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9/20/22, 1:25 AM Culture of Greece - Wikipedia
Culture of Greece
The culture of Greece has evolved over thousands of
years, beginning in Minoan and later in Mycenaean
Greece, continuing most notably into Classical Greece,
while influencing the Roman Empire and its successor
the Byzantine Empire. Other cultures and states such
as the Frankish states, the Ottoman Empire, the
Venetian Republic and Bavarian and Danish
monarchies have also left their influence on modern
Greek culture, but historians credit the Greek War of
Independence with revitalising Greece and giving birth
to a single entity of its multi-faceted culture.
Greece is widely considered to be the cradle of Western The Parthenon is an enduring symbol of ancient
[1]
culture and democracy. Modern democracies owe a Greece and the Athenian democracy. It is
debt to Greek beliefs in government by the people, trial regarded as one of the world's greatest cultural
monuments.
by jury, and equality under the law. The ancient Greeks
pioneered in many fields that rely on systematic
thought, including biology, geometry, history,[2]
philosophy, and physics. They introduced such important literary forms as epic and lyric poetry,
history, tragedy, and comedy. In their pursuit of order and proportion, the Greeks created an ideal of
beauty that strongly influenced Western art.[3]
Contents
Arts
Architecture
Ancient Greece
Byzantine Greece
Modern Greece
Cinema
Music and dances
Ancient Greece
Byzantine Greece
Modern Greece
Painting
Ancient Greece
Byzantine Greece
Post-Byzantine and Modern Greece
Sculpture
Ancient Greece
Byzantine Greece
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_Greece 1/24
Modern Greece
Theatre
Ancient Greece
Middle Ages
Modern Greece
Cuisine
Wine production
Education
Greek people
Language
Internet and "Greeklish"
Katharevousa
Dialects
Literature
Ancient Greece
Byzantine Greece
Modern Greece
Philosophy, science and mathematics
Ancient Greece
Byzantine Greece
Modern Greece
Politics
Public holidays and festivals
Religion
Ancient Greece
Hellenistic Greece
Byzantine and Modern Greece
Sports
Symbols
See also
References
Further reading
External links
Arts
Architecture
Ancient Greece
The first great ancient Greek civilisation were the Minoans, a

Bronze Age Aegean civilization on Crete and other Aegean Islands,
that flourished from c. 3000 BC to c. 1450 BC and, after a late
period of decline, finally ended around 1100 BC during the early
Greek Dark Ages. At the height of their power, they built
architecture ranging from city houses and royal palaces.
Exemplary of this construction was the palace of king Minos,
located at Knossos, which was composed of two to three levels,
had over 500 rooms and many terraces with porticos and stairs.
Restored North Entrance with The interior of this palace included monumental reception halls,
charging bull fresco of the Palace of vast apartments for the queen and bridesmaids, baths with
Knossos (Crete), with some Minoan complete sewage and drainage systems, food deposits, shops,
colourful columns theatres, sport arenas, and other amenities. The walls were built of
polished marble or masonry that was covered with highly-
decorated frescos. Besides the palace, on the island of Santorini,
an entire Minoan city was discovered in 1967, called Akrotiri.[4] Later, the Mycenaean civilization
erected palatial structures at Mycenae, Tiryns and Pylos.
After the Greek Dark Ages, architecture developed into a style

that, together with Roman, inspired Classical architecture and
later Neoclassical. Examples of this style were their temples, such
as the Parthenon and Erectheion which are both based in the
Acropolis of Athens, and theatres. Both temples and theatres used
a complex mix of optical illusions and balanced ratios. Classical
Ancient Greek temples usually consist of a base with stairs at each
edges (known as crepidoma), a cella (or naos) with a cult statue in
it, columns, an entablature, and two pediments, one on the front The Temple of Hephaestus on the
side and another in the back. By the 4th century BC, Greek Agoraios Kolonos Hill (Athens,
architects and stonemasons had developed a system of rules for all Greece), circa 449 BC, unknown
buildings known as the orders: the Doric, the Ionic, and the architect
Corinthian. They are most easily recognised by their columns
(especially by the capitals). The Doric column is stout and basic,
the Ionic one is slimmer and has four scrolls (called volutes) at the corners of the capital, and the
Corinthian column is just like the Ionic one, but the capital is completely different, being decorated
with acanthus leafs and four scrolls.[5]
Byzantine Greece
Following the relocation of the capital of the Roman Empire to Constantinople in 330 AD, and the fall
of the Western Roman Empire some 150 years later, the architects of the Eastern Roman Empire, or
the Byzantine Empire, built city walls, palaces, hippodromes, bridges, aqueducts, and churches. One
of the more famous type of church constructed by the Byzantines was the basilica, which was very
widespread and received the most development of the churches that were built in the empire.
Through modifications and adaptations of local inspiration, the Byzantine style of architecture was
used as the main source of inspiration for architectural styles in Eastern Orthodox countries.[6] For
example, in Romania, the Brâncovenesc style is highly based on Byzantine architecture, but also has
individual Romanian characteristics.
As with the Parthenon, which

was built in dedication to the
Ancient Greek religion, the
Hagia Sophia was considered
an iconic church of
Christianity. The temples of
both religions differ
substantially in terms of their
exterior and interior aspect. In Mosaic in the Hosios Loukas
Antiquity, the exterior was the (Distomo-Arachova-Antikyra,
The Little Metropolis (Athens), 9th- most important part of the Greece), circa 10th century AD
13th century, unknown architect temple, because in the
interior, where the cult statue
of the deity to whom the temple was built was kept, only the priest
had access. The ceremonies here held outside, and what the worshipers view was the facade of the
temple, consisting of columns, with an entablature and two pediments. Meanwhile, Christian liturgies
were held in the interior of the churches, the exterior usually having little to no ornamentation.[7]
Byzantine architecture often featured marble columns, coffered ceilings and sumptuous decoration,
including the extensive use of mosaics with golden backgrounds.[8] The building material used by
Byzantine architects was no longer marble, which was highly appreciated and utilised by the Ancient
Greeks, instead opting for mostly stone and brick while using thin alabaster sheets for windows.[9]
Modern Greece
After the independence of Greece and during the nineteenth

