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Greece is about the same size as Alabama.
(SSFC, 10/9/05, Par p.27)
Pieria: a district in northern Thessaly (a region in eastern
Greece), the reputed home of the muses.
(NH, 9/97, p.24)
5Mil BC Crete separated from the
Greek mainland about this time.
(AP, 1/4/11)
700k BC – 130k BC In 2010 experts from Greece and
the US found rough axes and other tools, thought to be between
130,000 and 700,000 years, old close to shelters on the south coast
of Crete.
(AP, 1/4/11)
32000BC-21000BC In 2004 Some 70 clay hearths of
this age were identified in a single cave in the northwestern
Peloponnese.
(Arch, 1/05, p.13)
3200BC-2000BC The Cycladic culture, a network of small, sometimes
fortified farming and fishing settlements that traded with mainland
Greece, Crete and Asia Minor, flourished during this period. It is
best known for the elegant figurines: mostly naked, elongated
figures with arms folded under their chests. It was eclipsed by
Crete and Mycenaean Greece.
(AP, 12/31/06)
6000BC-5500BC In 2005 archaeologists in northern Greece uncovered
traces of two prehistoric farming settlements dating back to this
period.
(AP, 11/28/05)
2500BC Cycladic figurines on the islet of Keros
were deliberately smashed around this time. In 2006 new research led
scientists to believe that Keros was a hugely important religious
site where the smashed artwork was ceremoniously deposited. The
sea-faring Cycladic culture consisted of a network of small,
sometimes fortified, farming and fishing settlements that traded
with mainland Greece, Crete and Asia Minor. It became renowned for
its elegant flat-faced marble figurines.
(SFC, 1/10/06, p.D7)(AP, 12/31/06)
2200BC In Greece Indo-European invaders, speaking
the earliest form of Greek, entered the mainland.
(eawc, p.2)
2000-1500 The Minoan civilization, named after the
Cretan ruler Minos, reached its height with central power in Knossos
on the isle of Crete. The culture was apparently more
female-oriented and peaceful than others of the time.
(eawc, p.2)
1700BC Knossos was first destroyed by an
earthquake. Mycenae, the great city of the Peloponnesus, was another
earthquake victim about this time.
(SFC,12/9/97, p.A8)
1627BC The volcano Thera, or Santorini in the
Aegean Sea, erupted about this time. Akrotiri, a Minoan city on the
south part of Thera, was later excavated. About 3-6 feet (1-2 m) of
ash fell on the city which had a population of about 30,000. The
explosion of Thera about this time released energy equal to 200,000
H-bombs. In 1939 Spyridon Marinatos authored “The Volcanic
Destruction of Minoan Crete.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minoan_eruption)(NH, 5/96, p.3)
1600-1300BC Messenia, the home of King Nestor,
mentioned in Homer's Iliad, is the site of a well excavated palace
that dates to this period.
(LSA., Fall 1995, p.6)
1600-1200 The Mycenaean civilization on the Greek
peninsula emerged. It was named after the leading Greek city of this
period.
(eawc, p.2)
1500BC Chersonesos on the Crimean peninsula on the
edge of Sevastopol was the Greek world’s most northern colony.
(SFC,12/190/97, p.F6)
1500BC-400AD This period of Greek history was
covered by Charles Freeman in his 1999 book "The Greek Achievement."
(WSJ, 8/31/99, p.A20)
1400BC Around Greece after the destruction of
Knossos the Mycenaean civilization replaced the Minoan. Bronze
weapons, war scenes on art, Cyclopean defense walls and the burial
of male warriors with their weapons indicates that the Mycenaeans
were militaristic. The horse drawn chariot emerged about this time.
The Mycenaeans dominated the Aegean world for about 200 years.
(eawc, p.4)
1295-1272BC The Hittite king Muwatalli II signed a
treaty with Alaksandu, ruler of the Arzawa land known as Wilusa
(northwest Turkey), which became Wilios in Bronze Age Greece and
then slurred to Ilios for Homer’s Iliad.
(Arch, 5/04, p.40)
1275-1240BC The Trojan War is usually dated to
this period.
(Nat. Hist., 4/96, p.49)
1267-1237 King Hattusili III ruled the Hittites.
He wrote a letter to the king of Ahhiyawa (thought to be Mycenaean
Greeks) and mentioned that Wilusa was once a bone of contention.
(Arch, 5/04, p.40)
1250BC Some scholars believe that the Mycenaeans
waged a successful war with the Trojans of western Asia Minor.
(eawc, p.5)
1250-1000BC Troy VIIa, another discernible era on
the site of the Trojan War. Evidence shows that Troy V was destroyed
by fire and that Troy VI saw the establishment of an entirely new
principality. An earthquake hit the thriving city of 5-6 thousand
people, but after the crisis, the same people returned and repaired
the city. The renovated Troy VIIa lasted some seventy years and was
then destroyed by a conflagration.
(Nat. Hist., 4/96, p.49-50)
1200BC The end of Mycenaean civilization.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.73)
1200BC The Philistines arrived by sea from the
area of modern-day Greece about this time. They went on to rule
major ports at Ashkelon and Ashdod, now cities in Israel, and at
Gaza, now part of the Palestinian territory known as the Gaza Strip.
(AP, 7/8/11)
1184BC Jun 11, Greeks finally captured Troy. This
corresponds to excavation levels VIi or VIIa at the site of
Hisarlik, Turkey. [see 1150BC]
(SC, 6/11/02)(Arch, 5/04, p.37)
1178BC Apr 16, In 2008 researchers suggested that
this was the date that Odysseus struck with arrows, swords and
spears, killing those who sought to replace him, as he returned from
the Trojan War.
(AP, 6/23/08)
1150BC Troy fell about this time. Estimated date
for the beginning of the Aeneid. [see 1275-1240BC] After King
Agamemnon, leader of the Greeks, returned home to Mycenae he was
killed by his wife Clytemnestra and her lover. In 2006 Cathy Gere
authored “The Tomb of Agamemnon.”
(V.D.-H.K.p.60)(Econ, 3/11/06, p.78)
1100BC By this time the Mycenaeans were overtaken
by Dorian invaders who used iron weapons. Greek culture then entered
unto a "Dark Age" period characterized by the disappearance of
writing and a decline in architecture that lasted to about 800BC.
(eawc, p.5)
1100-1000BC The first Greek tribes settled on
Crete around the 11th century BC.
(WSJ, 3/20/97, p.A17)
c800BC In Greece increased trade and governmental
defense fortifications allowed for the emergence of city-states to
emerge from tribal communities. These grew up among market places
and included Athens, Thebes and Megara on the mainland.
(eawc, p.6)
800-750 The Iliad epic was set down by Homer in
about the first half of the 8th century, some five centuries after
the war it purportedly reports.
(Nat. Hist., 4/96, p.44)
c800-700 The period of Homer, reputed author of
"The Iliad" and "The Odyssey."
(WUD, 1994, p.679)
c800-700 The Greeks and the Etruscans occupied
different regions of the peninsula during the 8th century.
(eawc, p.2)
800-500BC The Archaic period of Greece. It was
marked by developments in literature, the arts, politics, philosophy
and science. The Peloponnesian city of Corinth, Sparta and cities
along the coast of the Aegean flourished. Most of the cities were
similar in their political evolution except for the elite
dictatorship in Sparta. Most of the cities began as monarchies,
evolved to oligarchies, were overthrown during the age of tyrants
and eventually established democracies.
(eawc, p.6)
776BC In Olympia Greece the
Olympic Games were born after Iphitos, king of Elis, asked the
Delphic Oracle how to save Greece from civil war and plagues. The
answer was to revive the Olympics from their mythological roots.
Together with Lycourgos of Sparta and Kleosthenes of Pisa a sacred
truce was concluded and the games declared at Olympia. The historian
Pausanias (c150CE) wrote: "The Olympic victor must not win with
money but the fleetness of foot and the strength of body." In the
Pankration, a combination of wrestling and boxing, biting and
eye-gouging were forbidden. Adult women were discouraged from
attending the games under the penalty of being hurled from the
cliffs of Mount Typaion, opposite the stadium
(SFC, 7/14/96, p.T1)(WSJ, 7/19/96, p.R16)
750BC Greeks invent symbols for
vowels.
(V.D.-H.K.-p.25)
750BC The era of the Greek poet
Homer.
(MT, 10/95, p.10-11)
c750-700 The long-running Lelantine War between
Chalkis and Eretria, the 2 largest cities on the island of Euboia,
was named after the name of the plain that both cities claimed. The
two cities had jointly founded Cumae in Italy (c750). When they fell
out, the war between them split the Greek world in two.
(Arch, 1/05,
p.34)(www.britannica.com/eb/article?tocId=9047711)
c750-700BC Greeks adopted hoplite gear and the
phalanx for warfare over this period.
(Arch, 1/05, p.33)
750-600BC Greek colonies exert strong influence
over newly urbanized Etruscans.
(NG, 6/1988, p.710)
730BC In Greece the cremated
remains of some 120 men were placed in urns in the cemetery of
Paroika, the chief city of Paros Island.
(Arch, 1/05, p.)
729BC Greek colonists settled
in Catania, Sicily.
(SFC, 6/2/03, p.A11)
708BC Lampis of Sparta won the
pentathlon becoming the 1st Olympic winner in the long jump.
(NH, 6/03, p.12)
c680BC Inhabitants of Paros island (Greece)
colonized the northern Aegean island of Thasos, seizing its abundant
timber and gold mines. Soldier-poet Archilochus of Paros took part
in the colonization of Thasos as well as in conflicts with Naxos.
(Arch, 1/05, p.30,34)
668BC The Gymnopaedia was
introduced in Sparta. It was a yearly celebration during which naked
youths displayed their athletic and martial skills through the
medium of war dancing. The custom was introduced concurrently with
the introduction of naked athletics, oiling the body for exercise so
as to highlight its beauty.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gymnopaedia)
c650BC The time of Archilochus, poet.
(WUD, 1994, p.78)
c650BC Greece began using the drachma for
currency.
(SSFC, 11/11/01, p.F4)
650-500BC The age of the tyrants.
(eawc, p.6)
645BC Archilochus (b.~680BC),
Greek poet (Archilochos, Archilocos), died about this time. He lived
on the island of Paros and his innovative poetry, in various meters,
was the first to focus upon personal experiences and emotions.
(Econ, 12/3/11, TQ
p.6)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archilochus)
642BC The first horse race on
record was in the Olympic Games of Greece and the first prize was a
"woman of well-rounded domestic skills."
(SFEC, 8/2/98, Z1 p.8)
640BC In Greece the Spartan
form of government, adapted from the Dorians, was heavily influenced
by militarism. The Messenian wars initiated Sparta’s fear of change.
They remained isolated by banning trade and discouraging travel
outside their territory. Alcaeus, Greek lyric poet, was born in
Mytilene on the island of Lesbos. His lyrics expounded on
contemporary politics, love, hymns to Apollo and Hermes, and some
drinking songs.
(eawc, p.8)
631BC The city of Cyrene, in
what later became Libya, was first developed by the Greeks. It was
later settled by the Romans and destroyed in the earthquake of 365.
(SFC, 9/11/07, p.A16)
630BC Battus I of Cyrene
(d.600) founded the Greek colony of Cyrenaica and its capital,
Cyrene about this time. He was the first king of Cyrenaica, the
first Greek king in Africa, and the founder of the Battiad dynasty.
His son, Arcesilaus I of Cyrene, served as the second Greek king of
Cyrenaica and the second king of the Battiad dynasty. Cyrenaica, the
eastern coastal region of Libya, was also known as Pentapolis in
antiquity. Herodotus later told of how the oracle at Delphi told the
Libyans to organize along tribal lines and to keep the king in
charge at his home area.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcesilaus_I_of_Cyrene)(SSFC, 4/24/11,
p.F4)
625BC The first Greek coins
were stamped with the likeness of a wheat head to show that wheat
had been used for money before the use of coins.
(SFC, 7/6/96, p.E4)
612BC Sappho, Greek lyric poet
of Lesbos, was born. She is the most famous female poet of the
ancient world and is inscribed in the "Palatine Anthology" among the
Muses, rather than among the great lyric poets, in the 2nd century
BC. Her poetry explored female sexuality and love in a male
dominated society.
(eawc, p.8)
c600 BC Aesop said: "We hang the petty thieves,
but appoint the great ones to public office."
(SFEC, 3/15/98, Z1 p.8)
c600BC The Greeks established city-states along
the southern coast of Italy and the island of Sicily. They
contributed letters to the Roman alphabet, religious concepts and
artistic talent as well as mythology.
(eawc, p.8)
c600BC The Greeks established the trading colony
of Massalia, later Marseilles, and imported wine to the Celts in
exchange for iron, copper, tin, salt and slaves.
(NGM, 5/77)
600BC-500BC Greece in the 6th
century BC used a writing system, Boustrephedon, that featured
alternate lines read in opposite directions. The word is from the
Greek boustrophēdon, meaning literally “to turn like oxen” (in
plowing).
(www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/75943/boustrophedon)
595-339BC In Greece 4 Sacred Wars were fought for
the control of Delphi over this period.
(SSFC, 8/8/04, p.D7)
594BC Solon, the great elegiac
poet, was appointed chief magistrate of Athens. His reforms included
political and economic adjustments which led to dissatisfaction in
the upper and lower classes.
(eawc, p.8)
585BC In Miletus, Greece, the
founding city of philosophy, Thales predicted a total eclipse of the
sun. He was the founder of the Milesian school, and taught that all
things are composed of moisture. He was the first to propose a
rational explanation of the cosmos. By the end of the 6th century,
philosophers began to inquire into the nature of being, the
metaphysical nature of the cosmos, the meaning of truth, and the
relationship between the divine and the physical world.
(eawc, p.8)
580BC-500BC Pythagoras was born
on Samos. He journeyed to S. Italy, and was driven out of Croton to
the Bay of Taranto where he starved himself to death. He believed in
the transmigration of souls, and is said to have discovered the
mathematical ratios in musical harmonics.
(V.D.-H.K.p.34)
573BC Nemea, 70 miles from
Athens, became the site for the Olympic games.
(SFC, 9/25/00, p.A6)
c566BC-c468BC Simonides, a Greek poet, was also
called Simonides of Ceos. He created one of the first information
spaces with his "memory palaces."
(WUD, 1994, p.1328)(Wired, 2/98, p.101)
548BC The Greek Temple of
Apollo was destroyed. Amasis, ruler of Egypt, is said to have
financed its rebuilding.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty26.html)
546BC In Greece the first of
the Athenian tyrants, Peisistratus, replaced Solon as the ruler.
(eawc, p.9)
546BC The Persians destroyed
Egypt’s alliance with the Chaldeans, Lydia and Sparta by first
capturing Lydia then the Chaldaeans.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty26.html)
c540-470BC The Greek philosopher Heraclitus, "the
obscure," of Ephesus (486BC) lived about this time. For him reality
is flux which originated out of fire (as opposed to the "stable
reality" of Parmenides). Plato credits him with saying "One cannot
step into the same river twice."
(WUD, 1994, p.662)(eawc, p.10)
530BC In Greece Pythagoras,
mathematician and philosopher, and his followers founded the city of
Croton and combined philosophy and literature with political
activity as the foundation of their community. He is credited with
the Pythagorean theorem and the Pythagorean table of opposites, the
"dualism" that underlies Greek thought. In 2008 Kitty Ferguson
authored “The Music of Pythagoras,” which surveyed the ideas that
have been thought of as Pythagorean.
(eawc, p.9)(WSJ, 5/17/08, p.W8)
525BC On the island of Samos,
Greece, castles were built. Samos was the site of the Temple of
Hera, one of the 7 ancient Wonders of the World.
(SFEC, 7/20/97, p.T10)
c525BC Greek drama grew out of the Dionysian
festivals.
(eawc, p.9)
525-465BC Aeschylus is credited with being the
inventor of drama and for introducing a second actor into the plays
held every year in Athens in honor of Dionysus. His plays are
considered to be the beginning of tragic drama. His stories were
drawn from conflicts between the individual and the cosmos. Late in
his career he wrote his plays in groups of three. These included the
"Oresteia," "Prometheus Bound" and the "Danaides." In the Danaides
only the first play, "The Suppliant Women," has survived. It was
about 50 sisters who fled 50 cousins they were supposed to marry.
(V.D.-H.K.p.51)(WSJ, 7/10/97, p.A13)(eawc,
p.9)(WSJ, 12/5/01, p.A18)
c522BC Sep 4, Pindar (d.~443), Greek poet, was
born.
(WUD, 1994 p.1094)(MC, 9/4/01)
522BC The Temple of Apollo was
begun on the island of Naxos on the orders of the tyrant Lygdamis.
It was never completed.
(SFEC,12/21/97, p.T6)
518BC Pindar (d.438BC),
considered by some as the greatest Greek lyric poet, was born in
Cynoscephalae, Boeotia. His odes celebrated the games held at
religious festivals. Athletic victory served as the ground for his
poetic fancy and religious, moral and aesthetic insights.
(eawc, p.10)
515BC Parmenides of Elea was
born. He founded the Eleatic school in the Phocaean colony in
southern Italy. He was the first to focus attention on the central
problem of Greek metaphysics: the nature of being. For Parmenides
the laws governing the universe are stable and change is merely an
illusion.
(eawc, p.10)
510BC Hippias, the son of
Peisistratus, succeeded his father and was overthrown by a group of
nobles with the help of Sparta.
(eawc, p.10)
508BC Cleisthenes, the father
of Athenian democracy, ruled Athens. His reforms granted full rights
to all free men of Athens.
(eawc, p.10)
c500BC The use of characters for writing spread to
Greece where vowels were added and the basis for all Western
alphabets was established. The Greeks invented a reed pen.
(I&I, Penzias, p.45)(SFC, 7/26/04, p.F4)
c500BC The height of Greek sculpture began with
the work of Phideas. His masterpieces include the statue of Athena
in the Parthenon, the Parthenon reliefs, and the statue of Zeus in
the Temple of Olympian Zeus. The 2nd most important sculptor, Myron,
is renowned for his statue of the discus thrower.
(eawc, p.10)
499BC Athens and Eretria
supported an Ionian revolt against Persian rule.
(AP, 7/9/05)
496BC Sophocles (d.406BC), the
2nd Greek dramatist after Aeschylus, was born about this time. He is
considered by some as the greatest of the Greek dramatists. His
works include: "Oedipus Rex" and "Antigone."
(eawc, p.11)(SFC, 1/10/04, p.D6)
490BC Sep 2, Phidippides of
Athens set out on his 26-mile run that inspired the Marathon.
Phidippides was sent to seek troops from Sparta to help against the
invading Persian army. The Spartans were unwilling to help, until
the next full moon, due to religious laws. On Sept. 4th, Phidippides
returned the 26 miles Marathon without Spartan troops.
(MC, 9/2/01)
490BC Sep 9, First Persian
attack on Greece. Greeks led by Miltiades defeated the Persians at
the Battle of Marathon. Pheidipiddes, a hemerodromi or long-distance
foot messenger, was dispatched to run 26 miles from marathon to
Athens to announce the victory. He reached Athens and proclaimed:
"Rejoice! We conquer!" The he dropped dead. In the Battle of
Marathon Darius the Great of Persia was defeated by the Greeks. The
Greeks initiated the war when Persia, the strongest power in western
Asia, established rule over Greek-speaking cities in Asia Minor.
[see Sep 12]
(HFA, '96, p.38)(V.D.-H.K.p.49)(SFC, 7/14/96,
p.T7)(eawc, p.10)
490BC Sep 12, Athenian and
Plataean Hoplites commanded by General Miltiades drove back a
Persian invasion force under General Datis at Marathon. [see 490 Sep
9]
(HN, 9/12/98)
490BC Empedocles (d.430BC),
Greek philosopher, was born. He is best known for being the
originator of the cosmogenic theory of the four classical elements.
An important idea in ancient Greek philosophy is that "Nothing comes
from nothing", so that what exists now has always existed, since no
new matter can come into existence where there was none before. An
explicit statement of this, along with the further principle that
nothing can pass away into nothing, is found in Empedocles
(ca. 490–430 BCE): "For it is impossible for anything to come to be
from what is not, and it cannot be brought about or heard of that
what is should be utterly destroyed."
(Econ, 2/7/09,
p.72)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation_of_mass)
490BC A Persian force under Datis, a Mede,
destroyed Eretria and enslaved its inhabitants but was defeated by
the Athenians at Marathon.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty27.html)
490-479BC The Greco-Persian War is commonly
regarded as one of the most significant wars in all of history. The
Greeks emerged victorious and put an end to the possibility of
Persian despotism.
(eawc, p.10)
c490-430BC The Greek philosopher Zeno of Elea
proposed a number of paradoxes to support the claim of Parmenides
that the world was a motionless, unchanging unity. The race between
Achilles and the tortoise is one example.
(WUD, 1994, p.1660)(SFC, 7/14/97, p.E5)
487BC Sep 23, Greek dramatist
Euripides, was born. He wrote "Medea" and "The Trojan Women." His
plays used a device called "Deus ex Machina," literally "God from a
machine." Today the term refers to sudden events that come from
nowhere to advance the plot. [see 484-406, 480-406]
(MC, 9/23/01)
c485BC Athenian democracy was accompanied by an
intellectual revolution with beginnings in Sophism. Sophists
situated ethics and politics within philosophical discourse, which
before was limited to physics and metaphysics alone. Protagoras, the
leading Sophist, stated: "Man is the measure of all things." For him
all truth, goodness, and beauty are relative to man’s necessities
and inquiries. In opposition to the Sophists emerged Socrates, Plato
and Aristotle, each of whom offered alternatives to the Sophist’s
relativism.
(eawc, p.11)
484-420BC Herodotus was the first historian to lay
out a coherent story. He authored the 9-book history of the
Graeco-Persian War: "Researches into the Causes and Events of the
Persian Wars," and the "The Histories of Herodotus." He also wrote a
book dedicated to his travels through Egypt.
(V.D.-H.K.p.53)(SFC, 3/26/97, p.A12)(eawc, p.11)
484-406BC Euripides was an Athenian tragedian who
brought the gods and heroes down to earth. He presented pictures of
human life that were sometimes tragic, sometimes comic, but always
and undeniably real. [see 487, 480-406]
(V.D.-H.K.p.52)
483BC Themistocles, fearing
destruction at the hands of the Persians, persuaded his fellow
Athenians to build a navy of one hundred triremes. He also oversaw
the fortification of the harbor at Piraeus, which then replaced
Phaleron as the port of Athens.
(www.historyguide.org/ancient/lecture7b.html)(AM,
7/05, p.12)
480BC Aug 9, The Persian army
defeated Leonidas and his Spartan army at the battle Thermopylae,
Persia. In 1998 Steven Pressfield authored: "Gates of Fire, An Epic
Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae." In 2006 Paul Cartledge authored
“Thermopylae: The Battle That Changed the World.”
(HN, 8/9/98)(SFEC, 11/29/98, BR p.3)(WSJ,
11/11/06, p.P11)
480 BC Sep 20, Themistocles and his Greek fleet
won one of history's first decisive naval victories over Xerxes'
Persian force off Salamis. Persia under Xerxes attacked Greece.
Athens got burned but the Athenian fleet under Themistocles trapped
and destroyed the Persian navy at Salamis. Phoenician squadrons were
at the heart of Xerxes’ fleet; the king of Sidon was among his
admirals. 31 states of the Hellenic League fought Xerxes.
(V.D.-H.K.p.49), (NG, Aug., 1974, S.W. Matthews,
p.174)(HN, 9/20/98)(WSJ, 4/26/99, p.A18)
480BC Oct 20, Greeks defeated
the Persians in a naval battle at Salamis. [see Sep 20]
(HN, 10/20/98)
480BC The Acropolis temples
were destroyed during the Persian invasion. The ruins lay untouched
for 30 years until 447, when Pericles initiated a reconstruction
program.
(WSJ, 12/14/00, p.A24)(WSJ, 2/19/02, p.A22)
c480BC Herodotus said marijuana was cultivated in
Scythia and Thrace, where inhabitants intoxicated themselves by
breathing the vapors given off when the plant was roasted on
white-hot stones.
(WSJ, 2/8/05, p.D7)
480-c406BC Euripides, Greek tragic dramatist. He
authored "Medea," "Alcestis," "The Cyclops" and "The Trojan
Woman." His drama dealt with situations that were analogous to human
life. In 1997 Greek archeologists claimed to have discovered the
island cave where he worked. [see 484-406]
(WSJ, 1/10/97, p.A9)(WUD, 1994, p.492)(USAT,
1/15/97, p.9A)(LSA, Spg/97, p.14)(EEE, p.12)
479BC Aug 27, A combined Greek
army stopped the Persians at the battle at Plataea.
(V.D.-H.K.p.49)(NG, Aug., 1974, p.174)
478BC Athens led other Greek
states in the formation of the Delian League to provide money for a
common defense against Persia. Athens used much of the money for
building projects that included the Parthenon. The League continued
even after the end of the Greco-Persian War and transformed into a
naval empire with Athens as its leader.
(eawc, p.11)(Econ, 7/11/09, p.19)
474BC The Etruscans were routed
by the Greeks of Syracuse in a sea battle off Cumae near Naples.
(NG, 6/1988, p.739)
c470/469BC Jun 5, Socrates (d.399BC) was born in
Athens. He served as an infantryman during the Peloponnesian War
between Athens and Sparta. A sophist (teacher of philosophy), he
claimed not to know anything for certain and used the interrogatory
method for teaching. He left no written works. He was a major critic
of popular belief in Athens and was the protagonist of Plato’s
dialogues. "Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of
a vessel." [3rd source has him born in 469]
(V.D.-H.K.p.43)(CFA, '96, p.48)(WU, p.1350)(Hem.,
1/97, p.96)(eawc, p.11)
467BC A meteorite crashed to
earth and convinced Greek philosopher Anaxagoras that heavenly
bodies were not divine beings. He became the world's earliest figure
to be indicted for atheism.
(WSJ, 11/21/03, p.W4)
461-429BC In Athens this was the "Age of
Pericles." Athenian democracy reached perfection and the court
systems were completed. A jury system was put in place with the jury
serving as the absolute authority in judicial matters. Pericles
commissioned the master sculptor Phidias to build the Parthenon.
