Greece

Coordinates: 39°N 22°E / 39°N 22°E / 39; 22
Page semi-protected
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hellenic Republic
Ελληνική Δημοκρατία (Greek)
Ellinikí Dimokratía
Motto: Ελευθερία ή Θάνατος
Elefthería í Thánatos
(English: "Freedom or Death")
Anthem: Ύμνος εις την Ελευθερίαν
Ímnos is tin Eleftherían
(English: "Hymn to Liberty")
Location of Greece (dark green)

– in Europe (light green & dark grey)
– in the European Union (light green)

Capital
and largest city
Athens
37°58′N 23°43′E / 37.967°N 23.717°E / 37.967; 23.717
Official language
and national language
Greek
Religion
(2017)
  • 4% no religion
  • 2% Islam
  • 1% other[1]
Demonym(s)
GovernmentUnitary parliamentary republic
• President
Katerina Sakellaropoulou
Kyriakos Mitsotakis
Konstantinos Tasoulas
LegislatureHellenic Parliament
Establishment history
25 March 1821 (traditional starting date of the Greek War of Independence), 15 January 1822 (official declaration)
3 February 1830
24 July 1974
11 June 1975
Area
• Total
131,957 km2 (50,949 sq mi)[2] (95th)
• Water (%)
1.51 (2015)[3]
Population
• 2023 estimate
Decrease 10,413,982 (1 January 2023)[4] (90th)
• 2021 census
Decrease 10,432,481[5]
• Density
78.9/km2 (204.4/sq mi) (105th)
GDP (PPP)2023 estimate
• Total
Increase $416.969 billion[6] (54th)
• Per capita
Increase $39,864[6] (52nd)
GDP (nominal)2023 estimate
• Total
Increase $242.385 billion[6] (53rd)
• Per capita
Increase $23,173[6] (44th)
Gini (2022)Positive decrease 31.4[7]
medium
HDI (2021)Increase 0.887[8]
very high · 33rd
CurrencyEuro () (EUR)
Time zoneUTC+02:00 (EET)
• Summer (DST)
UTC+03:00 (EEST)
Date formatdd.mm.yyyy (AD)b
Driving sideright
Calling code+30
ISO 3166 codeGR
Internet TLD
  1. The Church of Greece is recognized by the Greek Constitution as the prevailing religion in Greece,[9] and is the only country in the world where Eastern Orthodoxy is clearly recognized as a state religion.[10]
  2. Other short formats: dd-mm-yyyy, dd/mm/yyyy
  3. The .eu domain is also used, as in other European Union member states.

Greece,[a] officially the Hellenic Republic,[b] is a country in Southeast Europe, located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula. Greece shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to the east. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of the mainland, the Ionian Sea to the west, and the Sea of Crete and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the longest coastline on the Mediterranean Basin, featuring thousands of islands. It has a population of nearly 10.3 million (as of 2024).[11] Athens is the nation's capital and the largest city, followed by Thessaloniki and Patras.

Greece is considered the cradle of Western civilization, being the birthplace of democracy, Western philosophy, Western literature, historiography, political science, major scientific and mathematical principles, theatre, and the Olympic Games. From the eighth century BC, the Greeks were organised into various independent city-states, known as poleis (singular polis), which spanned the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Philip II of Macedon united most of present-day Greece in the fourth century BC, with his son Alexander the Great rapidly conquering much of the known ancient world, from the eastern Mediterranean to northwestern India. The subsequent Hellenistic period saw the height of Greek culture and influence in antiquity. Greece was annexed by Rome in the second century BC, becoming an integral part of the Roman Empire and its continuation, the Byzantine Empire, which was predominantly Greek in culture and language. The Greek Orthodox Church, which emerged in the first century AD, helped shape modern Greek identity and transmitted Greek traditions to the wider Orthodox world. After the Fourth Crusade in 1204, Latin possessions were established in parts of the Greek peninsula, but most of the area fell under Ottoman rule in the mid-15th century. Greece emerged as a modern nation state in 1830, following a war of independence.

Over the first hundred years, the Kingdom of Greece sought territorial expansion, which was mainly achieved in the early 20th century, during the Balkan Wars and up until its Asia Minor Campaign ended with a catastrophic defeat in 1922. The short-lived republic that followed was beset by the ramifications of civil strife and the challenge of resettling refugees from Turkey. In 1936 a royalist dictatorship was established in which Greece fought during WW2 and after that her history was marked by military occupation during the war, a civil war, and military dictatorship. Greece achieved record economic growth from 1950 through the 1970s, allowing it to join the ranks of developed countries. After the Military Regime's fall, democracy was restored in 1974–75, and Greece has since been a parliamentary republic.

Greece is a democratic and developed country with an advanced high-income economy, the second largest in the Balkans, where it is an important regional investor. A founding member of the United Nations, Greece was the tenth member to join the European Communities (precursor to the European Union) and has been part of the eurozone since 2001. It is also a member of numerous other international institutions, including the Council of Europe, NATO, the OECD, the WTO, and the OSCE. Greece has a unique cultural heritage, large tourism industry, and prominent shipping sector. The country's rich historical legacy is reflected in part by its 19 UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Name

The native name of the country in Modern Greek is Ελλάδα (Elláda, pronounced [eˈlaða]). The corresponding form in Ancient Greek and conservative formal Modern Greek (Katharevousa) is Ἑλλάς (Hellas, classical: [hel.lás], modern: [eˈlas]). This is the source of the English alternative name Hellas, which is mostly found in archaic or poetic contexts today. The Greek adjectival form ελληνικός (ellinikos, [eliniˈkos]) is sometimes also translated as Hellenic and is often rendered in this way in the formal names of Greek institutions, as in the official name of the Greek state, the Hellenic Republic (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία, [eliniˈci ðimokraˈti.a]).[12]

The English names Greece and Greek are derived, via the Latin Graecia and Graecus, from the name of the Graeci (Γραικοί, Graikoí; singular Γραικός, Graikós), who were among the first ancient Greek tribes to settle Magna Graecia in southern Italy. The term is possibly derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *ǵerh₂-, "to grow old",[13][14] more specifically from Graea (ancient city), said by Aristotle to be the oldest in Greece, and the source of colonists for the Naples area.[15]

History

Prehistory and early history

The entrance of the Treasury of Atreus (13th century BC) in Mycenae

The Apidima Cave in Mani, in southern Greece, has been suggested to contain the oldest remains of anatomically modern humans outside of Africa, dated to 210,000 years ago.[16] However, this has been contested, with other authors suggesting the remains represent archaic humans.[17] All three stages of the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic) are represented in Greece, for example in the Franchthi Cave.[18] Neolithic settlements in Greece, dating from the 7th millennium BC,[19] are the oldest in Europe by several centuries, as Greece lies on the route via which farming spread from the Near East to Europe.[20]

Greece is home to the first advanced civilizations in Europe and is considered the birthplace of Western civilisation,[21][22] beginning with the Cycladic civilization on the islands of the Aegean Sea at around 3200 BC,[23] the Minoan civilization in Crete (2700–1500 BC),[24][25] and then the Mycenaean civilization on the mainland (1600–1100 BC).[25] These civilizations possessed writing, the Minoans using an undeciphered script known as Linear A, and the Mycenaeans writing the earliest attested form of Greek in Linear B. The Mycenaeans gradually absorbed the Minoans, but collapsed violently around 1200 BC, along with other civilizations, during the regional event known as the Late Bronze Age collapse.[26] Though the unearthed Linear B texts are too fragmentary for the reconstruction of the political landscape and can't support the existence of a larger state, contemporary Hittite and Egyptian records suggest the presence of a single state under a "Great King" based in mainland Greece.[27][28]

Ancient Greece

Greek territories and colonies during the Archaic period (750–550 BC)

The collapse of the Mycenean civilization ushered in a period known as the Greek Dark Ages, from which written records are absent. The end of the Dark Ages is traditionally dated to 776 BC, the year of the first Olympic Games.[29] The Iliad and the Odyssey, the foundational texts of Western literature, are believed to have been composed by Homer in the 7th or 8th centuries BC.[30][31] With the end of the Dark Ages, there emerged various kingdoms and city-states across the Greek peninsula, which spread to the shores of the Black Sea, Southern Italy (the so-called "Magna Graecia") and Asia Minor. These states and their colonies reached great levels of prosperity that resulted in an unprecedented cultural boom, that of classical Greece, expressed in architecture, drama, science, mathematics and philosophy. In 508 BC, Cleisthenes instituted the world's first democratic system of government in Athens.[32][33]

The Parthenon on the Acropolis of Athens, icon of classical Greece

By 500 BC, the Persian Empire controlled the Greek city states in Asia Minor and Macedonia.[34] Attempts by some of the Greek city-states of Asia Minor to overthrow Persian rule failed, and Persia invaded the states of mainland Greece in 492 BC, but was forced to withdraw after a defeat at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC. In response, the Greek city-states formed the Hellenic League in 481 BC, led by Sparta, which was the first historically recorded union of Greek states since the mythical union of the Trojan War.[35][36] A second invasion by the Persians followed in 480 BC. Following decisive Greek victories in 480 and 479 BC at Salamis, Plataea, and Mycale, the Persians were forced to withdraw for a second time, marking their eventual withdrawal from all of their European territories. Led by Athens and Sparta, the Greek victories in the Greco-Persian Wars are considered a pivotal moment in world history,[37] as the 50 years of peace that followed are known as the Golden Age of Athens, the seminal period of ancient Greek development that laid many of the foundations of Western civilization.

Lack of political unity within Greece resulted in frequent conflict between Greek states. The most devastating intra-Greek war was the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), won by Sparta and marking the demise of the Athenian Empire as the leading power in ancient Greece. Both Athens and Sparta were later overshadowed by Thebes and eventually Macedon, with the latter uniting most of the city-states of the Greek hinterland in the League of Corinth (also known as the Hellenic League or Greek League) under the control of Philip II.[38] Despite this development, the Greek world remained largely fragmented and would not be united under a single power until the Roman years.[39]

Alexander the Great, whose conquests led to the Hellenistic Age

After Philip's assassination in 336 BC, his son and king of Macedon, Alexander, set himself the leader of a Panhellenic campaign against the Persian Empire and abolished it. Undefeated in battle, he marched, until his untimely death in 323 BC, to the banks of the Indus,[40] in the process creating one of the largest empires in history. Alexander's empire fragmented after his death, inaugurating the Hellenistic period. After fierce conflict among them, the generals that succeeded Alexander and their successors founded large personal kingdoms in the areas he had conquered, such as that of the Ptolemies in Egypt, the Seleucids in Syria, Mesopotamia and Iran,[41] the Greco-Bactrians in central Asia, and the Indo-Greek kingdom. Many Greeks migrated to Alexandria, Antioch, Seleucia, and the many other new Hellenistic cities in Asia and Africa.[42] As a result of the settlement of Greeks in newly founded poleis of these kingdoms as members of a ruling minority, during the centuries that followed a vernacular form of Greek, known as koine, and Greek culture was spread, while the Greeks adopted Eastern deities and cults.[43] Greek science, technology, and mathematics are generally considered to have reached their peak during the Hellenistic period.[44] After a period of confusion following Alexander's death, the Antigonid dynasty, descended from one of Alexander's generals, established its control over Macedon and most of the Greek city-states by 276 BC.[45] Aspiring to maintain their autonomy and independence from the Antigonid kings of the Macedonians, who sought to control them, many of the poleis of Greece united in koina or sympoliteiai (i.e. federations), while after the establishment of economic relations with the East, a stratum of wealthy euergetai dominated their internal life.[46]

Roman province (146 BC – 4th century AD)

The Antikythera mechanism (c. 100 BC) is considered to be the first known mechanical analog computer (National Archaeological Museum, Athens).

From about 200 BC the Roman Republic became increasingly involved in Greek affairs and engaged in a series of wars with Macedon.[47] Macedon's defeat at the Battle of Pydna in 168 BC signalled the end of Antigonid power in Greece.[48] In 146 BC, Macedonia was annexed as a province by Rome, and the rest of Greece became a Roman protectorate.[47][49]

The process was completed in 27 BC when the Roman emperor Augustus annexed the rest of Greece and constituted it as the senatorial province of Achaea.[49] Despite their military superiority, the Romans admired and became heavily influenced by the achievements of Greek culture, hence Horace's famous statement: Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit ("Greece, although captured, took its wild conqueror captive").[50] The epics of Homer inspired the Aeneid of Virgil, and authors such as Seneca the Younger wrote using Greek styles. Roman heroes such as Scipio Africanus, tended to study philosophy and regarded Greek culture and science as an example to be followed. Similarly, most Roman emperors maintained an admiration for things Greek in nature. The Roman emperor Nero visited Greece in AD 66, and performed at the Ancient Olympic Games, despite the rules against non-Greek participation. Hadrian was also particularly fond of the Greeks.[51] Before becoming emperor, he served as an eponymous archon of Athens.[52]

The Odeon of Herodes Atticus in Athens, built in 161 AD

Greek-speaking communities of the Hellenised East were instrumental in the spread of early Christianity in the 2nd and 3rd centuries,[53] and Christianity's early leaders and writers (notably St. Paul) were mostly Greek-speaking, though generally not from Greece itself.[54] The New Testament was written in Greek, and some of its sections (Corinthians, Thessalonians, Philippians, Revelation of St. John of Patmos) attest to the importance of churches in Greece in early Christianity. Nevertheless, much of Greece clung tenaciously to paganism, and ancient Greek religious practices were still in vogue in the late 4th century AD,[55] when they were outlawed by the Roman emperor Theodosius I in 391–392.[56] The last recorded Olympic games were held in 393,[57] and many temples were destroyed or damaged in the century that followed.[58] In Athens and rural areas, paganism is attested well into the sixth century AD[58] and even later.[59] The closure of the Neoplatonic Academy of Athens by the Emperor Justinian in 529 is considered by many to mark the end of antiquity, although there is evidence that the academy continued its activities for some time after that.[58] Some remote areas such as the southeastern Peloponnese remained pagan until well into the 10th century AD.[60]

Medieval period (4th–15th century)

Dome of Hagia Sophia, Thessaloniki (8th century), one of the 15 UNESCO's Paleochristian and Byzantine monuments of the city

The Roman Empire in the east, following the fall of the Empire in the west in the 5th century, is conventionally known as the Byzantine Empire (but was simply called "Kingdom of the Romans" in its own time) and lasted until 1453. With its capital in Constantinople, its language and culture were Greek and its religion was predominantly Eastern Orthodox Christian.[61]

From the 4th century the Empire's Balkan territories, including Greece, suffered from the dislocation of barbarian invasions.[62] The raids and devastation of the Goths and Huns in the 4th and 5th centuries and the Slavic invasion of Greece in the 7th century resulted in a dramatic collapse in imperial authority in the Greek peninsula.[63] Following the Slavic invasion, the imperial government retained formal control of only the islands and coastal areas, particularly the densely populated walled cities such as Athens, Corinth and Thessalonica, while some mountainous areas in the interior held out on their own and continued to recognise imperial authority.[63] Outside of these areas, a limited amount of Slavic settlement is generally thought to have occurred, although on a much smaller scale than previously thought.[64][65] However, the view that Greece in late antiquity underwent a crisis of decline, fragmentation and depopulation is now considered outdated, as Greek cities show a high degree of institutional continuity and prosperity between the 4th and 6th centuries AD (and possibly later as well). In the early 6th century, Greece had approximately 80 cities according to the Synecdemus chronicle, and the period from the 4th to the 7th century AD is considered one of high prosperity not just in Greece but in the entire Eastern Mediterranean.[66]

The Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire after the death of Basil II in 1025

Until the 8th century almost all of modern Greece was under the jurisdiction of the Holy See of Rome according to the system of Pentarchy. Byzantine Emperor Leo III moved the border of the Patriarchate of Constantinople westward and northward in the 8th century.[67]

The Byzantine recovery of lost provinces during the Arab–Byzantine wars began toward the end of the 8th century and most of the Greek peninsula came under imperial control again, in stages, during the 9th century.[68][69] This process was facilitated by a large influx of Greeks from Sicily and Asia Minor to the Greek peninsula, while at the same time many Slavs were captured and re-settled in Asia Minor and the few that remained were assimilated.[64] During the 11th and 12th centuries the return of stability resulted in the Greek peninsula benefiting from strong economic growth – much stronger than that of the Anatolian territories of the Empire.[68] During that time, the Greek Orthodox Church was also instrumental in the spread of Greek ideas to the wider Orthodox world.[70][full citation needed]

The Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes, originally built in the late 7th century as a Byzantine citadel and beginning from 1309 used by the Knights Hospitaller as an administrative centre

Following the Fourth Crusade and the fall of Constantinople to the "Latins" in 1204, mainland Greece was split between the Greek Despotate of Epirus (a Byzantine successor state) and French rule[71] (known as the Frankokratia), while some islands came under Venetian rule.[72] The re-establishment of the Byzantine imperial capital in Constantinople in 1261 was accompanied by the empire's recovery of much of the Greek peninsula, although the Frankish Principality of Achaea in the Peloponnese and the rival Greek Despotate of Epirus in the north both remained important regional powers into the 14th century, while the islands remained largely under Genoese and Venetian control.[71] During the Paleologi dynasty (1261–1453) a new era of Greek patriotism emerged accompanied by a turning back to ancient Greece.[73][74][75]

As such prominent personalities at the time also proposed changing the imperial title to "Emperor of the Hellenes",[73][75] and, in late fourteenth century, the emperor was frequently referred to as the "Emperor of the Hellenes".[76] Similarly, in several international treaties of that time the Byzantine emperor is styled as "Imperator Graecorum".[77]

In the 14th century much of the Greek peninsula was lost by the Byzantine Empire at first to the Serbs and then to the Ottomans.[78] By the beginning of the 15th century, the Ottoman advance meant that Byzantine territory in Greece was limited mainly to its then-largest city, Thessaloniki, and the Peloponnese (Despotate of the Morea).[78] After the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453, the Morea was one of the last remnants of the Byzantine Empire to hold out against the Ottomans. However, this, too, fell to the Ottomans in 1460, completing the Ottoman conquest of mainland Greece.[79] With the Turkish conquest, many Byzantine Greek scholars, who up until then were largely responsible for preserving Classical Greek knowledge, fled to the West, taking with them a large body of literature and thereby significantly contributing to the Renaissance.[80]

Venetian possessions and Ottoman rule (15th century – 1821)

The Byzantine castle of Angelokastro successfully repulsed the Ottomans during the first great siege of Corfu in 1537, the siege of 1571, and the second great siege of Corfu in 1716, causing them to abandon their plans to conquer Corfu.[81]

While most of mainland Greece and the Aegean islands was under Ottoman control by the end of the 15th century, Cyprus and Crete remained Venetian territory and did not fall to the Ottomans until 1571 and 1670 respectively. The only part of the Greek-speaking world that escaped long-term Ottoman rule was the Ionian Islands, which remained Venetian until their capture by the First French Republic in 1797, then passed to the United Kingdom in 1809 until their unification with Greece in 1864.[82]

While some Greeks in the Ionian Islands and Constantinople lived in prosperity, and Greeks of Constantinople (Phanariotes) achieved positions of power within the Ottoman administration,[83] much of the population of mainland Greece suffered the economic consequences of the Ottoman conquest. Heavy taxes were enforced, and in later years the Ottoman Empire enacted a policy of creation of hereditary estates, effectively turning the rural Greek populations into serfs.[84]

The Greek Orthodox Church and the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople were considered by the Ottoman governments as the ruling authorities of the entire Orthodox Christian population of the Ottoman Empire, whether ethnically Greek or not. Although the Ottoman state did not force non-Muslims to convert to Islam, Christians faced several types of discrimination intended to highlight their inferior status in the Ottoman Empire. Discrimination against Christians, particularly when combined with harsh treatment by local Ottoman authorities, led to conversions to Islam, if only superficially. In the 19th century, many "crypto-Christians" returned to their old religious allegiance.[85]

The White Tower of Thessaloniki, one of the best-known Ottoman structures remaining in Greece

The nature of Ottoman administration of Greece varied, though it was invariably arbitrary and often harsh.[85] Some cities had governors appointed by the Sultan, while others (like Athens) were self-governed municipalities. Mountainous regions in the interior and many islands remained effectively autonomous from the central Ottoman state for many centuries.[86][page needed]

Prior to the Greek Revolution of 1821, there had been a number of wars which saw Greeks fight against the Ottomans, such as the Greek participation in the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, the Epirus peasants' revolts of 1600–1601 (led by the Orthodox bishop Dionysios Skylosophos), the Morean War of 1684–1699, and the Russian-instigated Orlov Revolt in 1770, which aimed at breaking up the Ottoman Empire in favour of Russian interests.[86][page needed] These uprisings were put down by the Ottomans with great bloodshed.[87][88] On the other side, many Greeks were conscripted as Ottoman citizens to serve in the Ottoman army (and especially the Ottoman navy), while also the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, responsible for the Orthodox, remained in general loyal to the empire.

The 16th and 17th centuries are regarded as something of a "dark age" in Greek history, with the prospect of overthrowing Ottoman rule appearing remote with only the Ionian islands remaining free of Turkish domination. Corfu withstood three major sieges in 1537, 1571 and 1716 all of which resulted in the repulsion of the Ottomans. However, in the 18th century, due to their mastery of shipping and commerce, a wealthy and dispersed Greek merchant class arose. These merchants came to dominate trade within the Ottoman Empire, establishing communities throughout the Mediterranean, the Balkans, and Western Europe. Though the Ottoman conquest had cut Greece off from significant European intellectual movements such as the Reformation and the Enlightenment, these ideas together with the ideals of the French Revolution and romantic nationalism began to penetrate the Greek world via the mercantile diaspora.[89] In the late 18th century, Rigas Feraios, the first revolutionary to envision an independent Greek state, published a series of documents relating to Greek independence, including but not limited to a national anthem and the first detailed map of Greece, in Vienna. Feraios was murdered by Ottoman agents in 1798.[90][91]

Modern nation-state

Greek War of Independence (1821–1832)

The sortie (exodus) of Messolonghi, depicting the third siege of Missolonghi, painted by Theodoros Vryzakis
The Battle of Navarino in 1827 secured Greek independence.

