1.
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.
Cyprus
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Cyprus, officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the Eastern Mediterranean and the third largest and third most populous island in the Mediterranean. It is located south of Turkey, west of Syria and Lebanon, northwest of Israel and Palestine, north of Egypt, the earliest known human activity on the island dates to around the 10th millennium BC. Archaeological remains from this include the well-preserved Neolithic village of Khirokitia. Cyprus was settled by Mycenaean Greeks in two waves in the 2nd millennium BC, Cyprus was placed under British administration based on Cyprus Convention in 1878 and formally annexed by Britain in 1914. While Turkish Cypriots made up 18% of the population, the partition of Cyprus and creation of a Turkish state in the north became a policy of Turkish Cypriot leaders, following nationalist violence in the 1950s, Cyprus was granted independence in 1960. On 15 July 1974, a coup détat was staged by Greek Cypriot nationalists and elements of the Greek military junta in an attempt at enosis and these events and the resulting political situation are matters of a continuing dispute. The Cyprus Republic has de jure sovereignty over the island of Cyprus, as well as its territorial sea and exclusive economic area, another nearly 4% of the islands area is covered by the UN buffer zone. The international community considers the part of the island as territory of the Republic of Cyprus occupied by Turkish forces. The occupation is viewed as illegal under law, amounting to illegal occupation of EU territory since Cyprus became a member of the European Union. Cyprus is a major tourist destination in the Mediterranean, on 1 January 2008, the Republic of Cyprus joined the eurozone. The earliest attested reference to Cyprus is the 15th century BC Mycenaean Greek
3.
Dionysios Solomos
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Dionysios Solomos was a Greek poet from Zakynthos. He is best known for writing the Hymn to Liberty, of which the first two stanzas, set to music by Nikolaos Mantzaros, became the Greek national anthem in 1865, other notable poems include Ὁ Κρητικός, Ἐλεύθεροι Πολιορκημένοι and others. A characteristic of his work is that no poem except the Hymn to Liberty was completed, born at Zakynthos in 1798, Dionysios Solomos was the illegitimate child of a wealthy count, Nikolaos Solomos, and his housekeeper, Angeliki Nikli. Nikolaos Solomos was of Cretan origin, his family were Cretan refugees who settled on Zakynthos in 1670 after Cretes conquest by the Ottoman Empire in 1669, the Italian version of the family name is recorded as, Salamon, Salomon, Solomon, and Salomone. It is possible that his mother Angeliki Nikli came from the region of Mani, count Nikolaos Solomos was legally married to Marnetta Kakni, who died in 1802. From that marriage, he had two children, Roberto and Elena, since 1796, Nikolaos Solomos had a parallel relationship with his housekeeper Angeliki Nikli, who gave birth to one more son apart from Dionysios, Dimitrios. His father married Dionysios mother a day before he died on 27 February 1807, making the young Dionysios legitimate, the poet spent his childhood years on Zakynthos until 1808, under the supervision of his Italian tutor, abbot Santo Rossi. After his fathers death, count Dionysios Messalas gained Solomos custody, in 1808, Messalas sent Solomos to Italy in order to study law, as was customary with Ionian nobility, but possibly also because of Dionysios mothers new marriage. Solomos went to Italy with his tutor, who returned to his home town, initially he was enrolled at the Lyceum of St. Catherine in Venice, but he had adjustment difficulties because of the schools strict discipline. For that reason, Rossi took Solomos with him to Cremona, in November 1815, Solomos was enrolled at Pavia Universitys Faculty of Law, from which he graduated in 1817. Given the interest the young poet showed in the flourishing Italian literature and being a speaker of Italian. One of the most important first poems written in Italian during that period of time was the Ode per la prima messa, in the meantime, he acquainted himself with famous Italian poets and novelists, Ugo Foscolo from Zakynthos was among his friends. As a result, he was accepted in the Italian literary circles. After 10 years of studies Solomos returned to Zakynthos in 1818 with a background in literature. On Zakynthos, which at time was well known for its flourishing literary culture. Antonios Matesis, Georgios Tertsetis, Dionysios Tagiapieras and Nikolaos Lountzis were some of Solomos most well-known friends and they used to gather in each others homes and amused themselves by making up poems. They frequently satirized a Zakynthian doctor, Roidis and they also liked to improvise poems on a given rhyme and topic. His improvised Italian poems during that period of time were published in 1822, along with the Italian poems, Solomos made his first attempts to write in Greek
4.
Nikolaos Mantzaros
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Nikolaos Halikiopoulos Mantzaros was an Italian-Greek composer born in Corfu and the major representative of the so-called Ionian School of music. Recent research and performances have led to a re-evaluation of Mantzaros as a significant composer and he was taught music in his native city by the brothers Stefano and Gerolamo Pojago, Stefano Moretti from Ancona and cavalliere Barbati, possibly a Neapolitan. Mantzaros presented his first compositions in 1815 in the theatre of San Giacomo of Corfu, from 1819 onwards he was regularly visiting Italy, where, among others, he met the veteran Neapolitan composer Niccolo Antonio Zingarelli. His compositions include music, vocal works in Italian and demotic Greek, sacred music for the Catholic Rite. Mantzaros also composed the music for the first concert aria in Greek in 1827, Mantzaros was an important music theorist, contrapuntist and teacher. From 1841 and until his death he was the Artistic Director of the Philharmonic Society of Corfu, mantzaros-Solomos, The Hymn to the Liberty Music of the Ionian School. The Nikolaos Mantzaros Chamber Music Ensemble performing arrangements from piano Sinfonias by Mantzaros
5.
Greek language
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Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean. It has the longest documented history of any living language, spanning 34 centuries of written records and its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the major part of its history, other systems, such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary, were used previously. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, Gothic and many other writing systems. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world, during antiquity, Greek was a widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world and many places beyond. It would eventually become the official parlance of the Byzantine Empire, the language is spoken by at least 13.2 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey, and the Greek diaspora. Greek roots are used to coin new words for other languages, Greek. Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around the 3rd millennium BC, the earliest written evidence is a Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the worlds oldest recorded living language. Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now extinct Anatolian languages, the Greek language is conventionally divided into the following periods, Proto-Greek, the unrecorded but assumed last ancestor of all known varieties of Greek. The unity of Proto-Greek would have ended as Hellenic migrants entered the Greek peninsula sometime in the Neolithic era or the Bronze Age, Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Mycenaean civilisation. It is recorded in the Linear B script on tablets dating from the 15th century BC onwards, Ancient Greek, in its various dialects, the language of the Archaic and Classical periods of the ancient Greek civilisation. It was widely known throughout the Roman Empire, after the Roman conquest of Greece, an unofficial bilingualism of Greek and Latin was established in the city of Rome and Koine Greek became a first or second language in the Roman Empire. The origin of Christianity can also be traced through Koine Greek, Medieval Greek, also known as Byzantine Greek, the continuation of Koine Greek in Byzantine Greece, up to the demise of the Byzantine Empire in the 15th century. Much of the written Greek that was used as the language of the Byzantine Empire was an eclectic middle-ground variety based on the tradition of written Koine. Modern Greek, Stemming from Medieval Greek, Modern Greek usages can be traced in the Byzantine period and it is the language used by the modern Greeks, and, apart from Standard Modern Greek, there are several dialects of it. In the modern era, the Greek language entered a state of diglossia, the historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of the Greek language is often emphasised. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than a foreign language and it is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, Homeric Greek is probably closer to demotic than 12-century Middle English is to modern spoken English, Greek is spoken by about 13 million people, mainly in Greece, Albania and Cyprus, but also worldwide by the large Greek diaspora. Greek is the language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population
6.
National anthem
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The majority of national anthems are either marches or hymns in style. The countries of Latin America tend towards more operatic pieces, while a handful of countries use a simple fanfare, a national anthem is usually in the national or most common language of the country, whether de facto or official, there are notable exceptions. Amhrán na bhFiann, the anthem of the Republic of Ireland, was written in English, the current national anthem of South Africa is unique in that five of the countrys eleven official languages are used in the same anthem. One of the two national anthems of New Zealand, God Defend New Zealand, is commonly now sung with the first verse in Māori. The tune is the same but the words are not a translation of each other. God Bless Fiji has lyrics in English and Fijian which are not translations of each other, although official, the Fijian version is rarely sung, and it is usually the English version that is performed at international sporting events. There are several countries that do not have official lyrics to their anthems, one of these is the Marcha Real, the anthem of Spain. In 2007 a national competition to write words was held, other anthems with no words include Inno Nazionale della Repubblica, the anthem of San Marino, and that of Kosovo, entitled Europe. National anthems rose to prominence in Europe during the 19th century, the oldest national anthem belongs to the Netherlands and is called the Wilhelmus. It was written between 1568 and 1572 during the Dutch Revolt, but did not become the anthem until 1932. The Japanese anthem, Kimigayo, has the oldest lyrics, which were taken from a Heian period poem, in contrast, the music of Qaumi Taranah, Pakistans national anthem was composed in 1949, preceding its lyrics, which were written in 1952. The Philippine anthem Lupang Hinirang was composed in 1898 as wordless incidental music for the ceremony declaring independence from the Spanish Empire, the Spanish poem Filipinas was written the following year to serve as the anthems lyrics, the current Tagalog version dates to 1962. Spains national anthem, the Marcha Real, written in 1761, was among the first to be adopted as such, in 1770. Denmark adopted the older of its two national anthems, Kong Christian stod ved højen mast, in 1780, and La Marseillaise, Serbia became the first Eastern European nation to have a national anthem – Rise up, Serbia. – in 1804. Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu, the anthem of Kenya, is one of the first national anthems to be specifically commissioned. It was written by the Kenyan Anthem Commission in 1963 to serve as the anthem after independence from the United Kingdom, National anthems are used in a wide array of contexts. Certain etiquette may be involved in the playing of a countrys anthem and these usually involve military honours, standing up/rising, removing headwear etc. In diplomatic situations the rules may be very formal, there may also be royal anthems, presidential anthems, state anthems etc. for special occasions
7.
Republic of Cyprus
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Cyprus, officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the Eastern Mediterranean and the third largest and third most populous island in the Mediterranean. It is located south of Turkey, west of Syria and Lebanon, northwest of Israel and Palestine, north of Egypt, the earliest known human activity on the island dates to around the 10th millennium BC. Archaeological remains from this include the well-preserved Neolithic village of Khirokitia. Cyprus was settled by Mycenaean Greeks in two waves in the 2nd millennium BC, Cyprus was placed under British administration based on Cyprus Convention in 1878 and formally annexed by Britain in 1914. While Turkish Cypriots made up 18% of the population, the partition of Cyprus and creation of a Turkish state in the north became a policy of Turkish Cypriot leaders, following nationalist violence in the 1950s, Cyprus was granted independence in 1960. On 15 July 1974, a coup détat was staged by Greek Cypriot nationalists and elements of the Greek military junta in an attempt at enosis and these events and the resulting political situation are matters of a continuing dispute. The Cyprus Republic has de jure sovereignty over the island of Cyprus, as well as its territorial sea and exclusive economic area, another nearly 4% of the islands area is covered by the UN buffer zone. The international community considers the part of the island as territory of the Republic of Cyprus occupied by Turkish forces. The occupation is viewed as illegal under law, amounting to illegal occupation of EU territory since Cyprus became a member of the European Union. Cyprus is a major tourist destination in the Mediterranean, on 1 January 2008, the Republic of Cyprus joined the eurozone. The earliest attested reference to Cyprus is the 15th century BC Mycenaean Greek
8.