century, Neoclassical architecture was heavily used for both public
and private buildings.[10] The 19th-century architecture of Athens
and other cities of the Kingdom of Greece is mostly influenced by
architects like Theophil Hansen, Ernst Ziller, Panagis Kalkos,
Lysandros Kaftanzoglou, Anastasios Metaxas and Stamatios
Kleanthis. Meanwhile, churches in Greece, on the other hand,
experienced a Neo-Byzantine revival. The National Library of Greece
(Athens), 1888, by Theophil Hansen
In 1933, the Athens Charter, a manifesto of the modernist
movement, was signed and published by Le Corbusier. The
primary architects of this movement were: Ioannis Despotopoulos, Dimitris Pikionis, Patroklos
Karantinos and Takis Zenetos. Following World War II, and the Greek Civil War, the massive
construction of apartment buildings in major Greek city centres, was a major contributory factor for
the Greek economy and the post-war recovery. The first skyscrapers were also constructed during the
1960s and 1970s, such as the OTE Tower and the Athens Tower Complex.
Cinema
Cinema first appeared in Greece in 1896, but the first actual cine-theatre was opened in 1907. In 1914,
the Asty Films Company was founded, which started the production of long films in Greece. Golfo
(Γκόλφω), a well known traditional love story, is the first Greek long movie, although there were
several minor productions such as newscasts before this. In 1931, Orestis Laskos directed Daphnis
and Chloe (Δάφνις και Χλόη), contained the first nude scene in the history of European cinema; it was
also the first Greek movie which was played abroad. In 1944,
Katina Paxinou was honoured with the Best Supporting Actress
Academy Award for For Whom the Bell Tolls.
The 1950s and early 1960s are considered by many as the Golden
age of Greek cinema. Directors and actors of this era were
recognized as important historical figures in Greece and some
gained international acclaim: Michael Cacoyannis, Alekos
Sakellarios, Melina Mercouri, Nikos Tsiforos, Iakovos
Olympion Theatre in Thessaloniki,
Kambanelis, Katina Paxinou, Nikos Koundouros, Ellie Lambeti,
seat of the Thessaloniki
Irene Papas, etc. More than sixty films per year were made, with
International Film Festival. the majority having film noir elements. Notable films were The
Counterfeit Coin (Η κάλπικη λίρα, 1955, directed by Giorgos
Tzavellas), Bitter Bread (Πικρό Ψωμί, 1951, directed by Grigoris
Grigoriou), The Ogre of Athens (O Drakos, 1956, directed by Nikos Koundouros), Stella (1955,
directed by Cacoyannis and written by Kampanellis). Cacoyannis also directed Zorba the Greek with
Anthony Quinn which received Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Film nominations.
Finos Film also contributed to this period with movies such as Λατέρνα, Φτώχεια και Φιλότιμο, The
Auntie from Chicago (Η Θεία από το Σικάγο), Maiden's Cheek (Το ξύλο βγήκε από τον Παράδεισο),
and many more. During the 1970s and 1980s Theo Angelopoulos directed a series of notable and
appreciated movies. His film Eternity and a Day won the Palme d'Or and the Prize of the Ecumenical
Jury at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival.
There were also internationally renowned filmmakers in the Greek diaspora such as the Greek-
American Elia Kazan.
Music and dances
Greece has a diverse and highly influential musical tradition, with ancient music influencing the
Roman Empire, and Byzantine liturgical chants and secular music influencing middle eastern music
and the Renaissance. Modern Greek music combines these elements, to carry Greeks' interpretation
of a wide range of musical forms.
Ancient Greece
The history of music in Greece begins with the music of ancient

Greece, largely structured on the Lyre and other supporting string
instruments of the era. Beyond the well-known structural legacies
of the Pythagorean scale, and the related mathematical
developments it upheld to define western classical music,
relatively little is understood about the precise character of music
during this period; we do know, however, that it left, as so often, a
strong mark on the culture of Rome. What has been gleaned about
the social role and character of ancient Greek music comes largely
Terracotta kylix that depicts a man from pottery and other forms of Greek art.
holding a lyre, circa 480 BC, in the
Metropolitan Museum of Art (New
Ancient Greeks believed that dancing was invented by the gods
York City)
and therefore associated it with religious ceremony. They believed
that the gods offered this gift to select mortals only, who in turn
taught dancing to their fellow-men.
Periodic evidence in ancient texts indicates that dance was held in high regard, in particular for its
educational qualities. Dance, along with writing, music, and physical exercise, was fundamental to the
commenced in a circle and ended with the dancers facing one another. When not dancing in a circle
the dancers held their hands high or waved them to the left and right. They held cymbals (very like the
zilia of today) or a kerchief in their hands, and their movements were emphasized by their long
sleeves. As they danced, they sang, either set songs or extemporized ones, sometimes in unison,
sometimes in refrain, repeating the verse sung by the lead dancer. The onlookers joined in, clapping
the rhythm or singing. Professional singers, often the musicians themselves, composed lyrics to suit
the occasion.
Byzantine Greece
The Byzantine music is also of major significance to the history

and development of European music, as liturgical chants
became the foundation and stepping stone for music of the
Renaissance (see: Renaissance Music). It is also certain that
Byzantine music included an extensive tradition of
instrumental court music and dance; any other picture would
be both incongruous with the historically and archaeologically
documented opulence of the Eastern Roman Empire. There
survive a few but explicit accounts of secular music. A
Late 4th century AD "Mosaic of the
characteristic example is the accounts of pneumatic organs,
Musicians" with hydraulis, aulos, and
whose construction was further advanced in the eastern empire
lyre from a Byzantine villa in Maryamin,
prior to their development in the west following the
Syria
Renaissance.
Byzantine instruments included the guitar, single, double or

multiple flute, sistrum, timpani (drum), psaltirio, Sirigs, lyre, cymbals, keras and kanonaki.
Popular dances of this period included the Syrtos, Geranos, Mantilia, Saximos, Pyrichios, and
Kordakas . Some of these dances have their origins in the ancient period and are still enacted in some
form today.
Modern Greece
A range of domestically and internationally known composers and

performers across the musical spectrum have found success in modern
Greece, while traditional Greek music is noted as a mixture of influences
from indigenous culture with those of west and east. A few Ottoman as well
as medieval Italian elements can be heard in the traditional songs,
dhimotiká, as well as in the modern bluesy rembétika music. A well-known
Greek musical instrument is the bouzouki. "Bouzouki" is a descriptive
Turkish name, but the instrument itself is probably of Greek origin (from
the ancient Greek lute known as pandoura, a kind of guitar, clearly visible
in ancient statues, especially female figurines of the "Tanagraies" playing
Manos Hatzidakis at the
cord instruments).
left
Famous Greek musicians and composers of modern era include the central
figure of 20th-century European modernism Iannis Xenakis, a composer,
architect and theorist. Maria Callas, Nikos Skalkottas, Mikis Theodorakis,
Dimitris Mitropoulos, Manos Hadjidakis and Vangelis also lead twentieth-

century Greek contributions, alongside Demis Roussos, Nana Mouskouri,
Yanni, Georges Moustaki, Eleni Karaindrou and others.
The birth of the first School of modern Greek classical music (Heptanesean
or Ionian School, Greek:Επτανησιακή Σχολή) came through the Ionian
Islands (notable composers include Spyridon Samaras, Nikolaos
Mantzaros and Pavlos Carrer), while Manolis Kalomiris is considered the
founder of the Greek National School.
Greece is one of the few places in Europe where the day-to-day role of folk
dance is sustained. Rather than functioning as a museum piece preserved
only for performances and special events, it is a vivid expression of
everyday life. Occasions for dance are usually weddings, family Mikis Theodorakis,
celebrations, and paneyeria (Patron Saints' name days). Dance has its popular composer and
place in ceremonial customs that are still preserved in Greek villages, such songwriter, introduced the
as dancing the bride during a wedding and dancing the trousseau of the bouzouki into the
bride during the wedding preparations. The carnival and Easter offer more mainstream culture.
opportunities for family gatherings and dancing. Greek taverns providing
live entertainment often include folk dances in their program.
Regional characteristics have developed over the years because of variances in climatic conditions,
land morphology and people's social lives. Kalamatianos and Syrtos are considered Pan-Hellenic
dances and are danced all over the world in diaspora communities. Others have also crossed
boundaries and are known beyond the regions where they originated; these include the Pentozali
from Crete, Hasapiko from Constantinople, Zonaradikos from Thrace, Serra from Pontos and Balos
from the Aegean islands.
The avant-garde choreographer, director and dancer Dimitris Papaioannou was responsible for the
critically successful opening ceremony of the 2004 Olympic Games, with a conception that reflected
the classical influences on modern and experimental Greek dance forms.
Painting
Ancient Greece
There were several interconnected traditions of painting in ancient Greece. Due to their technical
differences, they underwent somewhat differentiated developments. Not all painting techniques are
equally well represented in the archaeological record. The most respected form of art, according to
authors like Pliny or Pausanias, were individual, mobile paintings on wooden boards, technically
described as panel paintings. Also, the tradition of wall painting in Greece goes back at least to the
Minoan and Mycenaean Bronze Age, with the lavish fresco decoration of sites like Knossos, Tiryns
and Mycenae.
Much of the figural or architectural sculpture of ancient Greece was painted colourfully. This aspect of
Greek stonework is described as polychrome (from Greek πολυχρωμία, πολύ = many and χρώμα =
colour). Due to intensive weathering, polychromy on sculpture and architecture has substantially or
totally faded in most cases.
Byzantine Greece
Byzantine art is the term created for the Eastern Roman Empire from
about the 5th century AD until the fall of Constantinople in 1453. The
most salient feature of this new aesthetic was its "abstract," or anti-
naturalistic character. If classical art was marked by the attempt to
create representations that mimicked reality as closely as possible,
Byzantine art seems to have abandoned this attempt in favor of a
more symbolic approach. The Byzantine painting concentrated
mainly on icons and hagiographies.
Mosaic from Daphni Monastery
(ca. 1100)
Post-Byzantine and Modern Greece
The term Cretan School describes an important school of icon

