Which is your favourite ancient greek personality among all those who marked the greek history?

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reifguy

hippocrates father of medicine,,his oath is still in action worldwide.,,,among all practising doctors...as an a honor and remembrance to his efforts and achievements in medicine,,

istanbul bogazi

Oh there are many. I like Hercules.
And Aphrodite:)
edit: sorry i don't know why but i misunderstood the question:)
So real answer your question is:
Thales, Socrates for me.

Tanju

Kalispera Maria,

Nice question, I liked it...
Mine is Thales and he is the father of the Mathematics.

Thales was known for his innovative use of geometry. His understanding was theoretical as well as practical. For example, he said:
Megiston topos: hapanta gar chorei
â€Place is the greatest thing, as it contains all thingsâ€

Cheers and Xeristismate

Earthling

Well, not history but in literature Sophocles is my favorite Greek writer because of his work Antigone.

Dellarovere

Platon ofcourse...His Philosophical system is still alive and vivid, as through the Neo-Platonic philosofers influenced even Christian religion, transforming it from a Jewish herecy to an independent religion, worthy to survive.

If I may, I can add Aristotle too, as his work and ideas have been preserved by the Arabs, who created the famous School of Ispachan based on his theories and teaching, ald later, through the Arab Kingdom of Granada trasmitted this knowledge to Europe.

Edit: Vardarska intruders, before answering (unenvited as always) get some elementary education and good manners...

dofaegean

Maria for me is
Pythagoras of Samos,
was a Greek philosopher who made important developments in mathematics, astronomy, and the theory of music. He is often revered as a great mathematician, mystic and scientist; however some have questioned the scope of his contributions to mathematics or natural philosophy.
His name led him to be associated with Pythian Apollo; Aristippus explained his name by saying, "He spoke (agor-) the truth no less than did the Pythian (Pyth-)," and Iamblichus tells the story that the Pythia prophesied that his pregnant mother would give birth to a man supremely beautiful, wise, and of benefit to humankind.
He is best known for the Pythagorean theorem which bears his name. Known as "the father of numbers," Pythagoras made influential contributions to philosophy and religious teaching in the late 6th century BC.
Because legend and obfuscation cloud his work even more than with the other pre-Socratics, one can say little with confidence about his life and teachings. We do know that Pythagoras and his students believed that everything was related to mathematics and that numbers were the ultimate reality and, through mathematics, everything could be predicted and measured in rhythmic patterns or cycles. According to Iamblichus, Pythagoras once said that "number is the ruler of forms and ideas and the cause of gods and demons."
He was the first man to call himself a philosopher, or lover of wisdom. Many of the accomplishments of Plato, Aristotle and Copernicus were based on the ideas of Pythagoras. Unfortunately, very little is known about Pythagoras because none of his writings have survived.
Many of the accomplishments credited to Pythagoras may actually have been accomplishments of his colleagues and successors.

gg g

Aeschylus - was born in the city of Eleusis, near Athens, in 525 BC and died in 456 BC. He was a Greek dramatist, the earliest of the city's great tragic poets. As the predecessor of Sophocles and Euripides, he is the founder of Greek tragedy.
He fought successfully against the Persians at Marathon in 490 BC, at Salamï¿½s in 480 BC, and possibly at Plataea in the following year. He made at least two trips, perhaps three, to Sicily, where on his final visit he died at Gela. A monument was later erected there in his memory.
It was a major step for drama when Aeschylus introduced the second actor. He also attempted to involve the chorus directly in the action of the play. Aeschylus is said to have written about 90 plays. His tragedies, first performed about 500 BC, were presented as trilogies, or groups of three, usually bound together by a common theme, and each trilogy was followed by a satyr drama (low comedy involving a mythological hero, with a chorus of satyrs). The titles of 79 of his plays are known, but only 7 have survived.

