Greece

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Greece

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A country of southeast Europe on the southern Balkan Peninsula and including numerous islands in the Mediterranean, Aegean, and Ionian seas. Settled by Achaeans, Aeolians, Ionians, Minoans, and Dorians by 1000 B.C., the region grew as an amalgam of independent city-states, many of which established colonies throughout the Mediterranean by the eighth century B.C.. Classical Greek culture, centered around Athens, reached a high point in the fifth century B.C. before being conquered by Philip II of Macedon in 338 B.C.. The area was later controlled by the Roman and Byzantine empires before being absorbed into the Ottoman empire (1456). In 1829, Greece gained its independence and established a constitutional monarchy. The king was deposed following a military coup in 1967, and a democratic republic was established in 1975. Athens is the capital and the largest city. Population: 10,700,000.

 

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Although the first Greek photographers were active before the end of the 1840s, the medium was slow to develop, and a guide published in 1891 listed only 27 practitioners for the entire country. (Other Greeks ran photographic businesses in cities around the eastern Mediterranean, and as far away as the Crimea.) The pace quickened in the 20th century, with the spread of amateurism, the growth of an illustrated press, and coverage of the Balkan Wars by Greek photojournalists. As in the previous century, Greece continued to be an important destination for foreign photographers keen to record its ruins and ancient monuments for private or commercial purposes; the Swiss Fred Boissonnas (1858-1946), the German Herbert List, and the Russian George Hoyningen-Huene were among many to seek inspiration there. But Greek photographers of the mid-century included the dance and portrait specialist Nelly—probably the most internationally celebrated—Spiros Meletzis (b. 1906), Dimitris Harissiadis (1911-93), Kostas Balafas (b. 1920), and the modernist documentary photographer Voula Papaioannou (1898-1990). However, despite the foundation of the Greek Photographic Society (EFE) in 1952 and the organization of the First Panhellenic Exhibition of Photographic Art in Athens in 1956, the post-war photographic scene was undistinguished, with few critics or international contacts and a lack of outlets for art photography other than the country's amateur clubs. This situation, as Greek photographic historians have emphasized, persisted into the 1970s.In the last quarter of the 20th century, however, important new developments took place, centred mainly on Thessaloniki and Athens. In the former, where the journal Fotografia had been founded in 1977, Greece's first international photography festival, Parallaxis '85, was held in 1985, followed by the creation of an annual event, Photosynkyria, which took place between 1989 and 1996. In the capital, the Photography Centre of Athens had been founded in 1979, followed in 1986 by a privately funded Hellenic Centre of Photography, which the following year organized the first International Month of Photography—following the Parisian model—in Athens, an event that was repeated in 1989 and 1991. A further development, in 1996, was the inauguration of regular photographic festivals on the island of Skopelos. Meanwhile, photographic courses proliferated, international contacts became stronger, and the work of a growing number of young Greek photographers was successfully exhibited at home and abroad. Major historical shows included Athens 1839-1900: Photographic Testimonies (Athens, 1985), Das Land der Griechen mit der Seele Suchen (Cologne, 1990), and The Invention of Landscape: Greek Landscape and Greek Photography, 1870-1995 (Thessaloniki, 1996). Continuing problems, however, have been a shortage of public funds for major projects, and photographers' difficulty in finding a market for their work.

— Robin Lenman

Bibliography

• Xanthakis, A., History of Greek Photography (1988).
• Stathatos, J., The Invention of Landscape: Greek Landscape & Greek Photography, 1870-1995 (1996).
• Stathatos, J., Image and Icon: The New Greek Photography 1975-1995 (1997)

Greece In the ancient world Greece comprised an area of the Balkan peninsula comparable with that of modern Greece. It may be divided into three parts: (i) the peninsula south of the Isthmus of Corinth, known as the Peloponnese; (ii) the land north of the Isthmus roughly as far as the Ambracian Gulf in the west and the river Peneius in the east, which includes Thessaly and is in many contexts known as Greece proper (or mainland Greece); and (iii) the northern regions comprising Epirus, Macedonia, and Thrace, whose inhabitants were regarded as scarcely Greek by the states in the southern regions. For the main ethnic divisions of the Greek people in historical times, see HELLEN. To a large extent the north of Greece was cut off from the rest by the mountain ranges in that area, and Greece itself from the rest of Europe by the high mountain chain that runs from Thrace to Italy. Greece is a land dominated by mountains, which have been held to be the reason for the political development of the country into a scatter of independent states each centred on a pocket of arable land.

Despite the fact that Greece was made up of a large number of independent communities, the Greeks formed a single people, with one and the same civilization (see HELLAS); they spoke the same language and were distinguished thereby from the ‘barbarians’; there was a broad similarity in their political institutions (government in city-states, normally under oligarchic or democratic constitutions); they had a common religion and respected the same oracular shrines; they had a common heritage of literature from Homer onwards and their art, despite certain diversities, had unity; many of the Greek colonies were founded in common by emigrants from more than one state. The social unity of Greece manifested itself in the common festivals and games; and some degree of political unity was shown in the combined resistance to Persia. But the various attempts, such as that of Pericles, to consolidate this unity always collapsed before the jealously independent spirit of the different states.

The Greeks called their country Hellas and themselves Hellenes (originally the name of a tribe in south Thessaly). Graii, the local name of a tribe in west Greece, became the Latin name for the Greeks in general; Graeci and Graecia (‘Greeks’ and ‘Greece’) are derivatives from Graii. It has been suggested that the Graii took part in the colonization of Cumae, the oldest Greek colony in Italy, and from them the name was applied more widely. When the Romans created the province of Greece in 27 BC they called it Achaea.

The phrase ‘Greek world’ describes that part of the world at the time in question in which Greek was, or had become, the principal language, or was the language of the rulers and the administration. Apart from Greece and the Peloponnese, together with Epirus, Macedonia, and Thrace, it might include Magna Graecia and Sicily (during the Greek classical period; both were slowly Romanized), Egypt and Cyrenaica (see CYRENE), Asia Minor, and to a varying extent lands to the east and south: Syria, north Arabia, and even Mesopotamia (Iraq) and beyond. Rome began to take over the Greek world in the second century BC and had done so before the end of the first century BC.

Country in southeast Europe. The Italians attacked Greece in 1940--1941. The Greeks were able to hold off the Italians, but when the Germans joined the struggle in April 1941, all of Greece soon came under Axis control. Greece was divided between the Axis countries Germany, Italy and Bulgaria.

At first, the Germans delayed their attack on the Jews of Greece. One reason was that the Italians did not want to discriminate against the jews. This prevented the Nazis from separating the Jews from the rest of the population. Jews in the German section recognized this difference, and many escaped into Italian-occupied Greece. The Germans tried to halt this outflow by demanding that Jews wear the yellow badge. The Italians refused to require the Badge.

The systematic destruction of Greek Jewry, which began in early 1943, had three separate phases. The Jews of Salonika in German-occupied Greece were the first to be forced into Ghettos for Deportation. They were soon followed by the Jews in Bulgarian areas. The Italians repeatedly refused to deport the Jews living in their Greek territories, even though the Germans pressured them. The Italians knew what the Germans planned for the Jews. On a number of occasions, the Italians announced that Jews in their territories would be brought into Italy proper, or could be concentrated together on the Greek islands. However, after Italy broke away from the Axis in September 1943, Germany seized all of Italian Greece.

DieterWislicenyand Alois Brunner directed the anti-Jewish actions in Greece on behalf of Adolf Eichmann. In October 1943, the full range of Nazi anti-jewish laws was extended across the newly occupied territories. Jews were ordered to register themselves and their propertyÑor be shot.

In March 1944, Jews living in Athens were rounded up and deported by the Wehrmacht and Greek police. They were sent to the Extermination Camps in Poland. The property of these Jews was distributed to the general population in order to improve relations between the occupiers and the occupied. Many other Jews---perhaps 2,000---had been hidden due to the activism of Rabbi Barzilai and Christian Greeks. Many Jews in smaller towns and on the islands also avoided deportation as the warnings of Rabbi Barzilai and Archbishop Damaskinos echoed across the country. On the island of Volos, for example, 752 Jews were hidden and 130 deported. However, 1,800 to 2,000 Jews from Corfu were deported to their deaths in June 1944, as were 1,700 to 2,200 Jews from Rhodes one month later.

A number of Greek Jews participated in the uprising in Auschwitz-Birkenau in October 1944. Others were among the inmates who blew up a crematorium at the death camp.

Of GreeceÕs prewar Jewish population of some 77,000, at least 60,000 died in the Holocaust.

Reference to the history of psychoanalysis in Greece lends itself to reflection along two different lines.

First, there is the history of events—that is, the diachronic line of events that, between 1915 and the 1980s and 1990s, sustained the slow (and somewhat difficult, owing to discontinuities) establishment of a framework for the psychoanalytic movement in Greece, with all of the consequences, both positive and negative, that such a framework entailed for psychoanalytic circles. This chronology shows that, around 1920, a circle of intellectuals and teachers were actively studying the works of Sigmund Freud and publishing on practices in psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. However, the official medical community and the broader public remained indifferent or even hostile to these currents of thought.

The active presence of Princess Marie Bonaparte in Athens beginning in 1946 seemed to offer a way of changing things. The interest of academics and doctors was mobilized on the occasion of a visit by Anna Freud, who was invited to Athens in 1949, but this lasted only for the short duration of her stay. Only two psychiatrists, Démétrios Kouretas and Georges Zavitzianos; a poet, Andreas Embirikos; and a physician, Nicolas Dracoulides, were interested in pursuing more in-depth psychoanalytic training. These four men formed a working group, and, supported by Marie Bonaparte, were accepted as members of the Société psychanalytique de Paris (Psychoanalytic Society of Paris) in 1950. However, the group was to be short-lived: It disbanded a year later, the four analysts having chosen to settle in three different countries.