painting, also known as Post-Byzantine art, which flourished while Crete
was under Venetian rule during the late Middle Ages, reaching its climax
after the Fall of Constantinople, becoming the central force in Greek
painting during the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. The Cretan artists
developed a particular style of painting under the influence of both Eastern
and Western artistic traditions and movements. The most famous product
of the school, El Greco, was the most successful of the many artists who
tried to build a career in Western Europe.
The Heptanese School of painting succeeded the Cretan school as the

leading school of Greek post-Byzantine painting after Crete fell to the Dormition of the Virgin by
Ottomans in 1669. Like the Cretan school it combined Byzantine traditions El Greco, an example of
with an increasing Western European artistic influence, and also saw the the Cretan School
first significant depiction of secular subjects. The school was based in the
Ionian islands, which were not part of Ottoman Greece, from the
middle of the 17th century until the middle of the 19th century.
Modern Greek painting, after the independence and the creation

of the modern Greek state, began to be developed around the time
of Romanticism and the Greek artists absorbed many elements
from their European colleagues, resulting in the culmination of
the distinctive style of Greek Romantic art. Notable painters of the
era include Nikolaos Gyzis, Georgios Jakobides, Nikiphoros
Lytras, Konstantinos Volanakis and Theodoros Vryzakis. Carols by Nikiforos Lytras
Sculpture
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greek monumental sculpture was composed almost entirely of marble or bronze; with cast
bronze becoming the favoured medium for major works by the early 5th century. Both marble and
bronze are fortunately easy to form and very durable. Chryselephantine sculptures, used for temple
cult images and luxury works, used gold, most often in leaf form and ivory for all or parts (faces and
hands) of the figure, and probably gems and other materials, but were much less common, and only
fragments have survived.
By the early 19th century, the systematic excavation of ancient Greek sites
had brought forth a plethora of sculptures with traces of notably

multicolored surfaces. It was not until published findings by German
archaeologist Vinzenz Brinkmann in the late 20th and early 21st century
that the painting of ancient Greek sculptures became an established fact.
Using high-intensity lamps, ultraviolet light, specially designed cameras,
plaster casts, and certain powdered minerals, Brinkmann proved that the
entire Parthenon, including the actual structure as well as the statues, had
been painted.
Byzantine Greece
The Byzantines inherited the early Christian distrust of monumental Peplos Kore at the
sculpture in religious art, and produced only reliefs, of which very few Acropolis Museum. Relics
survivals are anything like life-size, in sharp contrast to the medieval art of of the polychromy are
the West, where monumental sculpture revived from Carolingian art visible.
onwards. Small ivories were also mostly in relief.
The so-called "minor arts" were very important in Byzantine art and luxury items, including ivories
carved in relief as formal presentation Consular diptychs or caskets such as the Veroli casket,
hardstone carvings, enamels, jewelry, metalwork, and figured silks were produced in large quantities
throughout the Byzantine era. Many of these were religious in nature, although a large number of
objects with secular or non-representational decoration were produced: for example, ivories
representing themes from classical mythology. Byzantine ceramics were relatively crude, as pottery
was never used at the tables of the rich, who ate off silver.
Modern Greece
After the establishment of the Greek Kingdom and the western influence of
Neoclassicism, sculpture was re-discovered by the Greek artists. Main
themes included ancient Greek antiquity, the War of Independence and
important figures of Greek history.
Notable sculptors of the new state were Leonidas Drosis (his major work
was the extensive neo-classical architectural ornament at the Academy of
Athens, Lazaros Sochos, Georgios Vitalis, Dimitrios Filippotis, Ioannis
Kossos, Yannoulis Chalepas, Georgios Bonanos and Lazaros Fytalis.
Theatre "Discobolus" statue by

Konstantinos Dimitriadis,
outside the Panathenaic
Ancient Greece Stadium
Theatre was born in Greece. The city-state of Classical Athens, which

became a significant cultural, political, and military power during this period, was its centre, where it
was institutionalised as part of a festival called the Dionysia, which honoured the god Dionysus.
Tragedy (late 6th century BC), comedy (486 BC), and the satyr play were the three dramatic genres to
emerge there. Athens exported the festival to its numerous colonies and allies in order to promote a
common cultural identity.
The word τραγῳδία (tragoidia), from which the word "tragedy" is

derived, is a compound of two Greek words: τράγος (tragos) or
"goat" and ᾠδή (ode) meaning "song", from ἀείδειν (aeidein), "to
sing".[11]
This etymology indicates a link with the practices of the
ancient Dionysian cults. It is impossible, however, to know with
certainty how these fertility rituals became the basis for tragedy and
comedy.[12]
The ancient theatre of Epidaurus
Middle Ages continues to be used for staging
ancient Greek plays.
During the Byzantine period, the theatrical art was heavily declined.
According to Marios Ploritis, the only form survived was the folk
theatre (Mimos and Pantomimos), despite the hostility of the official state.[13] Later, during the
Ottoman period, the main theatrical folk art was the Karagiozis. The renaissance which led to the
modern Greek theatre, took place in the Venetian Crete. Significant dramatists include Vitsentzos
Kornaros and Georgios Chortatzis.
Modern Greece
The modern Greek theatre was born after the Greek independence, in
the early 19th century, and initially was influenced by the
Heptanesean theatre and melodrama, such as the Italian opera. The
Nobile Teatro di San Giacomo di Corfù was the first theatre and
opera house of modern Greece and the place where the first Greek
opera, Spyridon Xyndas' The Parliamentary Candidate (based on an
exclusively Greek libretto) was performed. During the late 19th and
early 20th century, the Athenian theatre scene was dominated by
Apollon Theatre (Patras),
revues, musical comedies, operettas and nocturnes and notable
designed by Ernst Ziller
playwrights included Spyridon Samaras, Dionysios Lavrangas,
Theophrastos Sakellaridis and others.
The National Theatre of Greece was founded in 1880. Notable playwrights of the modern Greek
theatre include Alexandros Rizos Rangavis, Gregorios Xenopoulos, Nikos Kazantzakis, Angelos
Terzakis, Pantelis Horn, Alekos Sakellarios and Iakovos Kambanelis, while notable actors include
Cybele Andrianou, Marika Kotopouli, Aimilios Veakis, Orestis Makris, Katina Paxinou, Manos
Katrakis and Dimitris Horn. Significant directors include Dimitris Rontiris, Alexis Minotis and
Karolos Koun.
Cuisine
Greek cuisine has a long tradition and its flavors change with the season
and its geography.[14] Greek cookery, historically a forerunner of Western
cuisine, spread its culinary influence – via ancient Rome – throughout
Europe and beyond.[15]
Ancient Greek cuisine was characterized by its frugality and was founded
on the "Mediterranean triad": wheat, olive oil, and wine, with meat being
Greek salad
rarely eaten and fish being more common.[16] It was Archestratos in 320
B.C. who wrote the first cookbook in history. Greece has a culinary
tradition of some 4,000 years.[17]
The Byzantine cuisine was similar to the classical cuisine

