Who Are We?
Hi – I’m Nick Kachulis, storyteller, musician, teacher and sometimes scholar of Ancient Greece, interested in the world of today.
I have often been struck in my encounters with Ancient Greeks by the startling similarities between their world and ours. From the most common idiomatic expressions to the loftiest and most inspired human experiences, the Greeks are with us. Sometimes smiling, sometimes scowling, sometimes gazing from a distance and sometimes right at our elbow, they have much to say about our lives and our world.
I’m Lisa, the other half of the Mytholotees/Eye of Zeus team. Nick and I have been working on this concept for over a year now and are thrilled to see it finally hitting the “internets”. While I love Greek mythology I can’t say that I’m much of a scholar of anything (with the possible exception of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart) . I do love Greek food, interesting ideas, and good looking design.
Hi uncle nick checking out your website it is really cool!!- Kayla
Thanks Kayla. Have you checked out the links on the sidebar too?
I bet you would like our FB fan page and our Mytholotees youtube channel
Have fun
The site looks great and the product looks fantastic. Lots of luck. Hope the utube videos go viral.
Thanks Chris. Glad you like it all. The videos are great fun aren’t they ?
Thanks for the share!
Nancy.R
I’m not Greek (other than my soul) but I’ve been connected with Greece since ’79, living there full time and part time and visiting often. I’m a historical fiction writer and just preparing my novel “Shadow of the Lion” to send to publishers. (The fall of Alexander’s dynasty). And I am a travel journalist who writes mostly about Greece. So I really appreaciate your blog and the time you have put into it.
I look forward to hearing more about your novel and your travel writing. Keep us posted on how it all unfolds.
Someone once said “to the extend that you participate in our culture, you are Greek.” Greece and her riches are for everyone, don’t you think?
I’m a fan of Greek Culture and history also.
It is amazing stuff Noah, isn’t it. Share it and spread the word !
The site is simply great!
Every Westerner (although in North America and Europe there’s always been some doubt about that, we South Americans -especially the Southern Cone- are Westerners by culture and by language) should be aware of what Greece meant and means for our development as cultural units.
I’m not Greek by origins but Italian and Russian, but I love ancient Greece. Sad our collective reaction has not been to defend Hellas from external -this time financial- aggression like in the 19th century. If things turn out for the worse, I think an eye must be cast on Turkey as well.
Good luck with this venture and I’ll do my best -very little I’m able I guess- to help it develop.
Thanks so much Pablo.
I appreciate your point about what Hellas not only meant in the past , be means for the future development our culture and cultures.
The love of Greece has nothing to do with ethnicity – it is available to all of us to share. Some one once said “to the extent that you participate, you are Greek.” Alexander’s speech at the end of the Persian wars suggests the same – if a foreigner behave in an excellent (virtuous) way they are a Hellene.
And thanks for your offer of help. Just having this on line conversation keeps things moving. And if you know of anyone who would also be interested in Eye of Zeus, just send them our way.
Thanks
look forward to hearing from you again.
Nick
What a lovely shot of Epidauros. I studied the healing cults of the Hellenistic era with Dr. Betts at the University of Chicago during the 80s. Other students were studying medicine, architecture, and early Christian Literature. I was writing my dissertation on Sacred Cosmos: Implications of Ancient Pagan Traditions for Modern Liberal Theology of Nature.
I have started a discussion group for Pagan scholars in LinkedIn, with the aim of applying our academic backgrounds to contemporary problems in Pagan Studies. Do contact me if you are interested.
Thanks for your response.It sounds like an exciting course of study you laid out.I wonder where it took you. I would be interested in seeing your discussion group on Linkedin as well as your insights on Eye of Zeus as we explore Epidauros in the next few posts and beyond.
And I agree Epidauros is one of the world’s most beautiful places.
It makes sense to me to have a panoply of gods and goddesses who have virtues and powers but also tempers and jealousies and a drive to go to all extremes for love. I can learn from that. It makes sense to me that gods and goddesses walk among mortals.
You are touching several endlessly interesting and far ranging themes.
These very human like gods have the whole range of feelings and behavior we have, but they live forever and retain their sparkle, while we do not. And while they are beautifully powerful and even terrible in their domain – “Aphrodite, pleasure to she alone who mocks us, merciless Aphrodite” Sophocles says, they are not absolutes -”We can strive to be with the gods, through excellence of mind and excellence of effort ” Pindar says. In a famous scene in the Iliad Diomedes is set ablaze by Athena, fights the gods and even bests Ares in battle – his own domain.
We have s bit of the sparkle of the gods within us. To the philosophers it was “divine reason, what makes us most like the gods,” but to earlier Greeks it was closer to a physical presence.
Taken together each god represents a sphere of human activity Apollo -sudden clear illumination, Hermes – quickness and exchange and so on and we sense their presence when we inhabit their domains.When we succeed or are excellent in a given domain we do not move towards the gods, the gods move towards us.
So our overlap with the gods is seen in lots of different ways. They frequently take the shape of mortals to speak and act around us, less often do they show themselves as is. Sometimes Athena will suggest and indicate to Odysseus and it is hard to tell if she is speaking down from the heavens, entering into his mind from the outside or erupting as thought within him – some thoughts come from us, some from the gods,” someone says in the story.
For many in our culture the situation is a bit different. We often turn to God or some spiritual understanding in an hour of need and struggle – when we feel weak and need help. For the Greeks, the gods appear when you are strong as in “the gods help those who help themselves,” the way an athlete or a performing artist or musician is moved to excel beyond their usual selves.
I was just turned on to this site by a colleague. Nicely done. I, too, am a fan of all things Greek, having traveled there for years since 1972. Although I do not speak the language, I still enjoy the memories, as vivid as today of my many exploits. One of many highlights is my race with my son and daughter on the track at Olympia. I still have our picture on my desk at school. I will follow your posts with satisfaction.
Thanks Gary I did the same race with my kids – a classic. Glad you like the site. feel free to comment anytime your thought and insights are welcome. And subscribe if you like. There is a subscribe to box on the home page and you will get a one sentence email with a link when I post.
Thanks again
Great site. Loved “First Person” piece in the Gazette.
thesidetrek.com
recipedetours.com
Thanks Carol – I looked and also enjoyed your site very much. And thanks for the kind word about the local article……….. Hope everyone is well and flourishing.