After the end of World War II and the civil war that ravaged Greece, the creation of a few institutional, psychodynamically oriented mental health centers made it feasible to organize lecture series, seminars, and group discussions in Athens; these developments seemed to portend a possible new beginning for analytic work. Colleagues from abroad—Serge Lebovici was the first—were prepared to offer assistance, beginning in 1957. Three Greek analysts working in different areas—Kouretas at the University of Athens, Pangiotis Sakellaropoulos at the Center of Thétokos, and Anna Potamianou at the Center for Mental Health and Research—provided the impetus, as hopes for a new beginning took shape. And once again, the central figures comprised two psychiatrists and one person from outside of that field.

Numerous attempts to ensure sustained and systematic collaboration did not yield results. It was not until 1982, after countless efforts and failures, and with the help of a group of analysts who had trained overseas (Athena Alexandris, Pierre Hartocollis, Stavroula Beratis), that a "Greek psychoanalytic group" gained formal recognition as a study group of the International Psychoanalytic Association (IPA). This group, which includes four teaching analysts, ten members, eight corresponding members, and twenty-six candidates, was designated by election as an IPA member society in 2001.

Between 1989 and 1995, two groups inspired by the work of Jacques Lacan, the Freudian Praxis, and the Athenian Circle of the European School of Psychoanalysis, as well as another group whose members wished to remain independent of any school, were formed. Still two other groups follow the teachings of Alfred Adler. Thus, the diachronic axis in Greece reveals considerable oscillation between forward movement and movements of regression-repetition, attesting to an unconscious, but definite, fidelity to Freudian thought in connection with the psychic trajectory of individuals and groups.

A second line of reflection brings out even more clearly the similarities between the course of development of psychoanalysis in Greece and the very essence of the Freudian Logos. Marked by a convergence between the Jewish soul and the Hellenistic spirit, Freud's thought engraved a path of complementary opposites and constraints that mirrors the history of psychoanalysis in Greece. That history, it seems, is the fruit of conflicts whose unexpected violence often astonished spectators; it is also the result of harsh schisms and mutilating projections, the revelatory details of which can be found in the writings of those involved in its difficult and laborious gestation.

Opposition and indifference arose within the group; analysts departed to seek training abroad. There were abortive attempts, productive convergences, jolts, and contacts. It is certain that the development of psychoanalysis was not exempt from tumultuous adventures in any country. However, it is equally certain that in this land that engendered what for Freud doubled as the alien element of the unconscious—that is, the discourse and myths of the ancient Greeks—the constraint of rejection and exclusion of analytic thought exerted its influence for too long. There are a variety of reasons for this, and they have been studied and discussed by such authors as Gerosimos Stephanotos, Athanase and Hélène Tzavaras and Anna Potamianou. Currently, this constraint has been eased somewhat. For Freud, the journey leading to Athens was not easy; the price he paid in terms of his autoanalysis was considerable. For Greek analysts today, there is certainly a price to be paid so that analysis may "be" in their country.

With regard to publications in Greek: Kouretas and Zavitzianos published numerous works, mainly concerning clinical practice and applied psychoanalysis. More recently, Greek psychoanalysts have mostly tended to publish in the language in which they received their training (English, French, or German), but numerous articles and several books, including four collaboratively written volumes, have also been written in Greek.

Bibliography

Potamianou, Anna. (1988). Episkepsis: Pensées autour de la visite d'Anna Freud à Athènes. Revue internationale d'histoire de la psychanalyse, 1, 247-254.

Stephanatos, Gerosimos. (1992). Un pari sous l'Acropole. Bulletin d'information du Quatrieme Groupe. 12, 56-63.

Tzavaras, Athanase. (1993). Psychanalyse "et" Grèce—dix ans après. IO—Revue Internationale de Psychanalyse, 4, 157-162.

Tzavaras, Hélène. (1993). Oedipe ou Ulysse? Identité et filiation de la psychanalyse en Grèce. IO—Revue Internationale de Psychanalyse, 4, 87-93.

Tzavaras, Hélène, and Tzavaras, Athanase. (1995). Au pays d'Oedipe. Panoramiques, 22, 156-158.

—ANNA POTAMIANOU

Greece is a country in the south of the Balkan Peninsula, bordering on the east with Turkey, on the north with Bulgaria and the Republic of Macedonia, and on the northwest with Albania. Greece is a mountainous country with ragged littoral and few plains. A large part of its territory consists of islands. The bulk of Greek lands entered early modern times as part of two states, the Ottoman Empire and the Venetian Republic.

Territories Under Ottoman Rule

Under Ottoman rule, cities were modest and of only regional importance except for a few provincial capitals and ports (Patra, Livadia, Ioannina, Larissa, Serres). The biggest city was Salonica; in the sixteenth century, it evolved into a large manufacturing center, and in the eighteenth became a major commercial port. Most of the population in the territories, especially in the country, was Orthodox Christian. Cities usually had large Christian and Muslim communities and small Jewish ones (except for Salonica, a Jewish metropolis). Some Muslims were originally settlers from Anatolia, but most were descendants of local converts. Muslims were predominantly Turkish-speaking except in Crete and Epirus, where large-scale conversions had taken place. Christian townspeople were mostly Greek-speaking; in the country, alongside ethnic Greeks (the majority in central and southern Greece, Crete, and the Islands), there also existed large Slavic, Aromunian, and Albanian populations. Jewish communities were predominantly Sephardic, but there also existed several Romaniot ones.

The Ottoman conquest of mainland Greece was essentially completed by 1460, that of the Aegean Islands by 1570. Crete was conquered in 1669. In general, the conquest of the mainland was rapid and did not cause major disruption in local life. The sixteenth century witnessed considerable demographic and economic growth. Large-scale construction projects, usually financed by imperial funds, together with religious, commercial, and learning establishments, supported by endowments, provided urban infrastructure; churches and monasteries were rebuilt and renovated. By the end of the century, a demographic decline was seen, accompanied by small-scale migratory movements. The mid-seventeenth century brought a severe economic crisis. This was followed by a large-scale demographic crisis that continued well into the eighteenth century and affected the settlement pattern. The eighteenth century witnessed major socioeconomic changes: consolidation of large estates in private—mainly Muslim—hands in the fertile parts of the country; growth of cattle breeding, manufacture, and commerce; intensification of trade with western Europe; establishment of commercial networks in central and eastern Europe; an explosion of banditry. Economic growth, together with changes in patterns of consumption, increasing mobility, and contact with Europe, led to cultural flourishing in many towns and cities.

The Greek lands were integrated in the Ottoman prebendal system and divided in provinces with a dual judicial/civil and executive/military administration. Towns were the seats of kadis, who combined judicial and administrative authority; provincial capitals were also the seats of military governors. Beneficence and welfare were provided by pious foundations, some of which were major owners of urban and rural property, while others were involved in moneylending. Craftsmen and traders were organized in guilds. The suppression of banditry was entrusted to—usually Christian—paramilitary troops (martolos/armatoloi).

Alongside the kadi, the governor and various officials, a body of "notables" (Muslim ayan; Christian prokritoi or kocabaşi) was involved in local administration. The prokritoi were usually elected every year by the heads of households and ran the affairs of the community. During the eighteenth century wealthy landowners and guildsmen became dominant in the election process, and oligarchic community leaderships emerged in many towns. At the same time, the ayan, consisting mainly of wealthy landowners and tax farmers, brought local administration under their control and acquired an institutional role in provincial decision making.

A fundamental misconception of the role of the church together with the presence of elaborate communal institutions led to the thesis of the "autonomy" or "self-government" of the Greek Orthodox under Ottoman rule. Actually, Christians were an integral part of the Ottoman society and made full use of Ottoman institutions, including that of the kadi court, to which they did not even hesitate to take members of the clergy. Communities, irrespective of their supposed origins, were in their structure and functions a product of Ottoman institutions and socioeconomic realities and emerged mainly as a means to cope with the administration of collectively assessed taxes. Admittedly, in some places the Ottoman authority was either weak or nonexistent. These included communities that were granted "privileges" at the time of the conquest, districts without resident Ottoman authorities, and regions that the state could not effectively control. But these self-governing communities were the exception, not the rule.

The consolidation of the Ottoman Empire led to the emergence of interregional networks that enabled the movement of people, goods, and ideas and reestablished a connection between Greece and southeastern Europe and the Near East. Greeks were also actively involved in the growing export-oriented commerce with the West, either acting as local agents for European merchants or trading in European cities. During the eighteenth century, a wave of emigration began from Greek regions to western Anatolia. The same century witnessed the growth of old diaspora communities and the creation of new ones, especially in central Europe. Relations with Russia also intensified, especially after the Ottoman-Russian treaty of Kuchuk Kainarji (1774), among the ramifications of which was the emergence of a Greek commercial marine under the Russian flag transporting goods in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.

Commercial activity also led to cultural interaction. Constantinople (Istanbul) seat of the Ottoman sultan and the Orthodox Christian patriarch, soon after its conquest became a center of Greek culture with empirewide influence. Greek reinforced its position as the language of religion, education, and commerce, which led to its spreading among the middle and upper classes of Orthodox Christians. In the eighteenth century, Smyrna (Izmir), Bucharest, and Jassy (Iaşi) emerged as major cultural centers outside Greece, while Greek books were printed in Venice and Vienna. By the end of the century, an Enlightenment movement had evolved in the diaspora communities and filtered into the commercial towns of Greece, often confronting the reaction of "traditionalists" and the church.

