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Greece
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Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, historically also known as Hellas, is a country in southeastern Europe, with a population of approximately 11 million as of 2015. Athens is the capital and largest city, followed by Thessaloniki. Greece is strategically located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, situated on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to the northeast. Greece consists of nine regions, Macedonia, Central Greece, the Peloponnese, Thessaly, Epirus, the Aegean Islands, Thrace, Crete. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of the mainland, the Ionian Sea to the west, the Cretan Sea and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the longest coastline on the Mediterranean Basin and the 11th longest coastline in the world at 13,676 km in length, featuring a vast number of islands, eighty percent of Greece is mountainous, with Mount Olympus being the highest peak at 2,918 metres. From the eighth century BC, the Greeks were organised into various independent city-states, known as polis, which spanned the entire Mediterranean region and the Black Sea. Greece was annexed by Rome in the second century BC, becoming a part of the Roman Empire and its successor. The Greek Orthodox Church also shaped modern Greek identity and transmitted Greek traditions to the wider Orthodox World, falling under Ottoman dominion in the mid-15th century, the modern nation state of Greece emerged in 1830 following a war of independence. Greeces rich historical legacy is reflected by its 18 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, among the most in Europe, Greece is a democratic and developed country with an advanced high-income economy, a high quality of life, and a very high standard of living. A founding member of the United Nations, Greece was the member to join the European Communities and has been part of the Eurozone since 2001. Greeces unique cultural heritage, large industry, prominent shipping sector. It is the largest economy in the Balkans, where it is an important regional investor, the names for the nation of Greece and the Greek people differ from the names used in other languages, locations and cultures. The earliest evidence of the presence of human ancestors in the southern Balkans, dated to 270,000 BC, is to be found in the Petralona cave, all three stages of the stone age are represented in Greece, for example in the Franchthi Cave. Neolithic settlements in Greece, dating from the 7th millennium BC, are the oldest in Europe by several centuries and these civilizations possessed writing, the Minoans writing in an undeciphered script known as Linear A, and the Mycenaeans in Linear B, an early form of Greek. The Mycenaeans gradually absorbed the Minoans, but collapsed violently around 1200 BC and this ushered in a period known as the Greek Dark Ages, from which written records are absent. The end of the Dark Ages is traditionally dated to 776 BC, the Iliad and the Odyssey, the foundational texts of Western literature, are believed to have been composed by Homer in the 7th or 8th centuries BC. With the end of the Dark Ages, there emerged various kingdoms and city-states across the Greek peninsula, in 508 BC, Cleisthenes instituted the worlds first democratic system of government in Athens
2.
Attica
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Attica is a historical region that encompasses the city of Athens, the capital of Greece. The historical region is centered on the Attic peninsula, which projects into the Aegean Sea, the modern administrative region of Attica is more extensive than the historical region and includes the Saronic Islands, Cythera, and the municipality of Troizinia on the Peloponnesian mainland. The history of Attica is tightly linked with that of Athens, Attica is a triangular peninsula jutting into the Aegean Sea. It is naturally divided to the north from Boeotia by the 10 mi long Cithaeron mountain range, to the west, it is bordered by the sea and the canal of Corinth. The Saronic Gulf lies to the south, and the island of Euboea lies off the north, mountains separate the peninsula into the plains of Pedias, Mesogaia, and Thriasion. The mountains of Attica are the Hymettus, the portion of the Geraneia, the Parnitha, the Aigaleo. Four mountains—Aigaleo, Parnitha, Penteli and Hymettus —delineate the hilly plain on which the Athens-Piraeus metroplex now spreads, Athens water reservoir, Lake Marathon, is an artificial lake created by damming in 1920. Pine and fir forests cover the area around Parnitha, Hymettus, Penteli, Myrrhinous and Laurium are forested with pine trees, whereas the rest are covered by shrubbery. The Kifisos is the longest river of Attica, according to Plato, Atticas ancient boundaries were fixed by the Isthmus, and, toward the continent, they extended as far as the heights of Cithaeron and Parnes. The