Nikiforos Lytras

Painting by Nikiforos Lytras, "The Carols" (Kalanda in Greek) An era long gone.

Jacqueline de Romilly: 1913-2010

The woman who taught me my own heritage, Thucydides, was a Jewish French who applied for Greek citizenship in 1995. So she ultimately became Greek. Or perhaps she always had been.
To quote Isokrates:

“So far has Athens left the rest of mankind behind in thought and expression that her pupils have become the teachers of the world, and she has made the name of Hellas distinctive no longer of race but of intellect, and the title of Hellene a badge of education rather than of common descent.”

~Isocrates, Panergyricus, 50, circa 380 BC (J. A. Freese Translation)

Jacqueline de Romilly, who espoused the Classical spirit like few people have, is no more. And the world is assuredly poorer for it.

Elytis on "Greekness"

Europe was born here.

Why we entered the European Union

“As of today, Greece irrevocably accepts this historical challenge and its European destiny while preserving her national identity. We have confidence both in Europe and in Greece. We have decided to all be Europeans, as Churchill would say, and to all remain Greeks, as Shelley would say. For, to quote Isocrates, the Greeks are not those who are born in Greece but those who espouse the Classical spirit.”

~Constantine Karamanlis, Why Greece Joined the European Union
Speech on the Entry of Greece into the EU, January 1, 1981

Grecani

Song from the Greek minority known as the "Griko" living in Southern Italy.

Greek Lullaby

Because nations are defined by what they teach to their children. Valour, desire to excel, beauty, simplicity, joy for life...I see each and every one of these in this lullaby illustration with ancient-Greek-inspired cartoons.

Lyrics:
Nanee, nanee, my good baby, sweetly get thee to sleep.
Mother is close by to take you in her arms.
To give you many tender kisses.

From METRONOME FILM Lullabies of the world - a collection of animated films based on lullabies of different nations.

Goodbye Salonica

There's something oddly romantic in the city of my childhood. The trees are swaying in the spring wind as people and cars cross the streets with an ant-like pace. Seen from above, everything loses some of its urgency, of its sense of drama too. Cyclists and pedestrians pause on the brink of the pier, as if they're contemplating jumping off. But they're not. The sea is flowing as ever.
Only the statues, the courts and ancient walls don't move. Silence amidst the noise. How Greek is silence? Very, contrary to appearences, I'd wager.

Addio Città clip by Emmanouil Papadopoulos on Youtube
Original Music: Calexico-Departure In F Minor