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Welcome to Greece

Welcome to Greece

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Welcome to Greece. Official Name: Hellenic Republic Form of Government: Parliamentary republic Capital: Athens Population: 10,722,816 Official Language: Greek Currency: Euro. Greece is located in southeast Europe, close to both Africa and Asia. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Page 1: Welcome to Greece

Welcome to Greece

Page 2: Welcome to Greece

Official Name: Hellenic RepublicForm of Government: Parliamentary republic

Capital: AthensPopulation: 10,722,816Official Language: Greek

Currency: Euro

Page 3: Welcome to Greece

Greece is located in southeast Europe, close to both Africa and Asia.

Page 4: Welcome to Greece

The Greek flag is includes nine blue-and-white horizontal stripes, which some scholars say stand for the nine syllables of the Greek motto “Eleftheria i Thanatos” or “Freedom or Death.” Blue represents Greece’s sea and sky, while white stands for the purity of the struggle of freedom. In the upper left-hand corner is the traditional Greek Orthodox cross.

Page 5: Welcome to Greece

The Pindus mountain range on the mainland contains one of the world's deepest gorges, Vikos Gorge, which

plunges 3,600 feet.

Page 6: Welcome to Greece

Path to monasteryGreek monasteries are located in steep rocks, cliffs, on windy slopes above the sea, lush green valleys and olive groves. These monasteries are actually witnesses of human efforts to come closer to God through silence, simplicity and harmony.

They played a valuable role in different periods of Greek history protecting and sometimes preserving the Greek language, arts and tradition through generations of monks.

Page 7: Welcome to Greece
Page 8: Welcome to Greece

The area of Meteora was originally settled by monks who lived in caves within the rocks during the 11th Century. As times became more unsure during an age of Turkish occupation and lawlessness, they climbed higher up the rock face until they were living on the inaccessible peaks. They were able to build the first monasteries by bringing material and people up with ladders and baskets. This was also how the monasteries were reached until the 1920s. Now there are roads, pathways and steps to the top.

Page 9: Welcome to Greece
Page 10: Welcome to Greece

The majority of Greek people who are religious are Greek Orthodox (98% of the country).

Page 11: Welcome to Greece

The first great civilization in Greece was the Minoan culture on the island

of Crete around 2000 B.C. Wall paintings found at the ruins of the palace Knossos show people doing backflips over a charging bull. The Minoans were conquered by the

Myceneans from the mainland in 1450 B.C.

Page 12: Welcome to Greece

A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decided to dedicate his life to serving all other living beings, or who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many religions and in philosophy.

Page 13: Welcome to Greece

Greece has the longest coastline in Europe and is the southernmost country in Europe. The mainland has rugged mountains, forests, and lakes, but the country is well known for the thousands of islands dotting the blue Aegean Sea to the east, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and the Ionian Sea to the west.

Page 14: Welcome to Greece

Continuously inhabited for over 7,000 years, Athens is one of the oldest

cities in Europe. It is also the birthplace of democracy, Western philosophy, the Olympic Games,

political science, Western literature, historiography, major mathematical principles, and Western theories of

tragedy and comedy.

Page 15: Welcome to Greece

Athens became the most powerful city, and in 508 B.C., the people instituted a new system of rule by the people called democracy. But during that time, only men could vote!

Page 16: Welcome to Greece

Mount Olympus is Greece's highest mountain at 9,570 feet above sea level. Ancient Greeks believed it was the home of the gods. Mount Olympus became the first national park in Greece.

Page 17: Welcome to Greece

The Greeks had some strange superstitions about food – some wouldn’t eat beans as they thought they contained the souls of the dead!

Page 18: Welcome to Greece

Family life is a very important part of life in Greece. Children often live with their parents even after

they get married.

Page 19: Welcome to Greece
Page 20: Welcome to Greece

Greece has the 10th longest coastline in the world.

Page 21: Welcome to Greece

The Greeks put statues of their gods inside temples, the most famous of which is the Parthenon.

Page 22: Welcome to Greece

The Greek National Anthem contains

158 verses.

Page 23: Welcome to Greece

No one in Greece can choose to not vote. Voting is required by law for every citizen who

is 18 or older.

Page 24: Welcome to Greece

Greece has zero navigable rivers because of the mountainous terrain. Nearly 80% of Greece is mountainous.

Page 25: Welcome to Greece

About 10% of a Greek worker’s pay is taken for taxes and another 10% for national health care. The government provides free hospitals and other

medical services.

Page 26: Welcome to Greece

About 10% of Greek adults are unemployed. Even with a college education, it’s hard to find a job.

Page 27: Welcome to Greece

The first Olympic Games were held in Olympia in 700 B.C. to honor Zeus, the king of the gods. Only men could compete in the events such as sprinting, long jump,

discus, javelin, wrestling, and chariot racing.

Page 28: Welcome to Greece

Those taking part in the wrestling event had to be the toughest, as there were hardly any rules –

and they had to compete naked.

