Hellenismos

Arete was central to the culture of the Ancient Greeks. It is a hard word to translate, but 'Personal Excellence' is one good way. It is symbolized by an acorn, which, with proper nurture, may grow into a mighty oak. One of the philosophers wrote that the only purpose of government is to provide that each person may develop his or her arete to the fullest extent.

Within the diversity of Hellenismos there are many symbols for particular groups, some represented here on Cafe Press. Our aim, after seventeen years of working on the problem, is to present a symbol that simply means Hellenismos; a symbol suitable for followers of Hellenic Polytheism in general, no matter what your particular group or practice. The symbol presented here was drawn for us by Bonnie Callahan, and is (C) Copyright 2005 by Bonnie Callahan. The impetus for the rendering of this symbol was the forging of a medallion, which is now available from the Thiasos Olympikos website. It is made of cold cast bronze, as befits a Bronze Age religion. with the design featured here, but not in color.

Then again, you might just like the artwork or the idea of proclaiming your Arete.

We are now providing this design subscribed with the following words (in Greek but without the accents, which really muck up the design given our typeface): Hellenismos, Grandfather, Grandmother, Father, Mother, and Competitor! There are also some items with just the symbol on them; things on which you might wish to proclaim your Arete, your Personal Excellence.

One of the Delphic maxams was: "Nothing in Excess." We like to think that a design with the word Arete attached to the word Pateras (Father) is a way of saying "Excellent Dad!" Not boastful or over the top, but a definite high approval rating. --Not everybody can be 'the world's greatest,' after all.

We have chosen items which we think to be practical and which we hope will therefore prove popular. We will work on improving the store as time goes by.

We can only provide one item with one design at a time. If you see a product you like, but we don't have the right word attached, send us some e-mail and we will try to accomodate you. If you think Grandma would like a beer stein, we can make it for her!

Thank you for visiting, and we hope you like what we have to offer.