1.
Summit
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A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. Mathematically, a summit is a maximum in elevation. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak, and zenith are synonymous, the UIAA definition is that a summit is independent if it has a prominence of 30 metres or more, it is a mountain if it has a prominence of at least 300 metres. This can be summarised as follows, A pyramidal peak is an exaggerated form produced by ice erosion of a mountain top, Summit may also refer to the highest point along a line, trail, or route. In many parts of the western United States, the term refers to the highest point along a road, highway. For example, the highest point along Interstate 80 in California is referred to as Donner Summit while the highest point on Interstate 5 is Siskiyou Mountain Summit, geoid Hill List of highest mountains Maxima and minima Nadir Summit accordance Peak finder
2.
Topographic prominence
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It is a measure of the independence of a summit. A peaks key col is a point on this contour line. By convention, the prominence of Mount Everest, the Earths highest mountain, is taken to equal the elevation of its summit above sea level, if the peaks prominence is P metres, to get from the summit to any higher terrain one must descend at least P metres. Together with the convention for Mount Everest, this implies that the prominence of any island or continental highpoint is equal to its elevation above sea level, for every ridge connecting the peak to higher terrain, find the lowest point on the ridge. The key col is defined as the highest of these cols, the prominence is the difference between the elevation of the peak and the elevation of the key col. The following mental exercise may illustrate the meaning of topographic prominence, imagine you are standing at the top of a peak and imagine that an imaginary sea level rises to your feet. Now slowly lower the sea level and an imaginary island appears beneath your feet. Your island will grow and will merge with other islands that emerge, the parent peak may be either close or far from the subject peak. The summit of Mount Everest is the parent peak of Aconcagua at a distance of 17,755 km, the key col may also be close or far from the subject peak. The key col for Aconcagua is the Bering Strait at a distance of 13,655 km, the key col for the South Summit of Mount Everest is about 100 m distant. Prominence is interesting to many mountaineers because it is a measurement that is strongly correlated with the subjective significance of a summit. Peaks with low prominences are either subsidiary tops of some higher summit or relatively insignificant independent summits, peaks with high prominences tend to be the highest points around and are likely to have extraordinary views. Only summits with a sufficient degree of prominence are regarded as independent mountains, for example, the worlds second-highest mountain is K2. While Mount Everests South Summit is taller than K2, it is not considered an independent mountain because it is a subsummit of the main summit, many lists of mountains take topographic prominence as a criterion for inclusion, or cutoff. John and Anne Nuttalls The Mountains of England and Wales uses a cutoff of 15 m, in the contiguous United States, the famous list of fourteeners uses a cutoff of 300 ft /91 m. Also in the U. S.2000 feet of prominence has become a threshold that signifies that a peak has major stature. This generates lists of peaks ranked by prominence, which are different from lists ranked by elevation. Such lists tend to emphasize isolated high peaks, such as range or island high points, one advantage of a prominence-ranked list is that it needs no cutoff, since a peak with high prominence is automatically an independent peak
3.
Ultra-prominent peak
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An ultra-prominent peak, or Ultra for short, is defined as a mountain summit with a topographic prominence of 1,500 metres or more. There are approximately 1,524 such peaks on Earth, some peaks, such as the Matterhorn and Eiger, are not Ultras because they are connected to higher mountains by high cols and therefore do not achieve enough topographic prominence. The term Ultra is due to earth scientist Stephen Fry, from his studies of the prominence of peaks in Washington in the 1980s and his original term was ultra major mountain, referring to peaks with at least 5,000 ft of prominence. Currently,1,515 Ultras have been identified worldwide,637 in Asia,355 in North America,209 in South America,119 in Europe,84 in Africa,69 in Australasia and 39 in Antarctica. Many of the worlds largest mountains are Ultras, including Mount Everest, K2, Kilimanjaro, Mont Blanc, on the other hand, others such as the Eiger and the Matterhorn are not Ultras because they do not have sufficient prominence. In British Columbia, some of the mountains listed do not even have generally recognized names, a number of Ultras have yet to be climbed, with Sauyr Zhotasy, Mount Siple, and Gangkar Puensum being the most likely candidates for the most prominent unclimbed mountain in the world. All of the Seven Summits are Ultras by virtue of the fact that they are the points of large landmasses. Each has its key col at or near sea level, resulting in a value almost equal to its elevation. List of peaks by prominence gives the 125 most prominent peaks worldwide
4.
Geographic coordinate system
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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
5.
Peloponnese
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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
6.
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
7.
Sparta (modern)
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Sparta, is a city in Laconia, Greece. It lies at the site of ancient Sparta, the municipality population in 2011 was 35,259, of whom 17,408 lived in the city. Until modern times, the site of ancient Sparta was occupied by a town of a few people who lived among the ruins, in the shadow of Mystras. The Palaiologos family also lived in Mystras, in 1834, after the Greek War of Independence, King Otto of Greece decreed the town should be expanded into a city. In the center of the city is the Archaeological Museum and in the North West end is the Tomb of Leonidas, also known as Leonidaion, the citys cathedral is at the southwest end. North of the city start the ruins of the ancient Sparta. Exiting the Acropolis by the North Gate there are the remains of the earliest ancient walls, the Heroon, the Museum of the Olive and Greek Olive Oil in the South West end highlights the culture of the olive and the technology of olive production. The city has built upon the site of ancient Sparta. To the southwest stands Mt. Taygetos, to the east of the city stands the Parnonas mountain range, which is forested predominantly with Greek fir trees and other pines. Modern Spartas origins date back to October 20,1834, when King Otto issued a decree on the construction of the new city, bavarian city planners, headed by Fr. Stauffert, designed a city of 100,000 inhabitants based on the architectural model. Today Sparta maintains its good design, boasting large squares and wide streets lined with trees, the city of Sparta is the economic, administrative and cultural center of Lakonia. A key factor in the advancement of the development is the operation of two departments of the University of Peloponnese and a department of the Technological Educational Institute. The centrally located main square is dominated by the most imposing building in Sparta. Built in 1909, City Hall bears the signature of the Greek architect, during the monarchy, the title of Duke of Sparta was used for the Greek crown prince, the διάδοχος. The city of Sparta enjoys a sunny and warm Mediterranean climate, winters are mild and cool, while summers tend to be particularly hot. January mean maximum temperatures are around 14 °C or 15 °C while July, Sparta is the most conservative city in Greece. It has never had a mayor and it was one of the few cities that voted in 1974 to retain the monarchy
8.
