in Greece today, the primary national name.
- Greeks (Γραικοί) - In mythology, Graecus was the brother of Latinus and niece to Hellen. It was the name of a Boeotian tribe that migrated to Italy in the 8th century BC and probably through contact with natives there brought the term to represent all Hellenes, which then established itself in Italy and in the West in general.
- Romioi (Ρωμιοί) - Romans is the political name by which the Greeks were known during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. The name originally signified the inhabitants of the city of Rome in Italy, but with the elevation of the Greeks in the Roman Empire, it soon lost its connection with the Latins. Emperor Caracella granted all free people in the Roman Empire citizenship, but the Greeks transmogrified the term Roman into the term Romaion. The term was created in order to establish a dualistic connotation that represented the Greeks' Roman citizenship and their Hellenic ancestry. The word Romaions came to represent the Greek inhabitants of the Byzantine Empire. It remains still in use today in Greece, being the most popular national name after Hellene.
- Yunani (Ίωνες) - Yunani, from the Persian Yauna, itself a transliteration of the Greek Ionia, is the name by which the Greeks are known in the East today. The term became established in the ancient Middle East from the Persians, who in contact with the Ionian tribes in western Asia Minor in the 6th century BC, extended the name to all Hellenes.
- Achaeans, Argives, and Danaans are names used interchangeably by Homer, to signify the Greek allied forces.

History of the Greeks

The history of the Greek people is closely associated with the history of Greece itself. While Greeks have migrated away from Greece for many centuries, historically these colonists or emigrants remained close to their homeland. During the Ottoman rule of Greece, a number of Greek enclaves around the Mediterranean were cut off from the core, notably in Southern Italy, the Caucasus, Syria,and Egypt. During the 20th century, a huge wave of migration to the United States, Australia, Canada,and elsewhere created a Greek diaspora which, in many ways, has developed a cultural identity separate from that of the Greeks who remained home.

Greeks around the world

Outside Greece and Cyprus, large Greek communities can be found in a number of countries:
- United States: 1,153,295 (self-reported heritage); 365,435 speak Greek at home. (2000 Census). See Greek-Americans.
- Germany: 363,000 (1995, based on citizenship)
- Canada: 203,354 born in Greece⁴ (1996 Census); total approx. 320,000 Canadians of Greek heritage (2003 community estimates). See Greek-Canadians
- Australia: 260,000 speak Greek at home (1996 Census); 336,782 self-reported Greek origin (1986 Census[http://www.hellenism.net/cgi-bin/display_article.html?s=49&a=172]). See Greek-Australians
- Albania: 36,000-300,000 by different estimates: 36,000 (Albanian Institute of Statistics, reported by [http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3235.htm US Dept. of State], 2005); 62,500 (Albanian census, ibid., 1989); 100,000 ([http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/al.html CIA World Factbook], 1989); 150,000 ([http://www.greekhelsinki.gr/pdf/ghm-greeks-albanians.PDF Greek Helsinki Monitor estimate], 1994); 280,000 (Greek estimate reported by [http://www.unpo.org/news_detail.php?arg=23&par=46 Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization], 2004).
- Former Soviet Union: Approx. 200,000 remain; 300,000 have migrated to Greece (2003, figures not reliable). Significant Greek communities can also be found in the United Kingdom (mostly Greek Cypriots), Argentina, Mexico, Sweden and South Africa.

