1.
Greece
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Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, historically also known as Hellas, is a country in southeastern Europe, with a population of approximately 11 million as of 2015. Athens is the capital and largest city, followed by Thessaloniki. Greece is strategically located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, situated on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to the northeast. Greece consists of nine regions, Macedonia, Central Greece, the Peloponnese, Thessaly, Epirus, the Aegean Islands, Thrace, Crete. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of the mainland, the Ionian Sea to the west, the Cretan Sea and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the longest coastline on the Mediterranean Basin and the 11th longest coastline in the world at 13,676 km in length, featuring a vast number of islands, eighty percent of Greece is mountainous, with Mount Olympus being the highest peak at 2,918 metres. From the eighth century BC, the Greeks were organised into various independent city-states, known as polis, which spanned the entire Mediterranean region and the Black Sea. Greece was annexed by Rome in the second century BC, becoming a part of the Roman Empire and its successor. The Greek Orthodox Church also shaped modern Greek identity and transmitted Greek traditions to the wider Orthodox World, falling under Ottoman dominion in the mid-15th century, the modern nation state of Greece emerged in 1830 following a war of independence. Greeces rich historical legacy is reflected by its 18 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, among the most in Europe, Greece is a democratic and developed country with an advanced high-income economy, a high quality of life, and a very high standard of living. A founding member of the United Nations, Greece was the member to join the European Communities and has been part of the Eurozone since 2001. Greeces unique cultural heritage, large industry, prominent shipping sector. It is the largest economy in the Balkans, where it is an important regional investor, the names for the nation of Greece and the Greek people differ from the names used in other languages, locations and cultures. The earliest evidence of the presence of human ancestors in the southern Balkans, dated to 270,000 BC, is to be found in the Petralona cave, all three stages of the stone age are represented in Greece, for example in the Franchthi Cave. Neolithic settlements in Greece, dating from the 7th millennium BC, are the oldest in Europe by several centuries and these civilizations possessed writing, the Minoans writing in an undeciphered script known as Linear A, and the Mycenaeans in Linear B, an early form of Greek. The Mycenaeans gradually absorbed the Minoans, but collapsed violently around 1200 BC and this ushered in a period known as the Greek Dark Ages, from which written records are absent. The end of the Dark Ages is traditionally dated to 776 BC, the Iliad and the Odyssey, the foundational texts of Western literature, are believed to have been composed by Homer in the 7th or 8th centuries BC. With the end of the Dark Ages, there emerged various kingdoms and city-states across the Greek peninsula, in 508 BC, Cleisthenes instituted the worlds first democratic system of government in Athens
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Penteli, Greece
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Penteli is a town and a municipality in the North Athens regional unit, Attica, Greece. It belongs to the Athens metropolitan area and it takes its name from the Penteli mountain. The municipality has an area of 36.064 km2, the municipal unit Penteli 28.878 km2 and it is 14 km northeast of central Athens. Some of the neighbourhoods of Penteli are Agia Triada, Agios Dimitrios, Daou, the Penteli mountains were renowned in Classical Greece as well as in the Roman Empire as a source of the marble, which was also used to build the Parthenon. The Romans constructed a 140-foot water tower and aqueduct to supply water to the city of Athens, during the Greek War of Independence, the French philhellene Sophie de Marbois-Lebrun, Duchess of Plaisance supported the revolutionary leaders. When she settled in Greece in 1834, she bought large plots of land in Athens and she had the Rododafni Castle in Penteli built for her. In July 1995, Penteli was ravaged by a large forest fire, according to Turkish former prime minister, Mesut Yilmaz, many of the forest fires that raged the Greek countryside during that summer were accually started by Turkish secret service agents. The forests of Penteli suffered damage again from the August 2007 fires, Rododafni Castle, also known as Pyrgos Doukissis Plakentias, a mansion built for the Duchess of Plaisance. Construction was started in 1840, but it was not finished until 1961, the Penteli Astronomical Station of the National Observatory of Athens, completed in 1936 List of settlements in Attica Official website
