Greece
Alexis Abrams
Tuesday PM class
Baker college of Port Huron
Physical geography of Greece is located in Southern Europe, bordering the Ionian Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, between Albania and Turkey. It is a peninsular country, possessing an archipelago of about 3,000 islands. With the vast percentage of its land comprised of hills and rugged mountains, Greece is one of the most mountainous countries in Europe. “Its 13,676 km toothy-edged shoreline is deeply indented by dozens of gulfs. The western half of the country is dominated by the steep peaks of the Pindus Mountains, Typical elevations here exceed 2,500 meters, and those mountains are punctuated by numerous lakes, rivers and wetlands. The highest Greek mountain is
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Lakes of size include Trichonis, Vegoritis and Volvi.
There are more than 2,000 large and smaller Greek islands scattered both in the Aegean and the Ionian Sea. Most of them are located in the Aegean between the mainland and Turkey. The largest Greek island is Crete and the second largest is Evia. Lesvos and Rhodes come next. Some of the most famous islands are Santorini, Mykonos, Rhodes, Crete, Zakynthos and Corfu. The religion of Greek people is an important aspect of the Greek culture. The Greek population in mainland Greece and the Greek islands is Christian Orthodox per 98%. The religion of rest of the population is Muslims, Catholic and Jewish. Greece and Russia are the only countries to have such a great proportion of Orthodox population.
“According to the history of Orthodoxy, the first who came in the Greek territory to preach Christianity was Saint Paul in 49 AD. Although many people converted to Christianity in the centuries that followed, this didn 't become an official religion until the Emperor Constantine the Great established Christianity as the official religion of the Byzantine Empire (Greeka, N.A)”.
“The Orthodox Church is strongly connected to the Greek Nation since the Byzantine times, when the Patriarch of Constantinople had a strong power over the national matters. During the Ottoman rule, from 1453 to 1821, the Orthodox religion was an important element for the conservation and the
When Constantine moved the capital to Constantinople the Christian churches of Rome and Constantinople found themselves at odds. They ended up differing on many subjects. Over the years they gradually grew apart until the final split happened in 1054. This continues to today. The differences are slight but significant. The Roman church continued with using Latin as the official language, giving the Pope the ultimate authority, but not allowing priests to get married (Doc C). Whilst the Eastern Orthodox church decided to have Greek as the official language, instead of a Pope they had a ceremonial leader, also known as the Patriarch (who could marry); this is because Constantinople failed to see the Pope as the supreme authority. Their interpretation of the bible was also a bit different (Doc C). In the world there are about 120,845,374 people who worship Orthodox Christianity. Though there are many branches of it. Most of the religion stays in the Eastern side of the world, except the 5,000,000 or so Americans (Doc C). If it hadn’t been for the Byzantines stepping out
The first way that geography had a negative effect was their surrounding mountains. Their location in reference to the mountains made travel extremely hard for them to do so they had to turn to the waterways for travel and getting around. In document four it states, “The mountains of Greece were difficult to cross; therefore, the sea became the Greeks’ highway.” That shows that because the land was not safe for travel and that meant that their communication with other civilizations, they had to turn to water for everything. Our next topic about the negative effects is, the nervous feeling that they always had. Since the Greeks’ were surrounded by active volcanoes and they had many earthquakes, they could never be sure that they were safe, because innocent people were constantly getting killed by these natural disasters. The third document states, “Greece is smack-dab in the middle of a very active volcanic zone, where the Europe tectonic plate meets the Africa tectonic plate. There are several active volcanoes, and earthquakes are very common. There is a nervous feeling that there could be a natural disaster at any time.” That proves why the the ancient Greeks’ got so nervous about their location and if they would be the next innocent civilian that would die from a natural disaster. There were a lot more ways than the ones that I put down, of how their ancient geography negatively affected the first of the Greeks’
The Roman Empire influenced the Byzantine Empire’s culture, mainly through the religion of Christianity. Christianity first appeared in the Roman Empire, with the birth, teachings, and supposed resurrection of Jesus Christ. In the beginning years of it’s arrival, Christianity was not tolerated and Christians were mainly, and most often brutally prosecuted. However, with Constantine’s Edict of Milan, Christianity was officially tolerated, and under Theodosius, it became the official religion of the Roman Empire. The Byzantine Empire inherited this relatively new religion, continuing to follow the beliefs and traditions of the church, as well as spreading the word of Jesus Christ and the message of god. Churches sprung up in the empire, such as the mighty Hagia Sophia. Located in Constantinople and built by Justinian, this church especially exemplified
Greece is also known as Hellenic Republic, the first country in Europe to advance civilization, Greece is one of the most visited country in Europe locate in southern Europe near Albania, Turkey, Bulgaria, and Rep. Macedonia.
