Timeline Greece (A): 5Mil BC - 2015
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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)
20Mil BC A volcanic eruption around this time smothered Lesbos island and its subtropical forest ecosystem in lava. In 2021 Greek scientists found a rare fossilized tree on Lesbos whose branches and roots were still intact.
(Reuters, 1/26/21)
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. In 2014 Eric Cline, an archaeologist from George Washington University, authored "1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed".
(AP, 7/8/11)(AP, 7/3/19)
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)
710BC-650BC The Lelantine War, according to Thucydides, was a war between Chalcis and Eretria and lasted over this period.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lelantine_War)
708BC Lampis of Sparta won the pentathlon becoming the 1st Olympic winner in the long jump. Javelin-throwing and wrestling were introduced in this year's games.
(NH, 6/03, p.12)(Econ., 6/27/20, p.10)
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)
632BC Cylon, an Athenian noble and Olympic champion, staged an attempted coup in Athens with the help of his father-in–law, the tyrant of Megara. In 2016 at least 80 skeletons were found in a mass grave, their wrists clamped by iron shackles in part of the Falyron Delta necropolis. It was thought that they had been supporters of Cylon.
(AP, 8/1/16)
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, The Persians landed at Marathon, Greece about this time. Phidippides of Athens was sent to Sparta to request help following the Persian landing. He ran about 240 km (150 mi) in two days and back. The Spartans were unwilling to help, until the next full moon, due to religious laws. Phidippides returned to Marathon without Spartan troops.
(https://www.ancient.eu/marathon/)(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pheidippides)
490BC Sep 12, Athenian and Plataean Hoplites commanded by General Miltiades drove back a Persian invasion force under General Datis at Marathon, Greece, about this time. 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!" In the Battle of Marathon the forces of Darius the Great of Persia were 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. The first known written account of a run from Marathon to Athens occurs in the works of the Greek writer Plutarch (46–120), in his essay On the Glory of Athens. Plutarch attributes the run to a herald called either Thersippus or Eukles. Lucian, a century later, credits one "Philippides."
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Marathon)(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pheidippides)
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)
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)
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, 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. This was later seen by many historians as a turning point in history that allowed ancient Greece to flourish.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Salamis)(WSJ, 4/26/99, p.A18)(AP, 7/18/20)
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)
480BC-406BC Euripides, Greek tragic dramatist, lived about this time. He authored "Medea," "Alcestis," "The Cyclops" and "The Trojan Woman." 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.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euripides)(V.D.-H.K.p.52)
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."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thucydides)(WSJ, 5/13/98, p.A20)(WSJ, 1/19/06, p.D8)
454BC Ten Greek cities failed to honor loads from the temple of Delos, making this the first recorded sovereign default. These defaults cost the temple dearly. So Pericles relocated the treasury to Athens.
(http://freemarketcafe.com/2014/02/delian-default/)(Econ, 6/28/14, p.63)
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 Herodotus, Greek historian, authored His “Histories" about this time. In 2013 a new translation by Tom Holland was published.
(Econ, 9/21/13, p.92)
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 Athens under Pericles imposed severe restrictions on Megara. The Megarian Decrees denied the city-state use of the Athenian empire’s harbors, cutting off its trade. But tiny Megara was an ally of Athens’ great rival Sparta, and disagreements over the sanctions were among the reasons that precipitated the Second Peloponnesian War between the two dominant powers.
(Bloomberg, 10/14/19)
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 Oedipus Rex, an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles, was first performed about this time.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oedipus_Rex)
429BC Pericles (b.490BC), Athenian statesman, died of the plague.
(WUD, 1994, p.1071)(NH, 6/97, p.10)
429BC - 428BC The Athenians won a naval battle against a Peloponnesian fleet of the coast of Patras.
(Econ, 3/28/20, p.72)
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)
425BC The Greek play “Acharnians" by Aristophanes was first performed. A charcoal burner named Dakaiopolis manages to bypass corrupt Athenian politicians and a pompous general to make peace with the Spartans.
(Econ, 8/22/15, p.45)
425BC - 400BC The original Hippocratic Oath was written in Ionic Greek, in the late Fifth Century BCE. It requires a new physician to swear, by a number of healing gods, to uphold specific ethical standards. Of historic and traditional value, the oath is considered a rite of passage for practitioners of medicine in many countries, although nowadays various modernized versions are often used.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippocratic_Oath)
424BC Brasidas (d.422BC), a Spartan general, proposed a plan to prevent the Athenians from using their navy to resupply their city. It called for a small Spartan army to join forces with King Perdiccas of Macedonia and conquer the northernmost allies of Athens. The campaign was successful and brought Athens to the negotiating table. Their armistice lasted only one year.
