Bronze and Iron Age Greece

The most ancient primitive Greeks somewhere

between 10000 and 3000 BC were known as the
Pelasgians. They inhabited areas of Thrace,
Argos, Crete, and Halkidiki and are known to us
through the writings of Homer, Herodotus, and
Thucydides. The remnants of their civilization are
found mostly in the form of scattered stones which
were used as tools and the foundations of dwellings
which just look like a bunch of rocks to anyone but
those with a trained eye. In the Argolis, in the
Frankthi Cave there are excavations which show
that these early inhabitants were already trading
with their ancient Greek cousins on the islands.
Other Neolithic settlements in Central Greece,
notably Sesklo and Dimini are evidence that their
inhabitants from the fourth millenia BC already had a complex society with walls
protecting the towns and a central building which suggests a leader of some sort.
The Photo is an early Cycladic figure found on the island of Sifnos from the
National Museum of Athens. We know very little about the culture that produced
these marble figurines between 2800 and 2300 BC.

In Crete people from Anatolia came to the island

sometime around 6500 BC and settled in the area
around Knossos. These people were mostly farmers
and lived in small communities. This changed in
about 2400 to 1500 BC when the Minoan
civilization, named for the legendary King Minos
flourished. Life in Bronze Age Crete revolved around
a series of palaces, scattered around the island
whose design and complexity is unlike anything that
preceded it in Greece. All of the Cretan palaces
share a similar design with the largest one in
Knossos, which had been discovered by Sir Arthur
Evans, an amateur archaeologist, in the nineteenth
century. Palaces are also in Malia, Palekastro, Phaestos and Zakro, and
numerous other places on the island. These palaces were the part of a system
which included a number of sanctuaries in caves, on the mountains and in
houses. Though little is known about the belief system of this ancient religion,
(since no sacred texts have been discovered, so far) from the figurines and
shrines it can be assumed that the Cretans, if they did not worship nature and
human beauty, held it in a very high regard. The legend of the minotaur, the half-
man, half-bull off-spring of Pasiphae, the wife of King Minos and a bull, and other
archaeological finds seem to confirm the worship of the bull as some sort of

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divine being or symbol. It has also been suggested that this could refer to the
constellation of Taurus and perhaps the commemoration of some event that
occured. It is also interesting that Zeus, the king of the Gods, is said to have
arrived in Greece from Crete.

The Palaces themselves were also the centers for economic production with
storehouses for grain, wool, oil, and international trade. From artifacts found in
excavations we know that the Minoans had contact with some of the other
ancient civilizations like the Summarians and the Egyptians. The fact that the
palaces were unfortified shows a confidence in their naval power as their defense
against aggression.

The island of Santorini, or Thira, was one

of Crete's primary outposts. Much of this
civilization we know from the ruins of
Akrotiri as well as the ruined palaces in
Knossos and around Crete. These were
supposedly destroyed by the eruption of
the volcano in Santorini at around 1600 BC
which created a massive tidal wave. Some
believe it was this wave which destroyed
the Minoan civilzation, however advances
in technology, such as carbon-dating, show
that the Minoan civilization did not collapse until around 1450 BC, one hundred
and fifty years after the eruption of Thira. So while the calamity may have led to a
decline in the fortune of the Minoans (there was certainly plenty of damage and
they did lose a trading partner) this was not what destroyed them. According to
Plato it was this same wave which wrecked a Greek fleet as it was returning from
conquering the Egyptians, which he learned about from Solon. This is all tied in
with the theory that Santorini is ancient Atlantis, another story altogether. Besides
the large population centers of Crete and Santorini there were smaller
independent civilizations on the Aegean islands which were rich in minerals and
precious metals.

The problem with understanding the Minoan Civilization is that despite the
buildings and artifacts that have been left behind we have no written history or
literature of the inhabitants of Crete in the Second Millenium. We can only look at
the stones, statues, pottery and painting and try to guess what their society was
like and how it came to an end. In short, the Minoan Civilzation is still a mystery
and there is a lot more that we don't know then what we do know.

During the same time-period of the Minoans another group, known as the
Achaean or Mycenaean Civilization centered in the Argolis of the Peloponessos.
During the bronze age between 2100 and 1900 BC this area was invaded by
people from the east who introduced an advanced culture to the primitive local
people who had been there since Neolithic times. These ancient Hellenes had

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fortresses as far west as Pylos and as far north as Iolcus in Thessaly. The
Mycenaean princes used the Linear B script to keep track of possessions and
their enterprises throughout the Mediterranean. The walls to their fortresses were
made of stones so large that it was difficult to imagine a mortal man lifting them
and were therefore dubbed Cyclopean walls, named after the race of one-eyed
giants of Homer's Odyssey. The Myceneans and the Minoans were probably
economic competitors in the Mediterranean. Sir Arthur Evans believed that the
Minoans had colonized the mainland and the Myceneans were really part of that
civilzation. Others believed that the Myceneans were a totally different culture
and the artifacts that suggest Minoan influences were actually aquired in trade. In
1952 Michael Ventris, an English architect and classical scholar, deciphered the
Linear B tablets found in by Evans in Crete which Evans himself had spent much
energy trying to decipher while at the same time insisting they were not Greek
but a 'Minoan' language. Ventris discovered that the language actually
was Greek which proved that at least the later period of Minoan civilization came
from the Myceneans. So instead of the Myceneans being an offshoot of the
Minoans, the most likely scenario seems to be that they were contemporaries. If
the lack of fortifications around the Minoan cities suggests that their walls were
their fleets which ruled the seas, maybe the eruption of Thira which caused great
damage to their cities with its tsunami, also destroyed their ships. With the
Cretan fleet decimated there was little to keep the Myceneans from invading,
occupying and closing out the last period of what we call Minoan Civilization.

It was the Hellenic people from this period who were the Achean heroes of
Homer's Illiad and Odyssey. The Illiad is the epic poem about the abduction by
Paris, a Trojan prince, of Helen, wife of King Menelaus of Sparta, and the
alliance of Greeks, led by King Agememnon who traveled to the city of Troy
(Illium) in Asia Minor and fought for 10 years, eventually destroying the city, just
to get her back. The Odyssey is the story of King Odysseus of the island of
Ithaki, and his journey home. For many
years these stories were thought to have
been myth but in 1870 Henrich
Schliemann found the ruins of the ancient
city and evidence of its destruction during
the time period that Homer's epic would
have taken place. Truth or fiction, the two
books are a fascinating window on a very
early period of human history. Preserved
orally they were committed to writing in
the 8th Century and created a sense of
identity among the Greeks, connecting
them with their heroic past.

The Mycenaean civilization came to an end sometime around 1200 BC and as

was taught to us in our history books was followed by the invasion of the Dorians,
who though warlike, brought with them a new culture and what came to be

3
known as The Iron Age. Experts now are no longer so sure that this is exactly
what happened. What is known from the artifacts found in Myceneae is that they
were wealthy culture who loved gold and objects of beauty. What is also known
is that there was a city of Troy which guarded the straits of the Dardenelles, the
entrance to the Black Sea and as about the time of the epic war described in the
Illiad this city was destroyed. It is possible that this ten year war which ended in
the defeat of the Trojans, also led to the weakening and destruction of the
Myceneans not by invaders but by their own working class. So maybe what we
have been calling the Dorian Invasion was an uprising of the peasants and the
lower class who saw an opportunity to change the social order. Why not? It has
only happened thousands of times since then and will probably happen again
many times more.

While the Dorians were invading or uprising, the Pelasgians were leaving for the
islands and the coast of Asia Minor where they created new cities like Smyrna,
Halicarnassus, Samos, Ephesus and Miletus. These city-states brought to
mankind science and philosophy as for the first time people had time to reflect on
the nature of themselves and their place in the world. As these city-states
prospered through trade, more outposts sprung up from the Black Sea to the
Western Mediterranean and gave birth to what is known as the Classical period
or Golden age of Greece. But before that great awakening is a period known as
the Dark Ages which was probably not as bleak as it seems. Instead of imagining
Mordor-like scenes of humans living like wild animals it is more likely that people
headed for the hills to escape the dangers in a collapsing society, becoming
shepherds and farmers and relying on the extended family instead of the
palaces. These clans or households were known as 'oikos' from the word
for household in Greek. These clans grew larger and began to develop crafts
and trade once again, not just with their neighbors but across the sea. By the 8th
century the Greeks are living in cities again, known as polis or city-states.
Though autonomous by nature these city-states could come together during a
crisis when outsiders threatened the Greeks and it is during these periods that
the ancient Greeks emulated the heroes of the Illiad and the Odyssey who were
just as ancient to them as the classical Greeks are to us. As nuclear families
became clans which became villages, towns and cities the problem that has
plagued Greece through the 20th century appeared: lack of quality farm land and
natural resources to support the population. So the Greeks began to export the
commodity that they had plenty of and which even up to the twentieth century
has been their primary export. They exported themselves, creating colonies as
far away as what is now Spain in the west and the Ukraine in the East.
Concentrating mostly in the Black Sea, North Africa and the Western
Mediterranean these colonies were founded in places rich in farm land, fresh
water and were always close to the sea. As the colonies grew and developed
economically the trade routes between them turned the Mediterranean into
highways of ships as the Greeks took to the seas. They have been sailors ever
since. Where trade routes intersected more colonies were built most notably in
Italy and Sicily which became more wealthy than the mother country.

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It was through colonization and trade that the Greeks came into contact with
other cultures such as the Phoenician traders who they crossed paths with in
Italy and the eastern Mediterranean. The Greeks had pretty much abandoned
writing in the dark ages but during this period of growth used the semitic alphabet
of the Phoenicians to symbolize the sounds of the Greek language. Other ideas
filtered into Greek culture from the colonies and their interaction with the local
people including the introduction of Eastern Mythology and religious ideas into
the Greek myths, notably in the writings of Hesiod whose Theogony is probably
the most important evidence of what the ancient Greeks believed, a sort of
family-tree of the Gods written in verse form. (For more info see Richard
Caldwell's Translation of Hesiod's Theogony which is probably the best
unraveling of the poem). This is known as the orientalizing period and evidence
of this can be found in their art. For an interesting theory on the influences from
the east on Greek art and culture with thousands of photos comparing Greek-
Chinese and other cultures visit the website of Theresa Mitsopoulou.

Another interesting theory concerns the Palestinians or as they are known in the
Bible, the Philistines. The theory is that the Philistines were in fact the survivors
of the Greek-Dorian conquest of Crete in 1200 BC and that these Minoans fled
by sea to the Libyan coast and from there tried to gain a foothold in Egypt and
failed and then went on to Canaan where they arrived just about the time that the
Israelites moved in as well. Another theory is that they were survivors of the Troy
expedition who lost their way home. Neither theory has little real base and are
only theories actually…but it is interesting as essentially it means that if the
Palestininas failed to get what they wanted in Gaza they could always start
claiming that Crete was their national homeland! Imagine what a mess that would
be. Theory or reality it could explain the affinity the Greeks have for the
Palestinans and vice-versa.

The Golden Age of Greece

The Classical period or Golden age of
Greece, from around 500 to 300 BC, has
given us the great monuments, art,
philosophy, architecture and literature
which are the building blocks of our own
civilization. The two most well known city-
states during this period were the rivals:
Athens and Sparta. It was the strengths of
these two societies that brought the
ancient world to its heights in art, culture
and with the defeat of the Persians,
warfare. It was the same two Greek states
whose thirst for more power and territory, and whose jealousy brought about the

5
Peloponesian wars which lasted 30 years and left both Athens and Sparta mere
shadows of their former selves.

The seeds of the classical period were sown in the 8th century with the
commiting of Homer to writing which in a way created a code of conduct and an
ethnic identity for the Greeks. The heroic exploits of Odysseus, Achilles and the
other Achaeans served as role models for the Greeks which told them how to
behave, (and in some cases,how not to behave) in many situations, particularly
on the field of battle and in competition. Just as important in the creating of a
Greek identity was the emergence of the Olympic games and the Oracle of
Apollo at Delphi both of which had their roots in the 8th century.

The Spartans

The Spartans who were founded by Lycurgus around 800 BC were known for
their militaristic society. These Spartans, known as the Lacedemonians
controlled the Peloponessos. The Spartans had no always lived in such a
society. Earlier in their history they had produced art, poetry and music and
seemed to be on the same course as the rest of Greek civilization which might
have led them to give us some of the famous names that have been passed
down through history. But from the late 8th Century Sparta fought a war with their
neighbors in Messinia to the west and unlike other wars in ancient Greece where
an invading army fought, won, worked out a treaty and left (to fight again
someday), the Spartans subjugated the entire population of Messinia, reducing
them to slaves or helots. These helots were no more than serfs and worked the
land for the Spartans. Because the helots vastly outnumbered them,
the Spartans had to create a society that would protect them not just from
external enemies but from a revolt from within. Men lived in barracks and male
children were taken from their mothers at a young age to learn how to serve the
state, meaning the art of warfare. Unhealthy children were killed or left to die. Life
had one purpose. To defend the state.

The Spartan Constitution was credited to Lycurgus who in his

travels had studied governments in Crete and Ionia, had read the epics of Homer
which strongly influenced his ideas on how a nation should be run. Lycurgus
travels to Delphi for guidance. Told by the Oracle that his laws would make
Sparta famous, he returns to convince first his influential friends and eventually
all the Spartans that his reforms will bring power and glory to
Sparta. The system of government he created included two Kings, five ephors
(executives), a council of thirty elders and a general assembly which was made
up of all male citizens. Full citizenship was reserved for the elite, known as the
Spartiates who spent much of their time training for and fighting in wars, while
their helots worked the land to provide food for the communal mess halls known
as syssitia. This is where the Spartiates ate their meals and each was expected
to contribute a certain quota of produce every month. Those who could not keep
up with their commitment were kicked out and became part of the inferior

6
classes. Children served and then listened to the men discuss state affairs and
other topics, as part of their education. Girls were required to exercise and be
strong so that they would give birth to strong men. They were also required to
dance naked in front of the men to teach them bravery and to be too ashamed to
let themselves get fat. The boys learned to read and write but their primary
educational goal was to learn to be brave and strong.

Maybe the most frightening of the Spartan institutions were the Crypteia, where
young boys were sent to the countryside to live off the land similar to 'Outward
Bound' except for a critical difference. These boys were permitted to kill any helot
they ran into. This pretty much kept the helots at home.

The Spartans not only feared their own subjugated population but they also
feared ideas (like democracy for instance) entering and polluting their system.
They would occasionally expell all foreigners and they discouraged commerce
and trade by banning ownership of silver and gold, instead using heavy iron
coins which were then dipped in vinegear to make brittle. This eliminated the
import of luxury items, robbery, bribary, prostitution, jewelry and the amassing of
property and resulted in a society where it was impossible to get richer than your
neighbor, creating equality, among the Spartan elite anyway.

Though it is easy to get the impression that the Spartans were a society of
militaristic robots this is not the case. The Spartans were known for their wit and
their ability to say a lot without wasting words. Because the helots did all the work
the Spartans had plenty of time for leisure and it is a myth that they spent every
free moment in training. Nonetheless much of their time was spent in training in
the art of war and discipline and their soldiers were feared by all their enemies
and even some of their 'friends'. Marching into battle to the sound of flutes and
inspirational music the Spartans seemed to be completely comfortable and at
ease which of course made their adversary uncomfortable and uneasy. They
used mercy as a tactic as well. The Spartans would not pursue and slaughter a
retreating enemy, considering such behavior disgraceful and not befitting a true
warrior. This gave their adversaries the option of not fighting to the death but
turning around and running and living to fight another day. It was a policy of
Lycurgus not to fight too many wars with the same opponent since that gives him
a chance to learn your style and strategies and defeat you.

In his final act as leader Lycurgus informed the Spartans that there was one thing
more that had to be done and that he needed to go to Delphi to ask the Oracle
how best to implement this final piece of the puzzle. He made the Kings and the
people of Sparta take an oath that they would not change any of his laws until he
returned. He left the city and disappeared forever.

7
The Athenians

The primary rivals of the Spartans were the Athenians who were founded by
Theseus around 1300. Theseus was from the city of Troezen across from the
Saronic Island of Poros and was said to have been born in the union of Aegus,
king of Athens and the daughter of Troezen's King. At the age of sixteen Theseus
was given the task of lifting the heavy stone where his father had put a sword
and sandals. Successful in his efforts he walked to Athens to find his father,
defeating monsters and evil along the way. After arriving in Athens as a hero he
volunteers to go to Crete where King Minos has been demanding a sacrifice of
young men and virgins to a monster called the Minotaur. Theseus defeats the
Minotaur and returns to Athens though he forgets to remove the black sail of
death from the ship. His father, King Aegeus thinking his beloved son has died
hurls himself into the sea, which is how it came to be known as the Aegean.
Upon his return he abolishes the monarchy and declares Athens a democracy
and unifies the scattered villages of Attica. He makes it a policy to give aid to the
weak and helpless. His exploits also include adventures with Hercules, Jason
and the Argonauts, the Amazons and even a journey to the underworld. Later he
was overthrown and then murdered while exiled on the island of Skyros. Whether
fact or fiction, the meaning behind these stories is what is important to the
Athenians. Theseus embodies all they stand for. The Athenians of the 5th
Century used his deeds as the standards to measure themselves and their
democracy. Theseus was to the Athenians what George Washington is to
Americans today.

The Athenian democracy was reformed by King Solon in 594. Solon was to
Athens what Lycurgus was to Sparta and his reforms paved the way out of a
volatile period and into the Golden Age. The 6th Century was a time of social
strife and to keep society from falling apart the Athenians elected Solon, a poet
and statesman, to mediate between the various groups that were in conflict and
to reform the system of economics in Athenian society where there was an
enormous difference between those who were well off and those who were not.
Under Athenian law if you could not pay your debt, the person you owed money
to could seize you and your family and sell you as slaves to get his money
back. Solon's economic program was called the seisachteia or the 'shaking off of
burdons' because it released the lower classes from the burdon of debt to those
in the wealthy classes. By cancelling and reducing debts and abolishing a system
of mortgage which had turned many poor land owners into slaves, Solon made a
more level playing field. Solon wanted even the poor to take part in Athenian
government and He formalized the rights and privileges of the four social classes
whose access to public office now depended on how much property they had
instead of by birth. The lowest class was called the thetes (laborers) who could
take part in the general assembly but they could not run for office. The other
economic groups from the bottom up were the Zeugitai (Yeomen), Hippeis
(Knights) and the Pentakosiomedimnoi (Those with over 500 measures of wet
and dry produce).

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The economic reforms Solon enacted led to the future prosperity of Athens. He
banned the export of all agricultural products with the exeption of olive oil, which
was as valuable to the ancient Greeks as it is to the modern Greeks. By offering
citizenship he attracted some of the finest craftsmen of the Greek world to
Athens. He disgarded the Athenians system of weights amd measures in favor of
the system used in Evia which was in wider use, enabling the Athenians to more
easily trade with the other Greeks in the Aegean. He made being unemployed a
crime. He created a supreme court made up of former Archons (ruler or chief
magistrate) of Athens and another legislative body of 400 to debate laws before
putting them before the people for a vote.

Though Solon's reforms did not cure the ills of Athenian society overnight in the
way that Lycurgus had done with the Spartans, the long term effect was to
solidify the rule of law and eventually led to Athenian democracy. After
committing these laws to writing Solon left Athens because he did not want to be
bothered by the Athenians who would be continuously asking him to interpret his
laws. He wanted to let them figure it out and he went off to Egypt where he
started but never finished a story about Atlantis, which he had learned about from
the Egyptian priests. After he left, the Athenians began fighting amongst
themselves again and for two years the city was a leaderless anarchy. (The word
anarchy comes from the Greek, meaning without a leader or archon.)

The Tyrants

Athenian politics was comprised of three groups which corresponded to the

different areas of the Attica penisula. The three groups were the Men of the
Shore, the Men of the Plain and the Men from Beyond the Hills. In 561
Pisistratus, the leader of the Beyond the Hills faction from eastern Attica and a
remarkable orator, showed up in the agora with his clothes ripped and bleeding
and told the Athenians he had been attacked by his enemies. He was
given permission to protect himself with bodyguards. With these men he seized
the Acropolis and tried to make himself ruler. He was driven out. Three years
later he tried again by marrying a young girl from another leading aristocratic
family but she left him for not fullfilling his matrimonial duties and Pisistratus left
for Thrace where he focused on amassing more wealth by digging for silver and
gold. In 546 he returned with his riches and a six foot tall woman who he dressed
up as the Goddess Athena and had her drive him into Athens on a chariot.
Apparently this worked because his followers defeated his opponents at the
Battle of Palini and Psistratus became the ruler of Athens. Though the word
tyrant in our culture brings up images of Nazis, secret police and torture
chambers it actually means a leader who was not restrained by law or
constitution nor was he elected, chosen or born into power. So in other words it
did not mean he was a bad guy. It just meant he could do whatever he wanted
because there was nothing above or below that could stop him.

9
The period of Athenian history under Pisitratus was one of peace and his rule
was a positive step in the establishment of democracy, perhaps more so than
Solon. It was under his rule that the Dionysion and Panathenaic Festivals turned
Athens into the cultural center of the Greek world while the scuplture, and pottery
of this period raised the bar to a new level. By establishing relations with other
Greek tyrants and anexing the island of Delos and its sanctuary of Apollo he
created prosperity as well as a sense of Athenian identity that brought the people
of the city together and an end to the in-fighting which had been the cause of so
much stasis (stagnation). Unfortunately his sons, who assumed power after his
death in 528 were not quite up to the task and were tyrants in the sense of the
word that we are familiar. Hipparchus was assassinated in 514 and Hippias was
expelled from Athens in 514, returning in 490 BC when the Persians
(unsucessfully) invaded Attica.

After another period of instability following the expulsion of Hippias, two

aristocratic leaders, Cleisthenes and Isagoras, emerge as the leading contenders
for rulership of Athens in 510. When Isagoras calls on the Spartans to help him
assume power and banish the family of Cleisthenes, the Athenians reject the
outside interference and Isagoras himself. Cleisthenes becomes archon. He
redraws the political map of Athens in a way that breaks the power of the old
aristocracy and gives all the Athenian people a voice in politics. His reforms
incude the annual rotation of power (so no single group or person could become
dominant) and the splitting up of the four tribes of Athens into ten new tribes
which were then broken up into smaller demes (municipalities) which were then
spread around so that it was more difficult for the old families to organize into a
political faction. The Athenians embrace this and identify strongly with their deme
to such a degree that when asked his name he would give his first name, the
name of his father and his deme. (So I would be Matt, son of Nicholas of
Kalithea). Read more on Athenian Democracy...

The Persian Wars

It is this sense of identity as an Athenian, combined

with that of being Greek, which give the people of
Athens a feeling of superiority. As anyone who
watches sports knows, believing in yourself can be
the most important factor when facing a superior
opponent. When the Persian empire expands to
encompass the Ionian Greek city states in Asia
Minor they decide to punish the Athenians for
sending a contingent during the rebellion that burns
the city of Sardis in 498. Iit is the classic David vs
Golliath scenario. (Just imagine the US declaring
war and invading Costa Rica). An expedition sent by
the Persian King Darius lands on the coast
at Marathon, just 26 miles from Athens where they

10
are defeated by the Athenian army. When a herald named Phidippides runs the
26 miles from Marathon to Athens to announce the Greek victory and dies on the
spot, an event which may or may not have happened, we have the origin to the
marathon races which are now run all over the world. (That's why they are 26
miles. The distance from Marathon to the center of Athens). Those who fought at
Marathon are treated as heroes for the rest of their lives. It also adds to the
Athenian mystique and the feeling that they are superior and can not be beaten.

Almost twenty years later Darius has died and his son Xerxes mounts another
attack on Athens, this time with overwhelming force by land and sea, planning to
conquer and annex all of Greece. In the years following the battle of Marathon
the Athenian statesman Themistocles had convinced the Athenians to use the
silver which had been discovered in Lavrion, to build a fleet in order to fight the
Greek state on the island of Aegina, which was so close it could be seen from the
Acropolis. As the Persians advance this Athenian fleet is sent north where they
fight an inconclusive battle with the Persian fleet at Artemisium. On land the
Greeks cannot agree on the best way to fight the Persians. Their first defense at
Tempe is abandoned and there are plans to fall back as far as the Peloponessos
and make their last stand there. A Spartan King named Leonidas is sent with his
Royal Guard of 300 men to delay the Persians at a narrow pass at Thermopylae
where they hold out for three days before being overwhelmed and killed. The
epitaph of the heroic Spartans was written by the poet Simonides and carved in
the stone walls of the pass:

Tell them in Lacedaemon passerby

that here obedient to their words we lie

As the Persians continue their relentless march south towards Athens, the Greek
fleet lures the Persian fleet into the straits between Attica and the island of
Salamis where their smaller and more maneuverable ships have an advantage.
As Xerxes watches from a hill the Greeks sink 200 Persian ships, capture some
and the rest flee. Xerxes and his army retreat north where they wait through the
winter and return in the summer of 479 to burn and sack Athens. The Greeks are
now one hundred thousand strong, commanded by the Spartan General
Pausanias and reinforced by other Greek city-states which have entered the war
sensing a Greek victory, defeat the Persian army in the battle of Plataea while
the Greek's navy destroys the Persian fleet at Mykale off the coast of Asia Minor.
This is the end of the Persian wars and the beginning of the end of the Persian
empire.

Had the Persians won and occupied Greece, western civilization as we know it
might not have occurred. What did occur is a feeling among the Greeks that
because they had defeated a larger and more powerful enemy, the Persians
must be somehow weak, effeminate and inferior to them. It creates a sense
among the Greeks that they are meant to live free from outside influences and
the word for freedom: eleftheria, becomes an important idea which it has

11
remained even to this day. It also is the beginning of the split between east and
west and the word barbarian which had meant speaking an incomprehensible
language, now came to mean uncivilized or inferior.

In 476 the Athenian general and statesman Cimon travels to the island of Skyros
where he finds the bones of Theseus, brings them back and builds a shrine to
the great king who had not only bveen an inspiration to them but who had been
seen fighting alongside the Greek soldiers in the battle of Marathon..

The Age of Pericles

With the threat from the east gone Athens begins a fifty year period under the
brilliant statesman Pericles (495-429 BC) during which time the Parthenon was
built on the Acropolis and the city becomes the artistic, cultural and intellectual as
well as commercial center of the Hellenic world, attracting all sorts of smart and
interesting people and taking command of the other Greek states. Continuing
their war against the Persians they liberate the Ionian Greek cities of Asia Minor
and the Aegean islands.

In 478 the Delian League is formed by

Athens and its allies on the island of
Delos, the sacred island of Apollo. After
swearing an oath, these Greek city-states,
some who were forced to join by threats,
begin to rid the land of the last remaining
Persians and free the seas of piracy. But
as enemies became fewer and members
of the league want to devote their
resources to peaceful endeavors, Athens
is becoming more powerful and forces
other members do what is best for Athens.
This takes the form of payments, supposedly for the maintainance of the fleet,
from the other members. The flow of money is used to build the temples and
monuments of the city of Athens. When the island of Thassos rebells against this
payment they are attacked by Athens. In 454 the treasury of Delos is moved to
the Acropolis for 'safe-keeping'.

