{"id":11660,"date":"2021-10-12T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-12T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tiqets-blog-staging.local\/greek-mythology-places\/"},"modified":"2025-08-22T08:47:51","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T08:47:51","slug":"greek-mythology-places","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tiqets.com\/blog\/greek-mythology-places\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Greek Mythology Places You Can Visit Today","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u2013<\/em>\u00a0This post was written by\u00a0Oscar O’Connor<\/em>\u00a0\u2013<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are plenty of places you can go to find beautiful beaches, party islands, mouthwatering cuisine, and glorious sunny scenery. But very few of them combine all these things with mesmerizing remnants of antiquity that are woven with the myths and legends that more or less shaped the Western world. When it comes to epic mythological places, Greece is the word.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The heroes, villains, tragedies and sagas of Greek mythology have outlasted the rise and fall of countless empires. They\u2019ve inspired entire religions (looking at you, ancient Rome), and been told and retold in as many languages and media as there are silver strands in the mighty beard of Zeus. Say what you want about those ancient Greeks; they knew how to tell a story. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So if you\u2019re planning a sun-kissed odyssey to the country that gave the world democracy, mathematics, philosophy, moussaka, and Arianna Huffington, make your holiday truly legendary and explore some of the many ancient Greek mythology places that are still around today. Here are some must-visit ancient sites where some of the greatest Greek myths took place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Acropolis Now! <\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"The<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The line between myth and history tends to become a little blurry when you go back 2,500 years. While it may be tricky to separate fact from fiction entirely, what is clear is that Athens\u2019 emblematic hilltop citadel, the Acropolis,<\/a> is steeped in both incredible history and some truly bombastic legends. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You should certainly devote a large chunk of your visit to the Acropolis to taking in the incredible complex of Classical architecture, discerning its Doric columns, and learning about how the father of democracy, Pericles, coordinated the construction of the Parthenon, the Propylaea, the Erechtheion, and the Temple of Athena Nike.<\/a> It\u2019s all jaw-dropping cultural history, if not exactly Clash of the Titans<\/em> territory. But wait!<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"A<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You might be interested to know that this very place is also the fabled location where a great showdown between Olympian gods Poseidon and Athena took place, to decide who got patronage over the city of Athens. In a contest devised by the founding king of Athens, King Cecrops, whichever deity could bestow the city with the best present would be declared the winner, and given naming rights over the city. Much as sports stadium names are auctioned off to corporate brands today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Blue Corner, Poseidon, wielding his ever-trusty trident, cast his powerful prongs into the Acropolis and created a seawater well in the Erechtheion temple, known as the \u201csea\u201d of the Erechtheion. There\u2019s a shred of truth in every myth, and interestingly, traces of saltwater have been found in the temple wells, which, you\u2019ll note are several kilometers away from the coast. Weird right? This is an actual geological anomaly found around Greece, attributed to the intrusion of seawater into coastal karst limestone aquifers. But let\u2019s go with the Poseidon story for now.  <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Meanwhile, in the Red Corner, Athena, being the goddess of war and wisdom that she was, cast her trademark spear into the ground, whereupon a bountiful olive tree sprang up. Now, if you ask the average Greek person whether they\u2019d prefer more olives or more seawater in their lives, you\u2019ll likely come up with the winner of Athens\u2019 patron deity contest \u2013 if the city\u2019s name and Greece\u2019s abundance of coastline didn\u2019t already give the result away. Athena knew her audience.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"The<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

This dramatic battle of godly wits is depicted in the sculpted statues that line the upper sides of the Parthenon, known as the Pediments of the Parthenon. You can also see scenes depicting the birth of Dionysius, the birth of Athena from the head of Zeus (courtesy of a blow from Hephaestus\u2019 hammer), as well as Zeus cheating on his wife Hera, and lots of other scenes hewn into the ancient stone by master builder Phidias, the most famous sculptor of Classical Greece. UNESCO wept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>