In the late eighteenth century, an increase in secular learning during the Modern Greek Enlightenment led to the emergence among Westernized Greek-speaking elites of the diaspora of the notion of a Greek nation tracing its existence to ancient Greece, distinct from the other Orthodox peoples, and having a right to political autonomy. One of the organizations formed in this intellectual milieu was the Filiki Eteria, a secret organization formed by merchants in Odessa (Odesa) in 1814.[92] Appropriating a long-standing tradition of Orthodox messianic prophecy aspiring to the resurrection of the eastern Roman empire and creating the impression they had the backing of Tsarist Russia, they managed amidst a crisis of Ottoman trade, from 1815 onwards, to engage traditional strata of the Greek Orthodox world in their liberal nationalist cause.[93] The Filiki Eteria planned to launch revolution in the Peloponnese, the Danubian Principalities and Constantinople. The first of these revolts began on 6 March 1821 in the Danubian Principalities under the leadership of Alexandros Ypsilantis, but it was soon put down by the Ottomans. The events in the north spurred the Greeks of the Peloponnese into action and on 17 March 1821 the Maniots declared war on the Ottomans.[94]

By the end of the month, the Peloponnese was in open revolt against the Ottomans and by October 1821 the Greeks under Theodoros Kolokotronis had captured Tripolitsa. The Peloponnesian revolt was quickly followed by revolts in Crete, Macedonia and Central Greece, which would soon be suppressed. Meanwhile, the makeshift Greek navy was achieving success against the Ottoman navy in the Aegean Sea and prevented Ottoman reinforcements from arriving by sea. In 1822 and 1824 the Turks and Egyptians ravaged the islands, including Chios and Psara, committing wholesale massacres of the population.[94] Approximately three-quarters of the Chios' Greek population of 120,000 were killed, enslaved or died of disease.[95][96] This had the effect of galvanizing public opinion in western Europe in favour of the Greek rebels.[97]

Tensions soon developed among different Greek factions, leading to two consecutive civil wars. Meanwhile, the Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II negotiated with Mehmet Ali of Egypt, who agreed to send his son Ibrahim Pasha to Greece with an army to suppress the revolt in return for territorial gain.[98] Ibrahim landed in the Peloponnese in February 1825 and had immediate success: by the end of 1825, most of the Peloponnese was under Egyptian control, and the city of Missolonghi—put under siege by the Turks since April 1825—fell in April 1826. Although Ibrahim was defeated in Mani, he had succeeded in suppressing most of the revolt in the Peloponnese, and Athens had been retaken.[99]

After years of negotiation, three great powers, France, Russian Empire, and the United Kingdom, decided to intervene in the conflict and each nation sent a navy to Greece.[100] Following news that combined Ottoman–Egyptian fleets were going to attack the Greek island of Hydra, the allied fleet intercepted the Ottoman–Egyptian fleet at Navarino. A week-long standoff ended with the Battle of Navarino (20 October 1827) which resulted in the destruction of the Ottoman–Egyptian fleet. A French expeditionary force was dispatched to supervise the evacuation of the Egyptian army from the Peloponnese, while the Greeks proceeded to the captured part of Central Greece by 1828. As a result of years of negotiation, the nascent Greek state was finally recognised under the London Protocol in 1830.[101]

Kingdom of Greece

The Entry of King Otto in Athens, painted by Peter von Hess in 1839

In 1827, Ioannis Kapodistrias, from Corfu, was chosen by the Third National Assembly at Troezen as the first governor of the First Hellenic Republic. Kapodistrias established a series of state, economic and military institutions. Soon tensions appeared between him and local interests. Following his assassination in 1831 and the subsequent London conference a year later, the Great Powers of Britain, France and Russia installed Bavarian Prince Otto von Wittelsbach as monarch.[102] Otto's reign was despotic, and in its first 11 years of independence Greece was ruled by a Bavarian oligarchy led by Joseph Ludwig von Armansperg as Prime Minister and, later, by Otto himself, who held the title of both King and Premier.[102] Throughout this period Greece remained under the influence of its three protecting great powers, France, Russia, and the United Kingdom, as well as Bavaria.[103] In 1843 an uprising forced Otto to grant a constitution and a representative assembly.

Despite the absolutism of Otto's reign, the early years proved instrumental in creating institutions (improving those established by Ioannis Kapodisrias) which are still the bedrock of Greek administration and education.[104] Important steps were taken in areas including the education system, maritime and postal communications, effective civil administration and, most importantly, the legal code.[105] Historical revisionism took the form of de-Byzantinification and de-Ottomanisation, in favour of promoting the country's Ancient Greek heritage.[106] In this spirit, the national capital was moved from Nafplio, where it had been since 1829, to Athens, which was at the time a smaller town.[107] Religious reform also took place, and the Church of Greece was established as Greece's national church, although Otto remained a Catholic. 25 March, the day of Annunciation, was chosen as the anniversary of the Greek War of Independence to reinforce the link between Greek identity and Orthodoxy.[106] Pavlos Karolidis called the Bavarian efforts to create a modern state in Greece as "not only appropriate for the peoples' needs, but also based on excellent administrative principles of the era".[105]

Otto was deposed in the 23 October 1862 Revolution. Multiple causes led to his deposition and exile, including the Bavarian-dominated government, heavy taxation, and a failed attempt to annex Crete from the Ottoman Empire.[102] The catalyst for the revolt was Otto's dismissal of Konstantinos Kanaris from the Premiership.[104] A year later, he was replaced by Prince Wilhelm (William) of Denmark, who took the name George I and brought with him the Ionian Islands as a coronation gift from Britain. A new Constitution in 1864 changed Greece's form of government from constitutional monarchy to the more democratic crowned republic.[108][109][110] In 1875 the concept of parliamentary majority as a requirement for the formation of a government was introduced by Charilaos Trikoupis,[111] curbing the power of the monarchy to appoint minority governments of its preference.

The territorial evolution of the Kingdom of Greece from 1832 to 1947

Corruption, coupled with Trikoupis' increased spending to fund infrastructure projects like the Corinth Canal,[112] overtaxed the weak Greek economy and forced the declaration of public insolvency in 1893. Greece also accepted the imposition of an International Financial Commission to enforce the repayment of the country's debtors.

All Greeks were united, however, in their determination to liberate the Hellenic lands under Ottoman rule. Especially in Crete, a prolonged revolt in 1866–1869 had raised nationalist fervour. When war broke out between Russia and the Ottomans in 1877, Greek popular sentiment rallied to Russia's side, but Greece was too poor and too concerned about British intervention, to officially enter the war. Nevertheless, in 1881, Thessaly and small parts of Epirus were ceded to Greece as part of the Treaty of Berlin, while frustrating Greek hopes of receiving Crete.[113]

Greeks in Crete continued to stage regular revolts, and in 1897, the Greek government under Theodoros Deligiannis, bowing to popular pressure, declared war on the Ottomans. In the ensuing Greco-Turkish War of 1897, the badly trained and equipped Greek army was defeated by the Ottomans. Through the intervention of the Great Powers, however, Greece lost only a little territory along the border to Turkey, while Crete was established as an autonomous state under Prince George of Greece. With state coffers empty, fiscal policy came under International Financial Control.[114] Alarmed by the abortive Ilinden uprising of the autonomist Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) in 1903, the Greek government, aiming to quell Komitadjis (IMRO bands) and detach the Slavophone peasants of the region from Bulgarian influence, sponsored a guerrilla campaign in Ottoman-ruled Macedonia, led by Greek officers and known as the Macedonian Struggle, which ended with the Young Turk Revolution in 1908.[115]

Expansion, disaster, and reconstruction

Hellenic Army formation in the World War I Victory Parade in Arc de Triomphe, Paris, July 1919

Amidst general dissatisfaction with the seeming inertia and unattainability of national aspirations under the premiership of the cautious reformist Theotokis, a group of military officers organised a coup in August 1909 and shortly thereafter called to Athens Cretan politician Eleftherios Venizelos, who conveyed a vision of national regeneration. After winning two elections and becoming Prime Minister in 1910,[116] Venizelos initiated wide-ranging fiscal, social, and constitutional reforms, reorganised the military, made Greece a member of the Balkan League, and led the country through the Balkan Wars. By 1913, Greece's territory and population had almost doubled, annexing Crete, Epirus, and Macedonia. In the following years, the struggle between King Constantine I and charismatic Venizelos over the country's foreign policy on the eve of First World War dominated the country's political scene and divided the country into two opposing groups. During parts of WW1, Greece had two governments: A royalist pro-German one in Athens and a Venizelist pro-Entente one in Thessaloniki. The two governments were united in 1917, when Greece officially entered the war on the side of the Entente.

Map of Greater Greece after the Treaty of Sèvres, when the Megali Idea seemed close to fulfillment, featuring Eleftherios Venizelos as its supervising genius

In the aftermath of World War I, Greece attempted further expansion into Asia Minor, a region with a large native Greek population at the time, but was defeated in the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922, contributing to a massive flight of Asia Minor Greeks.[117][118] These events overlapped, with both happening during the Greek genocide (1914–1922),[119][120][121][122] a period during which, according to various sources,[123] Ottoman and Turkish officials contributed to the death of several hundred thousand Asia Minor Greeks, along with similar numbers of Assyrians and a rather larger number of Armenians. The resultant Greek exodus from Asia Minor was made permanent, and expanded, in an official Population exchange between Greece and Turkey. The exchange was part of the terms of the Treaty of Lausanne which ended the war.[124]

The following era was marked by instability, as over 1.5 million propertyless Greek refugees from Turkey had to be integrated into Greek society. Cappadocian Greeks, Pontian Greeks, and non-Greek followers of Greek Orthodoxy were all subject to the exchange as well. Some of the refugees could not speak the language and were from what had been unfamiliar environments to mainland Greeks, such as in the case of the Cappadocians and non-Greeks. The refugees also made a dramatic post-war population boost, as the number of refugees was more than a quarter of Greece's prior population.[125]

Following the catastrophic events in Asia Minor, the monarchy was abolished via a referendum in 1924 and the Second Hellenic Republic was declared.[126] In 1935, a royalist general-turned-politician Georgios Kondylis took power after a coup d'état and abolished the republic, holding a rigged referendum, after which King George II returned to Greece and was restored to the throne.

Dictatorship, World War II, and reconstruction

An agreement between Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas and the head of state George II followed in 1936, which installed Metaxas as the head of a dictatorial regime known as the 4th of August Regime, inaugurating a period of authoritarian rule that would last, with short breaks, until 1974.[127] Although a dictatorship, Greece remained on good terms with Britain and was not allied with the Axis.

The Axis occupation of Greece.
  Italian   German   Bulgarian
  Dodecanese, Italian possession since 1912

On 28 October 1940, Fascist Italy demanded the surrender of Greece, but the Greek administration refused, and, in the following Greco-Italian War, Greece repelled Italian forces into Albania, giving the Allies their first victory over Axis forces on land. The Greek struggle and victory against the Italians received exuberant praise at the time.[128][citation not found] French general Charles de Gaulle was among those who praised the fierceness of the Greek resistance. In an official notice released to coincide with the Greek national celebration of the Day of Independence, De Gaulle expressed his admiration for the Greek resistance:

In the name of the captured yet still alive French people, France wants to send her greetings to the Greek people who are fighting for their freedom. The 25 March 1941 finds Greece in the peak of their heroic struggle and in the top of their glory. Since the Battle of Salamis, Greece had not achieved the greatness and the glory which today holds.[128]

The country would eventually fall to urgently dispatched German forces during the Battle of Greece, despite the fierce Greek resistance, particularly in the Battle of the Metaxas Line.

People in Athens celebrate the liberation from the Axis powers, October 1944. Postwar Greece would soon experience a civil war and political polarization.

The Nazis proceeded to administer Athens and Thessaloniki, while other regions of the country were given to Nazi Germany's partners, Fascist Italy and Bulgaria. The occupation brought about terrible hardships for the Greek civilian population. Over 100,000 civilians died of starvation during the winter of 1941–1942, tens of thousands more died because of reprisals by Nazis and collaborators, the country's economy was ruined, and the great majority of Greek Jews (tens of thousands) were deported and murdered in Nazi concentration camps.[129][130] The Greek Resistance, one of the most effective resistance movements in Europe, fought vehemently against the Nazis and their collaborators. The German occupiers committed numerous atrocities, mass executions, and wholesale slaughter of civilians and destruction of towns and villages in reprisals. In the course of the concerted anti-guerrilla campaign, hundreds of villages were systematically torched and almost 1 million Greeks left homeless.[130] In total, the Germans executed around 21,000 Greeks, the Bulgarians executed 40,000, and the Italians executed 9,000.[131]

Following liberation and the Allied victory over the Axis, Greece annexed the Dodecanese Islands from Italy and regained Western Thrace from Bulgaria. The country almost immediately descended into a bloody civil war between communist forces and the anti-communist Greek government, which lasted until 1949 with the latter's victory. The conflict, considered one of the earliest struggles of the Cold War,[132] resulted in further economic devastation, mass population displacement and severe political polarisation for the next thirty years.[133]

Although the post-war decades were characterised by social strife and widespread marginalisation of the left in political and social spheres, Greece nonetheless experienced rapid economic growth and recovery, propelled in part by the U.S.-administered Marshall Plan.[134] In 1952, Greece joined NATO, reinforcing its membership in the Western Bloc of the Cold War.[135]

King Constantine II's dismissal of George Papandreou's centrist government in July 1965 prompted a prolonged period of political turbulence, which culminated in a coup d'état on 21 April 1967 by the Regime of the Colonels. Under the junta, civil rights were suspended, political repression was intensified, and human rights abuses, including state-sanctioned torture, were rampant. Economic growth remained rapid before plateauing in 1972. The brutal suppression of the Athens Polytechnic uprising on 17 November 1973 set in motion the events that caused the fall of the Papadopoulos regime, resulting in a counter-coup which overthrew Georgios Papadopoulos and established brigadier Dimitrios Ioannidis as the new junta strongman. On 20 July 1974, Turkey invaded the island of Cyprus in response to a Greek-backed Cypriot coup, triggering a political crisis in Greece that led to the regime's collapse and the restoration of democracy through Metapolitefsi.[136]

Third Hellenic Republic

Signing at Zappeion by Constantine Karamanlis of the documents for the accession of Greece to the European Communities in 1979

The former prime minister Konstantinos Karamanlis was invited back from Paris where he had lived in self-exile since 1963, marking the beginning of the Metapolitefsi era. The first multiparty elections since 1964 were held on the first anniversary of the Polytechnic uprising. A democratic and republican constitution was promulgated on 11 June 1975 following a referendum which chose to not restore the monarchy.

Meanwhile, Andreas Papandreou, George Papandreou's son, founded the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) in response to Karamanlis's conservative New Democracy party, with the two political formations dominating in government over the next four decades. Greece rejoined NATO in 1980.[c][137] Greece became the tenth member of the European Communities (subsequently subsumed by the European Union) on 1 January 1981, ushering in a period of sustained growth. Widespread investments in industrial enterprises and heavy infrastructure, as well as funds from the European Union and growing revenues from tourism, shipping, and a fast-growing service sector raised the country's standard of living to unprecedented levels. In 1981, the election of Andreas Papandreou resulted in significant reforms during the entire 1980s. Among others, he recognised the national resistance during WW2, the civil marriage, the dowry was abolished, while education system and foreign policy doctrines changed as well. However, Papandreou's tenure has been associated as well with corruption, double digit inflation, stagnation, budget deficits that caused problems in the Greek economy later on.[138]

In the nineties, as well the 2000s, Greek influence in the Balkan countries was on its apogee.[139] The country adopted the euro in 2001 and successfully hosted the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens.[140]

Beginning in 2010, Greece suffered substantially from the Great Recession and the related European sovereign debt crisis. Due to the adoption of the euro, when Greece experienced a financial crisis, it could no longer devalue its currency to regain competitiveness. Youth unemployment was especially high during this period.[141] In the two elections of May and June 2012, there was a major change in the political landscape of Greece, with new parties emerging out of the collapse of popularity of the two main parties of the past, PASOK and New Democracy.[142] In January 2015, Alexis Tsipras was elected as prime minister, being the first prime minister of Greece outside the two political parties.[143] This Greek government-debt crisis, and subsequent austerity policies, resulted in protests and social strife. The crisis is generally considered to have ended around 2018, with the end of the bailout mechanisms and the return of economic growth.[144]

Simultaneously, in June 2018, the leaders of Greece, Alexis Tsipras, and North Macedonia, Zoran Zaev, signed the Prespa Agreement, solving the naming dispute that strained the relations of the two countries and eased the latter's way to become a member of the EU and NATO.[145]

In July 2019, Kyriakos Mitsotakis became Greece's new prime minister, after his centre-right New Democracy party had won the election over ruling leftist Syriza.[146] In March 2020, Greece's parliament elected a non-partisan candidate, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, as the first female President of Greece.[147] During the 2020s, the Greek economy continues to rebound, as a result of post-COVID economic recovery, robust investments, and an increase in tourist revenues and consumer spending.[148]

On February 15, 2024 Greece becomes the first Christian Orthodox country to recognise same-sex marriage and adoption by same-sex couples.[149]

Geography

Topographic map of Greece.
Navagio (shipwreck) bay, Zakynthos island

Located in Southern[150] and Southeast Europe,[151] Greece consists of a mountainous, peninsular mainland jutting out into the sea at the southern end of the Balkans, ending at the Peloponnese peninsula (separated from the mainland by the canal of the Isthmus of Corinth) and strategically located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa.[d] Due to its highly indented coastline and numerous islands, Greece has the 11th longest coastline in the world with 13,676 km (8,498 mi);[157] its land boundary is 1,160 km (721 mi). The country lies approximately between latitudes 34° and 42° N, and longitudes 19° and 30° E, with the extreme points being:[158]

Eighty percent of Greece consists of mountains or hills, making the country one of the most mountainous in Europe. Mount Olympus, the mythical abode of the Greek Gods, culminates at Mytikas peak 2,918 metres (9,573 ft),[159] the highest in the country. Western Greece contains a number of lakes and wetlands and is dominated by the Pindus mountain range. The Pindus, a continuation of the Dinaric Alps, reaches a maximum elevation of 2,637 m (8,652 ft) at Mt. Smolikas (the second-highest in Greece) and historically has been a significant barrier to east–west travel.

The Pindus range continues through the central Peloponnese, crosses the islands of Kythera and Antikythera and finds its way into southwestern Aegean, in the island of Crete where it eventually ends. The islands of the Aegean are peaks of underwater mountains that once constituted an extension of the mainland. Pindus is characterised by its high, steep peaks, often dissected by numerous canyons and a variety of other karstic landscapes. The spectacular Vikos Gorge, part of the Vikos-Aoos National Park in the Pindus range, is listed by the Guinness book of World Records as the deepest gorge in the world.[160] Another notable formation are the Meteora rock pillars, atop which have been built medieval Greek Orthodox monasteries.[161]

Northeastern Greece features another high-altitude mountain range, the Rhodope range, spreading across the region of East Macedonia and Thrace; this area is covered with vast, thick, ancient forests, including the famous Dadia Forest in the Evros regional unit, in the far northeast of the country.

Extensive plains are primarily located in the regions of Thessaly, Central Macedonia and Thrace. They constitute key economic regions as they are among the few arable places in the country. Rare marine species such as the pinniped seals and the loggerhead sea turtle live in the seas surrounding mainland Greece, while its dense forests are home to the endangered brown bear, the Eurasian lynx, the roe deer and the wild goat.

Islands

The Greek mainland and several small islands seen from Nydri, Lefkada

Greece features a vast number of islands—between 1,200 and 6,000, depending on the definition,[162] 227 of which are inhabited—and is considered a non-contiguous transcontinental country. Crete is the largest and most populous island; Euboea, separated from the mainland by the 60 m-wide Euripus Strait, is the second largest, followed by Lesbos and Rhodes.

The Greek islands are traditionally grouped into the following clusters: the Argo-Saronic Islands in the Saronic gulf near Athens; the Cyclades, a large but dense collection occupying the central part of the Aegean Sea; the North Aegean islands, a loose grouping off the west coast of Turkey; the Dodecanese, another loose collection in the southeast between Crete and Turkey; the Sporades, a small tight group off the coast of northeast Euboea; and the Ionian Islands, located to the west of the mainland in the Ionian Sea.

Climate

Greece's Köppen Climate Types

The climate of Greece is primarily Mediterranean (Köppen: Csa),[163] featuring mild to cool, wet winters and hot, dry summers.[164] This climate occurs at most of the coastal locations, including Athens, the Cyclades, the Dodecanese, Crete, the Peloponnese, the Ionian Islands and parts of mainland Greece. The Pindus mountain range strongly affects the climate of the country, as areas to the west of the range are considerably wetter on average (due to greater exposure to south-westerly systems bringing in moisture) than the areas lying to the east of the range (due to a rain shadow effect),[165] resulting to some coastal areas in the south falling to the hot semi-arid climate (Köppen: BSh) category, such as parts of the Athens Riviera and some of the Cyclades, as well as some areas in the north featuring a cold equivalent climate (Köppen: BSk), such as the cities of Thessaloniki and Larissa.

The mountainous areas and the higher elevations of northwestern Greece (parts of Epirus, Central Greece, Thessaly, Western Macedonia) as well as in the mountainous central parts of Peloponnese – including parts of the regional units of Achaea, Arcadia and Laconia – feature an Alpine climate (Köppen: D, E) with heavy snowfalls during the winter. Most of the inland parts of northern Greece, in Central Macedonia, the lower elevations of Western Macedonia and East Macedonia and Thrace feature a humid subtropical climate (Köppen: Cfa) with cold, damp winters and hot, moderately dry summers with occasional thunderstorms. Snowfalls occur every year in the mountains and northern areas, and brief periods of snowy weather are possible even in low-lying southern areas, such as Athens.[166]

Biodiversity

Mount Olympus is the highest mountain in Greece and mythical abode of the Gods of Olympus.

Phytogeographically, Greece belongs to the Boreal Kingdom and is shared between the East Mediterranean province of the Mediterranean Region and the Illyrian province of the Circumboreal Region. According to the World Wide Fund for Nature and the European Environment Agency, the territory of Greece can be subdivided into six ecoregions: the Illyrian deciduous forests, Pindus Mountains mixed forests, Balkan mixed forests, Rhodope montane mixed forests, Aegean and Western Turkey sclerophyllous and mixed forests, and Crete Mediterranean forests.[167] It had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 6.6/10, ranking it 70th globally out of 172 countries.[168]

Politics

The building of the Hellenic Parliament (Old Royal Palace) in central Athens
Count Ioannis Kapodistrias, first governor, founder of the modern Greek State, and distinguished European diplomat

Greece is a unitary parliamentary republic.[169] The current Constitution was drawn up and adopted by the Fifth Revisionary Parliament of the Hellenes and entered into force in 1975 after the fall of the military junta of 1967–1974. It has been revised four times since: in 1986, 2001, 2008 and 2019. The Constitution, which consists of 120 articles, provides for a separation of powers into executive, legislative, and judicial branches, and grants extensive specific guarantees (further reinforced in 2001) of civil liberties and social rights.[170][171] Women's suffrage was guaranteed with an amendment to the 1952 Constitution.

The nominal head of state is the President of the Republic, who is elected by the Parliament for a five-year term.[169] According to the Constitution, executive power is exercised by the President and the Government.[169] However, the Constitutional amendment of 1986 curtailed the President's duties and powers to a significant extent, rendering the position largely ceremonial; most political power is thus vested in the Prime Minister, Greece's head of government.[172] The position is filled by the current leader of the political party that can obtain a vote of confidence by the Parliament. The president of the republic formally appoints the prime minister and, on their recommendation, appoints and dismisses the other members of the Cabinet.[169]

Legislative powers are exercised by a 300-member elective unicameral Parliament.[169] Statutes passed by the Parliament are promulgated by the President of the Republic.[169] Parliamentary elections are held every four years, but the President of the Republic is obliged to dissolve the Parliament earlier on the proposal of the Cabinet, in view of dealing with a national issue of exceptional importance.[169] The President is also obliged to dissolve the Parliament earlier if the opposition manages to pass a motion of no confidence.[169] The voting age is 17.[173]

According to a 2016 report by the OECD, Greeks display a moderate level of civic participation compared to most other developed countries; voter turnout was 64 percent during recent elections, lower than the OECD average of 69 percent.[174]

Political parties

Since the restoration of democracy, the Greek party system was dominated by the liberal-conservative New Democracy (ND) and the social-democratic Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK).[e] Other parties represented in the Hellenic Parliament include the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA), the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), Greek Solution and MeRA25.