boundary line came down toward the sea, bounded by the district of Oropus on the right, during antiquity, the Athenians boasted about being autochthonic, which is to say that they were the original inhabitants of the area and had not moved to Attica from another place. The traditions current in the classical period recounted that, during the Greek Dark Ages, Attica had become the refuge of the Ionians, who belonged to a tribe from the northern Peloponnese. Supposedly, the Ionians had been forced out of their homeland by the Achaeans, supposedly, the Ionians integrated with the ancient Atticans, who, afterward, considered themselves part of the Ionian tribe and spoke the Ionian dialect. Many Ionians later left Attica to colonize the Aegean coast of Asia Minor, during the Mycenaean period, the Atticans lived in autonomous agricultural societies. The main places where prehistoric remains were found are Marathon, Rafina, Nea Makri, Brauron, Thorikos, Agios Kosmas, Eleusis, Menidi, Markopoulo, Spata, Aphidnae, all of these settlements flourished during the Mycenaean period. According to tradition, Attica comprised twelve small communities during the reign of Cecrops, strabo assigns these the names of Cecropia, Tetrapolis, Epacria, Decelea, Eleusis, Aphidna, Thoricus, Brauron, Cytherus, Sphettus, Cephisia, and possibly Phaleron. These were said to have been incorporated in an Athenian state during the reign of Theseus. Modern historians consider it likely that the communities were progressively incorporated into an Athenian state during the 8th. Until the 6th century BC, aristocratic families lived independent lives in the suburbs, only after Peisistratoss tyranny and the reforms implemented by Cleisthenes did the local communities lose their independence and succumb to the central government in Athens
3.
National Technical University of Athens
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The National Technical University of Athens, sometimes known as Athens Polytechnic, is among the oldest higher education institutions of Greece and the most prestigious among engineering schools. It is named Metsovio in honor of its benefactors Nikolaos Stournaris, Eleni Tositsa, Michail Tositsas and Georgios Averoff and its traditional campus, located in the center of the city of Athens on Patision Avenue, features a suite of magnificent neo-classical buildings by architect Lysandros Kaftantzoglou. A suburban campus, the Zografou Campus, was built in the 1980s, NTUA is divided into nine academic schools, eight being for the engineering disciplines, including architecture, and one for applied sciences. Undergraduate studies have a duration of five years, admission to NTUA is highly selective and can only be accomplished through achieving exceptional grades in the annual Panhellenic Exams. It is a widely spread perception that the vast majority of each years Panhellenic Exams top students interested in the sciences, the university comprises about 700 of academic staff,140 scientific assistants and 260 administrative and technical staff. It also has about 8,500 undergraduates and about 1,500 postgraduate students, eight of the NTUAs Schools are housed at the Zografou Campus, while the School of Architecture is based at the Patision Complex. NTUA was established by decree on December 31,1836, January 21,1837. It began functioning as a vocational school to train craftsmen, builders. In 1840, due to its popularity and the changing socio-economic conditions in the new state. The courses were expanded and the institution was housed in its own building in Pireos Street, in 1843 a major restructuring was made. Three departments were created, Part-Time Vocational School Daily School A new Higher School of Fine Arts The new departments object was fine arts, the new department, which was later renamed School of Industrial and Fine Arts, rapidly evolved towards a major higher education institution. Tradition has it that referred to both technical professions and fine arts. Even today, the school maintains a school of architecture that is related to the School of Fine Arts. The name Polytechnnic came in 1862, with the introduction of new technical courses. This restructuring continued steadily until 1873, at the time, the school became overwhelmed by the plethora of students wanting to learn high technical skills, and this led to its moving to a new campus. In 1873 it moved to its new campus in Patision Street and was known as Metsovion Polytechnion after the birthplace of its benefactors who financed the construction of this campus. At the time, the campus in Patision Street was even partially incomplete and this is when the institute was recognized as a technical education facility by the state, which was a crucial step for its development, as it became accompanied to the countrys needs as it developed. In 1914, new schools were created and was officially named Ethnicon Metsovion Polytechnion went under the supervision of the Ministry of Public Works
4.
