Friday, October 16, 2009
Friday, October 9, 2009
Greece ancient story
Ancient Greece is the term used to describe the Greek-speaking world in ancient times. It refers not only to the geographical peninsula of modern Greece, but also to areas of Hellenic culture that were settled in ancient times by Greeks: Cyprus, the Aegean coast of Turkey (then known as Ionia), Sicily and southern Italy (known as Magna Graecia), and the scattered Greek settlements on the coasts of what are now Albania, Bulgaria, Egypt, southern France, Libya, Romania, Catalonia, and Ukraine.
There are no fixed or universally agreed upon dates for the beginning or the end of the Ancient Greek period. In common usage it refers to all Greek history before the Roman Empire, but historians use the term more precisely. Some writers include the periods of the Greek-speaking Mycenaean civilization that collapsed about 1100 BC, though most would argue that the influential Minoan was so different from later Greek cultures that it should be classed separately.
In the modern Greek school-books, "ancient times" is a period of about 1000 years (from the catastrophe of Mycenae until the conquest of the country by the Romans) that is divided in four periods, based on styles of art as much as culture and politics. The historical line starts with Greek Dark Ages (1100800 BC). In this period artists use geometrical schemes such as squares, circles, lines to decorate amphoras and other pottery. The archaic period (800500 BC) represents those years when the artists made larger free-standing sculptures in stiff, hieratic poses with the dreamlike "archaic smile".
In the classical years (500323 BC) artists perfected the style that since has been taken as exemplary: "classical", such as the (Parthenon).
In the Hellenistic years that followed the conquests of Alexander (323146 BC), also known as Alexandrian, aspects of Hellenic civilization expanded to Egypt and Bactria.
Traditionally, the Ancient Greek period was taken to begin with the date of the first Olympic Games in 776 BC, but many historians now extend the term back to about 1000 BC. The traditional date for the end of the Ancient Greek period is the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC (The following period is classed Hellenistic) or the integration of Greece into the Roman Republic in 146 BC.
These dates are historians' conventions and some writers treat the Ancient Greek civilization as a continuum running until the advent of Christianity in the third century AD.
Ancient Greece is considered by most historians to be the foundational culture of Western Civilization.
Greek culture was a powerful influence in the Roman Empire, which carried a version of it to many parts of Europe. Ancient Greek civilization has been immensely influential on the language, politics, educational systems, philosophy, art and architecture of the modern world, particularly during the Renaissance in Western Europe and again during various neo-Classical revivals in 18th and 19th century Europe and The Americas.
Origins
The Greeks are believed to have migrated southward into the Greek peninsula in several waves beginning in the late 3rd millennium BC, the last being the Dorian invasion. The period from 1600 BC to about 1100 BC is described in History of Mycenaean Greece known for the reign of King Agamemnon and the wars against Troy as narrated in the epics of Homer. The period from 1100 BC to the 8th century BC is a "dark age" from which no primary texts survive, and only scant archaeological evidence remains. Secondary and tertiary texts such as Herodotus' Histories, Pausanias' Description of Greece, Diodorus' Bibliotheca and Jerome's Chronicon, contain brief chronologies and king lists for this period. The history of Ancient Greece is often taken to end with the reign of Alexander the Great, who died in 323 BC. Subsequent events are described in Hellenistic Greece.
Any history of Ancient Greece requires a cautionary note on sources. Those Greek historians and political writers whose works have survived, notably Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, Demosthenes, Plato and Aristotle, were mostly either Athenian or pro-Athenian. That is why we know far more about the history and politics of Athens than of any other city, and why we know almost nothing about some cities' histories. These writers, furthermore, concentrate almost wholly on political, military and diplomatic history, and ignore economic and social history. All histories of Ancient Greece have to contend with these limits in their sources.
The Rise of Hellas
In the 8th century BC Greece began to emerge from the Dark Ages which followed the fall of the Mycenaean civilization. Literacy had been lost and the Mycenaean script forgotten, but the Greeks adapted the Phoenician alphabet to Greek and from about 800 BC written records begin to appear. Greece was divided into many small self-governing communities, a pattern dictated by Greek geography, where every island, valley and plain is cut off from its neighbors by the sea or mountain ranges.
As Greece recovered economically, its population grew beyond the capacity of its limited arable land, and from about 750 BC the Greeks began 250 years of expansion, settling colonies in all directions. To the east, the Aegean coast of Asia Minor was colonized first, followed by Cyprus and the coasts of Thrace, the Sea of Marmara and south coast of the Black Sea. Eventually Greek colonization reached as far north-east as present day Ukraine. To the west the coasts of Albania, Sicily and southern Italy were settled, followed by the south coast of France, Corsica, and even northeastern Spain. Greek colonies were also founded in Egypt and Libya. Modern Syracuse, Naples, Marseille and Istanbul had their beginnings as the Greek colonies Syracusa, Neapolis, Massilia and Byzantium.
By the 6th century BC Hellas had become a cultural and linguistic area much larger than the geographical area of Greece. Greek colonies were not politically controlled by their founding cities, although they often retained religious and commercial links with them. The Greeks both at home and abroad organised themselves into independent communities, and the city (polis) became the basic unit of Greek government.
First Crete, then in short order the other Greek city-states, adopted the formal practice of pederasty. From its ritual roots in Indo-European prehistory, the practice was elevated to prominence, influencing pedagogy, warfare and social life, and becoming a central feature of Hellenic culture for the next thousand years.
Social and Political Conflict
The Greek cities were originally monarchies, although many of them were very small and the term "King" (basileus) for their rulers is misleadingly grand. In a country always short of farmland, power rested with a small class of landowners, who formed a warrior aristocracy fighting frequent petty inter-city wars over land and rapidly ousting the monarchy. About this time the rise of a mercantile class (shown by the introduction of coinage in about 680 BC) introduced class conflict into the larger cities. From 650 BC onwards, the aristocracies had to fight not to be overthrown and replaced by populist leaders called tyrants (tyrranoi), a word which did not necessarily have the modern meaning of oppressive dictators.
By the 6th century BC several cities had emerged as dominant in Greek affairs: Athens, Sparta, Corinth, and Thebes. Each of them had brought the surrounding rural areas and smaller towns under their control, and Athens and Corinth had become major maritime and mercantile powers as well. Athens and Sparta developed a rivalry that dominated Greek politics for generations.
In Sparta, the landed aristocracy retained their power, and the constitution of Lycurgus (about 650 BC) entrenched their power and gave Sparta a permanent militarist regime under a dual monarchy. Sparta dominated the other cities of the Peloponnese, with the sole exceptions of Argus and Achaia.
In Athens, by contrast, the monarchy was abolished in 683 BC, and reforms of Solon established a moderate system of aristocratic government. The aristocrats were followed by the tyranny of Pisistratus and his sons, who made the city a great naval and commercial power. When the Pisistratids were overthrown, Cleisthenes established the world's first democracy (500 BC), with power being held by an assembly of all the male citizens. But it must be remembered that only a minority of the male inhabitants were citizens, excluding slaves, freedmen and non-Athenians.
