DK Travel : Athens : History & Culture

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Hippocratic Oath

Attributed to the founding father of medicine, the Greek physician Hippocrates (460–377 BC), this oath prohibits doctors from performing abortions, euthanasia or unnecessary surgery, and requires them to promise to abstain from sexual relations with any patient, and to keep any information divulged to them confidential. The oath was taken by doctors until 1948, when the World Medical Association (considering references to ancient Greek gods and goddesses somewhat obsolete) produced a modern restatement called the Declaration of Geneva.
History of the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides

Month-by-month, blow-by-blow account of the conflict by an Athenian officer.
Homer c.700 BC

Next to nothing is known about the bard who compiled the tales of The Iliad and The Odyssey . These poems, which were kept alive by oral tradition, are arguably the greatest and most influential in history.
Icon

Byzantine and Christian images of saints, believed to be imbued with holy power, often painted with gold.
Kapnikarea

This lovely little church, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, was built in the 11th century over the ruins of an ancient temple. It is laid out in the typical Byzantine cross-in-square plan, with three apses on the east side and a narthex (a western portico) on the west. Inside, the church is decorated with medieval mosaics. (see Kapnikarea)
Kerameikos

This fascinating site around ancient Athens’ walls should not be missed. It contains evidence of all the activities that take place at a city’s edge: tombs (raised circular mounds for war heroes, pompous marble statues for great statesmen), temples, important roads, pottery workshops, and a brothel. It’s also a shady oasis in the congested city centre. (see Kerameikos)
Kesariani

This 11th-century monastery on the cypress-clad slopes of Mount Hymettos makes a wonderful day trip (best reached by car). The chapel, dedicated to the Presentation of the Virgin, is built atop Classical ruins, its walls decorated with cloisonné (enamelled) masonry and late 17th-century paintings. The ram’s-head fountain is said to cure infertility. (see Kesariani, Mount Hymettos)
Kesariani, Mount Hymettos

This 12th-century monastery sits on fragrant, wooded slopes just outside Athens. Most of its surviving frescoes are from the 16th and 17th centuries, and its rushing spring waters are said to cure infertility. (see Kesariani)
Kouros/Kore

The first monumental sculptures in Greek art: a kouros was a youth, a kore a maiden. The plural is koroi .
Krater

A large ceramic or bronze bowl for mixing wine and water, often beautifully decorated.