Eurotas (river)
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The Eurotas or Evrotas is the main river of Laconia and one of the major rivers of the Peloponnese, in Greece. The rivers springs are located just northwest of the border between Laconia and Arcadia, at Skortsinos. The river is fed by underwater springs at Pellana and by tributaries coursing down from Mt. Taygetos and Mt. Parnon. The river is 82 kilometres long, flowing in a north-south direction, the classical Eurotas was changed to Iri in the Middle Ages and only changed back to Eurotas in recent times. Eurotas, however, is not the most ancient name of the river and it does not appear in the works of Homer, which purport to recount the stories and geography of Mycenaean Greece. In that legendary time, the Dorians are not known to have present in the Eurotas Valley. At some time prior to being called Eurotas, the river was the Bomycas, one etymology derives the word Eurōtas from the ancient Greek eurōs, mold. The adjective, eurōeis, moldy, is ancient, used as an epithet of Hades in Homer. It is, however in the Ionic dialect, the source of the Eurotas River is a surface spring called Piges Evrota located near the village of Skortsinos, Arcadia, by the side of the road ascending from Kyparissi. The spring is an outlet of an aquifer located in the adjacent limestone ridge at a locale called Kephalari. The ridge, a karst, is not part of the Taygetus Massif, the spring is also called Logaras Spring. Logaras Spring supplies an anciently constructed catchment basin about the size of a pond, sometimes called a lake, the flow is copious except in times of drought. A recent study measured the outflow through the catchment exit every 15 days for 540 days in 2006-2007 and it recorded a maximum of 1748 cubic m per hour and a minimum of 310.5 cubic m per hour. From the catchment at an altitude of 430 m part of the flows into the Alpheios stream. The Laconian Alpheios stream is unconnected with the Alpheios river in Arcadia and he believed they had the same source but that the outflow stream disappeared into a chasm only to emerge at different locations as different streams. In the most exaggerated form of the myth, the Alpheios continues under the Mediterranean to Sicily or elsewhere, today, the river is hydromorphologically far from its natural state. The main problem is anthropogenic abstraction of water, by many methods, the valley contains about 7000 wells. Water is directly removed by irrigation ditches, weirs, and pumping stations, consequently, the river is intermittent, large sections are typically dry of surface water, even though water still flows in the aquifers
9.
Greek language
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Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean. It has the longest documented history of any living language, spanning 34 centuries of written records and its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the major part of its history, other systems, such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary, were used previously. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, Gothic and many other writing systems. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world, during antiquity, Greek was a widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world and many places beyond. It would eventually become the official parlance of the Byzantine Empire, the language is spoken by at least 13.2 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey, and the Greek diaspora. Greek roots are used to coin new words for other languages, Greek. Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around the 3rd millennium BC, the earliest written evidence is a Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the worlds oldest recorded living language. Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now extinct Anatolian languages, the Greek language is conventionally divided into the following periods, Proto-Greek, the unrecorded but assumed last ancestor of all known varieties of Greek. The unity of Proto-Greek would have ended as Hellenic migrants entered the Greek peninsula sometime in the Neolithic era or the Bronze Age, Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Mycenaean civilisation. It is recorded in the Linear B script on tablets dating from the 15th century BC onwards, Ancient Greek, in its various dialects, the language of the Archaic and Classical periods of the ancient Greek civilisation. It was widely known throughout the Roman Empire, after the Roman conquest of Greece, an unofficial bilingualism of Greek and Latin was established in the city of Rome and Koine Greek became a first or second language in the Roman Empire. The origin of Christianity can also be traced through Koine Greek, Medieval Greek, also known as Byzantine Greek, the continuation of Koine Greek in Byzantine Greece, up to the demise of the Byzantine Empire in the 15th century. Much of the written Greek that was used as the language of the Byzantine Empire was an eclectic middle-ground variety based on the tradition of written Koine. Modern Greek, Stemming from Medieval Greek, Modern Greek usages can be traced in the Byzantine period and it is the language used by the modern Greeks, and, apart from Standard Modern Greek, there are several dialects of it. In the modern era, the Greek language entered a state of diglossia, the historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of the Greek language is often emphasised. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than a foreign language and it is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, Homeric Greek is probably closer to demotic than 12-century Middle English is to modern spoken English, Greek is spoken by about 13 million people, mainly in Greece, Albania and Cyprus, but also worldwide by the large Greek diaspora. Greek is the language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population
10.
Mountain range
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A mountain range is a geographic area containing numerous geologically related mountains. A mountain system or system of ranges, sometimes is used to combine several geological features that are geographically related. Mountain ranges are usually segmented by highlands or mountain passes and valleys, individual mountains within the same mountain range do not necessarily have the same geologic structure or petrology. They may be a mix of different orogenic expressions and terranes, for example thrust sheets, uplifted blocks, fold mountains, most geologically young mountain ranges on the Earths land surface are associated with either the Pacific Ring of Fire or the Alpide Belt. The Andes is 7,000 kilometres long and is considered the worlds longest mountain system. The Alpide belt includes Indonesia and southeast Asia, through the Himalaya, the belt also includes other European and Asian mountain ranges. The Himalayas contain the highest mountains in the world, including Mount Everest, mountain ranges outside of these two systems include the Arctic Cordillera, the Urals, the Appalachians, the Scandinavian Mountains, the Altai Mountains and the Hijaz Mountains. If the definition of a range is stretched to include underwater mountains. The mountain systems of the earth are characterized by a tree structure, the sub-range relationship is often expressed as a parent-child relationship. For example, the White Mountains of New Hampshire and the Blue Ridge Mountains are sub-ranges of the Appalachian Mountains, equivalently, the Appalachians are the parent of the White Mountains and Blue Ridge Mountains, and the White Mountains and the Blue Ridge Mountains are children of the Appalachians. The position of mountains influences climate, such as rain or snow, when air masses move up and over mountains, the air cools producing orographic precipitation. As the air descends on the side, it warms again and is drier. Often, a shadow will affect the leeward side of a range. Mountain ranges are constantly subjected to forces which work to tear them down. Erosion is at work while the mountains are being uplifted and long after until the mountains are reduced to low hills, rivers are traditionally believed to be the principle erosive factor on mountain ranges, with their ability of bedrock incision and sediment transport. The rugged topography of a range is the product of erosion. The basins adjacent to a mountain range are filled with sediments which are buried and turned into sedimentary rock. The early Cenozoic uplift of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado provides an example and this mass of rock was removed as the range was actively undergoing uplift
11.
Odyssey
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The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the Odyssey is fundamental to the modern Western canon, and is the second-oldest extant work of Western literature, the Iliad is the oldest. Scholars believe the Odyssey was composed near the end of the 8th century BC, somewhere in Ionia, the poem mainly focuses on the Greek hero Odysseus, king of Ithaca, and his journey home after the fall of Troy. It takes Odysseus ten years to reach Ithaca after the ten-year Trojan War. In his absence, it is assumed Odysseus has died, and his wife Penelope and son Telemachus must deal with a group of suitors, the Mnesteres or Proci. The Odyssey continues to be read in the Homeric Greek and translated into languages around the world. Many scholars believe the poem was composed in an oral tradition by an aoidos, perhaps a rhapsode. The details of the ancient oral performance and the conversion to a written work inspire continual debate among scholars. The Odyssey was written in a dialect of Greek—a literary amalgam of Aeolic Greek, Ionic Greek. Among the most noteworthy elements of the text are its non-linear plot, in the English language as well as many others, the word odyssey has come to refer to an epic voyage. The Odyssey has a lost sequel, the Telegony, which was not written by Homer and it was usually attributed in antiquity to Cinaethon of Sparta. In one source, the Telegony was said to have stolen from Musaeus by either Eugamon or Eugammon of Cyrene. The Odyssey begins ten years after the end of the ten-year Trojan War, and Odysseus has still not returned home from the war. Odysseus protectress, the goddess Athena, requests to Zeus, king of the gods, to finally allow Odysseus to return home when Odysseus enemy, then, disguised as a Taphian chieftain named Mentes, she visits Telemachus to urge him to search for news of his father. He offers her hospitality, they observe the suitors dining rowdily while the bard Phemius performs a poem for them. Penelope objects to Phemius theme, the Return from Troy, because it reminds her of her missing husband and that night Athena, disguised as Telemachus, finds a ship and crew for the true prince. The next morning, Telemachus calls an assembly of citizens of Ithaca to discuss what should be done with the suitors. Accompanied by Athena, he departs for the Greek mainland and the household of Nestor, most venerable of the Greek warriors at Troy, now at home in Pylos
12.