The Persian Wars
Main article: Greco-Persian WarsIn Ionia (the modern Aegean coast of Turkey) the Greek cities, which included great centres such as Miletus and Halicarnassus, were unable to maintain their independence and came under the rule of the Persian Empire in the mid 6th century BC. In 499 BC the Greeks rose in the Ionian Revolt, and Athens and some other Greek cities went to their aid.
In 490 BC the Persian Great King, Darius I, having suppressed the Ionian cities, sent a fleet to punish the Greeks. The Persians landed in Attica, but were defeated at the Battle of Marathon by a Greek army led by the Athenian general Miltiades. The burial mound of the Athenian dead can still be seen at Marathon.
Ten years later Darius's successor, Xerxes I, sent a much more powerful force by land. After being delayed by the Spartan King Leonidas I at Thermopylae, Xerxes advanced into Attica, where he captured and burned Athens. But the Athenians had evacuated the city by sea, and under Themistocles they defeated the Persian fleet at the Battle of Salamis. A year later, the Greeks, under the Spartan Pausanius, defeated the Persian army at Plataea.
The Athenian fleet then turned to chasing the Persians out of the Aegean Sea, and in 478 BC they captured Byzantium. In the course of doing so Athens enrolled all the island states and some mainland allies into an alliance, called the Delian League because its treasury was kept on the sacred island of Delos. The Spartans, although they had taken part in the war, withdrew into isolation after it, allowing Athens to establish unchallenged naval and commercial power.
The Dominance of Athens
The Persian Wars ushered in a century of Athenian dominance of Greek affairs. Athens was the unchallenged master of the sea, and also the leading commercial power, although Corinth remained a serious rival. The leading statesman of this time was Pericles, who used the tribute paid by the members of the Delian League to build the Parthenon and other great monuments of classical Athens. By the mid 5th century the League had become an Athenian Empire, symbolised by the transfer of the League's treasury from Delos to the Parthenon in 454 BC.
The wealth of Athens attracted talented people from all over Greece, and also created a wealthy leisured class who became patrons of the arts. The Athenian state also sponsored learning and the arts, particularly architecture. Athens became the centre of Greek literature, philosophy and the arts.
Some of the greatest names of Western cultural and intellectual history lived in Athens during this period: the dramatists Aeschylus, Aristophanes, Euripides, and Sophocles, the philosophers Aristotle, Plato, and Socrates, the historians Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon, the poet Simonides and the sculptor Pheidias. The city became, in Pericles's words, "the school of Hellas."
The other Greek states at first accepted Athenian leadership in the continuing war against the Persians, but after the fall of the conservative politician Cimon in 461 BC, Athens became an increasingly open imperialist power. After the Greek victory at the Battle of the Eurymedon in 466 BC, the Persians were no longer a threat, and some states, such as Naxos, tried to secede from the League, but were forced to submit. The new Athenian leaders, Pericles and Ephialtes, let relations between Athens and Sparta deteriorate, and in 458 BC war broke out. After some years of inconclusive war a 30-year peace was signed between the Delian League and the Peloponnesian League (Sparta and her allies). This coincided with the last battle between the Greeks and the Persians, a sea battle off Salamis in Cyprus, followed by the Peace of Callias (450 BC) between the Greeks and Persians.
The Peloponnesian War
In 431 BC war broke out again between Athens and Sparta and its allies. The proximate cause was a dispute between Corinth and one of its colonies, Corcyra (modern-day Corfu), in which Athens intervened. The obviate cause was the growing resentment of Sparta and its allies at the dominance of Athens over Greek affairs. The war lasted 27 years, partly because Athens (a naval power) and Sparta (a land-based military power) found it difficult to come to grips with each other.
Sparta's initial strategy was to invade Attica, but the Athenians were able to retreat behind their walls. An outbreak of plague in the city during the siege caused heavy losses, including Pericles. At the same time the Athenian fleet landed troops in the Peloponnese, winning battles at Naupactus (429 BC) and Pylos (425 BC). But these tactics could bring neither side a decisive victory. After several years of inconclusive campaigning, the moderate Athenian leader Nicias concluded the Peace of Nicias (421 BC).
In 418 BC, however, hostility between Sparta and the Athenian ally Argos led to a resumption of fighting. At Mantinea Sparta defeated the combined armies of Athens and her allies. The resumption of fighting brought the war party, led by Alcibiades, back to power in Athens. In 415 BC Alcibiades persuaded the Athenian Assembly to launch a major expedition against Syracuse, a Peloponnesian ally in Sicily. Though Nicias was a skeptic about the Sicilian Expedition he was appointed along Alcibiades to lead the expedition. Due to accusations against him, Alcibiades fled to Sparta where he persuaded Sparta to send aid to Syracuse. As a result, the expedition was a complete disaster and the whole expeditionary force was lost. Nicias was executed by his captors.
Sparta had now built a fleet to challenge Athenian naval supremacy, and had found a brilliant military leader in Lysander, who seized the strategic initiative by occupying the Hellespont, the source of Athens' grain imports. Threatened with starvation, Athens sent its last remaining fleet to confront Lysander, who decisively defeated them at Aegospotami (405 BC). The loss of her fleet threatened Athens with bankruptcy. In 404 BC Athens sued for peace, and Sparta dictated a predictably stern settlement: Athens lost her city walls, her fleet, and all of her overseas possessions. The anti-democratic party took power in Athens with Spartan support.
Spartan and Theban Dominance
The end of the Peloponnesian War left Sparta the master of Greece, but the narrow outlook of the Spartan warrior elite did not suit them to this role. Within a few years the democratic party regained power in Athens and other cities. In 395 BC the Spartan rulers removed Lysander from office, and Sparta lost her naval supremacy. Athens, Argos, Thebes, and Corinth, the latter two formerly Spartan allies, challenged Spartan dominance in the Corinthian War, which ended inconclusively in 387 BC. That same year Sparta shocked Greek opinion by concluding the Treaty of Antalcidas with Persia by which they surrendered the Greek cities of Ionia and Cyprus, thus reversing a hundred years of Greek victories against Persia. Sparta then tried to further weaken the power of Thebes, which led to a war in which Thebes allied herself with the old enemy, Athens. The Theban generals Epaminondas and Pelopidas won a decisive victory at Leuctra (371 BC).
The result of this battle was the end of Spartan supremacy and the establishment of Theban dominance, but Athens also recovered much of her former power. The supremacy of Thebes was short-lived. With the death of Epaminondas at Mantinea (362 BC) the city lost its greatest leader, and his successors blundered into an unsuccessful ten-year war with Phocis. In 346 BC the Thebans appealed to Philip II of Macedon to help them against the Phocians, thus drawing Macedon into Greek affairs for the first time.
