Facts and trivia about Greece and the Greeks
Why do Greeks paint the tree trunks white? What are the roadshrines for? Which are the major political parties in Greece? How do Greeks celebrate Easter? What is considered right and wrong behaviour in Greece? Why is the flag blue and white? Which are the Greek namedays?
Questions about Greece and the Greeks
These are all questions people ask often about Greece and the Greeks. The goal with this section is to answer as many questions like these as possible. If you have any further questions, please contact us and we’ll do our best to answer. No question is too silly, so go ahead and ask!!!
Historical facts
Greece is also the birthplace of the primordial democracy, philosophy, artistic and geometric principles as well as the ancient Olympic Games , whose legacy has been captured by the modern Olympics.
The first city built in the world was Greek
Ancient Lycosura in Arcadia Peloponesse Greece, is considered to be the oldest city in the world (10,000 – 8,000 BC) and as Pausanias mentions, it was the first to be built in the world on a continental land and on islands, which was a model for the creation of other cities later.
The Antikythera Mechanism of Ancient Greece It is the oldest known complex mechanism that refers to a computer
Τhe mechanism is believed to have been an ancient analog mechanical computer and instrument of astronomical observations. Ιτ was discovered in a shipwreck off the Greek island of Antikythera. Based on the form of the Greek inscriptions it bears dates between 150 BC. and of 100 BC. On May 17, 1902, Valerios Stais, an archaeologist and director of the Archaeological Museum, noticed that one of the finds had a cogwheel embedded and visible inscriptions in astronomical terms.
The Greek Byzantine Empire was one of the longest-lived in the western world, from the 7th century AD – 15th Century AD
According to A. Heisenberg in his work “State and Society of the Byzantine Empire: Die Kutur der Gegenwart “B ‘, 4,1,1923, p. 364″ Byzantium is the” Christianized Roman State of the Greek Nation “. It was the place of the political and intellectual career of medieval Hellenism. The Byzantine Empire advocated Christianity as its only religion and accepted it as its supreme spiritual principle. It used the Greek language and accepted Greek as its only education. From the middle of the 7th century it is clearly identified with the history of the Greek Nation and tends to be the area of its political and cultural activity.
Mythological Greece is the country that created the first riddles
The most famous is the riddle of the Sphinx
The oracles of Delphi and Dodona also gave their prophecies in riddles .
Odysseus built the first war camouflage vehicle, the Trojan horse
Hidden in it, the Greeks entered the walls of Troy and defeated the Trojans
What makes Greece a Unique Country
The main feature of Greece that sets it apart from other countries is its unimaginable diversity. Nowhere else in such a narrow geographical area is there such a wide variety of land with high mountains next to beautiful plains and dreamy islands.
There are 41.214 Greek words in the English language
Τhe words of the English language (according to the Webster International dictionary) are 166,724 – and of these, 41,214 are Greek!!
Even more impressive, of course, is the medical terminology: of its 43,716 words, 20,346 are Greek. That is, in a total of 178,903 English words, 51,807 (29.24%) come from Greek !
It should be added that the well-known American Hellenist, Professor MacDonald, claims that the total number of Greek words reaches 600,000 (ie 3.4 times more than English and 4.3 times more than French).
Even if there was no other report, even if no pre-flood monuments had been saved, the Greek language would suffice as proof of the existence in the past, of an era of great civilization. In the Greek language is implanted all the knowledge that man has acquired, up to the present moment. Every Greek word carries a heavy burden of intellect.
Facts about the Modern Greeks
Despite their complex origins, their wide geographical spread and their cosmopolitan instincts, the modern Greeks are a remarkably homogeneous people, markedly different in character from neighboring peoples, united by a common enthusiasm for their national goals.
The Greeks are great patriots
The intense patriotic zeal of the Greeks, It can sometimes degenerate into arrogance and intolerance. That feeling sometimes can blinds their judgment and engages them in reckless ventures, but nevertheless contains the best guarantee for the ultimate achievement of its national goals. Their patriotic feeling, unfortunately, is subject to the exploitation of selfish demagogues and polititians, who compete in the exaggeration of national claims and in the flattery of national vanity.
The Greeks are very resilient
Together with other southern European peoples, the Greeks are particularly resilient, their passionate character easily easily offended by small challenges and trivial arguments. They are lively, sensitive, irritable, a child of the moment; in terms of temperament, are French rather than Italian or German and different from the Anglo-Saxons.
Greece and wars in the 20th Century
During the 20th century there were two World Wars and many others large but local. Greece participated in most of these wars. As a result of its participation in the wars, Greece integrated many regions, expanding its borders and increasing its population in the Balkan wars in 1913.
The Asia Minor Catastrophe, in 1922, caused great changes within the Greek state. Dealing with the refugee issue was the biggest challenge for Greeks during the interwar period.
The Occupation of Greece in the period 1941-1944 and the Civil War in 1946-1949 are two more tragic trials for the Greek people.
Major national anniversaries of Greece
The main national celebration in Greece is the day of Greek Independence March 25
The ΟΗΙ (no) day on October 28,
It celebrates Greece’s refusal to Mussolini’s demands and the subsequent victorious war against Italy in 1940
Greece in the WW2
Greece resisted the Axis invasion for 6 months, more than any other European country from October 1940 to April 1941
Greece is the undisputed leader in the number of archeological sites and museums in the world
Greece has more than 100 archeological museums. There are 18 monuments protected by UNESCO. Of these, 16 are cultural and historical monuments: the Athenian Acropolis, the Temple of Apollo, the Medieval City of Rhodes, the Oracle of Delphi, The Palace of Mycenae, Phaestos, Knossos etc. Two more monuments, Meteora and Mount Athos, are objects of cultural and natural heritage. Greece has co-signed since 1981 the UNESCO Treaty for the Protection of Monuments and World Heritage Sites. The goal of UNESCO is to protect against all kinds of decay and destruction, so that they can be inherited by future generations.