Page 29: Welcome to Greece

The Ancient Greeks played an important part in the development of the alphabet. The first two letters of the Greek alphabet - alpha and beta - have given us the word

'alphabet'.

Page 30: Welcome to Greece
Page 31: Welcome to Greece

Olive trees have been cultivated in Greece for over 6,000 years. Every village has its own olive

groves.

Page 32: Welcome to Greece

Greece abolished their monarchy in 1975 and became a parliamentary republic. Under the new constitution, there is a president and a prime minister. The prime

minister has the most power, and is the leader of the party that has the most seats in the parliament. The president selects cabinet ministers who run government

departments.

Page 33: Welcome to Greece

Greeks live long lives and it is thought that their varied diet of olives, olive oil, lamb, fish, squid, chickpeas, and lots of fruits and vegetables keep them healthy.

Page 34: Welcome to Greece

Greece was once a mass of rock that was completely underwater. When a tectonic plate crashed into Europe, the collision created Greece’s mountainous ranges. The

plate is still moving and causes earthquakes all around the Aegean.

Page 35: Welcome to Greece

The city-states were often at war, but just before the Olympics, a truce would be called so that

everyone could travel to Olympia safely.

Page 36: Welcome to Greece

In Greece, the dead are always buried because the Greek Orthodox

Church forbids cremation. Five years after a burial, the body is

exhumed and the bones are first washed with wine and then placed

in an ossuary. This is done in part to relieve the shortage of land in

Greek cemeteries.*An ossuary is a chest, building, well, or site made to serve as the final resting place of human skeletal remains.

Page 37: Welcome to Greece

Greek has been spoken for more than 3,000 years, making it one of the oldest languages in Europe.

Page 38: Welcome to Greece

Greek food is diverse. Typical Greek ingredients are: olive oil, herbs, vegetables, grains, bread, chicken, rabbit, pork, fish, bread, cheese,

eggplant and yogurt. Greek deserts commonly include nuts, honey and filo pastry.

Page 39: Welcome to Greece

The country is divided into three geographical regions: the mainland, the islands, and Peloponnese, the

peninsula south of the mainland.

Page 40: Welcome to Greece

Greece was ruled by foreigners for over 2,000 years beginning with the Romans conquering the

Greeks in the 2nd century. Then, after

almost 400 years under Turkish rule, Greece won independence in 1832.

Page 41: Welcome to Greece

Nearly two-thirds of the people live in large cities. Athens is the largest city, with over 3.7 million people crowding the metropolis. Smog is a big problem in Athens. The Parthenon, the temple to goddess Athena atop the Acropolis, is deteriorating due to pollution and acid rain.

Page 42: Welcome to Greece

Did you know that the Ancient Greeks invented the theatre? They loved watching plays, and most cities had a theatre – some

big enough to hold 15,000 people! Only men and boys were allowed to be actors, and they wore masks, which showed the

audience whether their character was happy or sad. Some of the masks had two sides, so the actor could turn them around

to change the mood for each scene.

Page 43: Welcome to Greece
Page 44: Welcome to Greece

Only boys and men were actors in ancient Greek plays. They wore

large masks so audience members could see what part they were

playing. Theater staff carried big sticks because sometimes the huge audiences would get excited by a

play and would riot.

Page 45: Welcome to Greece

According to Greek mythology, Athena and Poseidon agreed that

whoever gave the city the best gift would become guardian over the city. Though Poseidon gave

the gift of water, Athena’s gift of an olive tree was deemed by the other gods to be more valuable.

Page 46: Welcome to Greece

Most Ancient Greeks wore a chiton, which was a long T-shirt made from one large piece of cotton. The poor slaves, however, had to make do with a loincloth (a small strip of cloth wrapped around the waist)!

Page 47: Welcome to Greece

About 7% of all the marble produced in the world comes from Greece.

The Greeks revolutionized the art of sculpture. Instead of stiff poses and blank faces, Greek artists began to carve statues of people that showed both movement and

emotion.

Page 48: Welcome to Greece

Greek folk dancing ties Greeks to their past and to their future. Greek folk dancing is very much an active art, both in Greece and throughout the world where Greeks have immigrated. Dancing is a vivid expression of everyday life and everyone of all ages dances at important occasions – weddings, baptisms, family celebrations and community social events.

Page 49: Welcome to Greece

Greece enjoys more than 250 days of sunshine—or 6,000 sunny hours—a year.

Page 50: Welcome to Greece

Currently, Greek men must serve from one year to 18 months in any branch of the armed forces. The

government spends 6% of the annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on the military.

Page 51: Welcome to Greece

Many Greek structures such as doors, windowsills, furniture, and church

domes are painted a turquoise blue, especially in the Cyclades Islands.

It is used because of an ancient belief that this shade of blue keeps evil

away. They called the color kyanos.

Page 52: Welcome to Greece

Slaves made up between 40% and 80% of ancient Greece’s population. Slaves were captives from wars, abandoned children, or children of slaves.