(ON, 6/12, p.7)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brasidas)
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)
422BC Apr, Spartan Gen. Brasidas was mortally wounded at the head of his troops as Athenians prepared to attack Amphipolis.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brasidas)
415BC In Athens the masculine street corner statues were dismembered in one night en masse.
(Econ, 12/1/12, p.89)
415BC Greece undertook its Sicilian Expedition. The overseas adventure destroyed Athenian power and freedom.
(WSJ, 1/19/06, p.D8)
412BC Greek physician Hippocrates described the “Cough of Perinthus." The most notorious episode related to infectious diseases in the Corpus Hippocraticum is the epidemic ‘Cough of Perinthus’, a winter epidemic of an upper respiratory tract infection and its consequences, extensively narrated in the seventh chapter of the sixth book of Epidemics.
(http://tinyurl.com/y74fpqoa)(Econ 5/27/17, p.75)
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 Athens' 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)
404BC Athens, weakened by a virulent disease, surrendered to Sparta.
(Econ, 3/28/20, p.71)
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)
403BC Athens decided to overhaul its institutions. A new body, the nomothetai (layers down of law), was chosen by lot to scrutinize the decisions of voters.
(Econ., 9/19/20, p.15)
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)
395BC Thucydides (b.~460BC), Greek general and historian, died about this time. His History of the Peloponnesian War recounts the 5th century BC war between Sparta and Athens to the year 411 BC. Thucydides used the war between Athens and Sparta to point out the problem of a rising power facing an established power. This later became known as the Thucydides Trap.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thucydides)(ON, 6/12, p.8)(Econ, 4/22/17, SR p.11)
393BC Phaedrus (b.~444), an Athenian aristocrat associated with the inner-circle of the philosopher Socrates, died. He was indicted in the profanation of the Eleusinian mysteries in 415 during the Peloponnesian War, causing him to flee Athens.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phaedrus_(Athenian))
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)
380BC Georgias, a Socratic dialogue, was written by Plato about this time. It examines the politics of manipulation and the skills of persuasion and lying.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgias_(dialogue))(Econ., 1/30/21, p.15)
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)
370BC Hippocrates of Kos (b.~460), Greek physician of the Age of Pericles, died about this time. He is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippocrates)
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)
354 BC Xenophon (b.430BC), Greek historian, died. His work included the “Cyropaedia," a biography of Cyrus the Great (580-530).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenophon)
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)
312BC 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)
c306BC Demetrius the Besieger (337-283), a mighty warrior king and one of Alexander the Great’s successors, built the Amathus harbor on Cyprus’ southern coast about this time to thwart a potential naval invasion from the ruler of Egypt, Ptolemy I, another of Alexander’s heirs.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demetrius_I_of_Macedon)(AP, 7/19/21)
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)
280BC The army of King Pyrrhus of Epirus, a Greek state, suffered irreplaceable casualties in defeating the Romans at Heraclea during the Pyrrhic War.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhic_victory)
279BC The army of King Pyrrhus of Epirus, a Greek state, suffered irreplaceable casualties in defeating the Romans at Asculum during the Pyrrhic War. The phrase Pyrrhic victory came to signify a victory gained at a devastating cost.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhic_victory)
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 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 A suspected influenza epidemic struck during Rome’s siege of Syracuse.
(Econ 5/27/17, p.75)
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 About this time Eratosthenes (c276-c194), a Greek mathematician, 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. He thereby calculated the radius of the Earth to be about 4,000 miles. The modern value is 3963 miles.
(SCTS, p.6)(Econ, 3/8/14, p.88)
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)
183BC Philopoemen (b.253BC), Greek general and statesman, died. He was the Achaean strategos on eight occasions.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philopoemen)
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)
60BC - 30BC Diodorus Siculus, Greek historian, wrote works of history during this period. His universal history, which he named Bibliotheca historica ("Historical Library"), was immense and consisted of 40 books.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diodorus_Siculus)(Econ, 12/21/13, p.126)
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)
120 Plutarch (b.~46CE), Greek historian, biographer, and essayist, died about this time. His work included “Lives of the Roman Emperors," “Parallel Lives" and “Moralia," a collection of seventy-eight essays. In his "Life of Theseus" Plutarch told the story of the ship that carried Theseus and his crew to Athens from their adventures in Crete.