Messolonghi
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Missolonghi is a municipality of 34,416 people in western Greece. The town is the capital of Aetolia-Acarnania regional unit, and the seat of the municipality of Iera Polis Messolongiou, Missolonghi is known as the site of a dramatic siege during the Greek War of Independence, and of the death of poet Lord Byron. The town is located between the Acheloos and the Evinos rivers and has a port on the Gulf of Patras and it trades in fish, wine, and tobacco. The Arakynthos mountains lie to the northeast, the town is almost canalized but houses are within the gulf and the swamplands. The Messolonghi-Etoliko Lagoons complex lies to the west, in the ancient times, the land was part of the gulf. The Greek National Road 5/E55 passes north of Missolonghi, the town had a railway station on the line to Agrinio but this has been abandoned since the 1970s. The local airport has a hard runway but no scheduled services.372 km2, the province of Missolonghi was one of the provinces of the Aetolia-Acarnania Prefecture. Its territory corresponded with that of the current municipality Missolonghi and the municipal units Angelokastro, Arakynthos, Missolonghi was first mentioned by a Venetian called Paruta when he was describing the naval Battle of Lepanto near Nafpaktos. Until 1700, Missolonghi was under Venetian domination and they lived in cabins which were made of a kind of waterproof straw and reed and stood on stilts above sea water. These cabins or stilt-houses have always been called pelades, Missolonghi was part of Aetolia until the late-1820s when was Aetolia-Acarnania created. North-west of Missolonghi are the remains of Pleuron, a mentioned in Homers works. It participated in the Trojan expedition and was destroyed in 234 BC by Demetrius II Aetolicus, the new town, which was built on the remains of old Pleuron, was one of the most important towns in Aitolia. Its monumental fortification comprised thirty towers and seven gates, the remains of the theatre and an enormous water tank with four compartments still exist. During the Orlov Revolt in 1770 the fleet of Missolonghi was defeated, Missolonghi revolted on May 20,1821 and was a major stronghold of the Greek rebels in the Greek War of Independence, being the seat of the Senate of Western Continental Greece. Its inhabitants successfully resisted a siege by Ottoman forces in 1822, after a year of relentless enemy attacks and facing starvation, the people of Missolonghi decided to leave the beleaguered city in the Exodus of its Guards on the night of April 10,1826. At the time, there were 10,500 people in Missolonghi,3,500 of whom were armed, very few people survived the Ottoman pincer movement after the betrayal of their plan. The famous British poet and philhellene Lord Byron, who supported the Greek struggle for independence and he is commemorated by a cenotaph, containing his heart, and a statue located in the town. The town itself is very picturesque but also modern with functional, some very interesting buildings representative of traditional architecture can be seen here
9.
Corfu
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Corfu is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and, including its satellite islands. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered as a single municipality, the municipality has an area of 610.936 km2, the island proper 592.877 km2. The principal city of the island and seat of the municipality is also named Corfu, Corfu is home to the Ionian University. The island is bound up with the history of Greece from the beginnings of Greek mythology and its history is full of battles and conquests. Castles punctuating strategic locations across the island are a legacy of these struggles, two of these castles enclose its capital, which is the only city in Greece to be surrounded in such a way. As a result, Corfus capital has been declared a Kastropolis by the Greek government. From medieval times and into the 17th century, the island was recognised as a bulwark of the European States against the Ottoman Empire, the fortifications of the island were used by the Venetians to defend against Ottoman intrusion into the Adriatic. Corfu repulsed several Ottoman sieges, before falling under British rule following the Napoleonic Wars, in 2007, the citys old quarter was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List, following a recommendation by ICOMOS. Corfu is a popular tourist destination. The island was the location of the 1994 European Union summit, the Greek name, Kerkyra or Korkyra, is related to two powerful water deities, Poseidon, god of the sea, and Asopos, an important Greek mainland river. According to myth, Poseidon fell in love with the beautiful nymph Korkyra, daughter of Asopos and river nymph Metope, Poseidon brought Korkyra to the hitherto unnamed island and, in marital bliss, offered her name to the place, Korkyra, which gradually evolved to Kerkyra. They had a child they called Phaiax, after whom the inhabitants of the island were named Phaiakes, Corfus nickname is the island of the Phaeacians. The name Corfù, an Italian version of the Byzantine Κορυφώ, meaning city of the peaks, derives from the Byzantine Greek Κορυφαί, the northeastern edge of Corfu lies off the coast of Sarandë, Albania, separated by straits varying in width from 3 to 23 km. The southeast side of the island lies off the coast of Thesprotia and its shape resembles a sickle, to which it was compared by the ancients, the concave side, with the city and harbour of Corfu in the centre, lies toward the Albanian coast. With the islands area estimated at 592.9 square kilometres, it runs approximately 64 km long, two high and well-defined ranges divide the island into three districts, of which the northern is mountainous, the central undulating, and the southern low-lying. The more important of the two ranges, that of Pantokrator stretches east and west from Cape Falacro to Cape Psaromita, and attains its greatest elevation in the summit of the same name. The second range culminates in the mountain of Santi Jeca, or Santa Decca, as it is called by misinterpretation of the Greek designation Άγιοι Δέκα, or the Ten Saints
10.
Opera
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Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. In traditional opera, singers do two types of singing, recitative, a style and arias, a more melodic style. Opera incorporates many of the elements of theatre, such as acting, scenery. The performance is given in an opera house, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble. Opera is a key part of the Western classical music tradition, in the 18th century, Italian opera continued to dominate most of Europe, attracting foreign composers such as George Frideric Handel. Opera seria was the most prestigious form of Italian opera, until Christoph Willibald Gluck reacted against its artificiality with his operas in the 1760s. The first third of the 19th century saw the point of the bel canto style, with Gioachino Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti. It also saw the advent of Grand Opera typified by the works of Auber and Meyerbeer, the mid-to-late 19th century was a golden age of opera, led and dominated by Richard Wagner in Germany and Giuseppe Verdi in Italy. The popularity of opera continued through the era in Italy and contemporary French opera through to Giacomo Puccini. During the 19th century, parallel operatic traditions emerged in central and eastern Europe, the 20th century saw many experiments with modern styles, such as atonality and serialism, Neoclassicism, and Minimalism. With the rise of recording technology, singers such as Enrico Caruso, since the invention of radio and television, operas were also performed on these mediums. Beginning in 2006, a number of opera houses began to present live high-definition video transmissions of their performances in cinemas all over the world. In 2009, an opera company offered a download of a complete performance. The words of an opera are known as the libretto, some composers, notably Wagner, have written their own libretti, others have worked in close collaboration with their librettists, e. g. Mozart with Lorenzo Da Ponte. Vocal duets, trios and other ensembles often occur, and choruses are used to comment on the action, in some forms of opera, such as singspiel, opéra comique, operetta, and semi-opera, the recitative is mostly replaced by spoken dialogue. Melodic or semi-melodic passages occurring in the midst of, or instead of, the terminology of the various kinds of operatic voices is described in detail below. Over the 18th century, arias were accompanied by the orchestra. Subsequent composers have tended to follow Wagners example, though some, the changing role of the orchestra in opera is described in more detail below
11.
Patriarch Gregory V of Constantinople
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It can also refer to Patriarch Gregory V of Alexandria. Gregory V was Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 1797 to 1798, from 1806 to 1808 and he was responsible for much restoration work to the Patriarchal Cathedral of St George, which had been badly damaged by fire in 1738. The reprisals did come during Holy Week in April 1821, after the Greek rebels scored several successes against the Ottoman forces in the Peloponnese. In his memory, the Saint Peter Gate, once the gate of the Patriarchate compound, was welded shut in 1821 and has remained shut ever since. This in turn led to the Jews joining the Turks in attacks on Christians in some locations in northern Greece, during the night, the patriarchs corpse was recovered by Greek sailors, who brought it to Odessa. After the funeral, some Greek sailors attacked Jewish shops which had remained open during the ceremony, the Patriarchs body was eventually interred in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens. He is commemorated by the Greek Orthodox Church as an Ethnomartyr, the brutal execution of Gregory V, especially on the day of Easter Sunday, shocked and infuriated the Greeks, and Orthodox Russia. It also caused protests in the rest of Europe and reinforced the movement of Philhellenism, there are references that during the Greek War of Independence, many revolutionaries engraved on their swords the name of Gregory, seeking revenge. Dionysios Solomos, in his Hymn to Liberty, which later the Greek national anthem
12.
Nikiforos Lytras
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Nikiforos Lytras was a nineteenth-century Greek painter. He was born in Tinos, and trained in Athens at the School of Arts, in 1860 he won a scholarship to Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Munich. After completing these studies, he became a professor at the School of Arts in 1866 and he remained faithful to the precepts and principles of the Munich School, while paying greatest attention both to ethographic themes and portraiture. His most famous portrait was of the couple, Otto and Amalia. Nikiforos Lytras was a child of a marble sculptor. In 1850 to the age of eighteen years he went to Athens to study in the School of Arts and he studied painting with Ludwig Thiersch and Raffaelo Ceccoli. With his graduation in 1856 he started teaching there the course of elementary writing, in 1836 with a Greek government’s scholarship he went to Munich to study in the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. His teacher there was Karl von Piloty, in 1862 after King Otto was exiled the scholarship was no longer available to Lytra so the expenses undertook the ambassador of Greece in Vienna Simon Sinas. In the summer of 1865 before his return to Greece he meets Nikolaos Gyzis in Munich, there they visited and studied a lot of art masterpieces. With his return in Athens Lytras became professor in the Athens School of Fine Arts in the department of Painting, Spyridon Vikatos was one of his pupils. In 1873 and for four years he travelled to Smyrna and Asia Minor, Munich, in 1879 he married Irene Kyriakidi daughter of a tradesman from Smyrna and they had six children. His son Nikolaos Lytras followed in his footsteps by studying at the Munich academy of Fine Arts. The nineteenth-century painters Ioannis Altamouras and Periklis Pantazis may be regarded as forerunners of this group, nikiforos Lytras died at the age of 72 in 1904, after a short illness that is believed to have been caused by his colours’ chemicals substances. After his death Georgios Jakobides took his place in Athens School of Fine Arts, during the period that Lytras was Piloty’s student he focused in history painting. His subjects were inspired from Greek Mythology and Greek history, after his return to Greece he started to paint portraits and every day life scenes. Lytra’s paintings about everyday life correspond in the ideology of the class of the times. His trips in Minor Asia and Egypt enriched his paintings with dark skinned children, the last period of his life he painted many scenes about aging, loneliness and the fear of death. Lytras was one of the most famous painters in Athens and he participated and honored in many exhibitions, at the Zappeion exhibitions, as well as in exhibitions in Paris and in Vienna
13.
Siege of Tripolitsa
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It is further notorious for the massacre of its Muslim Greek traitors, and Jewish population — the Massacre of Tripolitsa, which occurred after the citys fall to the Greek forces. As historian of the war W. Alison Phillips noted, the atrocities of Greeks paled before the awful scenes which followed the storming of Tripolitza. The de facto commander in chief of the Greek forces, Theodoros Kolokotronis, also Arvanites alongside Greek revolutionaries were present during the siege, in fighting and the massacre that followed. The Ottoman garrison was reinforced in May by some troops and cavalry sent by Hursid Pasha from the north, led by the Kehayabey Mustafa. Although the siege had been going on for months, its progress was slow. Conditions were worsening inside the walls for scarcity of food and potable water, taking advantage of this, Kolokotronis began quiet negotiations with the leaders of the besieged, aiming at an orderly capitulation. He wisely convinced the Albanian contingent led by Elmas Bey to make an agreement for safe passage to Argos. The deal itself was guaranteed by Dimitrios Plapoutas, the renowned Koliopoulos, the city was taken before the 2,500 Albanian had departed, but still they had a safe passage out of the Peloponnese a few days after the fall. Greek leaders were in constant contact with the Ottoman defenders in negotiations, in anticipation of the fall of the city, by September 22, about 20,000 Greeks had gathered around it. On September 23, the Greek army broke in through a spot in the walls. The fortified citadel in it surrendered three days later for lack of water, in the three days following the capture of the city, Muslims alongside Jewish and Greek supporters of the Turks, inhabitants of Tripolitsa were exterminated. The total number of Muslims killed during the sack was estimated by Thomas Gordon, neither sex nor age was spared. Women and children were tortured before being put to death, so great was the slaughter that Kolokotronis himself says that, from the gate to the citadel his horse’s hoofs never touched the ground. His path of triumph was carpeted with corpses, Kolokotronis says in his memoirs, Inside the town they had begun to massacre. If you wish to hurt these Albanians, I cried, kill me rather, for, while I am a man, whoever first makes the attempt. I was faithful to my word of honor, Tripolitsa was three miles in circumference. The host which entered it, cut down and were slaying men, women, thirty-two thousand were reported to have been slain. About a hundred Greeks were killed, but the end came, when I entered Tripolitsa, they showed me a plane tree in the market-place where the Greeks had always been hung
14.
