The native name of the country in Modern Greek isΕλλάδα (Elládaⓘ, pronounced[eˈlaða]ⓘ). The corresponding form in Ancient Greek and conservative formal Modern Greek (Katharevousa) isἙλλάς (Hellas, classical:[hel.lás], modern:[eˈlas]). This is the source of the English alternative nameHellas, which is mostly found in archaic or poetic contexts today. The Greek adjectival formελληνικός (ellinikos,[eliniˈkos]) is sometimes also translated asHellenic and is often rendered in this way in the formal names of Greek institutions, as in the official name of the Greek state, theHellenic Republic (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία,[eliniˈciðimokraˈti.a]).[12]
TheApidima Cave inMani, in southern Greece, has been suggested to contain the oldest remains ofearly modern humans outside of Africa, dated to 200,000 years ago.[13] However others suggest the remains representarchaic humans.[14] All three stages of theStone Age are represented in Greece, for example in theFranchthi Cave.[15]Neolithic settlements in Greece, dating from the 7th millennium BC,[16] are the oldest in Europe, as Greece lies on the route by which farming spread from theNear East to Europe.[17]
By 500 BC, thePersian Empire controlled the Greek city states in Asia Minor and Macedonia.[36] Attempts by Greek city-states of Asia Minor to overthrow Persian rulefailed, and Persiainvaded the states of mainland Greece in 492 BC, but was forced to withdraw after defeat at theBattle of Marathon in 490 BC. In response, the Greek city-states formed the Hellenic League in 481 BC, led bySparta, which was the first recorded union of Greek states since the mythical union of theTrojan War.[37][38] Thesecond Persian invasion of Greece was decisively defeated in 480–479 BC, atSalamis andPlataea, marking the eventual withdrawal of the Persians from all their European territories. The Greek victories in theGreco-Persian Wars are a pivotal moment in history,[39] as the 50 years of peace afterwards are known as theGolden Age of Athens, a seminal period that laid many foundations of Western civilisation. Lack of political unity resulted in frequent conflict between Greek states. The most devastating intra-Greek war was thePeloponnesian War (431–404 BC), which marked the demise of theAthenian Empire and the emergence ofSpartan and laterTheban hegemony.[40] Weakened by constant wars among them during the 4th century BC, the Greekpoleis were subjugated to therising power of thekingdom of Macedon under kingPhilip II into an alliance known as theHellenic League.[41]
From about 200 BC theRoman Republic became increasingly involved in Greek affairs and engaged in aseries of wars with Macedon.[47] Macedon's defeat at theBattle of Pydna in 168 BC signalled the end ofAntigonid power.[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 emperorAugustus annexed the rest of Greece and constituted it as thesenatorial province ofAchaea.[49] Despite their military superiority, the Romans admired and becameheavily influenced by Greek culture.[50]
Greek-speaking communities of the Hellenised East were instrumental in the spread of Christianity in the 2nd and 3rd centuries,[51] and Christianity's early leaders and writers were mostly Greek-speaking, though not from Greece itself.[52] TheNew Testament was written in Greek, and some sections attest to the importance of churches in Greece inearly Christianity. Nevertheless, much of Greece clung to paganism, and ancient Greek religious practices were still in vogue in the late 4th century AD,[53] when they were outlawed by the Roman emperorTheodosius I in 391–392.[54] The last recorded Olympic games were held in 393,[55] and many temples were destroyed or damaged in the century that followed.[56][57] The closure of theNeoplatonic Academy of Athens by Emperor Justinian in 529 is considered the end of antiquity, although there is evidence that the academy continued.[56][58]
The Empire's Balkan territories, including Greece, suffered from the dislocation ofbarbarian invasions;[60] raids byGoths andHuns in the 4th and 5th centuries and theSlavic invasion in the 7th century resulted in a collapse in imperial authority in the Greekpeninsula.[61] The imperial government retained control of only the islands and coastal areas, particularly the populated walled cities such as Athens, Corinth and Thessalonica.[61][62][63] However, the view that Greece underwent decline, fragmentation and depopulation is considered outdated, as cities show institutional continuity and prosperity between the 4th and 6th centuries. In the early 6th century, Greece had approximately 80 cities according to theSynekdemos chronicle, and the 4th to the 7th century is considered one of high prosperity.[64]
Until the 8th century almost all of modern Greece was under the jurisdiction of theHoly See ofRome. ByzantineEmperor Leo III moved the border of thePatriarchate of Constantinople westward and northward in the 8th century.[65] The Byzantine recovery of lost provinces during theArab–Byzantine wars began in the 8th century and most of the Greek peninsula came under imperial control again.[66][67] This process was facilitated by a large influx of Greeks from Sicily and Asia Minor to the Greek peninsula, while many Slavs were captured and re-settled in Asia Minor.[62] During the 11th and 12th centuries the return of stability resulted in the Greek peninsula benefiting from economic growth.[66] TheGreek Orthodox Church was instrumental in the spread of Greek ideas to the widerOrthodox world.[68][69]
Following theFourth Crusade and fall of Constantinople to the "Latins" in 1204, mainland Greece was split between the GreekDespotate of Epirus andFrench rule[70] (theFrankokratia).[71] The re-establishment of the imperial capital in Constantinople in 1261 was accompanied by the empire's recovery of much of the Greek peninsula, while the islands remained under Genoese and Venetian control.[70] During thePaleologi dynasty (1261–1453) a new era of Greek patriotism emerged accompanied by a turning back to ancient Greece.[72][73][74][75][76]
In the 14th century much of the Greek peninsula was lost by the Byzantine Empire to theSerbs and then theOttomans.[77] Constantinople fell to the Ottomans in 1453 and by 1460, Ottoman conquest of mainland Greece was complete.[78]
Venetian possessions and Ottoman rule (15th century – 1821)
During the 15th to early 19th centuries, while much ofmainland Greece and theAegean islands fell underOttoman control,Venice retained several key territories. Notably,Crete remained underVenetian rule until 1669, and theIonian Islands were governed by Venice until 1797. These islands were subsequently ceded toFrench and laterBritish control.[79] While some Greeks in the Ionian islands andConstantinople lived in prosperity, and Greeks of Constantinople (Phanariots) achieved power within the Ottoman administration,[80] much of Greece suffered the economic consequences of 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 intoserfs,[81] while the Ottoman conquest had cut Greece off from European historical developments.[82]
TheGreek Orthodox Church and theEcumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople were considered by the Ottoman governments as the ruling authorities of the entireOrthodox Christian population of the Ottoman Empire, whether ethnically Greek or not. Although the Ottoman state did not force non-Muslims to convert toIslam, Christians faced discrimination. Discrimination, 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.[83][84]
The nature of Ottoman administration of Greece varied, though it was invariably arbitrary and often harsh.[83] Some cities had governors appointed by theSultan, 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 centuries.[85] The 16th and 17th centuries are regarded as a "dark age" in Greek history.[86] However, prior to the Greek Revolution of 1821, there had been wars which saw Greeks fight against the Ottomans, such as the Greek participation in theBattle of Lepanto in 1571,[86] theMorean War of 1684–1699, and theRussian-instigatedOrlov revolt in 1770.[87] These uprisings were put down by the Ottomans with great bloodshed.[88][89] Many Greeks were conscripted as Ottoman subjects to serve in the Ottoman army and especially the navy, while the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, responsible for the Orthodox, remained in general loyal to the Empire.