Page 53: Welcome to Greece

The life expectancy for ancient Greek women was 36, and the average for males was 45. Of the children born, only half survived infancy.

Currently the life expectancy for Greek females is 82 years and for men, 77 years.

Greece is ranked #26 in the world for life expectancy rates. The United States is ranked #49.

Page 54: Welcome to Greece

Spartan warriors were known for their long, flowing hair. Before a battle, they would carefully comb it.

Cowardly soldiers would have half their hair and half their beards shaved off.

Page 55: Welcome to Greece

Ancient Greek children played with many toys, including rattles, little clay animals, horses on 4 wheels that could be pulled on a string, yo-yo's, and terra-cotta dolls.

Page 56: Welcome to Greece
Page 57: Welcome to Greece

A Spartan specialty was a black soup made from salt, vinegar, and blood. No one in the rest of

Greece would drink it.

Page 58: Welcome to Greece

Football, or what Americans call soccer, is the national sport of Greece.

Page 59: Welcome to Greece

The ancient Greeks are often called the inventors of mathematics because

they were the first to make it a theoretical

discipline. The work of Greek mathematicians

such as Pythagoras, Euclid, Archimedes, and

Apollonius lies at the basis of modern mathematics.

Page 60: Welcome to Greece

Greek workers get at least one month of paid vacation every year.

Page 61: Welcome to Greece
Page 62: Welcome to Greece

Slaves were very important to ancient Greek daily life. Slaves cleaned and cooked, worked in the fields, factories, shops, the mines, and on ships. Even the police force in ancient Athens was made up of slaves! Most slaves’ lives were not that different from a poor Greek citizen's life.

Page 63: Welcome to Greece

Wealthy people would sacrifice animals at the temples. Poor people who couldn’t afford live

animals offered pastry ones instead.

Page 64: Welcome to Greece

Plato, Socrates, Aristotle

Page 65: Welcome to Greece

Greece has one of the lowest divorce rates in Europe.

Page 66: Welcome to Greece

Greeks do not wave with an

open hand. In fact, it is considered an insult to show the

palm of he hand with the fingers extended.

Greeks wave with the

palm closed.

Page 67: Welcome to Greece

Pheidippides was a Greek hero who ran 150 miles from Marathon to

Sparta to get help against the Persians. After the Greeks won the

war, he ran 25 miles from Marathon to Athens to announce the victory.

This is where the marathon running race gets its name.

Page 68: Welcome to Greece

One of the dishes enjoyed by ancient Greek men at feasts was roast pig stuffed with thrushes, ducks, eggs, and oysters. Most feasts were for men only. Though there were female entertainers, this was not considered a respectable occupation for women.

Page 69: Welcome to Greece

Classical Greece reached its height with the conquests of

Alexander the Great. Alexander, a military ruler from Macedonia, spread Greek culture across the

Persian Empire (modern-day Iran) into northern India and

as far north as some of today's central Asian

Republics.

Page 70: Welcome to Greece

The Ancient Greeks held many festivals in honor of their gods. To celebrate the god Zeus, for example, the first Greek Olympics were held in the city of Olympia in 776 BC and are thought to have inspired our own Olympic Games. The winners of each event were given a wreath of leaves, and when they returned home, they would be given free meals and the best seats in the theatre.

Page 71: Welcome to Greece

The Greeks would sacrifice one hundred bulls to Zeus during each Olympics.

Page 72: Welcome to Greece

An old Greek legend says that when God created the world, he sifted all the soil onto the earth through a strainer. After every country had good soil, he tossed the stones left in the strainer over his shoulder and created Greece.

Page 73: Welcome to Greece

The saying “taking the bull by its horns” comes from the Greek myth of Hercules saving Crete from a raging bull by

seizing its horns.

Page 74: Welcome to Greece

The Romans copied much of the Greek culture including their gods, architecture, language, and even

how they ate.

Page 75: Welcome to Greece

When law trials were held in the city of

Athens, they used large juries of 500 citizens.

That's a lot more than the 12 we use today.

Page 76: Welcome to Greece

Soldiers in ancient Greece wore up to 70 pounds of bronze armor.

Page 77: Welcome to Greece

There were more city-states than just Sparta and Athens. Ancient Greece had around 100 city-states.

Page 78: Welcome to Greece

About one third of the population of some city-states were slaves.

Page 79: Welcome to Greece

Ancient Greek Coins Greek: Αρχαια Ελληνικα Νομισματα

First introduced: 7th Century BC

Page 80: Welcome to Greece

Elite Greeks and Romans reclined to dine, and ordinary people copied them when they could.

Page 81: Welcome to Greece

The man is the family's outside representative, enjoying the social prestige and esteem, but the woman traditionally was and is the

organizer of the household, the mediator in family disputes, and the guardian of the family's unity. The family's prestige often rests on the

woman's ability to carry out her household duties properly.

Page 82: Welcome to Greece

The End