Peter von Hess
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Peter Heinrich Lambert von Hess was a German painter, known for historic paintings, especially of the Napoleonic Wars and the Greek War of Independence. Peter von Hess initially received training from his father Carl Ernst Christopher Hess and he accompanied his younger brother Heinrich Maria to Munich in 1806, and enrolled at the Munich Academy at the age of sixteenth. He also trained under Wilhelm von Kobell, during the Napoleonic Wars, he was allowed to join the staff of General Wrede, who commanded the Bavarians in the military operations which led to the abdication of Napoleon. There he gained novel experiences of war and a taste for extensive travel, during this time, von Hess painted his first battle pieces. In 1818 he spent some time in Italy where he painted landscapes and various Italian scenes and travelled to Naples with Joseph Petzl and a group of other Bavarian artists. In 1833, at Ludwigs request, he accompanied Otto of Greece to the newly formed Kingdom of Greece, where at Athens he gathered materials for pictures of the war of liberation. The sketches which he made were placed, forty in number, in the Pinakothek, after being copied in wax on a large scale by Nilsen. King Othos entrance into Nauplia was the subject of a large and crowded canvas now in the Pinakothek, peter von Hess work has been evaluated positively for its execution but some have questioned its boldness and congeniality. He is buried in the Alter Südfriedhof in Munich and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Hess
15.
Greek War of Independence
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The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution, was a successful war of independence waged by the Greek revolutionaries between 1821 and 1832 against the Ottoman Empire. Even several decades before the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453, during this time, there were several revolt attempts by Greeks to gain independence from Ottoman control. In 1814, an organization called the Filiki Eteria was founded with the aim of liberating Greece. The Filiki Eteria planned to launch revolts in the Peloponnese, the Danubian Principalities, the first of these revolts began on 6 March 1821 in the Danubian Principalities, but it was soon put down by the Ottomans. The events in the north urged the Greeks in the Peloponnese into action and on 17 March 1821 and this declaration was the start of a spring of revolutionary actions from other controlled states against the Ottoman Empire. By the end of the month, the Peloponnese was in revolt against the Turks and by October 1821. The Peloponnesian revolt was followed by revolts in Crete, Macedonia, and Central Greece. Meanwhile, the makeshift Greek navy was achieving success against the Ottoman navy in the Aegean Sea, tensions soon developed among different Greek factions, leading to two consecutive civil wars. In the meantime, the Ottoman Sultan negotiated with Mehmet Ali of Egypt, although Ibrahim was defeated in Mani, he had succeeded in suppressing most of the revolt in the Peloponnese, and Athens had been retaken. Following years of negotiation, three Great Powers—Russia, Britain and France—decided to intervene in the conflict and each sent a navy to Greece. Following news that combined Ottoman–Egyptian fleets were going to attack the Greek island of Hydra, the battle began after a tense week-long standoff, ending in the destruction of the Ottoman–Egyptian fleet. As a result of years of negotiation, Greece was finally recognized as an independent nation in the Treaty of Constantinople of May 1832, the Revolution is celebrated by the modern Greek state as a national day on 25 March. The Fall of Constantinople on 29 May 1453 and the subsequent fall of the states of the Byzantine Empire marked the end of Byzantine sovereignty. After that, the Ottoman Empire ruled the Balkans and Anatolia, Orthodox Christians were granted some political rights under Ottoman rule, but they were considered inferior subjects. The majority of Greeks were called Rayah by the Turks, a name referred to the large mass of non-Muslim subjects under the Ottoman ruling class. Demetrius Chalcondyles called on Venice and all of the Latins to aid the Greeks against the abominable, monstrous, however, Greece was to remain under Ottoman rule for several more centuries. The Greek Revolution was not an event, numerous failed attempts at regaining independence took place throughout the history of the Ottoman era. Throughout the 17th century there was resistance to the Ottomans in the Morea and elsewhere
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Greeks
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The Greeks or Hellenes are an ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus, southern Albania, Turkey, Sicily, Egypt and, to a lesser extent, other countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world, many of these regions coincided to a large extent with the borders of the Byzantine Empire of the late 11th century and the Eastern Mediterranean areas of ancient Greek colonization. The cultural centers of the Greeks have included Athens, Thessalonica, Alexandria, Smyrna, most ethnic Greeks live nowadays within the borders of the modern Greek state and Cyprus. The Greek genocide and population exchange between Greece and Turkey nearly ended the three millennia-old Greek presence in Asia Minor, other longstanding Greek populations can be found from southern Italy to the Caucasus and southern Russia and Ukraine and in the Greek diaspora communities in a number of other countries. Today, most Greeks are officially registered as members of the Greek Orthodox Church, the Greeks speak the Greek language, which forms its own unique branch within the Indo-European family of languages, the Hellenic. They are part of a group of ethnicities, described by Anthony D. Smith as an archetypal diaspora people. Both migrations occur at incisive periods, the Mycenaean at the transition to the Late Bronze Age, the Mycenaeans quickly penetrated the Aegean Sea and, by the 15th century BC, had reached Rhodes, Crete, Cyprus and the shores of Asia Minor. Around 1200 BC, the Dorians, another Greek-speaking people, followed from Epirus, the Dorian invasion was followed by a poorly attested period of migrations, appropriately called the Greek Dark Ages, but by 800 BC the landscape of Archaic and Classical Greece was discernible. The Greeks of classical antiquity idealized their Mycenaean ancestors and the Mycenaean period as an era of heroes, closeness of the gods. The Homeric Epics were especially and generally accepted as part of the Greek past, as part of the Mycenaean heritage that survived, the names of the gods and goddesses of Mycenaean Greece became major figures of the Olympian Pantheon of later antiquity. The ethnogenesis of the Greek nation is linked to the development of Pan-Hellenism in the 8th century BC, the works of Homer and Hesiod were written in the 8th century BC, becoming the basis of the national religion, ethos, history and mythology. The Oracle of Apollo at Delphi was established in this period, the classical period of Greek civilization covers a time spanning from the early 5th century BC to the death of Alexander the Great, in 323 BC. It is so named because it set the standards by which Greek civilization would be judged in later eras, the Peloponnesian War, the large scale civil war between the two most powerful Greek city-states Athens and Sparta and their allies, left both greatly weakened. Many Greeks settled in Hellenistic cities like Alexandria, Antioch and Seleucia, two thousand years later, there are still communities in Pakistan and Afghanistan, like the Kalash, who claim to be descended from Greek settlers. The Hellenistic civilization was the period of Greek civilization, the beginnings of which are usually placed at Alexanders death. This Hellenistic age, so called because it saw the partial Hellenization of many non-Greek cultures and this age saw the Greeks move towards larger cities and a reduction in the importance of the city-state. These larger cities were parts of the still larger Kingdoms of the Diadochi, Greeks, however, remained aware of their past, chiefly through the study of the works of Homer and the classical authors. An important factor in maintaining Greek identity was contact with barbarian peoples and this led to a strong desire among Greeks to organize the transmission of the Hellenic paideia to the next generation
17.
Ottoman Greece
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Most of the areas which today are within modern Greeces borders were at some point in the past a part of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman advance into Greece was preceded by victory over the Serbs to its north, first, the Ottomans won the Battle of Maritsa in 1371. The Serb forces were led by the King Vukasin Mrnjavcevic, the father of Prince Marko. This was followed by another Ottoman victory in the 1389 Battle of Kosovo, with no further threat by the Serbs and the subsequent Byzantine civil wars, the Ottomans besieged and took Constantinople in 1453 and then advanced southwards into Greece, capturing Athens in 1458. The mountains of Greece were largely untouched, and were a refuge for Greeks who desired to flee Ottoman rule, the Cyclades islands, in the middle of the Aegean, were officially annexed by the Ottomans in 1579, although they were under vassal status since the 1530s. Cyprus fell in 1571, and the Venetians retained Crete until 1669, the Ionian Islands were never ruled by the Ottomans, with the exception of Kefalonia, and remained under the rule of the Republic of Venice. It was in the Ionian Islands where modern Greek statehood was born, Ottoman Greece was a multiethnic society as apart from Greeks and Turks, there were many Jews, Italians, Armenians, Serbs, Albanians, Roma, Bulgarians etc. However, the modern Western notion of multiculturalism, although at first glance appears to correspond to the system of millets, is considered to be incompatible with the Ottoman system, despite losing their political independence, the Greeks remained dominant in the fields of commerce and business. After the Ottoman defeat at the Battle of Lepanto however, Greek ships often became the target of attacks by Catholic pirates. This period of Ottoman rule had an impact in Greek society. The Greek land-owning aristocracy that dominated the Byzantine Empire suffered a tragic fate. The new leading class in Ottoman Greece were the prokritoi called kocabaşis by the Ottomans, the prokritoi were essentially bureaucrats and tax collectors, and gained a negative reputation for corruption and nepotism. After the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453, the Despotate of the Morea was the last remnant of the Byzantine Empire to hold out against the Ottomans, however, this, too, fell to the Ottomans in 1460, completing the Ottoman conquest of mainland Greece. The only part of the Greek-speaking world that escaped Ottoman rule was the Ionian Islands, corfu withstood three major sieges in 1537,1571 and 1716 all of which resulted in the repulsion of the Ottomans. The consolidation of Ottoman rule was followed by two distinct trends of Greek migration and this trend had also effect on the creation of the modern Greek diaspora. The Sultan sat at the apex of the government of the Ottoman Empire, although he had the trappings of an absolute ruler, he was actually bound by tradition and convention. These restrictions imposed by tradition were mainly of a religious nature, indeed, the Quran was the main restriction on absolute rule by the sultan and in this way, the Quran served as a constitution. Ottoman rule of the provinces was characterized by two main functions, the local administrators within the provinces were to maintain a military establishment and to collect taxes
18.