Greek Philosophy, Theater and

Historians

Among the dwellers of Athens during its

Golden Age is the philosopher Socrates.
Though he left no writings of his own, he
is mostly known through the work of his
student Plato in the form of written
dialogues which are conversations with

12
other learned and un-learned men on a variety of topics. The 'Socratic method'
consists of asking questions until you arrive at the essence of a subject, (or
sometimes not) by a negative method of hypotheses elimination, where the
better hypotheses are found by identifying and eliminating the ones that lead to
contradictions. His philosophy begins with the belief that he knows nothing and
that life is not for attaining riches but a process of knowing oneself. He believed
that virtue was the most valuable of all possessions and that the job of a
philosopher was to point out to people how little they actually knew. He was
executed by the state, forced to drink Hemlock, for corrupting the youth of the
city. Oddly more members of the jury voted to give him the death sentence then
originally voted that he was guilty. In other words some who thought he was
innocent still voted to have him executed, pointing out early problems of
democracy that are still with us today, (that people are either stupid or not paying
attention.) Plato became an opponent of the Athenian-style democracy, probably
because any society that would condemn someone like Socrates to death had to
be insane. He believed that society should be governed by governor kings, or
benevolent dictators, educated and trained from the beginning of life for this
purpose. He went on to open the world's first university, the Saturday, the ruins of
which can still be seen in Athens. Plato was an idealist. He believed in a higher
reality of which the material world is just a manifestation. It is said that all
philosophy is just a footnote to Plato. His student and then fellow philosopher
Aristotle was more of a materialist and he believed in putting everything in
categories and was the inventor of logic. He opened his own school the Lyceum
and went on to become the tutor of Alexander The Great. He is considered the
father of European thought though some of his scientific observations were
simply wrong.

Other well known personalities of this period were

the great dramatists Aeschylus, Aristophanes,
Euripides, Menander, and Sophocles (photo) all
who performed at the theatre of Dionysios at the
foot of the Acropolis and whose comedies and
tragedies tell us a lot about ancient life, history and
the psychology of the ancient Greeks. The
sculpturer Praxitelis was the most famous artist of
the period, though few of his originals remain. Most
of his work is known through ancient descriptions
and Roman copies. Demosthenes, known as the
greatest orator in Athens, actually overcame a
speech impediment through a variety of methods
which might be described as self-torture.
Apparently they worked and he is known to us
today. Herodotos, from Halicanarssis in Asia Minor, moved to Athens and
became known as the 'father of history' through his writings on the Persian Wars
which were detailed and hard to separate fact from fiction and even history from
mythology. Thucydides who came a few decades after, was more of a journalist,

13
collecting information and writing history from his own personal viewpoint. His
primary subject was the Peloponnesian war, which he believed was the greatest
of all wars. His analysis of war was for future generations to understand the
causes and progression of future wars, though not necessarily to prevent them.

Music in Ancient Greece was seen as something magical, a system of pitch and
rhythm ruled by the same mathematical laws that govern the universe and
capable of changing the heart and soul of humans. This was known as the
'Doctrine of Ethos' and as an art form it was humanistic, as was poetry, drama,
sculpture and the other art of ancient Greece. It was the rediscovery of the
ancient Greek view that music should move the heart and soul which led to the
science of harmony in the early Renaissance and gave us the music that we are
familiar with today, just as the rediscovery of the other aspects of classical
Greece inspired the artists, poets, writers, philosophers and architects of the 15th
and 16th Centuries. When you read that the ancient Greeks gave us our culture
this is what they meant. The Renaissance was a re-discovery of what was going
on in 4th century Athens and emancipated European culture from the dark ages.

Greek Religion

Religion was an important part of Greek society and they

believed in a polytheistic system, a belief in many Gods.
These Gods lived on Mount Olympus, led by Zeus, whose
job was to keep all the other Gods in line, a difficult task,
considering that he was one of the most unruly, coming to
earth in various forms to seduce immortals and mortals
alike. His sister Hera was also his wife and was the
protector of women and the family. Ares was the God of
war. Haephestus was the God of craftsmen and created
the first women, Pandora, as a punishment for man. Her
box unleashed all the evils that were to afflict mankind.
Aphrodite was the beautiful Goddess of love and lust,
punished by Zeus and forced to marry the unattractive Hephaestus. Demeter
was the goddess of the fertility of the earth and the harvest who was celebrated
in the ancient mysteries of Eleusis. Athena was the Goddess of Wisdom and the
patron of Athens. Poseidon (photo) was the God of the sea, a brother of Zeus
and a moody individual who caused storms, floods, earthquakes and volcanic
eruptions. Apollo was the God of the sun who daily drove his chariot through the
sky. He was also the God of light, both physical and spiritual. Artemis was the
Goddess of childbirth and the protector of young animals. Hermes was the God
of commerce, wealth, and oratory and was also known as the messenger of the
Gods. Today he is the symbol of the Greek postal system. Dionysus was the God
of wine and song. Asclepius was the God of healing, Eros the God of Love,
Hypnos the God of sleep and Pan was the God of shepherds. The most
important part of the ancient Greek religion was the act of sacrifice. Though we

14
often think of the Greek temple as being the center of the ancient Greek religion
it is actually the alter which was the most important. Sacrifices were held at
festivals devoted to the God where animals were slaughtered and cooked, their
rising smoke was the offering.

The most important of the festivals in Athens was the Panathenaea. All the
inhabitants would meet at the Dipylon gate, walking the road known as the
Sacred Way up to the Acropolis where sometimes hundreds of cattle were
slaughtered on the alter of Athena which must have created rivers of blood.
There were season festivals for the harvest and grape-picking among others as
well as astronomical festivals. A ritual known as Apatouria was a rite of passage
for young men going from adolecence to adulthood. They are introduced to the
fellow demesmen of their fathers and the initiates name is inscribed on the roll of
Athenian citizenship. The girls has a ceremony that took place in the coastal
town of Bauron where at the age of 12 or so they passed into womenhood in a
festival dedicated to the Goddess Artemis. A ritual to ward off evil in the home
was called the Anthesteria and was performed at the same time by everyone in
the city. The Mystery cults like that of Demeter at Elefsis had its origins in the
dark ages. Initiates may have taken psychedlics to induce a religious experience
and create a sense of awe and a sense of the divine. There were also many
shrines in Greece where one could supposedly have direct contact with the gods,
similar to the experience at Delphi.

Though later on Christianity claimed that pagan religion failed because it did not
address the inner need of humans, this seems to not be the case. For the ancient
Greeks their religion and faith was a highly personal matter which did spring from
a sense of awe, based on experience. If one is to believe the accounts of this
period it seems possible that the Greeks did talk to the Gods and the Gods talked
back.

The Peloponnesian War

The ancient Hellenes often fought each other and the period is a series of wars
and changing alliances. It was the Peloponnesian war which finally brought down
Athens and the historian Thucydides has written an eye-witness account that
goes into great detail and is a facinating window on what the ancient Greeks
said, and thought and how and why they fought. The cause of the Peloponnesian
War (from 431 to 404 BC) had to do mainly with Sparta's fear of the expansion of
Athens. This and the plague finally brought down Athens, along with an
unhealthy dose of Athenian arrogance that usually comes with power, particularly
after the death of Pericles in 430 and the rise to power of the next generation of
Athenian leaders who were unscrupulous and hungry for power. . In one well
known incident the island of Milos did not join the Athenian league and so was
give the choice of paying tribute or being destroyed. These negotiations, written
about by Thucydides, had the people of Milos taking the point of view that by
trusting in God and having faith in human decency they would be spared. The

15
Athenian's point of view was that 'might
makes right' and because they were powerful
they could do whatever they wanted including
wipe out the people of Milos, which they did in
416
BC.
The
men
were

massacred and the women and children

were made into slaves. Five hundred
Athenians were sent to the island to re-
colonize it. It was the beginning of the end
for the Athenians as well. The massacre
of the Melian's exposed the Athenians as
ruthless imperialists and turned the ancient world against her in a way that
seems to mirror events of our own times. An ill-fated invasion of Sicily in 415
finally brought down the Athenians. The Athenian fleet is destroyed by the
Syracusians. Athenian troops watched in horror realizing their escape is cut off.
They are then defeated and sold into slavery. With their army and Navy gone the
Spartans were able to march right into Athens, suspend the democracy and
install a pro-Spartan oligarchy known as 'The Thirty'. After a period of civil war
The Thirty are overthrown and democracy is restored. What follows is a period of
decline in the 4th century where though Athens is not the great power it was, it is
still capable of producing the kost important developments in philosophy, drams,
art and literature.

The Hellenes of the Golden age, when threatened by an external enemy were
capable of coming together and performing miracles. This is true all the way to
the present time as is the sad fact that when there was no external threat they
were their own worst enemy and throughout history have fought amongst
themselves, sometimes turning what could have been great victories into sad
defeats or chaos.

The Olympics

From 776 BC through the Golden Age until they were finally banned by the
Roman Emperor Theodosius in 393, every 4 years men from all over the Greek
world came to the town of Olympia to compete in the Olympic Games. Though
there were other games in classical Greece, the Olympics were the most
important. During the period of the games a sacred truce was in effect so
competitors could go through hostile territories to get to Olympia. The games
were held on the second full moon of the summer solstice and was not restricted
to athletic events. There were also feasts, competitions between orators, poets,

16
prayers and sacrifices since it was in actuality a religious festival, dedicated to
Zeus, for his enjoyment as well as for the Greek love of competition and the
Homeric value of arete or excellence which was perhaps the most important
quality of the Greek heroes of the Illiad. Athletic fanaticism is yet another gift of
the ancient Greeks and by the 2nd century even the priests in Jerusalem were
spending more time practicing the discus then they were on their priestly duties.
The Olympic and other pan-Hellenic games were open only to Greeks and one's
Greekness was confirmed by his inclusion in the games. By the definition of
Herodotus to be a Greek meant to share blood, language, religion and customs
but eventually to be considered a Greek meant to live and act as a Greek
particularly by engaging in competition with other Greeks. Those who competed
were not after riches and lucrative endorsement contracts but for undying glory or
cleos aphthiton for themselves, their families and their community. Their victories
were turned to prose by poets like Pindar so that even today we know their
names and exploits. While the Greeks who competed at these games did not see
themselves as a nation they did see themselves as a culture united in language,
blood, religion and especially the spirit of Homeric competitiveness as they
cheered on the athletes who modeled themselves on Homer's heroes.

For more on the Olympics see www.greecetravel.com/2004olympics

The Oracle at Delphi

Delphi was believed to be the center of the Universe, not just another holy site or
shrine but the place where the physical world and the spiritual worlds met. Like
the Olympics the oracle of Apollo was open only to Greeks. In the 4th Century
the Sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi was at its height of popularity as pilgrims,
poets, politicians and kings all sought the advice of the Oracle, said to be the
voice of Apollo. Leaders wanting to know if this was the time to go to war asked
the Oracle. Many times the answer was vague and open to interpretation. The
way it worked was a priestess of Apollo, called a pythia, would enter a trance
after breathing fumes that came through a hole in the earth. She would then
speak in riddles and the priests would interpret what she was saying. Cities
would bring offerings and great wealth was built up in Delphi. As the Greek world
grew, Delphi, which was a separate entity with allegiance to no particular city-
state, became a mediator in disputes between the city-states and Greek colonies
and shaped policies, settled border disputes and authorised the founding of new
colonies. Because of the competitive nature of the Greeks disputes were
common not only among the individuals but communities and city-states too. The
Oracle at Delphi kept everything together in the Greek world and its importance
can not be underestimated. The Delphic Games like the Olympic games
harnessed the competitive spirit of the Greeks and helped create and sustain an
ethnic and cultural identity which two thousand years later became a national
(and international) identity. Later a series of wars which broke out over control
of Delphi called The Sacred Wars and eventually like the Olympics the Delphic
games and the Oracle were outlawed by the Roman Emperor Theodocious as

17
were the rest of the pagan sanctuaries. Some say the spirit of Apollo has never
left but the ability to hear him has gone. See www.greecetravel.com/delphi

The 4th Century

From 396 to 387 BC the Greek states were in revolt against Sparta. Led by
Corinth, and fueled with funds that came from Persia to keep the Greeks fighting
amongst themselves peace finally comes to all the Greek states for the first time
in what is known as the Peace of Antalcidas. In 398 the Athenians reform the
Delian league and once again becomes the leading power in the Aegean world.
In 371 the Thebans defeat the Spartans in the Battle of Leuctra. Sparta is then
invaded and the Messinian helots emancipated. Hemmed in on all sides, Sparta
will never again be the power it had been. Thebes under Epaminondas becomes
the most powerful city-state though not powerful enough to unite the others.
Much of this period is witnessed by the soldier-writer Xenofon. In 4th Century
Athens sculpturers like Scopas and Lysippus are exploring the beauty of the
human form. The playright Menandor has introduced a style of drama known as
New Comedy which might be compared to what we know as situation comedy.
Aristotle is busy collecting data on everything to develop his theories of the
visible world while Plato is focuing on the spiritual with his theory of forms, which
will influence Christian mysticism. Meanwhile the speeches of Demosthenes and
his rival Aeschines are asking the critical question of the time, how to deal with
the rising power of Phillip of Macedon.

Alexander The Great

During the classical period in Athens, the
Macedonians, to the north, were considered
barbarians, most likely because their dialect
seemed foreign to the Greeks of the south. But the
Macedonians admired the southern Greeks and
King Phillip hired the philosopher Aristotle to tutor
his young son Alexander. Aristotle was actually a
'barbarian import', having been born in Macedonia
and raised in the royal court, his father being the
royal doctor. Alexander, according to Plutarch was
actually the son of Phillip's Queen, Olympias, and
Zeus on one of his earthly visits.

In the 4th Century King Phillip of Macedonia took

advantage of the disunity of the Greek city states,
defeating an Athens that was paralyzed by political
infighting, in the battle of Chaeronia in 338 BC. and

18
 put an end to the Delian league. He then
unified all the Greeks to the south of his
kingdom in Pella.

When Phillip was assassinated in 336, the 20

year old Alexander became the new king of
Macedonia. He immediately ordered the
execution of all of his potential rivals and
marched south with his armies in a campaign
to solidify control of Greece. He continued to
unite the rest of the Greeks in Asia Minor and
traveled east where he conquered Greece's
great enemy Persia, as well as the lands of Egypt and as far as India. By then he
was known as Alexander the Great and this era became known as the
Hellenistic Age, when the influence of Greece spread throughout the known
world. To this day there are pockets of people between the Mediterranean and
India who claim to be descendents of Greeks in Alexander's army. Besides
bringing Hellenism to the people of the east he brought eastern ideas to the
people of Greece. When Alexander died of a mysterious illness in Babylon on
June 10, 323 BC, he was only 32 years old. The lands he had conquered were
divided up and named for his three generals: the Ptolemids in Egypt, the
Antigonids in Greece and Macedonia and the Seleucids in Syria, Asia Minor and
the Middle East. (See map)

During the Hellenistic period and on into the Roman period Athens was what a
University town is today. Still a beacon of learning, Plato's Acadamy and
Aristotle's Lykeion were expanding and attracting more and more students. The
art of Rhetoric had become essential for polititians of the Greek world who came
to Athens to study in the school of Isokrates, a rival of Plato. The schools sent a
flow of educated students out into the world who themselves became teachers of
their own people, as well as scientists, mathematitions, philosophers, and
political and military leaders. After Plato died in 347 B.C, Aristotle left Athens and
moved to Assos (nowadays called Behramkale), in Asia Minor. Assos was a city
by the sea, 10 km from Lesbos. There, with the help of other philosophers
(including Theophrastos and Xenokrates) he founded a philosophy school, under
the protection of Hermeias, the ruler of Assos and Atarneos. Aristotle soon
married Pythias, who was Hermeias niece, and they moved to Mytilene,
in Lesvos, where they lived for two or three years. Most historians of science
agree that it was during this period that Aristotle began his intensive study of
zoology, which is described in his books "History of animals", "Parts of animals",
"Generation of animals" and a few others. In those books Aristotles describes
many fish, birds, insects and land animals that he found in Lesvos, and several
specific places of this island are mentioned in those works. In 343 or 342 B.C.
Aristotle and Pythias moved to Pella (the ancient capital of Macedon) at the
invitation of king Phillip II, to take care of the education of prince Alexander.
Although Aristotle's zoological work is not as well known as his logical and

19
philosophical books, it was a vast encyclopaedia of natural history and was
surpassed only in the 18th century. There is a famous saying by Darwin, who
was much impressed the first time he read Aristotle's zoological books: "I had not
the most remote notion what a wonderful man he was. Linnaeus and Cuvier
have been my two gods, though in very different ways, but they were mere
schoolboys to old Aristotle."

Lately there has been as much discussion of the sexuality of Alexander as there
was during the time of his rule over whether he was a man or a God. While the
people of Macedonia don't want to believe that their national hero was gay, they
can take heart in knowing that by contemporary standards most ancient Greeks
were gay. Sexual attraction between men was considered normal in Classical
Greece as well as in Alexander's time. Men of culture and education like
Alexander loved beauty, and beauty is beauty whether it is in the form of a
woman or a man. Regardless, when Oliver Stone brought the ancient king back
to life in his movie Alexander, a group of 25 Greek lawyers threatened to sue
him and Warner Brothers for what they claimed was an inaccurate portrayal of
history. They were offended by the effeminate nature of Stone's Alexander, as
were the critics. They needn't have bothered. The film was a 150 million dollar
disaster though from reading reviews and discussing the film I have come to the
conclusion that people who know history liked it. People who know movies didn't.
The point is that 2000 years later Alexander the Great is still a controversial
figure, whether he was man or God, gay or just effeminate. So Alexander still
lives. But if he is still 'The Great' why does he need 25 Greek lawyers to defend
him? Homosexuality (rather bisexuality) was common place in ancient Greece,
but it was regarded as a highest form of human communication, as a sacred
bond between men, that lifted them to divine sharing, to refinement of spirit.
Philosophers rather than philanderers were born from such relations. This is the
issue: not whether you depict Alexander as a homosexual, but how you do it.
Jewelry and eyeliner does not do hommage to a kind of relationship that they
themselves aspired to be as equal to that of their heroes, Achilles and Patroclus.

The Roman Period

In 168 BC the Romans defeat the
Macedonians in the battle of Pydna. In
146 BC and 86 BC the Romans seize
rebellious Corinth, killing all the men,
selling the women into slavery and
destroying the city as an example.
When Athens joins King Mithridates in
another rebellion against the Romans

20
in Asia Minor they invade the city, destroy the walls and leave with the most
valuable sculptures. When Octavion becomes emperor with his victory over Mark
Antony and Cleopatra (of the line of Greek Ptolemaic Pharaohs) the period of
peace which follows is known as Pax-Romana, lasting 300 years. It is the longest
period of peace in the history of Greece. The Roman emperors Nero and
Hadrian take a special interest in Greece. Nero begins work on the Corinth
Canal, using slave labor. Hadrian builds the Roman Agora (market) and the
library that bears his name. On the archway, built by the Athenians to honor their
emperor there are two inscriptions. On the side facing the Acropolis it says: This
is Athens, the ancient city of Theseus. On the other side it says: This is the city
of Hadrian and not of Theseus. It is Hadrian who completes the massive temple
to Olympian Zeus(photo) in 124 AD continuing the work that had been begun in
515 B.C. by Peisistratos the Younger. Adrianou (Hadrian) street still exists,
leading from Hadrian's arch to the Roman Agora.

The wealthy Herod Atticus, aka Tiberius

Claudius Atticus Herodes is the most
celebrated orator of his time. In the poem
Herodes Atticus by the great Alexandrian
poet C.P. Cavafy he writes of a visit to
Athens by the great sophist, Alexander of
Seleucia who arrives to find the city empty
because Herod Atticus had gone out to
the country and all the young men have
followed him to hear him speak. The
theater he builds at the base of the
Acropolis in 161 AD is in honor of his
Roman wife Annie Rigillia. It is destroyed in 267 AD, the ruins excavated in 1858
and restored in 1961. (Today It is still used for concerts and theatrical
performances.) Greek is the primary language spoken in the empire and Greeks
are participants in the Roman senate. The city of Athens is still a center of
knowledge for the empire and Hellenism is spread throughout the Roman world.
Now known as the Roman province of Achaia, the Hellenes are the primary
influence on the Romans, morally, intellectually, and through art and architecture.
It has been said that the Roman civilization was an attempt to mimic the ancient
Hellenes, though the Romans did not believe that the Greeks of their time were
the equals of the ancient Greeks, or of the Romans themselves.

During the Roman period the schools of Athens flourish with the young men
of many Roman noble families coming to the city to get an education. In the 2nd
century the Romans endow the University of Athens, paying their teachers
generously and exempting them from taxes, letting them know that they are
free to speak their minds without fear of prosecution. Roman emperors came to
Eleuesis to take part in the ancient mysteries. The process known as syncretism
gives Roman names to the Greek Gods. Simultaneously the Jews who
have spread throughout the Roman-Hellenic world introduce their form of

21
monotheism, a jealous God, who favored the 'Chosen' people above all others.
To the Greeks the idea of a God favoring one group of people over another
seems irrational. The cult of Christianity which mixes some of the ideas of Jewish
monotheism with Platonic metaphysics, Aristotelian logic and the ethics of the
Stoics, is much more palatable to the Greeks.

During this period of Roman rule the people known

as Hellenes are spread throughout the
Mediterranean. In the library of Alexandria all the
writings of the world were kept, translated into
Greek. People communicated in Greek and
followers of Jesus Christ had written the gospels
and the other books of the New Testament were in
Greek.

In the first century AD the Apostle Paul, who has

been ordained as a missionary in the church at
Antioch comes to the island of Cyprus, preaching
that Jesus Christ is the savior of all mankind and
not just a chosen few. He is teaching a form of
monotheism that allows everyone to take part and be saved. From Cyprus he
returns to the Greek cities of Asia Minor, then crosses to Neapolis (Kavala) and
establishes the first Christian community in Philippi. In Thessaloniki he
establishes a church of Jewish and Greek converts, then when he is nearly
arrested, escapes to Veria and preaches in the synagogue. From there he begins
his journey to Athens by sea, landing in Glyfada and preaches his sermon on the
'Unknown God' on the Aeropagos hill under the Acropolis. From there he moved
on to Corinth where he lived for almost two years and set up another Christian
community. Paul has been called the Apostle of Greece and the second founder
of Christianity. It is through the Greeks that Christianity spreads through the
world. The first Christian church in Rome was Greek. In fact all the first churches
of the west are Greek, their services in Greek, their scriptures and liturgy in
Greek.

In 64 AD the city of Rome burns and the Emperor Nero blames the Christians.
This begins a long period of persecution but by the 4th Century the Christian
Church is the most popular institution in the world.

Another group in Greece are the Romaniotes, an obscure branch of Judaism

who arrived in Greece after the destruction of the second temple in Jerusalem.
They were slaves on their way to Rome when their ship was forced ashore by
bad weather. They were easily integrated, as they already spoke the Greek
language. The Romanites were overwhelmed by the influx of Spanish Jews in
1492 and most of them were absorbed into the Shephardic culture. Several
pockets of Romaniote culture remained, most notably in Yanina and Crete

22
though the group was eventually sent to Auschwitz during the Nazi Occupation.
A small number survive scattered throughout Greece and there is a small
synagogue and museum in New York City founded by survivors from Yanina.

The Byzantine Period

In 51 AD Christianity had been introduced when
Saint Paul preached in Athens on Mars Hill as well
as in Thessaloniki and Corinth. On the island of
Patmos The Book of Revelation, otherwise known
as The Apocalypse was written by St. John the
Theologian between 95 and 97 A.D. He had been
exiled to the island by the Roman emperor Titus
Flavius Domitianus for 18 months.

In the 3rd century Attika is attacked by the Goths

followed by the Huruli, Alemanni, the Franks, the
Vandals and Sassanians. The Pax Romana is
starting to fall apart. In the 4th Century the emperor
Constantine converts to Christianity and moves the
capital of the Roman Empire to the city of
Byzantium on the shores of the Bosphorus,
renaming it Constantinople. (City of Constantine). During this period a group
within the church led by Father John Chrysostom, which believes in a literal
interpretation of scripture, (as opposed to the allegorical interpretation of the
Gnostics), seizes control of the church and begins to persecute as heretics all
those who disagree, forcing many of them into hiding. Some believe the purest
teachings of Jesus and his apostles went with them. If this is true it adds fuel to
the belief that there is a hidden church that reappears from time to time in the
form of groups like the Bogomils and the Cathars, only to be labeled
heretics, and forced into hiding again. (Those who are not exterminated) These
groups claim to be the true church. It is during the third and fourth century that
Christianity goes from being an agglomeration of persecuted sects with a variety
of beliefs and practices based on the teachings of Jesus Christ, to an
enormous secular power that imposes its dogma on others, executes heretics,
fights wars and basically enriches itself as a self-serving institution.

In 364 the empire officially splits into the Roman Empire in the west and the
Byzantine Empire in the east. As Rome declines, Constantinople becomes more
important. In 394 The Emperor Theodocious declares Christianity the official
religion of the empire, outlawing the worship of the ancient Greek and Roman
Gods. This is the beginning of the Byzantine empire which lasts a thousand
years. Greek replaces Latin as the official language, monasteries and churches

23
are built and religious art in the form of frescos, icons and mosaics become the
primary form of artistic expression in a society that has no separation of church
and state whatsoever. In 529 the emperor Justinian conquers the land to the
south as well as North Africa and Italy, then declares the study of the ancient
Greek philosophers of the classical period to be illegal. The only philosophy of
the empire is to be Christian theology. The church of Agia Sophia is built in the
reign of Justinian. The church, named for the Holy Wisdom of God is the second
largest temple ever built, after the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem. The
architects of this massive domed basilica are Anthemius from Tralles and
Isidorus from Miletus.

The 7th and 8th centuries see the rise of Islam and there are a number of
attacks by the Arabs with Crete falling in 823. If not for Greek-fire, the
Byzantine's secret weapon, Constantinople would have fallen too. An explosive
and incendiary substance made from sulphur, pitch and petroleum Greek fire's
effect was the equivelant of what airplanes and tanks had on 20th century
warfare. It enabled a smaller Byzantine force to defeat a much larger enemy. The
substance was squirted from bellows mounted in the Byzantine ships and caused
great terror and destruction.

In 726 Emperor Leo and his advisors conclude that perhaps the reason for these
attacks and the near destruction of the empire is that they have somehow
managed to anger God. Leo hits upon the idea of destroying religious images
(Icons) to appease God, since their veneration comes close to breaking the
commandment about idolatry. This policy of Iconoclasm, (which means image
breaking) divides Byzantine society and politics for the next 120 years. The last
iconoclast emperor is Theophilos. After he dies in 842, his widow Theodora
acting as regent for their young son, Michael III restores the veneration of Icons
as an acceptable form of worship.

It is also during the 8th Century that the Emperor Michael I imposes the death
penalty on the Paulicans, a Gnostic Christian group that is critical of the clergy
and rejects its cult of saints and icons and the veneration of the cross (among
other things). It is estimated that over 100,000 are killed as heretics though a
number of them survive in the eastern provinces of the empire until they
are deported to the Balkans in the 10th century.

In 1204 the Frankish crusaders, on their way to retake the Holyland during of the
4th Crusade, stop at Constantinople, sack it and install their own government.
Constantinople becomes the capital of a Latin empire when these 'crusaders'
capture Thessaloniki and most of central Greece and much of the Peloponnese.
These areas are broken up into states or fiefs as in a feudal society, ruled by
nobles. While the Franks and the Byzantines fight each other and amongst
themselves the Venetians are busy taking over the island of Crete and other
essential ports for their new role as traders and merchants in the Mediterranean.
Following the sack of Constantinople, the town of Nicaea becomes a centre

24
where monks establish a school of philosophy that includes not only Christian
philosophy but also classical ancient Hellenic culture. This period also results in
some of the most glorious iconography produced.

