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Greece

  (grēs) pronunciation
Greece
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Greece
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A country of southeast Europe on the southern Balkan Peninsula and including numerous islands in the Mediterranean, Aegean, and Ionian seas. Settled by Achaeans, Aeolians, Ionians, Minoans, and Dorians by 1000 B.C., the region grew as an amalgam of independent city-states, many of which established colonies throughout the Mediterranean by the eighth century B.C.. Classical Greek culture, centered around Athens, reached a high point in the fifth century B.C. before being conquered by Philip II of Macedon in 338 B.C.. The area was later controlled by the Roman and Byzantine empires before being absorbed into the Ottoman empire (1456). In 1829, Greece gained its independence and established a constitutional monarchy. The king was deposed following a military coup in 1967, and a democratic republic was established in 1975. Athens is the capital and the largest city. Population: 10,700,000.

 

 
 
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Greece

Country, Balkan Peninsula, southeastern Europe. Area: 50,949 sq mi (131,957 sq km). Population (2005 est.): 11,088,000. Capital: Athens. The people are predominantly Greek. Language: Greek (official). Religion: Christianity (predominantly Eastern Orthodox [official]). Currency: euro. The land, with its 2,000-odd islands and extensive coastline, is intimately linked with the sea. About one-fifth of this mountainous country consists of lowland, much of this as coastal plains along the Aegean or as mountain valleys and small plains near river mouths. The interior is dominated by the Pindus Mountains, which extend from Albania on Greece's northwestern border into the Peloponnese. Mount Olympus is the country's highest peak. Among the Greek islands are the Aegean and Ionian groups and Crete. The climate is Mediterranean. Greece has an advanced developing economy characterized mainly by private enterprise and based on agriculture, manufacturing, and tourism. It is a multiparty republic with one legislative house; the chief of state is the president, and the head of government is the prime minister. The earliest urban society in Greece was the palace-centred Minoan civilization, which reached its height on Crete c. 2000 BC. It was succeeded by the mainland Mycenaean civilization, which arose c. 1600 BC following a wave of Indo-European invasions. About 1200 BC a second wave of invasions destroyed the Bronze Age cultures, and a Dark Age followed, known mostly through the epics of Homer. At the end of this time, Classical Greece began to emerge (c. 750 BC) as a collection of independent city-states, including Sparta in the Peloponnese and Athens in Attica. The civilization reached its zenith after repelling the Persians at the beginning of the 5th century BC (see Persian Wars) and began to decline after the civil strife of the Peloponnesian War at the century's end. In 338 BC the Greek city-states were taken over by Philip II of Macedon, and Greek culture was spread by Philip's son Alexander the Great throughout his empire. The Romans, themselves heavily influenced by Greek culture, conquered the city-states in the 2nd century BC. After the fall of Rome, Greece remained part of the Byzantine Empire until the mid-15th century, when it became part of the expanding Ottoman Empire; it gained its independence in 1832. It was occupied by Nazi Germany during World War II. Civil war followed and lasted until 1949, when communist forces were defeated. In 1952 Greece joined NATO. A military junta ruled the country from 1967 to 1974, when democracy was restored and a referendum declared an end to the Greek monarchy. In 1981 Greece joined the European Community (see European Union), the first eastern European country to do so. Upheavals in the Balkans in the 1990s strained Greece's relations with some neighbouring states, including the former Yugoslav entity that became the Republic of Macedonia. Greece revised its constitution in 2001.

For more information on Greece, visit Britannica.com.

 
Photography Encyclopedia: Greece

Although the first Greek photographers were active before the end of the 1840s, the medium was slow to develop, and a guide published in 1891 listed only 27 practitioners for the entire country. (Other Greeks ran photographic businesses in cities around the eastern Mediterranean, and as far away as the Crimea.) The pace quickened in the 20th century, with the spread of amateurism, the growth of an illustrated press, and coverage of the Balkan Wars by Greek photojournalists. As in the previous century, Greece continued to be an important destination for foreign photographers keen to record its ruins and ancient monuments for private or commercial purposes; the Swiss Fred Boissonnas (1858-1946), the German Herbert List, and the Russian George Hoyningen-Huene were among many to seek inspiration there. But Greek photographers of the mid-century included the dance and portrait specialist Nelly—probably the most internationally celebrated—Spiros Meletzis (b. 1906), Dimitris Harissiadis (1911-93), Kostas Balafas (b. 1920), and the modernist documentary photographer Voula Papaioannou (1898-1990). However, despite the foundation of the Greek Photographic Society (EFE) in 1952 and the organization of the First Panhellenic Exhibition of Photographic Art in Athens in 1956, the post-war photographic scene was undistinguished, with few critics or international contacts and a lack of outlets for art photography other than the country's amateur clubs. This situation, as Greek photographic historians have emphasized, persisted into the 1970s.In the last quarter of the 20th century, however, important new developments took place, centred mainly on Thessaloniki and Athens. In the former, where the journal Fotografia had been founded in 1977, Greece's first international photography festival, Parallaxis '85, was held in 1985, followed by the creation of an annual event, Photosynkyria, which took place between 1989 and 1996. In the capital, the Photography Centre of Athens had been founded in 1979, followed in 1986 by a privately funded Hellenic Centre of Photography, which the following year organized the first International Month of Photography—following the Parisian model—in Athens, an event that was repeated in 1989 and 1991. A further development, in 1996, was the inauguration of regular photographic festivals on the island of Skopelos. Meanwhile, photographic courses proliferated, international contacts became stronger, and the work of a growing number of young Greek photographers was successfully exhibited at home and abroad. Major historical shows included Athens 1839-1900: Photographic Testimonies (Athens, 1985), Das Land der Griechen mit der Seele Suchen (Cologne, 1990), and The Invention of Landscape: Greek Landscape and Greek Photography, 1870-1995 (Thessaloniki, 1996). Continuing problems, however, have been a shortage of public funds for major projects, and photographers' difficulty in finding a market for their work.

— Robin Lenman

Bibliography

  • Xanthakis, A., History of Greek Photography (1988).
  • Stathatos, J., The Invention of Landscape: Greek Landscape & Greek Photography, 1870-1995 (1996).
  • Stathatos, J., Image and Icon: The New Greek Photography 1975-1995 (1997)
 
Classical Literature Companion: Greece

Greece In the ancient world Greece comprised an area of the Balkan peninsula comparable with that of modern Greece. It may be divided into three parts: (i) the peninsula south of the Isthmus of Corinth, known as the Peloponnese; (ii) the land north of the Isthmus roughly as far as the Ambracian Gulf in the west and the river Peneius in the east, which includes Thessaly and is in many contexts known as Greece proper (or mainland Greece); and (iii) the northern regions comprising Epirus, Macedonia, and Thrace, whose inhabitants were regarded as scarcely Greek by the states in the southern regions. For the main ethnic divisions of the Greek people in historical times, see HELLEN. To a large extent the north of Greece was cut off from the rest by the mountain ranges in that area, and Greece itself from the rest of Europe by the high mountain chain that runs from Thrace to Italy. Greece is a land dominated by mountains, which have been held to be the reason for the political development of the country into a scatter of independent states each centred on a pocket of arable land.

Despite the fact that Greece was made up of a large number of independent communities, the Greeks formed a single people, with one and the same civilization (see HELLAS); they spoke the same language and were distinguished thereby from the ‘barbarians’; there was a broad similarity in their political institutions (government in city-states, normally under oligarchic or democratic constitutions); they had a common religion and respected the same oracular shrines; they had a common heritage of literature from Homer onwards and their art, despite certain diversities, had unity; many of the Greek colonies were founded in common by emigrants from more than one state. The social unity of Greece manifested itself in the common festivals and games; and some degree of political unity was shown in the combined resistance to Persia. But the various attempts, such as that of Pericles, to consolidate this unity always collapsed before the jealously independent spirit of the different states.