Byzantine Empire
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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
13.
Cape Matapan
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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
14.
Pausanias (geographer)
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Pausanias was a Greek traveler and geographer of the 2nd century AD, who lived in the time of Roman emperors Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. He is famous for his Description of Greece, a work that describes ancient Greece from his first-hand observations. This work provides crucial information for making links between classical literature and modern archaeology, andrew Stewart assesses him as, A careful, pedestrian writer. interested not only in the grandiose or the exquisite but in unusual sights and obscure ritual. He is occasionally careless, or makes unwarranted inferences, and his guides or even his own notes sometimes mislead him, yet his honesty is unquestionable, before visiting Greece, he had been to Antioch, Joppa and Jerusalem, and to the banks of the River Jordan. In Egypt, he had seen the pyramids, while at the temple of Ammon, in Macedonia, he appears to have seen the alleged tomb of Orpheus in Libethra. Crossing over to Italy, he had something of the cities of Campania. He was one of the first to write of seeing the ruins of Troy, Alexandria Troas, Pausanias Description of Greece is in ten books, each dedicated to some portion of Greece. He begins his tour in Attica, where the city of Athens, subsequent books describe Corinthia, Laconia, Messenia, Elis, Achaea, Arcadia, Boetia, Phocis and Ozolian Locris. He famously leaves out key portions of Greece such as Crete, the project is more than topographical, it is a cultural geography. Pausanias digresses from description of architectural and artistic objects to review the mythological and historical underpinnings of the society that produced them and his work bears the marks of his attempt to navigate that space and establish an identity for Roman Greece. He is not a naturalist by any means, though he does from time to comment on the physical realities of the Greek landscape. He notices the pine trees on the sandy coast of Elis, the deer and the boars in the oak woods of Phelloe. Pausanias is most at home in describing the art and architecture of Olympia. Yet, even in the most secluded regions of Greece, he is fascinated by all kinds of depictions of gods, holy relics, Pausanias has the instincts of an antiquary. Some magnificent and dominating structures, such as the Stoa of King Attalus in the Athenian Agora or the Exedra of Herodes Atticus at Olympia are not even mentioned. While he never doubts the existence of the gods and heroes, he criticizes the myths. His descriptions of monuments of art are plain and unadorned and they bear the impression of reality, and their accuracy is confirmed by the extant remains. He is perfectly frank in his confessions of ignorance, when he quotes a book at second hand he takes pains to say so
15.
Isthmus of Corinth
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The Isthmus of Corinth is the narrow land bridge which connects the Peloponnese peninsula with the rest of the mainland of Greece, near the city of Corinth. The word isthmus comes from the Ancient Greek word for neck, the Isthmus was known in the ancient world as the landmark separating the Peloponnese from mainland Greece. In the first century CE the geographer Strabo noted a stele on the Isthmus of Corinth, to the west of the Isthmus is the Gulf of Corinth, to the east the Saronic Gulf. Since 1893 the Corinth Canal has run through the 6.3 km wide isthmus, today, two road bridges, two railway bridges and two submersible bridges at both ends of the canal connect the mainland side of the isthmus with the Peloponnese side. Also a military emergency bridge is located at the west end of the canal, the idea for a shortcut to save boats sailing all round the Peloponnese was long considered by the Ancient Greeks. The first attempt to build a canal there was carried out by the tyrant Periander in the 7th century BC and he abandoned the project owing to technical difficulties, and instead constructed a simpler and less costly overland stone ramp, named Diolkos, as a portage road. Remnants of Diolkos still exist today next to the modern canal, when the Romans took control of Greece, a number of different solutions were tried. Julius Caesar foresaw the advantages of a link for his newly built Colonia Laus Iulia Corinthiensis, by the reign of Tiberius, engineers tried to dig a canal, but were defeated by lack of modern equipment. Instead they built an Ancient Egyptian device, boats were rolled across the isthmus on logs and this was in use by AD32. In AD67, the philhellene Roman emperor Nero ordered 6,000 slaves to dig a canal with spades, historian Flavius Josephus writes that the 6000 slaves were Jewish pirates, taken captive by Vespasian during the Jewish wars. According to Pliny the Elder, the work advanced four stadia, the following year Nero died, and his successor Galba abandoned the project as being too expensive. In the modern era, the idea was first seriously proposed in 1830, soon after Greeces independence from the Ottoman Empire, near the canal runs an ancient stone trackway, the Diolkos, once used for dragging ships overland. There are major concerns about preservation of this path, Greek campaigners are calling for greater effort by the Greek government to protect this archaeological site. The Hexamilion wall is a Roman defensive wall constructed across the Isthmus of Corinth guarding the land route into the Peloponnese peninsula from mainland Greece
16.
Kardamyli
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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
17.
Kalamata
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Kalamata is the second most populous city of the Peloponnese peninsula, after Patras, in southern Greece and the largest city of the homonymous administrative region. The capital and chief port of the Messenia regional unit, it lies along the Nedon River at the head of the Messenian Gulf, the 2011 census recorded 69,849 inhabitants for the wider Kalamata Municipality, of which 62,409 in the municipal unit of Kalamata proper. Kalamata is renowned as the land of the Kalamatianos dance and Kalamata olives, the modern name Kalamáta is a corruption of the older name Καλάμαι, Kalámai, reeds. The phonetic similarity of Kalamáta with the phrase kalá mátia has led to folk etymologies.313 km2. Its territory corresponded with that of the current municipalities Kalamata and West Mani, the history of Kalamata begins with Homer, who mentions Pharai, an ancient city built more or less where the Kalamata Castle stands today. Pharai was rather unimportant in antiquity, and the site continued in obscurity until middle Byzantine times, Kalamata is first mentioned in the 10th-century Life of St. Prince William II of Villehardouin was born and died there, in the event, the town was recovered by the Franks through the intercession of a local Greek, a certain Sgouromalles. In 1298, the formed the dowry of Princess Matilda of Hainaut upon her marriage to Guy II de la Roche. Matilda retained Kalamata as her fief until 1322, when she was dispossessed, in 1358, Prince Robert gifted the châtellenie of Kalamata to his wife, Marie de Bourbon, who kept it until her death in 1377. Kalamata remained in Frankish hands until near the end of the Principality of Achaea, Kalamata was occupied by the Ottomans from 1481 to 1685, like the rest of Greece. He was soon forced to return to Crete, but the Venetians returned in the Morean War. The Venetian Republic ruled Kalamata from 1685 as part of the Kingdom of the Morea, during the Venetian occupation the city was fortified, developed and thrived economically. However, the Ottomans reoccupied Kalamata in the war of 1715, Kalamata was the first city to be liberated as the Greeks rose in the Greek War of Independence. On 23 March 1821, it was taken over by the Greek revolutionary forces under the command of generals Theodoros Kolokotronis, Petros Mavromichalis, however, in 1825, the invading Ibrahim Pasha destroyed the city. In independent Greece, Kalamata was rebuilt and became one of the most important ports in the Mediterranean sea and it is not surprising that the second-oldest Chamber of Commerce in the Mediterranean, after that of Marseille, exists in Kalamata. After World War II, and due to issues, Kalamata. That was a brake on the local economy, resulting in the decline of the port. During the 1970s and 1980s, development and growth in Kalamata were unknown, Kalamata was again in the news on 13 September 1986, with an earthquake that measured 6.2 on the surface wave magnitude scale
18.
