31/08/2025
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31/08/2025
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We received an invitation from our friend Salim Shablaq to attend his eldest son’s wedding in Greece. It was a wonderful three days, and an opportunity to learn more about Greece. Despite its famed natural beauty and magnificent civilization, Greece has gradually fallen behind other European countries and nearly declared bankruptcy had Germany not rushed to save it, subject to harsh conditions. Greece was the cradle of Western civilization, democracy, Western philosophy, and theater, and the mother of the Olympic Games.
Even after 2,500 years, its heritage remains globally influential in art, literature, politics, and culture. Athens, with its exceptional historical and cultural significance, was a city-state, a source of art, culture, and democracy, and its famous monuments, such as the Acropolis and the Parthenon, remain a global symbol of the classical spirit and civilization.
The name ‘Athena’ is derived from the ancient Greek goddess of wisdom and war, who was considered the patroness of the city. The name is pronounced and written in the plural form ‘Athens’ in French and English. The ‘s’ refers to the fact that the name was originally plural, but in modern Greek it is considered singular.
Athens is different from thousands of capitals and major cities, all located along a river or sea. The reason is that the city developed around the ‘Acropolis’, a natural defensive hill overlooking the fertile plain of Kifissia, but about 20 kilometers from the sea. This gave it a fortified military position, perhaps more important than the river and the coast at the time.
It also had its maritime outlet through the nearby port of Piraeus, its ancient and modern maritime gateway. Greece has a historical reputation as an anti-Semitic nation due to its anti-Jewish Christianity and its shameful stance during the Ottoman occupation of Greece (1453–1833), enriched by its cooperation with them. Even after the establishment of Israel in 1948, Greece took a pro-Arab stance throughout the early conflicts.
Greece also had very close relations with most of Israel’s historical Arab enemies, in addition to a long shared history, and there were large and thriving Greek communities in Lebanon and Egypt.
Furthermore, Greece took a negative stance toward Israel because of the latter’s friendly stance toward Turkiye, a country Greece hates due to its dark history with Turkiye and views as a potential enemy. Due to religion, Greece is more inclined toward Russia than other European countries, but over time, the younger generation has become less anti-Zionist.
However, what happened to a country that was once the cradle of the finest and most influential civilizations in history, that led to its decline? This goes back to the ancient wars and conflicts between Athens and Sparta (431–404 BC), which weakened it and made it vulnerable to invaders.
This led to the deterioration of its economy, which relied heavily on trade between neighboring cities and regions, and a decline in its population. Its economy slowly collapsed, exacerbated by political instability. The death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC led to the division of his vast empire among his generals, and internal strife that weakened its unity, facilitating the invasion of the Roman Empire’s armies and its economic and political collapse.
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Note: A well-known Kuwaiti woman hosted a luncheon for her Kuwaiti friends, including my wife, at a Beirut restaurant. Everyone was surprised when the First Lady, wife of the President of the Republic of Lebanon, who was at the restaurant, left her table to go to them and welcome them to Lebanon. This was a beautiful gesture of humility, demonstrating that Lebanon will endure, with all that it embodies: generosity, dignity, pride, and beauty.
By Ahmad alsarraf
email: [email protected]
email: [email protected]
