29 Facts About Greek people

Greek colonies and communities have been historically established on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea, but the Greek people themselves have always been centered on the Aegean and Ionian seas, where the Greek language has been spoken since the Bronze Age.

The Greek people language is the oldest written language still in use and its vocabulary has been the basis of many languages, including English as well as international scientific nomenclature.

Greek people was by far the most widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world and the New Testament of the Christian Bible was originally written in Greek people.

Ethnogenesis of the Greek people nation is linked to the development of Pan-Hellenism in the 8th century BC.

Classical period of Greek people civilization covers a time spanning from the early 5th century BC to the death of Alexander the Great, in 323 BC.

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An important factor in maintaining Greek identity was contact with barbarian peoples, which was deepened in the new cosmopolitan environment of the multi-ethnic Hellenistic kingdoms.

Between 168 BC and 30 BC, the entire Greek people world was conquered by Rome, and almost all of the world's Greek people speakers lived as citizens or subjects of the Roman Empire.

Greek people-speaking communities of the Hellenized East were instrumental in the spread of early Christianity in the 2nd and 3rd centuries, and Christianity's early leaders and writers were generally Greek people-speaking, though none were from Greece proper.

Distinct Greek people identity re-emerged in the 11th century in educated circles and became more forceful after the fall of Constantinople to the Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade in 1204.

Many Ottomans of Greek people origin were therefore to be found within the Ottoman forces which governed the provinces, from Ottoman Egypt, to Ottomans occupied Yemen and Algeria, frequently as provincial governors.

The Greek people speakers were the only ethnic group to actually call themselves Romioi, and, at least those educated, considered their ethnicity to be Hellenic.

Not coincidentally, on the eve of 1821, the three most important centres of Greek people learning were situated in Chios, Smyrna and Aivali, all three major centres of Greek people commerce.

Greek people success was favoured by Greek people domination in the leadership of the Eastern Orthodox church.

Since its inception, Hellenism was primarily a matter of common culture and the national continuity of the Greek people world is a lot more certain than its demographic.

Greek people populations have not traditionally exhibited high rates of growth; a large percentage of Greek people population growth since Greece's foundation in 1832 was attributed to annexation of new territories, as well as the influx of 1.

Greek people culture has evolved over thousands of years, with its beginning in the Mycenaean civilization, continuing through the classical era, the Hellenistic period, the Roman and Byzantine periods and was profoundly affected by Christianity, which it in turn influenced and shaped.

The oldest inscriptions in Greek people are in the Linear B script, dated as far back as 1450 BC.

The Greek people alphabet derived from the Phoenician alphabet, and in turn became the parent alphabet of the Latin, Cyrillic, and several other alphabets.

Greek people-speaking Muslims live mainly outside Greece in the contemporary era.

The scholarly tradition of the Greek people academies was maintained during Roman times with several academic institutions in Constantinople, Antioch, Alexandria and other centers of Greek people learning, while Byzantine science was essentially a continuation of classical science.

Hundreds of thousands of Greek people students attend western universities every year while the faculty lists of leading Western universities contain a striking number of Greek people names.

The Greek people flag is widely used by the Greek people Cypriots, although Cyprus has officially adopted a neutral flag to ease ethnic tensions with the Turkish Cypriot minority.

Notable modern Greek people politicians include Ioannis Kapodistrias, founder of the First Hellenic Republic, reformist Charilaos Trikoupis, Eleftherios Venizelos, who marked the shape of modern Greece, social democrats Georgios Papandreou and Alexandros Papanastasiou, Konstantinos Karamanlis, founder of the Third Hellenic Republic, and socialist Andreas Papandreou.

Greek people surnames began to appear in the 9th and 10th century, at first among ruling families, eventually supplanting the ancient tradition of using the father's name as disambiguator.

Nevertheless, Greek people surnames are most commonly patronymics, such those ending in the suffix -opoulos or -ides, while others derive from trade professions, physical characteristics, or a location such as a town, village, or monastery.

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Traditional Greek people homelands have been the Greek people peninsula and the Aegean Sea, Southern Italy, the Black Sea, the Ionian coasts of Asia Minor and the islands of Cyprus and Sicily.

Notable Greek seafarers include people such as Pytheas of Massalia who sailed to Great Britain, Euthymenes who sailed to Africa, Scylax of Caryanda who sailed to India, the navarch of Alexander the Great Nearchus, Megasthenes, explorer of India, later the 6th century merchant and monk Cosmas Indicopleustes, and the explorer of the Northwestern Passage Ioannis Fokas known as Juan de Fuca.

Greek people shipping tradition recovered during the late Ottoman rule, when a substantial merchant middle class developed, which played an important part in the Greek people War of Independence.

Today, Greek people shipping continues to prosper to the extent that Greece has one of the largest merchant fleets in the world, while many more ships under Greek people ownership fly flags of convenience.