Ottoman Empire
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After 1354, the Ottomans crossed into Europe, and with the conquest of the Balkans the Ottoman Beylik was transformed into a transcontinental empire. The Ottomans ended the Byzantine Empire with the 1453 conquest of Constantinople by Mehmed the Conqueror, at the beginning of the 17th century the empire contained 32 provinces and numerous vassal states. Some of these were later absorbed into the Ottoman Empire, while others were granted various types of autonomy during the course of centuries. With Constantinople as its capital and control of lands around the Mediterranean basin, while the empire was once thought to have entered a period of decline following the death of Suleiman the Magnificent, this view is no longer supported by the majority of academic historians. The empire continued to maintain a flexible and strong economy, society, however, during a long period of peace from 1740 to 1768, the Ottoman military system fell behind that of their European rivals, the Habsburg and Russian Empires. While the Empire was able to hold its own during the conflict, it was struggling with internal dissent. Starting before World War I, but growing increasingly common and violent during it, major atrocities were committed by the Ottoman government against the Armenians, Assyrians and Pontic Greeks. The word Ottoman is an anglicisation of the name of Osman I. Osmans name in turn was the Turkish form of the Arabic name ʿUthmān, in Ottoman Turkish, the empire was referred to as Devlet-i ʿAlīye-yi ʿOsmānīye, or alternatively ʿOsmānlı Devleti. In Modern Turkish, it is known as Osmanlı İmparatorluğu or Osmanlı Devleti, the Turkish word for Ottoman originally referred to the tribal followers of Osman in the fourteenth century, and subsequently came to be used to refer to the empires military-administrative elite. In contrast, the term Turk was used to refer to the Anatolian peasant and tribal population, the term Rūmī was also used to refer to Turkish-speakers by the other Muslim peoples of the empire and beyond. In Western Europe, the two names Ottoman Empire and Turkey were often used interchangeably, with Turkey being increasingly favored both in formal and informal situations and this dichotomy was officially ended in 1920–23, when the newly established Ankara-based Turkish government chose Turkey as the sole official name. Most scholarly historians avoid the terms Turkey, Turks, and Turkish when referring to the Ottomans, as the power of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum declined in the 13th century, Anatolia was divided into a patchwork of independent Turkish principalities known as the Anatolian Beyliks. One of these beyliks, in the region of Bithynia on the frontier of the Byzantine Empire, was led by the Turkish tribal leader Osman, osmans early followers consisted both of Turkish tribal groups and Byzantine renegades, many but not all converts to Islam. Osman extended the control of his principality by conquering Byzantine towns along the Sakarya River and it is not well understood how the early Ottomans came to dominate their neighbours, due to the scarcity of the sources which survive from this period. One school of thought which was popular during the twentieth century argued that the Ottomans achieved success by rallying religious warriors to fight for them in the name of Islam, in the century after the death of Osman I, Ottoman rule began to extend over Anatolia and the Balkans. Osmans son, Orhan, captured the northwestern Anatolian city of Bursa in 1326 and this conquest meant the loss of Byzantine control over northwestern Anatolia. The important city of Thessaloniki was captured from the Venetians in 1387, the Ottoman victory at Kosovo in 1389 effectively marked the end of Serbian power in the region, paving the way for Ottoman expansion into Europe
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Christian
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A Christian is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christian derives from the Koine Greek word Christós, a translation of the Biblical Hebrew term mashiach, while there are diverse interpretations of Christianity which sometimes conflict, they are united in believing that Jesus has a unique significance. The term Christian is also used as an adjective to describe anything associated with Christianity, or in a sense all that is noble, and good. According to a 2011 Pew Research Center survey, there were 2.2 billion Christians around the world in 2010, by 2050, the Christian population is expected to exceed 3 billion. According to a 2012 Pew Research Center survey Christianity will remain the worlds largest religion in 2050, about half of all Christians worldwide are Catholic, while more than a third are Protestant. Orthodox communions comprise 12% of the worlds Christians, other Christian groups make up the remainder. Christians make up the majority of the population in 158 countries and territories,280 million Christian live as a minority. In the Greek Septuagint, christos was used to translate the Hebrew מָשִׁיחַ, in other European languages, equivalent words to Christian are likewise derived from the Greek, such as Chrétien in French and Cristiano in Spanish. The second mention of the term follows in Acts 26,28, where Herod Agrippa II replied to Paul the Apostle, Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. The third and final New Testament reference to the term is in 1 Peter 4,16, which believers, Yet if as a Christian, let him not be ashamed. The city of Antioch, where someone gave them the name Christians, had a reputation for coming up with such nicknames, in the Annals he relates that by vulgar appellation commonly called Christians and identifies Christians as Neros scapegoats for the Great Fire of Rome. Another term for Christians which appears in the New Testament is Nazarenes which is used by the Jewish lawyer Tertullus in Acts 24, the Hebrew equivalent of Nazarenes, Notzrim, occurs in the Babylonian Talmud, and is still the modern Israeli Hebrew term for Christian. A wide range of beliefs and practices is found across the world among those who call themselves Christian, denominations and sects disagree on a common definition of Christianity. Most Baptists and fundamentalists, for example, would not acknowledge Mormonism or Christian Science as Christian, in fact, the nearly 77 percent of Americans who self-identify as Christian are a diverse pluribus of Christianities that are far from any collective unity. The identification of Jesus as the Messiah is not accepted by Judaism, the term for a Christian in Hebrew is נוּצְרי, a Talmudic term originally derived from the fact that Jesus came from the Galilean village of Nazareth, today in northern Israel. Adherents of Messianic Judaism are referred to in modern Hebrew as יְהוּדִים מָשִׁיחַיים, the term Nasara rose to prominence in July 2014, after the Fall of Mosul to the terrorist organization Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The nun or ن— the first letter of Nasara—was spray-painted on the property of Christians ejected from the city, where there is a distinction, Nasrani refers to people from a Christian culture and Masihi is used by Christians themselves for those with a religious faith in Jesus. In some countries Nasrani tends to be used generically for non-Muslim Western foreigners, another Arabic word sometimes used for Christians, particularly in a political context, is Ṣalībī from ṣalīb which refers to Crusaders and has negative connotations
20.
Rudyard Kipling
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Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English journalist, short-story writer, poet, and novelist. Kiplings works of fiction include The Jungle Book, Kim, and many short stories and his poems include Mandalay, Gunga Din, The Gods of the Copybook Headings, The White Mans Burden, and If—. Kipling was one of the most popular writers in the United Kingdom, Henry James said, Kipling strikes me personally as the most complete man of genius, as distinct from fine intelligence, that I have ever known. In 1907, at the age of 42, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, making him the first English-language writer to receive the prize and its youngest recipient to date. He was also sounded out for the British Poet Laureateship and on occasions for a knighthood. Kiplings subsequent reputation has changed according to the political and social climate of the age, George Orwell called him a prophet of British imperialism. Literary critic Douglas Kerr wrote, is still an author who can inspire passionate disagreement and his place in literary, but as the age of the European empires recedes, he is recognised as an incomparable, if controversial, interpreter of how empire was experienced. That, and a recognition of his extraordinary narrative gifts. Rudyard Kipling was born on 30 December 1865, in Bombay, in the Bombay Presidency of British India, to Alice Kipling, Alice was a vivacious woman about whom Lord Dufferin would say, Dullness and Mrs. Kipling cannot exist in the same room. Lockwood Kipling, a sculptor and pottery designer, was the Principal, John Lockwood and Alice had met in 1863 and courted at Rudyard Lake in Rudyard, Staffordshire, England. They married and moved to India in 1865 and they had been so moved by the beauty of the Rudyard Lake area that when their first child was born they referenced it when naming him. Alices sister Georgiana was married to painter Edward Burne-Jones, and her sister Agnes was married to painter Edward Poynter, Kiplings most famous relative was his first cousin, Stanley Baldwin, who was Conservative Prime Minister of the United Kingdom three times in the 1920s and 1930s. Kiplings birth home on the campus of the J J School of Art in Bombay for many years was used as the Deans residence. Although the cottage bears a plaque stating that this is the site where Kipling was born, the original cottage may have torn down decades ago. Some historians and conservationists are also of the view that the bungalow merely marks a site close to the home of his birth, as the bungalow was built in 1882, Kipling seems to have also said so to the dean when he visited J J School in the 1930s. Kipling was to write of Bombay, According to Bernice M. Murphy, Kipling’s parents considered themselves Anglo-Indians and so too would their son, complex issues of identity and national allegiance would become prominent features in his fiction. So one spoke English, haltingly translated out of the idiom that one thought. Kiplings days of light and darkness in Bombay ended when he was five years old
21.
Cretan State
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The Cretan State, was established in 1898, following the intervention by the Great Powers on the island of Crete. It was the prelude of the final annexation to the Kingdom of Greece. The island of Crete, an Ottoman possession since the end of the Cretan War, was inhabited by a mostly Greek-speaking population, during and after the Greek War of Independence, the Christians of the island rebelled several times against external Ottoman rule, pursuing union with Greece. These were brutally subdued, but secured some concessions from the Ottoman government under the pressure of European public opinion, in 1878, the Pact of Halepa established the island as an autonomous state under Ottoman suzerainty, until the Ottomans reneged on that agreement in 1889. The collapse of the Pact heightened tensions in the island, leading to another rebellion in 1895, nationalist secret societies and a fervently irredentist public opinion forced the Greek government to send military forces to the island, provoking a war with the Ottoman Empire. Although most of Crete came under the control of the Greek forces, the unprepared Greek Army was crushed by the Ottomans, who occupied Thessaly. The war was ended by the intervention of the Great Powers, who forced the Greek contingent to withdraw from Crete, in the Treaty of Constantinople the Ottoman Government promised to implement the provisions of the Halepa Pact. On 25 August 1898, a Turkish mob massacred hundreds of Cretan Greeks, national Bank of Greece established a bank, the Bank of Crete, which had a 40-year monopoly on note issuance. The Cretan state also established a force, the Cretan Gendarmerie, modeled on the Italian Carabinieri. The Cretan Gendarmerie incorporated the four small gendarmerie units the four occupying powers had created, on 13 December 1898, George of Greece arrived as High Commissioner for a three-year tenure. On 27 April 1899, an Executive Committee was created, in which a young, Athens-trained lawyer from Chania, Eleftherios Venizelos, by 1900, Venizelos and the Prince had developed differences over domestic policies, as well as the issue of Enosis, the union with Greece. On 15 August, the Cretan Assembly voted for the proposals of Venizelos, and the Great Powers brokered an agreement, whereby Prince George would resign and a new constitution created. In addition, Greek officers came to replace the Italians in the organization of the Gendarmerie, and the withdrawal of the foreign troops began, leaving Crete de facto under Greek control. The flag of the Cretan State was replaced by the Greek flag, all public servants took an oath to King George I of Greece, and this act was not recognized internationally, including by Greece, where Eleftherios Venizelos was elected Prime Minister in 1910. In May 1912, the Cretan deputies travelled to Athens and tried to enter the Greek Parliament, upon the outbreak of the First Balkan War, Greece finally recognized the union and sent Stephanos Dragoumis as the islands governor-general. On 1 December, the ceremony of union took place. The total population in 1911 was 336,151,307,812 Christians,27,852 Muslims and 487 Jews. Eleftherios Venizelos Ottoman Crete Cretan Gendarmerie List of Greek countries and regions Enosis, The Union of Crete with Greece http, //rethemnosnews
22.
Royal Family of Greece
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The Greek Royal Family is a branch of the House of Glücksburg that reigned in Greece from 1863 to 1924 and again from 1935 to 1973. Its first monarch was George I, the son of King Christian IX of Denmark. He and his successors styled themselves Kings of the Hellenes, the family came to the throne after the overthrow in 1862 of the first king of the independent Greek state, Otto of Bavaria. He received six votes in the referendum, the Greek National Assembly proclaimed him king as George I, George I would marry Grand Duchess Olga Constaninovna of Russia, and would have seven surviving children. In turn, all three of Constantines sons, George II, Alexander and Paul, would occupy the throne. The royal family saw Greece experience several upheavals including the Balkan Wars, World War I, World War II, the Greek Civil War, and the Greek military junta of 1967–1974. On April 21,1967 the elected government was overthrown by a group of middle-ranking army officers led by Colonel Georgios Papadopoulos, the regime, known as The Regime of the Colonels, forced King Constantine II into accepting it as legitimate. On December 13,1967, the King launched a counter-coup but it failed and he, together with his family, fled to exile in Rome, on 1 June 1973, Constantine II was declared deposed by the military junta and Papadopoulos appointed himself as President of the Republic. On 29 July 1973, a questionable referendum sought to confirm the abolition of the monarchy, the dictatorship fell in August 1974 and the new regime held a fresh referendum on 8 December 1974, which confirmed the abolition of the monarchy by a vote of 69% to 30%. The deposed King has never questioned the validity of this referendum, in 2013 Constantine II and his wife Anne-Marie announced that they were once again living in Greece. The Duke discontinued using his Greek and Danish titles shortly before his 1947 marriage, prince Philips family form the senior part of the British Royal Family. Notes * Member of the royal family List of kings of Greece House of Oldenborg Kings of the Hellenes family tree Armorial of Greek Royal Family The official website of the Greek Royal family
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Constitution of Cyprus
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The Constitution of Cyprus is a document, ratified on August 16,1960, that serves as the framework for the Cypriot government. It was drafted after the country won its independence in 1959 and is Cypruss first, the Constitution of the Republic of Cyprus has been in force for 57 years and it has been amended 10 times and 20 Articles of the 199 were modified since 1960. The 10th Amendment concerned Article 7 and came into effect on September 16th 2016 with its publication in the Official Journal, the constitution put methods in place to protect Turkish Cypriots, due to the restrictions placed in Article 6 of the document. That article ensures the Cypriot government has no right to discriminate against either Turkish or Greek Cypriots, the constitution also ensures, in Article 1, that the Vice-President of the country is a Turk and the President is a Greek. In 1964, however, the Cypriot government became dominated by Greeks, the constitution of the country collapsed, however, in 1963 due to dispute between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots. The running of the republic by the Greek community alone has been defined in what is called Justice of need. Following the Turkish invasion of 1974 the state acts as a surrogate for the properties of Turkish Cypriots that moved to the Turkish occupied north, the separation occurred because the two ethnic groups continued to distrust each other after the constitution was signed. In addition, President Makarios proposed a change that year to remove most of the rights given to Turkish Cypriots. The first five articles of the constitution discuss General Provisions, Article One asserts that Cyprus is an independent republic with a President and that the President and Vice President must be Greeks and Turks respectively. Article three asserts that the languages of the Republic of Cyprus are Greek and Turkish. Articles 6–35 of the deal with Fundamental Rights and Liberties. Article eight banks the issuing inhumane or degrading punishment, and prevents torture, Article ten prohibits slavery and forced labour, in all cases other than in cases of compulsory military service or work while being imprisoned lawfully by the state. It also allows for any service exacted in case of an emergency or calamity threatening the life or well-being of the inhabitants, Article eleven contains several limits on who can be imprisoned. The article also ensures that every person who has been the victim of arrest or detention in contravention of the provisions of this Article shall have a right to compensation. Article fifteen defines the right to privacy, is states that every individual has a right to a private life except when infringing on someones privacy is in accordance of the law and in the national interest. Article sixteen prohibits entering someones property without their prior consent without an arrest warrant, Article seventeen also discusses privacy, with its main focus being an individuals right to privacy in all lawful communication. Articles eighteen, nineteen and 21 secure freedom of speech, religion and assembly respectively, while twenty and 22 deal with the right to free education and marriage. Article 23 adds to the laid out in article sixteen, by allowing citizens of Cyprus to purchase property
24.