Anarchism in Greece
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Anarchism in Greece has emerged from occasionally overlapping but mostly diverse inclinations. It is often difficult to trace the connections of the various anarchist leagues and affinity groups, the first libertarian texts were published in Greece in 1860 and some organized anarchist action started in Athens around the same time. Much was written and published by anarchists and libertarian radicals of that time, emmanouil Dadaoglou, a merchant from Smyrna, had probably come across anarchist ideas after meeting Italian political refugees, who first arrived in Patras in 1849 due to the War of the Two Sicilies. Together with Italian anarchist Amilcare Cipriani, founder of the Democrats Club, they organized a group and they put up a barricade near Kapnikarea in Athens. From 1864 to 1867 Dadaoglou lived in Napoli where he became a member of the International Workingmens Association, at that time he met Maria Pantazi, a former prostitute, who became his lifelong companion. In the late 1860s he returned to Greece, where he died in 1870, after his death, Maria Pantazi left Greece and died in the aftermath of the Paris Commune, at the hands of the Royal Guards, in 1872. The first anarchist publication in Greece appeared on 3 September 1861, in the daily newspaper Φώς and its the main article of the paper, titled Anarchy, part A, by an anonymous writer. All the copies were confiscated a few hours after their release, libertarian movements also occurred in the Ionian Islands, with the names of Mikelis Avlichos and Nikos Konemenos saved for us. Avlichos studied in Bern, Switzerland where he met Michail Bakunin, Konemenos, living in Corfu, was one of the first to use the term communism and one of the first to speak for womens rights. In 1893 he published a book in Italian called Ladri ed omicidi, the seeds sown during the previous decade flowered, producing revolutionary organizations in many parts of Greece, such as Athens, Syros, Messinia, Aegio, Filiatra, Cefalonia and Patras. They tried to coordinate all the groups in Greece and to form the first Greek Chapter of the International Workers Association, soon enough we will publish our socialist newspaper as an instrument of IWA. The most active members were D. Badounas, D. Arnellos, D. Karabizas, at the turn of the 20th century most of the urban centers in the country had an Anarchist nucleus. At the same time Anarchist Marinos Antypas, a hero of the peasants movement, was active in central Greece. In 1913, Anarchist Alexandros Schinas shot and killed King George of Greece in Thessaloniki and he was tortured and murdered by the police six weeks later. Many other anarchists were active in local workers struggles that flared up in the 1920s and 1930s, notable examples were Constantinos Speras, anarchosyndicalist and leader of the strike of Serifos and Yannis Tamtakos, one of the leaders of the general strike of 1936 in Thessaloniki. During the dictatorship of Metaxas and the occupation of the country by the Nazis the repression of the working class, thousands died in the war, in exile, in jails, and in concentration camps. Meanwhile, the Communist Party stalinists were gaining power in the country. In December 1944, two months after the end of the Occupation, the CPG staged an uprising in Athens against the re-emerging pre-war regime, the civil war that followed until 1949 ended with the defeat of the Communist Party and the ruthless suppression of all revolutionary activity
5.