In the 18th century, Greek merchants came to dominate trade within the Ottoman Empire, established communities throughout the Mediterranean, the Balkans, and Europe,[90] and used their wealth to fund educational activities that brought younger generations into contact with Western ideas.[91] In the 18th century, an increase in learning during theModern Greek Enlightenment led to the emergence amongWesternised Greek-speakingelites of thenotion of a Greek nation. A secret organisation formed in this milieu was theFiliki Eteria, in 1814.[92] They engagedtraditional strata of the Greek Orthodox world in theirliberal nationalist cause.[93]
Ottowas deposed in 1862 because of the Bavarian-dominated government, heavy taxation, and a failed attempt to annex Crete from the Ottomans.[102][104] He was replaced by Prince Wilhelm of Denmark, who took the nameGeorge I and brought with him the Ionian Islands as a coronation gift from Britain. Anew Constitution in 1864 changed Greece's form of government fromconstitutional monarchy to the more democraticcrowned republic.[108][109][110] In 1875parliamentary majority as a requirement for government was introduced,[111] curbing the power of the monarchy to appointminority governments. Corruption, coupled with increased spending to fund infrastructure like theCorinth Canal,[112] overtaxed the weak economy and forced the declaration ofpublic insolvency in 1893.
Amidst dissatisfaction with the seeming inertia and unattainability ofnational aspirations, military officers organised acoup in 1909 and called onCretan politicianEleftherios Venizelos, who conveyed a vision of national regeneration. After winningtwoelections and becoming prime minister in 1910,[116] Venizelos initiated fiscal, social, andconstitutional reforms, reorganised the military, made Greece a member of theBalkan League, and led it through theBalkan Wars. By 1913, Greece's territory and population had doubled, annexing Crete,Epirus, andMacedonia. The struggle betweenKing Constantine I and charismatic Venizelos over foreign policy on the eve of the First World War dominated politics and divided the country intotwo opposing groups. During parts of the war, Greece had two governments: A royalistpro-German one inAthens and aVenizelist pro-Entente one inThessaloniki. They united in 1917, when Greece entered the war on the side of the Entente.
After the war, Greece attempted expansion intoAsia Minor, a region with a large native Greek population, but was defeated in theGreco-Turkish War (1919–1922), contributing to a flight ofAsia Minor Greeks.[117][118] These events overlapped, happening during theGreek genocide (1914–22),[119][120][121][122][123] when Ottoman and Turkish officials contributed to the death of several hundred thousand Asia Minor Greeks, along with similar numbers ofAssyrians and a larger number ofArmenians. The resultant Greek exodus from Asia Minor was made permanent, and expanded, in an officialpopulation exchange between Greece and Turkey, as part of theTreaty of Lausanne which ended the war.[124] The following era was marked by instability, as over 1.5 million propertyless Greek refugees from Turkey (some of whom could not speak Greek) had to be integrated into Greek society. The refugees made a dramatic population boost, as they were more than a quarter of Greece's prior population.[125]
An agreement between Prime MinisterIoannis Metaxas and George II followed in 1936, which installed Metaxas as head of a dictatorship known as the4th of August Regime, inauguratingauthoritarian rule that would last until 1974.[127] Greece remained on good terms with Britain and was not allied with theAxis.
People inAthens celebrate the liberation from the Axis powers, October 1944. Postwar Greece would soon experience acivil war and political polarisation
In October 1940,Fascist Italy demanded the surrender of Greece, but itrefused, and, in theGreco-Italian War, Greece repelled Italian forces into Albania.[128] French generalCharles de Gaulle praised the fierceness of the Greek resistance, but the country fell to urgently dispatchedGerman forces during theBattle of Greece. The Nazis proceeded to administer Athens and Thessaloniki, while other regions were given to Fascist Italy and Bulgaria. Over 100,000 civilians died of starvation during the winter of 1941–42, tens of thousands more died because of reprisals by Nazis andcollaborators, the economy was ruined, and mostGreek Jews (tens of thousands) were deported and murdered in Nazi concentration camps.[129][130] TheGreek Resistance, one of the most effective resistance movements, fought against the Nazis. The German occupiers committedatrocities, mass executions, and wholesale slaughter of civilians and destruction of towns and villages in reprisals. Hundreds of villages were systematically torched and almost 1 million Greeks left homeless.[130] The Germans executed around 21,000 Greeks, the Bulgarians 40,000, and the Italians 9,000.[131]
Following liberation, Greece annexed theDodecanese Islands from Italy and regainedWestern Thrace from Bulgaria. The country descended into acivil war betweencommunist forces and the anti-communist Greek government, which lasted until 1949, with the latter's victory. The conflict, one of the earliest struggles of theCold War,[132] resulted in further economic devastation, population displacement and political polarisation for the next thirty years.[133]
Although post-war was characterised by social strife and marginalisation of the left, Greece experiencedrapid economic growth and recovery, propelled in part by the U.S.Marshall Plan.[134] In 1952, Greece joinedNATO, reinforcing its membership in theWestern Bloc of the Cold War.[135]
King Constantine II's quick acceptance ofGeorge Papandreou's informal resignation as prime minister in 1965 prompted an era of political turbulence that was later calledIouliana, and culminated in a coup in 1967 by theGreek junta, led byGeorgios Papadopoulos. Civil rights were suspended, political repression intensified, and human rights abuses, including torture, were rampant. Economic growth remained rapid before plateauing in 1972. The brutal suppression of theAthens Polytechnic uprising in 1973 set in motion the fall of the regime, resulting in a counter-coup that established brigadierDimitrios 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 crisis in Greece that led to the regime's collapse and restoration of democracy throughMetapolitefsi.[136]
The former prime ministerKonstantinos Karamanlis was invited back from self-exile and thefirst multiparty elections since 1964 were held on the first anniversary of the Polytechnic uprising. A democratic and republicanconstitution was promulgated in 1975 following areferendum which chose not to restore the monarchy.