Arcadia
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Arcadia is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Peloponnese. It is situated in the central and eastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula and it takes its name from the mythological character Arcas. In Greek mythology, it was the home of the god Pan, in European Renaissance arts, Arcadia was celebrated as an unspoiled, harmonious wilderness. Arcadia has its capital at Tripoli. It covers about 18% of the Peloponnese peninsula, making it the largest regional unit on the peninsula, Arcadia has a ski resort on Mount Mainalo, located about 20 km NW of Tripoli. Other mountains of Arcadia are the Parnon in the southeast and the Lykaion in the west, the climate consists of hot summers and mild winters in the eastern part, the southern part, the low-lying areas and the central area at altitudes lower than 1,000 m. The area primarily receives rain during fall and winter months in the rest of Arcadia, winter snow occurs commonly in the mountainous areas for much of the west and the northern part, the Taygetus area, the Mainalon. After the collapse of the Roman power in the west, Arcadia became part of the Greek-speaking Byzantine Empire, the region fell into the hands of the Ottoman Turks in 1460. With the exception of a period of Venetian rule in 1687–1715, the phrase is most often associated with a 1647 painting by Nicolas Poussin, also known as The Arcadian Shepherds. In the painting the phrase appears as an inscription on a tomb discovered by youthful figures in classical garb, Arcadia was one of the centres of the Greek War of Independence which saw victories in their battles including one in Tripoli. After a victorious war, Arcadia was finally incorporated into the newly created Greek state. Arcadia saw economic growth and small emigration, in the 20th century, Arcadia experienced extensive population loss through emigration, mostly to the Americas. Many Arcadian villages lost half their inhabitants, and fears arose that they would turn into ghost towns, Arcadia now has a smaller population than Corinthia. Demographers expected that its population would halve between 1951 and the early 21st century, the population has fallen to 87,000 in 2011. An earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter magnitude scale shook Megalopoli, large numbers of buildings were destroyed, leaving people homeless. Within a couple of years, the buildings were rebuilt anti-seismically, in 1967, construction began on the Megalopoli Power Plant, which began operating in 1970, producing additional electricity for southern Greece. A mining area south of the plant is the largest mining area in the peninsula, in July and August 2007 forest fires caused damage in Arcadia, notably in the mountains
19.
Laconia
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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
20.
Messenia
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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
21.
Greek National Road 82
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Greek National Road 82 is a single carriageway road in southern Greece. It connects Pylos with Sparti via Kalamata and it passes through the regional units Messenia and Laconia, on the Peloponnese peninsula. The western end of the GR-82 is in the port town Pylos, on the Ionian Sea and it runs to the east through low hills, passing north of the Lykodimo mountain. It reaches the Messenian Gulf near Velika, and continues near the shore of the gulf. It passes along Messini and through the city Kalamata, where it is connected with the Greek National Road 7 and it leaves Kalamata towards the northeast, and crosses the Taygetus mountains over a pass of about 1300 m elevation. It descends to the city of Sparti, its eastern terminus, here it is connected with the Greek National Road 39. The Greek National Road 82 passes through the places, Pylos Chandrinos Neromylos Velika Messini Asprochoma Kalamata Artemisia Trypi Magoula Sparti
22.
Mani Peninsula
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The Mani Peninsula, also long known by its medieval name Maina or Maïna, is a geographical and cultural region in Greece that is home to the Maniots. The capital city of Mani is Areopoli, Mani is the central peninsula of the three which extend southwards from the Peloponnese in southern Greece. To the east is the Laconian Gulf, to the west the Messenian Gulf, the peninsula forms a continuation of the Taygetos mountain range, the western spine of the Peloponnese. Mani is home of the Maniots, the name Mani may come from the name of the Frankish castle le Grand Magne. The terrain is mountainous and inaccessible, until recent years many Mani villages could be reached only by sea. Today a narrow and winding road extends along the west coast from Kalamata to Areopoli, Mani has been traditionally divided into three regions, Exo Mani or Outer Mani to the northwest, Kato Mani or Lower Mani to the east, Mesa Mani or Inner Mani to the southwest. A fourth region named Vardounia to the north is sometimes included but was never historically part of Mani. Vardounia served as a buffer between the Ottoman-Turkish controlled Evrotas plains and Mani, a contingent of Muslim Albanian settlers were relocated to the region by the Ottomans. These settlers formed a large segment of the population until the Greek War of Independence when they fled to the Turkish stronghold at Tripoli. Following the war Vardounias Greek population was reinforced by settlers from Lower Mani, the Messenian Mani receives somewhat more rainfall than the Laconian, and is consequently more productive in agriculture. Neolithic remains have been found in caves along the Mani coasts. Homer refers to a number of towns in the Mani region, the area was occupied by the Dorians in about 1200 BC, and became a dependency of Sparta. After Spartan power was destroyed in the 3rd century BC, Mani remained self-governing, as the power of the Byzantine Empire declined, the peninsula drifted out of the Empires control. The fortress of Maini in the south became the areas centre, over the subsequent centuries, the peninsula was fought over by the Byzantines, the Franks, and the Saracens. After the Fourth Crusade in 1204 AD, Italian and French knights occupied the Peloponnese and they built the fortresses of Mystras, Passavas, Gustema, and Great Maina. The area fell under Byzantine rule after 1262, forming part of the Despotate of the Morea, in 1460, after the fall of Constantinople, the Despotate fell to the Ottomans. Mani was not subdued and retained its internal self-government in exchange for an annual tribute, local chieftains or beys governed Mani on behalf of the Ottomans, The first of these rulers, Liberakis Yerakaris, reigned in the middle of the seventeenth century. By the age of twenty he had served several years as an oarsman in the Venetian galleys, captured by the Turks and condemned to death, he was reprieved by the Grand Vizier---the great Albanian Ahmet Küprülü---on condition that he accepted the hegemony of the Mani
23.
