The ancient Greeks lived over two thousand years ago. They were way ahead of their time. While we in the Netherlands were still living in prehistoric times, they were already writing books and studying astronomy. The Greeks lived a long time ago, but their influence on our daily life is still great.
Ancient Greeks in our society
At the children's exhibition ‘MegaGreeks', you can discover what part of our society harks back to classical Greek antiquity. For example, have you ever seen a picture of a snake on an ambulance or at the pharmacy? The snake was the symbol of healing for the Greeks. And did you see the 2008 Olympic Games on television? They were the idea of the Greeks to venerate their supreme god Zeus who lived on the mountain Olympus.
There are also other concepts that are very normal to us but that were originally thought of by the Greeks. Democracy, education and theatre are other examples. The names of some of the gods and heroes from Greek mythology probably also sound familiar to you, such as Ajax, Hercules, Apollo and Nike.
Greeks in your own world
'MegaGreeks' challenges you to playfully make connections between your own world and the world of the Greeks. You will also see beautiful, humorous and special objects from classical antiquity in the exhibition. These are of course also more than two thousand years old.