1.
Greek language
–
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
Greek language
–
Idealized portrayal of
Homer
Greek language
–
regions where Greek is the official language
Greek language
–
Greek language road sign, A27 Motorway, Greece
2.
Greece
–
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
Greece
–
Fresco displaying the Minoan ritual of "bull leaping", found in
Knossos,
Crete.
Greece
–
Flag
Greece
–
The
Lion Gate,
Mycenae
Greece
–
The
Parthenon on the
Acropolis of Athens is one of the best known symbols of
classical Greece.
3.
Maniots
–
The Maniots or Maniates are the inhabitants of the Mani Peninsula, Laconia, in the southern Peloponnese, Greece. They were also known as Mainotes and the peninsula as Maina. Maniots are described as descendants of the ancient Dorian population of the Peloponnese, the terrain is mountainous and inaccessible, and the regional name Mani is thought to have meant originally dry or barren. The name Maniot is a meaning of Mani. In the early period, Maniots had a reputation as fierce and proudly independent warriors. For the most part, the Maniots lived in fortified villages where they defended their lands against the armies of William II Villehardouin and later against those of the Ottomans. The surnames of the Maniots uniformly end in eas in what is now the Messenian part of Mani, -akos or -akis in what is now the Laconian part of Mani, the ending -akis has Byzantine origin -akios. Homers Catalogue of Ships in the Iliad mentions the cities of Mani, Messi, Oetylus, Kardamili, Gerenia, Teuthrone, under the Mycenaeans, Mani flourished and a temple dedicated to the Greek god Apollo was built at Cape Tenaron. The temple was of importance that it rivaled Delphi which was then a temple dedicated to Poseidon. Eventually, the temple of Tenaron was dedicated to Poseidon and the temple at Delphi was dedicated to Apollo, according to other legends, there is a cave near Tenaro that leads to Hades. Mani was also featured in tales such as the one where Helen of Troy. During the 12th century BC, the Dorians invaded Laconia, the Dorians settled originally at Sparta, but they soon started to expand their territory and by around 800 BC they had occupied Mani and the rest of Laconia. Mani was given the social caste of Perioeci, during that time, the Phoenicians came to Mani and were thought to have established a colony at Gythion. The Phoenicians built the colony at Gythion in order to collect murex, while the Spartans ruled Mani, Tenaron became an important gathering place for mercenaries. Gythium became a port under the Spartans as it was only 27 kilometres away from Sparta. In 455 BC, during the First Peloponnesian War, it was besieged and captured by the Athenian admiral Tolmides along with 50 triremes and 4,000 hoplites. The city and the dockyards were rebuilt and by the late Peloponnesian War, the Spartan leadership of the Peloponnese lasted until 371 BC, when the Thebans under Epaminondas defeated them at Leuctra. The Thebans began a campaign against Laconia and captured Gythium after a three-day siege, the Thebans only briefly managed to hold Gythium, which was captured by 100 elite warriors posing as athletes
Maniots
–
Ancient theatre near
Gytheio.
Maniots
–
Map showing the location of
Mani Peninsula.
Maniots
–
A characteristic door with the symbol of the
double-headed eagle in
Gytheio.
Maniots
–
A map of the
Ottoman Empire.
4.
Peloponnesus
–
The Peloponnese or Peloponnesus is a peninsula and geographic region in southern Greece. It is separated from the part of the country by the Gulf of Corinth. During the late Middle Ages and the Ottoman era, the peninsula was known as the Morea, the peninsula is divided among three administrative regions, most belongs to the Peloponnese region, with smaller parts belonging to the West Greece and Attica regions. In 2016, Lonely Planet voted the Peloponnese the top spot of their Best in Europe list, the Peloponnese is a peninsula that covers an area of some 21,549.6 square kilometres and constitutes the southernmost part of mainland Greece. It has two connections with the rest of Greece, a natural one at the Isthmus of Corinth. The peninsula has an interior and deeply indented coasts. The Peloponnese possesses four south-pointing peninsulas, the Messenian, the Mani, the Cape Malea, mount Taygetus in the south is the highest mountain in the Peloponnese, at 2,407 metres. Οther important mountains include Cyllene in the northeast, Aroania in the north, Erymanthos and Panachaikon in the northwest, Mainalon in the center, the entire peninsula is earthquake prone and has been the site of many earthquakes in the past. The longest river is the Alfeios in the west, followed by the Evrotas in the south, extensive lowlands are found only in the west, with the exception of the Evrotas valley in the south and in the Argolid in the northeast. The Peloponnese is home to spectacular beaches, which are a major tourist draw. Two groups of islands lie off the Peloponnesian coast, the Argo-Saronic Islands to the east, the island of Kythera, off the Epidaurus Limera peninsula to the south of the Peloponnese, is considered to be part of the Ionian Islands. The island of Elafonissos used to be part of the peninsula but was separated following the quake of 365 AD. Since antiquity, and continuing to the present day, the Peloponnese has been divided into seven regions, Achaia, Corinthia, Argolid, Arcadia, Laconia, Messinia. Each of these regions is headed by a city, the largest city is Patras in Achaia, followed by Kalamata in Messinia. The peninsula has been inhabited since prehistoric times and its modern name derives from ancient Greek mythology, specifically the legend of the hero Pelops, who was said to have conquered the entire region. The name Peloponnesos means Island of Pelops, the Mycenaean civilization, mainland Greeces first major civilization, dominated the Peloponnese in the Bronze Age from its stronghold at Mycenae in the north-east of the peninsula. The Mycenean civilization collapsed suddenly at the end of the 2nd millennium BC, archeological research has found that many of its cities and palaces show signs of destruction. The subsequent period, known as the Greek Dark Ages, is marked by an absence of written records
Peloponnesus
–
The
Corinth Canal separates the Peloponnese from mainland Greece.
Peloponnesus
–
Landscape of
Arcadia
Peloponnesus
–
Map of the Peloponnese of
Classical Antiquity.
5.
Frankokratia
–
The term derives from the fact that the Orthodox Greeks called the Western European Catholics Latins, most of whom were of French or Venetian origin. The Latin Empire, centered in Constantinople and encompassing Thrace and Bithynia and its territories were gradually reduced to little more than the capital, which was eventually captured by the Empire of Nicaea in 1261. Duchy of Philippopolis, fief of the Latin Empire in northern Thrace, lemnos formed a fief of the Latin Empire under the Venetian Navigajoso family from 1207 until conquered by the Byzantines in 1278. Its rulers bore the title of megadux of the Latin Empire, the Kingdom of Thessalonica, encompassing Macedonia and Thessaly. The brief existence of the Kingdom was almost continuously troubled by warfare with the Second Bulgarian Empire, eventually, it was conquered by the Despotate of Epirus. The County of Salona, centred at Salona, like Bodonitsa, was formed as a state of the Kingdom of Thessalonica. It came under Catalan and later Navarrese rule in the 14th century and it was finally conquered by the Ottomans in 1410. The Marquisate of Bodonitsa, like Salona, was created as a vassal state of the Kingdom of Thessalonica. In 1335, the Venetian Giorgi family took control, and ruled until the Ottoman conquest in 1414, the Principality of Achaea, encompassing the Morea or Peloponnese peninsula. It quickly emerged as the strongest Crusader state, and prospered even after the demise of the Latin Empire and its main rival was the Byzantine Despotate of the Morea, which eventually succeeded in conquering the Principality. It also exercised suzerainty over the Lordship of Argos and Nauplia, the Duchy of Athens, with its two capitals Thebes and Athens, and encompassing Attica, Boeotia, and parts of southern Thessaly. In 1311, the Duchy was conquered by the Catalan Company, and in 1388, it passed into the hands of the Florentine Acciaiuoli family, the Duchy of Naxos or of the Archipelago, founded by the Sanudo family, it encompassed most of the Cyclades. In 1383, it passed under the control of the Crispo family, the Duchy became an Ottoman vassal in 1537, and was finally annexed to the Ottoman Empire in 1579. The Triarchy of Negroponte, encompassing the island of Negroponte, originally a vassal of Thessalonica and it was fragmented into three baronies run each by two barons. This fragmentation enabled Venice to gain influence acting as mediators, by 1390 Venice had established direct control of the entire island, which remained in Venetian hands until 1470, when it was captured by the Ottomans. The County palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos and it encompassed the Ionian Islands of Cephalonia, Zakynthos, Ithaca, and, from ca. Created as a vassal to the Kingdom of Sicily, it was ruled by the Orsini family from 1195 to 1335, the county was split between Venice and the Ottomans in 1479. Rhodes became the headquarters of the monastic order of the Knights Hospitaller of Saint John in 1310
Frankokratia
–
The Greek and Latin states in southern Greece, ca. 1214.
Frankokratia
–
The beginning of Frankokratia: the division of the
Byzantine Empire after the
Fourth Crusade.
Frankokratia
–
Map of the
Kingdom of Candia
6.
Gytheio
–
Gytheio, the ancient Gythium or Gytheion, is a town and a former municipality in Laconia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality East Mani, the municipal unit has an area of 197.313 km2. It was the seaport of Sparta, some 40 kilometres north, Gytheio used to be an important port until it was destroyed in 4th century AD, possibly by an earthquake. Today it is the largest and most important town in Mani and it is also the seat of the municipality of East Mani. South, Mavrovouni West, Rachi North, Stefania East, Cranae Gytheio is located in the corner of Mani. Further northeast is the delta of the Evrotas River, offshore are several small islands, the most important of these islands is Cranae, which is connected to the mainland by a causeway. Gytheio is only 40 km southeast of Sparti, connected by Greek National Road 39, the town center is situated around the port. Pine trees are situated in the west and rocky mountains in the north and it is thought that Gytheio may have been the center of their purple dye trade because the Laconian Gulf had a plentiful source of murex. In classical times it was a community of Perioeci, politically dependent on Sparta, in 455 BC, during the First Peloponnesian War, it was burned by the Athenian admiral Tolmides who besieged the city with 50 ships and 4,000 hoplites. It was rebuilt and was most probably, the ground for the Spartan fleet in the Peloponnesian War. In 407 BC during the Peloponnesian War, Alcibiades landed there, in 370 BC, the Thebans under the command of Epaminondas besieged the city successfully for three days after ravaging Laconia. However it was recaptured by the Spartans three days later, in 219 BC, Philip V of Macedon tried to capture the city but without success. Under Nabis, Gythium became a naval arsenal and port. During the Roman-Spartan War, Gythium was captured after a lengthy siege, after the war finished, Gythium was made part of the Union of Free Laconians under Achean protection. Nabis recaptured Gythium three years and the Spartan fleet defeated the Achean fleet outside of Gythium, Gythium was liberated by a Roman fleet under the command of Aulus Atilius Serranus. The highest officer of the confederacy was the general, who was assisted by a treasurer, in Roman times Gythium remained a major port and it prospered as a member of the Union. As purple dye was popular in Rome, Gythium exported that as well as porphyry, evidence of the ancient Gythium prosperity can be found by the fact that the Romans built an ancient theatre which is well preserved today and is still used occasionally. The ancient theatre, as well as the citys Acropolis discovered by the archeologist Dimitris Skias on 1891, some time in the 4th century AD, Gythium was destroyed
Gytheio
–
The promenade
Gytheio
–
The ancient theatre of Gythio.
Gytheio
–
View of the port.
Gytheio
–
Old tower.
7.
Piraeus
–
Piraeus is a port city in the region of Attica, Greece. Piraeus is located within the Athens urban area,12 kilometres southwest from its city center, the municipality of Piraeus and several other suburban municipalities within the regional unit of Piraeus form the greater Piraeus area, with a total population of 448,997. Piraeus has a recorded history, dating to ancient Greece. During the Golden Age of Athens the Long Walls were constructed to connect Athens with Piraeus, the port of Piraeus is the chief port in Greece, the largest passenger port in Europe and the second largest in the world, servicing about 20 million passengers annually. With a throughput of 1.4 million TEUs, Piraeus is placed among the top ten ports in container traffic in Europe, the city hosted events in both the 1896 and 2004 Summer Olympics held in Athens. The University of Piraeus is one of the largest universities in Greece, Piraeus, which roughly means the place over the passage, has been inhabited since the 26th century BC. Consequently, it was called the Halipedon, meaning the salt field, through the centuries, the area was increasingly silted and flooding ceased, and thus by early classical times the land passage was made safe. In the late 6th century BC, the area caught attention due to its advantages, in 511 BC, the hill of Munichia was fortified by Hippias and four years later Piraeus became a deme of Attica by Cleisthenes. The Athenian fleet played a role in the battle of Salamis against the Persians in 480 BC. From then on Piraeus was permanently used as the navy base, the citys fortification was farther reinforced later by the construction of the Long Walls under Cimon and Pericles, with which Piraeus was connected to Athens. Meanwhile, Piraeus was rebuilt to the grid plan of architect Hippodamus of Miletus, known as the Hippodamian plan. As a result, Piraeus flourished and became a port of high security and great commercial activity, during the Peloponnesian War, Piraeus suffered its first setback. In the second year of the war, the first cases of the Athens plague were recorded in Piraeus, in 404 BC, the Spartan fleet under Lysander blockaded Piraeus and subsequently Athens surrendered to the Spartans, putting an end to the Delian League and the war itself. As a result, the tattered and unfortified port city was not able to compete with prosperous Rhodes, the destruction was completed in 395 AD by the Goths under Alaric I. Piraeus was led to a period of decline which lasted for fifteen centuries. During the Byzantine period the harbour of Piraeus was occasionally used for the Byzantine fleet and it was also called Porto Drako by Greeks, drako meaning not just dragon, but any monster. When Piraeus was taken by the Ottoman Empire in 1456, it known as Aslan Liman. The Piraeus Lion itself was looted in 1687 by Francesco Morosini during his expedition against Athens and was carried to the Venetian Arsenal, a copy of the lion statue is on display at the Archaeological Museum of Piraeus
Piraeus
–
View of Mikrolimano, Piraeus.