In 1259 the Byzantine Emperor Michael

Paleologos defeats Guillaume de
Villehardouin and the Frankish forces in
the battle of Pelagonia. Many nobles are
captured and held prisoner and for their
return Paleologos receives the fortified
town of Monemvasia and the town and
castle of Mystras which Villehardouin has
just finished building. Two years later
Paleologos recaptures the city of
Constantinople.

During the 4th Crusade Athens becomes the fiefdom of Otho de la Roche from
Burgundy. He passes the city on tohis son Guy de la Roche who is declared
Duke of Athens by King Louis IX of France. Athens is now a Dukedom. In 1308
Walter of Breinne inherits the Dukedom of
Athens and invites mercenaries from Catalan to
help defend his city. The Catalans are an unruly
bunch and after he decides he needs to send
them home, or anywhere, they turn on Walter,
defeating him. They make one of their own
Duke, Manfred of Sicily. In 1387 the Florentine
Nerio Acciajuoli invades Athens and becomesa
popular leader. The Florentines are the most
accepted of the rulers by the Athenian
population and many stay in the city even after
the conquest by the Ottomans, intermarrying
and Hellenising their names. (The Iatros or
Iatropoulos family claim descent from the Midicis.)

By the 14th Century the Ottoman Turks have taken Thessaloniki and Macedonia.
On 1453 the seige and fall of Constantinople is one of the major events of world
history heralding the end of the Byzantine Empire and the beginning of the
Ottoman empire. Mehmed the Conqueror, with an army of 150,000 Turks
besieges Constantinople starting on April 5th. On Tuesday May 29th, comes the
final assault. The Byzantine Emperor Constantine IX is killed, and the city falls.

"At this moment of confusion, which happened at sunrise, our omnipotent God
came to His most bitter decision and decided to fulfil all the prophecies, as I have
said, and at sunrise the Turks entered the city near San Romano, where the
walls had been razed to the ground by their cannon ... anyone they found was
put to the scimitar, women and men, old and young, of any conditions. This

25
butchery lasted from sunrise, when the Turks entered the city, until midday ...
The Turks made eagerly for the piazza five miles from the point where they
made their entrance at San Romano, and when they reached it at once some of
them climbed up a tower where the flags of Saint Mark and the Most Serene
Emperor were flying, and they cut down the flag of Saint Mark and took away the
flag of the Most Serene Emperor and then on the same tower they raised the flag
of the Sultan ... When their flag was raised and ours cut down, we saw that the
whole city was taken, and that there was no further hope of recovering from this."
-Nicolo Barbaro: Diary of the Siege of Constantinople 1453

Three years later Athens falls and then in 1460 Mistras surrenders without a
fight. Monks, scholars, artists and thinkers flee to the west bringing with them the
great works of the ancient Hellenes, sparking the period in Europe known as The
Renaissance. Others flee into the Mani and mountain monasteries to keep the
spark of Hellenism alive in Greece for the next four centuries of Turkish
occupation, at least in the popular romantic mythology. In truth the clergy were to
have it pretty good under the Turks and how much they saved Hellenism is a
topic that is debatable.

Most of the sources seem to overlook the fact that while the Byzantine Empire
was Greek speaking and its idealism was based on a singular interpretation of
both Christianity and on Roman Hellenism - that it was not Greek ethnically.
Most of the Emperors were Armenians, Syrian - in terms of dynastic origins. The
only Dynasty that was distinctly 'Greek' was that of the Palaeologues and it was
through their bungling and family disputes and general lack of imagination that
the Empire fell as it did. It is also important to note that during the entire period
of the Palaeologue dynasty and even before, there are hardly any new churchs
erected as most of their time and money is spent in family disputes and wars with
what remained of the Crusaders scattered around the empire. Then suddenly
after the beginning of the 16th century churches are built everywhere during the
period of Ottoman rule.

To understand modern Greece one has to realize that for centuries it was their
dream to restore the Byzantine empire with Constantinople as capital of a
Greater Greece. This is known as the 'Megali Idea', the Great Idea and nearly
500 years later it almost happens. But was their Megali Idea really a restoration
of a Hellenic-Christian empire or a nationalistic pipe-dream that served the
purpose of uniting the Greeks at the expense of peaceful relationships with their
neighbors?

The Ottoman Period in Greek History

26
 From 1453 with the fall of
Constantinople until the revolution in
1821 Greece is under the rule of the
Ottoman Turks who control the entire
middle east, and the Balkans as far
as the gates of Vienna. The
Ottomans are Seljuk Turks, a tribe
from Central Asia who appeared in
the area of Anatolia in the 11th
century. After a period of Mongolian
rule, they conquered more and more
land until the 15th Century when
they were attacking the Byzantine Empire from all sides. With the Venetians in
the west and the Turks in the east, the Greeks are sandwiched between two
major powers, both taking what they want and fighting over the rest.
Unfortunately these battles take place on Greek soil. Though subjugation by any
power is a bitter pill to swallow the Ottomans are preferable to the Venetians. As
long as you pay your ridiculously high taxes they let their subjects live their lives,
which is mostly working to make enough to pay your taxes and maybe eat. But
the Venetians treat their subjects as slaves with no rights.

From 1520 to 1566 the Ottoman empire expands under Sultan Suleyman the
Magnificent. In Greece the monasteries become the centers of learning and
many intellectuals escape there with their books and libraries to keep Hellenism
alive during these dark ages or at least this is the popular mythology. During the
reign of Suleyman in the 16th century and into the 17th - the Rumci, as they were
called in Turkish: Byzantine descended Greeks, had enormous priveleges under
the Turks. If they paid extra taxes it was because they did not serve in the
military. More important from the time of Mehmet II the Greek clergy had
enormous benefits and were paid by the Ottoman state. The Patriarch was
literally the head of all of the Orthodox Christians and had a position like that of
the Vizier. His authority was quite emphatic and bishops (for the first time) were
funded from Imperial sources as they acted as leaders of the Christian citizens of
the empire and were responsible for their behavior.

Greeks were put into all of the patriarchates - Jerusalem, Antich and Alexandria.
Arabs were not allowed into the higher clergy and there was actually a form of
paedomazoma with young boys taken from Greek villages and sent off to these
places to eventually become the clergy. It was a real kind of Greek colonialism.
When the Ottoman Empire fell the civil authority over these patriarchates shifted
- eventually it was parceled out between Syria (over Antioch), The Jordanese
(over Jerusalem) and Egypt (over Alexandria). The very fact that the present-day
Greek government (as it did under the Junta) is assuming some sort of right over
these Patriarchates is of interest and actually based on no historical
precedence...after all, there was no such phenomenon as 'Greece' in a political
sense prior to the Revolution of 1821 EVER! For this reason it is also incorrect to

27
say that Greece was occupied by the Turks for 400 years. There was no Greece
to occupy. We use the name Greece to refer to the geographic area in which
ancient City States (that were
independant countries after all)
evolved and fought. In Roman times
it was a province as it was during
Ottoman times. But when we speak
of 'Greece' prior to 1829 we are
actually speaking of a geographic
territory and not a state since it had
never been one. More on the
Orthodox Church under the Ottomans

In 1492 when Ferdinand and Isabella

proclaim the Edict of Expulsion for the Jews of Spain, Sultan Bayezid II proclaims
that Jews from Spain would be welcome in the Ottoman Empire. Over 20,000
Sephardic or Iberian Jews arrive in Thessaloniki the same year. See
www.greecetravel.com/jewishhistory/ancient.html

The Ottomans begin conscripting Christian boys from conquered territories like
Greece to serve in the Janissary corps. These recruits are given military training
and introduced to Islam, and given the task of protecting the life of the Sultan.
Some of the recruits are able to ascend to the Ottoman administration as well,
even to the position of Grand Vizier. The Janissaries become one of the most
powerful military forces in the world. However, their frequent revolts and refusal
to permit any sort of military reform in the later Ottoman period eventually leads
to their downfall. When they fail to suppress a Greek insurrection in 1820, and
revolt again in 1826, Sultan Mahmud II dissolves the corps.

On the island of Rhodes the Knights of Saint John who had moved there after
being evicted from the Holyland in 1306, have been holding out and striking at
the Turks from their fortress city. After a final seige Rhodes falls in 1522 and the
Knights leave for Malta. In 1571 Venetian controlled Cyprus falls to the Turks as
does Crete in 1669 after a twenty year siege. When the Ottoman attack on
Vienna fails in 1683, the combined powers of Christiandom under the leadership
of Austria and Venice capture the Peloponessos and attack Athens. On
September 26th 1688 the Venetian troops under General Morosini bombard the
Acropolis. The Turks who had taken refuge on the Acropolis had been using the
Parthenon, which until then was completely intact, to store munitions (as well as
their women and children). They assume the Venetians will never bombard such
a historical monument. They are wrong. Though some history books claim a
stray shell destroyed the Parthenon, in truth the Venetians had been alerted to
the fact that the building was being used as a munitions depot and aim their
cannons at it. When the shell hits the Parthenon, the symbol of classical Hellenic
society, democracy and culture is destroyed. The explosion is so powerful that
even the Venetians on Philipapos hill are showered with debris and the Turkish

28
houses on the acropolis are destroyed. Over 300 men, women and children die
and the Turks surrender the city. Morsini and his troops occupy the Acropolis for
a few months but leave the city, taking with them much of the population, making
the whole seige and destruction of the ancient temple completely pointless. Most
of the Athenians go to the Peloponessos and Athens is empty for several years,
until a Turkish offer of amnesty and three years tax-free convinces a stream of
refugees to return and repopulate the ancient city.

In the late 1700's Athens is ruled by

Hadji Ali Haseki, probably the worst
ruler ever, who actually bids for the
right to govern the city and then taxes
the inhabitants heavily to get his
money back. He tears down many of
the ancient temples and ransacks
churches and buildings for material to
build a defensive wall around the city,
that is as much to keep people in as it
was to keep enemies out. Adding
insult to injury after using the
Athenians as the physical labor for building these wall he then charges them for
the cost of building it. He confiscates for himself any
property he wants and throws into prison hundreds of
Athenians. By the end of the century he has been
removed, exiled to the island of Kos, his head taken
back to Constantinople and displayed as a warning to
what happens to those who abuse power in the
Ottoman empire.

Another colorful personality of the period is Ali Pasha,

the Albanian tyrant who in 1787 rules Epirus for the
Ottomans from the town of Ioannina. His dream was
to break away from the Ottoman Empire and create
his own independent state in Ipirus, with the
collaboration of Napoleon. But In 1798 he forms an
alliance with the British and takes Preveza from the French. He is given Parga by
the British who see in Ali Pashas a thorn in the side of the Ottomans. Even Lord
Byron visits, as described in his poem Childe Harold, calling Ali Pasha a
generous and cultured man and the 'Muslim Bonaparte'. The Ottomans find him
useful too but when he orders the assasination of an opponent in Constantinople,
Sultan Mahmud II has had enough and sends troops to depose him. 20,000
Turkish troops are diverted from fighting the rebelious Greeks in the
Peloponessos finally forcing him to surrender after agreeing to pardon him. While
waiting in the Pantelimon Monastery for his pardon to be read, he is executed,
his head displayed for 3 days in Ioanina and then sent to Constantinople where it
is displayed there as well. His body is buried in Ioannina, his head in

29
 Constantinople. Though a sick and perverted
individual who murdered and tortured who
he pleased, he was a ruthless and clever
leader
and
played an
important
part in the

independence of Greece from the Ottomans

by engaging the Turkish troops when they
might have been fighting the Greeks.

Athens begins a period of renewed scholarly

and artistic activity and also to see the first wave of 'tourists' who discover the
ancient monuments and treasures of the Hellenes. Athens is filled with students
of classical art and architecture and Turks and Greeks begin breaking off pieces
of the Parthenon and selling them. By the eighteenth century many of these early
tarvelers are returning with tales of the glory of ancient Greece and bits and
pieces of ancient Greek history, while some, like Lord Elgin return with actual
monuments and statues like the Parthenon, or Elgin Marbles. This sets off a
fervor for anything Greek. To the intellectuals of Europe and Great Britain in
particular the ancient Greeks are like gods, their art and thinking at a level that
modern people can only hope to one day attain. It is this admiration of Greece by
the Europeans that is to be the most important ally in their fight for independence
from the Turks.

The Greek Revolution of 1821

In 1821 the land that was Greece is controlled by the Turks except for the Ionian
islands which has been occupied by the Venetians, then the French and in 1815
by the British. The rebellion of the Greeks actually begins in Moldavia when an
army of 4500 Hellenes lead by General Alexander Ypsilantis, a Phanariot from
so-named district of Istanbul, a member of the Philike Hetairia (Friendly Society),
invades hoping to encouage the local Romanian peasants to throw off the yoke
of the Turks. Instead they attack their wealthy countrymen and the Greeks have
to escape. When the revolution breaks out in the Peloponessos, the Sultan in
Istanbul hangs the Patriarch Grigorios V for failing to keep the Greek
Christians in line which they considered his duty for the vast privileges they
allowed him. The Phanariot Greeks fall in line behind the new patriarch and
condemn the revolution. But in the Peloponessos the rebellion is making progess

30
and combined with Ali Pasha's rebellion in Ipirus the Turks have their hands full.
On March 25th 1821 Bishop Germanos of Patras raises the flag of revolution at
the monastery of Agia Lavra near Kalavrita and the battle cry of "Freedom or
Death" becomes the motto of the revolution. Fighting begins to break out all over
with massacres committed by both the Greeks and the Turks. On the island of
Chios 25,000 Greeks are killed while in the Peloponessos the Greeks kill 15,000
of the 40,000 Turks living there. It would be unfair to over-look Ali Pasha and the
fact that the insurrection of 1821 was actually something of an Albanian affair
and that the Chios massacre was a consequence of this. The Chiotes had
enormous privileges under the Ottomans even to the point of dominating the
Ottoman admiralty. It was the role of the Chios 'navy' in the revolt that was seen
as an act of treason by the Turks.

On March 13th 1821, twelve days before the official beginning of the War of
Independence, the first revolutionary flag was actually raised on the island of
Spetses by Laskarina Bouboulina. Twice widowed with 7 children but extremely
rich she owned several ships. On April 3rd Spetses revolted, followed by the
islands of Hydra and Psara with a total of over 300 ships between them.
Bouboulina and her fleet of 8 ships sailed to Nafplion and took part in the seige of
the impregnable fortress there. Her later attack on
Monemvasia managed to capture that fortress. She took
part in the blockade of Pylos and brought supplies to the
revolutionairies by sea. Bouboulina became a national
hero, one of the first women to play a major role in a
revolution. Without her and her ships the Greeks might not
have gained their independence. What is less well known
is that she was Albanian.

31
The Greeks, led by local heroes like Theodoros Kolokotronis from the Mani, who
like many of the heroes of the revolt was Albanian, capture the Peloponessos
and form a provisional government, electing the Phanariot Alexandros
Mavrokordatos president. On April 26th the Greeks attack Athens and the Turks
of the city are forced to flee to the Acropolis. They are rescued in August by
Turkish troops but finally surrender in June of 1822 and are then massacred after
being promised safe passage. In the meantime the Greeks in the Peloponessos,
(or the Morea as it was called), are fighting amongst themselves. In European
cities intellectuals and poets like Lord Byron embrace the Greek cause and sway
public opinion. The Greek struggle is interpreted by many Europeans
simplistically and romantically as a battle between the ideals of the ancient
Greeks against the ruthless Turks who had been occupying and supressing the
decendents of Pericles, Socrates and Plato. Many, including Lord Byron
volunteer to fight and become leaders and heroes of the revolution, known as the
Philhellenes (friends of the Greeks). Some sing the praises of the modern
Greeks but many are completely disillusioned by the pettiness and greed of the
Greek klefth leaders who seem to
just want glory and riches. Though
some of these warlords are elevated
to the role of saviors and heroes in
the national mythology, the reality is
that many of them were just pirates
and thieves looking out for their own
self-interest. In 1823 Lord Byron
arrives in Missolonghi, to take part in
the resistance there, but dies three
months later, not as romantically as he would have liked, but by disease. In 1826
the Peloponessos is back in Turkish hands and Athens is one of only a few cities
controlled by the Greeks. When the Turkish army returns a major battle takes
place and on June 5th the Acropolis is surrendered. Among the fifteen hundred
Greek dead are 22 of the 26 Philhellenes. By 1827 the Turks have all of Greece
with the exception of Nafplion and a few islands.

But the Greeks are rescued by their own history as support for them in their
struggle grows. The Treaty of London, backed by Britain, Russia and
France. declares that the three great powers can intervene 'peacefully' to secure
the autonomy of the Hellenes. In October of that year the British, French and
Russian show the power of peaceful intervention when they destroy the Turkish-
Egyptian fleet in the bay of Navarino (Pylos) in what may have been the world's
biggest and most fatal 'misunderstanding'. Whether by accident or not, when an
Egyptian ship fires on a small boat filled with British sailors, all hell breaks loose
and when the smoke clears the entire Turkish-Egyptian fleet is at the bottom of
the bay, (where they can still be seen). It is the most one-sided battle in the
history of naval warfare. For more see
www.greecetravel.com/peloponessos/navarino With the destruction of the

32
Egyptian-Turkish fleet the Hellenes have a clear path to nationhood except for
the usual fighting amongst themsleves.

In an interesting story about the war, when the Turkish garrison of Athens was
using the acropolis as a fortress they came under siege by the Greek
revolutionary army. After a few days, the Turks were short of ammunition and the
Greeks noticed from far away that they were taking down the marble columns
and extracting the lead wedge that holds the "slices" of the columns together. (If
you have noticed some fallen columns like at the temple of Olympian Zeus, you
will see in the center of the slices, a hollow part. This was filled with lead by the
ancient architects and made the columns stronger, and able to resist the
frequent small earthquakes which happen all the time around attica.) The
Greeks sent an envoy to the Turks and asked them how much lead they would
obtain by taking down all the columns of the parthenon. They agreed on the
quantity of the lead, and the Greeks sent it to the Turks with the agreement that
they would leave the remaining temple of the Parthenon intact. This shows how
much the Greek warriors who could hardly read or write, appreciated their
ancient Greek heritage, though it
didn't stop them from taking the entire
ancient library of Kaisariani Monastery
onto the Acropolis and tearing up the
books to use the paper for cartridges!

In 1828 Count Ioannis Capodistrias of

Corfu is elected the first governor of
Greece by the assembly of Troezene
as the Turkish-Egyptian army leave
the Peloponessos once and for all.
The Greeks draw up a constitution as
a republic and on March 31st 1833 the Turkish troops who have been occupying
the Acropolis leave. Four years after being elected President, Kapodistrias is
assassinated in the new capital city of Nafplion by members of a mani clan who
were at odds with his belief in a strong central government. A year later the 17
year old Otto (Othon), son of Ludwig of Bavaria, is declared King of the Hellenes
by the British, Russians and French. He arrives in Nafplion a year later to great
fanfare. In 1834 the capital is moved to Athens, which is now a town of 10,000
inhabitants. In 1837 the University of Athens opens. King Otto is forced by the
military to accept a constitution in 1843. He is overthrown by the army in 1862
and he and his wife Amalia are exiled and replaced in 1863 by the Danish Prince
Christian William Ferdinand Adolphus George of the Holstein-Sonderburg-
Gluckbsburg who becomes George I, King of the Hellenes. In March of 1864 the
Ionian islands are ceded to Greece by Great Britian.

In 1878 Great Britain takes over the administration of Cyprus from the Ottoman
government. Two years later revolution breaks out in the still Turkish occupied
island of Crete. In 1881 Thessaly and the Arta region of Epirus are ceded to

33
Greece by the Ottoman empire. From the mid-1880's to 90's Harilaos Trikoupis
and Theodoror Deliyannis alternate power, in what is the beginning of a two-party
system. Trikoupis focuses on domestic issues and during his rule roads are built,
tracks are layed, the metro is built and even the Corinth Canal which had been
started by Nero in 67 AD is completed in1893. Deliyannis on the other hand is a
believer in the Megalo Idea, that Greece will one day rule a new Hellenic empire
along the lines of the Byzantine.

During the mid to late eighteen-

hundreds, architects came from Europe
to build a new Athens of neo-classical
buildings with the help of local
architects and benefactors of the
Hellenic diaspora society. In 1842 a
wealthy Greek from Trieste named
Antonis Dimitriou had built a house for
himself in the center of Athens which in
1874 becomes the Hotel Grande
Bretagne. It becomes the hotel of
choice for kings, queens and dignitaries
and the scene of many important moments modern Greek history. Some other
examples include the Evangelismos Hospital built by Andrea Syngros from the
island of Chios, the Zappion which was a gift of the Zappas brothers from
Northern Epirus, the Athens Polytechnic which was built by Nicholas Stournaras
from Metsovo and the King's Palace (now the Parliment building in Syntagma).
Perhaps the largest and most important gift is the reconstruction of the ancient
marble Panathenaic Stadium by George Averof, an Alexandrian businessman
from Metsovo for the Olympic games of 1896. By then the population of the city
is around 130,000 and the Olympics are a sort of coming-out party for the new
capital city of Europe's newest nation.

The same year that the Olympics are held another rebellion breaks out in Crete.
Greece, under Deliyannis backs the island's liberation and declares war on
Turkey. In three weeks the Greek army is defeated but Crete is put under
international administration. In 1898 Crete is granted autonomy and Prince
George, the 2nd son of the King is appointed governor.

In Turkey events are taking place that will change the face of Asia Minor and
Greece too. Sultan Abdul Hamit of the Ottoman Empire applies a policy of
genocide to the Armenians. In August and September 1894, Armenians are slain
in Sassun. In October 1895 the first organised genocide takes place in
Constantinople and Trebizond and in November and December 1895 the
Ottoman authorities organize a great massacre throughout the country. In June
1896, the massacre of Van takes place. After the capture by the Armenians of
the Ottoman Bank, another massacre takes place in Constantinople. The total
number of victims is 300.000 Armenian men, women and children.

34
In 1905 Eleftherios Venizelos, the president of the Cretan assembly announces
the Union (enosis) with Greece. Though this union is not recognized until 1913,
Venizelos comes to Athens where he becomes one of the most important
political players of 20th century Greece.

Venizelos and the Asia Minor Catastrophe

In 1910 Eleftherios Venizelos, born in Ottoman ruled Crete, and founder of the
liberal party, becomes the prime-
minister. Venizelos is the kind of leader
that comes around once in a
generation and it is not a coincidence
that this is the period of the greatest
growth for Greece. In October of 1912
the first Balkan War breaks out with
Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and
Bulgaria attacking Turkey. A month
later Thessaloniki is captured and
becomes part of Greece. In March of
1913 King George is assassinated in

Thessaloniki and is succeeded by

Constantine I. In July during Balkan
Wars 2, Bulgaria attacks Greece
and Serbia and is beaten. The two
victors split Macedonia. Venizelos is
hailed as Europe's most charismatic
statesman but in Greece he has his
passionate followers and there are
those who just as passionately hate
him, including King Constantine
whose sympathies are undoubtedly
with the Kaiser and the Germans,
though he claims to wish Greece to remain neutral in the war. Venizelos resigns
and then in June is re-elected, returns to power only to be forced to resign again
in October. In the December elections his followers abstain and Venizelos
establishes a provisional government of the New Hellas in Thessaloniki. The
Royalists in Old Hellas are attacked and then blockaded by the French and
British who want Greece to enter the war with Germany on their side. In the end
King Constantine escapes from Greece, though he does not abdicate the throne,
and is replaced by George's second son Alexander who is more acceptable to
the French and British. The Venizelist Parliament of June 1915 is recalled and
dubbed 'The Lazarus Chamber' because it has been awakened from the dead.

35
At the start of the 20th century Greece's navy is obsolete, consisting of three old
battleships and some torpedo boats. In the shipyards at Livorno, Italy is a
battleship which has been ordered by the Italian Navy and then cancelled. The
Greek government buys the ship and it is christened the Averoff after the
wealthy benefactor George Averof. The ship rules the northeast Aegean during
the Balkan wars and is an important part in the liberation of Mount Athos and the
islands of Limnos, Thasos, Samothraki, Tenedos, Aghios Eustratios, Mitilini, and
Chios. The power of this ship and the success at sea keeps the Sultan from
challenging the Greek Navy and keeps the Turkish fleet out of the Aegean. The
Jewel of the Hellenic fleet was destined to sail through history, through the two
world wars with greater glory than any other Naval vessel in the history of the
Hellenic Navy. For more on the Battleship Averoff click here

On Tuesday November 21 1916, the HMS Britannic, larger and considered even
more unsinkable than her famous sister ship the Titanic, explodes and sinks in
just 55 minutes outside the harbor of the island of Kea while doing service as a
British hospital ship in the Gallipoli campaign. For more see
www.greektravel.com/greekislands/kea/britannic

In Turkey the decaying Ottoman Empire is continuing a policy that could be

called the Turkization of Asia Minor. In 1909 Armenians are massacred in Adana,
Tarsus and other towns of Cilicia. Among the 30.000 Armenian dead are a
handful of American missionnaries. In 1912 the Turkish army loots the villages of
Didymotichon and Adrianopoli districts. Villages of the Malgara district are burnt
as well as Kessani and a number of assassinations and massacres accompany
the destruction and looting in this predominantly Greek region of Eastern Thrace.
A year later the Turkish army commits atrocities and massacres of Greeks in the
same area killing more than 15,000. In May of 1914 the Turkish authorities at
Pergamum command all Christians to leave the town within two hours. The
terrorized inhabitants cross over to the Greek island of Mytilini. That same year
the Turkish government creates forced labor battalions made up of Greek-
Ottoman citizens who are drafted into the Turkish army. Thousands die or
disappear.

Armenian intellectuals and prominent national Armenian leaders in

Constantinople and the provinces are arrested and deported to Anatolia. Many
are slain on the road. The Armenian soldiers who are in the Turkish army are
disarmed and massacred by thousands. The Armenian population is forced to
march to exile in the Syrian desert. Tens of thousands die or are killed and
massacred by the Turkish Army and civilians along the way. In all over a million
and a half Armenians die during this period. The Turks also begin persecution
against the Syrian Orthodox and Nestorians living in Hakkari, Mardin and Midyat
regions, their deaths equaling that of the Armenians. Of 16,750 Pontian Greeks
who are forced to leave their villages and march east towards Syria, only some
500 survive.

36
In 1918 the Armenians who have been fighting the Turks are victorious and
proclaim the Independent Armenian Republic, which Turkey recognizes. In
August 1920 the treaty of Sevres provides an independent Armenia, self
determination for Kurdistan and liberation of Eastern Thrace and Smyrna.
President Woodrow Wilson declares the right for self-determination of all peoples
of Asia Minor. But a month later Nationalist Turkish forces attack Armenia.. The
Armenian defeat is followed by a general massacre and the annexation of one
half of the independent
Armenia to Turkey.

At the 1918 Paris Peace

Conference Venizelos
lobbies hard for an expanded
Hellas including the large Greek
communities in Northern
Epirus, Thrace and Minor Asia. In
1919 Greek troops are sent by the
victorious allies to the beautiful
and multi-ethnic city of Smyrna
in Asia Minor to 'protect' Greek
citizens but in reality to serve as a buffer between the Italian army which is
advancing up the southern Turkish coast and the British who are in
Constantinople, (Istanbul). What is known as 'To Megali Idea' or The Great Idea
of a new Hellenic Empire on both sides of the Aegean looks like it is about to
become a reality. (see map) Even the major powers are behind it and in the
Treaty of Sevres create a Greece of Two Continents and
Five Seas. But in October of 1920 King Alexander
(photo) is bitten by his favorite monkey in the Royal
Gardens, and dies. It is a monkey bite that changes the
course of Greek history.

