Ascra Village

Modern Ascra faces its present and future with the optimism inspired by its ever-present glorious past.

The statue in the village square represents Hesiod, the great epic poet of the second half of the 8th century BC, who glorified ancient Ascra and the whole of Hellenism.

His work ‘Theogony’ is the first coherent consideration of the mythology and religion of the ancient Greeks. While his work ‘Works and Days’ is a valuable testimony to everyday life in this region in the second half of the 8th century BC as the poet gives advice to his brother and by extension to every fellow poet.

His advice remains unchanged in value to this day. Characteristic in this respect is the inscription found in the Valley of the Muses which reads: “For those who apply the advice of Hesiod there will be justice and prosperity”.

Hesiod thus becomes the godfather of the Greeks ( since he was the first to use the name Greeks). He was essentially a university scholar who even knew the numbers “p” (the 3.14) and “f” ( the golden ratio) 500 years before Archimedes. Hesiod's work is of great moment, inspired by the priesthood of the Muses who possessed the knowledge of Orphic teaching and were receptive to the beliefs of the East. Besides, let us not forget that the first inhabitants of Ascra included Thracians from the East.

Finally, we would like you to retain the fact that in the place you have been touring, Ktesibius of Ascra was born, the later engineer in Alexandria, the greatest engineer of antiquity after Archimedes, the founder of the “museum” of Alexandria and teacher of Heron of Alexandria.

From your tour today you will have seen that there has been a human presence in the Valley of the Muses from 1650 BC to the present day. This fact gives us the right to claim that Greek civilization is, in several areas of our country, uniform and unbroken in terms of its main phases: ancient Greece, Byzantium and modern Greece. Ascra with its monuments, mythology and history is one of these evidence of the continuity of our civilization, since important elements of ancient Greek and Byzantine civilization continue to live in the folk traditions and in the customs and traditions of the people of our time, as it was born and developed in this place blessed by the Muses, whose cultural works were observed from the top of Mount Helicon by Zeus the nephelegend Zeus.

Information

For anything you want, you can contact the Association Progressive of Ascra ‘Hesiod’, which aims to protect and promote the antiquities and natural beauty of the Valley of the Muses.

On your way out, do not forget to take water from the Messiani Fountain.