GREECE THROUGH A LENSE

officially the Hellenic Republic,^[b] is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, Greece shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to the east.

The Aegean Sea lies to the east of the mainland, the Ionian Sea to the west, and the Sea of Crete and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. it has the longest coastline on the Mediterranean Basin, featuring thousands of islands.

The country comprises nine traditional geographic regions, and has a population of over 10.4 million. Athens is the nation’s capital and largest city, followed by Thessaloniki and Patras.

Greece is considered the cradle of Western civilisation, being the birthplace of democracy, Western philosophy, Western literature, historiography, political science, major scientific and mathematical principles, theatre, and the Olympic Games.

From the eighth century BC, the Greeks were organised into various independent city-states known as poleis (singular polis) that spanned the Mediterranean and Black seas.

 Philip II of Macedon united most of present-day in the fourth century BC, with his son Alexander the Great 

The subsequent Hellenistic period saw the height of Greek culture and influence in antiquity.

was annexed by Rome in the second century BC, becoming an integral part of the Roman Empire and its continuation, the Byzantine Empire, which was predominately Greek in culture and language.

The Greek Orthodox Church, which emerged in the first century AD, helped shape modern Greek identity and transmitted traditions to the wider Orthodox world.

mncy5stsrrh ugiughhbb bugiug hjuhuguygyb huhuhuhoo. jihugu n.