Mediterranean Sea
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The sea is sometimes considered a part of the Atlantic Ocean, although it is usually identified as a separate body of water. The name Mediterranean is derived from the Latin mediterraneus, meaning inland or in the middle of land and it covers an approximate area of 2.5 million km2, but its connection to the Atlantic is only 14 km wide. The Strait of Gibraltar is a strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Gibraltar. In oceanography, it is called the Eurafrican Mediterranean Sea or the European Mediterranean Sea to distinguish it from mediterranean seas elsewhere. The Mediterranean Sea has a depth of 1,500 m. The sea is bordered on the north by Europe, the east by Asia and it is located between latitudes 30° and 46° N and longitudes 6° W and 36° E. Its west-east length, from the Strait of Gibraltar to the Gulf of Iskenderun, the seas average north-south length, from Croatia’s southern shore to Libya, is approximately 800 km. The Mediterranean Sea, including the Sea of Marmara, has an area of approximately 2,510,000 square km. The sea was an important route for merchants and travelers of ancient times that allowed for trade, the history of the Mediterranean region is crucial to understanding the origins and development of many modern societies. In addition, the Gaza Strip and the British Overseas Territories of Gibraltar and Akrotiri, the term Mediterranean derives from the Latin word mediterraneus, meaning amid the earth or between land, as it is between the continents of Africa, Asia and Europe. The Ancient Greek name Mesogeios, is similarly from μέσο, between + γη, land, earth) and it can be compared with the Ancient Greek name Mesopotamia, meaning between rivers. The Mediterranean Sea has historically had several names, for example, the Carthaginians called it the Syrian Sea and latter Romans commonly called it Mare Nostrum, and occasionally Mare Internum. Another name was the Sea of the Philistines, from the people inhabiting a large portion of its shores near the Israelites, the sea is also called the Great Sea in the General Prologue by Geoffrey Chaucer. In Ottoman Turkish, it has also been called Bahr-i Sefid, in Modern Hebrew, it has been called HaYam HaTikhon, the Middle Sea, reflecting the Seas name in ancient Greek, Latin, and modern languages in both Europe and the Middle East. Similarly, in Modern Arabic, it is known as al-Baḥr al-Mutawassiṭ, in Turkish, it is known as Akdeniz, the White Sea since among Turks the white colour represents the west. Several ancient civilisations were located around the Mediterranean shores, and were influenced by their proximity to the sea. It provided routes for trade, colonisation, and war, as well as food for numerous communities throughout the ages, due to the shared climate, geology, and access to the sea, cultures centered on the Mediterranean tended to have some extent of intertwined culture and history. Two of the most notable Mediterranean civilisations in classical antiquity were the Greek city states, later, when Augustus founded the Roman Empire, the Romans referred to the Mediterranean as Mare Nostrum
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Fold (geology)
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A geological fold occurs when one or a stack of originally flat and planar surfaces, such as sedimentary strata, are bent or curved as a result of permanent deformation. Synsedimentary folds are those due to slumping of material before it is lithified. Folds in rocks vary in size from microscopic crinkles to mountain-sized folds and they occur singly as isolated folds and in extensive fold trains of different sizes, on a variety of scales. A set of folds distributed on a regional scale constitutes a fold belt, Folds are classified by their size, fold shape, tightness, and dip of the axial plane. A fold surface seen in profile can be divided into hinge, the limbs are the flanks of the fold and the hinge is where the flanks join together. The hinge point is the point of minimum radius of curvature for a fold, the crest of the fold is the highest point of the fold surface, and the trough is the lowest point. The inflection point of a fold is the point on a limb at which the concavity reverses, on regular folds, the hinge points along an entire folded surface form a hinge line, which can be either a crest line or a trough line. The trend and plunge of a hinge line gives you information about the orientation of the fold. To more completely describe the orientation of a fold, one must describe the axial surface, the axial surface is the surface defined by connecting all the hinge lines of stacked folding surfaces. If the axial surface is a surface then it is called the axial plane and can be described by the strike. An axial trace is the line of intersection of the surface with any other surface. Finally, folds can have, but dont necessarily have a fold axis, a fold axis, “is the closest approximation to a straight line that when moved parallel to itself, generates the form of the fold. ”. A fold that can be generated by an axis is called a cylindrical fold. This term has broadened to include near-cylindrical folds. Often, the axis is the same as the hinge line. A fold can be shaped as a chevron, with planar limbs meeting at an axis, as cuspate with curved limbs, as circular with a curved axis. Fold tightness is defined by the size of the angle between the limbs, called the interlimb angle. Gentle folds have an angle of between 180° and 120°, open folds range from 120° to 70°, close folds from 70° to 30°
25.
African Plate
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The African Plate is a major tectonic plate straddling the equator as well as the prime meridian. It includes much of the continent of Africa, as well as oceanic crust which lies between the continent and various surrounding ocean ridges, between 60 million years ago and 10 million years ago, the Somali Plate began rifting from the African Plate along the East African Rift. All of these are divergent or spreading boundaries with the exception of the northern boundary, the cratons are, from south to north, the Kalahari craton, Congo craton, Tanzania craton and West African craton. The cratons were widely separated in the past, but came together during the Pan-African orogeny, the cratons are connected by orogenic belts, regions of highly deformed rock where the tectonic plates have engaged. The African Plate is rifting in the interior of the African continent along the East African Rift. This rift zone separates the African Plate to the west from the Somali Plate to the east, the African Plates speed is estimated at around 2.15 cm per year. It has been moving over the past 100 million years or so in a general northeast direction and this is drawing it closer to the Eurasian Plate, causing subduction where oceanic crust is converging with continental crust. Along its northeast margin, the African Plate is bounded by the Red Sea Rift where the Arabian Plate is moving away from the African Plate. The New England hotspot in the Atlantic Ocean has probably created a line of mid- to late-Tertiary age seamounts on the African Plate. USGS - Understanding plate motions Meijer, P. Th, wortel, M. J. R. Cenozoic dynamics of the African plate with emphasis on the Africa-Eurasia collision. Journal of Geophysical Research, Solid Earth
26.
Eurasian Plate
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It also includes oceanic crust extending westward to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and northward to the Gakkel Ridge. The eastern side is a boundary with the North American Plate to the north and a boundary with the Philippine Sea Plate to the south, and possibly with the Okhotsk Plate and the Amurian Plate. The southerly side is a boundary with the African Plate to the west, the Arabian Plate in the middle, the westerly side is a divergent boundary with the North American Plate forming the northernmost part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which is straddled by Iceland. The geodynamics of central Asia is dominated by the interaction between the Eurasian and Indian Plates, in this area, many subplates or crust blocks have been recognized, which form the Central Asian and the East Asian transit zones
27.