In the seventeenth and especially the eighteenth century, Greece captured European imagination both because of its ancient past and as part of the Ottoman Orient. Some Western travelers were disappointed by what they perceived as the uncivilized descendants of glorious ancestors; but, in the main, Philhellenism prevailed and helped create a romanticized view of noble Greece and Greeks suffering under the barbarous Turkish yoke. European perceptions led Greeks, especially in the diaspora, to a new awareness concerning their identity and place within European nations.

Notwithstanding nationalistic interpretations, prior to the Greek revolution (1821–1830) the Ottoman rule had not been challenged in most of the mainland. The only major Christian rebellion was the involvement of several regions and bands of martolos (paramilitary troops, usually Christian) from the Morea and Central Greece in the abortive enterprise of the Russian fleet under the Orloff brothers (1770). The eighteenth century, however, had witnessed the deterioration of relations between Christians and Muslims, generated by major socioeconomic changes. Intercommunal tensions heightened after the military defeats of the empire and the emergence of Russians as protectors of Orthodox Christians. By the early nineteenth century, several vague revolutionary plans circulated in the hope of exploiting the Russo-Ottoman confrontation, and a secret society after the model of the Carbonari based in Odessa, the Philike Hetaireia (Friendly Society), established a widespread network of prospective revolutionaries. In February 1821, the fear of imminent betrayal of the society's plans to the Ottomans led to a dual insurrection in the Danubian Principalities and the Morea, which soon spread in most Greek regions. Though the rebellion was soon suppressed in the north, it gained momentum in the south, and in January 1822 the Greek Republic was proclaimed.

Territories Under Venetian Rule

In the fifteenth century, Venice held several ports and coastal areas in central Greece the Morea, and some Aegean islands, as well as Corfu, Euboea, and Crete. At the turn of the century, it annexed most of the Ionian Islands, but by 1550 it had lost most of its other possessions to the Ottomans. In 1669 Crete also passed into Ottoman hands. The Morea came briefly under Venetian occupation (1685–1715), but the only Greek territories to remain under its rule until 1797 were the Ionian Islands. The bulk of the population consisted of Greek-speaking Orthodox Christians, but among the gentry, many were of Venetian or Italian origin, professing the Catholic faith. In the towns there also existed Jewish communities.

Venetian possessions were administered by governors appointed by the metropolis under the supervision of a high official called the general provveditor for the east. Local administrative institutions were not uniform, mainly because the various territories were annexed at different times. The Venetian-held territories, however, underwent similar socioeconomic developments, which differed substantially from those in the regions under Ottoman rule. The most prominent differences include the preservation of serfdom and other feudal institutions, especially in Crete and Corfu, the inferior position of the Orthodox Church, and the division of urban population in estates: burghers (cittadini) and common people (popolani), in Crete also noblemen (nobili).

Differences between Venetian and Ottoman territories are especially obvious in the cultural domain. Venice, the metropolis, seat of a thriving Greek community, and a cultural center of the Greek-speaking world, was a mediator of Western culture to Greeks. The University of Padua became a major learning center for Greeks. Direct contact with developments in Italy led to a boost in literary, theatrical, and artistic production in Crete that bears the stamp of Renaissance and baroque, while in the eighteenth century, poetry and drama flourished in the Ionian Islands.

Bibliography

Clogg, Richard. "Elite and Popular Culture in Greece under Turkish Rule." In Hellenic Perspectives, edited by John T. A. Koumoulides, pp. 107–144. Lanham, Md., 1980.

——. "The Greek Millet in the Ottoman Empire." In Christians and Jews in the Ottoman Empire, edited by Benjamin Braude and Bernard Lewis, vol. 1, pp. 185–208. New York, 1982.

Gara, Eleni. "In Search of Communities in Seventeenth-Century Ottoman Sources: The Case of the Kara Ferye District." Turcica 30 (1998): 135–162.

Greene, Molly. A Shared World: Christians and Muslims in the Early Modern Mediterranean. Princeton, 2000.

Holton, David, ed. Literature and Society in Renaissance Crete. Cambridge, U.K., 1991.

Kitromilides, Paschalis M. The Enlightenment as Social Criticism: Iosipos Moisiodax and Greek Culture in the Eighteenth Century. Princeton, 1992.

Roudometof, Victor. "From Rum Millet to Greek Nation: Enlightenment, Secularization, and National Identity in Ottoman Balkan Society, 1453–1821." Journal of Modern Greek Studies 16, no. 1 (1998): 11–48.

Tsigakou, Fani-Maria. The Rediscovery of Greece: Travelers and Painters of the Romantic Era. New Rochelle, N.Y., 1981.

—ELENI GARA

Republic in southeastern Europe on the southern part of the Balkan Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Athens.

• Greece is a member of NATO.
• Ancient Greek culture, particularly as developed in Athens, was the principal source of Western civilization.
• Tension and fighting between Greece and Turkey has continued for hundreds of years.
• It is known for its production of grapes, olives, and olive oil.

The international dialing code for Greece is:   30

It is 9:48 AM, November 28, in Greece.

Greece - Euro

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Background:

Greece achieved independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1829. During the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, it gradually added neighboring islands and territories, most with Greek-speaking populations. In World War II, Greece was first invaded by Italy (1940) and subsequently occupied by Germany (1941-44); fighting endured in a protracted civil war between supporters of the king and Communist rebels. Following the latter's defeat in 1949, Greece joined NATO in 1952. A military dictatorship, which in 1967 suspended many political liberties and forced the king to flee the country, lasted seven years. The 1974 democratic elections and a referendum created a parliamentary republic and abolished the monarchy. In 1981, Greece joined the EC (now the EU); it became the 12th member of the European Economic and Monetary Union in 2001.

Location:	Southern Europe, bordering the Aegean Sea, Ionian Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea, between Albania and Turkey
Geographic coordinates:	39 00 N, 22 00 E
Map references:	Europe
Area:	total: 131,940 sq km land: 130,800 sq km water: 1,140 sq km
Area - comparative:	slightly smaller than Alabama
Land boundaries:	total: 1,228 km border countries: Albania 282 km, Bulgaria 494 km, Turkey 206 km, Macedonia 246 km
Coastline:	13,676 km
Maritime claims:	territorial sea: 12 nm continental shelf: 200 m depth or to the depth of exploitation
Climate:	temperate; mild, wet winters; hot, dry summers
Terrain:	mostly mountains with ranges extending into the sea as peninsulas or chains of islands
Elevation extremes:	lowest point: Mediterranean Sea 0 m highest point: Mount Olympus 2,917 m
Natural resources:	lignite, petroleum, iron ore, bauxite, lead, zinc, nickel, magnesite, marble, salt, hydropower potential
Land use:	arable land: 20.45% permanent crops: 8.59% other: 70.96% (2005)
Irrigated land:	14,530 sq km (2003)
Total renewable water resources:	72 cu km (2005)
Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural):	total: 8.7 cu km/yr (16%/3%/81%) per capita: 782 cu m/yr (1997)
Natural hazards:	severe earthquakes
Environment - current issues:	air pollution; water pollution
Environment - international agreements:	party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulfur 94, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds
Geography - note:	strategic location dominating the Aegean Sea and southern approach to Turkish Straits; a peninsular country, possessing an archipelago of about 2,000 islands

Population:	10,737,428 (July 2009 est.)
Age structure:	0-14 years: 14.3% (male 788,722/female 742,270) 15-64 years: 66.6% (male 3,568,660/female 3,578,344) 65 years and over: 19.2% (male 902,617/female 1,156,815) (2009 est.)
Median age:	total: 41.8 years male: 40.7 years female: 42.9 years (2009 est.)
Population growth rate:	0.127% (2009 est.)
Birth rate:	9.45 births/1,000 population (2009 est.)
Death rate:	10.42 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.)
Net migration rate:	2.33 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2009 est.)
Urbanization:	urban population: 61% of total population (2008) rate of urbanization: 0.6% annual rate of change (2005-10 est.)
Sex ratio:	at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.78 male(s)/female total population: 0.96 male(s)/female (2009 est.)
Infant mortality rate:	total: 5.16 deaths/1,000 live births male: 5.68 deaths/1,000 live births female: 4.62 deaths/1,000 live births (2009 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:	total population: 79.66 years male: 77.11 years female: 82.37 years (2009 est.)
Total fertility rate:	1.37 children born/woman (2009 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:	0.2% (2007 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:	11,000 (2007 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths:	fewer than 100 (2007 est.)
Nationality:	noun: Greek(s) adjective: Greek
Ethnic groups:	population: Greek 93%, other (foreign citizens) 7% (2001 census) note: percents represent citizenship, since Greece does not collect data on ethnicity
Religions:	Greek Orthodox 98%, Muslim 1.3%, other 0.7%
Languages:	Greek 99% (official), other 1% (includes English and French)
Literacy:	definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 96% male: 97.8% female: 94.2% (2001 census)
School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education):	total: 17 years male: 17 years female: 17 years (2006)
Education expenditures:	4.4% of GDP (2005)

