For my last blog I figured I would entertain you with some fun facts about some general places and groups that use Greek and Roman typography, and iconography. I did my best to look up where these inspired names derived from.
I found that there are many restaurants that use both iconography and typography for their names and advertising. Not necessarily fancy restaurants either, some are just diners or pizza parlors. I tried to research why these places might name themselves after ancient Greek Mythological heros, or Greek or Roman warriors, but there really was nothing explaining exactly why. I really do wonder why public places would advertise themselves with a name they might possibly mean nothing to them or what they do. I believe that the owners of places like that just like the name or what the name translates to. I would only say that it MIGHT possibly have some meaning to the venus which are owned by people of Greek decent or have Greek ancestry, just because ancient mythology and stories of ancient times are a part of where they came from. Anyways, here are some of the things that I found.
Cups using some quirky greek typography to replace the 'E's with sigmas. I have seen these multiple times, not in person but in my research. They all have different phrases on them too.
These two images are from the parthenon diner-restaurant. Obviously the diner doesn't look like the Parthenon but they use the name and some imagery to push the fact.
Here is a photo of "Yanni's Greek Cuisine" once again using the typography of the greek language. I found that there seems to be an ongoing theme of the 'E's being replaced with Sigmas.
Last but not least, this is the Athena restaurant, named after the Greek goddess. To my surprise, there are quite a few of "Athena" restaurants!
On slightly a different topic, there is one form of greek typography that is used all over the country in a much different way. In the names of fraternity and sororities!
We see these letters all over college campuses across the country but I have always wondered, why greek letters? What do these groups have to do with Greek culture at all?
The fraternity traces back to the emergence of literary societies in the late eighteenth century. Debating and literary societies, whose names evoked memories of ancient Greece, emerged as purveyors of forensics, but their main contribution was that they were primary social clubs contrasting with the bleak campus dormitories.
"The Phi Beta Kappa Society, founded on December 5, 1776, at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, is recognized as the first Greek-letter student society in North America. It was founded by John Heath. The main developments associated with Phi Beta Kappa are the use of Greek-letter initials as a society name and the establishment of chapters at different campuses, following the pattern set by Masonic lodges. The Greek letters (ΦΒΚ) come from the motto Φιλοσοφία Βίου Κυβερνήτης (philosophia biou kybernētēs, "Philosophy is the helmsman of life"), now officially translated as "Philosophy is the guide of life". Greek was chosen as the language for the motto due generally to classical education at the time, and specifically because Heath "was the best Greek scholar in college." This use of Greek letters was briefly preceded by the use of Latin letters, notably the F.H.C. Society drawing its name from its secret motto, presumed to be "Fraternitas, Humanitas, et Cognitio," or "Fraternitas Humanitas Cognitioque.""
We see these letters all over college campuses across the country but I have always wondered, why greek letters? What do these groups have to do with Greek culture at all?
The fraternity traces back to the emergence of literary societies in the late eighteenth century. Debating and literary societies, whose names evoked memories of ancient Greece, emerged as purveyors of forensics, but their main contribution was that they were primary social clubs contrasting with the bleak campus dormitories.
"The Phi Beta Kappa Society, founded on December 5, 1776, at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, is recognized as the first Greek-letter student society in North America. It was founded by John Heath. The main developments associated with Phi Beta Kappa are the use of Greek-letter initials as a society name and the establishment of chapters at different campuses, following the pattern set by Masonic lodges. The Greek letters (ΦΒΚ) come from the motto Φιλοσοφία Βίου Κυβερνήτης (philosophia biou kybernētēs, "Philosophy is the helmsman of life"), now officially translated as "Philosophy is the guide of life". Greek was chosen as the language for the motto due generally to classical education at the time, and specifically because Heath "was the best Greek scholar in college." This use of Greek letters was briefly preceded by the use of Latin letters, notably the F.H.C. Society drawing its name from its secret motto, presumed to be "Fraternitas, Humanitas, et Cognitio," or "Fraternitas Humanitas Cognitioque.""
Well, that's all that I have for now. I hope you enjoyed my broad research topic over the past couple of months. It was a very interesting journey to find out things that I wasn't aware of about this topic and I did enjoy it. Hopefully soon I will think of a different topic to research and I can continue to notify you all about it. Thanks for reading!
Sources:
Google images
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraternities_and_sororities#Greek_letters
http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/2429/Social-Fraternities-Sororities.html
http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/2429/Social-Fraternities-Sororities.html
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