Venizelos would rather declare a republic and be done

with kings but knows that this would not be acceptable to
the European powers. Despite the national triumph of
Smyrna he loses the elections in November of 1920 and
leaves the country. A month later a royalist-rigged
election calls for the return of King Constantine. The
Greek Army which has secured Smyrna and the Asia
Minor coast is purged of Venizelos supporters while it marches on Ankara. Little
known to the Greeks, the Italians and Russians are selling arms to the Nationalist
Turks under Kemal Attaturk and the British and French have negotiated a
separate peace, realizing that the Ottoman empire is dead and the Nationalists
are the new face of Turkey. After being encouraged by their European 'friends'
the Greek Army finds itself isolated in central Turkey. They are defeated by the
forces of Kemal Attaturk and forced to flee to the shores of the Aegean. In their
wake they bring with them thousands of Greek and Christian citizens of the

37
Ottoman empire who fear that the advancing Turks will massacre them. While
the French, British, US and Russian fleets watch in the harbor, waiting to sign
contracts with the new Turkish government, the city of Smyrna is burned.
Approximately 30,000 people are murdered in Smyrna, among them the Greek
Orthodox Archbishop Chrysostomos who had been hacked to death by a
frenzied mob. See Smyrna 1922: The Destruction of A City by Marjorie
Housepian Dobkin

The disaster of Smyrna meant the end of

the three thousand year Hellenic
presence in Asia Minor. A million
refugees leave for Greece, a land that is
familiar to them only barely in language.
The populations of Athens and
Thessaloniki double. Working and upper
middle-class Greeks who had lived
comfortably in Smyrna and other towns
and cities in Turkey, become the bottom
rung in a society that can barely take
care of its own people. In the cafes and
back streets of Athens and Thessaloniki Rembetika music, Greek Urban Blues, is
being played and will have a powerful effect on the music and culture of Greece.
The lyrics tell of the frustration of being poor in a strange land, and the sadness
of exile as well as the misery of being reduced to a life of crime and drugs out of
desperation and hopelessness. Smyrna which had been the cultural center of the
Eastern Mediterranean is no longer multi-ethnic or beautiful. The entire city with
the exception of the Turkish quarter has been destroyed. More than 150.000
Greeks of the Pontus region and more than 400.000 Greeks of Asia Minor die in
the massacres. Of the half a million refugees who don't go to Greece, about
200.000 Pontian Greeks go to Russia and the rest are dispersed all over the
world.

The Asia Minor Disaster, as it came

to be known, changes the face of
Greece forever and many of the
problems of modern Athens are
hangovers from this period. A
Venizelist revolution begins with
officers of the Second Army on the
battleship Lemnos after being
evacuated from Smyrna. The
revolution spreads to Athens and
demands that the government resign
and Constantine abdicate the throne.

38
Led by Colonels Plastiras and Gonatas and Captain Phokas of the Lemnos,
12,000 soldiers march into Athens. King Constantine is forced into exile and the
politicians and officers whose incompetence is blamed for the defeat of the
Greek army are tried and executed for treason, against the wishes of the British
government. Venizelos is asked to represent the revolutionary government in
negotiations in Paris, which he accepts. Meanwhile a stream of refugees
continues to enter Greece from their homes in Asia Minor. Though many of the
revolutionaries would like to see the country become a republic, George II, the
son of Constantine, becomes the new king of Greece.

In January of 1923 there is a compulsory exchange of

populations between Greece and Turkey. In July of 1923 the
Treaty of Lausanne reverses all Greece's gains of the treaty
of Sevres. There is to be no 'Greater Hellas' with the Aegean
a Greek sea and Constantinople the capital. But there are
now a million and a half new Greeks in Athens and
Thessaloniki. This same year Stratis Myrivilis publishes in
serial form his book Life In The Tomb, a personal account of
trench warfare on the Macedonian front in 1917-18. Banned
by both the Metaxas dictatorship and the Germans during
the occupation, it becomes one of the
most widely read and important works
of modern Greek literature, translated
into more than a dozen languages.
During this same period the
Alexandrian-Greek poet, Constantine
Cavafy is writing poetry rich in Greek
history and imagry. He retires from
his office job in 1922 to focus on his
poetry but dies a few years later of
throat cancer. His poems not only
bring to life the ancient Greeks and
Romans, but also the modern Greeks of Alexandria, Egypt.

Venizelos returns to power in 1924, but is forced to resign again in a

disagreement over the makeup of the government. He moves to Paris to
translate Thucydides. In 1929 he is elected again and begins a remarkable
period of growth for Greece including the founding of the Bank of Greece, the
Agricultural Bank, the State Council and the National Theatre as well as over
3000 schools. Treaties of friendship are signed with Italy, Yugoslavia and Turkey.
But in 1933 after two attempted coups by pro-Venizelists officers and an
assassination attempt on him, Venizelos leaves Greece for Paris. Some of his
followers are tried and executed and in another rigged referendum King George
II returns to Athens. Venizelos dies in Paris in March of 1936. His body is taken
back to Chania, Crete. Many people in Greece are in deep mourning though the
funeral can't be held in Athens for fear of unrest by those who oppose him. Today

39
he is considered by many to be the most important leader in modern Greek
history, with numerous streets, squares, monuments and the Athens airport
named for him. He had fought to free Crete from the Ottoman empire and used
his skillful statesmanship and charismatic personality to expand the borders of
Greece to include the islands of the eastern Aegean, Epiros, Salonika and
Macedonia, the farmlands of Thrace and had nearly made Constantinople and
the coast of Asia Minor a part of Greater Greece. However despite being out of
power during the disaster in Smryna, there were those who blame him even
today. But it was Venizelos who made the Greeks realize that the dream of the
dream of a Greater Greece was dead and the road to take was one of
acceptance of its borders and to make Greece great within those borders as a
modern state.

One of the most important improvements during the Venizelos years was in
education. Under the Minister of Education George Papandreou the educational
reforms of this period were massive and extended compulsory education to six
years and built some 3,500 schools throughout Greece. In May of 1931 the
Greek government gives the American School of Classical Studies permission to
excavate a populated area in Monastiraki-Thission in search of the boundries of
the ancient agora. They tackle the project with a vengance, leveling nearly 400
neo-classical houses and Asia Minor refugee homes displacing thousands of
Greeks and obliteraing several hundred years of modern Greek history in the
search for its ancient past.

In August of 1936 after a deadlocked election where the communists held the
balance of power, using strikes and unrest as the excuse, former general Ioannis
Metaxas, with the backing of the King, overthrows the government. Metaxas is a
graduate of the Prussian Military Saturday in Berlin and lover of German order,
and he installs an anti-communist, quasi-fascist regime, modeled on the
governments of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.

By the beginning of the First World War

there are about 300,000 Greek
immigrants in the United States, having
left Greece because of a lack of jobs.
Most Greeks settle in cities where they
find menial, unskilled work. Important
Greek colonies emerge in New York,
Chicago and the textile town of Lowell,
Massachusetts. In fact all large cities in
the United States had Greek
communities with their own churches,
coffee house, societies and political
clubs. Greek Orthodox religious festivals and traditions were strictly observed. By
1910 both New York and Chicago had Greek-language newspapers. In the early
1900's after a blight that wipes out the Mediterranean sponges, the fishermen of

40
 the island of Kalymnos come to Tarpon Springs, Florida, many with
their fishing boats, to continue their trade. The town becomes a
center of Greek culture and after the sponge die off, turns into a
tourist attraction. In 1930 there are 303,751 Greeks in the United
States with over 50,000 in Chicago and 35,000 in New York. By
1978 over 655,000 Greeks had immigrated to the USA. See Greek
Immigration Figures

Greece in the Second World War

In 1939 the Italians under Mussolini issue an ultimatum to the Greeks. It is the
beginning of the Second World War and the Axis powers seem unstoppable as
one country after another falls. Mussolini feeling a bit outplayed by Hitler and
wanting to show that he too is a great leader decides to attack and occupy
Greece, believing that it will be an easy target. First the Italians torpedo the
Greek cruiser Elli in the harbor of Tinos with much loss of life. Then on October
28th the Italian minister in Athens brings the written ultimatum which basically
demands that the Greeks let the Italian army enter and occupy the country or
face their wrath. Metaxas, who had hoped to remain neutral in the war, rejects
the ultimatum and in just a few hours Italian troops are pouring into northern
Greece from Albania. This is to be another one of those Hellenic moments like
Salamis and Marathon. The people of Greece answer the call to defend the
country and in just 6 weeks drive the Italian army back into the cold mountains of
Albania. It is a major humiliation for the Axis and the first sign that they can be
defeated. It is not only an inspiration to the people of Europe but it puts Hitler in
the position of having to delay his invasion of Russia, to commit troops to attack
and occupy Greece. The Russian defense of Stalingrad and the cold Russian
winter are the beginning of the end of the Third Reich and Greece's resistance is
a major part of the puzzle. It is Metaxas rejection of the Italian Ultimatum which is
celebrated every year in Greece as a National Holiday on October 28th as 'Ochi
Day'. (Ochi means 'No').

41
The last thing that Hitler wants is to be bogged
down in Greece when he is trying to build up his
forces to invade Russia. But he cannot leave his
southern flank exposed, nor can he allow his
partner to suffer such a humiliation. Metaxas knows
the Greek army is no match for the German war
machine and tries desperately to avert an invasion,
hoping instead that Hitler will negotiate a truce on
the Albanian front btween Greece and Italy. But two
months after the death of the Prime Minister-for-
Life, on the 6th of April the German Army invades
Greece. Alexander Korysis, who has succeeded
Metaxas as prime-minister, commits suicide. The
Greeks and the British forces are no match for the
advancing Germans but manage to hold them long
enough for the government of King George II, the Greek Army and the British
Expeditionary Force to be successfully evacuated to Crete where they help the
local population to heroically hold off the Nazi invasion of the island until the end
of May. They are then evacuated to
Egypt to regroup while Greece is
occupied by the Germans, Italians and
Bulgarians.

When the Germans enter Athens on

April 27th they order one of the
evzones, the elite soldiers of the Greek
army who are the guardians of the flag
which flies over the Acropolis, to
remove it. The soldier obeys, then
wraps himself in the blue and white flag
and leaps from the walls of the ancient fortress to his death. It is the first public
act of resistance in the city. A few days later on the night of May 30th, Manolis
Glezos and Apostolis Santas, both 18 years old, tear down the Nazi flag flying
from the Acropolis. It is an act of courage and resistance to Nazi oppression that
becomes an inspiration to all subjected people. It is also foreshadowing that the
occupiers will not have an easy time in Greece. (Glezos, who becomes a
member of the Greek resistance, is condemned to
death for treason in 1948 and imprisoned for being
a communist. He is later elected a member of the
Pan Hellenic Socialist Party.)

Meanwhile in the mountains of Greece the

resistance has sprung up, made up of mostly
communists. In September 1941 the National
Liberation Front (EAM) is formed. The most
important offshoot of this group is the National

42
People's Liberation Army or Ethnikos Laikos Apeleftherotikos Stratos (ELAS),
which is founded in December 1941 as the military arm of EAM. In the summer of
1942 the first ELAS guerrilla band takes to the mountains. They are led by a
capable but ruthless Ares Veloukhiotis (the pseudonym of Athanasios Klaras).
Though EAM is controlled by the Greek Communist Party its primary cause for
now is the liberation of Greece from the Germans and many of their fighters and
supporters are neither left nor right. They simply want to resist the Germans. The
membership of EAM has been estimated to be anywhere between half a million
to two million members, with the ELAS forces somewhere between forty and
seventy thousand members. On the other side of the political spectrum, the
National Republican Greek League or Ethnikos Dimokratikos Ellinikos
Syndesmos" (EDES, ) is non-communist and commanded by General Napoleon
Zervas. Women play an important role in the resistance as fighters as well as
support. The Greek resistance attack bridges and supply convoys forcing the
Germans to keep a large number of troops in the country. In November of 1942
Greek fighters and British soldiers who have been parachuted in to direct the
resistance, destroy the Gorgopotamos Viaduct railroad bridge on the
Thessaloniki-Athens railway line. It is the first organised attack in occupied
Greece on Axis forces and the most spectacular act of sabotage in occupied
Europe up to that time. It is also the first and the only time that the Andarte forces
of EDES and ELAS fight together. During the rest of the occupation their
differences grew into hatred as fighting the Germans seem to take second place
to being in a position to control the country after the liberation. In September of
1943 Civil War breaks out within the resistance.

The Germans plunder the country and make the

Greeks pay the costs of the occupation. That first
year 100,000 Greeks die of starvation, not only due
to the Germans, but the government that has been
installed is both incompetent and corrupt. Even
though crop yields are between 15 to 30% lower
there is still enough food to feed the population,
however the state is unable to organize the
collection and transportation. While the masses in the cities starve, the rich are
still able to eat due to a thriving black market, and the Greeks in the agricultural
areas generally have enough to survive and even prosper, which creates
resentment. The Italians and the Germans argue over who is responsible for
feeding the Greeks. Hitler's government does not give the matter high priority and
is in fact sending food from the harvests to their troops in North Africa . The
Italians have no surplus and are themselves dependent on German imports. But
Germany declares Greece is under Italian jurisdiction and therefore the
responsibility of the Italians. In Athens people are dying at such a high rate that
the Christian Orthodox rites of burial are abandoned. In a culture that believes
deeply in honoring the dead, this adds a deep spiritual and psychological guilt to
the people who believe that without proper burial the souls of those who have

43
died wander the city or become vampires. As the famine gets worse mental
illness is common as people crack under the strain of extreme hunger.

The Greeks believe the famine is a German plan to

exterminate them but in actuality it is just
indifference. Italy claims the famine is due to the
British naval blockade. The British are reluctant to
lift their blockade since it is the only form of
pressure they have on the Axis but reach a
compromise by allowing shipments of grain to come
from Turkey since it is supposedly within the
blockade zone. The Greek War Relief Association
in the USA sends funds and in October of 1941 a
Turkish ship the SS Kurtulus makes five voyages,
bringing food to Athens where it is distributed by the
International Red Cross. It is barely enough to
make a dent in the plight of the Greeks and in the
winter of 1942 the ship meets a tragic end on the rocks near Marmara. The
following year under pressure from the people of the USA and England as well
as the Vatican, the British government agrees to end their blockade of Greece to
allow food to enter the country so as not to repeat the famine of the first year. On
some of the more arid islands the situation is even worse. The Germans have
outlawed fishing and this combined with the unavailability of the food that used to
be imported from Athens makes the situation desperate. As a result of the famine
the psychology of the Greek people changes. They lose faith in government,
realizing that officials are just taking care of themselves. They became alienated
from the state and this radicalization by starvation of the working class and
bourgeoisie is to last through the 20th century.

The failure of Mussolini's invasion of Greece which has forced Germany to

invade and occupy as well as the food crisis which raises the question of who is
actually in charge, has created a serious rift in the Axis. The Germans have more
respect for the Greeks then for the Italians, not only because the Greeks had
defeated the Italians in the Albanian campaign but because the Germans are
well read and generally philhellenes and are quite familiar with the rich history of
the ancient Greeks.

Meanwhile across the

Mediterranean, a Greek
government in exile has been set
up in Egypt while the Greek Army,
Navy and Air Force continue to
fight on the side of the allies in
North Africa and later in the
invasion of Italy. The Greek
battleship Averoff is sent to patrol

44
the Indian Ocean. King George goes to America to meet with leaders and lobby
for aid to Greece. While in Washington DC he addresses both houses of
congress. Read King George's speech to the US Congress. In America the
papers are full of editorials about the courage of the Greeks. These and
cartoons, letters and articles are collected and put out in a book called Lest We
Forget, in 1943. (Excerpts from this book, long out of print, can be read by
clicking on the link) George Papandreou, who had been exiled by Metaxas
before the war and imprisoned by the occupation, had turned down the offer to
become leader of EAM, had sent a memorandum to the British Middle East
Headquarters which was to influence their postwar strategy in regards to Greece.
In it he forsaw the power the communists would have in Greece after the war and
the power the Soviet Union would have as well. In August of 1943 leaders of the
resistance were flown to Cairo for a meeting with the government in exile. The
Greeks all agreed that the King should not return until there had been a national
referendum. The British disagreed and assured King George of their support.
Mutiny broke out among the Greek forces in the middle east as Republican
officers and soldiers demanded a government of national unity whenever Greece
was liberated. George Papandreou was chosen to be Prime Minister, as the only
person who could bring together the extreme left and right. A month later a
conference in Lebanon which included all the political parties and resistance
organizations legitimized the Papandreou's Greek Government in Exile and
placed EAM-ELAS forces under its command.

The Jews of Thessaloniki, some who

have been in Greece since the Spanish
Inquisition and others since ancient times,
are an early target for the Nazis. The
occupation leaders don't waste any time
in taking steps to isolate them for future
deportation. The Jewish newspapers are
closed down. Local anti-Semites are
encouraged to post anti-Jewish notices
around the city. The Jews are forced to
wear the Star of David so they can be
easily identified and further isolated from
the Greeks. Jewish families are kicked out of their homes to make room for the
Germans. Jews are arrested and the Nazi-controlled press tries to turn the public
against them. By December the German's begin to demolish the Jewish
cemetery. The ancient tombstones are pulled up and used as building material
for sidewalks and walls while families try in vain to stop the destruction. In July of
1942 the Jewish men of Thessaloniki are ordered to gather in Platia Eleftheria
(Freedom Square) to register for labor details. Once they are in the square they
are forced to do calisthenics, beaten and humiliated while the Greeks of the city
look on. The Germans begin the deportations in March of 1943, sending the
Jewish inhabitants of Thessaloniki to the Auschwitz death camp on a long
journey packed in box-cars like sardines. By the summer of 1943 the Jews of the

45
German and Bulgarian zones are gone and only those in the Italian zone remain.
Jewish property in Thessaloniki is distributed to 'caretakers' who are chosen by
special committee. Instead of giving apartments and businesses to the many
refugees, they are given to friends and relatives of committee members, and
collaborators who for the most part tear the premises apart looking for hidden
gold and jewels. The Italians are less willing to round-up and deport the Jews but
once Italy surrenders in September of 1943, the Nazis begin to administer those
areas too, hunting down Jews... and Italians too.

In September of 1943 when the Germans turn

their attention to the Jews of Athens, their
propaganda is not as effective with the
Athenians. The Jewish community has been
integrated into Athenian life and finds support in
a variety of places. Politicians appeal to the
German authorities to stop the persecution.
Archbishop Damaskinos orders his priests to ask
their congregations to help the Jews. Many risk
their lives hiding them in their apartments and
homes, despite threat of imprisonment. Even the
Greek police ignore instructions to turn over
Jews to the Germans. When Jewish community leaders appeal to Prime Minister
Constantine Rallis he tries to alleviate their fears by saying that the Jews of
Thessaloniki had been guilty of subversive activities and that this is the reason
they were deported. At the same time, Elias Barzilai, the Grand Rabbi of the city,
is summoned to the Dept of Jewish Affairs and told to submit a list of names and
addresses of members of the Jewish community. Instead he destroys the
community records thus saving the lives of thousands of Athenian Jews. He
advises the Jews of Athens to flee or go into hiding. A few days later, the Rabbi
himself is spirited out of the city by EAM-ELAS fighters and joins the resistance.
EAM/ELAS helps hundreds of Jews escape and survive. Many of them stay with
the resistance as fighters and/or interpreters. Of the Jewish population of
Greece, over 67,000, are deported to Auschwitz, 43,000 from Thessaloniki alone.
Only a handful survive. The few who do return to Thessaloniki find more
disappointment. The city has changed beyond recognition. The Jewish cemetery
to the east has been bulldozed as have the Jewish neighborhoods. The
synagogues had been dynamited by the Germans. Jewish businesses had been
given to Greeks as had their homes and few would be returned.

At the turn of the century Thessaloniki had truly been a multi-cultural city with
Muslims, Greeks, Jews, Slavs and other groups living and working together. After
the Balkan Wars and later the exchange of populations between Greece and
Turkey after the Asia Minor Catastrophe in 1922 the city had expelled its entire
Muslim population and torn down the minarets that had forested the city. The
expulsion of the Jews by the Nazis, the blowing up of the synagogues, the

46
destruction of the Jewish neighborhoods and cemetery was the final step in the
Greek-ification of Thessaloniki.

Once the Italians have surrendered and been disarmed,

the Germans are in control of Greece. (The Bulgarians
have annexed their territory) This means total war on the
guerillas who are becoming more daring. The respect the
German officers have for the descendants of the ancient
Greeks begins to dissipate with every attack by the
andartes (resistance). They begin to see the villagers as
conspirators, harboring the resistance and giving them
information on German troop movement. But the Greek
terrain favors the guerillas and the Nazis are forced to
come up with other methods, including death squads who
combat the resistance by killing civilians suspected of being
with the andartes or even just sympathising. (In other words; anyone). Their
philosophy is that terror must be answered with terror, in spades, to discourage
the rural population from supporting the andartes. This also means killing any
men found in an area of armed resistance. As early as June, 1941 the town of
Kondomari, Crete was burned to the ground and the men executed as a reprisal
for their defense of the island against Nazi paratroopers. As the frustration of the
occupying power grows, these acts are more common, eventually becoming an
epidemic of violence against the rural population.

On February 27, 1943 the poet Kostis Palamas dies

in Athens. Palamas is one of the most beloved of
the modern Greek poets who with his poems and
other literary work had created the standard for
modern Greek language. His historical epics of the
liberation had made him a national hero and he had
written the Olympic Hymn for the 1896 Olympics.
His funeral sparks a torrent of nationalism that is in
complete defiance of the Nazi occupiers. After a
speech by the poet Angelos Sikelianos calling for a national awakening, the
crowd begins singing the national anthem, shouting Zeto i Ellas, zeto i eleftheria
(long live Greece; long live freedom), ignoring the German soldiers. It marks the
beginning of a period of demonstrations and strikes against the authorities. On
June 25th a massive demonstration is held in Athens after the Germans had
executed 100 Greeks for the sabotage of a train taking prisoners to a
concentration camp in Larissa. The Greek people have come to the realization
that the Nazis and their collaborator regime are destined to fall and are ready to
play their part in speeding up the process.

By August of 1943 the German troops are

given the following orders: "All armed men
are to be shot on the spot. Villages from

47
where shots have been fired or where armed men have been encountered are to
be destroyed, and the men of the village are to be shot. Elsewhere all men
capable of bearing arms are to be rounded up and sent to Ioaninna." Since the
andartes are not a 'real army' and did not wear uniforms the Germans were to
regard all civilians as the enemy. No attack on the Germans was to go
unpunished. If they could not find the perpetrators then the important people of
the village, doctors, priests, mayors and respected elders were to be arrested
and publicly executed. For every German soldier shot 100 Greeks were to be
killed. Reprisal massacres were somewhat effective. Napoleon Zervas and his
EDA group, now fighting against ELAS and the Germans, with villages now
fearful of helping them, asks for a truce. But other groups realize that the
reprisals are having the opposite effect,
in fact making the Greeks more
nationalistic and creating martyrs.
ELAS and other members of the
resistance continue their attacks on the
Germans.

In December of 1943 as a reprisal for

the abduction and killing of 78 of their
soldiers, the German army marches
from Tripolis to Kalavryta, killing
everyone they meet along the road.
Another force from Aigion executes 42
men in the village of Kerpini and then
burns it to the ground. In the village of
Zachloros they murder 18 men and throw their bodies into the Vouraikos River,
then burn that village too. They burn the villages of Souvardo and Vrachni before
arriving in the town of Kalavryta, where they round up the entire male population
and take them to Kapis' field on the edge of town and kill them, mowing them
down with machine guns and individually executing anyone still alive. They burn
the village of Kalavryta down before leaving and the next day burn down the
Monastery of Agia Lavra, the birthplace of the Greek War for Independence,
killing 4 monks and the caretaker. The Drama of Kalavryta" by Dimitris Kaldiris
tells the story of the massacre. The book is an eyewitness account of the
murders and contains interviews with some of the survivors. The massacre at
Kalavryta does not stop the attacks on the Germans, nor do the Germans stop
burning villages. By 1944 over 879 Greek villages have been totally destroyed.
But if burning villages is supposed to help them end the resistance it is a poor
plan because where does one go when his home
and village have been destroyed, the crops burned
and any food taken away by the enemy. You join
the resistance.

On February 2nd 1943 the German army

surrenders to the Red Army in Stalingrad. Over a

48
quarter million German soldiers have died and almost a hundred thousand are
taken prisoner. By August of 1944 the Russians have crossed through Romania
and into the Balkans. The Germans in Greece are in danger of being cut off from
their homeland and begin a retreat north. As the last German soldiers take the
swastika down from the Acropolis and begin to drive through the city towards the
road north they pass through crowds of Athenians in a state of joy, waving the
blue and white Greek flags, embracing, while bells ring all over the city. It is a
happy time for those in Athens who have survived the occupation, but their joy is
not destined to last. They are about to enter the most divisive period of modern
Greek history. Over 400,000 Greeks die during the Second World War, the vast
majority civilians. The Jewish communities, the most ancient in Europe have
been wiped out. Starvation and inflation are so bad that a loaf of bread costs 2
million drachma and people have traded property and homes for olive oil to keep
their children alive. When the allies tour the countryside following the German
retreat they do not find happy crowds waving flags, but people who stare,
dazed, in a state of shock over what they have been through. Schools have been
burned to the ground as have the villages which surround them. Thousands of
civilians have been uprooted and just as many have died. The country is
economically bankrupt. There is little or no industry as factories have been
destroyed and ports and cities are in ruins. The government is in chaos. The
whole country has to be rebuilt. But first they have to fight a civil war. The
Germans have created Security Battalians, hardline anti-communist
fighters under the control of he collaborationist government who are killing
suspected communists, and battling ELAS in the countryside.

Times of difficulty can often be fruitful for the

creative spirit and some of the best songs were
written during the occupation. Synefiasmeni Kiriaki
by Vassilis Tsitsanis, was probably the song that
most captures the mood of the period and is
perhaps the most well-known song in Greece. On
the other hand songs like Saltadoros by Mixalis
Genitsaris which is about stealing gas cans off
German trucks and Nane Glyko To Boli, by
Mbagianteras, a call to join Ares Veloukhiotis and
the andartes in the mountains, are songs of resistance. Most were not recorded
during the occupation, for obvious reasons, but in Athens the clubs were open,
frequented by anyone who could afford them, including German officers and their
girlfriends. You can hear later recordings of these songs by clicking on the links.
The first is Tsitsanis playing and Stelios Kazantzides singing while the second
two are from Giorgos Dalaras excellent album of songs from the occupation
called 'Rembetika Tis Katohis' . (For more see History of Rembetika)

49
 The Civil War in Greece
In 1944 Greece is liberated from the German
occupation though the celebration is a short one.
The victorious resistance fighters of the left and the
right have already begun to fight each other. With
the King, the government and the army still in Egypt
and the collapse of the occupation government, it is
the Greek communists who control most of the
country. Even before the Germans had left they
controlled all but the cities. But it has already been
decided by Stalin and Churchill that Britain will be in
charge of a non-communist Greece in return for
Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary falling under the
influence of the Soviet Union. This is known as
Percentages Agreement. The usual interpretation is
that the main reason that Churchill wanted to keep the Soviets out of Greece was
the eternal British preoccupation with keeping the Russians out of the Straits and
Greece so as to deny their Navy unfettered access to the Mediterranean. The
British also know that their business interests in Greece have no future if the
communists are able to take over. The forces of ELAS (The Greek-communist
resistance) could have easily taken the city of Athens but instead obey the orders
of the British and the promise that they will have a part in the post-war
government of Greece, perhaps believing that the small British force in Athens
was just the tip of the iceberg with more troops waiting in the wings. When
George Papandreou returns to Greece with his government he is in a difficult
position. On one side is EAM who have been preparing through the years of
occupation for the day that they would take power in Greece. On the other side is
the British who to protect their own interests will back the king, the collaborators
and the security battalions because they are anti-communist. Papandreou had
forseen that the communists would be in a strong position to take over the
country once the Germans had left and had asked Churchill to send a large force
to Greece. Churchill said he did not have the forces to spare so Papandreou did
the next best thing. He got them to agree that King George would not return to
Greece until after a plebiscite. At least this would keep the Royalists and the
Republicans unified against the communists
instead of fighting each other.