Country name:	conventional long form: Hellenic Republic conventional short form: Greece local long form: Elliniki Dhimokratia local short form: Ellas or Ellada former: Kingdom of Greece
Government type:	parliamentary republic
Capital:	name: Athens geographic coordinates: 37 59 N, 23 44 E time difference: UTC+2 (7 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October
Administrative divisions:	51 prefectures (nomoi, singular - nomos) and 1 autonomous region*; Achaia, Agion Oros* (Mt. Athos), Aitolia kai Akarnania, Argolis, Arkadia, Arta, Attiki, Chalkidiki, Chanion, Chios, Dodekanisos, Drama, Evros, Evrytania, Evvoia, Florina, Fokidos, Fthiotis, Grevena, Ileia, Imathia, Ioannina, Irakleion, Karditsa, Kastoria, Kavala, Kefallinia, Kerkyra, Kilkis, Korinthia, Kozani, Kyklades, Lakonia, Larisa, Lasithi, Lefkas, Lesvos, Magnisia, Messinia, Pella, Pieria, Preveza, Rethynnis, Rodopi, Samos, Serrai, Thesprotia, Thessaloniki, Trikala, Voiotia, Xanthi, Zakynthos
Independence:	1829 (from the Ottoman Empire)
National holiday:	Independence Day, 25 March (1821)
Constitution:	11 June 1975; amended March 1986 and April 2001
Legal system:	based on codified Roman law; judiciary divided into civil, criminal, and administrative courts; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations
Suffrage:	18 years of age; universal and compulsory
Executive branch:	chief of state: President Karolos PAPOULIAS (since 12 March 2005) head of government: Prime Minister Konstandinos (Kostas) KARAMANLIS (since 7 March 2004) cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president on the recommendation of the prime minister elections: president elected by parliament for a five-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held 8 February 2005 (next to be held by February 2010); president appoints leader of the party securing plurality of vote in election to become prime minister and form a government election results: Karolos PAPOULIAS elected president; number of parliamentary votes, 279 out of 300
Legislative branch:	unicameral Parliament or Vouli ton Ellinon (300 seats; members are elected by direct popular vote to serve four-year terms) elections: last held 16 September 2007 (next to be held by 2011) election results: percent of vote by party - ND 41.8%, PASOK 38.1%, KKE 8.2%, Synaspismos 5%, LAOS 3.8%, other 3.1%; seats by party - ND 152, PASOK 102, KKE 22, Synaspismos 14, LAOS 10
Judicial branch:	Supreme Judicial Court; Special Supreme Tribunal; all judges are appointed for life by the president after consultation with a judicial council
Political parties and leaders:	Coalition of the Radical Left or SYRIZA [Alekos ALAVANOS]; Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist) [Gr. KONSTANTOPOULOS]; Communist Party of Greece or KKE [Aleka PAPARIGA]; Democratic Revival [Stelios PAPATHEMELIS]; Democratic Universal Hellas [Stergio KRIKELISI]; Ecologist Greens [Ioanna KONTOULI]; Fighting Socialist Party [Nikos KARGOPOULOS]; Greek Ecologists [Dimosthenis VERGIS]; Liberal Alliance [Foris PERIKOS]; Liberal Party [Manolis KALIGIANNIS]; Light-Truth-Justice [Konstantinos MELISSOURGOS]; New Democracy or ND [Konstandinos KARAMANLIS]; Organization for the Reconstruction of the Communist Party of Greece [Ilias ZAFIROPOULOS]; Panhellenic Socialist Movement or PASOK [Yiorgos PAPANDREOU]; Popular Orthodox Rally or LAOS [Yeoryios KARATZAFERIS]; Radical Left Front [D. DESILLAS]; Regional Urban Development [Nikolaos KOLITIS]; Salvation Party Christian Democracy [Alkiviadis STOILIS]; Union of Centrists [Vassilis LEVENTIS]; United Anti-Capitalist Left [Konstantinos PAPDAKIS]
Political pressure groups and leaders:	Civil Servants Confederation or ADEDY [Spyros PAPASPYROS]; Federation of Greek Industries or SEV [Dimitris DASKALOPOULOS]; General Confederation of Greek Workers or GSEE [Ioannis PANAGOPOULOS]
International organization participation:	Australia Group, BIS, BSEC, CE, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, EIB, EMU, ESA, EU, FAO, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC, MIGA, MINURSO, NAM (guest), NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OIF, OPCW, OSCE, PCA, Schengen Convention, SECI, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIFIL, UNMIS, UNOMIG, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WEU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO, ZC
Diplomatic representation in the US:	chief of mission: Ambassador Alexandros P. MALLIAS chancery: 2217 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 939-1300 FAX: [1] (202) 939-1324 consulate(s) general: Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Tampa consulate(s): Atlanta, Houston
Diplomatic representation from the US:	chief of mission: Ambassador Daniel V. SPECKHARD embassy: 91 Vasilisis Sophias Avenue, 10160 Athens mailing address: PSC 108, APO AE 09842-0108 telephone: [30] (210) 721-2951 FAX: [30] (210) 645-6282 consulate(s) general: Thessaloniki
Flag description:	nine equal horizontal stripes of blue alternating with white; there is a blue square in the upper hoist-side corner bearing a white cross; the cross symbolizes Greek Orthodoxy, the established religion of the country

Economy - overview:	Greece has a capitalist economy with the public sector accounting for about 40% of GDP and with per capita GDP at least 75% of the leading euro-zone economies. Tourism provides 15% of GDP. Immigrants make up nearly one-fifth of the work force, mainly in agricultural and unskilled jobs. Greece is a major beneficiary of EU aid, equal to about 3.3% of annual GDP. The Greek economy grew by nearly 4.0% per year between 2003 and 2007, due partly to infrastructural spending related to the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, and in part to an increased availability of credit, which has sustained record levels of consumer spending. But growth dropped to 2.8% in 2008, as a result of the world financial crisis and tightening credit conditions. Greece violated the EU's Growth and Stability Pact budget deficit criteria of no more than 3% of GDP from 2001 to 2006, but finally met that criteria in 2007-08. Public debt, inflation, and unemployment are above the euro-zone average, but are falling. The Greek Government continues to grapple with cutting government spending, reducing the size of the public sector, and reforming the labor and pension systems, in the face of often vocal opposition from the country's powerful labor unions and the general public. The economy remains an important domestic political issue in Greece and, while the ruling New Democracy government has had some success in improving economic growth and reducing the budget deficit, Athens faces long-term challenges in its effort to continue its economic reforms, especially social security reform and privatization.
GDP (purchasing power parity):	$343.6 billion (2008 est.) $334.2 billion (2007) $321.4 billion (2006) note: data are in 2008 US dollars
GDP (official exchange rate):	$373.5 billion (2008 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:	2.8% (2008 est.) 4% (2007 est.) 4.2% (2006 est.)
GDP - per capita (PPP):	$32,000 (2008 est.) $31,200 (2007 est.) $30,100 (2006 est.) note: data are in 2008 US dollars
GDP - composition by sector:	agriculture: 3.5% industry: 23.4% services: 73.1% (2008 est.)
Labor force:	4.96 million (2008 est.)
Labor force - by occupation:	agriculture: 12.4% industry: 22.4% services: 65.1% (2005 est.)
Unemployment rate:	8% (2008 est.)
Population below poverty line:	NA%
Household income or consumption by percentage share:	lowest 10%: 2.5% highest 10%: 26% (2000 est.)
Distribution of family income - Gini index:	33 (2005)
Investment (gross fixed):	24.9% of GDP (2008 est.)
Budget:	revenues: $132.4 billion expenditures: $143.8 billion (2008 est.)
Fiscal year:	calendar year
Public debt:	90.1% of GDP (2008 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):	4.4% (2008 est.)
Central bank discount rate:	NA
Commercial bank prime lending rate:	7.71% (31 December 2007)
Stock of money:	NA note: see entry for the European Union for money supply in the euro area; the European Central Bank (ECB) controls monetary policy for the 16 members of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU); individual members of the EMU do not control the quantity of money and quasi money circulating within their own borders
Stock of quasi money:	NA
Stock of domestic credit:	$392.4 billion (31 December 2007)
Market value of publicly traded shares:	$264.9 billion (31 December 2007)
Agriculture - products:	wheat, corn, barley, sugar beets, olives, tomatoes, wine, tobacco, potatoes; beef, dairy products
Industries:	tourism, food and tobacco processing, textiles, chemicals, metal products; mining, petroleum
Industrial production growth rate:	3.2% (2008 est.)
Electricity - production:	59.33 billion kWh (2007 est.)
Electricity - consumption:	55.98 billion kWh (2006 est.)
Electricity - exports:	269 million kWh (2007 est.)
Electricity - imports:	5.894 billion kWh (2007 est.)
Electricity - production by source:	fossil fuel: 94.5% hydro: 3.8% nuclear: 0% other: 1.7% (2001)
Oil - production:	4,265 bbl/day (2007 est.)
Oil - consumption:	441,400 bbl/day (2007 est.)
Oil - exports:	125,100 bbl/day (2005)
Oil - imports:	527,200 bbl/day (2005)
Oil - proved reserves:	10 million bbl (1 January 2008 est.)
Natural gas - production:	24 million cu m (2007 est.)
Natural gas - consumption:	4.069 billion cu m (2007 est.)
Natural gas - exports:	0 cu m (2007 est.)
Natural gas - imports:	4.1 billion cu m (2007 est.)
Natural gas - proved reserves:	1.982 billion cu m (1 January 2008 est.)
Current account balance:	-$36.26 billion (2008 est.)
Exports:	$27.4 billion f.o.b. (2008 est.)
Exports - commodities:	food and beverages, manufactured goods, petroleum products, chemicals, textiles
Exports - partners:	Germany 11.6%, Italy 10.8%, Cyprus 6.6%, Bulgaria 6.5%, UK 5.5%, Romania 4.5%, France 4.2%, US 4.2% (2007)
Imports:	$82.28 billion f.o.b. (2008 est.)
Imports - commodities:	machinery, transport equipment, fuels, chemicals
Imports - partners:	Germany 12.9%, Italy 11.7%, Russia 5.6%, France 5.6%, China 5%, Netherlands 5% (2007)
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:	$2.425 billion (31 December 2008 est.)
Debt - external:	$92.19 billion (31 December 2008 est.)
Stock of direct foreign investment - at home:	$55.19 billion (2008 est.)
Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad:	$25.33 billion (2008 est.)
Currency (code):	euro (EUR)
Currency code:	EUR
Exchange rates:	euros (EUR) per US dollar - 0.6827 (2008 est.), 0.7345 (2007), 0.7964 (2006), 0.8041 (2005), 0.8054 (2004)