Timeline of Greek migrations

South Africa Practically every event in this timeline is disputed by one theory or another. This timeline attempts to represent the mainstream views of modern Greek historians. Some key historical events have also been included for context, but this timeline is not intended to cover history not related to migrations. For more information on the historical context of these migrations, please see History of Greece.
- 20th century BC — Greek tribes migrate into Macedonia (most likely from the Caucasus region), and establish some settlements in peninsular Greece.
- 17th century BC — Decline of Minoan civilization, possibly due to the eruption of Thera. Greek tribes (Achaeans, Ionians) enter southern Greece, establishing the Mycenaean civilization. Greek history begins.
- 13th century BC — First colonies established in Asia Minor.
- 11th century BC — Doric tribes move into peninsular Greece.
- 9th century BC — Major colonization of Asia Minor.
- 8th century BC — First colonies established in Sicily and Southern Italy.
- 6th century BC — Colonies established across the Mediterranean and the Black Sea
- 4th century BC — Campaign of Alexander the Great; colonies established in Egypt and the Middle East.
- 2nd century BC — Conquest of Greece by the Roman Empire.
- 4th century — Establishment of Eastern Roman Empire. Migrations of Greeks throughout the Empire, and of non-Greeks into Greece over the next 6 centuries.
- 13th century — Dissolution of Eastern Roman Empire. Re-emergence of Greek nationalism.
- 14th century — Eastern Roman Empire recreated and refashioned as a Greek state.
- 15th century — Conquest of Greece by the Ottoman Empire . Greek diaspora into Europe begins. Turkish settlements in Greece.
- 1830s — Creation of the Modern Greek State. Immigration to the New World begins.
- 1913 — Macedonia partitioned; Population exchange with Bulgaria; Greek presence in Bulgaria and presence of Slavic peoples in Greece practically end.
- 1910s — Genocide of Pontian Greeks; approximately 350,000 killed.
- 1923 — Treaty of Lausanne. 1.3 million Greeks removed from the newly created Republic of Turkey; 500,000 Turks and other Muslims removed from Greece. Muslim Greeks remain in Turkey. 50,000 Christian Greeks in Constantinople and a number of Muslims in Greek (Western) Thrace excluded from the exchange.
- 1948 — Greek Civil War. Tens of thousands of Greek communists and their families flee into Eastern Bloc nations. Thousands settle in Tashkent.
- 1950s — Massive emigration of Greeks to West Germany, the United States, Australia, Canada, and other countries. Large Greek community in Alexandria flees Nasser's regime in Egypt.
- 1955 — Istanbul Pogrom against Greeks. Exodus of Greeks from the city accelerates; less than 2000 remain today.
- 1960s — Republic of Cyprus created, as a joint Greek–Turkish state. Economic emigration continues.
- 1974 — Turkish invasion of Northern Cyprus. Almost all Greeks living in northern Cyprus flee to the south; many flee to the United Kingdom.
- 1980s — Civil war refugees allowed to remigrate to Greece. Reverse migration of Greeks from Germany also begins.
- 1990s — Collapse of Soviet Union. Approx. 300,000 ethnic Greeks migrate from Georgia, Armenia and southern Russia to Greece. Approx 35,000 ethnic Greeks migrate from Albania to Greece.
- 2000s — Schengen Treaty increases population mobility within the European Union. Numbers indicate a trend of reverse migration of Greeks from the United States and Australia beginning.

Footnotes

¹In Greek: homoglosson () + ²In Greek: homaimon () ³Compare the Christian Greek and Demotic term omothriskon (). ⁴Includes non-Greeks born in Greece; excludes Greeks not born in Greece; excludes second-generation Greek-Canadians.

Miscellaneous topics

- Greece
- Greek Language
- History of Greece
- Ancient Greece
- Greek mythology
- Hellenistic civilization
- Byzantine Empire
- Byzantium
- List of Greeks
- Greek American
- Category:Greek-Americans
- Greek Canadians
- Greek Australian

External links

- [http://www.chs.harvard.edu/activities_events.sec/conferences.ssp/conf_greeks_on_greekness.pg Greeks on Greekness: The Construction and Uses of the Greek Past among Greeks under the Roman Empire], a conference on how Greeks imagined Greekness in relation to the past during the first two centuries of the Roman Empire. Category:Ethnic groups of Greece Category:Ethnic groups of Macedonia Category:Indo-European peoples

Euboea

Euboea or Negropont or Negroponte (Modern Greek: Εύβοια Evia, Ancient Greek Εúβοια Eúboia; see also List of traditional Greek place names), is the largest island of the Greek archipelago. It is separated from the mainland of Greece by the Euboic Sea. In general outline it is long and narrow; it is about 150 km (90 miles) long, and varies in breadth from 50 km (30 miles) to 6 km (4 mi). Its general direction is from N.W. to S.E., and it is traversed throughout its length by a mountain range, which forms part of the chain that bounds Thessaly on the east, and is continued south of Euboea in the lofty islands of Andros, Tenos and Mykonos. Euboea has one of the longest prefectures in Greece in length. Euboea is also the second largest island in Greece by area and population after Crete.