The Greeks called their country Hellas and themselves Hellenes (originally the name of a tribe in south Thessaly). Graii, the local name of a tribe in west Greece, became the Latin name for the Greeks in general; Graeci and Graecia (‘Greeks’ and ‘Greece’) are derivatives from Graii. It has been suggested that the Graii took part in the colonization of Cumae, the oldest Greek colony in Italy, and from them the name was applied more widely. When the Romans created the province of Greece in 27 BC they called it Achaea.

The phrase ‘Greek world’ describes that part of the world at the time in question in which Greek was, or had become, the principal language, or was the language of the rulers and the administration. Apart from Greece and the Peloponnese, together with Epirus, Macedonia, and Thrace, it might include Magna Graecia and Sicily (during the Greek classical period; both were slowly Romanized), Egypt and Cyrenaica (see CYRENE), Asia Minor, and to a varying extent lands to the east and south: Syria, north Arabia, and even Mesopotamia (Iraq) and beyond. Rome began to take over the Greek world in the second century BC and had done so before the end of the first century BC.

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Greece,
Gr. Hellas or Ellas, officially Hellenic Republic, republic (2005 est. pop. 10,668,000), 50,944 sq mi (131,945 sq km), SE Europe. It occupies the southernmost part of the Balkan Peninsula and borders on the Ionian Sea in the west, on the Mediterranean Sea in the south, on the Aegean Sea in the east, on Turkey and Bulgaria in the northeast, on Macedonia in the north, and on Albania in the northwest. Athens is its capital and largest city.

Land and People

About 75% of Greece is mountainous and only about 20% of the land is arable. The country falls into four main geographical regions. Northern Greece includes portions of historic Epirus, Macedonia, and Thrace. It takes in part of the Pindus Mts. (which continue into central Greece); low-lying plains along the lower Nestos and Struma rivers; and the Khalkidhikí peninsula, on which Thessaloníki, Greece's second largest city, is located. Central Greece, situated N of the Gulf of Corinth, includes the low-lying plains of Thessaly, Attica, and Boeotia; Mt. Olympus (Ólimbos; 9,570 ft/2,917 m), the highest point in Greece; and Athens. Southern Greece is made up of the Peloponnesus. The fourth region of Greece comprises numerous islands (with a total area of c.9,600 sq mi/24,900 sq km), the most notable of which are Crete, in the Mediterranean; Kérkira, Kefallinía, Zákinthos, Lefkás, and Itháki, in the Ionian Sea; and the Cyclades, the Northern Sporades, the Dodecanese (including Rhodes, Évvoia, Lesbos, Khíos, Sámos, Límnos, Samothrace, and Thásos, in the Aegean. Greece has few rivers, none of them navigable.

The Greek people are only partly descended from the ancient Greeks, having mingled through the ages with the numerous invaders of the Balkans. Modern vernacular Greek is the official language. There is a small Turkish-speaking minority, and many Greeks also speak English and French. The Greek Orthodox Church is the established church of the country, and it includes the great majority of the population. The Greek primate is the archbishop of Athens, who recognizes the Ecumenical Patriarch of Istanbul. There is a small Muslim minority.

Economy

Historically agricultural, Greece has seen industry replace agriculture as the leading source of income; agriculture accounts for about 5% of the gross domestic product, while industry accounts for some 20%. Tourism, a part of the growing service sector, provides a vital source of revenue. The chief agricultural products are wheat, corn, barley, sugar beets, olives and olive oil, tomatoes, wine, tobacco, and potatoes. Large numbers of sheep and goats are raised.

The country's main industrial centers are Athens, Thessaloníki, Piraiévs, Pátrai, and Iráklion. The principal industries are tourism, agricultural processing, mining, petroleum refining, and the manufacture of textiles, chemicals, and metal products. The chief minerals produced are lignite, petroleum, iron ore, bauxite, lead, zinc, nickel, magnesite, and marble. Electricity is generated mainly by hydroelectric and thermal power stations. Greece has a large merchant fleet, and its chief ports are Piraiévs and Thessaloníki. There is a significant fishing industry in coastal areas.

The main exports are food and beverages, manufactured goods, petroleum products, chemicals, and textiles; the leading imports are machinery, transportation equipment, fuels, and chemicals. The principal trade partners are Germany, Italy, and France.

Government

Greece is governed under the constitution of 1975 as amended. The president, who is the head of state, is elected by the legislature for a five-year term and is eligible for a second term. The prime minister, who is the head of government, is appointed by the president with the approval of Parliament, as is the cabinet. The 300 members of the unicameral Parliament are popularly elected to four-year terms. Administratively the country is divided into 51 prefectures and one autonomous region (Mt. Athos).

History

Ancient Greece

Important aspects of ancient Greek culture are covered in separate articles—Greek architecture, Greek art, Greek language, Greek literature, Greek music, and Greek religion. See also the articles on the cities, e.g., Athens, Sparta, Corinth, and Thebes.

At various times in its history Greece included all of Epirus, Macedonia, and Thrace, part of Asia Minor, and Magna Graecia. Archaeological remains show that Greece had a long prehistory, dating from the Neolithic Age (c.4000 B.C.). By the Bronze Age (c.2800 B.C.) important cultures had developed. The Aegean civilization had several phases, two of the most important being the Minoan civilization and the Mycenaean civilization. These cultures had disappeared by 1100 B.C. The Greek-speaking Achaeans migrated into the Peloponnesus during the 14th and 13th cent. B.C. The Aeolians and the Ionians apparently preceded the Dorians, who migrated into Greece before 1000 B.C. The Ionians, moving forth, possibly as refugees, possibly as conquerors, settled in the Ionian Islands and on the shores of Asia Minor, which became a part of the Greek world.

After the Dorian invasion, the peoples of Greece, under the influence of the divisive geography and the great variety of tribes, developed the city-state—small settlements that grew into minor kingdoms. Homeric Greece (named for the great epic poet Homer) was dependent on the agriculture of relatively unproductive fields but was already open to the sea. Although the Greeks never rivaled the Phoenicians or the later Carthaginians and Romans as mariners, the sea offered them an opportunity for expansion and commerce. In the 8th, 7th, and 6th cent. B.C., the Greeks established colonies, many of which became separate city-states, from the Black Sea and the Bosporus (where Byzantium was founded) to Sicily, S Italy (Magna Graecia), Mediterranean France, the northern shores of Africa, and Spain. These colonies had a great influence on the history of the Greek mainland, where the city-states were developing in quarrelsome freedom.

Because of their independence, the cities developed separately. However, there was a general pattern of development, which varied somewhat in each particular instance. Monarchies yielded to aristocracies, which were in turn replaced by tyrants, who usually gained power by espousing the cause of the underprivileged and by using force. Although the tyrants usually tried to establish dynasties, the hold established by their families was short-lived. Pisistratus, Hipparchus, and Hippias in Athens and the later Gelon, Dionysius the Elder, and Dionysius the Younger in Sicily were typical tyrants.

On the Greek mainland the tyrannies soon yielded to oligarchies or to democracies tempered by limited citizenship and by slaveholding; it was in Greece that the idea of political democracy came into being. Solon established a democracy in Athens. Militaristic Sparta had a unique constitutional and social development. The warring city-states had a sense of unity; all their citizens considered themselves Hellenes, and religious unity gave rise to leagues known as amphictyonies, notably the great amphictyony centered at Delphi.

The celebration of contests such as the Olympian Games also fostered unity. However, the Ionian cities in Asia Minor received little help from Greece when they revolted (499 B.C.) against Persia, which also threatened the Greek mainland, and the mainland cities were poorly united in the Persian Wars that continued until 449 B.C. Out of these successful wars, however, came the powerful surge of Greek civilization.

