100 Interesting Facts About Greece
Hello Guys:
Welcome to Countries Facts so in this Article I will show you 100 facts about Greece today well i hope you've got your bags packed full of plates as we're heading to the land of gods and democracy i love democracy because when it comes to this week's Article greece 100 facts about Greece.
1 Greece is a country found in southeast europe and is made up of anything up to 6 000 islands depending on how you define an island 227 of them are inhabited and of course the mainland of greece which borders albania north macedonia bulgaria and turkey oh and the aegean sea the ionian sea the cretan sea and the mediterranean sea.
2 Consisting of the mainland and many many islands means that greece is made up of nine different geographic regions macedonia central greece the peloponnese thessalonis the aegean islands thrace crete and the ionian islands.
3 Eighty percent of greece is made up of mountains with mountain limpers being the tallest at around 9573 feet or basically around 1 574 of me stacked on top of each other or 1665 jennifer lawrence's now there's a party but tall basically.
4 The motto of greece is elepharia ethanatos which translated means freedom or death it arose during the greek war independence in the 1820s where soldiers used the phrase as a war cry as they fought against the ottoman empire from there it was adopted as the country's official motto.
5 Greece isn't actually called greece i know its real official name is the hellenic republic or halas these names are more often used in greece itself and greek citizens are more likely to refer to themselves as hellenis as opposed to greek always good for a pub quiz.
6 The name for greece comes from grecia the latin translation of the hellenic republic and literally means land of the greeks kind of like the english translation of germany as well germany but germany call themselves deutschland.
7 The name helles refers to the ancient greek story of helen who became the founding father of all greek tribes after zeus tried to wipe out humanity with a flood helen's descendants aelis doris ion and arceus became the namesakes of the four greek tribes following this oh and the time that followed was called the hellenistic period have i said helen enough yet.
8 Helen anyway for more mythology check out our one-on-one facts all about that but after this one obviously because now we're going to fast-forward a bit through this abridged history here after the ancient greeks the romans took over and formed roman greece then the western roman empire collapsed and the eastern empire with greece formed the byzantine empire.
9 Along with the byzantine empire which lasted around 900 years give or take christianity was introduced and polytheism that we know from ancient greek mythology pretty much died out.
10 It's all a bit blurry and our writer has had her brain melted by the extensiveness of greek middle-aged history but at some point in that greek middle age between the 4th and 13th centuries the greek orthodox church became the main religion in greece and remains that way to the modern day.
11 Then the ottoman empire came along in the 1400s and ended the eastern roman empire and byzantine era at the fall of constantinople during the rise of the ottomans they took over the majority of mainland greece and most of the greek islands the venetians held the rest most notably the ionian islands except for catalonia and some of the port cities.
12 There the venetian-owned ionian islands was where the modern greek statehood began and where the creation of the republic of the seven islands began in 1800.
13 We're gonna jump forward now to 1800 when the french revolutionary wars brought about the beginning of the first hellenic republic in 1821. the greeks declared their independence from the various empires that controlled them in 1822 however this wasn't achieved until seven years later in 1829.
14 During this greek war of independence the ottomans aided by the egyptians were winning easily however in 1826 the british french and russians decided they agreed with greek independence and sailed over to navarino which by the way is now known as pylos.
15 The ottomans refused to accept the european mediation and so the european naval fleets obliterated the egyptian fleet boom after that the ottomans were a bit more open to mediation and so to cut a very long story short that includes loads of confusing politics the treaty of constantinople was signed and greece became an independent state.
16 Over the course of the following century greece expanded into more territories particularly their previously owned islands like crete and the ionians this was primarily achieved during the balkan wars of 1912 and 13.
17 World war one saw greece hit another stumble with the greek king constantine the first wanting to remain neutral as he was fond of germany while the greek prime minister wanted to join the allied forces eventually in 1917 the allies forced the king to abdicate to his more agreeable son.
18 Opposed to ww1 that's world war one for short although i've just negated that by explaining what it means it was agreed that the ottoman city of smyrna would become part of the greek state due to its large greek population here's the thing though the turkish nationalists really didn't like that and so the greco-turkish war began in 1919.
19 The turkish took back smyrna and basically burned it to the ground causing the end of the war and the treaty of lausanne the treaty recognized turkey as another independent republic and a population exchange took place where orthodox christians were sent to greece and muslims were sent to what was now turkey estimates say that between 750 to 900 000 greeks were killed by the turks between 1914 and 1923.