The country adopted the euro in 2001 and successfully hosted the2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens.[139] In 2010, Greece suffered from theGreat Recession and relatedEuropean sovereign debt crisis. Due to the adoption of the euro, Greece could no longerdevalue its currency to regain competitiveness.[140] In the 2012 elections, there was major political change, with new parties emerging from the collapse of the two main parties, PASOK and New Democracy.[141] In 2015,Alexis Tsipras was elected as prime minister, the first outside the two main parties.[142] TheGreek government-debt crisis, and subsequent austerity policies, resulted in social strife. The crisis ended around 2018, with the end of the bailout mechanisms and return of growth.[143] Simultaneously, Tsipras, and the leader of North Macedonia,Zoran Zaev, signed thePrespa Agreement, solving thenaming dispute that had strained the relations and eased the latter's way to become a member of the EU and NATO.[144]
In 2019,Kyriakos Mitsotakis became Greece's new prime minister, after his centre-right New Democracy won theelection.[145] In 2020, Greece's parliament elected a non-partisan candidate,Katerina Sakellaropoulou, as the first femalePresident of Greece.[146] In February 2024, Greece became the first Orthodox Christian country to recognise same-sex marriage and adoption by same-sex couples.[147]
In 2023, Greece became a member of the Three Seas Initiative.[148]
Located inSouthern[149] and Southeast Europe,[150] Greece consists of a mountainous, peninsular mainland jutting out into the sea at the southern end of theBalkans, ending at thePeloponnese peninsula (separated from the mainland by thecanal of theIsthmus of Corinth) and strategically located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa.[f] Its highly indented coastline and numerous islands give Greece the11th longest national coastline in the world, with 13,676 km (8,498 mi);[156] its land boundary is 1,160 km (721 mi). The country lies approximately between latitudes34° and42° N, and longitudes19° and30° E, with the extreme points being:[157] the villageOrmenio in the North and the islandsGavdos (South),Strongyli nearKastellorizo/Megisti (East), andOthonoi (West). The islandGavdos is considered the southernmost island of Europe.[158][159]
Approximately 80% of Greece consists of mountains or hills, making the country one of the most mountainous in Europe.Mount Olympus, the mythical abode of theGreek Gods, culminates at Mytikas peak 2,918 metres (9,573 ft),[160] the highest in the country. Western Greece contains a number of lakes and wetlands and is dominated by thePindus mountain range. The Pindus, a continuation of theDinaric Alps, reaches a maximum elevation of 2,637 m (8,652 ft) atMt. Smolikas (the second-highest in Greece) and historically has been a significant barrier to east–west travel. Its extensions cross through the Peloponnese, ending in the island of Crete. TheVikos Gorge, part of theVikos-Aoos National Park in the Pindus range, is listed by the Guinness book of World Records as the deepest gorge in the world relative to its width.[161] Another notable formation are theMeteora rock pillars, atop which have been built medieval Greek Orthodox monasteries.[162]
Northeastern Greece features another high-altitude mountain range, theRhodope range, spreading across the region ofEastern Macedonia and Thrace; this area is covered with vast, thick, ancient forests, including the famousDadia Forest in theEvros regional unit, in the far northeast of the country.
Extensive plains are primarily located in the regions ofThessaly,Central Macedonia, andThrace. They constitute key economic regions as they are among the few arable places in the country.
The Greek mainland and several small islands seen fromNydri,Lefkada
Greece features avast number of islands—between 1,200 and 6,000, depending on the definition,[163] 227 of which are inhabited.Crete is the largest and most populous island;Euboea, separated from the mainland by the 60 m-wideEuripus Strait, is the second largest, followed byLesbos andRhodes.
The Greek islands are traditionally grouped into the following clusters: theArgo-Saronic Islands in the Saronic gulf near Athens; the Cyclades, a large but dense collection occupying the central part of the Aegean Sea; theNorth Aegean islands, a loose grouping off the west coast of Turkey; the Dodecanese, another loose collection in the southeast between Crete and Turkey; theSporades, 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.
Theclimate of Greece is primarilyMediterranean (Köppen:Csa),[164] featuring mild to cool, wet winters and hot, dry summers.[165] This climate occurs at most of the coastal locations, includingAthens, theCyclades, theDodecanese,Crete, thePeloponnese, theIonian Islands, and parts ofmainland Greece. ThePindus 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 arain shadow effect),[166] resulting to some coastal areas in the south falling to the hotsemi-arid climate (Köppen:BSh) category, such as parts of theAthens Riviera and some of theCyclades, as well as some areas in the north featuring a cold equivalent climate (Köppen:BSk), such as the cities ofThessaloniki andLarissa.
The mountainous areas and the higher elevations of northwestern Greece (parts ofEpirus,Central Greece,Thessaly,Western Macedonia) as well as in the mountainous central parts of Peloponnese – including parts of the regional units ofAchaea,Arcadia, andLaconia – feature anAlpine climate (Köppen:D,E) with heavy snowfalls during the winter. Most of the inland parts of northern Greece, inCentral Macedonia, the lower elevations ofWestern Macedonia andEastern Macedonia and Thrace feature ahumid 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 asAthens.[167]
Legislative powers are exercised by a 300-memberunicameral Parliament.[171] According to the Constitution, executive power is exercised by theGovernment and thePresident of the Republic, who is the nominal head of state, is elected by theParliament for a five-year term and promulgates statutes passed by Parliament.[171] However, theConstitutional amendment of 1986 rendered the President's office largely ceremonial; the most powerful officeholder is thus theprime minister, Greece's head of government.[174] The position is filled by thecurrent leader of thepolitical 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.[171]
According toInternational IDEA’s Global State of Democracy (GSoD) Indices and Democracy Tracker, Greece performs in the mid-range on overall democratic measures, with particular strengths in elected government and freedom of movement.[177][178][179] Moreover, according to an OECD report, Greeks display a moderate level of civic participation compared to most other developed countries; voter turnout was 58% during recent elections, lower than the OECD average of 69%.[180]
Representation through:[189] embassy embassy in another country general consulate no representation Greece
Foreign policy is conducted through theMinistry of Foreign Affairs and its head, theMinister for Foreign Affairs, currentlyGiorgos Gerapetritis. The aims of the Ministry are to represent Greece before other states and international organisations; safeguard the interests of the state and its citizens abroad; promote Greek culture; foster closer relations with theGreek diaspora; and encourage international cooperation.[190] Greece is described as having a special relationship withCyprus, Italy, France, Armenia, Australia, Israel, the US and the UK.[191][192][193][194][195][196]
Due to its geographical proximity to Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa, Greece is of geostrategic importance, which it has leveraged to develop a regional policy to promote peace and stability in theBalkans, Mediterranean and the Middle East.[199] This has accorded the countrymiddle power status.[200]
Moreover, Greece maintains theHellenic 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 theMinistry of Shipping.
Greek military personnel total 364,050, of whom 142,700 are active and 221,350 are reserve. Greeceranks 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.[149] 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 ofNATO, the Greek military participates in exercises and deployments under the auspices of the alliance, although its involvement in NATO missions is minimal.[202] Greece spends over US$7 billion annually on its military, or 2.3% of GDP, the24th-highest in the world in absolute terms, theseventh-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% of GDP.
The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature and comprises three Supreme Courts: theSupreme Civil and Criminal Court of Greece, theCouncil of State and theCourt of Audit. The judicial system is also composed of civil courts, which judge civil and penal cases and administrative courts, which judge disputes between citizens and the Greek administrative authorities.