Makarios III
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In his three terms as President he survived four assassination attempts and a coup détat. He is widely regarded by Greek Cypriots as the Father of the Nation or Ethnarch, michael Christodoulou Mouskos was born in Panayia village in the Paphos District. In 1926, aged 13, he was admitted to Kykkos Monastery as a novice, at age 20 he was sent to the Pancyprian Gymnasium in Nicosia, where he completed his secondary education in 1936. He spent the years of World War II studying theology and law at the University of Athens. In 1948, while studying at Boston, he was elected Bishop of Kition against his will. Mouskos adopted the clerical name Makarios and returned to Cyprus, like many public figures in the Greek Cypriot community in Cyprus, in the 1940s and 1950s he was an active supporter of enosis, the union of Cyprus with Greece. On September 18,1950, Makarios, only 37 years old, was elected Archbishop of Cyprus, in this role he was not only the official head of the Orthodox Church in Cyprus, but became the Ethnarch, de facto national leader of the Greek Cypriot community. This highly influential position put Makarios at the centre of Cypriot politics, during the 1950s, Makarios embraced his dual role as Archbishop and Ethnarch with enthusiasm and became a very popular figure among Greek Cypriots. He soon became an advocate for enosis, and during the early part of the decade he maintained close links with the Greek government. In August 1954, partly at Makarios instigation, Greece began to raise the question of Cyprus at the United Nations and this was viewed by advocates of enosis as likely to result in the voluntary union of Cyprus with Greece following a public referendum. However, the British government was reluctant to decolonize the island which had become their new headquarters for the Middle East, in 1955, a pro-enosis organization was formed under the banner of Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston, or EOKA. This was an independence movement of the period. In later life he denied any involvement in the violent resistance undertaken by EOKA. On August 20,1955, Greece submitted a petition to the United Nations requesting the application of the principle of self-determination to the people of Cyprus. In October 1955, with the security situation deteriorating, the British governor, Sir John Harding, by this stage, Makarios had become closely identified with the insurgency, and talks broke up without any agreement in early 1956. The Archbishop and his staff were flown to Aden and then on to Mombassa, at the Kenyan port the party were embarked in the East African Naval Vessel “Rosalind”, escorted by the frigate HMS Loch Fada. The flotilla arrived in Port Victoria on 14 March, in the latter years of the 1950s, the Turkish Cypriot community first began to float the idea of Taksim or partition, as a counterweight to the Greek ideal of enosis or union. In this way the Cyprus dispute became increasingly polarized between two communities with opposing visions of the future of the island, Makarios was released from exile after a year, although he was still forbidden to return to Cyprus
25.
Cypriot intercommunal violence
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There was a period of political and violent conflict in Cyprus, also known as the Cyprus crisis and EOKA period, between the Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, between 1955 and 1964. In 1914, after the Ottoman Empire joined World War I on the side of the Central Powers, soon afterward, the UK offered the island to King Constantine I of Greece on condition that Greece join the war on the side of the British. Although the offer was supported by Greek Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos, it was rejected by the King, after the foundation of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, the new Turkish government formally recognized Britains sovereignty over Cyprus. Greek Cypriots believed it was their natural and historic right to unite the island with Greece, in 1931, riots broke out in Cyprus against the British administration. The British suppressed the riots, abolished the council in Cyprus. At the end of the Second World War Britain rejected fresh demands for enosis, offering concessions on home rule, or self-government, Greek Cypriots felt that this position paid little respect to the right of self-determination of the Cypriot people. EOKA, led by the Greek commander George Grivas, systematically targeted British colonial authorities, one of the effects of the EOKA campaign was to alter the Turkish position from demanding full reincorporation into Turkey to a demand for taksim. When Erim visited Cyprus as the Turkish representative, he was advised by the then British Governor John Harding that Turkey should send educated Turks to settle in Cyprus. Turkey actively promoted the idea that on the island of Cyprus two distinctive communities existed, and sidestepped its former claim that people of Cyprus were all Turkish subjects”. In doing so, Turkey’s aim to have self-determination of two to-be equal communities in effect led to de jure partition of the island and this could be justified to the international community against the will of the majority Greek population of the island. Dr. Fazil Küçük in 1954 had already proposed Cyprus be divided in two at the 35° parallel, the British started conscripting Turkish Cypriots into the police force that patrolled Cyprus to fight the EOKA. However, in January 1957, Grivas changed his policy as his forces in the mountains became increasingly pressured by the British forces. The killing of a Turkish Cypriot policeman on 19 January, when a station was bombed. The two communities targeted each other in reprisals, at least one Greek Cypriot was killed and the army was deployed in the streets, Greek Cypriot stores were burned and their neighborhoods attacked. Following the events, the Greek Cypriot leadership spread the propaganda that the riots had merely been an act of Turkish Cypriot aggression, such events created chaos and drove the communities apart both in Cyprus and in Turkey. On 22 October 1957 Sir Hugh Mackintosh Foot replaced Sir John Harding as the British Governor of Cyprus, Foot suggested five to seven years of self-government before any final decision. His plan rejected both enosis and taksim, the Turkish Cypriot response to this plan was a series of anti-British demonstrations in Nicosia on 27 and 28 January 1958 rejecting the proposed plan because the plan did not include partition. The British then withdrew the plan, on 27 January 1958 British soldiers opened fire against a crowd of Turkish Cypriot rioters
26.
Olympic Games ceremony
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Olympic Games ceremonies of the Ancient Olympic Games were an integral part of these Games, the modern Olympic games have opening, closing and medal ceremonies. Some of the elements of the modern ceremonies harken back to the Ancient Games from which the Modern Olympics draw their ancestry, an example of this is the prominence of Greece in both the opening and closing ceremonies. During the 2004 Games, the winners received a crown of olive branches. The various elements of the ceremonies are mandated by the Olympic Charter, even the artistic portion of the opening and closing ceremonies must meet the approval of the International Olympic Committee. The ceremonies have evolved over the centuries, Ancient Games incorporated ceremonies to mark the beginning and ending of each successive game. There are both similarities and differences between the ancient Olympic ceremonies and their modern counterparts, the presentation of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies continue to increase in scope, scale and expense with each successive celebration of the Games, but they are still steeped in tradition. The Ancient Games, held in Greece from ca.776 BC to ca.393 AD, the victory celebration, elements of which are in evidence in the modern-day medal and closing ceremonies, often involved elaborate feasts, drinking, singing, and the recitation of poetry. The wealthier the victor the more extravagant the celebration, the victors were presented with an olive wreath or crown harvested from a special tree in Olympia by a boy, specially selected for this purpose, using a golden sickle. The festival would conclude with the victors making solemn vows and performing sacrifices to the various gods to which they were beholden. There is evidence of changes in the format of the Ancient Games over the nearly 12 centuries that they were celebrated. Eventually, by roughly the 77th Olympiad, a standard 18-event program was established, in order to open a Games in ancient Greece the organizers would hold an Inauguration Festival. This was followed by a ceremony in which took an oath of sportsmanship. The first competition, a competition of trumpeters and heralds. The Olympic opening ceremonies represent the official commencement of an Olympic Games, in recent Olympics, athletic competition began prior to the opening ceremonies. For example, the competitions for both men and women at the 2008 Summer Olympics began two days prior to the opening ceremonies. As mandated by the Olympic Charter, various elements frame the Opening Ceremonies of a celebration of the Olympic Games, most of these rituals were canonized at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium. The artistic program is what creates the idiosyncratic element of each ceremony, Coubertins initial vision of the Modern Olympics featured both athletic competitions and artistic achievements. As the modern Olympics have evolved into a celebration of sport, the opening ceremonies are an important ritual of the Olympic games
27.
Verse (popular music)
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Song structure or the musical forms of songs in traditional music and music are typically sectional, repeating forms used in songs, such as strophic form and is a part of the songwriting process. Other common forms include thirty-two-bar form, verse-chorus form, and the twelve-bar blues, popular music songs traditionally use the same music for each verse of stanza of lyrics. Pop and traditional forms can be used even with songs that have differences in melodies. The most common format is intro, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, bridge, verse, chorus and outro. The formal sections found in songs have been identified as the verse, chorus, bridge, hook, the foundation of popular music is the verse and chorus structure. Pop and rock songs nearly always have both a verse and a chorus, both are essential elements, with the verse usually played first. Exceptions abound, with She Loves You by The Beatles being an example in the rock music genre. Each verse usually employs the melody, while the lyrics usually change for each verse. The chorus usually consists of a melodic and lyrical phrase which is repeated, pop songs may have an introduction and coda, but these elements are not essential to the identity of most songs. Pop songs often connect the verse and chorus via a bridge, the verse and chorus are usually repeated throughout a song though the bridge, intro, and coda are usually only used once. Some pop songs may have a section, particularly in rock or blues influenced pop. During the solo section one or more instruments play a line which may be the melody used by the singer, or. The introduction is a section that comes at the beginning of the piece. Generally speaking, an introduction will contain just music and no words and it usually builds up suspense for the listener so when the downbeat drops in, it creates a release or surprise. In some songs, the intro is one or more bars of the tonic chord, the introduction may also be based around the chords used in the verse, chorus, or bridge, or a stock turnaround progression may be played, such as the I–vi–ii–V progression. In some cases, a contains only drums or percussion parts which set the rhythm. Alternately the introduction may consist of a sung by the lead singer. In popular music, a verse roughly corresponds to a poetic stanza because it consists of rhyming lyrics most often with an AABB or ABAB rhyme scheme, when two or more sections of the song have almost identical music and different lyrics, each section is considered one verse
28.