Piraeus
–
Funerary relief for a girl, flanked by her parents (330/320 BC);
Archaeological Museum of Piraeus.
Piraeus
–
The
Long Walls connecting the ancient city of
Athens to its port of Piraeus.
Piraeus
–
One of several streets of the Hippodamian grid that was applied to the hill of Munichia and re-used for the modern city of Piraeus.
8.
Sparta
–
Sparta was a prominent city-state in ancient Greece. In antiquity the city-state was known as Lacedaemon, while the name Sparta referred to its settlement on the banks of the Eurotas River in Laconia. Around 650 BC, it rose to become the dominant military land-power in ancient Greece, given its military pre-eminence, Sparta was recognized as the overall leader of the combined Greek forces during the Greco-Persian Wars. Between 431 and 404 BC, Sparta was the enemy of Athens during the Peloponnesian War, from which it emerged victorious. Spartas defeat by Thebes in the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BC ended Spartas prominent role in Greece, however, it maintained its political independence until the Roman conquest of Greece in 146 BC. It then underwent a period of decline, especially in the Middle Ages. Modern Sparta is the capital of the Greek regional unit of Laconia, Sparta was unique in ancient Greece for its social system and constitution, which completely focused on military training and excellence. Its inhabitants were classified as Spartiates, mothakes, perioikoi, Spartiates underwent the rigorous agoge training and education regimen, and Spartan phalanges were widely considered to be among the best in battle. Spartan women enjoyed more rights and equality to men than elsewhere in the classical world. Sparta was the subject of fascination in its own day, as well as in the West following the revival of classical learning and this love or admiration of Sparta is known as Laconism or Laconophilia. At its peak around 500 BC the size of the city would have been some 20,000 –35,000 free residents, plus numerous helots, olliers theory of the Spartan mirage has been widely accepted by scholars. The ancient Greeks used one of three words to refer to the location of the Spartans. The first refers primarily to the cluster of settlements in the valley of the Eurotas River. The second word was Lacedaemon, this was used sometimes as an adjective and is the name commonly used in the works of Homer. Herodotus seems to denote by it the Mycenaean Greek citadel at Therapne and it could be used synonymously with Sparta, but typically it was not. It denoted the terrain on which Sparta was situated, in Homer it is typically combined with epithets of the countryside, wide, lovely, shining and most often hollow and broken. The hollow suggests the Eurotas Valley, Sparta on the other hand is the country of lovely women, a people epithet. The name of the population was used for the state of Lacedaemon
Sparta
–
Territory of ancient Sparta
Sparta
–
Hollow Lacedaemon. Site of the Menelaion, the ancient shrine to Helen and Menelaus constructed in the Bronze Age city that stood on the hill of
Therapne on the left bank of the
Eurotas River overlooking the future site of Dorian Sparta. Across the valley the successive ridges of Mount
Taygetus are in evidence.
Sparta
–
Eurotas River
Sparta
–
The theater of ancient Sparta with
Mt. Taygetus in the background.
9.
Cape Matapan
–
Cape Matapan, also named as Cape Tainaron, or Cape Tenaro, is situated at the end of the Mani Peninsula, Greece. Cape Matapan is the southernmost point of mainland Greece, and the second southernmost point in mainland Europe and it separates the Messenian Gulf in the west from the Laconian Gulf in the east. Cape Matapan has been an important place for thousands of years, the tip of Cape Matapan was the site of the ancient town Tenarus, near which there was a cave that Greek legends claim was the home of Hades, the god of the dead. The ancient Spartans built several temples there, dedicated to various gods, on the hill situated above the cave, lie the remnants of an ancient temple dedicated to the sea god Poseidon. Under the Byzantine Empire, the temple was converted into a Christian church, Cape Matapan was once the place where mercenaries waited to be employed. At Cape Matapan, the Titanics would-be rescue ship, the SS Californian, was torpedoed, the encounters main result was to drastically reduce future Italian naval activity in the Eastern Mediterranean. More recently a lighthouse was constructed, but it is now in disuse, as the southernmost point of mainland Greece, the cape is on the migration route of birds headed to Africa. Battle of Matapan Battle of Cape Matapan Images of Cape Matapan
Cape Matapan
–
Cape Matapan
Cape Matapan
–
Location of Cape Matapan
10.
Greek War of Independence
–
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
Greek War of Independence
–
Theodoros Vryzakis (oil painting, 1852,
Benaki Museum, Athens) illustrates Bishop
Germanos of old
Patras blessing the Greek banner at
Agia Lavra on the outset of the national revolt against the Turks on 25 March 1821.
Greek War of Independence
–
Portrait of a Greek armatolos by
Richard Parkes Bonington (oil painting, 1825–1826, Benaki Museum).
Greek War of Independence
–
Adamantios Korais
11.
Laconia
–
Laconia, also known as Lacedaemonia, is a region in the southeastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. The word laconic is derived from the name of the region by analogy—to speak in a concise way, as the Spartans were reputed by the Athenians to do. Laconia is bordered by Messenia to the west and Arcadia to the north and is surrounded by the Myrtoan Sea to the east and by the Laconian Gulf and it encompasses Cape Malea and Cape Tainaron and a large part of the Mani Peninsula. The islands of Kythira and Antikythera lie to the south, the island, Elafonisos, situated between the Laconian mainland and Kythira, is part of Laconia. The Evrotas is the longest river in the prefecture, the valley of the Evrotas is predominantly an agricultural region that contains many citrus groves, olive groves, and pasture lands. It is the location of the largest orange production in the Peloponnese, lakonia, a brand of orange juice, is based in Amykles. The main mountain ranges are the Taygetus in the west and the Parnon in the northeast, Taygetus, known as Pentadaktylos throughout the Middle Ages, is west of Sparta and the Evrotas valley. It is the highest mountain in Laconia and the Peloponnese and is covered with pine trees. Two roads join the Messenia and Laconia prefectures, one is a mountain pass through Taygetus. The stalactite cave, Dirou, a major tourist attraction, is located south of Areopolis in the southwest of Laconia, Laconia has a Mediterranean climate with warm winters and hot summers. Snow is rare on the coast throughout the winter but is common in the mountains. In ancient Greece, this was the region of the Spartan state. For much of antiquity the Spartan sphere of influence expanded to Messenia. Significant archaeological recovery exists at the Vaphio-tomb site in Laconia, found here is advanced Bronze Age art as well as evidence of cultural associations with the contemporaneous Minoan culture on Crete. Laconia was at war with the Kingdom of Macedonia and saw several battles, at the end of the Mycenaean period, from the early-2nd century BC until 395 AD, it was a part of the Roman Empire. In the medieval period, Laconia formed part of the Byzantine Empire, following the Fourth Crusade, it was gradually conquered by the Frankish Principality of Achaea. In the 1260s, however, the Byzantines recovered Mystras and other fortresses in the region and managed to evict the Franks from Laconia, by the mid-14th century, this evolved into the Despotate of Morea, held by the last Greek ruling dynasty, the Palaiologoi. With the fall of the Despotate to the Ottomans in 1460, with the exception of a 30-year interval of Venetian rule, Laconia remained under Ottoman control until the outbreak of the Greek War of Independence of 1821
Laconia
–
Eurotas (river) outside the city of Sparti.
Laconia
–
Municipalities of Laconia
Laconia
–
The theater of ancient
Sparta with modern Sparti and Taygetus in the background.
Laconia
–
Palace of
Mystras
12.
Messenia
–
Messenia is a regional unit in the southwestern part of the Peloponnese, one of 13 regions into which Greece has been divided by the Kallikratis plan, implemented 1 January 2011. Before 2011 Messenia was a nomos, the capital and the biggest city of Messenia in either case has been the city of Kalamata. Messenia borders on Elis to the north, Arcadia to the northeast, the Ionian Sea lies to the west, and the Gulf of Messenia to the south. The most important mountain ranges are the Taygetus in the east, the Kyparissia mountains in the northwest, the main rivers are the Neda in the north and the Pamisos in central Messenia. Off the south coast of the southwesternmost point of Messenia lie the Messenian Oinousses islands, the largest of these are Sapientza, Schiza and Venetiko. The small island Sphacteria closes off the bay of Pylos, all these islands are virtually uninhabited. Climate may vary, in the lowlands, temperatures are a bit warmer than Athens, snow is not common during winter months except for the mountains, especially the Taygetus. Rain and clouds are common inland, before the 2010 reorganization, Messenia was a nomos containing 29 dimoi and 2 koinotites. The total population, based on the 2001 census was 176,876, since 2010, Messenia has been a perifereiake enoteta containing only 6 municipalities, but still with a population of 176,876, i. e. Messenia did not change area in the reorganization. Some 25 municipalities and communities were incorporated politically into the other 6 according to the table below, main agricultural products are olive oil, Kalamata table olives, figs, and black raisins. The variety of products is complemented by a small amount of stockbreeding products. Another key factor for Messenias economy is Costa Navarino, comprising several eco-friendly luxury resorts and golf courses, the Karelia tobacco company is based in Kalamata. The main airport in Messenia is Kalamata International Airport, the name undoubtedly goes back to at least the Bronze Age, but its origins are lost in the world of mythology. The region was one of the largest that was conquered and enslaved as helots by ancient Sparta, in the Middle Ages, Messenia shared the fortunes of the rest of the Peloponnese. Striking reminders of these conflicts are afforded by the extant ruins of the strongholds of Kalamata, Coron, Modon. Messenia was a part of the Byzantine Empire, much of Messenia fell into the hands of the Ottoman Turks, a part of the area remained with the Venetian Republic. In 1534 a group of families, known as the Coroni and they were Arvanites and Greeks from Koroni. During the 1680s, the whole of Messenia was regained by the Venetian Republic in the Morean War, the Mani Peninsula, a part of modern Messenia, was autonomous from Turkish rule due to the fact that it had no harbors
Messenia
–
Kalamata castle
Messenia
–
Kalamata
Messenia
–
Port of
Kalamata
Messenia
–
Messenia from
Mt. Ithome
13.
Vatheia
–
Vatheia is a village on the Mani Peninsula, in south-eastern Laconia. The local community of Vatheia is named after this village, the aforementioned local community is a subdivision of the municipal unit of Oitylo. It is known for its tower-houses built on a hill dominating the surrounding countryside, Vatheia is linked by road north to Areopoli and Kalamata and south to Cape Matapan also known as Tenaro. In the northern and eastern direction, the reaches of the Saggias mountain range overlook the village. Farmland and maquis shrubland cover the hill slopes, on the hills and mountain sides around Vatheia proper are clusters of abandoned houses, towers and chapels known as the perichora, meaning environs. Currently, Vatheia is a tourist attraction during spring and summer due to the abundance of flowers that cover the nearby hills. Moreover, it serves as an example of the south Maniot vernacular architecture as it developed during the 19th century. The nearest villages are Kyparissos, Alika and Gerolimenas to the north-west, little is known about the history of Vatheia before the second half of the 17th century. Sparse references can also be found in private diaries, travel itineraries, correspondence, however, only a fraction of the studies pertaining to the general area of south Mani are published outside of academia. In several places around the village as well as in other locations within the periphery of the local community. They belong to the category of structures named after the large. This is a term used throughout Mani to describe the older abandoned settlements sharing the aforementioned characteristic construction
Vatheia
–
View of Vatheia
14.
Neolithic
–
It ended when metal tools became widespread. The Neolithic is a progression of behavioral and cultural characteristics and changes, including the use of wild and domestic crops, the beginning of the Neolithic culture is considered to be in the Levant about 10, 200–8800 BC. It developed directly from the Epipaleolithic Natufian culture in the region, whose people pioneered the use of wild cereals, which then evolved into true farming. The Natufian period was between 12,000 and 10,200 BC, and the so-called proto-Neolithic is now included in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic between 10,200 and 8800 BC. By 10, 200–8800 BC, farming communities arose in the Levant and spread to Asia Minor, North Africa, Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest developments of the Neolithic Revolution from around 10,000 BC. Early Neolithic farming was limited to a range of plants, both wild and domesticated, which included einkorn wheat, millet and spelt, and the keeping of dogs, sheep. By about 6900–6400 BC, it included domesticated cattle and pigs, the establishment of permanently or seasonally inhabited settlements, not all of these cultural elements characteristic of the Neolithic appeared everywhere in the same order, the earliest farming societies in the Near East did not use pottery. Early Japanese societies and other East Asian cultures used pottery before developing agriculture, unlike the Paleolithic, when more than one human species existed, only one human species reached the Neolithic. The term Neolithic derives from the Greek νέος néos, new and λίθος líthos, stone, the term was invented by Sir John Lubbock in 1865 as a refinement of the three-age system. In the Middle East, cultures identified as Neolithic began appearing in the 10th millennium BC, early development occurred in the Levant and from there spread eastwards and westwards. Neolithic cultures are attested in southeastern Anatolia and northern Mesopotamia by around 8000 BC. The total excavated area is more than 1,200 square yards, the Neolithic 1 period began roughly 10,000 years ago in the Levant. A temple area in southeastern Turkey at Göbekli Tepe dated around 9500 BC may be regarded as the beginning of the period. This site was developed by nomadic tribes, evidenced by the lack of permanent housing in the vicinity. At least seven stone circles, covering 25 acres, contain limestone pillars carved with animals, insects, Stone tools were used by perhaps as many as hundreds of people to create the pillars, which might have supported roofs. Other early PPNA sites dating to around 9500–9000 BC have been found in Jericho, Israel, Gilgal in the Jordan Valley, the start of Neolithic 1 overlaps the Tahunian and Heavy Neolithic periods to some degree. The major advance of Neolithic 1 was true farming, in the proto-Neolithic Natufian cultures, wild cereals were harvested, and perhaps early seed selection and re-seeding occurred. The grain was ground into flour, emmer wheat was domesticated, and animals were herded and domesticated
Neolithic
–
An array of Neolithic artifacts, including bracelets, axe heads, chisels, and polishing tools. Neolithic stone artifacts are by definition polished and, except for specialty items, not chipped.