Geography

Crete Euboea was believed to have originally formed part of the mainland, and to have been separated from it by an earthquake. This is fairly probable, because it lies in the neighbourhood of a fault line, and both Thucydides and Strabo write that the northern part of the island had been shaken at different periods. Its northern extremity is separated from the Thessalian coast by a strait, which at one point is not more than 130 feet (40 metres) wide (see satellite photo [http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=38.462948,23.589492&spn=0.003591,0.008490&t=k&hl=en] ). In the neighbourhood of Chalcis, both to the north and the south, the bays are so confined as to make plausible the story of Agamemnon's fleet having been detained there by contrary winds. At Chalcis itself, where the strait is narrowest, it is called the Euripus. The extraordinary changes of tide which take place in this passage have been a subject of note since classical times. At one moment the current runs like a river in one direction, and shortly afterwards with equal velocity in the other. A bridge was first constructed here in the twenty-first year of the Peloponnesian War (410 BC). The name Euripus was corrupted during the Middle Ages into Evripo and Egripo, and in this latter form transferred to the whole island. Later the Venetians, when they occupied the district, altered it to Negroponte, referring to the bridge which connected it with the mainland. Like most of the Greek islands, Euboea was originally known under other names, such as Macris and Doliche from its shape, and Ellopia and Abantis (Άβαντες) from the tribes inhabiting it. The main mountains include Dirphys (1,745 m), Pyxaria (1,341 m) in the northeast and Ochi (1,394). The neighboring gulfs are the Pegasitic Gulf in the north, Maliakos Gulf, Northern Euboean Gulf in the west, the Euboic Sea and the Petalion Gulf.

History

The history of the island is for the most part that of its two principal cities, Chalcis and Eretria. Both cities were Ionian settlements from Attica, and their importance in early times is shown by their numerous colonies in Magna Graecia and Sicily, such as Cumae, Rhegium and Naxos, and on the coast of Macedonia. In this way they opened new trade routes to the Greeks, and extended the field of western civilization. How great their commerce was is shown by the fact that the Euboic scale of weights and measures was in use in Athens until Solon, and among the Ionic cities generally. They were rival cities, and appear at first to have been equally powerful; one of the earliest of the sea-fights mentioned in Greek history took place between them, and in this it is said that many of the other Greek states took part. In 490 BC Eretria was utterly ruined and its inhabitants were transported to Persia. Though it was restored after the Battle of Marathon, on a site at a little distance from its original position, it never regained its former eminence, but it was still the second city in the island. From this time its neighbour Chalcis held an undisputed supremacy. Already, however, this city had suffered from the growing power of Athens. In the year 506 BC the Chalcidians were totally defeated by the Athenians, who established 4000 Attic settlers on their lands, and seem to have reduced the whole island to a condition of dependence. Again, in 446 BC, when Euboea endeavoured to throw off the yoke, it was once more reduced by Pericles, and a new body of settlers was planted at Histiaea in the north of the island, after the inhabitants of that town had been expelled. The Athenians fully recognized its importance to them, for supplying them with corn and cattle, securing their commerce, and guaranteeing them against piracy, because its proximity to the coast of Attica rendered it extremely dangerous to them when in other hands. But in 410 BC the island succeeded in regaining its independence. After this it took sides with one or other of the leading states, until, after the Battle of Chaeronea, it passed into the hands of Philip II of Macedon, and finally into those of the Romans. In modern history Euboea comes into prominence following the Fourth Crusade. In the partition of the Eastern Roman empire by the Latins, the island was divided into three fiefs which placed themselves under the protection of the Venetian Republic, henceforth the sovereign power. In 1470, after a heated defence, the well-fortified Histiaea was wrested from Venice by Mohammed II, and the whole island fell into the hands of the Turks. At the conclusion of the Greek War of Independence, in 1830, the island constituted a part of the newly established Greek state. It is linked by two bridges, one that runs through Chalkida and is also access from Thiva and another one bypasses Chalkida and is accessed from Athens. All of the modern bridges are suspended. In the 1980s, the Dystos lake was filled with grass which was set on fire by farmers to make more farmland. This act caused devastation on much of the plants and the environment in that area. A part of the lake regenerated. A company was going to build a factory there. Also the municipalities of Anthidona and Avlida in the mid to late 20th century which once were with the eastern part of the Boeotia Prefecture reverted to Chalkida which the capital city is closer than Levadia. The postal codes were since the creation lined with the rest of Euboea including Syros.

Historic population

Economics

The mining areas include magnesite in Mantoudi and Limni, lignite in Aliveri and iron and nickel from Diprhys. Marble is mined 3 km north of Eretria which include Marmor Chalcidicum and asbestos in the northeastern part of Carystus in the Okhi mountains. The trees include chestnuts.

Transportation

- Greece Interstate 77 NW, N, W, Cen.
- Greece Interstate 44, Cen., S, SE

Communications

Television

- Space - Chalkida

Provinces

- Province of Chalkida - Chalkida
- Province of Istiaia - Istiaia
- Province of Karystia - Karystos There are no provinces on the island of Skyros.