Athens, in particular, with the support of the Delian League as the basis of an empire, grew dramatically, and in the age of Pericles (c.495–429 B.C.) developed a culture that left its mark on the course of Western and Eastern civilization. Drama, poetry, sculpture, architecture, and philosophy flourished, and there was a vigorous intellectual life. The leading Greeks of the 5th and 4th cent. B.C. included Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, Phidias, Myron, Polykleitos, Heraclitus, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and Hippocrates. Although Athens succumbed in the Peloponnesian War (431–404 B.C.) and Sparta triumphed briefly before continued fighting gave the hegemony of Greece to Corinth and Thebes, the civilization that had been created lived on.

When Philip II of Macedon attacked the warring city-states and conquered Greece by defeating the Athenians and the Thebans in the battle of Chaeronea (338 B.C.), he paved the way for his son, Alexander the Great, who spread Greek civilization over the known Western world and across Asia to India. After Alexander's death, his empire was torn apart by his warring generals (see Diadochi; Ptolemy I; Seleucus I; Antigonus I; Demetrius I) in the period from 323 to 276 B.C. Some Greek cities formed the Aetolian League to oppose Macedonian rule, but members of the Achaean League took the Macedonian side. The Greek city-states continued their rivalries, and Macedonia under the Antigonids became thoroughly Hellenized.

Incessant warfare made Greece increasingly weak, while Rome grew stronger. In 146 B.C., after the Fourth Macedonian War (see Macedon), the remnants of the Greek states fell definitively into the hands of Rome. Under Roman rule, the cities long retained a measure of independence and intellectual life, but had little political or economic importance. Hellenism, however, had triumphed, and Greek intellectual supremacy continued for many centuries. The Byzantine Empire was thoroughly Greek in origin, and Hellenistic civilization, centered at Alexandria, Pergamum, Dura, and other cities, spread Greek influence and preserved the Greek heritage for later ages. The Greeks were the first to write narrative secular history, and the works of Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, and Polybius are basic sources of events and contemporary ideas as well as classics of world literature.

Medieval Greece to Ottoman Rule

From the division (A.D. 395) of the Roman Empire into East and West until the conquest (15th cent.) of Greece by the Ottoman Turks, Greece shared the fortunes and vicissitudes of the Byzantine Empire. The victory (378) of the Visigoths over Emperor Valens at Adrianople marked the beginning of the frequent and devastating barbarian invasions of Greece; the Huns, Avars, Slavs, and Bulgars followed.

Greek power and prestige were restored by the Macedonian dynasty of Byzantine emperors (867–1025); however, the center of the Greek world was Constantinople, not Greece proper. In the 11th cent. the Seljuk Turks began making inroads into the empire, the Normans attacked Epirus, and the Crusades commenced. The Fourth Crusade led in 1204 to the temporary disintegration of the Byzantine Empire and the creation of a feudal state (see Constantinople, Latin Empire of) under the rule of French, Flemish, and Italian nobles and of Venice.

The restored Byzantine Empire (1261–1453) recovered only parts of Greece, most of which continued under the rule of French and Italian princes until conquered by the Ottoman Turks (completed in 1456). Genoa held Khíos until 1566; Venice retained Crete until 1669 and the Ionian Islands until 1797. In its numerous wars with the Ottomans, Venice also held Athens, Évvoia, and several other ports and islands for brief intermittent periods prior to 1718.

Under the Ottoman Empire, Greece was merely one of many exploited territories. The Turks practiced religious tolerance, but otherwise their regime was grasping and oppressive. Many Greek families (notably the Phanariots; see under Phanar) were important in the administration of the empire, and the Greek merchants living in Constantinople and in the ports of Asia Minor, notably Izmir (Smyrna), were very prosperous; but Greece itself languished in obscurity and poverty.

The Struggle for Independence

In the early 19th cent. the desire of the Greeks for independence was stimulated by growing nationalism, by the influence of the French Revolution, by the Turkish reverses in the Russo-Turkish Wars, by the rebellion (1820) of Ali Pasha against the Ottoman Empire, and by the sympathetic attitude of Alexander I of Russia, whose foreign minister, Capo d'Istria, was Greek. In 1821 the Greek War of Independence began under the leadership of Alexander and Demetrios Ypsilanti. European sentiment was overwhelmingly in favor of the Greek cause; financial aid poured in, and many foreign volunteers (of whom Lord Byron was the most celebrated) joined the Greek forces.

Russia and Great Britain agreed (1826) to mediate between the Greeks and Turkey, and in 1827 the Greek political factions set aside their bitter rivalries to elect Capo d'Istria president of Greece. Great Britain, Russia, and France joined in demanding an armistice. Turkey having refused, the allied fleets attacked and defeated the fleet of Muhammad Ali, viceroy of Egypt and the Ottoman sultan's chief supporter against the Greeks, in the battle of Navarino (1827). Only Russia, however, declared war (1828) on Turkey. Defeated, Turkey accepted the Treaty of Adrianople (1829; see Adrianople, Treaty of) and recognized Greek autonomy.

In 1832, Greece obtained from the European powers recognition of its independence. The powers chose, and Greece accepted (1832), a Bavarian prince as king of the Hellenes. Otto I proved authoritarian and unpopular. He was pressured into promulgating a constitution in 1844, and in 1862 he was forced to abdicate. Otto was succeeded by a Danish prince, who as George I (reigned 1863–1913) introduced (1864) a new constitution establishing a unicameral parliament.

Great Britain ceded (1864) the Ionian Islands, and in 1881 Greece acquired Thessaly and part of Epirus. Because of British opposition, Greece was unable to annex Crete during a major insurrection (1866–69) there against Ottoman rule. Continued irredentist agitation to absorb Crete led to the Greco-Turkish War of 1897; Greece was defeated, but because of the pressure of the powers Crete was eventually made independent and later (1913) incorporated into Greece.

The Balkan Wars to the 1930s

Venizelos and Zaïmis were the leading Greek political figures from the late 1890s to the mid-1930s. In the Balkan Wars (1912–13) Greece obtained SE Macedonia and W Thrace; the frontier with newly independent Albania gave a larger part of Epirus to Greece, but neither country was satisfied, and the area remained in dispute until 1971, when Greece, at least temporarily, dropped its claims to N Epirus. George I was assassinated in 1913 and was succeeded by Constantine I.

In World War I, Venizelos, who favored the Allies, negotiated (1915) an agreement allowing them to land troops at Thessaloníki (see Salonica campaigns). However, King Constantine, who favored neutrality, refused to aid the Allies and dismissed Venizelos as prime minister. Venizelos organized (1916) a government at Thessaloníki, and in 1917 Allied pressure led to Constantine's abdication in favor of his younger son, Alexander. Venizelos again became premier, and Greece fully entered the war. At the peace conference (see Neuilly, Treaty of; Sèvres, Treaty of) Greece received the Bulgarian coast on the Aegean and the remnants of European Turkey including E Thrace and the Dodecanese (except Rhodes) but excluding the Zone of the Straits. Izmir was placed under Greek administration pending a plebiscite.

Encouraged by the Allies, the Greeks invaded (1921) Asia Minor, but were defeated (1922) by the Turkish forces of Kemal Atatürk. The Treaty of Lausanne (1923) restored the Maritsa River as the Greco-Turkish frontier in Europe. A separate agreement provided for the compulsory exchange of populations. Under the supervision of a League of Nations commission about 1.5 million Greeks of Asia Minor were resettled in Greece and about 800,000 Turks and 80,000 Bulgarians left Greece and were repatriated in their respective countries. Constantine, who had returned after the death (1920) of King Alexander, was again deposed in 1922. George II succeeded Alexander, but was soon also deposed (1923), and in 1924 a republic was proclaimed and then confirmed by a plebiscite.