(eawc, p.11)(SFEC, 6/6/99, p.A26)
460BC-400BC Thucydides lived
about this time. As author of the History of the Peloponnesian Wars,
he inserted into his history speeches by important war figures that
he made up. He also wrote on the Athenian slaughter of the Melians.
He is associated with the historical view that cycles of growth,
expansion and decline are a natural part of international life. In
2005 Perez Zagorin authored “Thucydides: An Introduction for the
Common Reader.”
(WSJ, 5/13/98, p.A20)(WSJ, 1/19/06,
p.D8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thucydides)
450BC Epicharmus, Sicilian
Greek comic poet, died: "The wise man must be wise before, not
after."
(AP, 12/29/97)
448-380BC In Greece Aristophanes, considered by
some as the greatest Greek comedy writer, lived. His work includes
"The Clouds" and "Lysistrata." Greek comedy like Greek tragedy
originated in the Dionysian festivals. In Lysistrata he described
how Greek women abstained from sex until their men stopped fighting
in the Peloponnesian war.
(EEE, p.12)(SFC,11/8/97, p.A10)
447BC Athens under Pericles
initiated a reconstruction program that included the construction of
the Parthenon on the Acropolis.
(WSJ, 2/19/02, p.A22)
447-432 The marble friezes of the Parthenon were
carved.
(AM, 5/01, p.14)
444BC Ikos of Tarentum won the
Olympic Pentathlon. He gave up sex as part of his training regimen.
(WSJ, 2/8/06, p.A1)
c444BC-360BC Agesilaus II, King of Sparta: "If I
have done any deed worthy of remembrance, that deed will be my
monument. If not, no monument can preserve my memory."
(AP, 10/29/97)
440BC-430BC Leucippus, Greek
philosopher, founded a school at Abdera about this time. His pupil,
Democritus, was closely associated with the school. Leucippus was
overshadowed by Democritus, who systematized his views on atoms.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leucippus)
440BC-420BC Sophocles composed
his tragedy "The Trachinian Women." It described what happened when
he put on the robe woven by his wife Deianeira. In 1680 Pierre Puget
made his bronze sculpture of Herakles (Hercules) struggling in the
burning tunic.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.55)
438BC The Parthenon was built
atop the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. Iktinos was one of the
architects of the Parthenon. The hellish slave labor silver mines at
Laurium supported Athens.
(SFC, 7/14/96, p.T7)(AM, Jul-Aug/99, p.12)(SFEM,
1/30/00, p.10)
434BC The Greek philosopher
Anaxagoras suggested that the sun is just a ball of fire about as
large as the Peloponnesus, floating in the air about 4,000 miles
above the Earth. He believed that the Earth was flat and
thereby estimated the diameter of the sun to be about 35 miles.
(SCTS, p.3-4)
432BC An Athenian devised a
19-year "Metatonic cycle" to reconcile the lunar and solar years.
(SFC, 11/29/03, p.D2)
431BC Euripides wrote his
tragedy "Medea," based on the legend of the sorceress Medea,
daughter of Aeëtes, King of Colchis, and wife of Jason, whom
she assisted in obtaining the Golden Fleece. It describes how Jason
abandoned the sorceress Medea to marry Glauke, a Corinthian
princess.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.55)(WUD, 1994, p.890)
431-404BC The Peloponnesian war between Athens and
Sparta. It was finally won by Sparta. Athenian trade was destroyed
and democracy was overthrown as Athens surrendered to Sparta as a
subject state. Sparta assumed dominance over the Greek world and
replaced many democracies with oligarchies. In 1972 Geoffrey de Ste.
Croix (1910-2000), British Marxist historian, authored "The Origins
of the Peloponnesian War." He pinned the cause of the conflict on
the Spartans.
(V.D.-H.K.p.50)(EEE, p.12)(SFC, 2/15/00, p.A21)
430BC Legend has it that the
Greek philosopher Empedocles (b.430) climbed Mount Etna only to leap
into its crater in despair. It is said that he jumped in out of
frustration because he couldn’t figure out how the volcano worked.
Empedocles was the author of a work called "On Nature."
(PacDisc. Spring/’96, p.26)(WSJ, 8/21/01, p.A17)
430BC Thucydides in his History
of the Peloponnesian War tells how the Spartans attempted to destroy
the city of Plataia with a flaming mixture of pitch and sulfur.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.57)
430-410BC A mysterious disease killed one-third of
the Athenian population. Thucydides, who was stricken but recovered,
described the plague in Athens (likely an outbreak of typhus fever)
in Book 2 of his History of the Peloponnesian War.
(NH, 6/97, p.11)(WSJ, 9/9/06, p.P8)
429BC Pericles (b.490BC),
Athenian statesman, died of the plague.
(WUD, 1994, p.1071)(NH, 6/97, p.10)
427BC May 21, Plato (d.347BC),
Greek philosopher, was born. His work included the "Republic," and
the dialogues "Critias" and "Timaeus" in which he mentioned the
island empire of Atlantis. He claimed that an Egyptian priest
confided information about Atlantis to Solon, the Athenian
legislator, whose memoirs Plato claimed to have read. In 1998 2
books on Atlantis were published: "Atlantis Destroyed" by Rodney
Castleden and "Imagining Atlantis" by Richard Ellis.
(HN, 5/21/98)(WSJ, 6/26/98, p.W9)
424BC Thucydides in his history
of the Peloponnesian War tells how the Spartans used pitch and
sulfur against the Athenians at Delium. In this 7th year of the war
unexpected Boeotian horsemen charged on the right flank of Athens's
hoplite column causing many Athenians to flee. Socrates and
Alcibiades retreated into the woods and survived.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.57)(SSFC, 9/21/03, p.M6)
415BC Greece undertook its
Sicilian Expedition. The overseas adventure destroyed Athenian power
and freedom.
(WSJ, 1/19/06, p.D8)
411BC Aristocratic Athenians,
including students of Socrates, overthrew Athen’s democracy in
conspiracy with Alcibiades. The oligarchic junta lasted only a few
months.
(Econ, 12/19/09, p.63)
407BC Euripides wrote "The
Bacchae" while residing at the court of the king of Macedon. He had
left Athens in the last years of its war against Sparta. The play
dealt with the violent introduction of the cult of Dionysos into the
city of Thebes.
(WSJ, 12/31/97, p.A8)
406BC Athenian admirals
abandoned scores of shipwrecked sailors after a victory over the
Spartans at Arginusae. A storm prevented the ships assigned to
rescue the survivors of the 25 disabled or sunken Athenian triremes
from performing their duties, and a great number of sailors drowned.
(Econ, 1/23/10,
p.16)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Arginusae)
406BC Euripides (b.480/484),
Greek tragic dramatist, died. His plays included Phedre, which tells
the story of a queen’s incestuous love for her stepson.
(EEE, p.12)(Econ, 6/20/09, p.89)
406BC Sophocles (b.496/97BC),
the 2nd Greek dramatist after Aeschylus, died. He is considered by
some as the greatest of the Greek dramatists. His works include:
"Oedipus Rex" and "Antigone."
(eawc, p.11)(SFC, 1/10/04, p.D6)
405BC Aristophanes wrote his
play “The Frogs.” It tells how Dionysus, the god of theater, travels
to Hades with his slave Xanthias to bring back the shade of a great
playwright who will revive the declining art of drama and make the
world a better place.
(WSJ, 7/23/04, p.W1)
404BC Another coup toppled
Athen’s democracy. Leaders included Critias and Charmides, relatives
of Plato. Oligarchs conducted a reign of terror for much of a year
before Athens reclaimed its democracy.
(Econ, 12/19/09, p.63)
404-338BC Sparta is not able to persist in the
rule of Greece. Power over Greece shifts from Sparta to Thebes and
then to numerous other city-states, none able to maintain rule over
such a large empire.
(http://eawc.evansville.edu)
401BC Oligarchs in Athens
schemed a 3rd coup but failed.
(Econ, 12/19/09, p.63)
401BC In the Battle of Cunaxa
Cyrus attempted to oust his brother Artaxerxes from rule over
Babylon. Greek forces, hired to help Cyrus, were left stranded when
Cyrus died. The Greek army elected Xenophon to lead them back home.
Xenophon later authored his “Anabasis” (expedition up country),
which told the story of return home. In 2005 Tim Rood authored “The
Sea, The Sea,” an analysis of Xenophon’s life story following his
death.
(WSJ, 5/4/05, p.D10)
c400BC In southern Greece the Phigaleians built a
temple in tribute to Apollo for restoring their homeland taken by
invading Spartans. The temple of Apollo Epikourios near Bassai was
said to have been designed by Iktinos.
(Arch, 9/00, p.16)
c400BC The first temple known to be dedicated to
the "supreme" Zeus was constructed about this time. In 2003 a
2,400-year-old headless marble statue was found along with 14
columns depicting eagles, one of the symbols of Hypsistos Zeus, the
chief deity of ancient Greece.
(AP, 8/2/03)
c400-300BC The Greeks founded Neopolis (Naples),
their "New City" in the 4th century B.C. They carved blocks of tufa
stone to build the city structures and left behind cavernous
quarries. Centuries later the Romans turned the quarries into
cisterns and connected them with tunnels. Water was brought in from
the Serino River in the hills of Avellino, 96 miles to the north.
This provided the water supply until 1883.
(SFEC, 1/26/97 , p.T9)
c400-300 Archestratus was a 4th century Greek
Sicilian. His writings included recipes of the time.
(SFC, 3/31/99, p.A8)
c400-300 Praxiteles sculpted Aphrodite, the 1st
known sculpture of a nude woman.
(SFC, 6/3/00, p.D4)
c400BC-200BC The "creative" phase of classical
Greek geometry. The subject was studied by Prof. Wilbur Richard
Knorr (d.1997 at 51) of Stanford who wrote: "The Evolution of
Euclidean Elements," "Ancient Sources of the Medieval Tradition of
Mechanics," "The Ancient Tradition of Geometric Problems," and
"Textual Studies in Ancient and Medieval Geometry."
(SFC, 3/20/97, p.A24)(SFEC, 3/30/97, p.D5)
399BC Feb 15, Socrates was
condemned to death on charges of corrupting the youth and
introducing new gods into Greek thought. A tribunal of 501 citizens
found Socrates guilty of the charge of impiety and corruption of
youth. Socrates b.(469BC) had been the teacher of two leaders who
were held responsible for the Greek‘s loss to Sparta in the
Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC). Plato‘s Apology, Crito, and Phaedo
describe Socrates‘ trial, imprisonment and death.
(eawc, p.11)(HNQ, 3/21/00)
399BC May 7, Socrates
(b.469BC), Greek philosopher, committed suicide. He had been
indicted for rejecting the Gods acknowledged by the State, of
bringing in strange deities, and of corrupting the youth. In
2007 Emily Wilson authored “The Death of Socrates.”
(www.crystalinks.com/socrates.html)(WSJ,
11/24/07, p.W8)
399BC-393BC Nepherites served
as the 1st ruler of Egypt’s 29th Dynasty. During his rule he entered
into an alliance with Sparta against the Persians.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nepherites_I)
395BC Agesilaos of Sparta
ravaged northwestern Turkey.
(Arch, 7/02, p.8)
384BC Aristotle (d.322 BC) was
born in Stagira, Macedonia. He entered Plato’s Academy at age 17.
After several years as tutor to Alexander the Great he returned to
Athens and founded the Lyceum. [see Mar 7, 322 BC]
(V.D.-H.K.p.44,45)(WSJ, 9/30/98, p.A16)(NH,
12/98, p.10)(SFC, 8/13/02, p.A13)
394BC Athens, Greece, declared
an embargo on Megara about this time. The ensuing 27-year struggle
left the Athenians humiliated and Magara’s ally, Corinth,
triumphant.
(Econ, 10/21/06, p.70)
384-322BC Demosthenes, Greek statesman: "He who
confers a favor should at once forget it, if he is not to show a
sordid, ungenerous spirit."
(AP, 10/4/00)
373BC The Greek city of Helike
was destroyed by an earthquake. Historians recorded that rats,
snakes and weasels had abandoned Helice just days before the quake
struck.
(NH, 10/02, p.78)(WSJ, 5/16/08, p.A6)
371BC Jul, Sparta, led by King
Agesilaus II, was decisively defeated in the Battle of Leuctra by
the Thebans under Epaminondas (47), commander of the Boeotian
League, which was an alliance of 11 city states in central Greece.
(HNQ, 10/24/00)(ON, 9/06, p.1)
370BC Epaminondas, commander of
the Boeotian League, led an army into the Peloponnese and captured
the prefecture of Messenia, which had been ruled and enslaved by
Sparta for 3 centuries.
(ON, 9/06, p.3)
367-348BC Aristotle studied under Plato at the
Academy in Athens. He left Athens to travel for 12 years and
returned to Macedonia where he tutored Alexander, son of Philip for
3 years. It was Plato who said that "A woman is only a lesser man."
(V.D.-H.K.p.44,45)(SFEC, 10/20/96, Z1 p.2)
362BC Epaminondas, commander of
the Boeotian League, confronted an army of Spartan and Athenian
troops near Mantinea. The Boeotians won the battle but Epaminondas
died from a javelin wound.
(ON, 9/06, p.3)
360BC Greek philosopher Plato,
in his "dialogues" from about this time, said an island he called
Atlantis "in a single day and night... disappeared into the depths
of the sea." He described Atlantis as "an island situated in front
of the straits which are by you called the Pillars of Hercules." In
2011 a US-led research team, using a satellite photo of a suspected
submerged city, suggested a site just north of Cadiz, Spain, as the
site of Atlantis.
(Reuters, 3/12/11)
360BC Perdiccas III, the king
of Macedonia in northern Greece, was killed in a battle with
Illyrian tribes. His son was an infant so control of the army passed
to his younger brother, Philip.
(ON, 4/2011, p.10)
359BC Philip II of Macedonia
defeated an Athenian attempt to replace him with a puppet leader.
(ON, 4/2011, p.10)
359-336 Philip II ruled the Kingdom of Macedonia.
He founded Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
(WUD, 1994, p.1081)(SFC, 7/18/96, p.E1)
358BC Philip II of Macedonia marched his men into
territories he had ceded to Paionia, Illyria and Thrace, where he
routed his enemies and forced them to pledge allegiance to
Macedonia.
(www, Albania, 1998)(ON, 4/2011, p.10)
356BC Olympias, the forth wife
of Philip II of Macedonia, gave birth to Alexander the Great (d.323)
in Pella. Philip later hired Aristotle to be the boy’s tutor.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_the_Great)(WSJ, 5/15/98,
p.W11)(ON, 4/2011, p.10)
354BC Demosthenes wrote a
series of speeches, later called the Philippics, which urged
Athenians to defend the city against Philip of Macedon.
(ON, 9/00, p.12)
352BC The Greek Mausoleum of
Helicarnassus was built. It was destroyed by an earthquake in the
1300s.
(WSJ, 10/10/01, p.B1)
c350BC Temples in Greece began to be used by ill
worshippers hoping for a cure from the gods. These were later
considered as the first hospitals.
(SFEC,6/11/00, Z1 p.2)
c350BC The new philosophy of the Cynics emerged
led by Greek philosopher Diogenes (404-323). He argued against
conventional life and that people should live naturally and strive
for self-sufficiency.
(eawc, p.13)(SFC, 10/29/08, p.G2)
347BC Plato (b.427BC), the most
distinguished student of Socrates, died. His real name was
Aristocles. Plato meant broad and he was known to have broad
shoulders. He was a prolific writer and considered by some as the
most important of all Greek philosophers. His works were all in
dialogue form and include: the "Apology," the "Symposium," the
"Phaedo," the "Phaedrus," and the "Republic."
(EEE, p.12)(SFEC, 9/28/97, Z1 p.2)
342BC Menander (c.~291), Greek
playwright, was born about this time in Athens. He wrote more than
100 plays, but many of his works have been lost. A 9th century
manuscript from a Syrian monastery contains 200 verses from
Menander's play "Dyskolos" ("The Grouch"). In 2003 a scholar
reported another 200 verses in the document appear to be by
Menander.
(AP,
12/6/03)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menander)
341BC-270BC Epicurus, Greek
philosopher born [342BC] in Samos, held that happiness is the
supreme good. He had studied under Democritus and was a confirmed
atomist. His happiness is interpreted to mean the avoidance of pain.
(V.D.-H.K.p.71)(eawc, p.14)
340BC Aristotle argued for the
spherical shape of the Earth in his "On The Heavens."
(BHT, Hawking, p.2)
340BC In 1962 a papyrus scroll
was found in a grave, about five miles northwest of Thessaloniki. It
was part of a rich cemetery belonging to the ancient city of Lete.
The original several yards of papyrus, rolled around two wooden
runners, was found half burnt. It dates to around 340 BC, during the
reign of Philip II of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great.
(AP, 6/1/06)
340-265 Zeno of Citium, aka Zeno the Stoic, was
born in Cyprus.
(WUD, 1994, p.1660)
359BC-336BC Philip II ruled the
Greek kingdom of Macedonia. During this period he founded Plovdiv,
Bulgaria.
(WUD, 1994, p.1081)(SFC, 7/18/96, p.E1)
338BC Philip of Macedon
conquered Greece and was succeeded by his son 2 years later. Athens
ceased to be a major power from this point on. Philip’s League of
Corinth was composed of impotent Hellenic states that had lost their
collective freedom at the battle of Chaeronea.
(eawc, p.13)(WSJ, 12/26/97, p.A7)(WSJ, 4/26/99,
p.A18)
338BC Philip II erected
Olympia’s Philippeion in Athens following his victory at Chaeronea.
The round marble building was completed by his son, Alexander.
(AM, 7/04, p.24)
337BC The city states of Greece
agreed to terms set down by Philip II of Macedon unifying the
country un Philip.
(ON, 4/2011, p.12)
336BC King Philip II, the
father of Alexander the Great, was murdered at a theater in Aigai in
northern Greece.
(AP, 8/29/09)
336BC Alexander inherited the
throne of Macedonia and all of Greece. He went to see the Oracle of
Delphi but was initially refused entry. He forced his way and
dragged the seeress into the temple. Plutarch wrote: "As if
conquered by his violence, she said, ‘My son, thou art invincible.’"
"That is all the answer I desire," replied Alexander. He began his
campaign to acquire new territory in Asia at age 22. Within 4 years
he conquered the entire Persian Empire.
(V.D.-H.K.p.50)(NG, Jan,1968, p.1,4)(eawc, p.13)
335BC Aristotle opened the
Lyceum in Athens which was devoted to scientific work. He invented
the science of logic, and divided the sciences into different fields
distinguished by subject matter and methodology. He believed in the
innate inferiority of slaves and females. He wrote the "Nicomachean
Ethics," a book about virtue and its reward, happiness. He
identified circularity in reasoning as the "fallacy of the
consequent" i.e. A good man is one who makes the right choices.
Greek archeologists claimed to have found the Lyceum site in 1997.
(V.D.-H.K.p.44,45)(USAT, 1/15/97, p.9A)
c335-c263BC Zeno the Stoic set up a school in
Athens at the Stoa Poikile (Painted Colonnade), and taught that
happiness consists in conforming the will to the divine reason,
which governs the universe. Thus a man is happy if he fully accepts
what is and does not desire what cannot be. Zeno was a Phoenician
from Kition on Cyprus. He taught that "events were destined to
repeat themselves" in endless cycles. [see 340-265]
(V.D.-H.K.p.71)(NG, Aug., 1974, p.189)(SFC,
7/14/97, p.E5)
334BC Alexander at 22 left
Pella, Greece with 30,000 foot soldiers and 5,000 cavalry and
proceeded to conquer western Asia including Miletus and Samos. His
favorite horse was named Bucephalus. At Gordium, where King Midas is
fabled to have held court, Alexander solved the puzzle of the
Gordian knot by severing it with his sword.
(V.D.-H.K.p.50)(NG, Jan, 1968 p.1,4,6)
333BC Alexander’s forces
overcame the Pisidians of Sagalassos.
(AM, 11/04, p.38)
333BC Alexander first
confronted Darius, king of Persia, and defeated him at the
battlefield of Issus.
(NG, Jan, 1968, p.18)
332BC Alexander stormed the
island of Tyre in July. and moved on to conquer Egypt. Alexander
besieged the city of Gaza. He was able to take Tyre by building a
causeway to the island. In Egypt Alexander founded Alexandria.
(R.M.-P.H.C.p.71), (NG, Aug., 1974, p.162)(Enc.
of Africa, 1976, p.167)
331BC Oct 1, Alexander the Great decisively
shattered King Darius III's Persian army at Gaugamela (Arbela), in a
tactical masterstroke that left him master of the Persian Empire.
(HN, 10/1/98)
331BC Alexander conquered the
Persian Empire and made his way to India and conquered part of it.
(eawc, p.13)
c330BC Euclid showed that an infinite number of
Prime numbers exists, but occur in no logical pattern.
(SFC, 11/23/98, p.A3)
330BC Alexander reached
Persopolis and burned it.
(V.D.-H.K.p.50)
330BC-320BC A Temple of Zeus
was built at Nemea, Greece, on the foundations of an earlier temple.
(SSFC, 8/21/05, p.B2)
327-326BC Alexander the Great passed through the
Indus Valley and installed Greek officials in the area.
(eawc, p.13)
326BC Alexander crossed the
Indus river and then the Jhelum river and defeated King Porus at the
edge of India. This was his last great battle.
(NG, Jan, 1968, p.56)
325BC Pytheas (c380BC-310BC),
Greek merchant, geographer and explorer, made a voyage of
exploration to northwestern Europe around this time. He traveled
around Great Britain, circumnavigating it between 330 and 320 BCE.
He claimed to have sailed past Scotland and mentioned a land called
Thule, where the surrounding ocean froze and the sun disappeared in
winter.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pytheas)
323BC Jun 10, Alexander died in
Persia at Babylon at the age of 32. His general, Ptolemy, took
possession of Egypt. Apelles was a painter in Alexander's court. He
had been commissioned by Alexander to paint a portrait of Campaspe,
Alexander's concubine. Apelles fell in love with Campaspe and
Alexander granted her to him in marriage. In 1984 Curtius Quintas
Rufus authored "the History of Alexander." In 1991 Peter Green
authored "Alexander of Macedon, A Historical Biography." “Alexander
the Great” by Norman F. Cantor (d.2004) was published in 2005.
(BS, 5/3/98, p.12E)(WSJ, 2/11/00, p.W6) (ON,
1/01, p.11)(SSFC, 12/25/05, p.M3)
323-30BC This period is called the Hellenistic
Age, the time from Alexander’s death to Roman rule. The principle
work on this period is "Hellenistic Athens" by Prof. William Scott
Ferguson (1875-1954). In 1995 Prof. Christian Habicht published
"Athens from Alexander to Antony" in Germany. An English edition was
translated by Deborah Lucas Schneider in 1997. In 2007 Peter Green
authored “The Hellenistic Age.”
(WSJ, 12/26/97, p.A7)(WSJ, 5/1/07, p.D7)
322BC Mar 7, Aristotle (d.322
BC) died. His writings included treatises on logic, metaphysics,
ethics, politics, rhetoric and natural sciences. He first described
language in terms of subject and predicate as well as parts of
speech. Aristotelian logic is based on a small number of unambiguous
constructs, such as, "if A, then B": the truth of one implies the
truth of another. This celebrated rule gives Aristotelian reasoning
the power to establish facts through inference. The constructs also
included A=A, representing that every entity is equal to itself. He
defined politics as the science of the sciences that looks after
well-being. His writings included "De Generatione Animalum." His
"Historia Animalium" was later translated by D'Arcy Wentworth
Thompson." "Hope is a waking dream." The opening of his
"Metaphysics" began: "All men by nature desire to know."
(V.D.-H.K.p.44,45)(I&I, Penzias, p.73)(Hem.,
1/96, p.11)(LSA, Spg/97, p.6)(EEE, p.12)(AP, 8/9/98)(WSJ, 9/30/98,
p.A16)(NH, 12/98, p.10)(SFC, 8/13/02, p.A13)
322BC Athens was brought under
the control of the Macedonian empire. Demosthenes was sentenced to
death, but he escaped and sought refuge on the island of Calauria,
where he committed suicide after troops followed him. In 1927
Charles Darwin Adams authored "Demosthenes and His Influence."
(ON, 9/00, p.12)
315BC Thessaloniki, Greece, was
founded about this time and flourished during the Roman and
Byzantine eras. In 2008 Greek workers discovered around 1,000
graves, some filled with ancient treasures, while excavating for a
subway system. Some of the graves, dated from the first century B.C.
to the 5th century A.D., contained jewelry, coins and various pieces
of art.
(AP, 3/11/08)
312 B.C. King Glauk of Illyria expelled the
Greeks from Durrës.
(www, Albania, 1998)
310BC Aristarchus of Samos
founded Hellenistic astronomy. Contrary to Aristotle he said that
the earth and all the other planets revolve around the sun. [see
300-200BC]
(eawc, p.14)
310BC Pytheas (b.c380BC), Greek
merchant, geographer and explorer, died about this time. He made a
voyage of exploration to northwestern Europe around 325 BCE. He
traveled around a considerable part of Great Britain,
circumnavigating it between 330 and 320 BCE.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pytheas)
309BC Heracles, the
illegitimate teenage son of Alexander the Great, was murdered about
this time during the wars of succession and buried in secret.
(AP, 8/29/09)
301 BC The generals of Alexander the Great fought
the Battle of Ipsus in Phrygia that resulted in the division of the
Greek Empire into 4 divisions ruled by Seleucus, Lysimachus,
Cassander and Ptolemy. Greek cities revolted against Macedonian rule
but to no avail.
(eawc, p.13)
300BC Euclid compiled his
Elements of Geometry. Included was his demonstration for "regular
partitioning."
(V.D.-H.K.p.37)(WSJ, 12/9/96, p.B1)
c300BC In Greece Epicureanism and Stoicism
originated in Athens. Both Epicurus and Zeno, the Stoic, believed in
an individualistic and materialistic philosophy. Neither believed in
spiritual substances. The soul was thought to be material. The
Epicureans believed that pleasure is the highest good, and that only
by abandoning the fear of the supernatural can one achieve
tranquility of mind. The Stoics believed that tranquility of mind
was only achieved by surrendering the self to the order of the
cosmos.
(eawc, p.14)
300BC Dura-Europos, a Greek
colony was built on the Euphrates in eastern Syria.