Merchant
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A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people to earn a profit. A merchant historically was anyone involved in business as long as industry, commerce, the status of the merchant has varied during different periods of history and among different societies. There are two types of merchant, A wholesale merchant is a wholesaler who operates in the chain between produce and retail merchant, typically dealing in large quantities of goods, some wholesale merchants only organize the movement of goods rather than move the goods themselves. A retail merchant or retailer, sells merchandise to end-users or consumers, a shop-keeper is a retail merchant. Merchants have existed as long as business, industry, trade, a merchant class characterized many pre-modern societies. Open air, public markets were known in ancient Babylonia and Assyria, China, Egypt, Greece, India, Persia, Phonecia and these markets typically occupied a place in the towns centre. Surrounding the market, skilled artisans, such as metal-workers and leather workers and these artisans may have sold wares directly from their premises, but also prepared goods for sale on market days. In ancient Greece markets operated within the agora, and in ancient Rome the forum, the nature of direct selling centred around transactional exchange, where the goods were on open display, allowing buyers to evaluate quality directly through visual inspection. Relationships between merchant and consumer were minimal, the Phoenicians plied their ships across the Mediterranean, becoming a major trading power by 9th century BCE. The Phoenicians imported and exported wood, textiles, glass and produce such as wine, oil, dried fruit and their trading skills necessitated a network of colonies along the Mediterranean coast, stretching from modern day Crete through to Tangiers and onto Sardinia. The Phoenicians not only traded in goods, but were also instrumental in transporting the trappings of culture. The Phoenicians extensive trade networks necessitated considerable book-keeping and correspondence, in around 1500 BCE, the Phoenicians developed a phonetic alphabet which was much easier to learn that the pictographic scripts used in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. Phoenician traders and merchants were responsible for spreading their alphabet around the region. Phoenician inscriptions have been found in sites at a number of former Phoenician cities and colonies around the Mediterranean, such as Byblos. The Romans defined merchants or traders in a narrow sense. Merchants were those who bought and sold goods while landowners who sold their own produce were not considered to be merchants, being a landowner was a respectable occupation. On the other hand, the trade of merchant was not considered respectable, although they may have lacked high social standing, merchants in ancient Rome often made handsome profits. Umbricius Scauras, for example, was a manufacturer and trader of fish sauce in Pompeii and his villa, situated in one of the wealthier districts of Pompeii, was very large and ornately decorated in a show of substantial personal wealth
6.
General store
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A general store is a rural or small town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a selection of merchandise, sometimes in a small space. The store carries routine stock and obtains special orders from warehouses and it differs from a convenience store or corner shop in that it will be the main shop for the community rather than a convenient supplement. General stores often sell staple food items such as milk and bread, the term general merchandise store is also used to describe a hybrid of a department store, with a wide selection of goods, and a discount store, with low prices. Examples include J. C. Penney and Sears, General dealers were established in the 18th and 19th century in many remote populated places where mobility was limited and a single shop was sufficient to service the entire community. Due to its connection and confinement to its customers, general dealers often adjusted their sales offerings to the specific preferences of their community. General dealers existed—apart from mainland England and North America—in all colonies, in the colonies trade in local produce had existed long before official shops were opened. While a large number of stores still exist in Australia. The oldest continually run general store in Canada is Trousdales, located in Sydenham, Ontario, socialbility has always been a feature, as locals come to chat as well as buy. In the Dominican Republic, a colmado is the equivalent to a general store. Colmado literal translation is full to the brim implying its great density of goods in a small space, the colmado is much more than just a general store, for it offers a social gathering point for the residents of the town or neighborhood. The colmado is an important institution in the Dominican Republic serving as an economic and it is common for colmados to have loud Dominican music such as merengue, bachata, or salsa playing. A common pastime for Dominican men is to play dominoes and drink a beer at their local colmado on Sundays, another particularity of the colmado is that they provide delivery services of their products straight to your house door. Products go from beers, snacks, toilet paper to a light or canned food. The Greek merchants in Egypt were called bakal, in India, a tapri is a regional version of a general store. It stores all home, personal, medical, and hygienic daily used products, many Kirana shops sell products other from food, such as clothing or household items, stationery, toys, tools, and medicines. Small Kirna stores, which are located on the corner of streets and generally known as katta or tapri, sell cigarettes, tobacco. In Puerto Rico, a U. S. territory, several stores have proliferated since the 1970s
7.
Kolonaki
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Kolonaki, literally Little Column, is a neighborhood in central Athens, Greece. It is located on the slopes of Lycabettus hill. Its name derives from the two column that defined the area even before a single house had been built there. Kolonaki is a wealthy and upmarket district, as one of the capitals leading shopping areas, it includes a number of high-end boutiques from young adult to casual fashion to prestigious haute couture from Greek and international designers. One of its shopping streets, Voukourestiou Street, is now known for its jewellery. Museums and galleries also abound in Kolonaki, the Benaki Museum, inside a preserved neoclassical manor house, and the Goulandris Museum of Cycladic Art and are two of the finest private collections in the country. Two smaller museums to be found in Kolonaki are the Museum of the History of Greek Costume, a walk across the street from Vasilissis Sofias Avenue are the Byzantine Museum, and the War Museum of Athens. There is a plethora of options for nightlife, including bars, ouzeries. Outdoor seating on pedestrian walks is typical, creating an atmosphere at night. The main Kolonaki Square is surrounded by cafes and restaurants, the Lycabettus Funicular, a funicular railway, links Kolonaki to the summit of Lycabettus hill. Kolonaki also hosts two metro stations, Evengelismos and Megaro Mousikis
8.