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Zografou
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Zografou is a suburb of approximately 71,000 in the eastern part of the Athens agglomeration, Greece. Actual the community reports a population of 150.000 inhabitants and it was named after the Greek politician Ioannis Zografos. To the east of Zografou lies mount Hymettus, the area, being close to the centre of Athens, developed similar urban sprawl characteristics, with high-rise buildings of even 10 stories tall being the norm. The city is home to the Athens university campus and polytechnical school campus and therefore. Zografou includes the areas of Ilissia and Goudi. Zografou is an suburb of Athens, located about 4 km east of Athens city centre. The municipality has an area of 8.517 km2, towards the east the municipality extends to the forested Hymettus mountain. The built-up area of Zografou is continuous with that of Athens, a large campus of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens is situated in Ano Ilisia, the easternmost quarter of Zografou. Ano Ilisia derived its name from the river Ilisos, which starts at St Eleousa, another quarter of Zografou is Goudi, in the northwestern part of the municipality. The main church of Zografou is consecrated to Agios Therapontas, with Zografou having been built on the hills of Hymettus, a common sight around the city are some very steep uphill streets. Zografou is served by bus lines 140,220,221,230,235,250,608,622 and 815, the eastern beltway Motorway 64 passes through the municipality. After the departure of the Ottomans from the area in the 1830s, the area came into the ownership of Ioannis Koniaris, mayor of Athens from 1851–1854, and Leonidas Vournazos. In 1902, Eleni Vournazos, widow of Leonidas, sells 1,250 stremma of the Kouponia/Goudi area to Ioannis Zografos, dividing it into plots, he sold them for installments of 112 drachma per month. The first houses were erected in 1919, within ten years,100 had been built. At this time, the foundations of the Church of St. Theraponta were erected, in 1929, the area, now known as Zografou, was split from the city of Athens and became an independent community. It was elevated to a municipality in 1947, its first president being Sotirios Zografos, in 1935, the area of Kouponia was incorporated into the community. Dimitri Kitsikis Public Foundation Gounaropoulos Museum, dedicated to the works of painter Giorgios Gounaropoulos, in addition, the sport club Ilisiakos, founded in 1927, is based in Ilisia a district that is shared between Athens and Zografou. Dimitri Kitsikis Royal Society of Canada Nikos Kourkoulos actor Marika Kotopouli actress List of municipalities of Attica City of Zografou official website News site for City of Zografou
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Athens
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Athens is the capital and largest city of Greece. In modern times, Athens is a cosmopolitan metropolis and central to economic, financial, industrial, maritime. In 2015, Athens was ranked the worlds 29th richest city by purchasing power, Athens is recognised as a global city because of its location and its importance in shipping, finance, commerce, media, entertainment, arts, international trade, culture, education and tourism. It is one of the biggest economic centres in southeastern Europe, with a financial sector. The municipality of Athens had a population of 664,046 within its limits. The urban area of Athens extends beyond its administrative city limits. According to Eurostat in 2011, the Functional urban areas of Athens was the 9th most populous FUA in the European Union, Athens is also the southernmost capital on the European mainland. The city also retains Roman and Byzantine monuments, as well as a number of Ottoman monuments. Athens is home to two UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the Acropolis of Athens and the medieval Daphni Monastery, Athens was the host city of the first modern-day Olympic Games in 1896, and 108 years later it welcomed home the 2004 Summer Olympics. In Ancient Greek, the name of the city was Ἀθῆναι a plural, in earlier Greek, such as Homeric Greek, the name had been current in the singular form though, as Ἀθήνη. It was possibly rendered in the later on, like those of Θῆβαι and Μυκῆναι. During the medieval period the name of the city was rendered once again in the singular as Ἀθήνα, an etiological myth explaining how Athens has acquired its name was well known among ancient Athenians and even became the theme of the sculpture on the West pediment of the Parthenon. The goddess of wisdom, Athena, and the god of the seas, Poseidon had many disagreements, in an attempt to compel the people, Poseidon created a salt water spring by striking the ground with his trident, symbolizing naval power. However, when Athena created the tree, symbolizing peace and prosperity. Different etymologies, now rejected, were proposed during the 19th century. Christian Lobeck proposed as the root of the name the word ἄθος or ἄνθος meaning flower, ludwig von Döderlein proposed the stem of the verb θάω, stem θη- to denote Athens as having fertile soil. In classical literature, the city was referred to as the City of the Violet Crown, first documented in Pindars ἰοστέφανοι Ἀθᾶναι. In medieval texts, variant names include Setines, Satine, and Astines, today the caption η πρωτεύουσα, the capital, has become somewhat common