Wikisource
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Wikisource is an online digital library of free content textual sources on a wiki, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. Wikisource is the name of the project as a whole and the name for each instance of that project, the projects aims are to host all forms of free text, in many languages, and translations. Originally conceived as an archive to store useful or important historical texts, the project officially began in November 24,2003 under the name Project Sourceberg. The name Wikisource was adopted later that year and it received its own domain name seven months later, the project has come under criticism for lack of reliability but it is also cited by organisations such as the National Archives and Records Administration. The project holds works that are either in the domain or freely licensed, professionally published works or historical source documents, not vanity products. Verification was initially made offline, or by trusting the reliability of digital libraries. Now works are supported by online scans via the ProofreadPage extension, some individual Wikisources, each representing a specific language, now only allow works backed up with scans. While the bulk of its collection are texts, Wikisource as a whole hosts other media, some Wikisources allow user-generated annotations, subject to the specific policies of the Wikisource in question. Wikisources early history included several changes of name and location, the original concept for Wikisource was as storage for useful or important historical texts. These texts were intended to support Wikipedia articles, by providing evidence and original source texts. The collection was focused on important historical and cultural material. The project was originally called Project Sourceberg during its planning stages, in 2001, there was a dispute on Wikipedia regarding the addition of primary source material, leading to edit wars over their inclusion or deletion. Project Sourceberg was suggested as a solution to this, perhaps Project Sourceberg can mainly work as an interface for easily linking from Wikipedia to a Project Gutenberg file, and as an interface for people to easily submit new work to PG. Wed want to complement Project Gutenberg--how, exactly, and Jimmy Wales adding like Larry, Im interested that we think it over to see what we can add to Project Gutenberg. It seems unlikely that primary sources should in general be editable by anyone -- I mean, Shakespeare is Shakespeare, unlike our commentary on his work, the project began its activity at ps. wikipedia. org. The contributors understood the PS subdomain to mean either primary sources or Project Sourceberg, however, this resulted in Project Sourceberg occupying the subdomain of the Pashto Wikipedia. A vote on the name changed it to Wikisource on December 6,2003. Despite the change in name, the project did not move to its permanent URL until July 23,2004, since Wikisource was initially called Project Sourceberg, its first logo was a picture of an iceberg
29.
YouTube
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YouTube is an American video-sharing website headquartered in San Bruno, California. The service was created by three former PayPal employees—Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim—in February 2005, Google bought the site in November 2006 for US$1.65 billion, YouTube now operates as one of Googles subsidiaries. Unregistered users can watch videos on the site, while registered users are permitted to upload an unlimited number of videos. Videos deemed potentially offensive are available only to registered users affirming themselves to be at least 18 years old, YouTube earns advertising revenue from Google AdSense, a program which targets ads according to site content and audience. As of February 2017, there are more than 400 hours of content uploaded to YouTube each minute, as of April 2017, the website is ranked as the second most popular site in the world by Alexa Internet, a web traffic analysis company. YouTube was founded by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim, Hurley had studied design at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and Chen and Karim studied computer science together at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Karim could not easily find video clips of either event online, Hurley and Chen said that the original idea for YouTube was a video version of an online dating service, and had been influenced by the website Hot or Not. YouTube began as a venture capital-funded technology startup, primarily from an $11.5 million investment by Sequoia Capital between November 2005 and April 2006, YouTubes early headquarters were situated above a pizzeria and Japanese restaurant in San Mateo, California. The domain name www. youtube. com was activated on February 14,2005, the first YouTube video, titled Me at the zoo, shows co-founder Jawed Karim at the San Diego Zoo. The video was uploaded on April 23,2005, and can still be viewed on the site, YouTube offered the public a beta test of the site in May 2005. The first video to reach one million views was a Nike advertisement featuring Ronaldinho in November 2005. Following a $3.5 million investment from Sequoia Capital in November, the site grew rapidly, and in July 2006 the company announced that more than 65,000 new videos were being uploaded every day, and that the site was receiving 100 million video views per day. The site has 800 million unique users a month and it is estimated that in 2007 YouTube consumed as much bandwidth as the entire Internet in 2000. The choice of the name www. youtube. com led to problems for a similarly named website, the sites owner, Universal Tube & Rollform Equipment, filed a lawsuit against YouTube in November 2006 after being regularly overloaded by people looking for YouTube. Universal Tube has since changed the name of its website to www. utubeonline. com, in October 2006, Google Inc. announced that it had acquired YouTube for $1.65 billion in Google stock, and the deal was finalized on November 13,2006. In March 2010, YouTube began free streaming of certain content, according to YouTube, this was the first worldwide free online broadcast of a major sporting event. On March 31,2010, the YouTube website launched a new design, with the aim of simplifying the interface, Google product manager Shiva Rajaraman commented, We really felt like we needed to step back and remove the clutter. In May 2010, YouTube videos were watched more than two times per day
30.
MP3
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Compared to CD quality digital audio, MP3 compression commonly achieves 75 to 95% reduction in size. MP3 files are thus 1/4 to 1/20 the size of the digital audio stream. This is important for both transmission and storage concerns, the basis for such comparison is the CD digital audio format which requires 1411200 bit/s. A commonly used MP3 encoding setting is CBR128 kbit/s resulting in file size 1/11 of the original CD-quality file, the MP3 lossy compression works by reducing the accuracy of certain parts of a continuous sound that are considered to be beyond the auditory resolution ability of most people. This method is referred to as perceptual coding or psychoacoustics. It uses psychoacoustic models to discard or reduce the precision of less audible to human hearing. MP3 was designed by the Moving Picture Experts Group as part of its MPEG-1 standard, the first subgroup for audio was formed by several teams of engineers at Fraunhofer IIS, University of Hanover, AT&T-Bell Labs, Thomson-Brandt, CCETT, and others. MPEG-1 Audio, which included MPEG-1 Audio Layer I, II and III was approved as a draft of ISO/IEC standard in 1991, finalised in 1992. A backwards compatible MPEG-2 Audio extension with lower sample and bit rates was published in 1995, MP3 is a streaming or broadcast format meaning that individual frames can be lost without affecting the ability to decode successfully delivered frames. Storing an MP3 stream in a file enables time-shifted playback, the MP3 lossy audio data compression algorithm takes advantage of a perceptual limitation of human hearing called auditory masking. In 1894, the American physicist Alfred M. Mayer reported that a tone could be rendered inaudible by another tone of lower frequency, in 1959, Richard Ehmer described a complete set of auditory curves regarding this phenomenon. Ernst Terhardt et al. created an algorithm describing auditory masking with high accuracy and this work added to a variety of reports from authors dating back to Fletcher, and to the work that initially determined critical ratios and critical bandwidths. A wide variety of compression algorithms were reported in IEEEs refereed Journal on Selected Areas in Communications. The genesis of the MP3 technology is described in a paper from Professor Hans Musmann who chaired the ISO MPEG Audio group for several years. The immediate predecessors of MP3 were Optimum Coding in the Frequency Domain, the first practical implementation of an audio perceptual coder in hardware, was an implementation of a psychoacoustic transform coder based on Motorola 56000 DSP chips. Another predecessor of the MP3 format and technology is to be found in the perceptual codec MUSICAM based on an integer arithmetics 32 sub-bands filterbank, driven by a psychoacoustic model. It was primarily designed for Digital Audio Broadcasting and digital TV and this codec incorporated into a broadcasting system using COFDM modulation was demonstrated on air and on the field together with Radio Canada and CRC Canada during the NAB show in 1991. F. As a doctoral student at Germanys University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Karlheinz Brandenburg began working on music compression in the early 1980s
31.
History of Cyprus
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Human habitation of Cyprus dates back to the Paleolithic era. Cypruss geographic position has caused Cyprus to be influenced by differing Eastern Mediterranean civilisations over the millennia, Cyprus was settled by humans in the Paleolithic period who coexisted with various dwarf animal species, such as dwarf elephants and pygmy hippos well into the Holocene. There are claims of an association of this fauna with artifacts of Epipalaeolithic foragers at Aetokremnos near Limassol on the southern coast of Cyprus, the first undisputed settlement occurred in the 9th millennium BC from the Levant. The first settlers were agriculturalists of the so-called PPNB era, the dog, sheep, goats and possibly cattle and pigs were introduced, as well as numerous wild animals such as foxes and Persian fallow deer that were previously unknown on the island. The PPNB settlers built houses with floors made of terrazzo of burned lime and cultivated einkorn. Pigs, sheep, goat and cattle were kept but remained, for the most part, evidence of cattle such as that attested at Shillourokambos is rare, and when they apparently died out in the course of the 8th millennium they were not re-introduced until the ceramic Neolithic. In the 6th millennium BC, the aceramic Khirokitia culture was characterised by roundhouses, stone vessels, cattle were unknown, and Persian fallow deer were hunted. This was followed by the ceramic Sotira phase, the Eneolithic era is characterised by stone figurines with spread arms. Water wells discovered by archaeologists in western Cyprus are believed to be among the oldest in the world, dated at 9,000 to 10,500 years old and they are said to show the sophistication of early settlers, and their heightened appreciation for the environment. In 2004, the remains of an 8-month-old cat were discovered buried with its owner at a Neolithic archeological site in Cyprus. The grave is estimated to be 9,500 years old, predating Egyptian civilization, in the Bronze Age the first cities, such as Enkomi, were built. Systematic copper mining began, and this resource was widely traded, Mycenaean Greeks were undoubtedly inhabiting Cyprus from the late stage of the Bronze Age, while the islands Greek name is already attested from the 15th century BC in the Linear B script. The Cypriot syllabic script was first used in early phases of the late Bronze Age and continued in use for ca.500 years into the LC IIIB, the LCIIC was a time of local prosperity. Cities such as Enkomi were rebuilt on a grid plan. Great official buildings constructed from ashlar masonry point to increased social hierarchisation, some of these buildings contain facilities for processing and storing olive oil, such as Maroni-Vournes and Building X at Kalavassos-Ayios Dhimitrios. A Sanctuary with an altar constructed from ashlar masonry has been found at Myrtou-Pigadhes, other temples have been located at Enkomi, Kition. Both the regular layout of the cities and the new masonry techniques find their closest parallels in Syria, rectangular corbelled tombs point to close contacts with Syria and Palestine as well. The practice of writing spread and tablets in the Cypriot syllabic script have been found at Ras Shamra which was the Phoenician city of Ugarit
32.
Prehistoric Cyprus
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The Prehistoric Period is the oldest part of Cypriot history. This article covers the period 10,000 to 800 BCE and ends immediately before written records of civilizations, Cyprus was not settled in the Paleolithic which allowed survival of numerous dwarf forms, such as dwarf elephants and pygmy hippos well into the Holocene. These animals are thought to have arrived on the island as a result of being out to sea while swimming off the coast of the nearby mainland. There are claims of an association of this fauna with artifacts of Epipalaeolithic foragers at Aetokremnos near Limassol on the southern coast of Cyprus, the extinction of the pygmy hippos and dwarf elephants has been linked to the earliest arrival of Homo sapiens on Cyprus. There is evidence of this because of the piles of burned bones in the occupied by these early humans in caves on the southernmost point on the Island. The oldest evidence of settlement is dated to 8800–8600 BC. The first settlers were already agriculturalists, but did not yet produce pottery and they introduced the dog, sheep, goats and maybe cattle and pigs as well as numerous wild animals like foxes and Persian fallow deer that were previously unknown on the island. The PPNB settlers built houses with floors made of terrazzo of burned lime and cultivated einkorn. Pig, sheep, goat and cattle were kept, but remained morphologically wild, evidence for cattle is rare and when they apparently died out in the course of the 8th millennium they were not reintroduced until the early Bronze Age. In the 6th millennium BC, the aceramic Choirokoitia culture was characterized by houses, stone vessels. The lithic industry was the most individual feature of this aceramic culture, the houses had a foundation of river pebbles, the remainder of the building was constructed in mudbrick. Sometimes several round houses were joined together to form a kind of compound, some of these houses reach a diameter of up to 10 m. Inhumation burials are located inside the houses, water wells discovered by archaeologists in western Cyprus are believed to be among the oldest in the world, dated at 9,000 to 10,500 years old, putting them in the Stone Age. They are said to show the sophistication of early settlers, plant remains indicate the cultivation of cereals, lentils, beans, peas and a kind of plum called Bullace. Remains of the animal species were recovered during excavations, Persian fallow deer, goat, sheep, mouflon. More remains indicate Red deer, Roe deer, a kind of horse, life expectancy seems to have been short, the average age at death appears to have been about 34 years, and there was a high infant mortality rate. In 2004, the remains of an 8-month-old cat were discovered buried with its owner at a Neolithic archeological site in Cyprus. The grave is estimated to be 9,500 years old, predating Egyptian civilization, the aceramic civilisation of Cyprus came to an end quite abruptly around 6000 BC
33.