Euripides - was born in 480 BC and died in 406 BC. Euripides was the youngest of the three principal fifth-century tragic poets. His work, which was quite popular in his own time, exerted great influence on Roman drama. In more recent times he has influenced English and German drama, and most conspicuously such French dramatists as Pierre Corneille and Jean-Baptiste Racine.
His plays began to be performed in the Attic drama festivals in 454 BC, but it was not until 442 BC that he won first prize. This distinction, despite his prolific talent, fell to him again only four times. Aside from his writings, his chief interests were philosophy and science.
Euripides represented the new moral, social, and political movements that were taking place in Athens towards the end of the 5th century BC. It was a period of enormous intellectual discovery, in which "wisdom" ranked as the highest earthly accomplishment. Anaxagoras had just proven that air was an element, and that the sun was not a divinity but matter. New truths were being established in all departments of knowledge, and Euripides, reacting to them, brought a new kind of consciousness to the writing of tragedy. His interest lay in the thought and experience of the ordinary individual rather than in the experiences of legendary figures of the heroic past.

Sophocles - was born about 496 BC in Colonus Hippius (now part of Athens), he was to become one of the great playwrights of the golden age. The son of a wealthy merchant, he would enjoy all the comforts of a thriving Greek empire. Sophocles was provided with the best traditional aristocratic education. He studied all of the arts. By the age of sixteen, he was already known for his beauty and grace and was chosen to lead a choir of boys at a celebration of the victory of Salamis in 480 BC. In 468 BC, at the age of 28, he defeated Aeschylus, whose pre-eminence as a tragic poet had long been undisputed, in a dramatic competition.
In 441 BC he was in turn defeated in one of the annual Athenian dramatic competitions by Euripides. From 468 BC, however, Sophocles won first prize about 20 times and many second prizes. His life, which ended in 406 BC at about the age of 90, coincided with the period of Athenian greatness. He was not politically active or militarily inclined, but the Athenians twice elected him to high military office.
Sophocles wrote more than 100 plays of which seven complete tragedies and fragments of 80 or 90 others are preserved. He was the first to add a third actor. He also abolished the trilogic form. Sophocles chose to make each tragedy a complete entity in itself--as a result, he had to pack all of his action into the shorter form, and this clearly offered greater dramatic possibilities. Sophocles also effected a transformation in the spirit and significance of a tragedy; thereafter, although religion and morality were still major dramatic themes, the plights, decisions and fates of individuals became the chief interest of Greek tragedy.

Alexander the Great - one of the greatest military genius in history, Alexander the Great was born in 356 B.C. in Pella, Macedonia, the son of Philip of Macedon, who was an excellent general and organizer. His mother was Olympias, princess of Epirus.
He conquered much of what was then the civilized world, governed by his divine ambition of the world conquest and creation of universal world monarchy. He was the first great conqueror which has reached, Greece, Egypt , Asia Minor, and Asia till Afghanistan and India. He is famous for having created ethnic fusion between the Macedonians and the Persians. From victory to victory, from triumph to triumph Alexander created empire wich had marked history and brought him eternal glory.

AM1706

Well I would go for Apollo because he was the God of Light and Sun, and he is said to be the handsomest of all... ;)
Poseidon is also one of my favourites, because he had so much power in his hands. He was the God of the seas and of the earth (as in the earthquakes).
And last but not least Athena the godess of wisdom and Perikles during whose reign, some of the most beautiful monuments in Athens were built.

bodhidave

I've got to go with Socrates ... perhaps the West's greatest deconstructionist.*

As a Buddhist, I'm also fond of (the paradox of) Theseus' ship ... but I don't suppose that quite qualifies as a personality.

And props to both the Zeno's (Zeno of Elea -- student of Permenides; and Zeno of Citium--the Stoic), and to Diogenes the Cynic.

AND ... I would have said Plotinus ... but he didn't live in Greece.
.

dvatwork

Maria mou-- This is a difficult question....how do we chose? There are so many to chose from!!!! I love reading about Ancient and Mycenean history...but to pick a favorite is too difficult for me.

I think therefore I am 2210

My answer would have to be Pericles. He brought about the Golden Age of Athens; need I say more?

Antonio

why hasn't anyone refered to Great Alexander? anw, i like periklis and homer

Selena

Hi Leonarda,

I have different ones for different achievements:
Platon for his philosophies, Homer for his great writings, Alexander the Great for his military strategies and Hippocrates for medicine and the beautiful tree!
When it comes to Greek Gods:
Poseidon, Zeus, Artemis and Hera!