(SFC, 6/27/09, p.A8)
300BC Seleucia was founded
about this time in southeastern Turkey as a Greek settlement by
Seleucus I Nicator one of Alexander’s generals. Seleucia was on the
west bank and Apamea on the east bank of the Euphrates River. In 64
BC it was conquered and ruled by the Roman Empire and with this
shift the name of the city was changed into Zeugma, meaning
"bridge-passage" or "bridge of boats."
(Arch, 9/02,
p.62)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeugma_(city))
c300-200 Aristarchus, Greek philosopher of the
late 3rd cent., proposed the Sun as the center of the universe. [see
310BC]
(NH, 9/96, p.70)
c300-200 Apollonius, poet emigrant from Alexandria
to Rhodes, and author of the "Argonautica."
(HH, 1932, p.498)
290BC The 110-foot Colossus of Rhodes, one of the
ancient seven wonders of the world, was built to the sun god Helios.
(AM, 7/00, p.16)
287BC Theophrastus (b.c371BC),
Greek philosopher, died. He produced the 1st known work on plant
reproduction “De historia plantarum. He was a contemporary of
Aristotle and succeeded him as head of the Lyceum.
(www.biologie.uni-hamburg.de/b-online/e01/01a.htm)(Econ, 11/12/05,
p.88)
287BC-212BC Archimedes, Greek mathematician,
physicist and inventor. He discovered the principles of specific
gravity and of the lever. His works included "Method of Mechanical
Theorems" and "On Floating Bodies." He named the number, later known
as pi, as the Archimedes Constant. Scientists in 2000 began
translating the Floating Bodies treatisse from a single known
parchment copy, dating to about 1000CE, that was scraped and reused
for a prayer book.
(SFC, 10/30/98, p.A7)(SFEC, 3/14/99, p.C5)(SFC,
10/14/00, p.C1)(SFC, 5/23/05, p.A4)
280BC The Achaean League was
reformed along political lines. It had been a confederation of
Achaean cities formed for religious observances and was broken up by
the Macedonians.
(AHD, 1971, p.10)
272BC Pyrrhus (b.319/318),
Greek general and statesman, died. Some of his battles, though
successful, cost him heavy losses, from which the term "Pyrrhic
victory" was coined.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhus_of_Epirus)
250BC About this time
Eratosthenes ascribed the difference between the positions of the
noon sun at Alexandria and at Styrene at the summer solstice as due
to the curvature of the Earth and not due to the proximity of the
sun. He thereby calculated the radius of the Earth to be about 4,000
miles. The modern value is 3963 miles.
(SCTS, p.6)
250BC About this time
Aristarchus of Samos, a Greek astronomer, proposed the idea of a
sun-centered cosmology.
(Econ, 9/24/11, p.106)
236BC Archimedes, according to
the Roman architect Vitruvius, built his first elevator about this
time.
(SFC, 8/23/08, p.F4)
224BC An earthquake reportedly
broke the Colossus of Rhodes at his knees.
(AM, 7/00, p.16)
212BC Archimedes (b.287BC),
Greek mathematician, died. Legend holds that he was killed by a
Roman soldier during an invasion of Syracuse, because he was too
busy doing calculations to obey the soldier’s orders.
(SFC, 5/23/05, p.A4)
204BC Greece and most of Asia
Minor came under the control of the Romans after the Roman victory
over Carthage in the 2nd Punic War.
(WSJ, 12/26/97, p.A7)
c200BC The Greek Venus de Milo statue of marble
was sculpted about this time. It was found in 1820 on Melos and is
now in the Louvre. [2nd source says 2,500 years old]
(WUD, 1994, p.1586)(SFEC, 3/9/96, Z1 p.5)
200BC In Greece Skepticism
arose under the influence of the Carneades. It had close ties to
Sophism and taught that because all knowledge is achieved through
sense perception, nothing can be known for sure. [see Heisenberg
1901-1976]
(eawc, p.15)
199-150BC Greco-Bactrian kingdom. Now Afghanistan,
it was then a major stop on the silk route between Rome and China.
(NG, March 1990, Geographica)
199-150BC Early in the 2nd century BC the Romans
made Macedonia into a province and obliterated the city of Corinth.
(WSJ, 12/26/97, p.A7)
190BC Hipparchus was born in
what is now Turkey. He calculated the length of a year to within 6
1/2 minutes and was the first to explain the Earth's rotation on its
axis. He also compiled the first comprehensive catalog of the stars.
[see 160-125BC]
(LAT, 3/30/05)
180BC The Great Altar of
Pergamon was built at Pergamos in Asia Minor (later Turkey). It
depicted the battle of the gods of Olympus against the giants.
(WSJ, 10/27/07, p.W14)
167BC Rome presented to Athens
the island of Delos, whose prosperous slave and commodities market
brought large profits.
(WSJ, 12/26/97, p.A7)
160BC-125BC Hipparchus, Greek mathematician and
astronomer, often called the father of modern astronomy. He
attempted to calculate the distance to the moon and the sun. His
estimate for the distance to the moon was 67r vs. the modern value
of 60.267r. He estimated the sun to be 37 times farther than the
moon and at least 12 times greater in diameter than the Earth. His
figures were accepted for 17 centuries until the invention of the
telescope and precise astronomical instruments. Together with
Ptolemy he graded the visible stars into six magnitudes. The first
magnitude was comprised of about 20 of the brightest stars. He
compiled a stellar catalogue in Alexandria which shows the position
of 1080 stars. [see 190BC]
(SCTS, p.7-8,137,142)
c150BC Agora's Stoa of Attalos, a massive
colonnaded monument at the foot of the Acropolis, was dedicated by
King Attalos of Pergamon.
(AP, 4/16/03)
146-30BC All Hellenistic territory became subject
to Rome over this period.
(eawc, p.15)
140BC The first Jews arrived at
Salonika from Alexandria.
(SFEC, 3/21/99, BR p.3)
100BC The Greek poet Meleager
gathered a collection of poems in his “anthologia” (The Greek
Anthology).
(WSJ, 11/15/08, p.W10)
c100-1BC Diodorus Siculus, Greek historian of the
late 1st century.
(WUD, 1994 p.405)(AM, 7/01, p.31)
84BC Apellicon of Teos, a
wealthy Greek, died. He saved the only copies of Aristotle’s work
for posterity.
(SFCM, 12/10/00, p.)
80sBC Mithridates, ruler of
Pontus in the north of Asia Minor, made war on Rome and overran much
of Asia Minor and parts of Greece. The Athenians joined Mithridates
and was consequently besieged by the Roman Gen’l. Sulla.
(WSJ, 12/26/97, p.A7)
42BC Octavian and Mark Antony
defeated Brutus and Cassius at Philippi in Macedonia. Athens was
kindly treated by Mark Antony, who enjoyed living there.
(WUD, 1994, p.1081)
c31BC Augustus founded the city
of Nikopolis in Epirus (northwestern Greece) to commemorate his
victory over Antony and Cleopatra at Actium.
(AM, Jul-Aug/99, p.10)
2BC Heratosthene of Greece drew
a map that showed 3 continents about equal in size labeled: Europe,
Asia and Libya.
(SFEC, 2/15/98, Z1 p.8)
1-100CE The first century Greek physician,
Dioscorides, recommended the use of orchid tubers as an aphrodisiac.
(NH, 4/97, p.77)
23-24 Strabo (b.~63-64BC),
Greek geographer and historian, died about this time. He had
traveled to Egypt and Kush, met members of the Noba tribe, and
decided to call their country Nubia. Strabo is mostly famous for his
17-volume work Geographica, which presented a descriptive history of
people and places from different regions of the world known to his
era.
(Arch, 9/02,
p.55)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strabo)
95CE St. John the Divine
established a Christian colony on the Greek island of Patmos after
being exiled from Ephesus by Emperor Domitian. It is said that he
wrote here the Book of Revelations in a grotto overlooking the main
town. Greek Orthodox tradition says that he is the apostle John but
that is not confirmed.
(SFEC, 1/18/98, p.T6)(WSJ, 6/28/02, p.W8)
129 Sep 22, Claudius Galenus
(d.~199-217), Greek physician and scholar, was born. Some sources
put his birth in 131. Galen went to Rome in 162 AD and made his mark
as a practicing physician. Galen developed the first typology of
temperament in his dissertation “De temperamentis,” and searched for
physiological reasons for different behaviors in humans.
(http://www.zephyrus.co.uk/galen.html)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galen)
c180 Pausanius, traveler and
geographer, wrote a description of Greece which we have and it is,
so to speak, the first guide book known.
(WUD, 1994 p.1058)(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.58)(SSFC,
12/1/02, p.C3)
c200-300 Diophantus, a 3rd century Hellenistic
mathematician, wrote a series of classical texts on Algebra called
Arithmetica.
(SFEC, 4/5/98, Z1
p.8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diophantus)
205-270AD Plotinus was an Alexandrian philosopher
in Rome and founder of Neo-Platonism, which strongly influenced the
later Augustine, who taught of a mystical union with the Good
through the exercise of pure intelligence. He founded Neo-Platonism,
a religion that for a time rivaled Christianity. Neo-Platonism
developed out of the philosophical doctrines of Plato in the fourth
century B.C. Plotinus developed the spiritual side of Plato's
thought into a mystical philosophy teaching reunion with the One and
that material things are unworthy. Saint Augustus, formerly a
Neo-Platonist, brought some of his ideas into Christian theism.
(V.D.-H.K.p.93)(HNQ, 5/11/98)
393AD The ancient Olympic Games were held at
intervals beginning in 776 BC until about 393 AD when they were
abolished by Roman emperor Theodosius I after Greece lost its
independence. The modern Olympic Games were started in 1896. [see
396AD]
(HNQ, 11/23/98)
411 Proclus (d.485), Greek
mathematician and theologian, was born. [see 412]
(WUD, 1994 p.1147)(MC, 4/17/02)
412 Feb 8, St. Proclus,
Patriarch of Constantinople, was born. [see 411]
(HN, 2/8/98)
413 Oct 10, Nicias, Athens
politician (Peace of Nicias), killed at about age 57.
(MC, 10/10/01)
418 Dec 27, Zosimus, Greek Pope
(417-418), died.
(MC, 12/27/01)
485 Apr 17, Proclus (b.411),
Greek mathematician, died in Athens.
(WUD, 1994 p.1147)(MC, 4/17/02)
632-661 The Rashidun Caliphate, also known as the
Rightly Guided Caliphate, comprising the first four caliphs in
Islam's history, was founded after Muhammad's death. At its height,
the Caliphate extended from the Arabian Peninsula, to the Levant,
Caucasus and North Africa in the west, to the Iranian highlands and
Central Asia in the east. It was the one of the largest empires in
history up until that time.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashidun_Caliphate)
662 Aug 13, Maximus Confessor
(b.c580), Greek theologian, died.
(MC, 8/13/02)
686 Aug 2, John V, 1st
Greek-Syrian Pope (685-86), died.
(MC, 8/2/02)
700-800 Invading Slavs assimilated the Thracians
in the area of modern Bulgaria and parts of Greece, Romania,
Macedonia and Turkey.
(SFC, 8/17/05, p.A2)
869 Feb 14, Cyrillus, Greek
apostle of Slavs, died.
(MC, 2/14/02)
885 Apr 6, Methodius, Greek
apostle to the Slavs, archbishop of Sirmium, died.
(MC, 4/6/02)
972 John I Tzimiskes, the
Byzantine Emperor at Constantinople (969-976), granted a charter for
the Monastic Republic of Holy Mount Athos in Greece.
(SSFC, 10/8/06,
p.H1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_I_Tzimisces)
1088 Cristodoulos persuaded the
Byzantine emperor to let him develop the Greek island of Patmos as
an independent monastic state.
(WSJ, 6/28/02, p.AW8)
1204 Frankish knights
established the principality of Achaia in southern Greece.
(AM, May/Jun 97 p.54)
1300-1400 The "Chronicle of the Morea" is a 14th
century history of southern Greece.
(AM, May/Jun 97 p.58)
1346 Apr 16, King Stefanus IX
of Serbia proclaimed himself czar of Greece.
(MC, 4/16/02)
1365 A tax document lists the
feudal property of Niccolo Acciaiuoli, head of a Florentine banking
family. It included the castle of Agios Vasilios overlooking the
road from Corinth to Argos in southern Greece. The territory had
reverted to the Florentine family when the Franks defaulted on
loans.
(AM, May/Jun 97 p.55)
1416 Jun 15, Joannes
Argyropoulos, Greek scholar, was born.
(HT, 6/15/00)
1460 The Ottomans conquered
southern Greece.
(AM, May/Jun 97 p.56)
1463 The Venetians regained
southern Greece for a short period.
(AM, May/Jun 97 p.56)
1500 Apr 11, Michael T.
Marullus, Greeks poet, drowned.
(MC, 4/11/02)
1511 There were Jews in
Thessaloniki involved in the printing.
(WSJ, 4/29/97, p.A20)
1522 Suleiman I captured Rhodes
from the Knights Hospitallers of St. John. The knights surrendered
after a 6-month siege. In 1530 the knights were resettled on Malta
by Charles V.
(WSJ, 7/21/08, p.A11)
1571 Oct 7, Spanish, Genoese
and Venetian ships of the Christian League defeated an Ottoman fleet
in the naval Battle of Lepanto, Greece. In the last great clash of
galleys, the Ottoman navy lost 117 ships to a Christian naval
coalition under the overall command of Spain's Don Juan de Austria.
(AP,
10/7/07)(www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1760264/posts)
1592 Juan de Fuca, a Greek
sailing for Spain, sailed into a strait that later became the border
between Canada’s Vancouver Island, BC, and the Olympic Peninsula of
Washington state. The waterway was later named the Strait of Juan de
Fuca.
(NG, 7/04, p.66)
1601 Ottoman Sultan Mehmed III
issued an order for the seizure of able youths aged 10-20 to be
trained as janissaries, his special forces.
(WSJ, 9/17/01, p.A20)
1685 The Venetians returned to
the Peloponnesus.
(AM, May/Jun 97 p.56)
1687 Sep 26, The Venetian army
attacked the Acropolis in Athens while trying to eject Turks.
Marauding Venetians sent a mortar through a gable window of the
Parthenon and ignited a Turkish store of gunpowder. This damaged the
northern colonnade of the Parthenon. The Parthenon was destroyed in
the war between Turks and Venetians.
(SFEC, 6/6/99, p.A26)(MC, 9/26/01)
1687 Sep 28, Venetians took
Athens from the Turks.
(MC, 9/28/01)
1715 The Ottomans recaptured
the Peloponnesus from the Venetians.
(AM, May/Jun 97 p.56)
1821 Mar 25, Greece gained
independence from Turkey (National Day). [see Mar 28]
(MC, 3/25/02)
1821 Mar 28, Greek Independence
Day celebrates the liberation of Southern Greece from Turkish
domination. In 1844 Thomas Gordon authored a study of the Greek
revolution. In 2001 David Brewer authored "The Greek War of
Independence."
(SFC, 3/28/98, p.A15)(WSJ, 9/17/01, p.A20)
1821 Jun 19, The Ottomans
defeated the Greeks at the Battle of Dragasani.
(HN, 6/19/98)
1821 Oct 5, Greek rebels
captured Tripolitza, the main Turkish fort in the Peloponnesian area
of Greece.
(HN, 10/5/98)
1821 The Greek hero Athanasios
Diakos was run through with a spit and roasted alive over an open
fire. He had abandoned a future as a monk to fight for Greek
independence.
(SFEM, 3/14/99, p.28)
1822 Dec 14, The Congress of
Verona ended, ignoring the Greek war of independence.
(AP, 12/14/02)
1822 There was a massacre of
Greeks on the island of Chios. The event was later depicted in a
painting by Delacroix.
(WSJ, 9/17/01, p.A20)
1823 Lord Byron returned to
Greece to provide moral support to insurgents and draw attention to
Ottoman massacres of Greek civilians.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Byron)(SFC,
9/7/08, Books p.5)
1823 English poet Lord Byron
spent a summer on the Ionian island of Cephalonia.
(SFEC, 1/18/98, p.T3)
1824 Apr 19, George Gordon,
(6th Baron Byron, b.1788) aka Lord Byron, English poet, died of
malaria in Greece at Missolonghi on the gulf of Patras preparing to
fight for Greek independence. In 1999 Benita Eisler published the
biography "Byron: Child of Passion, Fool of Fame." In 2002 Fiona
MacCarthy authored "Byron : Life and Legend." In 2009 Edna O’Brien
authored “Byron in Love.”
(SFC, 6/9/97, p.D3)(WSJ, 4/26/99, p.A16)(HN,
4/1901)(SSFC, 12/29/02, p.M2)(SSFC, 6/21/09, Books p.J5)
1827 Jun 5, Athens fell to the
Ottomans.
(HN, 6/5/98)
1748-1813 Alexander Fraser Tytler. He wrote "The
Decline and Fall of the Athenian Republic." He stated that democracy
collapses when voters begin selecting candidates who promise the
most financial benefits.
(SFEC, 10/25/98, p.D6)
1800 Jul 6, The Sultan of
Constantinople at the behest of Lord Elgin issued written orders to
his officers in Athens for cooperation with Giovanni Lusieri and the
removal of sculptures from the Parthenon.
(ON, 11/99, p.2)
1801 Thomas Bruce, the 7th Earl
of Elgin, took the 2,500 year-old bas-reliefs from the Parthenon
while he served as the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. 17
figures and 56 panels were put on display at the British Museum in
1816. Around 1939 the marbles were subjected to a botched scouring
operation that damaged 40% of the collection. Elgin had hired
Giovanni Lusieri, an Italian artist from the court of the King of
Naples, to oversee the Parthenon project.
(SFC, 12/2/99, p.D6)(ON, 11/99, p.2)
1802 Apr, Lord Elgin visited
Athens for the first time and observed the large crates filled with
sculptures ready for shipment to Britain.
(ON, 11/99, p.2)
1803-1812 Lord Elgin organized the removal of
sculptures from the Parthenon.
(AM, 5/01, p.14)
1809 Lord Byron (1788-1824)
traveled to Spain, Albania and Greece with John Cam Hobhouse and
soon met with Ali Pasha.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Byron)
1810 May 3, Lord Byron swam the
Hellespont.
(MC, 5/3/02)
1810 Peter Oluf Bronsted
(d.1841), Danish scholar, traveled to Greece to observe and document
the topography, history, arts, and customs. His party included
Haller von Hallerstein, a German architect; Jacob Linckh, a German
landscape painter; and Baron Otto Magnus von Stackelberg of Estonia,
an artist. Bronsted published his results in 2 volumes in 1826 and
1830: "Voyages dans la Grece accompagnees de recherches
archeologiques."
(AM, Jul-Aug/99, p.12)
1812 Peter Oluf Bronsted, a
Danish scholar, interviewed Ali Pasha. An English version,
"Interviews With Ali Pacha," was published in 1999.
(AM, Jul-Aug/99, p.10)
1816 Lord Elgin sold his
Parthenon sculptures to the British government for 35,000 pounds. A
request in 1811 for 62,400 pounds had been rejected.
(ON, 11/99, p.4)
1820 Ali Pasha was stripped of
his titles by the Ottoman sultan and declared an enemy of the state.
(AM, Jul-Aug/99, p.15)
1822 Ali Pasha was murdered in
the monastery of St. Panteleimon at Ionnina under orders from the
Ottoman sultan. In 1999 Katherine Elizabeth Fleming published "The
Muslim Bonaparte: Diplomacy and Orientalism in Ali Pasha's Greece.
(AM, Jul-Aug/99, p.11,15)
1823 Lord Byron returned to
Greece to provide moral support to insurgents and draw attention to
Ottoman massacres of Greek civilians.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Byron)(SFC,
9/7/08, Books p.5)
1824 Apr 19, George Gordon,
(6th Baron Byron) aka Lord Byron, English poet, died of malaria in
Greece at Missolonghi on the gulf of Patras preparing to fight for
Greek independence. In 1999 Benita Eisler published the biography
"Byron: Child of Passion, Fool of Fame."
(WUD, 1994, p.204,917)(SFC, 6/9/97, p.D3)(WSJ,
4/26/99, p.A16)(HN, 4/1901)
1826 Apr 22, Ibrahim, son of
Mohammed Ali of Egypt, took Missolonghi (in West Greece) after a
long siege. [see Apr 23]
(CMW, 1968, p.154)
1826 Apr 23, Missolonghi fell
to Egyptian-Turkish forces. [see Apr 22]
(HN, 4/23/99)(MC, 4/23/02)
1827 Jun 5, Athens fell to the
Ottomans during Greek War of Independence.
(HN, 6/5/98)(MC, 6/5/02)
1827 Oct 20, British, French
and Russian squadrons entered the harbor at Navarino, Greece, and
destroyed most of the Egyptian fleet there. The Ottomans demanded
reparations.
(EWH, 4th ed,
p.770)(www.ipta.demokritos.gr/erl/navarino.html)
1828 Jan 31, Alexandros
Ypsilanti (35), Greek resistance fighter, died.
(MC, 1/31/02)
1828 Apr 26, Russia declared
war on Turkey to support Greece's independence.
(MC, 4/26/02)
1831 Sep 27, Joannis
Capodistrias (55), Greek governor of Troezen, was murdered.
(MC, 9/27/01)
1832 May 7, The Treaty of
London protocol was signed between Bavaria and the protecting
Powers. It basically dealt with the way in which the Regency of
Bavaria was to be managed until Otto of Bavaria reached his
majority. Greece was defined as an independent kingdom, with the
Arta-Volos line as its northern frontier and Otto as king.
(http://wiki.phantis.com/index.php/Treaty_of_London,_1832)
1834-1842 Greece’s King Otto led efforts for the
return of the Acropolis marbles from Britain. Talks involved the
return of architectural elements from the Parthenon and Athena Nike
temples dedicated to Athens' protecting goddess, which had been
removed some four decades earlier on the orders of British
ambassador Lord Elgin.
(AFP, 3/20/12)
1850 Jun 27, Lafcadio Hearn
(d.1904), Irish-American journalist, author, was born in Greece.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lafcadio_Hearn)
1850 A mob in Athens burned
down the home of a British citizen. In response Viscount Palmerston,
Britain’s foreign secretary, called for a blockade of Greece.
(Econ, 7/15/06, p.56)
1856 Apr 3, Gunpowder in church
exploded killing 4,000 in Rhodes.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1865 Dec 23, France, Belgium,
Italy and Switzerland formed the Latin Monetary Union (LMU). It was
a 19th century attempt to unify several European currencies into a
single currency that could be used in all the member states, at a
time when most national currencies were still made out of gold and
silver. Spain and Greece joined in 1868. It quickly weakened as
members pursued their own economic policies. It was disbanded in
1927.
(WSJ, 1/13/98,
p.A1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_Monetary_Union)
1884 In Italy Sotirio
Boulgaris, a Greek immigrant, founded Bulgari, a silver-jewelry
shop, on Rome’s Via Sistina. He had descended from a family of Greek
silversmiths. By 1996 there were 54 stores worldwide.
(SFEM,7/28/96, p.32)(Econ, 4/14/07, p.81)
1885 Dec 2, Nikos Kazantzakis
(d.1957), Greek writer and lawyer, was born. His work included
"Zorba the Greek." [see Feb 18, 1887]
(HN, 12/2/00)
1887 Feb 18, Nikos Kazantzakis,
Greek writer, was born. [see Dec 2, 1885]
(MC, 2/18/02)
1888 Feb 13, Georgios
Papandreou, Greek prefect of Lesbos, minister, premier, was born.
(MC, 2/13/02)
1891 Apr 11, A Jewish tailor's
daughter (8) disappeared in Greece. A rumor spread that she was a
Christian girl ritually killed by Jews.
(MC, 4/11/02)
1894 Mar 3, The first Greek
newspaper in America was published on this day. It was known as the
"New York Atlantis".
(HC, Internet, 3/3/98)(SC, 3/3/02)
1895 Feb, Georgios Averoff, a
Greek philanthropist, agreed to pay for the rebuilding of the
Panathenaic stadium in Athens for the upcoming revival of the
Olympics.
(ON, 8/07, p.5)
1896 Mar 25, The 1st modern
Olympic Games officially opened in Athens. Greece was on the old
Julian calendar at this time. The revival was masterminded by Baron
Pierre de Coubertin of France. [see Apr 6]
(Econ, 5/29/04, p.81)(www.forthnet.gr/olympics)
1896 Apr 6, The first modern
Olympic Games formally opened in Athens, Greece after a lapse of
1,500 years. 8 nations participated. [see Mar 25]
(SFC, 7/14/96, p.T1)(AP, 4/6/97)
1896 Apr 6, James Connolly, a
self-educated 27-year-old American, won the first gold medal at the
1896 Olympic games in Athens. Connolly‘s event, the triple jump,
which was then called the hop, step, and jump, was the first final
of the games. The U.S. Olympic team hadn’t realized that the Greeks
followed the Hellenic calendar, so they arrived not days in advance
but just a few hours before the opening ceremonies. Despite being
hastily prepared, Connolly competed last and beat his opponents‘
distances by more than three feet. He went on to become a successful
author of 25 novels. [see Mar 25]
(HNQ, 4/8/00)
1896 Apr 15, The first modern
Olympic Games closed in Athens. 164 of the 241 competitors were from
Greece. The remaining represented 13 countries, the largest
international participation of any sporting event up to that time.
(ON, 8/07, p.5)
1897 The Greeks were defeated
by Turkey at Velestino in their war over the independence of Crete.
(WSJ, 8/6/98, p.A13)
1898 Mar 23, Georgios Grivas,
Greek General, opposition leader on Cyprus, was born.
(SS, 3/23/02)
1899 Sir Arthur Evans
discovered the center of Minoan civilization on the island of Crete.
He erected a house overlooking the excavations and named it Villa
Ariadne after the daughter of King Minos. As he unearthed a mound at
Knossos he rebuilt parts of a 3,500 year-old palace in modernist
style. In 2009 Cathy Gere authored “Knossos and the Prophets of
Modernism.”
(WSJ, 6/26/98, p.W9)(WSJ, 2/8/02, p.AW9)(Econ,
5/16/09, p.91)
1900 Mar 13, George Seferis
(d.1991), Greek poet, was born.
(HN, 3/13/01)
1900 Greeks from the island of
Kefalonia began to migrate to Manchuria after 1900 and flourished in
the liquor and property business. Their world collapsed in 12949
when the Communists took power.