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Kaisariani
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Kaisariani is a suburban town and a municipality in the eastern part of the Athens agglomeration, Greece. Kaisariani is located about 3 km southeast of Athens city centre, the municipality has an area of 7.841 km2. Towards the east the municipality extends to the forested Hymettus mountain, the built-up area of Kaisariani is continuous with that of Athens and the suburb Vyronas to the southwest. The main thoroughfare is Ethnikis Antistasis Avenue, which connects Kaisariani with central Athens, the town was founded in 1922 as a refugee camp for refugees driven from Asia Minor, most of whom coming from Smyrna. Formerly part of the city of Athens, Kaisariani was created as a municipality in 1933, the name was derived from Kaisareia, the historical capital city of Cappadocia, Asia Minor. Kaisariani has its own Greek A2 League basketball team, named Near East Kaisariani, the team plays in the Near East Indoor Arena
6.
Spata
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Spata, is a town 20 kilometres east of Athens, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Spata-Artemida, of which it is the seat, the municipal unit has an area of 55.042 km2. Spata is situated in the middle of the Mesogaia plain, east of mount Hymettus, Athens International Airport covers the eastern portion of Spata. It is located southeast of Pallini, southwest of Rafina, west of Artemida, the town proper is made up of residential neighborhoods. Farmland, mostly vineyards and olive groves, lie around, retsina wine was the traditional cash crop of the whole area, complemented with olives and olive oil, figs, almonds, pistacchios, and wheat. Nowadays viticulture is dwindling as an occupation, albeit supplanted by the emergence of many modern wineries that mostly specialize in vinifying the local Savatiano grape. The bulk of the grape and wine business is handled by the local co-operative, in 1995, the southern portion was committed to construction of the new Athens International Airport, which was completed in March 2001. The Attica Zoological Park, or Attica Zoo, opened in May 2001 and is Athens, Spata has five kindergartens, three elementary schools, two secondary schools, a police station, Post Office, several bank offices, and a junior football/soccer team, Aittitos. The training facilities of AEK FC are also located there, the municipal unit of Spáta also incorporates various small exurbs, Agía Kyriakí, Neápoli, Ágios Ioánnis, Velanidiá, Christoúpolis, Foínikas, Étos Stéko, Ágios Nikólaos Boúra, and Ímeros Péfkos. Evidence of small ancient settlements abound in the area, the most notable being the Neolithic fortified settlement on Zágani hill, several of these were excavated during works for the airport and are being exhibited in the main airport building. Since the Medieval Ages, Spata has been inhabited by Arvanites, the town was repopulated by the medieval Tosk clan of Shpata around the 15th century, after they emigrated from Epirus. It was named after Gjin Bua Shpata, who was despot of Arta in the 14th century, the patron saints of the town are the Sts. Peter and Paul, celebrated on July 29 at the Byzantine chapel of the same name, the feast is accompanied by the medieval custom of the distribution of the stifado, a beef-and-onions stew cooked overnight in cauldrons and distributed to the faithful outside the chapel after Mass. Olympic Air has its office in Athens International Airport in Spata. Goodys S. A. a Greek fast food company, is headquartered at the airport. The Air Accident Investigation and Aviation Safety Board has an office at the airport
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Glyka Nera
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Glyka Nera, is a rapidly growing suburb in the northeastern part of Athens, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Paiania, the municipal unit has an area of 9.238 km2. Glyka Nera is situated on the slope of the northernmost part of the forested Hymettus mountain. It is 11 km east of central Athens, and 11 km northwest of the Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport, adjacent towns are Gerakas to the northeast and Paiania to the south. Motorway 64 passes north of the town, list of municipalities of Attica Official website
8.