20 Right let's move on something more cheerful oh world war ii oh dear greece had another pretty shocking time here too new prime minister mataxis established the imataxis regime a totalitarian government which took inspiration from fascist italy although somehow still managed to remain part of the allies.
21 Skipping forward a couple of years adolf hitler decided he wanted to invade greece to strengthen southern power and so the german invasion of greece started in 1941. axis troops from germany bulgaria and italy invaded from the north and many of the greek population fled to crete in egypt for safety of course the country and economy were devastated by the effects of the german occupation.
22 Jumping forward again the axis forces withdrew from greece in 1944 to focus on yugoslavia and albania to the north the british alongside resistance fighters reclaimed control of athens and then the rest of the country.
23 Nope not finished yet by the way 1944 then saw the beginning of the greek civil war which also happens to be the first major confrontation of the cold war the huge opposition between the political parties in greece caused a five-year war which ended with the country joining nato and becoming allies with the usa.
24 In 1967 the greek military decided to seize power and become a dictatorship and set in motion the turkish invasion of cyprus in 1974. while the military regime ended and democracy was restored in greece the tensions in cyprus still remain today.
25 The third hellenic republic was born in 1974 and greece rejoined nato in 1980 and the eu in 1981. of course it hasn't been plain sailing since then with the 2008 global recession causing a huge debt crisis in greece which continues to affect the country today.
26 Right let's move on to some curious stuff eh because of its mediterranean location greece is one of the sunniest countries in the entire world the greeks see around 250 days of sun every year on average with some of the more southern islands averaging closer to 300 days a year so if you're pale like me pack the sun cream for your grecian adventures.
27 Greece is around 51 000 square miles in area which makes it roughly the size of alabama this makes it the 92nd largest country in the world just in front of north korea and behind tajikistan facts.
28 The population of greece however is 10.7 million people around double that of the aforementioned alabama and less than half of north korea's population this is the most fact-filled way of saying that it's not super populated but it's not exactly sparse either.
29 Outside of greece the city with the largest population of greek people is melbourne didn't expect that did you not only that but the city has the sixth largest greek population of any city in the world it's a bit further away than the other greek cities.
30 98 of those 10 million people are ethnic greeks so basically everyone the other two percent are mostly people from the surrounding countries like albania armenia bulgaria and the former yugoslavic republic of macedonia.
31 Somewhat unsurprisingly a vast majority of people that live in greece reside in its capital city of athens athens also happens to be one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world being constantly lived in for more than 7000 years boom double fact.
32 To be fair athens is pretty cool it's not only the birthplace of democracy itself which we should be thankful for it's also where so much of western culture began it birthed many significant figures in history herodotus the historian socrates the philosopher and hippocrates the physician who the hippocratic oath is literally named after greeks are cool guys.
33 There are also a total of 148 theatrical stages in athens more than london's west end and new york's broadway the dionysus eletherius theater is the oldest of these built all the way back in the 6th century bc.
34 Greece also has more archaeological museums than any other country in the entire world which isn't surprising given its incredibly long documented history of the country and its influence on western civilization as we know it.
35 The acropolis in athens almost became one of the new seven wonders of the world because of its rich history today the acropolis stands as a symbol of democracy despite its extensive damage caused by countless wars and invasions we talked about earlier.
36 Speaking of historical sites there's a rule in greece that states that you are not allowed to wear any shoes that could potentially damage the protected historic sites often visited by tourists so in case you were considering wearing high heeled shoes to hike up the acropolis then remember the pressure under your feet is greater than that of an elephant so put some damn sneakers.
37 The most iconic part of the acropolis is the parthenon built over 2500 years ago the site now famous for its white marble sculptures was once actually incredibly colorful as it was all beautifully painted it's now sadly faded into history oh how poetic might call my first album.
38 Athens is named after the greek goddess athena and according to myth athena and poseidon fought to have a city named after them by presenting the citizens with gifts athena and her olive tree won lame.
39 Not only is greece famous for its archaeology and ancient history but back around 500 bc the ancient greeks were pioneers in waste management yep the grecian started the first ever garbage dump or rubbish tip if you're british like me all those years ago in an effort to try and keep their streets as clean as possible and yet over 2000 years later people still can't sort their trash into whites and colors amateurs.
40 According to the visit greece website there's around 6 000 greek islands of which only 227 are inhabited but of course that depends on your definition of an island because personally a two-foot mound of sand in the middle of the sea isn't really an island to me but hey that's just my perspective.