(Econ, 8/23/08, p.52)
1901 Pieces of an ancient Greek
calculating machine, called the Antikythera Mechanism, were
discovered by sponge divers exploring the remains of a shipwreck off
the tiny island of Antikythera. Radiocarbon dating suggested it was
built around 65 BC, but in 2006 newly revealed lettering on the
machine indicate a slightly older construction date of 150 to 100
BC. In 2008 researchers said the device, which originally contained
37 gears, included the cycle of the Greek Olympics.
(http://tinyurl.com/y255xr)(SFC, 7/31/08, p.A15)
1903 Jan 6, Maurice Abravanel,
conductor and composer, was born in Saloniki, Greece.
(MC, 1/6/02)
1903 Britain’s Princess Alice
(18) married the son of a Greek king
(SSFC, 4/7/02, p.M3)
1905 Nov 22, British, Italian,
Russian, French and Austrian-Hungarian fleet attacked the Grecian
Isle of Lesbos.
(MC, 11/22/01)
1906 Jan 15, Aristotle Onassis,
Greek tycoon, who married Jackie Kennedy, was born.
(HN, 1/15/99)
1906 Apr 9, The third modern
Olympic games opened in Athens and marked the 10th anniversary of
the modern Olympics.
(HN, 4/9/98)
1909 Jul 3, Stavros Niachos,
Greek shipping magnate, was born.
(MC, 7/3/02)
1912 Oct 17, Bulgaria, Greece
and Serbia declared war on Turkey. [see Oct 18]
(MC, 10/17/01)
1912 Oct 18, The First Balkan
War broke out between the members of the Balkan League-- Serbia,
Bulgaria, Greece and Montenegro--and the Ottoman Empire. A small
Balkan War broke out and was quelled by the major powers. Albanian
nationalism spurred repeated revolts against Turkish dominion and
resulted in the First Balkan War in which the Turks were driven out
of much of the Balkan Peninsula. Austria-Hungary’s 1908 annexation
of Bosnia and Herzegovina spurred Serbian efforts to form the Balkan
alliance with its neighbors. As a result of the war on Turkey,
Serbia doubled its territory with the award of Northern Macedonia.
Albanian leaders affirmed Albania as an independent state. [see Oct
8]
(V.D.-H.K.p.290)(CO, Grolier’s/ Albania)(HN,
10/18/98)(HNQ, 3/27/99)(www, Albania, 1998)
1912 Dec 3, Turkey, Serbia,
Montenegro, Greece & Bulgaria signed a weapons pact.
(MC, 12/3/01)
1912 Dec 4, An armistice was
signed to end the First Balkan War. Following several victories over
the Ottoman army, coalition forces occupied Macedonia and forced the
Ottoman Empire to seek an armistice.
(www.maknews.com/html/articles/stefov/stefov61.html)
1912 Greece acquired Crete.
[see 1913]
(WSJ, 3/20/97, p.A17)
1912-1913 During the Balkan Wars the Kingdom of
Greece acquired Macedonia from the Turkish Ottoman Empire.
(SFC, 4/23/98, p.B4)
1913 Mar 18, Greek King George
I was killed by an assassin. Constantine I was to succeed.
(HN, 3/18/98)
1913 Jun 1, Serbia and Greece
concluded a secret treaty for joint action against Bulgaria; joined
by Romania. Dissatisfied with their share of the spoils, Serbia,
denied its proposed outlet to the Adriatic Sea, sought compensation
in Macedonia along the Vardar River which the Bulgarians rejected
while Greece asked for control of Thessaloniki and "a certain part"
of the eastern Macedonian territories, which Bulgaria rejected as
well.
(www.maknews.com/html/articles/stefov/stefov61.html)
1913 Jun 24, Greece and Serbia
annulled their alliance with Bulgaria following border disputes over
Macedonia and Thrace.
(HN, 6/24/98)
1913 Jun 29, Anticipating
assistance from Austro-Hungary the Bulgarian army attacked its
former allies. This Second Balkan War was at first waged entirely on
Macedonian soil. The 2nd Balkan War began. Bulgaria defeated Greek
and Serbian troops.
(www.maknews.com/html/articles/stefov/stefov61.html)
1913 Jul 1, Serbia and Greece
declared war on Bulgaria.
(MC, 7/1/02)
1913 Jul 10, Rumania entered
the Second Balkan War and four days later the Ottoman Empire joined
the general assault on Bulgaria. Faced with four fronts, Bulgarian
armies were defeated piecemeal and the government at Sofia was
forced to seek peace. Atrocities were widespread. For example, in
pursuing the Bulgarian army Greek forces systematically burnt to the
ground all Macedonian villages they encountered, mass-murdering
their entire populations. Likewise, when the Greek army entered
Kukush (Kilkis) and occupied surrounding villages, about 400 old
people and children were imprisoned and killed. Nor did the Serbian
"liberators" lag behind in destruction and wanton slaughter
throughout Macedonia. In Bitola, Skopje, Shtip and Gevgelija, the
Serbian army, police and chetniks (guerrillas) committed their own
atrocities.
(www.maknews.com/html/articles/stefov/stefov61.html)
1913 Aug 10, The Treaty of
Bucharest ended the Second Balkan War. It was concluded by the
delegates of Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and Greece. The
entire "disputed zone" was taken by Serbia, Greece secured its
position in Thessaloniki and southeastern Macedonia, the Ottomans
regained all the territories lost in the First Balkan War to
Bulgaria with the exception of eastern (Pirin) Macedonia, and the
Romanians seized Southern Dobruja.
(www.maknews.com/html/articles/stefov/stefov61.html)
1913 Aug 10, The Great Powers
recognized an independent Albanian state. Demographics were ignored,
however, and half of the territories inhabited by Albanians (such as
Kosova and Chameria) were divided among Montenegro, Serbia and
Greece.
(www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/boshtml/bos149.htm)
1913 Dec 14, Greece formally
annexed Crete.
(AP, 12/14/02)
1913 The 9,538-foot Mount
Olympus in Greece was scaled for the 1st time. For years its slopes
had provided a hideout for revolutionaries and bandits.
(SSFC, 8/8/04, p.D3)
1916 Sep 27, Constance of
Greece declared war on Bulgaria.
(HN, 9/27/98)
1916 Nov 21, The HMHS
Britannic, the sister ship of the Titanic, sank in the Kea Channel
off Greece after being hit by a mine or a torpedo. 30 people in
lifeboats died from the suction of the sinking ship. The Britannic,
launched in 1914 from the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast,
Ireland, included an additional expansion joint due to design update
following the sinking of the Titanic in 1912.
(www.titanic-titanic.com/britannic.shtml)(AH,
10/07, p.14)
1916 Dec 1, King Constantine
Greece refused to surrender to the Allies.
(HN, 12/1/98)
1919 In Greece the hotel Capsis
Bristol was built in Thessaloniki.
(WSJ, 9/26/08, p.A20)
1920 Mar 4, Last day of Julian
civil calendar in Greece.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1920 Mar 25, Greek Independence
Day.
(MC, 3/25/02)
1920 Jun 25, The Greeks took
8,000 Turkish prisoners in Smyrna.
(HN, 6/25/98)
1920 Oct 25, Alexander
(27), king of Greece (1917-20), died following a pet monkey bite.
(www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0803222.html)
1921 Jun 10, Philip
Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh, Prince, Consort of Elizabeth II, was
born in Greece.
(MC, 6/10/02)
1921 Aug 23, In the great
battle of Sakarya, which continued without interruption from the
23rd of August to the 13th of September, Turkey defeated the Greek
Army.
(www.allaboutturkey.com/ata_life.htm)
1922 May 29, Iannis Xenakis,
Greek mathematician, architect and composer, was born in Romania. In
2004 James Harley authored “Xenakis: His Life in Music.”
(SSFC, 7/25/04, p.M4)
1922 Sep 9, Turkish troops
under Mustafa Kemal conquered Smyrna, Greece. This effectively ended
in the field the Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922) more than three years
after the Greek army had landed on Smyrna on 15 May, 1919. In 2008
Giles Milton authored “Paradise Lost: Smyrna, 1922: The Destruction
of Islam’s City of Tolerance.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Fire_of_Smyrna)(Econ, 5/3/08,
p.90)
1922 Sep 13, A major fire began
to ravage Smyrna, Greece, shortly following occupation by Turkish
troops under Mustafa Kemal. The fire lasted 4 days.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Fire_of_Smyrna)
1922 Nov 28, In Greece six top
politicians and soldiers were executed one day after being convicted
of high treason following a crushing military defeat by Turkey. In
2010 the Greek Supreme Court posthumously acquitted the six executed
politicians and soldiers.
(AP,
10/21/10)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1922_in_Greece)
1923 Jul 24, The Treaty of
Lausanne, which settled the boundaries of modern Greece and Turkey,
was concluded in Switzerland. It replaced the Treaty of Sevres and
divided the lands inhabited by the Kurds between Turkey, Iraq and
Syria. Article 39 allowed Turkish nationals to use any language they
wished in commerce, public and private meetings, and publications.
The treaty specifically protected the rights of the Armenian, Greek
and Jewish communities. The former provinces of Baghdad, Basra and
Mosul were lumped together to form Iraq. Both countries agreed to a
massive exchange of religious minorities. Christians were deported
from Turkey to Greece and Muslims from Greece to Turkey. A Muslim
community of at least 100,000 was allowed in northern Greece. In
2006 Bruce Clark authored “Twice a Stranger: The Mass Expulsions
that Forged Modern Greece and Turkey.”
(WSJ, 3/20/97, p.A17)(AP, 7/24/97)(SSFC,
12/22/02, p.A14)(Econ, 3/19/05, Survey p.9)(Econ, 10/14/06,
p.50)(Econ, 12/9/06, p.92)(Econ, 10/16/10, p.72)
1924 Mar 24, Greece became a
republic.
(HN, 3/24/98)
1924 Mar 25, Greece was made a
republic and King George II (1890-1947) was deposed in favor of a
non-royal government. King George was king from 1922-1923 and from
1935-1947.
(HN, 3/24/98)(WUD, 1994, p.593)
1924 Jul 25, Greece announced
the deportation of 50,000 Armenians.
(HN, 7/25/98)
1925 Jul 29, Mikos Michael
George Theodorakis, composer (Raven), was born in Chios, Greece.
(MC, 7/29/02)
1925 Oct 23, Manos Hadjidakis,
Greek composer and conductor (Never on Sunday), was born.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1926 Aug 25, Pavlos
Kountouriotis became president of Greece.
(www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWpavlos.htm)
1932 In Greece Aristotle
Onassis bought his first 6 freight ships. He became a shipping
magnate worth $500 million when he died in 1975.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R49)
1933 Apr 29, Constantine Cavafy
(b.1863), Greek poet, died in Alexandria, Egypt. The 1996 Greek film
"Cavafy" was a profile of the Greek homosexual poet, and a winner of
Greece’s National Film Award for best feature of the year. Cavafy
spent 30 years working as a clerk in the Ministry of Irrigation. In
2006 “The Collected Poems of C.P. Cavafy,” translated by Aliki
Barstone, was published.
(SFC, 6/18/98, p.E4)(SSFC, 6/24/01, DB
p.64)(www.kirjasto.sci.fi/kafavis.htm)
1934 Oct 13, Nana Mouskouri,
Greek singer (Try to Remember), was born in Crete.
(MC, 10/13/01)
1934 Greece’s PM
Elevtherios Venizelos nominated Kemal Ataturk for a Nobel Prize.
Ataturk had proposed that the Turkish mainland should be Turk
(Muslim) and that the islands should be Greek (Christian).
(WSJ, 7/24/98, p.W11)
1936 A military government took
power.
(SFC, 4/23/98, p.B4)
1838 Gustav Schwab, German
historian, authored his compendium "Die Sagen des Klassischen
Altertums" (Stories from Classical Antiquity). The 1st English
version was published in 1946. It was republished in 2001 as "Gods
and Heroes of Ancient Greece."
(WSJ, 11/7/01, p.A20)
1938 A right-wing dictatorship
ruled.
(SFC, 6/23/96, p.B6)
1940 Jun 2, Constantine II, the
deposed king of Greece (-1967), was born.
(SC, 6/2/02)
1940 Oct 25, The Greek Army
beat back an invasion by Mussolini’s forces.
(SFC,10/29/97, p.A23)
1940 Oct 28, Italy invaded
Greece, launching six divisions on four fronts from occupied
Albania. Greece successfully resisted Italy's attack.
(AP, 10/28/97)(HN, 10/28/98)(MC, 10/28/01)
1940 Dec 13, Hitler issued
preparations for Operation Martita, the German invasion of Greece.
(HN, 12/13/98)
1940 The occupying Germans
started transporting the 50,000 Jews of Thessaloniki to Auschwitz.
Up to 1943 there were 36 synagogues in the city. In 1997 there was
one. The Jewish population at Salonika was wiped out.
(WSJ, 4/29/97, p.A20)(SFEC, 3/21/99, BR p.3)
1941 Jan 4, On the
Greek-Albanian front, the Greeks launched an attack towards Valona
from Berat to Klisura against the Italians.
(HN, 1/4/00)
1941 Mar 7, 50,000 British
soldiers landed in Greece.
(MC, 3/7/02)
1941 Mar 9, Italians launched a
large-scale counterattack across the center of the front against
Greece, which, despite the superiority of the Italian armed forces,
failed. After one week and 12,000 casualties, Mussolini called off
the counterattack and left Albania 12 days later.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Greece)
1941 Apr 6, German troops
invaded Yugoslavia and Greece. Italian and Albanian forces attacked
and jointly occupied Yugoslavia. Germany, with support of Italy and
other allies defeated Greece and Yugoslavia.
(WUD, 1944, p.1683)(SFC, 4/5/97, p.A20)(www,
Albania, 1998)
1941 Apr 6-7, The Luftwaffe
delivered a heavy blow to the British expedition when German bombers
seriously damaged Piraeus, the port of Athens sinking seven merchant
ships, sixty lighters and 25 caiques.
(www.diggerhistory.info/pages-battles/ww2/greece.htm)
1941 Apr 21, Greece surrendered
to Nazi Germany.
(MC, 4/21/02)
1941 Apr 23, Greece Army
surrendered to Nazis; RAF flew Greek king George II to Egypt.
(MC, 4/23/02)
1941 Apr 24, British army began
the evacuation of Greece.
(MC, 4/24/02)
1941 Apr 27, The Greek army
capitulated to the Germans. Greece and the Greek islands were
secured by Hitler.
(SFC,10/29/97, p.A23)(HN, 4/27/98)
1941 Apr 28, Last British
troops in Greece surrendered.
(MC, 4/28/02)
1941-1949 In 1976 Christopher Woodhouse (d.2001 at
83) authored "The Struggle for Greece: 1941-1949."
(SFC, 2/17/01, p.A23)
1942 Christopher Woodhouse
helped the Greek resistance plan and carry out the destruction of
the Gorgopotamos viaduct, which carried the railway from
Thessaloniki to Athens.
(SFC, 2/17/01, p.A23)
1943 Mar 9, Greek Jews of
Salonika were transported to Nazi extermination camps.
(MC, 3/9/02)
1943 Aug 18, Final convoy of
Jews from Salonika, Greece, arrived at Auschwitz.
(MC, 8/18/02)
1943 Oct 9, A Luftwaffe
squadron operating from Rhodes lost several Stukas to allied ships
and aircraft. In 2006 Greek divers raised the wreckage of a Stuka
bomber, believed to be one of the lost planes.
(AP, 10/6/06)
1944 Apr 14, 1st Jews
transported from Athens arrived at Auschwitz.
(MC, 4/14/02)
1944 Oct 3, German troops
evacuated Athens, Greece.
(HN, 10/3/98)
1944 Oct 12, German army
retreated from Athens.
(MC, 10/12/01)
1944 Oct 13, British and Greek
advance units landed at Piraeus during World War II.
(AP, 10/13/97)
1944 Oct 14, Allied troops
landed in Corfu, Greece.
(MC, 10/14/01)
1944 Dec 3, A British order to
disarm caused a general strike in Greece.
(MC, 12/3/01)
1944 Dec 25, Prime Minister
Winston Churchill went to Athens to seek an end to the Greek civil
war.
(HN, 12/25/98)
1944 Dec 30, King George II of
Greece proclaimed a regency to rule his country, virtually
renouncing the throne.
(AP, 12/30/97)
1946 Aristotle Onassis married
Tina Livanos, the younger daughter of Stavros Livanos, patriarch of
the Greek shipping world.
(WSJ, 10/13/00, p.W8)
1946-1949 The Greek Civil War uprooted some
700,000 refugees. The Cham were ethnic Albanians drive from Greece
after WW II. Their expropriated property was worth about $3.25
million.
(SFC, 4/23/98, p.B4)(SFC, 3/22/00, p.A10)
1947 Mar 12, Pres. Truman
outlined the Truman Doctrine of economic and military aid to nations
threatened by Communism. He specifically requested aid for Greece
and Turkey to resist Communism.
(EWH, 1968, p.1207)(AP, 3/12/98)
1947 Apr 1, Greece's King
George II died.
(AP, 4/1/98)
1947 May 22, The Truman
Doctrine was enacted as Congress appropriated military and economic
aid for Greece and Turkey.
(EWH, 1968, p.1207)(AP, 5/22/97)
1947 Dec 24, An estimated
20,000 communists, led by guerrilla General Markos Vafthiades
proclaimed the Free Greek Government in northern Greece. They issue
a call to arms to establish the regime throughout the nation.
(HN, 12/24/98)
1947 $400 million in military
aid to Greece was approved by the US Congress in the first
substantial action under the Truman Doctrine, which was intended to
curb Soviet expansion. By 1947, two years of escalating violence
between Communist and anti-Communist forces in Greece had erupted in
all-out civil war.
(HNQ, 3/10/99)
1948 May 1, Christos Ladas,
Greek minister of Justice, was murdered.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1948 May 6, 43 communist rebels
were executed in Athens.
(MC, 5/6/02)
1948 May 16, The body of CBS
News correspondent George Polk was found in Salonika Harbor in
Greece, several days after he'd left his hotel for an interview with
the leader of a Communist militia.
(AP, 5/16/99)
1949 Jun 30, Prime Minister
Sophoulis died and was succeeded by Alexander Diomedes.
(EWH, 1968, p.1192)
1949 Oct 16, The Greek civil
war ended after 3 years with the defeat of the rebel forces. This
was made possible by both American aid and the closing of the
Yugoslav frontier due to Tito’s quarrel with the Cominform.
(EWH, 1968, p.1192)
1949 Sep, Leonidas Kyrkos and
several other Greek activists were days from facing the firing squad
when an international outcry forced the Greek government to suspend
the executions. Kyrkos was released under an amnesty in 1953 and
worked as a journalist in left-wing daily Avgi, eventually becoming
its editor, from 1958-61.
(AP, 8/29/11)
1950 Mar 23, Sophocles
Venizelos formed liberal Greeks government.
(SS, 3/23/02)
1953 Feb 28, Greece, Turkey and
Yugoslavia signed a 5-year defense pact in Ankara.
(HN, 2/28/98)
1953 Oct 12, US and Greece
signed a peace treaty that included US bases.
(MC, 10/12/01)
1953 On the Isle of Alonissos,
Greece, diseased grape vines imported from California wiped out the
local wine industry.
(SSFC, 2/14/04, p.D6)
1955 Mar 21, Archbishop
Makarios of Cyprus desired Cyprus joining Greece.
(MC, 3/21/02)
1955 Sep 6-1955 Sep 7,
Well-orchestrated mobs ran amok in the Greek sections of Istanbul.
Churches, shops and cemeteries were looted and desecrated and some
people were killed. Provocation, believed to have been orchestrated
by the Tactical Mobilization Group of the Special Forces command,
led to a mass exodus of ethnic Greeks from Istanbul. In 2005 Speros
Vryonis Jr. authored “The Mechanisms of Catastrophe: The
Turkish Pogrom of September 6-7, 1955, and the Destruction of the
Greek Community of Istanbul.
(Econ, 8/27/05, p.67)(Econ, 1/2/10, p.38)
1955-1963 Constantine Karamanlis was appointed
prime minister by King Paul. He built a solid center-right party and
won absolute parliamentary majorities in 5 elections. Clashes with
King Paul ended in his resignation.
(SFC, 4/23/98, p.B4)
1957 Mar 20, Britain accepted a
NATO offer to mediate in Cyprus, but Greece rejected it.
(MC, 3/20/02)
1957 Oct 26, Nicos Kazantzakis
(b.1885), writer (The Last Temptation of Christ), died.
(MC, 10/26/01)
1958 Jun 15, Greece severed
military ties to Turkey because of the Cyprus issue.
(HN, 6/15/98)
1959 Feb 19, An agreement was
signed by Britain, Turkey and Greece granting Cyprus its
independence.
(AP, 2/19/98)
1959 Jul, Aristotle Onassis
took on board his ship, Christina, Maria Callas and her husband,
Battista Meneghini, as well as Sir Winston and Lady Churchill. The
cruise was later referred to as the "voyage of the damned." In 2000
the Onassis-Callas relationship was described in "Greek Fire" by
Nicholas Gage.
(WSJ, 10/13/00, p.W8)
1962 Apr 3, Manolis Kalomiris
(78), Greek opera composer, died.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1962 May 14, Princess Sophia of
Greece wed Don Juan Carlos of Spain.
(MC, 5/14/02)
1962 Nov 1, Greece entered the
European Common Market.
(http://europa.eu.int/abc/history/1962/index_en.htm)
1962 Dido Sotiriou authored
“Farewell Anatolia,” a novel of 2 shepherd boys, one Christian and
one Muslim, who go off to fight on opposite sides during the
Greek-Turkish war of 1919-22.
(Econ, 7/17/04, p.79)
1962 In Greece the Derveni
Papyrus, originally several yards of papyrus rolled around two
wooden runners, was found half burnt. It dates to around 340 BC,
during the reign of Philip II of Macedon, father of Alexander the
Great. The Derveni grave, about five miles northwest of
Thessaloniki, was part of a rich cemetery belonging to the ancient
city of Lete.
(AP, 6/1/06)
1963 Jun 11, Greek Premier
Constantine Caramanlis resigned in protest of King Paul's state
visit to Britain.
(AP, 6/11/03)
1963 Nov 14, Greece freed
hundreds who were jailed in the Communist uprising of 1944- 1950.
(HN, 11/14/98)
1963 Dec 24, Greeks and Turks
rioted in Cyprus.
(MC, 12/24/01)
1963 Giorgos Seferis
(1900-1971), Turkish-born Greek poet, won the Nobel Prize in
Literature. Seferis was the pen name of Georgios Seferiades
(AP,
10/8/09)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgos_Seferis)
1963 Andreas Papandreou became
a government minister under his father George, a centrist premier.
(SFC, 6/23/96, p.B6)
1964 Aug 7, Turkey began an air
attack on Greek-Cypriots.
(MC, 8/7/02)
1965 An earthquake on
Alonissos, Greece, leveled Alonissos Town.
(SSFC, 2/14/04, p.D6)
1966 Sotiria Bellou (d.1997), a
folksinger who sang in the "rembetiko" style, released a series of
records featuring old songs in this style.
(SFC, 8/28/97, p.C6)
1966 Melina Mercouri, Greek
film actress, married American film director Jules Dassin. They
settled in Greece.
(SFC, 4/1/08, p.B7)
1967 Apr 21, In Greece "The
Colonels" led by Colonel George Papadopoulos (1919-1999) took power
in a bloodless military coup. Papadopoulos, Stylianos Pattakos, and
Nikolaos Makarezos (1919-2009) imposed martial law and cracked down
heavily on political opponents, imprisoning or exiling thousands of
mostly left-wing supporters, many of whom were tortured by military
police.
(SFC, 4/23/98, p.B4)(SFC, 6/28/99, p.A19)(AP,
8/6/09)
1967 Jul 12, Greek regime
deprived 480 Greeks of their citizenship.
(MC, 7/12/02)
1967 Sep 23, The regime of
Greek Colonels freed ex-premier Georgios Papandreou. [see Dec 24]
(MC, 9/23/01)
1967 Dec 24, Greek Junta freed
ex-Premier Papandreou. [see Sep 23]
(HN, 12/24/98)
1967 Dec, The military junta
crushed an attempted counter rebellion led by King Constantine. The
Royal family fled the country and Colonel George Papadopoulos
emerged as the junta leader.
(SFC, 6/28/99, p.A19)
1967 Leonidas Kyrkos
(1924-2011), Greek leftist politician, was jailed for five years
under the new military dictatorship. Upon the restoration of
democracy in 1974, he again became a deputy until 1981, when he was
elected to the European Parliament, serving until 1985. He was again
a deputy from 1989 to 1993.
(AP, 8/28/11)
1967-1974 A military junta ruled Greece and was
supported by the US government.
(SFC, 4/23/98, p.B4)(SFEC, 11/21/99, p.A19)
1968 Mar 3, The embassies of
Greece, Portugal and Spain were bombed in the Hague.
(http://1968ineurope.sneakpeek.de/index.php/chronologies/index/42)
1968 Aug 13, In Greece there
was an assassination attempt against Col. George Papadopoulos
(1919-1999), the right-wing military leader, organized by Alexandros
Panagoulis (1939-1976), Greek politician and poet.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandros_Panagoulis)
1968 Sep 29, A Greek plebiscite
was held by the then ruling dictatorial regime to endorse, by public
vote, the junta's new Constitution. Participation was made
obligatory and abstention punishable by imprisonment.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_plebiscite,_1968)
1968 Oct 20, Former first lady
Jacqueline Kennedy married Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis
on the island of Scorpios.
(AP, 10/20/97)(HN, 10/20/98)
1968 Nov 1, Georgios Papandreou
(b.1888), Greek minister and 3-time premier, died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Papandreou,_senior)
1968 Nov 3, In Greece thousands
of people demonstrated against the fascist junta as ex-premier
Georgios Papandreou is buried.
(http://1968ineurope.sneakpeek.de/index.php/chronologies/index/6)
1968 Dec 26, A Palestinian
terrorist attack in Athens on an Israeli civilian airliner killed
one person. Mahmoud Mohammad (25) and Maher Suleiman (19) were later
captured by Greek officials, In 1970, a Greek court convicted
Mahmoud Mohammad for his role in the attack. In 1987 Mahmoud
Mohammed Issa Mohammed entered Canada, where he was ordered to be
deported in 1988. In 2007 he was still in Canada after some 30
appeals and reviews.
