Free Republic

A Greek woman named Phryne became an iconic figure in ancient Athens, remembered for the extraordinary moment when her beauty purportedly saved her life. Not many people in history can claim that they were so close to being imprisoned, or worse, executed for something they had committed, but whose beauty saved their lives, but this was the case for the ancient Greek woman. Phryne’s life in the shadow of impiety in ancient Athens Phryne lived in Athens during the fourth century BC. She was born in Thespiae in Boeotia around 371 BC before moving to Athens, ancient Greece’s epicenter. The...

Turkey has renewed its challenge to Greek sovereignty in the Aegean Sea, using Greece's newly approved Special Spatial Framework for Tourism as the latest pretext. In an official statement, the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs referred to "geographical features whose sovereignty has not been granted to Greece through international treaties" -- language that directly revives Ankara's long-standing "gray zones" theory regarding certain islands and islets in the Aegean. Turkey declared that the Greek spatial plan "will have no legal consequences for Turkey" and accused Athens of attempting to instrumentalize environmental protection for political purposes. Ankara further warned that "unilateral actions...

Elisabeth-Jane Ross, 38, was found stuffed inside the travel bag in an abandoned building last week. Greek police said a 26-year-old man from Afghanistan is in custody on charges of manslaughter, robbery and violating weapons law – though the exact details have yet to be finalised. Cops arrested the man on Thursday and hauled him to police headquarters where they say he “confessed to his actions”. He reportedly admitted his part in dumping Elisabeth inside a suitcase before hauling it to an abandoned site in Kypseli where she was later found. Investigations by the Greek police alongside the National Crime...

Heart-stopping video shows the moment two firefighting helicopters crashed in mid-air while battling a raging wildfire in Greece on Sunday. The terrifying footage obtained by Kefalonia Press shows one of the helicopters clip the rotor of the second, causing it to burst into flames and plummet to the ground. The helicopters had been leased by the local fire department to combat a blaze in Psatha, west of Athens, BBC News reported. Both helicopters had two people on board at the time, according to the fire service. A search and rescue operation is underway, and the status of the crew has...

Painting depicting Odysseus and his crew at their ship (Odysseus tied to the mast), while Sirens are around them. John William Waterhouse, Ulysses and the Sirens (1891). Did this voyage take Odysseus to America? Credit: Public Domain For centuries, scholars and enthusiasts have debated where Odysseus truly traveled during his legendary journey back to Ithaca. Among the most intriguing theories is the notion that the hero ventured beyond the Mediterranean, crossed the Atlantic Ocean, and reached the shores of what is now known as America. But what evidence supports this extraordinary claim, and does it truly align with Homer’s descriptions...

"Chris Nolan desecrated the Odyssey so that he would be eligible for an Academy Award …" said Musk Now that Nolan's film is out to rave reviews from both critics and audiences, Musk has taken to X once again to share his plans to make a more "historically accurate" version of the film. "Before this year ends, Grok Imagine will make a full-length movie of The Odyssey that is historically accurate and true to the art of Homer," said Musk in a July 21 X post. That same day, he replied "I'm down" to a tweet asking him to give...

In the span of about an hour, the X owner replied “I’m down” to a viral pitch asking him to hand Mel Gibson $100 million for a historically accurate adaptation in Homeric Greek. Then he pinned a post vowing that his own AI video generator will produce a feature-length version of Homer’s epic before the year is out. “Before this year ends, Grok Imagine will make a full-length movie of The Odyssey that is historically accurate and true to the art of Homer,” Musk wrote. The Pinned Pledge: A Grok-Made Odyssey By DecemberThe Grok post is the concrete one. Musk...

10 Ancient Drug Epidemics That Erased Entire Civilizations | 49:53 Health with Henry | 99,530 views | June 29, 2026

Direct YouTube Link: Secretary Rubio delivers opening remarks at the Ministerial on the Resurgence of Political TerrorismA whole industry grew up in our countries around the study of extremism. We have think tanks and fellowships and journals and consultancies, with the unspoken understanding among them that the only kind of political violence that was a true threat to our system – I’m sorry – that only one kind of political violence was a true threat to the system. A bomb planted by a neo-Nazi group was a nefarious and murderous act of evil. It is. But a bomb planted by...

It isn’t exactly news that Homer’s “Odyssey” is a very, very good poem. But seeing Christopher Nolan’s screen adaptation drove this home again for me. The hotly anticipated mega-spectacle is, in the end, pretty good. But it isn’t Homer. Mr. Nolan’s shortcomings have made me love Homer more by comparison and sent me running back, agog, to his deathless masterpiece. Mr. Nolan’s “Odyssey” succeeds as well as any adaptation can. It tells the story of Odysseus’ 10-year journey home from the Trojan War with verve and affection for the source material. It isn’t the hostile woke takeover that some high-profile...