41 The largest of these islands is popular holiday destination crete other popular islands include santorini mykonos rhodes corfu and zante mykonos actually has its own mascot he's a cute little pelican named petros.
42 The meaning of life speaking of crete the saying taking the bull by its horns comes from the greek myth of hercules saving crete from a bull by seizing its horns.
43 The greek island vicaria is one of the five blue zones in the world people from here often live well into their 90s and suffer with less physical ailments compared to the rest of the world this is attributed to their healthier diet active lifestyles and a more relaxed style of life are they accepting new arrivals actually i can't get on board with a healthier diet.
44 Greece has around 9 000 miles of coastline because of all the islands in fact no point in greece is more than 85 miles or 137 kilometers from water.
45 Back in the beginning of time somewhere grease was actually completely underwater it pretty much sits on the aegean sea tectonic plate which is surrounded by the anatolia plate as well as the eurasia plate and the africa plate when these collided way back when it forced the land upwards creating grease.
46 This also helps explain why greece is pretty mountainous but it also explains the near constant seismic activity throughout greece and the greek islands oh and all of the volcanoes.
47 One of the most iconic parts of greek landscape as well as the mountains is the turquoise blue of many roofs and windows in the cyclade islands this shade called kaionos is believed to keep evil away interestingly it's also where the words cyan and cyanide come.
48 The white of the buildings however is said to come from the cholera outbreak in 1938. back then the white paint contained limestone which unknown to them at the time had antibacterial properties which stopped the spread of the disease.
49 There was also a law passed in 1974 that all houses on greek islands be painted blue and white to honor the recently deceased dictator mataxis as the colours were a symbol of patriotism and of course that supported the political agenda in greece at the time.
50 Athenian democracy dates all the way back to the 5th century bc yep the ancient greeks invented the system of governance that we all know today well i think we all know citizens with voting rights were allowed to vote on various legislations and bills as is a common occurrence in the olden days that only included adult male citizens so no women no foreigners and no slaves were allowed to cast their own ballots.
51 Nowadays that's thankfully changed in fact it's the law that any citizen over the age of 18 must vote when required this means that unlike in the uk or u.s you don't have to register to vote it's done automatically the year you turn 18. that being said there's no longer much enforcement on the law so i guess if you really didn't want to vote you could skip it but you really should just do it.
52 Greece is the creator of the olympic games it's named after mount olympus where the ancient greek gods called home but because the games honored zeus and the other polytheistic gods they were considered unchristian and were outlawed by the romans.
53 The first ever olympic games in 776 bc were actually won by a greek cook named kurobus who won in the sprint these engine games were said to have included running events and pentathlon boxing wrestling equestrian events and the ancient greek sport of pancration.
54 After the extensive ban of the unchristian games they returned in 1896 once again in athens however the modern olympics would take place in cities across the world instead of just athens like its ancient predecessors.
55 Speaking of ancient greek sport the word marathon comes from greece a runner named ferdipides ran 150 miles to seek help from the spartans to fight the persians after their victory he ran 25 miles back to athens from marathon to tell everyone and that's where the name and length of the long distance event comes.
56 The flag of greece is made up of nine blue and white stripes said to represent the nine syllables of the greek motto elephtheria e thanatos while the colors of blue and white represent the seas and the sky the cross in the upper left-hand corner symbolizes the cross of greek orthodoxy.
57 Greece has the longest national anthem in the world with 158 verses yes really it's called the hymn to liberty or hymn to freedom and while it has that many verses they don't tend to get sung very often it's also the anthem of the republic of cyprus written by dionysos sonomos in 1823 becoming the anthem in 1865.
58 The greek language is one of the oldest languages in the world having been spoken since at least 1450 bc source are responsible for more than 150 000 words in the english language like economy academy and school obviously i'm not going to list them all there's more than 150 000 i mean i'd say i'd have better things to do but i can't leave my house so that's a lie i'm just not doing it.
59 One i will tell you about though is the word alphabet it takes its name from the first two letters of the greek alphabet alpha and beta they do say that if you say any word the root of that word is always greek.
60 Greece is supposedly the most active nation romance why shall we say in the world according to leading prophylactic companies reports say they get it on 164 days of the year.
61 Interestingly greece also has a very low divorce rate i'm not saying that this fact in the previous one are linked but that could.
62 Speaking of physical activities greece has more than four thousand traditional dances some say ten thousand but other more reputable sources that aren't wikipedia say around four thousand of course the much stereotyped dance we all think of is the sataki dance which gained infamy in the 1964 film zorba the greek.