(http://tinyurl.com/35olct)(Econ, 9/15/07,
p.48)(www.skyjack.co.il/chronology.htm)
1969 John Latsis (1910-2003),
Greek shipping magnate, established Petrola, the 1st export-oriented
oil refinery in Greece.
(SFC, 4/18/03, p.A24)
1970 Apr 13, Greek composer
Mikis Theodorakis (b.1925) was allowed to go into exile. His music
included the film score for Zorba the Greek (1964).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikis_Theodorakis)
1971 Feb 20, Young people
protested having to cut their long hair in Athens, Greece.
(HN, 2/20/98)
1971 Sep 20, George Seferis
(b.1900), Nobel Prize-winning (1963) Greek poet, died. In 2003
Roderick Beaton authored "George Seferis - Waiting for the Angel: A
Biography."
(HN, 3/13/01)(Econ, 11/22/03,
p.83)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgos_Seferis)
1971 Oct, Spiro Agnew
(1918-1996), US Vice-President, visited Greece and called the ruling
junta the country's best leaders since Pericles.
(www.ahistoryofgreece.com/junta.htm)(SFEC,
11/21/99, p.A20)
1971 Periklis Panagopoulos,
Greek ferry operator, founded Royal Cruise Line.
(AP, 1/20/09)
1972 Mar 5, Greek composer
Mikis Theodorakis (b.1925) left the communist party.
(http://wiki.phantis.com/index.php/1972)
1973 May 22, In Greece a coup
was planned, but it was put off due to fears and hesitation. The
Junta got wind of the conspiracy, many arrests were made and people
were tortured. The destroyer HNS Velos followed the original
alternative plan in case of failure and sailed to Italy.
(SFC, 6/28/99,
p.A19)(www.greeceindex.com/history-mythology/Greek-Junta.html)
1973 Jul 29, A Greek plebiscite
was held by the ruling dictatorial regime under Georgios
Papadopoulos and resulted in the abolition of monarchy and the
establishment of a Republic.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_plebiscite,_1973)
1973 Nov 17, Greek regime
attacked students with tanks and 100s were killed. The left-wing
November 17 terror group took this date for their name and engaged
in over 23 killings through 2002.
(SFC, 7/5/02,
p.A9)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athens_Polytechnic_Uprising)
1973 Nov 18, The Greek regime
called an emergency crisis due to mass protests.
(www.athensinfoguide.com/history/t9-97-7polytechnic.htm)
1973 Nov 25, Greek President
George Papadopoulos was ousted in a bloodless military coup led by
police chief Brigadier Dimitris Ioannides. Gen'l. Faidon Gizikis was
named president. Adamantios Androutsopoulis (d.2000 at 81) was named
premier. The dictatorship ended in 1974.
(AP, 11/25/97)(SFC, 6/28/99, p.A19)(SFC,
11/15/00, p.B6)
1974 Jul 15, Greek troops and
the Greek Cypriot National Guard staged a military coup on Cyprus
and archbishop-president Makarios fled. Nikos Giorgiades Sampson
(d.2001 at 66) served as president for 8 days following the military
coup that overthrew Archbishop Makarios. PM Bulent Ecevit ordered
Turkish troops to invade Cyprus following the Greek Cypriot coup.
(www.cyprus-conflict.net/Greek%20v%20Turk%20narr%20-%201974.htm)
1974 Jul 20, Turkey invaded
Cyprus.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_invasion_of_Cyprus)
1974 Jul 23, Greece's military
rulers announced they would turn the nation back to civilian rule.
Constantine Karamanlis returned from 11 years of self-imposed exile
and was sworn in as premier. Karamanlis later won a landslide
election and served as prime minister until 1980. The Ioannides
regime collapsed after plotting an aborted military takeover of
Cyprus.
(AP, 7/23/97)(SFC, 4/23/98, p.B4)(SFC, 6/28/99,
p.A19)
1974 Jul 30, The prime
ministers of Greece and Turkey and the British Foreign Secretary
signed a peace agreement to settle the Cyprus crisis.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/low/dates/stories/july/30/newsid_2492000/2492515.stm)
1974 Oct 4, In Greece the New
Democracy party (ND), was founded. It became the main center-right
political party.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Democracy_(Greece))
1974 Nov, In Greece the army
crushed a student pro-democracy uprising. Following the uprising
junta leader George Papadopoulos tried to slowly introduce some
democratic reforms, prompting a second coup by army hard-liners who
toppled his government.
(AP, 8/6/09)
1974 Dec 8, The Greek monarchy
was rejected by referendum. Constantine Karamanlis organized a
referendum that abolished the monarchy.
(SFC, 4/23/98,
p.B4)(www.traveldocs.com/gr/history.htm)
1974 Dec 18, In Greece Michalis
Stasinopoulos (d.2002), legal scholar, was elected president 10 days
following the referendum that abolished the monarchy.
(AP, 11/1/02)(SFC, 11/2/02, p.A22)
1974 Dec 23, Faidon (Phaedon)
Gizikis (1917-1999), Greek Gen'l. and former president (1973-1974),
resigned and retired from the army.
(SFC, 7/29/99,
p.C4)(www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/archives.php?id=13481)
1974 The film “The Rehearsal”
was directed by Jules Dassin and based on the Greek student
rebellions that helped bring down the 1967-1974 military junta.
(SFC, 4/1/08, p.B7)
1974 In Greece Andreas Georgios
Papandreou founded the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (Pasok).
(SFC, 6/23/96, p.B6)(WSJ, 1/13/04, p.A15)
1974 Melina Mercouri, film
actress (Never On Sunday), gave up acting after she was elected to
the Greek Parliament as a socialist.
(SFC, 4/1/08, p.B7)
1975 Mar 15, Aristotle Onassis
(69) Greek shipping magnate died near Paris.
(AP, 3/15/97)
1975 Aug 23, In Greece Col.
Papadopoulos (d.1999 at 80) was sentenced to death for insurrection
and high treason. He had refused to testify: "let history judge my
action." The sentence was later commuted to life in prison.
(SFC, 6/28/99,
p.A19)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Papadopoulos)
1975 Dec 23, Richard S. Welch,
the Central Intelligence Agency station chief in Athens, was shot
and killed outside his home. The left-wing November 17 urban
guerrilla group was responsible. In 2002 Pavlos Serifis was arrested
in connection with the murder.
(AP, 12/23/00)(SFC, 7/5/02, p.A9)
1975 In Greece the November 17
terrorist group began a series of killings and bombings.
(SFC, 1/14/98,
p.C3)(www.emergency.com/nov17rpt.htm)
1976 May 1, Alexandros
Panagoulis (b.1939), Greek politician and poet, died in a car crash
possibly rigged by his enemies. He became famous for his attempt to
assassinate dictator George Papadopoulos on 13 August 1968, and also
for the torture that he was subjected to during his detention.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandros_Panagoulis)
1977 Nov 24, Greeks announced
the discovery of the tomb of King Philip II, father of Alexander the
Great.
(HN, 11/24/98)
1979 May 28, The acts relating
to Greece's accession to the European Communities were signed in
Athens, Greece.
(http://europa.eu.int/abc/history/1979/index_en.htm)
1979 Jun 28, The Greek
Parliament ratified the Treaty of Accession to the European
Communities.
(http://europa.eu.int/abc/history/1979/index_en.htm)
1979 The Museum of Modern Art
on Andros Island was inaugurated by philanthropist Elise Goulandris
(d.2000 at 82).
(SFC, 7/27/00, p.C2)
1979 Odysseus Elytis
(1911-1996), Greek poet, won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
(AP,
10/8/09)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odysseas_Elytis)
1980 Feb 23, Oil tanker
explosion off Pilos, Greece, caused a 37-mil-gallon spill.
(MC, 2/23/02)
1980 May, In Greece Constantine
Karamanlis (1907-1998) stepped down as prime minister and moved to
the ceremonial position of president.
(SFC, 4/23/98,
p.B4)(www.btinternet.com/~argyros.argyrou/obit2.htm)
1981 Oct 18, Andreas Papandreou
(d.1996) was elected prime minister and Greece joined the European
Union.
(SFEC, 7/26/98, BR
p.3)(http://europa.eu.int/abc/history/1981/index_en.htm)
1981 Melina Mercouri, former
film actress and member of Greek Parliament, was named culture
minister of Greece.
(SFC, 4/1/08, p.B7)
1981-1989 Andreas Papandreou led headed the Greek
government.
(SFC, 6/23/96, p.B6)
1982 Greece launched a formal
campaign through UNESCO for the return of the Elgin Marbles from
England.
(WSJ, 12/3/99, p.A14)
1983 Nov 15, In Athens, Greece,
US Navy Captain George Tsantes and his driver were assassinated by
the November 17 terrorist
group(http://arlingtoncemetery.net/gtsantes.htm).
(SFC, 6/9/00, p.A14)
1983 Nov 15, Turkish Cypriots
declared the northern third Cyprus a separate republic, the Turkish
Republic of Northern Cyprus. It was only recognized by Turkey.
(SFC, 3/13/02,
p.A26)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_Republic_of_Northern_Cyprus)
1985 Mar, In Greece a socialist
government forced Constantine Karamanlis (1907-1998) from the
presidency. He was succeeded by Christos Antoniou Sartzetakis
(b.1929).
(SFC, 4/23/98,
p.B4)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christos_Sartzetakis)
1985 Jun 14, The 17-day hijack
ordeal of TWA Flight 847 began as a pair of Lebanese Shiite Muslim
extremists seized the plane with 104 Americans shortly after takeoff
from Athens, Greece. The hijackers killed Petty Officer Robert Dean
Stethem and dumped his body on the tarmac in Beirut. In 2002
Stethem’s family was awarded $21.4 million in compensatory damages
from the US Treasury. In 1987 Mohammed Ali Hamadi was arrested at
the Frankfurt airport, when customs officials discovered liquid
explosives in his luggage. The Lebanese man was convicted and served
a life sentence in Germany for the 1985 hijacking of a TWA jetliner
and killing of a US Navy diver. In 2005 he returned to Lebanon after
being paroled in Germany.
(AP, 6/14/97)(HN, 6/14/98)(SSFC, 4/21/02,
p.A9)(AP, 12/20/05)
1985 Peter Greenhalgh and
Edward Eliopoulos published "Deep Into Mani," a description of the
Byzantine treasures of the Mani peninsula.
(SFEC, 6/11/00, p.T6)
1985 The Anti-State Struggle, a
left wing terrorist group, killed a public prosecutor. In another
attack 3 police officers and 2 security guards were killed. Avraam
Lesperoglou, a suspected member of the group, was arrested in 1999.
(SFC, 12/25/99, p.A14)
1986 Apr 7, Dimitris
Angelopoulos (79), a Greek industrialist, was killed by Nov. 17
militants. In 2003 Patroklos Tselentis testified that he drove the
getaway motorcycle.
(AP, 3/26/03)(http://tinyurl.com/yzu4sj)
1987 Apr 24, In Greece 18
people, including 12 US military personnel, were injured when a
roadside bomb exploded in the port of Piraeus; the guerrilla group
November 17 claimed responsibility. In 2003 Dimitris Angelopoulos
testified that he drove a truck in the bus bombing.
(AP, 4/24/97)(AP, 3/26/03)
1987 The NATO sec.-gen’l.
negotiated a Turkish-Greek dispute.
(WSJ, 10/8/01, p.A14)
1988 Apr 23, Greek cycling
champion Kanellos Kanellopoulos pedaled a self-powered aircraft
named Daedalus 88 for 74 miles. The MIT Aeronautics and Astronautics
Department's Daedalus was a human-powered aircraft flew from
Iraklion Air Force Base on Crete, Greece, crashing in the sea just
short of the island of Santorini in 3 hours, 54 minutes. Daedalus 87
had crashed on Rogers Dry Lakebed on 17 February 1988, and was
rebuilt as a backup.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIT_Daedalus)
1988 Jul 11, Nine people were
killed when three Abu Nidal terrorists attacked hundreds of tourists
aboard a Greek cruise ship, the City of Poros, which was steaming
toward a marina in suburban Athens.
(AP, 7/11/98)(www.fas.org/irp/world/para/ano.htm)
1988 At Davos, Switzerland,
during the World Economic Forum, Prime Ministers Papandreou of
Greece and Ozal of Turkey embarked on a peace initiative, setting up
a hot-line and vowing to avoid war.
(WSJ, 1/23/08, p.A8)
1989 Jun 18, Greek Premier
Andreas Papandreou's Panhellenic Socialist Movement suffered a
defeat as the center-right New Democracy Party finished first in
general elections. Political scandals and a messy divorce forced
Papandreou and his party from office.
(SFC, 6/23/96, p.B6)(AP, 6/18/99)
1989 Jul 2, In Greece PM
Tzannis Tzannetakis (1927-2010) began leading a coalition government
for that included his conservative New Democracy party and the Greek
Communist Party.
(AP,
4/2/10)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzannis_Tzannetakis)
1989 Oct 12, Greek PM Tzannis
Tzannetakis resigned when the Synaspismos withdrew its support.
Yiannis Grivas then formed a caretaker government until fresh
elections could be held.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzannis_Tzannetakis)
1989 In Greece corruption
charges alleged Socialist party involvement in a $210 million bank
embezzlement scandal that later led to the imprisonment of former
banker George Koskotas, who spent 12 years in jail.
(AP, 4/2/10)
1990 Apr 11, Constantine
Mitsotakis (b.1918) of the New Democracy party became prime minister
of Greece with one vote from an independently elected member of the
parliament. He held office to October 13, 1993.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_Mitsotakis)
1990 Jul 1, The first phase of
the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) comes into force. Four Member
States (Spain, Portugal, Greece and Ireland) are granted an
exceptional regime given their insufficient progress towards
financial integration.
(http://europa.eu.int/abc/history/1990/index_en.htm)
1990 Conservatives returned to
power and elected Constantine Karamanlis to the 5-year post of
president.
(SFC, 4/23/98, p.B4)
1991 Mar, US Air Force Sgt.
Ronald Stewart was killed in Greece. In 2002 November 17 member
Iraklis Kostaris was charged with participating in the killing.
(SFC, 7/22/02, p.A3)
1991 Dec 28, A 6x8 inch wooden
picture of Irene, the Icon of the Greek Orthodox church, was
returned, stripped of its jewels, to NYC after being stolen on Dec
23.
(www.skepticfiles.org/skep2/iconstol.htm)
1992 Jul 31, Greece ratifies
the Treaty on the European Union.
(http://europa.eu.int/abc/history/1992/index_en.htm)
1992 Dec 3, The Greek tanker
Aegean Sea spilled 21.5 million gallons of crude oil when it ran
aground at La Coruna, Spain.
(AP, 12/3/97)
1992 Athens began construction
on its Metro subway.
(NG, 8/04, Geographica)
1992 Greece passed legislation
forcing new entrants to the workforce and their employers to pay
higher payroll taxes than those already employed.
(Econ, 9/10/11, p.77)
1992 Thessaloniki was selected
as the cultural capital of Europe.
(WSJ, 4/29/97, p.A20)
1992 The National Marine Park
of Alonissos, Greece, was established to protect the endangered
Mediterranean monk seal.
(SSFC, 2/14/04, p.D6)
1993 May, The Greek government
demanded the return of Mycenaenean art objects up for sale in New
York. In 1978 Greek grave robbers at Aidonia had dug into ancient
tombs believed to be a 3,500-year-old palatial cemetery of the
Mycenaeneans. The looters plundered 18 graves but left one
undisturbed. Objects from the single grave matched those for sale in
New York.
(SFC, 8/13/96, p.B2)
1993 Oct 10, In Greece, the
Panhellenic Socialist Movement, led by Andreas Papandreou, won a
solid majority of seats in parliamentary elections. A handful of
dissidents brought down a modernizing ND government in a row over
privatization.
(SFC, 6/23/96, p.B6)(AP, 10/10/98)(Econ, 9/22/07,
p.64)
1993 The border with Albania
broke open and hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants, mainly
Albanian Muslims, poured into Greece. A video tape was recorded that
depicted officers of a Greek anti-terrorist squad assaulting an
apparent Albanian immigrant.
(SFC,11/13/97, p.A12)
1993 Greece began a tax reform
program that included revised tax laws and spending on information
technology for a network of tax offices.
(WSJ, 6/20/00, p.A23)
1993-2004 In Greece the socialist Pasok political
party held power.
(Econ, 9/13/08, p.60)
1994 Jan 12, Ancient vases and
ikons, excavated during the construction of the Athens’ new subway,
were stolen. Australian police recovered some of the vases in 1995.
(AM, 11/00, p.25)
1994 Mar 6, Melina Mercouri
(b.1920), Greek born actress turned politician, died of lung cancer
in New York City.
(AP, 3/6/99)(www.imdb.com/name/nm0580479/)
1994 Greece put a 2-year
embargo on Macedonia for usurping the name of a northern province.
(SFEC,11/2/97, p.A22)
1995 Mar 9, President
Konstantine Karamanlis (88) of Greece, resigned.
(www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/NewPol/Politics2.htm)
1995 The Prime Minister was 76
year-old Andreas Papandreou of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement.
His young wife, Dimitra (Mimi) Liani, was thought to be in line for
control of the government from her ailing husband. The next general
election must take place by 1997.
(WSJ, 11/10/95, p. A-1)
1995 The Macedonian government
signed an accord with Athens agreeing to remove a particular symbol
from its flag and revising some articles of the constitution. Talks
on the country's name have made little progress. In official bodies
such as the United Nations, the country is known as the Former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
(AP, 1/2/12)
1996 Jan, The prime minister
quit.
(WSJ, 1/16/96, p. A-1)
1996 Jan, Greek Socialists
elected Costas Simitis to succeed Andreas Papandreou as prime
minister.
(WSJ, 1/19/96, p.A-1)
1996 Mar 18, Odysseus Elytis,
Greek poet and Nobel Prize winner (1979), died in Athens at age 84.
(WSJ, 3/19/96,
p.A-1)(http://dpsinfo.com/dps/mnames.html)
1996 Mar 30, The Olympic torch
was lit in Greece and began its journey to the games in Atlanta,
USA. The games will run 17 days from 7/19-8/4.
(WSJ, 4/1/96, p.A-1)
1996 Apr 15, Stavros Spyros
Niarchos (86), Greek ship owner, died.
(www.msu.edu/~daggy/cop/bkofdead/obits-ni.htm)
1996 Jun 9, The latest
unemployment rate was 10%.
(SFC, 6/9/96, Parade, p.9)
1996 Jun 23, Andreas
Papandreou, Greek Socialist Party founder and statesmen, died. In
1998 his son wrote his autobiographical novel "A Crowded Heart."
(USAT, 6/25/96, p.10A)(SFEC, 7/26/98, BR p.3)
1996 Aug 23, Costas Simitis
called for snap elections to get a mandate for bolstering defenses
against Turkey and reviving the economy.
(WSJ, 8/23/96, p.A1)
1996 Sep 22, In Greece the
governing socialists won the elections and gave Prime Minister
Simitas about 162 of 300 deputies in the Parliament.
(SFC, 9/23/96, A9)
1996 Nov 23, In India amidst
protests outside, Irene Skliva of Greece won the Miss World crown.
Police arrested some 1,650 over 2 days.
(SFEC, 11/24/96, p.A2)
1996 Nov 28, In Greece farmers
began a crippling blockade of roads and railways to back their
demands for better price supports, cheaper fuel, debt rescheduling,
and lower taxes on agricultural equipment.
(WSJ, 12/6/96, p.A12)
1996 The Greek film "Cavafy"
was a profile of the Greek poet, Constantine Cavafy, and a winner of
Greece’s National Film Award for best feature of the year. The music
is by Vangelis.
(SFEC, 6/14/98, DB p.38)(SFC, 6/18/98, p.E4)
1997 May 28, In Piraeus,
Greece, Constantine Peratikos (42), ship owner, was killed by armed
men. His family owned the Aran Shipping and Trading Co. and Pegasus
Ocean Services. The left-wing November 17 group were linked to the
killing.
(SFC, 5/29/97, p.A12)(SFC, 7/5/02, p.A9)
1997 Aug 10, In the 6th World
Championship in Athletics in Athens (Aug 1-Aug 10), the American
4x400m team beat the British quartet by just 0.18 seconds in the
final. Antonio Pettigrew ran the anchor leg for the US team that
won, but subsequently admitted to taking performance-enhancing
drugs. In 2010 the BBC, citing UK Athletics (UKA) and the
International Association of Athletics' Federations (IAAF), said the
British quartet of Roger Black, Jamie Baulch, Iwan Thomas and Mark
Richardson, would be promoted to gold.
(AFP,
1/7/10)(http://www2.iaaf.org/Results/Past/WCH97/data/M/4X4/Rf.html)
1997 Sep 5, Athens, Greece, won
the competition to host the 2004 Summer Olympics.
(WSJ, 9/8/97, p.A16)
1997 Dec 17, A Ukrainian
jetliner from Odessa, a Yakoviev 42, was missing as it approached
the Greek city of Salonica with 70-71 people onboard. The wreckage
was located near Fotina, Greece, on Dec 20, as a Greek military
plane, searching for the wreckage, crashed north of Athens. All five
people aboard the C-130 transport plane were killed.
(WSJ, 12/18/97,
p.A1)(www.cnn.com/WORLD/9712/20/greece.plane.pm/)
1998 Jan 24, From Turkey it was
reported that an estimated 50,000 illegal immigrants move from
Turkey to Greece each year across a sparsely populated 80 mile
border.
(SFC, 1/24/98, p.A8)
1998 Mar 26, A 2-day storm
closed the Athens airport and left much of the capital without
electricity. At least one person was killed.
(SFC, 3/27/98, p.A14)
1998 Apr 22, Constantine
Karamanlis (Caramanlis), statesman, died at age 91.
(SFC, 4/23/98, p.B4)
1998 May 9, Archbishop
Christodoulos was enthroned in Athens as the new head of the Greek
Orthodox Church. A recent proposal to force the separation of church
and state in Greece was rejected the previous week.
(SFEC, 5/10/98, p.A19)
1998 Jul, Sorin Matei (27)
escaped from prison while serving a sentence for attempted murder
and armed robbery.
(SFC, 9/29/98, p.A12)
1998 Sep 6, Sorin Matei took a
police officer hostage and escaped with a hand grenade.
(SFC, 9/29/98, p.A12)
1998 Sep 23, Sorin Matei
stormed a building where Sorin Matei held 3 hostages with a grenade.
The grenade exploded and 12 people were injured.
(SFC, 9/29/98, p.A12)
1998 Sep 26, Sorin Matei choked
to death on his own vomit while under sedation in police custody.
(SFC, 9/29/98, p.A12)
1998 Oct 11, Populist Athens
Mayor Dimitris Avramopoulos was expected to win a 2nd four year
term. The Socialists were expected to maintain their grip on
Parliament.
(SFC, 10/12/98, p.A10)
1998 Dec 24, In Tbilisi,
Georgia, gunmen killed Greek diplomat Anastasius Mizitrasos.
(SFC, 12/25/98, p.A19)
1999 Jan 8, George Skiadopoulos
(25), a Greek seaman, murdered and mutilated his American
girlfriend, former model Julie Scully (31) of Mansfield, N.J.
Scully's body was found burned and beheaded. A Greek appeals court
in 2002 reduced his life sentence to 23 years in prison.
(AP, 10/8/02)
1999 Jan 15, In Greece some
30,000 people protested new education reforms that would base
university entrance on course work rather than a single exam.
(SFC, 1/16/99, p.A11)
1999 Mar 26, In Bulgaria some
10,000 people protested NATO strikes; in Greece some 15,000 marched
on the US embassy in protest; in Bosnia some 3,000 Serb youths
turned violent in Banja Luka over the NATO strikes.
(SFC, 3/27/99, p.A11)
1999 Jun 27, Former Greek Col.
George Papadopoulos died of cancer in a guarded hospital in Athens
at age 80. He led the 1967-to-74 military dictatorship.
(SFC, 6/28/99, p.A19)(AP, 6/27/00)
1999 Jul 26, Faidon Gizikis,
former general and president, died at age 82.
(SFC, 7/29/99, p.C4)
1999 Aug 6, Rita Sakellariou,
singer, died at age 64. She recorded over 30 albums.
(SFC, 8/7/99, p.A23)
1999 Sep 7, In Greece a 5.9
earthquake hit Athens and 64 people were killed, 650 injured and 50
missing. The death toll later reached 143.
(SFC, 9/8/99, p.A1)(WSJ, 9/9/99, p.A1)(WSJ,
9/16/99, p.A1)(AP, 9/7/00)
1999 Sep 14, Yiannos
Kranidiotis, a deputy foreign minister and top diplomat for Europe
and Cyprus, and his son were among 5 people killed when an executive
jet hit turbulence and dropped 19,000 feet before the pilot regained
control and landed in Bucharest.
(SFC, 9/15/99, p.C2)
1999 Nov 7, In Athens, Greece,
a bomb exploded outside a Levi's jeans store. This was the 5th
recent attack and was thought to be linked to an upcoming Nov 13
visit by Pres. Clinton.
(SFC, 11/8/99, p.C14)
1999 Nov 13, In Athens, Greece,
thousands protested an upcoming visit by Pres. Clinton whose planned
visit was shortened to 1 day.
(SFEC, 11/14/99, p.A22)
1999 Nov 17, In Greece over
10,000 people protested against the pending arrival of Pres.
Clinton.
(SFC, 11/18/99, p.A17)
1999 Nov 19, In Greece some
10,000 people demonstrated as Pres. Clinton rode through Athens
under tight security.
(SFC, 11/20/99, p.A1)
1999 Dec 23, In Greece Avraam
Lesperoglou, was arrested in Athens. He was the country's most
wanted terrorist and suspected to be a member of the Anti-State
Struggle, which killed a public prosecutor in 1985.
(SFC, 12/25/99, p.A14)
1999 John Onians authored
"Classical Art and the Cultures of Greece and Rome."
(WSJ, 9/7/99, p.A23)
2000 Jan 7, In Greece the
government promised tougher border security after a truck carrying
80 illegal immigrants from Turkey crashed and left 6 people dead.
(SFC, 1/8/00, p.A10)
2000 Jan 20, Greece and Turkey
signed a series of accords to regulate commerce, provide for
cooperation in fighting organized crime, preventing illegal
immigration, promoting tourism and protecting the Aegean Sea
environment.