Neolithic
–
Algerian cave paintings depicting hunting scenes
Neolithic
–
Female figure from
Tumba Madžari,
Republic of Macedonia
Neolithic
–
Skara Brae, Scotland. Evidence of home furnishings (shelves)
15.
Homer
–
Homer is the name ascribed by the ancient Greeks to the semi-legendary author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, two epic poems which are the central works of Greek literature. The Odyssey focuses on the home of Odysseus, king of Ithaca. Many accounts of Homers life circulated in classical antiquity, the most widespread being that he was a bard from Ionia. The modern scholarly consensus is that these traditions do not have any historical value, the Homeric question - by whom, when, where and under what circumstances were the Iliad and Odyssey composed - continues to be debated. Broadly speaking, modern scholarly opinion on the authorship question falls into two camps, one group holds that most of the Iliad and the Odyssey is the work of a single poet of genius. The other considers the Homeric poems to be the crystallization of a process of working and re-working by many contributors and it is generally accepted that the poems were composed at some point around the late eighth or early seventh century B. C. Most researchers believe that the poems were transmitted orally. The Homeric epics were the greatest influence on ancient Greek culture and education, to Plato, the chronological period of Homer depends on the meaning to be assigned to the word Homer. Was Homer a single person, an imaginary person representing a group of poets and this information is often called the world of Homer. The Homeric period would in that cover a number of historical periods, especially the Mycenaean Age. Considered word-for-word, the texts as we know them are the product of the scholars of the last three centuries. Each edition of the Iliad or Odyssey is a different, as the editors rely on different manuscripts and fragments. The term accuracy reveals a belief in an original uniform text. The manuscripts of the work currently available date to no earlier than the 10th century. These are at the end of a missing thousand-year chain of copies made as each generation of manuscripts disintegrated or were lost or destroyed and these numerous manuscripts are so similar that a single original can be postulated. The time gap in the chain is bridged by the scholia, or notes, on the existing manuscripts, librarian of the Library of Alexandria, he had noticed a wide divergence in the works attributed to Homer, and was trying to restore a more authentic copy. He had collected several manuscripts, which he named, the Sinopic, the one he selected for correction was the koine, which Murray translates as the Vulgate. Aristarchus was known for his selection of material
Homer
–
Idealized portrayal of Homer dating to the
Hellenistic period.
British Museum.
Homer
–
Part of an 11th-century manuscript, "the Townley Homer". The writing on the top and right side are
scholia.
Homer
–
Homer and His Guide, by
William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825–1905), portraying Homer on
Mount Ida, beset by dogs and guided by the goatherder Glaucus (as told in
Pseudo-Herodotus)
Homer
–
Raphael 's inspired Homer on
Mount Parnassus.
16.
Mycenaean period
–
Mycenaean Greece was the last phase of the Bronze Age in Ancient Greece. It represents the first advanced civilization in mainland Greece, with its states, urban organization, works of art. Among the centers of power emerged, the most notable were those of Pylos, Tiryns, Midea in the Peloponnese, Orchomenos, Thebes, Athens in Central Greece. The most prominent site was Mycenae, in Argolid, to which the culture of this era owes its name. Mycenaean and Mycenaean-influenced settlements also appeared in Epirus, Macedonia, on islands in the Aegean Sea, on the coast of Asia Minor, the Levant, Cyprus and Italy. Their syllabic script, the Linear B, offers the first written records of the Greek language, Mycenaean Greece was dominated by a warrior elite society and consisted of a network of palace states that developed rigid hierarchical, political, social and economic systems. At the head of society was the king, known as wanax. Various theories have proposed for the end of this civilization. Additional theories such as natural disasters and climatic changes have also suggested. The Mycenaean period became the setting of much ancient Greek literature and mythology. The Bronze Age in mainland Greece is generally termed as the Helladic period by modern archaeologists, after Hellas, the Greek name for Greece. This period is divided into three subperiods, The Early Helladic period was a time of prosperity with the use of metals, the Middle Helladic period faced a slower pace of development, as well as the evolution of megaron-type dwellings and cist grave burials. Finally, the Late Helladic period roughly coincides with Mycenaean Greece, the transition period from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age in Greece is known as Sub-Mycenaean. Moreover, it revealed that the bearers of Mycenaean culture were ethnically connected with the populations that resided in the Greek peninsula after the end of this cultural period. Various collective terms for the inhabitants of Mycenaean Greece were used by Homer in his 8th century BC epic, the Iliad, in reference to the Trojan War. The latter was supposed to have happened in the late 13th – early 12th century BC, Homer used the ethnonyms Achaeans, Danaans and Argives, to refer to the besiegers. These names appear to have passed down from the time they were in use to the time when Homer applied them as terms in his Iliad. There is an reference to a-ka-wi-ja-de in the Linear B records in Knossos, Crete dated to c.1400 BC
Mycenaean period
–
Mycenaean Greece
Mycenaean period
–
The
Lion Gate, the main entrance of the citadel of Mycenae, 13th century BC.
Mycenaean period
–
Two Mycenaean Greek warriors with boar's tusk helmets on a dual-chariot on a fresco from
Pylos (about 1350 BC) (left) and Two Mycenaean female charioteers from
Tiryns, 1200 BCE (right)
17.
Dorians
–
The Dorians were one of the four major ethnic groups among which the Hellenes of Classical Greece considered themselves divided. They are almost always referred to as just the Dorians, as they are called in the earliest literary mention of them in the Odyssey, and yet, all Hellenes knew which localities were Dorian, and which were not. Dorian states at war could more likely, but not always, Dorians were distinguished by the Doric Greek dialect and by characteristic social and historical traditions. In the 5th century BC, Dorians and Ionians were the two most politically important Greek ethne, whose ultimate clash resulted in the Peloponnesian War, the degree to which fifth-century Hellenes self-identified as Ionian or Dorian has itself been disputed. At one extreme Édouard Will concludes that there was no true ethnic component in fifth-century Greek culture, at the other extreme John Alty reinterprets the sources to conclude that ethnicity did motivate fifth-century actions. Moderns viewing these ethnic identifications through the fifth- and fourth-century BC literary tradition have been influenced by their own social politics. Accounts vary as to the Dorians’ place of origin, mythology gave them a Greek origin and eponymous founder, Dorus son of Hellen, the mythological patriarch of the Hellenes. The origin of the Dorians is a multi-faceted concept, in modern scholarship the term often has meant the location of the population disseminating the Doric Greek dialect within a hypothetical Proto-Greek speaking population. This dialect is known from records of classical northwest Greece, the Peloponnesus and Crete, a historical event is associated with the overthrow, called anciently the Return of the Heracleidai and by moderns the Dorian Invasion. This theory of a return or invasion presupposes that West Greek speakers resided in northwest Greece, no other records than Mycenaean are known to have existed in the Bronze Age, so a West Greek of that time and place cannot be proved or disproved. West Greek speakers were in western Greece in classical times, unlike the East Greeks, they are not associated with any evidence of displacement events. This provides circumstantial evidence that the Doric dialect disseminated among the Hellenes of northwest Greece, most scholars doubt that the Dorian invasion was the main cause of the collapse of the Mycenean civilization. The source of the West Greek speakers in the Peloponnesus remains unattested by any solid evidence, though most of the Doric invaders settled in the Peloponnese, they also settled on Rhodes and Sicily, in what is now southern Italy. In Asia Minor existed the Dorian Hexapolis, Halikarnassos and Knidos in Asia Minor, Kos, and Lindos, Kameiros and these six cities would later become rivals with the Ionian cities of Asia Minor. Other such Dorian colonies, originally from Corinth, Megara, a mans name, Dōrieus, occurs in the Linear B tablets at Pylos, one of the regions later invaded and subjugated by the Dorians. Pylos tablet Fn867 records it in the case as do-ri-je-we, *Dōriēwei. An unattested nominative plural, *Dōriēwes, would have become Dōrieis by loss of the w, the tablet records the grain rations issued to the servants of religious dignitaries celebrating a religious festival of Potnia, the mother goddess. The nominative singular, Dōrieus, remained the same in the classical period, many Linear B names of servants were formed from their home territory or the places where they came into Mycenaean ownership
Dorians
–
Dorian site of
Lato in Crete
Dorians
–
Uplands of Greece - the
Pindus Mountains
Dorians
–
Fifth century BC hoplite, or "heavy-armed soldier", possibly the Spartan king Leonidas, a Dorian, who died holding the pass at the
Battle of Thermopylae.
18.
Byzantine Empire
–
It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. During most of its existence, the empire was the most powerful economic, cultural, several signal events from the 4th to 6th centuries mark the period of transition during which the Roman Empires Greek East and Latin West divided. Constantine I reorganised the empire, made Constantinople the new capital, under Theodosius I, Christianity became the Empires official state religion and other religious practices were proscribed. Finally, under the reign of Heraclius, the Empires military, the borders of the Empire evolved significantly over its existence, as it went through several cycles of decline and recovery. During the reign of Maurice, the Empires eastern frontier was expanded, in a matter of years the Empire lost its richest provinces, Egypt and Syria, to the Arabs. This battle opened the way for the Turks to settle in Anatolia, the Empire recovered again during the Komnenian restoration, such that by the 12th century Constantinople was the largest and wealthiest European city. Despite the eventual recovery of Constantinople in 1261, the Byzantine Empire remained only one of several small states in the area for the final two centuries of its existence. Its remaining territories were annexed by the Ottomans over the 15th century. The Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 finally ended the Byzantine Empire, the term comes from Byzantium, the name of the city of Constantinople before it became Constantines capital. This older name of the city would rarely be used from this point onward except in historical or poetic contexts. The publication in 1648 of the Byzantine du Louvre, and in 1680 of Du Canges Historia Byzantina further popularised the use of Byzantine among French authors, however, it was not until the mid-19th century that the term came into general use in the Western world. The Byzantine Empire was known to its inhabitants as the Roman Empire, the Empire of the Romans, Romania, the Roman Republic, Graikia, and also as Rhōmais. The inhabitants called themselves Romaioi and Graikoi, and even as late as the 19th century Greeks typically referred to modern Greek as Romaika and Graikika. The authority of the Byzantine emperor as the legitimate Roman emperor was challenged by the coronation of Charlemagne as Imperator Augustus by Pope Leo III in the year 800. No such distinction existed in the Islamic and Slavic worlds, where the Empire was more seen as the continuation of the Roman Empire. In the Islamic world, the Roman Empire was known primarily as Rûm, the Roman army succeeded in conquering many territories covering the entire Mediterranean region and coastal regions in southwestern Europe and north Africa. These territories were home to different cultural groups, both urban populations and rural populations. The West also suffered heavily from the instability of the 3rd century AD
Byzantine Empire
–
Tremissis with the image of
Justinian the Great (r. 527–565) (see
Byzantine insignia)
Byzantine Empire
–
Byzantine
lamellar armour klivanium (Κλιβάνιον) - a predecessor of Ottoman krug
mirror armour
Byzantine Empire
–
The Baptism of Constantine painted by
Raphael 's pupils (1520–1524,
fresco, Vatican City,
Apostolic Palace);
Eusebius of Caesarea records that (as
was common among converts of early Christianity) Constantine delayed receiving
baptism until shortly before his death
Byzantine Empire
–
Restored section of the Theodosian Walls.
19.
Franks
–
Some Franks raided Roman territory, while other Frankish tribes joined the Roman troops of Gaul. In later times, Franks became the rulers of the northern part of Roman Gaul. The Salian Franks lived on Roman-held soil between the Rhine, Scheldt, Meuse, and Somme rivers in what is now Northern France, Belgium, the kingdom was acknowledged by the Romans after 357 CE. Following the collapse of Rome in the West, the Frankish tribes were united under the Merovingians, who succeeded in conquering most of Gaul in the 6th century, which greatly increased their power. The Merovingian dynasty, descendants of the Salians, founded one of the Germanic monarchies that would absorb large parts of the Western Roman Empire, the Frankish state consolidated its hold over the majority of western Europe by the end of the 8th century, developing into the Carolingian Empire. This empire would gradually evolve into the state of France and the Holy Roman Empire, in the Middle Ages, the term Frank was used in the east as a synonym for western European, as the Franks were then rulers of most of Western Europe. The Franks in the east kept their Germanic language and became part of the Germans, Dutch, Flemings, the Franconian languages, which are called Frankisch in Dutch or Fränkisch in German, originated at least partly in the Old Frankish language of the Franks. Nowadays, the German and Dutch names for France are Frankreich and Frankrijk, respectively, the name Franci was originally socio-political. To the Romans, Celts, and Suebi, the Franks must have seemed alike, they looked the same and spoke the same language, so that Franci became the name by which the people were known. Within a few centuries it had eclipsed the names of the tribes, though the older names have survived in some place-names, such as Hesse. Following the precedents of Edward Gibbon and Jacob Grimm, the name of the Franks has been linked with the word frank in English and it has been suggested that the meaning of free was adopted because, after the conquest of Gaul, only Franks were free of taxation. It is traditionally assumed that Frank comes from the Germanic word for javelin, there is also another theory that suggests that Frank comes from the Latin word francisca meaning. Words in other Germanic languages meaning fierce, bold or insolent, eumenius addressed the Franks in the matter of the execution of Frankish prisoners in the circus at Trier by Constantine I in 306 and certain other measures, Ubi nunc est illa ferocia. Feroces was used often to describe the Franks, contemporary definitions of Frankish ethnicity vary both by period and point of view. According to their law and their custom, writing in 2009, Professor Christopher Wickham pointed out that the word Frankish quickly ceased to have an exclusive ethnic connotation. North of the River Loire everyone seems to have considered a Frank by the mid-7th century at the latest. Two early sources describe the origin of the Franks are a 7th-century work known as the Chronicle of Fredegar. Neither of these works are accepted by historians as trustworthy, compared with Gregory of Tourss Historia Francorum, the chronicle describes Priam as a Frankish king whose people migrated to Macedonia after the fall of Troy
Franks
–
Aristocratic Frankish grave goods from the Merovingian period
Franks
–
A 19th century depiction of different Franks (AD 400–600)
Franks
–
Detail of the
Tabula Peutingeriana, showing Francia at the top
Franks
–
A 6th-7th century necklace of glass and ceramic beads with a central amethyst bead. Similar necklaces have been found in the graves of Frankish women in the Rhineland.