Telephones - main lines in use:	6.227 million (2007)
Telephones - mobile cellular:	11.997 million (2007)
Telephone system:	general assessment: adequate, modern networks reach all areas; good mobile telephone and international service domestic: microwave radio relay trunk system; extensive open-wire connections; submarine cable to offshore islands international: country code - 30; landing point for the SEA-ME-WE-3 optical telecommunications submarine cable that provides links to Europe, Middle East, and Asia; a number of smaller submarine cables provide connectivity to various parts of Europe, the Middle East, and Cyprus; tropospheric scatter; satellite earth stations - 4 (2 Intelsat - 1 Atlantic Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean, 1 Eutelsat, and 1 Inmarsat - Indian Ocean region)
Radio broadcast stations:	AM 26, FM 88, shortwave 4 (1998)
Radios:	5.02 million (1997)
Television broadcast stations:	36 (plus 1,341 repeaters); also 2 stations in the US Armed Forces Radio and Television Service (1995)
Televisions:	2.54 million (1997)
Internet country code:	.gr
Internet hosts:	1.626 million (2008)
Internet Service Providers (ISPs):	27 (2000)
Internet users:	2.54 million (2007)

Airports:	81 (2008)
Airports - with paved runways:	total: 66 over 3,047 m: 5 2,438 to 3,047 m: 15 1,524 to 2,437 m: 20 914 to 1,523 m: 17 under 914 m: 9 (2008)
Airports - with unpaved runways:	total: 15 914 to 1,523 m: 3 under 914 m: 12 (2008)
Heliports:	9 (2007)
Pipelines:	gas 1,197 km; oil 75 km (2008)
Railways:	total: 2,571 km standard gauge: 1,565 km 1.435-m gauge (764 km electrified) narrow gauge: 961 km 1.000-m gauge; 22 km 0.750-m gauge dual gauge: 23 km combined 1.435 m and 1.000-m gauges (three rail system) (2006)
Roadways:	total: 117,533 km paved: 107,895 km (includes 880 km of expressways) unpaved: 9,638 km (2005)
Waterways:	6 km note: Corinth Canal (6 km) crosses the Isthmus of Corinth; shortens sea voyage by 325 km (2008)
Merchant marine:	total: 869 by type: bulk carrier 260, cargo 66, carrier 1, chemical tanker 66, combination ore/oil 2, container 45, liquefied gas 10, passenger 13, passenger/cargo 115, petroleum tanker 274, roll on/roll off 15, specialized tanker 2 foreign-owned: 64 (Belgium 16, Cyprus 7, Turkey 1, UK 32, US 8) registered in other countries: 2,357 (Antigua and Barbuda 3, Bahamas 209, Barbados 12, Belize 1, Bermuda 9, Brazil 1, Cambodia 3, Cayman Islands 16, China 2, Comoros 6, Cyprus 259, Denmark 4, Dominica 10, Egypt 8, Georgia 5, Gibraltar 6, Honduras 4, Hong Kong 22, Isle of Man 50, Italy 6, Jamaica 6, North Korea 1, Lebanon 2, Liberia 358, Maldives 1, Malta 452, Marshall Islands 269, Norway 3, Panama 510, Philippines 4, Portugal 4, Russia 1, Saint Kitts and Nevis 3, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 71, Sao Tome and Principe 1, Saudi Arabia 3, Sierra Leone 1, Singapore 15, Slovakia 2, Turkey 1, UAE 3, Uruguay 1, Vanuatu 1, Venezuela 3, unknown 5) (2008)
Ports and terminals:	Agioitheodoroi, Aspropyrgos, Pachi, Piraeus, Thessaloniki

Military branches:	Hellenic Army (Ellinikos Stratos, ES), Hellenic Navy (Ellinikos Polemiko Navtiko, EPN), Hellenic Air Force (Elliniki Polimiki Aeroporia, EPA) (2009)
Military service age and obligation:	19-45 years of age for compulsory military service; during wartime the law allows for recruitment beginning January of the year of inductee's 18th birthday, thus including 17 year olds; 17 years of age for volunteers; conscript service obligation - 1 year for all services; women are eligible for voluntary military service (2008)
Manpower available for military service:	males age 16-49: 2,535,174 females age 16-49: 2,517,273 (2008 est.)
Manpower fit for military service:	males age 16-49: 2,067,878 females age 16-49: 2,050,289 (2009 est.)
Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually:	male: 53,401 female: 50,084 (2009 est.)
Military expenditures:	4.3% of GDP (2005 est.)

Disputes - international:	Greece and Turkey continue discussions to resolve their complex maritime, air, territorial, and boundary disputes in the Aegean Sea; Cyprus question with Turkey; Greece rejects the use of the name Macedonia or Republic of Macedonia; the mass migration of unemployed Albanians still remains a problem for developed countries, chiefly Greece and Italy
Illicit drugs:	a gateway to Europe for traffickers smuggling cannabis and heroin from the Middle East and Southwest Asia to the West and precursor chemicals to the East; some South American cocaine transits or is consumed in Greece; money laundering related to drug trafficking and organized crime

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Easter Menu Roast lamb seasoned with herbs Mayeritsa (Easter soup with lamb meat and bones and vegetables) Lambropsoma (Easter bread) Rice or orzo (a rice-shaped pasta) Salad Baklava

Recipes

Avgolemono (Egg-Lemon Soup)
Moussaka (Lamb-Eggplant Casserole)
Arni Souvlakia (Lamb on Skewers)
Lambropsoma (Greek Easter Bread)
Melopitta (Honey Pie)
Kourabiethes (Butter Cookies)
Tzatziki (Cucumber-Yogurt Sauce)
Greek Salad
Greek Salad Dressing
Patates Fourno Riganates (Baked Potatoes)
Frouta Ke Yaourti (Fruit Salad)

Geographic Setting and Environment

Greece is the southernmost country in the Balkan Peninsula, the region that includes Albania, Macedonia, and Bulgaria to the north. It has a total area of 131,940 square kilometers (50,942 square miles). About a fifth of the area is composed of more than 1,400 islands in the Ionian and Aegean seas. About four-fifths of Greece is mountainous, including most of the islands.

Oranges, olives, dates, almonds, pomegranates, figs, grapes, tobacco, cotton, and rice abound in the areas of lower elevation, primarily in the east. Among Greece's main environmental problems are industrial smog and automobile exhaust fumes in the area around the capital, Athens. The smog regularly sends Greeks to the hospital with respiratory and heart complaints.

History and Food

Greek cooking traditions date back thousands of years. Greeks today eat some of the same dishes their ancestors did in ancient times. These include dolmades (stuffed grape leaves) and many of the same fruits, vegetables, and grain products. A Greek, Archestratus, is thought to have written the first cookbook in 350 B.C.

The Greek diet has been influenced by traditions from both the East and West. In ancient times, the Persians introduced Middle Eastern foods, such as yogurt, rice, and sweets made from nuts, honey, and sesame seeds. In 197 B.C., when Rome invaded Greece, the Romans brought with them foods that are typical in Italy today including pasta and sauces. Arab influences have left their mark in the southern part of Greece. Spices such as cumin, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves play a prominent role in the diet of these regions. The Turks later introduced coffee to Greece. Potatoes and tomatoes were brought from New World after exploration of the Americas began about five hundred years ago.

Foods of the Greeks

Fresh fruits and vegetables play a large role in the Greek diet. With its long coastline, Greece also relies heavily on fish and seafood. Meat tends to play a less important role. It is often used as an ingredient in vegetable dishes instead of as a main dish. The islands and coastal areas of Greece favor lighter dishes that feature vegetables or seafood. In contrast, the inland regions use more meat and cheese in their cooking.

See Avgolemono (Egg-Lemon Soup) recipe.

See Moussaka (Lamb-Eggplant Casserole) recipe.

See Arni Souvlakia (Lamb on Skewers) recipe.

Food for Religious and Holiday Celebrations

Greece is a mostly Orthodox Christian country, and many Greeks observe the church's fast days. On these days, they eat either no meat or no food at all. There are strict dietary rules for Lent and Holy Week (the week before Easter). During Holy Week and on Wednesdays and Fridays in Lent, meat, fish, eggs, and dairy products are forbidden.

Greeks observe feasts as well as fasts. A roasted, stuffed turkey is eaten for Christmas, and a baby lamb or goat, roasted whole, is served for Easter dinner. A soup called mayeritsa, made with lamb parts is also eaten on Easter. Many traditional cakes are served for both Christmas and Easter. These include honey-dipped biscuits called finikia and shortbread cake-like cookies called kourabiethes. There is also a special New Year's cake called vasilopitta. Before Easter, hard-boiled eggs are painted bright red and then polished with olive oil. On Good Friday (the Friday before Easter) a special holiday bread called lambropsoma is baked. On Easter Sunday, family members crack their eggs against each other for good luck.

See Lambropsoma (Greek Easter Bread) recipe.