The Rise of Macedon
The Kingdom of Macedon was formed in the 7th century BC out of northern Greek tribes. They played little part in Greek politics before the beginning of the 4th century, but Philip was an ambitious man who had been educated in Thebes and wanted to play a larger role. In particular, he wanted to be accepted as the new leader of Greece in recovering the freedom of the Greek cities of Asia from Persian rule. By seizing the Greek cities of Amphipolis, Methone and Potidaea, he gained control of the gold and silver mines of Macedonia. This gave him the resources to realize his ambitions.
Philip established Macedonian dominance over Thessaly (352 BC) and Thrace, and by 348 BC he controlled everything north of Thermopylae. He used his great wealth to bribe Greek politicians and create a "Macedonian party" in every Greek city. His intervention in the war between Thebes and Phocis brought him recognition as a Greek leader, and gave him his opportunity to become a power in Greek affairs. But despite his sincere admiration for Athens, the Athenian leader Demosthenes, in a series of famous speeches (philippics) roused the Greek cities to resist his advance.
In 339 BC Thebes, Athens, Sparta and other Greek states formed an alliance to resist Philip and expel him from the Greek cities he had occupied in the north. But Philip struck first, advancing into Greece and defeating the Greek cities at Chaeronea in 338 BC. This traditionally marks the end of the era of the Greek city-state as an independent political unit, although in fact Athens and other cities survived as independent states until Roman times.
Philip tried to win over Athens by flattery and gifts, but did not really succeed. He organised the cities into the League of Corinth, and announced that he would lead an invasion of Persia to liberate the Greek cities and avenge the Persian invasions of the previous century. But before he could do so he was assassinated (336 BC).
The Conquests of Alexander
Philip was succeeded by his 20-year-old son Alexander, who immediately set out to carry out his father's plans. He travelled to Corinth where the assembled Greek cities recognised him as leader of the Greeks, then set off north to assemble his forces. The army with which he invaded the Persian Empire was basically Macedonian, but many idealists from the Greek cities also enlisted. But while Alexander was campaigning in Thrace, he heard that the Greek cities had rebelled. He swept south again, captured Thebes, and razed the city to the ground as a warning to the Greek cities that his power could no longer be resisted.
In 334 BC Alexander crossed into Asia, and defeated the Persians at the river Granicus. This gave him control of the Ionian coast, and he made a triumphal procession through the liberated Greek cities. After settling affairs in Anatolia, he advanced south through Cilicia into Syria, where he defeated Darius III at Issus (333 BC). He then advanced through Phoenicia to Egypt, which he captured with little resistance, the Egyptians welcoming him as a liberator from Persian oppression.
Darius was now ready to make peace and Alexander could have returned home in triumph, but he was determined to conquer Persia and make himself the ruler of the world. He advanced north-east through Syria and Mesopotamia, and defeated Darius again at Gaugamela (331 BC). Darius fled and was killed by his own followers, and Alexander found himself the master of the Persian Empire, occupying Susa and Persepolis without resistance.
Meanwhile the Greek cities were making renewed efforts to escape from Macedonian control. At Megalopolis in 331 BC, Alexander's regent Antipater defeated the Spartans, who had refused to join the Corinthian League or recognize Macedonian supremacy.
Alexander pressed on, advancing through what are now Afghanistan and Pakistan to the Indus river valley, and by 326 BC he had reached Punjab. He might well have advanced down the Ganges to Bengal had not his army, convinced they were at the end of the world, refused to go any further. Alexander reluctantly turned back, and died of a fever in Babylon in 323 BC.
Alexander's empire broke up soon after his death, but his conquests permanently changed the Greek world. Thousands of Greeks travelled with him or after him to settle in the new Greek cities he had founded as he advanced, the most important being Alexandria in Egypt. Greek-speaking kingdoms in Egypt, Syria, Iran and Bactria were established. The Hellenistic age had begun.
Greece overview
The country of Greece is located in southeastern Europe, on the southern end of the Balkanic peninsula. Greece is surrounded on the north by Bulgaria, the FYROM and Albania; to the west by the Ionian Sea; to the south by the Mediterranean Sea and to the east by the Aegean Sea. The country ranges approximately in latitude from 35°00′N to 42°00′N and in longitude from 19°00′E to 28°30′E. As a result, it has considerable climatic variation
The country consists of a large mainland; Githio Greecethe Peloponnese, a peninsula connected to the mainland by the Isthmus of Corinth; and around 3000 islands, including Crete, Rhodes, Corfu, the Dodecanese and the Cyclades. Greece has 15000 kilometres (9300 miles) of coastline. 80% of Greece is mountainous, aand the country is one of the most mountainous countries of Europe. Western Greece contains lakes and wetlands. The Pindus Mountains lie in the country's centre, with an average elevation of 2650 m. They continue as the islands of Kythera, Antikythera and end in the islands of Crete and Rhodes.
The islands of the Aegean Sea are peaks of underwater mountains that are a geological extension of the Pindus. Central and Western Greece contain high and steep peaks dissected by many canyons and other karstic landscapes, including the Meteora and the Vikos Gorge - the latter being one of the largest of the world and the second deepest after the Grand Canyon, plunging vertically for more than 1100 meters. Mount Olymus Greece (Mytikas) is the highest point of Greece and the fourth highest in absolute altitude in Europe, rising to 2919 m above sea level. The Rhodope Mountains form the border between Greece and Bulgaria; that area is covered with vast and thick forests. Plains also are found in Eastern Thessaly, in central Macedonia and in Thrace
The Hellenic Republic, southernmost of the Balkan countries, lies between the Mediterranean's lonian and Aegean Seas. Although sea-oriented and sea-girt, with a galaxy of islands, it is primarily a mountainous country. Much of Greece is barren, eroded, and deforested, dissected by small rapid rivers and enclosing a few isolated basins.
Its greatest length (E-W) is 992 km, and its greatest breadth (N-S) is 793 km. Its altitudinal range is from sea level to 2 917 m on Mt. Olympus. About 67 percent of its area is above 200 m, and about 13 percent above 1 000 m.
Greece is bounded on the northwest by Albania for 247 km, or the north by former Yugoslavia for 256 km and Bulgaria for 475 km, and on the northeast by Turkey for 203 km1/. A peninsula, its western flank is bathed by the lonian Sea, its eastern flank by the Aegean Sea.
About one fifth of its area is composed of more than 1 400 islands, of which less than 200 are inhabited. The sea cuts very deeply into the land to form an extremely long coastline. With islands excluded, the coast is about 2 700 km; with its islands it is about 15 021 km long, an extent surpassed by few other countries.
About 80 percent of Greece is mountainous, a southern continuation of the rugged mountains of Albania, former Yugoslavia and Bulgaria. Intermontane basins, valleys and plains, mostly covered with sands, marls and clays, make up 20 percent of the country.