Municipalities and communities

Persons

- Konstantinos Kallias (9 July 1901- 7 April 2004), a Greek politician
- Georgios Papanikolaou, inventor of the Pap smear
- Giannis Skarimpas, writer

Sporting teams

- Khalkis-Lilas - Chalkida, third division

External links

- http://www.e-city.gr/evia/
- http://www.culture.gr/maps/sterea/evvia/evvia.html
- http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761552940/Euboea.html - MSN Encarta
- [http://www.capri-sa.gr/en/evia.php How to travel to Evia island and Edipsos]
- [http://www.capri-sa.gr/en/travel-to-evia.php Virtual map of Central-Northern Evia island]

- Image:Evia.jpg [http://www.capri-sa.gr/en/evia-hotels.php Travel video clips from Evia island]

- [http://www.capri-sa.gr/en/weather.php Weather and climate of Evia island]
- http://www.geo.gr/eubo ----
- In German:
- http://www.euboea.de/
- In French:
- http://www.alovelyworld.com/webgrece/htmfr/eubee.htm
- http://www.insecula.com/zone/Z0007045.html
- http://www.amb-grece.fr/grece/vin_eubee.htm
- In Greek:
- http://www.eviainfo.gr/
- http://users.otenet.gr/~lougas
- [http://users.in.gr/grmountains/Evia.htm Mountains in Euboea]
- http://www.e-city.gr/evia/home/view/1000.php

References

-
- Category:Islands of Greece Category:Prefectures of Greece

Cumae alphabet

The Cumae alphabet was a special Greek alphabet, considered to be a variation of the alphabet used in Chalkis. It was used in Cuma, an ancient Euboean Greek city, recently excavated in 1992, and in Cumae, a Greek colony in Italy. In the Cumae alphabet, the Greek letter Σ was written as C, Δ as D, Ξ as Χ, Ρ as R and Υ as U. It is very possible that the Latin alphabet derived from this one. Category:Alphabetic writing systems Category:Ancient Greece Category:Hellenic scripts

Iliad

:For the webcomic author Illiad, see J.D. Frazer. The Iliad (Greek Ιλιάς, Ilias) tells part of the story of the siege of the city of Ilium, i.e. the Trojan War, and is, along with the Odyssey, one of the two major Greek epic poems traditionally attributed to Homer, a blind Ionian poet. Scholars dispute whether Homer existed, and whether he was one person, but it is clear that the poems spring from a long tradition of oral poetry. The Iliad and the Odyssey are traditionally dated to the 8th century BC, but many scholars now prefer a date of the 7th century BC (e.g., Martin West) or even the 6th century BC (e.g., Richard Seaford). The epics are considered to be the oldest literary documents in the Greek language, though the classical Greeks thought that the works of the poet Hesiod were composed earlier. The word Iliad means "pertaining to Ilion" (Latin Ilium), the name of the city proper, as opposed to Troy (Greek Τροία, Troia, Latin Troja) the state centered around Ilium, over which Priam reigned. The names are often used interchangeably. Priam Victoria and Albert Museum]]
Major characters
As an epic, the Iliad contains a sometimes confusingly great number of characters. The latter half of the Iliads second book (often called the Catalogue of Ships) is devoted entirely to listing the various commanders. Many of the battle scenes in the Iliad feature bit characters who are quickly slain. See Trojan War for a detailed list of participating armies and warriors.
- The Achaeans (Αχαιοί) - the word "Hellenes", which would today be translated as "Greeks", is not used by Homer
- Achilles, (Αχιλλεύς), leader of the Myrmidones, (Μυρμιδόνες) whose anger is the over-arching theme of the story
- Agamemnon, (Αγαμέμνων), King of Mycenae, supreme commander of the Achaean armies whose actions provoke the feud with Achilles
- Patroclus,(Πάτροκλος) friend or lover to Achilles
- Nestor, (Νέστωρ), Menelaus, (Μενέλαος), Diomedes, (Διομήδης), Idomeneus, (Ιδομενεύς), and Telamonian Aias, (Αίας ο Τελαμώνιος), kings of the principal city-states of Greece who are leaders of their own armies, under the overall command of Agamemnon
- Odysseus,(Οδυσσεύς) another warrior-king, famed for his cunning, who is the subject of his own epic
- Calchas, (Κάλχας) a powerful Greek prophet and omen reader, who guided the Greeks through the war with his predictions.
- The Trojans and their allies
- Hector, (Έκτωρ) firstborn son of King Priam, leader of the Trojan and allied armies and heir apparent to the throne of Troy
- Priam, (Πρίαμος) king of the Trojans, too old to take part in the fighting
- Paris, (Πάρης) Trojan prince and Hector's brother, also called Alexander; his abduction of Helen is the casus belli. He was supposed to be killed as a baby because his sister Cassandra saw the destruction of Troy because of him. Raised by a shepherd.
- Aeneas, (Αινείας) cousin of Hector, and his principal lieutenant
- Helenus and Deiphobus, brothers of Hector who fight at his side
- Poludamas, another Trojan warrior, apparently a commoner, or in any event not a member of the royal family
- Glaucus and Sarpedon, leaders of the Lycian forces allied to the Trojan cause
- Female characters
- Helen, (Ελένη) former Queen of Sparta and wife of Menelaus, now espoused to Paris
- Cassandra, (Κασσάνδρα) daughter of Priam, a prophetess cursed by Apollo to prophesy correctly but never be believed
- Andromache, (Ανδρομάχη) Hector's wife and mother of their infant son, Astyanax (Αστυάναξ)
- Hecuba, (Εκάβη) Queen of Troy, wife of Priam, mother of Hector, Cassandra, Paris etc
- Briseis, a woman captured in the sack of Lyrnessos, a small town in the territory of Troy, and awarded to Achilles as a prize; Agamemnon takes her from Achilles in Book 1 and Achilles withdraws from battle as a result The Olympian deities, principally Zeus, Hera, Apollo, Aphrodite, Ares, Athena, and Poseidon, appear predominantly in the Iliad as advisers to and manipulators of the human characters. All except Zeus become personally involved in the fighting at one point or another. (See Theomachy)

