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The perfect Greek temple, right? Yes, but it's in Aegean Turkey: Temple of Zeus at Euromos, surrounded by olive trees. |
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It's appropriate that the 2004 Olympic Games (August 11-29) should have been held in Athens, though Istanbul was disappointed it did not get to host them.
Much of Hellenic, Hellenistic and Byzantine history and culture is based in what is now Turkey:
—Troy, legendary city of Helen, and the Trojan horse
—Constantinople, now Istanbul, capital of the civilized world for a thousand years and still the seat of the Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarch
—Aphrodisias, city of Aphrodite, Goddess of Love
—Didyma, its famous oracle housed in a gigantic marble temple
—Smyrna (Izmir), birthplace (700 BC) of the poet Homer, founder of Western literature
—The ancient kingdoms of Lycia, Lydia, Caria, Halicarnassos, Pamphylia, Paphlagonia, Pergamon...
—Jason & the Argonauts sailed along Turkey's Black Sea coast to Colchis and the Golden Fleece
Actually, there are more Greek and Roman ruins in Turkey than in Greece!