PASOK and New Democracy largely alternated in power until the outbreak of the government-debt crisis in 2009. From that time, the two major parties, New Democracy and PASOK, experienced a sharp decline in popularity.[176][177][178][179][180] In November 2011, the two major parties joined the smaller Popular Orthodox Rally in a grand coalition, pledging their parliamentary support for a government of national unity headed by former European Central Bank vice-president Lucas Papademos.[181] Panos Kammenos voted against this government and he split off from ND forming the right-wing populist Independent Greeks.[182]

The coalition government led the country to the parliamentary elections of May 2012. The power of the traditional Greek political parties, PASOK and New Democracy, declined from 43% to 13% and from 33% to 18%, respectively. The left-wing SYRIZA became the second major party with an increase from 4% to 16%. No party could form a sustainable government, which led to the parliamentary elections of June 2012. The result of the second elections was the formation of a coalition government composed of New Democracy (29%), PASOK (12%) and Democratic Left (6%) parties.[183]

SYRIZA has since overtaken PASOK as the main party of the centre-left .[184] Alexis Tsipras led SYRIZA to victory in the general election held on 25 January 2015, falling short of an outright majority in Parliament by just two seats.[185] The following morning, Tsipras reached an agreement with Independent Greeks party to form a coalition and was sworn in as Prime Minister of Greece.[186] Tsipras called snap elections in August 2015 after resigning from his post, which led to a month-long caretaker administration headed by judge Vassiliki Thanou-Christophilou, Greece's first female prime minister.[187] In the September 2015 general election, Alexis Tsipras led SYRIZA to another victory, winning 145 out of 300 seats[188] and re-forming the coalition with the Independent Greeks.[189] However, he was defeated in the July 2019 general election by Kyriakos Mitsotakis who leads New Democracy.[190] On 7 July 2019, Kyriakos Mitsotakis was sworn in as the new Prime Minister of Greece. He formed a centre-right government after the landslide victory of his New Democracy party.[191]

Foreign relations

Representation through:[192]
  embassy
  embassy in another country
  general consulate
  no representation
  Greece

Greece's foreign policy is conducted through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its head, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, currently Nikos Dendias. Officially, the main aims of the Ministry are to represent Greece before other states and international organizations;[193] safeguard the interests of the Greek state and of its citizens abroad;[193] promote Greek culture;[193] foster closer relations with the Greek diaspora;[193] and encourage international cooperation.[193] Greece is described as having a special relationship with Cyprus, Italy, France, Armenia, Australia, the State of Israel, the United States and the United Kingdom.[194][195][196][197][198][199]

Following the resolution of the Macedonia naming dispute with the Prespa agreement in 2018, the Ministry identifies two remaining issues of particular importance to the Greek state: Turkish challenges to Greek sovereignty rights in the Aegean Sea and corresponding airspace and the Cyprus dispute involving the Turkish occupation of Northern Cyprus.[200]

There is a long-standing conflict between Turkey and Greece over natural resources in the eastern Mediterranean. Turkey does not recognize a legal continental shelf and exclusive economic zone around the Greek islands.[201]

Additionally, due to its political and geographical proximity to Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa, Greece is a country of significant geostrategic importance, which it has leveraged to develop a regional policy to help promote peace and stability in the Balkans, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East.[202] This has accorded the country middle power status in global affairs.[203]

Greece is a member of numerous international organizations, including the Council of Europe, the European Union, the Union for the Mediterranean, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the Organisation internationale de la francophonie and the United Nations, of which it is a founding member.

Military

An F-16 Fighting Falcon, the main combat aircraft of the Hellenic Air Force, during an airshow
A Leopard 2A6 HEL of the Hellenic Army on parade in Athens

The Hellenic Armed Forces are overseen by the Hellenic National Defense General Staff (Greek: Γενικό Επιτελείο Εθνικής Άμυνας – ΓΕΕΘΑ), with civilian authority vested in the Ministry of National Defence. It consists of three branches:[204]

Moreover, Greece maintains the Hellenic Coast Guard for law enforcement at sea, search and rescue, and port operations. Though it can support the navy during wartime, it resides under the authority of the Ministry of Shipping.

Greek military personnel total 364,050, of whom 142,700 are active and 221,350 are reserve. Greece ranks 28th in the world in the number of citizens serving in the armed forces. Mandatory military service is generally one year for 19 to 45 year olds.[205] Additionally, Greek males between the ages of 18 and 60 who live in strategically sensitive areas may be required to serve part-time in the National Guard.

As a member of NATO, the Greek military participates in exercises and deployments under the auspices of the alliance, although its involvement in NATO missions is minimal.[206] Greece spends over US$7 billion annually on its military, or 2.3 percent of GDP, the 24th-highest in the world in absolute terms, the seventh-highest on a per capita basis, and the second-highest in NATO after the United States. Moreover, Greece is one of only five NATO countries to meet or surpass the minimum defence spending target of 2 percent of GDP.

Law and justice

The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature and comprises three Supreme Courts: the Court of Cassation (Άρειος Πάγος), the Council of State (Συμβούλιο της Επικρατείας) and the Court of Auditors (Ελεγκτικό Συνέδριο). The Judiciary system is also composed of civil courts, which judge civil and penal cases and administrative courts, which judge disputes between the citizens and the Greek administrative authorities.

The Hellenic Police (Greek: Ελληνική Αστυνομία) is the national police force of Greece. It is a very large agency with its responsibilities ranging from road traffic control to counter-terrorism. It was established in 1984 under Law 1481/1-10-1984 (Government Gazette 152 A) as the result of the fusion of the Gendarmerie (Χωροφυλακή, Chorofylaki) and the Cities Police (Αστυνομία Πόλεων, Astynomia Poleon) forces.[207]

Administrative divisions

Since the Kallikratis programme reform entered into effect on 1 January 2011, Greece has consisted of 13 regions subdivided into a total of 325, from 2019 332 (Kleisthenis I Programme), municipalities. The 54 old prefectures and prefecture-level administrations have been largely retained as sub-units of the regions. Seven decentralised administrations group one to three regions for administrative purposes on a regional basis. There is also one autonomous area, Mount Athos (Greek: Agio Oros, "Holy Mountain"),[208] which borders the region of Central Macedonia.[209]

Map No. Region Capital Area (km2) Area (sq mi) Population[210] GDP (bn)[211]
1 Attica Athens 3,808.10 1,470.32 3,814,064 €83.469
2 Central Greece Lamia 15,549.31 6,003.62 508,254 €7.926
3 Central Macedonia Thessaloniki 18,810.52 7,262.78 1,795,669 €23.850
4 Crete Heraklion 8,259 3,189 624,408 €8.654
5 East Macedonia and Thrace Komotini 14,157.76 5,466.34 562,201 €6.709
6 Epirus Ioannina 9,203.22 3,553.38 319,991 €3.843
7 Ionian Islands Corfu 2,306.94 890.71 204,532 €3.064
8 North Aegean Mytilene 3,835.91 1,481.05 194,943 €2.412
9 Peloponnese Tripoli 15,489.96 5,980.71 539,535 €7.683
10 South Aegean Ermoupoli 5,285.99 2,040.93 327,820 €5.888
11 Thessaly Larissa 14,036.64 5,419.58 688,255 €9.006
12 West Greece Patras 11,350.18 4,382.33 648,220 €7.847
13 West Macedonia Kozani 9,451 3,649 254,595 €3.849
(14) Mount Athos Karyes 390 151 1,746

Economy

Introduction

GDP per capita development
Graphical depiction of Greece's product exports in percent for 2019.
A proportional representation of Greek exports, 2019

According to World Bank statistics for the year 2013, the economy of Greece is the 43rd largest by nominal gross domestic product at $242 billion[212] and 53rd largest by purchasing power parity (PPP) at $284 billion.[213] Additionally, Greece is the 15th largest economy in the 27-member European Union.[214] In terms of per capita income, Greece is ranked 41st or 47th in the world at $18,168 and $29,045 for nominal GDP and PPP respectively. The Greek economy is classified as advanced[215][216][217][218][219] and high-income.[220][218]

Greece is a developed country with a high standard of living and a high ranking in the Human Development Index.[221][222][223] Its economy mainly comprises the service sector (85.0%) and industry (12.0%), while agriculture makes up 3.0% of the national economic output.[224] Important Greek industries include tourism (with 14.9 million[225] international tourists in 2009, it is ranked as the 7th most visited country in the European Union[225] and 16th in the world[225] by the United Nations World Tourism Organization) and merchant shipping (at 16.2%[226] of the world's total capacity, the Greek merchant marine is the largest in the world),[226] while the country is also a considerable agricultural producer (including fisheries) within the union.

In October 2021 unemployment stood at 12.9% and youth unemployment at 33.2%, compared with respectively 7% and 15.9% in the EU and in the Euro zone.[227]

Greece has the largest economy in the Balkans,[228][229][230] and an important regional investor.[228][229] Greece is the number-two foreign investor of capital in Albania, the number-three foreign investor in Bulgaria, at the top-three of foreign investors in Romania and Serbia and the most important trading partner and largest foreign investor of North Macedonia. Greek banks open a new branch somewhere in the Balkans on an almost weekly basis.[231][232][233] The Greek telecommunications company OTE has become a strong investor in other Balkan countries.[231]

Greece was a founding member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC). In 1979 the accession of the country in the European Communities and the single market was signed, and the process was completed in 1982. Greece was accepted into the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union on 19 June 2000, and in January 2001 adopted the euro as its currency, replacing the Greek drachma at an exchange rate of 340.75 drachma to the Euro.[234] Greece is also a member of the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization, and is ranked 24th on the KOF Globalization Index for 2013.

Debt crisis (2010–2018)

Greece's debt percentage since 1977, compared to the average of the eurozone

The Greek economy had fared well for much of the 20th century, with high growth rates and low public debt.[235] Even until the eve of the financial crisis of 2007–2008, it featured high rates of growth, which, however, were coupled with high structural deficits, thus maintaining a (roughly unchanged throughout this period) public debt to GDP ratio of just over 100%.[235] In 2009, after an election and change in government, it was revealed that Greece's budget deficit had for years been considerably higher than the officially reported figures.[236] In the years before the crisis, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and numerous other banks had developed financial products which enabled the governments of Greece, Italy, and many other European countries to hide their levels of borrowing.[237][238][239] Dozens of similar agreements were concluded across Europe whereby banks supplied cash in advance in exchange for future payments by the governments involved; in turn, the liabilities of the involved countries were "kept off the books".[240][241][242] These conditions had enabled Greece as well as other European governments to spend beyond their means, while still technically meeting the deficit targets set out in the Maastricht Treaty.[243][239][244]

The Greek crisis was triggered by the turmoil of the 2007–2009 Great Recession, which caused Greece's GDP to contract by around 2.5% in 2009.[245] Simultaneously, the higher-than-believed budget deficits in the preceding years were revealed to have been allowed to reach 10.2% and 15.1% of GDP in 2008 and 2009, respectively. This caused Greece's debt to GDP ratio (which had been high but stable at just over 100% until 2007, as calculated after all corrections) to spike to 127%.[246] In addition, being a member of the eurozone, the country had essentially no autonomous monetary policy flexibility. Consequently, Greece was "punished" by the markets which increased borrowing rates, making it impossible for the country to finance its debt since early 2010.

In May 2010, the Greece's deficit was again revised and estimated to be 13.6%[247] the second highest in the world relative to GDP.[248] Public debt was forecast to reach up to 120% of GDP in the same year,[249] causing a crisis of confidence in Greece's ability pay back loans.

To avert a sovereign default, Greece, the other eurozone members, and the International Monetary Fund agreed on a rescue package which involved giving Greece an immediate €45 billion in loans, with additional funds to follow, totaling €110 billion.[250][251] To secure the funding, Greece was required to adopt harsh austerity measures to bring its deficit under control.[252] A second bail-out amounting to €130 billion ($173 billion) was agreed in 2012, subject to strict conditions, including financial reforms and further austerity measures.[253] A debt haircut was also agreed as part of the deal.[253] Greece achieved a primary government budget surplus in 2013, while in April 2014, it returned to the global bond market. Greece returned to growth after six years of economic decline in the second quarter of 2014,[254] and was the eurozone's fastest-growing economy in the third quarter.[255] A third bailout was agreed in July 2015, after a confrontation with the newly elected government of Alexis Tsipras.

Partly due to the imposed austerity measures,[236] Greece experienced a 25% drop GDP between 2009 and 2015.[256] This had a critical effect: the debt-to-GDP ratio, a key factor defining the severity of the crisis, would jump from its 2009 level of 127% to about 170%, solely due to the shrinking economy.[citation needed] In a 2013 report, the IMF admitted that it had underestimated the effects of so extensive tax hikes and budget cuts on the country's GDP and issued an informal apology.[257][258][259] The Greek programmes imposed a very rapid improvement in structural primary balance (at least two times faster than for other eurozone bailed-out countries).[260] The policies have been blamed for worsening the crisis,[261][262] while Greece's president, Prokopis Pavlopoulos, stressed the creditors' share in responsibility for the depth of the crisis.[263][264] Greek Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras, asserted that errors in the design of the first two programmes which led to a loss of 25% of the Greek economy due to the harsh imposition of excessive austerity.[265]

Between 2009 and 2017 the Greek government debt rose from €300 bn to €318 bn, i.e. by only about 6% (thanks, in part, to the 2012 debt restructuring);[246][266] however, during the same period, the critical debt-to-GDP ratio shot up from 127% to 179%[246] basically due to the severe GDP drop during the handling of the crisis.[235]

Greece's bailouts successfully ended (as declared) on 20 August 2018.[144]

Agriculture

Sun-drying of Zante currant on Zakynthos

In 2010, Greece was the European Union's largest producer of cotton (183,800 tons) and pistachios (8,000 tons)[267] and ranked second in the production of rice (229,500 tons)[267] and olives (147,500 tons),[268] third in the production of figs (11,000 tons),[268] almonds (44,000 tons),[268] tomatoes (1,400,000 tons),[268] and watermelons (578,400 tons)[268] and fourth in the production of tobacco (22,000 tons).[267] Agriculture contributes 3.8% of the country's GDP and employs 12.4% of the country's labor force.

Greece is a major beneficiary of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy. As a result of the country's entry to the European Community, much of its agricultural infrastructure has been upgraded and agricultural output increased. Between 2000 and 2007, organic farming in Greece increased by 885%, the highest change percentage in the EU.

Energy

Solar-power generation potential in Greece

Electricity production in Greece is dominated by the state-owned Public Power Corporation (known mostly by its acronym ΔΕΗ, transliterated as DEI). In 2009 DEI supplied for 85.6% of all electric energy demand in Greece,[269] while the number fell to 77.3% in 2010.[269] Almost half (48%) of DEI's power output is generated using lignite, a drop from the 51.6% in 2009.[269]

Twelve percent of Greece's electricity comes from hydroelectric power plants[270] and another 20% from natural gas.[270] Between 2009 and 2010, independent companies' energy production increased by 56%,[269] from 2,709 gigawatt hour in 2009 to 4,232 GWh in 2010.[269]

In 2012, renewable energy accounted for 13.8% of the country's total energy consumption,[271] a rise from the 10.6% it accounted for in 2011,[271] a figure almost equal to the EU average of 14.1% in 2012.[271] 10% of the country's renewable energy comes from solar power,[272] while most comes from biomass and waste recycling.[272] In line with the European Commission's Directive on Renewable Energy, Greece aims to get 18% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020.[273]

In 2013, according to the independent power transmission operator in Greece (ΑΔΜΗΕ) more than 20% of the electricity in Greece has been produced from renewable energy sources and hydroelectric powerplants. This percentage in April reached 42%. Greece currently does not have any nuclear power plants in operation; however, in 2009 the Academy of Athens suggested that research in the possibility of Greek nuclear power plants begin.[274]

Maritime industry

Greek companies control 21% of the world's total merchant fleet[275] making it the largest in the world. They are ranked in the top 5 for all kinds of ships, including first for tankers and bulk carriers.

The shipping industry has been a key element of Greek economic activity since ancient times.[276] Shipping remains one of the country's most important industries, accounting for 4.5 percent of GDP, employing about 160,000 people (4 percent of the workforce), and representing a third of the trade deficit.[277]

According to a 2011 report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the Greek Merchant Navy is the largest in the world at 16.2 percent of total global capacity,[226] up from 15.96 percent in 2010[278] but below the peak of 18.2 percent in 2006.[279] The country's merchant fleet ranks first in total tonnage (202 million dwt),[226] fourth in total number of ships (at 3,150), first in both tankers and dry bulk carriers, fourth in the number of containers, and fifth in other ships.[280] However, today's fleet roster is smaller than an all-time high of 5,000 ships in the late 1970s.[276] Additionally, the total number of ships flying a Greek flag (includes non-Greek fleets) is 1,517, or 5.3 percent of the world's dwt (ranked fifth globally).[278]

During the 1960s, the size of the Greek fleet nearly doubled, primarily through the investment undertaken by the shipping magnates, Aristotle Onassis and Stavros Niarchos.[281] The basis of the modern Greek maritime industry was formed after World War II when Greek shipping businessmen were able to amass surplus ships sold to them by the U.S. government through the Ship Sales Act of the 1940s.[281]

Greece has a significant shipbuilding and ship maintenance industry. The six shipyards around the port of Piraeus are among the largest in Europe.[282] In recent years, Greece has also become a leader in the construction and maintenance of luxury yachts.[283]

Tourism

Santorini, a popular tourist destination, is ranked as the world's top island in many travel magazines and sites.[284][285]

Tourism has been a key element of the economic activity in the country and one of the country's most important sectors, contributing 20.6% of the gross domestic product as of 2018.[286] Greece was the 9th most visited country in the world in 2022, hosting 27.8 million visitors.[287] Greece welcomed over 31.3 million visitors in 2019,[288] and around 28 million in 2016,[289] which is an increase from the 26.5 million tourists it welcomed in 2015 and the 19.5 million in 2009,[290] and the 17.7 million tourists in 2007,[291] making Greece one of the most visited countries in Europe in the recent years.

The vast majority of visitors in Greece in 2007 came from the European continent, numbering 12.7 million,[292] while the most visitors from a single nationality were those from the United Kingdom, (2.6 million), followed closely by those from Germany (2.3 million).[292] In 2010, the most visited region of Greece was that of Central Macedonia, with 18% of the country's total tourist flow (amounting to 3.6 million tourists), followed by Attica with 2.6 million and the Peloponnese with 1.8 million.[290] Northern Greece is the country's most-visited geographical region, with 6.5 million tourists, while Central Greece is second with 6.3 million.[290]

In 2010, Lonely Planet ranked Greece's northern and second-largest city of Thessaloniki as the world's fifth-best party town worldwide, comparable with cities such as Dubai and Montreal.[293] In 2011, Santorini was voted as "The World's Best Island" in Travel + Leisure.[294] Its neighboring island Mykonos, came in fifth in the European category.[294] There are 19 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Greece,[295] and Greece is ranked 17th in the world in terms of total sites. Thirteen further sites are on the tentative list, awaiting nomination.[295]

Panoramic view of the old Corfu City, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as seen from the Old Fortress. The Bay of Garitsa is to the left and the port of Corfu is just visible on the top right. Spianada Square is in the foreground.

Transport

The Rio–Antirrio bridge connects mainland Greece to the Peloponnese.
Map of Greece's motorway network as of 2022. Black=Completed routes, Blue=Under Construction, Grey=Planned routes

Since the 1980s, the road and rail network of Greece has been significantly modernised. With a total length of about 2320 km as of 2020, Greece's motorway network is the most extensive in Southeastern Europe and one of the most advanced in Europe.[296] Important works include the A2 (Egnatia Odos) east-west motorway, that connects northwestern Greece (Igoumenitsa) with northern Greece (Thessaloniki) and northeastern Greece (Kipoi); the Rio–Antirrio bridge, the longest suspension cable bridge in Europe (2,250 m (7,382 ft) long), connecting the Peloponnese (Rio, 7 km (4 mi) from Patras) with Aetolia-Akarnania (Antirrio) in western Greece; and the Aktio-Preveza Undersea Tunnel that passes under the mouth of Ambracian Gulf.

Also completed are the A5 (Ionia Odos) motorway that connects northwestern Greece (Ioannina) with western Greece (Antirrio); the last sections of the A1 motorway, connecting Athens to Thessaloniki and Evzonoi in northern Greece; the A8 motorway (part of the Olympia Odos) in the Peloponnese, connecting Athens to Patras; and the A7 motorway connecting Corinth to Kalamata and Sparta. The remaining section of Olympia Odos, connecting Patras with Pyrgos, is under planning.

Other important projects that are currently underway, include the construction of the Thessaloniki Metro, and the Northern Crete Motorway.[297]

The Athens Metropolitan Area in particular is served by some of the most modern and efficient transport infrastructure in Europe, such as the Athens International Airport, the privately run A6 (Attiki Odos) motorway network and the expanded Athens Metro system.

Most of the Greek islands and many main cities of Greece are connected by air mainly from the two major Greek airlines, Olympic Air and Aegean Airlines. Maritime connections have been improved with modern high-speed craft, including hydrofoils and catamarans.

Railway connections play a somewhat lesser role in Greece than in many other European countries, but they too have also been expanded, with new suburban/commuter rail connections, serviced by Proastiakos around Athens, towards its airport, Kiato and Chalkida; around Thessaloniki, towards the cities of Larissa and Edessa; and around Patras. A modern intercity rail connection between Athens and Thessaloniki has also been established, while an upgrade to double lines in many parts of the 2,500 km (1,600 mi) network is underway; along with a new double track, standard gauge railway between Athens and Patras (replacing the old metre-gauge Piraeus–Patras railway) which is currently under construction and opening in stages.[298] International railway lines connect Greek cities with the rest of Europe, the Balkans and Turkey.

Given Greece's long coastline and large number of islands, maritime transport is particularly important in Greece. All major islands are served by ferries to the mainland. Piraeus, the port of Athens, was the third busiest passenger port in Europe as of 2021. In total, 37 million passengers traveled by boat in Greece in 2019, the second-highest number in Europe.[299]

Greece has 39 active airports, 15 of which serve international destinations.[300] Athens International Airport served 25 million passengers in 2019.[301] Most major islands are served by airports, with direct connections to other airports in Europe.

