What is traveling to Greece all about? Is it solely about enjoying nature, the sea, and the sun, or is it also about feeling the soul and beating heart of the Greeks? Those of you interested in the country’s worldwide famous ancient spirit, still living today, don’t look for it in the monuments and antiquities but rather experience it by getting to know the Greek people and their art. Hellenic culture, language, and art are a whole. They form one entity traveling in uninterrupted continuity through time despite all the conquerors, wars, and occupations the country has suffered from.
An example of this cultural continuity is the romance of Erotokritos, considered a masterpiece of Cretan literature, which claimed to be the supreme achievement of modern Greek literature in general! It was composed by Vikentios Kornaros in the early 17th century in Crete. It consists of 10,012 fifteen-syllable rhymed verses. Its themes are love, honor, friendship, and courage. It is written in the Cretan dialect of the Greek language. The poet relates the trials and tribulations suffered by two young lovers, Erotokritos and Aretoussa, daughter of Heracles, King of Athens. It was a tale that enjoyed enormous popularity among its Greek readership.
It remains a popular work until today, largely due to the music that accompanies it when it is publicly recited. Enjoy below the most recent and one of the finest performances of this masterpiece of literature. This was made just a few years ago as a fine example of how art may serve as the strongest antidote against the recent or any crisis by elevating our spirit, purifying our mind, and strengthening the noble emotions within us all.
Theodore Stephanides, in verse, and Betts, Gauntlett, and Spilias, in prose, completed a translation to English.