Greek Thrace and Macedonia along the northern border and fronting on the northern Aegean Sea;
Northern Peninsular Greece composed of Epirus to the west on the lonian Sea, and Thessaly to the east on the Aegean;
Central Greece extending south to the Gulf of Corinth and including the Athens area;
Peloponnesus or southernmost Peninsular area, and
Insular Greece, a fringe of islands some widely separated from the mainland.
Thrace and Macedonia. Thrace, the northeastern corner of Greece, is separated from Turkey by the Evros River and from Macedonia to its west by the Nestos River. Its northern border with Bulgaria runs through the Rhodope Mountains. Partly plateau and partly lowland, in addition to its two major rivers it has a large lagoon, Porto-Lago, connecting with Lake Vistonis, on its Aegean coast. Macedonia, lying between the Nestos River and the Albanian border, shares its mountain ranges with former Yugoslavia and Bulgaria and has important agricultural areas. Its major rivers are the Strymon, Axios and Aliakmon. Its major city is Salonika, the second largest city and port in Greece.
Northern Peninsular Greece. Its western section, Epirus, is an isolated area of high mountains of folded sandstones and limestone, poor uplands, and karst. On the windward side of the Pindus Mountains, it has high rainfall. Its soils are poor, but Epirus has some good areas for trout culture. To its east, and extending to the Aegean, is Thessaly which consists essentially of two basins linked by the Penios River. Its plains are the most important agricultural lands in Greece, constituting both granaries and cattle raising regions.
Central Greece. To the south, and extending to the Gulf of Corinth, is a more Mediterranean area, characterized by olive rather than oak trees. This region of plains, foothills, mountains, and rocky coasts supports the largest city and port area of Greece, the Athens-Piraeus complex.
Peloponnesus. Separated completely from the upper peninsula by the Gulf of Corinth and Corinth Canal, this is a mountainous area of few lowlands and a narrow indented coastal fringe. Partly karstic with underground drainage, its rivers, including the major Evrotas and Alphios, go dry in the summer.
Insular Greece. The 1 400 Greek islands are widely distributed throughout the surrounding seas, occupying 24 796 km2 (almost 20 percent) of the total area. Crete, the largest island (8 336 km2) is the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean. Other large islands are: Euboea (3 654 km2), the largest island in the Aegean; the two largest lonian islands, Cephalonia (781 km2) and Corfu (542 km2); Lesbos and Rhodes. Many of the lowland areas of Greece were once swampy and malarial. They, along with many of their shallow lakes, have been drained.
Although largely depleted, forests still occupy a fifth of the country. Aleppo pines and mixed deciduous trees (oak, beech and chestnut) are at lower altitudes, and conifers such as spruce are at the highest altitudes. Large areas of maquis (macchia) dominate the country, and much of the vegetation has been denuded.
Included within the great variety of soils, fissured limestone rocks prevail, followed by sandstone, crystalline rocks, and conglomerates. Mountain soils are thin, and strong karstic formations exist in many regions.
Most of the people live either in the large cities, such as Athens-Piraeus and Salonika, or in small scattered villages.
The Gods and Goddesses
Chaos - in one ancient Greek myth of creation, the dark, silent abyss from which all things came into existence. According to the Theogony of Hesiod, Chaos generated the solid mass of Earth, from which arose the starry, cloud-filled Heaven. Mother Earth and Father Heaven, personified respectively as Gaea and her offspring Uranus, were the parents of the Titans. In a later theory, Chaos is the formless matter from which the cosmos, or harmonious order, was created
Gaea - She was the mother and wife of Father Heaven, Uranus. They were the parents of the first creatures, the Titans, the Cyclopes, and the Giants - the Hecatoncheires (Hundred - Headed Ones). Uranus hated the monsters, and, even though they were his children, locked them in a secret place in the earth. Gaea was enraged at this favoritism and persuaded their son Cronos to overthrow his father. He emasculated Uranus, and from his blood Gaea brought forth the Giants, and the three avenging goddesses the Erinyes. Her last and most terrifying offspring was Typhon, a 100-headed monster, who, although conquered by the god Zeus, was believed to spew forth the molten lava flows of Mount Etna.
Tartarus - The lowest region of the underworld. Hesiod claimed that a brazen anvil would take none days and nights to fall from heaven to earth, and nine days and nights to fall from earth to Tartarus. Tartarus rose out of Chaos and was the destination of wicked souls. Uranus banished his children the Cyclopes and the Hecatoncheires to Tartarus, as Zeus also did to the Titans. Other famous inhabitants of Tartarus include Sisyphus, Ixion, Tantalus, Salmoneus, Tityus, Ophion, and the daughters of Danaus.
Eros - The god of love. He was thought of as a handsome and intense young man, attended by Pothos ("longing") or Himeros ("desire"). Later mythology made him the constant attendant of his mother, Aphrodite, goddess of love.
Erebus - Personification of the darkness of the Underworld and the offspring of Chaos. . In later myth, Erebus was the dark region beneath the earth through which the shades must pass to the realm of Hades below. He is often used metaphorically for Hades itself.
Uranus + Gaea - The personification of the sky; the god of the heavens and husband of Gaea, the goddess of the earth. . Their children are the Hecatonchires, the Cyclopes and the Titans.
Pontus - The sea god.
Cyclopes - Three sons: Arges, Brontes, and Steropes of Uranus and Gaea. The Cyclops were giant beings with a single, round eye in the middle of their foreheads.They helped Zeus defeat their brother, Cronus, by forging lightning bolts. They also made Poseidon’s trident and Hades invisibility cap.
Hecatonchires - Three sons of Uranus and Gaia. There were three of them: Briareus also called Aegaeon, Cottus, and Gyges also called Gyes. They were gigantic and had fifty heads and one hundred arms each of great strength. They had 100 hands and helped Zeus in his war against the Titans.
Cronus + Rhea - Cronus was a ruler of the universe during the Golden Age. He was one of the 12 Titans and the youngest son of Uranus and Gaea, Cronus and his sister-queen, Rhea, became the parents of 6 of the 12 gods and goddesses known as the Olympians. Cronus had been warned that he would be overthrown by one of his own children. To prevent this, he swallowed his first five children as soon as they were born. Rhea did not like this. She substituted a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes for their sixth child, Zeus. He was hidden in Crete, and when he was older, he returned and forced Cronos to disgorge all the other children, who had grown inside of him. Zeus and his siblings fought a war against Cronos and the Titans. Zeus won, and the Titans were confined in Tartarus, a cave in the deepest part of the underworld.
Coeus + Phoebe - Coeus was a titan of Intelligence, the father of Leto, husband of Phoebe.
Oceanus + Tethys - The personification of the vast ocean. Together with his wife Tethys, they produced the rivers and six thousand offsprings called the Oceanids. He ruled over Ocean, a great river encircling the earth, which was believed to be a flat circle. The nymphs of this great river, the Oceanids, were their daughters, and the gods of all the streams on earth were their sons.
Hestia - Virgin goddess of the hearth. She was the symbol of the house, around which a new born child was carried before it was received into the family. Although she appears in very few myths, most cities had a common hearth where her sacred fire burned. I
Hades - He was made lord of the underworld, ruling over the dead. He is a greedy god who is greatly concerned with increasing his subjects. Those whose calling increase the number of dead were seen favorably by him. He was also the god of wealth, due to the precious metals mined from the earth. His wife was Persephone whom Hades abducted.
The underworld itself was often called Hades. It was divided into two regions: Erebus, where the dead pass as soon as they die, and Tartarus, the deeper region, where the Titans had been imprisoned. It was a dim and unhappy place, inhabited by vague forms and shadows and guarded by Cerberus, the three-headed, dragon-tailed dog. Sinister rivers separated the underworld from the world above, and the aged boatman Charon ferried the souls of the dead across these waters.
Poseidon - God of the sea. His weapon was a trident, which could shake the earth, and shatter any object. He was second only to Zeus in power amongst the gods. Under the ocean, he had a marvelous golden palace. Poseidon was the husband of Amphitrite, one of the Nereids, by whom he had a son, Triton. Poseidon had numerous other love affairs. At one point he desired Demeter. To put him off Demeter asked him to make the most beautiful animal that the world had ever seen. To impress her Poseidon created the first horse. In some accounts his first attempts were unsucessful and created a varity of other animals in his quest. By the time the horse was created his passion for Demeter had cooled.
Zeus + Hera - The god of the sky and ruler of the gods of Mount Olympus. He displaced his father and assumed the leadership of the gods of Olympus. Zeus was considered the father of the gods and of mortals. He did not create either gods or mortals; he was their father in the sense of being the protector and ruler both of the Olympian family and of the human race. His weapon was a thunderbolt. His breastplate was the aegis, his bird the eagle, his tree the oak. He was married to Hera but, is famous for his many affairs, which resulted in many known children and probably many more that were not known to be his. Athena was his favorite child. He bore her alone from his head. One of the greatest feasts for Zeus was the Olympic games. They were taking place every four years in Olympia. Even if there was a war between the city-states of Greece they were stopping the war to take part on that games.
Hera's marriage was founded in strife with Zeus and continued in strife. Writers represented Hera as constantly being jealous of Zeus's various amorous affairs. She punished her rivals and their children, among both goddesses and mortals, with implacable fury. The peacock (the symbol of pride; her wagon was pulled by peacocks) and the cow (she was also known as Bopis, meaning "cow-eyed", which was later translated as "with big eyes") were her sacred animals. Her favorite city was Argos.
Demeter + Zeus - Goddess of corn and the harvest. She taught mankind the art of sowing and ploughing so they could end their nomadic existence. She was of a severe, a beauty scarcely relieved by her hair. which was as fair as ripened grain. Poseidon coveted her, but Demeter refused herself to him. To escape him she fled to Arkadia where, assuming the shape of a mare, she mingled with the herds of King Oncus. Poseidon, however, succeeded in finding her, changed himself into a stallion and made her the mother of the horse Arion.
When her daughter Persephone was abducted by Hades, god of the underworld, Demeter's grief was so great that she neglected the land; no plants grew, and famine devastated the earth. Dismayed at this situation, Zeus, demanded that his brother Hades return Persephone to her mother. Hades agreed, but before he released the girl, he made her eat some pomegranate seeds that would force her to return to him for four months each year. In her joy at being reunited with her daughter, Demeter caused the earth to bring forth bright spring flowers and abundant fruit and grain for the harvest. However, her sorrow returned each autumn when Persephone had to return to the underworld. The desolation of the winter season and the death of vegetation were regarded as the yearly manifestation of Demeter's grief when her daughter was taken from her. Demeter and Persephone were worshipped in the rites of the Eleusinian Mysteries.
Persephone - Persephone was the Queen of the Underworld and the daughter of Demeter. Persephone is the goddess of the underworld in Greek mythology. She is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter, goddess of the harvest. Persephone was such a beautiful girl that everyone loved her, even Hades wanted her for himself. Although Zeus gave his consent, Demeter was unwilling. Hades, therefore, seized the maiden as she was gathering flowers and carried her off to his realm. Persephone was a personification of the revival of nature in spring. Her attributes in iconography can include a torch, a crown, a sceptre, and stalks of grain.
Leto + Zeus - The mother of Artemis, goddess of the bow and of hunting. She was loved by the god Zeus, who, fearing the jealousy of his wife, Hera, banished Leto when she was about to bear his child. All countries and islands were also afraid of Hera's wrath and refused the desperate Leto a home where her child could be born. Finally, in her wanderings, she set foot on a small island floating in the Aegean Sea, which was called Delos.
Iapetus - The son Uranus and Gaea. Iapetus' wife was Clymene.
Athena - or Pallas-Athene, is one of the most important goddesses in Greek mythology. Goddess of wisdom, war, the arts, industry, justice and skill. Athena sprang full-grown and armoured from the forehead of the god Zeus and was his favourite child. She was fierce and brave in battle but, only fights to protect the state and home from outside enemies. She was the goddess of the city, handicrafts, and agriculture. She invented the bridle, which permitted man to tame horses, the trumpet, the flute, the pot, the rake, the plow, the yoke, the ship, and the chariot. Her attributes in iconography include the aegis (a fringed cloak, sometimes decorated with a Gorgon's head), the helmet, and the spear.
Ares - God of war. He was very aggressive. He was unpopular with both gods and humans. Ares was not invincible, even against mortals. He personified the brutal nature of war. He was immortal but whenever he would get hurt he would run back to his father, Zeus and was healed. Ares was mainly worshipped in Thracia.
Hebe - The goddess of youth. She, along with Ganymede were the cupbearers to the gods, serving them their nectar and ambrosia. She also prepared Ares' bath, and helped Hera to her chariot. Hebe was Hercules' wife.
Hephaestus - God of fire and metalwork. He was born lame and weak, and shortly after his birth, he was cast out of Olympus. In most legends, however, he was soon honoured again on Olympus and was married to Aphrodite, goddess of love, or to Aglaia, one of the three Graces. His workshop was believed to lie under Mount Etna, a volcano in Sicily. He made many wonderful artifacts for the gods, including the twelve golden thrones of the Olympians, their weapons and treasures.
Apollo - Apollo was primarily a god of prophecy. He sometimes gave the gift of prophecy to mortals whom he loved, such as the Trojan princess Cassandra. As a prophet and magician, he is the patron of medicine and healing. He was a gifted musician, who delighted the gods with his performance on the lyre. He was also a master archer and a fleet-footed athlete, credited with having been the first victor in the Olympic games. His twin sister was Artemis. He was famous for his oracle at Delphi. People traveled to it from all over the Greek world to divine the future. He was also the god of agriculture and cattle, and of light and truth.