Panepistimiou Street
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Its total length is about 1.2 km. The street was renamed as Eleftherios Venizelos Avenue in the 1980s but is still usually known by its historical name. It has six lanes, of five are for traffic. Most of the street runs almost diagonally from southeast to northwest, many buildings as high as ten to fifteen stories line this street. Old neoclassical buildings of no higher than two to three used to exist until the 1950s, when a construction spree, which lasted several decades, demolished all. Originally a two-way street until after the Greek Civil War with bus lanes, several classic films were shot in this street. The Athens Metro Red Line runs underneath with stations linking with this including the Panepistimiou station. Workers filled the hole with concrete so that traffic can resume, in the 2000s, the transit buses which can run eastbound can now run two way and is at the lower end of the street. The idea is part of a project held by the Onassis Foundation under the name Rethink Athens in an effort for a more allure, the project is scheduled to be completed in the next few years. Scholars are critical of the implications of the project. This will especially be the further down from the corner with Syntagma Square. Traffic congestion will also increase in all surrounding roads as it will be diverted from Panepistimiou, which will also be closed to buses
9.
National Archaeological Museum, Athens
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The National Archaeological Museum in Athens houses some of the most important artifacts from a variety of archaeological locations around Greece from prehistory to late antiquity. It is considered one of the greatest museums in the world, the first national archaeological museum in Greece was established by prime minister of Greece Ioannis Kapodistrias in Aigina in 1829. The initial name for the museum was The Central Museum and it was renamed to its current name in 1881 by Prime Minister of Greece Charilaos Trikoupis. In 1887 the important archaeologist Valerios Stais became the museums curator, during World War II the museum was closed and the antiquities were sealed in special protective boxes and buried, in order to avoid their destruction and looting. In 1945 exhibits were displayed under the direction of Christos Karouzos. The south wing of the houses the Epigraphic Museum with the richest collection of inscriptions in the world. The inscriptions museum expanded between 1953 and 1960 with the designs of Patroklos Karantinos. The museum has an imposing neo-classical design which was popular in Europe at the time and is in accordance with the classical style artifacts that it houses. The initial plan was conceived by the architect Ludwig Lange and it was modified by Panagis Kalkos who was the main architect, Armodios Vlachos. At the front of the museum there is a large neo-classic design garden which is decorated with sculptures, the building has undergone many expansions. These expansions were necessary to accommodate the growing collection of artifacts. The most recent refurbishment of the museum more than 1.5 years to complete. The Minoan frescoes rooms opened to the public in 2005, on May 2008 the Culture Minister Mihalis Liapis inaugurated the much anticipated collection of Egyptian antiquities and the collection of Eleni and Antonis Stathatos. Today, there is a discussion regarding the need to further expand the museum to adjacent areas. A new plan has made for a subterranean expansion at the front of the museum. The museums collections are organised in sections, The prehistoric collection displays objects from the Neolithic era, Early and Mid-Bronze age, objects classified as Cycladic and Mycenaean art. There are ceramic finds from various important Neolithic sites such as Dimini and Sesclo from middle Helladic ceramics from Boeotia, Attica, some objects from Heinrich Schliemann excavations in Troy are also on display. Cycladic collection features the famous marble figurines from the Aegean islands of Delos and Keros including the Lutist, of great interest are the two golden cups from Vafeio showing a scene of the capture of a bull
10.