Telecommunications

Modern digital information and communication networks reach all areas. There are over 35,000 km (21,748 mi) of fiber optics and an extensive open-wire network. Broadband internet availability is widespread in Greece: there were a total of 2,252,653 broadband connections as of early 2011, translating to 20% broadband penetration.[302] According to 2017 data, around 82% of the general population used the internet regularly.[303]

Internet cafés that provide net access, office applications and multiplayer gaming are also a common sight in the country, while mobile internet on 3G and 4G- LTE cellphone networks and Wi-Fi connections can be found almost everywhere.[304] 3G/4G mobile internet usage has been on a sharp increase in recent years. Based on 2016 data 70% of Greek internet users have access via 3G/4G mobile.[303] As of July 2022, 5G service is accessible in most of major Greek cities. The United Nations International Telecommunication Union ranks Greece among the top 30 countries with a highly developed information and communications infrastructure.[305]

Science and technology

Thessaloniki Science Center and Technology Museum

The General Secretariat for Research and Technology of the Ministry of Development and Competitiveness is responsible for designing, implementing and supervising national research and technological policy. In 2017, spending on research and development (R&D) reached an all-time high of €2 billion, equal to 1.14 percent of GDP.[306]

Georgios Papanikolaou, a pioneer in cytopathology and early cancer detection

Although lower than the EU average of 1.93 percent, between 1990 and 1998, total R&D expenditure in Greece enjoyed the third-highest increase in Europe, after Finland and Ireland. Greece was ranked 42nd in the Global Innovation Index in 2023.[307]

Greece has several major technology parks with incubator facilities and has been a member of the European Space Agency (ESA) since 2005.[308] Cooperation between ESA and the Hellenic National Space Committee began in 1994 with the signing of the first cooperation agreement. After applying for full membership in 2003, Greece became the ESA's sixteenth member on 16 March 2005. The country participates in the ESA's telecommunication and technology activities and the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security Initiative.[308]

The National Centre of Scientific Research "Demokritos" was founded in 1959 and it is the largest multidisciplinary research center in Greece. Today, its activities cover several fields of science and engineering.[309]

Greece has one of the highest rates of tertiary enrollment in the world,[310] while Greeks are well represented in academia worldwide; numerous leading Western universities employ a disproportionately high number of Greek faculty.[311] Greek scientific publications have grown significantly in terms of research impact, surpassing both the EU and global average from 2012 to 2016.[312]

Notable Greek scientists of modern times include Georgios Papanikolaou (inventor of the Pap test), mathematician Constantin Carathéodory (known for the Carathéodory theorems and Carathéodory conjecture), astronomer E. M. Antoniadi, archaeologists Ioannis Svoronos, Valerios Stais, Spyridon Marinatos, Manolis Andronikos (discovered the tomb of Philip II of Macedon in Vergina), Indologist Dimitrios Galanos, botanist Theodoros G. Orphanides, and scientists such as Michael Dertouzos, Nicholas Negroponte, John Argyris, John Iliopoulos (2007 Dirac Prize for his contributions on the physics of the charm quark), Joseph Sifakis (2007 Turing Award, the "Nobel Prize" of Computer Science), Christos Papadimitriou (2002 Knuth Prize, 2012 Gödel Prize), Mihalis Yannakakis (2005 Knuth Prize) and physicist Dimitri Nanopoulos.

Demographics

According to the official statistical body of Greece, the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT), the country's total population in 2021 was 10,482,487.[313] Eurostat places the current population at 10.6 million in 2022.[314]

Greece population density, 2000

Greek society has changed rapidly over the last several decades, coinciding with the wider European trend of declining fertility and rapid aging. The birth rate in 2003 stood at 9.5 per 1,000 inhabitants, significantly lower than the rate of 14.5 per 1,000 in 1981. At the same time, the mortality rate increased slightly from 8.9 per 1,000 inhabitants in 1981 to 9.6 per 1,000 inhabitants in 2003. Estimates from 2016 show the birth rate decreasing further still to 8.5 per 1,000 and mortality climbing to 11.2 per 1,000.[315]

The fertility rate of 1.41 children per woman is well below the replacement rate of 2.1, and is one of the lowest in the world, considerably below the high of 5.47 children born per woman in 1900.[316] Subsequently, Greece's median age is 44.2 years, the seventh-highest in the world.[317] In 2001, 16.71 percent of the population were 65 years old and older, 68.12 percent between the ages of 15 and 64 years old, and 15.18 percent were 14 years old and younger.[318] By 2016, the proportion of the population age 65 and older had risen to 20.68 percent, while the proportion of those aged 14 and younger declined to slightly below 14 percent.

Marriage rates began declining from almost 71 per 1,000 inhabitants in 1981 until 2002, only to increase slightly in 2003 to 61 per 1,000 and then fall again to 51 in 2004.[318] Divorce rates have seen an increase from 191.2 per 1,000 marriages in 1991 to 239.5 per 1,000 marriages in 2004.[318]

As a result of these trends, the average Greek household is smaller and older than in previous generations. The economic crisis has exacerbated this development, with 350,000–450,000 Greeks, predominantly young adults, emigrating since 2010.[319]

Cities

Almost two-thirds of the Greek people live in urban areas. Greece's largest and most influential metropolitan centres are those of Athens (population 3,744,059 according to 2021 census) and Thessaloniki (population 1,092,919 in 2021) that latter commonly referred to as the symprotévousa (συμπρωτεύουσα, lit.'co-capital').[320] Other prominent cities with urban populations above 100,000 inhabitants include Patras, Heraklion, Larissa, Volos, Rhodes, Ioannina, Agrinio, Chania, and Chalcis.[321]

The table below lists the largest cities in Greece, by population contained in their respective contiguous built up urban areas, which are either made up of many municipalities, evident in the cases of Athens and Thessaloniki, or are contained within a larger single municipality, case evident in most of the smaller cities of the country. The results come from the preliminary figures of the population census that took place in Greece in May 2011.

 
Largest cities or towns in Greece
Rank Name Region Pop. Rank Name Region Pop.
Athens
Athens
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki
1 Athens Attica 3,090,508 11 Serres Central Macedonia 58,287 Patras
Patras
Piraeus
Piraeus
2 Thessaloniki Central Macedonia 824,676 12 Alexandroupoli Eastern Macedonia and Thrace 57,812
3 Patras Western Greece 173,600[323] 13 Xanthi Eastern Macedonia and Thrace 56,122
4 Piraeus Attica 168,151 14 Katerini Central Macedonia 55,997
5 Heraklion Crete 156,842[324] 15 Kalamata Peloponnese 54,100
6 Larisa Thessaly 148,562[325] 16 Kavala Eastern Macedonia and Thrace 54,027
7 Volos Thessaly 85,803[326] 17 Chania Crete 53,910
8 Ioannina Epirus 65,574 18 Lamia Central Greece 52,006
9 Trikala Thessaly 61,653 19 Komotini Eastern Macedonia and Thrace 50,990
10 Chalcis Central Greece 59,125 20 Rhodes South Aegean 49,541

Religion

Religiosity in Greece (2017):[1]

  Other Christians (exc.Catholics) (3%)
  Irreligion (4%)
  Islam (2%)
  Other religions (inc.Catholics) (1%)

The Greek Constitution recognises Eastern Orthodoxy as the 'prevailing' faith of the country, while guaranteeing freedom of religious belief for all.[169][327] The Greek government does not keep statistics on religious groups and censuses do not ask for religious affiliation. According to the U.S. State Department, an estimated 97% of Greek citizens identify themselves as Eastern Orthodox, belonging to the Greek Orthodox Church,[328] which uses the Byzantine rite and the Greek language, the original language of the New Testament. The administration of the Greek territory is shared between the Church of Greece and the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

In a 2010 EurostatEurobarometer poll, 79% of Greek citizens responded that they "believe there is a God".[329] According to other sources, 15.8% of Greeks describe themselves as "very religious", which is the highest among all European countries. The survey also found that just 3.5% never attend a church, compared to 4.9% in Poland and 59.1% in the Czech Republic.[330]

Meteora, complex of giant rock pillars with Eastern Orthodox monasteries made on the picks of the sandstone cliffs.

Estimates of the recognised Greek Muslim minority, which is mostly located in Thrace, range around 100,000,[328][331] (about 1% of the population). Some of the Albanian immigrants to Greece come from a nominally Muslim background, although most are secular in orientation.[332] Following the 1919–1922 Greco-Turkish War and the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, Greece and Turkey agreed to a population transfer based on cultural and religious identity. About 500,000 Muslims from Greece, predominantly those defined as Turks, but also Greek Muslims like the Vallahades of western Macedonia, were exchanged with approximately 1.5 million Greeks from Turkey. However, many refugees who settled in former Ottoman Muslim villages in Central Macedonia, and were defined as Christian Orthodox Caucasus Greeks, arrived from the former Russian Transcaucasus province of Kars Oblast, after it had been retroceded to Turkey prior to the official population exchange.[333]

Judaism has been present in Greece for more than 2,000 years. The ancient community of Greek Jews is called Romaniotes, while the Sephardi Jews were once a prominent community in the city of Thessaloniki, numbering some 80,000, or more than half of the population, by 1900.[334] However, after the German occupation of Greece and the Holocaust during World War II, it is estimated to number around 5,500 people.[328][331]

The Roman Catholic community is estimated to be around 250,000[328][331] of which 50,000 are Greek citizens.[328] Their community is nominally separate from the smaller Greek Byzantine Catholic Church, which recognises the primacy of the Pope but maintains the liturgy of the Byzantine Rite.[335] Old Calendarists account for 500,000 followers.[331] Protestants, including the Greek Evangelical Church and Free Evangelical Churches, stand at about 30,000.[328][331] Other Christian minorities, such as Assemblies of God, International Church of the Foursquare Gospel and various Pentecostal churches of the Greek Synod of Apostolic Church total about 12,000 members.[336] The independent Free Apostolic Church of Pentecost is the biggest Protestant denomination in Greece with 120 churches.[337] There are no official statistics about Free Apostolic Church of Pentecost, but the Orthodox Church estimates the followers as 20,000.[338] The Jehovah's Witnesses report having 28,874 active members.[339]

Since 2017, Hellenic Polytheism, or Hellenism has been legally recognised as an actively practised religion in Greece,[340] with estimates of 2,000 active practitioners and an additional 100,000 "sympathisers".[341][342][343] Hellenism refers to various religious movements that continue, revive, or reconstruct ancient Greek religious practices.

Languages

Regions with a traditional presence of languages other than Greek. Today, Greek is the dominant language throughout the country.[344][345][346][347][348][349]

Greece is today relatively homogeneous in linguistic terms, with a large majority of the native population using Greek as their first or only language. Among the Greek-speaking population, speakers of the distinctive Pontic dialect came to Greece from Asia Minor after the Greek genocide and constitute a sizable group. The Cappadocian dialect came to Greece due to the genocide as well, but is endangered and is barely spoken now. Indigenous Greek dialects include the archaic Greek spoken by the Sarakatsani, traditionally transhument mountain shepherds of Greek Macedonia and other parts of Northern Greece. The Tsakonian language, a distinct Greek language deriving from Doric Greek instead of Koine Greek, is still spoken in some villages in the southeastern Peloponnese.

The Muslim minority in Thrace, which amounts to approximately 0.95% of the total population, consists of speakers of Turkish, Bulgarian (Pomaks)[349] and Romani. Romani is also spoken by Christian Roma in other parts of the country. Further minority languages have traditionally been spoken by regional population groups in various parts of the country. Their use has decreased radically in the course of the 20th century through assimilation with the Greek-speaking majority. Today they are only maintained by the older generations and are on the verge of extinction. The same goes for the Arvanites, an Albanian-speaking group mostly located in the rural areas around the capital Athens, and for the Aromanians and Megleno-Romanians, also known as "Vlachs", whose language is closely related to Romanian and who used to live scattered across several areas of mountainous central Greece. Members of these groups usually identify ethnically as Greek[350] and are today all at least bilingual in Greek.

Near the northern Greek borders there are also some Slavic–speaking groups, locally known as Slavomacedonian-speaking, most of whose members identify ethnically as Greeks. It is estimated that after the population exchanges of 1923, Macedonia had 200,000 to 400,000 Slavic speakers.[351] The Jewish community in Greece traditionally spoke Ladino (Judeo-Spanish), today maintained only by a few thousand speakers. Other notable minority languages include Armenian, Georgian, and the Greco-Turkic dialect spoken by the Urums, a community of Caucasus Greeks from the Tsalka region of central Georgia and ethnic Greeks from southeastern Ukraine who arrived in mainly Northern Greece as economic migrants in the 1990s.

Migration

A map of the fifty countries with the largest Greek diaspora communities

Throughout the 20th century, millions of Greeks migrated to the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and Germany, creating a large Greek diaspora. Net migration started to show positive numbers from the 1970s, but until the beginning of the 1990s, the main influx was that of returning Greek migrants or of Pontic Greeks and others from Russia, Georgia, Turkey the Czech Republic, and elsewhere in the former Soviet Bloc.[352]

A study from the Mediterranean Migration Observatory maintains that the 2001 census recorded 762,191 persons residing in Greece without Greek citizenship, constituting around 7% of the total population. Of the non-citizen residents, 48,560 were EU or European Free Trade Association nationals and 17,426 were Cypriots with privileged status. The majority come from Eastern European countries: Albania (56%), Bulgaria (5%) and Romania (3%), while migrants from the former Soviet Union (Georgia, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, etc.) comprise 10% of the total.[353] Some of the immigrants from Albania are from the Greek minority in Albania centred on the region of Northern Epirus. In addition, the total Albanian national population which includes temporary migrants and undocumented persons is around 600,000.[354]

The 2011 census recorded 9,903,268 Greek citizens (91.56%), 480,824 Albanian citizens (4.44%), 75,915 Bulgarian citizens (0.7%), 46,523 Romanian citizenship (0.43%), 34,177 Pakistani citizens (0.32%), 27,400 Georgian citizens (0.25%) and 247,090 people had other or unidentified citizenship (2.3%).[355] 189,000 people of the total population of Albanian citizens were reported in 2008 as ethnic Greeks from Southern Albania, in the historical region of Northern Epirus.[352]

The greatest cluster of non-EU immigrant population are the larger urban centers, especially the Municipality of Athens, with 132,000 immigrants comprising 17% of the local population, and then Thessaloniki, with 27,000 immigrants reaching 7% of the local population. There is also a considerable number of co-ethnics that came from the Greek communities of Albania and the former Soviet Union.[352]

Greece, together with Italy and Spain, is a major entry point for illegal immigrants trying to enter the EU. Illegal immigrants entering Greece mostly do so from the border with Turkey at the Evros River and the islands of the eastern Aegean across from Turkey (mainly Lesbos, Chios, Kos, and Samos). In 2012, the majority of illegal immigrants entering Greece came from Afghanistan, followed by Pakistanis and Bangladeshis.[356] In 2015, arrivals of refugees by sea had increased dramatically mainly due to the ongoing Syrian civil war. There were 856,723 arrivals by sea in Greece, an almost fivefold increase to the same period of 2014, of which the Syrians represent almost 45%.[357] The majority of refugees and migrants use Greece as a transit country, while their intended destinations are northern European Nations such as Austria, Germany and Sweden.[358][359]

Education

The Academy of Athens is Greece's national academy and the highest research establishment in the country.
The Ionian Academy in Corfu, the first academic institution of modern Greece
The new National Library of Greece at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre.

Greeks have a long tradition of valuing and investing in paideia (education), which was upheld as one of the highest societal values in the Greek and Hellenistic world. The first European institution described as a university was founded in fifth-century Constantinople and continued operating in various incarnations until the city's fall to the Ottomans in 1453.[360] The University of Constantinople was Christian Europe's first secular institution of higher learning,[361] and by some measures was the world's first university.[360]

Compulsory education in Greece comprises primary schools (Δημοτικό Σχολείο, Dimotikó Scholeio) and gymnasium (Γυμνάσιο). Nursery schools (Παιδικός σταθμός, Paidikós Stathmós) are popular but not compulsory. Kindergartens (Νηπιαγωγείο, Nipiagogeío) are now compulsory for any child above four years of age. Children start primary school aged six and remain there for six years. Attendance at gymnasia starts at age 12 and lasts for three years.

Greece's post-compulsory secondary education consists of two school types: unified upper secondary schools (Γενικό Λύκειο, Genikό Lykeiό) and technicalvocational educational schools (Τεχνικά και Επαγγελματικά Εκπαιδευτήρια, "TEE"). Post-compulsory secondary education also includes vocational training institutes (Ινστιτούτα Επαγγελματικής Κατάρτισης, "IEK") which provide a formal but unclassified level of education. As they can accept both Gymnasio (lower secondary school) and Lykeio (upper secondary school) graduates, these institutes are not classified as offering a particular level of education.

According to the Framework Law (3549/2007), Public higher education "Highest Educational Institutions" (Ανώτατα Εκπαιδευτικά Ιδρύματα, Anótata Ekpaideytiká Idrýmata, "ΑΕΙ") consists of two parallel sectors:the university sector (Universities, Polytechnics, Fine Arts Schools, the Open University) and the Technological sector (Technological Education Institutions (TEI) and the School of Pedagogic and Technological Education). There are also State Non-University Tertiary Institutes offering vocationally oriented courses of shorter duration (2 to 3 years) which operate under the authority of other Ministries. Students are admitted to these Institutes according to their performance at national level examinations taking place after completion of the third grade of Lykeio. Additionally, students over twenty-two years old may be admitted to the Hellenic Open University through a form of lottery. The Capodistrian University of Athens is the oldest university in the eastern Mediterranean.

The Greek education system also provides special kindergartens, primary, and secondary schools for people with special needs or difficulties in learning. There are also specialist gymnasia and high schools offering musical, theological, and physical education.

Seventy-two percent of Greek adults aged 25–64 have completed upper secondary education, which is slightly less than the OECD average of 74 percent. The average Greek pupil scored 458 in reading literacy, maths and science in the OECD's 2015 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). This score is lower than the OECD average of 486. On average, girls outperformed boys by 15 points, much more than the average OECD gap of two points.[362]

Healthcare system

Greece has universal health care. The system is mixed, combining a national health service with social health insurance (SHI). Per a 2000 World Health Organization report, its health care system ranked 14th in overall performance of 191 countries surveyed.[363] In a 2013 Save the Children report, Greece was ranked the 19th out of 176 countries for the state of mothers and newborn babies.[364] In 2010, there were 138 hospitals with 31,000 beds, but in 2011, the Ministry of Health announced plans to decrease the number to 77 hospitals with 36,035 beds to reduce expenses and further enhance healthcare standards.[365] However, as of 2014, there were 124 public hospitals, of which 106 were general hospitals and 18 specialised hospitals, with a total capacity of about 30,000 beds.[366]

Greece's healthcare expenditures as a percentage of GDP were 9.6% in 2007, just above the OECD average of 9.5%.[367] By 2015, spending declined to 8.4% of GDP (compared with the EU average of 9.5%), a decline of one-fifth since 2010. Nevertheless, the country maintains the highest doctor-to-population ratio of any OECD country[367] and the highest doctor-to-patient ratio in the EU.[368]

Life expectancy in Greece is among the highest in the world; a 2011 OECD report placed it at 80.3 years, above the OECD average of 79.5,[367] while a more recent 2017 study found life expectancy in 2015 to be 81.1 years, slightly above the EU average of 80.6.[368] The island of Icaria has the highest percentage of nonagenarians in the world; approximately 33% of islanders are 90 or older.[369] Icaria is subsequently classified as a "Blue Zone", a region where people allegedly live longer than average and have lower rates of cancer, heart disease, or other chronic illnesses.[370]

The 2011 OECD report showed that Greece had the largest percentage of adult daily smokers of any of the 34 OECD members.[367] The country's obesity rate is 18.1%, which is above the OECD average of 15.1%, but considerably lower than the American rate of 27.7%.[367] In 2008, Greece had the highest rate of perceived good health in the OECD, at 98.5%.[371] Infant mortality, with a rate of 3.6 deaths per 1,000 live births, was below the 2007 OECD average of 4.9.[367]

Culture

The Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus, still used for theatrical plays

The culture of Greece has evolved over thousands of years, beginning in Mycenaean Greece and continuing most notably into Classical Greece, through the influence of the Roman Empire and its Greek Eastern continuation, the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire. Other cultures and nations, such as the Latin and Frankish states, the Ottoman Empire, the Venetian Republic, the Genoese Republic, and the British Empire have also left their influence on modern Greek culture, although historians credit the Greek War of Independence with revitalising Greece and giving birth to a single, cohesive entity of its multi-faceted culture.

In ancient times, Greece was the birthplace of Western culture.[372][373] Modern democracies owe a debt to Greek beliefs in government by the people, trial by jury, and equality under the law. The ancient Greeks pioneered in many fields that rely on systematic thought, including logic, biology, geometry, government, geography, medicine, history,[374] philosophy,[375] physics, and mathematics.[376] They introduced such important literary forms as epic and lyrical poetry, history, tragedy, comedy and drama. In their pursuit of order and proportion, the Greeks created an ideal of beauty that strongly influenced Western art.[377]

Visual arts

Close-up of the Charioteer of Delphi, a celebrated statue from the 5th century BC

Artistic production in Greece began in the prehistoric pre-Greek Cycladic and the Minoan civilizations, both of which were influenced by local traditions and the art of ancient Egypt.[378]

There were several interconnected traditions of painting in ancient Greece. Due to their technical differences, they underwent somewhat differentiated developments. Not all painting techniques are equally well represented in the archaeological record. The most respected form of art, according to authors like Pliny or Pausanias, were individual, mobile paintings on wooden boards, technically described as panel paintings. Also, the tradition of wall painting in Greece goes back at least to the Minoan and Mycenaean Bronze Age, with the lavish fresco decoration of sites like Knossos, Tiryns and Mycenae. Much of the figural or architectural sculpture of ancient Greece was painted colourfully. This aspect of Greek stonework is described as polychrome.[379]

Ancient Greek sculpture was composed almost entirely of marble or bronze; with cast bronze becoming the favoured medium for major works by the early 5th century. Both marble and bronze are easy to form and very durable. Chryselephantine sculptures, used for temple cult images and luxury works, used gold, most often in leaf form and ivory for all or parts (faces and hands) of the figure, and probably gems and other materials, but were much less common, and only fragments have survived. By the early 19th century, the systematic excavation of ancient Greek sites had brought forth a plethora of sculptures with traces of notably multicolored surfaces. It was not until published findings by German archaeologist Vinzenz Brinkmann in the late 20th century, that the painting of ancient Greek sculptures became an established fact.[380]

The art production continued also during the Byzantine era. The most salient feature of this new aesthetic was its "abstract", or anti-naturalistic character. If classical art was marked by the attempt to create representations that mimicked reality as closely as possible, Byzantine art seems to have abandoned this attempt in favour of a more symbolic approach. The Byzantine painting concentrated mainly on icons and hagiographies. The Macedonian art (Byzantine) was the artistic expression of Macedonian Renaissance, a label sometimes used to describe the period of the Macedonian dynasty of the Byzantine Empire (867–1056), especially the 10th century, which some scholars have seen as a time of increased interest in classical scholarship and the assimilation of classical motifs into Christian artwork.

Post Byzantine art schools include the Cretan School and Heptanese School. The first artistic movement in the Greek Kingdom can be considered the Greek academic art of the 19th century (Munich School). Notable modern Greek painters include Nikolaos Gyzis, Georgios Jakobides, Theodoros Vryzakis, Nikiforos Lytras, Konstantinos Volanakis, Nikos Engonopoulos and Yannis Tsarouchis, while some notable sculptors are Pavlos Prosalentis, Ioannis Kossos, Leonidas Drosis, Georgios Bonanos and Yannoulis Chalepas.

Architecture

Towerhouses of Vatheia in Mani peninsula

The architecture of ancient Greece was produced by the ancient Greeks (Hellenes), whose culture flourished on the Greek mainland, the Aegean Islands and their colonies, for a period from about 900 BC until the 1st century AD, with the earliest remaining architectural works dating from around 600 BC. The formal vocabulary of ancient Greek architecture, in particular the division of architectural style into three defined orders: the Doric Order, the Ionic Order and the Corinthian Order, was to have profound effect on Western architecture of later periods.

Byzantine architecture is the architecture promoted by the Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, which dominated Greece and the Greek speaking world during the Middle Ages. The empire endured for more than a millennium, dramatically influencing Medieval architecture throughout Europe and the Near East, and becoming the primary progenitor of the Renaissance and Ottoman architectural traditions that followed its collapse.

