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What Is Ancient Greek Culture

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What Is Ancient Greek Culture
Athens 2004

Greece’s Background Some three thousand years ago, the first Olympic games were held in Ancient Greece. Ancient Olympia was structured and designed to hold these games. The first games were held in honor of Zeus. Ancient Greece was one of the first civilizations, making huge contributions to Western Civilization. Today’s society is largely developed from Ancient Greece, considering they were the ones who first created a democracy for a government. Humanity run deep through Greece, and it’s a very important part of the World’s history.

Opening Ceremony

Portraying Nations Brand
Bringing the Olympic games back to the place where they first began is very monumental. The Olympic games honor many Greek traditions, such as having the countries come out in order of the Greek Alphabet. This being said, Greece really tries to make their ceremonies extravagant. Athens was actually up to host the centennial Olympics (1996), but lost to Atlanta. That was even more of an incentive for Greece to step up and show off. Some said that Greece may have lost because of their lack of stable economy, but there are no real answers.

The Olympics automatically portray the Greek “brand” as the origin of their existence. However, Dimitris Papaioannou (creative director for opening ceremony) made sure that Greece’s history and brand was
…show more content…
Continuing with the connection between the past and the present, a more modern day Greek poet’s (George Seferis) work was recited while a women and a centaur take the stage. Light explodes, and a Cycladic statue appears. Cycladic art is one of the first human forms of Greek art known. The comparison between George Seferis’s poem and ancient art is a clear connection of ancient and modern day Greek, but in an artistic value. I think the shows the importance of art, not only in Greece, but also in all different parts of the

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