Greece has the largest economy in the Balkans,[223][224][225] and an important regional investor.[223][224] It has been the number-two foreign investor of capital in Albania and most important trading partner and largest foreign investor of North Macedonia.[226][227] The Greek telecommunications companyOTE has become a strong investor in other Balkan countries.[228]
Greece's debt percentage since 1977, compared to the average of theeurozone
Greek economy had fared well (with high growth rates and low public debt) during most of the 20th century; high growth rates were maintained up to the2008 financial crisis, coupled, however, with high structuraldeficits.[230] In 2009, it was revealed deficits had been considerably higher than official figures.[231] Banks had supplied cash in exchange for future payments by Greece and other Eurozone countries; in turn the liabilities of the countries were "kept off the books", hiding borrowing levels.[232][233][234] This was one of the techniques that enabled Greece to reduce its recorded budget deficit.[235]
The crisis was triggered by theGreat Recession, which caused Greece's GDP to contract 2.5% in 2009.[236] Simultaneously, deficits were revealed to have been allowed to reach 10% and 15% in 2008 and 2009. This caused Greece's debt-to-GDP ratio to increase to 127%.[237] As aeurozone member, Greece had no autonomousmonetary policy flexibility. Greece's borrowing rates increased, causing a crisis of confidence in Greece's ability to pay back loans in early 2010.[238][239]
To avert asovereign default, Greece, other eurozone members, and theInternational Monetary Fund agreed on a €110 billion rescue package in May 2010.[240][241] Greece was required to adopt harshausterity measures to bring its deficit down.[242] A second bail-out of €130 billion was agreed in 2012, subject to financial reforms and further austerity.[243] Adebt haircut was agreed.[243] Greece achieved abudget surplus in 2013 and returned to growth in 2014.[244][245]
Partly due to the imposed austerity,[231] Greece experienced a 25% drop in GDP between 2009 and 2015.[246] The debt ratio, jumped from 127% to about 170%, due to the shrinking economy.[247] In 2013, the IMF admitted it had underestimated the effects of tax hikes and budget cuts and issued an informal apology.[248][249][250] The policies have been blamed for worsening the crisis,[251][252] while others stressed the creditors' share in responsibility.[253][254][247] The bailouts ended in 2018.[143]
In 2024, the Greek economy was forecast to grow by nearly 3%, approaching its pre-crisis size of 2009 and far outpacing the eurozone's average economic growth of 0.8%.[255]
Greece is the European Union's largest producer ofcotton[256] andpistachios (7,200 tons in 2021),[257][258] second inolives (3m tons in 2021), third infigs (8,400 tons in 2022) andwatermelons (440,000 tons in 2022) and fourth inalmonds (40,000 tons in 2022).[258] Agriculture contributes 3.8% of GDP and employs 12% of the labour force.
Greece is a major beneficiary of the EU'sCommon Agricultural Policy. As a result of entry to the European Community, much of its agricultural infrastructure has been upgraded and output increased.
Electricity production is dominated by the state-ownedPublic Power Corporation (known by its acronym ΔΕΗ, transliterated as DEI), which supplied 75% of electricity in 2021.[259] Some of DEI's output is generated usinglignite.[260]Renewable energy in Greece accounted for 46% of Greece's electricity in 2022,[261] a rise from the 11% in 2011.[262]Wind power accounts for 22%,solar power 14%,hydropower 9%, and natural gas 38%.[263] Independent companies' energy production has increased. Greece does not have anynuclear power plants.
The shipping industry has been a key element of economic activity since ancient times.[264] Shipping remains one of the country's most important industries, accounting for 5% of GDP and employing about 160,000 people (4% of the workforce).[265]
TheGreek Merchant Navy is the largest in the world at 18% of global capacity.[221] The merchant fleet ranks first in tonnage (384 milliondwt), 2nd in number of ships (at 4,870),[221] first intankers and dry bulk carriers, fourth in the number of containers, and fifth in other ships.[266] The number of ships flying a Greek flag (includes non-Greek fleets) is 1,517, or 5% of the world's tonnage (ranked fifth globally). Today's fleet is smaller than an all-time high of 5,000 ships in the late 1970s.[264] During the 1960s, the Greek fleet nearly doubled, through the investment undertaken by the shipping magnates,Aristotle Onassis andStavros Niarchos.[267] The modern Greek maritime industry was formed after World War II when Greek shipping businessmen were able to amass surplus ships sold by the U.S. government through the Ship Sales Act of the 1940s.[267]
Greece has a significant shipbuilding and ship maintenance industry. The six shipyards around the port ofPiraeus are among the largest in Europe.[268] Greece has become a leader in the construction and maintenance of luxury yachts.[269]
Santorini, a popular tourist destination, is ranked as the world's top island in many travel magazines and sites.[270][271]
Tourism has been a key element of the economy and one of the most important sectors, contributing 21% of gross domestic product in 2018.[272] Greece was the 9th most visited country in the world in 2022, hosting 28 million visitors,[273] an increase from 18 million tourists in 2007.[274]
Most visitors come from the European continent,[275] while the most from a single nationality are from the United Kingdom, followed by Germany. The most visitedregion of Greece isCentral Macedonia.[276]
In 2011,Santorini was voted as "The World's Best Island" inTravel + Leisure.[277] Its neighbouring islandMykonos, came in fifth in the European category.[277] There are19 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Greece,[278] and Greece is ranked 17th in the world in total sites. Thirteen further sites are on the tentative list, awaiting nomination.[278]
TheRio–Antirrio bridge connects mainland Greece to thePeloponneseMap 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 has been modernised. With a total length of about 2,320 km (1,440 mi) as of 2020, Greece's motorway network is the most extensive inSoutheastern Europe and one of the most advanced in Europe,[279] including the east–westA2 (Egnatia Odos) in northern Greece, the north–southA1 (Athens–Thessaloniki–Evzonoi, AThE) along the mainland's eastern coastline and theA5 (Ionia Odos) along the western coastline, leading to theRio–Antirrio bridge, the longest suspension cable bridge in Europe (2,250 m (7,382 ft) long), connectingRio in thePeloponnese withAntirrio in western Greece. The Athens Metropolitan Area is served by the privately runAttiki Odos (A6/A62/A621/A64/A65) motorway network and the expandedAthens Metro system, while theThessaloniki Metro was launched in 2024.
Railway connections play a lesser role than in many other European countries, but have been expanded, with new suburban/commuter rail connections, serviced byProastiakos around Athens, Thessaloniki, and Patras. A modern intercity rail connection between Athens and Thessaloniki has been established, while an upgrade to double lines in many parts of the 2,500 km (1,600 mi) network is underway; along with anew double track, standard gauge railway betweenAthens andPatras (replacing the oldmetre-gaugePiraeus–Patras railway) which is under construction and opening in stages.[280] International railway lines connect Greek cities with the rest of Europe, the Balkans and Turkey.
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. 37 million passengers travelled by boat in Greece in 2019, the second-highest in Europe.[281] Greece has 39 active airports, 15 of which serve international destinations.[282]Athens International Airport served over 28 million passengers in 2023.[283] Most Greek islands and main cities are connected by air, by the three major airlines,Olympic Air,Aegean Airlines andSky Express.
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[update], translating to 20% broadband penetration.[284] In 2017 around 82% of the population used the internet regularly.[285]
Internet cafés that provide net access, office applications and multiplayer gaming are a common sight, while mobile internet on3G and4G-LTE cellphone networks andWi-Fi connections can be found almost everywhere.[286] As of July 2022, 5G service is accessible in most of major cities. The UN ranks Greece among the top 30 countries with a highly developed information and communications infrastructure.[287]
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 1.1% of GDP.[288]
Greece has one of the highest rates of tertiary enrollment in the world,[292] while Greeks are well represented in academia worldwide; leading Western universities employ a disproportionately high number of Greek faculty.[293] Greek scientific publications have grown significantly in terms ofresearch impact, surpassing both the EU and global average from 2012 to 2016.[294]
Eurostat estimated the Greek population at 10.6 million in 2022.[295]
Greece population density, 2000
Greek society has changed significantly over recent decades, coinciding with thebroader European trend of declining fertility and population aging. Thefertility rate of 1.4 children per woman is well below thereplacement rate of 2.1, and one of the lowest in the world, considerably below the high of 5.5 children in 1900.[296] Thecrude birth rate in 2023 was 6.8 per 1,000 inhabitants,[297] a significant decline from 8.5 per 1,000 in 2016 and 14.5 in 1981.[149] The mortality rate in 2025 is 11.53 per 1,000 compared to 11.2 in 2016 and 8.9 in 1981.
