Hellenic Heritage Journeys in English

In this episode, we travel to the fertile interior of Naxos and climb a low hill at Gyroulas, south of the village of Sangri. There, we discover a sanctuary dedicated to Demeter and Persephone, with a temple that marked a turning point in the history of architecture. The story begins with open-air rituals around 800 BC and gatherings of worship, possibly linked to a mystery cult, beneath the first known semi-translucent marble roof in Greece. And it concludes almost a thousand years later with the conversion of the temple into an Early Christian church and the addition of a monastic complex producing olive oil and wine. The archaeological site of Sangri preserves this layered history across the centuries. This episode is a journey through light, the fertility of the earth and the enduring sacredness of a place that refuses to fade.Learn more at https://hh.gr/en

In this episode, we wander to the north-western edge of ancient Athens, to what the historian Thucydides called the “most beautiful suburb” – Kerameikos – where the River Eridanos gave life to potters’ workshops and serenity to the city’s dead. We discover how Themistocles’ wall divided the area into two and follow the Street of the Tombs in ancient Athens’ most important cemetery, seeking the stories behind the funerary stele of Dexileos, the imposing marble bull from the burial enclosure of Dionysios of Kollytos and the relief of Hegeso. From the two great gates of the city walls – the Dipylon and the Sacred Gate – to the place where the great Athenian statesman Pericles delivered the Funeral Oration for those who fell during the first year of the Peloponnesian War (430 BC), Kerameikos reveals itself not as a silent place of death, but as an eternal mirror of Athenian glory, art and everyday life. And perhaps more striking still, it introduces us to the faces and families of ancient Athens.Learn more at https://hh.gr/en

In this episode, we explore the mystical island of Samothrace and step into the inner sanctum of one of the most enigmatic sanctuaries of the ancient world – the Sanctuary of the Great Gods – to uncover the sacred rites performed there. To be initiated, your origin, gender, and social status meant nothing. What mattered was your faith in the gods and the oath of silence you would keep forever. From the initiation of Philip II and Olympias, parents of Alexander the Great, to the celebrated statue of the Winged Victory of Samothrace, we unravel the thread of a cult that promised a more pious and just life, protection at sea and, of course, a privileged place in the Underworld.Learn more at https://hh.gr/en

Imagine witnessing a sacred ritual of antiquity, at a sanctuary near the mouth of the Erasinos River in eastern Attica. Before you, a group of young girls dressed in yellow robes move rhythmically around an altar, holding burning torches. You hear people whisper that they are the arktoi – the “little bears” of the goddess Artemis, the deity worshipped here. In this episode, we journey to the Sanctuary of Artemis at Brauron. We uncover the secrets of this initiation rite and follow the footsteps of Iphigenia – from her near-sacrifice at Aulis to her mythical cenotaph at Brauron. It is a journey to a place where womanhood and motherhood were honoured as nowhere else in the ancient world.Learn more at https://hh.gr/en

As you walk across the Macedonian plain, among the ruins of an ancient city, imagine that what you would once have heard here, thousands of years ago, was the sound of waves breaking on the shore. How could a city that now lies 25 kilometres from the coast once have had a harbour, a sea breeze and streets leading to every corner of the known world? In this episode, we follow the traces of ancient Pella – a city that became the capital of the Macedonian kingdom, where Philip II of Macedon ruled and Alexander the Great was born. Built with geometric precision and a grandeur, it was worthy of an empire that stretched deep into the East.Learn more at https://hh.gr/en

The Tsiatsiapas Mansion, built in 1754 in the Apozari district of Kastoria, is not simply a beautiful house. It is an entire world, preserving the history of an era that shaped the city. There are walls painted from end to end, with cities that look real but are not… with roosters, dragons and other curious symbols. There are coloured skylights and carved wooden decoration, all features that define the mansion’s splendour. But how did this splendour reach its owners? How did 18th-century trade, and fur in particular, become their ticket to Europe, bringing back elements of Baroque and Rococo style in woodcarvings and wall paintings? Entering the Tsiatsiapas Mansion of Kastoria, we look for the traces of a time that made this lakeside city in northern Greece renowned in the capitals of Europe.Learn more at https://hh.gr/en

Before you even take a step inside the Casa Romana in Kos, a single word – carved into marble – awaits you. What made the owner of this house choose such an inscription? In this episode, we take you into the heart of the aristocratic quarter of Roman Kos, in the 2nd century AD, entering an impressive mansion with peristyles, courtyards with fountains, marblework, and mosaics. Today, the inscription at the entrance feels like a message. You are not simply stepping into an ancient house, but into a space built to protect, to impress and to endure. You’ll imagine the banquets and the people who once lived here – as well as the challenges this household faced. Because its story is not only one of luxury – but also one of resilience.Learn more at https://hh.gr/en