Of Demigods and Minotaurs: Greeking Out in Athens and Crete

Whenever our family goes on long car rides, we’ve found that the best way to placate our children is to listen to the podcast “Greeking Out” from National Geographic Kids. Narrated by Kenny Curtis and the all-knowing, snake-loving “Oracle of Wi-Fi,” the show retells stories from ancient Greek mythology in colorful ways. After 10 seasons, our two boys have become well-versed in the minutiae of mythos. Did you know that the blind seer Tiresias was turned into a woman by Hera for seven years? I did not.

“It’s true,” said Holt, my 10-year-old son.

My kids are not alone. Greek mythology has had a renaissance of sorts among young people, driven largely by the wildly popular Percy Jackson children’s book series (and movies and musical) about a troubled modern-day boy who finds out he is actually a demigod and so must attend Camp Half-Blood. Naturally, things get complicated.

My younger son, Max, 7, has fallen deep under the demigod spell. He is also a hedonist, a lover of pleasures and chocolate, and predictably his favorite god is Dionysus, god of wine, festivity and madness.

One of the author’s sons, 10-year-old Holt, favored Athena out of all the Greek gods. Athena is the goddess of battle strategy, wisdom and weaving. Credit…Andrea Wyner for The New York Times

Holt is more suspect of the Percy Jackson phenomenon. He likes facts, which is funny when you’re talking about mythology. Holt’s favorite god is Athena, goddess of battle strategy, wisdom and weaving. So I was always interested in some day taking my sons to Greece itself, source of all that history, where we could stare at ruins and try to square truth, story, wisdom and madness.

Our chance came when the Greek parents of one of Holt’s classmates invited us and another family to visit their family home on the island of Crete last summer.