20.
Saracens
–
Saracen was a term widely used among Christian writers in Europe during the Middle Ages. The terms meaning evolved during its history, in Europe during the Early Medieval era, the term came to be associated with Arab tribes as well. By the 12th century, Saracen had become synonymous with Muslim in Medieval Latin literature, such expansion in the meaning of the term had begun centuries earlier among the Byzantine Romans, as evidenced in documents from the 8th century. In the Western languages before the 16th century, Saracen was commonly used to refer to Muslim Arabs, the term Saraceni might be derived from the Semitic triliteral root srq signifies to steal, rob, plunder. The noun sāriq - sariqīn means, ptolemys 2nd century work, Geography, describes Sarakēnē as a region in the northern Sinai Peninsula. Ptolemy also mentions a people called the Sarakēnoi living in the northwestern Arabian Peninsula, the Augustan History also refers to an attack by Saraceni on Pescennius Nigers army in Egypt in 193, but provides little information as to identifying them. Both Hippolytus of Rome and Uranius mention three distinct peoples in Arabia during the first half of the century, the Saraceni, the Taeni. The Taeni, later identified with the Arabic-speaking people called Tayy, were located around Khaybar, the Saraceni were placed north of them. These Saracens, located in the northern Hejaz, were described as people with a certain military ability who were opponents of the Roman Empire, the Saracens are described as forming the equites from Phoenicia and Thamud. In one document the defeated enemies of Diocletians campaign in the Syrian Desert are described as Saracens. Other 4th century military reports make no mention of Arabs but refer to as Saracens groups ranging as far east as Mesopotamia that were involved in battles on both the Sasanian and Roman sides. The Saracens were named in the Roman administrative document Notitia Dignitatum—dating from the time of Theodosius I in the 4th century—as comprising distinctive units in the Roman army and they were distinguished in the document from Arabs. Beginning no later than the fifth century, Christian writers began to equate Saracens with Arabs. Saracens were associated with Ishmaelites in some strands of Jewish, Christian and this claim was popular during the Middle Ages, but derives more from Paul’s allegory in the New Testament letter to the Galatians than from historical data. The name Saracen was not indigenous among the populations so described but was applied to them by Greco-Roman historians based on Greek place names. As the Middle Ages progressed, usage of the term in the Latin West changed, but its connotation remained negative, associated with opponents of Christianity, in an 8th-century polemical work, John of Damascus criticized the Saracens as followers of a false prophet and forerunner to the Antichrist. By the 12th century, Medieval Europeans had more specific conceptions of Islam and used the term Saracen as an ethnic, in some Medieval literature, Saracens—that is, Muslims—were described as black-skinned, while Christians were lighter-skinned. An example is in The King of Tars, a medieval romance, the Song of Roland, an Old French 11th-century heroic poem, refers to the black skin of Saracens as their only exotic feature
Saracens
–
A 12th-century Byzantine manuscript illumination depicting Byzantine Greeks executing Cretan Saracens in the 9th century. From the
Madrid Skylitzes by
John Skylitzes.
Saracens
–
A depiction of Saracens in a 15th-century woodcut
21.
Fourth Crusade
–
The Fourth Crusade was a Western European armed expedition called by Pope Innocent III, originally intended to conquer Muslim-controlled Jerusalem by means of an invasion through Egypt. Instead, a sequence of events culminated in the Crusaders sacking the city of Constantinople, the intention of the crusaders was then to continue to the Holy Land with promised Byzantine financial and military assistance. On 23 June 1203 the main fleet reached Constantinople. In August 1203, following clashes outside Constantinople, Alexios Angelos was crowned co-Emperor with crusader support, however, in January 1204, he was deposed by a popular uprising in Constantinople. In April 1204, they captured and brutally sacked the city, Byzantine resistance based in unconquered sections of the empire such as Nicaea, Trebizond, and Epirus ultimately recovered Constantinople in 1261. Ayyubid Sultan Saladin had conquered most of the Frankish, Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, including the ancient city itself, the Kingdom had been established 88 years before, after the capture and sack of Jerusalem in the First Crusade. The city was sacred to Christians, Muslims and Jews, Saladin led a Muslim dynasty, and his incorporation of Jerusalem into his domains shocked and dismayed the Catholic countries of Western Europe. Legend has it that Pope Urban III literally died of the shock, the crusader states had been reduced to three cities along the sea coast, Tyre, Tripoli, and Antioch. The Third Crusade reclaimed an extensive amount of territory for the Kingdom of Jerusalem, including the key towns of Acre and Jaffa, but had failed to retake Jerusalem. The crusade had also marked by a significant escalation in long standing tensions between the feudal states of western Europe and the Byzantine Empire, centred in Constantinople. The experiences of the first two crusades had thrown into relief the vast cultural differences between the two Christian civilisations. For their part, the educated and wealthy Byzantines maintained a sense of cultural, organizational. Constantinople had been in existence for 874 years at the time of the Fourth Crusade and was the largest and most sophisticated city in Christendom. Almost alone amongst major medieval urban centres, it had retained the civic structures, public baths, forums, monuments, at its height, the city held an estimated population of about half a million people behind thirteen miles of triple walls. As a result, it was both a rival and a target for the aggressive new states of the west, notably the Republic of Venice. Crusaders also seized the breakaway Byzantine province of Cyprus, rather than return it to the Empire, barbarossa died on crusade, and his army quickly disintegrated, leaving the English and French, who had come by sea, to fight Saladin. There they captured Sidon and Beirut, but at the news of Henrys death in Messina along the way, many of the nobles, deserted by much of their leadership, the rank and file crusaders panicked before an Egyptian army and fled to their ships in Tyre. Also in 1195, the Byzantine Emperor Isaac II Angelos was deposed in favour of his brother by a palace coup, ascending as Alexios III Angelos, the new emperor had his brother blinded and exiled
Fourth Crusade
–
Conquest of Constantinople by the Crusaders in 1204
Fourth Crusade
–
The Crusader attack on Constantinople, from a Venetian manuscript of Geoffreoy de Villehardouin's history, ca. 1330
Fourth Crusade
–
Capture of Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade in 1204
Fourth Crusade
–
The Entry of the Crusaders into Constantinople (
Eugène Delacroix, 1840). The most infamous action of the Fourth Crusade was the sack of the Orthodox Christian city of
Constantinople
22.
Principality of Achaea
–
The Principality of Achaea or of the Morea was one of the three vassal states of the Latin Empire which replaced the Byzantine Empire after the capture of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade. It became a vassal of the Kingdom of Thessalonica, along with the Duchy of Athens, until Thessalonica was captured by Theodore, after this, Achaea became for a while the dominant power in Greece. Achaea was founded in 1205 by William of Champlitte and Geoffrey I of Villehardouin, the victory was decisive, and after the battle all resistance from the locals was limited to a few forts, that continued to hold out. The fort of Araklovon in Elis, was defended by Doxapatres Boutsaras and withstood the attacks until 1213, the fort of Monemvasia, and the castles of Argos, Nauplia and Corinth under Leo Sgouros held out until his suicide in 1208. By 1212, these too had conquered, and organized as the lordship of Argos and Nauplia. William of Champlitte ruled Achaea until he departed for France to assume an inheritance and he was succeeded by Geoffrey I of Villehardouin, who ruled until his own death in 1219. Achaea was rather small, consisting of the Peloponnese peninsula, but it was fairly wealthy, exporting wine, raisins, wax, honey, oil, the capital of the principality was originally at Andravida. It was bordered on the north by Epirus and the Duchy of Athens and surrounded by Venetian-held territories in the Aegean Sea, the twelve temporal barons were joined by seven ecclesiastic lords, headed by the Latin Archbishop of Patras. The twelve secular baronies were, Shortly after 1260, a barony, that of Arcadia was established. When Tsakonia and the mountainous regions of the southeast were subdued in the late 1240s. The twelve barons retained considerable powers and privileges, so that the Prince was not an absolute sovereign, thus they had the right to construct a castle without the Princes permission, or to decree capital punishment. Since Salic Law was not adopted in Achaea, women could inherit the fiefs. In addition, a Lower Court is mentioned, which abjudicated in matters of common law. On the other hand, all vassals owed the Prince four months service in the field and four months garrison duty every year, retiring after the age of sixty and this put the principality on constant war footing. Indeed, the knights of Achaea enjoyed a reputation both in the Levant and in Western Europe. The most important secular and ecclesiastical lords participated in the council of the Grand Court, the council had great authority, and its decisions were binding for the Prince. The Principality also produced a set of laws, the Assizes of Romania, which combined aspects of Byzantine and French law. Several Byzantine titles such as logothetes and protovestarius continued in use, the Frankish barons were subjected to heavy military obligations
Principality of Achaea
–
Achaean
tornese from Glarentza (Clarentia)
Principality of Achaea
–
The Latin Empire with its vassals and the Greek successor states after the partition of the Byzantine Empire, c. 1204. The borders are very uncertain.
Principality of Achaea
–
Map of the Greek and Latin states in southern Greece ca. 1278
23.
Passavas
–
Passavas or Las is a historic site situated on the Mani Peninsula. In ancient times Las was a Spartan possession and in 218 BC the citizens of the city fought, Las became part of the Union of Free Laconians in 195 BC when it separated from Sparta. The Spartans however recaptured the city in 189 BC, Sparta was then taken over by the Achaean League and Las gained its independence again. When the Romans took over most of Greece in 146 BC, Las, in Roman times, Las had a bath and a gymnasium. The site is not mentioned in Byzantine times until after the Frankish conquest of the Peloponnese, when Mani was given to John of Nully, who built a castle at Las sometime after 1218. This castle became known as Passavant or Passavas in Greek, a probably related to the motto or war-cry Passe-Avant, move forward. Nullys Barony of Passavant comprised four knights fiefs, but virtually nothing is known about it and it was apparently short-lived, with the castle itself falling to the Byzantines during their first offensives in the Peloponnese in ca. The castle was in use again during the second Byzantine domination. In 1601, a Spanish fleet led by Alonso de Contreras that was raiding in the area surprised the Ottoman garrison and it was regarrisoned in 1669, by the Ottoman general Kuesy Ali Pasha. The castle was captured again in 1684 by the Venetians and the Maniots, the Venetians carried off the cannons and destroyed the city so it would not be used again. When the leader of the Maniots was executed by the Ottomans, when they got in they took out their hidden weapons and not many of the 700 families inhabiting the castle escaped. The castle was abandoned after that and has not been inhabited since, the present castle on the site dates after the 13th century, perhaps even after the Middle Ages. It is of a shape, some 180 m long and 90 m wide. The castle originally featured large round towers on the northwestern, southeastern, and southwestern corners, a square tower was located on the northeastern corner, the highest point of the castle, two other square towers were located in the middle of the northern and eastern walls. The entrance was probably in the south, unidentified structures were built adjoining the walls on the interior, while during the later Ottoman occupation a mosque was built in the centre. Recherches historiques, topographiques et archéologiques sur la principauté d’Achaïe, rome and the Mediterranean ISBN 0-14-044318-5 Peter Green. Alexander to Actium, Historical Evolution of the Hellenistic Age ISBN 0-500-01485-X
Passavas
–
Sketch of the castle by the Venetian
Vincenzo Coronelli, 1689
Passavas
–
The Peloponnese (
Morea) in late medieval times, with major towns and fortresses
24.