including however new ingredients that were not available before,
like caviar, nutmeg and lemons, basil, with fish continuing to be
an integral part of the diet. Culinary advice was influenced by the
theory of humors, first put forth by the ancient Greek doctor
Claudius Aelius Galenus.[18] Traditional Greek taverna, integral
part of Greek culture and cuisine.
The modern Greek cuisine has also influences from the Ottoman
and Italian cuisine due to the Ottoman and Venetian dominance
through the centuries.
Wine production
Greece is one of the oldest wine-producing regions in the world. The

earliest evidence of Greek wine has been dated to 6,500 years ago[19][20]
where wine was produced on a household or communal basis. In
ancient times, as trade in wine became extensive, it was transported A bottle of retsina
from end to end of the Mediterranean; Greek wine had especially high
prestige in Italy under the Roman Empire. In the medieval period,
wines exported from Crete, Monemvasia and other Greek ports fetched high prices in northern
Europe.
Education
Education in Greece is compulsory for all children 6–15 years old;
namely, it includes Primary (Dimotiko) and Lower Secondary
(Gymnasio) Education. The school life of the students, however,
can start from the age of 2.5 years (pre-school education) in
institutions (private and public) called "Vrefonipiakoi Paidikoi
Stathmi" (creches). In some Vrefonipiakoi Stathmoi there are also
Nipiaka Tmimata (nursery classes) which operate along with the
Nipiagogeia (kindergartens).
Post-compulsory Secondary Education, according to the reforms Overview of the campus of the
of 1997 and 2006, consists of two main school types: Genika Aristotle University of Thessaloniki,
Lykeia (General Upper Secondary Schools) and the Epaggelmatika the largest university in Greece and
Lykeia (Vocational Upper Secondary Schools), as well as the the Balkans
Epaggelmatikes Sxoles (Vocational Schools). Musical,
Ecclesiastical and Physical Education Gymnasia and Lykeia are
also in operation.
Post-compulsory Secondary Education also includes the Vocational Training Institutes (IEK), which
provide formal but unclassified level of education. These Institutes are not classified as an educational
level, because they accept both Gymnasio (lower secondary school) and Lykeio (upper secondary
school) graduates according to the relevant specializations they provide. Public higher education is
divided into Universities and Technological Education Institutes (TEI). Students are admitted to
these Institutes according to their performance at national level examinations taking place at the third
grade of Lykeio. Additionally, students are admitted to the Hellenic Open University upon the
completion of the 22 year of age by drawing lots.
Nea Dimokratia (New Democracy), the Greek conservative right political party, has claimed that it
will change the law so that private universities gain recognition. Without official recognition, students
who have an EES degree are unable to work in the public sector. PASOK took some action after EU
intervention, namely the creation of a special government agency that certifies the vocational status of
certain EES degree holders. However, their academic status still remains a problem. The issue of full
recognition is still an issue of debate among Greek politicians.
The Institute of Entrepreneurship Development (iED) is a Greek Non-governmental organization

formed for the promotion of innovation and for enhancing the spirit of entrepreneurship intending to
link with other European initiatives.
Greek people
The origins of Western literature and of the main branches of
Western learning may be traced to the era of Greek greatness
that began before 700 BC with the epics of Homer, the Iliad
and the Odyssey. Hesiod, the first didactic poet, put into epic
verse his descriptions of pastoral life, including practical advice
on farming, and allegorical myths. The poets Alcaeus of
Mytilene, Sappho, Anacreon, and Bacchylides wrote of love,
war, and death in lyrics of great feeling and beauty. Pindar
celebrated the Panhellenic athletic festivals in vivid odes. The
fables of the slave Aesop have been famous for more than 2,500 Alexander the Great also known as
years. Three of the world's greatest dramatists were Aeschylus, Alexander III, king of Macedon, was
author of the Oresteia trilogy; Sophocles, author of the Theban one of the most successful military
plays; and Euripides, author of Medea, The Trojan Women, commanders in history.
and The Bacchae. Aristophanes, the greatest author of
comedies, satirized the mores of his day in a series of brilliant
plays. Three great historians were Herodotus, regarded as the father of history, known for The
Persian Wars; Thucydides, who generally avoided myth and legend and applied greater standards of
historical accuracy in his History of the Peloponnesian War; and Xenophon, best known for his
account of the Greek retreat from Persia, the Anabasis. Outstanding literary figures of the Hellenistic
period were Menander, the chief representative of a newer type of comedy; the poets Callimachus,
Theocritus, and Apollonius Rhodius, author of the Argonautica; and Polybius, who wrote a detailed
history of the Mediterranean world. Noteworthy in the Roman period were Strabo, a writer on
geography; Plutarch, the father of biography, whose Parallel Lives of famous Greeks and Romans is a
chief source of information about great figures of antiquity; Pausanias, a travel writer; and Lucian, a
satirist.
The leading philosophers of the period preceding Greece's golden age were Thales, Pythagoras,
Heraclitus, Protagoras, and Democritus. Socrates investigated ethics and politics. His greatest pupil,
Plato, used Socrates' question-and-answer method of investigating philosophical problems in his
famous dialogues. Plato's pupil Aristotle established the rules of deductive reasoning but also used
observation and inductive reasoning, applying himself to the systematic study of almost every form of
human endeavor. Outstanding in the Hellenistic period were Epicurus, the philosopher of
moderation; Zeno of Citium, the founder of Stoicism; and Diogenes of Sinope, the famous Cynic. The
oath of Hippocrates, the father of medicine, is still recited by newly graduating physicians. Euclid
evolved the system of geometry that bears his name. Archimedes discovered the principles of
mechanics and hydrostatics. Eratosthenes calculated the earth's circumference with remarkable
accuracy, and Hipparchus Founded scientific astronomy. Galen was an outstanding physician of
ancient times.
The sculptor Phidias created the statue of Athena and the figure of
Zeus in the temple at Olympia and supervised the construction
and decoration of the Parthenon. Another renowned sculptor was
Praxiteles.
The legal reforms of Solon served as the basis of Athenian

democracy. The Athenian general Miltiades the Younger led the
victory over the Persians at Marathon in 490 BC, and
Themistocles was chiefly responsible for the victory at Salamis 10
years later. Pericles, the virtual ruler of Athens for more than 25
years, added to the political power of that city, inaugurated the
construction of the Parthenon and other noteworthy buildings,
and encouraged the arts of sculpture and painting. With the
decline of Athens, first Sparta and then Thebes, under the great
The most famous artist born in
military tactician Epaminondas, gained the ascendancy; but soon
Greece was probably Doménikos
Theotokópoulos, better known as El
thereafter, two military geniuses, Philip II of Macedon and his son
Greco (The Greek) in Spain. He did
Alexander the Great, gained control over all of Greece and formed
most of his painting there during the
a vast empire stretching as far east as India. It was against Philip
late 1500s and early 1600s.
that Demosthenes, the greatest Greek orator, directed his
diatribes, the Philippics.
The most renowned Greek painter

