Greece. A place so many call paradise — sun, sand, sparkling sea.
Greece. A land almost too ethereal, too magical and too steeped in mythology to be real.
Greece. A country granted to Greeks because they came late.
The story told to me nearly a decade ago by my friend Giorgo goes like this.
On the day the Gods were distributing land to mortals, some came early and received large countries that would become the United States; some came on time and got countries that became known the Commonwealth or Spain; others came later and got Finland and Russia. Still good countries, just a little cold.
But the Greeks had been indulging in Bacchian revelry the night before and came late. By the time they arrived, there was no more land to distribute.
So what did the Gods do? Initially, the Gods thought to teach them a lesson for being irresponsible and let them wander the Earth to inhabit other lands as immigrants. But that seemed a little cruel.
One of them remembered a small parcel of land and some islands they’d set aside for vacation. And after much discussion and debate, it was decided they didn’t need this land and gave it to the Greeks.
And so the land of Gods became Greece. Why?
Because the Greeks came late.
In the News
“Greece, land of gods and luxury travel” — Kathimerini
Related posts
“Journey to Hellas”
“Live Your Myth in Greece 2008”
“True Greek experience”
