As you watch the Quarter-Finals of the UEFA competitions wrap up today, lets look at 7 teams from cities you might not be aware started out as Greek colonies or have links to Greek myths. Lets start with 2 teams that just got knocked out of Champions League and are both linked to Homer’s Odyssey: Napoli (Naples) and Benfica Lisbon.

The history of Naples dates back to Greek settlements established in the Naples area in the 2nd millennium BC. During the end of the Greek Dark Ages, a larger mainland colony – initially known as Parthenope – developed on the Pizzofalcone hill in the 8th century BC, and was refounded as Neapolis in the 6th century BC. Parthenope was the name of a mermaid in Homer’s Odyssey. The city held an important role in Magna Graecia. The Greek culture of Naples was important to later Roman society. When the city became part of the Roman Republic in the central province of the Empire, it was a major cultural center.

Lisbon used to be called Olissipo, the latinized form of Odysseus, who is said to have founded Lisbon on his journey home during the Odyssey. Olissipo was the ancient name of modern-day Lisbon while it was part of the Roman Empire. The city was occupied by the Romans in 205 BC after winning the Second Punic War against the Carthaginians. The city was initially named Olissipo, and was later made a municipium called Felicitas Julia by Julius Caesar, adding the term to the name Olissipo. After the fall of the Roman Empire, Lisbon was ruled by a series of Germanic tribes from the 5th century, most notably the Visigoths. Later it was captured by the Moors in the 8th century.

Watch the videos below to learn more about both cities:

Now lets look at the other teams playing today: Roma, Sporting Lisbon, Juventus, Sevilla and Nice. We wont talk again about Lisbon as that we covered above, and we will just mention Roma and Juventus quickly as we have covered them many times in other posts and want to leave the spotlight on the other cities today. Roma feature Romulus and Remus, the sons of Ares, on their crest, and Juventus is named after Juventas (known as Hebe to the Greeks), the daughter of Zeus.

Next up are Sevilla (Spain) and Nice (France). Legend has it that Sevilla was founded by Hercules, which makes sense as you can still see the Pillars of Hercules on the Spanish flag. Nice started out as a Greek colony called Nikaia, named after Nike, the Greek goddess of victory. Watch some videos about that below: