Greece [antikvár]

INTRODUCTION Greece has always been at the crossroads of history and the meeting place of East and West. Today it is the southern neighbour of Albania, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria and has a common land frontier in Thrace with European Turkey. The great sweep of the Greek islands begins in the Ionian Sea at Corfu which is about 110 kilometres from the heel of Italy, and continues south through Crete to within rowing distance of the Turkish coast at Kastellorizon in the east. Northwards the idyllic islands of the Cyclades, the Sporades and the Dodecanese reach out across the "vidne-dark sea" of Homer's Aegean. The sea has been a recurring theme in Greek history and culture from the fabulous voyages of Odysseus to the defeat of the Persian invaders by the Athenian navy at Mycale in 479 B.C. In modern times the battle of Navarino in 1827 was the precursor of the withdrawal of the Ottoman Turks and the creation of an independent Greece in 1830. Sea communications are particularly important in a country where land travel is impeded by mountainous terrain and where, except for part of the central mainland, the sea is within a range of about fifty kilometres. Today the Greek-owned merchant fleet is a major force in carrying the world's freight and of considerable economic importance to a country relatively poor in natural resources where in addition less than a quarter of the land can be cultivated. In Greece there are ever-present reminders of the past which even the most casual tourist ought not to overlook. "The Glory that was Greece" usually refers to the classical period of Athens around the fifth century B.C., typified by the Parthenon, but the older Minoan civilisation of Crete exerts a fascination which the reconstruction of the palace at Knossos has encouraged. The succeeding mainland civilisation at Mycenae in the Peloponnese from about 1400 B.C. had an influence which was felt as far afield as Egypt. It is, of course, quite possible to visit Greece and not pay any attention to the monuments of the past if the lure of the sun and the beaches proves too strong. But the two are not incompatible as the major sites are outdoors, often in outstandingly beautiful settings. To visit Delphi-the "navel of the world"-is an unforgettable experience and may prompt one to wonder why Greece is the origin of so much that has endured in European civilisation. But it is not only in Europe that the legacy of Greece is to be found. The Greek city-state (the polis) went into decline following the defeat of Athens and Thebes by Philip of Macedón in 338 B.C. From then on the city-states became a part of an empire that Philip's son, Alexander, created in the Middle East after defeating Darius and taking over the Persian empire. At the time of his death in 323 B.C. Alexander's empire extended to India in the east and to Egypt in the south and although it split up after this the Greek culture persisted in the resulting kingdoms. Indeed it survived as the main civilising influence into the Roman empire of which Greece became a province and an educated Roman would have been familiar vnth Greek literature and culture. The recognition of Christianity as the official religion of the Roman empire by Constantine and the establishment of his new capital at Constantinople (A.D. 324-37) institutionalised Greek influence which persisted even when mainland Greece was invaded by the Huns from 447 and afterwards by the Slavs and the militant forces of Islam. When Byzantium fell to the Turks in 1453 it was felt to be the "last day" of Eastern Christendom but when Greece was then annexed as a province of the Ottoman empire it was the Orthodox church in Greece that preserved and fostered the cultural heritage in the difficult centuries of foreign occupation. After the Napoleonic era the British acquired the Ionian islands whose improved economic circumstances assisted the subsequent revolt against the Turks which was publicised throughout Europe by the death of Lord Byron at the siege of Missolonghi in 1824. The story of Greece since the initial independence of the mainland south of Thessaly, together with some of the islands, in 1830 has been a turbulent succession of the ebbing and reviving fortunes of an alien monarchy, military dictatorships and hardship during World War II and the ensuing civil war Today, after the interlude of the "Colonels' dictatorship",representative government is restored and Greece is an associate member of the European Economic Community, intent on increasing the prosperity of both the mainland and the islands. Tourism has helped considerably in this respect. A visitor to Greece will be aware of the evocative beauty and the dramatic contrasts of the landscape and the peculiarly brilliant quality of the light, as well as of the wild flowers in profusion and the superb fruit, olive oil, wine and fish. But the discerning will return home having also become aware of the ancient Hellas and Byzantium that lie behind modern Greece and maybe having heard, too, some of the footfalls across the centuries that reward the observant traveller in this intriguing land. Left: Sunset at the Temple of Poseidon on Cape Sounion.