during the Renaissance was El Greco, born in Crete, whose major works,
painted in Spain, have influenced many 20th-century artists. An
outstanding modern literary figure is Nikos Kazantzakis, a novelist and
poet who composed a vast sequel to Homer's Odyssey. Leading modern
poets are Kostis Palamas, and Constantine P. Cavafy, as well as George
Seferis, and Odysseus Elytis, winners of the Nobel Prize for literature in
1963 and 1979, respectively. The work of social theorist Cornelius
Castoriadis is known for its multidisciplinary breadth. Musicians of stature
are the composers Nikos Skalkottas, Iannis Xenakis, and Mikis
Theodorakis; the conductor Dmitri Mitropoulos; and the soprano Maria
Callas. Filmmakers who have won international acclaim are Greek-
Americans John Cassavetes and Elia Kazan, and Greeks Michael
Cacoyannis and Costa-Gavras. Actresses of note are Katina Paxinou; Poet Constantine P.
Melina Mercouri, who was appointed minister of culture and science in the Cavafy
Socialist cabinet in 1981; and Irene Papas.
Outstanding Greek public figures in the 20th century include Cretan-born Eleutherios Venizelos,
prominent statesman of the interwar period; Ioannis Metaxas, dictator from 1936 until his death;
Constantine Karamanlis, prime minister (1955–63, 1974–80) and president (1980–85) of Greece;
George Papandreou, head of the Center Union Party and prime minister (1963–65); and his son
Andreas Papandreou, the PASOK leader who became prime minister in 1981. Costas Simitis was
leader of PASOK and prime minister from 1996 to 2004. He was succeeded by Kostas Karamanlis.
Language
The Greek language is the official language of the Hellenic
Republic and Republic of Cyprus and has a total of 15 million
speakers worldwide; it is an Indo-European language. It is
particularly remarkable in the depth of its continuity, beginning
with the pre-historic Mycenaean Greek and the Linear B script
and maybe the Linear A script associated with Minoan civilization,
though Linear A is still undeciphered. Greek language is clearly
detected in the Mycenaean language and the Cypriot syllabary, Ancient Greek Ostracon bearing the
and eventually the dialects of Ancient Greek, of which Attic Greek name of Cimon. Museum of the
bears the most resemblance to Modern Greek. The history of the Ancient Agora, Athens.
language spans over 3400 years of written records.
Greek has had enormous impact on other languages both directly on the Romance languages, and
indirectly through its influence on the emerging Latin language during the early days of Rome. Signs
of this influence, and its many developments, can be seen throughout the family of Western European
languages.
Internet and "Greeklish"
More recently, the rise of internet-based communication services as well as cell phones have caused a
distinctive form of Greek written partially, and sometimes fully in Latin characters to emerge; this is
known as Greeklish, a form that has spread across the Greek diaspora and even to the two countries
with majority Greek population, Greece and Cyprus.
Katharevousa
Katharévousa (Καθαρεύουσα) is a form of the Greek Language midway between modern and ancient
forms set in train during the early nineteenth century by Greek intellectual and revolutionary leader
Adamantios Korais, intended to return the Greek language closer to its ancient form. Its influence, in
recent years, evolved toward a more formal role, and it came to be used primarily for official purposes
such as diplomacy, politics, and other forms of official documentation. It has nevertheless had
significant effects on the Greek language as it is still written and spoken today, and both vocabulary
and grammatical and syntactical forms have re-entered Modern Greek via Katharevousa.
Dialects
There are a variety of dialects of the Greek language; the most notable include Cappadocian, Cretan
Greek (which is closely related to most Aegean Islands' dialects), Cypriot Greek, Pontic Greek, the
Griko language spoken in Southern Italy, and Tsakonian, still spoken in the modern prefecture of
Arcadia and widely noted as a surviving regional dialect of Doric Greek.
Literature
Greece has a remarkably rich and resilient literary tradition, extending

over 2800 years and through several eras. The Classical era is that most
commonly associated with Greek Literature, beginning in 800 BCE and
maintaining its influence through to the beginnings of Byzantine period,
whereafter the influence of Christianity began to spawn a new
development of the Greek written word. The many elements of a
millennia-old tradition are reflected in Modern Greek literature,
including the works of the Nobel laureates Odysseus Elytis and George
Seferis.
Ancient Greece
The first recorded works in the western literary tradition are the epic Idealized portrait of Homer,
British Museum
poems of Homer and Hesiod. Early Greek lyric poetry, as represented
by poets such as Sappho and Pindar, was responsible for defining the
lyric genre as it is understood today in western literature. Aesop wrote
his Fables in the 6th century BC. These innovations were to have a profound influence not only on
Roman poets, most notably Virgil in his epic poem on the founding of Rome, The Aeneid, but one that
flourished throughout Europe.
Classical Greece is also judged the birthplace of theatre. Aeschylus introduced the ideas of dialogue
and interacting characters to playwriting and in doing so, he effectively invented "drama": his
Oresteia trilogy of plays is judged his crowning achievement. Other refiners of playwriting were
Sophocles and Euripides. Aristophanes, a comic playwright, defined and shaped the idea of comedy as
a theatrical form.
Herodotus and Thucydides are often attributed with developing the modern study of history into a
field worthy of philosophical, literary, and scientific pursuit. Polybius first introduced into study the
concept of military history.
Philosophy entered literature in the dialogues of Plato, while his pupil Aristotle, in his work the
Poetics, formulated the first set criteria for literary criticism. Both these literary figures, in the context
of the broader contributions of Greek philosophy in the Classical and Hellenistic eras, were to give
rise to idea of political Science, the study of political evolution and the critique of governmental
systems.
Byzantine Greece
The growth of Christianity throughout the Greco-Roman world in the 4th, 5th and 6th centuries,
together with the Hellenization of the Byzantine Empire of the period, would lead to the formation of
a unique literary form, combining Christian, Greek and Oriental influences. In its turn, this would
promote developments such as Cretan poetry, the growth of poetic satire in the Greek East and the
several pre-eminent historians of the period.
Modern Greece
Modern Greek literature refers to literature written in the Greek language from the 11th century, with
texts written in a language that is more familiar to the ears of Greeks today than is the language of the
early Byzantine times.
The Cretan Renaissance poem Erotokritos is

undoubtedly the masterpiece of this early
period of modern Greek literature, and
represents one of its supreme achievements. It
is a verse romance written around 1600 by
Vitsentzos Kornaros (1553–1613). The other
major representative of the Cretan literature
was Georgios Chortatzis and his most notable
work was Erofili. Other plays include The
Sacrifice of Abraham by Kornaros, Panoria
and Katsourbos by Chortatzis, King Rodolinos
by Andreas Troilos, Stathis (comedy) and
Adamantios Korais, major Voskopoula by unknown artists.
figure of the Modern
Greek Enlightenment Much later, Diafotismos was an ideological, A page from a 16th-
philological, linguistic and philosophical century edition of the 10th
movement among 18th century Greeks that century Byzantine
translate the ideas and values of European Enlightenment into the Greek encyclopaedia of the
world. Adamantios Korais and Rigas Feraios are two of the most notable ancient Mediterranean
figures. In 1819, Korakistika, written by Iakovakis Rizos Neroulos, was a world, the Suda.
lampoon against the Greek intellectual Adamantios Korais and his
linguistic views, who favoured the use of a more conservative form of the
Greek language, closer to the ancient.
The years before the Greek Independence, the Ionian islands became the
center of the Heptanese School (literature). Its main characteristics was
the Italian influence, romanticism, nationalism and use of Demotic Greek.
Notable representatives were Andreas Laskaratos, Andreas Kalvos,
Aristotelis Valaoritis and Dionysios Solomos.
After the independence the intellectual center was transferred in Athens. A