Greece'smedian age is 44.2 years, the seventh highest in the world.[149] In 2001, 17% of the population were 65 years old and older, 68% between the ages of 15 and 64 years old, and 15% were 14 years old and younger.[298] By 2023, those aged 65 and older had risen to 25.4%, while those aged 14 and younger declined to 6.4%; the population aged 15 to 64 rose slightly to 68.2%.[299] Marriage rates began declining from almost 71 per 1,000 inhabitants in 1981 to 51 in 2004.[298] Divorce rates have increased from 33.4 per 100 marriages in 2022 compared to 32.8 in 2018, albeit declining from the peak of 41.2 in 2020.[300]
As a result of these trends, the average household is smaller and older than in previous generations. The economic crisis exacerbated this development, with 350,000–450,000 Greeks, predominantly young adults, emigrating since 2010,[301] when the population reached its peak of 11.1 million.[299] Based on current trends, the Greek population is projected to fall to 7.5 million by 2050.[302]
Regions with a traditional presence of languages other than Greek. Today, Greek is the dominant language throughout the country.[310][311][312][313][314][315]
Greece is 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 distinctivePontic dialect came to Greece from Asia Minor after theGreek genocide and constitute a sizeable group. TheCappadocian dialect came due to the genocide as well, but is endangered and barely spoken. Indigenous Greek dialects include the archaic Greek spoken by theSarakatsani, traditionallytranshumant mountain shepherds ofGreek Macedonia and other parts ofNorthern Greece. TheTsakonian language, a distinct Greek language derived fromDoric Greek instead ofKoine Greek, is still spoken in villages in the southeastern Peloponnese.
The Muslim minority in Thrace, approximately 0.95% of the population, consists of speakers ofTurkish,Bulgarian (Pomaks)[315] andRomani. Romani is spoken by ChristianRoma in other parts of the country. TheCouncil of Europe has estimated that there are approximately 265,000Romani people living in Greece (2.47% of the population).[316] Other minority languages have traditionally been spoken by regional population groups in various areas. Their use decreased radically in the course of the 20th century through assimilation with the Greek-speaking majority. They are only maintained by the older generations and almost extinct. The same is true for theArvanites, anAlbanian-speaking group mostly located in rural areas around Athens, and for theAromanians andMegleno-Romanians whose language is closely related toRomanian and who used to live scattered across areas of mountainous central Greece. Members of these groups usually identify ethnically as Greek[317] and are bilingual in Greek.
Near the northern Greek borders there are someSlavic–speaking groups, most of whom identify ethnically as Greeks. It is estimated that after the population exchanges of 1923,Macedonia had 200,000 to 400,000Slavic speakers.[318] The Jewish community traditionally spokeLadino (Judeo-Spanish), today maintained by a few thousand speakers. Other notable minority languages includeArmenian,Georgian, and the Greco-Turkic dialect spoken by theUrums, a community ofCaucasus Greeks from theTsalka region of central Georgia and ethnic Greeks from southeasternUkraine who arrived in Northern Greece as economic migrants in the 1990s.
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 population. Of the non-citizen residents, 48,560 were EU orEuropean 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.[320] The total Albanian national population which includes temporary migrants and undocumented persons is around 600,000.[321]
The2011 census recorded 9,903,268 Greek citizens (92%), 480,824 Albanian citizens (4.4%), 75,915 Bulgarian citizens (0.7%), 46,523 Romanian citizenship (0.4%), 34,177 Pakistani citizens (0.3%), 27,400Georgian citizens (0.25%) and 247,090 people had other or unidentified citizenship (2%).[322] 189,000 people of the total population of Albanian citizens were reported in 2008 as ethnic Greeks fromSouthern Albania, in the irredentist region ofNorthern Epirus.[319]
The greatest cluster of non-EU immigrant population are in the larger urban centres, especially 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 a considerable number of co-ethnics that came from the Greek communities of Albania and formerSoviet Union.[319]
Greece, together with Italy and Spain, is a major entry point forillegal immigrants trying to enter the EU. Illegal immigrants entering mostly do so from the border with Turkey at theEvros River and the islands of the eastern Aegean across from Turkey. In 2012, most illegal immigrants came fromAfghanistan, followed by Pakistanis and Bangladeshis.[323] In 2015, arrivals of refugees by sea had increased dramatically due to theSyrian civil war. There were 856,723 arrivals by sea in Greece, an almost fivefold increase to the same period of 2014, of which theSyrians represented almost 45%.[324] Most refugees and migrants use Greece as a transit country to Northern Europe.[325][326] In July 2025, Greek officials implemented a three month suspension of asylum processing for migrants from North Africa, drawing criticism from human rights groups.[327]
The Greek Constitution recognisesEastern Orthodoxy as the 'prevailing' faith of the country, while guaranteeing freedom of religious belief for all.[171][328] The 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 asEastern Orthodox, belonging to theGreek Orthodox Church,[329] which uses theByzantine rite and theGreek language, the original language of theNew Testament. The administration of the Greek territory is shared between theChurch of Greece and thePatriarchate of Constantinople.
In a 2010Eurostat–Eurobarometer poll, 79% of Greek citizens responded that they "believe there is a God".[330] According to other sources, 16% of Greeks describe themselves as "very religious", which is the highest among all European countries. The survey found just 3.5% never attend a church, compared to 5% inPoland and 59% in the Czech Republic.[331]Estimates of the recognisedMuslim minority of Greece, mostly located inThrace, range around 100,000,[329][332] about 1% of the population. Some of the Albanian immigrants to Greece come from a nominally Muslim background, though most are secular.[333] Following the1919–1922 Greco-Turkish War and the 1923Treaty of Lausanne, Greece and Turkey agreed to apopulation transfer based on cultural and religious identity. About 500,000 Muslims from Greece, predominantly those defined as Turks, but alsoGreek Muslims, were exchanged with approximately 1.5 million Greeks from Turkey. However, many refugees who settled in former Ottoman Muslim villages inCentral Macedonia, and were defined as Christian OrthodoxCaucasus Greeks, arrived from the former RussianTranscaucasus province ofKars Oblast, after it had been retroceded to Turkey prior to the population exchange.[334]
Since 2017,Hellenic Polytheism, or Hellenism has been legally recognised as an actively practised religion,[341] with estimates of 2,000 active practitioners and an additional 100,000 "sympathisers".[342][343][344] Hellenism refers to religious movements that continue, revive, or reconstructancient Greek religious practices.
Greeks have a long tradition of valuing and investing inpaideia (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.[345] TheUniversity of Constantinople was Christian Europe's first secular institution of higher learning,[346] and by some measures was the world's first university.[345]
Compulsory education in Greece comprises primary schools (Δημοτικό Σχολείο,Dimotikó Scholeio) andgymnasium (Γυμνάσιο). Nursery schools (Παιδικός σταθμός,Paidikós Stathmós) are popular but not compulsory.Kindergartens (Νηπιαγωγείο,Nipiagogeío) are compulsory for any child above four. Children start primary school aged six and remain there for six years. Attendance at gymnasia starts aged 12 and lasts for three years.