(Econ, 12/22/12, p.26)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutarch)(Econ., 7/6/20, p.48)
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)
988 Prince Vladimir of Kiev, Volodymyr the Great, accepted Byzantine Orthodoxy. This is the traditional date for the beginning of Russian Christianity. The Kievan Rus ruler was baptized in the ancient Crimean Greek city of Chersonesus before bringing Christianity to the region.
(SSFC, 6/24/01, p.A14)(AP, 8/1/15)(AP, 7/28/18)
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)
1420 In Greece the Bayezid Mosque was completed in the town of Didymoticho close to the Greek-Turkish border. In 2017 a fire ripped through the Ottoman mosque causing extensive damage.
(Reuters, 3/22/17)
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 10, Michael T. Marullus, Greeks poet, drowned.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Tarchaniota_Marullus)
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). 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."
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celebration_of_the_Greek_Revolution)(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 The Greek town of Naoussa was razed by the Turks during Greece's war of independence.
(AP, 3/14/19)
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)
1826 The Ottoman Sultan eliminated the Janissaries by slaughtering them. Originally they were Greek boys forcibly taken from their families by the occupying Turks and raised and trained to be elite troops at the service of the Ottoman Empire. From the mid-17th century, this abduction of boys stopped and Janissaries became a hereditary corps.
(AP, 3/14/19)
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 Oct 9, Ioannis Kapodistrias (b.1776), the first head of state of independent Greece (1827–33), was assassinated. He is considered as the founder of the modern Greek State and the founder of Greek independence.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ioannis_Kapodistrias)
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)
1913 Three Russian ships sailed to the Greek island of Athos and bundled hundreds of Orthodox monks off to Odessa. The Russians feared that a dispute over reciting the name of Jesus Christ would lead to the expulsion of all Russians from Athos. The name dispute began in 1907 when the book “In the Mountains of the Caucasus" was written by a monk named Ilarion.
(Econ, 12/22/12, p.89)
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)
1921-1922 Following the Greco-Turkish war Turkey lost some 1.5 million Greeks in a population exchange that brought half a million ethnic Turks home from Greece.
(Econ, 2/6/15, SR p.10)
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, Greece said no to an ultimatum from Benito Mussolini who demanded that PM Metaxas allow the Italian army free passage to enter and occupy strategic sites in Greece unopposed. Italy invaded Greece, launching six divisions on four fronts from Albania, which it had occupied the previous year. Greece successfully resisted Italy's attack. From 1942 Greeks celebrated From 1942 Greeks celebrated October 28 as Ohi Day (No Day).
(www.ultimatehistoryproject.com/oxi-day.html)(AP, 10/28/97)(HN, 10/28/98)
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)
1941-1942 In Greece an estimated 300,000 people died from a winter famine.
(AP, 3/22/15)
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)
1942 Nazis forced Greece to make an interest-free loan of 568 million Reichsmark (7.1 billion euros or $7.7 billion). The Economist put the loan at 476 million Reichsmark.
(AP, 3/22/15)(Econ., 3/21/15, p.44)
1942 The Jewish community paid some 1.9 billion drachmas, around 50 million euros ($55 million) today, as ransom to German occupying authorities in Greece in return for 10,000 Jewish men being held as slave laborers. The men were released only to be sent to concentration camps the following year.
(AP, 3/22/15)
1943 Mar 15, In Thessaloniki, Greece, occupying German forces began founding up the first batch of Jews in Eleftherias (Freedom) Square. By August 1943, 46,091 Jews had been deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Of those, 1,950 survived.
(AP, 3/16/13)
1943 Aug 18, Final convoy of Jews from Salonika, Greece, arrived at Auschwitz.
(MC, 8/18/02)
1943 Sep 24, German forces executed 117 Italian officers on the Greek island of Cephalonia (Kefalonia). The massacre became the basis for the 1994 bestseller Captain Corelli's Mandolin by British writer Louis de Bernieres. On Oct 18, 2013 an Italian court handed a life sentence in absentia to former German army corporal Alfred Stork (90) for his role in the execution.
(AFP, 10/18/13)
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)
1943 British air strikes in Greece hit the railway station and port of Thessaloniki. Hundreds of local inhabitants died. One bomb that failed to detonate was discovered in 2017 and was successfully defused following an evacuation of tens of thousands.