See Melopitta (Honey Pie) recipe.

See Kourabiethes (Butter Cookies) recipe.

Mealtime Customs

Greeks are not known for eating big breakfasts. Typical breakfast foods include bread, cheese, fresh fruit and, for adults, coffee. In rural areas, the main meal of the day is eaten at around 1:00 or 2:00 in the afternoon. It is followed by a rest period when schools and businesses close, allowing people to stay home during the hottest part of the day. In the cities, however, many people do not have time to go home for a large lunch. Instead they eat a light meal at midday and a larger dinner later on.

In the late afternoon, many Greeks help themselves to light refreshments called mezethes. These may consist of bread, fresh vegetables, cheese, olives, dips, or soup. Mezethes are sometimes served as appetizers at the beginning of a big meal. Like many other Europeans, Greeks eat their evening meal late—sometimes as late as 10 P.M. In the city, dinner is the main meal. In rural areas where a big lunch is eaten, dinner is lighter. The most common dessert in Greece is fresh fruit, but the Greeks also love to eat sweets, either as a snack or dessert.

Greeks are known for their hospitality. A traditional offering for guests is glyko, a thick jam made with fruit or a vegetable such as tomato or eggplant. It is served with ice water and coffee.

Since it is warm and sunny in Greece for so much of the year, eating outdoors is very popular.

See Tzatziki (Cucumber-Yogurt Sauce) recipe.

See Greek Salad recipe.

See Greek Salad Dressing recipe.

See Patates Fourno Riganates (Baked Potatoes with Oregano) recipe.

See Frouta Ke Yaourti (Fruit Salad) recipe.

Politics, Economics, and Nutrition

Greece has an abundance of native herbs, including thyme, basil, oregano, rosemary, and sage, and fruits, such as nectarines, oranges, peaches, and apples. Many Greek villagers farm, and herd sheep or goats for a living. Fish (providing protein) and other seafood are plentiful, as four seas surround the peninsula of Greece.

Many Greeks have adequate nutrition; however, there is a growing number of homeless children living and working on the streets. Laws to protect children are in place, but applied unevenly.

Further Study

Books

Beatty, Theresa M. Food and Recipes of Greece. Kids in the Kitchen: The Library of Multicultural Cooking. New York: Rosen Publishing Group, 1999.

Davidson, Alan. The Oxford Companion to Food. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Halvorsen, Francine. Eating Around the World in Your Neighborhood New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1998.

Villios, Lynne W. Cooking the Greek Way. Easy Menu Ethnic Cookbooks. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 1984.

Webb, Lois Sinaiko. Holidays of the World Cookbook for Students. Phoenix: Oryx Press, 1995.

Web Sites

Ellada.com. [Online] Available http://www.ellada.com/grarr15.html/ (accessed March 29, 2001).

Greek Food Festival. [Online] Available http://ww.greekfoodfest.com/recipes.htm (accessed March 29, 2001).

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Although ancient Greeks were renowned winemakers, modern Greeks certainly haven't been viewed in the same light until recently. Part of this unenviable contemporary image is attached to Greece's retsina wines, which for most outsiders is definitely an acquired taste. Greece started making inroads into modern wine-production techniques and quality control in the 1960s and 1970s as it worked to gain European Economic Community (EEC) membership, which was finalized in 1981. Starting in the early 1970s, the Greeks began implementing an appellation system based on the French model for their quality wines. As with other wine-quality systems, the qualifying categories are determined by several factors including the suitability and history of the grape variety, sugar levels, vineyard elevation, soil composition, yield per stremma (1⁄4 acre), and winemaking practices (such as barrel aging). There are four distinct Greek categories. OPAP (Onomasía Proeléfseos Anotéras Piótitos), Greece's "Appellation of Origin of Superior Quality," currently has twenty appellations. OPE (Onomasía Proeléfseos Eleghoméni), or "Controlled Appellation of Origin," has eight appellations and is for sweet wines made from muscat or mavrodaphne. Topikos Inos (local wine), the Greek equivalent to the French vins de pays has 139 appellations. This last category has a special designation-"Appellation by Tradition"-which includes retsina and Verdea. Epitrapezios Inos (table wine) is equivalent to the French vin de table and, as in countries like France and Italy, winemakers sometimes choose to make some of their highest-quality wines in this category in order to not be constrained by the restrictions of the higher categories. Three of Greece's top appellations producing red wines are Neméa, Náoussa, and Playies Melitona, the latter allowing the use of cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc varieties. Other key OPAP appellations are Daphnes, Limnos, Patras, Rhodes, Santorini, Sitia, and Zitsa. Top OPE appellations are Mavrodaphne of Patras and Muscat of Samos. For OPAP and OPE categories, the term Reserve means that white wines have been aged for 2 years and red wines for 3 years. "Grand reserve" signifies that white wines have aged for 3 years and red wines for 4 years. For table wines, the term Kava indicates that white wines have been aged for 2 years and red wines for 3 years. White wines labeled "Reserve," "Grand Reserve," and "Kava" are generally sweet. Greece's principal growing regions include the Peloponnese, the large peninsula in the south of Greece that produces about one-third of the total wines; Macedonia and Epirus in the north; Attica, the second most productive region, which is in the southeastern region around Athens; the Island of Crete, south of the mainland; and Cephalonia and other islands west of the mainland. There are also vineyards south and southeast of the mainland on the islands of Rhodes, Samos, and Santorini. The main white grapes of Greece are Savatiano (the most widely planted of all varieties), assyrtiko, Mavrodaphne, Moscophilero, Robola (ribolla), and Rhoditis. Red varieties include agiorgitiko (also called St. George and used in the well-known Neméa wines), Liatiko, Limnio, Mandilaria, Romeiko, and the highly respected xinómavro-used to make Naoussa. Also planted in large quantities are malvasia, used to make a malmsey-style wine called Monemvasia, and muscat, which makes a delicious dessert wine.

Magic in Ancient Greece

Magic in all of its aspects was native to the imagination and genius of the Greeks, as was the case with most ancient peoples. Evidence abounds in their theogony, mythology (essentially magical in conception and meaning), literature, sculpture, and history. The nature that surrounded them gave rise to their imaginations. The mountains and valleys, mysterious caves and fissures, vapors and springs of volcanic origin, and sacred groves were all, according to their character, dedicated to the gods. Parnassus was the abode of the sun-god Apollo; the lovely vale of Aphaca that of Adonis; the oak-groves of Dodona favored of Zeus; and the gloomy caves with their roar of subterranean waters the Oracle of Trophonius.

Innumerable instances of magical wonder-working are found in the stories of Greek deities and heroes. The power of transformation is shown in a multitude of cases, among them that of Bacchus who, by waving a spear, could change the oars of a ship into serpents and the masts into heavy-clustered vines. He could also cause tigers, lynxes, and panthers to appear amidst the waves and the terrified sailors leaping overboard to take the shape of dolphins. In the story of Circe, the enchantress took her magic wand and with her enchanted philter turned her lovers into swine.

The serpent-staff of Hermes gave, by its touch, life or death, sleep or waking; Medusa's head turned its beholders into stone; Hermes gave Perseus wings that he might fly and Pluto a helmet which conferred invisibility. Prometheus molded a man of clay and to give it life stole celestial fire from heaven; Odysseus, to peer into the future, descended to Hades in search of Tiresias the Soothsayer; Archilles was made invulnerable by the waters of the Styx.

Dedicated by immemorial belief, there were places where the visible spirits of the dead might be evoked and where men in curiosity, longing, or remorse strove to call back those who had passed beyond mortal ken. In March, when the spring blossoms appeared and covered the trees, the Festival of the Flowers was held at Athens. The Commemoration of the Dead also occurred in the spring. It was thought that the spirits of the deceased rose from their graves and wandered about the familiar streets, striving to enter the dwellings of men and the temples of the gods but were shut out by the magic of branches of whitethorn, or by knotted ropes and pitch.

Oracles

Of great antiquity and eminently of Greek character and meaning were the Oracles. For centuries they ministered to that longing ingrained in human nature to know the future and to invoke divine foresight and aid in the direction of human affairs, from those of a private citizen to the multitudinous needs of the state. Divination and prophecy became the great features of the oracles. They were inspired by various means, including intoxicating fumes, natural or artificial mind-altering drugs, the drinking of mineral springs, signs and tokens, and dreams.

The most famous Oracles were those at Delphi, Dodona, Epidaurus, and that of Trophonius, but others of renown were scattered over the country. Perhaps one of the earliest was that of Aesculapius, son of Apollo and called the Healer, the Dream-sender, because his healing was given through the medium of dreams that came upon the applicant while sleeping in the temple-courts, the famous temple-sleep. This temple, situated at Epidaurus, was surrounded by sacred groves and whole companies of sick persons lingered there in search of lost health and enlightenment through divine dreams.

Famous above all was that of Apollo, the Delphian oracle, on the Southern Slopes of Parnassus, where kings, princes, heroes, and slaves of all countries journeyed to ask the questions as to the future and what it might hold for them. The temple was built above a volcanic chasm, amid a wildness of nature that suggested the presence of the unseen powers. Here the priest-ess, the Pythia, so named after the serpent Pytho whom Apollo slew, was seated on a tripod placed above the gaseous vapors rising from the chasm. Intoxicated to a state of frenzy, her mouth foaming, wild torrents of words fell from her lips. These words were shaped into coherence and meaning by the attendant priests and given to the waiting questioner crowned with laurel, the symbol of sleep and dreams, who stood before the altar.