Byzantine
–
It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. During most of its existence, the empire was the most powerful economic, cultural, several signal events from the 4th to 6th centuries mark the period of transition during which the Roman Empires Greek East and Latin West divided. Constantine I reorganised the empire, made Constantinople the new capital, under Theodosius I, Christianity became the Empires official state religion and other religious practices were proscribed. Finally, under the reign of Heraclius, the Empires military, the borders of the Empire evolved significantly over its existence, as it went through several cycles of decline and recovery. During the reign of Maurice, the Empires eastern frontier was expanded, in a matter of years the Empire lost its richest provinces, Egypt and Syria, to the Arabs. This battle opened the way for the Turks to settle in Anatolia, the Empire recovered again during the Komnenian restoration, such that by the 12th century Constantinople was the largest and wealthiest European city. Despite the eventual recovery of Constantinople in 1261, the Byzantine Empire remained only one of several small states in the area for the final two centuries of its existence. Its remaining territories were annexed by the Ottomans over the 15th century. The Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 finally ended the Byzantine Empire, the term comes from Byzantium, the name of the city of Constantinople before it became Constantines capital. This older name of the city would rarely be used from this point onward except in historical or poetic contexts. The publication in 1648 of the Byzantine du Louvre, and in 1680 of Du Canges Historia Byzantina further popularised the use of Byzantine among French authors, however, it was not until the mid-19th century that the term came into general use in the Western world. The Byzantine Empire was known to its inhabitants as the Roman Empire, the Empire of the Romans, Romania, the Roman Republic, Graikia, and also as Rhōmais. The inhabitants called themselves Romaioi and Graikoi, and even as late as the 19th century Greeks typically referred to modern Greek as Romaika and Graikika. The authority of the Byzantine emperor as the legitimate Roman emperor was challenged by the coronation of Charlemagne as Imperator Augustus by Pope Leo III in the year 800. No such distinction existed in the Islamic and Slavic worlds, where the Empire was more seen as the continuation of the Roman Empire. In the Islamic world, the Roman Empire was known primarily as Rûm, the Roman army succeeded in conquering many territories covering the entire Mediterranean region and coastal regions in southwestern Europe and north Africa. These territories were home to different cultural groups, both urban populations and rural populations. The West also suffered heavily from the instability of the 3rd century AD
Byzantine
–
Tremissis with the image of
Justinian the Great (r. 527–565) (see
Byzantine insignia)
Byzantine
–
Byzantine
lamellar armour klivanium (Κλιβάνιον) - a predecessor of Ottoman krug
mirror armour
Byzantine
–
The Baptism of Constantine painted by
Raphael 's pupils (1520–1524,
fresco, Vatican City,
Apostolic Palace);
Eusebius of Caesarea records that (as
was common among converts of early Christianity) Constantine delayed receiving
baptism until shortly before his death
Byzantine
–
Restored section of the Theodosian Walls.
25.
Despotate of the Morea
–
The Despotate of the Morea or Despotate of Mystras was a province of the Byzantine Empire which existed between the mid-14th and mid-15th centuries. The territory was ruled by one or more sons of the current Byzantine emperor. Its capital was the city of Mystras, near ancient Sparta. The Despotate of the Morea was created out of territory seized from the Frankish Principality of Achaea and this had been organized from former Byzantine territory after the Fourth Crusade. In 1259, the Principalitys ruler William II Villehardouin lost the Battle of Pelagonia against the Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus, William was forced to ransom himself by surrendering most of the eastern part of Morea and his newly built strongholds. The surrendered territory became the nucleus of the Despotate of Morea, a later Byzantine emperor, John VI Kantakouzenos, reorganized the territory during the mid-14th century to establish it as an appanage for his son, the Despot Manuel Kantakouzenos. The rival Palaiologos dynasty seized the Morea after Manuels death in 1380, Theodore ruled until 1407, consolidating Byzantine rule and coming to terms with his more powerful neighbours—particularly the expansionist Ottoman Empire, whose suzerainty he recognised. He also sought to reinvigorate the economy by inviting Albanians to settle in the territory. Subsequent despots were the sons of the Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos, brother of the despot Theodore, Constantine, Demetrios, however, in 1446 the Ottoman Sultan Murad II destroyed the Byzantine defences—the Hexamilion wall at the Isthmus of Corinth. His attack opened the peninsula to invasion, though Murad died before he could exploit this and his successor Mehmed II the Conqueror captured the Byzantine capital Constantinople in 1453. The despots, Demetrios Palaiologos and Thomas Palaiologos, brothers of the last emperor, failed to send him any aid and their own incompetence resulted in an Albanian–Greek revolt against them, during which they invited in Ottoman troops to help them put down the revolt. At this time, a number of influential Moreote Greeks and Albanians made private peace with Mehmed, Demetrios ended up a prisoner of the Ottomans and his younger brother Thomas fled. By the end of the summer the Ottomans had achieved the submission of all cities possessed by the Greeks. A few holdouts remained for a time, the rocky peninsula of Monemvasia refused to surrender and it was first ruled for a brief time by a Catalan corsair. When the population drove him out they obtained the consent of Thomas to submit to the Popes protection before the end of 1460, the Mani Peninsula, on the Moreas south end, resisted under a loose coalition of the local clans and then that area came under Venices rule. The very last holdout was Salmeniko, in the Moreas northwest, Graitzas Palaiologos was the military commander there, stationed at Salmeniko Castle. While the town surrendered, Graitzas and his garrison and some town residents held out in the castle until July 1461. Thus ended the last of the Byzantine Empire proper, after 1461 the only non-Ottoman territories were possessed by Venice, the port cities of Modon and Koroni at the southern end of the Morea, the Argolid with Argos, and the port of Nafplion
Despotate of the Morea
–
The Byzantine Empire and the Latin and other states resulting from the Fourth Crusade, as they were in 1265. The Byzantine province of the Morea is also shown. (William R. Shepherd, Historical Atlas, 1911).
Despotate of the Morea
–
The Despotate of the Morea in 1450, divided between the two brothers,
Thomas and
Demetrios Palaiologos
26.
Fall of Constantinople
–
The Fall of Constantinople was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire by an invading army of the Ottoman Empire on 29 May 1453. The Ottomans were commanded by the then 21-year-old Mehmed the Conqueror, the sultan of the Ottoman Empire. The conquest of Constantinople followed a 53-day siege that had begun on 6 April 1453, the capture of Constantinople marked the end of the Roman Empire, an imperial state that had lasted for nearly 1,500 years. The Ottoman conquest of Constantinople also dealt a blow to Christendom. After the conquest, Sultan Mehmed II transferred the capital of the Ottoman Empire from Edirne to Constantinople. The conquest of the city of Constantinople and the end of the Byzantine Empire was a key event in the Late Middle Ages, which also marks, for some historians, Constantinople had been an imperial capital since its consecration in 330 under Roman Emperor, Constantine the Great. In the following centuries, the city had been besieged many times but was captured only once. The crusaders established an unstable Latin state in and around Constantinople while the remaining empire splintered into a number of Byzantine successor states, notably Nicaea, Epirus and they fought as allies against the Latin establishments, but also fought among themselves for the Byzantine throne. The Nicaeans eventually reconquered Constantinople from the Latins in 1261, thereafter there was little peace for the much-weakened empire as it fended off successive attacks by the Latins, the Serbians, the Bulgarians, and, most importantly, the Ottoman Turks. The Black Plague between 1346 and 1349 killed almost half of the inhabitants of Constantinople, the Empire of Trebizond, an independent successor state that formed in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade, also survived on the coast of the Black Sea. This optimism was reinforced by friendly assurances made by Mehmed to envoys sent to his new court, but Mehmeds actions spoke far louder than his mild words. Since the mutual excommunications of 1054, the Pope in Rome was committed to establishing authority over the eastern church, nominal union had been negotiated in 1274, at the Second Council of Lyon, and indeed, some Palaiologoi emperors had since been received into the Latin church. Emperor John VIII Palaiologos had also recently negotiated union with Pope Eugene IV, finally, the attempted Union failed, greatly annoying Pope Nicholas V and the hierarchy of the Roman church. Although some troops did arrive from the city states in the north of Italy. Some Western individuals, however, came to defend the city on their own account. One of these was a soldier from Genoa, Giovanni Giustiniani. A specialist in defending walled cities, he was given the overall command of the defense of the land walls by the emperor. In Venice, meanwhile, deliberations were taking place concerning the kind of assistance the Republic would lend to Constantinople
Fall of Constantinople
–
The last siege of Constantinople, contemporary 15th century French miniature
Fall of Constantinople
–
Restored Walls of Constantinople
Fall of Constantinople
–
Modern painting of
Mehmed II and the
Ottoman Army approaching
Constantinople with a giant bombard, by
Fausto Zonaro
Fall of Constantinople
–
A picture of the Fall of Constantinople by
Theophilos Hatzimihail.
27.
Ottoman Empire
–
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
Ottoman Empire
–
Battle of Nicopolis in 1396. Painting from 1523.
Ottoman Empire
–
Flag (1844–1923)
Ottoman Empire
–
Battle of Mohács in 1526
Ottoman Empire
–
Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha defeats the
Holy League of
Charles V under the command of
Andrea Doria at the
Battle of Preveza in 1538.
28.
Chieftain
–
A tribal chief is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom. In the case of tribal societies existing within larger colonial and post-colonial states. The most common types are the chairman of a council and/or a broader popular assembly in parliamentary cultures, the war chief, the hereditary chief and this term has largely fallen out of use, however, and such personages are now often called kings. Historically, tribal societies represent a stage between the band society of the Paleolithic stage and civilization with centralized, super-regional government based in cities. Stratified tribal societies led by tribal kings thus flourished from the Neolithic stage into the Iron Age, albeit in competition with civilisations, after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, tribal kingdoms were again established over much of Europe in the wake of the Migration period. By the High Middle Ages, these had coalesced into super-regional monarchies. Tribal societies also remained prevalent in much of the New World, excepting Paleolithic or Mesolithic band societies in Oceania, europeans forced centralized governments onto these societies during colonialism, but in some instances they have retained or regained partial self-government. Tribal chiefs are known as Sheikhs, though this term is sometimes applied as an honorific title to spiritual leaders of Sufism. In Botswana, the chiefs of the various tribes are constitutionally empowered to serve as advisers to the government as members of the Ntlo ya Dikgosi. In addition to this, they serve as the ex officio chairs of the tribal kgotlas, meetings of all of the members of the tribes. The band is the unit of governance among the First Nations in Canada. As well, there may be hereditary or charismatic chiefs. There were 614 bands in Canada in 2012, there is also a national organization, the Assembly of First Nations, which elects a national chief to act as spokesperson of all First Nations bands in Canada. The offices and traditional realms of the chiefs of Ghana are constitutionally protected by the constitution of the country. The chiefs serve as custodian of all lands and the culture of the traditional area. The Solomon Islands have a Local Court Act which empowers chiefs to deal with crimes in their communities, apo Rodolfo Aguilar serves as the chieftain of the Tagbanwa tribes people living in Banuang Daan and Cabugao settlements in Coron Island, Palawan, Philippines. His position is recognized by the Filipino government, the pre-colonial states that existed in what is today Uganda were summarily abolished following independence from Great Britain. However, following constitutional reforms in 1993, a number of them were restored as politically neutral constituencies of the state by the government of Yoweri Museveni, generally, a tribe or nation is considered to be part of an ethnic group, usually sharing cultural values
Chieftain
–
Arminius, a chieftain of the
Germanic Cherusci tribe who defeated three
Roman legions in the
Battle of the Teutoburg Forest.
Chieftain
–
Badge of office of Chief Gambo,
Rhodesia c. 1979.
Chieftain
–
Goyathlay, or
Geronimo,
Apache chieftain for the
Chiricahua.
29.
Petrobey Mavromichalis
–
Petros Mavromichalis, also known as Petrobey, was the leader of the Maniot people during the first half of the 19th century. His family had a history of revolts against the Ottoman Empire. His grandfather Georgios and his father Pierros were among the leaders of the Orlov Revolt, Petros was born on 6 August 1765, the son of leader Pierros Mavromichalis Pierrakos and Katerina Koutsogrigorakos, a doctors daughter. Mavromichalis family had a history of uprising against the Ottoman Empire. His grandfather Georgakis Mavromichalis and his father Pierros Mavromichalis Pierrakos were among the leaders of the Orlov Revolt, the revolt was followed by a period of infighting between the leaders of Mani, soon, young Petros gained a strong reputation for mediating the disputes and reuniting the warring families. During that period he made an alliance with Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleons failure in Egypt doomed that plan, still, Petrobey was an active participant in the various designs of the Moreot kapetanaioi for an uprising. In 1818, he became a member of the Filiki Eteria, on March 17,1821, Petrobey raised his war flag in Areopolis, effectively signaling the start of the Greek War of Independence. His troops marched into Kalamata, and took the city on March 23, after the summer of 1822, Petrobey retired from battle, leaving the leadership of his troops to his sons. He continued to act as a mediator whenever disputes arose among the kapetanaioi, and acted as the leader of the Messenian Senate and he also tried to seek support from the West by sending a number of letters to leaders and philhellenes in Europe and the United States. After the revolution, Petrobey became a member of the first Greek Senate, Petros brother Tzanis led a revolt against the appointed governor of Lakonia, the two brothers were invited to meet Kapodistrias and negotiate a solution but when they showed up, they were arrested. From his prison cell, Petros tried to negotiate a settlement with Kapodistrias, the crisis was then settled by more traditional means, Petros brother Konstantinos and his son Georgios assassinated Kapodistrias on October 9,1831. Petros publicly disapproved of the murder, Kapodistrias was succeeded by King Otto, whose attitude towards the kapetanaioi was much friendlier. Petros became vice-president of the Council of State, and later a senator and he was also one of the few Greeks to be awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of the Redeemer. He died in Athens on January 17,1848, and was buried with the highest honors, Συλλογή των περί αυτών γραφέντων, Ανάργυρου Κουτσιλιέρη, Ιστορία της Μάνης, Αγαπητός Σ. Οι Ένδοξοι Έλληνες του1821, ή Οι Πρωταγωνισταί της Ελλάδος σελ, Αγαπητού, Εν Πάτραις -ανακτήθηκε13 Αυγούστου 2009-
Petrobey Mavromichalis
–
Petros Mavromichalis
Petrobey Mavromichalis
–
Petros Mavromichalis by
Peter von Hess.
Petrobey Mavromichalis
–
A monument of Petros Mavromichalis in
Areopoli
30.