Greece's post-compulsory secondary education consists of two main school types: unified upper secondary schools (Γενικό Λύκειο,Genikό Lykeiό) andtechnical–vocational schools. The traditional Technical-Vocational Educational Schools (Τεχνικά και Επαγγελματικά Εκπαιδευτήρια, "TEE") have been replaced by two pathways: Vocational Lyceums (Επαγγελματικό Λύκειο, "EPAL") and Vocational Training Schools (Επαγγελματικές Σχολές, "EPAS"). Public higher education consists of Highest Educational Institutions (Ανώτατα Εκπαιδευτικά Ιδρύματα, "ΑΕΙ") and Schools of Advanced Vocational Training (Σχολές Ανώτερης Επαγγελματικής Κατάρτισης, "SAEK"). The Technological Education Institutions (TEI) have been incorporated into existing universities or merged into new universities.[347]
The higher education landscape has seen a major shift with the enactment of Law 5094/2024, which for the first time establishes a framework for the licensing and operation of non-profit University-Legal Entities (ULEs) in Greece, affiliated with recognized foreign universities, starting from the 2025–2026 academic year.[348]
Students are admitted to public AEI Institutes according to their performance at national level examinations taking place after completion of the third grade of Lykeio. Students over 22 may be admitted to the Hellenic Open University through a lottery.
The education system provides special kindergartens, primary, and secondary schools for people with special needs or difficulties in learning. There are specialist gymnasia and high schools offering musical, theological, and physical education.
72% of adults aged 25–64 have completed upper secondary education, which is slightly less than the OECD average of 74%. The average Greek pupil scored 458 in reading literacy, maths and science in the OECD's 2015 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). This is lower than the OECD average of 486. Girls outperformed boys by 15 points, much more than the average OECD gap of 2.[349]
Greece hasuniversal health care. The system is mixed, combining a national health service withsocial health insurance (SHI). Per a 2000World Health Organisation report, itshealth system ranked 14th in overall performance of 191 countries surveyed.[350] In a 2013Save the Children report, Greece was ranked the 19th out of 176 countries for the state of mothers and newborn babies.[351] As of 2014[update], there were 124 public hospitals, of which 106 were general hospitals and 18 specialised hospitals, with a total capacity of about 30,000 beds.[352]
Greece's health care expenditures was 9.6% of GDP in 2007. By 2015, it declined to 8.4%, compared with the EU average of 9.5%. Nevertheless, the country maintains the highest doctor-to-population ratio of any OECD country[353] and the highest doctor-to-patient ratio in the EU.[354]
Life expectancy is among the highest in the world; life expectancy in 2015 was 81.1 years, slightly above the EU average of 80.6.[354] The island ofIcaria has the highest percentage of nonagenarians in the world; 33% of islanders are 90 or older.[355] 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.[356]
A 2011, OECD report showed Greece had the largest percentage of adult daily smokers of any of the 34 OECD members.[353] The obesity rate is 18%, above the OECD average of 15%.[353]
In 2008, infant mortality, with a rate of 3.6 deaths per 1,000 live births, was below the 2007 OECD average of 4.9.[353]
In ancient times, Greece was the birthplace ofWestern culture.[357][358] 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, includinglogic,biology,geometry, government,geography, medicine, history,[359] philosophy,[360]physics, and mathematics.[361] They introduced 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 influencedWestern art.[362]
Close-up of theCharioteer ofDelphi, a celebrated statue from the 5th century BC
Artistic production in Greece began in the prehistoric pre-GreekCycladic and theMinoan civilisations, both of which were influenced by local traditions and theart of ancient Egypt.[363]
There were interconnected traditions of painting in ancient Greece. Due to technical differences, they underwent differentiated developments. Not all painting techniques are equally well represented in thearchaeological record. The most respected form of art, according toPliny orPausanias, were individual, mobile paintings on wooden boards, described aspanel paintings. Wall painting in Greece goes back at least to theMinoan andMycenaean civilisations, with the lavish fresco decoration of sites likeKnossos,Tiryns, andMycenae.
Ancient Greek sculpture was composed almost entirely of workable and durable materials,marble orbronze, bronze becoming the favoured medium for major works by the early 5th century, whilechryselephantine sculptures, made largely ofgold andivory and used for templecult images and luxury works, were much rarer. It has been established that ancient Greek sculptures were painted[364] with a variety of colours, a feature known aspolychromy.[365]
Art production continued during the Byzantine era. The most salient feature of this new aesthetic was its "abstract", or anti-naturalistic character. Classical art was marked by attempts to create representations that mimicked reality, Byzantine art favoured a more symbolic approach. Byzantine painting concentrated mainly onicons andhagiographies. TheMacedonian art (Byzantine) was the artistic expression ofMacedonian Renaissance, a label used to describe the Macedonian dynasty of the Byzantine Empire (867–1056), which scholars have seen as a time of increased interest in classical scholarship and the assimilation of classical motifs intoChristian artwork.
Harbour ofErmoupolis, on the islandSyros, first capital of independent Greece.
The architecture of ancient Greece was produced by the ancient Greeks (Hellenes), whoseculture flourished on the Greek mainland, theAegean Islands and theircolonies, 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: theDoric Order, theIonic Order, and theCorinthian Order, was to have profound effect onWestern architecture.
Byzantine architecture was dominant in the Greek speaking world and significantly influencedMedieval architecture throughout Europe and the Near East, becoming the primary progenitor of theRenaissance andOttoman architectural traditions that followed the Byzantine Empire's collapse.
After Greek Independence, modern Greek architects combined 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 applying the orthogonal rule byStamatis Voulgaris, a Greek engineer of the French army, in 1829.[366]
There is an emerging need to secure the long-term preservation of the archaeological sites and monuments against the growing threats of climate change.[370]
Theatre in its western form was born in Greece.[371]Tragedy (late 6th century BC),comedy (486 BC), and thesatyr play were the three dramatic genres that emerged in thecity-state ofClassical Athens and were institutionalised as part of a festival called theDionysia, which honoured the godDionysus. Of the hundreds oftragedies written and performed during the classical age, only a limited number of plays by three authors have survived:Aeschylus,Sophocles, andEuripides. The surviving plays byAristophanes are a treasure trove of comic presentation.
During the Byzantine period, theatrical art declined, the only form that survived was folk theatre (Mimos andPantomimos), despite the hostility of the state.[372] During the Ottoman period, the main theatrical folk art was theKaragiozis. The renaissance which led to the modern Greek theatre, took place in theVenetian Crete. Significal dramatists of the era includeVitsentzos Kornaros andGeorgios Chortatzis.
Greek literature can be divided into three main categories: Ancient, Byzantine and modern Greek.[374] Athens is considered the birthplace of Western literature.[375] At the beginning of Greek literature stand the monumental works ofHomer: theIliad and theOdyssey, composed 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 andtragedy;historiography,rhetorical treatises, philosophical dialectics, and philosophical treatises all arose in this period. The two major lyrical poets wereSappho andPindar.Herodotus andThucydides are two of the most influential historians in this period.