Subduction
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Subduction is a geological process that takes place at convergent boundaries of tectonic plates where one plate moves under another and is forced or sinks due to gravity into the mantle. Regions where this occurs are known as subduction zones. Rates of subduction are typically in centimeters per year, with the rate of convergence being approximately two to eight centimeters per year along most plate boundaries. Plates include both oceanic crust and continental crust, stable subduction zones involve the oceanic lithosphere of one plate sliding beneath the continental or oceanic lithosphere of another plate due to the higher density of the oceanic lithosphere. That is, the lithosphere is always oceanic while the overriding lithosphere may or may not be oceanic. Subduction zones are sites that have a rate of volcanism, earthquakes. Subduction zones are sites of convective downwelling of Earths lithosphere, subduction zones exist at convergent plate boundaries where one plate of oceanic lithosphere converges with another plate. The descending slab, the plate, is over-ridden by the leading edge of the other plate. The slab sinks at an angle of approximately twenty-five to forty-five degrees to Earths surface and this sinking is driven by the temperature difference between the subducting oceanic lithosphere and the surrounding mantle asthenosphere, as the colder oceanic lithosphere is, on average, denser. At a depth of approximately 80–120 kilometers, the basalt of the oceanic crust is converted to a rock called eclogite. At that point, the density of the oceanic crust increases and provides additional negative buoyancy and it is at subduction zones that Earths lithosphere, oceanic crust, sedimentary layers and some trapped water are recycled into the deep mantle. Earth is so far the only planet where subduction is known to occur, subduction is the driving force behind plate tectonics, and without it, plate tectonics could not occur. Subduction zones dive down into the mantle beneath 55,000 kilometers of convergent plate margins, subduction zones burrow deeply but are imperfectly camouflaged, and geophysics and geochemistry can be used to study them. Not surprisingly, the shallowest portions of subduction zones are known best, subduction zones are strongly asymmetric for the first several hundred kilometers of their descent. They start to go down at oceanic trenches and their descents are marked by inclined zones of earthquakes that dip away from the trench beneath the volcanoes and extend down to the 660-kilometer discontinuity. Subduction zones are defined by the array of earthquakes known as the Wadati–Benioff zone after the two scientists who first identified this distinctive aspect. Subduction zone earthquakes occur at greater depths than elsewhere on Earth, such deep earthquakes may be driven by deep phase transformations, thermal runaway, the subducting basalt and sediment are normally rich in hydrous minerals and clays. Additionally, large quantities of water are introduced into cracks and fractures created as the slab bends downward
28.
Orogeny
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An Orogeny is an event that leads to a large structural deformation of the Earths lithosphere due to the interaction between tectonic plates. Orogens or orogenic belts develop when a plate is crumpled and is pushed upwards to form mountain ranges. Orogeny is the mechanism by which mountains are built on continents. The word orogeny comes from Ancient Greek, though it was used before him, the term was employed by the American geologist G. K. Gilbert in 1890 to describe the process of mountain building as distinguished from epeirogeny. Formation of an orogen is accomplished in part by the processes of subduction or convergence of two or more continents. Orogeny usually produces long arcuate structures, known as orogenic belts, generally, orogenic belts consist of long parallel strips of rock exhibiting similar characteristics along the length of the belt. Orogenic belts are associated with zones, which consume crust, produce volcanoes. Geologists attribute the arcuate structure to the rigidity of the descending plate and these island arcs may be added to a continent during an orogenic event. The processes of orogeny can take tens of millions of years, frequently, rock formations that undergo orogeny are severely deformed and undergo metamorphism. Orogenic processes may push deeply buried rocks to the surface, sea-bottom and near-shore material may cover some or all of the orogenic area. If the orogeny is due to two continents colliding, very high mountains can result, an orogenic event may be studied, as a tectonic structural event, as a geographical event, and as a chronological event. The foreland basin forms ahead of the orogen due mainly to loading and resulting flexure of the lithosphere by the mountain belt. The basin migrates with the front and early deposited foreland basin sediments become progressively involved in folding and thrusting. Sediments deposited in the basin are mainly derived from the erosion of the actively uplifting rocks of the mountain range. The fill of many such shows an change in time from deepwater marine through shallow water to continental sediments. Although orogeny involves plate tectonics, the tectonic forces result in a variety of associated phenomena, including magmatism, metamorphism, crustal melting, what exactly happens in a specific orogen depends upon the strength and rheology of the continental lithosphere, and how these properties change during orogenesis. In addition to orogeny, the orogen is subject to other processes, for example, the Caledonian Orogeny refers to the Silurian and Devonian events that resulted from the collision of Laurentia with Eastern Avalonia and other former fragments of Gondwana. The Caledonian Orogen resulted from events and various others that are part of its peculiar orogenic cycle
29.
Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
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Fault block
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Fault blocks are very large blocks of rock, sometimes hundreds of kilometres in extent, created by tectonic and localized stresses in the Earths crust. Large areas of bedrock are broken up into blocks by faults, blocks are characterized by relatively uniform lithology. The largest of these blocks are called crustal blocks. Large crustal blocks broken off from tectonic plates are called terranes and those terranes which are the full thickness of the lithosphere are called microplates. Continent-sized blocks are called variously microcontinents, continental ribbons, H-blocks, extensional allochthons, because most stresses relate to the tectonic activity of moving plates, most motion between blocks is horizontal, that is parallel to the Earths crust by strike-slip faults. However vertical movement of blocks produces much more dramatic results, landforms are sometimes formed when the faults have a large vertical displacement. Adjacent raised blocks and down-dropped blocks can form high escarpments, often the movement of these blocks is accompanied by tilting, due to compaction or stretching of the crust at that point. Fault-block mountains often result from rifting, another indicator of tensional tectonic forces and these can be small or form extensive rift valley systems, such as the East African Rift zone. Death Valley in California is a smaller example, there are two types of block mountains, lifted and sloped. Another graben is the basin of the Narmada River in India, tilted type block mountains have one gently sloping side and one steep side with an exposed scarp, and are common in the Basin and Range region of the western United States. Orogeny Plummer, Charles, David McGeary, and Diane Carlson, physical Geology 8th ed. McGraw-Hill, Boston,1999. Monroe, James S. and Reed Wicander, the Changing Earth, Exploring Geology and Evolution. 2nd educational Belmont, Wadsworth Publishing Company,1997, ISBN 0-314-09577-2 Fault-Block Mountains — Universe Today
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Aegean Sea Plate
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The Aegean Sea Plate is a small tectonic plate located in the eastern Mediterranean Sea under southern Greece and far western Turkey. Its southern edge is a subduction zone south of Crete, where the African Plate is being swept under the Aegean Sea Plate, to the north is the Eurasian Plate, which is a divergent boundary responsible for the formation of the Gulf of Corinth. An updated digital model of plate boundaries
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Hellenic Trench
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The Hellenic Trench is a hemispherical-scale long narrow depression in the Ionian Sea. The hadal zone of the Hellenic trench is roughly 4,150 metres to 5,300 metres deep, the Calypso Deep, located in the Hellenic Trench, is roughly 5,267 metres deep and is the deepest point in the Mediterranean Sea. The Hellenic trench region is an ecosystem to sperm whales and other life and has been used by marine biologists to study the behaviour of various aquatic species. This is the trench where several earthquakes, including the 365 Crete earthquake, uniform Mud Deposition in the Hellenic Trench Eastern Mediterranean. Smithsonian Contributions to the Marine Sciences Number 13