63 I'm not going to name all the dancers our unless this might murder me while trying to find non-copyright footage of them but a couple of notable ones are the hasapico and the calamatianos traditional greek dancing has been used to bring communities together throughout history nintendo.
64 One of the stereotypes often associated with greeks is plate smashing it's almost obsolete in modern greece with places that do it being mostly for tourists but it is documented in its history it suggested that smashing plates symbolize new beginnings by throwing away the past and it also kept away evil spirits by tricking them into thinking people were angry or upset as opposed to celebrating.
65 Another tradition that's said to keep away evil spirits is spitting or at least the noise of spitting three times it's often done at weddings and to children to protect them from harm in the evil spirits and to wish good luck.
66 Speaking of evil spirits if you go to greece you're sure to see some evil eyes and i'm not talking about sauron also called nazar charms the blue eyes had to ward off the devil and his gaze which is said to cause misfortune or injury people hang or display these eyes to protect themselves and their homes.
67 If you do visit greece however you probably shouldn't wave at anyone waving with the palm open as is normal in western culture is actually an insult in greece this gesture is called a monster and is often used as a sign of anger and shame seen prominently at demonstrations and protests in greece.
68 On a lighter note whilst in greece you'll likely be invited to sample the national drink uzo similarly to western custom they say cheers to each other before they drink it in greek by the way it's sin iggy mass you might even hear an oppa.
69 Smash those plates 174 times a year it's one of the most typical words people think about when they think of the greek language but oppa is often used for a number of different purposes it's primarily an interjection but it's used to show disbelief disapproval or an expression of excitement or joy so basically you can use it for pretty much anything.
70 In addition to uzo the greeks are renowned for their winemaking which has been a tradition in greece for more than 4 000 years there are over 600 wineries in greece and for centuries greek wine was prestigious being exported for high prices outside of the mediterranean.
71 Greece is of course known for its incredible food in addition to olives which they are the leading exporters of they're known for their feta cheese and other dishes and dips like tara masalata zatziki musaka and jiros oh and of course baklava in fact greek and other mediterranean foods are considered some of the healthiest in the world.
72 Dairy has always held a special place in greek hearts ever since the olden days milk was considered a sacred food by the ancient greeks and according to mythology it was aristeas the son of the god apollo who taught them how to make cheese which makes him the god that's given humanity the best contribution from the gods frankly cheese is divine especially when it's melted and pumped into pizza crust just like the gods intended.
73 While we're on the topic of gods the most important holiday in the greek orthodox church is not christmas but easter the whole country remembers the death of christ i mean not literally because they weren't there but after the solemnity comes a huge celebration on easter sunday.
74 One greek island in particular really likes to celebrate on chios two rival churches engage in something called rickettopolomos which translates as rocket war this easter tradition pits two rival churches saint mark's and penagius erathani that are 400 meters apart in a fireworks spectacular that would put alton towers to shame.
75 The rocket war involves each church pelting each other with a load of rockets with the aim of hitting the opposing bell tower that sounds incredibly dangerous ahead of the annual event locals have to board up their houses and cover their property metal sheets to prevent damage.
76 The origins of rickettopolomas are unclear but it started in the ottoman era however back in the day it was supposed to be fought with actual cannons something which the ottomans apparently found a bit excessive when they banned the use of them in 1889.
77 Mount athos is well a mountain it's also a peninsula jutting out of northeastern greece sure the mountain only has an elevation of 2033 meters almost 4.5 times smaller than everest but hey that's not why we're here.
78 The area is a unesco world heritage site that plays home to 20 monasteries which in turn houses some 2000 monks of the eastern orthodox church but here's a twist women are not allowed to visit it's thought to be the biggest area in the world at 130 square miles from which women are entirely banned.
79 The somewhat silly ban on women is so extensive that even female animals aren't allowed in the restriction has been in place for more than 1 000 years and means women can't come within 500 metres of the coast.
80 I know what you're thinking how can they practically ban female animals they don't really a bunch of standard farm animals aren't allowed in which means cheese and eggs have to be imported to the island.
81 In 1953 a woman disguised as a man mulan style managed to spend three days in the area and it did not go down well it led to a law which means any woman entering would get 12 months jail time mount athos even has special status in eu treaties regarding the movement of people.
82 Good old saint nick he of santa claus fame was greek the big man was born in 217 patara in lycia which is now modern-day turkey he earned his rep as a gift giver via secret kindly acts putting coins in the shoes of those who'd left them out for him his death on the 6th of december 343 is celebrated today with the feast day of saint nicholas.