Modern Greek literature refers to literature written in common Modern Greek, emerging from late Byzantine times in the 11th century. The Cretan Renaissance poemErotokritos is considered the masterpiece of this period. It is a verseromance written around 1600 byVitsentzos Kornaros (1553–1613). Later, during the period of Greek enlightenment (Diafotismos), writers such asAdamantios Korais andRigas Feraios prepared with their works the Greek Revolution.
Greek vocal music extends back into ancient times where mixed-gender choruses performed for entertainment, celebration and spiritual reasons. Instruments included the double-reedaulos and the plucked string instrument, thelyre, especially the special kind called akithara. Music played an important role in education.[381] Boys were taught music from the age of six. Later influences from the Roman Empire, Middle East, and theByzantine Empire affected Greek music.
While the new technique of polyphony was developing in the West, theEastern Orthodox Church resisted change. Therefore,Byzantine music remained monophonic and without any form of instrumental accompaniment. As a result, and despite certain attempts by certain Greek chanters, Byzantine music was deprived of elements which, in the West, encouraged an unimpeded development of art. Byzantium presented the monophonicByzantine chant, a melodic music, with rhythmical variety and expressive power.[382]
Along with Byzantine chant and music, the Greeks cultivated theGreek folk song (Demotiko) which is divided into two cycles, theakritic andklephtic. The akritic was created between the 9th and 10th centuries and expressed the life and struggles of theakrites (frontier guards) of the Byzantine empire, the most well known associated withDigenes Akritas. The klephtic cycle came into being between the late Byzantine period and start of the Greek War of Independence. The most famous klephtic and modern Greek folk song isThe Battle of Mount Olympus and Mount Kisavos, a ballad based on a musico-poetic motif dating back to classical Greece.[383] 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.
Mikis Theodorakis was one of the most popular and significant Greek composers.
TheHeptaneseankantádhes (καντάδες 'serenades'; sing.: καντάδα) became the forerunners of the Greek modern urban popular song, influencing its development. For the first part of the next century, Greek composers continued to borrow elements from the Heptanesean style. The most successful songs during 1870–1930 were the so-called Athenian serenades, and the songs performed on stage ('theatrical revue songs') inrevues,operettas andnocturnes that dominated Athens' theatre scene.[384]
It was through theIonian islands (which were under western rule) that 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), established in 1815. Prominent representatives of this genre includeNikolaos Mantzaros,Spyridon Xyndas,Spyridon Samaras andPavlos Carrer.Manolis Kalomiris is considered the founder of the Greek National School of Music.[384]
During theGreek junta of 1967–74, the music of Mikis Theodorakis was banned, the composer jailed, internally exiled, and put in aconcentration camp,[389] before finally being allowed to leave Greece due to international reaction. Released during the junta years,Make Love, Stop the Gunfire, by pop groupPoll is considered the first anti-war protest song inGreek rock.[390]
Cinema first appeared in Greece in 1896, but the first cine-theatre was opened in 1907 in Athens. In 1914, theAsty Films Company was founded and the production of long films began.Golfo, a well known traditional love story, is considered the first Greek feature film, although there were minor productions such as newscasts before. In 1931,Orestis Laskos directedDaphnis and Chloe, containing one of the first nude scene in European cinema;[393] it was the first Greek movie played abroad.[394] In 1944,Katina Paxinou was honoured with theBest Supporting Actress Academy Award forFor Whom the Bell Tolls.[395]
Cacoyannis directedZorba the Greek with Anthony Quinn which received Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Film nominations.[397]Finos Film contributed in this period with movies such asΛατέρνα, Φτώχεια και Φιλότιμο,Madalena,I theia ap' to Chicago,Το ξύλο βγήκε από τον Παράδεισο and many more.
Greek cuisine is characteristic of theMediterranean diet, which is epitomised by dishes ofCrete.[402] Greek cuisine incorporates fresh ingredients into local dishes such asmoussaka,pastitsio, classicGreek salad,fasolada,spanakopita andsouvlaki. Some dishes can be traced back to ancient Greece likeskordalia (a thick purée of walnuts, almonds, crushed garlic and olive oil),lentilsoup,retsina (white or rosé wine sealed with pine resin) andpasteli (candy bar with sesame seeds baked with honey). People often enjoy eating from small dishes such asmeze with dips such astzatziki, grilled octopus and small fish,feta cheese,dolmades (rice, currants and pine kernels wrapped in vine leaves), variouspulses,olives and cheese.Olive oil is a widespread addition.[403]
Sweet desserts includemelomakarona,diples andgalaktoboureko, and drinks such asouzo,metaxa and wines including retsina. Greek cuisine differs from different parts of the mainland and island to island. It uses some flavourings more often than other Mediterranean cuisines:oregano,mint, garlic, onion,dill andbay laurel leaves. Other common herbs and spices includebasil,thyme andfennel seed. Many recipes, especially in the northern parts of the country, use "sweet" spices in combination with meat, for examplecinnamon andcloves in stews.[404][403]Koutoukia are an underground restaurant common in Greece.[405]
Greece is the birthplace of theancient Olympic Games, first recorded in 776 BC inOlympia, and hosted the modernOlympic Games twice, the inaugural1896 Summer Olympics and the2004 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 everySummer Olympic Games, one of only four countries to have done so. Having won a total of 121 medals (35 gold, 45 silver and 41 bronze), Greece is ranked 33rd by gold medals in theall-time Summer Olympic medal count. Their best ever performance was in the 1896 Summer Olympics, when Greece finished second in themedal table with 10 gold medals.
Procession in honour of the Assumption ofVirgin Mary (15 August), a major holiday
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 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".[410] On such days it is customary for schools to take the day off.
^TheChurch of Greece is recognised by the Greek Constitution as the prevailing religion in Greece,[1] the only country in the world where Eastern Orthodoxy is clearly recognised as a state religion.[2]
^The.eu domain is also used, shared with other European Union member states.
^ On 14 August 1974 Greek forces withdrew from the integrated military structure ofNATO in protest at the Turkish occupation of northern Cyprus; Greece rejoined NATO in 1980.
^ For a diachronic analysis of the Greek party system, seePappas 2003, 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).
^Enyedi, Zsolt; Madeley, John T.S. (2 August 2004).Church and State in Contemporary Europe. Routledge. p. 228.ISBN9781135761417.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.
^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.2019.102743Archived 10 June 2024 at theWayback Machine.
^Duchesne 2011, p. 297: "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)".
^Bottici & Challand 2013, p. 88: "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.".
^Robin Waterfield (19 April 2018).Creators, Conquerors, and Citizens: A History of Ancient Greece. Oxford University Press. p. 148.ISBN978-0-19-872788-0.Archived from the original on 10 June 2024. Retrieved1 September 2018.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.
^John Van Antwerp Fine (1983).The Ancient Greeks: A Critical History. Harvard University Press. p. 297.ISBN978-0-674-03314-6.Archived from the original on 10 June 2024. Retrieved1 September 2018.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.
^Dunstan, William (2011).Ancient Rome. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 500.ISBN978-0-7425-6834-1.Archived from the original on 10 June 2024. Retrieved29 April 2012.
^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.ISBN978-1-135-78262-7.Archived from the original on 29 April 2024. Retrieved19 October 2015.
^Gregory, T. E. (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.