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Horst (geology)
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In physical geography and geology, a horst is the raised fault block bounded by normal faults or graben. A horst is a block of the Earths crust that has lifted, or has remained stationary. Horst is Dutch and German for heap, the Vosges Mountains in France and Black Forest in Germany are examples of horsts, as are the Table, Jura and the Dole mountains. In many rift basins around the world, the vast majority of discovered hydrocarbons are found in conventional traps associated with horsts. Basin and range topography Fault-block mountain Plateau This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh
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Graben
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In geology, a graben is a depressed block of the Earths crust bordered by parallel faults. Graben is German for ditch or trench, the plural form is either graben or grabens. A graben is a valley with an escarpment on each side caused by the displacement of a block of land downward. Graben often occur side-by-side with horsts, horst and graben structures indicate tensional forces and crustal stretching. Graben are produced from parallel normal faults, where the displacement of the wall is downward. The faults typically dip toward the center of the graben from both sides, horsts are parallel blocks that remain between graben, the bounding faults of a horst typically dip away from the center line of the horst. Single or multiple graben can produce a rift valley, in many rifts, the graben are asymmetric, with a major fault along only one of the boundaries, and these are known as half-graben. The polarity of the bounding faults typically alternates along the length of the rift. The asymmetry of a half-graben strongly affects syntectonic deposition, comparatively little sediment enters the half-graben across the main bounding fault because of footwall uplift on the drainage systems. The exception is at any offset in the bounding fault. Most of the sediment will enter the half-graben down the hanging wall side. S. Central Graben, North Sea Viking Graben, North Sea Fossa
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Rift valley
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A rift valley is a linear-shaped lowland between several highlands or mountain ranges created by the action of a geologic rift or fault. A rift valley is formed on a divergent plate boundary, an extension, a spreading apart of the surface. When the tensional forces were enough to cause the plate to split apart. The drop of the center creates the nearly parallel steeply dipping walls of a valley when it is new. One of the best known examples of process is the East African Rift. On Earth, rifts can occur at all elevations, from the sea floor to plateaus and they are often associated with a number of adjoining subsidiary or co-extensive valleys, which are typically considered part of the principal rift valley geologically. The most extensive rift valley is located along the crest of the ridge system and is the result of sea floor spreading. Examples of this type of include the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the East Pacific Rise. In these instances, not only the crust, but also entire tectonic plates, are in the process of breaking apart to create new plates, if they continue, continental rifts will eventually become oceanic rifts. Other rift valleys are the result of bends or discontinuities in horizontally-moving faults, when these bends or discontinuities are in the same direction as the relative motions along the fault, extension occurs. For example, for a right lateral-moving fault, a bend to the right will result in stretching, in the view of many geologists today, the Dead Sea lies in a rift which results from a leftward discontinuity in the left lateral-moving Dead Sea Transform fault. Where a fault breaks into two strands, or two faults run close to other, crustal extension may also occur between them, as a result of differences in their motions. Both types of fault-caused extension commonly occur on a small scale, many of the worlds largest lakes are located in rift valleys. Lake Baikal in Siberia, a World Heritage Site, lies in a rift valley. Baikal is both the deepest lake in the world and, with 20% of all of the freshwater on earth, has the greatest volume. Lake Tanganyika, second by both measures, is in the Albertine Rift, the westernmost arm of the active East African Rift, Lake Superior in North America, the largest freshwater lake by area, lies in the ancient and dormant Midcontinent Rift. The largest subglacial lake, Lake Vostok, may lie in an ancient rift valley. Lake Nipissing and Lake Timiskaming in Ontario and Quebec, Canada lie inside a valley called the Ottawa-Bonnechere Graben
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Fault (geology)
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In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock, across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movement. Large faults within the Earths crust result from the action of tectonic forces. Energy release associated with movement on active faults is the cause of most earthquakes. A fault plane is the plane that represents the surface of a fault. A fault trace or fault line is the intersection of a plane with the ground surface. A fault trace is also the line commonly plotted on maps to represent a fault. Since faults do not usually consist of a single, clean fracture, the two sides of a non-vertical fault are known as the hanging wall and footwall. By definition, the wall occurs above the fault plane. This terminology comes from mining, when working a tabular ore body, because of friction and the rigidity of rocks, they cannot glide or flow past each other easily, and occasionally all movement stops. A fault in ductile rocks can also release instantaneously when the rate is too great. The energy released by instantaneous strain-release causes earthquakes, a common phenomenon along transform boundaries, slip is defined as the relative movement of geological features present on either side of a fault plane, and is a displacement vector. A faults sense of slip is defined as the motion of the rock on each side of the fault with respect to the other side. In practice, it is only possible to find the slip direction of faults. Based on direction of slip, faults can be categorized as, strike-slip. Dip-slip, offset is predominantly vertical and/or perpendicular to the fault trace, oblique-slip, combining significant strike and dip slip. The fault surface is usually vertical and the footwall moves either left or right or laterally with very little vertical motion. Strike-slip faults with left-lateral motion are known as sinistral faults. Those with right-lateral motion are known as dextral faults
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Fault scarp
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A fault scarp is a small step or offset on the ground surface where one side of a fault has moved vertically with respect to the other. It is the expression of faulting attributed to the displacement of the land surface by movement along faults. They are exhibited either by differential movement and subsequent erosion along an old geologic fault. Fault scarps often contain highly fractured rock of both hard and weak consistency, in many cases, bluffs form from the upthrown block and can be very steep. The height of the formation is equal to the vertical displacement along the fault. This movement is usually episodic, with the height of the bluffs being the result of multiple movements over time, displacement of around 5 to 10 meters per tectonic event is common. Due to the dramatic uplift along the fault, the scarp is very prone to erosion. Weathering, mass wasting and water runoff can soon wear down these bluffs, adjacent V-shaped valley formations give the remaining fault spurs a very triangular shape. This formation is known as a triangular facet, however, this landform is not limited to fault scarps, Fault scarps may be only a few centimeters or many meters high. Fault-line scarps are coincident with faults, but are most typically formed by the erosion of rocks that have been brought alongside more resistant ones by the movement along the fault. Teton Range The Teton Range in Wyoming is an example of a fault scarp. The dramatic topography of the Tetons is due to the recent activity on the Teton Fault. Hurricane Cliffs The Hurricane Cliffs, west of Zion National Park in Utah is a prominent example of a fault scarp along an old, essentially inactive, other examples include the scarps bounding the East African Rift Valley and the Rio Grande Rift in New Mexico. Sources Easterbrook, D. J. Surface processes and landforms, prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey
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Thasos
