GREECE

Greece known since ansient times as Hellas

Greece is strategically located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia and Africa. Situated on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, Greece shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north and Turkey to the northeast. The country consists of nine geographic regions: Macedonia, Central Greece, the Peloponnese, Thessaly, Epirus, theAegean Islands (including the Dodecanese and Cyclades), Thrace, Crete, and the Ionian Islands. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of the mainland, the Ionian Sea to the west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the longest coastline on theMediterranean Basin and the 11th longest coastline in the world.

Greece is strategically located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia and Africa. Situated on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, Greece shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north and Turkey to the northeast. The country consists of nine geographic regions: Macedonia, Central Greece, the Peloponnese, Thessaly, Epirus, theAegean Islands (including the Dodecanese and Cyclades), Thrace, Crete, and the Ionian Islands. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of the mainland, the Ionian Sea to the west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the longest coastline on theMediterranean Basin and the 11th longest coastline in the world.

Modern Greece traces its roots to the civilization of Ancient Greece. Considered the cradle of all Western civilization, Greece is the birthplace of democracy, Western philosophy, the Olympic Games, Western literature and historiography, political science, majorscientific and mathematical principles and Western drama including both tragedy and comedy. The cultural and technological achievements of ancient Greece greatly influenced the world, with many aspects of Greek civilization being imparted to the East during the Hellenistic period following Alexander the Great's conquests, and to the West through Greece's incorporation into theRoman Empire and the subsequent Byzantine Empire, of which the traditions were preserved in the Greek Orthodox Church.