The years 1924–35 were marked by unsettled economic conditions and by violent political strife (including coups and countercoups), in which Paul Kondouriotis, Theodore Pangalos, George Kondylis, Panayoti Tsaldaris, Zaïmis, and Venizelos were the chief protagonists. The defeat (1935) of the rebelling Venizelists in Crete marked the end of the republic. Kondylis ousted Tsaldaris and arranged for a plebiscite that resulted in the restoration of the monarchy and the return of George II. In 1936, Premier John Metaxas, supported by the king, established a dictatorship, ostensibly to avert a Communist takeover of the country. In foreign relations, Greece abandoned its anti-Turkish policy by establishing (1934) the Balkan Entente with Yugoslavia, Romania, and Turkey.

World War II and Civil War

When World War II broke out (1939) Greece remained neutral. In Oct., 1940, however, Italy, after a farcical ultimatum, invaded Greece. The Greeks resisted successfully, carrying the war into S Albania. Metaxas, who had strong pro-German leanings, died in Jan., 1941. When Germany began to gather troops on the Greek borders, Greece allowed the landing (Mar., 1941) of a small British expeditionary force, but by the end of April the Greek mainland was in German hands, and in May Crete fell. The Greek government fled to Cairo, then to Great Britain, and in 1943 settled in Cairo. The German occupation, in which Bulgarian and Italian troops also took part, plunged Greece into abject misery, including an acute shortage of food. Resistance grew despite ruthless reprisals, and successive puppet governments were failures. Guerrilla bands controlled large rural areas.

In 1943 sporadic civil war began between the Communist guerrilla group (EAM-ELAS) and the royalist group (EDES). The guerrillas held most of Greece after the Germans began to withdraw in Sept., 1944. British troops landed, and by November all Germans were expelled. The appalling financial and economic conditions faced by the Greek government on its return (Oct., 1944) to Athens were complicated by an explosive political situation. In Dec., 1944, fighting broke out in Athens between British troops and the EAM-ELAS, which ignored the British order to disarm. Upon the intervention of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, an uneasy truce was arranged (Feb., 1945), and a regency was established under Archbishop Damaskinos of Athens.

Cabinets replaced each other in rapid succession, until elections (Mar., 1946) returned a royalist majority. In Sept., 1946, a plebiscite decided in favor of the return of George II, the reigning monarch; George died in 1947 and was succeeded by his brother Paul. Also in 1946, guerrilla warfare was renewed; Communist-led bands were successful in the northern mountain districts. Charges by the Greek government, supported by Britain and the United States, that Albania, Yugoslavia, and Bulgaria were aiding the Communist rebels created great controversy at the United Nations between the Western and Soviet blocs. As the civil war continued and Great Britain felt unable to extend further financial and military support to the Greek government, U.S. President Harry S. Truman announced (Mar., 1947) the “Truman Doctrine,” under which the United States sent a group of officers to advise the Greek army and eventually gave Greece about $400 million in military and economic aid. In Dec., 1947, the Communists, led by Markos Vafiades, proclaimed a rival government of the country. However, by late 1949, the rebels, having suffered severe military setbacks and no longer receiving aid from Yugoslavia (which had defected from the Soviet bloc in 1948), ceased open hostilities.

The civil war was marked by brutality on both sides. Economic conditions were miserable, and charges of incompetence and corruption were made against the Greek government by non-Communists as well as by Communists. Political freedom was curtailed, and the Communist party was outlawed. The legislature, dominated by the Populist (royalist) party headed by Constantine Tsaldaris, operated under the 1911 constitution, which it was empowered to revise.

Constitutional Government

Government was unstable in 1950–51, but after a new constitution was ratified in 1951 and elections were held in 1952, Field Marshal Papagos became premier with a majority in the legislature. Greece was a charter member of the UN, and in 1951 it was admitted to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). When Papagos died in 1955, he was succeeded by Constantine Karamanlis, whose National Radical Union party increased its majority in subsequent elections (1956, 1958, 1961). Under Papagos and Karamanlis, the Greek economy improved considerably, despite a series of damaging earthquakes in 1953–54; the United States continued to give Greece considerable economic and military aid. In 1954, Greece signed an alliance with Turkey and Yugoslavia, but friction with Turkey (and also with Great Britain) soon arose over the sovereignty of Cyprus, the majority of whose population is ethnically Greek, and continued after Cyprus became independent in 1960. The moderately liberal Center Union gained a plurality of seats in the legislature in elections in 1963, but its leader George Papandreou failed to win a vote of confidence for his government, and new elections were held in 1964. This time the Center Union gained a majority of seats and Papandreou became prime minister. Also in 1964, Paul died and was succeeded by his son, Constantine II.

In mid-1965, Gen. George Grivas accused Papandreou's son Andreas (an economist who had taught in the United States) of helping to organize a secret leftist group among army officers; similar accusations against both Papandreous were made by the defense minister. In the resulting furor Constantine forced the resignation of George Papandreou, who long had been an opponent of the monarchy. After a period of uncertainty, a new government headed by Stefanos Stephanopoulos was formed in Sept., 1965. This government fell in Dec., 1965, and Constantine authorized Ioannis Paraskevopoulos to form an extraparliamentary government pending elections set for May, 1967. Paraskevopoulos gained the support of George Papandreou and of Panayotis Kanellopoulos, the leader of the National Radical Union, but was forced to resign in Mar., 1967, and was replaced as prime minister by Kanellopoulos.

Military Rule

Before the elections (which the Center Union seemed likely to win) could be held, rightist army officers staged (Apr. 21, 1967) a successful coup, claiming that a Communist takeover of Greece was imminent. Constantine Kollias was made prime minister, but real power was held by three army officers, George Papadopoulos, Gregory Spandidakis, and Stylianos Patakos. Many liberals and leftists were placed under arrest, and rigid controls were placed over Greek life. After failing in a countercoup (Dec., 1967), Constantine went into exile. Shortly thereafter, Gen. George Zoitakis was made regent, and Papadopoulos and Patakos, after resigning their army posts, became, respectively, prime minister and deputy prime minister. Some clandestine opposition groups were organized in Greece, and there was international protest against the dictatorial ways of the new regime.

In 1968, a new constitution that drastically curtailed the power of the monarchy and expanded that of the prime minister was overwhelmingly approved in a referendum. Controls over Greek life were relaxed somewhat, and most political prisoners had been released by the early 1970s. In 1972, Papadopoulos, by then the most powerful person in the country, also assumed the post of regent. In May, 1973, members of the navy staged an unsuccessful coup. In June, 1973, the monarchy was abolished, and Greece became a presidential republic. After this move was approved by a plebiscite later in the year, Papadopoulos became provisional president, and Spyros Markezinis replaced him as prime minister. In an effort to eliminate the remaining traces of military rule and thus to gain greater international acceptance of the new order in Greece, elections were scheduled for 1974. However, on Nov. 25, 1973, Papadopoulos was ousted in a bloodless military coup led by Lt. Gen. Phaedon Gizikis, who became president.

The New Greece

In the aftermath of its failure to gain control of Cyprus by political manipulation there, the Gizikis government, in July, 1974, voluntarily turned over power to a civilian government headed by Karamanlis, who returned from exile. Most exiled politicians (notably Andreas Papandreou) returned to Greece, all political parties (including the Communist party) were allowed to operate freely, and the 1951 constitution was reinstated. In a 1974 referendum, Greek voters rejected reestablishing the monarchy in favor of a presidential parliamentary republic. Karamanlis and the New Democratic Party were reelected and retained their majority in 1977. In 1980, Karamanlis was elected to a five-year term as president, and Giorgios Rallis succeeded him as prime minister. In 1981, Greece became a member of the European Community (now the European Union).