Hymettus
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Hymettus, also Hymettos, is a mountain range in the Athens area of Attica, East Central Greece. There is also an ancient quarrymans hut on the slopes of the mountain. The height is 1,026 m at Evzonas and the length is 16 km between Athens and the Saronic Gulf and 6 to 7 km from east to west, in the ancient times, the highest point was known as Mega Ymittos and the southern Elattona and Anydro Ymitto. It was noted for its thyme honey, marble has been quarried since antiquity. Most of the forest is in the north, and much of the mountain is rocky, deforested, grassy, a transmitter park for several major TV and radio stations, along with military radar is located at the top of the mountain. Built up urban areas almost surround the mountain range. Access to the top of the mountain is restricted to authorized vehicles for maintenance of the towers. Almost all of Athens, its suburbs and the new airport can be seen from the mountain top along with the mountains of Parnitha to its northwest, Penteli to its north. The valley areas that create the lowest passes are to the south, the mountain ranges features about six to seven landfills in the western part and another in the eastern part. Automatic acoustic Monitoring and Inventorying of BIOdiversity
9.
Dimitri Nanopoulos
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Dimitri V. Nanopoulos is a Greek physicist. He is one of the most regularly cited researchers in the world, Dimitri Nanopoulos was born and raised in Athens, but hails from a Vlach family of Northern Epirus, whose original surname was Nakas. He studied Physics at the University of Athens and he graduated in 1971, continuing his studies at the University of Sussex in England and he has written over 645 original papers, including 14 books. He has over 42,500 citations, placing him as the fourth most cited High Energy Physicist of all time, since 1988 he has been fellow of the American Physical Society, and since 1992 member of the Italian Physical Society. In 1996, he was made Commander of the Order of Honour of the Greek State and he is one of the principal developers of the flipped SU model, first proposed by Stephen M. Barr in a paper published in 1982. It was further described in a 1984 paper by Nanopoulos, J. P. Deredinger, and J. E Kim, antoniadis, John Ellis, and John Hagelin. On 17 October 2006 he was awarded the Onassis International prize by the Alexander S. Onassis Foundation, on 28 September 2009, he was awarded the 2009 Enrico Fermi Prize from the Italian Physical Society in recognition of his pioneering work in the field of string theory. Quantum Aspects of Life Penguin diagram Role of Nanopoulos in naming GUT Dimitri Nanopoulos and the speed of light Scientific publications of Dimitri Nanopoulos on INSPIRE-HEP
10.
Administrative regions of Greece
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The administrative regions of Greece are the countrys thirteen first-level administrative entities, each comprising several second-level units, originally prefectures and, since 2011, regional units. The current regions were established in July 1986, by decision of then-Interior Minister Menios Koutsogiorgas as a second-level administrative entities, as part of a decentralization process inspired by then-Interior Minister Alekos Papadopoulos, they were accorded more powers in the 1997 Kapodistrias reform of local and regional government. They were transformed into separate entities by the 2010 Kallikratis Plan. In the 2011 changes, the general secretary was replaced with a popularly elected regional governor. Many powers of the prefectures, which were abolished or reformed into regional units, were transferred to the region level. The regional organs of the government were in turn replaced by seven decentralized administrations. Bordering the region of Central Macedonia there is one region, Mount Athos. It is located on the easternmost of the three large peninsulas jutting into the Aegean from the Chalcidice Peninsula, ISO 3166-2, GR Administrative divisions of Greece
Pallini