Artemis - Artemis was the goddess of the hunt and animals, as well as of childbirth. Her twin brother was Apollo. As the moon goddess, she was sometimes identified with the goddesses Selene and Hecate.Her attributes are the bow and arrow, while dogs, deer and goose are her sacred animals. Her most elaborate temple was in Ephesis.
Atlas - Son of the Titan Iapetus and the nymph Clymene, and brother of Prometheus. Atlas fought with the Titans in the war against the deities of Mount Olympus. Atlas stormed the heavens and Zeus punished him for this deed by condemning him to forever bear the earth and the heavens upon his shoulders. He was the father of the Hesperides, the nymphs who guarded the tree of golden apples, and Heracles (Hercules).
Prometheus - Prometheus was the wisest Titan, known as the friend and benefactor of humanity.He stole the sacred fire from Zeus and the gods. He also tricked the gods so that they should get the worst parts of any animal sacrificed to them, and human beings the best. Zeus commanded that Prometheus be chained for eternity in the Caucasus. There, an eagle would eat at his liver and each day, the liver would be renewed. So the punishment was endless, until Heracles finally killed the bird.
Epimetheus - Epimetheus was a Titan, whose name meant "afterthought". In some accounts, he was delegated, along with his brother Prometheus by Zeus to create mankind. He foolishly ignored his brother Prometheus' warnings to beware of any gifts from Zeus. He accepted Pandora as his wife, thereby bringing ills and sorrows to the world.
Maia + Zeus - Maia was a daughter of Atlas. She was one of Zeus' lovers. She, along with Zeus was the mother of Hermes.
Dione + Zeus - The goddess or Titaness Dione became by Zeus the mother of Aphrodite.
Hermes - Hermes' main role was as a messenger. As the special servant and courier of Zeus, Hermes had winged sandals and a winged hat and bore a golden caduceus, or magic wand, entwined with snakes and surmounted by wings. He conducted the souls of the dead to the underworld and was believed to possess magical powers over sleep and dreams. Five minutes after he was born, he stole a herd of cows from Apollo. He invented the lyre from a cow's internal fibers. After Apollo learned what happened, he knew that his half-brother should he one of the pantheon. Hermes was the patron of trickster and thieves because of his actions early in life. His attributes in iconography include the kerykeion (messenger's staff), winged boots, and petassos (cap).
Aphrodite - The goddess of love and beauty. Aphrodite loved and was loved by many gods and mortals. Among her mortal lovers, the most famous was perhaps Adonis. Some of her sons are Eros, Anteros, Hymenaios and Aeneas (with her Trojan lover Anchises). Perhaps the most famous legend about Aphrodite concerns the cause of the Trojan War. She was the wife of Hephaestus. The myrtle was her tree. The dove, the swan, and the sparrow were her birds.
Greece Banking Developments
The topmost banks are major audit and non-audit clients of PwC in the Greek Banking & Capital Markets Industry.
The growth margins of the Greek banking industry have been considered quite significant compared with those of the European Union, with increasing competitiveness and concentration. This has made the Greek financial market very attractive. The articles in this special issue present the most recent studies concerning the Greek Banking Industry through the implementation of advanced mathematical techniques such as data envelopment analysis, mathematical programming, econometric analysis techniques, etc. The use of these methodologies contributes to the overall evaluation of the performance, operation and efficiency of the Greek Banking System within this issue.
- Guest Editorial Constantin Zopounidis
- "The Determinants of Banks’ Profits in Greece during the period of EU financial integration" – Kyriaki Kosmidou
- "Cost efficiency impact of bank branch characteristics and location: an illustrative application to a greek bank branches" – Dimitris I Giokas
- "Customer Switching Behaviour in Greek Banking Services Using Survival Analysis" – Maria Mavri and George Ioannou
- "Consolidation in the Greek Banking Industry: Which Banks are Acquired?" – Fotios Pasiouras and Constantin Zopounidis
- "Investigating cost efficiency in the branch network of a Greek bank: An empirical study" – Athanasios G. Noulas et al
The banking sector constitutes the backbone of the Greek financial
system, while continuing to be the main financier of the national
economy, despite the fact that the depth of the capital and money
markets has gradually increased over the last decades. Undeniably,
the Greek banking sector currently represents one of the most sophisticated
and modern sectors of the Greek economy.
Until the mid-1980s, the Greek
banking system operated in an environment
characterized by selective
credit controls and regulations,
which gradually led to allocative inefficiencies
and serious distortions
in the functioning of the financial
system. Since then, the Greek
banking landscape has altered
significantly. During the last two
decades, it has undergone substantial
developments, mainly
rooted in the modifications that occurred
in the external environment,
as a consequence of the increasing
monetary and financial integration
in the European Union, in particular
in the context of the progress
towards the Economic and Monetary
Union (EMU) and the introduction
of the Euro, as well as in the
deregulation of the domestic financial
system and in the gradual
and extensive liberalization of
capital flows.
Indeed, the significant economic
growth, the continuous improvements
in macroeconomic fundamentals,
the liberalization of interest
rate determination, the annulment
of various regulatory credit
ceilings, the introduction of advanced
information and communication
technologies, the internationalization
of banking activities,
the product and service innovation
in financial markets, and the phenomenon
of disintermediation have
triggered major structural changes
in the Greek banking environment.
These developments enhanced
competition in both price and quality
levels of the products and services
offered by the banking sector,
resulted in robust credit expansion
to the private sector, especially
households (consumer credit and
mortgage lending), caused significant
modifications in the balance
sheets and profit and loss accounts
of banks, gave impetus to the establishment
and operation of new
credit institutions, led to domestic
mergers and acquisitions, and
forced Greek banks to expand their
presence throughout the South
Eastern European region.
In fact, in an attempt to diversify
their sources of income and profitability,
Greek banks have invested
a significant amount of their
capital in acquiring financial institutions
in the countries of the
South Eastern European region.
THE BANKING SECTOR
IN THE REGION
Banks play a dominant role in the
financial system and economy of
the South Eastern European countries;
capital markets are practically
limited to the equity markets and
are, in general, quite fragile and
underdeveloped. During the last
decade or so, there have been rigorous
and progressively accelerating
improvements in the South
Eastern European banking systems,
aiming at enhancing the
sectors’ solvency, sustainability
and credibility, and improving
their performance. At the beginning
of the transition process
these nascent economies faced
the difficult task of embarking on
prudent macroeconomic stabilization
efforts and transforming their
financial systems, which, at that
point in time, were merely something
of a book-keeping mechanism
for recording the authorities’
decisions regarding the allocation
of resources among various sectors
and enterprises. Building viable
and healthy banking systems has
proved to be a challenging task. Indeed,
during the second half of the
1990s banking reform efforts were
impeded either by internal setbacks
or by external shocks.