The Pan-Hellenic Socialist Movement (Pasok), under Papandreou, won majorities in the elections of 1981 and 1984, ending 35 years of pro-Western, conservative rule. Under the Socialist governments of the 1980s, support of the public sector grew, and many state-owned businesses continued to lose money. Pasok failed to retain power in 1989, but three elections were needed before the conservative New Democratic party secured a parliamentary majority of one vote in 1990. Constantine Mitsotakis then became premier, and Karamanlis was elected president for a second time. Facing a record deficit and high inflation, the Mitsotakis government instituted a severe austerity program and started large-scale privatization of state-owned industries.

In the 1993 elections, Pasok regained power, with Papandreou as premier, and privatization programs were cut back. A dispute with Yugoslav Macedonia was resolved in 1995 when the new republic agreed to modify its flag and renounce any territorial claims against Greece. Karamanlis retired as president in 1995 and was succeeded by Costis Stephanopoulos, who was reelected in 2000. In Jan., 1996, Papandreou, who was then severely ill, resigned and was replaced by the moderate Socialist Costas Simitis, who continued economic reforms aimed at shrinking Greece's welfare state and preparing the nation to participate in the European Union's single currency (the euro), which was adopted by Greece in 2001. Thoughout the 1980s and 1990s Greece's ongoing disputes with Turkey over Cyprus and the status of the Aegean Sea resisted solution, but relations with Turkey began to improve in 1999 after both nations were separately hit by earthquakes and sent aid to each other. In 2000, Simitis and Pasok retained power after a narrow victory in the general election. Although the economy generally improved under the Socialists, the unemployment rate remained high and corruption scandales hurt the party. In the 2004 elections the New Democratic party won a majority in parliament, and Costas Karamanlis, nephew of the former president, became premier. Karolos Papoulias was elected president in 2005, succeeding Costis Stephanopoulos. In Aug., 2007, Greece experienced the worst outbreak of wildfires since perhaps the late 1800s; the fires were particularly devastating in the W Peloponnesus. The perceived slow government response to the fires contributed to New Democratic losses in the Sept., 2007, parliamentary elections, but Karamanlis's government nonetheless narrowly retained power.

Bibliography

Ancient Greece

The histories of ancient Greece by A. Holm (tr., 4 vol., 1894–98) and G. Grote (rev. ed., 12 vol., 1906–38) were long standard and are still useful. See also W. Jaeger, Paideia (tr., 3 vol., 1943–45); W. G. Forrest, The Emergence of Greek Democracy, 800–400 B.C. (1967); M. I. Rostovtsev, Social and Economic History of the Hellenistic World (3 vol., 1941, repr. 1986); V. Ehrenberg, From Solon to Socrates (1973); J. B. Bury, The History of Greece to the Death of Alexander the Great (4th ed., rev. by R. Meiggs, 1975); K. J. Dover, Greek Homosexuality (1978); M. M. Austin, The Hellenistic World from Alexander to the Roman Conquest (1981); M. I. Finley, Early Greece (1982); J. V. Fine, The Ancient Greeks (1983); E. S. Gruen, The Hellenistic World and the Coming of Rome (2 vol., 1984); N. G. Hammond, A History of Greece to 322 B.C. (3d ed. 1986); D. Kagan, The Fall of the Athenian Empire (1987); J.-P. Descoendres, Greek Colonists and Native Populations (1989). See also E. R. Dodds, The Greeks and the Irrational (1951, repr. 2004); M. I. Finley, The World of Odysseus (2d ed. 1977); J. Davidson, Courtesans & Fishcakes (1998).

Later Greece

See E. O'Ballance, The Greek Civil War, 1944–49 (1966); G. Finlay, A History of Greece (7 vol., 1877; repr. 1970); A. G. Papandreou, Democracy at Gunpoint (1970); D. Dakin, The Unification of Greece: 1770–1923 (1972); D. Eudes, The Kapetanios, Partisans and Civil War in Greece, 1943–1949 (tr., 1972); A. F. Freris, The Greek Economy in the Twentieth Century (1986); T. Bahcheli, Greek-Turkish Relations Since 1955 (1988); R. Clogg, A Short History of Modern Greece (1988); Y. A. Kourvetaris and B. A. Dobratz, A Profile of Modern Greece (1988); J. V. Kofas, Intervention and Underdevelopment: Greece During the Cold War (1989); T. Boatswain and C. Nicolson, A Traveller's History of Greece (1990).

 
Psychoanalysis: Greece

Reference to the history of psychoanalysis in Greece lends itself to reflection along two different lines.

First, there is the history of events—that is, the diachronic line of events that, between 1915 and the 1980s and 1990s, sustained the slow (and somewhat difficult, owing to discontinuities) establishment of a framework for the psychoanalytic movement in Greece, with all of the consequences, both positive and negative, that such a framework entailed for psychoanalytic circles. This chronology shows that, around 1920, a circle of intellectuals and teachers were actively studying the works of Sigmund Freud and publishing on practices in psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. However, the official medical community and the broader public remained indifferent or even hostile to these currents of thought.

The active presence of Princess Marie Bonaparte in Athens beginning in 1946 seemed to offer a way of changing things. The interest of academics and doctors was mobilized on the occasion of a visit by Anna Freud, who was invited to Athens in 1949, but this lasted only for the short duration of her stay. Only two psychiatrists, Démétrios Kouretas and Georges Zavitzianos; a poet, Andreas Embirikos; and a physician, Nicolas Dracoulides, were interested in pursuing more in-depth psychoanalytic training. These four men formed a working group, and, supported by Marie Bonaparte, were accepted as members of the Société psychanalytique de Paris (Psychoanalytic Society of Paris) in 1950. However, the group was to be short-lived: It disbanded a year later, the four analysts having chosen to settle in three different countries.

After the end of World War II and the civil war that ravaged Greece, the creation of a few institutional, psychodynamically oriented mental health centers made it feasible to organize lecture series, seminars, and group discussions in Athens; these developments seemed to portend a possible new beginning for analytic work. Colleagues from abroad—Serge Lebovici was the first—were prepared to offer assistance, beginning in 1957. Three Greek analysts working in different areas—Kouretas at the University of Athens, Pangiotis Sakellaropoulos at the Center of Thétokos, and Anna Potamianou at the Center for Mental Health and Research—provided the impetus, as hopes for a new beginning took shape. And once again, the central figures comprised two psychiatrists and one person from outside of that field.

Numerous attempts to ensure sustained and systematic collaboration did not yield results. It was not until 1982, after countless efforts and failures, and with the help of a group of analysts who had trained overseas (Athena Alexandris, Pierre Hartocollis, Stavroula Beratis), that a "Greek psychoanalytic group" gained formal recognition as a study group of the International Psychoanalytic Association (IPA). This group, which includes four teaching analysts, ten members, eight corresponding members, and twenty-six candidates, was designated by election as an IPA member society in 2001.

Between 1989 and 1995, two groups inspired by the work of Jacques Lacan, the Freudian Praxis, and the Athenian Circle of the European School of Psychoanalysis, as well as another group whose members wished to remain independent of any school, were formed. Still two other groups follow the teachings of Alfred Adler. Thus, the diachronic axis in Greece reveals considerable oscillation between forward movement and movements of regression-repetition, attesting to an unconscious, but definite, fidelity to Freudian thought in connection with the psychic trajectory of individuals and groups.

