Searching for Ancient Greece - The Wise World Traveler: Becoming a Part of All that You Meet - page 174

Rhodes, and the castles of the Knights seem to have stepped from the pages of medieval
glory. They were, alas, extensively reconstructed to bolster Mussolini's ambitions to be re-
garded as a modern-day Caesar.
Figure 12.4. Island of Rhodes
In Rhodes, in Crete, everywhere in Greece, street life is made lively by outdoor cafes
where (mostly) men sit, smoke, drink wine, gossip, and argue politics—fitting activities for
descendants of ancient Greeks, the originators of fiery political argument and outdoor de-
bate.
WHAT IS GREEK FIRE?
The Classical Greeks, led by Athenians, were masters of naval warfare. Their galleys were
equipped with bronze ramming prows, and as they closed in on the enemy, deadly fire was
sprayed from the prow—most likely a mixture of water and phosphorus ( phos : fire; phorus :
to carry, as in Christophorus). Greek fire was difficult to extinguish and burned long after
the battle was lost or won. The English writer Oliver Taplin uses the metaphor Greek fire
for the never-dying light of Greek ideas—ideas that shape and mold our civilization. [143]