AboutThe names

Mathesis StoicheionΜάθησις Στοιχείων

Mathēsis means learning; stoicheia are the letters of the alphabet, and also the basic elements of anything, as in the title of Euclid's Elements. Together, learning the letters: where every reader of Greek begins.

Why each area has a Greek name

Every part of the site is named after a place or thing from the Greek world, always shown the same way: its English name first, then its Greek name.

Home

The PropylaeaΠροπύλαιαHome: The monumental gateway to the Acropolis of Athens, built in the 430s BC under Pericles. Every visit starts at the gate.

Learn

The AcademyἈκαδήμειαLearn Greek: Plato's school, founded in the early 4th century BC in the grove of the hero Akademos outside Athens. This is where you learn.

Read

The MouseionΜουσεῖονLibrary: The "shrine of the Muses" at Alexandria, a research institution founded under the first Ptolemies, closely linked to the great Library. It holds the texts.
The reader: Greek books were written on rolls of papyrus, unrolled with one hand and rolled up with the other as you read. This is where you read.

Explore

The Painted StoaΣτοὰ Ποικίλη: A colonnade on the Athenian Agora hung with great paintings of battles and myths. Zeno taught there, and his followers were named Stoics after it. Stories, pictures and argument in one place.
The KerameikosΚεραμεικόςArchaeology: Athens' potters' quarter and its main cemetery, one of the city's most important excavations. Pots and graves are much of what archaeology has to work with.
The CensusMost Mentioned: A counting. Every word, person, god and place in the texts, counted.
The PeriplusΠερίπλουςMap: Ancient sailing guides that listed coasts, harbours and distances, such as the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. A guide to the places of the Greek world.

Lyre

The lyreΛύρα: The Greeks' stringed instrument for song: strings stretched from a sound box, often a tortoise shell, to a crossbar held up by two arms. Play it, play along with the melodies that survive in the Greeks' own musical notation, and share what you play.

Mine

The TreasuryΘησαυρός: Cities built small treasuries at Delphi to hold their precious offerings. A thesauros is also a store of words. Your notes, marks and favourite passages.
The Scroll CaseDownloads: Book rolls were stored and carried in cylindrical cases. Pack the library to read offline.

Search

The OracleΜαντεῖονSearch: At Delphi, Apollo's priestess, the Pythia, answered the questions of cities and individuals. Ask a question, get an answer, and a clearer one than Delphi was remembered for.