In the meantime in England, Winston Churchill

informs British foreign secretary Anthony Eden that
he is planning to create a confrontation between the
new Greek government and the former resistance
fighters of EAM-ELAS. He tells Eden that he will
use the British military, already in Athens, to defend
Papandreau's government. Papandreau orders the

50
60,000 members of the resistance to disarm if they want to continue to take part
in the government. The communists agree provided that all Nazi collaborators
are removed from positions of power and the members of the ultra-right security
battalions who have been terrorizing the left are disarmed or arrested. The British
are now focused on the communist threatand have no desire to disarm the
groups, choosing now to form an alliance with the extremist forces of the
collaborators. With the country so polarized Papandreou as a moderate is in an
impossible situation. he can't carry out the programs of the British-backed
extreme right nor can he join the communist in what seems to be heading for
open revolt. When the EAM ministers resign from the government a protest
rally is staged by their supporters in Syntagma Square followed by a general
strike. The British ambassador demands the government to not allow the Greek
people to express their views through this protest (as they are entitiled to in any
true democracy) and the government agrees to break up the rally, by force if they
have to. Whether by accident or by plan the police open fire on the
demonstrators, killing several. This sets off battles all over Athens as ELAS units
attack police stations to get weapons and ammunition. The riots of December 3rd
1944 and the six weeks of fighting which follow are known as the Dekembriana.
The Greek fighters who have just finished a war with the Germans are now at
war with the British troops in Athens and the right-wing security battalians all over
Greece. During this battle the British control a small area around Syntagma
Square and their headquarters in the Grande Bretagne Hotel while the forces of
ELAS control almost all of Athens with the exception of Kolonaki. British
paratroopers are stationed on the Acropolis where they have a view of most of
the city.

On Christmas day of 1944, Winston Churchill

arrives in Athens along with Anthony Eden.
Papandreau is replaced by an old Venizelist,
General Plastiras and King George is
convinced to delay his return to Greece and
allow the role of regent to be filled by
Archbishop Damaskinos. Churchill had
previously described Damaskinos as a
'pestilent priest' and a 'survivor of the middle
ages' but he leaves Greece with a new respect
for the religious leader of Athens and he has
also brokered a cease-fire between ELAS and
British forces. In 1945 the government and the communists sign the Varkiza
Agreement which is to disarm the ELAS resistance fighters as well as the Nazi
collaborators and members of the far right who have been attacking the
communists in retribution for attacks against them during the occupation. As trials
begin for members of ELAS and the collaborators begin, an odd pattern takes
form. Communists are given the death sentence while Nazi collaborators are let
off lightly. In the British House of Commons this sets off a debate and the trials
are stopped, but the persecution of the members of ELAS continues. The

51
 government of Prime Minister Plastiras has no power over
the British supported right-wing para-government, a-state-
within-a-state. In the trials of the leaders of the Nazi
collaborators three members of the puppet government
ate sentenced to death including Prime Minister Rallis who
had ordered the execution of fifty Greek hostages as a
reprisal for the execution of a Nazi
collaborator. None of these death sentences are carried
out.

Aris Velouchiotis, the hero of the resistance, believes that

taking part in the new government is capitulation and the
only way to achieve the communist goal is through armed
struggle. He takes off for the hills with a small group of
followers where he is killed (or some say commits suicide)
after being surrounded by the National Guard. He had
been denounced as a traitor by the Greek Communist
Party (KKE) politburo the day before. In December of
1945 members of the KKE meet with various Bulgarian
and Yugoslavian officers who assure them that they can use Albania, Bulgaria,
and Yugoslavia as bases in the event of a full-scale war. When the government
does not honor the agreement to rid the country of fascists collaborators who
continue to attack the left, the communists abstain from the elections. They
attack a police station in Litohoro, Pieria. The Civil war has begun. In January of
1946 three thousand members of General Grivas rightwing terrorist organization
known as X attacked the town of Kalamata, freeing imprisoned collaborators who
were waiting to go to trial, burned files and attempted to take over the building
where the communists were being held. Failing this they killed 14 unarmed
citizens and escaped with 150 hostages. After executing some of the hostages
they attacked towns in Laconia and killed the relatives of known communists.

The government was powerless or unwilling to take action and the communist
party of Greece publically tells its members to take matters into their own hands,
a call to war. In the United Nations Soviet Ambassador Vishinsky details attacks
on Greek citizens by the British backed security battalians which British Foreign
minister declared propaganda, claiming that upcoming elections in March would
be free and honest. But with the countryside a battleground of murders and
reprisals the communists want the elections postponed at least until order can be
restored. The British tell the Greeks that the elections can't be postponed
because the allied mission of election observers can't stay longer. Prime Minister
Sophoulis declares that the elections will be held with or without the communists
but privately urges them to participate. With the left voting in the elections the
possibility of a centerist government to oppose the right and limit their power,
was possible. Nikos Zakhariades, leader of the KKE, who had spent the entire
Second World War in Dachau, considers the advice of his counterpart in the
Italian Communist party who also urges him to take part in the elections to avoid

52
Greece being totally dominated by the right. To the glee of the right, Zakhariades
decides the communists will not take part in the election. The opponents of the
far right have been split.

The British government pressures the Greeks to hold the elections as planned
though they know the results will rip the country apart. Fourteen of the thirty-five
ministers in the Greek government are against the elections, nine of whom
resign. But it was not only the British at fault for this rush to a marred democracy.
The United States made it clear to Prime Minister Sophoulis that it was in
Greece's best interest not to postpone the elections. So despite knowing that
disaster was around the next corner, the Greek government declared that since
not even a two month postponement would be permitted by the UK and the US,
elections would go on as planned. In the first free elections in 10 years only half
the eligible voters of Greece actually voted. The two rightwing parties got a
majority of these votes. The foreign observers lowballed the abstentions to give
the election validity and claimed the elections fair since they had observed no
violence or voter intimidation. But who was there to intimidate if the left did not
participate?

A right-wing coalition dominated by the new

People's Party is elected and their leader
Constantinos Tsaldaris in the opening session of
parliament calles for the return of the king and
initiates a constitutional plebiscite. When members
of Britain's labor party come to Athens they report
on well-armed bands attacking the left and the
liberals, and daily political assasinations. The
new right wing government is using the power of
the state against anyone who is opposed to them.
Laws are passed that result in the dismissal from
government jobs and jobs in the private sector of
anyone with democrat or leftist leanings. At this
point it is not only the communists who are heading for the mountains but terrified
citizens. Once again in yet another rigged election 68% vote for the return of the
king, some of whom may have seen Greece's return to a monarchy as being
better then being run by the communists. King George arrives in Greece on
Septermber 27 1946 at about the same time as the British Parliamentary
delegation is writing their report on the situation, calling it hopeless.

While the Tsaldaris government in Athens, relies on

the right-wing security battalians to fight ELAS
sympathizers in the city's streets, the communists
announce the formation of a new Democratic Army or
DAG (Demokratikos Stratos Elladas) under the
leadership of former ELAS leader Markos Vafiades
and begin to wage war on the government. By the

53
end of 1946, he has 7,000 combatants. By early 1947, the Democratic army
controls perhaps 100 Greek villages. Their first battles are against right-wing
bands and the establishment of 'free territories' in the mountains of northern
Greece where 'People's Tribunals' try and execute 'monarchofascist traitors'.
They also begin to collect taxes from held villages, conscript peasants as labor or
fighters and force them to donate food, livestock and other necessities to the
Democratic Army of Greece. The ranks of the DAG are swollen by enforced
recruitment and villages that refuse to cooperate suffer severe reprisals. There
are also secret Communist units carrying out assassinations and terrorism in the
cities.

In 1947 the communist party is outlawed in Greece. Napoleon Zervas, founder

of EDES (National Republican Greek League) becomes the minister for public
order and promptly arrests some 3,000 Communists and condemned a number
to death. That same year, the British, losing influence in the Middle East and
realizing that they have made a mess of things in Greece,
announce they no longer are able to support the
government they have put in power. They step aside to let
the Americans take over. President Truman pours money,
weapons and military advisors into the country to support
the right wing-royalist Greek government against the
communists. Greece is the first battle of what comes to be
known as The Cold War. His speech to the US congress
asking for money to fight communism worldwide, but
particularly in Greece, becomes known as The Truman
Doctrine. America joining the fray is vindication of a sorts
for Winston Churchill. President Roosevelt believed Great
Britain's policies in Greece were a mistake and that people had the right to work
out their problems democratically without influence from the outside. Had
Roosevelt been in control instead of Churchill one might argue that the war and
the years that followed would have been completely different. In fact if left to work
this out for themselves without the intervention and manipulations of the British
the next twenty or thirty years in Greece might have been quite pleasant. As it
turns out they could not have been any worse. America's attempt to clean up the
mess the British have made, combined with their zeal for stamping out
communism caused them to make matters worse rather then get the two sides to
the table and force them to work things out. Despite controlling the countryside,
the communists did not have more than 25% support of the country. They might
have been part of coalitions but were the democratic process allowed to go forth,
without the right having the military might of the allies behind them and the
communists feeling like they were in a no-win situation, true democracy would
have come to Greece a lot sooner. The majority of the Greeks believed in
democracy. It was the US and Great Britain who believed democracy in Greece,
at this particlar moment was not in anyone's best interest. At least until they were
certain that someone they liked could be elected.

54
In March 1948, the communists, who kept records on all the
children aged three to fourteen in all the areas they
controlled, take children from the villages and send them
across the northern borders, supposedly for safety reasons.
The perception(probably correct) of many of the Greeks is
that they want to indoctrinate them as future soldiers much
as the Turks did with the young Greek boys who became
jannisaries during the Ottoman period. More than 25,000
Greek children are taken to the communist Balkan countries
and Eastern Europe. On November 17, 1948, and again in
November 1949 the UN General assembly passes a
resolution condemning the removal of the Greek children,
demanding their return. These and all subsequent UN resolutions are never
answered. From 1950 to 1952 only 684 children are permitted to return to
Greece. By 1963, around 4000 children (some of them born in Communist
countries) have been repatriated. Of those who did not return many died of
illness, some escaped to Germany and others have since returned or have yet to
return. The kidnapping of the children is a bad move of the war for the
communists because from that point on they lost any support they had in the
villages. It must be pointed out that the Yugoslavians provided nearly 10,000
volunteers recruited from their own army, and had the communists eventually
been successful in winning the war, some territories in Northern Greece would
have been handed over to their neighbors in the north. In the eyes of the Greek
government and their new ally this would have been just the first step.
The war went beyond the fear of having a leftist government running Greece.
This was a fear that the country of Greece would cease to exist, becoming a part
of an ever expanding communist world with its capital in Moscow.

On May 16, 1948 the body of CBS News

correspondent George Polk is found in the
harbor of Thessaloniki several days after
he'd left his hotel for an interview with
Markos Vafiades of ELAS. This becomes
an international news story, some say the
equivalent of the Dreyfus affair (or the
Lambrakis murder in the same city 15
years later). In the trial, another journalist,
Gregory Staktopoulos is convicted of being
an accomplice along with several guerilla
leaders, (two of whom may have been
dead before the murder). Staktopoulos who had worked for a local Greek
Communist daily published clandestinely during the German occupation, was
believed to have been the scapegoat and many theories circulate that Polk was
killed by the Americans, British Intelligence, the Greek ultra-right, the communists
or take your pick. Polk's articles had been very critical of the Truman Doctrine
and the Greek Government. He had uncovered a scandal involving leading

55
Royalist and Greek Foreign Minister Constantine Tsaldaris which could have
brought down the government.

Whoever killed Polk it was obvious to people that

the communists are the scapegoats and unlikely
perpetrators. When the New York Newspaper Guild
attempts to send an independent team of journalists
to Greece to investigate Polk's death they are pre-
empted by a committee of prestigious media
representatives, headed by Washington columnist
Walter Lippmann. The Lippmann Committee
refuses to back an independent inquiry, working
with the State Department in monitoring the Greek government's investigation
and appointing General William (Wild Bill) Donovan, the wartime head of the
Office of Strategic Services (OSS), as their counsel. Under pressure by the
Americans to make an arrest Staktopoulos is picked up and tortured until he
names the killers as two high-ranking communists on orders from the Kremlin
and 'admits' his role was to set-up Polk. Unlikely story, but the Greek and
International press bought it and that was the end of it. Except that Staktopoulos
declares his innocence until he dies in 1988. In January 2004 his widow,
Theodora Zisimopoulou-Staktopoulou’s appeal for a posthumous retrial based on
claims that new evidence proves his innocence, is rejected by the Supreme
Court of Greece. Clearly if the US and Greek governments were not involved in
the murder their investigators had failed to ask the most important question when
one wants to solve any crime; Motive. Who had the stronger motive for wanting
Polk dead? The communists? Why? Was the interview with Markos so bad? On
the other hand the Greek government might go to great lengths to avoid being
exposed as corrupt or in the pocket of the US. And as for the Americans, one life
is cheap to protect the world from communism.

In January of 1949 Markos and his strategy of guerilla warfare are replaced by
Nikos Zakhariades. He believes in more conventional warfare, but by now the
Greek Armed forces are better equipped by the Americans. They are also led by
General Alexander Papagos, the hero of the 1940 triumph over the Italians.
Zakhariades decision to fight conventionally is another bad one and one has to
wonder how this guy had any followers whatsoever. But this decision is not as
critical a mistake as siding with Moscow in its dispute with Tito and
Yugoslavia. Everything from weapons to food had been coming across the
border from communist Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Albania. When Yugoslavia
closes its borders and cuts off the essential supply of weapons, followed by
Albania a few months later the communist position is hopeless and Stalin tells
them so. The new-improved Greek armed forces begins an offensive in the
summer of 1949, code-named Operation TORCH. Papagos attacks the
last communist strongholds in northern Greece with more than 50,000 men,
driving them across the border into Albania and Bulgaria.

56
 The Civil war is another catastrophe for Greece, for
many worse than the occupation. More people are killed
during the Civil war than during the occupation. The
village populations fall as people move to the cities,
some for safety reasons and others because they are
forced to by the government who believe that the fewer
people in the villages, the less support the rebels will
have. This creates tremendous pressure on the
government to feed these refugees from the countryside
who have filled the cities and towns, many who never
return to the villages. In the end the communists realise
their struggle is over, for now. Some are executed as
traitors. Many are sent to the prison island of Makronissos for re-programming.
Others escape across the border to Yugoslavia and Eastern Europe, never to
return again. It is easy to have sympathy for someone who has fought to liberate
Greece and is then declared an enemy of the state, hunted down, tortured and
made to confess to treason, and then executed or exiled. A large number of the
communist fighters were young and naive, and though hardened by war still had
a dream of a new, more democratic society. But the executions, torture and
reprisals that took place on both sides are enough to turn sympathy into a
simmering hatred of an enemy that at one time was a fellow countryman. This
kind of hatred can continue for generations.

The period is perhaps the darkest in Greek history.

But the world is never as black and white as
it seems. The Greek Civil war was not a clash of
good vs evil but one of two extreme belief systems
that could not co-exist, with the majority of the
Greek people trapped somewhere in the middle. It
was a battle of ideologies and while the Greek
government can be blamed for seeing the
communists as a bigger problem then the fascists
(who were never purged), the communists by
abstaining from the elections chose to give up their
small slice of the pie, which could have grown
larger. (The communists did have some public
support and do so even today.) Rather then play
whatever role they could get in Greek post-war
politics and gain power a bit at a time they chose to go back to the mountains
and play the part of resistance fighters which they had become comfortable with
during the occupation. When you have two antagonistic groups who both believe
they are right and are willing to fight to the death, there are always those people
who will stand on the sidelines to cheer and supply weapons, in exchange for an
influential role in the society of the victors. When one side is backed by these
forces the only chance the other has of victory is by being patient and playing the
role assigned to them while taking small steps to bring forth their agenda. The

57
communists were victims of their inability to adapt to a new situation. They had
the misfortune of being communists at the exact moment that the US declared
war on communism.

The sense of hopelessness in Greece triggered a mass

exodus of young people looking for a better life in
Australia, the USA and Canada. Starting from the bottom
and building new lives in the new world, some open
restaurants and other small businesses in what can be
viewed as yet another wave of Hellenization as Greek
communities increase in New York, Chicago, Detroit,
Melbourne and other towns and cities. Many send money
back to support their families in the decimated villages and
on the islands. (See Greek Immigration Figures) For the
next 25 years or so Greece is to be under the influence of
the US government who protect their investment by
injecting lots of money, much of it for the military, into the country. At the same
time the number of Greeks living and finding success in America creates a bond
between the people of both countries. Without the British and the Americans it is
likely Greece would have become a communist country. Where it would have
gone from there, nobody can say for certain. But while the rest of war-torn
Europe was rebuilding, Greece was fighting a war with itself and is several years
behind. With the communist threat now over it is up to the Americans to try to
help the Greeks rebuild their country from the ground up. Whatever lies behind
America's interest it is a partnership that Greece has no choice but to accept.
The glories and heroism of the Greeks that had inspired the world during Second
World War are nearly forgotten. What is not forgotten are the scars of this period
in Greek history, which will last through the rest of the century and the
contradiction of a free US-protected Greece with concentration camps that are
just as horrific and brutal as those during the Nazi occupation.

Post-war Greece
When the war finally ends Greece is in terrible
shape. The country has become economically
dependent on US aid and from 1951 to 1960 almost
12% of the population has emigrated to Australia,
Canada and Germany. If before the war the
struggle for dominating the politics of the country
was between the Republican Venizelists and the
Monarchist Anti-Venizelist it is now a battle
between the communists and the anti-communist.
Unfortunately for Greece most of the US aid they

58
are getting, which in other countries in Europe would have gone to economic
development, is going straight to strengthening the military as a defense against
the communist threat. Because of this dependence on US money there are few
decisions made without American approval. It is estimated that during the civil
war had the American money instead of going towards weapons and
military assistance they could have given every communist $8000 and they could
have become capitalists. Politically the largest party is Constantinos Tsaldaris'
People's Party. There are also three parties of the center. The Liberals, led by
Sophocles Venizelos, the son of Eleftherios Venizelos, the National Progressive
Center Union, led by Nikolaos Plastiras, another Venizelist, and the Party of
George Papandreou which is also a centerist party.

Two more parties appear to contest the 1951

elections, the Democratic Left which takes the
place of the outlawed communist party, and the
Greek Rally, led by Civil War commander
Alexander Papagos (photo). Papagos is the choice
of the Americans and the Greek Rally party is the
American plan to clean up the image of the right
wing and make it attractive to centerist voters. In
these elections the Greek Rally wins the largest
share of the votes but not enough to rule. This
leads to the forming of a coalition of the centrists,
which angers the Americans. The US ambassador
threatens a reduction in US aid unless the country
switches from a proportional to a majority system,
which despite reluctance by everyone except the
right, is implemented in time for the November 1952
elections. Papagos' Greek Rally under the new
system with 49% of the vote gets 82% of the seats.
This enables them to further manipulate the rules
and stay in power for the next ten years. The
Papagos government commutes the death
sentences of those convicted of political crimes and
frees many from incarceration. Private enterprise is
boosted by the devaluation of the drachma and
tight monetary controls. Combined with money
being sent home by those Greeks abroad, some
light family-based industry developing, and the
tourists starting visit, Greece's economy begins to
improve dramatically by the end of the fifties,
though is still heavily dependent on US aid. Greeks who have been working
overseas make their fortunes and return to start new businesses in Greece while
the Greek merchant marine emerges as the largest in the world with the
purchase by Greek companies of the old US Liberty ships that had been built for
the Second World War. Living standards improve dramatically though unevenly.

59
Even relations with Turkey are improved and in 1952 they are both admitted to
NATO. But in 1955 a political crisis in Cyprus leads to anti-Greek riots in Istanbul
which target churches and businesses and cause many of the remaining Greeks
to leave. The Greek Cypriots who are 80% of the population of the island want
enosis, union with Greece. The Turks want partition. In the middle of this new
crisis Papagos dies and Constantine Karamanlis, a minister from Macedonia, is
chosen by King Paul to succeed him. He becomes the youngest prime minister in
Greek history and his right-wing National Radical Union gains majorities in the
1956 general elections, the first in which women are allowed to vote. A believer
in NATO, he is perceived by the left as being too pro-American, having been
endorsed by both the political attache of the US embassy and the local CIA chief.
Karamanlis is criticized by his opponents for allowing the development of a right-
wing shadow government and for his persecution of the left following the Civil
war as well as a poorly planned industrialization which leaves the countryside
desolate, the cities over-populated and people streaming for the exits to find work
abroad. However for all the criticism of Karamanlis and his party, they do rebuild
the shattered Greek economy. His biggest mistake though is allowing the Kentriki
Ypiresia Pliroforion or KYP , ( the Greek CIA), to create auxiliary forces made up
of shady characters mainly from members of anticommunist right-wing groups.
These gangs do the police dirty work. They are used to break up anti-
government demonstrations and the peace movement’s public meetings, such as
the one Grigoris Lambrakis was scheduled to address on May 22, 1963.

In 1957, Max Merton, the administrator of Thessaloniki during the German

occupation returns to Greece to testify in a trial and despite assurances by the
Greek government that this would not happen, is arrested and charged with war
crimes during the period of deportation of the Jews. During the trial he testifies
that members of the Karamanlis government, including people who were very
close to the prime-minister were his contacts and in fact collaborators. This was
an embarrassment for Karamanlis especially since he was in negotiations to get
Greece into the Common Market. A deal was made and in return for Merton's
release after the trial, Germany would support Greece's application for
membership.

In 1958 Archbishop Markarios the spiritual leader of

the Greek Cypriots, in exile in Athens, agrees to
consider the possibility of independence for Cyprus
instead of enosis. The island becomes an
independent republic within the British
Commonwealth, with British, Greek and Turkish
forces being co-guarantors of the island's
sovereignty. The constitution guarantees the Turkish minority, which is under
20% of the population, 30% of the seats in parliament. Karamanlis is accused for
betraying Greece in the interest of NATO and the Americans. But with the
problem of Cyprus out of the way, or at least swept under the rug for now, he has
the opportunity to focus on improving the fortune of Greece. In 1961 he

60
negotiates an agreement with the European Economic Community that will pave
the way to full membership.

In the 1958 elections, George Papandreou has put together a union of different
parties ranging from the far left to the right in a new party called The Center
Union, which in the elections of 1961 becomes the opposition party to
Karamanlis and the National Radical Union. The results of this election are
disputed by Papandreou's party and the United Democratic Left who claim that
the ruling party has won by using the military and the police to intimidate people
and manipulate the vote in the countryside. Papandreou begins his Anendotos
(unyielding fight) to wrest power from the right. At the same time Karamanlis has
had a falling out with the King and Queen over a planned visit to Great Britain
which he believes will cause demonstrations against the continued imprisonment
of political prisoners.

Grigoris Lambrakis is a parliamentary

deputy and leader of the Greek peace
committee. He had been elected to the
Greek parliament in 1961 as a candidate of
the Pan-democratic Agrarian Movement of
Greece on the ticket of the Eniaia
Dimokratiki Aristera (EDA). Lambrakis is not
a communist or even an admirer of the
Soviet Union. He is an independent socialist
as well as a pacifist; a track and field star
who won medals at the Balkan Games and
had used his parliamentary immunity to
march in a peace rally from Marathon to
Athens that had been banned by the police.
He is a rising star, a hero for the young people who are fed up with the
authoritarian right-wing governments that seem like pawns of the Americans who
will take fascism over communism any day. Lambrakis is a dangerous character
in the eyes of the monarchy and the Greek government. His charisma,
intelligence and popularity mean that he is a threat to their interests. He is
against nuclear weapons and pro-peace. To the people in power this makes him
a communist or a sympathiser. On May 22 1963 Lambrakis goes to Thessaloniki
to address a rally of his followers, despite death threats. After the event, he is
attacked and killed by hired thugs in plain view of the police. The killers turn out
to be members of a secret right-wing organization used by the authorities for
such purposes. Lambrakis falls into a coma, and dies a week later. A young
magistrate named Christos Sartzetakis is given the job of prosecuting the case in
the belief that he is a good soldier and will accept the government line that this
was an accident. Sartzetakis however, aggressively investigates the incident and
discovers a conspiracy within the police. He indicts a number of police officials
despite attempts by the government to intervene and get him to call it an accident
and blame Lambrakis' people for inciting a riot. All over Greece the letter Z

61
appears as grafitti. It means Zei, or 'he lives'. When a half million people march in
Lambrakis funeral, it is Greece's largest postwar demonstration, and triggers a
general strike that brings Athens to a standstill. (However the results of the trial
are thrown out after the military coup of April 21 1967. The movie Z which came
out in 1969, during the dictatorship by Constantine Costa-Gavras is a historical
account of the assassination of Lambrakis based on the book by Vassilis
Vassilikos.) The Lambrakis affair for Greece was like Watergate and the JFK
assassination rolled into one. Six months later Karamanlis is defeated and leaves
Athens to live in Paris.

For the last 10 years Greece has been ruled by a

coalition of vested interests. The Palace, the
Americans, the military leaders, the upper levels of
the civil service and business and of course the
banks, who fully support Karamanlis and the
National Radical Union. Greece is a country of
extreme right and extreme left and in the middle are
a majority of people who are just trying to survive in
a climate of nepotism and corruption. But in 1963
things begin to change and the people find a voice
in George Papandreou and his Center Union party
who has been leading his Anendotos (unyielding
fight) since the fraudulent 1961 elections. The
Anendotos is
Papandreou's
plan to have honest and fair elections, create a
properly functioning democracy, restrict the
King to his constitutional role and neutralize the
military which has become overly political
through the indoctrination by the right-wing
establishment. After winning the elections with
a narrow margin, Papandreou calls for new
elections in which he gets 53% of the vote. It
seems to be a new dawn for democracy, but
those who have held power have no intention of
giving it up and the US has not spent millions to
see Greece fall into the hands of anyone not willing to obey orders and be a good
soldier in the war against communism.

Meanwhile in the world of popular

music Greece is going through a
renaissance in the fifties and early
sixties. Rembetika and bouzoukia
music had been looked down upon by
the "good" society from the beginning
of the 1920s until the late 1950s or

62
early 1960s because it was considered the music of the underworld. The
government radio station, ERT would not play it, but in 1948, a new radio station
(YENED) was created for the benefit of the armed forces and they began
broadcasting some rembetika with huge success. With a back-log of emotional
and powerful material from the war and occupation years, and an audience eager
to be entertained, Greek laika and rembetika music is now heard in the clubs, on
the radio and on records. Musicians like Tsitsanis, Papayiaonnou, Kaldaras,
Hiotis, Kazantzidis and Markos Bambakaris are in their heyday.