Klephts
–
Klephts were highwaymen turned self-appointed armatoloi, anti-Ottoman insurgents, and warlike mountain-folk who lived in the countryside when Greece was a part of the Ottoman Empire. They were the descendants of Greeks who retreated into the mountains during the 15th century in order to avoid Ottoman rule and they carried on a continuous war against Ottoman rule and remained active as brigands until the 19th century. The terms kleptomania and kleptocracy are derived from the same Greek root, κλέπτειν, after the Fall of Constantinople in 1453 and then the fall of Mistra in the Despotate of the Morea, most of the plains of present-day Greece fell entirely into the hands of the Ottoman Empire. The only territories that did not fall under Ottoman rule were the mountain ranges, as well as a handful of islands and coastal possessions under the control of Venice. This situation lasted until at least 1821, although there were parts of Greece, such as Macedonia and Epirus. This period of time in Greece is known as the Τουρκοκρατία or Turkocracy, Ottoman lands were divided up into pashaliks, also called eyalets, in the case of the lands that form present-day Greece, these were Morea and Roumelia. Pashaliks were further sub-divided into sanjaks which were divided into feudal chifliks. Many Greeks wishing to preserve their Greek identity, Orthodox Christian religion and these bandit groups soon found their ranks swelled with impoverished and/or adventurous peasants, societal outcasts, and escaped criminals. Klephts under Ottoman rule were generally men who were fleeing vendettas or taxes, debts and they raided travelers and isolated settlements and lived in the rugged mountains and back country. Most klephtic bands participated in some form in the Greek War of Independence, during the Greek War of Independence, the klephts, along with the armatoloi, formed the nucleus of the Greek fighting forces, and played a prominent part throughout its duration. Yannis Makriyannis referred to the klephtes and armatoloi as the yeast of liberty, klephtic songs, or ballads, were developed in mainland Greece. Klephtic songs are popular in Epirus and the Peloponnese. The most famous klephtic and modern Greek folk song is The Battle of Mount Olympus and Mount Kisavos, concordance between klepht songs and Homers Iliad was explored by Michael M. Nikoletseas in The Male Totem in Klepht Poetry, Parallels with the Iliad. The famous Greek dish klephtiko, a dish entailing slow-cooked lamb, the klephts, not having flocks of their own, would steal lambs or goats and cook the meat in a sealed pit to avoid the smoke being seen
Klephts
–
Dimitrios Makris a
Greek klepht chief of the 19th century.
31.
Corsica
–
Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 13 regions of France. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, southeast of the French mainland, a single chain of mountains make up two-thirds of the island. While being part of France, Corsica is also designated as a territorial collectivity by law, as a territorial collectivity, Corsica enjoys a greater degree of autonomy than other French regions, for example, the Corsican Assembly is able to exercise limited executive powers. The island formed a single department until it was split in 1975 into two departments, Haute-Corse and Corse-du-Sud, with its capital in Ajaccio, the prefecture city of Corse-du-Sud. Bastia, the city of Haute-Corse, is the second-largest settlement in Corsica. After being ruled by the Republic of Genoa since 1284, Corsica was briefly an independent Corsican Republic from 1755 until it was conquered by France in 1769. Due to Corsicas historical ties with the Italian peninsula, the island retains to this day many elements of the culture of Italy, the native Corsican language, whose northern variant is closely related to the Italian language, is recognised as a regional language by the French government. This Mediterranean island was ruled by various nations over the course of history but had several periods of independence. Napoleon was born in 1769 in the Corsican capital of Ajaccio and his ancestral home, Maison Bonaparte, is today used as a museum. The origin of the name Corsica is subject to much debate, to the Ancient Greeks it was known as Kalliste, Corsis, Cyrnos, Cernealis, or Cirné. Of these Cyrnos, Cernealis, or Cirné derive from a corruption of the most ancient Greek name of the island, Σειρηνούσσαι, the claim that latter Greek names are based on the Phoenician word for peninsula are highly unlikely. Corsica has been occupied continuously since the Mesolithic era and it acquired an indigenous population that was influential in the Mediterranean during its long prehistory. The Romans, who built a colony in Aléria, considered Corsica as one of the most backward regions of the Roman world, the island produced sheep, honey, resin and wax, and exported many slaves, not well considered because of their fierce and rebellious character. Moreover, it was known for its wines, exported to Rome. Administratively, the island was divided in pagi, which in the Middle Ages became the pievi, Corsica was integrated by Emperor Diocletian in Roman Italy. In the 5th century, the half of the Roman Empire collapsed, and the island was invaded by the Vandals. Briefly recovered by the Byzantines, it became part of the Kingdom of the Lombards—this made it a dependency of the March of Tuscany. Pepin the Short, king of the Franks and Charlemagnes father, expelled the Lombards, in the first quarter of the 11th century, Pisa and Genoa together freed the island from the threat of Arab invasion
Corsica
–
The medieval influence of
Pisa in Corsica can be seen in the Romanesque-Pisan style of the
Church of Aregno
Corsica
–
Flag
Corsica
–
Seafront boulevard in
Ajaccio, the island's capital and
Napoleon I 's birthplace
Corsica
–
Monument to the
French Resistance during WWII in
Solaro (plaine orientale).
32.
John Capodistria
–
After a long career in European politics and diplomacy he was elected as the first head of state of independent Greece. He is considered as the founder of the modern Greek state, Ioannis Kapodistrias was born in Corfu, the most populous Ionian Island to a distinguished Corfiote family. Kapodistriass father was the nobleman, artist and politician Antonios Maria Kapodistrias and his familys name in Capodistria had been Vitori or Vittori. His mother was Adamantine Gonemis, a countess, and daughter of the noble Christodoulos Gonemis, the Gonemis were a Greek family originally from the island of Cyprus, they had migrated to Crete when Cyprus fell to the Ottomans in the 16th century. They then migrated to Epirus when Crete fell in the 17th century, the Gonemis family, like the Kapodistriases, had been listed in the Libro dOro of Corfu. Kapodistrias, though born and raised as a nobleman, was throughout his life a liberal thinker and had democratic ideals and his ancestors fought along with the Venetians during the Turkish sieges of Corfu and had received a title of nobility from them. Kapodistrias studied medicine, philosophy and law at the University of Padua in 1795–97, when he was 21 years old, in 1797, he started his medical practice as a doctor in his native island of Corfu. In 1799, when Corfu was briefly occupied by the forces of Russia and Turkey, in 1802 he founded an important scientific and social progress organisation in Corfu, the National Medical Association, of which he was an energetic member. Kapodistrias, substituting for his father, became one of two ministers of the new state, thus, at the age of 25, Kapodistrias became involved in politics. With the same determination, he established authority in all the seven islands. When Russia sent an envoy, Count George Motsenigo, a Noble from Zakynthos who had served as Russian Diplomat in Italy, Motsenigo later helped Kapodistrias to join the Russian diplomatic service. When elections were carried for a new Senate, Kapodistrias was unanimously appointed as Chief Minister of State, in December,1803, a less feudal and more liberal and democratic constitution was voted by the Senate. As minister of state, he organised the public sector, putting emphasis on education. In 1807 the French re-occupied the islands and dissolved the Septinsular Republic, in 1809 Kapodistrias entered the service of Alexander I of Russia. His first important mission, in November 1813, was as unofficial Russian ambassador to Switzerland and he also obtained new international guarantees for the constitution and neutrality of Switzerland through an agreement among the Powers. After these brilliant diplomatic successes, Alexander I appointed Kapodistrias joint Foreign Minister of Russia, realising that Kapodistriass progressive vision was antithetical to his own, Metternich then tried to undermine Kapodistriass position in the Russian court. Although Metternich was not a factor in Kapodistriass leaving his post as Russian Foreign Minister, he nevertheless attempted to actively undermine Kapodistrias by rumour. More than anyone else he possesses the art of devaluing opinions that are not his own, the most honourable life and he always tried to attract his Emperors attention to matters Greek
John Capodistria
–
His Excellency Ioannis Kapodistrias Ιωάννης Καποδίστριας
John Capodistria
–
Kapodistrias' home in Corfu. The plaque between the two windows to the left of the entrance mentions he was born there.
John Capodistria
–
A statue of Ioannis Kapodistrias in Panepistimiou street (by
Georgios Bonanos), in front of the National and Kapodistrian University, Athens.
John Capodistria
–
Bust of Ioannis Kapodistrias,
National Historical Museum, Athens.
33.
Thyme
–
Thyme is an evergreen herb with culinary, medicinal, and ornamental uses. The most common variety is Thymus vulgaris, Thyme is of the genus Thymus of the mint family, and a relative of the oregano genus Origanum. Ancient Egyptians used thyme for embalming, the ancient Greeks used it in their baths and burnt it as incense in their temples, believing it was a source of courage. The spread of thyme throughout Europe was thought to be due to the Romans, as used it to purify their rooms and to give an aromatic flavour to cheese. In the European Middle Ages, the herb was placed beneath pillows to aid sleep, in this period, women also often gave knights and warriors gifts that included thyme leaves, as it was believed to bring courage to the bearer. Thyme was also used as incense and placed on coffins during funerals, the name of the genus of fish Thymallus, first given to the grayling originates from the faint smell of the herb thyme, which emanates from the flesh. Thyme is best cultivated in a hot, sunny location with well-drained soil and it is generally planted in the spring, and thereafter grows as a perennial. It can be propagated by seed, cuttings, or dividing rooted sections of the plant, the plants can take deep freezes and are found growing wild on mountain highlands. In some Levantine countries, and Assyria, the condiment zaatar contains thyme as a vital ingredient and it is a common component of the bouquet garni, and of herbes de Provence. Thyme is sold fresh and dried. While summer-seasonal, fresh greenhouse thyme is often available year round, the fresh form is more flavourful, but also less convenient, storage life is rarely more than a week. Although the fresh form only lasts a week or two under refrigeration, it can last many months if carefully frozen, fresh thyme is commonly sold in bunches of sprigs. A sprig is a single stem snipped from the plant and it is composed of a woody stem with paired leaf or flower clusters spaced 1⁄2 to 1 inch apart. A recipe may measure thyme by the bunch, or by the sprig, dried thyme is widely used in Armenia in tisanes. Depending on how it is used in a dish, the whole sprig may be used, or the leaves removed, usually, when a recipe specifies bunch or sprig, it means the whole form, when it specifies spoons, it means the leaves. It is perfectly acceptable to substitute dried for whole thyme, leaves may be removed from stems either by scraping with the back of a knife, or by pulling through the fingers or tines of a fork. Thyme retains its flavour on drying better than other herbs. Oil of thyme, the oil of common thyme, contains 20–54% thymol
Thyme
–
A bundle of thyme
Thyme
–
Flowering thyme
Thyme
–
Variegated lemon thyme
34.
Oregano
–
Oregano (US /ɔːˈrɛɡənoʊ/ or /əˈrɛɡənoʊ/, UK /ˌɒrɪˈɡɑːnoʊ/, scientific name Origanum vulgare, is a flowering plant in the mint family. It is native to western and southwestern Eurasia and the Mediterranean region. Oregano is a herb, growing from 20–80 cm tall. The flowers are purple, 3–4 mm long, produced in erect spikes and it is sometimes called wild marjoram, and its close relative O. majorana is known as sweet marjoram. Oregano is the form of the Italian word origano, or possibly of the medieval Latin organum. The etymology of the Greek term is given as oros ὄρος mountain + ganos γάνος brightness. Oregano is related to the herb marjoram, sometimes being referred to as wild marjoram, oregano has purple flowers and spade-shaped, olive-green leaves. It is a perennial, although it is grown as an annual in colder climates, oregano is planted in early spring, the plants being spaced 30 cm apart in fairly dry soil, with full sun. Oregano will grow in a pH range between 6.0 and 9.0, with a range between 6.0 and 8.0. It prefers a hot, relatively dry climate, but does well in other environments, many subspecies and strains of oregano have been developed by humans over centuries for their unique flavours or other characteristics. Tastes range from spicy or astringent to more complicated and sweet and it can pollinate other more sophisticated strains, but the offspring are rarely better in quality. The related species, Origanum onites and O. syriacum, have similar flavours, a closely related plant is marjoram from Turkey, which differs significantly in taste though, because phenolic compounds are missing from its essential oil. Some varieties show an intermediate between oregano and marjoram. - Tunisia, Algeria O. v. subsp, gracile Ietsw. has glossy green leaves and pink flowers. It grows well in pots or containers, and is often grown for added ornamental value than other oregano. The flavor is pungent and spicy, - Central Asia, Iran, India, Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan. Hirtum Ietsw. - is a source of cultivars with a different aroma from those of O. v. gracile. Growth is vigorous and very hardy, with green, slightly hairy foliage
Oregano
–
Oregano
Oregano
–
Syrian oregano (Origanum syriacum)
Oregano
–
Pollination with
white-tailed bumblebee
Oregano
–
Dried oregano for culinary use
35.
Mentha
–
Mentha is a genus of plants in the family Lamiaceae. It is estimated that 13 to 18 species exist, and the distinction between species is still unclear. Hybridization between some of the species occur naturally, many other hybrids, as well as numerous cultivars, are known. The genus has a distribution across Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia. Mints are aromatic, almost exclusively perennial, rarely annual herbs and they have wide-spreading underground and overground stolons and erect, square, branched stems. The leaves are arranged in pairs, from oblong to lanceolate, often downy. Leaf colors range from green and gray-green to purple, blue. The flowers are white to purple and produced in whorls called verticillasters. The corolla is two-lipped with four lobes, the upper lobe usually the largest. The fruit is a nutlet, containing one to four seeds, while the species that make up the Mentha genus are widely distributed and can be found in many environments, most grow best in wet environments and moist soils. Mints will grow 10–120 cm tall and can spread over an indeterminate area, due to their tendency to spread unchecked, some mints are considered invasive. The list below all of the taxa recognized as species in recent works on Mentha. No author has recognized all of them, as with all biological classifications of plants, this list can go out of date at a moments notice. Common names are given for species that have them. Synonyms, along with cultivars and varieties, are given in articles on the species, Mentha is a member of the tribe Mentheae in the subfamily Nepetoideae. The tribe contains about 65 genera, and relationships within it remain obscure, authors have disagreed on the circumscription of Mentha. Some authors have excluded M. cervina from the genus, M. cunninghamii has also been excluded by some authors, even in some recent treatments of the genus. In 2004, a phylogenetic study indicated both of these species should be included in Mentha
Mentha
–
Mentha
Mentha
–
The mentha x piperita hybrid, known as "chocolate mint."