A second line of reflection brings out even more clearly the similarities between the course of development of psychoanalysis in Greece and the very essence of the Freudian Logos. Marked by a convergence between the Jewish soul and the Hellenistic spirit, Freud's thought engraved a path of complementary opposites and constraints that mirrors the history of psychoanalysis in Greece. That history, it seems, is the fruit of conflicts whose unexpected violence often astonished spectators; it is also the result of harsh schisms and mutilating projections, the revelatory details of which can be found in the writings of those involved in its difficult and laborious gestation.

Opposition and indifference arose within the group; analysts departed to seek training abroad. There were abortive attempts, productive convergences, jolts, and contacts. It is certain that the development of psychoanalysis was not exempt from tumultuous adventures in any country. However, it is equally certain that in this land that engendered what for Freud doubled as the alien element of the unconscious—that is, the discourse and myths of the ancient Greeks—the constraint of rejection and exclusion of analytic thought exerted its influence for too long. There are a variety of reasons for this, and they have been studied and discussed by such authors as Gerosimos Stephanotos, Athanase and Hélène Tzavaras and Anna Potamianou. Currently, this constraint has been eased somewhat. For Freud, the journey leading to Athens was not easy; the price he paid in terms of his autoanalysis was considerable. For Greek analysts today, there is certainly a price to be paid so that analysis may "be" in their country.

With regard to publications in Greek: Kouretas and Zavitzianos published numerous works, mainly concerning clinical practice and applied psychoanalysis. More recently, Greek psychoanalysts have mostly tended to publish in the language in which they received their training (English, French, or German), but numerous articles and several books, including four collaboratively written volumes, have also been written in Greek.

Bibliography

Potamianou, Anna. (1988). Episkepsis: Pensées autour de la visite d'Anna Freud à Athènes. Revue internationale d'histoire de la psychanalyse, 1, 247-254.

Stephanatos, Gerosimos. (1992). Un pari sous l'Acropole. Bulletin d'information du Quatrieme Groupe. 12, 56-63.

Tzavaras, Athanase. (1993). Psychanalyse "et" Grèce—dix ans après. IO—Revue Internationale de Psychanalyse, 4, 157-162.

Tzavaras, Hélène. (1993). Oedipe ou Ulysse? Identité et filiation de la psychanalyse en Grèce. IO—Revue Internationale de Psychanalyse, 4, 87-93.

Tzavaras, Hélène, and Tzavaras, Athanase. (1995). Au pays d'Oedipe. Panoramiques, 22, 156-158.

—ANNA POTAMIANOU

 
History 1450-1789: Greece

Greece is a country in the south of the Balkan Peninsula, bordering on the east with Turkey, on the north with Bulgaria and the Republic of Macedonia, and on the northwest with Albania. Greece is a mountainous country with ragged littoral and few plains. A large part of its territory consists of islands. The bulk of Greek lands entered early modern times as part of two states, the Ottoman Empire and the Venetian Republic.

Territories Under Ottoman Rule

Under Ottoman rule, cities were modest and of only regional importance except for a few provincial capitals and ports (Patra, Livadia, Ioannina, Larissa, Serres). The biggest city was Salonica; in the sixteenth century, it evolved into a large manufacturing center, and in the eighteenth became a major commercial port. Most of the population in the territories, especially in the country, was Orthodox Christian. Cities usually had large Christian and Muslim communities and small Jewish ones (except for Salonica, a Jewish metropolis). Some Muslims were originally settlers from Anatolia, but most were descendants of local converts. Muslims were predominantly Turkish-speaking except in Crete and Epirus, where large-scale conversions had taken place. Christian townspeople were mostly Greek-speaking; in the country, alongside ethnic Greeks (the majority in central and southern Greece, Crete, and the Islands), there also existed large Slavic, Aromunian, and Albanian populations. Jewish communities were predominantly Sephardic, but there also existed several Romaniot ones.

The Ottoman conquest of mainland Greece was essentially completed by 1460, that of the Aegean Islands by 1570. Crete was conquered in 1669. In general, the conquest of the mainland was rapid and did not cause major disruption in local life. The sixteenth century witnessed considerable demographic and economic growth. Large-scale construction projects, usually financed by imperial funds, together with religious, commercial, and learning establishments, supported by endowments, provided urban infrastructure; churches and monasteries were rebuilt and renovated. By the end of the century, a demographic decline was seen, accompanied by small-scale migratory movements. The mid-seventeenth century brought a severe economic crisis. This was followed by a large-scale demographic crisis that continued well into the eighteenth century and affected the settlement pattern. The eighteenth century witnessed major socioeconomic changes: consolidation of large estates in private—mainly Muslim—hands in the fertile parts of the country; growth of cattle breeding, manufacture, and commerce; intensification of trade with western Europe; establishment of commercial networks in central and eastern Europe; an explosion of banditry. Economic growth, together with changes in patterns of consumption, increasing mobility, and contact with Europe, led to cultural flourishing in many towns and cities.

The Greek lands were integrated in the Ottoman prebendal system and divided in provinces with a dual judicial/civil and executive/military administration. Towns were the seats of kadis, who combined judicial and administrative authority; provincial capitals were also the seats of military governors. Beneficence and welfare were provided by pious foundations, some of which were major owners of urban and rural property, while others were involved in moneylending. Craftsmen and traders were organized in guilds. The suppression of banditry was entrusted to—usually Christian—paramilitary troops (martolos/armatoloi).

Alongside the kadi, the governor and various officials, a body of "notables" (Muslim ayan; Christian prokritoi or kocabaşi) was involved in local administration. The prokritoi were usually elected every year by the heads of households and ran the affairs of the community. During the eighteenth century wealthy landowners and guildsmen became dominant in the election process, and oligarchic community leaderships emerged in many towns. At the same time, the ayan, consisting mainly of wealthy landowners and tax farmers, brought local administration under their control and acquired an institutional role in provincial decision making.

A fundamental misconception of the role of the church together with the presence of elaborate communal institutions led to the thesis of the "autonomy" or "self-government" of the Greek Orthodox under Ottoman rule. Actually, Christians were an integral part of the Ottoman society and made full use of Ottoman institutions, including that of the kadi court, to which they did not even hesitate to take members of the clergy. Communities, irrespective of their supposed origins, were in their structure and functions a product of Ottoman institutions and socioeconomic realities and emerged mainly as a means to cope with the administration of collectively assessed taxes. Admittedly, in some places the Ottoman authority was either weak or nonexistent. These included communities that were granted "privileges" at the time of the conquest, districts without resident Ottoman authorities, and regions that the state could not effectively control. But these self-governing communities were the exception, not the rule.

The consolidation of the Ottoman Empire led to the emergence of interregional networks that enabled the movement of people, goods, and ideas and reestablished a connection between Greece and southeastern Europe and the Near East. Greeks were also actively involved in the growing export-oriented commerce with the West, either acting as local agents for European merchants or trading in European cities. During the eighteenth century, a wave of emigration began from Greek regions to western Anatolia. The same century witnessed the growth of old diaspora communities and the creation of new ones, especially in central Europe. Relations with Russia also intensified, especially after the Ottoman-Russian treaty of Kuchuk Kainarji (1774), among the ramifications of which was the emergence of a Greek commercial marine under the Russian flag transporting goods in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.

Commercial activity also led to cultural interaction. Constantinople (Istanbul) seat of the Ottoman sultan and the Orthodox Christian patriarch, soon after its conquest became a center of Greek culture with empirewide influence. Greek reinforced its position as the language of religion, education, and commerce, which led to its spreading among the middle and upper classes of Orthodox Christians. In the eighteenth century, Smyrna (Izmir), Bucharest, and Jassy (Iaşi) emerged as major cultural centers outside Greece, while Greek books were printed in Venice and Vienna. By the end of the century, an Enlightenment movement had evolved in the diaspora communities and filtered into the commercial towns of Greece, often confronting the reaction of "traditionalists" and the church.