After the Greek Independence, the modern Greek architects tried to combine traditional Greek and Byzantine elements and motives with the western European movements and styles. Patras was the first city of the modern Greek state to develop a city plan. In January 1829, Stamatis Voulgaris, a Greek engineer of the French army, presented the plan of the new city to the Governor Kapodistrias, who approved it. Voulgaris applied the orthogonal rule in the urban complex of Patras.[381]

Two special genres can be considered the Cycladic architecture, featuring white-coloured houses, in the Cyclades and the Epirotic architecture in the region of Epirus.[382][383] Important is also the influence of the Venetian style in the Ionian islands and the "Mediterranean style" of Florestano Di Fausto (during the years of the fascist regime) in the Dodecanese islands.[384]

After the establishment of the Greek Kingdom, the architecture of Athens and other cities was mostly influenced by the Neoclassical architecture. For Athens, the first King of Greece, Otto of Greece, commissioned the architects Stamatios Kleanthis and Eduard Schaubert to design a modern city plan fit for the capital of a state. As for Thessaloniki, after the fire of 1917, the government ordered for a new city plan under the supervision of Ernest Hébrard. Other modern Greek architects include Anastasios Metaxas, Lysandros Kaftanzoglou, Panagis Kalkos, Ernst Ziller, Xenophon Paionidis, Dimitris Pikionis and Georges Candilis.

There is an emerging need to secure the long-term preservation of the archaeological sites and monuments of Greece against the growing threats of climate change.[385]

Theatre

Nobile Teatro di San Giacomo di Corfù, the first theatre and opera house of modern Greece

Theatre in its western form was born in Greece.[386] The city-state of Classical Athens, which became a significant cultural, political, and military power during this period, was its centre, where it was institutionalised as part of a festival called the Dionysia, which honoured the god Dionysus. Tragedy (late 6th century BC), comedy (486 BC), and the satyr play were the three dramatic genres to emerge there.

During the Byzantine period, theatrical art heavily declined. According to Marios Ploritis, the only form that survived was folk theatre (Mimos and Pantomimos), despite the hostility of the state.[387] Later, during the Ottoman period, the main theatrical folk art was the Karagiozis. The renaissance which led to the modern Greek theatre, took place in the Venetian Crete. Significal dramatists include Vitsentzos Kornaros and Georgios Chortatzis.

Modern Greek theatre was born after the Greek War of Independence, in the early 19th century, and initially was influenced by Heptanesean theatre and melodrama, such as the Italian opera. The Nobile Teatro di San Giacomo di Corfù was the first theatre and opera house of modern Greece and the place where the first Greek opera, Spyridon Xyndas' The Parliamentary Candidate (based on an exclusively Greek libretto) was performed. During the late 19th and early 20th century, the Athenian theatre scene was dominated by revues, musical comedies, operettas and nocturnes and notable playwrights included Spyridon Samaras, Dionysios Lavrangas, Theophrastos Sakellaridis and others.

The National Theatre of Greece was opened in 1900 as Royal Theatre.[388] Notable playwrights of the modern Greek theatre include Gregorios Xenopoulos, Nikos Kazantzakis, Pantelis Horn, Alekos Sakellarios and Iakovos Kambanelis, while notable actors include Cybele Andrianou, Marika Kotopouli, Aimilios Veakis, Orestis Makris, Katina Paxinou, Manos Katrakis and Dimitris Horn. Significant directors include Dimitris Rontiris, Alexis Minotis and Karolos Koun.

Literature

Parnassos Literary Society, painted by Georgios Roilos (Kostis Palamas is at the center)

Greek literature can be divided into three main categories: Ancient, Byzantine and modern Greek literature.[389]

Athens is considered the birthplace of Western literature.[390] At the beginning of Greek literature stand the two monumental works of Homer: the Iliad and the Odyssey. Though dates of composition vary, these works were fixed around 800 BC or after. In the classical period many of the genres of western literature became more prominent. Lyrical poetry, odes, pastorals, elegies, epigrams; dramatic presentations of comedy and tragedy; historiography, rhetorical treatises, philosophical dialectics, and philosophical treatises all arose in this period. The two major lyrical poets were Sappho and Pindar. The Classical era also saw the dawn of drama.

Of the hundreds of tragedies written and performed during the classical age, only a limited number of plays by three authors have survived: those of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. The surviving plays by Aristophanes are also a treasure trove of comic presentation, while Herodotus and Thucydides are two of the most influential historians in this period. The greatest prose achievement of the 4th century was in philosophy with the works of the three great philosophers.

Byzantine literature refers to literature of the Byzantine Empire written in Atticizing, Medieval and early Modern Greek, and it is the expression of the intellectual life of the Byzantine Greeks during the Christian Middle Ages. Although popular Byzantine literature and early Modern Greek literature both began in the 11th century, the two are indistinguishable.[391]

Constantine P. Cavafy, whose work was inspired mainly by the Hellenistic past, while Odysseas Elytis (centre) and Giorgos Seferis (right) were representatives of the Generation of the '30s and Nobel laureates in Literature.

Modern Greek literature refers to literature written in common Modern Greek, emerging from late Byzantine times in the 11th century. The Cretan Renaissance poem Erotokritos is considered the masterpiece of this period of Greek literature. It is a verse romance written around 1600 by Vitsentzos Kornaros (1553–1613). Later, during the period of Greek enlightenment (Diafotismos), writers such as Adamantios Korais and Rigas Feraios prepared with their works the Greek Revolution (1821–1830).

Leading figures of modern Greek literature include Dionysios Solomos, Andreas Kalvos, Angelos Sikelianos, Emmanuel Rhoides, Demetrius Vikelas, Kostis Palamas, Penelope Delta, Yannis Ritsos, Alexandros Papadiamantis, Nikos Kazantzakis, Andreas Embeirikos, Kostas Karyotakis, Gregorios Xenopoulos, Constantine P. Cavafy, Nikos Kavvadias, Kostas Varnalis and Kiki Dimoula. Two Greek authors have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature: George Seferis in 1963 and Odysseas Elytis in 1979.

Philosophy

A statue of Plato in Athens

Most western philosophical traditions began in Ancient Greece in the 6th century BC. The first philosophers are called "Presocratics", which designates that they came before Socrates, whose contributions mark a turning point in western thought. The Presocratics were from the western or the eastern colonies of Greece and only fragments of their original writings survive, in some cases merely a single sentence.

A new period of philosophy started with Socrates. Like the Sophists, he rejected entirely the physical speculations in which his predecessors had indulged, and made the thoughts and opinions of people his starting-point. Aspects of Socrates were first united from Plato, who also combined with them many of the principles established by earlier philosophers, and developed the whole of this material into the unity of a comprehensive system.

Aristotle of Stagira, the most important disciple of Plato, shared with his teacher the title of the greatest philosopher of antiquity. But while Plato had sought to elucidate and explain things from the supra-sensual standpoint of the forms, his pupil preferred to start from the facts given to us by experience. Except from these three most significant Greek philosophers other known schools of Greek philosophy from other founders during ancient times were Stoicism, Epicureanism, Skepticism and Neoplatonism.[392]

Byzantine philosophy refers to the distinctive philosophical ideas of the philosophers and scholars of the Byzantine Empire, especially between the 8th and 15th centuries. It was characterised by a Christian world-view, but one which could draw ideas directly from the Greek texts of Plato, Aristotle, and the Neoplatonists.

On the eve of the Fall of Constantinople, Gemistus Pletho tried to restore the use of the term "Hellene" and advocated the return to the Olympian Gods of the ancient world. After 1453 a number of Greek Byzantine scholars who fled to western Europe contributed to the Renaissance.

In modern period, Diafotismos (Greek: Διαφωτισμός, "enlightenment", "illumination")[393] was the Greek expression of the Age of Enlightenment and its philosophical and political ideas. Some notable representatives were Adamantios Korais, Rigas Feraios and Theophilos Kairis.

Other modern era Greek philosophers or political scientists include Cornelius Castoriadis, Nicos Poulantzas and Christos Yannaras.

Music and dances

Cretan dancers of traditional folk music
Rebetes in Karaiskaki, Piraeus (1933). Left Markos Vamvakaris with bouzouki.

Greek vocal music extends far back into ancient times where mixed-gender choruses performed for entertainment, celebration and spiritual reasons. Instruments during that period included the double-reed aulos and the plucked string instrument, the lyre, especially the special kind called a kithara. Music played an important role in the education system during ancient times. Boys were taught music from the age of six. Later influences from the Roman Empire, Middle East, and the Byzantine Empire also had effect on Greek music.

While the new technique of polyphony was developing in the West, the Eastern Orthodox Church resisted any type of change. Therefore, Byzantine music remained monophonic and without any form of instrumental accompaniment. As a result, and despite certain attempts by certain Greek chanters (such as Manouel Gazis, Ioannis Plousiadinos or the Cypriot Ieronimos o Tragoudistis), Byzantine music was deprived of elements of which in the West encouraged an unimpeded development of art. However, this method which kept music away from polyphony, along with centuries of continuous culture, enabled monophonic music to develop to the greatest heights of perfection. Byzantium presented the monophonic Byzantine chant; a melodic treasury of inestimable value for its rhythmical variety and expressive power.

Along with the Byzantine (Church) chant and music, the Greek people also cultivated the Greek folk song (Demotiko) which is divided into two cycles, the akritic and klephtic. The akritic was created between the 9th and 10th centuries and expressed the life and struggles of the akrites (frontier guards) of the Byzantine empire, the most well known being the stories associated with Digenes Akritas. The klephtic cycle came into being between the late Byzantine period and the start of the Greek War of Independence. The klephtic cycle, together with historical songs, paraloghes (narrative song or ballad), love songs, mantinades, wedding songs, songs of exile and dirges express the life of the Greeks. There is a unity between the Greek people's struggles for freedom, their joys and sorrow and attitudes towards love and death.

Mikis Theodorakis was one of the most popular and significant Greek composers.

The Heptanesean kantádhes (καντάδες 'serenades'; sing.: καντάδα) became the forerunners of the Greek modern urban popular song, influencing its development to a considerable degree. For the first part of the next century, several Greek composers continued to borrow elements from the Heptanesean style. The most successful songs during the period 1870–1930 were the so-called Athenian serenades, and the songs performed on stage (επιθεωρησιακά τραγούδια 'theatrical revue songs') in revues, operettas and nocturnes that were dominating Athens' theater scene.

Rebetiko, initially a music associated with the lower classes, later (and especially after the population exchange between Greece and Turkey) reached greater general acceptance as the rough edges of its overt subcultural character were softened and polished, sometimes to the point of unrecognizability. It was the base of the later laïkó (song of the people). The leading performers of the genre include Vassilis Tsitsanis, Grigoris Bithikotsis, Stelios Kazantzidis, George Dalaras, Haris Alexiou and Glykeria.

Regarding the classical music, it was through the Ionian islands (which were under western rule and influence) that all the major advances of the western European classical music were introduced to mainland Greeks. The region is notable for the birth of the first school of modern Greek classical music (Heptanesean or Ionian School, Greek: Επτανησιακή Σχολή), established in 1815. Prominent representatives of this genre include Nikolaos Mantzaros, Spyridon Xyndas, Spyridon Samaras and Pavlos Carrer. Manolis Kalomiris is considered the founder of the Greek National School of Music.

In the 20th century, Greek composers have had a significant impact on the development of avant garde and modern classical music, with figures such as Iannis Xenakis, Nikos Skalkottas, and Dimitri Mitropoulos achieving international prominence. At the same time, composers and musicians such as Mikis Theodorakis, Manos Hatzidakis, Eleni Karaindrou, Vangelis and Demis Roussos garnered an international following for their music, which include famous film scores such as Zorba the Greek, Serpico, Never on Sunday, America America, Eternity and a Day, Chariots of Fire, Blade Runner, among others. Greek American composers known for their film scores include also Yanni and Basil Poledouris. Notable Greek opera singers and classical musicians of the 20th and 21st century include Maria Callas, Nana Mouskouri, Mario Frangoulis, Leonidas Kavakos, Dimitris Sgouros and others.

During the dictatorship of the Colonels, the music of Mikis Theodorakis was banned by the junta and the composer was jailed, internally exiled, and put in a concentration camp,[394] before finally being allowed to leave Greece due to international reaction to his detention. Released during the junta years, Anthrope Agapa, ti Fotia Stamata (Make Love, Stop the Gunfire), by the pop group Poll is considered the first anti-war protest song in the history of Greek rock.[395] The song was echoing the hippie slogan "make love, not war" and was inspired directly by the Vietnam War, becoming a "smash hit" in Greece.[396]

Greece participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 35 times after its debut at the 1974 Contest. In 2005, Greece won with the song "My Number One", performed by Greek-Swedish singer Elena Paparizou. The song received 230 points with 10 sets of 12 points from Belgium, Bulgaria, Hungary, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Albania, Cyprus, Serbia & Montenegro, Sweden and Germany and also became a smash hit in different countries and especially in Greece. The 51st Eurovision Song Contest was held in Athens at the Olympic Indoor Hall of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex in Maroussi, and hosted by Maria Menounos and Sakis Rouvas.

Cuisine

A Greek salad, with feta and olives

Greek cuisine is characteristic of the Mediterranean diet, which is epitomised by dishes of Crete.[397] Greek cuisine incorporates fresh ingredients into a variety of local dishes such as moussaka, pastitsio, classic Greek salad, fasolada, spanakopita and souvlaki. Some dishes can be traced back to ancient Greece like skordalia (a thick purée of walnuts, almonds, crushed garlic and olive oil), lentil soup, retsina (white or rosé wine sealed with pine resin) and pasteli (candy bar with sesame seeds baked with honey). Throughout Greece people often enjoy eating from small dishes such as meze with various dips such as tzatziki, grilled octopus and small fish, feta cheese, dolmades (rice, currants and pine kernels wrapped in vine leaves), various pulses, olives and cheese. Olive oil is also an incredibly widespread addition.[398]

Some sweet desserts include melomakarona, diples and galaktoboureko, and drinks such as ouzo, metaxa and a variety of wines including retsina. Greek cuisine differs widely from different parts of the mainland and from island to island. It uses some flavorings more often than other Mediterranean cuisines: oregano, mint, garlic, onion, dill and bay laurel leaves. Other common herbs and spices include basil, thyme and fennel seed. Many Greek recipes, especially in the northern parts of the country, use "sweet" spices in combination with meat, for example cinnamon and cloves in stews.[399][398]

Koutoukia are an underground restaurant common in Greece.[400]

Cinema

Cinema first appeared in Greece in 1896, but the first actual cine-theatre was opened in 1907 in Athens. In 1914, the Asty Films Company was founded and the production of long films began. Golfo (Γκόλφω), a well known traditional love story, is considered the first Greek feature film, although there were several minor productions such as newscasts before this. In 1931, Orestis Laskos directed Daphnis and Chloe (Δάφνις και Χλόη), containing one of the first nude scene in the history of European cinema;[401] it was also the first Greek movie which was played abroad.[402] In 1944, Katina Paxinou was honoured with the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for For Whom the Bell Tolls.[403]

Theodoros Angelopoulos, winner of the Palme d'Or in 1998, notable director in the history of the European cinema

The 1950s and early 1960s are considered by many to be a "golden age" of Greek cinema.[404] Directors and actors of this era were recognised as important figures in Greece and some gained international acclaim: George Tzavellas, Irene Papas, Melina Mercouri, Michael Cacoyannis, Alekos Sakellarios, Nikos Tsiforos, Iakovos Kambanelis, Katina Paxinou, Nikos Koundouros, Ellie Lambeti and others. More than sixty films per year were made, with the majority having film noir elements. Some notable films include The Drunkard (1950, directed by George Tzavellas), The Counterfeit Coin (1955, by Giorgos Tzavellas), Πικρό Ψωμί (1951, by Grigoris Grigoriou), O Drakos (1956, by Nikos Koundouros), Stella (1955, directed by Cacoyannis and written by Kampanellis), Woe to the Young (1961, by Alekos Sakellarios), Glory Sky (1962, by Takis Kanellopoulos) and The Red Lanterns (1963, by Vasilis Georgiadis)

Cacoyannis also directed Zorba the Greek with Anthony Quinn which received Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Film nominations.[405] Finos Film also contributed in this period with movies such as Λατέρνα, Φτώχεια και Φιλότιμο, Madalena, I theia ap' to Chicago, Το ξύλο βγήκε από τον Παράδεισο and many more.

During the 1970s and 1980s, Theo Angelopoulos directed a series of notable and appreciated movies. His film Eternity and a Day won the Palme d'Or and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival.[406][407][408]

There are also internationally renowned filmmakers in the Greek diaspora, such as the Greek-French Costa-Gavras and the Greek-Americans Elia Kazan, John Cassavetes and Alexander Payne. More recently Yorgos Lanthimos (film and stage director, producer, and screenwriter) has received four Academy Award nominations for his work, including Best Foreign Language Film for Dogtooth (2009), Best Original Screenplay for The Lobster (2015), and Best Picture and Best Director for The Favourite (2018).[409]

Sports

Spyridon Louis entering the Panathenaic Stadium at the end of the marathon; 1896 Summer Olympics
Angelos Charisteas scoring Greece's winning goal in the UEFA Euro 2004 Final

Greece is the birthplace of the ancient Olympic Games, first recorded in 776 BC in Olympia, and hosted the modern Olympic Games twice, the inaugural 1896 Summer Olympics and the 2004 Summer Olympics. During the parade of nations, Greece is always called first, as the founding nation of the ancient precursor of modern Olympics. The nation has competed at every Summer Olympic Games, one of only four countries to have done so. Having won a total of 110 medals (30 gold, 42 silver and 38 bronze), Greece is ranked 32nd by gold medals in the all-time Summer Olympic medal count. Their best ever performance was in the 1896 Summer Olympics, when Greece finished second in the medal table with 10 gold medals.

The Greece national football team, ranking 12th in the world in 2014 (and having reached a high of 8th in the world in 2008 and 2011),[410] were crowned European Champions in Euro 2004 in one of the biggest upsets in the history of the sport.[411] The Greek Super League is the highest professional football league in the country, comprising fourteen teams. The most successful are Olympiacos, Panathinaikos, and AEK Athens.

The Greek national basketball team has a decades-long tradition of excellence in the sport, being considered among the world's top basketball powers. As of 2012, it ranked 4th in the world and 2nd in Europe.[412] They have won the European Championship twice in 1987 and 2005,[413] and have reached the final four in two of the last four FIBA World Championships, taking the second place in the world in 2006 FIBA World Championship, after a 101–95 win against Team US in the tournament's semi-final. The domestic top basketball league, A1 Ethniki, is composed of fourteen teams. The most successful Greek teams are Panathinaikos, Olympiacos, Aris Thessaloniki, AEK Athens and P.A.O.K. Greek basketball teams are the most successful in European basketball the last 25 years, having won 9 Euroleagues since the establishment of the modern era Euroleague Final Four format in 1988, while no other nation has won more than 4 Euroleague championships in this period. Besides the 9 Euroleagues, Greek basketball teams (Panathinaikos, Olympiacos, Aris Thessaloniki, AEK Athens, P.A.O.K, Maroussi) have won 3 Triple Crowns, 5 Saporta Cups, 2 Korać Cups and 1 FIBA Europe Champions Cup. After the 2005 European Championship triumph of the Greek national basketball team, Greece became the reigning European Champion in both football and basketball.

The Greek national basketball team in 2008. Twice European champions (1987 and 2005) and second in the world in 2006.

The Greece women's national water polo team have emerged as one of the leading powers in the world, becoming World Champions after their gold medal win against the hosts China at the 2011 World Championship. They also won the silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics, the gold medal at the 2005 World League and the silver medals at the 2010 and 2012 European Championships. The Greece men's national water polo team became the third best water polo team in the world in 2005, after their win against Croatia in the bronze medal game at the 2005 World Aquatics Championships in Canada. The domestic top water polo leagues, Greek Men's Water Polo League and Greek Women's Water Polo League are considered amongst the top national leagues in European water polo, as its clubs have made significant success in European competitions. In men's European competitions, Olympiacos has won the Champions League,[414] the European Super Cup and the Triple Crown in 2002[415] becoming the first club in water polo history to win every title in which it has competed within a single year (National championship, National cup, Champions League and European Super Cup),[416] while NC Vouliagmeni has won the LEN Cup Winners' Cup in 1997. In women's European competitions, Greek water polo teams (NC Vouliagmeni, Glyfada NSC, Olympiacos, Ethnikos Piraeus) are amongst the most successful in European water polο, having won 4 LEN Champions Cups, 3 LEN Trophies and 2 European Supercups.

The Greek men's national volleyball team has won two bronze medals, one in the European Volleyball Championship and another one in the Men's European Volleyball League, a 5th place in the Olympic Games and a 6th place in the FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship. The Greek league, the A1 Ethniki, is considered one of the top volleyball leagues in Europe and the Greek clubs have had significant success in European competitions. Olympiacos is the most successful volleyball club in the country having won the most domestic titles and being the only Greek club to have won European titles; they have won two CEV Cups, they have been CEV Champions League runners-up twice and they have played in 12 Final Fours in the European competitions, making them one of the most traditional volleyball clubs in Europe. Iraklis have also seen significant success in European competitions, having been three times runners-up of the CEV Champions League.

In handball, AC Diomidis Argous is the only Greek club to have won a European Cup.

Apart from these, cricket is relatively popular in Corfu.

Mythology

The numerous gods of the ancient Greek religion as well as the mythical heroes and events of the ancient Greek epics (The Odyssey and The Iliad) and other pieces of art and literature from the time make up what is nowadays colloquially referred to as Greek mythology. Apart from serving a religious function, the mythology of the ancient Greek world also served a cosmological role as it was meant to try to explain how the world was formed and operated.

The principal gods of the ancient Greek religion were the Dodekatheon, or the Twelve Gods, who lived on the top of Mount Olympus. The most important of all ancient Greek gods was Zeus, the king of the gods, who was married to his sister, Hera. The other Greek gods that made up the Twelve Olympians were Ares, Poseidon, Athena, Demeter, Dionysus, Apollo, Artemis, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, and Hermes. Despite her humble status within the hierarchy of the Olympians, Hestia, the goddess of the hearth and sacred flame, was likely the most prayed to of all gods. It is believed that essentially all home offering ceremonies and most public festival offerings began and ended with an invocation and offering to Hestia. Apart from these 13 gods, the Greek pantheon was filled with dozens of other gods, demigods, and mortal and immortal beings which varied by local and over the evolution of Greek culture. A variety of other mystical beliefs and nature spirits such as nymphs and other magical creatures were foundational to the ancient Greek understanding of the world around them.[citation needed]

Public holidays and festivals

Procession in honor of the Assumption of Virgin Mary (15 August)

According to Greek law, every Sunday of the year is a public holiday. Since the late '70s, Saturday also is a non-school and not working day. In addition, there are four mandatory official public holidays: 25 March (Greek Independence Day), Easter Monday, 15 August (Assumption or Dormition of the Holy Virgin), and 25 December (Christmas). 1 May (Labour Day) and 28 October (Ohi Day) are regulated by law as being optional but it is customary for employees to be given the day off. There are, however, more public holidays celebrated in Greece than are announced by the Ministry of Labour each year as either obligatory or optional. The list of these non-fixed national holidays rarely changes and has not changed in recent decades, giving a total of eleven national holidays each year.

In addition to the national holidays, there are public holidays that are not celebrated nationwide, but only by a specific professional group or a local community. For example, many municipalities have a "Patron Saint" parallel to "Name Days", or a "Liberation Day".[417] On such days it is customary for schools to take the day off.