The story of the Iliad

The Iliad narrates several weeks of action during the tenth and final year of the Trojan War, concentrating on the wrath of Achilles. It begins with the dispute between Achilles and Agamemnon, and ends with the funeral rites of Hector. Neither the background and early years of the war (Paris' abduction of Helen from King Menelaus), nor its end (the death of Achilles), are directly narrated in the Iliad. The Iliad and the Odyssey are part of a larger cycle of epic poems of varying lengths and authors; only fragments survive of the other poems, however. Many Greek myths exist in multiple versions, so Homer had some freedom to choose among them to suit his story. What follows are the most common background details to the Trojan War, including (parenthetically) whether or not Homer specifically mentions them. See Greek mythology for more detail.

Background to the Iliad: The Trojan War

Both the gods Zeus and Poseidon desired the sea-nymph Thetis, but a prophecy made by Prometheus revealed that Thetis's son would be greater than his father. For this reason, both gods resisted Thetis and betrothed her to a mortal king, Peleus, so that her offspring would be no more than human. To Peleus and Thetis a son was born, named Achilles. Hoping to protect him, when he was an infant his mother dipped him in the river Styx, making him invincible everywhere except the heel (the legendary Achilles' heel) by which she held him. Achilles would grow up to be the greatest of all mortal warriors. All of the gods were invited to Peleus' and Thetis' wedding, except Eris, or Discord. Insulted, she attended invisibly and cast down upon the table a golden apple on which were inscribed the words To the fairest (kallisti). The apple was disputed over by Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite. None of the gods would venture an opinion favouring any one contender for fear of earning the enmity of the other two. Eventually, Zeus ordered the matter to be settled by Paris, the youngest prince of Troy, who was being raised as a shepherd in the plains nearby. Athena tempted Paris with power in battle and wisdom, Hera offered him power, and Aphrodite offered him the most beautiful woman in the world. Paris eventually awarded the apple to Aphrodite. The most beautiful woman in the world was Helen, daughter of Leda by Zeus. Scores of men sought her hand. Her father was unwilling to choose any for fear the others would attack him; finally, at Odysseus' suggestion, he solved the problem by making all the suitors swear an oath to protect Helen and her future husband. These suitors included Agamemnon, Ajax the Greater, Ajax the Lesser, Diomedes, Odysseus, Nestor, Idomeneus, and Philoctetes. Helen married Menelaus of Sparta; her sister Clytemnestra married his brother Agamemnon of Mycenae. (See House of Atreus) On a diplomatic mission to Sparta, Paris became enamoured of Helen, and she either eloped with or was abducted by Paris and went with him to Troy. In anger, Menelaus called upon Helen's past suitors to make good their oaths to attack Troy. Eventually a force of a thousand ships marshalled by Menelaus' brother Agamemnon was gathered at Aulis, including all the above-named men and their own forces. A seer told them that the winds would not take them to Troy unless Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia. He did so, and the fleet set off. They landed at Troy, eventually, where there ensued a siege of nine years, broken only intermittently by fighting until the tenth year. Shortly prior to the Iliad, Greek forces had raided a nearby town allied to Troy. Agamemnon had taken prisoner a girl, Chryseis, daughter of a local priest of Apollo. The priest begged the god to punish the Greeks, and a plague ravaged their army.

The Iliads story

Overview
The Iliad focuses mainly on Achilles and his rage against king Agamemnon, the Greek commander-in-chief, who has taken an attractive slave and spoil of war Briseis from Achilles. Achilles, the greatest warrior of the age, follows the advice of his mother and withdraws from battle in revenge and the allied Achaean (Greek) armies nearly lose the war. In counterpoint to Achilles' pride and arrogance stands the Trojan prince Hector, son of King Priam, with a wife and child, who fights to defend his city and his family. The death of Patroclus, Achilles' dearest friend or lover, at the hands of Hector, brings Achilles back to the war for revenge, and he slays Hector. Later Hector's father, King Priam, comes to Achilles disguised as a beggar to ransom his son's body back, and Achilles is moved to pity; the funeral of Hector ends the poem. The poem is a poignant depiction of the tragedy and agony of friendship and family destroyed by battle. The first word of the Greek poem is "Μηνιν" ("mēnin", meaning "wrath"); the main subject of the poem is the wrath of Achilles; the second word is "aeide", meaning "sing"; the poet is asking someone to sing; the third word is "thea", meaning "goddess"; the goddess here being the "Mousa" or "muse"; a literal translation of the first line would read "Wrath, sing goddess, of Peleus' son Achilles" or more intelligibly "Sing, goddess, the wrath of Peleus' son Achilles". ()
Book summaries

- Book 1: Ten years into the war, Achilles and Agamemnon quarrel over a slave girl, Achilles withdraws from the war in anger
- Book 2: Odysseus motivates the Greeks to keep fighting; Catalogue of Ships, Catalogue of Trojans and Allies
- Book 3: Paris challenges Menelaus to single combat
- Book 4: The truce is broken and battle begins
- Book 5: Diomedes has an aristea and wounds Aphrodite and Ares
- Book 6: Glaucus and Diomedes greet during a truce
- Book 7: Hector battles Ajax
- Book 8: The gods withdraw from the battle
- Book 9: Agamemnon retreats: his overtures to Achilles are spurned
- Book 10: Diomedes and Odysseus go on a spy mission
- Book 11: Paris wounds Diomedes, and Achilles sends Patroclus on a mission
- Book 12: The Greeks retreat to their camp and are besieged by the Trojans
- Book 13: Poseidon motivates the Greeks
- Book 14: Hera helps Poseidon assist the Greeks
- Book 15: Zeus stops Poseidon from interfering
- Book 16: Patroclus borrows Achilles' armor, enters battle, kills Sarpedon and then is killed by Hector
- Book 17: The armies fight over the body and armor of Patroclus
- Book 18: Achilles learns of the death of Patroclus and receives a new suit of armor
- Book 19: Achilles reconciles with Agamemnon and enters battle
- Book 20: The gods join the battle; Achilles tries to kill Aeneas
- Book 21: Achilles fights with the river Scamander and encounters Hector in front of the Trojan gates
- Book 22: Achilles kills Hector and drags his body back to the Greek camp
- Book 23: Funeral games for Patroclus
- Book 24: Achilles lets Priam have Hector's body back, and he is burned on a pyre