In the seventeenth and especially the eighteenth century, Greece captured European imagination both because of its ancient past and as part of the Ottoman Orient. Some Western travelers were disappointed by what they perceived as the uncivilized descendants of glorious ancestors; but, in the main, Philhellenism prevailed and helped create a romanticized view of noble Greece and Greeks suffering under the barbarous Turkish yoke. European perceptions led Greeks, especially in the diaspora, to a new awareness concerning their identity and place within European nations.

Notwithstanding nationalistic interpretations, prior to the Greek revolution (1821–1830) the Ottoman rule had not been challenged in most of the mainland. The only major Christian rebellion was the involvement of several regions and bands of martolos (paramilitary troops, usually Christian) from the Morea and Central Greece in the abortive enterprise of the Russian fleet under the Orloff brothers (1770). The eighteenth century, however, had witnessed the deterioration of relations between Christians and Muslims, generated by major socioeconomic changes. Intercommunal tensions heightened after the military defeats of the empire and the emergence of Russians as protectors of Orthodox Christians. By the early nineteenth century, several vague revolutionary plans circulated in the hope of exploiting the Russo-Ottoman confrontation, and a secret society after the model of the Carbonari based in Odessa, the Philike Hetaireia (Friendly Society), established a widespread network of prospective revolutionaries. In February 1821, the fear of imminent betrayal of the society's plans to the Ottomans led to a dual insurrection in the Danubian Principalities and the Morea, which soon spread in most Greek regions. Though the rebellion was soon suppressed in the north, it gained momentum in the south, and in January 1822 the Greek Republic was proclaimed.

Territories Under Venetian Rule

In the fifteenth century, Venice held several ports and coastal areas in central Greece the Morea, and some Aegean islands, as well as Corfu, Euboea, and Crete. At the turn of the century, it annexed most of the Ionian Islands, but by 1550 it had lost most of its other possessions to the Ottomans. In 1669 Crete also passed into Ottoman hands. The Morea came briefly under Venetian occupation (1685–1715), but the only Greek territories to remain under its rule until 1797 were the Ionian Islands. The bulk of the population consisted of Greek-speaking Orthodox Christians, but among the gentry, many were of Venetian or Italian origin, professing the Catholic faith. In the towns there also existed Jewish communities.

Venetian possessions were administered by governors appointed by the metropolis under the supervision of a high official called the general provveditor for the east. Local administrative institutions were not uniform, mainly because the various territories were annexed at different times. The Venetian-held territories, however, underwent similar socioeconomic developments, which differed substantially from those in the regions under Ottoman rule. The most prominent differences include the preservation of serfdom and other feudal institutions, especially in Crete and Corfu, the inferior position of the Orthodox Church, and the division of urban population in estates: burghers (cittadini) and common people (popolani), in Crete also noblemen (nobili).

Differences between Venetian and Ottoman territories are especially obvious in the cultural domain. Venice, the metropolis, seat of a thriving Greek community, and a cultural center of the Greek-speaking world, was a mediator of Western culture to Greeks. The University of Padua became a major learning center for Greeks. Direct contact with developments in Italy led to a boost in literary, theatrical, and artistic production in Crete that bears the stamp of Renaissance and baroque, while in the eighteenth century, poetry and drama flourished in the Ionian Islands.

Bibliography

Clogg, Richard. "Elite and Popular Culture in Greece under Turkish Rule." In Hellenic Perspectives, edited by John T. A. Koumoulides, pp. 107–144. Lanham, Md., 1980.

——. "The Greek Millet in the Ottoman Empire." In Christians and Jews in the Ottoman Empire, edited by Benjamin Braude and Bernard Lewis, vol. 1, pp. 185–208. New York, 1982.

Gara, Eleni. "In Search of Communities in Seventeenth-Century Ottoman Sources: The Case of the Kara Ferye District." Turcica 30 (1998): 135–162.

Greene, Molly. A Shared World: Christians and Muslims in the Early Modern Mediterranean. Princeton, 2000.

Holton, David, ed. Literature and Society in Renaissance Crete. Cambridge, U.K., 1991.

Kitromilides, Paschalis M. The Enlightenment as Social Criticism: Iosipos Moisiodax and Greek Culture in the Eighteenth Century. Princeton, 1992.

Roudometof, Victor. "From Rum Millet to Greek Nation: Enlightenment, Secularization, and National Identity in Ottoman Balkan Society, 1453–1821." Journal of Modern Greek Studies 16, no. 1 (1998): 11–48.

Tsigakou, Fani-Maria. The Rediscovery of Greece: Travelers and Painters of the Romantic Era. New Rochelle, N.Y., 1981.

—ELENI GARA

 
Geography: Greece

Republic in southeastern Europe on the southern part of the Balkan Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Athens.

  • Greece is a member of NATO.
  • Ancient Greek culture, particularly as developed in Athens, was the principal source of Western civilization.
  • Tension and fighting between Greece and Turkey has continued for hundreds of years.
  • It is known for its production of grapes, olives, and olive oil.

 
Dialing Code: Greece
Greece

The international dialing code for Greece is:   30


 
Maps: Greece

 
Local Time: Greece

Local Time: Sep 7, 4:01 PM

 
Currency: Greece
Greece - Euro


 
Statistics: Greece
Click to enlarge

Introduction

Background:Greece achieved independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1829. During the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, it gradually added neighboring islands and territories, most with Greek-speaking populations. In World War II, Greece was first invaded by Italy (1940) and subsequently occupied by Germany (1941-44); fighting endured in a protracted civil war between supporters of the king and Communist rebels. Following the latter's defeat in 1949, Greece joined NATO in 1952. A military dictatorship, which in 1967 suspended many political liberties and forced the king to flee the country, lasted seven years. The 1974 democratic elections and a referendum created a parliamentary republic and abolished the monarchy. In 1981 Greece joined the EC (now the EU); it became the 12th member of the euro zone in 2001.

Geography

Location:Southern Europe, bordering the Aegean Sea, Ionian Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea, between Albania and Turkey
Geographic coordinates:39 00 N, 22 00 E
Map references:Europe
Area:total: 131,940 sq km
land: 130,800 sq km
water: 1,140 sq km
Area - comparative:slightly smaller than Alabama
Land boundaries:total: 1,228 km
border countries: Albania 282 km, Bulgaria 494 km, Turkey 206 km, Macedonia 246 km
Coastline:13,676 km
Maritime claims:territorial sea: 12 nm
continental shelf: 200 m depth or to the depth of exploitation
Climate:temperate; mild, wet winters; hot, dry summers
Terrain:mostly mountains with ranges extending into the sea as peninsulas or chains of islands
Elevation extremes:lowest point: Mediterranean Sea 0 m
highest point: Mount Olympus 2,917 m
Natural resources:lignite, petroleum, iron ore, bauxite, lead, zinc, nickel, magnesite, marble, salt, hydropower potential
Land use:arable land: 20.45%
permanent crops: 8.59%
other: 70.96% (2005)
Irrigated land:14,530 sq km (2003)
Natural hazards:severe earthquakes
Environment - current issues:air pollution; water pollution
Environment - international agreements:party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulfur 94, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds
Geography - note:strategic location dominating the Aegean Sea and southern approach to Turkish Straits; a peninsular country, possessing an archipelago of about 2,000 islands