Mentha
–
Mentha x gracilis and M. rotundifolia: The steel ring is to control the spread of the plant.
Mentha
–
A jar of mint jelly: Mint jelly is a traditional condiment served with lamb dishes.
36.
Olive oil
–
Olive oil is a liquid fat obtained from olives, a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin. The oil is produced by pressing whole olives and it is commonly used in cooking, whether for frying or as a salad dressing. It is also used in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and soaps, and as a fuel for oil lamps. It is associated with the Mediterranean diet for its health benefits. The olive is one of three core food plants in Mediterranean cuisine, the two are wheat and grapes. Olive trees have grown around the Mediterranean since the 8th millennium BC. Spain is the largest producer of oil, followed by Italy. However, per capita consumption is highest in Greece, followed by Spain, Italy, consumption in North America and northern Europe is far less, but rising steadily. The composition of oil varies with the cultivar, altitude, time of harvest. It consists mainly of acid, with smaller amounts of other fatty acids including linoleic acid. The olive tree is native to the Mediterranean basin, wild olives were collected by Neolithic peoples as early as the 8th millennium BC, the wild olive tree originated in Asia Minor or in ancient Greece. It is not clear when and where trees were first domesticated, in Asia Minor, in the Levant. Archeological evidence shows that olives were turned into oil by 6000 BC and 4500 BC in present-day Palestine. Until 1500 BC, eastern areas of the Mediterranean were most heavily cultivated. Evidence also suggests that olives were being grown in Crete as long ago as 2,500 BC, the cultivation of olive trees in Crete became particularly intense in the post-palatial period and played an important role in the islands economy, as it did across the Mediterranean. Recent genetic studies suggest that species used by modern cultivators descend from multiple wild populations, Olive trees and oil production in the Eastern Mediterranean can be traced to archives of the ancient city-state Ebla, which were located on the outskirts of the Syrian city Aleppo. Here some dozen documents dated 2400 BC describe lands of the king and these belonged to a library of clay tablets perfectly preserved by having been baked in the fire that destroyed the palace. A later source is the frequent mentions of oil in the Tanakh, dynastic Egyptians before 2000 BC imported olive oil from Crete, Syria and Canaan and oil was an important item of commerce and wealth
Olive oil
–
Extra-virgin olive oil
Olive oil
–
Ancient Greek olive oil production workshop in
Klazomenai,
Ionia (modern Turkey)
Olive oil
–
Ancient oil press (Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology, Bodrum, Turkey)
Olive oil
–
Olive crusher (trapetum) in Pompeii (79 AD)
37.
Honey
–
Honey /ˈhʌni/ is a sugary food substance produced and stored by certain social hymenopteran insects. It is produced from the secretions of plants or insects, such as floral nectar or aphid honeydew, through regurgitation, enzymatic activity. The variety of honey produced by bees is the most well-known, due to its worldwide commercial production. Honey gets its sweetness from the monosaccharides fructose and glucose, and has about the relative sweetness as granulated sugar. It has attractive properties for baking and a distinctive flavor that leads some people to prefer it to sugar. Most microorganisms do not grow in honey, so sealed honey does not spoil, however, honey sometimes contains dormant endospores of the bacterium Clostridium botulinum, which can be dangerous to babies, as it may result in botulism. People who have an immune system should not eat honey because of the risk of bacterial or fungal infection. Although some evidence indicates honey may be effective in treating diseases and other conditions, such as wounds and burns. Providing 64 calories in a serving of one tablespoon equivalent to 1272 kj per 100 g. Honey is generally safe, but may have various, potential adverse effects or interactions with excessive consumption, existing disease conditions, or drugs. Honey use and production have a long and varied history as an ancient activity, depicted in Valencia, in cold weather or when other food sources are scarce, adult and larval bees use stored honey as food. By contriving for bee swarms to nest in man-made hives, people have been able to semidomesticate the insects, Bee digestive enzymes - invertase, amylase, and diastase - and gastric acid hydrolyze sucrose to a mixture of glucose and fructose. The bees work together as a group with the regurgitation and digestion for as long as 20 minutes until the product reaches storage quality. It is then placed in honeycomb cells left unsealed while still high in content and natural yeasts. The bees then cap the cells with wax to seal them, as removed from the hive by a beekeeper, honey has a long shelf life and will not ferment if properly sealed. Another source of honey is from a number of species, such as the wasps Brachygastra lecheguana and Brachygastra mellifica. These species are known to feed on nectar and produce honey, Honey is collected from wild bee colonies, or from domesticated beehives. The honey is stored in honeycombs, wild bee nests are sometimes located by following a honeyguide bird
Honey
–
A jar of honey with a honey dipper and an
American biscuit
Honey
–
Honey in honeycomb
Honey
–
A
honey bee on
calyx of
goldenrod
Honey
–
Crystallized honey. The inset shows a close-up of the honey, showing the individual glucose grains in the fructose mixture.
38.
Stoupa
–
Stoupa is a village on the coast of the southern Peloponnese peninsula in Greece. It is part of the community of Neochori within the unit of West Mani, in Messenia. Once a sleepy town, in the past few years more and more tourists have discovered Stoupa. There are about 20 restaurants lining the road along the beach, a few small hotels, besides Greek tourists, who come mostly in August, British and German, as well as Dutch, French and Italian tourists visit in the summer season. Stoupa is located in an area of Greece called Outer Mani, above Agios Nikolaos is the lovely small village called Riglia. Other places in the Mani region include Itylo, Limeni and Areopoli, below Areopoli are the caves of Pirgos Dirou. There are many beaches and coves around the area including Stoupa Beach, over the hill is Kalogria Beach, with its turquoise waters and rich marine life, volleyball net, and a handful of bars and restaurants. One of the features of Kalogria beach is the upswelling of a freshwater spring about 100 metres out from the shore. It can be seen as a disturbance on the surface of the sea, in the past, the Mani area was known for its fierce inhabitants, who lived in isolated fortified towers. The towers offered protection in an area where feuding was commonplace, Stoupa also has rich cultural history. It is their time together in Stoupa that the novel Zorba the Greek is based upon, there is a bust of Nikos Kazantzakis on the cliff overlooking Kalogria beach, at the corner of the main road and the beach approach. Stoupa is just 7 km away from the area of Kardamyli. There are approximately four buses a day which call through Stoupa, the bus stops by the bakery, on the main road at the top of Stoupa and takes around ten minutes to reach Agios Nikolaos. Visitors can book coach trips to the ancient ruins of Olympia, another possibility is car rental, which allows travellers to take in the sights of places such as Nafplio, Mycenae, Epidavros, and Monemvasia on the Peloponnese. Webcam Stoupa Tourist Guide Official Website
Stoupa
–
Stoupa beach
Stoupa
–
Kalogria, a beach just outside Stoupa
39.
Kardamyli
–
Kardamili is a town by the sea thirty-five kilometers southeast of Kalamata. It is the seat of the municipality of Lefktro in the region of Messenia on the Mani Peninsula, in the Iliad, Homer cites Kardamili as one of the seven cities offered by Agamemnon to Achilles as a condition to rejoin the fight during the Trojan War. The village preserves its ancient name, the area is filled with beaches, Ritsa, Belogianni, Salio, Tikla, Amoni, Santava. The older town includes a castle and outworks, and the imposing church of Saint Spyridon. Many of the buildings of Old Kardamili, also known as Pano Kardamili, or Upper Kardamili were built by the Venetians and feature a mix of traditional Greek, kardamyli is the departure point of many mountain trails, some of which lead to the peak of Mount Taygetus. Kardamili is known in the area for having a good view of Mount Taygetus, known locally as the Profitis Ilias. Nearby is the Viros Gorge, with a length of 20 km. The Viros Gorge remains bone dry in summer, however it is known to flood heavily in winter, further afield, one may visit Oitylo, Areopoli and the Diros caverns. The village of Kalamitsi, just outside Kardamili was, in his later years, Patrick was an English writer who was made an honorary citizen of the village for his participation in the Greek Resistance during World War II, especially in Crete. He died in hospital in 2011 the day returning to his other home in Dumbleton in England. The ashes of the writer Bruce Chatwin were scattered near a Byzantine chapel above the village in 1989, Kardamili, like much of Greece, experiences a very mild, subtropical Mediterranean climate, with hot, dry summers and cool, wet winters. Snow is almost unknown in the town itself, only falling a few times per century, snow is, however, common in the mountains above Kardamili, with the Profitis Ilias typically remaining snow capped until early June. Winter rainfall in the area is heavy, with spectacular flooding in the Viros gorge occurring every few years. In summer, by contrast, rain is scarce, summer thunderstorms are exceptionally rare, bringing short, heavy downpours. Summertime temperatures usually range around 90-95°F, but heat waves with temperatures above 100°F are common, spring and Fall are warm to cool with changeable weather. Global warming and climate change are felt in the area, with summers becoming more tropical- featuring higher humidity with occasional afternoon thunderstorms. Winters are becoming warmer and drier, due to these climatic changes, tropical plants such as mango, avocado, lychee, and plumeria are becoming a more common sight in the area, giving the town an exotic and lush feel. At night, the town often smells of these new tropical flowers and jasmine, as well as eucalyptus, the following is climate data for nearby Kalamata
Kardamyli
–
View over Kardamili looking South.
Kardamyli
–
The Church of St. Spyridon in Old Kardamili
Kardamyli
–
Local cats enjoying a sunny day in a garden
40.
Agios Nikolaos, Messinia
–
Agios Nikolaos is a fishing village in the Mani Peninsula in southern Greece, it is popular with holidaymakers. It is part of the unit of West Mani in Messenia. Agios Nikolaos still has few tourist amenities, but the hills above the town offer Byzantine churches and spectacular views of the Gulf and it is still an active fishing harbour with a fish market most days. There are several Tavernas and Kafenons around the harbour, there is an emergency medical center, a pharmacy, a post office, and several small grocery stores. Agios Nikolaos was formerly called Selinitsa, the name Selinitsa is still used by many locals. It was a centre of fighting during the Greek Civil War, there are still three towers, built as machine gun emplacements scattered around the village, the largest about 20 metres or 66 feet high dominates the skyline on the main road into the village. There are no ancient remains in the immediate area, ^ Etymology, Greek, Σελίνιτσα, from Slavic *Selьnica, selo »village, settlement«, compare also to current Slovene Selnica and Croatian/Serbian Seonica with the same meaning. Although Vasmer referred to another village of the name about 4 kilometres north of Gytheio in Laconia – also located in the Mani – the same reasoning is applicable here. Patrick Leigh Fermor in his 1958 book Mani, Travels in the Southern Peloponnese uses Selinitza
Agios Nikolaos, Messinia
–
View of the coast from the hills above Agios Nikolaos
41.
Oitylo
–
Oitylo, known as Βίτσουλο, pronounced Vitsoulo, in the native Maniot dialect, is a village and a former municipality in Laconia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality East Mani and it is one of the oldest towns in the Mani Peninsula. It was mentioned in the Iliad by Homer as Oetylοs, as part of Menelaus kingdom, in the Middle Ages, Oitylo grew to become the most important town in Messenian Mani. The only town in Mani that rivaled Oitylos in numbers of pirates was Skoutari, now Areopoli has taken Oitylos place as most important town in Laconian Mani. Areopoli was also the seat of the municipality of Oitylo, which is located on the half of the Mani Peninsula in the extreme southwestern part of Laconia. It has an area of 218.582 km² and a population of 3,515 inhabitants. There are 91 villages in the municipality, the largest of these are Areópoli, Pyrgos Dirou and Oítylo. Its territory corresponded with that of the current municipal unit Oitylo, list of settlements in Laconia Official website Chapman, John, Mani, A guide and history, Zorbas. de Travel Agency
Oitylo
–
View of Oitylo
42.
Gondola
–
The gondola is a traditional, flat-bottomed Venetian rowing boat, well suited to the conditions of the Venetian lagoon. It is similar to a canoe, except it is narrower and it is propelled by a gondolier, who uses a rowing oar, which is not fastened to the hull, in a sculling manner and acts as the rudder. For centuries, the gondola was the means of transportation. In modern times, the boats still do have a role in public transport in the city. They are also used in special regattas held amongst gondoliers and their primary role today, however, is to carry tourists on rides at fixed rates. The gondola is propelled by a person who stands facing the bow and rows with a forward stroke, followed by a compensating backward stroke. The oar rests in an carved wooden rest shaped to project from the side of the craft so as to allow the slight drag of each return stroke to pull the bow back to its forward course. Because of the flat bottom it may also be drifted sideways when required. Contrary to popular belief, the gondola is never poled like a punt as the waters of Venice are too deep. Until the early 20th century, as many photographs attest, gondolas were often fitted with a felze and its windows could be closed with louvered shutters—the original Venetian blinds. While in previous centuries gondolas could be different colors, a sumptuary law of Venice required that gondolas should be painted black. It is estimated there were eight to ten thousand gondolas during the 17th and 18th century. There are just over four hundred in service today, virtually all of them used for hire by tourists. Those few that are in ownership are either hired out to Venetians for weddings or used for racing. Now, only a handful of batellas survive, and caorlinas are used for racing only, the historical gondola was quite different from its modern evolution, the paintings of Canaletto and others show a much lower prow, a higher ferro, and usually two rowers. The banana-shaped modern gondola was developed only in the 19th century by the boat-builder Tramontin, the construction of the gondola continued to evolve until the mid-20th century, when the city government prohibited any further modifications. The oar or rèmo is held in an oar lock known as a fórcola, the forcola is of a complicated shape, allowing several positions of the oar for slow forward rowing, powerful forward rowing, turning, slowing down, rowing backwards, and stopping. The ornament on the front of the boat is called the fèrro and can be made from brass, stainless steel and it serves as decoration and as counterweight for the gondolier standing near the stern
Gondola
–
A Gondola on the
Grand Canal
Gondola
–
Brooklyn Museum - From the Gondola - John Singer Sargent
Gondola
–
Brooklyn Museum - La Riva - John Singer Sargent
Gondola
–
A veritable phalanx of Gondolas on the
Grand Canal
43.
