Colorfully Decorated Entrance Ceiling Of The Academy Of Athens, Greece

‹‹ Ό φίλος άλλος έαυτός ››

‹‹ The friend is another me. ›› said Phytagoras, showing a relationship of deep harmony between two persons, an unbreakable love and woven between the souls that melt inevitably.

Ancient greek world and its language descrive three different faces of love, all of them classifications that, according to Greeks, happen in human world: Ἔρως, Άγάπη, Φιλία (Eros, Agapee, Philia).

Eros means physical and passionable love, where it shows the desire to possess the other one and bases on a continuous give and receive.

Agape is, instead, celestial love, pure, bright that raises humans. A cosmic love that drive to desire the good for others before ours, that pushes to love every person beyond the fact that he/her/h* can deserve our love. It is, then, a love that sublimes, that makes you fly high, that asks for nothing in change because, as Kahlil Gibran said: "Love is enough for love" A disinterested love, trascendent and far from all selfishness. Near to charity, in fact, agape becomes God's love for the men, and from the men to God. It's a model of a relationship lighted by reciprocity, understood as overcoming of selfishness.

At the end, there's Philia, the friendship, brotherly love. A human love made of pure affection, attraction and sympathy, characterised by a feeling of joy that you can feel staying with the other. A love knows how to lull, confort and protect.

Greeks were very wise to distinguish every kind of love in a maniacal way.

here down different types for saying "I love you" in ancient greece.

Ψυχὴ καί Θανατος (psyche kai thanatos) would whisper uninhibited greek women during sex. The translation loses his meaning (You're my soul and my death), but along with aspirates and assonances, they made it a powerful aphrodisiac.

Διαπετομαι, "fly" or, as we say today, "cum". "To make love" can be translated with κατεύδειν.

Σοι φλήγω, "glow of love for you". It's a clue of strong passion, generally led by Eros. Then the fault is Eros': Ἔρως επὴ μοι κατεθεχατο τοχα καί ιὺς, for "Eros sharpened me with arches and arrows), but these are better for poetry than in the bed.

Τιτροσκώ συ πὸθω means "I'm pierced by desire for you". It means the moment of excitement before love.

Ση πειρώ, in military words can mean being pierced from side to side with a sword, then it specialized also in erotc sense, with the meaning of "I'm pierced of love for you".

The Theocritus Χος ιδον ος εμανην "As I saw you, I god mad" like the formula for "since I first saw you".

Μαινόμαι επή σὸι, "I'm crazy for you".

Σιουναρπαζεις, e.g "You stole my soul" express the strenght and the speed of amorous ignition that in an all-encompassing way hit the loved one.

But fortunately Love is not only pain and absolute passion: ιανεις καρδιαν , means "You warm my heart".

Σ'ηρώ is exactly our "I love you": commonly, less recent, more polyvalent: if instead of common feelings, you can say Σ'αγαπώ; in more carnal and heroic way (only Homer and Archilochus used it) you can say Σ'ηραμαι.

Σοι τερπομαι, means "I'm happy when I'm with you", to a friend, a son or a dear, you can name them with Σε φιλώ, e.g "I love you".

huh …… i failed

Julian disapproves what you did today.

Undoubtedly he knew

‹‹ Καλὸς καὶ ἀγαθός ››

‹‹ beautiful and good ››

In Ancient Greece kindness and beauty go hand in hand. Valorous Heroes and Powerful Gods are always described with a particular beauty and their brightness is one of the most important characteristic.

In Homer's Greek, eyes are sparkling, the skin is bright and etc, those aspects are translated as "blue eyes", "milky white skin", "golden hair". Lexicon of the colours in ancient greek is also pretty problematic, more than the real shades of eyes and hair, in those texts what matters is properly the level of brightness, because Deities are associated to light, so that Gods and Demi-gods shine.

Also in the next eras the binomial "good and beautiful" benefits of great success: in the greek arts, where beauty canons require beautiful and regular lineaments, also in portraiture of real persons, who appear all uniformly beautiful, similar and without defects (wrinkles, moles, receding hairline...)

Pretty different is, however, Roman portraiture, that goes to realism and made it its main goal.

In Homeric Poems, ugliness and deformity are associated to the viles, untrustworthy, envious. Later, the discourse is modified, because ugliness becomes an allegory and is applied to monsters fought by heroes.

"The strenght of the good is refugee in the nature of the Beautiful", wrote Platon. The beauty of physique corresponds to the moral perfection, according ancient greeks.

"Philtatos," Achilles replied, sharply. Most beloved.”

Hey y’all thirsty people… drink up.

What are you having?

The Gate of Athena Archegetis, Roman Agora of Athens, Greece