83 Greeks bring in the new year with a slice of vassala pita cake made with almonds and lemon juice if you chow down and happen upon a coin it's good luck for the rest of the year.
84 We're used to friday the 13th being unlucky but over in greece and spanish-speaking countries actually it's tuesday the 13th is supposed to be bad news the fall of constantinople and 1204 happen on tuesday the 13th and that's the name for tuesday's treaty or third and bad clap comes in threes the case is pretty much comprehensive.
85 There is just one crematorium in the whole of greece and that opened 2019. prior to that the nearest facility was in bulgaria in the greek orthodox church cremation is forbidden and the dead are buried instead hence their opposition to burning them up.
86 All male greek citizens are required to serve in the military at some point between the ages of 19 and for him for the vashram the 45. if you choose the army your service will last for nine months but those who watch for the navy or air force you're looking at an entire year although the government is planning to make it 12 months all round in 2021.
87 Conscripts aren't actually paid depending on your circumstances you can get financial aid of up to 600 euro per month but it can be as low as nine you do get food accommodation and unlimited public transport.
88 For those that make it to 35 without doing their stint you can splash the cash and avoid doing the proper stint in the armed service in return for 45 days basic training at 8505 euro you're good to go alternatively for any conscientious objectors civilian service is an option but is longer than military service at 15 months.
89 Sticking with the military greece spends around 2.6 of its gdp on nato well above the two percent target arse of nato members which greece has been a member of since 1952.
90 Joining greece in nato back in 1952 was its next-door neighbor turkey making them allies but not best friends over the years the two countries have had a number of disputes notably over cyprus in 1996 they almost went to war over a couple of inhabited islands in the aegean sea.
91 However relations between the two nations improved just a few years later in august of 1999 turkey was hit by a devastating earthquake and a month later greece similarly fell victim to another one the tragedy brought the two countries together as they helped each other recover from the disaster in what became known as earthquake diplomacy.
92 Greece is in the european union having joined in 1981 and adopted the euro as its official currency between 2001 and 2002 replacing the drachma.
93 Since 2012 greece has been the worst performing economy in the eu having declined by 0.64 between 2012 and 2019 however its gdp has been growing since 2017 and in 2019 was ahead of nine other eu countries including italy germany france and the uk we were part of them back then in terms of annual growth.
94 That said the past decade has been tough for the greek economy which was sparked by the credit crunch and led to the greek government debt crisis otherwise known as the crisis in greece essentially the government couldn't pay back the money it borrowed the end result was that the economy shrank every year bar one between 2008 and 2016. the bar 1 was 2014 for economy nerds out there.
95 Part of the reason the government finances were in a mess was that tax evasion was considered a national sport and that's according to officials in 2012 this sport amounted to an estimated 30 billion euros a year in uncollected dosh between 1999 and 2010 it was estimated that one in four euros eligible for taxation was not declared to the authorities.
96 Enough of the doom and gloom because greece is still absolutely smashing it when it comes to sponges you heard not to get to kazakstan's number one exporter potassium on you but greece is the world's largest producer of sea sponges.
97 There also hashtag blessed with an abundance of olives and greece has more varieties than any other country on earth so it's no surprise they like to smush them up and turn them into oil and money greece produces 346 000 tonnes of olive oil per year behind only spain and italy inside the eu.
98 However when it comes to olive oil consumption the greeks will not be stopped on average a person in greece gets through 24 liters of the stuff every day no sorry not every day every year by far the most out of any country on earth.
99 Another well-known greek delicacy that gets exported all over the world is feta cheese which is made from sheep's milk but can sometimes contain goat's milk too it's dubbed white gold and given that feta exports increased by 85 between 2007 and 2014 you can see why it's worth 260 million euros in foreign sales alone number of hundred alexander of greece not that one but the king who reigned from 1917 to 1920 met an unusual end one day while taking a walk a barbary macaque monkey belonging to palestine attacked his german shepherd the king bravely stepped in but got bitten and his leg got infected.
100 None of the doctors would dare amputate said leg because well it's the king and taking his leg is kind of a big deal in the end alexander died which makes him in all likelihood the only king to be assassinated by a monkey so that was 100 facts about greece have you ever been are you there now let me know in the comments down below be sure to give this Article a like when you're down there too it really does help us out make your days and you're really going to enjoy them.
So why not click on it one of them and you know see that i'm right and i'll see you there tomorrow goodbye.