In the 1950s a few people with a sense of what is real and genuine, begin to
frequent the bouzouki joints which up to then are only frequented by low class
and marginal segments of the population, just as in Buenos Aires in the
beginning of the 20th century when the Tangerias were originally frequented by
sailors and prostitutes. Among these people are composer Manos Hadjidakis and
YiannisTsarouchis, the painter. In the late fiftiesHadjidakis composes 2
memorable pieces calledSix Folklore Paintings/ For A Small White Seashell.
These are very classical pieces mainly by Tsitsanis , Vamvakaris, Stratos and
Papaioannou which are re-orchestrated by Hadjidakis and played by modern
instruments, like piano, violin and cello. Hadjidakis chose superb songs, like
Arabas Perna, Synnefiasmeni Kyriaki, and Frangosyriani . The songs were
recorded on vinyl and had an immediate success, acting as eye openers or
rather ear openers with all the segments of the population.

Throughout the fifties and sixties Mikis Theodorakis is

gaining international prestige while living in Paris,
composing many symphonic works as well as chamber
music after having been imprisoned and tortured in Greece
for being a communist. In 1957 he wins First Prize at the
Moscow Festival. In 1960 he returns to Greece founding
the Small Symphony Orchestra of Athens and presenting
concerts all over Greece to familiarize the Greek people
with the masterpieces of symphonic music. When
Theodorakis enters the popular music scene in the sixties
he adds some political flavour to his songs by choosing
among others, the left-wing poet Yiannis Ritsos, whose
poetry he uses for his songs, notably The Epitaph
(Epitaphios). These lyrics contain direct references to the
excesses of the conservative goverments, for instance, he mentions, the ' smiling
young man" and everybody knows that he referring to Nikos Beloyiannis, a
communist and the legendary 'Man with the Carnation', who was executed in
1952 as a spy, despite all the European protests to save him. Theodorakis also
refers to the crimes of the right wing, during the Civil War. His music is far from
being faithful to the rembetika music as Hadjidakis has been, but it is very
popular with the youth, who though they can not openly express their left wing
beliefs, can do so by singing Theodorakis' songs. Theodorakis' music, among
other factors, is responsible for the revival of progressive political thinking in the

63
60s. After the murder of the Grigoris Lambrakis, Theodorakis is elected president
of theLambrakis Youth as well as beingelected to parliament as a member of the
United Democratic Left.

In the world of Modern Greek literature the great

writer Nikos Kazantzakis dies in 1957. One of the
most important writers of the 20th century
Kazantzakis was a poet and philosopher,
influenced by the writings of Nietzsche and Bergson
and the philosophies of Christianity, Marxism and
Buddhism. Among his works are The Odyssey: A
Modern Sequel, which continues the story of
Odysseus form the point where Homer leaves off, a
poem 333,333 verses long. His book, The Last
Temptation of Christ, is banned by the Roman
Catholic Church and the Greek Orthodox Church
which tries to have him excommunicated. Other
well-known books by Kazantzakis are Freedom or
Death, The Fratricides, The Greek Passion and the
most famous of all Zorba the Greek which in 1964
is made into one of the most popular movies of all time, starring Anthony Quinn.
(The theme song by Theodorakis becomes the most popular Greek song of all
time played at every baseball game in the USA to spur home-team rallies as well
as weddings, high school dances and even bar-mitzvahs.) Other writers of this
period include Yannis Ritsos, who became friends with Theodorakis on the
prison island of Macronissos, and George Seferis, who was a great friend of
Lawrence Durrell and Henry Miller, both of whom spent time in Greece, Miller a
few weeks before the war and Durrell on and off for most of his life. In 1960 Jules
Dassin's film Never On Sunday makes Melina Mecouri an international star. She
wins Best Actress awards from the Cannes Film Festival and New York Film
Critics Circle. The film also win an Oscar for Best Song from the soundtrack by
Manos Hadjidakis who also becomes an international celebrity. (The film is later
made into a Broadway musical and Melina is nominated for a Tony Award.).

In the world of visual art a young Greek artist by the name of Epaminondas
Papadopoulos, or Nonda, is creating a stir in
Paris. A member of the Ecole De Paris and a
friend of Andre Malraux, Pablo Picasso and
Nikos Kazantzakis he is exhibited alongside of

64
Chagall, Miro, Picasso and others and hailed as one of the hopes for
contemporary art. In 1952 he does his first one-man show in Athens. His erotic
paintings of nude women spark a national scandal. Though thousands of people
wait in line to see his nudes, the exhibition is closed by the police and not
reopened until Nondas pins fig leaves over the offending parts. With the support
of Malraux, the French Minister of Culture, Nondas receives permission to exhibit
his work under the Pont Nuef, the oldest bridge in Paris, reviving a tradition of
outdoor exhibits that has continued to this day. Nonda continues to exhibit his
paintings and sculptures, influencing some of the most well-known modern Greek
and European painters. In 1963 his Trojan Horse exhibition at Pont Nuef creates
an international sensation. Large scale canvases, sculptures, wooden furniture
and objects d'art are displayed around the centerpiece, a giant Trojan horse
made of steel, wood and newspapers, in which Nonda lives during the exhibition.
Thousands of visitors see the exhibition which is reviewed in newspapers around
the world.

Sculpture in Greece, on the other hand, has a long way to go before it lives up to
the standards of Praxitelis. On May 29th 1963 a statue of Harry S. Truman is
unveiled in Athens. Created by Felix W. de Weldon, the creator of the US Marine
Memorial of the Stars and Stripes being raised at Iwo Jima, the Truman statue is
a gift from the American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association (AHEPA).
The statue becomes a popular target of political expression and is blown up
numerous times, as well as spray-painted with anti-US slogans. But mostly
people look at it and wonder why is there a statue of a US president in the middle
of Athens? The sad irony is that the dedication of Truman's statue takes place
the day after the massively attended Lambrakis funeral (photo). Clearly there are
two separate courses in Greece. One is for peace and democracy. The other is
for stamping out communism even at the expense of democracy. Unfortunately
the USA is on the wrong side and things are about to get worse.

The Rise of the Junta in Greece

During George Papandreou's eighteen month reign as
prime-minister the problems between the Greek-Cypriots
and the Turkish minority on the island of Cyprus come to a
head. The island has been under British rule since 1878
and granted independence in 1960. There are some who
want the island to unite with Greece (enosis), others who
wanted to partition the Greek and Turkish Cypriots, and
some who believe the two peoples could live together
peacefully. In 1963 Archbishop Markarios (photo), the
President of Cyprus, stirs up a hornets nest when he
attempts to reduce the power of the Turkish minority in the

65
Cypriot government. Turkey reacts with saber-rattling and prepares to invade the
island when fighting breaks out between the two groups. This is brought to an
end by President Lyndon Johnson who tells the Greek ambassador: "#@%$ your
Parliament and your Constitution. America is an elephant. Cyprus is a flea.
Greece is a flea. If those two fleas continue itching the elephant they may just
get whacked by the elephants trunk. Whacked good....We pay a lot of good
American dollars to the Greeks, Mr. Ambassador. If your Prime Minister gives
me talk about Democracy, Parliament and Constitutions, he, his Parliament and
his Constitution may not last very long." The UN sends in a peace-keeping force
and the Turkish-Cypriots are sent to enclaves, instead of
being spread all over the island. The US proposes a union of
Cyprus with Greece in exchange for the Turkish-Cypriots
having their own self-governing areas protected by Turkish
bases. (Turkey would also get the island of Kastellorizo in
the bargain.) This proposal is rejected by George
Papandreou which does not win him any brownie-points with
the Americans. He aggravates them even more when he
begins releasing communists who had been languishing in
prison since the end of the civil war.

The US also is nervous about his son the Harvard-educated

Andreas, who after leaving his job as head of the
Department of Economics at University of California at Berkeley, has returned to
Greece with his American wife and his family to take part in his father's
government. According to de-classified documents the CIA wanted to spend
several hundred thousand dollars on candidates to defeat the Papandreou. In
their words "we have kept an eye on Andreas Papandreou long enough to know,
realistically speaking, that he belongs to the camp of individuals opposed to US
interests. In contrast with the other candidates, Andreas is particularly strong in
his views". Some officials in the Johnson administration believe the United States
should take drastic measures to support a moderate government and weaken the
political influence of the Papandreous to avoid a resurgence of the communists.
The State Department is not convinced that Andreas Papandreou is such a
threat that they should funnel money into Greece to help defeat him. According to
Secretary of State Rusk "the risk of the covert operation being revealed is much
greater than the political gain it predicted".

As for the US embassy, a

declassified memo states they
believe that if elected Andreas
Papandreou would "...greatly reduce
military spending, will gradually
direct Greece away from NATO, and
will gravitate to the Soviet block to
promote Greek products. In this
policy, he has found natural allies in

66
the Leftwing and the Communists. In view of this, I believe it is highly critical for
us to look more closely into Andreas' relations with the extreme Leftwing and the
communists, find out how much money he has and where it comes from, and to
the degree we are able, limit his real and potential political influence." In other
words the US Embassy wants to find some dirt on the Papandreous and destroy
them, at least politically. To be fair to the Americans, they have spent millions
upon millions in Greece to keep the Greeks from becoming communist and now
here comes Andreas, after two decades in academic America, who wants to
have friendly relations with Russia. But the fact is that Papandreou is not a
'commie-lover' or 'left-wing fanatic'. In his past life in the United States he had
been a supporter of Adlai Stevenson and Hubert Humphrey and worked on their
campaigns. He is an economist and a visionary who wants to do what is best for
Greece, not what is best for the USA. And what is best for Greece is getting the
country out of the cold war and the pointless waste of money on defense. The
Americans' fear of Papandreou is the kind of fear-induced Pavlovian, knee jerk
reaction that turns intelligent people into closed-minded fanatics and creates
problems in relationships between countries that take generations to heal.

In the meantime King Paul has died in 1964. He is succeeded by a very young
King Constantine (in photo with Queen Anna Marie) who on July 5 1965 deposes
the popularly elected government of George Papandreou which had found itself
increasingly at odds with the Americans, the establishment and the King. A group
of officers including Petros Garoufalias, the Minister of Defence had claimed to
have discovered a conspiracy of young officers within the military, led by Andreas
Papandreou who were planning to overthrow the government, kick out the king
and establish a dictatorship. The organization is called ASPIDA or 'Shield'.

Whether this conspiratorial organization actually exists is debatable, but it is used

to create a constitutional crisis that brings down the Papandreou government.
The senior Papandreou requests that King Constantine allow him to take over
the Ministry of Defense from Garoufalias who has refused to step down. The
king, whether he was within his rights or not, denies his request, stating that the
investigation of Andreas for ASPIDA makes this a conflict of interest.
Papandreou offers his resignation, not really expecting the King to accept it. But
his resignation is accepted. Several members of Papandreou's Center Union,
which is really just a coalition of parties and personalities, are convinced to defect
and attempt to put together a puppet government that is more acceptable to the
oligarchy. This group are known as the Apostates (defectors). The Palace, the
Greek Military, the American military and CIA stationed in Greece finally have
George Papandreou where they want him: Out of power, leaving Andreas
exposed, without parliamentary immunity, to face charges in the ASPIDA affair.

The Greek people however, at least those who support the Center Union which
happens to be the majority of the people, see the whole thing as a big farce and
another example of the lack of true democracy in Greece. On New Year's day of
1966 the King gives his annual address and says the communists are

67
responsible for the political agitation. Perhaps as a consequence of the king's
speech the music of Mikis Theodorakis is banned on Greek radio. In March
thousands of Greeks and foreigners take part in the annual peace march from
Marathon to Athens to commemorate the third anniversary of the assassination
of Lambrakis. Demonstrations gather momentum, as the Papandreous begin
another Anendotos (unyielding fight) traveling around the country raising support
while criticizing the Apostate government which lacks any popular support and is
basically unable to govern. A caretaker government is finally appointed to take
the country to new elections to be held on May 28 of 1967. (In the Greek
constitution appointing a caretaker government is seen as the only way to have a
fair election since a party in power would have an unfair advantage with the
apparatus of the state at his disposal.). By the end of 1966 it is obvious to all
that the Papandreou's revitalized Center Union is going to win this next elections
by a landslide. When attempts to convince the Papandreous to agree to a
postponement of the elections fail, King Constantine, Queen Frederika and a
group of generals plan a coup for May 13th. The name of this organization is
IDEA.

Unknown to the members of

IDEA, another group led by
Colonel George Papadopoulos,
the liaison officer between the
CIA and the KYP(The Greek CIA)
and his cohorts Nikos Makerezos
and Stylianos Pattakos have
planned their own coup for an
earlier date. These Junior officers
had worked closely with the
members of IDEA and had used
their information and influence to
occupy critical military and intelligence posts. On April 21st, using 'Prometheus' a
NATO plan for neutralizing a communist uprising in case of an attack by a Soviet
bloc country, they overthrow the government and declare martial law. They begin
arresting hundreds of known and suspected leftists, as well as politicians and
public figures. They justify their coup by declaring that it is necessary to stop a
communist threat and to cure the society of the cancer that threatens to destroy
its Hellenic values.

Thousands of communists are thrown into prison or internal exile on islands like
Makronissos. Martial law, censorship, arrests, beatings, torture, and killings are
all part of the cure the colonels have in mind for Greece. Andreas Papandreou is
imprisoned for his involvement in ASPIDA and would have most likely been
executed except for the pressure on US President Lyndon Johnson by American
academics. Despite his opinion that Andreas Papandreou benefited from his
years in America and then betrayed it, Johnson orders the leaders of the colonels
not to kill him. Papandreou is released eight months later and leaves the country

68
to spend the next 6 years as a critic of the junta. The Junta claim to have
truckloads of evidence that the communists were planning to take over the
country. This evidence is never produced.

Even though there are

close ties between the
Colonels and the US
intelligence, the belief that
the CIA was behind the
coup is difficult to
completely accept much
less prove. From all
appearances the US
Government and the CIA were also caught by surprise. Perhaps they had their
money on the King's coup, and knowing this, the Colonels were careful in
masking their intentions to their American counterparts since they did have close
contact on a regular basis. Four of the five officers who took power on the 21st of
April 1967 were closely connected to the American military or to the CIA in
Greece and if George Papadopoulos was on the payroll of the CIA then he was
the first CIA agent to become Premier of a European country. But that still does
not mean the Americans planned or ordered the coup, just as the members of
IDEA had no idea that their junior officers were up to something.

Regardless of whether or not they knew about it the

US government does not take long to recognize the
dictators as the legitimate Greek government, just
one week after the coup. The British are not so
easily convinced and take an extra day before they
recognize the Junta as well. The
Americans continue the massive military and
economic aid to go with a growing military presence
in Greece. If it is not an American imposed
dictatorship it sure looks like one to the people of
Greece. On May 5th US Secretary of State Dean
Rusk declares that the Truman Doctrine does not
permit interference in the internal affairs of Greece,
a surprise to anyone who was around in the forties. Shortly after the coup a
photo is released showing King Constantine with the leaders, as a sign that it has
the blessing of the palace. The King sends a sign to the Greek people that he is
doing this against his will by clasping his hands in front of him. But for a country
in which more than half the population don't even want a king it is a pointless
gesture. The King, like the dictators is seen as a tool of outside interests or what
in Greece is known as 'the foreign factor'.

69
In June of 1967 the Junta announces Army Order
No.13 which states that it is forbidden "...to reproduce
or play the music and songs of the composer Mikis
Theodorakis, the former leader of the now dissolved
communist Organisation, the Lambrakis Youth
because this music is in the service of communism ...
to sing any songs used by the communist youth
movement which was dissolved under Paragraph
Eight of the Decree of 6 May 1967, since these songs
arouse passions and cause strife among the people.
Citizens who contravene this Order will be brought
immediately before the military tribunal and judged
under martial law." A short time later Theodorakis himself is arrested. After a few
months in prison he is sent with his family to the mountain village of Zatouna in
Arcadia. The banning of Theodorakis music at this moment is a crime in itself. He
has been working with the poet Manos Eleftheriou on a series of songs in the
laika or popular music style, which are simple and direct. The collection is called
Ta Laika and to this date is perhaps the best music of his career. Unfortunately it
would be eight years before the people of Greece would be able to hear it.

In December the King attempts a counter-coup which fails. He and his family
escape to Rome. It is the end of the monarchy in the land of the Hellenes.
Perhaps having a King may have been a good idea at the beginning of the new
Greek state, just as a symbolic leader to keep the
country together in that first chaotic period. But the
Greeks realize that the Kings are and have always
been tools of the western powers and are
themselves foreigners with not an ounce of Greek
blood between them. King Constantine lives in exile
and raises a family, hoping to return to Greece one
day even as a private citizen, which he eventually
does, for the funeral of his mother Queen
Frederika, one of the most controversial and out-
spoken figures in the history of the Greek
monarchy. Of German decent she was at one time
photographed in the uniform of the Nazi Youth.
Following the abolition of the monarchy in Greece she becomes something of
hippy and goes to India to be with her guru Jagadguru Chandrasekarendra
Saraswathi Swamigal. (It's true. Check it out by clicking on her photo.)

As dictatorships go it is not as brutal as

some, unless of course you are a communist or
even suspected of being one in which case it is hell
on earth. The police and soldiers who do the actual
torturing do it with impunity, declaring to their
victims that they have the USA and NATO behind

70
them. The list and description of methods used to extract information is
horrifying and for the most part the information they are trying to get are the
names of more people they can torture and get to sign confessions to justify the
torture. It is a pointless exercise and more of an excuse for individual cruelty than
a plan to get any kind of important information. But despite what is going on
behind closed doors at ESA (Secret Police), the Junta is putting on a happy face
for the foreigners which creates a period of investment and economic growth for
the country. Greece is now a 'safe environment' for international investors with
the threat of communism gone. It is a time of road building and ribbon cutting,
when it seems every week either Papadopoulos or Patakos is on the Greek
cinema newsreels dedicating a new hospital or clinic, surrounded by an
assortment of soldiers in uniform, politicians in suits and bearded priests in their
Sunday finest. Some claim that every few decades the Greeks need a Metaxas
or a Papadopoulos to bring order and get everybody moving in the same
direction for awhile. With Greece now seen as a 'safe' environment for investors,
money starts pouring in at the same time as concrete is poured for thousands of
hotels and apartment buildings as the face of Athens begins to change
dramatically. Many people make deals with developers, exchanging their family
homes for two or three apartments in a four or five story apartment building on
the same spot. Gradually the old houses disappear as Athens builds upwards
and outwards.

The first real sign of violent discontent is a bomb attack on Papadopoulos by

Alexandros Panagoulis on the coastal road outside of Athens on August 13th
1968. When the plan fails Panagoulis is captured and imprisoned and for the
next five years subjected to physical abuse as well as psychological torture. The
most moving protest is the funeral of George Papandreou in November of that
same year in which millions of Athenians follow the casket to the cemetery in
defiance of the dictatorship. There are clashes with the police and 41 people are
arrested. In between these two events the United States announces that its aid in
heavy arms will continue. In March of 1969 Nobel Prize poet George Seferis
issues a public statement against the dictatorship. In August of that year a series
of bombings in Psihiko target among others the automobiles of the US Military
Attache and other Embassy and military officials. On December 10th Greece
withdraws from the Council of Europe to avoid the humiliation of being expelled.

In another major even of 1969 Kosta-

Gavras releases his film Z about the
assassination of Grigoris Lambrakis. The
movie has been filmed in Algeria since it
obviously could not be filmed in Greece. It
is nominated for a large number of top
awards, including an Oscar for Best
Picture, winning the Oscar for Best Foreign
Film It also wins the Golden Globe for Best
Foreign Language Picture, and is named

71
best picture by the New York Film Critics Circle Awards and National Society of
Film Critics Awards . The film also is nominated for a Golden Palm award at the
Cannes film festival. The soundtrack, by Mikis Theodorakis, who is under arrest
at the time, becomes a hit record though of course like the film it is banned in
Greece. The film ends with a list of things banned by the Junta which include the
peace movement, strikes, labor unions, long hair on men, mini-skirts, the peace
symbol, the Beatles, Sophocles, Tolstoy, Aeschylus, Socrates, Eugene Ionesco,
Sartre, Chekhov, Mark Twain, Samuel Beckett, free press, new math and the
letter Z , which means 'he lives'.

On March 26, 1970 the regime closes the daily

newspaper Ethnos. Greece is accused of violating the
human rights by the Committee for Human Rights of the
Council of Europe and later that year cancels its
agreement which allowed the International Red Cross to
investigate conditions of political prisoners in Greece. In
April Mikis Theodorakis, who has once again been
imprisoned and then become ill with tuberculosis is
permitted to leave Greece for France, though his family
are forced to stay behind as hostages. A month later his
family escapes Greece with the help of friends and from
this point on Theodorakis becomes a symbol of the
resistance, performing concerts and speaking around the
world. That same year Andreas Papandreou in exile in
Ontario, Canada publishes his book Democracy at
Gunpoint which tells the story of the events that led to the Junta and his
experience at the hands of the dictatorship including the months in solitary
confinement. It is probably the best first-hand account of this period. In October
of 1971 Vice-President Spiro Agnew visits Greece, under heavy security. Two
years later he becomes the first Vice-President to resign due to criminal charges,
which include extortion, tax evasion and bribery. Two months after his visit the
government of Greece announces that negotiations are taking place to make
Athens the home port for the US 6th Fleet. A year later the agreement is signed.
The Nixon-Agnew election campaign also receives a half a million dollar donation
from the Junta, alleged to have come from the CIA, though a senate investigation
of the donation is cancelled at the request of Henry Kissinger.

72
 In September of 1972 another great figure dies, this
time the poet George Seferis, considered the most
distinguished poet of the pre-war period, whose poems
often reflected a deep sense of the tragedy of the
Greek people and who only a few months previously
had denounced the Junta. Thousands of young people
march with Seferis' coffin to the grave site, turning his
funeral into one of the largest mass demonstrations
against the dictatorship. A few months later, in January
of 1973, a number of students are put on trial for
having
formed a
political party and distributing
leaflets. Students at the
Polytechnion (Polytechnical
University of Athens) abstain from
lessons and the dictatorship
passes a law that any student
cutting classes will be drafted into
the army. Students at the law
school barricade themselves and
ask for the abolition the oppressive laws. They leave peacefully after being
promised safe passage by the Junta. This promise is broken and the students
are beaten up by the police.

In May of 1973 the Greek Navy attempts to overthrow the dictatorship and
capture the island of Syros. Led by Commander N. Pappas, a veteran of several
aborted attempted counter-coups, the plan was to begin on May 23rd. But by the
21st of May members of the group were being arrested and tortured.
Commander Pappas with the agreement of his crew on the destroyer Velos to
the astonishment of British, American, Italian, and other naval commanders,
abandoned a NATO exercise and sailed to the fishing port of Fiumicino, Italy,
where two officers went ashore and tried to telephone the exiled king, who was
living on the outskirts of Rome. After the Italians surrounded the ship with police
boats, those who wished to defect were granted political asylum, and the rest
sailed back to Greece with the ship. The incident attracted the attention of the
international media. After the fall of the Junta Commander Pappas was promoted
to admiral.

73
 Culturally the music goes on. Stellios Kazantzides,
Stratos Dionysiou, Marinella, and newcomer George
Dalaras are big stars, making records, playing concerts,
and doing the central clubs in the winter and the outdoor
clubs on the coast in the summer. But there is also a
musical revolution going on in the basement clubs
around Platia Victoria and Archanon Streets. The leader
of this movement, though nobody would call it a
movement and he probably would not call himself the
leader, is Dionysios Savopoulos, who has fused
traditional Greek music with Zappaesque rock, Dylan-like
lyrics that
evoke nationalism while at the
same time poking fun at the
Junta in a language so cryptic it is
unlikely they understood the
songs were about them. Like
Theodorakis, Savopoulos
becomes a hero of the youth. His
album Vromeko Psomi (Dirty
Bread) is a classic, a thinly
veiled attack on the dictatorship, that
if they heard it, must have had the
colonels wringing their hands
wondering what to do with this guy. Eventually he is charged with plagiarism and
imprisoned though by now he is an icon.

There had always been rock music in Greece. From the time of the Beatles,
groups like the Idols and the Charms played British-American sounding beat or
garage pop with a Greek accent. The most popular of these groups, and
probably the best, were Aphrodite's Child, led by keyboard player Vangelis
Papathanasiou and bass-playing vocalist Demis Roussos, who moved to France
during the dictatorship and become well-known with a number of big
European hits. Vangelis is a sort of Greek Brian Wilson, a keyboard wizard with a
great ear for melody and a desire to produce great music rather than just be a
performing pop-star. In 1960 he and Kostas Ferris create the concept album 666,
which becomes the groups final release. The album which is supposedly based
on The Book of Revelations is considered one of the best, most innovative and
diverse progressive rock albums of all time, though by the time the record
company, who are disturbed by the cover and the material, finally release it, the
band no longer exists. The most controversial song on the album is titled with the
infinity symbol and features Irini Pappas apparently having an orgasm while
doing a mantra-like chant on top of Vangeliesque sound effects. One would
assume that this is what kept the record company from embracing the project
whole-heartedly. In fact the record company asks Vangelis to remove this song
and he refuses. The album becomes a cult classic and the note that it has been

74
recorded under the influence of Sahlep, leads people to believe it is some kind of
drug induced fantasy album. But Sahlep is the therapeutic drink sold in the winter
by street venders in Athens made from a mountain orchid.

Among the bands that decided to stay in

Greece and play, or more likely are unable to
leave because of military obligations, (which in
Greece means if you are 19 and not in school
you go, and if you are in school you go when
you are finished), are groups like MGC who
play hard rock, mostly covers, Bouboulia,
Pelomabeque and Morka, the last group led by
Greek-American Dorian Kokas. Exedaktilo
is an R&B Rolling Stones type band with 2
excellent guitar players, who play at the Kittaro
Club with the three-piece group Socrates
Drunk The Conium, the best of the bunch, a
Hendrix-style blues band with great original material and an incredible guitar
player by the name of Yannis Spathas (who still play). Playing down the street in
the Elatirion Club was Poll, led by Kostas Tournas, Robert Williams and Stavros
Logarides, a hippy-folk-rock band similar to Crosby-Stills-Nash and Young, who
were the closest thing to Beatlemania. Their importance in Greek cultural history
was that they were singing and playing original rock music in Greek, which had
been done before but not successfully. Unlike French, the Greek language goes
well with rock music.

