Culture of Greece
The culture of Greece has evolved over thousands of years, beginning in Minoan and later in Mycenaean Greece, continuing most notably into Classical Greece, while influencing the Roman Empire and its successor the Byzantine Empire. Other cultures and states such as the Frankish states, the Ottoman Empire, the Venetian Republic and Bavarian and Danish monarchies have also left their influence on modern Greek culture.
Modern democracies owe a debt to Greek beliefs in government by the people, trial by jury, and equality under the law. The ancient Greeks pioneered in many fields that rely on systematic thought, including biology, geometry, history, philosophy, and physics. They introduced important literary forms as epic and lyric poetry, history, tragedy, and comedy. In their pursuit of order and proportion, the Greeks created an ideal of beauty that strongly influenced Western art.
History
Arts
Architecture
Ancient Greece
The first great ancient Greek civilization were the Minoans, a Bronze Age Aegean civilization on Crete and other Aegean Islands, that flourished from c. 3000 BC to c. 1450 BC and, after a late period of decline, finally ended around 1100 BC during the early Greek Dark Ages. At the height of their power, they built architecture ranging from city houses and Minoan palaces. Exemplary of this construction was the palace at Knossos, which was composed of two to three levels, had over 500 rooms, and many terraces with porticos and stairs. The interior of this palace included monumental reception halls, vast apartments for the queen and bridesmaids, bathtubs with complete sewage and drainage systems, food deposits, shops, theatres, sport arenas, and other amenities. The walls were built of high-quality masonry that was covered with highly decorated frescos.Later, the Mycenaean civilization erected palatial structures at Mycenae, Tiryns and Pylos.
File:Ναός του Ηφαίστου.jpg|thumb|The Temple of Hephaestus on the Agoraios Kolonos Hill, circa 449 BC, unknown architect
After the Greek Dark Ages, architecture developed into a style that, together with Roman, inspired Classical architecture and later Neoclassical. Examples of this style were their temples, such as the Parthenon and Erectheion which are both based in the Acropolis of Athens, and theatres. Both temples and theatres used a complex mix of optical illusions and balanced ratios. Classical Ancient Greek temples usually consist of a base with stairs at each edges, a cella with a cult statue in it, columns, an entablature, and two pediments, one on the front side and another in the back. By the 4th century BC, Greek architects and stonemasons had developed a system of rules for all buildings known as the orders: the Doric, the Ionic, and the Corinthian. They are most easily recognised by their columns. The Doric column is stout and basic, the Ionic one is slimmer and has four scrolls at the corners of the capital, and the Corinthian column is just like the Ionic one, but the capital is completely different, being decorated with acanthus leafs and four scrolls.
Byzantine Greece
Following the relocation of the capital of the Roman Empire to Constantinople in 330 AD, and the fall of the Western Roman Empire some 150 years later, the architects of the Eastern Roman Empire, or the Byzantine Empire, built city walls, palaces, hippodromes, bridges, aqueducts, and churches. One of the more famous type of church constructed by the Byzantines was the basilica, which was very widespread and received the most development of the churches that were built in the empire. Through modifications and adaptations of local inspiration, the Byzantine style of architecture was used as the main source of inspiration for architectural styles in Eastern Orthodox countries. For example, in Romania, the Brâncovenesc style is highly based on Byzantine architecture, but also has individual Romanian characteristics.File:Hosios Loukas Katholikon - Baptism 06.jpg|thumb|Mosaic in the Hosios Loukas, circa 10th century ADFile:Church Theotokos Gorgoepikoos and Agios Eleytherios Athens, Greece.jpg|thumb|left|The Little Metropolis, 9th–13th century, unknown architect
As with the Parthenon, which was built in dedication to the Ancient Greek religion, the Hagia Sophia was considered an iconic church of Christianity. The temples of both religions differ substantially in terms of their exterior and interior aspect. In Antiquity, the exterior was the most important part of the temple, because in the interior, where the cult statue of the deity to whom the temple was built was kept, only the priest had access. The ceremonies here held outside, and what the worshipers view was the facade of the temple, consisting of columns, with an entablature and two pediments. Meanwhile, Christian liturgies were held in the interior of the churches, the exterior usually having little to no ornamentation.