People

Population:10,706,290 (July 2007 est.)
Age structure:0-14 years: 14.3% (male 789,637/female 742,535)
15-64 years: 66.7% (male 3,565,237/female 3,570,630)
65 years and over: 19% (male 895,384/female 1,142,867) (2007 est.)
Median age:total: 41.2 years
male: 40 years
female: 42.3 years (2007 est.)
Population growth rate:0.163% (2007 est.)
Birth rate:9.62 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Death rate:10.33 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Net migration rate:2.34 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Sex ratio:at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.063 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.998 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.783 male(s)/female
total population: 0.962 male(s)/female (2007 est.)
Infant mortality rate:total: 5.34 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 5.87 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 4.78 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:total population: 79.38 years
male: 76.85 years
female: 82.06 years (2007 est.)
Total fertility rate:1.35 children born/woman (2007 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:0.2% (2001 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:9,100 (2001 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths:less than 100 (2003 est.)
Nationality:noun: Greek(s)
adjective: Greek
Ethnic groups:population: Greek 93%, other (foreign citizens) 7% (2001 census)
note: percents represent citizenship, since Greece does not collect data on ethnicity
Religions:Greek Orthodox 98%, Muslim 1.3%, other 0.7%
Languages:Greek 99% (official), other 1% (includes English and French)
Literacy:definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 96%
male: 97.8%
female: 94.2% (2001 census)

Government

Country name:conventional long form: Hellenic Republic
conventional short form: Greece
local long form: Elliniki Dhimokratia
local short form: Ellas or Ellada
former: Kingdom of Greece
Government type:parliamentary republic
Capital:name: Athens
geographic coordinates: 37 59 N, 23 44 E
time difference: UTC+2 (7 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October
Administrative divisions:51 prefectures (nomoi, singular - nomos) and 1 autonomous region*; Achaia, Agion Oros* (Mt. Athos), Aitolia kai Akarnania, Argolis, Arkadia, Arta, Attiki, Chalkidiki, Chanion, Chios, Dodekanisos, Drama, Evros, Evrytania, Evvoia, Florina, Fokidos, Fthiotis, Grevena, Ileia, Imathia, Ioannina, Irakleion, Karditsa, Kastoria, Kavala, Kefallinia, Kerkyra, Kilkis, Korinthia, Kozani, Kyklades, Lakonia, Larisa, Lasithi, Lefkas, Lesvos, Magnisia, Messinia, Pella, Pieria, Preveza, Rethynnis, Rodopi, Samos, Serrai, Thesprotia, Thessaloniki, Trikala, Voiotia, Xanthi, Zakynthos
Independence:1829 (from the Ottoman Empire)
National holiday:Independence Day, 25 March (1821)
Constitution:11 June 1975; amended March 1986 and April 2001
Legal system:based on codified Roman law; judiciary divided into civil, criminal, and administrative courts; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations
Suffrage:18 years of age; universal and compulsory
Executive branch:chief of state: President Karolos PAPOULIAS (since 12 March 2005)
head of government: Prime Minister Konstandinos (Kostas) KARAMANLIS (since 7 March 2004)
cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president on the recommendation of the prime minister
elections: president elected by parliament for a five-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held 8 February 2005 (next to be held by February 2010); according to the Greek Constitution, presidents may only serve two terms; president appoints leader of the party securing plurality of vote in election to become prime minister and form a government
election results: Karolos PAPOULIAS elected president; number of parliamentary votes, 279 out of 300
Legislative branch:unicameral Parliament or Vouli ton Ellinon (300 seats; members are elected by direct popular vote to serve four-year terms)
elections: elections last held 16 September 2007 (next to be held by 2011)
election results: percent of vote by party - ND 41.8%, PASOK 38.1%, KKE 8.2%, Synaspismos 5%, LAOS 3.8%, other 3.1%; seats by party - ND 152, PASOK 102, KKE 22, Synaspismos 14, LAOS 10
Judicial branch:Supreme Judicial Court; Special Supreme Tribunal; all judges appointed for life by the president after consultation with a judicial council
Political parties and leaders:Coalition of the Left and Progress (Synaspismos) [Alekos ALAVANOS]; Communist Party of Greece or KKE [Aleka PAPARIGA]; New Democracy or ND (conservative) [Konstandinos KARAMANLIS]; Panhellenic Socialist Movement or PASOK [Yiorgos PAPANDREOU]; Popular Orthodox Rally or LAOS [Yeoryios KARATZAFERIS]
Political pressure groups and leaders:General Confederation of Greek Workers or GSEE [Ioannis PANAGOPOULOS]; Federation of Greek Industries or SEV [Odysseas KYRIAKOPOULOS]; Civil Servants Confederation or ADEDY [Spyros PAPASPYROS]
International organization participation:Australia Group, BIS, BSEC, CE, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, EIB, EMU, EU, FAO, G- 6, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC, MIGA, MINURSO, NAM (guest), NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OIF, OPCW, OSCE, PCA, Schengen Convention, SECI, UN, UN Security Council (temporary), UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNMEE, UNMIS, UNOMIG, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WEU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO, ZC
Diplomatic representation in the US:chief of mission: Ambassador Alexandros P. MALLIAS
chancery: 2221 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008
telephone: [1] (202) 939-1300
FAX: [1] (202) 939-1324
consulate(s) general: Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Tampa
consulate(s): Atlanta, Houston, New Orleans
Diplomatic representation from the US:chief of mission: Ambassador Daniel V. SPECKHARD
embassy: 91 Vasilisis Sophias Avenue, 10160 Athens
mailing address: PSC 108, APO AE 09842-0108
telephone: [30] (210) 721-2951
FAX: [30] (210) 645-6282
consulate(s) general: Thessaloniki
Flag description:nine equal horizontal stripes of blue alternating with white; there is a blue square in the upper hoist-side corner bearing a white cross; the cross symbolizes Greek Orthodoxy, the established religion of the country

Economy

Economy - overview:Greece has a capitalist economy with the public sector accounting for about 40% of GDP and with per capita GDP at least 75% of the leading euro-zone economies. Tourism provides 15% of GDP. Immigrants make up nearly one-fifth of the work force, mainly in agricultural and unskilled jobs. Greece is a major beneficiary of EU aid, equal to about 3.3% of annual GDP. The Greek economy grew by nearly 4.0% per year between 2003 and 2006, due partly to infrastructural spending related to the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, and in part to an increased availability of credit, which has sustained record levels of consumer spending. Greece violated the EU's Growth and Stability Pact budget deficit criteria of no more than 3% of GDP from 2001 to 2005, but finally appears on track to meet that criteria in 2006. Public debt, inflation, and unemployment are above the euro-zone average, but are falling. The Greek Government continues to grapple with cutting government spending, reducing the size of the public sector, and reforming the labor and pension systems, in the face of often vocal opposition from the country's powerful labor unions and the general public.
GDP (purchasing power parity):$256.5 billion (2006 est.)
GDP (official exchange rate):$224 billion (2006 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:4.3% (2006 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:agriculture: 3.3%
industry: 20.8%
services: 75.9% (2006 est.)
Labor force:4.89 million (2006 est.)
Labor force - by occupation:agriculture: 12%
industry: 20%
services: 68% (2004 est.)
Unemployment rate:9.2% (2006 est.)
Population below poverty line:NA%
Household income or consumption by percentage share:lowest 10%: 2.5%
highest 10%: 26% (2000 est.)
Distribution of family income - Gini index:35.1 (2003)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):3.2% (2006 est.)
Investment (gross fixed):25.7% of GDP (2006 est.)
Budget:revenues: $99.13 billion
expenditures: $106.7 billion (2006 est.)
Public debt:82.4% of GDP (2006 est.)
Agriculture - products:wheat, corn, barley, sugar beets, olives, tomatoes, wine, tobacco, potatoes; beef, dairy products
Industries:tourism, food and tobacco processing, textiles, chemicals, metal products; mining, petroleum
Industrial production growth rate:2% (2006 est.)
Electricity - production:56.13 billion kWh (2005)