(SFC, 1/21/00, p.D2)
2000 Mar, Greece signed a $2.1
billion contract to buy 50 Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter jets.
(WSJ, 3/13/00, p.A16)
2000 Apr 9, In Greece Premier
Costas Simitis declared a narrow victory over the New Democracy
opposition, 43.68-43.03%.
(SFC, 4/10/00, p.A14)
2000 cApr, A 2-line stretch of
the new Athens subway linking 14 stations was inaugurated.
(WSJ, 7/20/00, p.A24)
2000 May 15, In Greece the
government ordered the removal of religious affiliation from state
identity cards.
(SFC, 5/17/00, p.A18)
2000 Jun 8, In Greece Brigadier
Stephen Saunders (53), a British diplomat, was assassinated in
Athens. The November 17 terrorist group claimed responsibility,
saying it killed Saunders because of his role in NATO airstrikes
against Yugoslavia. In 2002 Iraklis Kostaris was charged with
participating in the murder and Vassilis Xiros confessed to the
assassination.
(SFC, 6/9/00, p.A14)(AP, 6/8/01)(SFC, 7/22/02,
p.A3)
2000 Jun 19, EU leaders in
Portugal approved Greece’s bid to join the euro beginning Jan 1,
2001.
(WSJ, 6/20/00, p.A23)
2000 Sep 25, In Greece a
nationwide truckers’ strike caused fuel shortages.
(SFC, 9/26/00, p.A14)
2000 Sep 26, A Greek ferry, the
Express Samina, with 510 passengers sank near the Aegean Sea island
of Paros. At least 75 people were killed. The captain and 4 crew
members were arrested following the collision of the ship with a
well-known rock marked by a visible light. Survivors said crew
members were watching a soccer match on TV. The ship was operated by
Minoan Flying Dolphins.
(SFC, 9/27/00, p.A18)(SFC, 9/28/00, p.A12)(SFC,
9/30/00, p.A12)
2000 Sep 28, The Express
Artemis, operated by Minoan Flying Dolphins, ran aground near Paros
with 1,081 passengers, who were all evacuated safely.
(SFC, 9/30/00, p.A12)
2000 Nov 29, Pandelis Sfinias
(62), the general manager of Minoan Lines, jumped to his death.
(SFC, 11/30/00, p.C7)
2000 In Greece a government run
organization in a post-election collapse stopped propping up the
market by trading in state corporations and caused small investors
to loose some 2 billion euros. The general index ended the year with
a loss of 38.77%.
(Econ, 4/7/07, p.51)(http://tinyurl.com/ywvnyk)
2001 Jan 1, Greece became the
12th country to join the euro. Greece’s public debt at this time was
more than 100% of GDP.
(Econ, 2/6/10, p.75)(www.oanda.com/help/euro)
2001 May 4, Pope John Paul II
visited Athens and apologized for Roman Catholic sins of "action or
omission" against Orthodox Christians. A day earlier some 1,000
Orthodox conservatives took to the streets to denounce his visit.
(SFC, 5/4/01, p.D3)
2001 May 17, A nationwide mass
strike took place and some 10,000 demonstrated in Athens to protest
a pension overhaul.
(SFC, 5/18/01, p.D4)
2002 Apr 24, Greece closed all
schools as a mysterious virus spread with 3 deaths and 39 diagnosed
cases.
(WSJ, 4/25/02, p.A1)
2002 May 30, Civil servants
staged a 1-day national strike to protest government welfare and tax
reforms.
(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.C11)
2002 Jun 29, A bomb exploded at
the port of Piraeus, Greece, and injured Savvas Xiros, a reputed
member of the November 17 terrorist group.
(SFC, 7/5/02, p.A9)(SFC, 7/19/02, p.A14)
2002 Jul 6, Greek police,
assisted by American and British agents, raided an apartment and
found dozens of anti-tank rockets they believe were stolen from the
army in the late 1980s by the elusive November 17 terrorist group.
(AP, 7/6/02)
2002 Jul 18, Greek police
reported the capture of Alexandros Giotopoulos (58), the alleged
head of the November 17 terror group. Police also reported
confessions from members Christodoulos Xiros and brother Vassilis
Xiros to bombings and assassinations.
(SFC, 7/19/02, p.A14)
2002 Jul 20, In Greece police
arrested two more alleged November 17 terrorists, Iraklis Kostaris
and Costas Karatsolis, both 36-year-old real estate agents. One was
believed to be a hit man in four assassinations including those of a
U.S. Air Force sergeant and a British brigadier.
(AP, 7/21/02)
2002 Aug 2, In Greece a cache
of weapons, including automatic rifles, was stolen from a military
armory after thieves tunneled through a wall.
(AP, 8/3/02)
2002 Sep 5, In Greece Dimitris
Koufodinas (44), a main hit man for the November 17 terror
group, surrendered to police.
(SFC, 9/6/02, p.A13)
2002 Oct 8, A Greek appeals
court reduced to 23 years in prison the life sentence imposed on a
Greek seaman for the murder and mutilation of his American
girlfriend, former model Julie Scully (31) of Mansfield, N.J. on
Jan. 8, 1999. Scully's body was found burned and beheaded.
(AP, 10/8/02)
2002 Oct 13, In Greece
opposition conservatives claimed victory in local elections, but
appeared to fall short of gaining a powerful protest vote against
the long-governing Socialists.
(AP, 10/14/02)
2002 Oct 18, According to Greek
scientists, the length of a man's index finger can accurately
predict the length of his penis. The findings are published in the
September issue of the journal Urology.
(Reuters, 10/18/02)
2002 Oct 19, Greeks traveled to
their hometowns for the second time in two weeks, to participate in
runoff local elections seen as an important test for the
long-governing Socialists.
(AP, 10/19/02)
2002 Oct 31, In Greece Michalis
Stasinopoulos (99), a legal scholar who challenged Greece's 1967-74
military dictatorship and served as president after it collapsed,
died.
(AP, 11/1/02)
2002 Dec 30, In Greece Dora
Bakoyianni (48) was sworn in as the mayor of Athens, the first woman
ever to hold the post.
(AP, 12/30/02)
2003 Feb 23, In northern
Greece a bus plunged off a highway bridge, killing at least 14
people.
(AP, 2/23/03)
2003 Apr 13, In northern Greece
a bus carrying high school students crashed on a mountain road,
killing 21 people and injuring about 30 others.
(AP, 4/14/03)
2003 Apr 16, Leaders of 25
European nations gathered in Athens to sign treaties sweeping away
the 20th century's Iron Curtain divide. The 10 new EU members will
formally join May 1, 2004 following ratification of treaties.
(AP, 4/16/03)
2003 Apr 17, John Latsis
(b.1910), the last of Greece's shipping billionaires from the
post-war boom years, died. His staggering wealth was used to aid the
needy and gain access to world leaders.
(AP, 4/17/03)(SFC, 4/18/03, p.A24)
2003 Jun 19, European leaders
gathered at a secluded Greek seaside resort for a three-day summit
to discuss Middle East peace, illegal immigration, and the
contentious draft of a first-ever European Union constitution.
(AP, 6/19/03)
2003 Jun 22, Greece seized a
Comoros-flagged cargo ship that wandered the Mediterranean Sea with
750 tons of explosives on board. The Baltic Sky set off from Gabes,
Tunisia, last month with the explosives and 8,000 detonators and
fuses destined for Sudan.
(AP, 6/23/03)
2003 Jul 8, Antonis Samarakis
(84), Greek writer and children's rights activist, died. His books
included the novel "Mistake" (1965).
(SFC, 8/11/03, p.A17)
2003 Nov 14, In Greece gay
protesters smooched in public to demonstrate against Greek TV
regulators who fined a station $116,000 for broadcasting a scene of
two men kissing.
(AP, 11/14/03)
2003 Nov 17, In Greece riot
squads fired tear gas to disperse groups protesters throwing
gasoline bombs and rocks at police guarding the US Embassy as
thousands marched during a rally held to mark the anniversary of a
student-led uprising in 1973. Demonstrations are held each year to
protest the belief that Washington gave vital support to the 1967-74
military dictatorship that crushed the student rebellion.
(AP, 11/17/03)
2003 Dec 8, In Greece a special
tribunal convicted the mastermind, chief gunman and 13 other members
of the November 17 cell for killings and attacks spanning a
generation.
(AP, 12/8/03)
2003 Dec 17, In Greece a court
handed multiple life sentences to the leader, chief assassin and
three other members of the November 17 terror organization.
(AP, 12/17/03)
2003 In Greece the domestic
Revolutionary Struggle terror group first appeared. The group later
claimed numerous bomb attacks in Athens, including against the
Athens Stock Exchange and planting a massive bomb that failed to
explode outside Citibank offices. The group also fired a
rocket-propelled grenade at the US embassy in 2007.
(AP, 9/30/11)
2004 Feb 8, Socialist voters
across Greece cast symbolic ballots to hand the party's leadership
to Foreign Minister George Papandreou.
(AP, 2/8/04)
2004 Feb 13, Greek and Turkish
Cypriot leaders agreed to resume full negotiations next week to end
the 30-year division of Cyprus before it joins the European Union on
May 1.
(AP, 2/13/04)
2004 Mar 7, In Greece Costas
Karamanlis (47) led the New Democracy party over former Foreign
Minister George Papandreou's Socialists 45.4 percent to 40.6
percent. The result gave New Democracy 165 seats in the 300-member
parliament. The Socialists (Pasok) received 117 seats, Greece's
Communist Party got 12 and the Coalition of the Radical Left won
six.
(AP, 3/8/04)(Econ, 3/13/04, p.51)
2004 Mar 25, The Olympic torch
was lit in Ilida, Greece, and began its journey to herald the summer
Olympiad, Aug 13-29. A 6-continent tour was planned using 2 747s
named Zeus and Hera with a bill of $50 million.
(AP, 3/26/04)(WSJ, 7/19/04, p.A1)
2004 May 4, In Greece 3 bombs
exploded outside a police station near Athens in a series of timed
blasts, causing serious damage just 100 days before the Olympic
Games.
(AP, 5/5/04)
2004 Jul, In 2006 the Greek
government reported that mobile phones belonging to top Greek
military and government officials, including the prime minister and
the US embassy, were tapped for nearly a year beginning in the weeks
before the 2004 Olympic games. It was not known who was responsible
for the taps, which numbered about 100.
(AP, 2/2/06)(WSJ, 6/21/06, p.A1)
2004 Aug 12, Greece’s $930
million, 3km Rion-Antirion bridge across the western end of the Gulf
of Corinth was set to open.
(Econ, 7/31/04, p.55)
2004 Aug 13, The Olympics
opened In Athens. A sea of athletes under 202 flags parted to let a
Greek windsurfing champion jog across the stadium and climb to the
Olympic cauldron, which dipped on its slender 102-foot arm to
receive the spark from his torch. Women’s wrestling debuted as an
Olympic sport.
(AP, 8/14/04)(NG, 8/04, Geographica)
2004 Aug 15, IOC officials,
worried by the television images being flashed around the world of
athletes competing in near empty stadiums, told the Athens Games
organizers to give tickets away for free if necessary.
(AP, 8/16/04)
2004 Aug 17, At the Athens
games, Romania won its second straight Olympic gold medal in women's
gymnastics; the United States took silver while Russia won the
bronze.
(AP, 8/17/05)
2004 Aug 18, In Athens Paul
Hamm won the men's gymnastics all-around Olympic gold medal by the
closest margin ever in the event; controversy followed after it was
discovered a scoring error might have cost Yang Tae-young of South
Korea the title.
(AP, 8/18/05)
2004 Aug 21, The International
Gymnastics Federation ruled that South Korean Yang Tae-young was
unfairly docked a tenth of a point in the all-around gymnastics
final at the Athens Olympics, costing him the gold medal that ended
up going to Paul Hamm of the United States; however, the ruling did
not change the final result.
(AP, 8/21/05)
2004 Aug 22, In the Olympics
Justin Gatlin of the US won the 10-meter dash in 9.85 sec.
(SFC, 8/23/04, p.A1)
2004 Aug 25, Israel captured
its 1st ever gold medal with a win by Gal Fridman in wind surfing.
(WSJ, 8/26/04, p.A1)
2004 Aug 26, At the Athens
Olympics, the US women's soccer team won the gold medal by beating
Brazil, 2-1, in overtime; Shawn Crawford led a U.S. sweep of the 200
meters.
(AP, 8/26/05)
2004 Aug 27, Liu Xiang
(b.1983), Chinese hurdler, set a record and won Olympic gold in
Athens in the 110 meter hurdles with a time of 12.91 seconds
equaling the 1993 time of Colin Jackson.
(www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-08/28/content_369582.htm)
2004 Aug 29, Closing ceremonies
were held in Athens, Greece, for the 28th Olympiad. During one of
the final events, lead marathon runner Vanderlie Lima of Brazil was
pushed into the crowd by an intruder, but managed to finish 3rd
behind Stefano Baldini of Italy.
(SFC, 8/30/04, p.D1)
2004 Sep, A bus enroute to the
closing ceremony for the Paralympics overturned and 7 children were
killed.
(Econ, 10/2/04, p.51)
2004 Nov 4, Greece sharply
protested a US decision to recognize the former Yugoslav state on
its northern border as "Macedonia."
(AP, 11/4/04)
2004 Nov 17, The EU will
consider giving Greece until the end of 2006 to cut its budget
deficit below 3 percent of gross domestic product.
(AP, 11/17/04)
2004 Dec 15, In Athens, Greece,
2 armed men, believed to be Albanians, hijacked a bus carrying 26
passengers, threatening to blow it up with explosives unless they
were taken to the airport and put on a plane to Russia. All hostages
were released after an 18-hour standoff.
(AP, 12/15/04)(SFC, 12/16/04, p.A3)
2004 Elena Votsi, Greek artist,
designed the 2004 Olympic medal. It was the 1st re-design in 76
years.
(AM, 7/04,
p.25)(http://olympic-museum.de/w_medals/wmed2004.htm)
2004 Greece had a 2004 deficit
of just over 6% of GDP.
(Econ, 3/26/05, p.55)
2004 In Greece the 3km
Trikoupis “smart” bridge opened. It spanned the Gulf of Corinth and
contained some 300 sensors to alert operators of an earthquake or
high winds strong enough to warrant a shut down of traffic.
(Econ, 9/5/09, TQ p.6)
2005 Jan 1, Greece was forecast
for 3.4% annual GDP growth with a population at 10.7 million and GDP
per head at $20,210.
(Econ, 1/1/05, p.88)
2005 Feb 17, EU finance
ministers warned Greece to get its finances in order by the end of
2006 and bring its annual budget deficit in line with EU spending
rules or face hefty fines.
(AP, 2/17/05)
2005 Mar 8, George Koronias,
top executive in Greece for Vodafone Group PLC, ordered a shutdown
of an illegal bugging program in Vodafone’s network in Greece. The
program took advantage of an interception feature in Ericsson
hardware use by Vodaphone.
(WSJ, 6/21/06, p.A1)
2005 Mar 9, George Koronias,
top executive in Greece for Vodafone Group PLC, informed the prime
minister’s office that Vodafone’s network in Greece had been
infiltrated with tapping software targeting government leaders. The
bugging had begun around July, 2004, in the weeks before the
Olympics. Hours before the Koronias call Costas Tsalikidis, a
Vodaphone network manager, was found dead in his Athens apartment.
(WSJ, 6/21/06, p.A1)
2005 Mar 12, In Greece Karolos
Papoulias (75), a former foreign minister, was sworn as the nation’s
6th president.
(AP, 3/12/05)
2005 May 9, In Athens, Greece,
Christian leaders, theologians and religious activists from around
the world gathered for a meeting to assess some of the most serious
challenges for the faith, such as growing rifts between churches and
African congregations ravaged by AIDS.
(AP, 5/9/05)
2005 Jun 14, In Athens, Greece,
Asafa Powell of Jamaica, broke the world 100-meter dash record with
a time of 9.77 seconds.
(WSJ, 6/15/05, p.A1)
2005 Aug 14, A Cypriot
airliner, Helios Air 737, crashed into a hill north of Athens,
killing all 121 people on board. An inquiry in 2006 ruled pilots
erred in setting pressurization controls. On April 20, 2012, three
executives of a defunct Cypriot airline and a British engineer were
each sentenced in absentia to 10 years in prison for their role in
Greece's worst air crash. The ruling came four months after a
Cypriot court acquitted the three executives during a separate
hearing over the accident.
(AP, 8/14/05)(WSJ, 10/11/06, p.A1)(Reuters,
4/21/12)
2005 Aug 22, The Greek Orthodox
Church in the Holy Land elected a new patriarch to succeed their
ousted leader, who fell from grace over a controversial east
Jerusalem land deal.
(AP, 8/22/05)
2005 Sep 16, The Greek
government said it would give cash bonuses to Greek mothers who have
more than two babies, in an effort to boost the country's birth rate
as the population ages.
(AP, 9/16/05)
2005 Oct 25, The EU's highest
court finally settled the fate of feta cheese, decreeing it a
traditional Greek product deserving protection throughout the
25-nation bloc in a ruling that went against other European
producers.
(AP, 10/25/05)
2005 Oct, Albania signed a
European Commission energy treaty in Athens meant to promote
co-operation by setting up a regional energy market.
(Econ, 1/7/06, p.43)
2005 Dec 1, In Salamina,
Greece, an 80-year-old woman was found strangled to death. Police
the next day arrested 3 children (7,8,14) for the robbery and
strangling.
(AP, 12/01/05)
2005 Dec 29, A British
opposition legislator called for an investigation into claims that
British security officers were involved in abducting and mistreating
terrorist suspects in Greece. 28 Pakistanis claim they were abducted
from their homes in Athens and other parts of Greece in mid-July,
shortly after deadly transit bombings in London.
(AP, 12/30/05)
2006 Jan 10, The European
Commission ordered that Greece allow genetically modified corn seed
(GMO) to be planted there despite objections by Greek farmers.
(WSJ, 1/11/06, p.A13)
2006 Feb 2, The Greek
government reported that mobile phones belonging to top Greek
military and government officials, including the prime minister and
the US embassy, were tapped for nearly a year beginning in the weeks
before the 2004 Olympic games. It was not known who was responsible
for the taps, which numbered about 100.
(AP, 2/2/06)
2006 Feb 10, Greece and Italy
said they had found swans with the H5N1 bird flu virus, the first
known cases in the European Union of wild birds with the deadly
strain of the disease.
(Reuters, 2/11/06)
2006 Feb 12, Greek
archaeologists said they had discovered the largest underground tomb
in Greek antiquity in the ancient northern city of Pella, birthplace
of Alexander the Great.
(AP, 2/12/06)
2006 Feb 20, Farmers clashed on
the island of Crete with striking seamen who kept Greece's ports
closed for a fifth day. The protest has caused food and gasoline
supply problems for some Greek islands, and forced farmers to dump
perishable goods.
(AP, 2/20/06)
2006 Feb 21, Greek seamen
extended until early Friday a rolling strike that has shut down
ports since last week, causing food and fuel supply problems and
halting many exports.
(AP, 2/21/06)
2006 Feb 23, Greece's seamen's
union called off a crippling eight-day strike and said it would
allow ships to begin sailing.
(AP, 2/23/06)
2006 Mar 1, Greek lawmakers
approved new legislation to lift a standing ban on cremation of the
dead.
(AP, 3/1/06)
2006 Mar 12, The Cameroon
government announced its first case of bird flu, becoming the fourth
African country to be struck by the virus. New cases were also
reported in Poland and Greece.
(AP, 3/13/06)
2006 Apr 3, The National Bank
of Greece bought Finansbank, Turkey’s 3rd largest bank.
(Econ, 4/8/06, p.74)
2006 Apr 16, In northern Greece
a passenger train crashed into a truck at a crossing and derailed,
killing four people and injuring at least 40.
(AP, 4/16/06)
2006 May 6, In Athens, Greece,
some 30,000 people marched in an anti-war and anti-globalization
demonstration that also saw anarchist attacks on banks, shops and
police vehicles. The march was organized by the European Social
Forum, which was holding a four-day meeting on the outskirts of
Athens.
(AP, 5/6/06)
2006 May 20, Lordi, a Finnish
metal band with monster masks and apocalyptic lyrics, won the
Eurovision contest in Greece.
(AP, 5/21/06)
2006 May 23, Warplanes from
Greece and Turkey collided over the Aegean Sea island of Karpathos
as they shadowed each other. Officials said the Turkish pilot was
rescued unhurt, and a search was launched for the Greek pilot.
(AP, 5/23/06)
2006 Jun 4, Nikos Palaiokostas
(46), one of the most wanted men in Greece, pulled off a daring jail
break, landing a helicopter in the Korydallos prison yard to pick up
his brother and another inmate before fleeing in a fog of smoke.
(AP, 6/5/06)
2006 Jun, Students in Greece
protested against a government move to introduce private,
not-for-profit, universities. Such a move required a change in the
constitution.
(Econ, 7/8/06, p.46)
2006 Jul 25, Greek protesters
toppled a statue of President Truman and clashed with police during
demonstrations against the fighting in Lebanon.
(AP, 7/25/06)
2006 Jul 27, Greek authorities
said 5 schoolchildren have been charged with killing an 11-year-old
boy who disappeared five months ago. Alex Mechisvili dropped from
sight in the northern town of Veroia. His body has not been found.
(AP, 7/27/06)
2006 Aug 18, In Greece a
700-year-old icon, said to have the power to work miracles, was
discovered stolen from the cliff-side Elona Monastery. In September
police arrested a Romanian national in Crete and recovered the
Madonna and Child icon.
(SSFC, 10/8/06, p.A26)(http://tinyurl.com/grxc8)
2006 Sep 1, Greece beat the
Americans 101-95 in the semifinals of the world championships in
Saitama, Japan.
(AP, 9/1/06)
2006 Sep 25, In Athens, Greece,
a gang of robbers wielding machine guns stole an estimated $1.9
million from a casino's security van after ramming the vehicle with
a stolen truck.
(AP, 9/25/06)
2006 Oct 18, In Greece some
5,000 protesting teachers and students blocked traffic in central
Athens for more than two hours as unions vowed to extend a monthlong
elementary school strike. Heavy storms lashed southeastern Greece,
leaving three people dead and forcing authorities to declare a state
of emergency on three islands.
(AP, 10/19/06)
2007 Jan 12, The US Embassy in
Athens came under fire from a rocket that exploded inside the modern
glass-front building but caused no casualties in an attack police
suspect was the work of Greek leftists.
(AP, 1/12/07)
2007 Jan 17, In Greece
protesters torched cars, broke bank windows and clashed with riot
police during a student demonstration against plans to allow private
universities to operate.
(AP, 1/17/07)
2007 Mar 8, In Greece rioters
protesting education reforms battled police for more than three
hours, hurling Molotov cocktails and vandalizing businesses in
central Athens, leaving more than 40 people injured.
(AP, 3/8/07)
2007 Mar 15, Bulgaria, Russia
and Greece signed a deal in Athens to build a 175-mile pipeline to
transport Russian oil to a port in northern Greece.
(AP, 3/15/07)
2007 Apr 5, A Greek cruise
ship, the Sea Diamond, sank off the Aegean Sea island of Santorini,
forcing the evacuation of nearly 1,600 people.
(AP, 4/5/08)(SSFC, 12/14/08, p.E3)
2007 Apr 6, The Greek cruise
ship Sea Diamond, which had struck a volcanic reef and forced the
evacuation of hundreds of tourists sank, 15 hours after it began
taking on water off the coast of Santarini Island. Navy divers
searched around the sunken wreckage for a Frenchman and his
daughter, the only two passengers still missing.
(AP, 4/6/07)(SFC, 4/6/07, p.A2)
2007 Apr 10, In Greece cleanup
crews struggled to avert a major oil spill after a sunken cruise
ship leaked dozens of tons of oil off the resort island of Santorini
at the start of the summer tourist season.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 26, In Greece
suspected anarchists threw gasoline bombs at cars parked outside a
central Athens police station, destroying 12 vehicles in the latest
in a series of arson attacks, authorities said.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 May 23, Australian PM John
Howard and his Greek counterpart Kostas Karamanlis sealed a deal
which concluded a decades-long debate over pensions for one of the
world's largest expatriate Greek communities.
(AFP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 26, In southern Greece
a flash flood swept away a group of hikers alongside the Lousios
River, killing at least five people.
(AP, 5/27/07)
2007 Jun 5, Tony Mokbel (42), a
top Australian fugitive, was arrested in Greece. The next day he
accused Australia's authorities of saddling him with a bogus murder
charge to secure his extradition. Mokbel had fled overseas in 2006
while on bail for importing cocaine.
(AFP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 20, In Athens, Greece,
7 police officers were charged with torture and other offenses in
the alleged beating of two Albanian immigrants that was recorded on
a cell phone camera and posted on the Internet.
(AP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 22, In Greece
immigrant groups opened the first formal Islamic prayer site to
operate in Athens since rule by the Ottoman Empire ended more than
170 years ago.
(AP, 6/22/07)
2007 Jun 26, Sizzling
temperatures in Greece, Italy and Romania brought power cuts and
brush fires in a heat wave that has led to at least 38 deaths in
southeast Europe in recent days.
(AP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jun 27, Power blackouts
hit 13 locations in Athens and 95 fires were reported across Greece
amid a heat wave that has killed dozens of people in southeast
Europe over the past week.
(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 28, In Greece a fire
broke out in the forest on Mount Parnitha, 12 miles northwest of
Athens, and burned for 5 days destroying some 11,000 acres.
(SSFC, 7/22/07,
p.G2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Parnitha)
2007 Jul 11, Three firefighters
died while battling a blaze in a forest on the Greek island of
Crete.
(AP, 7/12/07)
2007 Jul 12, In Athens, Greece,
a suburban passenger train collided with a freight train, injuring
at least 53 people.
(AP, 7/12/07)
2007 Jul 23, A Greek
firefighting plane crashed, killing one of its two-member crew while
trying to stop a forest fire reaching homes on the island of Evia.
(Reuters, 7/23/07)
2007 Aug 16, In Greece a huge
forest fire burned two dozen homes, animals and cars in the northern
outskirts of Athens before firefighters extinguished most of it.
(AP, 8/17/07)
2007 Aug 24, Major wildfires
broke out in Greece, burning half a million acres and claiming 65
lives in 11 days.