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Thasos or Thassos is a Greek island, geographically part of the North Aegean Sea, but administratively part of the Kavala regional unit. It is the northernmost Greek island, and 12th largest by area, Thasos is also the name of the largest town of the island, situated at the northern side, opposite the mainland and about 10 kilometres from Keramoti. Thassos island is known from ancient times for its making it a climatic and balneoclimateric resort area. Thasos economy relies on timber, marble quarries, olive oil, tourism has also become important since the 1960s, although not to the level of other Greek islands. Even earlier activity is demonstrated by the presence of large pieces of megalithic anthropomorphic stelai built into these walls, which, so far, have no parallels in the Aegean area. There is then a gap in the record until the end of the Bronze Age c 1100 BC. Here built tombs covered with small mound of earth were typical until the end of the Iron Age, the temple still existed in the time of Herodotus. An eponymous Thasos, son of Phoenix was said to have been the leader of the Phoenicians, around 650 BC, or a little earlier, Greeks from Paros founded a colony on Thasos. A generation or so later, the poet Archilochus, a descendant of these colonists, wrote of casting away his shield during a war against an indigenous Thracian tribe. Herodotus says that the best mines on the island were opened by the Phoenicians on the east side of the island. Archilochus described Thasos as an asss backbone crowned with wild wood, the islands capital, Thasos, had two harbours. Besides its gold mines, the wine, nuts and marble of Thasos were well known in antiquity, Thasian coins had the head of the wine god Dionysos on one side and bunches of grape of the other. Thasos was important during the Ionian Revolt against Persia, after the capture of Miletus Histiaeus, the Ionian leader, laid siege. The attack failed, but, warned by the danger, the Thasians employed their revenues to build war ships and this excited the suspicions of the Persians, and Darius compelled them to surrender their ships and pull down their walls. After the defeat of Xerxes the Thasians joined the Delian League, Thasos was part of the Eastern Roman Empire, now known as the Byzantine Empire, from 395 on. According to the 6th century Synecdemus, it belonged to the province of Macedonia Prima, the island was a major source of marble until the disruption of the Slavic invasions in the late 6th/7th centuries, and several churches from Late Antiquity have been found on it. The island remained in Byzantine hands for most of the Middle Ages and it functioned as a naval base in the 13th century, under its own doux, and came briefly under the rule of the Genoese Tedisio Zaccaria in 1307–13. Returning to Byzantine control, its bishopric was raised to an archdiocese by Manuel II Palaiologos, Thasos was captured by the Genoese Gattilusi family ca
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Thessaly
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Thessaly is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, Thessaly became part of the modern Greek state in 1881, after four and a half centuries of Ottoman rule. Since 1987 it has formed one of the countrys 13 regions and is further sub-divided into 5 regional units and 25 municipalities, the capital of the region is Larissa. Thessaly lies in central Greece and borders the regions of Macedonia on the north, Epirus on the west, Central Greece on the south, the Thessaly region also includes the Sporades islands. In Homers epic, the Odyssey, the hero Odysseus visited the kingdom of Aeolus, the Plain of Thessaly, which lies between Mount Oeta/Othrys and Mount Olympus, was the site of the battle between the Titans and the Olympians. According to legend, Jason and the Argonauts launched their search for the Golden Fleece from the Magnesia Peninsula, Thessaly was home to extensive Neolithic and Chalcolithic cultures around 6000–2500 BC. Mycenaean settlements have also discovered, for example at the sites of Iolcos, Dimini. In Archaic and Classical times, the lowlands of Thessaly became the home of baronial families, in the summer of 480 BC, the Persians invaded Thessaly. The Greek army that guarded the Vale of Tempe evacuated the road before the enemy arrived, not much later, Thessaly surrendered to the Persians. The Thessalian family of Aleuadae joined the Persians subsequently, in the 4th century BC, after the Greco-Persian Wars had long ended, Jason of Pherae transformed the region into a significant military power, recalling the glory of Early Archaic times. Shortly after, Philip II of Macedon was appointed Archon of Thessaly, the Avars had arrived in Europe in the late 550s. They asserted their authority over many Slavs, who were divided into numerous petty tribes, many Slavs were galvanized into an effective infantry force, by the Avars. In the 7th century the Avar-Slav alliance began to raid the Byzantine Empire, laying siege to Thessalonica, relations between the Slavs and Greeks were probably peaceful apart from the initial settlement and intermittent uprisings. Being agriculturalists, the Slavs probably traded with the Greeks inside towns and it is likely that the re-Hellenization had already begun by way of this contact. This process would be completed by a newly reinvigorated Byzantine Empire, with the abatement of Arab-Byzantine Wars, the Byzantine Empire began to consolidate its power in those areas of mainland Greece occupied by Proto-Slavic tribes. Following the campaigns of the Byzantine general Staurakios in 782–783, the Byzantine Empire recovered Thessaly, apart from military expeditions against Slavs, the re-Hellenization process begun under Nicephorus I involved transfer of peoples. Many Slavs were moved to other parts of the such as Anatolia. In return, many Greeks from Sicily and Asia Minor were brought to the interior of Greece, to increase the number of defenders at the Emperors disposal, even non-Greeks such as Armenians were transferred to the Balkans
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Abies cephalonica
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It is a medium-size evergreen coniferous tree growing to 25–35 metres – rarely 40 m – tall and with a trunk diameter of up to 1 m. It occurs at altitudes of 900–1,700 m, on mountains with a rainfall of over 1,000 millimetres. The leaves are needle-like, flattened,1. 5–3.0 cm long and 2 mm wide by 0.5 mm thick, glossy green above. The tip of the leaf is pointed, usually fairly sharply but sometimes with a blunt tip, particularly on slow-growing shoots on older trees. The cones are 10–20 cm long and 4 cm broad, with about 150–200 scales, each scale with an exserted bract and it is also closely related to Nordmann fir to the east in northern Turkey. Greek fir was important in the past for wood for general construction, media related to Abies cephalonica at Wikimedia Commons Photos of trees in Peloponnesos, Greece Photo of a cone Abies cephalonica. Distribution map, genetic conservation units and related resources
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Pinus nigra
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Pinus nigra is a tree of the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome. The majority of the range is in Turkey and it is found in the higher elevations of the South Apennine mixed montane forests ecoregion in southern Italy and the Tyrrhenian-Adriatic sclerophyllous and mixed forests ecoregion in Sicily. There are remnant populations in the Mediterranean conifer and mixed forests ecoregion and it is found at elevations ranging from sea level to 2,000 metres, most commonly from 250–1,600 metres. Several of the varieties have distinct English names and it has naturalized in parts of the midwestern states of the U. S, normally south of the normal native ranges of native pines. Pinus nigra is a coniferous evergreen tree, growing to 20–55 metres high at maturity. The bark is grey to yellow-brown, and is split by flaking fissures into scaly plates. The leaves are thinner and more flexible in western populations, the ovulate and pollen cones appear from May to June. The mature seed cones are 5–10 cm long, with rounded scales, they ripen from green to pale grey-buff or yellow-buff in September to November, about 18 months after pollination. The seeds are grey, 6–8 mm long, with a yellow-buff wing 20–25 mm long. Maturity is reached at 15–40 years, large seed crops are produced at 2–5 year intervals, Pinus nigra is moderately fast growing, at about 30–70 centimetres per year. It usually has a conic form, that becomes irregular with age. The tree can be long-lived, with trees over 500 years old. It needs full sun to grow well, is intolerant of shade, the species is divided into two subspecies, each further subdivided into three varieties. Some authorities treat several of the varieties at subspecific rank, but this tradition rather than sound taxonomy. Nigra in the east of the range, from Austria, northeast and central Italy, east to the Crimea, needles stout, rigid,1. 5–2 mm diameter, with 3–6 layers of thick-walled hypodermal cells. Nigra var. caramanica, Turkey, Cyprus, southern Greece, nigra var. italica, central Italy P. nigra subsp. Salzmannii in the west of the range, from southern Italy to southern France, Spain, needles slender, more flexible,0. 8–1.5 mm diameter, with 1–2 layers of thin-walled hypodermal cells. Salzmannii var. salzmannii, Pyrenees, Southern France, Northern Spain, salzmannii var. corsicana, Corsica, Sicily, Southern Italy
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Mycenaean Greece
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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
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Sparta
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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