Notable festivals, beyond the religious fests, include Patras Carnival, Athens Festival and various local wine festivals. The city of Thessaloniki is also home of a number of festivals and events. The Thessaloniki International Film Festival is one of the most important film festivals in Southern Europe.[418]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Greek: Ελλάδα, romanizedElláda, [eˈlaða] or Ελλάς, romanized: Ellás, [eˈlas]
  2. ^ Greek: Ελληνική Δημοκρατία, romanized: Ellinikí Dimokratía, [eliniˈci ðimokraˈti.a]
  3. ^ On 14 August 1974 Greek forces withdrew from the integrated military structure of NATO in protest at the Turkish occupation of northern Cyprus; Greece rejoined NATO in 1980.
  4. ^ See:[152][153][154][155][156]
  5. ^ For a diachronic analysis of the Greek party system,[175] who distinguishes three distinct types of party system which developed in consecutive order, namely, a predominant-party system (from 1952 to 1963), a system of polarised pluralism (between 1963 and 1981), and a two-party system (since 1981).

References

Citations

  1. ^ a b "Religious Belief and National Belonging in Central and Eastern Europe". Pew Research Center. 10 May 2017. Retrieved 9 September 2017.
  2. ^ "Country Comparison: Area". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original on 13 November 2020. Retrieved 7 January 2013.
  3. ^ "Surface water and surface water change". Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  4. ^ "Estimated Population and Migration Flows, 2023". Piraeus: Hellenic Statistical Authority. 29 December 2023. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  5. ^ Αποτελέσματα Απογραφής Πληθυσμού - Κατοικιών 2021 [Results of Population-Housing Census 2021] (in Greek). Piraeus: Hellenic Statistical Authority. 19 July 2022. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  6. ^ a b c d "World Economic Outlook Database, October 2023". Washington, D.C.: International Monetary Fund. 5 October 2023. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  7. ^ "Income inequality, 2022". Piraeus: Hellenic Statistical Authority. 8 May 2023. Archived from the original on 8 May 2023. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
  8. ^ "Country Insights". New York: Human Development Report Office, United Nations Development Programme. 8 September 2022. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
  9. ^ [1] The Constitution of Greece: Section II Relations of Church and State: Article 3, Hellenic Resources network.
  10. ^ Enyedi, Zsolt; Madeley, John T.S. (2 August 2004). Church and State in Contemporary Europe. Routledge. p. 228. ISBN 9781135761417. Both as a state church and as a national church, the Orthodox Church of Greece has a lot in common with Protestant state churches, and even with Catholicism in some countries.
  11. ^ "Greece Population 2023 (Live)". World Population by Country 2023 (Live). 1 July 2023. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  12. ^ "Government and Politics". Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Archived from the original on 27 December 2019. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
  13. ^ Starostin, Sergei (1998). The Tower of Babel: An Etymological Database Project.
  14. ^ Watkins, Calvert (2000). The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots. Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 0618082506.
  15. ^ Aristotle, Meteorologica I.xiv
  16. ^ Harvati, Katerina; et al. (10 July 2019). "Apidima Cave fossils provide earliest evidence of Homo sapiens in Eurasia". Nature. 571 (7766): 500–504. doi:10.1038/s41586-019-1376-z. PMID 31292546. S2CID 195873640.
  17. ^ Marie-Antoinette de Lumley, Gaspard Guipert, Henry de Lumley, Natassa Protopapa, Théodoros Pitsios, Apidima 1 and Apidima 2: Two anteneandertal skulls in the Peloponnese, Greece, L'Anthropologie, Volume 124, Issue 1, 2020, 102743, ISSN 0003-5521, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anthro.2019.102743.
  18. ^ Douka, K.; Perles, C.; Valladas, H.; Vanhaeren, M.; Hedges, R.E.M. (2011). "Franchthi Cave revisited: the age of the Aurignacian in south-eastern Europe". Antiquity Magazine: 1133.
  19. ^ Eugene N. Borza (1992). In the Shadow of Olympus: The Emergence of Macedon. Princeton University Press. p. 58. ISBN 978-0-691-00880-6.
  20. ^ Perlès, Catherine (2001). The Early Neolithic in Greece: The First Farming Communities in Europe. Cambridge University Press. p. 1. ISBN 9780521000277.
  21. ^ Ricardo Duchesne (7 February 2011). The Uniqueness of Western Civilization. BRILL. p. 297. ISBN 978-90-04-19248-5. The list of books which have celebrated Greece as the "cradle" of the West is endless; two more examples are Charles Freeman's The Greek Achievement: The Foundation of the Western World (1999) and Bruce Thornton's Greek Ways: How the Greeks Created Western Civilization (2000)
  22. ^ Chiara Bottici; Benoît Challand (11 January 2013). The Myth of the Clash of Civilizations. Routledge. p. 88. ISBN 978-1-136-95119-0. The reason why even such a sophisticated historian as Pagden can do it is that the idea that Greece is the cradle of civilisation is so much rooted in western minds and school curricula as to be taken for granted.
  23. ^ Sansone, David (2011). Ancient Greek civilization. Wiley. p. 5. ISBN 9781444358773.
  24. ^ Frucht, Richard C (31 December 2004). Eastern Europe: An Introduction to the People, Lands, and Culture. ABC-CLIO. p. 847. ISBN 978-1-57607-800-6. Retrieved 5 December 2012. People appear to have first entered Greece as hunter-gatherers from southwest Asia about 50,000 years... of Bronze Age culture and technology laid the foundations for the rise of Europe's first civilization, Minoan Crete
  25. ^ a b World and Its Peoples. Marshall Cavendish. September 2009. p. 1458. ISBN 978-0-7614-7902-4. Retrieved 5 December 2012. Greece was home to the earliest European civilizations, the Minoan civilization of Crete, which developed around 2000 BC, and the Mycenaean civilization on the Greek mainland, which emerged about 400 years later. The ancient Minoan
  26. ^ Drews, Robert (1995). The End of the Bronze Age: Changes in Warfare and the Catastrophe Ca. 1200 BC. Princeton University Press. p. 3. ISBN 0691025916.
  27. ^ Beckman, Gary M.; Bryce, Trevor R.; Cline, Eric H. (2012). "Writings from the Ancient World: The Ahhiyawa Texts" (PDF). Writings from the Ancient World. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature: 6. ISSN 1570-7008. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 April 2015.
  28. ^ Kelder, Jorrit M. (2010). "The Kingdom of Mycenae: A Great Kingdom in the Late Bronze Age Aegean". CDL Press. Bethesda, MD: 45, 86, 108. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
  29. ^ Short, John R (1987). An Introduction to Urban Geography. Routledge. p. 10. ISBN 9780710203724.
  30. ^ Vidal-Naquet, Pierre. Le monde d'Homère (The World of Homer), Perrin (2000), p. 19.
  31. ^ D.C.H. Rieu's introduction to The Odyssey (Penguin, 2003), p. xi.
  32. ^ Dunn, John (1994). Democracy: the unfinished journey 508 BC – 1993 AD. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-827934-1.
  33. ^ Raaflaub, Kurt A; Ober, Josiah; Wallace, Robert W (2007). Origin of Democracy in Ancient Greece. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-24562-4.
  34. ^ Joseph Roisman, Ian Worthington. "A companion to Ancient Macedonia" John Wiley & Sons, 2011. ISBN 144435163X pp 135–138, p 343
  35. ^ Robin Waterfield (19 April 2018). Creators, Conquerors, and Citizens: A History of Ancient Greece. Oxford University Press. p. 148. ISBN 978-0-19-872788-0. They formed an alliance, which we call the Hellenic League, and bound themselves not just to repel the Persians, but to help one another whatever particular enemy threatened the freedom of the Greek cities. This was a real acknowledgment of a shared Greekness, and a first attempt to unify the Greek states under such a banner.
  36. ^ John Van Antwerp Fine (1983). The Ancient Greeks: A Critical History. Harvard University Press. p. 297. ISBN 978-0-674-03314-6. This Hellenic League – the first union of Greek states since the mythical times of the Trojan War – was the instrument through which the Greeks organised their successful resistance to Persia.
  37. ^ Barry Strauss (16 August 2005). The Battle of Salamis: The Naval Encounter That Saved Greece – and Western Civilization. Simon and Schuster. pp. 1–11. ISBN 978-0-7432-7453-1.
  38. ^ Willner, Mark; Hero, George; Wiener, Jerry; Hero, George A. (2006). Global History Volume One: The Ancient World to the Age of Revolution. Barron's Educational Series. p. 79. ISBN 9780764158117.
  39. ^ Walbank, Frank W. (26 August 2010). Selected Papers: Studies in Greek and Roman History and Historiography. Cambridge University Press. p. 1. ISBN 9780521136808. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  40. ^ Walbank 1993, pp. 31–2, 34–5, 36–7, Gehrke 1995, pp. 10–3, 16–7, 21, 24–5, 28–9
  41. ^ Walbank 1993, pp. 46–8, 59, 74–5, Gehrke 1995, pp. 30, 32, 45–8
  42. ^ Ian Morris (December 2005). "The growth of Greek cities in the first millennium BC" (PDF). Princeton University. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 February 2006.
  43. ^ Walbank 1993, pp. 62–3, Gehrke 1995, pp. 63–65, 73, 75–6.
  44. ^ Kosso, Cynthia; Scott, Anne (2009). The Nature and Function of Water, Baths, Bathing, and Hygiene from Antiquity Through the Renaissance. Brill. p. 51. ISBN 978-9004173576.
  45. ^ Spielvogel, Jackson (2005). Western Civilization. Vol. I: To 1715. Thomson Wadsworth. pp. 89–90. ISBN 978-0-534-64603-5.
  46. ^ Walbank 1993, pp. 79–80, 91–2, 141–2, 151–2, Gehrke 1995, pp. 68–70.
  47. ^ a b Flower, Harriet, ed. (2004). The Roman Republic. Cambridge University Press. pp. 248, 258. ISBN 978-0-521-00390-2.
  48. ^ "Antigonid dynasty". Britannica (online ed.). 2008.
  49. ^ a b Ward, Allen Mason; et al. (2003). A history of the Roman people. Prentice Hall. p. 276. ISBN 978-0-13-038480-5.
  50. ^ Zoch, Paul (2000). Ancient Rome: An Introductory History. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 136. ISBN 978-0-8061-3287-7. Retrieved 29 April 2012.
  51. ^ R. Birley, Anthony (2013). Hadrian: The Restless Emperor. Abingdon: Routledge. pp. 16–17. ISBN 978-0-415-16544-0.
  52. ^ Kouremenos, Anna (2022). "The City of Hadrian and not of Theseus: A cultural history of Hadrian's Arch". The Province of Achaea in the 2nd Century CE: The Past Present. London: Routledge.
  53. ^ Ferguson, Everett (2003). Backgrounds of Early Christianity. Wm. B. Eerdmans. pp. 617–18. ISBN 978-0-8028-2221-5.
  54. ^ Dunstan, William (2011). Ancient Rome. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 500. ISBN 978-0-7425-6834-1. Retrieved 29 April 2012.
  55. ^ Milburn, Robert (1992). Early Christian Art and Architecture. University of California Press. p. 158. ISBN 9780520074125. Retrieved 29 April 2012.
  56. ^ Gerard Friell; Peabody Professor of North American Archaeology and Ethnography Emeritus Stephen Williams; Stephen Williams (8 August 2005). Theodosius: The Empire at Bay. Routledge. p. 105. ISBN 978-1-135-78262-7.
  57. ^ Tony Perrottet (8 June 2004). The Naked Olympics: The True Story of the Ancient Games. Random House Digital, Inc. pp. 190–. ISBN 978-1-58836-382-4. Retrieved 1 April 2013.
  58. ^ a b c James Allan Stewart Evans (January 2005). The Emperor Justinian and the Byzantine Empire. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 65–70. ISBN 978-0-313-32582-3.
  59. ^ J. F. Haldon (1990). Byzantium in the Seventh Century: The Transformation of a Culture. Cambridge University Press. p. 329. ISBN 978-0-521-31917-1.
  60. ^ Makrides, Nikolaos (2009). Hellenic Temples and Christian Churches: A Concise History of the Religious Cultures of Greece from Antiquity to the Present. NYU Press. p. 206. ISBN 978-0-8147-9568-2. Retrieved 29 April 2012.
  61. ^ Jeffreys, Elizabeth, ed. (2008). The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies. Oxford University Press. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-19-925246-6.
  62. ^ Halsall, Guy (2007). Barbarian Migrations and the Roman West. Cambridge University Press. pp. 376–568.
  63. ^ a b Fine 1991, pp. 35–6.
  64. ^ a b Fine 1991, pp. 63–6.
  65. ^ Gregory, TE (2010). A History of Byzantium. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 169. It is now generally agreed that the people who lived in the Balkans after the Slavic "invasions" were probably for the most part the same as those who had lived there earlier, although the creation of new political groups and arrival of small immigrants caused people to look at themselves as distinct from their neighbors, including the Byzantines.
  66. ^ Richard M. Rothaus (2000). Corinth, the First City of Greece: An Urban History of Late Antique Cult and Religion. BRILL. p. 10. ISBN 978-90-04-10922-3.
  67. ^ Geanakoplos, Deno John (1984). Byzantium: Church, Society, and Civilization Seen Through Contemporary Eyes. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0226284606.
  68. ^ a b "Greece During the Byzantine Period: Byzantine recovery". Online. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
  69. ^ Fine 1991, pp. 79–83.
  70. ^ "Greece during the Byzantine period (c. AD 300 – c. 1453), Population and languages, Emerging Greek identity". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2008. Online Edition.
  71. ^ a b "Greece During the Byzantine Period: Results of the Fourth Crusade". Online Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
  72. ^ "Greece During the Byzantine Period: The islands". Online Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 14 May 2012.
  73. ^ a b Vasiliev, Alexander A. (1964). History of the Byzantine Empire, 324–1453. University of Wisconsin Press. p. 582. ISBN 978-0299809256.
  74. ^ Moles, Ian (1969). "Nationalism and Byzantine Greece". Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies: 102. Greek nationalism, in other words, was articulated as the boundaries of Byzantium shrank... the Palaeologian restoration that the two words are brought into definite and cognate relationship with 'nation' (Έθνος).
  75. ^ a b Steven Runciman; Sir Steven Runciman (24 October 1985). The Great Church in Captivity: A Study of the Patriarchate of Constantinople from the Eve of the Turkish Conquest to the Greek War of Independence. Cambridge University Press. p. 120. ISBN 978-0-521-31310-0. By the fifteenth century most Byzantine intellectuals alluded to themselves as Hellenes. John Argyropoulus even calls the Emperor 'Emperor of the Hellenes' and describes the last wars of Byzantium as a struggle for the freedom of Hellas.
  76. ^ Jane Perry Clark Carey; Andrew Galbraith Carey (1968). The Web of Modern Greek Politics. Columbia University Press. p. 33. ISBN 978-0231031707. By the end of the fourteenth century the Byzantine emperor was often called "Emperor of the Hellenes"
  77. ^ Hilsdale, Cecily J. (2014). Byzantine Art and Diplomacy in an Age of Decline. Cambridge University Press. pp. 82–83. ISBN 978-1107729384.
  78. ^ a b "Greece During the Byzantine Period: Serbian and Ottoman advances". Online Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
  79. ^ "Greece During the Byzantine Period: The Peloponnese advances". Online Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
  80. ^ Norwich, John Julius (1997). A Short History of Byzantium. Vintage Books. p. xxi. ISBN 978-0-679-77269-9.
  81. ^ Nondas Stamatopoulos (1993). Old Corfu: history and culture. N. Stamatopoulos. pp. 164–165. ISBN 9789608403000. Retrieved 6 April 2013. Again, during the first great siege of Corfu by the Turks in 1537, Angelocastro ... and After a siege lasting a year the invaders were finally driven away by the defenders of the fortress who were helped by the inhabitants of the neighbouring villages. In 1571, when they once more invaded Corfu, the Turks again unsuccessfully attacked, Angelocastro, where 4,000 people had taken refuge. During the second great siege of the city by the Turks in 1716, Angelokastro once again served
  82. ^ Clogg 1992, p. 10.
  83. ^ Clogg 1992, p. 23.
  84. ^ Kourvetaris, George; Dobratz, Betty (1987). A profile of modern Greece: in search of identity. Clarendon Press. p. 33. ISBN 9780198275510.
  85. ^ a b Clogg 1992, p. 14.
  86. ^ a b Clogg 1992.
  87. ^ Harrington, Lyn (1968). Greece and the Greeks. T Nelson. p. 124., 221 pp.
  88. ^ Stokes, Jamie; Gorman, Anthony (2010). Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Africa and the Middle East. Infobase. p. 256. ISBN 978-1-4381-2676-0.
  89. ^ Clogg 1992, p. 27.
  90. ^ Clogg 1992, p. 31.
  91. ^ Katsiaridi-Hering, Olga (2009). "La famiglia nell'economia europea, secc. XIII-XVIII". Atti della "quarantesima Settimana di studi," 6–10 Aprile 2008. Istituto internazionale di storia economica F. Datini. Simonetta Cavaciocchi. Firenze University Press. p. 410. ISBN 978-88-8453-910-6.
  92. ^ Hatzopoulos 2009, pp. 81–3.
  93. ^ Hatzopoulos 2009. For the crisis of maritime trade from 1815 onwards, see Kremmydas 1977 and Kremmydas 2002.
  94. ^ a b Brewer, D. The Greek War of Independence: The Struggle for Freedom from Ottoman Oppression and the Birth of the Modern Greek Nation. Overlook Press, 2001, ISBN 1-58567-172-X, pp. 235–36.
  95. ^ Tucker, Spencer C. (2009). A Global Chronology of Conflict: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle East. ABC-CLIO. p. 1140. ISBN 9781851096725.
  96. ^ "The Chios Massacre Of 1822". Queens Gazette. Archived from the original on 11 November 2018. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  97. ^ Klose, Fabian (2016). The Emergence of Humanitarian Intervention: Ideas and Practice... Clays. p. 175. ISBN 9781107075511. Retrieved 6 August 2017.
  98. ^ Willert, Trine Stauning (4 September 2018). The New Ottoman Greece in History and Fiction. Springer. pp. 71–100. ISBN 978-3-319-93849-3.
  99. ^  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainChisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Ibrahim Pasha". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 14 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 223–224.
  100. ^ Woodhouse, Christopher Montague (1965). The Battle of Navarino. pp. 117–18, 137, 139.
  101. ^ Λούκος, Χρήστος (1988). Η αντιπολίτευση κατά του κυβερνήτη Ιωάννη Καποδίστρια (in Greek). Αθήνα, Ελλάδα: Θεμέλιο. p. 187.
  102. ^ a b c "Otto". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  103. ^ Jong, M. de; Lalenis, K.; Mamadouh, V. D. (31 December 2002). The Theory and Practice of Institutional Transplantation: Experiences with the Transfer of Policy Institutions. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 71. ISBN 9781402011085.
  104. ^ a b Hodge, Carl Cavanagh (2008). Encyclopedia of the Age of Imperialism, 1800–1914. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 291. ISBN 9780313043413. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
  105. ^ a b Great Greek Encyclopedia, p. 50–51.
  106. ^ a b Roudometof, Victor (2001). Nationalism, Globalization, and Orthodoxy: The Social Origins of Ethnic Conflict in the Balkans. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 101–113. ISBN 9780313319495.
  107. ^ Wynn, Martin (1984). Planning and Urban Growth in Southern Europe. Mansell. p. 6. ISBN 9780720116083.
  108. ^ Great Greek Encyclopedia, p. 239, "Διὰ τοῦ Συντάγματος τοῦ 1864 καθιερώθει ὡς πολίτευμα διὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα ἡ κοινοβουλευτικὴ μοναρχία, ἣ, ὅπως ἄλλως ἐχαρακτηρίσθη, ἡ «βασιλευομένη δημοκρατία» ἣ «δημοκρατικὴ βασιλεία»" [Through the Constitution of 1864, constitutional monarchy, or, as it had been described, "crowned democracy", or "democratic monarchy", was consolidated as the form of government in Greece].
  109. ^ "Constitutional History". hellenicparliament.gr. Hellenic Parliament. Retrieved 4 September 2018. The revolt marked the end of constitutional monarchy and the beginning of a crowned democracy with George-Christian-Wilhelm of the Schleswig-Holstein-Sønderburg-Glücksburg dynasty as monarch.
  110. ^ Greece Country Study Guide: Strategic Information and Developments. International Business Publications, US. 3 March 2012. p. 131. ISBN 978-1-4387-7447-3. In 1862, however, a revolt brought about important changes in the political system that led to the so-called "crowned democracy", i.e. a kingdom with a democratic government.[permanent dead link]
  111. ^ "Constitutional History". hellenicparliament.gr. Hellenic Parliament. Retrieved 4 September 2018.
  112. ^ "The Countdown". Archived from the original on 28 March 2012. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
  113. ^ Immig, Nicole (2009). "The "New" Muslim Minorities in Greece: Between Emigration and Political Participation, 1881–1886". Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs. 29 (4): 511–522. doi:10.1080/13602000903411408. S2CID 143664377.
  114. ^ "Quand la France et l'Allemagne mirent la Grèce sous tutelle… en 1898". Lemonde.fr. 16 July 2015. Retrieved 17 May 2022.
  115. ^ Livanios 1999, pp. 195–6, Koliopoulos & Veremis 2002, pp. 280–1, Kostopoulos 2011.
  116. ^ Mazower 1992, pp. 886, 890–3, 895–900, 904
  117. ^ Matthew J. Gibney, Randall Hansen. (2005). Immigration and Asylum: from 1900 to the Present, Volume 3. ABC-CLIO. p. 377. ISBN 978-1-57607-796-2. The total number of Christians who fled to Greece was probably in the region of I.2 million with the main wave occurring in 1922 before the signing of the convention. According to the official records of the Mixed Commission set up to monitor the movements, the Greeks who were transferred after 1923 numbered 189,916 and the number of Muslims expelled to Turkey was 355,635 (Ladas I932, 438–439), but using the same source Eddy 1931, 201 states that the post-1923 exchange involved 192,356 Greeks from Turkey and 354,647 Muslims from Greece.
  118. ^ Sofos, Spyros A.; Özkirimli, Umut (2008). Tormented by History: Nationalism in Greece and Turkey. C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd. pp. 116–117. ISBN 978-1-85065-899-3.
  119. ^ Schaller, Dominik J; Zimmerer, Jürgen (2008). "Late Ottoman genocides: the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and Young Turkish population and extermination policies – introduction". Journal of Genocide Research. 10 (1): 7–14. doi:10.1080/14623520801950820. S2CID 71515470.
  120. ^ "Genocide Resolution approved by Swedish Parliament". News.AM., containing both the IAGS and the Swedish resolutions.
  121. ^ Gaunt, David. Massacres, Resistance, Protectors: Muslim-Christian Relations in Eastern Anatolia during World War I. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2006.
  122. ^ Hedges, Chris (17 September 2000). "A Few Words in Greek Tell of a Homeland Lost". The New York Times.
  123. ^ Rummel, RJ (1998). "The Holocaust in Comparative and Historical Perspective". Idea Journal of Social Issues. 3 (2).
  124. ^ Annette Grossbongardt (28 November 2006). "Christians in Turkey: The Diaspora Welcomes the Pope". Der Spiegel.
  125. ^ Howland, Charles P. "Greece and Her Refugees", Foreign Affairs, The Council on Foreign Relations. July 1926.
  126. ^ "Newspaper of the Government – Issue 64". Government Newspaper of the Hellenic State. 25 March 1924. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
  127. ^ Hagen, Fleischer (2006). "Authoritarian Rule in Greece (1936–1974) and Its Heritage". Totalitarian and Authoritarian Regimes in Europe: Legacies and Lessons from the Twentieth Century. New York/Oxford: Berghahn. p. 237.
  128. ^ a b Fafalios and Hadjipateras, p. 157
  129. ^ "Greek history since World War I". Encyclopædia Britannica. 14 June 2023.
  130. ^ a b Mazower (2001), p. 155
  131. ^ Die Wehrmacht eine Bilanz. Guido Knopp, Mario Sporn (Taschenbuchausg., 1. Aufl ed.). München. 2009. ISBN 978-3-442-15561-3. OCLC 423851310.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  132. ^ Chomsky, Noam (1994). World Orders, Old And New. Pluto Press London.
  133. ^ Mazower, Mark. After the War was Over.
  134. ^ Baten, Jörg (2016). A History of the Global Economy. From 1500 to the Present. Cambridge University Press. p. 51, Figure 2.3 "Numeracy in selected Balkan and Caucasus countries", based on data from Crayen and Baten (2010). ISBN 978-1-107-50718-0.
  135. ^ Chourchoulis, Dionysios; Kourkouvelas, Lykourgos (26 November 2012). "Greek perceptions of NATO during the Cold War". Southeast European and Black Sea Studies. Informa UK Limited. 12 (4): 497–514. doi:10.1080/14683857.2012.741848. ISSN 1468-3857. S2CID 153476225.