(AP, 8/24/08)
2007 Aug 25, Massive forest
fires swept uncontrolled across Greece for a second day and killed
at least 41 people in the south of the country, including several
children.
(Reuters, 8/25/07)
2007 Aug 26, Massive fires
consuming large areas of southern Greece for a third day raced
toward the site of the ancient Olympics, engulfing villages and
forests as the flames reached one of the most revered sites of
antiquity.
(AP, 8/26/07)
2007 Aug 27, In Greece the
worst wildfires in living memory have killed 63 people and tore
through town and forest alike. In the last 24 hours, 89 new fires
broke out. Arson is often suspected, mostly to clear land for
development.
(AP, 8/27/07)
2007 Aug 28, Foreign
firefighters and aircraft joined in battling wildfires that have
destroyed some of Greece's lushest landscape. The death toll from 5
days of blazes rose to at least 64.
(AP, 8/28/07)
2007 Aug 31, Officials in
Greece said all major blazes were under control, and firefighters
were working to extinguish smaller fires in the southern part of the
country. The fires cost the country at least $1.6 billion and left
67 people dead. The government provided 13,000 euros to those
suffering losses.
(AP, 8/31/07)(AP, 9/8/07)(Econ, 9/1/07, p.47)
2007 Sep 5, The ship Oceanic
II, dubbed the Scholar Ship, became home to some 200 students from
35 countries and embarked from Piraeus, Greece, as a seaborne
university funded by Royal Caribbean Cruises. A 16-week semester
included stops in Lisbon, Panama City, Auckland, Shanghai and other
places for just under $20,000.
(SFC, 9/12/07, p.61)
2007 Sep 16, Greece's
Conservative PM Costas Karamanlis won re-election with a slim
majority in parliament as voters showed dissatisfaction with both
major parties in the wake of a financial scandal and devastating
forest fires that killed more than 65 people last month. The
governing conservatives won 41.8 percent of the vote, giving them
152 of parliament's 300 seats, a loss of 13 seats. The Socialists
took 38.1 percent, or 102 seats, a loss of 15 and the party's lowest
number of parliament seats in 30 years.
(AP, 9/16/07)(AP, 9/17/07)
2007 Oct 17,
A Greek-flagged cargo ship carrying coal sank in the northern
Greek port of Thessaloniki after colliding with Panama-flagged Dubai
Guardian. The captain of the Diamond 1 was killed.
(AP, 10/17/07)
2007 Dec 2, Police in northern
Greece seized hundreds of ancient coins, some dating back 2,300
years, allegedly stashed away by a 70-year-old barber.
(AP, 12/3/07)
2007 Dec 4, Greece and Turkey
agreed to joint military measures aimed at easing tensions and
improving ties.
(WSJ, 12/5/07, p.A1)
2007 Dec 12, Tens of thousands
of demonstrators jammed central Athens and the northern city of
Thessaloniki as a general strike to protest government plans to
reform the country's debt-ridden pension system brought Greece to a
standstill.
(AP, 12/12/07)
2007 Dec 30, Turkmenistan
turned off gas supplies to Iran, citing technical problems, after
Iran balked at a price increase to $140 per thousand cubic meters,
almost double the contracted rate. The move had a domino effect
causing Iran to halt gas shipments to Turkey, which in turn cut off
gas to Greece.
(WSJ, 2/4/08, p.A2)(http://tinyurl.com/3xmzam)
2008 Jan 8, In northern Greece
a group of female protesters locked in a land dispute with the Greek
Orthodox Church defied a 1,000-year-old ban and entered the all-male
Mount Athos monastic sanctuary.
(AP, 1/9/08)
2008 Jan 23, PM Costas
Karamanlis became the first Greek premier to pay an official visit
to Turkey in nearly 50 years, reflecting warmer ties between two
countries that have come close to war several times.
(AP, 1/23/08)
2008 Jan 28, Archbishop
Christodoulos (69), the leader of Greece's powerful Orthodox Church,
died. He eased centuries of tension with the Vatican but was viewed
as reactionary by his liberal critics.
(AP, 1/28/08)
2008 Feb 7, In Greece senior
clergy elected Metropolitan Bishop Ieronymos of Thebes as the new
leader of the powerful Orthodox Church to succeed the late
Archbishop Christodoulos.
(AP, 2/7/08)
2008 Feb 13, In Greece
thousands of demonstrators marched through Athens and Thessaloniki
to protest government social security reforms as a Greek general
strike shut down schools, hospitals and all public services.
(AP, 2/13/08)
2008 Mar 6, Greece's main power
company extended rolling blackouts as a strike by the company's
workers entered its fourth day.
(AP, 3/6/08)
2008 Mar 24, In Greece 3 men
from a free-press group ran onto the field of the stadium in Ancient
Olympia during a flame-lighting ceremony for the Beijing Olympics,
evading massive security aimed at preventing such disruptions in the
wake of China's crackdown in Tibet.
(AP, 3/24/08)
2008 Mar 31, American director
Jules Dassin (96), whose Greek wife Melina Mercouri starred in his
hit movie "Never on Sunday" and six more of his films, died at an
Athens hospital.
(AP, 3/31/08)
2008 May 15, In Greece the 2
largest labor unions staged strikes to protest pension changes and
recent privatizations.
(WSJ, 5/16/08, p.A8)
2008 Jun 3, Greece's first gay
weddings were held when two couples, abetted by a sympathetic local
mayor, defied the threat of criminal charges and the wrath of the
Orthodox church to tie the knot on the tiny Aegean island of Tilos.
(Reuters, 6/3/08)
2008 Jun 4, An undetermined
amount of fuel oil was released after the Greece-registered Syros
slammed against the Malta-registered Sea Bird near Montevideo,
Uruguay.
(AP, 6/5/08)
2008 Jun 8, In southwestern
Greece a strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.5
struck near the port city of Patras, killing at least two people and
injuring more than 200.
(AP, 6/8/08)(SFC, 6/10/08, p.A10)
2008 Jun 30, The Socialist
International (SI), meeting in Lagonissi, Greece, granted observer
status to the Polisario Front, a group fighting for full
independence in Western Sahara. The disputed Western Sahara region
is largely controlled by Morocco, but the Algerian-backed Polisario
Front is committed to securing independence.
(AFP, 7/2/08)
2008 Jun, Cosco, China’s
biggest state-owned shipping company, won a tender to build and
operate a new container terminal at the Greek port of Piraeus.
(Econ, 8/23/08, p.51)
2008 Jul 14, Greek police said
9 British women faced prostitution charges after being arrested at
the weekend for taking part in an oral sex competition in the Greek
holiday island of Zakynthos. Six British and six Greek men,
including two bar owners, were also charged in the incident, which
took place at Laganas beach.
(Reuters, 7/14/08)
2008 Aug 3, In Greece
Athanassios Arvanitis (31) beheaded his girlfriend and her dog on
the island of Santorini and then escaped in a patrol car. Police
shot him 5 times as he ran over 2 women on a motorcycle before being
caught.
(SFC, 8/4/08, p.A3)
2008 Aug 21, Greek police
announced the arrest of Vassilis Paleokostas, the country's most
wanted man, while tracking down the alleged kidnappers of
industrialist Giorgos Mylonas, who was freed in June after his
family paid a ransom.
(AP, 8/21/08)
2008 Sep 4, Some 20 Greek
anarchists stormed a supermarket in Thesaaloniki and handed out food
for free in the latest of a wave of raids provoked by soaring
consumer prices.
(Reuters, 9/4/08)
2008 Sep 6, In Greece the body
of Amphithea Tanida (36) was found wrapped in sheets in a bathroom
in her parents' villa at Amarynthos on Evia. Masami Tanida (77), a
retired Japanese diplomat, and his wife Maria (67) were arrested the
next day and charged with murdering their daughter.
(AP, 9/8/08)
2008 Oct 5, Germany joined
Ireland and Greece in guaranteeing all private bank accounts,
putting Europe's biggest economy at odds with calls for a unified
European response to the global financial meltdown.
(AP, 10/5/08)
2008 Oct 10, Armed pirates off
Somalia hijacked a Greek chemical tanker with a crew of 20 flying a
Panamanian flag.
(AP, 10/11/08)
2008 Oct 21, In Greece riot
police fired tear gas to disperse a group of rock-throwing youths
during a demonstration in support of a nationwide general strike
that brought air, rail and ferry traffic to a halt.
(AP, 10/21/08)
2008 Oct 23, A Greek minister
resigned after being accused of involvement in a burgeoning scandal
involving a state land swap with a powerful Orthodox monastery that
has undermined the government's popularity. Minister of State
Theodoros Roussopoulos, who is also the government spokesman, said
he was stepping down in order to defend himself against a "malicious
and totally groundless attack."
(AP, 10/23/08)
2008 Nov 24, China's President
Hu Jintao arrived in Greece for a three-day visit timed to coincide
with the signing of a 831.2 million euro ($1 billion) port deal.
(AP, 11/24/08)
2008 Dec 6, Greek police shot
and killed Alexis Grigoropoulos (15). His death sparked two weeks of
the worst rioting the country has seen in decades. In 2010 a court
sentenced a police officer to life in prison for Grigoropoulos'
death, and a second officer to 10 years.
(AP, 12/6/11)
2008 Dec 7, In Greece rioters
rampaged through Athens and the northern city of Thessaloniki,
hurling Molotov cocktails, burning stores and blocking city streets
with flaming barricades after protests against the fatal Dec 6
police shooting of Alexandros Grigoropoulos (15) in Exarchia erupted
into chaos.
(AP, 12/7/08)(Econ, 12/13/08, p.59)
2008 Dec 10, Protesters
attacked Athens' main courthouse with firebombs during a hearing for
police officers whose shooting of a teenager set off rioting that
appeared to be tapering off even as a general strike paralyzed the
country.
(AP, 12/10/08)
2008 Dec 11, As Greece suffered
through its sixth day of violence, there were troubling signs of
unrest spreading across Europe. Angry youths smashed shop windows,
attacked banks and hurled bottles at police in small but violent
protests in Spain and Denmark, while cars were set alight outside a
consulate in France.
(AP, 12/11/08)
2008 Dec 12, Greek youths
hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails at riot police in Athens, who
responded with stun grenades and tear gas. Despite seven straight
days of unrest, Greece's prime minister rebuffed calls to resign and
hold early elections.
(AP, 12/12/08)
2008 Dec 16, In Greece
protesters forced their way into Greece's state NET television news
studio and interrupted a news broadcast featuring the prime minister
so they could urge viewers to join mass anti-government
demonstrations.
(AP, 12/16/08)
2008 Dec 18, Riot police
clashed with rock-throwing demonstrators in central Athens, sending
Christmas shoppers and people in cafes running for cover. Frightened
parents scooped up their children from a Christmas carousel in the
city's main square and fled.
(AP, 12/18/08)
2008 Dec 19, Masked youths
attacked the French Institute in Athens with firebombs Friday, while
Greek union members and university professors geared up for new
anti-government rallies outside Parliament.
(AP, 12/19/08)
2008 Dec 20, In Greece
protesters attacked a city-sponsored Christmas tree in central
Athens Saturday, tossing garbage and hanging trash bags from its
branches before clashing with riot police.
(AP, 12/20/08)
2009 Jan 5, In Greece gunmen
sprayed Athens riot police with automatic weapons fire, seriously
wounding a policeman in an escalation of violence that broke out
after the fatal police shooting of a teenager on Dec 6. The
Revolutionary Struggle group later claimed responsibility.
(AP, 1/5/09)(AP, 9/30/11)
2009 Jan 6, A natural gas
crisis loomed over Europe, as a contract dispute between Russia and
Ukraine shut off Russian gas supplies to six countries and reduced
gas deliveries to several others. Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia,
Romania, Croatia and Turkey all reported a halt in gas shipments.
(AP, 1/6/09)
2009 Jan 12, In Greece 3 gunmen
had grabbed Periklis Panagopoulos (74), founder of one of Greece's
largest ferry operators, and his driver in the southern Athens
suburb of Vouliagmeni. Panagopoulos was released unharmed on Jan 20
following a large ransom payment.
(AP, 1/20/09)
2009 Feb 2, In Greece riot
police fired tear gas at farmers to prevent them from driving their
tractors to Athens as part of a protest demanding government
financial help.
(AP, 2/2/09)
2009 Feb 3, In Greece a
suspected left-wing terror group attacked a police station in
Athens, shooting at the building and throwing a hand grenade.
(AP, 2/3/09)
2009 Feb 4, A Greek police
officer (38) shot and seriously wounded a Greek private security
guard (31) outside the US Embassy in central Athens.
(AP, 2/4/09)
2009 Feb 18, Greek police
destroyed a powerful car bomb left outside the offices of Citibank
in a northern Athens suburb in an escalation of left-wing militant
attacks.
(AP, 2/18/09)
2009 Feb 22, In Greece Vassilis
Palaiokostas (44) and his Albanian accomplice Alket Rizaj staged a
2nd getaway by helicopter. Palaiokostas was serving a sentence for
robbery and kidnapping when he first escaped with Rizaj in 2006 in a
helicopter. On Nov 16 Alket Rizaj was arrested with a female
companion at an isolated house near the town of Marathon.
(AP, 2/23/09)(AP, 11/16/09)
2009 Feb 25, A 24-hour strike
by Greek civil servants disrupted services across the country,
forcing public hospitals to accept only emergency cases and airlines
to cancel at least 68 flights.
(AP, 2/25/09)
2009 Mar 13, In Greece dozens
of youths carrying sledgehammers and iron bars smashed cars, banks
and storefronts in an upscale district of central Athens. Leaflets
identified the attackers as members of local anarchist groups. A
similar attack also occurred in the northern city of Thessaloniki,
leaving three banks damaged.
(AP, 3/13/09)
2009 Mar 25, The MT Nipayia, a
Greek-owned and Panama registered ship with a crew of 19, was
hijacked 450 miles east of Somalia’s south coast.
(AP, 3/27/09)(WSJ, 3/27/09, p.A8)
2009 Apr 2, Greek public
services closed down and transport was disrupted across the country
as thousands of workers went on strike to protest government
spending cuts.
(AP, 4/2/09)
2009 Apr 10, In Greece a
teenage student (19) armed with two handguns, dozens of bullets and
a knife opened fire in a vocational training college in Athens,
wounding three people before shooting himself in the head. He left a
note accusing his fellow students of picking on him.
(AP, 4/10/09)
2009 May 1, May Day protesters
clashed with riot police in Germany, Turkey and Greece, while
thousands angry at the government's responses to the global
financial crisis took to the streets in France. Riot police battled
700 stone-throwing left-wing militants in Berlin for more than five
hours in May Day clashes that stretched into early pre-dawn hours.
(Reuters, 5/1/09)(AP, 5/2/09)
2009 Jun 17, In Greece gunmen
shot dead an anti-terrorist police officer guarding a witness in
central Athens, in an escalation of domestic terrorist attacks in
the country.
(AP, 6/17/09)
2009 Jun 20, Greece opened its
new, $180.5 million Acropolis Museum with a lavish party, bolstering
its long campaign for the return of 2,500-year-old sculptures
stripped from the citadel more than two centuries ago. It was
designed by Bernard Tschumi and Michael Photiadis.
(AP, 6/20/09)(Econ, 6/27/09, p.89)
2009 Jul 24, In Europe deadly
summer wild fires spread across Spain, France, Italy and Greece with
holidaymakers rescued from beaches and thousands of firefighters
brought into the battle.
(AFP, 7/24/09)
2009 Aug 3, Nikolaos Makarezos
(90), one of the leaders of the military dictatorship that ruled
Greece from 1967-1974, died. Makarezos, the junta's chief economic
policymaker, served as deputy prime minister and minister for
coordination under dictator George Papadopoulos.
(AP, 8/6/09)
2009 Aug 23, In Greece a raging
fire bore down on Athens' northern suburbs, prompting panicked
residents to battle the flames with tree limbs and buckets, and
police to order 10,000 people to evacuate one town immediately. The
fires ignited late on Aug 21; by today they were reported across an
area more than 25 miles (40 kilometers) wide.
(AP, 8/23/09)
2009 Aug 26, In Greece the
fires around Athens were put out or contained to small areas after
razing 80 square miles (210 square km) of forest and hillside scrub,
an area more than three times the size of Manhattan. It was the most
destructive blaze in decades in the Attica region, and the worst in
Greece since wildfires in 2007 killed 76 people and blackened 1,060
square miles (2,750 square km).
(AP, 8/26/09)
2009 Sep 2, In Greece a van
bomb exploded outside the Athens Stock Exchange, injuring a woman
and causing extensive damage to the building in what police said was
a coordinated double bombing that also targeted a government
building in the northern city of Thessaloniki.
(AP, 9/2/09)
2009 Sep 22, A sharply divided
EU failed to protect the threatened bluefin tuna, as the bloc's
Mediterranean nations refused to back even a temporary a ban on
catching the fish prized by sushi aficionados. Greece, Cyprus,
Malta, Spain, France and Italy, with strong fishermen's lobbies at
home, insisted on continuing the hunt despite the precarious state
of the species. Conservation groups had earlier criticized the EU
for not pushing to list the bluefin tuna under the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species.
(AP, 9/22/09)
2009 Sep 26, Greek socialist
opposition leader George Papandreou (57), who is widely expected to
win the national election next weekend, said fighting endemic
corruption and creating a stimulus package are essential if Greece
is to emerge from a deep financial crisis.
(AP, 9/27/09)
2009 Oct 4, Greeks cast ballots
in a snap general election likely to produce a change in government.
Voters angered by scandals and a foundering economy were expected to
reject the conservatives in favor of the opposition Socialists.
Socialist leader George Papandreou trounced the conservatives
under PM Costas Karamanlis (53) in an election focused on rescuing
the economy. Papandreou took 44% of the vote and won 160 of 300
parliamentary seats.
(AP, 10/4/09)(AP, 10/5/09)(SFC, 10/5/09,
p.A2)(Econ, 10/10/09, p.54)
2009 Oct 27, In Greece gunmen
on a motorcycle fired on a suburban Athens police station with
automatic weapons, wounding six police officers.
(AP, 10/27/09)
2009 Oct 27, Greek authorities
said 3 adults and 5 children drowned in the eastern Aegean Sea when
a small boat carrying 17 illegal immigrants from Afghanistan hit
rocks near the shore and sank.
(AP, 10/27/09)
2009 Nov 5, Somali pirates
captured a Greek-owned bulk carrier with 21 crew on board. The
carrier, which is flagged in the Marshall Islands, had been heading
to Zanzibar but was last seen 300 miles east of Mombasa, Kenya. The
ship and crew were released on Dec 17.
(AP, 11/5/09)(AP, 12/18/09)
2009 Dec 6, In Greece masked
youths hurled firebombs and jagged chunks of marble at police as
violence erupted during a march in Athens to mark the first
anniversary of the police shooting of a teenager whose death sparked
massive riots.
(AP, 12/6/09)
2009 Dec 10, Greek PM George
Papandreou admitted that Greece was riddled with corruption.
(Econ, 12/19/09, p.89)
2009 Dec 23, Greece planned to
adopt a crisis budget in a bid to bring order to its chaotic public
finances and restore its badly dented credibility with foreign
investors and the EU.
(AFP, 12/23/09)
2009 Dec 25, A Greek-owned
cargo ship, the Aegean Wind, caught fire off the coast of Venezuela.
9 crew members were killed and 5 injured. The ship was carrying iron
ore from Brazil to Houston when the fire broke out.
(SFC, 12/26/09, p.A2)
2009 Greece’s budget deficit
reached 12.7% of GDP this year.
(Econ, 2/6/10, p.75)
2010 Jan 18, EU finance
ministers began 2 days of talks with worries over Greece's swelling
debt expected to dominate the session, as the euro fell to a ten-day
low against the dollar.
(AP, 1/18/10)
2010 Jan 20, In Greece dozens
of prostitutes, most using headscarves or hoods to hide their faces,
demonstrated in central Athens, demanding working licenses for
brothels across Greece.
(AP, 1/20/10)
2010 Feb 3, The EU backed
Greece's “stability and development” plan to shrink a massive budget
gap as "achievable," but warned it would demand tougher cutbacks if
Athens does not stick to promised spending curbs and reforms.
(AP, 2/3/10)(Econ, 2/6/10, p.55)
2010 Feb 10, In Greece a strike
by civil servants shut schools and grounded flights across the
country, as unions challenged cutbacks aimed at ending a government
debt crisis that has shaken the entire European Union.
(AP, 2/10/10)
2010 Feb 16, Greek customs
officials and finance ministry employees walked off the job for a
3-day strike as protests grew against the government’s austerity
measures, which aimed at pulling the country out a debt crises.
(SFC, 2/17/10, p.A2)
2010 Feb 20, German weekly Der
Spiegel reported that Germany's finance ministry has sketched out a
plan in which countries using the euro currency will provide aid
worth between 20 billion and 25 billion euros ($27-$33.7 billion)
for Greece.
(Reuters, 2/20/10)
2010 Feb 24, Greek police fired
tear gas and clashed with demonstrators in Athens after some 50,000
people finished a peaceful march against cutbacks intended to fix
the country's debt crisis.
(AP, 2/24/10)
2010 Mar 1, The European Union
urged Greece to take extra austerity measures within days to tackle
a debt crisis that has shaken the euro zone and promised to help
Athens overcome the problem.
(Reuters, 3/1/10)
2010 Mar 3, Greece announced
painful new austerity measures worth euro4.8 billion ($6.5 billion)
to deal with a financial crisis that has hammered the euro and
unsettled financial markets.
(AP, 3/3/10)
2010 Mar 4, Greece launched a
critical 10-year bond issue, a key test of its ability to raise
funds to pay off expiring debts, and dig out of a financial crisis
that has shaken the EU.
(AP, 3/4/10)
2010 Mar 5, In Greece masked
youths attacked the leader of the country’s biggest union and stoned
police in Athens in an outbreak of violence over cutbacks proposed
by PM George Papandreou, who was abroad seeking European leaders'
support for his efforts to defuse the country's debt crisis.
(AP, 3/5/10)
2010 Mar 5, Germany and the
group of countries using the euro ruled out any immediate financial
aid for debt-ridden Greece at the start of a diplomatic tour by PM
George Papandreou.
(AP, 3/5/10)
2010 Mar 11, In Greece clashes
between some 200 masked youths and riot police broke out as some
20,000 striking workers protested in central Athens against
government austerity measures.
(SFC, 3/12/10, p.A2)
2010 Mar 25, Leaders of the 16
eurozone countries agreed to a plan to rescue Greece if it finds
itself unable to borrow.
(AP, 3/26/10)
2010 Mar 29, In Greece an
overnight pipe bomb explosion outside an Athens business management
institute killed an Afghan passer-by (15) and severely injured his
sister (10).
(AP, 3/29/10)
2010 Apr 1, Former Greek PM
Tzannis Tzannetakis (b.1927) died. He led a short-lived coalition
government in 1989 while the country was rocked by corruption
scandals and political turmoil. His former career in the Greek navy
ended abruptly when he resigned from the military in opposition to a
1967-74 dictatorship led by a group of ultra-right army colonels. He
was jailed and sent into exile. Tzannetakis began a 30-year career
in politics after the military regime collapsed.
(AP, 4/2/10)
2010 Apr 8, Greece's borrowing
costs spiked higher for a third day, intensifying the country's debt
crisis and suggesting a eurozone rescue plan is providing little
support for Athens' struggle to avoid default.
(AP, 4/8/10)
2010 Apr 8, Greece and Turkey
agreed to strengthen contacts between their militaries to reduce the
chance of conflict between two countries that almost went to war in
the mid-1990s.
(Reuters, 4/8/10)
2010 Apr 9, France and Italy
agreed to cooperate more closely to increase nuclear power
generation and vowed to come to the aid of debt-laden Greece in
order to defend the euro.
(AP, 4/9/10)
2010 Apr 10, Greek police
arrested six people suspected of being members of Revolutionary
Struggle, a terrorist group accused of a rocket strike against the
US Embassy and the shooting of a riot policeman.
(AP, 4/11/10)
2010 Apr 22, Markets hammered
Greece after the EU revised the debt-ridden country's deficit and
debt figures upwards, sending the country's borrowing costs to
unsustainably high levels and pushing Athens closer to calling for
an expensive rescue.
(AP, 4/22/10)
2010 Apr 23, Greece asked for
the activation of a financial rescue plan by the eurozone and
International Monetary Fund, in the hope it will help the heavily
indebted country out of a major crisis and give it the breathing
space to put its finances in order.
(AP, 4/23/10)
2010 Apr 28, EU Pres. Herman
Van Rompuy said he is fully confident that debt-laden Greece will
receive the financial assistance it needs in time to address its
debt problems and to preserve eurozone stability. Greece faced a May
19 deadline, when around euro 10 billion of debt comes due.
(AP, 4/28/10)
2010 May 1, Tens of thousands
of protesters gathered in central Athens and other Greek cities for
May Day rallies fueled by anger at expected harsh austerity measures
needed to secure rescue loans for near-bankrupt Greece.
(AP, 5/1/10)
2010 May 2, Greece reached
agreement with the EU and the International Monetary Fund on rescue
loans, a lifeline worth $146 billion, to keep Athens from defaulting
on its debts, a deal that will impose harsh cuts on the county's 11
million people for years.
(AP, 5/2/10)(SFC, 5/3/10, p.A2)
2010 May 3, German Chancellor
Angela Merkel said her country will provide euro22.4 billion ($29.6
billion) to help bailout Greece over a three-year period, part of a
wider plan aimed at keeping Greece afloat and protecting their
shared euro currency.
(AP, 5/3/10)
2010 May 4, Greek protesters
unfurled banners over the defensive walls of the ancient Acropolis,
the country's most famous monument, to protest harsh new austerity
measures as strikes began across the country.
(AP, 5/4/10)
2010 May 5, In Greece 3 people
died when an Athens bank went up in flames as over 50,000 Greeks
took to the streets to protest harsh spending cuts aimed at saving
the country from bankruptcy.
(AP, 5/5/10)(Econ, 7/3/10, p.50)
2010 May 8, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced that
Europe will set up an intervention mechanism to calm markets rattled
by the Greek debt crisis.
(AP, 5/8/10)
2010 May 9, European Union
leaders agreed to provide $572 billion in new loans and $78 billion
under an existing lending program to contain its spreading
government debt crisis and keep it from tearing the euro currency
apart and derailing the global economic recovery. An IMF
contribution of $325 million would raise the amount to over $975
million.