Priests and priestesses were also crowned with these leaves, which were sacred to Apollo and burned as incense. Before the Pythias chamber hung a falling screen of laurel branches, while at the festival of the Septerion every ninth year a bower of laurel was erected in the forecourt of the temple. One writer has left strange details, such as the rule that the sacred fire within the temple must only be fed with firwood, and although a woman was chosen as the medium of the prophetic utterance, no woman might question the oracle.

The Oracle of the Pelasgic Zeus at Dodona was the oldest of all. It answered by signs rather than inspired speech, by means of lots and the falling of water, or by the wind-moved clanging of brazen-bowls, two hollow columns standing side by side.

The three priestesses or Peliades (meaning doves) were given titles signifying the Diviner of the Future; the friend of man, Virtue; and the virgin-ruler of man, Chastity. For 2,000 years this oracle existed. It was consulted by those heroes of the ancient myths struggling in the toils of Fate—Hercules, Achilles, Ulysses and Aeneas—down to the later vestiges of Greek nationality.

The Oracle of Trophonius was also of great renown. Here there were numerous caverns filled with misty vapors and troubled by the noise of hidden waters far beneath. In this mysterious gloom the supplicants slept sometimes for nights and days, coming forth in a somnambulic state from which they were aroused and questioned by the attendant priests. Frightful visions were generally recounted, accompanied by a terrible melancholy, so that it passed into a proverb regarding a sorrowful man, "He has been in the cave of Trophonius."

Magic, in the sense of secret revelations, miraculous cures, prophetic gifts, and unusual powers, had always existed for the Greeks. The oracles were a human way of communicating with their gods on earth.

Magic in the sense of sorcery was introduced into Greece from Asia and Egypt. It had to fit into a conception of Fate as inexorable and inescapable for gods, rulers, and slaves alike, a belief which warred a form of magic that had for its primary aim a certain command of the destinies of man.

Good and evil and the perpetual strife between these two principles and the belief in demonology gradually evolved within Greek thought. It was said that the first mention of good and evil demons could be traced to the Pythagorean school. Not until after the Persian War was there a word in the Greek language for "magic." As these beliefs emerged, they were ascribed to the native deities, gradually becoming incorporated with the ancient histories and rites.

Sorcery and Enchantment

After the invasion by the Persians, Thessaly, where their stay was of lengthy duration, became famous for its sorceresses and their practices, engaging in miracles and magic enough to call down the moon or to brew magical herbs for love or death. Thus Apuleius in his romance The Golden Ass stated that when in Thessaly he was in the place, "…where, by common report of the world, sorcery and enchantments were most frequent. I viewed the situation of the place in which I was, nor was there anything I saw that I believed to be the same thing which it appeared to be. Insomuch that the very stones in the street I thought were men bewitched and turned into that figure, and the birds I heard chirping, the trees without the walls, and the running waters, were changed from human creatures into the appearances they were. I persuaded myself that the statues and buildings could move; that the oxen and other brute beasts could speak and tell strange tidings; that I should hear and see oracles from heaven conveyed in the beams of the Sun."

Homer told the tale of Circe the enchantress, with her magic philters and magic songs, but made no mention of Medea, the arch-sorceress of later times. Around her name the later beliefs clustered. All the evil arts were attributed to her. She became the witch par excellence, her infamy increasing from age to age.

The same was true of Hecate, the moon-goddess, at first sharer with Zeus of the heavenly powers, but later an ominous shape of gloom, ruler and lover of the night and darkness, of the world of phantoms and ghouls. Like the Furies she wielded the whip and cord; she was followed by hell hounds, by writhing serpents, lamiae, strygae and empusae, and figures of terror and loathing. She presided over the dark mysteries of birth and death; she was worshipped at night in the flare of torches. She was the three-headed Hecate of the crossroads where little round cakes or a lizard mask set about with candles were offered to her in propitiation, that none of the phantom mob might cross the threshold of man.

Love-magic and death-magic, the usual forms of sorcery, became common in Greece as elsewhere. Love philters and charms were eagerly sought, the most innocent being bitten apples and enchanted garlands. Means of protection against the evil eye became a necessity, tales of bewitchment were spread abroad, and misfortune and death were being brought upon the innocent and unwary by means of a waxen figure molded in their image and tortured by the sorceress.

In tombs and secret places, leaden tablets were buried with inscriptions of the names of foes and victims and pierced through with a nail in order to bring disaster and death upon them. At this time it became law that no one who practiced sorcery might participate in the Eleusinian Mysteries, and at Athens a Samian Sorceress, Theoris, was cast to the flames.

Orphic Magic

The introduction of Egyptian influences were due generally to the agency of Orpheus and Pythagoras, who, while in Egypt, had been initiated into the mysteries. The story of Orpheus shows him as preeminently the wonder-worker, but one of beneficence and beauty. To men of his time, everything was enchantment and prodigy. By the irresistible power of his music he constrained the rocks, trees, and animals to follow him; at his behest storms arose or abated. He was the necromancer, who by his golden music overcame the powers of darkness, and, descending to the world of shades, found his beloved Eurydice. They gained the upper air that brought her back to the living world.

Jealous women tore him limb from limb, and his head floated down the waters of the Hebrus and was cast on the rocky shores of Lesbos where, still retaining the power of speech, it uttered oracles that gave guidance to people. Orpheus was believed to have instructed the Greeks in medicine and magic, and for long afterward remedies, magical formulas, incantations, and charms were engraved upon Orphean tablets and the power of healing was ascribed to the Orphean hymns.

Pythagoras, a philosopher, geometrician, and magician who was tireless in the pursuit of knowledge, had an immense influence on the thought of his time. After his return from Egypt he founded a school where to those who had previously undergone severe and drastic discipline he communicated his wide and varied knowledge. He was also credited with miraculous powers such as being visible at the same hour in places as far apart as Italy and Sicily, taming a bear by whispering in its ear, and calling an eagle from its flight to alight on his wrist.

Mysteries

Among the greatest features of religious life were the mysteries held at periodic intervals in connection with the different deities, such as the Samothracian, the Bacchic, and, most famous of all, the Eleusinian. Their origin is to be traced mostly to a prehistoric nature-worship and vegetation-magic.

All these mysteries had three trials or baptisms by water, fire, and air, and three specially sacred emblems, the phallus, egg, and serpent, generative emblems sacred in many secret rites.

The Samothracian centered around four mysterious deities: Axieros, the mother; her children: Axiocersos, male; Axiocersa, female; and Casindos the originator of the universe. The festival probably symbolized the creation of the world and also the harvest and its growth. Connected with this mystery was the worship of Cybele, goddess of the earth, cities, and fields. Her priests, the Corybantes, dwelt in a cave where they held their ceremonies, including a wild and orgiastic weapon-dance, accompanied by the incessant shaking of heads and clanging of swords on shields.

The cult of Bacchus, it was thought, had been carried into Greece from Egypt by Melampus. He was the god of the vine and vegetation, and his mysteries typified the growth of the vine and the vintage—the winter sleep of all plant life and its renewal in spring. Women were his chief attendants—the Bacchantes, who, clashing cymbals and uttering wild cries in invocation of their god, became possessed by ungovernable fury and homicidal mania.

Greatest of all in their relation to Hellenic life were the Eleusinian Mysteries. These were the paramount interest and function of the state religion exerting the widest, strongest influence on people of all classes. The rites were secret and their details are practically unknown, but they undoubtedly symbolized the myth of Demeter, corn-goddess, and were held in spring and September.

Prior to initiation, a long period of purification and preparation was enforced. During this time the higher meaning of the myth was ingrained. The original meaning became exalted by the genius of the Greeks into an intimate allegory of the soul of man, its birth, life, death, descent into Hades, and subsequent release therefrom. After this came the central point of the mysteries, the viewing of certain holy and secret symbols; next, a crowning of garlands, signifying the happiness that arises from friendship with the divine. The festival also embodied a scenic representation of the story of Demeter, the rape of Persephone, the sorrow of the mother, her complaints before Zeus, and the final reconciliation.

Women played a great part in this, the reason being that as they themselves "produce," so by sympathetic magic their influence was conveyed to the corn, as when crying aloud for rain they looked upward to the skies, then down to the earth with cries of "Conceive!" These priestesses were crowned with poppies and corn, symbolical attributes of the deity they implored.

Divination

Besides the priests and priestesses attached to the different temples, there was an order of men called "interpreters," whose business was divining the future by various means such as the flight of birds and entrails of victims. These men often accompanied the armies in order to predict the success or failure of operations during warfare and thus avert the possibility of mistakes in the campaign. They fomented or repressed revolutions in state and government by their predictions.

The most celebrated interpreters were those of Elis, where in two or three families, notably the Iamidae and the Clytidae, this peculiar gift or knowledge was handed down from father to son for generations. There were also others who were authorized by the state, both men and women, who professed to read the future in natural and unnatural phenomena, eclipses, thunder, dreams, unexpected sight of certain animals, convulsive movement of eyelids, tingling of the ears, sneezing, and a few words casually dropped by a passerby.

In the literature and philosophies of Greece, magic in all its forms is found as a theme for imagination, discussion, and belief. In the hands of the tragic poets, sorceresses such as Circe and Medea became figures of terror and death, embodiments of evil.

Pythagoras left no writings but on his theories were founded those of Empedocles and Plato. In the verses of Empedocles he teaches the theory of reincarnation, he himself remembering previous existences wherein he was a boy, a girl, a plant, a fish and a bird. He also claimed to teach the secrets of miraculous medicine, of the reanimation of old age, of bringing rain, storm, or sunshine, and of recalling the dead.

