The Greeks were the first culture to realistically represent their children in works of art. The Cincinnati Art Museum is featuring - but only through this weekend - Coming of Age in Ancient Greece, the first major exhibition to explore children in ancient Greece. Spanning 1,500 years and located on the museum's second floor are 120 works of art including bronze and stone sculpture, vases, jewelry, toys and marble monuments that provide a glimpse of a Greek child's life. Adjacent to the exhibit is a space for kids, a room where they can play with objects similar to those ancient Greek children used. Free. Through Sunday. 953 Eden Park Drive, Eden Park. Hours: 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday,11 a.m.-9 p.m. Wednesday. Information: 639-2995.

— Marilyn Bauer

These three distinguished films offer a glimpse into the culture and personality of modern Greece.

• Zorba the Greek (1964) - Anthony Quinn teaches Alan Bates how to love life on the sunny beaches of a small Greek island.

•  Never on Sunday (1960) - Greece's favorite actress, Melina Mercouri, made a worldwide splash as a free-spirited prostitute in this film. She later became the nation's minister of culture, and a fierce defender of its ancient treasures.

•  Z (1969) - Radical director Costa-Gavras uses a murder mystery to document a traumatic right-wing military coup that shaped Greek politics for decades.

— Margaret A. McGurk

Scholars use terms such as "brilliant" and "never surpassed" when referring to the literature of the ancient Greeks. A quick take on some famous works:

• Aesop's Fables. A number of picture-book versions exist of Aesop's collection of animal tales, each with a moral, such as: Don't count your chickens before they're hatched. It's unclear whether Aesop was an actual person or merely a legend.

• The Iliad and the Odyssey, great epic poems attributed to Homer, laid the foundations for the development of prose and poetry. The Iliad tells the story of the Trojan War between Greece and Troy; the Odyssey describes Odysseus' 10-year voyage home after the war.

• Oedipus Rex. Sophocles' classic Greek tragedy. King Oedipus discovers he has inadvertently killed his father and married his mother.

— John Johnston

Whether you're more interested in Aristotle or Zorba, there's a Greek language course for you.

The University of Cincinnati and Xavier University offer classics majors, complete with Greek language classes. Students also study architecture, philosophy and literature produced by the ancient Greeks, and those Roman upstarts.

If modern conversational Greek is more your cup of ouzo, language tapes offer an affordable option.

Several popular titles are available online. Amazon.com offers Just Listen 'N Learn Greek (McGraw-Hill), a book and tape set, for $20.37.

At www.audioforum.com, shoppers will find courses in modern and ancient Greek. Costs range from $39.95 for single volumes on the Bible and other topics to $225 for a set featuring 12 cassettes and a book.

At Pluralitylanguage.com, you'll find Pimsleur's Greek Language Course at a discount. The list price from publisher Simon & Schuster ranges from $295 to $345 for a 16-volume course. The Web site carries the programs for $152 (cassette) and $175 (compact disc.)

— Peggy O'Farrell