Alashiya
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Alashiya, also spelled Alasiya, was a state which existed in the Middle and Late Bronze Ages, and was situated somewhere in the Eastern Mediterranean. It was a source of goods, especially copper, for Ancient Egypt. It is referred to in a number of the texts and is now thought to be the ancient name of Cyprus. This was confirmed by the analysis performed in the Tel Aviv University of the clay tablets which were sent from Alashiya to other rulers. The name of the state transliterated as Alashiya is found on texts written in Egyptian, Hittite, Akkadian, Mycenean and it corresponds to the Biblical Elishah. Some of the Amarna letters are from the king or the ministers of Alashiya and they concern mostly the amount of copper that has been sent from Alashiya and requests for silver or ivory in return. One letter refers to 500 talents of copper and makes excuses as to why so little copper has been sent. Pharaoh is also referred to by the King of Alashiya as his brother, indicating that the king regarded himself as an equal, papyrus Anastasi IV, written several centuries later, also refers to copper sent from Alashiya to Egypt. Any place identified as Alashiya must therefore have had sizable copper production during the Late Bronze Age, there are a number of other clues in the texts. The Amarna letters contain references to a ship belonging to the King of Alashiya, in other correspondence, the King of Ugarit pleads for help from the King of Alashiya to protect Ugarit from the Sea Peoples. Another document from Ugarit records the banishment of two princes to the land of Alashiya, One further text found at Ugarit may contain a further clue to the location of the capital city of Alashiya, as it could imply that the city was located on a mountain. However, this word has more usually translated as shore. The extant ending of the Story of Wenamun records how Wenamun, Wenamun reports that he was almost killed by an angry mob, but was rescued by Hatbi, the princess of the town. Some of the last texts referring to Alashiya are from the Hittite Empire, however, with all such military reports it is difficult to assess the true outcome. Alashiya therefore needs to be situated somewhere where there was sizable Bronze Age copper production, on the coast, some scholars have suggested sites and areas of Syria or Turkey, but it is now generally agreed that Alashiya refers to at least part of Cyprus. Specifically, it was argued that the site of Enkomi was the capital of the kingdom of Alashiya. These examinations of the provenance of the used to create the tablets indicate that Syria could not be the location of Alashiya. However, this showed that the clays did not originate anywhere near the site of Enkomi
34.
Eteocypriot language
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Eteocypriot was a pre-Indo-European language spoken in Iron Age Cyprus. The name means true or original Cyprian parallel to Eteocretan, both of which names are used by modern scholarship to mean the pre-Greek languages of those places, Eteocypriot was written in the Cypriot syllabary, a syllabic script derived from Linear A. The language was under pressure from Arcadocypriot Greek from about the 10th century BC, the language is as yet unknown except for a small vocabulary attested in bilingual inscriptions. Such topics as syntax and possible inflection or agglutination remain a mystery, partial translations depend to a large extent on the language or language group assumed by the translator, but there is no consistency. It is conjectured by some linguists to be related to the Etruscan and Lemnian languages and those who do not advocate any of those theories often adopt the default of an unknown pre-Greek language. Due to the number of texts found, there is currently much unproven speculation. Several hundred inscriptions written in the Cypriot syllabary cannot be interpreted in Greek, while the language of Cypro-Minoan inscriptions is often supposed to be the same as Eteocypriot, that has yet to be proved, as the script is only partly legible. The Eteocypriot text in Cypriot characters runs right to left, the Greek text in all capital Greek letters, ta kana sot-i, ail-o kail-i pot-i. Greek,3, Η ПΟΛΙΣ Η АΜАΘΟΥΣΙΩΝ ΑΡΙΣΤΩΝΑ4, ΑΡΙΣΤΩΝΑΚΤΟΣ ΕΥΠΑΤΡΙΔΗΝ which might be rendered into modern script as,3, Ἡ πόλις ἡ Ἀμαθουσίων Ἀριστῶνα4, Ἀριστώνακτος, a suggested translation is, The polis of Amathusians, to Ariston Aristonax, nobleman. Cyrus Gordon translates this text as The city of the Amathusans the noble Ariston of Aristonax, gordons translation is based on Greek inscriptions in general and the fact that the noble Ariston is in the accusative case, implying a transitive verb. Gordon explains that the verb is omitted, the grammar of the Greek, however, is not necessarily that of the Eteocypriot. The inscription is important as verifying that the symbols of the unknown language, Gordon says, This bilingual proves that the signs in Eteocypriot texts have the same values as in the Cypriot Greek texts. However, as a bilingual it uses only a few Greek syllables to translate many Eteocypriot ones, Cypriot syllabary Etruscan civilization Aegean languages Etruscan language Liber Linteus – An Etruscan inscription. Tabula Cortonensis – An Etruscan inscription, cippus perusinus – An Etruscan inscription. Pyrgi Tablets – An Etruscan inscription, Lemnian language Eteocretan Cortona – Ancient Etruscan city. Forgotten Scripts, Their Ongoing Discovery and Decipherment, Revised and Enlarged Edition, notes on the Eteocypriot inscriptions, American journal of philology. A linguistic history of Ancient Cyprus, этеокипрское Omniglot – The Cypriot Syllabry
35.
Cypro-Minoan syllabary
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The Cypro-Minoan syllabary is an undeciphered syllabary used on the island of Cyprus during the late Bronze Age. The term Cypro-Minoan was coined by Arthur Evans in 1909 based on its similarity to Linear A on Minoan Crete. Approximately 250 objects—such as clay balls, cylinders, and tablets, discoveries have been made at various sites around Cyprus, as well as in the ancient city of Ugarit on the Syrian coast. Little is known about how this script originated or about the underlying language, however, its use continued into the early Iron Age, forming a link to the Cypriot syllabary, which has been deciphered as Greek. Arthur Evans considered the Cypro-Minoan syllabary to be a result of uninterrupted evolution of the Minoan Linear A script and he believed that the script was brought to Cyprus by Minoan colonizers or immigrants. It is noteworthy that the Linear B script that emerged a century later still retained many features from. All this evidence indicates a one-time introduction rather than long-time development, the earliest inscriptions are dated about 1550 BC. This classification was and is accepted, but in 2011 Silvia Ferrara contested its chronological nature based on the archaeological context. Only the archaic CM found in the earliest archaeological context is indeed distinct from these three and it is noteworthy that the Cypro-Minoan script was absent in some Bronze Age cities of Cyprus, yet abundant in others. On the other hand, as a result of this collapse. As long as the script remains undeciphered, it can only be speculated whether the language was the same as Minoan or Eteocypriot, there were no visible traces of Minoan invasion, colonization, or even significant cultural influence in Bronze Age Cyprus. At that time, the island was part of the Near-East cultural circle rather than Aegean civilizations, based on the above-mentioned classification of the script into several varieties, Emilia Masson hypothetized that they may represent different languages that chronologically supplanted each other. The earliest known CM inscription found in Europe was a tablet discovered in 1955 at the ancient site of Enkomi. It was dated to ca.1500 BC, and bore three lines of writing, other fragments of clay tablets have been found at Enkomi and Ugarit. Dozens of small balls, each bearing 3–5 signs in CM1, have been uncovered at Enkomi. Clay cylinder seals have been uncovered at Enkomi and Kalavassos-Ayios Dimitrios and it is likely that the balls and cylinder seals are related to the keeping of economic records on Minoan Cyprus, considering the large number of cross-references between the texts. The extant corpus of Cypro-Minoan is not large enough to allow for the use of a cryptographic solution to decipherment. According to Thomas G. Palaima, all past and current schemes of decipherment of Cypro-Minoan are improbable, the names on the clay balls can thus be transcribed, some are Semitic, most are presumably in the local language
36.
Cypriot syllabary
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The Cypriot or Cypriote syllabary is a syllabic script used in Iron Age Cyprus, from about the 11th to the 4th centuries BCE, when it was replaced by the Greek alphabet. A pioneer of change was king Evagoras of Salamis. It is descended from the Cypro-Minoan syllabary, in turn a variant or derivative of Linear A, most texts using the script are in the Arcadocypriot dialect of Greek, but also one bilingual inscription was found in Amathus. It has been established that the Cypriot syllabary is derived from the Linear A script and most probably, the most obvious change is the disappearance of ideograms, which were frequent and represented a significant part of Linear A. The earliest inscriptions are found on clay tablets, parallel to the evolution of cuneiform, the signs soon became simple patterns of lines. There is some evidence of a Semitic influence due to trade, the structure of the Cypriot syllabary is very similar to that of Linear B. This is due to their origin and underlying language. The Cypriot script contains 56 signs, each sign generally stands for a syllable in the spoken language, e. g. ka, ke, ki, ko, ku etc. Hence, it is classified as a writing system. Because each sign stands for a syllable rather than a closed one. To see the glyphs above, you must have a compatible font installed, the main difference between the two lies not in the structure of the syllabary but the use of the symbols. Final consonants in the Cypriot syllabary are marked by a final, for example, final consonants, n, s and r are noted by using ne, re and se. Groups of consonants are created using extra vowels, diphthongs, such as ae, au, eu and ei, are spelled out completely. In addition, nasal stops occur before another consonant are omitted completely. Compare Linear B
37.
Ancient history of Cyprus
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The recorded history of Cyprus extends to the 8th century BC. The local town of Kition, now Larnaka, recorded part of the ancient history of Cyprus on a stele that commemorated a victory by Sargon II of Assyria there in 709 BCE. Following a brief period of Egyptian domination in the sixth century BCE, Alexanders conquests only served to accelerate an already clear drift towards Hellenisation in Cyprus. During this period, Phoenician and native Cypriot traits disappeared, together with the old Cypriot syllabic script, the kingdom of Kourion in Cyprus is recorded on an inscription dating to the period of the Pharaoh Ramses III in Egypt. Another early written source of Cypriot history mentions the nation under Assyrian rule, the land of Ia is assumed to be the Assyrian name for Cyprus, and some scholars suggest that the latter may mean the islands of the Danaans, or Greece. There are other inscriptions referring to the land of Ia in Sargons palace at Khorsabad, later inscriptions add Marion, Lapithos and Kerynia. Cyprus gained independence after 627 BCE following the death of Ashurbanipal, cemeteries from this period are chiefly rock-cut tombs. They have been found, among other locations, at Tamassos, Soloi, Patriki, the rock-cut Royal tombs at Tamassos, built in about 600 BCE, imitate wooden houses. Some graves contain the remains of horses and chariots, the main deity of ancient Cyprus was the Great Goddess, the Assyro-Babylonian Ishtar, and Phoenician Astarte, later known by the Greek name Aphrodite. She was called the Cypriote by Homer, paphian inscriptions call her the Queen. Pictures of Aphrodite appear on the coins of Salamis as well, in addition, the King of Paphos was the High Priest of Aphrodite. Other Gods venerated include the Phoenician Anat, Baal, Eshmun, Reshef, Mikal and Melkart, animal sacrifices are attested to on terracotta-votives. The Sanctuary of Ayia Irini contained over 2,000 figurines, in 570 BCE, Cyprus was conquered by Egypt under Amasis II. This brief period of Egyptian domination left its influence mainly in the arts, especially sculpture, where the rigidity, Cypriot artists later discarded this Egyptian style in favour of Greek prototypes. Statues in stone often show a mixture of Egyptian and Greek influence, in particular, ceramics recovered on Cyprus show influence from ancient Crete. Men often wore Egyptian wigs and Assyrian-style beards, armour and dress showed western Asiatic elements as well. In 526 BCE, the Persian Achaemenid Empire conquered Cyprus, under the Persians, the Kings of Cyprus retained their independence but had to pay tribute to their overlord. The city-kingdoms began to strike their own coins in the late-sixth century BCE, coins minted by the kings were required to have the overlords portrait on them
38.
