Discover your Greek roots

Questions to ask the older generation

Memories fade faster than photos. Ask these over a meal or a phone call, and write the answers down.

1. Which town or region of Greece did our family come from? Was it near Thessaloniki, Patras, Heraklion?
2. Who was the first in the family to leave Greece, when, and why?
3. Which dishes from Greece were cooked at home? Did anyone make Moussaka or Greek village salad?
4. Does anyone in the family still speak Greek, or use a few words of it?
5. Were there songs, prayers, games or holidays from Greece that the family kept?
6. Are there old photos, letters or documents from Greece? Who has them?
7. If you could visit Greece together, where would you go first?

A short history of Greece

Greece has one of the longest recorded histories in Europe, from Bronze Age palaces on Crete to classical Athens, yet the modern Greek state only became independent in 1830.

1. 1900 BC

   The first palace at Knossos

   Around 1900 BC the Minoans built the first palace at Knossos on Crete, the centre of Europe's first great Bronze Age civilisation.

2. 508 BC

   Democracy begins in Athens

   The statesman Cleisthenes set up a system in which the citizens of Athens voted on their own laws, the first democracy known in history.

3. 480 BC

   Thermopylae and Salamis

   King Leonidas of Sparta and his men died holding the pass of Thermopylae. Soon after, the Greek fleet crushed the Persian navy at Salamis.

4. 336 BC

   Alexander the Great becomes king

   Alexander became king of Macedon at the age of 20. Before his death in 323 BC he had conquered the Persian Empire and reached India, spreading Greek language and culture.

5. 1821

   The War of Independence begins

   Greeks rose up against Ottoman rule. The revolution is remembered every 25 March, now Greece's Independence Day.

6. 1896

   The first modern Olympics

   Athens hosted the first modern Olympic Games in the marble Panathenaic Stadium. A Greek water carrier, Spyridon Louis, won the marathon.

7. 1974

   Democracy returns

   The military dictatorship of the colonels, in power since 1967, collapsed. In a referendum that December, Greeks voted to abolish the monarchy.

8. 2004

   Athens hosts the Olympics again

   The Summer Olympics returned to Athens in August 2004, more than a century after the first modern Games.

Family recipes to cook together

Moussaka 2 h 30 min · serves 6Greek village salad 15 min · serves 4Tzatziki 1 h 15 min · serves 6Fasolada 2 h 30 min · serves 6Dakos 15 min · serves 4

Greek words to teach the grandchildren

Towns and regions

• Athens, Attica: The Acropolis and the Parthenon, The National Archaeological Museum.
• Thessaloniki, Central Macedonia: The White Tower, Byzantine churches.
• Patras, Western Greece: One of Europe's largest carnivals, The Rio-Antirrio bridge.
• Heraklion, Crete: Knossos, Venetian walls and harbour fortress.
• Chania, Crete: The Venetian harbour, The old town.
• Ioannina, Epirus: Lake Pamvotis, Its castle and Ali Pasha.
• Nafplio, Peloponnese: The Palamidi fortress, Its neoclassical old town.
• Kalambaka, Thessaly: The Meteora monasteries, Walks among the rocks.
• Delphi, Central Greece: The ancient oracle of Delphi, Mount Parnassus.
• Rhodes, South Aegean (Dodecanese): The medieval old town, The Palace of the Grand Master.
• Corfu, Ionian Islands: The Venetian fortresses, The Liston promenade.
• Fira, South Aegean (Cyclades): Views over the caldera, The cable car and steps down to the old port.