After the Iliad: Conclusion of the war, and after

Although certain events subsequent to the funeral of Hector are foreshadowed in the Iliad, and there is a general sense that the Trojans are doomed, a detailed account of the fall of Troy is not set out by Homer. The following account comes from later Greek and Roman poetry and drama. Achilles fights and kills the Amazon queen Penthesilea and the Aethiopean king Memnon. Very soon he gets killed on the battlefield by Paris, with a poisoned arrow to his vulnerable heel. (See Achilles' Heel). Ajax the Greater and Odysseus feuded over who would keep his armor. They submitted the issue to an impromptu court and Odysseus won. Ajax went mad with grief and slaughtered his livestock, believing they were the Greek commanders. Overcome with grief, he then killed himself. The Amazons came to join the battle. Philoctetes, a crippled Greek who had been abandoned by the others along the journey, was recruited because the war could not, it was prophesied, be won without his bow. Odysseus devised a plan to take the city. He had his men build a large, hollow wooden horse, then he and twenty others hid inside. The Greek ships withdrew out of sight of Troy, admitting defeat, and left behind them only the horse, purportedly as an offering to Poseidon for good winds on the return trip. The Trojans took this inside the city, and then feasted and celebrated in the belief the war was over. At night the soldiers crept out and opened the gates to the other Greeks who had sailed back under cover of night. The city was sacked, and in some accounts burned for seven years. Priam was killed. According to one tradition, Hector's wife Andromache threw his son Astyanax and herself from the ramparts to save them from slavery. According to another, Astyanax was killed by Neoptolemus, son of Achilles, to ensure that Hector's son could not seek vengeance for his father's death against Achilles' son. Andromache became Neoptolemus' concubine, later to marry Helenus, Hector's brother. A Roman tradition held that Aeneas escaped with his family and several hundred people, who after years of migration eventually founded Rome. (This was used by Virgil in his Aeneid). Odysseus' long journey home is narrated in Homer's Odyssey. Menelaus and Helen returned to Sparta to rule. Agamemnon took home as a slave the priestess Cassandra, who was gifted with prophecy but cursed never to be believed. When he returned home he was murdered by his wife Clytemnestra and her lover, Aegisthus. They in turn were killed by Agamemnon's son, Orestes, and his daughter, Elektra.
Technical features and translations
The poem is written in dactylic hexameter. The Iliad comprises roughly 16,000 lines of verse. Later Greeks divided it into twenty-four books, and this convention has lasted to the present day with little change. The Iliad has been translated into English for centuries. George Chapman did a translation in the 16th century which John Keats praised in his sonnet, On First Looking into Chapman's Homer and Alexander Pope did another one in rhymed pentameter. There are five widely read modern English translations. Richmond Lattimore provides a translation that attempts to reproduce, line for line, the rhythm of the original poem. Robert Fagles emphasizes contemporary English phrasing while maintaining faithfulness to the Greek. The translations of Stanley Lombardo and Robert Fitzgerald are known for their attention to Homer's imagery. Lombardo's translation is generally the one most often recommended by classics scholars because of its faithfulness to the Greek and its modern vernacular style. A translation by Martin Hammond uses many influences, including Professor WB Stanford, Monro and Allen. Published by Penguin Books, this is more of an educational translation, including as it does a full introduction, summary and index of names.

The Iliad as oral tradition

The Iliad and the Odyssey were considered by Greeks of the classical age and after as the most important works in Ancient Greek literature, and were the basis of Greek pedagogy in antiquity. As the center of the rhapsode's repertoire, their recitation was a central part of Greek religious festivals. The book would be spoken or sung all night (modern readings last around 20 hours), with audiences coming and going for parts they particularly enjoyed. The written Iliad and the Odyssey are based on older, orally transmitted works and, consequently, are full of metaphors and similes which were used to communicate the stories to a mostly illiterate population in a manner they would understand. Specifically, the similes used in The Iliad can be divided into several categories: the descriptions of battles, people, and gods. Each type of simile aided understanding in Greek oral tradition and allowed the first listeners of the story to adequately picture what was being sung to them.
The relationship of Achilles and Patroclus
simile In Classical Greece, and especially in Hellenism, the relationship of Achilles and Patroclus was often seen as pederastic. Aeschylus in his tragedy Myrmidons assigned Achilles the role of erastes or protector, since he had avenged his lover's death even though the gods told him it would cost him his own life, and Patroclus as eromenos. However Phaedrus asserts that Homer emphasized the beauty of Achilles which would qualify him, not Patroclus, as eromenos. Plato wrote the Symposium about 385 BC, and by then an established tradition viewed Achilles and Patroclus as lovers. However there was still debate as to whether this was Homer's intention or not. Aeschylus, who wrote a century earlier in his popular tragedy Myrmidons, clearly regarded the relationship as sexual. He tells of Achilles visiting Patroclus' dead body and criticizing him for letting himself be killed. In it Achilles speaks of a “devout union of the thighs”. This reading was the common view at the climax of the Hellenistic era, though it was not shared by all. Evidence of this debate is found in a speech by an Athenian politician, Aeschines, at his trial in 345 BC. Aeschines in placing an emphasis on the importance of pederasty to the Greeks argues that though Homer does not state it explicitly educated people should be able to read between the lines. “Although (Homer) speaks in many places of Patroclus and Achilles, he hides their love and avoids giving a name to their friendship, thinking that the exceeding greatness of their affection is manifest to such of his hearers as are educated men.” Most ancient writers followed the thinking laid out by Aeschines. Since Homer does not use the terms “erastes” and “eromenos”, it has been argued that their relationship was not pederastic but rather egalitarian. In his Ionian culture it appears homosexuality had not taken on the form it later would in pederasty. However some scholars, such as Bernard Sergent, have argued that it had, though it was not reflected in Homer. He asserts that ritualized man-boy relations were widely diffused through Europe from prehistoric times. It is impossible to designate the roles found in the Iliad between Achilles and Patroclus along pederastic lines. Achilles is the most dominant. Among the warriors in the Trojan War he has the most fame. Patroclus performs duties such as cooking, feeding and grooming the horses, and nursing yet is older than Achilles. Both also sleep with women. Nonetheless the emotion between the two is obviously intense love. Achilles is tender to Patroclus contrasted to his arrogance to others. Typically warriors fought for personal fame or their city-state. But Achilles emphasizes his relationship with Patroclus above all else. He dreams that all Greeks would die so that he and Patroclus might gain the fame of conquering Troy alone. After Patroclus dies he agonizes touching his dead body, smearing himself with ash, and fasting. It was not until his desire for revenge to kill Hector who had killed Patroclus that he would fight again; fully aware that the gods warned him it would cost him his life. Attempts to edit the text were undertaken by Aristarchus of Samothrace in Alexandria around 200 BC. He has been called “the founder of scientific scholarship”. He believed that Homer did not intend the two to be lovers. However he did agree that the “we-two alone” passage did imply a love relation and argued it was a later interpolation. But the majority of ancient and modern historians have accepted the lines to be an original part. It must be borne in mind that the Iliad as we know it was composed before around 700 BC out of far older traditional materials; our knowledge of Greek attitudes toward homosexuality, however, comes from the classical period, several centuries later. Many modern Greeks, who are now Greek Orthodox and uphold a religion that views homosexuality as sinful, interpret the relationship of Achilles and Patroclus as platonic, because Homer does not include a sex scene between the two. They suggest that Achilles and Patroclus are cousins who have grown up as brothers in the same household. That relationship, and the guilt Achilles feels for Patroclus's death, would seem to be sufficient to explain both their closeness and the rage for vengeance felt by Achilles, the younger of the two. Of course many academic studies dismiss such notions of mere platonic love with additional artifacts indicating ancient Greeks prefered their warriors to be homosexual lovers. Homosexuality in the militaries of ancient Greece.