Nevertheless, after a long period
of economic restructuring, these
countries have achieved significant
rates of economic growth, adopted
sound macroeconomic policies,
and implemented structural reforms.
Subsequently, they have
managed to attract a substantial
flow of portfolio and foreign direct
investments, in order to build up
their production capacity and modernize
their infrastructure. The role
of Greece in this process should
not be overlooked. Greek firms
are among the top three foreign investors
in most of the South Eastern
European countries. Greek
banks in particular provided significant
resources and, through their
subsidiaries, supported the economic
stabilization and reforms.
Also, Greek banks facilitate the
flow of remittances from the hundreds
of thousands of immigrants
in Greece; in some cases these remittances
are the main source of
foreign receipts (most notably in
Albania).
Moreover, during the last decade
or so, significant efforts were directed
towards improving the legislation
related to the banking sector,
while there have been continuous
amendments to the banking super
vision regulatory system, aiming at
its harmonization with the European
Union regulatory regime and
the international standards of effective
supervision. These laws have
increased the attractiveness of the
banking industry to foreign investment,
strengthened prudential
standards and practices in the
banks’ operations, enhanced corporate
governance, and improved
efficiency in the banking operations
and supervision. The European
Bank for Reconstruction and Development
(EBRD) index on banking
sector reform identifies this
progress (Table 1).
Thus, the macroeconomic stability
and the “opening up” of the South
Eastern European countries’ financial
systems have enhanced
banking intermediation. Domestic
credit to the private sector, although
at unequal pace among the
South Eastern European countries,
increased significantly in the period
1995-2005 (Table 1). Bank credit
to households contributed the
most to credit expansion. Indeed,
rising disposable income and the
desire to improve the standards of
living have given a boost to household
consumption. However, despite
this growth, the degree of financial
penetration through banking
products and services is lagging
behind that of both other
emerging markets and the European
Union.
The noticeable increase of credit expansion
in the region coincides
with significant progress in the privatization
process. This process
was so extensive and foreign investors’
demand so high that in
most countries foreign banks already
control the largest proportion
of the banking system. The asset
share of state-owned banks has
been reduced significantly, falling
at levels below 8 per cent in all
South Eastern European banking
sectors, except that of Serbia,
where the privatization process
has advanced but is not yet completed.
Foreign banks, and among them,
in a pivotal role, Greek banks,
have played an important role in
the development of the South
Eastern European banking markets.
This is not only due to the
capital investment from abroad -
which lowered the fiscal costs of
bank restructuring and provided a
vote of confidence of the international
financial system for the ongoing
transformation of these
economies - but often because privatization
to reputable foreign
owners was the only way to decrease
moral hazard problems induced
by previous repetitive
bailouts. The motivation for this
policy is that foreign banks can immediately
import financial management,
organizational skills,
and general banking experience,
which are likely to be in short supply
among domestic entrepreneurs.
Also, foreign banks are
considered as “safer” by local
depositors, who recognize that
foreign banks are not manipulated
by the political authorities, and
also realize that these banks are
supervised by experienced directors
at home. Thus, allowing foreign
entry, in the form of both
greenfield and takeover investments,
has been widely regarded
as a springboard for increasing the
efficiency and competitiveness
of the banking sectors in the region
GREEK BANKS IN THE REGION
Greek banks viewed the South
Eastern European region as a natural
extension of their home market.
With their wide network, Greek
banks are a significant integrating
element in the region and, along
with their corporate clients, are becoming
important pillars for the
rapid development of these countries.
They expanded their activities
to take advantage both of the
significant rates of economic
growth experienced in the South
Eastern European economies and
of the credit expansion potential,
as well as to follow the more general
expansion and operation of
Greek industrial and commercial
enterprises in the region. Furthermore,
this penetration provides
Greek banks with the opportunity
to increase their size and differentiate
the sources of their operating
income, which have both hit a
ceiling within the relatively smallsized
Greek financial market.
Greek banks offer a wide range of
products and services closely linked
to the evolution of the host
economies. They are already well
established in Bulgaria, Romania,
Albania, FYROM, and Serbia, representing
at least 20 per cent of the
entire banking system according to
balance sheet aggregates [total assets],
while in some of these countries
their share is between onethird
and two-thirds (Bank of
Greece, 2006). Actually, the fact that
Greek banks have been able to retain
a very high share of these
markets is an indication of some
sort of comparative advantage in
the provision of financial services,
which allows them to thrive within
an internationally competitive environment.
Undoubtedly, Greek
banks are better capitalized than
their competitors, a fact that explains
their access to more diversified
source of funds. According to a
recent report published by the Bank
of Greece “their better capitalization
allows them to take somewhat
higher risks, as shown by the fact
that their loans to the private sector
are generally a higher share of their
assets than for the average bank. Although
they take somewhat more
risk, they are profitable overall,
more than their average competitors.
This signifies that Greek banks
in the region have some competitive
advantages.” Among these are the
direct geographic adjacency, the
cultural proximity, the increasing degree
of economic ties and unification
with these countries, and the
superior organization structure and
know-how.
According to figures obtained from
the Bank of Greece, as of end 2005,
Greek credit institutions controlled
18 affiliated banks and 6 networks
of subsidiary companies in these
countries, with roughly 1,000 official
units [branches] and 15,000 employees.
Indeed, all these figures have
tripled since 2000. It should be
pointed out that direct investments
of the Greek banking sector in the
region approached €400 million in
2005. Moreover, these investments
positively contributed to the financial
results of Greek banks; gross income
from the operations in the
South Eastern European economies
approached 10 per cent of their
total operating income.
The degree of penetration of
Greek banks varies from country
to country. Particular emphasis
has been given on the banking
market of Bulgaria (361 official
units as of 2005) and Romania
(263 official units). Infiltration is
also marked in Serbia, where the
number of official units has
reached that of 286, compared
with a tally of fewer than 30 operating
during the previous year. The
recent acquisition of Finansbank,
the 5th largest private bank in
Turkey, by the National Bank of
Greece, and of 70 per cent of a
smaller Turkish bank, namely Tekfenbank,
by Eurobank (these two
Greek banks acquiring a combined
capital of roughly €2.5 billion),
as well as the purchase of an
Egyptian bank (Egyptian Commercial
Bank) by the Bank of Piraeus,
is transforming even more
the landscape of the Greek banking
sector, which is becoming
more extrovert and, one could
even dare say, international.