Mediterranean voyage changes course twice after Turkey, then Egypt refuse accessThe Scarlet Lady cruise ship has changed its itinerary for the second time this week, after first Turkey and now Egypt denied it entry to their ports. The ship, owned by Virgin Voyages and chartered by 2SLGBTQ+ travel company Atlantis Events, is carrying 1,900 passengers, including legendary Broadway performer Patti LuPone. The passengers found out on Thursday the cruise would not be heading to Alexandria, Egypt, as a replacement for previously planned stops to Kuşadası and Istanbul in Turkey. Earlier this week, Turkish authorities canacelled the planned port calls, saying...

The ancient Greek philosopher Diogenes the Cynic (also known as Diogenes of Sinope) could have been the first anarchist, or the first absurdist, or the first satirist, or the first naturalist — depending on the reader’s point of view. By today’s standards, Diogenes was a homeless man by choice whose life goal was the search for wisdom. His unique approach to life had absolutely nothing to do with society’s norms and rules — either now or back in ancient times. He found the shelter he needed inside an enormous ceramic pot, rejecting all comforts and luxuries — yet his observations...

A year after a University of California, Berkeley professor was killed during a custody dispute in Greece, his family says they're fighting to try to get alleged squatters out of his East Bay home. The family of Przemyslaw Jeziorski said the alleged squatters have been living in the Berkeley home for months, but California's eviction process has made removing them far more complicated. Jeziorski was shot and killed in Greece last July in the middle of a custody battle. The boyfriend of Jeziorski's ex-wife later confessed to the shooting. Jeziorski's ex-wife, Nadia Michelidaki, died by suicide in a Greek prison...

How Sparta, the most powerful Greek city-state, collapsed in only 20 years. The Decline and Fall of Sparta | 11:02 toldinstone | 627K subscribers | 82,207 views | Febuary 25, 2026Chapters 0:00 Introduction 0:38 Classical Sparta 1:29 Spartan politics 2:22 Helots 3:24 Population decline 4:37 Hubris 5:25 The Battle of Leuctra 6:42 Messenia liberated 7:35 Enter Macedon 8:08 Attempts at reform 9:08 Irrelevance 9:37 Roman Sparta

Just off the southern coast of mainland Greece lies the oldest submerged city in the world. It thrived for 2,000 years during the time that saw the birth of western civilisation. In this documentary, an international team of experts use cutting-edge technology to prise age-old secrets from the complex of streets and stone buildings that lie less than five metres below the surface of the ocean. State-of-the-art CGI helps to raise the city from the seabed, revealing for the first time in 3,500 years how Pavlopetri would once have looked and operated. Archeologists Discover The Oldest Sunken City In The...

The story of Helias Doundoulakis is like a great war movie. It is the story of the Greek spy who helped Greece and the United States win the war against the Nazis. A true hero, the Greek American worked as a spy during World War II and helped in the liberation of Crete and the eventual victory of the United States against Germany’s Nazi regime. Furthermore, the story of Helias Doundoulakis is also the fascinating story of America’s first national intelligence agency, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). Helias Doundoulakis was born in Canton, Ohio to Greek immigrants Demetrios Doundoulakis...

Greek officials have unveiled the interior of a massive ancient tomb possibly linked to Alexander the Great as archaeologists continue excavation and restoration work. Greece’s Ministry of Culture announced the news in a statement on May 11. The excavation centers around the Kasta Tomb in Amphipolis, the ruins of an ancient Macedonian city in northern Greece, about 60 miles northeast of Thessaloniki. Greek officials said restoration work at the Kasta Tomb in Amphipolis has uncovered the site’s full enclosure for the first time, revealing the massive scale of the ancient Macedonian monument. The enclosure, built in the fourth century B.C.,...

The Greek government has warned that there are over half a million migrants waiting in Libya to cross the Mediterranean and land in Europe, sparking concerns of another migrant crisis. Greek Migration Minister Thanos Plevris said this week that Athens estimates there are approximately 550,000 migrants waiting in Libya, the African hub, for the opportunity to cross to Europe. Among the policies enacted by Athens to stem the tide of illegals has been the erection of a 41-kilometre (25-mile) wall along the Turkish border, which has previously been weaponised by the Islamist Erdogan government in Ankara. Pelvris said that Athens...

Albanese specifically criticized Greek authorities for their cooperation with Israel's interception of the Gaza-bound humanitarian flotilla Sumud off Crete on Friday."The fact that the Greek authorities go hand-in-hand with the Israelis in stopping a humanitarian mission is wrong," she said.Regarding the military cooperation between Greece and Israel, she added that Greece, while presenting itself as a defender of international law, is in practice assisting a state that maintains an illegal occupation."Israel has no right to stop anyone going to Gaza. Greece should be taking positive measures to stop the genocide, instead of cooperating with the Israeli weapons industry. Greece is...

In a coordinated effort spanning multiple agencies and borders, U.S. authorities have repatriated 26 ancient artifacts to Greece, marking another step in the ongoing fight against the illicit trade in cultural heritage. The operation was led by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), a division of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), with support from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the FBI, and the State Department. The items were recovered following months of investigation, underscoring the growing international cooperation aimed at protecting and restoring looted antiquities to their countries of origin. “These invaluable objects, illegally removed from their homeland, have now...