Movie theater
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A movie theater or movie theatre is a venue, usually a building, that contains an auditorium for viewing films, for entertainment. Most, but not all, movie theaters are commercial operations catering to the general public, Some movie theaters, however, are operated by non-profit organizations or societies which charge members a membership fee to view films. The film is projected with a projector onto a large projection screen at the front of the auditorium while the dialogue, sounds. Since the 1970s, subwoofers have used for low-pitched sounds. In the 2010s, most movie theaters are equipped for digital cinema projection, removing the need to create, a great variety of films are shown at cinemas, ranging from animated films for children, blockbusters for general audiences and documentaries for patrons who are interested in non-fiction topics. The smallest movie theaters have a viewing room with a single screen. In the 2010s, most movie theaters have multiple screens, the largest theater complexes, which are called multiplexes—a design developed in the U. S. in the 1960s—have up to 25 screens. The audience members sit on padded seats which in most theaters are set up on a sloped floor. Movie theaters typically sell soft drinks, popcorn and candy and some theaters also sell hot fast food, in some jurisdictions, movie theaters are licensed to sell alcoholic drinks. A movie theater may also be referred to as a theatre, movie house, film house. In the US, theater has long been the preferred spelling, while in the UK, Canada, the latter terms, as well as their derivative adjectives cinematic and kinematic, ultimately derive from Greek κινῆμα, κινήματος —movement, motion. In the countries where those terms are used, the theatre is usually reserved for live performance venues. Colloquial expressions, mostly applied to motion pictures and motion picture theaters collectively, include the silver screen, specific to North American term is the movies, while specific terms in the UK are the pictures, the flicks and for the facility itself the flea pit. A screening room is a theater, often a private one. Open air place in ancient times for viewing spectacles and plays, the term theater comes from the Old French word theatre, from the 12th century and. The use of the theatre to mean a building where plays are shown dates from the 1570s in the English language. The earliest precursors to movies were magic lantern shows, magic lanterns used a glass lens, a shutter and a powerful lamp to project images from glass slides onto a white wall or screen. The invention of the Argand lamp in the 1790s, limelight in the 1820s, the magic lantern could project rudimentary moving images, which was achieved by the use of various types of mechanical slides
11.
Comic book
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A comic book or comicbook, also called comic magazine or simply comic, is a publication that consists of comic art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by brief descriptive prose and written narrative, although comics has some origins in 18th century Japan and 1830s Europe, comic books were first popularized in the United States during the 1930s. Comic books are reliant on their organization and appearance, authors largely focus on the frame of the page, size, orientation, and panel positions. These characteristic aspects of books are necessary in conveying the content. The key elements of comic books include panels, balloons, text, balloons are usually convex spatial containers of information that are related to a character using a tail element. The tail has an origin, path, tip, and pointed direction, there are many technological formulas used to create comic books, including directions, axes, data, and metrics. Following these key formatting procedures is the writing, drawing, Comics as a print medium have existed in America since the printing of The Adventures of Mr. Obadiah Oldbuck in 1842 in hardcover, making it the first known American prototype comic book. The introduction of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shusters Superman in 1938 turned comic books into a major industry, the Golden Age originated the archetype of the superhero. Historians generally divide the timeline of the American comic book into eras, the Golden Age of Comic Books began with the introduction of Superman in 1938, spurring a period of high sales. The Silver Age of comic books is considered to date from the first successful revival of the then-dormant superhero form. The demarcation between the Silver Age and the era, the Bronze Age of Comic Books, is less well-defined. The Modern Age of Comic Books runs from the mid-1980s to the present day, in response to attention from the government and from the media, the U. S. comic book industry set up the Comics Magazine Association of America. The CMAA instilled the Comics Code Authority in 1954 and drafted the self-censorship Comics Code that year and it was not until the 1970s that comic books could be published without passing through the inspection of the CMAA. In the early 1970s, a surge of creativity emerged in what known as underground comix. Published and distributed independently of the comics industry, most of such comics reflected the youth counterculture. Underground comics were almost never sold at newsstands, but rather in such youth-oriented outlets as head shops and record stores, frank Stacks The Adventures of Jesus, published under the name Foolbert Sturgeon, has been credited as the first underground comic. The rise of comic book specialty stores in the late 1970s created/paralleled a dedicated market for independent or alternative comics in the U. S, some independent comics continued in the tradition of underground comics. A few represented experimental attempts to bring closer to the status of fine art
Exarcheia