The reason I mention these bands and the underground

club scene is because at the time this music was the
primary opposition to the Junta within Greece. Kids are
growing their hair, smoking hashish and listening to
western music coming into the country through the US
Military Radio station AFRS, and the huge number of
small clandestine radio stations. In 1971 the movie
Woodstock is shown in Athens, causing near riots. For
young people it is one of the most exciting events of the
period and when Jimi Hendrix appears on the screen
the glow of a thousand bic-lighters and candles fills the
theater. The youth of Greece see there seems to be a
world of peace, love and music outside and their
country is a prison in comparison. The colonels want to keep western pop-culture
out of Greece and keep the youth isolated so they might fully embrace their
Hellenic-Christian values. Their police raid the clubs, taking away long-haired
young men, cutting their hair and sending them to do their military service. But
the junta find it is impossible to keep the spirit of young people bottled up. In
June of 1973 Papadopoulos calls a referendum on the monarchy and the
establishment of a parliamentary republic, granting amnesty to many political

75
prisoners, including Alexander Panagoulis, the man who had tried to assassinate
him. He appoints himself president, forming a government with veteran politician
Spyros Markezinis to lead the country toward elections. The junta seemed to be
liberalizing itself though it could not convince the youth who are becoming more
outspoken. It is obvious that the plan is for the elections to legalize the
dictatorship. In November students begin to gather at the Athens Polytechnic
following protests and clashes with police at a memorial service for George
Papandreou. From this point on for the youth of Greece it is simple. The
government is the enemy and this is war

November 17th, Cyprus and the Fall of the Junta

In the seventies the Junta's efforts to protect the Greek youth from the ills of
western culture begins to fall apart. Because
tourism is such an important part of the Greek
economy, the bans on mini-skirts, long hair and
other symbols of decadence are not enforced. As
long haired westerners are heading overland to
India some are bringing LSD from Europe. When
some return they are carrying hashish from Turkey
and Afghanistan. Two new record stores, Pop 11
and Blow-up are importing cool albums from the
UK, and there are more underground radio stations
then ever, almost all of them owned by young
people and playing hard rock like Deep Purple,
Jethro Tull, Black Sabbath, Free and other British
groups. The Greek islands have become a
stopping point on the road between Europe and India. Places like Paradise
Beach in Mykonos and Matala, Crete become hippy colonies, made up mostly of
foreigners and a handful of adventurous young Greeks. The island of Ios is just
starting to become known as a center for young people and sleeping on the
beach if not actually legal, is common. There are cheap pensions and even in
Athens you can sleep on the roof of a hotel for a few drachmas. It is these young
people who flock to the islands for sun and
sea and cheap prices despite the
dictatorship, who return with their families
decades later, turning Greece into one of
the world's most popular tourist
destinations.

For the Greeks of high school and college

age, drug use is uncommon. It is still the

76
realm of the artists and musicians for the most part. But in the American
community it is spreading among high school students and US airmen as well as
the sailors from the 6th fleet. For these young people drugs can be bought easily
and as foreigners, particularly as American foreigners, they live in a protective
bubble. Unknown to the Junta Colonels and the American military, Embassy and
CIA who are working to create a solid anti-communist capitalist society, their
children are undermining them, turning their friends on to hashish and acid,
listening to the MC5: Kick Out The Jams and passing around books like Jerry
Rubin's Do-it, and Abbie Hoffman's Woodstock Nation. In the American high
school the rock group CC Bluesking are introducing kids to their Iggy-on-drugs-
inspired guitar and feedback oriented music, a sound truly ahead of its time.
(Their bass-player, Yanni Vavoura goes on to become the Godfather of Greek
punk years later.) While any kind of student protest is forbidden in the Greek
schools, in 1971 a group of Greek-Americans at the American high school stage
a protest and close down the school for a day making demands on the
administration which are unrealistic to say the least, mostly having to do with
being allowed to smoke on campus, non-mandatory class attendance, and the
one demand which might be considered vaguely revolutionary, having free use of
the school's mimeograph machine, though for what purpose we can only guess .
The US military influenced school board responds by firing a favorite teacher,
Jack Marlowe. When asked why the students did it they shrugged their shoulders
and admitted they had read Abbie Hoffman's Revolution for the Hell of It and it
seemed like a cool thing to do. Had this happened in one of the Greek high
schools one can only wonder what the response would have been.

In the Plaka there are several hip clubs that have

found a place among the restaurants, bouzoukia
clubs and discos. One is The Odyssey, also known
as 'the Trip' which plays contemporary danceable
rock like Santana, Led Zeppelin, and the endless
Ina-gadda-davida by Iron Butterfly. Two blocks
away, anchoring the corner of the Plaka that
borders the ancient Athenian Agora are two other
clubs. Folk 17 is a small Greenwich Village style
live folk club where musicians, some who are just
passing through on the way to the East or on their
way home, perform The Needle and the Damage
Done or any of a number of Cat Stevens songs.
The other club is the Golden Key, a tiny place
which plays the hippest music in Athens and is
notorious for being a hangout for drug users, meaning young people who smoke
hashish or take LSD. The clubs make little money. Most people are already
stoned when they get there and will sit all night with one drink. The street and
steps between these two clubs is a gathering place for young Greeks and
foreigners, kids from the American high school, airmen from the American base,
sailors from the 6th fleet, and hippies from all over the world. Though the mood is

77
generally happy and effusive, each night a police car makes its way up the small
street and stops in front of the club and waits. The music stops as police officers
go into the club and check identification, often leaving with two or three young
Greeks, rarely foreigners. If you have an American passport, especially a
diplomatic one, your eyes can be rolling around like loose marbles and they still
leave you alone. After the police drive away the music begins and everyone
wonders what the people arrested had done, what will happen to them and will
they ever come back? Drug penalties are harsh. The concept of 'recreational use'
does not exist. If you are busted unless you are very well connected you get 10
years or longer in prison. The idea of kids just partying is meaningless. When the
Greek police arrest a handful of young people with a piece of hashish, in their
view they have broken up a 'notorious gang of drug users'. This is what it was
like to be young and hip under a military dictatorship.

On November 14th of 1973 students begin

gathering at the Athens Polytechnic to
demonstrate against the Junta. This
demonstration which is coordinated with
occupations of campuses in Patras and
Thessaloniki, turns into a student rebellion
that gathers strength every day as more
and more people join, some students but
many working class and the well-
educated. On the16th the students and
fellow demonstrators attempt to march
from the Polytechnic to Syntagma square
but they are halted by the police. As more people gather at the Polytechnic,
already there are plans for ending the student rebellion, using tanks from the
nearby bases in and around Athens. The students are preparing for a siege,
collecting food and medical supplies, building barricades and broadcasting on a
clandestine radio station that the time is right to overthrow the junta and calling
for their countrymen to join them in central Athens. Anti-Junta and anti-American
grafitti is painted on buildings and passing buses which spread their message
througout the city.

At 2am on November 17th the tanks

Papadopoulos has ordered to crush
the student rebellion arrive at the
Polytechnic. At 2:15 a group of
students come out to negotiate a
surrender asking for half an hour to
evacuate the campus. The officers in
charge will only give them fifteen
minutes but don't even wait for ten. At
3am a tank crashes through the gate
of the polytechnic and police and

78
military storm the campus. As the gate crashes to the ground students rush out
to escape and are beaten with clubs and arrested. At least 34 demonstrators
are killed though there are rumors that the number is much higher. Several
hundred are injured and almost a thousand are arrested at the school and at the
Ministry of Public Order which had been under siege by demonstrators. Oddly
most of the wounded have been admitted into the hospitals with bullet wounds
before the army ever got to the school. Of the police and the army the injuries are
few and relatively minor, none with bullet wounds. On the other hand the police
had fired some 24,000 rounds. Though police claimed the demonstrators had
destroyed Ministry and University property damage to buildings in both locations
is minor. Read Newspaper Account

For the next two days crowds attempting to

gather in central Athens are broken up by
police and soldiers who are everywhere.
Tanks are parked in squares around the
city and surround the Parliament building.
The rebellion at the Polytechnic is over
and the country is put under martial law for
the next week. Groups larger than four
people are not permitted to gather and
there is a curfew between 7pm and 5am.
Former politicians George Mavros,
Panayiotis Kannelopoulos and Ioannis
Zigdis and a number of professors are arrested. There are still small
demonstrations around the city and a number of people are shot during this
week, some for breaking the curfew. In my neighborhood of Agia Paraskevis
there was a tank on the corner that I had to sneak past to visit my friend Gael
Murphy. My friend Harry kept me informed by phone on what was going on in
Syntagma Square, where he lived. I recorded our conversation and typed it out
and handed it in for my drama class in college and got an A. (Gael is now the
head of Code Pink.)

In a meeting at the pentagon President Markazenis

congratulates the army on their "timely and bloodless
intervention". 28 student organizations around the
country are dissolved and their assets confiscated. On
the night the curfew is lifted, one week after the
military had ended the protest at the Polytechnic, the
Colonels are overthrown in a bloodless coup by a
more hardliner faction of the junta, led by Dimitris
Ioannides, the head of the dreaded military police.
General Phaedon Gizikis becomes President of the
Republic and Adamandios Androutsopoulos becomes
Prime Minister. Though at first it is believed that this
new group has overthrown Papadopoulos because

79
they objected to the way the student demonstration had been handled, in reality
the coup had been planned long in advance. It has been written that the Junta of
April 21 was overthrown because they refused to allow the US to put nuclear
weapons on bases in Elefsina and Crete. It is an interesting theory since one of
the first things the new group did was allow the bases that the previous
government had denied the Americans. What is known is that the members of
this second group were against the new constitution which would have elevated
the power of Papadopoulos to something of a Ceasar, created a civilian
government free of any of the other original junta members, and would have
given the country free elections. In an effort to get favorable public opinion the
new government releases all those
arrested during the Polytechnic
demonstrations and declares that
censorship is abolished. A week later the
newspaper Vradyni is banned and the
week after that the newspaper
Christianiki is also closed. As with the
first Junta many Greeks believe this one
has been instigated by the CIA, but again, the reactions of the US to the change
in government is so confused that foreknowledge is unlikely. Still the Americans
are not complaining too loudly. Ioannides is a good soldier and more anti-
communist than nationalist which will come in handy in dealing with Turkey over
Cyprus and the discovery of oil in the disputed waters between Greece and
Turkey.

In the summer of 1974 in Cyprus, Archbishop Markarios demands the removal of

Greek officers from the Cypriot National Guard. The Athens government
launches a coup using the Cypriot National Guard and announces over the radio
that Markarios is dead, buried under rubble in his palace. Nikos Sampson one of
the most ruthless of General Grivas' EOKA (National Organization of Cypriot
Fighters) is sworn in as the President of Cyprus and there are reports of the
murder of Makarios supporters by members of this group. Imagine the surprise of
the Cypriot people to hear the voice of their leader, Makarios, who has survived
the attempt on his life and escaped the island, telling them to resist the Junta.
Turkey, realizing that this is a plot to unite Cyprus with Greece, invade,
supposedly to protect the Turkish minority on the night of July 19th with a plan
that was code-named 'Attila I', named after Attila the Hun. (See the Michael
Cacoyanis movie of the same name). Again the Americans could hardly
complain about the coup since President Nixon viewed Makarios as "the Castro
of the Mediterranean". But the fact that Makarios had survived the coup made a
big mess for everybody involved, especially a few days later when he makes an
eloquent speech to the United Nations Security Council accusing the Athens
Junta of being behind it. During the negotiations on the Cyprus issue in Geneva
which follow, the Turkish military continues to take more territory on the island.

80
In Athens the Turkish invasion has taken the
Junta completely by surprise. The Greek
mobilization is lacking in enthusiasm. Nobody in
their right mind wants to go to war with Turkey
over Cyprus, and probably get killed, for a
government they do not support. The whole
thing is a national humiliation and the military
knows they have little chance against Turkey in
an all out war. The members of the Junta all
agree that Ioannides has screwed up royally
and must go. Ioannides himself sees the writing
on the wall and leaves quietly though he retains
control of the secret police. On July 23rd President Gizikis phones Constantine
Karamanlis in Paris and invites him
back to Greece. Karamanlis flies from
Paris on the French President's private
jet and is sworn in at 4:30 am on July
24 1974 while a jubilant Athens
celebrates. His job is simple. Clean up
the disaster the dictators have left
behind, and bring democracy back to
Greece. Karamanlis, who had been
seen by many Greeks as a puppet of
the Americans during his rule in the
fifties now appears as savior. He
has what most men who have made mistakes in life want but few get: A second
chance.

In the aftermath of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus there are 4000 dead, 1619
missing, and 200,000 people displaced. The 40% of the island which the Turks
take contain 70% of the industry and mineral wealth, 80% of the tourist
attractions and 65% of the cultivated land. For those who accuse the United
States of being involved in the invasion it is interesting to note that on the 15th of
July there are two intelligence reports at the State Department's SE Europe
section office. One says that there is no imminent coup in Cyprus, the other that
it has already begun. Still the belief of many is that Henry Kissinger is deeply
involved in the calamity. But one can understand the confusion of the US
administration during the crisis of Cyprus and the fall of the Athens Junta for
even as all this is unfolding, Richard Nixon is resigning as President of the United
States over the Watergate scandal and is replaced by Gerald Ford who had
himself replaced disgraced vice-president Spiro Agnew. Regardless of what the
Americans knew or didn't know, the Athens Junta's failed coup against Makarios
which led to the Turkish invasion of Cyprus is a tragedy that continues to this
day. As of 2005 over 1500 Cypriot men, women and children are still missing.

81
 The World's Oldest
Democracy Becomes
Europe's Newest Democracy
The first of Constantine Karamanlis
actions after assuming power is to form a
government of national unity with
members of all the parties, except for the
left. He arrests junta members, disbands
the Military Police (ESA) and puts their
torturers in jail while freeing all political
prisoners, declaring amnesty for all political crimes and legalizing the communist
party. In October he dissolves his ERE party and forms the New Democracy
party, leading them to victory in November elections, one year after the student
demonstrations that had been the beginning of the end for the dictatorship. In
December a national referendum is held that gets rid of the monarchy officially
once and for all. Two years after the fall of the Junta, Andreas Papandreou
returns and forms PASOK (Pan Hellenic Socialist Party) which quickly gains
popularity, virtually doubling their support with each election. In 1975 the
televised trials of the members of the Junta take place with Papadopoulos,
Pattakos and Markarezos all receiving death sentences which are quickly
commuted to life in prison. Head the secons
junta and the secret police Ioannides receives
life too. In the meantime relations with Turkey
are at an all-time low following the 1974
invasion of Cyprus. The island remains
divided with Archbishop Makarios back as
the President of the Greek-Cypriots until his
death in 1977 of a heart attack. When the
Turkish survey ship Sismik I sails into disputed
waters to search for oil Papandreou calls on
Karamanlis' government to sink it, probably
not the best way to handle the incident,
actually the worst, but he may not have
seriously meant it. In the meantime the
tension between Greece and Turkey is playing
right into the hands of the US arms dealers as each country is forced to keep up
with purchases by the other. The most important foreign policy move which has
the biggest impact on Greek domestic life comes in May of 1979 when Greece
signs the treaty that will make the country a full member in the European
Community, beginning in January 1981.

82
Realizing that PASOK is destined to be the ruling party more sooner than later,
Karamanlis had changed the constitution to give the president more power. Then
he runs for that office and is elected president in 1980. When Papandreou wins
the election for Prime Minister in 1981, the two popular and charismatic leaders
share power and despite the personal and political differences between the two
men, things go fairly well. Ties are improved between Greece and the Third
World as well as the US which still mistrusts Papandreou. The Papandreou
government in a policy of National Reconciliation gives compensation to the
resistance fighters who had fought against the Nazis and
the government in the Civil War and allows those who had
gone into exile in the eastern block countries to return. He
promotes equal rights for women and passes laws that
make life easier for farmers and workers. He also enforces
the ban on plate-smashing in tavernas which had originally
been outlawed by the Junta but not enforced. Civil
marriage though vigorously opposed by the church is
introduced and so is divorce, while adultery is de-
criminalized. A national health service is introduced and
clinics and hospitals are built in rural areas which increase
PASOK's support in the countryside. Though Papandreou
had been against Greece's entry to the EU, in reality the
agricultural subsidies received by the farmers are an economic boost to the rural
population that serve to make PASOK more popular. Papandreou calls for a
nuclear-free Balkan peninsula and urges NATO to delay plans to put cruise and
Pershing missiles in Europe. Papandreou is pro-Sandinista, pro-Allende and a
supporter of Yasser Arafat's PLO. In 1988 the agreement for the US military
bases in Greece expires and from this point on the American military presence in
Greece diminishes. The large Air Force base at Hellenikon, home to the 7206th
Support Group closes, leaving behind a few metal huts and a softball field which
becomes home to the Greek baseball and softball leagues founded by Tom
Mazarakis in the nineties.

In 1984 Constantine Mitsotakis, a former member of George Papandreou's

Center Union and one of the Apostates who had defected and caused the fall of
that government in the sixties, is chosen to lead New Democracy. This is to
awaken a bitter rivalry between he and Andrea's Papandreou who views
Mitsotakis as a traitor and a cause in the series of events which had led to the
dictatorship. That being said, Mitsotakis is more of a centrist than a right-winger
in the liberal style of his uncle Eleftherios Venizelos. In 1985 Papandreou
withdraws support for Karmanlis as president while at the same time transferring
much of the power of that offices to himself. Supreme Court Judge Christos
Sartzetakis who had been the prosecutor in the Lambrakis murder (and the hero
of the movie Z) is elected president. Papandreou softens his anti-American
stance, improving relations with them and with NATO. PASOK win their second
term with a smaller margin but some changes to the electoral law by Papandreou
assure that even with a smaller margin of victory, and without a majority of the

83
 votes they still have a working majority in
the parliament.

In 1976
Alexander
Panagoulis,
the man who had attempted to assassinate George
Papadopoulos and was later elected to parliament
is killed by political enemies in an ambush made to
look like an auto accident. Within months of his
death, Oriana Fallaci begins work on the book she
would dedicate to him, her most important work, A Man. This period is also the
beginning of the exploits of the terrorist group November 17th. Their first murder
is of the CIA Station chief Richard Welch in 1975. They remain the most elusive
and successful terrorist group through the eighties and nineties killing over two
dozen CIA agents, diplomats, businessmen and policemen, including Pavlos
Bakoyiannis, the son-in-law of Constantine Mitsotakis and husband of Dora who
later becomes mayor of Athens. One of the most tragic of November 17's victims
is Thanos Axarlian who on July 14th 1992 is killed when an attack on the Greek
Finance minister fails. The rocket ricochets off the armored car and hits a
building, collapsing part of it, killing Axarlian. The sad irony is that he had been a
university student in Sarajevo who had come to Athens to escape the war.

In 1988 a No-War agreement is signed at Davos between Greece and Turkey

with the creation of a hot-line between the leaders of the two countries. This
leads to a lifting of restrictions in Turkey against Greek property owners and in
increase in Greek visitors, though before long tensions arise again. This same
year a massive fraud and embezzlement scandal involving the Bank of Crete and
allegedly members of parliament including Papandreou shake the country. This
is known as the Koskotas Scandal, named for the Greek-American financier who
was able to buy the bank of Crete, using the bank's own money. (You can try
this. Go to a bank and tell them you want to buy it. If they agree ask if you can
pay them after they give you the bank. If they
agree, take the money from your new bank and pay
them.) Along with this and a phone-tapping scandal
and the appearance that members of the
government are enriching themselves while calling
for austerity from the people, contributes to a loss in
popularity for PASOK. Most of PASOK's support
comes from the countryside and working class
areas of the city but by now even some of these
people are losing their enthusiasm for Papandreou.

84
 The 1990 campaign is one of numerous political rallies by all parties attended by
millions. New Democracy rallies include ex Poll pop-star Robert Williams and his
band doing concerts which end with the theme song for the party with its refrain
"Long live Greece, long live Religion, long live New Democracy". Party rallies
include showing the film Eleni from Nicholas Gage's book of the same name
about communist atrocities in northern Greece during the civil war. Meanwhile
the PASOK rallies appear just as large though they are accused of bussing in
paid Yugoslavians and giving them blue and white Greek flags and green
PASOK flags and telling them to cheer wildly. A story circulates of one woman
who is watching a rally on television and to her shock sees her dead husband
cheering in the front row. Supposedly they had used film footage of a well
attended PASOK rally from four years before.

Mitsotakis conservative New Democracy party wins the elections though without
a majority. New elections are called for April in which they win a very slim
majority. Constantine Karamanlis is again elected president and the country
begins a period of austerity and the selling off of public companies which leads to
strikes by workers. In 1992 the breakup of Yugoslavia creates an identity
problem for the former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia. Greece feels that by
allowing them to call themselves Macedonia, they might one day dispute the
territory of northern Greece which is also called Macedonia. For the time being
the country agrees to call itself FYROM (Former Yugoslavian Republic of
Macedonia) until some better name can be thought up that will satisfy both
countries. But in the meantime ND's
foreign minister Antonis Samaras,
leaves the party over a disagreement
in the handling of the issue and starts
his own party called Political Spring.
This means that ND no longer has a
majority and has to call new elections
on Oct. 10 1993, which Papandreou,
wins. Two years later on January
15th 1996 an ailing Papandreou
resigns as prime minister and is
replaced by Kostas Simitis, an
economist and former minister of
industry. Papandreou dies on June 23, 1996. Two years later Constantine
Karmanlis passes away and an era comes to an end.

This period from the end of the Junta to the deaths of Papandreou and
Karamanlis are really the first time in Greek history that a true democracy has
been permitted to flourish. Papandreou was realistic enough to know that to
actually be anti-American is not a wise stance in a world that is controlled by the
Americans. But he still was able to convince his fellow Greeks that by playing his
cards right he could deal with the Americans as an equal and not as a servant,
as many governments of the past had. If Karmanlis believed that Greece

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belonged to the west, then Papandreou believed that Greece belonged to the
Greeks but were open to partner with anyone who was willing to work together as
equals and not in exploitive relationships. The fortunate thing is that in this period
after the Junta when Greece finally became master of its own destiny there were
two strong, intelligent and very human men who shared the responsibility of
creating a nation. One only needs to look at Iraq and see how badly things can
go following the fall of tyranny. There are those who hated Papandreou and
viewed him as a corrupt demagogue, and there were those who loved him and
believed he was a hero of the working class. There were those who loved and
hated Karamanlis too. But no matter how passionate you felt either way and
regardless of mistakes they may have made these men were two of the most
capable and important leaders in the history of Greece. If they abused power as
has been alleged, particularly about Papandreou, well that is just the world we
live in. There are no saints in politics. Especially in Greek politics. Just as in the
USA the road to power is long and no matter how pure you are when you begin
you pick up a lot of bad habits on the way. Politics is by nature corrupt and it
takes a special type of person to rise above that corruption. Those that do may
not last long since they make everyone else look bad.

The music in Greece of the seventies and eighties

is some of the most memorable. In the final days of
the Junta, ex- Poll member Kosta Tournas is going
through his David Bowie Michanito Chrono phase,
while fellow band-mate Stavro Logarides has put
together a keyboards-bass-drum group, a sort of
Spartan Emerson Lake and Palmer. Dorian Kokas
has a new band called Fos (Light), playing at the
Elaterion club still but now headlining. Their act
features an escaped Gorilla from the zoo who
declares to the audience that he is free but are
they? Socrates goes to England and return to
Greece again with a new sound, and a new producer and part-time keyboard
player, Vangelis Papathanasiou. Former CC Bluesking member Yanni Vavoura
has brought punk to Greece with the Vavoura Band. In 1979 Savopoulos puts out
perhaps his most ambitious and maybe his best album the 4-sided Reserva, a
mixtures of love ballads and social-political anthems. His following album
Trapezakia Exo which comes out in 1983 is a mixtures of traditional Greek and
western pop and is considered by many to be his last great album, though he still
puts out more records every few years or so. In Laika these two decades are
perhaps the golden era or the last period of the truly great singers, including
Stratos Dionysiou, a former tailor from northern Greece, with a voice that can
melt hearts. He has a string of hits that continue until his death in 1990. Along
with Stellios Kazantzides and Stamatis Kokkotas his voice is perhaps the most
recognizable of the age.

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 The seventies and eighties also see the rise
of George Dalaras who becomes Greece's biggest
international star, literally an ambassador of Greek
music, and Haris Alexiou, perhaps his female
counterpart, as is Glykeria. Just as the ancient
Greeks were known for their beautiful singing
during the Roman age, these singers are blessed
with amazing voices and songwriters who provide
them with memorable material. The biggest
musical event however is a film, Kosta Ferris'
Rembetiko, released in 1983 becomes the most
popular Greek film worldwide. The movie follows
the life of a rembetika singer, based on Marika Ninou, from
1917 to the late fifties. The soundtrack by Stavros Xarxakos
and Nikos Gkatsos also becomes a best seller and songs from
it become part of the sets of many of the nea-rembetka groups
that play in Athens, Thessaloniki and all over Greece. Another musical event that
is not really a musical event is the return of Mikis Theodorakis to politics twice as
a member of parliament and once as a minister. He continues to give concerts in
Greece and around the world promoting peace between Greece and Turkey and
for Amnesty International, solar energy and other important causes.

In 1986 an event outside of Greece causes great anxiety within the country. The
nuclear power plant at Chernobyl explodes sending a cloud of radioactivity
around the globe and health threatening levels of radioactive materials are found
in at least twenty nations causing much concern in Greece. (The night the
nuclear Chernobyl cloud passes over the country it rains heavily.) The journal
Nature reports that in Greece, 2,800 kilometers from Chernobyl, where radiation
exposures were far lower than in areas close to the reactor, leukemia has been
diagnosed at rates 2.6 times the norm in young people who were in the womb
when the reactor exploded. The extent of Chernobyl's radioactive, biological and
ecological damage, and psychological and economic devastation around the
world are incalculable. In Greece they have gotten a taste of the terror of a
nuclear world. Scientists expect 50 to100 deaths from cancer during the next 50
years in Greece because of Chernobyl. The radioactivity disappears after 50
to100 years, but after the first year, its level diminishes considerably.
Nonetheless this is of little consolation if you are one of the 50 to100 who die. For
the rest of us it is a warning and proof of what a small planet we live on. While
Anti-nuclear sentiment increases all over world, Greece takes a big step when it
decides against developing nuclear power.

In 1987 the Greek National Basketball Team

defy the odds to become European
Champions. Almost instantaneously basketball
becomes the national sport of Greece.
Basketball courts spring up everywhere in the

87
 country and football takes a back seat to all but the most
fanatic fans. Business tycoons buy up teams and spend a
fortune on impact players, many of them from the United
States. The sudden success of Greek basketball can be
attributed to a number of factors. In the late seventies
and early eighties several Greek coaches begin to study
their American counterparts like University of North
Carolina's Dean Smith and Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, attending seminars in the
USA and inviting the coaches to Greece. The Greek National Team tours the
USA playing the Tarheels, and the Tarheels with Michael Jordan and Sam
Perkins visit Athens to win a tournament there. But the key to Greece's success
is ex-Seton Hall Greek-American guard Nikos Galis, an unstoppable scorer in
college who continues his amazing play in the Greek basketball league. Galis,
considered Greece's Michael Jordan, burned the UNC Tarheels for 50 points in
an exhibition game in Chapel Hill. Unfortunately the game was a blow-out with
the Greek National Team not getting many points from anyone else. But in the
1987 Euro-basket championship semi-finals Nikos Galis outscores Yugoslavian
Drazen Petrovic 36 to 31 to put Greece in the finals. In the championship
game he scores 40 to lead the Greek team over Russia and set off a celebration
that rivals any Athens has seen in its 3000 year history.

