It’s all Greek to us! 

On Monday 10 February not only did we celebrate and congratulate some of our top Greek School students but we also saluted Greece’s National Poet Dionysios Solomos who wrote the glorious poem “Hymn to Liberty “which became the Greek National anthem in 1865 and the Cypriot National Anthem in 1966. 

Sunday 9 February was International Greek Language Day and celebrates the pivotal and global role of the Greek language throughout history.

With a rich and glowing heritage spanning 4,000 years, Greek has maintained almost the same alphabet for 28 centuries, becoming the Lingua Franca of the ancient world, making it a remarkable linguistics legacy. 

Greek has played a crucial role in shaping Western civilization, in so many ways. To name a few through : its literature which includes iconic works like the Iliad, The Odyssey, and wonderful writings by Plato and Aristotle; through the discoveries made in scientific domains like astronomy, mathematics, logic, and medicine. Then there’s art and theatre, philosophy and poetry, music and dance. 

It’s simply everywhere! To this day there’s a vast amount of Greek terminology used in all levels of life. 

This day was also designated to laud and commemorate Dionysios Solomos, the Greek National Poet who wrote the national anthem, “Hymn to Liberty”. 

He was from Zakynthos and was inspired by the Greek War of Independence to write this seminal hymn in 1823 to honour the struggle of the Greeks for their independence after centuries of cruel Ottoman rule. It was set to music in 1865 by celebrated composer Nikolaos Mantzaros, the year it officially became the Greek National Anthem. 

The evening was a delightful ensemble of memorable moments and reinforced the debt we all owe to the Greek language and culture. 

The evening started off with a very interesting and informative talk by Dr Paul Murray, an eminent Greek scholar, teacher of Ancient History at Bishops Diocesan College and self-confessed philhellene.

 Even this word is derived from Greek ! 

“Phil-“: is a Greek prefix meaning “love”.  “Hellen”: refers to Greece or Greek people. 

His subject was: “Ancient Greek ideas that impact on our modern lives.“ It was an ode in itself to the mighty and magnificent impression that the ancient Greeks gifted the world from art and theatre to democracy and  to all aspects of modern civilization.

As he said just imagine we still use the same words Plato and Homer employed in past millennia. 

Then we shared fun and fabulous memories of how and why two of our graduates wanted to learn the Greek language with “What Greek means to me.”

Both Anre Uys and Elana Bosini simply enchanted us with perfect Greek rolling off their tongues! Bravo-you rock! 

Then the top students were presented with their prized certificates:
Georgina Myrmingos, Androniki Zitianellis, Gabriel Langenhoven, Anastasia Philippou, Anre Uys and George Michalakis .

The final treat was a clarinet performance by Ferroll-Jon Davids Principal Clarinetist of the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra playing old Greek songs with such expertise, emotion and empathy that it made our tears flow and the goosebumps grow with every note! 

A big thank you to our Consul for Greece in Cape Town Mr Sotirios Demestichas and Ms Ariadni Parolis Principal of the Greek School for arranging this superb cultural evening. 

And deep thanks to Mrs Elita de Klerk Chairperson of the FW de Klerk Foundation for her continued support. 

Also thanks to Chrissie and Nikos Scholiadis for the sound and keeping things going smoothly.

Need I add that we took care of the inner linguistic Greek with a delicious feast of meze provided by The Greek Kitchen! 

So next time you do a crossword and get stuck – just think Greek!

( Text and social photos : Pepe Sofianos)