Byzantine architecture often featured marble columns, coffered ceilings and sumptuous decoration, including the extensive use of mosaics with golden backgrounds. The building material used by Byzantine architects was no longer marble, which was highly appreciated and utilised by the Ancient Greeks, instead opting for mostly stone and brick while using thin alabaster sheets for windows.
Modern Greece
After the independence of Greece and during the nineteenth century, Neoclassical architecture was heavily used for both public and private buildings. The 19th-century architecture of Athens and other cities of the Kingdom of Greece is mostly influenced by architects like Theophil Hansen, Ernst Ziller, Panagis Kalkos, Lysandros Kaftanzoglou, Anastasios Metaxas and Stamatios Kleanthis. Meanwhile, churches in Greece, on the other hand, experienced a Neo-Byzantine revival.In 1933, the Athens Charter, a manifesto of the modernist movement, was signed and published by Le Corbusier. The primary architects of this movement were: Ioannis Despotopoulos, Dimitris Pikionis, Patroklos Karantinos and Takis Zenetos. Following World War II, and the Greek Civil War, the massive construction of apartment buildings in major Greek city centres, was a major contributory factor for the Greek economy and the post-war recovery. The first skyscrapers were also constructed during the 1960s and 1970s, such as the OTE Tower and the Athens Tower Complex.
Cinema
Cinema first appeared in Greece in 1896, but the first actual cine-theatre was opened in 1907. In 1914, the Asty Films Company was founded, which started the production of long films in Greece. Golfo, a well known traditional love story, is the first Greek long movie, although there were several minor productions such as newscasts before this. In 1931, Orestis Laskos directed Daphnis and Chloe, contained the first nude scene in the history of European cinema; it was also the first Greek movie which was played abroad. In 1944, Katina Paxinou was honoured with the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for For Whom the Bell Tolls.The 1950s and early 1960s are considered by many as the Golden age of Greek cinema. Directors and actors of this era were recognized as important historical figures in Greece and some gained international acclaim: Michael Cacoyannis, Alekos Sakellarios, Melina Mercouri, Nikos Tsiforos, Iakovos Kambanelis, Katina Paxinou, Nikos Koundouros, Ellie Lambeti, Irene Papas, etc. More than sixty films per year were made, with the majority having film noir elements. Notable films were The Counterfeit Coin, Bitter Bread, The Ogre of Athens, Stella. Cacoyannis also directed Zorba the Greek with Anthony Quinn which received Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Film nominations. Finos Film also contributed to this period with movies such as Λατέρνα, Φτώχεια και Φιλότιμο, The Auntie from Chicago, Maiden's Cheek, and many more. During the 1970s and 1980s Theo Angelopoulos directed a series of notable and appreciated movies. His film Eternity and a Day won the Palme d'Or and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival.
There were also internationally renowned filmmakers in the Greek diaspora such as the Greek-American Elia Kazan.
Music and dances
Greece has a diverse and highly influential musical tradition, with ancient music influencing the Roman Empire, and Byzantine liturgical chants and secular music influencing middle eastern music and the Renaissance. Modern Greek music combines these elements, to carry Greeks' interpretation of a wide range of musical forms.Ancient Greece
The history of music in Greece begins with the music of ancient Greece, largely structured on the Lyre and other supporting string instruments of the era. Beyond the well-known structural legacies of the Pythagorean scale, and the related mathematical developments it upheld to define western classical music, relatively little is understood about the precise character of music during this period; we do know, however, that it left, as so often, a strong mark on the culture of Rome. What has been gleaned about the social role and character of ancient Greek music comes largely from pottery and other forms of Greek art.Ancient Greeks believed that dancing was invented by the gods and therefore associated it with religious ceremony. They believed that the gods offered this gift to select mortals only, who in turn taught dancing to their fellow-men.
Periodic evidence in ancient texts indicates that dance was held in high regard, in particular for its educational qualities. Dance, along with writing, music, and physical exercise, was fundamental to the commenced in a circle and ended with the dancers facing one another. When not dancing in a circle the dancers held their hands high or waved them to the left and right. They held cymbals or a kerchief in their hands, and their movements were emphasized by their long sleeves. As they danced, they sang, either set songs or extemporized ones, sometimes in unison, sometimes in refrain, repeating the verse sung by the lead dancer. The onlookers joined in, clapping the rhythm or singing. Professional singers, often the musicians themselves, composed lyrics to suit the occasion.