From Simitis to Karamanlis-Papandreou Act II

The fall of the Berlin wall in November of 1989 has a major impact on Greece.
Almost overnight hundreds of thousands of ethnic Greek minorities are able to
return to a mother country that most of them have never seen. There are half a
million Pontian Greeks in the Soviet Union who after falling out of favor in
Stallanist Russia had been sent from the hospitable shores of the Black Sea to
the wastelands of the Central Asian republics. Communists who had left Greece
after the civil war were also scattered around former iron curtain countries. Their
numbers were large enough to be minority populations of the new independent
nations, but the awakening nationalism of these nations, not to mention wars and
revolts, make Greece seem like the best place to be for many. The biggest
impact though are the ethnic-Greeks from Albania, as well as the non-Greek
Albanians who can buy visas for $400 a pop from corrupt Greek consular officials
who allegedly sell several hundred a day. Not that they need a visa to get across
a border that is now like a sieve. Though blamed for a rise in crime, the new
immigrants make up the most important part of the work force, doing the jobs the
Greeks no longer want to do, building roads and stone walls (which they are
experts at), farm and construction laborers, restaurants and factories. Though
Greeks complain about the Albanian problem, the legal immigrants contribute a
higher portion of their salary to social security than the Greeks do while

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demanding fewer services. The illegal immigrants work at lower wages and
enable some businesses to prosper that might not exist were they do to things by
the book. Of course thrown into the mix are those Albanians, and ethnic Greeks
who don't fit in and without a family to help them get on their feet drift into the
world of narcotics and crime mostly in the large cities. On the islands and in the
villages the Albanians take the place of those who have left for greener pastures.
On the island of Kea for example, half the population is Albanian, building
summer houses for Athenians, doing farm work and house repairs, buying
homes of their own and raising families.

In 1992 the Olympic committee has their final round in the voting that will decide
where the 1996 Olympics will be held. Athens is the sentimental favorite and
expected to win since after all, it will be the 100th
anniversary of the first modern Olympics. In Athens
everyone expects their city to be named and
fireworks are ready to be set off for the inevitable
celebration. But in a shocking upset Atlanta comes
from behind to win the vote with a public relations
barage and a big pile of money. This led Greek
Minister of Culture Melina Mecouri to exclaim that
"Coca-cola had won over the Parthenon". And the
fireworks in Athens? They shot them off anyway.
But few people really enjoyed them. The Athens 96
T-shirts became instant collectors items.

The Kostas Simitis Era begins with an incident with

Turkey known as Imia affair, named for a small islet
between the two countries. On January 30th, 1996 a group of Turkish 'journalists'
tear down the Greek flag that had been placed on the small island by the mayor
of Kalymnos, and replace it with the Turkish flag. They then wait around to film
the results and perhaps the coming war. They are not disappointed. The two
countries nearly go to war and finally after some sabre-rattling and serious
diplomacy the crisis is averted. In truth it is a tricky situation because though
according to the International Law of the Sea Treaty, Greece's territorial waters
extend 12 miles, some of these small islands are only a few miles off the coast of
Turkey. Despite the incident, relations with Turkey continue to improve with
Greece's entry into the European Union and Turkey's desire to do the same.
When both countries are hit by earthquakes, with the one in Turkey especially
devastating, it is an opportunity to show what good neighbors are for as Turkish
and Greek rescue teams work side by side to free victims from the rubble. One
minor setback in Greek- Turkish
relations occurs is the strange
affair involving Kurdish leader
Obdullah Ocalan of the PKK
(Kurdish Workers Party). After
the government had declares it is

89
 not willing to offer him asylum he is secretly flown into
Greece anyway, given a Cypriot passport and just as
secretly shipped out. He surfaces at the Greek
embassy in Nairobi. When he is asked to leave and told
that he will be taken by plane to Amsterdam he is
abducted by the Turkish secret police and flown back to Turkey for trial. The
whole affair is an embarrassement for the Greek government and three ministers
are forced to resign including outspoken and confrontational Foreign Minister
Theodoros Pangalos. On the positive side this opens the door for George
Papandreau to take over his post and begins an era of positive diplomacy that
improves Greece's relations with just about everyone, including Turkey and the
USA.

In 1999 The US and its NATO allies begin the bombing of Serbia. The Greek
people are opposed and there are regular demonstrations but the Greek
government stands in solidarity with its fellow NATO members. On June 10th the
US Marines land on the beach in Litohoro to the shock of bathers. 2,200 U.S.
Marines bound for Macedonia as potential Kosovo peacekeepers come ashore in
giant hovercraft troop transports while Greek riot police stand by to protect them
from the protestors who have gathered. The troops had been stuck on U.S. Navy
ships off the coast of Thessaloniki , held up by Greek reluctance to let them cross
its territory while the bombing of Yugoslavia continued. In an effort to confuse the
US soldiers protestors remove road signs sending jeeps and armored vehicles
on meandering journeys through the back streets of Thessaloniki and down
endless country roads. The Greeks feel an historical and religious affinity with
their Orthodox Serb neighbors and the war is immensly unpopular.

A visit by President Clinton coincides with the usual massive demonstrations on

November 17th commemorating the student rebellion of 1973. The fact that the
white house did not realize that this could be a poor time to visit makes one
question the intelligence of the administration or the intelligence of their
intelligence. The annual Novermber 17th march has been going on since the first
anniversary of the student uprising at the Polytechnic during the dictatorship,
when more than one million people marched to the US embassy. Schedules are
adjusted by both the White House and the demonstrators to 'accommodate' each
other. A few days before Clinton's visit, the statue of Harry S Truman which has
once again been blown up, is placed back on its pedestal for the President to
see. Simitis is under pressure by the US to ban the march to the embassy, and at
the same time realizes that in doing so he will lose support of the young Greeks
of the left should he do so. He bans the march which is then broken up by riot
police with massive amounts of tear-gas and other chemical agents courtesy of
NATO. However in the course of Clinton's visit he takes a major step in
reconciliation between Greece and the US by apologizing for his government's
support of the dictatorship.

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"The United States allowed its interests in prosecuting the Cold War to prevail
over its interests I should say, its obligation to support democracy, which was,
after all, the cause for which we fought the Cold War. It is important that we
acknowledge that."

George Papandreou, Greece's popular foreign minister, states that President

Clinton's apparent apology is likely to help overcome three decades of anti-
American resentment and the violent protests during his visit. "That turns a page.
It was certainly a gesture toward history in terms of our Greek-American
relations." It is the first time that a U.S. president has made such a conciliatory
remark. Clinton also weighs in on the Elgin Marbles, taken from the Acropolis
during Ottoman rule by Lord Elgin and now in the British Museum. 'If it would be
me, I would give them back immediately." he tells Greek Minister of Culture,
Elisavet Papazoi, who accompanied the president as he visits the Acropolis in
Athens with his daughter Chelsea. As for the demonstrations an unnamed U.S.
official says the president "is certainly not taking this personally." The visit is cut
short by two days and Clinton spends just 22 hours in Greece. Read President
Clinton's Speech.

In 1999 the Athens Stock Exchange looks like a good bet.

Greeks who had never even thought about putting money
into stocks are investing. Money that has been hidden in
mattresses or buried in the back yard is put into stocks.
Amateur investors who have no understanding of the
market are making money and telling their friends and
family who also invest. People invest their life savings.
Shepherds sell their sheep and buy stocks. The market is
at 6000 and climbing. Greek businesses like the ferryboat
company Minoan Lines have so much money they don't
know what to do with it. Minoan buys out every ferry
company it can in the Aegean. Suddenly the whole bubble
bursts and just like that all the money is gone. A handful of
people get out early but almost everybody has either lost
everything or knows someone who has. Fresh in people's
minds is the pyramid scheme which had collapsed
what was left of Albania's economy a few years
before and caused massive riots in that country.
But this seems to be more of a case of collective
greed rather than a scheme to rob everyone. The
greed of those who pulled their money and got out
making billions and the greed of those seduced by
the prospect of easy money. In another important
money issue on 19 June 2000, the EU, having
assessed that Greece fulfils the requirements of the
Maastricht Treaty, approves its accession to the
euro area as a twelfth member. On January 1st

91
2001, the drachma is replaced by the Euro and street venders selling calculators
became instant millionaires as Greeks struggles with the conversion. Gradually
the drachmas all are taken out of circulation though the price of real-estate
continues to be shown in drachma for many years. Perhaps the biggest winners
in the conversion are the street musicians and beggers who instead of being
handed ten drachma coins (about 3.3 US cents) are getting half a euro. The
psychological effect of the euro is another story. Suddenly things seem more
expensive, perhaps because with drachmas being spent by the thousands even
for just a meal, one stops paying attention.

This period also sees the rise in popularity of two more members of Greece's
ruling families. George Papandreau from St Paul Minnesota, son of Andreas,
becomes a very popular and successful foreign minister and by the end of 2003
the leader of PASOK. Papandreau is progressive, intelligent and something of a
visionary in a society where those in power like to keep things as they are. He is
a leader of the International Olympic Truce Foundation to promote the Olympic
Ideals, to serve peace, friendship and international understanding and to uphold
the observance of the Olympic Truce, calling for all hostilities to cease during the
Olympic Games and beyond, and mobilizing the youth of the world in the cause
of peace. In two separate tenures as Minister of Education, he laid the
foundations for a number of new institutions and took measures to reform and
improve the educational system. He showed particular sensitivity to education for
minority groups creating a system of Intercultural Education to address the needs
of students with special cultural needs, such as the students of minority schools
in Thrace, the Roma community, and immigrants. As Foreign Minister he worked
at improving relations between Greece and its neighbours, and particularly with
Turkey. For his contribution to Greek-Turkish relations he was named Diplomat
of the Year 2003 by the European Voice newspaper. At the 4th World
Conference on the Future of the Internet, George Papandreou was voted as one
of the 25 people who have changed the world through the Internet. He is exactly
the right kind of leader Greece needs at this point in history.

Then again you might say the same of Costa Karamanlis (in photo with American
friend) the nephew of his famous uncle Constantine Karamanlis, who takes over
the leadership of ND. Karamanlis studied law and economics in Athens. He
graduated from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in
Boston with a Masters degree in Political and Financial Science and a PhD in
Diplomatic History. He also studied
economics at Deree, in Agia
Paraskevi (my alma matter). He was
president of the peace organisation
KIPAEA and the Greek Center for the
Promotion of European Unification.
Not very well known, besides having
a name that is familiar to every
Greek, he rises through the party

92
ranks through the 1980s and emerges as the last-minute surprise winner during
a leadership challenge following ND's 1996 election defeat. He is the country's
youngest political party leader in living memory and in 2004 becomes the
youngest Prime Minister in history at 48. In a country where Prime Ministers and
Presidents can be well into their seventies and eighties before taking power,
Karamanlis and Papandreou have fresh ideas and appear to rise above the
corruption and power-mongering that has been the world of Greek politics. In
Karamanlis' own words "Our goal is to serve the collective interest responsibly
with diligence and effectiveness....we are servants of our fellow citizens, not their
rulers....anyone who has not fully comprehended this is foreign to our mission."

In September of 2000 the Greek ferry

Expres Samina owned by Minoan Flying
Dolphins hits a rock near the entrance to
the port of Paros and sinks in 45 minutes,
making news all over the world and
bringing attention to Greece's aging ferry
fleet. Though fishermen on the island brave
rough seas in the darkness to rescue
passengers 82 people drown. During the
investigation the manager of the ferry
company comnits suicide by jumping from
his office window. As compensation claims
pour in, the fortunes of Minoan Flying Dolphin dwindle putting the company at
risk and unable to update the older older boats of their fleet. This creates a
problem for the smaller less popular islands when their ferry service gets cut
because of a lack of boats and the reluctance of ferry companies to waste their
new boats on unlucrative routes. Greece's membership in the EU also opened
the door for foreign companies to come in and compete in the ferry business
though by 2005 this has still not happened. However it did hasten in the new fleet
of modern highspeed ferries like the Aeolos Express owned by NEL and several
other boats that are inpressive in their speed and comfort.

There have been 22 known murders by the

November 17th Terrorist Organization, the
23rd comes on June 8th 2000, the
assassination of British Defense Attache
Richard Saunders. November 17th is finally
caught in the summer of 2002, just in time to
help people breathe easier about the
coming Olympics. The ease in which the
organization unraveled once the first member was caught (he was injured in an
explosion on his way to plant a bomb in the Hellas Flying Dolphin office) made
people wonder how they could have gotten away for so many years. When the
police raid a members apartment they find a number of incriminating pieces of
evidence, foremost among them a November 17th flag. One has to wonder

93
why a terrorist organization that had remained secret for a quarter of a century
would even need a flag and why they would keep one around for someone to
find? (Did they have little parades around the apartment once a year?) Obviously
these were not the smartest guys in Greece and their elusiveness can only be
attributed to luck, or a lack of effort by authorities until the time that it really
mattered (before the Olympics). But their capture makes everyone rest a little
easier and though to some conspiracy-minded Greeks it appears that a deal has
been made to appease Americans fears, just putting the issue of November 17th
to rest makes the Olympics an easier sell if anyone wants to take the
responsibility of doing the work to sell it. In the year leading up to the summer of
2004 there are few if any advertisements on American TV or the print media. It is
almost like having a party but not sending out invitations because you are not
sure it will be a good one. But with November 17 behind bars and a billlion and a
half dollars spent on security, it should be a safe one.

In the summer of 2004 Greece finally hosts

the summer Olympics in Athens. As August
approaches the world is holding its
collective breath and wondering if the
Greeks can actually pull it off with
construction projects months behind
schedule and costs rising astronomically.
Complicating matters, at least in the eyes
of the International Olympic Comittee is a
change in government when Constantine
Karamanlis and New Democracy defeats
George Papandreau the new leader of
PASOK. The American and international media make a point of reporting
anything negative having to do with the Olympics with a number of editorialists
questioning Greece's ability and maturity. But as the summer wears on and one
major project after another is completed many are forced to concede that the
Olympics may actually happen. When Greece stuns the world of soccer by
winning the Euro-cup people are suddenly believers in miracles. For three weeks
the entire country had watched in amazement as the Greek National Football
team knocks off one talented opponent after another. After each victory
celebration the feeling is that this is great and lets enjoy it while it lasts because
next we have to play the French, or the Czechs or.... but by the time it had
narrowed down to Greece and host Portugal, who had already lost to the Greeks
in what was probably the biggest opening game upset in history, everyone in the
country knew that when the game ended Greece would be Euro-champions. The
party in Athens featured several million celebrating Greeks and several thousand
tourists who came along for the wild ride. Even the cops were dancing in the
streets. What a warm-up for the Olympics.

94
 On the day of the opening ceremony the
spectators who had chosen despite the
negative press to come to Athens, witness
the most spectacular opening cermony in
the history of the Olympics and one of the
most entertaining games ever, both in the
venues and in the sparkling streets of
Athens where it seemed every square and
plaza had something going on. The
Olympic visitors stay in newly rennovated
hotels, ride on the new metro system and
the new coastal tram, walk on miles and
miles of newly pedestrianized streets that have turned roads into parks. They
drive on miles of new highways around the city and even travel on the new
suburban railway from the airport into the city. Greece's stunning run to the
European soccer championship and the overwhelming success of the Athens
Olympics finish #1 and #2 in an Associated Press poll of the top sports stories of
the year. In a CNN poll the Athens 2004 Olympics are voted the best ever.

One of the biggest stories of the Olympics

is the Greek baseball team. Made up of
Greek-American players in the minor
leagues with a handful of former major
leagues, the team's fortunes are dealt a
crippling blow right off the bat when their
coach Rob Derksen who had put the team
together, dies of a heart attack in New
York a month before the games. The team
gains the appreciation of the Greek fans
and all their games are sold out. They
don't fare too well, with a lack of pitching,
but in their second game they have the Cuban team on the ropes in the last
inning before falling with the tieing and winning runs on base. It takes awhile but
they finally win their last game against the Italians. By then the Greek fans
understand the game and continue coming to the stadium and throwing their
allegiance to the Cubans, who beat the Australians in the finals. Anyone sitting in
the stands that night with the sun setting on Mount Hymettos and the Patriot
missiles in right field had to be hoping that baseball had come to Greece to stay.

Unfortunately those in power don't take

advantage of the publicity the Olympics
will give them, to promote not only the
Athens games themselves but Greece as
a tourist destination in the years which
follow the games. Rather than flood
American television with positive images

95
of Greece to counteract the reports of bombs and construction delays, the Greek
National Tourist Organization and the Athens Olympic Committee decide to sit
back and let CNN do their work for them. Unfortunately until a week or so before
the Olympics almost all the news is bad, which is of course the nature of the
news-media. When suddenly people have second thoughts about skipping these
Olympics and decide to come, it is too late. So while the Olympics are a success,
the empty seats put an asterisk on the word successful. There are no terrorist
attacks and everybody there had a great time, but it was a missed opportunity
and the total bill for the games is 13 billion euros and counting. The Olympics
compelled the government to make changes to the infrastructure that needed to
be made and it is doubtful all of them would have been done without the
Olympics. When the whole world is watching you then you follow through on your
responsibilities. On the other hand there were lost opportunities and lost money
from construction delays, and corruption. One hopes that an Olympic hangover
does not take too much of a toll on the economy of the country.
(For more on the Olympics see www.greecetravel.com/2004olympics)

The popular music of Greece in the nineties and into the next century, as in the
USA, can be summed up in the old southern proverb "You can put lipstick on a
pig and dress it up. But it is still a pig." A lack of talent and creativity is disguised
with incredible studio production, spectacular live shows, and media hype. Good
looks and sexy bodies are as important as having a good voice or decent songs,
maybe more so. But just as in America, the young people in Greece love pork.
'Artists' of limited musical ability become superstars and role models imitating
western style and fashion. Still there are a handful of talented singers and
composers who plug on, maintaining a base of popularity that enable them to
continue performing and selling CDs to people who recognize and enjoy good
music.

The most artistically successful are those who

realize that there is a goldmine of material in
traditional and popular Geek music of the last
century who give these songs new life
by combining them with the technical abilities of
contemporary producers and modern studio
magic. George Dalaras and Babis Tsertos,
though not composers are probably the most
well known of these artists. Dalaras with
worldwide appeal and Tsertos mostly in Greece.
Both are able to recognize quality songs, some
that had been lost in the past, others that are
known by every Greek, and create a
recognizable musical identity not just for Greeks
but for the world to hear. From the sixties to the present Dalaras has released
perhaps 100 albums in a variety of musical styles from Byzantine to Theodorakis
and everything in between. He performs tribute concerts playing the songs of

96
Tsitsanis, Bambakaris, Hadzidakis and playing with such musicians as Al
Dimeola and the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra, even turning up onstage at a
Jethro Tull concert. Tsertos plays the small clubs and does some summer
concerts, and puts out a half dozen or so excellent albums of traditional,
rembetika and laika music with empecable playing, singing and production. What
these artists have discovered is that the highest form of music is the song and
that the pain of unrequitted love, the misery of exile, or the joys of wine and
dance that someone sang 50 or 100 years ago can affect us emotionally today.
Other artists who have embraced the traditional are Glykeria, Haris Alexiou and
an Irishman named Ross Daly who moves to Crete and almost singlehandedly
resurrects traditional Cretan music, putting out dozens of albums and becoming
one of the most respected 'Greek' musicians. The closing ceremonies at the
Olympics ends with a celebration of Greek song put together by Dionysis
Savopoulos and features some of Greece's biggest stars.

Unfortunately while these people are introducing the

world to Greek music, the guardians of that music,
the Greek equivelant of ASCAP and BMI have
fanned out all over the country charging every
taverna, coffee-shop, cafeneon and ouzerie royalties
for playing Greek music on tape, CD or even on the
radio. Overnight, music seems to disappear from the
smaller hangouts, to be replaced by the television
which has embraced the worst aspects of American
TV, namely game shows, soap operas, reality shows
and talking heads arguing about every aspect of
Greek society. It's a potentially lethal anti-culture
cocktail as televisions seem to replace conversation
and fishermen spend their day watching the Bold
and the Beautiful. Those ouzeries and cafes that can
afford it continue to carry the torch as is evident in an
evening walk through the streets of Psiri, the new
nighttime capital of Athens, with live or recorded
music coming from every door. At the same time
Greece's musical heros are being joined by
international stars and other respected musicians to
concert venues like the outdoor theater on top of Mount Lycavettos and clubs
such as The Half Note Jazz Club, Rodon, House of Art, Gagarin 205 and the An
Club. A large number of galleries and museums are added to the cultural mix and
even the ancient theater of Herod Atticus below the Acropolis, known more for
performances by international ballets and orchestras, has opened the doors to
rock and roll with a performance by Jethro Tull in the summer of 2003. With
faster and more comfortable ferries from Italy combined with inexpensive flights
Athens is truly becoming a European city and the cultural mecca of the Eastern
Mediterranean. By 2004 there are dozens of televsion channels (up from 2 in the

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sixties) and there are so many FM radio stations that there is no more band-width
available.

Final Words on Greece's History

I began this website as a general time-line

and introduction to the history of Greece,
written for people who knew nothing of its
history and politics. As I wrote the last
section on the Olympics I was filled with
admiration that once again the Greeks, or
the Hellenes, had defied expectations and
pulled off another miracle. They had
defeated the Persians twice. They had
thrown off the yoke of the Ottomans (with
some help I admit). They had sent the
Italian army to a miserable frozen holiday
in Albania at a time when victories against the original Axis-of-evil seemed
impossible. And in one summer they had won the Euro cup at 100 to 1 odds and
pulled off the best Olympics ever, while turning a city with the reputation of being
a smog filled concrete jungle into one of the most enjoyable and livable in
Europe.

After reading this history you might

come to the conclusion that the
problems in Greece were all created by
external forces. From the rule of the
Ottomans, to the monarchy installed by
the great powers after Greece's
independence, to the Nazi occupation
and then the years of American
influence, it seems that the people of
Greece have always had to adjust what
their view of their country is to suit
those who are really in power, which
they did while fighting amongst themselves. But that was then and this is now,
right? Well actually the problem with Greece is that you still have an
establishment that enriches itself while below it are the average people who have
to improvise in order to survive. Businesses are shaken down by corrupt tax
officials in a system more suited to a feudal society or an occupation. EU money
disappears before it reaches the projects it is meant for. In some million
euro projects money is skimmed off by everyone who touches it and in the end

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maybe there is enough left to hire three Albanians and a donkey. You don't have
to be a communist to say that in Greece the people with power and money do
whatever they want or that the government collects a lot of money that goes right
into their pockets. In the words of a Greek businessman "I would not mind paying
taxes if I received something in return. But the government takes our money and
then it disappears. The government that steals from its people forces the
people to become like criminals to protect themselves ." The people are at war
with the government, fighting over their money.

The establishment has always pointed to

Greece's external enemies, the Turks to
the east, Bulgarians and Albanians to the
north and the Americans and other
exploitive powers, but this is just
distracting the crowd from the real
problem. The problem is a society that is
corrupt at many levels, from the minister
who takes kickbacks or changes zoning
laws to favor his real estate holdings all
the way down to the village official who
issues illegal building permits for a fee. It
is considered acceptable to hide money from those above you while taking
money from those below. Corruption breeds more corruption. It's every man for
himself. There are exceptional people in Greek government but they are
overwhelmed by a system where honesty is punished and if you follow the rules
you are a sucker. As a taxi driver once told me "When you see that a policeman
or an official has been busted for taking a bribe, most likely he is innocent. He
was accused because he was not taking bribes and was a threat to everyone
who was. He was probably the only one who was not corrupt." Whether or not
this is accurate is not the point. The point is that if this is the perception then you
have a level of cinicism and mistrust that can't be healthy for a society. So whose
fault is it? Human nature I guess. Power corrupts and when you are on the
outside looking in you make sure that when you finally get in, you get your share
too. Greece is probably no different from any other country and no society is
perfect. I suppose if you have to pick your poison Greece would come up as a
very favorable one. Yes there is widespread corruption but it is unlikely that you
will be robbed, beaten or killed in your home or on the street and beyond
everything else it is a magical and beautiful place. Still, things have to change
and they will when those who truly want change eventually become the leaders.
When that happens a second Golden age of Greece is possible.

There is a saying that when God made

the earth he saved the best for the land
that is now Greece. There are few places
on the planet that have more beauty,
more spectacular scenary, from

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mountains to islands to rivers and canyons, than the land of Greece. And when
God made Greece he gave the responsibility to the people of this land to be
caretakers, and to protect it from those who would exploit and destroy its natural
beauty. When the people of Greece all come together to accept this responsibility
and put it above their own self-interest, they will realize that it is in their best
interest. When the people of Greece begin to work together like they did to make
Athens ready for the Olympics then there will be no place for the pettiness and
the corruption and those who practice it will have to conform or find somewhere
else to go. Greece is a land blessed not only by natural beauty but also a spirit
and intelligence that may be unique on the planet. When they are all working
against each other it is chaos. But when they combine their resources and work
together in a common purpose, in Marathon, Salamis, against Mussolini and in
Athens and Portugal during the summer of 2004 they are capable of miracles.

The Greeks must have a higher purpose.

It is obvious from studying their history
that few other countries have been
attacked by their enemies, betrayed by
their friends and fought amongst
themeslves, as much as the Greeks. The
pattern of blame, mistrust, hatred and
reprisals has done nothing to improve the
lives of the average Greeks, on the
contrary it has just made life more difficult
and kept their society a step or two behind
the rest of Europe. In the life of any
individual, forgiveness is the key to moving on, whether it is forgiving your
enemies, your parents, your ex-wife or husband and even your children. The
more one forgives the better he feels and the more he is able to progress and
mature, being released from the bonds of the past. Few countries have as long a
list of people to forgive as the Greeks. From the Turks to the Nazis, the British
and the Americans, the collaborators and the rich, the communists and the
royalists, and the Junta, to the individuals who still use power to enrich
themselves. Like any nation Greece has problems. The best way to face these
problems is to forgive and forget the issues that divided us in the past and work
together to deal with the problems of the present to create a better future.
Whether from the far-right or the far-left or the vast middle, in a true democracy
every point of view is useful. When the people of Greece work together they can
move mountains and in this next century there will be plenty of mountains to
move. Greece, a land of individuals, though only a small corner of Europe, has
spread its influence around the world. When these Hellenes forgive and forget
their differences and realize that the crimes against them were not done from evil
or malice, but were mistakes in judgement made in ignorance, they will be taking
a giant step into the future and leaving the past where it belongs: in the past.

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As for the USA and its relationship with
Greece what can you say? The mistakes
they made in Greece were repeated
countless times in other countries through
the cold war and into the current war on
terrorism. Just as the USA supported
some unsavory charactors because they
were anti-communist you could make a
list of leaders we support in the war on
terrorism who are as bad or worse. It was
said in an earlier chapter that had the US
just given the Greek communists money
instead of giving the government weapons to fight them, they could have turned
them all into capitalists. If you address the causes of terrorism, which are poverty
and injustice, instead of trying to wipe them out by killing them all, there will still
be terrorists, but they will be an isolated fringe that won't be able to attract
recruits as easily as they are now with America's foreign policy which creates
more terrorists than it kills. If the US government put as much money into
education, fighting poverty, and curing disease in the world as it did into defense
and war they would have a lot more real friends. The history of Greece shows us
that America squandered one of these real friendships and it will take a lot to get
it back.

As for Greece, to blame the United States

for everything while at the same time
embracing the worst aspects of that culture
is hypocritical. The strength of the Greek
people is their character and their
individuality. To mimic American style and
culture is easy. To embrace the best
aspects of your own culture and build on
that enables you to be comfortable with
yourself instead of insecure about your
ability to measure up to standards set by
Hollywood, Madison Avenue or Washington
DC. There are no chosen people. Americans were not chosen by God to lead the
world. Neither have the Greeks been chosen by God or fate for some
divine purpose, any more than any other group of people have. That does not
mean the Greeks can't choose for themslves to have a higher purpose, to bring
about a more just society in their country and to be an example to others. It could
be the answer to America's Democracy imposed by military might. The ancient
Greeks brought us Democracy. With a new generation of progressive leaders
there is no reason these modern Greeks can't unchain themselves from the
corruption, animosity and self interest that has marred their politics and show the
world what true democracy in a fair and free society can be.

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