This expansion in the South Eastern
region mainly represents a future
investment of the Greek credit
institutions that will counter the
slack bound to occur if the pace of
credit expansion in Greece starts
to cool down. Benefiting from a
more competitive domestic market,
and one that is increasingly
subject to international practice,
Greek banks can be expected to
continue to strengthen their presence
in the wider region over the
next decade, through the exporting
of their successful local business
model.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Greece overview
A comparison between Greece and Portugal is particularly interesting since the two countries share common experiences. They are both small South European countries, belonging to the European Mediterranean "periphery", with less developed economic structures and institutions and relatively low income per head. In 1974 they experienced transition to democracy, after the fall of the forty-year dictatorship in Portugal and the seven-year junta in Greece, while they joined the European Community in the 1980s. Over the two last decades both countries embarked on an effort at modernizing their productive structures, reducing the macroeconomic imbalances and enhancing their position in view of an increasingly internationalized economy. For the achievement of these objectives Greece and Portugal have been following more or less similar directions but their economic performance has been rather different. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate economic policies and to examine the factors that have shaped economic policy making in Greece and Portugal over the 1980s and 1990s. Policy outcome is assessed in terms of its success or failure. We shall try to analyze whether these two countries followed a successful policy path in terms of policy choices and policy constraints. We shall also try to identify the principal determinants for their economic performance. Of particular interest is the investigation of the speed and degree of achievement of economic reform in the two countries. The debate over the determinants of the type of policies adopted by governments to deal with macroeconomic imbalances, structural and industrial adjustment and declining competitiveness, focuses on a variety of interrelated, overlapping and not mutually exclusive issues(1). In particular, national specific characteristics, such as historical traditions and legacies and national institutional variables, deriving from the political and economic environment inherited by the government, to a great extent explain policy choice and outcome. The institutional characteristics comprise the role of interest groups and political parties on policy formation as well as the state capacity to impose policy options, such as state tradition, autonomy of the bureaucracy, degree of polarization or consent characterizing the political system. In addition, the prevailing views regarding the state of the economy but also the actual state and structure of the economy, are among the factors in shaping policy options (e.g. the existence of "economic crisis" and the availability of foreign aid). Finally, the influence of international factors and trends seem to play a crucial role in determining policy options in the longer-run time horizon. Furthermore the government exercises direct control of factors, such as the timing of policy actions (e.g. reform initiative), the composition of policymaking team, the comprehensiveness of adjustment programmes. In our paper, the varying experience of policies pursued in Greece and Portugal in the 1980s and 1990s is presented and discussed. We focus on the Greek case, which is dealt more thoroughly since it is less known to the English speaking readers, while the Portuguese case is better covered in the relevant literature. Elements of the Portuguese experience will be used here to supplement our assessment of policy making and reform effort in Greece. A comparative approach is more useful, since the common experience shared as well as the different policies followed by Greece and Portugal allow us to recognize the interrelation between various determinants of policy choice and economic success. The Greek Experience Structural Characteristics and Early Post-War Developments After the end of the Civil-War (1949) with the defeat of the left-wing alliance, Greece enjoyed political stability almost exclusively with conservative governments in power until 1981. The Communist Party was banned until after the end of the seven-year military dictatorship (1967-74). The repercussions of the Civil-War were the political discrimination of the "losers", which in certain circumstances went as far as the deprivation of civil liberties (isolation camps) until the fall of the junta in 1974. These discriminations effectively lead to the formation of a "two-tier" society, where whoever did not adopt the right-wing views, had difficulty in finding dependent employment, including the public sector and was forced to seek for precarious jobs, outside formal employment. This resulted in a lot of people becoming self-employed or setting up small personal businesses which functioned -and to a great extend still do- at the fringe of formality, rules and regulations.
The current President of Greece, Mr Karolos Papoulias, was sworn in as Greece's sixth President on 12 March 2005, and is serving a five-year term. The President has no powers to initiate legislation and is required to appoint as Prime Minister the leader of the political party with an absolute majority of seats in Parliament. The President must be elected by two-thirds majority or, on the third ballot, by a three-fifths majority. In the event this does not happen, parliament is dissolved and an election is held, whereby the President is elected by a simple majority of members in the new house.
The unicameral parliament consists of 300 members, elected under a system of reinforced proportional representation. Each Parliament is elected for a maximum of four years. In the most recent parliamentary elections (September 2007), the New Democracy party was re-elected with a reduced majority, claiming 152 of the 300 seats in Parliament, and Kostas Karamanlis was sworn in as Prime Minister. The Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) remains the principal opposition party although it won only 102 seats in the 2007 elections, the lowest in its history.
Greece is a member of the European Union and last held the Presidency from January to July 2003. In the June 2004 European Parliament elections, the New Democracy party won 43 per cent of the Greek vote (or 11 out of the 24 Greeks seats). Greek voter participation (63 per cent) in the European Parliament elections was slightly higher than the European average.
The Asia-Pacific region has not historically figured prominently in Greece's foreign policy agenda, which focuses on the European Union, the Balkans and its near neighbours (in particular Cyprus and Turkey). In 2009 Greece holds the chairmanship of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
Greece has a long-established political and cultural relationship with the Republic of Cyprus. Resolution of the Cyprus issue remains a key foreign policy priority of the Greek Government. While the relationship between Greece and Turkey has historically experienced difficulties, in the past few years bilateral cooperation between the two has improved with the establishment of a Greek-Turkish Steering Committee which explores avenues for cooperation in fields such as the economy, trade, tourism, environment, culture and combating crime.
Greece is also keen to establish closer relations with its neighbours in the Balkans. The Government views the Balkans as being of high strategic and economic importance and believes their closer association with the European Union would ensure peace and stability in the region. Balkan states are an important destination for Greek investment.
Economic Overview
Greece has a population of 11.1 million, GDP of US$313.8 billion and an estimated GDP per capita of US$28,152 (2007 estimates). Principal export destinations are Germany, Italy, and Cyprus, while the main import sources are Germany, Italy and Russia (see Greece - Fact Sheet). Economic growth averaged over 4 per cent each year since 2003. The economy is however increasingly affected by the global economic crisis, with the Greek Government now forecasting a reduced growth rate of 1.1 per cent for 2009.
The main engine of the Greek economy is the services sector (75.1 per cent of GDP in 2007) although manufacturing accounts for 21 per cent of GDP. Greece has little heavy industry, with the once substantial shipbuilding industry in decline over recent years. Greece has long had one of the largest registered merchant marine fleets in the world, constituting around 20 per cent of the world fleet in terms of capacity in deadweight tonnage. Agriculture is of major socio-economic importance to Greece (3.7 per cent of GDP in 2007), with approximately 12 per cent of the population employed in the sector. The main agricultural products are sugar, wheat, cotton, tobacco, olives and olive oil. The Greek mining industry, which contributes 0.5 per cent of GDP, has been buoyed in recent years by the growing demand for mining products by China and Northeast Asia, but faces an uncertain future with the effect of the global slowdown. Principal mining products are bentonite, perlite, caustic and deadburned magnesia, alumina, aluminium bauxite, nickel, pumice and marble.