One way was the sea. Athens was located on the Attica peninsula so they were surrounded by water on three sides and Athens built its naval supremacy of Triremes. The Triremes gave Athens control of the Mediterranean Sea so they controlled trade and gained the name the “Big Olive.” A lot of the battles of the Persian war were fought with navies and the Trireme allowed for them to win the narrow straits of Salamis. The sea also greatly impacted economy. The Ionian Sea, Mediterranean Sea, and Aegean Sea connected all of the land and islands of Ancient Greece so they could trade with one another. The Sea also allowed for travel and they could trade with other countries like Egypt. They could make a profit for their natural resources and benefit from obtaining resources that were not natural to Greece at the time. The biggest impact geography had on Greece was the land. The land was dry with only 20% arable land and it was extremely mountainous. The mountains ran from the northwest part of Greece to the southeast part along the Balkan Peninsula. Due to the dryness, the Greek city states were constantly looking to expand their land and the mountains caused each city state to be spread apart. This made them have decentralized governments. Also due to the mountainous geography, there were over 1000 Greek city states including Athens and Sparta. Land also was on Sparta’s side during the Peloponnesian
“Beginning with the reign of Constantine I and the establishment of the Byzantine Empire, the Eastern Christian church became a tool of the Emperors. Byzantine Emperors and Empresses played a dominant role in the Eastern church and used the Christian religion to strengthen the Empire internally, to spread Byzantine cultural and political influence, and at times, to fortify their own power”
The soil was so hard, rocky, and mountainous that there was a Greek legend that says that God when making the Earth put each country through a strainer and that the rocks left in the strainer became Greece. This layout of Ancient Greece made it extremely hard for the Greeks to travel by land which eventually led them to sailing. Another negative of the geography of Ancient Greece was the unpredictable volcano eruptions and earthquakes. As stated in Document 3 the volcano eruptions were common because Greece is right in the middle of a very active volcanic zone where the Europe and Africa tectonic plates meet. Volcanoes have been so bad that according to Document 3 in 1450 B.C half of Santorini Island was sunken into the sea after a volcano eruption that destroyed the whole island’s
The geography of ancient Greece impacted their civilization in a variety of ways. The Greek peninsula is surrounded by the west by the Ionian Sea, the Mediterranean Sea to the south and the Aegean Sea to the east.
Geography has always been a unique and picturesque part of Greece. Greece has amazing mountains and landscapes. Having the geography Greece has, has both positive and negative effects on Greece but the results are ultimately negative. Like the lack of communication and the isolation between communities. Also the natural disaster were negative too.
Geographical location: The position of Greece at the crossroads between Africa, Asia, and Europe has undeniably played a large role in the diverse and often turbulent history of Greece. Protruding from Europe, Greece hangs precariously southward from the end of the Balkan Peninsula, and slices towards the Mediterranean Sea with dramatic peninsulas and thousands of large and small islands. The Mediterranean Sea offered an easily adaptable climate with mild winters and hot, dry summers, while the mountainous terrain, allowed for multiple easily defensible positions. The surrounding sea offered an environment conducive to developing and sustaining an enduring culture that was relatively safe from the incursions while able to communicate and exchange
The south and west of Greece is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea and the north and east share borders with Bulgaria, Turkey, FYROM and Albania. The Greek flag is made up of the colours blue and white, it has 9 horizontal stripes and has a white plus sign in the top
Constantine the Great, first Christian Emperor, originator of Constantinople, creator of the Byzantine Empire, military conqueror, and honored saint, has been labeled by many the most instrumental emperor of the Roman Empire. Constantine played a crucial role in the development of Europe during the Middle Ages, and founded Christianity as the formal religion of the Roman Empire. His dynamic yet effective predominance laid the infrastructure of European development. From his humble beginnings, to his command of the Roman Empire, to his final days, Constantine’s impact on world history and Christianity has left behind an unforgettable legacy. He was described by Eusebius as “such an emperor as all history records
In a relatively resource-poor region, a society rose from the access of foreign sources of raw materials and markets abroad. This society came to be known as one of the largest nations in Eurasia. The rise and fall of this great nation has to do with war-fare and the conflict between city-states. Their division led to the widespread of language and culture. This is the great story of Ancient Greece and how individualism changed the view Greece had on certain issues. (Bulliet 99) From 1000 B.C.E to 30 B.C.E, Ancient Greece’s view on individualism changed the political system Greece had, over time changed the way individuals thought and made important Intellectual changes, and gradually changed the Economic system such as bartering.
Crete is the largest Greek island. From east to west, the island is approximately 260 km long; From north to south, the island ranges from 60 km to 12 km in distance. Crete is surrounded by the Libyan and Cretan seas. As such, the Minoans had access to marine life, such as mackerels and mussels.
Although Christianity was initially practiced within Semitic populations of the Roman Empire, by the 4th century A.D the Christian religion had a huge impact to the Greeks and also the early Byzantine Empire. But by this time Christian communities had been established in all the important cities in the Roman Empire. In 313 the next emperor Constantine legalized Christianity throughout the empire. He also