major figure of this new era was Kostis Palamas, considered "national
poet" of Greece. He was the central figure of the Greek literary generation
of the 1880s and one of the cofounders of the so-called New Athenian Nikos Kazantzakis, one of
School (or Palamian School). Its main characteristic was the use of the most prominent
Demotic Greek. He was also the writer of the Olympic Hymn. modern Greek writers
Moving into the twentieth century, the modern Greek literary tradition
spans the work of Constantine P. Cavafy, considered a key figure of twentieth-century poetry, Giorgos
Seferis (whose works and poems aimed to fuse the literature of Ancient and Modern Greece) and
Odysseas Elytis, both of whom won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Nikos Kazantzakis is also
considered a dominant figure, with works such as The Last Temptation of Christ and The Greek
Passion receiving international recognition.
Philosophy, science and mathematics

The Greek world is widely regarded as having given birth to scientific thought by means of
observation, thought, and development of a theory without the intervention of a supernatural force.
Thales, Anaximander and Democritus were amongst those contributing significantly to the
establishment of this tradition. It is also, and perhaps more commonly in the western imagination,
identified with the dawn of Western philosophy, as well as a mapping out of the natural sciences.
Greek developments of mathematics continued well up until the decline of the Byzantine Empire. In
the modern era Greeks continue to contribute to the fields of science, mathematics and philosophy.
Ancient Greece
The tradition of philosophy in ancient Greece accompanied its

literary development. Greek learning had a profound influence on
Western and Middle Eastern civilizations. The works of Socrates,
Plato, Aristotle, and other Greek philosophers profoundly
influenced Classical thought, the Islamic Golden Age, and the
Renaissance.
The Ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians were very good at

Aristarchus of Samos was the first
maths and at building geometric tombs, but they're not famous for
known individual to propose a
philosophy. Their religious explanations of things are elaborate
heliocentric system, in the 3rd
but unconvincing in philosophical terms. Theocratic societies
century BC
governed by priestly castes are usually static and monopolise
thought. They insist on orthodox explanations and actively
discourage independent and unconventional ideas. The Ancient Greeks invented philosophy, but no-
one really knows why. Because of their trade across the Mediterranean Sea, they borrowed myths and
mysticism as well as architecture and mathematics from their neighbouring civilisations. Some Greek
thinkers decided to not accept religious explanations for how the world works, an example being
Xenophanes. They just thought that there just had to be some king of underlying order or logic for the
way things are. This will later be given to Ancient Rome and Modern civilisation.[21]
In medicine, doctors still refer to the Hippocratic oath, instituted by Hippocrates, regarded as
foremost in laying the foundations of medicine as a science. Galen built on Hippocrates' theory of the
four humours, and his writings became the foundation of medicine in Europe and the Middle East for
centuries. The physicians Herophilos and Paulus Aegineta were pioneers in the study of anatomy,
while Pedanius Dioscorides wrote an extensive treatise on the practice of pharmacology.
The period of Classical Greece (from 800 BC until the rise of Macedon, a Greek state in the north) is
that most often associated with Greek advances in science. Thales of Miletus is regarded by many as
the father of science; he was the first of the ancient philosophers to seek to explain the physical world
in terms of natural rather than supernatural causes. Pythagoras was a mathematician often described
as the "father of numbers"; it is believed that he had the pioneering insight into the numerical ratios
that determine the musical scale, and the Pythagorean theorem is commonly attributed to him.
Diophantus of Alexandria, in turn, was the "father of algebra". Many parts of modern geometry are
based on the work of Euclid, while Eratosthenes was one of the first scientific geographers, calculating
the circumference of the Earth and conceiving the first maps based on scientific principles.
The Hellenistic period, following Alexander's conquests, continued and built upon this knowledge.
Hipparchus is considered the pre-eminent astronomical observer of the ancient world, and was
probably the first to develop an accurate method for the prediction of solar eclipse, while Aristarchus
of Samos was the first known astronomer to propose a heliocentric model of the Solar System, though
the geocentric model of Ptolemy was more commonly accepted until the seventeenth century. Ptolemy
also contributed substantially to cartography and to the science of optics. For his part Archimedes was
the first to calculate the value of π and a geometric series, and also the earliest known mathematical
physicist discovering the law of buoyancy, as well as conceiving the irrigation device known as
Archimedes' screw.
Byzantine Greece
The Byzantine period remained largely a period of

preservation in terms of classical Greco-Roman
texts; there were, however, significant advances
made in the fields of medicine and historical
scholarship. Theological philosophy also remained
an area of study, and there was, while not
matching the achievements of preceding ages, a
certain increase in the professionalism of study of
these subjects, epitomized by the founding of the
Manuel Chrysoloras, University of Constantinople.
Greek scholar in the
Renaissance Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles, the
architects of the famous Hagia Sophia in Gemistus Pletho
Constantinople, also contributed towards
mathematical theories concerning architectural form, and the perceived
mathematical harmony needed to create a multi-domed structure. These ideas were to prove a heavy
influence on the Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan in his creation of the Blue Mosque, also in
Constantinople. Tralles in particular produced several treatises on the Natural Sciences, as well as his
other forays into mathematics such as Conic Sections.
The gradual migration of Greeks from Byzantium to the Italian city states following the decline of the
Byzantine Empire, and the texts they brought with them combined with the academic positions they
held, was a major factor in lighting the first sparks of the Italian Renaissance.
Modern Greece
Greeks continue to contribute to science and technology in the modern

world. John Argyris, a mathematician and engineer, was among the
creators of the finite element method and the direct stiffness method.
Constantin Carathéodory made significant contributions to the theory of
functions of a real variable, calculus of variations and measure theory,
credited with the introduction of several mathematical theorems. In
physics, John Iliopoulos is known for the prediction of the charm quark
and the proposition of the GIM mechanism, as well as the Fayet–
Iliopoulos D-term formula, while Dimitri Nanopoulos is one of the
principal developers of the Flipped SU(5) model.
Biologist Fotis Kafatos pioneers in the field of molecular cloning and

genomics, and he was the founding president of the European Research
Constantin Carathéodory,
Council. In medicine, Georgios Papanikolaou contributed heavily to the
who introduced several
development of cervical screening inventing the Pap test, which is among
mathematical theorems.
the most common methods of cervical screening worldwide.
Car designer Alec Issigonis designed the groundbreaking and iconic Mini automobile, while Michael
Dertouzos was amongst the pioneers of the Internet, instrumental in defining the World Wide Web
Consortium and director for 27 years of the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence
Laboratory, which innovated in a variety of areas during his term. Nicholas Negroponte, is the
founder of the MIT Media Lab and the One Laptop per Child project aiming to extend Internet access
in the developing world. Joseph Sifakis, a computer scientist, has won a Turing Award for his
pioneering work on model checking.
Politics
Greece is a Parliamentary Republic with a president assuming a
more ceremonial role than in some other republics, and the Prime
Minister chosen from the leader of the majority party in the
parliament. Greece has a codified constitution and a written Bill of
Rights embedded within it. The current Prime Minister is
Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
The politics of the third Hellenic Republic have been dominated