Neo-Assyrian Empire
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The Neo-Assyrian Empire was an Iron Age Mesopotamian empire, in existence between 911 and 612 BC. The Assyrians perfected early techniques of imperial rule, many of which became standard in later empires, the Neo-Assyrian Empire succeeded the Old Assyrian Empire, and the Middle Assyrian Empire of the Late Bronze Age. During this period, Aramaic was also made a language of the empire. Upon the death of Ashurbanipal in 627 BC, the empire began to due to a brutal. In 616 BC, Cyaxares king of the Medes and Persians made alliances with Nabopolassar ruler of the Babylonians and Chaldeans, Assyria was originally an Akkadian kingdom which evolved in the 25th to 24th centuries BC. The urbanised Akkadian speaking nation of Assyria emerged in the mid 21st century BC, during the 20th century BC, it established colonies in Asia Minor, and under the 20th century BC King Ilushuma, Assyria conducted many successful raids against the states of the south. Ashur-uballit extended Assyrian control over the farming lands of Nineveh. Tiglath-Pileser controlled the caravan routes that crossed the fertile crescent from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf. Much campaigning by Tiglath-Pileser and succeeding kings was directed against Aramaean pastoralist groups in Syria, by the end of the 2nd millennium BC, the Aramaean expansion had resulted in the loss of much Assyrian territory in Upper Mesopotamia. After the death of Tiglath-Pileser I in 1076 BC, Assyria was in decline for the next 150 years. The period from 1200 BC to 900 BC was an age for the entire Near East, North Africa, Caucasus, Mediterranean and Balkan regions, with great upheavals. Adad-nirari II and his successors campaigned on a basis for part of every year with an exceptionally well-organized army. He subjugated the areas previously under only nominal Assyrian vassalage, conquering and deporting Aramean and Hurrian populations in the north to far-off places. Adadinirari II then twice attacked and defeated Shamash-mudammiq of Babylonia, annexing an area of land north of the Diyala river. He made further gains over Babylonia under Nabu-shuma-ukin I later in his reign and he was succeeded by Tukulti-Ninurta II in 891 BC, who further consolidated Assyrias position and expanded northwards into Asia Minor and the Zagros Mountains during his short reign. The next king, Ashurnasirpal II, embarked on a vast program of expansion, during his rule, Assyria recovered much of the territory that it had lost around 1100 BC at the end of the Middle Assyrian period. Ashurnasirpal II also campaigned in the Zagros Mountains in modern Iran, repressing a revolt against Assyrian rule by the Lullubi, the Assyrians began boasting in their ruthlessness around this time. Ashurnasirpal II also moved his capital to the city of Kalhu, the palaces, temples and other buildings raised by him bear witness to a considerable development of wealth and art
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Achaemenid Empire
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The Achaemenid Empire, also called the Persian Empire, was an empire based in Western Asia, founded by Cyrus the Great. The empires successes inspired similar systems in later empires and it is noted in Western history as the antagonist of the Greek city-states during the Greco-Persian Wars and for the emancipation of the Jewish exiles in Babylon. The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, was built in a Hellenistic style in the empire as well. By the 7th century BC, the Persians had settled in the portion of the Iranian Plateau in the region of Persis. From this region, Cyrus the Great advanced to defeat the Medes, Lydia, Alexander, an avid admirer of Cyrus the Great, conquered the empire in its entirety by 330 BC. Upon his death, most of the former territory came under the rule of the Ptolemaic Kingdom and Seleucid Empire. The Persian population of the central plateau reclaimed power by the second century BC under the Parthian Empire, the historical mark of the Achaemenid Empire went far beyond its territorial and military influences and included cultural, social, technological and religious influences as well. Many Athenians adopted Achaemenid customs in their lives in a reciprocal cultural exchange. The impact of Cyruss edict is mentioned in Judeo-Christian texts, the empire also set the tone for the politics, heritage and history of modern Iran. Astronomical year numbering Dates are approximate, consult particular article for details Due to the duration of their reigns, Smerdis, Xerxes II. The Persian nation contains a number of tribes as listed here, the Pasargadae, Maraphii, and Maspii, upon which all the other tribes are dependent. Of these, the Pasargadae are the most distinguished, they contain the clan of the Achaemenids from which spring the Perseid kings. Other tribes are the Panthialaei, Derusiaei, Germanii, all of which are attached to the soil, the Achaemenid Empire was created by nomadic Persians. The Achaemenid Empire was not the first Iranian empire, as by 6th century BC another group of ancient Iranian peoples had established the short lived Median Empire. The Iranian peoples had arrived in the region of what is today Iran c.1000 BC and had for a number of centuries fallen under the domination of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, based in northern Mesopotamia. However, the Medes and Persians, Cimmerians, Persians and Chaldeans played a role in the overthrow of the Assyrian empire. The term Achaemenid means of the family of the Achaemenis/Achaemenes, despite the derivation of the name, Achaemenes was himself a minor seventh-century ruler of the Anshan in southwestern Iran, and a vassal of Assyria. At some point in 550 BC, Cyrus rose in rebellion against the Medes, eventually conquering the Medes and creating the first Persian empire
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Ionian Revolt
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The Ionian Revolt, and associated revolts in Aeolis, Doris, Cyprus and Caria, were military rebellions by several Greek regions of Asia Minor against Persian rule, lasting from 499 BC to 493 BC. The cities of Ionia had been conquered by Persia around 540 BC, in 499 BC, the then tyrant of Miletus, Aristagoras, launched a joint expedition with the Persian satrap Artaphernes to conquer Naxos, in an attempt to bolster his position. The mission was a debacle, and sensing his imminent removal as tyrant, in 498 BC, supported by troops from Athens and Eretria, the Ionians marched on, captured, and burnt Sardis. However, on their journey to Ionia, they were followed by Persian troops. This campaign was the offensive action by the Ionians, who subsequently went on the defensive. While initially campaigning successfully in Caria, this army was annihilated in an ambush at the Battle of Pedasus and this resulted in a stalemate for the rest of 496 BC and 495 BC. By 494 BC the Persian army and navy had regrouped, the Ionian fleet sought to defend Miletus by sea, but were decisively beaten at the Battle of Lade, after the defection of the Samians. Miletus was then besieged, captured, and its population was brought under Persian rule and this double defeat effectively ended the revolt, and the Carians surrendered to the Persians as a result. The Ionian Revolt constituted the first major conflict between Greece and the Persian Empire, and as such represents the first phase of the Greco-Persian Wars. Although Asia Minor had been back into the Persian fold, Darius vowed to punish Athens. Moreover, seeing that the city states of Greece posed a continued threat to the stability of his Empire. In 492 BC, the first Persian invasion of Greece, the phase of the Greco-Persian Wars. Practically the only source for the Ionian Revolt is the Greek historian Herodotus. Herodotus, who has called the Father of History, was born in 484 BC in Halicarnassus. He wrote his Enquiries around 440–430 BC, trying to trace the origins of the Greco-Persian Wars, Herodotuss approach was entirely novel, and at least from the point of view of Western society, he does seem to have invented history as we know it. Some subsequent ancient historians, despite following in his footsteps, criticised Herodotus, nevertheless, Thucydides chose to begin his history where Herodotus left off, and therefore presumably felt that Herodotuss history was accurate enough not to need re-writing or correcting. A negative view of Herodotus was passed on to Renaissance Europe, however, since the 19th century his reputation has been dramatically rehabilitated by the age of democracy and some archaeological finds which have repeatedly confirmed his version of events. The prevailing modern view is that Herodotus generally did a job in his Historia
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Ptolemaic dynasty
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Their rule lasted for 275 years, from 305 to 30 BC. They were the last dynasty of ancient Egypt, Ptolemy, one of the seven somatophylakes who served as Alexander the Greats generals and deputies, was appointed satrap of Egypt after Alexanders death in 323 BC. In 305 BC, he declared himself Ptolemy I, later known as Sōter Saviour, the Egyptians soon accepted the Ptolemies as the successors to the pharaohs of independent Egypt. Ptolemys family ruled Egypt until the Roman conquest of 30 BC, all the male rulers of the dynasty took the name Ptolemy. Ptolemaic queens regnant, some of whom were the sisters of their husbands, were usually called Cleopatra, Arsinoe or Berenice. The most famous member of the line was the last queen, Cleopatra VII and her apparent suicide at the conquest by Rome marked the end of Ptolemaic rule in Egypt. Dates in brackets represent the dates of the Ptolemaic pharaohs. They frequently ruled jointly with their wives, who were also their sisters. Of these, one of the last and most famous was Cleopatra, several systems exist for numbering the later rulers, the one used here is the one most widely used by modern scholars. Arsinoe IV, in opposition to Cleopatra Ptolemy Keraunos - eldest son of Ptolemy I Soter, Ptolemy Apion - son of Ptolemy VIII Physcon. Ptolemy Philadelphus - son of Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII, Ptolemy of Mauretania - son of King Juba II of Numidia and Mauretania and Cleopatra Selene II, daughter of Cleopatra VII and Mark Antony. Contemporaries describe a number of the Ptolemaic dynasty members as extremely obese, whilst sculptures and coins reveal prominent eyes, familial Graves disease could explain the swollen necks and eye prominence, although this is unlikely to occur in the presence of morbid obesity. A. Lampela, Rome and the Ptolemies of Egypt, the development of their political relations 273-80 B. C. J. G. Manning, The Last Pharaohs, Egypt Under the Ptolemies, 305-30 BC. Livius. org, Ptolemies — by Jona Lendering
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Hellenistic civilization
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It is often considered a period of transition, sometimes even of decadence or degeneration, compared to the enlightenment of the Greek Classical era. The Hellenistic period saw the rise of New Comedy, Alexandrian poetry, the Septuagint, Greek science was advanced by the works of the mathematician Euclid and the polymath Archimedes. The religious sphere expanded to include new gods such as the Greco-Egyptian Serapis, eastern deities such as Attis and Cybele, the Hellenistic period was characterized by a new wave of Greek colonization which established Greek cities and kingdoms in Asia and Africa. This resulted in the export of Greek culture and language to new realms. Equally, however, these new kingdoms were influenced by the cultures, adopting local practices where beneficial, necessary. Hellenistic culture thus represents a fusion of the Ancient Greek world with that of the Near East, Middle East and this mixture gave rise to a common Attic-based Greek dialect, known as Koine Greek, which became the lingua franca through the Hellenistic world. Scholars and historians are divided as to what event signals the end of the Hellenistic era, Hellenistic is distinguished from Hellenic in that the first encompasses the entire sphere of direct ancient Greek influence, while the latter refers to Greece itself. The word originated from the German term hellenistisch, from Ancient Greek Ἑλληνιστής, from Ἑλλάς, Hellenistic is a modern word and a 19th-century concept, the idea of a Hellenistic period did not exist in Ancient Greece. Although words related in form or meaning, e. g, the major issue with the term Hellenistic lies in its convenience, as the spread of Greek culture was not the generalized phenomenon that the term implies. Some areas of the world were more affected by Greek influences than others. The Greek population and the population did not always mix, the Greeks moved and brought their own culture. While a few fragments exist, there is no surviving historical work which dates to the hundred years following Alexanders death. The works of the major Hellenistic historians Hieronymus of Cardia, Duris of Samos, the earliest and most credible surviving source for the Hellenistic period is Polybius of Megalopolis, a statesman of the Achaean League until 168 BC when he was forced to go to Rome as a hostage. His Histories eventually grew to a length of forty books, covering the years 220 to 167 BC, another important source, Plutarchs Parallel Lives though more preoccupied with issues of personal character and morality, outlines the history of important Hellenistic figures. Appian of Alexandria wrote a history of the Roman empire that includes information of some Hellenistic kingdoms, other sources include Justins epitome of Pompeius Trogus Historiae Philipicae and a summary of Arrians Events after Alexander, by Photios I of Constantinople. Lesser supplementary sources include Curtius Rufus, Pausanias, Pliny, in the field of philosophy, Diogenes Laertius Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers is the main source. Ancient Greece had traditionally been a collection of fiercely independent city-states. After the Peloponnesian War, Greece had fallen under a Spartan hegemony, in which Sparta was pre-eminent but not all-powerful
Greece
Cyprus