Saint Nikon the Metanoeite
–
Nikon the Metanoite (Greek, Νίκων ὁ Μετανοείτε, Nikon ho Metanoeite was a Byzantine monk, itinerant preacher, and Christian Orthodox saint. It is also special in its references of localities in Crete, Nikon himself was special in that he was represented as a missionary monk, one who was constantly preaching rather than constantly praying. Nikon, of Greek origin, was born in Pontus or in Argos, when he was young, Nikon went to a monastery known as Khrysopetro located on the borders of Pontus and Paphlagonia. He spent twelve years there, living a life of prayer and penance. His abbot, impressed by his spiritual conferences and worried that his newly returned father would draw him from the ascetic life, after his departure, he traveled to Asia Minor and preached repentance there for three years before moving on. The area had been a Muslim emirate since the 820s, and in that time Christianity in the area weakened, even those who remained faithful to Christianity had somewhat lost contact with the living tradition, churches and monasteries having fallen into decay. The people in the region were, quoted from Nikons biography, not Islamic, Nikon was forced to change his tactics on Crete, now having to use his wit to lead his listeners to repentance, rather than just preaching the message of repentance. It was there that he acquired the nickname metanoite for his habit of using it as a preface to all his sermons, after spending five years on Crete, Nikon went on to Epidauros, Athens, and Euboea. He then travelled to Thebes and Corinth, and finally down into the Peloponnese, particularly to Sparta, while in Sparta, Nikon constructed three churches and a monastery and continued his preaching and teachings, which were reportedly confirmed by miracles. The Peloponnese is represented as a full of demons, of which Nikon is constantly struggling against. He ended his life in mainland Greece, in the province of Lakonia, the Maniots began to convert to Christianity in the 9th century AD, but it wasnt until 200 years later in the 11th century AD that the Maniots had fully accepted Christianity. His feast is celebrated each year on November 26, after thirty or so years of preaching in the Peloponnese, he died in a monastery there on November 26,998. According to his biography, Nikon continued to grant miracles posthumously, in fact, Nikon is pictured in mosaics in the monastery of Hosios Loukas, or Saint Luke. As a result of his actions, after his sanctification by the Orthodox Church he became the saint of the city of Sparta. His holiday is celebrated annually on 26 November
Saint Nikon the Metanoeite
–
Mosaic in
Hosios Loukas
44.
Tsakonia
–
Tsakonia or the Tsakonian region refers to the small area in the eastern Peloponnese where the Tsakonian language is spoken. It is not a defined political entity of the modern Greek state. In his Brief Grammar of the Tsakonian Dialect published in 1951, the principal town in Tsakonia at this time was Prastos, which benefited from a special trading privilege granted by the authorities in Constantinople. Prastos was burned by Ibrahim Pasha in the Greek War of Independence and was abandoned, with many of its residents fleeing to the area around Leonidio and Tyros or other spots on the Argolic Gulf. Some early commentators seem to have confused the speech of Maniot dialect speakers with true Tsakonian, the Tsakonians historically speak the Tsakonian dialect and have certain peculiar cultural traditions, such as the Tsakonian dance. Today, the dialect is critically endangered, according to the Byzantine historian George Pachymeres, some Tsakonians were resettled by the Byzantine emperor Michael VII Ducas in Propontis. They lived in the villages of Vatka and Havoutsi, where the Gösen River empties into the sea, Tsakonians in later time were known for their masonry skills, many were also shepherds. A common practice was for a crew of men under a mastora to leave their village after the feast of Saint Demetrius. They would travel as far as Attica doing repairs and white-washing houses, the Tsakonian village of Kastanitsa was known for its chestnuts and derives its name from the Greek word for the nut. Chrēstu D. Petaku Tsakonia, psēphida ellēnikē istorias kai politismu, the Annual of the British School at Athens 16, 258-280. Bagenas, Thanos K. Thanu K. Bagena Historika Tsakōnias kai Leōnidiu, pitsios, Th K. Anthropologische Untersuchung der Bevölkerung des Peloponnes unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Arwaniten und Tsakonen
Tsakonia
–
Old ethnic map of
Peloponnese. Tsakonian-speaking areas in
sky blue.
Tsakonia
–
Panoramic view of
Kastanitsa.
45.
Pagan
–
Paganism is a term that derives from Latin word pagan, which means nonparticipant, one excluded from a more distinguished, professional group. The term was used in the 4th century, by early Christian community, the term competed with polytheism already in use in Judaism, by Philo in the 1st century. Pagans and paganism was a pejorative for the same polytheistic group, Paganism has broadly connoted religion of the peasantry, and for much of its history a derogatory term. Alternate terms in Christian texts for the group was hellene. In and after the Middle Ages, paganism was a pejorative that was applied to any non-Abrahamic or unfamiliar religion, there has been much scholarly debate as to the origin of the term paganism, especially since no one before the 20th century self-identified as a pagan. In the 19th century, paganism was re-adopted as a self-descriptor by members of various artistic groups inspired by the ancient world. Forms of these religions, influenced by various historical pagan beliefs of pre-modern Europe, exist today and are known as contemporary or modern paganism, while most pagan religions express a worldview that is pantheistic, polytheistic, or animistic, there are some monotheistic pagans. It is crucial to stress right from the start that until the 20th century people did not call themselves pagans to describe the religion they practised, the notion of paganism, as it is generally understood today, was created by the early Christian Church. It was a label that Christians applied to others, one of the antitheses that were central to the process of Christian self-definition, as such, throughout history it was generally used in a derogatory sense. The term pagan is from Late Latin paganus, revived during the Renaissance and it is related to pangere and ultimately comes from Proto-Indo-European *pag-. The evolution occurred only in the Latin west, and in connection with the Latin church, elsewhere, Hellene or gentile remained the word for pagan, and paganos continued as a purely secular term, with overtones of the inferior and the commonplace. However, this idea has multiple problems, first, the words usage as a reference to non-Christians pre-dates that period in history. Second, paganism within the Roman Empire centered on cities, the concept of an urban Christianity as opposed to a rural paganism would not have occurred to Romans during Early Christianity. Third, unlike words such as rusticitas, paganus had not yet acquired the meanings used to explain why it would have been applied to pagans. Paganus more likely acquired its meaning in Christian nomenclature via Roman military jargon, Early Christians adopted military motifs and saw themselves as Milites Christi. As early as the 5th century, paganos was metaphorically used to persons outside the bounds of the Christian community. In response, Augustine of Hippo wrote De Civitate Dei Contra Paganos, in it, he contrasted the fallen city of Man to the city of God of which all Christians were ultimately citizens. Hence, the invaders were not of the city or rural
Pagan
–
The
Venus of Arles, depicting the goddess
Venus holding the apple of
Hesperides.
Pagan
–
Reconstruction of the
Parthenon, on the
Acropolis of Athens,
Greece.
Pagan
–
Some
megaliths are believed to have religious significance.
Pagan
–
Children standing with The Lady of Cornwall in a neopagan ceremony in England.
46.
Patrick Leigh Fermor
–
He was widely regarded as Britains greatest living travel writer during his lifetime, based on books such as A Time of Gifts. A BBC journalist once described him as a cross between Indiana Jones, James Bond and Graham Greene, the Patrick Leigh Fermor Society was formed in 2014. Leigh Fermor was born in London, the son of Sir Lewis Leigh Fermor, a distinguished geologist, shortly after his birth, his mother and sister left to join his father in India, leaving the infant Patrick in England with a family in Northamptonshire. He did not meet his family in person until he was four years old, as a child, Leigh Fermor had problems with academic structure and limitations. As a result, he was sent to a school for difficult children and he was later expelled from The Kings School, Canterbury, when he was caught holding hands with a greengrocers daughter. His last report from The Kings School noted that the young Leigh Fermor was a mixture of sophistication. He continued learning by reading texts on Greek, Latin, Shakespeare and History, with the intention of entering the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. Gradually he changed his mind, deciding to become an author instead, soon, faced with the challenges of an authors life in London and rapidly draining finances, he set upon leaving for Europe. At the age of 18, Leigh Fermor decided to walk the length of Europe and he slept in barns and shepherds huts, but also was invited by landed gentry and aristocracy into the country houses of Central Europe. He experienced hospitality in many monasteries along the way, two of his later travel books, A Time of Gifts and Between the Woods and the Water, were about this journey. A book on the part of his journey was unfinished at the time of Leigh Fermors death. The book draws on Leigh Fermors diary at the time and on a draft he wrote in the 1960s. Leigh Fermor arrived in Istanbul on 1 January 1935, then continued to travel around Greece, in March, he was involved in the campaign of royalist forces in Macedonia against an attempted Republican revolt. In Athens, he met Balasha Cantacuzène, a Romanian Phanariote noblewoman and they shared an old watermill outside the city looking out towards Poros, where she painted and he wrote. They moved on to Băleni, Galați, the Cantacuzène house in Moldavia, Romania, on learning that Britain had declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939, Leigh Fermor immediately left Romania to return home and enlist in the army. As an officer cadet, Leigh Fermor trained alongside Derek Bond and Iain Moncreiffe, due to his knowledge of modern Greek, he was commissioned in the General List in August 1940 and became a liaison officer in Albania. He fought in Crete and mainland Greece, during the German occupation, he returned to Crete three times, once by parachute. He was one of a number of Special Operations Executive officers posted to organise the islands resistance to the occupation
Patrick Leigh Fermor
–
Leigh Fermor in 1966
Patrick Leigh Fermor
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Members of the Kreipe abduction team: Georgios Tyrakis,
William Stanley Moss, Leigh Fermor, Emmanouil Paterakis and Antonios Papaleonidas
Patrick Leigh Fermor
–
Leigh Fermor, photographed by
Dimitri Papadimos
Patrick Leigh Fermor
–
Central part of Fermor's villa at Kalamitsi, Kardamyli.
47.
Rock-cut architecture
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Rock-cut architecture is the creation of structures, buildings, and sculptures, by excavating solid rock where it naturally occurs. Rock-cut architecture is designed and made by man from the start to finish, in India and China, the terms cave and cavern are often applied to this form of man-made architecture. However, caves and caverns, that began in natural form, are not considered to be rock-cut architecture even if extensively modified, although rock-cut structures differ from traditionally built structures in many ways, many rock-cut structures are made to replicate the facade or interior of traditional architectural forms. Interiors were usually carved out by starting at the roof of the planned space and this technique prevents stones falling on workers below. The three main uses of rock-cut architecture were temples, tombs and cave dwellings, some rock-cut architecture, mostly for tombs, is excavated entirely in chambers under the surface of relatively level rock. If the excavation is made into the side of a cliff or steep slope, there can be an impressive facade, as found in Lycian tombs, Petra, Ajanta. Ellora in India and Lalibela in Ethiopia provide the most spectacular, rock-cut architecture is also said to be cut, hewn, etc. from the living rock. Another term sometimes associated with architecture is monolithic architecture, which is rather applied to free-standing structures made of a single piece of material. Monolithic architecture is often rock-cut architecture but monolithic structures might be also cast of artificial material, gomateshwara, the largest monolithic statue in the world is situated at Shravanabelagola, Karnataka, India. It was built in 983 A. D and was carved out from a single block of granite. In many parts of the world there are rock reliefs, relief sculptures carved into rock faces. Ancient monuments of architecture are widespread in several regions of world. It dates from about 1280 BCE, and consists of a monumentally scaled facade carved out of the cliff, in the 5th century BCE, the Lycians, who inhabited southern Anatolia built hundreds of rock-cut tombs of a similar type, but smaller in scale. Excellent examples are to be found near Dalyan, a town in Muğla Province, since these served as tombs rather than as religious sites, the interiors were usually small and unassuming. The ancient Etruscans of central Italy also left an important legacy of architecture, mostly tombs, as those near the cities of Tarquinia. The creation of rock-cut tombs in ancient Israel began in the 8th-century BCE, the Nabataeans in their city of Petra, now in Jordan, extended this tradition, carving their temples and tombs into the yellowish-orange rock that defines the canyons and gullies of the region. These structures, dating from 1st century BCE to about 2nd century CE, are important in the history of architecture given their experimental forms. Here too, because the structures served as tombs, the interiors were rather perfunctory, in Petra one even finds a theater where the seats are cut out of the rock
Rock-cut architecture
–
The Buddhist "
Carpenter's Cave " at
Ellora in
Maharashtra,
India.
Rock-cut architecture
–
One of the 13 rock-hewn churches at
Lalibela,
Ethiopia, entirely cut out of the rock surface.
Rock-cut architecture
–
Lycian tombs cut into the cliffs along the river in
Dalyan,
Turkey.
Rock-cut architecture
–
A rock-cut temple in
Cappadocia
48.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
International Standard Book Number
–
A 13-digit ISBN, 978-3-16-148410-0, as represented by an
EAN-13 bar code
49.
Geographic coordinate system
–
A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
Geographic coordinate system
–
Longitude lines are perpendicular and latitude lines are parallel to the equator.
.svg)
"Maina and Mainotes". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.
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