by two main political parties, the self-proclaimed socialists of
The building of the Hellenic PASOK and the conservative New Democracy. Until recently
Parliament, the Old Royal Palace of PASOK had dominated the political scene, presiding over
Otto of Greece. favourable growth rates economically but in the eyes of critics
failing to deliver where unemployment and structural issues such
as market liberalization were concerned.
New Democracy's election to government in 2004 has led to various initiatives to modernize the
country, such as the education university scheme above as well as labour market liberalization.
Politically there has been massive opposition to some of these moves owing to a large, well organized
workers' movement in Greece, which distrusts the right wing administration and neo-liberal ideas.
The population in general appears to accept many of the initiatives, reflected in governmental
support; on the economic front many are so far warming to the reforms made by the administration,
which have been largely rewarded with above average Eurozone growth rates. New Democracy were
re-elected in September 2007.
A number of other smaller political parties exist. They include the third largest party (the Communist
Party), which still commands large support from many rural working areas as well as some of the
immigrant population in Greece, as well as the far-right Popular Orthodox Rally, with the latter,
while commanding a mere three and a half per cent of votes, seeking to capitalise on opposition in
some quarters regarding Turkey's EU accession and any tension in the Aegean. There is also a
relatively small, but well organized anarchist movement, though its status in Greece has been
somewhat exaggerated by media overseas.
The political process is energetically and openly participated in by the people of Greece, while public
demonstrations are a continual feature of Athenian life; however, there have been criticisms of a
governmental failure to sufficiently involve minorities in political debate and hence a sidelining of
their opinions. In general, politics is regarded as an acceptable subject to broach on almost every
social occasion, and Greeks are often very vocal about their support (or lack of it) for certain policy
proposals, or political parties themselves – this is perhaps reflected in what many consider the rather
sensationalist media on both sides of the political spectrum; although this is a feature of most
European tabloids.
Public holidays and festivals

According to Greek Law every Sunday of the year is a public holiday. In addition, there are four
obligatory, official public holidays: March 25 (Greek Independence Day), Easter Monday, August 15
(Assumption or Dormition of the Holy Virgin) and December 25 (Christmas). Two more days, May 1
(Labour Day) and October 28 (Ohi Day), are regulated by law as optional but it is customary for
employees to be given the day off. There are, however, more public holidays celebrated in Greece than
are announced by the Ministry of Labour each year as either obligatory or optional. The list of these
non-fixed National Holidays rarely changes and has not changed in recent decades, giving a total of
eleven National Holidays each year.
In addition to the National Holidays, there Public Holidays that are not celebrated nationwide, but
only by a specific professional group or a local community. For example, many municipalities have a
"Patron Saint", also called "Name Day", or a "Liberation Day", and at this day is customary for schools
to have a day off.
Notable festivals include Patras Carnival, Athens Festival and various local wine festivals. The city of
Thessaloniki is also home of a number of festivals and events. The Thessaloniki International Film
Festival is one of the most important film festivals in Southern Europe,[22]
Religion
Ancient Greece
Classical Athens may be suggested to have heralded some of the

same religious ideas that would later be promoted by Christianity,
such as Aristotle's invocation of a perfect God, and Heraclitus' Logos.
Plato considered there were rewards for the virtuous in the heavens
and punishment for the wicked under the earth; the soul was valued
more highly than the material body, and the material world was
understood to be imperfect and not fully real (illustrated in
Socrates's allegory of the cave). The Temple of Hephaestus in
Athens is the best-preserved of
all ancient Greek temples.
Hellenistic Greece
Alexander's conquests spread classical concepts about the divine, the afterlife, and much else across
the eastern Mediterranean area. Jews and early Christians alike adopted the name "hades" when
writing about "sheol" in Greek. Greco-Buddhism was the cultural syncretism between Hellenistic
culture and Buddhism, which developed in the Indo-Greek Kingdoms. By the advent of Christianity,
the four original patriarchates beyond Rome used Greek as their church language.
Byzantine and Modern Greece
The Greek Orthodox Church, largely because of the importance of Byzantium in Greek history, as well
as its role in the revolution, is a major institution in modern Greece. Its roles in society and larger role
in overarching Greek culture are very important; a number of Greeks attend Church at least once a
month or more and the Orthodox Easter holiday holds special significance.
The Church of Greece also retains