  136. ^ "34. Cyprus (1960–present)". uca.edu. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
  137. ^ History, Editorial Consultant: Adam Hart-Davis. Dorling Kindersley. ISBN 978-1-85613-062-2.
  138. ^ "The ideal Greek everyman: Andreas Papandreou at 100". EUROPP. 5 February 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  139. ^ "Rediscovering the Greek voice in the Balkans | eKathimerini.com". www.ekathimerini.com. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  140. ^ "Greece". European Union. Retrieved 7 April 2007.
  141. ^ Baten, Jörg (2016). A History of the Global Economy. From 1500 to the Present. Cambridge University Press. p. 66. ISBN 978-1-107-50718-0.
  142. ^ Konstantinidou, Diana (28 June 2012). "Elections 2012: the Greek political system in flux?". Greece@LSE. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  143. ^ "Syriza's historic win puts Greece on collision course with Europe | Greece | The Guardian". amp.theguardian.com. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  144. ^ a b "Greece exits final bailout successfully: ESM". Reuters. 20 August 2018. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
  145. ^ "After the Prespa Agreement: Why North Macedonia's Accession to EU won't happen in the near future | Ústav mezinárodních vztahů – Expertise to impact". www.iir.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  146. ^ "New era as Mitsotakis is sworn in as Greece's new PM". www.aljazeera.com.
  147. ^ "Greece swears in first female president". www.aljazeera.com.
  148. ^ "Greek economy to slow in 2023 as energy costs, Ukraine war hit spending -OECD". Reuters. 10 January 2023. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  149. ^ Smith, Helena. "Greece becomes first Orthodox Christian country to legalise same-sex marriage". The Guardian. The Guardian. Retrieved 16 February 2024.
  150. ^ "The World Factbook – Central Intelligence Agency". cia.gov. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
  151. ^ "UNITED NATIONS GROUP OF EXPERTS ON GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES: Working Paper No. 48" (PDF). UN. 2006. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 May 2011. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  152. ^ Chrēstos G. Kollias; Gülay Günlük-Şenesen; Gülden Ayman (2003). Greece and Turkey in the 21st Century: Conflict Or Cooperation: a Political Economy Perspective. Nova Publishers. p. 10. ISBN 978-1-59033-753-0. Retrieved 12 April 2013. Greece's Strategic Position in the Balkans And Eastern Mediterranean Greece is located at the crossroads of three continents (Europe, Asia and Africa). It is an integral part of the Balkans (where it is the only country that is a member of the ...)
  153. ^ Christina Bratt Paulston; Scott F. Kiesling; Elizabeth S. Rangel (13 February 2012). The Handbook of Intercultural Discourse and Communication. John Wiley & Sons. p. 292. ISBN 978-1-4051-6272-2. Retrieved 12 April 2013. Introduction Greece and Turkey are situated at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa, and their inhabitants have had a long history of cultural interaction even though their languages are neither genetically nor typologically ...
  154. ^ Caralampo Focas (2004). Transport Issues And Problems in Southeastern Europe. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 114. ISBN 978-0-7546-1970-3. Retrieved 12 April 2013. Greece itself shows a special geopolitical importance as it is situated at the crossroads of three continents – Europe, Asia and Africa – and can be therefore considered as a natural bridge between Europe and the Middle East
  155. ^ Centre for Economic Policy Research (Great Britain) (2005). European Migration: What Do We Know?. Oxford University Press. p. 337. ISBN 978-0-19-925735-5. Introduction Migration movements from and to, or via Greece, are an age-old phenomenon. Situated at the crossroads of three continents (Europe, Asia, and Africa), Greece has been, at different historical times, both a labour...
  156. ^ Sladjana Petkovic; Howard Williamson (21 July 2015). Youth policy in Greece: Council of Europe international review. Council of Europe. p. 48. ISBN 978-92-871-8181-7. As reports from the GSY (2007) show, young people have the opportunity to become acquainted with many diverse civilisations and cultures, through Greece's strategic location at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Accordingly, many ...
  157. ^ "The World Fact Book – Field Listing :: Coastline". Central Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original on 13 June 2009. Retrieved 17 March 2011.
  158. ^ "Statistical Yearbook of Greece 2009 & 2010" (PDF). Hellenic Statistical Authority. p. 27. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 December 2013.
  159. ^ "Olympus the First National Park". Management Agency of Olympus National Park. 2008. Archived from the original on 14 January 2017. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  160. ^ Guinness World Records 2005: Special 50th Anniversary Edition. Guinness World Records. 2004. p. 52. ISBN 978-1-892051-22-6.
  161. ^ Sofianos, D.Z.: "Metéora". Holy Monastery of Great Meteoro, 1991.
  162. ^ Marker, Sherry; Bowman, John; Kerasiotis, Peter; Sarna, Heidi (2010). Frommer's Greek Islands. John Wiley & Sons. p. 12. ISBN 978-0-470-52664-4.
  163. ^ "The Climate of Greece". Hellenic National Meteorological Service. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  164. ^ "Climate Atlas of Greece" (PDF). Hellenic National Meteorological Service. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 September 2017. Retrieved 30 December 2019.
  165. ^ "Mountain Weather in Greece : Articles : SummitPost". www.summitpost.org. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
  166. ^ "Greece – Climate". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  167. ^ Dinerstein, Eric; Olson, David; Joshi, Anup; Vynne, Carly; Burgess, Neil D.; Wikramanayake, Eric; Hahn, Nathan; Palminteri, Suzanne; Hedao, Prashant; Noss, Reed; Hansen, Matt; Locke, Harvey; Ellis, Erle C; Jones, Benjamin; Barber, Charles Victor; Hayes, Randy; Kormos, Cyril; Martin, Vance; Crist, Eileen; Sechrest, Wes; Price, Lori; Baillie, Jonathan E. M.; Weeden, Don; Suckling, Kierán; Davis, Crystal; Sizer, Nigel; Moore, Rebecca; Thau, David; Birch, Tanya; Potapov, Peter; Turubanova, Svetlana; Tyukavina, Alexandra; de Souza, Nadia; Pintea, Lilian; Brito, José C.; Llewellyn, Othman A.; Miller, Anthony G.; Patzelt, Annette; Ghazanfar, Shahina A.; Timberlake, Jonathan; Klöser, Heinz; Shennan-Farpón, Yara; Kindt, Roeland; Lillesø, Jens-Peter Barnekow; van Breugel, Paulo; Graudal, Lars; Voge, Maianna; Al-Shammari, Khalaf F.; Saleem, Muhammad (2017). "An Ecoregion-Based Approach to Protecting Half the Terrestrial Realm". BioScience. 67 (6): 534–545. doi:10.1093/biosci/bix014. ISSN 0006-3568. PMC 5451287. PMID 28608869.
  168. ^ Grantham, H. S.; Duncan, A.; Evans, T. D.; Jones, K. R.; Beyer, H. L.; Schuster, R.; Walston, J.; Ray, J. C.; Robinson, J. G.; Callow, M.; Clements, T.; Costa, H. M.; DeGemmis, A.; Elsen, P. R.; Ervin, J.; Franco, P.; Goldman, E.; Goetz, S.; Hansen, A.; Hofsvang, E.; Jantz, P.; Jupiter, S.; Kang, A.; Langhammer, P.; Laurance, W. F.; Lieberman, S.; Linkie, M.; Malhi, Y.; Maxwell, S.; Mendez, M.; Mittermeier, R.; Murray, N. J.; Possingham, H.; Radachowsky, J.; Saatchi, S.; Samper, C.; Silverman, J.; Shapiro, A.; Strassburg, B.; Stevens, T.; Stokes, E.; Taylor, R.; Tear, T.; Tizard, R.; Venter, O.; Visconti, P.; Wang, S.; Watson, J. E. M. (2020). "Anthropogenic modification of forests means only 40% of remaining forests have high ecosystem integrity – Supplementary Material". Nature Communications. 11 (1): 5978. Bibcode:2020NatCo..11.5978G. doi:10.1038/s41467-020-19493-3. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 7723057. PMID 33293507.
  169. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Syntagma" (PDF) (in Greek). Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 September 2007. Retrieved 2 August 2009.
  170. ^ Dagtoglou 1991, p. 21.
  171. ^ Venizelos 2002, pp. 131–32, 165–72.
  172. ^ Mavrias 2002, pp. 477–78, 486–87
  173. ^ Εφημερίδα της Κυβερνήσεως τη Ελληνικής Δημοκρατίας [Government Gazette of the Hellenic Republic] (in Greek), vol. A, Athens: National Publishing House, 27 July 2016, retrieved 12 February 2019
  174. ^ "OECD Better Life Index -Greece". w.oecdbetterlifeindex.org. OECD. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
  175. ^ Pappas 2003, pp. 90–114
  176. ^ "Πολιτική Συγκυρία & Διακυβέρνηση" [Political climate & governance] (PDF). GR: VPRC. 22 December 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 22 December 2011.
  177. ^ "Πολιτική Συγκυρία & Διακυβέρνηση" [Political conjuncture & governance] (PDF). VPRC. GR. 26 January 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
  178. ^ "Πανελλαδικη Ερευνα για την ET3" (PDF). To The Point. GR. 29 January 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
  179. ^ "Ερευνα της Pulse RC για το Ποντικι" (PDF). GR: Pulse RC. 2 February 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2012 – via Ek logika.
  180. ^ "Πολιτικό Βαρόμετρο 99" [Political barometer] (PDF). Public Issue. Ek logika. 7 February 2012. Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 February 2012. Retrieved 7 February 2011.
  181. ^ "Lucas Papademos named as new Greek prime minister". BBC News. 10 November 2011. Retrieved 10 November 2011.
  182. ^ "Ousted New Democracy MP starts own party". Ekathimerini. 24 February 2012.
  183. ^ "June 2012 Greek legislative election" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 June 2015. Retrieved 19 May 2022.
  184. ^ Katsourides, Yiannos (22 September 2016). Radical Left Parties in Government: The Cases of SYRIZA and AKEL. Springer. p. 94. ISBN 9781137588418.
  185. ^ "Greece election: Anti-austerity Syriza wins election". BBC News. 26 January 2015.
  186. ^ GMT, Graeme Wearden until 4 15 pm; Tran (now), Mark (26 January 2015). "Alexis Tsipras sworn in as new Greek prime minister – as it happened". The Guardian – via www.theguardian.com.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  187. ^ K, D. "Vassiliki Thanou-Christophilou became Greece's first female Prime Minister | Economy Watch". Archived from the original on 19 February 2022. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  188. ^ "Greece election: Alexis Tsipras hails 'victory of the people'". BBC News. 21 September 2015.
  189. ^ "Greek Finance Minister Tsakalotos takes key role in Tsipras' new cabinet | DW | 23.09.2015". DW.COM.
  190. ^ "Greek elections: landslide victory for centre-right New Democracy party". the Guardian. 7 July 2019.
  191. ^ "New era as Mitsotakis is sworn in as Greece's new PM". www.aljazeera.com.
  192. ^ Αρχές του Εξωτερικού [Missions Abroad] (in Greek). Hellenic Republic Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Archived from the original on 21 May 2011. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
  193. ^ a b c d e "Mission and Competences". Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Retrieved 23 February 2012.
  194. ^ "france 24 – Greece hails 'special relationship' with France on Hollande visit – France 24". France 24. 22 October 2015.
  195. ^ "Pavlopoulos and Mattarella confirm the longstanding Greek-Italian friendship (Παυλόπουλος και Ματαρέλα επιβεβαίωσαν τη μακρόχρονη ελληνοϊταλική φιλία)". documentonews.gr. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  196. ^ "Pavlopoulos – Mattarella: Strong friendship and a common vision between Greece and Italy (Παυλόπουλος – Ματαρέλα: Δυνατή φιλία και κοινή οπτική μεταξύ Ελλάδας και Ιταλίας)". news247.gr. 17 January 2017. Archived from the original on 6 March 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
  197. ^ "Greece-Italy alliance (Ελλάδα-Ιταλία συμμαχία)". makthes.gr. Archived from the original on 6 March 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
  198. ^ "A medal of honor for the Greek-Italian relations (Ενα παράσημο για τις ελληνοϊταλικές σχέσεις)". enet.gr. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
  199. ^ "How Greece Became One of America's—and Israel's—Closest Allies". washingtonmonthly.com. 18 June 2019. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
  200. ^ "Foreign Policy Issues". Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Retrieved 23 February 2012.
  201. ^ "Turkey threatens Greece over disputed Mediterranean territorial claims". Deutsche Welle. 5 September 2020.
  202. ^ "Regional Policy". Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Retrieved 23 February 2012.
  203. ^ Thanos Veremēs (1997)The Military in Greek Politics "Black Rose Books"
  204. ^ Agency, C.I. (2013). The CIA World Factbook 2014. Skyhorse. p. 991. ISBN 978-1-62873-451-5. Retrieved 14 February 2023.
  205. ^ "The World Factbook – Greece". Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  206. ^ Dempsey, Judy. "EU and NATO Look on at Greece's Pampered Armed Forces". Carnegie Europe. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  207. ^ Law 1481/1 October 1984, Official Journal of the Hellenic Republic, A-152
  208. ^ "Σύνταγμα της Ελληνικής Δημοκρατίας" (PDF). Hellenicparliament.gr. 1927. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 July 2011. Retrieved 21 May 2022.
  209. ^ Draper, Robert (December 2009). "Mount Athos". National Geographic. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 21 May 2022.
  210. ^ "Census 2021 GR" (PDF) (Press release). Hellenic Statistical Authority. 19 July 2022. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
  211. ^ "Regional GDP per capita ranged from 29% to 611% of the EU average in 2016". Eurostat. 2016. Retrieved 5 October 2018.
  212. ^ "Gross domestic product 2013". World Bank. 14 February 2015. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  213. ^ "Gross domestic product 2013, PPP". World Bank. 14 February 2015. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  214. ^ "Gross domestic product at market prices (tec00001)". Eurostat. Archived from the original on 14 August 2012. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
  215. ^ "World Economic Outlook" (PDF). International Monetary Fund. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 October 2011. Retrieved 23 February 2012.
  216. ^ "Groups and Aggregates Information". World Economic Outlook Database. International Monetary Fund. April 2013. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
  217. ^ "Appendix B: International Organizations and Groups". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original on 13 June 2007. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
  218. ^ a b "Country and Lending Groups – Data". World Bank. Archived from the original on 18 March 2011. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
  219. ^ "WEO Groups and Aggregates Information". World Economic Outlook Database. Washington, D.C.: International Monetary Fund. 8 April 2014. Retrieved 2 August 2014.
  220. ^ "Country and Lending Groups". Washington, D.C.: World Bank. Retrieved 2 August 2014.
  221. ^ The world's best countries: 2010 index Archived 28 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Newsweek. Accessed on line 15 August 2010.
  222. ^ "The lottery of life". The Economist. London. 21 November 2012. Retrieved 2 August 2014.
  223. ^ "Table 1: Human Development Index and its components". Human Development Report 2014. New York: United Nations Development Programme. 24 July 2014. Archived from the original on 20 November 2015. Retrieved 2 August 2014.
  224. ^ "Gross Added Value by Industry (A17; Years 2000–2011)". Piraeus: Hellenic Statistical Authority. Archived from the original on 13 November 2012. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
  225. ^ a b c "UNWTO World Tourism Barometer" (PDF). United Nations World Tourism Organization. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 September 2015. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
  226. ^ a b c d "Review of Maritime Transport 2011" (PDF). United Nations. 2011. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 December 2011. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
  227. ^ "Euro area unemployment at 7.3%". Eurostat. Archived from the original on 2 December 2021.
  228. ^ a b Likmeta, Besar; BIRN, Gjirokastra (11 July 2012). "Albania Eyes New Markets as Greek Crisis Hits Home Businesses affected by the economic downturn in Greece are seeking new markets in the West, hoping that a cheap and qualified labour force will draw fresh clients". Balkan Insight. Retrieved 18 April 2014. Greece is the Balkan region's largest economy and has been an important investor in Southeast Europe over the past decade
  229. ^ a b Keridis, Dimitris (3 March 2006). "Greece and the Balkans: From Stabilization to Growth" (lecture). Montreal, QC, Canada: Hellenic Studies Unit at Concordia University. Greece has a larger economy than all the Balkan countries combined. Greece is also an important regional investor
  230. ^ Nicholas Economides. "The Greek and EU Crisis for non-economists" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 June 2013. Largest economy than all rest of Balkans combined
  231. ^ a b Imogen Bell (2002). Central and South-Eastern Europe: 2003. Routledge. p. 282. ISBN 978-1-85743-136-0. Retrieved 27 May 2013. show that Greece has become the largest investor into Macedonia (FYRM), while Greek companies such as OTE have also developed strong presences in countries of the former Yugoslavia and other Balkan countries.
  232. ^ Mustafa Aydin; Kostas Ifantis (28 February 2004). Turkish-Greek Relations: The Security Dilemma in the Aegean. Taylor & Francis. pp. 266–267. ISBN 978-0-203-50191-7. Retrieved 27 May 2013. second largest investor of foreign capital in Albania, and the third largest foreign investor in Bulgaria. Greece is the most important trading partner of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
  233. ^ Wayne C. Thompson (9 August 2012). Western Europe 2012. Stryker Post. p. 283. ISBN 978-1-61048-898-3. Retrieved 27 May 2013. Greeks are already among the three largest investors in Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia, and overall Greek investment in the ... Its banking sector represents 16% of banking activities in the region, and Greek banks open a new branch in a Balkan country almost weekly.
  234. ^ "Fixed Euro conversion rates". European Central Bank. Retrieved 23 February 2012.
  235. ^ a b c "2010–2018 Greek Debt Crisis and Greece's Past: Myths, Popular Notions and Implications". Academia.edu. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
  236. ^ a b "Is the Greek financial crisis over at last?". The Economist. Retrieved 26 December 2022.
  237. ^ "Greece is far from the EU's only joker". Newsweek. 19 February 2010. Retrieved 16 May 2011.
  238. ^ "How Europe's governments have enronized their debts". Euromoney. September 2005. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  239. ^ a b "Greece Paid Goldman $300 Million To Help It Hide Its Ballooning Debts". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 20 April 2010. Retrieved 6 May 2010.
  240. ^ LOUISE STORY; LANDON THOMAS Jr; NELSON D. SCHWARTZ (13 February 2010). "Global Business: Wall St. Helped to Mask Debt Fueling Europe's Crisis". The New York Times. In dozens of deals across the Continent, banks provided cash upfront in return for government payments in the future, with those liabilities then left off the books. Greece, for example, traded away the rights to airport fees and lottery proceeds in years to come.
  241. ^ Nicholas Dunbar; Elisa Martinuzzi (5 March 2012). "Goldman Secret Greece Loan Shows Two Sinners as Client Unravels". Bloomberg L.P. Greece actually executed the swap transactions to reduce its debt-to-gross-domestic-product ratio because all member states were required by the Maastricht Treaty to show an improvement in their public finances," Laffan said in an e-mail. "The swaps were one of several techniques that many European governments used to meet the terms of the treaty."
  242. ^ Elena Moya (16 February 2010). "Banks that inflated Greek debt should be investigated, EU urges". The Guardian. "These instruments were not invented by Greece, nor did investment banks discover them just for Greece," said Christophoros Sardelis, who was chief of Greece's debt management agency when the contracts were conducted with Goldman Sachs.Such contracts were also used by other European countries until Eurostat, the EU's statistic agency, stopped accepting them later in the decade. Eurostat has also asked Athens to clarify the contracts.
  243. ^ Beat Balzli (8 February 2010). "Greek Debt Crisis: How Goldman Sachs Helped Greece to Mask its True Debt". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 29 October 2013. This credit disguised as a swap didn't show up in the Greek debt statistics. Eurostat's reporting rules don't comprehensively record transactions involving financial derivatives. "The Maastricht rules can be circumvented quite legally through swaps," says a German derivatives dealer. In previous years, Italy used a similar trick to mask its true debt with the help of a different US bank.
  244. ^ Story, Louise; Thomas Jr, Landon; Schwartz, Nelson D. (14 February 2010). "Wall St. Helped To Mask Debt Fueling Europe's Crisis". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 May 2010.
  245. ^ "Country notes: Greece". Restoring public finances (PDF). OECD. 2011. p. 119.
  246. ^ a b c "Eurostat (Government debt data)". Eurostat. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
  247. ^ "Papandreou Faces Bond Rout as Budget Worsens, Workers Strike". Bloomberg L.P. 22 April 2010. Archived from the original on 23 June 2011. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
  248. ^ Staff (19 February 2010). "Britain's Deficit Third Worst in the World, Table". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 5 August 2011.
  249. ^ Melander, Ingrid; Papchristou, Harry (5 November 2009). "Greek Debt To Reach 120.8 Pct of GDP in '10 – Draft". Reuters. Retrieved 5 August 2011.
  250. ^ Thesing, Gabi; Krause-Jackson, Flavia (3 May 2010). "Greece Faces 'Unprecedented' Cuts as $159B Rescue Nears". Bloomberg. Retrieved 6 May 2010.
  251. ^ Kerin Hope (2 May 2010). "EU Puts Positive Spin on Greek Rescue". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 10 December 2022. Retrieved 6 May 2010.
  252. ^ Newman, Rick (3 November 2011). "Lessons for Congress From the Chaos in Greece". US News. Archived from the original on 4 November 2011. Retrieved 3 November 2011.
  253. ^ a b "Q&A: Greek debt". BBC News Online. Retrieved 14 May 2012.
  254. ^ Bensasson, Marcus (4 November 2014). "Greece exited recession in second quarter, says EU Commission". Kathimerini. Retrieved 4 November 2014.
  255. ^ "Greek growth rates put Germany, eurozone to shame". MarketWatch. 14 November 2014. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
  256. ^ "The Greek debt crisis story in numbers". BBC News. 10 July 2015. Retrieved 26 December 2022.
  257. ^ "IMF 'to admit mistakes' in handling Greek debt crisis and bailout (The Guardian)". 5 June 2013. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  258. ^ "For hard-hit Greeks, IMF mea culpa comes too late (Reuters)". 6 June 2013. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  259. ^ "IMF admits disastrous love affair with the euro and apologises for the immolation of Greece (The Telegraph)". 29 July 2016. Archived from the original on 10 January 2022. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  260. ^ "Should other Eurozone programme countries worry about a reduced Greek primary surplus target?". 25 February 2015. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
  261. ^ "Why Three Rescues Didn't Solve Greece's Debt Problem (Bloomberg)". 18 June 2018. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  262. ^ "Will the IMF Apologize to Greece ? (WSJ)". 15 June 2014. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  263. ^ "Debt deal exceeded market expectations, Tsipras says (Kathimerini)". 22 June 2018. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  264. ^ "Pavlopoulos to Moscovici: the mistakes that led to painful sacrifices for the Greek people should not be repeated (Kathimerini, in Greek))". 3 July 2018. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  265. ^ "Tsipras says Greece won't go back to old spending ways". 27 June 2018. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  266. ^ "Eurostat (2017 Government debt data)". Eurostat. 24 April 2018. Archived from the original on 28 April 2018. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
