Greece

Lore & Background

Greece is considered the cradle of Western civilisation and the birthplace of democracy, Western philosophy, Western literature, historiography, political science, major scientific and mathematical principles, theatre, and the Olympic Games. The Ancient Greeks were organised into independent city-states, or poleis, that spanned the Mediterranean and Black seas. Philip II of Macedon united most of present-day Greece in the fourth century BC, with his son Alexander the Great conquering much of the known ancient world from the Near East 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 and became an integral part of the Roman Empire and its continuation, the Byzantine Empire, where Greek culture and language were dominant. The Greek Orthodox Church helped shape modern Greek identity and transmitted Greek traditions to the wider Orthodox world. After the Fourth Crusade in 1204, Greece and the rest of the Byzantine empire were fragmented into several Latin and Byzantine successor polities, with most Greek lands finally coming under Ottoman control by the mid-15th century. Following a protracted war of independence in 1821, Greece emerged as a modern nation state in 1830. The Kingdom of Greece pursued territorial expansion during the Balkan Wars (1912–1913) and World War I (1914–1918), until its defeat in the Greco-Turkish War in 1922. A short-lived republic was established in 1924 but faced civil strife and the challenge of resettling refugees from Turkey, culminating in a royalist dictatorship in 1936. Greece endured military occupation during World War II, the subsequent Greek Civil War, and prolonged political instability, leading to a military dictatorship in 1967. The country began transitioning to democracy in 1974, leading to the current parliamentary republic.

In Their Own Story

The sun dipped below the horizon, casting a golden glow over the white-washed walls of Oia. An elderly fisherman mended his nets on the harbor edge, the salt air thick with the scent of thyme and brine. Meanwhile, across the mainland in Athens, tourists whispered in awe before the Parthenon’s silhouette against the twilight sky, unaware that the stones beneath their feet had witnessed empires rise and fall. In this quiet moment, the past felt not like a memory, but a living breath shared between ancient ruins and bustling tavernas lighting up for dinner.

Reader's Guide

The native name of the country in Modern Greek is Ελλάδα. The corresponding form in Ancient Greek and conservative formal Modern Greek (Katharevousa) is Ἑλλάς (Hellas). 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 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. The English names Greece and Greek are derived, via the Latin Graecia and Graecus, from the name of the Graeci, one of the first ancient Greek tribes to settle Magna Graecia in southern Italy. Greece is home to the first advanced civilisations in Europe and is often considered the birthplace of Western civilisation. The earliest of them was the Cycladic culture which flourished on the islands of the Aegean Sea, starting around 3200 BC. From c. 3100 BC to 1100 BC, Crete was home to the Minoan civilisation. On the mainland, the Mycenaean civilisation developed around 1750 BC and lasted until c. 1100 BC. The collapse of the Mycenaean civilisation ushered in the Greek Dark Ages. The end of the Dark Ages is traditionally dated to 776 BC, the year of the first Olympic Games. The Iliad and the Odyssey are believed to have been composed by Homer in the 7th or 8th centuries BC. In 508 BC, Cleisthenes instituted the world's first democratic system of government in Athens. By 500 BC, the Persian Empire controlled the Greek city states in Asia Minor and Macedonia. The Greek victories in the Greco-Persian Wars are a pivotal moment in history, as the 50 years of peace afterwards are known as the Golden Age of Athens. The most devastating intra-Greek war was the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC). After Philip's assassination in 336 BC, his son Alexander became king of Macedon, established himself as leader of a Panhellenic campaign against the Persian Empire, and conquered it. Alexander's empire fragmented, inaugurating the Hellenistic period. Owing to record economic growth from 1950 to 1973, Greece is a developed country with an advanced high-income economy and a high standard of living. Shipping and tourism are major economic sectors, with Greece being the ninth most-visited country in 2024. Greece is part of multiple international organisations and forums, being the tenth m

Did You Know?

• The Apidima Cave in Mani, in southern Greece, has been suggested to contain the oldest remains of early modern humans outside of Africa, dated to 200,000 years ago.
• Neolithic settlements in Greece, dating from the 7th millennium BC, are the oldest in Europe, as Greece lies on the route by which farming spread from the Near East to Europe.
• Greece has the longest coastline on the Mediterranean.