Macedonia_Is_Greek

Archimedes Rocks!!!!!!!!!

Frank B

Solon for providing the ground for the foundation of democracy. And then Plato for emphasizing the notion of reasoning in abstracted thinking.

zigzag

Socrates, Aristoteles, Evripides, Eshilos, and Hippocrates(Medecine)

glljansen

If 'ancient' was not part of your question, in recent history Melina Mercouri and Theodorakis would have been my answer.. with many others and for so many reasons.
As we men always try & think to mark history also in ancient times, mainly women were at the rudder.. in ancient Greek mythology Hera & Aphrodite were amongst those that were decisive in a very strong way.
As your good but complicated question asks for 'greek personalities marking Greek history', throughout the many years I visited Greece and the islands, I recall and respect so many proud monuments with names all refering to the1821-1827 period.
I respect all other answers above; and indeed Hippocrates made quite a difference for all of us. Kos was the first island I ever visited.
Grtz

the_lipsiot

Pericles - leader of Athens during their golden age.

mdesertbound

Antigone! She was a brave woman with strong values.

Antigone was the daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta, and her best known story is in the Antigone of Sophocles, which is one part of the Theban Saga.
After Oedipus left the throne, and when his two sons, Eteocles and Polynices, came of age, they agreed to rule Thebes in alternate years. Eteocles, at the end of his first year of rule, reneged on the agreement and refused to step down. Polynices then raised an army of traditional enemies of Thebes and led them against his city. (This story is recounted in Aeschylus' play Seven Against Thebes.) The battle ends with the defeat of the invading army, but Eteocles and Polynices are both dead, killed by each other's hand. Creon, who now assumes power in Thebes, declares that, as he was the protector of the city, Eteocles' body will be properly buried, but Polynices, because he attacked the city, will be left unburied on the battlefield.

Antigone decides she must disobey, arguing that a law of man which violates religious law is no law at all. She performs a ceremonial burial -- a simple sprinkling of dust over the body -- is apprehended by the guards, and taken before Creon, who decrees that she will herself be buried by being sealed in a cave. Creon's son, Haemon, however, is betrothed to Antigone, and protests her sentence and lectures his father on wise leadership. Creon refuses to change his mind. When the prophet Tiresias informs Creon that the gods are angry with his pronouncement concerning Polynices, he finally relents, but too late. When the cave is opened to retrieve Antigone, she has already hung herself. In his grief and anger, Haemon tries to kill Creon. He fails, and then kills himself instead. Upon his return to the palace, Creon also learns that his wife, Eurydice, killed herself too when she heard what had happened. Thus at the end of the play, Creon is ruler over an orderly city, but he has lost everything.

The Antigone is much admired for being the first and most enduring statement of the conflict between the need for social order and the feeling that on occasion higher law may supersede human law.

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chrisvoulg1

Altought I risk to be sound a bit banal, my vote goes for Alexander the Great (or to use his "proper" title Alexander III) for I think that it was the perfect combination of a manof action (perhaps the best general ever lived and a very capable statesman) plus a man of great vision, ahead from this time. Had he lived just fitneen years or so he could easily destroyed the nascent Romans and the Cartagineneas and so the Greek civilisation would reach directly the West without the intervention of Romans and (their attendant cruelty)

ÎœÎ±ÎºÎµÎ´ÏŽÎ½

Alexander the Great

juma

i like Achilles, and also Alexander the great.

anastaci

The Great Andart, Pavlos Melas.
He and his andartes destroyed the willage of Zagorichani in May 1904.
They have killed all the citizens - men, women, children. The andartes were tought by the Greek church (Karavangelis) that Macedonians are not humans, but bears, so it is not a sin to kill a Macedonian.
I vote for him.

flavivs severvs

Generals Papagos and Metaxas - they have made ethnically cleansing of Aegean (occupied) part of Macedonia from 90% of Macedonians. After that, Macedonia was settled by Greek newcomers called "prosfigi" or "madziri", who today are the majority in (Greek) Macedonia.
Without these bright Greek names, Macdonia would be somelike Kosovo for the Greek state.

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