(AP, 5/10/10)(SFC, 5/10/10, p.A2)(SFC, 5/11/10,
p.D2)
2010 May 13, In Greece a
powerful bomb blast outside the country’s largest prison left one
woman injured and nearby homes damaged.
(AP, 5/13/10)
2010 May 14, Greece and Turkey
held a joint cabinet meeting in Athens in a new effort to overcome
old grudges and economic cooperation amidst the Greek debt crises. A
powerful bomb exploded inside a courthouse in the northern city of
Thessaloniki, sending smoke billowing in the building and wounding
one person.
(AP, 5/14/10)(SFC, 5/15/10, p.A2)
2010 May 18, Greece received a
14.5 billion euro ($18 billion) loan from the EU and can now repay
its immediate debt, but still faces a mammoth task to claw its way
out of recession.
(AP, 5/18/10)
2010 May 20, In Greece more
than 20,000 protesters marched to parliament, as unions challenged
harsh austerity measures by staging their fourth general strike this
year.
(AP, 5/20/10)
2010 May 26, In Greece a horde
of frogs caused a two-hour closure on a major highway near the city
of Thessaloniki. The city's traffic police chief said that the
"millions" of frogs were probably looking for food.
(AP, 5/26/10)
2010 Jun 9, Libya and Greece
signed an accord that paves the way for "strategic cooperation"
between the two countries during the Greek premier's visit to the
oil-rich country. The memorandum of understanding envisages
cooperation" in the areas of investment, energy, tourism, food
production, finance and renewable energy.
(AFP, 6/10/10)
2010 Jun 24, In Greece a letter
bomb in Athens killed police officer Giorgos Vassilakis (50), a
close aide to the law enforcement minister. The device had been
hidden in an envelope originally sent by mail on June 18 to minister
Michalis Chryssohoidis' political office.
(AP, 6/26/10)
2010 Jun 29, In Greece fewer
than 20,000 people took to the streets to protest a planned overhaul
of the state pension system.
(Econ, 7/3/10, p.50)
2010 Jul 19, A Greek journalist
was gunned down outside his home in Athens, in an attack police say
is linked to a domestic terrorist group (Sect of Revolutionaries).
Sokratis Giolias (37) died after being shot more than 15 times
before dawn in the neighborhood of Ilioupoli.
(AP, 7/19/10)
2010 Jul 23, Seven out of 91
banks failed European stress tests, which were organized in hope of
reviving investor confidence in Europe's embattled banking sector.
German state-owned lender Hypo Real Estate, five regional savings
banks in Spain and ATEBank of Greece failed the test of whether they
could resist a new financial shock. All have been ordered to
recapitalize or take state aid.
(AFP, 7/24/10)
2010 Aug 1, In Greece an 8-day
truck drivers' strike was called off as protesters agreed to enter
talks with the government. The strike wreaked havoc, stranding
thousands of tourists, destroying lucrative fruit exports and drying
up fuel supplies nationwide.
(Econ, 8/7/10, p.53)(http://tinyurl.com/2wrybtk)
2010 Aug 16, In Greece
Dimitrios Ioannidis (87), a feared security chief, died. He led the
1974 countercoup against Greece's military leaders and
provoked Turkey's invasion of Cyprus. He was jailed in 1975 for life
for his part in the 1967-74 dictatorship.
(AP, 8/16/10)
2010 Aug 26, Two Greek fighter
jets crashed in mid-air during a training exercise south of the
island of Crete, killing one of the three crew members and leaving
the other two injured.
(AP, 8/26/10)
2010 Aug 28, In northern Greece
break-ins over the last 24 hours at two fur farms near the city of
Kastoria set more than 50,000 minks on the loose. The cost to the
farm owners could pass euro1 million ($1.27 million).
(AP, 8/30/10)
2010 Sep 1, In Greece a smoking
ban went into effect outlawing smoking in enclosed public areas and
prohibiting tobacco advertising. 42% of the Greek population over
age 15 smoked, well above the European average of 29%.
(SFC, 9/1/10, p.A2)
2010 Sep 29, Anti-austerity
protests erupted across Europe. Greek doctors and railway employees
walked out, Spanish workers shut down trains and buses, and one man
even blocked the Irish parliament with a cement truck to decry the
country's enormous bank bailouts.
(AP, 9/29/10)
2010 Oct 2, China offered to
buy Greek government bonds in a show of support for the country
whose debt burden triggered a crisis for the euro zone and required
an international bailout. Premier Wen Jiabao made the offer at the
start of a two-day visit, where he says he expects to expand ties in
all areas.
(Reuters, 10/2/10)
2010 Oct 12, A Greek tanker,
the Mindoro, collided with a container ship, the Cypriot-flagged
Jork Ranger, 20 miles (30 km) off the Dutch coast and briefly leaked
jet fuel into the North Sea.
(AP, 10/12/10)
2010 Nov 1, Police in Greece
arrested two terrorism suspects carrying letter bombs addressed to
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and western embassies in Athens.
The two Greek men, aged 22 and 24, were arrested in central Athens
after a parcel bomb addressed to the Mexican embassy in Athens
exploded at a mail delivery service.
(AP, 11/1/10)
2010 Nov 2, In Greece bombs
exploded at the Swiss and Russian embassies in Athens. Police then
found explosive devices at the Bulgarian Embassy and one addressed
to the Dutch embassy at a central Athens courier company, where
German embassy had returned a suspicious package.
(AP, 11/2/10)
2010 Nov 3, Greece stopped all
airborne parcels headed overseas and screened thousands of packages
in an attempt to stop a spate of bombings blamed on Greek militants
targeting diplomatic missions and European leaders.
(AP, 11/3/10)
2010 Nov 7, Greeks cast ballots
in local polls that could trigger a general election unless voters
show support for the governing Socialists' austerity measures in the
debt-strapped country.
(AP, 11/7/10)
2010 Nov 16, In Greece dozens
of far-right activists and local residents in Athens threw eggs and
taunted hundreds of Muslim immigrants as they gathered to pray in a
central square for Eid al-Adha surrounded by a protective cordon of
riot police.
(Reuters, 11/16/10)
2010 Dec 2, In Greece police
clashed with demonstrating students outside the parliament in the
latest protest against austerity measures.
(AP, 12/2/10)
2010 Dec 15, In Greece angry
unions triggered a 24-hour strike to protest labor reforms and pay
cuts. Protesters clashed with riot police across Athens.
(SFC, 12/16/10, p.A9)
2010 Dec 23, Greece's governing
Socialists won a key budget vote in Parliament, calling for deeper
austerity measures in the crisis-hit country and promising to avoid
default despite a soaring national debt.
(AP, 12/23/10)
2010 Dec 27, In Italy bomb
squad experts defused a package bomb that was delivered to the Greek
Embassy in Rome, four days after similar mail bombs exploded at two
other embassies, wounding two people.
(AP, 12/27/10)
2010 Dec 30, In Greece a
powerful bomb hidden on a parked motorcycle exploded outside two
court buildings in central Athens and a small bomb went off outside
the Greek embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, but neither caused
injuries.
(AP, 12/30/10)
2010 Dec, In Greece the state's
attempt to start work on a planned garbage dump on a hillside near
Keratea caused locals to set fire to construction vehicles and erect
massive roadblocks on a highway that bypasses the town and runs to
the capital. Local opposition continued into April as locals
developed increasingly inventive roadblocks to stop contractors from
getting to the proposed dump site.
(AP, 4/16/11)
2011 Jan 1, Somali pirates
hijacked the MV Blida, a Greek-operated, Algerian-flagged bulk
carrier. The crew included 17 Algerians, six Ukrainians including
the captain, two Filipinos, an Indonesian and a Jordanian. On Oct 12
Algeria announced that pirates have released 2 of the ship’s 27
crewmen on humanitarian grounds. The MV Blida was released on Nov 3
after a bag full of money was parachuted down to the pirates from a
plane.
(Econ, 2/5/11, p.69)(AFP, 10/12/11)(AP,
11/3/11)(AFP, 11/20/11)
2011 Jan 3, A Greek ministry
statement said experts from Greece and the US have found rough axes
and other tools, thought to be between 130,000 and 700,000 years,
old close to shelters on the south coast of Crete. The island has
been separated from the mainland for about five million years, so
whoever made the tools must have traveled there by sea, a distance
of at least 40 miles.
(AP, 1/4/11)
2011 Jan 16, Greek authorities
said a ship carrying a reported 263 migrants has sunk west of the
island of Corfu and 22 passengers are missing. The passengers in the
ship were rescued by a Dutch cargo ship about seven hours after the
call that alerted the coast guard. The ship's captain reported he
took 241 people on board and that the Italy-bound Hasan Reis sank.
(AP, 1/16/11)
2011 Jan 25, In Greece more
than 250 immigrants, mostly from North Africa, began a hunger strike
in Athens, demanding to be legalized and challenging a Greek
government crackdown on migrant trafficking.
(AP, 1/25/11)
2011 Jan 26, The European
Union's top competition regulator blocked the merger between Greek
airlines Olympic Air and Aegean Airlines SA, saying a combined
carrier could monopolize Greek air travel.
(AP, 1/26/11)
2011 Feb 12, Greece slammed EU
and the IMF inspectors overseeing efforts to reform its
debt-crippled economy. The IMF, the European Central Bank and the
European Commission said Greece must privatize $68 billion in state
assets and speed up structural reforms. Unemployment was at 13.5%
and was forecast to reach 15%.
(SSFC, 2/13/11, p.A4)(Econ, 2/5/11, p.62)
2011 Feb 23, In Greece young
demonstrators hurled rocks and fire bombs at riot police as clashes
broke out in Athens during a mass rally against austerity measures,
part of a general strike that crippled services and public
transportation around the country.
(AP, 2/23/11)
2011 Mar 9, In Greece some 250
mostly North African immigrants ended a 6-week hunger strike after
government ministers granted them temporary permission to remain in
Greece.
(SFC, 3/10/11, p.A2)
2011 Mar 14, Greek
anti-terrorist police raided at least two suspected hideouts for
domestic terrorists, detaining seven people and seizing weapons and
disguises.
(AP, 3/14/11)
2011 Apr 1, Greek authorities
said an Italian radical anarchist group, the Informal Anarchist
Federation, has claimed responsibility for three mail bomb attacks
on a Greek prison, an office of the Swiss nuclear power industry and
an Italian military barracks.
(AP, 4/1/11)(SFC, 4/1/11, p.A2)
2011 Apr 18, Greece's public
order minister said residents of Keratea, a town near Athens, have
pledged to suspend nearly four months of often violent protests over
a planned rubbish dump, pending talks with officials.
(AP, 4/18/11)
2011 May 2, Greece's
cash-strapped government promised to raise an additional euro11.8
billion ($17.5 billion) through 2013, with a crackdown on tax
evasion.
(AP, 5/2/11)
2011 May 7, Europe faced the
specter of Greek calls for new financial aid as Athens'
"catastrophic" finances returned to haunt stressed eurozone states,
despite efforts to prevent panic. The Greek public deficit for 2010
was recently revised upwards, from 9.4 percent of gross domestic
product to 10.5 percent.
(AFP, 5/7/11)
2011 May 13, Greek government
officials appealed for calm after three days of attacks by
ultranationalist mobs on dark-skinned foreigners in Athens, sparked
by the fatal mugging of a Greek man in the capital's crime-infested
center.
(AP, 5/13/11)
2011 May 23, Greece said it
will immediately start selling state assets and take more than $8.4
billion in additional fiscal measures this year to address its debt
crises.
(SFC, 5/24/11, p.A2)
2011 May 24, Japan’s Sony Corp.
said it discovered a security breach affecting 8,500 user accounts
in a music entertainment website in Greece that comes on the heels
of a hacker attack which forced its flagship gaming site offline.
(AP, 5/24/11)
2011 May 25, Greece's prime
minister insisted his government would see through new austerity
measures and called again for a cross-party agreement on the
reforms, which he has so far failed to secure despite European Union
pressure.
(AP, 5/25/11)
2011 May 25, Greek police
arrested four Greeks and five foreign nationals in Thessaloniki on
suspicion of smuggling nearly 300 kg (661 pounds) of cocaine into
the country last month.
(AP, 5/25/11)
2011 May 26, In Greece police
in central Athens used pepper spray to disperse protesting doctors
and state hospital staff, in the latest protest against public
spending cuts.
(AP, 5/26/11)
2011 Jun 7, The austerity
measures proposed by Greece’s PM George Papandreou in response to
his country’s debt crisis continued to encounter fierce opposition,
as thousands of Greek citizens continued to protest in the square
outside the parliament building.
(AFP, 6/7/11)
2011 Jun 15, In Greece mass
protests against the prime minister’s proposed austerity measures
turned violent, as tens of thousands of angry demonstrators, who had
gathered outside the parliament building, clashed with police.
Responding to the rising tensions PM Papandreou said he would resign
and permit a new unity government to be formed.
(Reuters, 6/15/11)(SFC, 6/16/11, p.A3)
2011 Jun 17, Greek PM George
Papandreou met the demands of his restive party by replacing his
finance minister in a broad cabinet reshuffle that won strong
support from markets, optimistic that crucial austerity measures
will now be passed. The PM named his main rival as finance minister.
Germany softened its position on giving Greece more help by agreeing
with France that private investors would be involved only on a
voluntary basis.
(AP, 6/17/11)(SFC, 6/18/11, p.A2)
2011 Jun 18, In Greece several
thousand pro-Communist union members marched through Athens to
protests the government’s austerity measures.
(SSFC, 6/19/11, p.A5)
2011 Jun 20, Euro zone finance
ministers applied intense pressure on Greece, saying it had to
approve stricter austerity measures before a final decision is made
on a further 12 billion euros in loans.
(Reuters, 6/20/11)
2011 Jun 21, Greek PM George
Papandreou won a vote of confidence helping pave the way for $17
billion in emergency loans to keep the country solvent.
(SFC, 6/22/11, p.A2)
2011 Jun 27, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy said French banks are ready to help troubled Greece
by accepting a significant debt rollover, a move that could push
other banks to pitch in to the Europe-wide effort to keep Athens
from defaulting.
(AP, 6/27/11)
2011 Jun 28, Greek riot police
fired tear gas at youths hurling rocks near the finance ministry in
Athens. The clashes with police came at the start of a two-day
strike called by unions furious that the new euro28 billion ($40
billion) austerity program will slap taxes on minimum wage earners
and other struggling Greeks.
(AP, 6/28/11)
2011 Jun 28, Pro-Palestinian
activists, who plan to breach Israel's sea blockade of the Gaza
Strip, said that they had increased security around their docked
flotilla after an alleged act of sabotage on one of the vessels in a
Greek port. Organizers said hostile divers had cut the propeller
shaft of one of the flotilla’s 10 ships.
(AP, 6/28/11)(SFC, 6/28/11, p.A2)
2011 Jun 29, Greek lawmakers
approved a key austerity bill 155-138, paving the way for the
country to get its next vital bailout loans that will prevent it
from defaulting next month. The 2nd day of a 48-hour nationwide
strike brought much of the nation to a halt.
(AP, 6/29/11)(SFC, 6/30/11, p.A4)
2011 Jul 1, Greece announced it
was banning vessels heading to Gaza from leaving Greek ports and
escorted back to shore American protesters on a boat bound for the
Gaza Strip.
(AP, 7/1/11)
2011 Jul 4, Greek authorities
detained three activists attempting to breach Israel's blockade of
the Gaza Strip, after a boat set sail in defiance of a Greek ban.
The "Dignite-Al Karama" left port near Athens and reached
international waters. On board were eight activists and two crew
members.
(AP, 7/5/11)
2011 Jul 5, In Greece
Pro-Palestinian activists from an international flotilla banned from
setting sail for Gaza by Greek authorities occupied the Spanish
Embassy in Athens.
(AFP, 7/5/11)
2011 Jul 16, The Greek oil
tanker 'Aegean Star' belonging to the Endeavour Marine Agency
company and flying a Liberian flag was hijacked, 30 nautical miles
off the coast of Nigeria. The ship was released on July 18.
(AFP, 7/18/11)(Reuters, 7/18/11)
2011 Jul 19, A Greek court
found six members of a militant anarchist group guilty of terrorism
charges and sentenced them to jail for involvement in bombings
targeting two Greek politicians and a courthouse. They received
sentences ranging from 11 to 25 years in prison. No one was injured
in the bombings.
(AP, 7/19/11)
2011 Jul 21, Eurozone leaders
agreed to give Greece euro109 billion ($156 billion) in new
financing in a complex package that includes new loans, buybacks of
Greek debt, and credit guarantees under the deal agreed.
(AP, 7/22/11)(Econ, 7/30/11, p.65)
2011 Aug 5, In Greece some
14,000 taxi drivers in Athens ended a strike that was launched on
July 18.
(http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=14239136)
2011 Aug 18, Four EU countries
(Austria, Netherlands, Slovakia, Slovenia) said they want hundreds
of millions of euros in collateral as security for a bailout of
Greece. Finland had just struck a deal with Greece for cash
collateral on Aug 16.
(SFC, 8/19/11, p.A2)
2011 Aug 24, Greece’s
parliament approved new legislation to reform its universities.
(Econ, 9/3/11, p.52)
2011 Aug 25, Greece declared a
state of emergency as wildfires in the northeast burned out of
control for a 2nd straight day.
(SFC, 8/26/11, p.A2)
2011 Sep 3, A Greek official
said at least four people died on a half-sunk inflatable craft
carrying illegal migrants off the country's western coast. Eleven
others were found alive.
(AP, 9/3/11)
2011 Sep 11, Greece said it
would impose a new property tax on top of existing austerity
measures to compensate for a revenue shortfall threatening to
disrupt its int’l bailout program.
(SFC, 9/12/11, p.A2)
2011 Sep 21, Greece raised
taxes, made pension cuts and pledged to suspend 30,000 civil
servants in a scramble to keep bailout payments flowing and soothe
global markets as it faced running out of cash in mid-October.
(SFC, 9/22/11, p.A9)
2011 Sep 28, In Greece a
24-hour public transport strike left Athens without buses, metros,
taxis and trams. Customs and tax office workers were also on strike,
while about 350 pensioners demonstrated outside the Finance Ministry
against pension cuts and tax increases.
(AP, 9/28/11)
2011 Sep 30, In Greece a man
(36) wanted for possible ties to the domestic Revolutionary Struggle
terror group handed himself to Athens prosecutors and will go on
trial next week. The man will be among eight suspected members, aged
between 31 and 42, going on trial beginning Oct. 5. Three of the
eight, Nikos Maziotis, Panayiota Roupa and Kostas Gournas, have
admitted being members of the group and claim to be political
prisoners.
(AP, 9/30/11)
2011 Oct 2, Greece said it
would not meet a target for reducing its massive deficit, heaping
fresh pressure on the eurozone crisis.
(AFP, 10/3/11)
2011 Oct 17, In Greece strikes
halted ferries to the local islands and trash continued to pile in
Athens for a 16th straight day as unions fought against austerity
measures.
(SFC, 10/18/11, p.A4)
2011 Oct 19, In Greece new
austerity measures won initial parliamentary approval as hundreds of
youths smashed and looted stores in central Athens during a massive
anti-government rally on the first day of a 48-hour strike against
the austerity bill.
(SFC, 10/20/11, p.A6)
2011 Oct 21, Finance ministers
from 17 eurozone countries agreed to pay Greece $11 billion in its
next batch of bailout loans, avoiding a potentially disastrous
default.
(SFC, 10/22/11, p.A5)
2011 Oct 26, Europe sealed a
last-ditch deal to fix its festering debt crisis by shoring up its
bailout fund, pledging new funds for Greece and pushing banks to
share the pain at a summit vital to the health of the global
economy. Greece was provided with a second bailout package worth
€130 billion ($184 billion) to stave off bankruptcy.
(AFP, 10/27/11)(AP, 10/28/11)
2011 Oct 28, In Greece
thousands of anti-austerity protesters in Thessaloniki forced the
cancellation of an annual military parade commemorating the nation's
entry into World War II.
(AP, 10/28/11)
2011 Nov 3, Officials close to
the Greek PM Papandreou said he has scrapped his plan to hold a
referendum on the latest European debt deal for Greece after the
main opposition leader said would back it. A spokesman for Greece's
government says it is prepared to discuss an opposition demand for
the creation of a transitional government to approve the latest
European bailout deal and secure the next installment of rescue
loans for the country.
(AP, 11/3/11)
2011 Nov 5, Greece's PM George
Papandreou won an early morning confidence vote and launched efforts
to form a coalition government to run the country for the next four
months, arguing the move is vital to securing a mammoth new debt
deal and demonstrating commitment to remaining in the eurozone.
(AP, 11/5/11)
2011 Nov 6, Greece's embattled
PM George Papandreou and main opposition leader agreed to form an
interim government to ensure the country's new European debt deal,
capping a week of political turmoil.
(AP, 11/7/11)
2011 Nov 9, Greece’s PM George
Papandreou went on evening national TV to announce that a new
interim government had been formed.
(SFC, 11/10/11, p.A6)
2011 Nov 10, Greece installed
Lucas Papademos (64), a respected economist, as the new prime
minister easing the European financial crises.
(SFC, 11/11/11, p.A3)
2011 Dec 1, Berlin-based
Transparency International (TI) said corruption is hampering efforts
to tackle the eurozone debt crisis, as Greece (80) and Italy (69)
scored badly in a list of nations seen to be the most sleaze-ridden.
Nepal ranked 154th out of 183 countries. New Zealand ranked the
cleanest, while the US ranked 24th. Afghanistan ranked 180.
(AFP,
12/1/11)(cpi.transparency.org/cpi2011/results/)(AFP, 12/11/11)
2011 Dec 5, The world court
ruled that Greece was wrong to block Macedonia's bid to join NATO in
2008 because of a long-running dispute over the fledgling country's
use of the name Macedonia.
(AP, 12/5/11)
2011 Dec 28, Greek authorities
jailed Abbot Efraim (55), the abbot of a 1,000-year-old Greek
Orthodox monastery, pending trial for his alleged key role in a land
swap with the state that blew up into a major political scandal.
Investigators have said the deal was weighted in favor of Vatopedi
Monastery and cost taxpayers about euro100 million ($131 million).
(AP, 12/28/11)
2012 Jan 10, In Greece a group
of anarchists took over the studio of a local radio station in
Athens, and broadcast a message in support Revolutionary Struggle, a
domestic terrorist group best known for firing a rocket-propelled
grenade into the US Embassy in Athens in 2007.
(AP, 1/10/12)
2012 Jan, Homelessness in
Greece was estimated at 20,000.
(Econ, 1/14/12, p.51)
2012 Jan, In Greece a Pakistani
youth starved to death after being held to ransom by kidnappers for
over more than a year. The teenager had been held captive from
October 2010 and malnourished to force his family to make a payment
of 5,500 euros ($7,200). Police arrested a 24-year-old Pakistani man
who allegedly conducted the ransom negotiations as a suspect and
sought another seven.
(AFP, 4/5/12)
2012 Feb 7, Swollen rivers in
Bulgaria and Greece burst their banks, leaving dozens of homes
underwater. The Maritsa River to overflow its banks, leaving dozens
of homes under water in the city of Svilengrad near the Greek
border. In Greece the river Evros burst its banks near the country's
northeastern border with Bulgaria.
(AP, 2/7/12)
2012 Feb 9, Greece’s political
leaders struck a deal to make deep cuts in government jobs and
spending to help save the country from default.
(SFC, 2/10/12, p.A5)
2012 Feb 10, In Greece violence
broke as over 15,000 people took to the streets of Athens after
unions launched a 2-day general strike to protest spending cuts.
(SFC, 2/11/12, p.A3)
2012 Feb 12, Greek lawmakers
approved harsh new austerity measures, 199-74, demanded by bailout
creditors to save the nation from bankruptcy as rioters destroyed or
seriously damaged 93 buildings, many in the city’s historic center.
(AP, 2/13/12)(Econ, 2/18/12, p.53)
2012 Feb 21, Greece reached an
agreement on a $172 billion in loans through 2014 from the EU
governments and the IMF.
(SFC, 2/22/12, p.A4)
2012 Feb 24, Greece launched
its official offer for a massive bond swap designed to knock euro107
billion ($142 billion) off its debt held by banks and other private
investors.
(AP, 2/24/12)
2012 Feb 28, Greece’s
Parliament approved cutbacks of $4.31 billion aimed at bringing the
2012 budget in line with targets.
(SFC, 2/29/12, p.A2)
2012 Mar 4, Israel and Cyprus
signed an accord to lay an underwater electricity cable between the
Mediterranean nations, the first stage in a bid to transfer power
between the Jewish state and mainland Europe. Additional underwater
cables are to connect Cyprus and mainland Europe via Greece, which
was also part of the agreement signed in Jerusalem. The deal is
still subject to final approval by Israel, Cyprus and Greece, that
is expected to follow the completion of a feasibility study within a
year.
(AFP, 3/4/12)
2012 Mar 5, The Institute of
International Finance, the group representing private creditors in
talks on Greek debt, said a dozen banks, insurers and investment
funds holding Greece's bonds will participate in a massive debt
relief plan for the country.
(AP, 3/5/12)
2012 Mar 9, Greece's creditors
agreed to take cents on the euro in the biggest debt write down in
history. The government said that 83.5 percent of private investors
holding its government debt had agreed to a bond swap that would
involve them taking a cut in more than half the face value of their
investments with softer repayment terms for Greece.
(AP, 3/9/12)
2012 Mar 21, Greece’s
Parliament approved the new int’l. bailout deal, which will give the
country an additional $227 billion in rescue loans.
(SFC, 3/21/12, p.A2)
2012 Apr 3, International
watchdog Transparency International said petty corruption in the
public sector is still costing Greeks millions of euros (dollars) a
year, even though the country's financial crisis has led to a
reduction in the size of bribes.
(AP, 4/3/12)
2012 Apr 4, Greek retiree
Dimitris Christoulas (77) shot himself dead on central Syntagma
Square in Athens during morning rush hour, leaving a note police
said linked his suicide with the country's acute financial woes.
Greece has seen an increase in suicides over the past two years of
economic hardship.
(AP, 4/4/12)
2012 Apr 7, Greek protesters
marching in memory of a man who killed himself over financial woes
that he blamed on the government attacked a policeman in Athens,
leaving him bloodied and stealing his bulletproof vest.
(AP, 4/7/12)
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