^"Greece during the Byzantine period (c. AD 300 – c. 1453), Population and languages, Emerging Greek identity".Encyclopædia Britannica. 2008. Online Edition.
^Moles, Ian (1969)."Nationalism and Byzantine Greece".Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies: 102.Archived from the original on 10 June 2024. Retrieved27 September 2020.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).
^Carey, Jane Perry Clark; Carey, Andrew Galbraith (1968).The Web of Modern Greek Politics. Columbia University Press. p. 33.ISBN978-0231031707.Archived from the original on 27 September 2023. Retrieved9 September 2018.By the end of the fourteenth century the Byzantine emperor was often called "Emperor of the Hellenes"
^Smilyanskaya, Elena (2014). "Russian Warriors in the Land of Miltiades and Themistocles: The Colonial Ambitions of Catherine the Great in the Mediterranean".SSRN Electronic Journal. Social Science Research Network: 4.doi:10.2139/ssrn.2436332.S2CID128722901.SSRN2436332.
^Harrington, Lyn (1968).Greece and the Greeks. T Nelson. p. 124.Archived from the original on 10 June 2024. Retrieved11 October 2015. 221 pp.
^abBrewer, D.The Greek War of Independence: The Struggle for Freedom from Ottoman Oppression and the Birth of the Modern Greek Nation. Overlook Press, 2001,ISBN1-58567-172-X, pp. 235–36.
^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].
^"Constitutional History". Hellenic Parliament.Archived from the original on 26 May 2019. Retrieved4 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.
^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.S2CID143664377.
^Matthew J. Gibney,Randall Hansen. (2005).Immigration and Asylum: from 1900 to the Present, Volume 3. ABC-CLIO. p. 377.ISBN978-1-57607-796-2.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.
^Sofos, Spyros A.;Özkirimli, Umut (2008).Tormented by History: Nationalism in Greece and Turkey. C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd. pp. 116–117.ISBN978-1-85065-899-3.
^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.S2CID71515470.
^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.
^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).ISBN978-1-107-50718-0.
^Chourchoulis, Dionysios; Kourkouvelas, Lykourgos (26 November 2012). "Greek perceptions of NATO during the Cold War".Southeast European and Black Sea Studies.12 (4). Informa UK Limited:497–514.doi:10.1080/14683857.2012.741848.ISSN1468-3857.S2CID153476225.
^Wójcik, P. (2024). New in and for the Three Seas Initiative: The Importance of Greece in the CEE and SEE Format for Transregional Infrastructure Cooperation. In P. Pietrzak (Ed.), Analyzing Global Responses to Contemporary Regional Conflicts (pp. 163-187). IGI Global Scientific Publishing.https://doi.org/10.4018/979-8-3693-2837-8.ch008
^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.ISBN978-1-59033-753-0. Retrieved12 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 ...)
^Christina Bratt Paulston; Scott F. Kiesling; Elizabeth S. Rangel (13 February 2012).The Handbook of Intercultural Discourse and Communication. John Wiley & Sons. p. 292.ISBN978-1-4051-6272-2. Retrieved12 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 ...
^Caralampo Focas (2004).Transport Issues And Problems in Southeastern Europe. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 114.ISBN978-0-7546-1970-3. Retrieved12 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
^Glytsos, Nicholas P.; Katseli, Louka T. (2005)."10. Greek Migration: The Two Faces of Janus". In Zimmermann, Klaus F. (ed.).European Migration: What Do We Know?. Oxford University Press. p. 337.ISBN978-0-19-925735-5.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...
^Sladjana Petkovic; Howard Williamson (21 July 2015).Youth policy in Greece: Council of Europe international review. Council of Europe. p. 48.ISBN978-92-871-8181-7.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 ...
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^"Climate Atlas of Greece"(PDF). Hellenic National Meteorological Service. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 21 September 2017. Retrieved30 December 2019.
^"Πολιτικό Βαρόμετρο 99" [Political barometer](PDF).Public Issue. Ek logika. 7 February 2012.Archived(PDF) from the original on 26 February 2012. Retrieved7 February 2011.
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^abKeridis, Dimitris (3 March 2006)."Greece and the Balkans: From Stabilization to Growth" (lecture). Montreal, QC, Canada: Hellenic Studies Unit at Concordia University.Archived from the original on 17 May 2014. Retrieved17 May 2014.Greece has a larger economy than all the Balkan countries combined. Greece is also an important regional investor
^Mustafa Aydin; Kostas Ifantis (28 February 2004).Turkish-Greek Relations: The Security Dilemma in the Aegean. Taylor & Francis. pp. 266–267.ISBN978-0-203-50191-7. Retrieved27 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.
^Wayne C. Thompson (9 August 2012).Western Europe 2012. Stryker Post. p. 283.ISBN978-1-61048-898-3. Retrieved27 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.
^Imogen Bell (2002).Central and South-Eastern Europe: 2003. Routledge. p. 282.ISBN978-1-85743-136-0. Retrieved27 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.
^Louise Story; Landon Thomas Jr.; Nelson D. Schwartz (13 February 2010)."Wall St. Helped to Mask Debt Fueling Europe's Crisis".The New York Times.Archived from the original on 12 August 2021. Retrieved19 February 2017.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.
^Nicholas Dunbar; Elisa Martinuzzi (5 March 2012)."Goldman Secret Greece Loan Shows Two Sinners as Client Unravels". Bloomberg L.P.Archived from the original on 13 January 2015. Retrieved7 March 2017.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."
^Elena Moya (16 February 2010)."Banks that inflated Greek debt should be investigated, EU urges".The Guardian.Archived from the original on 10 June 2024. Retrieved11 December 2016."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.
^Beat Balzli (8 February 2010)."Greek Debt Crisis: How Goldman Sachs Helped Greece to Mask its True Debt".Der Spiegel.Archived from the original on 26 October 2013. Retrieved29 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.
^"Country notes: Greece".Restoring public finances(PDF).OECD. 2011. p. 119.Archived(PDF) from the original on 29 January 2023. Retrieved26 December 2022.
^Jill Dubois; Xenia Skoura; Olga Gratsaniti (2003).Greece. Marshall Cavendish. p. 42.ISBN978-0-7614-1499-5.Archived from the original on 10 June 2024. Retrieved14 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 ...
^"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. Retrieved22 July 2012. p. 15.
^abcdef"Greece".International Religious Freedom Report 2007.United States Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. 15 September 2006.Archived from the original on 23 May 2019. Retrieved14 April 2007.
^"Dagens ESS: Religiøsitet og kirkebesøk" [Today ESS: Religiosity and church visits] (in Norwegian). Forskning. 11 October 2005.Archived from the original on 10 June 2024. Retrieved11 September 2010.
^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.ISBN978-0-415-68490-3, pp 8–9.
^abEconomou C, Kaitelidou D, Karanikolos M, Maresso A. Greece: Health system review. Health Systems in Transition, 2017; 19(5):1–192.
^"The Island Where People Live Longer".NPR. 2 May 2009. Retrieved6 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.
^William J. Broad (2007).The Oracle: Ancient Delphi and the Science Behind Its Lost Secrets. Penguin Publishing Group. p. 120.ISBN978-0-14-303859-7.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 ...
^Myres, John.Herodotus, Father of History. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1953. Web. 25 June 2012.
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