In Depth

Recommended Books

It seems only proper to begin with Homer, who though reputedly blind, will open your eyes to a Greece that is timeless. The Iliad and the Odyssey remain the imaginative gateways to Greece. Of the many fine translations, we favor those of Richmond Lattimore (Perennial, 1999). And lest you have any doubts that Homer was describing the same landscape you'll be seeing, you might want to read, as a companion to the epics, John V. Luce's Celebrating Homer's Landscapes (Yale Univ. Press, 1998). As for the more recent claim that Odysseus's home island of Ithaka was actually what has become a peninsula of Kefalonia, see Odysseus Unbound by Robert Bittlestone (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2006).

For a glimpse into ancient Greek history, the men reporting at the time are still the most exciting. The History by Herodotus and Thucydides's Peloponnesian War hold their own as consummate storytelling and will place you firmly in classical Greece. Among many fine translations, the most accessible are those of Aubrey de Selincourt (Penguin, 2003). A Basic Survey of Greek Art is a good resource by John Boardman (Thames & Hudson, 4th rev. edition, 1996). For an in-depth but readable account of ancient Greece's major monument, try Mary Beard's The Parthenon (Harvard Univ. Press, 2003).

If you plan to attend any of the country's drama festivals, you will want to become familiar in advance with the play(s) you will see and perhaps bring along your favorite translation. For the tragedies, try those translated by David Grene and Richmond Lattimore (University of Chicago Press, 1991); for the comedies of Aristophanes, look for the translations by Paul Roche (Plume Books, 1984).

To be enlightened on the Byzantine period, you'd do well to start with Steven Runciman's Byzantine Civilization (North American Library, 2000) and Robin Cormack's Byzantine Art (Oxford Univ. Press, 2000). For an insider's account of scandal and splendor at the court of Justinian, pick up The Secret History of Procopius, translated by G. A. Williamson (Penguin, 1982). To put all this in quick perspective, as well as to follow the full sweep of Greek history to the present decade, A Traveller's History of Greece, by Boatswain and Nicolson (Interlink, 4th rev. ed., 2000), is a pocket-size, helpful book. For just modern Greece, try Richard Clogg's Concise History of Greece (Cambridge, Univ. Press, 2nd ed. 2002).

In the modern period, Nikos Kazantzakis is the author who most appeals to foreigners. His Zorba the Greek (Touchstone, 1998) and The Greek Passion (Touchstone, 1959) are guaranteed to deliver you to Greece before your plane lands. Of the many travel books by foreigners, one still regarded as the most insightful is Henry Miller's Colossus of Maroussi (New Directions, 1975). Two classics by Patrick Leigh Fermor are Mani: Travels in Southern Greece (Murray, 1958) and Rouneli: Travels in Northern Greece (Murray, 1966). A fine book about modern Greece is Patricia Storace's Dinner with Persephone (Pantheon, 1996). And before taking on one of Lawrence Durrell's complete books about Greece, try the Lawrence Durrell Travel Reader (Carroll & Graf, 2004). For beach reading, John Fowles's The Magus (Laurel, 1985) is engaging. In a more serious vein concerning recent Greece, Nicholas Gage's Eleni (Ballantine, 1996) and Louis de Bernières's Captain Corelli's Mandolin (Vintage, 1995) are both extremely captivating.

Recommended Films

Of the many films made in and about Greece, several come to mind, all more or less readily available on video or DVD. The films of Michael Cacoyannis -- from his Euripides trilogy, including Trojan Women and Iphigenia, to his famed Zorba the Greek -- are essential viewing. So too is Costa-Gavras's Z, a gripping political thriller inspired by the assassination of Grigorios Lambrakis in 1963. The film version of Nicholas Gage's Eleni manages to be nearly as disturbing as the book. There is no avoiding -- and no reason to avoid -- Never on Sunday and Captain Corelli's Mandolin. Finally, for a good laugh and to enjoy the Greek scenery, Jacqueline Bisset and Irene Papas team up to confront High Season on the island of Rhodes. The even sillier Summer Lovers (1982) is set on Santorini. And don't forget, 007 has "done" Greece (For Your Eyes Only), as did Gregory Peck in The Guns of Navarone.

Recommended Music

There is no denying that most non-Greeks have not been exposed to much Greek music (Yanni doesn't count!). But Greece has a long and distinguished -- and beautiful -- musical tradition that will repay those with inquisitive musical tastes. (Where recordings are available online, their labels and numbers are given here. Recordings of others are probably to be found only in Greece.) Each region -- indeed, many an island -- has its own variation of traditional folk music. The most complete collection is issued by the Greek Society for the Dissemination of National Music -- over 30 CDs under its SDNM label. More easily acquired is Legacy's Authentic Greek Folk Songs and Dances (no. 318). If you want to focus on two especially strong regional traditions, Lyra Records (no. 0168) has a fine selection of Cretan and Dodecanese folk music. The clarinet has long been one of the most popular instruments for traditional Greek music and one of the finest modern players Petros Loukas Hlakias, can be heard on Clarinet (FM688).

The more recent rembetika music emerged at the time of the American jazz, to which it is often compared. Without intimate knowledge of the language, you lose the lyrics, but the emotion comes through. Lyra has a fine four-CD anthology (nos. 4635-4637 and 4644). Rounder Select (no. 1079) offers another option. Easydisc presents The Athenians: Greek Songs, Dances and Rembetika (no. 369019). Two of the great singers of rembetika are Domna Samiou (numerous CDs on various labels) and Sotira Bellou (try Lyra 0766). For those who like the twangy-metallic sound of bouzoukia music, Rounder Select (no. 1139) offers one of its masters, Markos Vamvakaris.

Often drawing on folk music, rembetika, or bouzoukia, a more sophisticated "classical" music emerged by the 1950s. The two practitioners of entekhno (artistic) best known to the world at large are Manos Hatzidhakis and Mikis Theodorakis. The former is famed for his music for the film Never on Sunday, but would prefer to be known for more serious work such as his songs (try Columbia GCX 107). Theodorakis is also best known abroad for his music for the movie Zorba, but his masterwork is his soundtrack of the Nobel prize-winner Odysseus Elytis's To Axion Esti (EMI International no. 483759). Yannis Markopoulos, George Tsontakis, Stavros Xylouris, Nikolas Labrinakos, and Christos Hatzis are other contemporary "high art" Greek musicians whose works are worth seeking out. And Iannis Xenakis's demanding compositions have become part of the modern avant-garde repertory. You might start with his orchestral and chamber music on ColLegno (no. 20504).

Greece, of course, has its homegrown pop music, but it has been greatly influenced by international trends, including rock and, more recently, rap. One Greek pop star has an international following -- Nana Mouskouri. And one of the more popular of contemporary Greek singers can be heard on The Very Best of George Dalaras (Ark 21).