2. History
The mountainous landscape there favored small,
independent city-states
Each Greek city-state, or polis, was made up of a
city and the land around it
The government of the city-state of Athens was the
first known democracy
Greek philosophers, artists, architects, and writers
made important contributions to Western
civilization
3. The Byzantine Empire
About A.D. 400 the Roman Empire was divided
into two parts
The western half was ruled from Rome. It soon
fell to Germanic peoples the Romans called
barbarians
The eastern half of the Roman Empire was
known as the Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire carried on the traditions of
the Roman Empire for another 1,000 years
4. Government
In World War II Greece was occupied by
Germany
They adopted a new constitution that created a
government with a president and a prime minister
5. Culture
Turkish influences on Greek art, food, and music
can still be seen
6. Religion
Some 98 percent of Greeks are Eastern Orthodox
Christians, commonly known as Greek Orthodox
Easter is a major holiday and cause for much
celebration
Because the Greek Orthodox Church has its own
calendar, Christmas and Easter are usually
celebrated one to two weeks later than in the West
7. The Arts
The ancient Greeks produced beautiful buildings,
sculpture, poetry, plays, pottery, and gold jewelry.
They also made mosaics (moh-ZAY-iks)—pictures
created from tiny pieces of colored stone—that
were copied throughout Europe
8. Greece Today
More people work in agriculture than in any other
industry
armers raise cotton, tobacco, vegetables, wheat,
lemons, olives, and raisins
About 20 percent of the Greek labor force works in
agriculture
About 40 percent of Greeks live in rural areas
Athens, in central Greece, is the capital and by far
the largest city
There is a lot of air pollution in this area
