"A World of Wonder and Values"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/evaggelos-vallianatos/greek-movement-better-world_b_2025587.html

In this Huffingon Post article Evaggelos Vallianatos discusses Ancient Greek and how we should follow "A Greek movement for a better world." Vallianatos discusses the wonders of Ancient Greece civilization. Vallianatos tells us that the Greeks provided Western Civilization with achievements in  "poetry, history, philosophy, science, political theory and democracy, the civilian control of the military, secular literature, theater, and athletics like the Olympics." He then goes on to explain how their religion despite being destroyed by Christianity, "is still a world of wonder and values." He says this because despite being a polytheistic religion, the Ancient Greece religion had no dogmas, no holy books and perhaps most importantly, no clergy. It was a religion that led to discovery, yearning and curiosity. 

• Do you think the Vallianatos backs up the claim that the Ancient Greece Religion is still a "world of wonder and values?"
• Do you think their is an advantage to a religion with no clergy, dogmas or holybooks?
• Is there anything that the Judea-Christian religions of our time could learn from the Ancient Greeks?  

Dionysia- The festival of "Tragedies

http://web.eecs.utk.edu/~mclennan/Classes/US210/City-Dionysia.html

This link is to a website that offers information about the ancient Greek festival of Dionysia. The City Dionysia, which was held

on the 9th to 13th days of Elaphêboliôn (March 24-28), paid homage to Dionysus,  the 

god of the grape harvest, wine and wine making, of ritual madness and ecstasy. Some of the events included ritual parades and bloodless sacrifices, athletic competitions, and theater performances. The festival concluded on first full moon after the start and was followed by the Pandia, a small festival attributed to Zeus.

Government in Ancient Greece

This video is a little silly and very entertaining, but also very informative. It discusses ideas of politics and political systems of Ancient Greek government, and the changes that took place up until the time of Alexander the Great. It discusses the difference between an oligarchy and a monarchy, as well as the difference between Athenian democracy and the style of democracy we're used to in America today. The video makes the general concepts of Ancient Greek Government easy to understand and grasp. Take a look:

Ancient Greek Music- A method of remembering stories

• Before written history, Bard's were professional poets that chanted epics using a Lyre(Harp like instrument) as a technique of remembering important ancient stories.  
• These chants were used in creating both the Odyssey and the Iliad.  
• Today's term Lyric is derived from the word Lyre.