(AFP, 2/12/17)
1944 Apr 14, 1st Jews transported from Athens arrived at Auschwitz.
(MC, 4/14/02)
1944 Jun 10, In Greece Waffen-SS troops of the 4th SS Polizei Panzergrenadier Division under the command of SS-Hauptsturmführer Fritz Lautenbach went door to door and massacred Greek civilians as part of a 'retaliation measure' for a partisan attack upon the unit. A total of 214 men, women and children were killed in Distomo, a small village near Delphi.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distomo_massacre)
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)
1952 Turkey and Greece joined NATO.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO)
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 Greece was among 22 countries that agreed to halve Germany's foreign debt at a conference in London.
(AP, 3/22/15)
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)
1960 Aug 16, Britain granted independence to the crown colony of Cyprus. Archbishop Makarios began serving as the 1st post-independence president. He chose Spyros Kyprianou (28) as foreign minister. Under the provisions of the independence settlement, Turkey, along with Greece and Britain, maintained a right to military intervention if the island’s constitutional order is threatened.
(AP, 8/16/97)(SFC, 3/13/02, p.A26)(Econ, 1/28/17, p.47)
1960 Germany paid 115 million Deutschmarks — equivalent to about $330 million in 2015 — as part of a treaty with Greece meant to compensate victims of Nazi atrocities, including Greek Jews.
(AP, 3/22/15)
1962 Apr 3, Manolis Kalomiris (78), Greek classical composer, died.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manolis_Kalomiris)
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 at least 24 people were killed in the military crackdown at the Athens Polytechnic. The left-wing November 17 terror group took this date for their name and engaged in over 23 killings through 2002.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athens_Polytechnic_Uprising)(AFP, 11/17/18)
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 22, Only one of the 28 Greek commandos and four crew members survived a fiery crash they came in to land at Nicosia airport in the pre-dawn hours. 19 soldiers were believed to be inside the Noratlas' incinerated fuselage. The plane went down under withering volleys of friendly fire from the airport's Greek Cypriot defenders, who were fearful of an imminent landing by invading Turkish forces to take the strategically important area. In 2015 excavations located the aircraft.
(AP, 8/6/15)
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 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)
1974 Cyprus was divided into Greek and Turkish sectors with a UN no-man’s land in between. Turkish troops had invaded the island after an Athens-based coup by Greek Cypriots. 1,619 Greek Cypriots were said to be missing following the July, 1974, Turkish invasion. 160,000 Greeks and 40,000 Turkish Cypriots were forced to abandon their homes.
(SFC, 6/4/96, p.A11)(Econ, 3/13/10, p.64)(Econ, 4/23/15, p.41)
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)
1976 Jun 27, An Air France Airbus flight AF139, from Tel Aviv to Paris, was hijacked shortly after departing Athens and taken to Uganda. It was hijacked by members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and a German radical group. The hijackers released 148 non-Israeli passengers after the plane landed in Uganda. French pilot Michel Bacos (d.2019) remained with the hostages despite offers of release.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_France)(AP, 3/27/19)
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 Jan 1, Greece joined the European Union. It joined the Eurozone on Jan 1, 2001, allowing it to be among the first group of countries that issued euro banknotes on Jan 1, 2002.
(http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/euro/countries/greece_en.htm)
1981 Oct 18, Greeks elected socialist Andreas Papandreou (1919-1996) as prime minister. He served a first term until 1989 and a second term from 1993-1996.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andreas_Papandreou)(Econ, 7/4/15, p.46)
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, Konstantinos 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)(Econ, 12/3/16, p.43)
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 16, Greece's ailing PM Andreas Papandreou resigned.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andreas_Papandreou)(WSJ, 1/16/96, p. A-1)
1996 Jan 18, Greek Socialists elected Costas Simitis to succeed Andreas Papandreou as prime minister.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andreas_Papandreou) (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 Oct 8, A pair of Greek Mirage 2000s intercepted a pair of Turkish F-16s (a single-seater C and a two-seater D) over the Aegean island of Chios. The F-16s were escorting 4 Turkish F-4Es on a simulated SEAD mission. After a long dogfight, one of the Turkish F-16s was allegedly shot down with a Magic II missile fired by a Greek Mirage 2000 piloted by Thanos Grivas. The Greek authorities said that the jet went down due to mechanical failure, while the Turkish Defense Ministry said, on 2014, that the jet had been shot down by the Greek pilot. America helped calm the crisis.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek%E2%80%93Turkish_relations)(Econ., 8/22/20, p.51)
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)
2000 German companies and the government established a fund to pay to former slave laborers from Greece. By 2015 about 13.5 million euros ($15 million) was paid out.
