"Maria Tsakos" Foundation

	Since prehistoric times, the sea has represented a great deal for us Greeks. It has always challenged us to explore it. The sight of it alone inspires, opening up the heart and making the mind travel to infinite horizons. This is demonstrated in Greek mythology, which is steeped in its presence, while two of the first texts written in the Greek language – the immortal Homeric epics, “Iliad” and “Odyssey” – are full of ships, fleets, and the endless adventures of the great voyager, Odysseus. With the strength of his soul and his profound nostalgia for Ithaca, Homer’s invincible hero – the archetype of the eternal Greek seaman – endures the myriad difficulties of an adventure–packed sea voyage, and acquires the wisdom of a great man, as “many cities of men he saw and learned their minds.”
Since those times, i.e. the beginning of the written history of the Nation, the sea has become the broad avenue for dissemination of Hellenic culture. Together with the ships crossing arrogantly the Mediterranean waves, the Hellenic language, art and spirit traveled consistently without interruption through the ages up to the present times laying the foundation of the Hellenic Universality. Within this universality the Idea of Democracy defined for first time by Thucydides has been presented as the preamble to the European’s Union first Constitution currently under ratification.
And thus we found ourselves in beloved “far, yet near” Uruguay. The Foundation’s main mission is to disseminate the language in which Homer wrote his epics, Pericles his Funeral Oration, and Alexander the Great used for his massive worldwide cultural work; the language with which the Gospel spread throughout the entire world.
Together with the teaching of the Greek language, the Foundation systematically and methodically devotes itself to various aspects of ancient, modern, and contemporary Hellenic culture.
Personally, I consider the work that we have undertaken as a contribution to the rest of the world, as well as a fundamental obligation to our great ancestors – those who gave essence and substance to human spirit with their art and science, and who taught the world the dignity of democracy, virtue, freedom and justice.