The Iliad in subsequent arts and literature

Subjects from the Trojan War were a favourite among ancient Greek dramatists. Aeschylus' trilogy Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, and The Eumenides follow the story of Agamemnon following his return from the war. A loose film adaptation of the Iliad, Troy, was released in 2004, starring Brad Pitt as Achilles and Eric Bana as Hector, and directed by German-born Wolfgang Petersen. Despite its popularity — largely a result of a huge marketing campaign by the studio — the film was a critical flop in the U.S., though not internationally. Several critics voted it the worst film of 2004. In addition, it only loosely resembles the Homeric version. An epic science fiction adaptation/tribute by acclaimed author Dan Simmons titled Ilium was released in 2003. The novel received a Locus Award for best science fiction novel of 2003.
English translations

- George Chapman, 1598
- John Ogilby, 1660
- Thomas Hobbes, 1676 [http://oll.libertyfund.org/ToC/0256.php]
- John Ozell, William Broome, and William Oldisworth, 1712
- Alexander Pope, 1713 [http://www.gutenberg.net/etext/6130]
- James Macpherson, 1773
- William Cowper, 1791
- Edward Earl of Derby, 1864 [http://www.gutenberg.net/etext/6150]
- William Cullen Bryant, 1870
- Walter Leaf, Andrew Lang, and Ernest Myers [http://www.gutenberg.net/etext/3059]
- Samuel Butler, 1898 [http://www.gutenberg.net/etext/2199] [http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/iliad.html] [http://www.orplex.com/gkcp/readbook.aspx?style=basic.xslt&book=The%20Iliad%20of%20Homer.xml]
- Alexander Falconer, 1933
- Sir William Marris, 1934
- E V Rieu, 1950
- Richmond Lattimore, 1951
- Ennis Rees, 1963
- W.H.D. Rouse, 1966
- Martin Hammond, 1987
- Robert Fagles, 1990
- Stanley Lombardo, 1997
- Ian Johnston, 2002 [http://www.mala.bc.ca/~johnstoi/homer/iliad_title.htm]
References

- Milan Budimir (1940). "On the Iliad and Its Poet."
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External links

- [http://www.uark.edu/campus-resources/achilles/iliad/iliad.html Classical images illustrating the Iliad.] Repertory of outstanding painted vases, wall paintings and other ancient iconography of the War of Troy.
- [http://rss.duchs.com/homer/iliad/ Iliad via RSS]
- [http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/iliad/ SparkNotes]
- [http://www.textedge.com/ HTML Text of Iliad]
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- Category:Epics Category:Trojan War Category:Ancient Greek poems Category:Metanarratives ko:일리아스

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