limited political influence through
the fact the Greek constitution does
not have an explicit separation of
Church and State; a debate
suggested by more conservative
elements of the church in the early
2000s about identification cards
and whether religious affiliation
Our Lady of Tinos, the major Marian might be added to them highlights
shrine in Greece the friction between state and
church on some issues; the proposal
unsurprisingly was not accepted. A
widely publicised set of corruption scandals in 2004 implicating a small Shards of pottery vases on
group of senior churchmen also increased national debate on the street, after being thrown
introducing a greater transparency to the church-state relationship. from the windows of nearby
houses. A Holy Saturday
Greek Orthodox Churches dot both the villages and towns of Greece and tradition in Corfu.
come in a variety of architectural forms, from older Byzantine churches,
to more modern white brick churches, to newer cathedral-like
structures with evident Byzantine influence. Greece (as well as Cyprus), also polled as, ostensibly, one
of the most religious countries in Europe, according to Eurostat; however, while the church has wide
respect as a moral and cultural institution, a contrast in religious belief with Protestant northern
Europe is more obvious than one with Catholic Mediterranean Europe.
Greece also has a significant minority of Muslims in Western Thrace (numbering around 100–
150,000), with their places of worship guaranteed since the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne. The Greek state
has fully approved the construction a main mosque for the more recent Muslim community of Athens
under the freedom of religion provisions of the Greek constitution.
Other religious communities living in Greece include Roman Catholics, Jehovah's Witnesses,
Protestants, Armenians, followers of the ancient Greek religion (see Hellenism), Jews and others.
Sports
Greece has risen to prominence in a number of sporting areas in recent decades. Football in particular
has seen a rapid transformation, with the Greece national football team winning the 2004 UEFA
European Football Championship. Many Greek athletes have also achieved significant success and
have won world and olympic titles in numerous sports during the years, such as basketball, wrestling,
water polo, athletics, weightlifting, with many of them becoming international stars inside their
sports. The successful organisation of the Athens 2004 Olympic and Paralympic Games led also to the
further development of many sports and has led to the creation of many World class sport venues all
over Greece and especially in Athens and Thessaloniki. Greek athletes have won a total 146 medals for
Greece in 15 different Olympic sports at the Summer Olympic Games, including the Intercalated
Games, an achievement which makes Greece one of the top nations globally, in the world's rankings of
medals per capita.
Symbols
The national colours of Greece are blue and white. The coat of arms of
Greece consists of a white cross on a blue escutcheon which is
surrounded by two laurel branches.[23] The Flag of Greece is also blue
and white, as defined by Law 851/1978 Regarding the National Flag.[24]
It specifies the colour of "cyan" (Greek: κυανό, kyano), meaning "blue",
so the shade of blue is ambiguous.
The Order of the Redeemer and military decoration Cross of Valour both
have ribbons in the national colours.[25]
Since it was first established, the national emblem has undergone many
changes in shape and in design. The original Greek national emblem
depicted the goddess Athena and an owl. At the time of Ioannis Archery matches in
Kapodistrias, the phoenix, the symbol of rebirth, was added. Panathenaic Stadium
during the 2004 Olympics.
Other recognizable symbols include the (throughout the Byzantine
Empire) double-headed eagle and the Vergina Sun.
See also
Art in modern Greece
Center for the Greek Language
Cinema of Cyprus
Gaida
Traditional flag used from 1769
Greek Orthodox Church
to the War of Independence
Hellenic Foundation for Culture
Hellenistic period
Hellenization
List of Greek films
List of universities in Greece
Modern Greek folklore
Paideia
Syncretism in Ancient Greece
References
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age/3) Stanford University Press, 2004. p. 3. Web. 25 Jun. 2012.
2. Myres, John. Herodotus, Father of History. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1953. Web. 25 Jun. 2012.
3. Peter Krentz, Ph.D., W. R. Grey Professor of History, Davidson College.
"Greece, Ancient." World Book Advanced. World Book, 2012. Web. 8 July 2012.
4. George D. Hurmuziadis (1979). Cultura Greciei (in Romanian). Editura științifică și enciclopedică.
p. 35.
5. Hodge, Susie (2019). The Short Story of Architecture. Laurence King Publishing. p. 14. ISBN 978-
1-7862-7370-3.
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1-7862-7370-3.
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10. Manos G. Birēs, Marō Kardamitsē-Adamē, Neoclassical architecture in Greece
11. "Definition of TRAGEDY" (http://m-w.com/dictionary/tragedy). m-w.com. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
12. William Ridgeway, Origin of Tragedy with Special Reference to the Greek Tragedians, p. 83
13. "24 γράμματα / Πολυχώρος Πολιτισμού στο Χαλάνδρι (Θέατρο – Μουσική – Γκαλερί- Βιβλίο) » Το
Θέατρο στο Βυζάντιο και την Οθωμανική περίοδο" (http://www.24grammata.com/?p=32749).
www.24grammata.com. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
14. Spices and Seasonings:A Food Technology Handbook – Donna R. Tainter, Anthony T. Grenis, p.
223
15. Renfrew, Colin (1972). The Emergence of Civilization; The Cyclades and the Aegean in the Third
Millennium B.C. Taylor & Francis. p. 280.
16. Renfrew, Colin (1972). The Emergence of Civilization; The Cyclades and the Aegean in the Third
Millennium B.C. Taylor & Francis. p. 280.
17. http://www.focusmm.com/greece/gr_coumn.htm – Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/2017072
6092021/http://www.focusmm.com/greece/gr_coumn.htm) 2017-07-26 at the Wayback Machine
Historical reference about Ancient Greek cuisine.
18. Civitello, Linda (2007). Cuisine and Culture: A History of Food and People (https://archive.org/det
ails/cuisineculturehi00civi). New York: Wiley. p. 67 (https://archive.org/details/cuisineculturehi00civ
i/page/n89). ISBN 978-0-471-74172-5.
19. Ancient Mashed Grapes Found in Greece (http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/03/16/oldgrapes_a
rc.html?category=archaeology&guid=20070316120000) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20
080103133450/http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/03/16/oldgrapes_arc.html?category=archaeol
ogy&guid=20070316120000) 2008-01-03 at the Wayback Machine Discovery News.
20. Mashed grapes find re-write history of wine (http://www.zeenews.com/articles.asp?aid=361797&si
d=FTP) Zeenews
21. Dave Robinson, Judy Groves (2007). PHILOSOPHY A Graphic Guide. Icon Books Ldt. p. 6, 7.
ISBN 978-1-84046-853-3.
22. Thessaloniki International Film Festival – Profile (http://www.filmfestival.gr/default.aspx?lang=el-G
R&loc=1&page=586) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20150905090357/http://www.filmfestiv
al.gr/default.aspx?lang=el-GR&loc=1&page=586) 2015-09-05 at the Wayback Machine (in Greek)
23. Εφημερίς της Κυβερνήσεως 1975, p. Article 2.
24. Law 851/1978, p. Article 1, Clause 1.
25. Presidency of the Hellenic Republic: The Order of the Redeemer.
Further reading
Bruce Thornton, Greek Ways: How the Greeks Created Western Civilization, Encounter Books,
2002
Hart, Laurie Kain (1999). "Culture, Civilization, and Demarcation at the Northwest Borders of
Greece". American Ethnologist. 26 (1): 196–220. doi:10.1525/ae.1999.26.1.196 (https://doi.org/1
0.1525%2Fae.1999.26.1.196). ISSN 0094-0496 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0094-0496).
Simon Goldhill, Who Needs Greek?: Contests in the Cultural History of Hellenism, Cambridge
University Press, 2002
Victor Davis Hanson, John Heath, Who Killed Homer: The Demise of Classical Education and the
Recovery of Greek Wisdom, Encounter Books, 2001
External links
Hellenism Network - Greek Culture (http://www.hellenism.net)
Sketch of the History of Greek Literature from the Earliest Times to the Reign of Alexander the
Great by William Smith (http://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/ancient-greece/history-of-ancie
nt-greece-22-literature.asp)
Anagnosis Books Modern Greek Culture Pages (http://www.anagnosis.gr/index.php?pageID=106
&la=eng)
The Impact of Greek Culture on Normative Judaism from the Hellenistic Period through the Middle
Ages c. 330 BCE- 1250 CE (https://web.archive.org/web/20050629084248/http://www.adath-shalo
m.ca/greek_influence.htm)
The Greek diet and its relationship to health (https://web.archive.org/web/20060713074229/http://
www.seve.gr/sevedetrop/defaulten.htm)
Greece a cultural profile (https://web.archive.org/web/20070203235624/http://www.cp-pc.ca/englis
h/greece/index.html)
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9/20/22, 1:25 AM Culture of Greece - Wikipedia

The first great ancient Greek civilisation were the Minoans, a

After the Greek Dark Ages, architecture developed into a style

As with the Parthenon, which

After the independence of Greece and during the nineteenth

Music and dances

The history of music in Greece begins with the music of ancient

The Byzantine music is also of major significance to the history

Byzantine instruments included the guitar, single, double or

A range of domestically and internationally known composers and

Dimitris Mitropoulos, Manos Hadjidakis and Vangelis also lead twentieth-

The term Cretan School describes an important school of icon

The Heptanese School of painting succeeded the Cretan school as the

Modern Greek painting, after the independence and the creation

had brought forth a plethora of sculptures with traces of notably

Theatre "Discobolus" statue by

Theatre was born in Greece. The city-state of Classical Athens, which

The word τραγῳδία (tragoidia), from which the word "tragedy" is

The Byzantine cuisine was similar to the classical cuisine

Greece is one of the oldest wine-producing regions in the world. The

The Institute of Entrepreneurship Development (iED) is a Greek Non-governmental organization

The legal reforms of Solon served as the basis of Athenian

The most renowned Greek painter

Internet and "Greeklish"

Greece has a remarkably rich and resilient literary tradition, extending

The Cretan Renaissance poem Erotokritos is

After the independence the intellectual center was transferred in Athens. A

Philosophy, science and mathematics

The tradition of philosophy in ancient Greece accompanied its

The Ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians were very good at

The Byzantine period remained largely a period of

Greeks continue to contribute to science and technology in the modern

Biologist Fotis Kafatos pioneers in the field of molecular cloning and

The politics of the third Hellenic Republic have been dominated

Public holidays and festivals

Classical Athens may be suggested to have heralded some of the

Byzantine and Modern Greece

The Church of Greece also retains

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Culture_of_Greece&oldid=1102999373"

This page was last edited on 7 August 2022, at 23:55 (UTC).

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0;

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