  267. ^ a b c "Crops products (excluding fruits and vegetables) (annual data)". Eurostat. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
  268. ^ a b c d e "Fruits and vegetables (annual data)". Eurostat. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
  269. ^ a b c d e "Public Power Corporation S.A. Financial Report (January 1, 2010 – December 31, 2010)" (PDF). Public Power Corporation of Greece. 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
  270. ^ a b "Energy". Invest in Greece Agency. Archived from the original on 20 August 2011. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
  271. ^ a b c "Share of renewable energy in gross final energy consumption %". Eurostat. 2008. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
  272. ^ a b "Sustainable development in the European Union" (PDF). Eurostat. 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 August 2011. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
  273. ^ "Renewable energy – Targets by 2020". Eurostat. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
  274. ^ "Πορίσματα της Ομάδας Εργασίας της Επιτροπής Ενέργειας της Ακαδημίας Αθηνών επί του θέματος "Πυρηνική Ενέργεια και Ενεργειακές Ανάγκες της Ελλάδος"" (PDF). Academy of Athens. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 November 2011. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
  275. ^ "Κορυφαία ναυτιλιακή χώρα στον κόσμο παραμένει η Ελλάδα – Το 21% του παγκόσμιου στόλου με 5.514 πλοία" [Greece remains the world's leading shipping country – 21% of the world fleet with 5,514 ships]. NewMoney.gr (in Greek). 20 May 2022. Retrieved 9 April 2023.
  276. ^ a b Polemis, Spyros M. "The History of Greek Shipping". greece.org. Retrieved 9 April 2007.
  277. ^ Press release (11 May 2006). "Greek Shipping Is Modernized To Remain a Global Leader and Expand Its Contribution to the Greek Economy". National Bank of Greece. Archived from the original on 31 August 2007. Retrieved 8 April 2007.
  278. ^ a b "Review of Maritime Transport 2010" (PDF). United Nations. 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 August 2011. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  279. ^ "Review of Maritime Transport 2006" (PDF). United Nations. 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 July 2011. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  280. ^ "Top 15 Ranking of World Merchant Fleet by Country of Owner, Year-End 2006". U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics. 2001. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  281. ^ a b Engber, Daniel (17 August 2005). "So Many Greek Shipping Magnates..." Slate. Retrieved 5 August 2011.
  282. ^ Jill Dubois; Xenia Skoura; Olga Gratsaniti (2003). Greece. Marshall Cavendish. p. 42. ISBN 978-0-7614-1499-5. Retrieved 14 April 2013. Greek ships make up 70 percent of the European Union's total merchant fleet. Greece has a large shipbuilding and ship refitting industry. Its six shipyards near Piraeus are among the biggest in Europe. As Greek ships primarily transport ...
  283. ^ "Mega yacht owners choose Greece for construction and maintenance, Ilias Bellos | Kathimerini". www.ekathimerini.com.
  284. ^ "2011 World's Best Awards". Travel+Leisure. Archived from the original on 12 July 2011. Retrieved 16 July 2011.
  285. ^ "World's Best Islands". BBC. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
  286. ^ Chloe Wynne. "Greek tourism sector growing over three times faster than wider economy says new WTTC research". WTTC. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
  287. ^ "International Tourism – 2023 starts on a strong note with the Middle East recovering 2019 levels in the first quarter" (PDF). webunwto.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 August 2023.
  288. ^ "Tourism Ministry Statistics Impress". 30 January 2019. Retrieved 24 September 2022.
  289. ^ ""Έσπασε τα κοντέρ" ο ελληνικός τουρισμός το 2016". Newsbeast.gr. 20 January 2017. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
  290. ^ a b c "Nights spent in tourist accommodation establishments – regional – annual data". Eurostat. 2010. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  291. ^ "Tourism" (PDF). Eurostat. 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 May 2011. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  292. ^ a b 02. Αφίξεις αλλοδαπών από το εξωτερικό κατά υπηκοότητα και μέσο ταξιδίου ( Δεκέμβριος 2007 ) [02. Arrivals of foreigners from abroad by nationality and means of travel (December 2007)] (PDF) (in Greek). Hellenic National Statistics Agency. December 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 November 2010. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  293. ^ "Ultimate party cities". Lonely Planet. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  294. ^ a b "World's Best Awards – Islands". Travel + Leisure. Archived from the original on 12 July 2011. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  295. ^ a b "Greece Properties inscribed on the World Heritage List (17)". Unesco.
  296. ^ "Αυτοκινητόδρομοι: Δίκτυο 2.500 χιλιόμετρα μέχρι το 2017 - ypodomes.com". Archived from the original on 25 June 2018. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
  297. ^ Καραγιάννης, Νίκος (4 August 2023). "ΒΟΑΚ: Εντός του 2023 η ανάδειξη αναδόχου για το οδικό τμήμα Χανιά-Ηράκλειο". Ypodomes.com (in Greek). Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  298. ^ ERGOSE – Investment Program, 30 March 2016
  299. ^ "Maritime passenger statistics". European Commission. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  300. ^ "Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority - Our Airports". Υπηρεσία Πολιτικής Αεροπορίας - Αρχική. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  301. ^ "Athens International Airport "El.Venizelos" Facts & Figures". aia.gr. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  302. ^ Το 20% του πληθυσμού πλησιάζει η διείσδυση της ευρυζωνικότητας στην Ελλάδα [20% of the population approaching broadband penetration in Greece] (in Greek). in.gr. 2 May 2011. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
  303. ^ a b "Το 81,8 των Ελληνων σερφαρει στο ιντερνετ" [81.8% of Greeks surf the Internet]. Kathimerini.gr. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
  304. ^ "Finding Free WiFi Internet in the Greek Islands". Open Journey. 29 June 2011. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
  305. ^ "ICT Development Index (IDI), 2010 and 2008" (PDF). The United Nations Telecommunication Union|International Telecommunication Union. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 February 2010. Retrieved 22 July 2012. p. 15.
  306. ^ "R&D spending in Greece reached a record high in 2017". www.greeknewsagenda.gr. 26 November 2018. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  307. ^ Dutta, Soumitra; Lanvin, Bruno; Wunsch-Vincent, Sacha; León, Lorena Rivera; World Intellectual Property Organization (4 November 2023). Global Innovation Index 2023 (15th ed.). World Intellectual Property Organization. doi:10.34667/tind.46596. ISBN 9789280534320. Retrieved 28 October 2023 – via www.wipo.int.
  308. ^ a b "Greece becomes 16th ESA Member State". ESA. 22 March 2005. Retrieved 15 May 2012.
  309. ^ "National Center for Scientific Research Demokritos (NCSR Demokritos)". EuroCC@Greece. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
  310. ^ "School enrollment, tertiary (% gross) – Country Ranking". indexmundi.com. Index Mundi. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  311. ^ "University reforms in Greece face student protests". The Economist. 6 July 2006. Archived from the original on 7 December 2008. Retrieved 19 December 2008.
  312. ^ "Greek scientific publications increase their impact". greeknewsagenda.gr. 30 October 2018. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
  313. ^ "Μόνιμος Πληθυσμός – ELSTAT". www.statistics.gr. Archived from the original on 30 March 2023. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
  314. ^ "Population on 1 January by age and sex". Eurostat. 2023. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
  315. ^ "The World Factbook". Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  316. ^ Max Roser (2014), "Total Fertility Rate around the world over the last centuries", Our World in Data, Gapminder Foundation, archived from the original on 7 August 2018, retrieved 7 May 2019
  317. ^ "World Factbook EUROPE : GREECE", The World Factbook, 12 July 2018
  318. ^ a b c "Greece in Numbers" (PDF). Hellenic Statistical Authority. 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 July 2004. Retrieved 14 December 2007.
  319. ^ Hope, Kerin (16 August 2018). "Greece brain drain hampers recovery from economic crisis". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 10 December 2022. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  320. ^ Harry Coccossis; Yannis Psycharis (2008). Regional analysis and policy: the Greek experience. Springer. ISBN 9783790820867. Retrieved 19 August 2011.
  321. ^ "Athena 2001 Census". National Statistical Service of Greece. Archived from the original on 17 January 2008. Retrieved 14 December 2007.
  322. ^ https://www.statistics.gr/documents/20181/17286366/APOF_APOT_MON_DHM_KOIN.pdf/41ae8e6c-5860-b58e-84f7-b64f9bc53ec4
  323. ^ https://www.statistics.gr/documents/20181/17286366/APOF_APOT_MON_DHM_KOIN.pdf/41ae8e6c-5860-b58e-84f7-b64f9bc53ec4
  324. ^ https://www.statistics.gr/documents/20181/17286366/APOF_APOT_MON_DHM_KOIN.pdf/41ae8e6c-5860-b58e-84f7-b64f9bc53ec4
  325. ^ https://www.statistics.gr/documents/20181/17286366/APOF_APOT_MON_DHM_KOIN.pdf/41ae8e6c-5860-b58e-84f7-b64f9bc53ec4
  326. ^ https://www.statistics.gr/documents/20181/17286366/APOF_APOT_MON_DHM_KOIN.pdf/41ae8e6c-5860-b58e-84f7-b64f9bc53ec4
  327. ^ "The Constitution of Greece". Hellenic Resources Network.
  328. ^ a b c d e f "Greece". International Religious Freedom Report 2007. United States Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. 15 September 2006. Retrieved 14 April 2007.
  329. ^ "Special Eurobarometer, biotechnology; Fieldwork: January–February 2010" (PDF). October 2010. p. 204. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 December 2010.
  330. ^ "Dagens ESS: Religiøsitet og kirkebesøk" [Today ESS: Religiosity and church visits] (in Norwegian). Forskning. 11 October 2005. Retrieved 11 September 2010.
  331. ^ a b c d e Ktistakis, Ioannis; Sitaropoulos, Nicholas (22 June 2004). "Executive Summary Discrimination on the Grounds of Religion and Belief Greece" (PDF). European Commission. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 June 2007. Retrieved 14 April 2007.
  332. ^ "Greece". United States Department of State. 26 August 2005. Retrieved 6 January 2009.
  333. ^ "Turkey – Population". Countrystudies.us. US: Library of Congress.
  334. ^ The Guardian, Thessaloniki's Jews: 'We can't let this be forgotten; if it's forgotten, it will die'
  335. ^ Leustean, Lucian N. (2014). "Eastern Christianity and Politics in the Twenty-First Century: an Overview" in Lucian N. Leustean (editor), Eastern Christianity and Politics in the Twenty-First Century, pp. 1–20. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-68490-3, pp 8–9.
  336. ^ "Synod of Apostolic Church of Christ". Pentecost. Archived from the original on 16 December 2004. Retrieved 22 March 2009.
  337. ^ "Christianity Ministries" (in Greek). christianity.gr. Archived from the original on 30 May 2005. Retrieved 22 March 2009.
  338. ^ Ελευθέρα Αποστολική Εκκλησία της Πεντηκοστής [Free Apostolic Church of Pentecost] (in Greek). egolpio.com. Archived from the original on 2 December 2008. Retrieved 22 March 2009.
  339. ^ "2014 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses" (PDF). Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc. 2014. pp. 178–187. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 December 2014. Retrieved 31 December 2014.
  340. ^ "Hellenism legally recognized as religion in Greece". wildhunt.org. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
  341. ^ "Newstatesman – The ancient Gods of Greece are not extinct". Archived from the original on 2 December 2008.
  342. ^ "Modern Athenians fight for the right to worship the ancient Greek gods". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 1 September 2004. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
  343. ^ "Helena Smith on why some Greeks are worshipping the ancient gods". The Guardian. London.
  344. ^ "Languages of Greece". Ethnologue. Summer institute of Linguistics. Retrieved 19 December 2010.
  345. ^ "Euromosaic – Le [slavo]macédonien / bulgare en Grèce". www.uoc.edu. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  346. ^ "Euromosaic – L'arvanite / albanais en Grèce". www.uoc.edu. Archived from the original on 2 July 2019. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  347. ^ "Euromosaic – Le valaque (aromoune, aroumane) en Grèce". www.uoc.edu. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  348. ^ "Turkish The Turkish language in Education in Greece" (PDF). mercator-research.eu. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 February 2019.
  349. ^ a b Trudgill 2000.
  350. ^ "Minority Rights Group, Greece, Report about Compliance with the Principles of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (along guidelines for state reports according to Article 25.1 of the Convention)". Greek Helsinki Monitor. 8 September 1999. Archived from the original on 11 January 2012. Retrieved 27 December 2011.
  351. ^ Roudometof, Victor; Robertson, Roland (2001). Nationalism, Globalization, and Orthodoxy – The Social Origins of Ethnic Conflict in the Balkans. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood. p. 186. ISBN 978-0-313-31949-5.
  352. ^ a b c Triandafyllidou, Anna. "Migration and Migration Policy in Greece" Archived 23 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Critical Review and Policy Recommendations. Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy. No. 3, April 2009
  353. ^ Kasimis, Charalambos; Kassimi, Chryssa (June 2004). "Greece: A History of Migration". Migration Information Source.
  354. ^ Managing Migration: The Promise of Cooperation. By Philip L. Martin, Susan Forbes Martin, Patrick Weil
  355. ^ "Announcement of the demographic and social characteristics of the Resident Population of Greece according to the 2011 Population" (PDF) (Press release). Greek National Statistics Agency. 23 August 2013. p. 9. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 December 2013. Retrieved 3 June 2014.
  356. ^ "In crisis, Greece rounds up immigrants – Associated Press". The Guardian. London. 22 August 2012. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  357. ^ "Refugees/Migrants Emergency Response – Mediterranean, Greece". UNHCR. 13 February 2016. Archived from the original on 17 February 2016. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  358. ^ "Migrant crisis: Migration to Europe explained in seven charts". BBC News. 4 March 2016. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
  359. ^ Simpson, John (24 December 2015). "This migrant crisis is different from all others". BBC News. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
  360. ^ a b "Jerome Bump, University of Constantinople". The Origin of Universities. University of Texas at Austin. Archived from the original on 20 February 2009. Retrieved 19 December 2008.
  361. ^ Tatakes, Vasileios N.; Moutafakis, Nicholas J. (2003). Byzantine Philosophy. Hackett Publishing. p. 189. ISBN 978-0-87220-563-5.
  362. ^ "OECD Better Life Index – Greece". oecdbetterlifeindex.org. OECD. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
  363. ^ "Health Systems: Improving Performance" (PDF). World Health Report. World Health Organization. 2000. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 September 2004. Retrieved 22 July 2011.
  364. ^ "State of the World's Mothers 2013". Save the Children. 2013. Retrieved 7 May 2013.
  365. ^ Προταση Λειτουργικων Αναδιαταξεων Μοναδων Υγειασ Εσυ [Proposals for functional rearrangements of the NHS health units] (in Greek). Ethnos. 1 July 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 May 2012. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
  366. ^ Hellenic Statistical Authority, 2018
  367. ^ a b c d e f "How Does Greece Compare" (PDF). Health Data. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 September 2009. Retrieved 22 July 2011.
  368. ^ a b Economou C, Kaitelidou D, Karanikolos M, Maresso A. Greece: Health system review. Health Systems in Transition, 2017; 19(5):1–192.
  369. ^ "The Island Where People Live Longer". NPR. 2 May 2009. Retrieved 6 April 2013. Buettner and a team of demographers work with census data to identify blue zones around the world. They found Icaria had the highest percentage of 90-year-olds anywhere on the planet — nearly 1 out of 3 people make it to their 90s.
  370. ^ DAN BUETTNER (24 October 2012). "The Island Where People Forget to Die". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2 January 2022. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
  371. ^ "Perceived Health Status". Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Retrieved 22 July 2011.
  372. ^ Mazlish, Bruce. Civilization And Its Contents. Stanford University Press, 2004. p. 3. Web. 25 June 2012.
  373. ^ William J. Broad (2007). The Oracle: Ancient Delphi and the Science Behind Its Lost Secrets. Penguin Publishing Group. p. 120. ISBN 978-0-14-303859-7. In 1979, a friend of de Boer's invited him to join a team of scientists that was going to Greece to assess the suitability of the ... But the idea of learning more about Greece – the cradle of Western civilization, a fresh example of tectonic forces at ...
  374. ^ Myres, John. Herodotus, Father of History. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1953. Web. 25 June 2012.
  375. ^ Copleston, Frederick. History of Philosophy, Volume 1.
  376. ^ Thomas Heath (1981). A History of Greek Mathematics. Courier Dover Publications. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-486-24073-2. Retrieved 19 August 2013.
  377. ^ Krentz, Peter (2012). "Greece, Ancient". World Book Advanced. World Book.
  378. ^ "Egypt the Birthplace of Greek Decorative Art". digital.library.upenn.edu. Archived from the original on 15 September 2018. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
  379. ^ Harris, Cyril M. (1977). Illustrated Dictionary of Historic Architecture (1983 ed.). New York: Dover Publications.
  380. ^ Gurewitsch, Matthew (July 2008). "True Colors". Smithsonian: 66–71.
  381. ^ Παύλος Κυριαζής, «Σταμάτης Βούλγαρης. Ο αγωνιστής, ο πολεοδόμος, ο άνθρωπος», στο: Συλλογικό, Πρώτοι Έλληνες τεχνικοί επιστήμονες περιόδου απελευθέρωσης, εκδ. Τεχνικό Επιμελητήριο Ελλάδος, Αθήνα, 1976, σελ.158
  382. ^ "23 Best Examples of Cycladic Architecture". 23 April 2015.
  383. ^ "Architecture of Epirus, Greece - Greeka.com". Greekacom.
  384. ^ Anderson, Sean (2010). "The Light and the Line: Florestano Di Fausto and the Politics of 'Mediterraneità'". California Italian Studies. doi:10.5070/C311008864.
  385. ^ Kountouri, E.; Benissi, C.; Spyropoulou, S. (2022). "Integrating Climate Change into Protection Policies in Greece". Internet Archaeology (60). doi:10.11141/ia.60.8.
  386. ^ Brockett, Oscar G. (1991) History of the Theatre (sixth edition). Boston; London: Allyn & Bacon.
  387. ^ "Culture e-Magazine – Free eBooks – WebTV " Το Θέατρο στο Βυζάντιο και την Οθωμανική περίοδο". 24grammata.com. 18 March 2012. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
  388. ^ "ΓΝΩΡΙΣΤΕ ΜΑΣ – Εθνικό Θέατρο". n-t.gr.
  389. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica – "Greek literature: Byzantine literature"
  390. ^ Carol Strickland (2007). The Illustrated Timeline of Western Literature: A Crash Course in Words & Pictures. Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. p. 2. ISBN 978-1-4027-4860-8. Although the first writing originates in the cradle of civilization along Middle Eastern rivers – the Tigris, Euphrates, and Nile – the true cradle of Western literature is Athens. As the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley says, "We are all Greeks."
  391. ^ "The Modern Greek language in its relation to Ancient Greek", E. M. Geldart
  392. ^ "Ancient Greek Philosophy". Internet encyclopedia of philosophy. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
  393. ^ Patiniotis M. (2015) "Neo-Hellenic Enlightenment: In Search of a European Identity," in Arabatzis T., Renn J., Simões A. (eds), Relocating the History of Science. Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science, vol 312. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14553-2_9
  394. ^ Thomas S. Hischak (16 April 2015). The Encyclopedia of Film Composers. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 664. ISBN 978-1-4422-4550-1.
  395. ^ "Kostas Tournas". europopmusic.eu. Retrieved 10 March 2013.
  396. ^ Kostis Kornetis (30 November 2013). Children of the Dictatorship: Student Resistance, Cultural Politics and the 'Long 1960s' in Greece. Berghahn Books. p. 190. ISBN 978-1-78238-001-6.
  397. ^ Edelstein, Sari (22 October 2010). Food, Cuisine, and Cultural Competency for Culinary, Hospitality, and Nutrition Professionals. Jones & Bartlett. pp. 147–49. ISBN 978-0-7637-5965-0. Retrieved 27 December 2011.
  398. ^ a b Global Cuisine 2: Europe, the Mediterranean, the Middle East, and Asia (PDF). National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation. 2017. p. 19.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  399. ^ "Greek Food Ingredients". Angelfoods. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
  400. ^ Wolfert, Paula (2009). Mediterranean clay pot cooking : traditional and modern recipes to savor and share. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons. p. 235. ISBN 978-0-7645-7633-1. OCLC 298538015.
  401. ^ "Οι Ιταλοί θαυμάζουν το Δάφνις και Χλόη". Ελευθεροτυπία (in Greek). 3 July 2009. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
  402. ^ "Δάφνις και Χλόη στην Μπολόνια". Το Βήμα. 4 July 2009. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
  403. ^ "The 16th Academy Awards (1943) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
  404. ^ Ephraim, Katz (2001). "Greece". The Film Encyclopedia. New York: HarperResource. pp. 554–555.
  405. ^ "NY Times: Zorba the Greek". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2009. Archived from the original on 28 September 2009. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
  406. ^ "51ème Festival International du Film – Cannes". Cinema-francais.fr (in French). Retrieved 13 May 2022.
  407. ^ "1998 – 51e édition (50th edition)". Cannes-fest.com (in French). Retrieved 13 May 2022.
  408. ^ "Cannes 1998: News (2)". Urbancinefile.com. Archived from the original on 7 September 2013. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
  409. ^ "Oscar Winners 2019: The Complete List". Variety. 24 February 2019. Archived from the original on 15 January 2021. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
  410. ^ "World Rankings". FIFA. July 2009. Archived from the original on 3 June 2007. Retrieved 23 July 2009.
  411. ^ McNulty, Phil (4 July 2004). "Greece Win Euro 2004". News. BBC. Retrieved 7 May 2007.
  412. ^ "Ranking Men after Olympic Games: Tournament Men (2008)". International Basketball Federation. August 2008. Archived from the original on 7 June 2007. Retrieved 24 August 2008.
  413. ^ Wilkinson, Simon (26 September 2005). "Greece Tops Germany for Euro Title". ESPN. Retrieved 7 May 2007.
  414. ^ "STORIES – Onsports.gr" Όταν η Ευρώπη υποκλίθηκε στον Ολυμπιακό (in Greek). onsports.gr. Retrieved 14 June 2012.
  415. ^ Σαν σήμερα κοκκίνησε τον Δούναβη, Πρωταθλητής Ευρώπης στο πόλο ο Θρύλος (in Greek). newsnow.gr. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
  416. ^ Έγραψε ιστορία ο Θρύλος (in Greek). sport.gr. Archived from the original on 13 December 2013. Retrieved 18 December 2012.
  417. ^ "Greek Name Days for the Year 2018". Retrieved 20 May 2021.
  418. ^ Διεθνές Φεστιβάλ Κινηματογράφου Θεσσαλονίκης – Προφίλ [Thessaloniki International Film Festival – Profile] (in Greek). Archived from the original on 5 September 2015. Retrieved 3 September 2015.

Bibliography

External links

39°N 22°E / 39°N 22°E / 39; 22