Aristides, the Greek orator, gave exhaustive accounts of the many dreams he experienced during sleep in the temples and the cures prescribed therein. Socrates told of his attendant spirit or genius who warned him, and others through his agency, of impending danger, also foretelling futurity. Xenophon, treating of divination by dreams, maintained that in sleep the human soul reveals her divine nature, and, being freed from trammels of the body, gazes into futurity.

Plato, while inveighing against sorcery, took the popular superstitions relating to magic, demons, and spirits and used them as a basis for a spiritual and magical theory of things. On his teaching would be founded the Neo-Platonists school, which was among the most fervid defender of magic.

Aristotle stated that prediction is a purely natural quality of the imagination. Both precognition and telepathy were crucial in his reasoning. His philosophy allowed for the possibility of parapsychological phenomena even if it could not be scientifically proven. Another important figure and commentator from Ancient Greece, Plutarch gave an exhaustive account on the somnambulic states of the oracular priestess, Pythia, attributing them to possession by the divinity.

Vampirism

Some of the later superstitions of the Hellenic archipelago partake more of the nature of Slavonic tradition than that of the ancient inhabitants of Greece. One of the most notable circumstances in later Greek superstition relates to vampirism.

The vampire was called vroucolaca or broucolack by the Greeks, and appears to have come into Greek thought from the Slavic world in early medieval times. French researcher Augustine Calmet, author of Dissertations Upon the Apparitions of Angels, Daemons and Ghosts, and concerning … Vampires (1759) stated, "It is asserted by the modern Greeks, in defence of their schism, and as a proof that the gift of miracles, and the episcopal power of the keys, subsists in their church more visibly and evidently than in the church of Rome, that, with them, the bodies of excommunicated persons never rot, but swell up to an uncommon size, and are stretched like drums, nor ever corrupt or fall to dust, till they have received absolution from some bishop or priest. And they produce many instances of carcasses which have been in their graves uncorrupted, and which have afterwards putrefied as soon as the excommunication was taken off.

"They do not, however, deny that a body's not corrupting is sometimes a proof of sanctity, but in this case they expect it to send forth an agreeable smell, to be white or ruddy, and not black, stinking, and swelled like a drum, as the bodies of excommunicated persons generally are. We are told, that in the time of Manuel, or Maximus, patriarch of Constantinople, the Turkish emperor having the mind to know the truth of the Greek notion concerning the incorruption of excommunicated bodies, the patriarch ordered the grave of a woman, who had lived in a criminal commerce with an archbishop of Constantinople, to be opened. Her body being found entire, black and much swelled, the Turks put it into a chest, under the emperor's seal, and the patriarch having repeated a prayer, and given absolution to the deceased, the chest was opened three days after and the body was found reduced to ashes. It is also a notion which prevails among the Greeks, that the bodies of these excommunicated persons frequently appear to the living, both day and night, and speak to them, call upon them, and disturb them several other ways.

"Leo Allatius is very particular upon this head, and says, that in the isle of Chio, the inhabitants never answer the first time they are called, for fear of its being a spectre; but if they are called twice, they are sure it is not a Broucolack (this is the name they give these spirits). If any one appears at the first call, the spectre disappears, but the person certainly dies.

"They have no way to get rid of these evil genii, but to dig up the body of the person that has appeared, and burn it after having repeated over it certain prayers. By this means the body being reduced to ashes, appears no more. And they look upon it as a clear case, that either these mischievous and spiteful carcasses come out of their graves of their own accord, and occasion the death of the persons that see or speak to them; or that the devil himself makes use of these bodies to frighten and destroy mankind. They have hitherto discovered no remedy which more infallibly rids them of these plagues, than to burn or mangle the bodies which were made use of for these cursed purposes. Sometimes the end is answered by tearing out the heart and letting the bodies rot above ground before they burn them again, or by cutting off the head, or driving a large nail through the temples."

Sir Paul Rycaut in his The Present State of the Greek & Armenian Churches (1679) observed that the opinion that excommunicated bodies are preserved from putrefaction prevails not only among the Greeks, but also among the Turks, and he gives us a fact that he had from a caloyer (monk) of Candia, who confirmed it to him upon oath. The caloyer's name was Sophronius, a man well known and respected in Smyrna.

A man, who was excommunicated for a fault that he had committed in the Morea, died on the island of Milo and was buried in a private place, without any ceremonies, and in unconsecrated ground. His relatives and friends expressed great dissatisfaction that he was treated in this manner; soon after that the inhabitants of the island were tormented every night by frightful apparitions, which they attributed to this unhappy man. Upon opening the grave his body was found entire; his veins swelled with blood and a consultation was held upon the subject with the caloyers dismembering his body, cutting it in pieces, and boiling it in wine, which, it seems, is the usual manner of proceeding there in those cases.

The friends of the deceased prevailed upon them, by dint of entreaty, to delay the execution, and in the meantime sent to Constantinople to get absolution for him from the patriarch. Until the messenger could return, the body was laid in the church, and prayers and masses were said daily for the repose of his soul. One day while Sophronius, the caloyer above mentioned, was performing the service, there was suddenly heard a great noise in the coffin and upon examination the body was found reduced to ashes, as if it had been dead seven years. Particular notice was taken of the time when the noise was heard, and it was found to be the very morning when the absolution was signed by the patriarch. Sir Paul Rycaut, who has recorded this event, was neither a Greek nor Roman Catholic, but a staunch Protestant of the Church of England.

He observes upon this occasion that the notion among the Greeks is that an evil spirit enters into the excommunicated carcass and preserves it from corruption by performing the usual functions of the human soul in a living body. They suppose that these corpses eat by night and actually digest and are nourished by their food; that several have been found of a fresh, ruddy color, with their veins ready to burst with blood, full forty days after their death; and that upon being opened there is a large a quantity of warm, fresh blood as if it were coming from a healthy young person. This opinion prevails so universally, that everyone is furnished with a story to this purpose.

Father Theophilus Raynard, a Roman Catholic author of a particular treatise upon this subject, asserted that this return of the dead is an undoubted truth and is supported by unquestionable facts. He also argued that to pretend that these spec-tres are always excommunicated persons, and that the Church of Greece has a privilege of preserving the bodies of those who die in the church, is something that cannot be affirmed. It is certain that excommunicated bodies rot as well as others, and that several who have died in the communion of the church, Greek as well as Roman, have continued uncorrupted. (In the Western Roman tradition, to die and remain uncorrupted was a sign of great sanctity.) There have even been instances of this nature among the heathens, and frequently among other animals, whose carcasses have been found unputrefied in the ground, and among the ruins of old buildings.

In his book A Voyage Into the Levant (1741), J. Pittonde Tournefort gave an account of the digging up of a believed broucolack in the island of Mycone, where he was January 1, 1701.

Psychical Research & Spiritualism

Because of the religious control asserted by the Greek Orthodox Church in the decades since modern Greece attained independence from Turkey, Greece has been one of the most hostile countries to the emergence of religious pluralism. Spiritualism, Theosophy, and other new religious impulses, occult and other aspects of the parapsychological movement have found little open support among the people of the country. In common with other European countries, Greek scientists did take an active interest in psychical studies during the 1920s and 1930s. Prominent societies included the Hellenic Society of Psychical Research and the Society for Psychical Research and the Society for Psychic Studies. The most prominent researcher was Angelos Tanagras, a high ranking naval officer who edited the Revue Psychikae Creonae of Athens from 1925 onward. He proposed a theory of precognition which involved the psychokinetic action of the percipient, thus sidestepping the issue of determinism.

At the present time, there are two active societies: The Society for the Scientific Study of Metaphysics, Rue Agathoupoleus 104, Athens; and the Psychic Society of Athens, 32 Tsiller-str., Athens 905. Both publish periodicals.

A society operating on the island of Cyprus not far from Greece in the Mediterranean, a country that was often fought over by both the Turks and the Greeks, is Psychognosis. Run by Linda Leblanc and John Knowles, it is a center for the investigation of psychic phenomena of all kinds. The society's web-site can be reached at: http://www.psychognosis.com.

Sources:

Abbott, G. F. Macedonian Folklore. Chicago: Argonaut, Inc., 1909.

Apuleius. The Golden Ass. Trans. Adlington. London: William Heineman, 1935.

Berger, Arthur S., and Joyce Berger. The Encyclopedia of Parapsychology and Psychical Research. New York: Paragon House, 1991.

Fontenrose, Joseph. Python: A Study of Delphic Myth and Its Origins. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 1959.

Lawson, John C. Modern Greek Folklore and Ancient Greek Religion. 1910. Reprint, New Hyde Park, N.Y.: University Books, 1964.

Melton, J. Gordon. The Vampire Book: An Encyclopedia of the Undead. Detroit: Gale Research, 1994.

Psychognosis Center, Island of Cyprus. http://www.psychognosis.com. June 6, 2000.

Schwab, Gustav. Gods and Heroes: Myths and Epics of Ancient Greece. New York: Pantheon Books, 1946.

We knew thee of old,
Oh, divinely restored,
By the lights of thine eyes
And the light of thy Sword

From the graves of our slain
Shall thy valour prevail
As we greet thee again-
Hail, Liberty! Hail!

Long time didst thou dwell
Mid the peoples that mourn,
Awaiting some voice
That should bid thee return.

Ah, slow broke that day
And no man dared call,
For the shadow of tyranny
Lay over all:

And we saw thee sad-eyed,
The tears on thy cheeks
While thy raiment was dyed
In the blood of the Greeks.

Yet, behold now thy sons
With impetuous breath
Go forth to the fight
Seeking Freedom or Death.

From the graves of our slain
Shall thy valour prevail
As we greet thee again-
Hail, Liberty! Hail!

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