Would you like to traveling to Greece or participate in an Omilo Greek Langauge and Culture course this summer, but you are not confident to travel yet, due to the corona pandemic?
Do not worry, if you’re still looking to ‘travel’ from the comfort of your own living room whilst staying safe and practicing your Greek skills, we have the perfect idea for you: why not give the Greek TV series Η Αίθουσα του Θρόνου a try?
This Greek TV series was shot in both Attica (Athens, Lagonisi and Nea Makri) and the island of Syros, where the Omilo summer courses take place.
Continue reading to learn more!
Η Αίθουσα του Θρόνου (en. The Throne Room) is a Greek period drama TV series that was aired between 1998-99 and was based on a novel by the celebrated novelist and academic Tasos Athanasiadis.
It takes place on the Cycladic island of Syros in 1966, right before the Greek military junta ruled Greece from 1967 to 1974. The socio-political circumstances in Greece are heating up, but at the same time, people are characterized by a certain innocence as they cannot imagine how things are going to develop; everything feels very distant but also very close. The series follows closely a group of young people, whose lives intersect and eventually get tangled up with each others. It examines the topics of love, life, death, God and religion, the eternal clash between good and evil, people’s wants and social conventions.
The story is set in motion by the arrival of two very young people at the island of Syros: the first one is Loukas Delogis, the son of a powerful local family who studied in Paris and spent some time in Mount Athos afterward, also known as Agion Oros (Άγιον Όρος). It is a mountain and peninsula in north-eastern Greece as well as home to twenty monasteries, so Loukas tried to become a monk there but failed, so he decides to return to his homeplace. The other one is Glauki Arhontidi, a young Greek woman who lives in London and whose father became a hero during the Katochi (Κατοχή), i.e. the German and Italian occupation of Greece during WWII where he died fighting with the Greek resistance army.
The cast includes well-known Greek actors Aris Lembesopoulos, Maria Nafpliotou, Myrto Alikaki, Alekos Syssovitis, Alekos Alexandrakis, Nikos Rizos, Dimitris Lignadis and Tatiana Papamoschou.
You can watch the series online for free on various YouTube channels. However, you need to search a bit to find the total of 26 episodes.
Here is a link you can use to watch the first episode : https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6839q8
There are no English subtitles for the time being so it would a good exercise for intermediate or advanced Greek learners.
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In the mood to discover Syros yourself, looking for the places you saw in the TV series, while learning Greek and enjoying cultural activities?
