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Single Parent Holiday - Zakynthos

This page contains some useful information about Zakynthos, its history and culture, we hope you will find it useful and interesting.

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Zakynthos Information

Zakynthos - A Brief History
Zakynthos was inhabited from the Neolithic Times as some archaeological excavations have proved. The famous ancient Greek, Homer, first mentioned the island in his masterpieces,the Iliad and the Odyssey, stating that the first inhabitants of it were the son of King Dardanos of Troy called Zakynthos and his men and that they first came on the island around 1500-1600 BC.

The island was then conquered by the King Arkeisios of Kefalonia. The famous Ulysses (Odysseus in Greek) from Ithaca was the next King to conquer the island.

Later on, a treaty was signed that made Zakynthos an independent democracy, the first established in the Hellenic area, and that lasted more than 650 years.

Because of the strategic position of the island was located and its very fertile land, its inhabitants quickly became quite wealthy and established various colonies in Crete, Paros, (a Cycladic island) and even in Spain.

In the 5th century, during the Persian Wars, Zakynthos remained neutral and during the Peloponnesian War took part in the Athenian Alliance.

When the Alliance was dissolved after the Athenian defeat in the expedition against Sicily, Zakynthos came under the Lacedaemonian rule, which established an oligarchy on the island and ended the democracy. Later on the inhabitants of Zakynthos organised a revolution and managed to restore their democratic political system.

After the Macedonian Wars, Zakynthos fell under Macedonian rule and later was occupied by the Romans. This last domination marked the history of the island
In the beginning of the Roman domination, a proconsul organised the administration of the island according to the Roman laws. Later Zakynthos gained some autonomy but had to pay an annual tax to the Romans and to send soldiers to the Roman legion.

The islanders had the freedom to establish their own laws and had their own municipality, parliament and coins.

For Zakynthos and its inhabitants, the Roman times were a period of great material and cultural development.

Around 34 AD, Christianity arrived on the island and became dominant in the second half of the 3rd century AD during the rise of the Byzantine Empire created by Constantine the Great.

During the 15th century, when the rest of Greece was under Turkish rule, the Ionian Islands were still under Venetian domination, with established a rude aristocratic oligarchic political system.In 1797, French republicans came on the island promising to change the social, economical and political system but nothing lasted very long. The oligarchy was re-established when the Russians and the Turks conquered the island. French managed again to take Zakynthos and the rest of the Ionians, followed by the English who stayed on the island from The French managed to regain Zakynthos and the rest of the Ionians, followed by the English who remained on the island from 1814 to 1864; during their domination, the English modernised and developed the administration and public works on the island.

Even having escaped the Ottoman yoke, Zakynthos, with the other Ionian Islands, helped the rest of Greece to organise and achieve the Revolution for Independence against the Turks.

Zakynthos and the other Ionian Islands were reunited to the rest of the newly formed and finally independent Greek State on the 21st of May, 1864. n Hall Library
Even having escaped the Ottoman yoke, Zakynthos, with the other Ionian Islands, helped the rest of Greece to organise and achieve the Revolution for Independence against the Turks.

Zakynthos and the other Ionian Islands were reunited to the rest of the newly formed and finally independent Greek State on the 21st of May,1864. Hall Library
The southernmost island of the Ionian, almost triangular in shape, is idyllic Zakinthos. It has its own way of enchanting the visitor and engraving itself in his memory. It is not easy to forget the emerald sea, the pine covered hills, or the hospitable and open-hearted inhabitants of Zante, as it is otherwise called.
Up high, above the modern town with its beautiful buildings in the typical Zakinthian style, is the Venetian castle; churches are everywhere in the city of St. Dionysios, the island's patron saint. Small coffee shops and picturesque villages are to be found among the olive and almond trees, in or around fields planted with vines and vegetables.

Zakinthos has many fine sandy beaches with calm, clear waters. On some of them, the visitor can see the sea turtles, Caretta-caretta, before crossing over to beautiful Strofades, a group of small islands.

Dancing - Music
Dance was very important to the ancient Greeks. They believed that dance improved both physical and emotional health. Rarely did men and women dance together. Some dances were danced by men and others by women.

There were more than 200 ancient Greek dances; comic dances, warlike dances, dances for athletes and for religious worship, plus dances for weddings, funerals, and celebrations.

Dance was accompanied by music played on lyres, flutes, and a wide variety of percussion instruments such as tambourines, cymbals and castanets

Modern Culture
Greece is a country of a great and diverse culture influenced by its place at the junction between the East and the West and by the many occupations endured by the Greek people throughout history, on mailand Greece and the Greek Islands.

Greeks are particularly proud of their Greece culture and stick to it with particular passion, feeling that their culture is a definition of their national and ethnic belonging.

Traditions, religion, music, language, food and wines are the major composants of Greece Culture and constitute the base to know for those who wish to travel and spend their holidays in the beautiful country of Greece.

Greece - Traditions
Traditions in Greece and Greek Islands are either of a religious character or coming from paganism. Furthermore, most of the traditions and festivals still followed and celebrated today, are religious.

Many Greeks are very superstitious people and believe a lot in religion as well as in supernatural or paranormal phenomenon. It impress many visitors who travel to Greece .

Greece - Religion
The Greek population is composed of a 97% of Christian Orthodox. The rest of the population is Muslim, Roman Catholic and Jewish. Greece and Russia are the only countries to have such a proportion of people belonging to the Orthodox Church.

Greece - Music
Greek music is of unbelievable diversity due to the creative Greek assimilation of different influences of the Eastern and Western culture of Asia and Europe.
Music and Greece have a long history dating from the Antiquity...

Greece - Food and Wine
Greek cuisine is famous for its good quality products and the amazing taste of its food and wines. Some dishes are the same everywhere in Greece, whereas some others are local culinary specialties or same dishes cooked in different manners (in the Greek islands, Crete, Thessaloniki, etc…).

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