(AP, 3/22/15)
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 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. Dimitris Koufodinas was convicted of belonging to November 17, which assassinated 23 people, including Western diplomats, between 1975 and 2000.
(AP, 12/8/03)(AP, 6/14/18)
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. Dimitris Koufodinas was sentenced to 11 life terms.
(AP, 12/17/03)(AP, 6/14/18)
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. Ericsson’s phone exchanges used by Vodafone’s network in Greece were used for the spying.
(AP, 2/2/06)(WSJ, 6/21/06, p.A1)(Econ, 8/18/12, p.14)
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 hanged in his Athens apartment. In 2017 Europe's top human rights court faulted Greece for failing to fully investigate the death of the telecoms engineer.
(WSJ, 6/21/06, p.A1)(Reuters, 11/17/17)
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. 84 people died in Greek wildfires, that began in June.
(AP, 8/31/07)(AP, 9/8/07)(Econ, 9/1/07, p.47)(AP, 6/18/17)
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)
2008 Greece vetoed Macedonia's membership of NATO and has blocked negotiations on EU accession ever since the country became a candidate in 2005.
(AFP, 4/17/18)
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. The employees died when the Marfin Bank branch in Athens was firebombed by anarchists taking part in the march.
(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 12, Thieves broke into Greece's National Gallery in Athens and nabbed Picasso's 1939 painting "Woman's Head" and Mondrian's 1905 "Mill." In 2021 the paintings were recovered by Greek police who also arrested a man in connection with the heist.
(CBS News, 6/29/21)
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 17, In Greece two masked robbers stole artifacts from a museum In Patras. On Nov 23 three men were arrested after tried to sell a gold seal-ring dating back some 3,200 years. All the artifacts were found buried in a field 3 km (2 miles) from the museum.
(AP, 11/24/12)
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)
2012 May 6, Greeks cast ballots in their most critical election in decades. Greece voters let a far-right extremist group into Parliament and gave no party enough votes to govern alone. Conservative leader Antonis Samaras began trying to form a new coalition government. New Democracy came first with 18.85% and 108 of Parliament's 300 seats. The big winner was the anti-bailout Radical Left Coalition, or Syriza, whose unprecedented second place with 16.78% gave it 52 seats.
(AP, 5/6/12)(AP, 5/7/12)
2012 May 10, The Olympic flame was lit in Ancient Olympia in Greece, in a solemn ceremony filled with mystery and tradition that signals the final countdown to the start of this year's summer Games in London.
(AFP, 5/10/12)
2012 May 14, In Greece coalition government talks failed after nine days of discussions, meaning the country is heading for another election next month.
(AP, 5/15/12)
2012 May 19, G8 leaders meeting in Maryland backed keeping Greece in the euro zone and vowed to take all steps necessary to combat financial turmoil while revitalizing a global economy increasingly threatened by Europe's debt crisis.
(Reuters, 5/19/12)
2012 Jun 7, In Greece Ilias Kasidiaris (31), the extreme-right Golden Dawn party spokesman, caused an uproar by slapping one female politician on live TV and throwing a glass of water on another. On June 11 he sued the two women as well as the television channel that hosted the news show.
(AP, 6/11/12)
2012 Jun 17, Greece held national elections for the 2nd time in six weeks. Final results gave New Democracy 29.66% and 129 of 300 seats, followed by Syriza at 26.89% and 71 seats. The conservative New Democracy party lacked enough legislators to govern alone, and sought allies among the pro-bailout Socialists, who came in third at 12.3% and 33 seats.
(AP, 6/17/12)(AP, 6/18/12)(SFC, 6/18/12, p.A2)
2012 Jun 17, In Greece a major fire south of Athens raged for the second day, as gale-force winds were rekindling the flames and three new fronts broke out.
(AP, 6/17/12)
2012 Jun 18, Greek conservative leader Antonis Samaras launched coalition talks after coming first in a vote that follow weeks of uncertainty over whether the debt-crippled country could remain in the joint euro currency.
(AP, 6/18/12)
2012 Aug 6, Greek police say they have detained some 6,000 people in Athens during weekend roundups on suspicion that they have entered the country illegally and will deport more than 1,600 of them to their home countries. Greece launched an aggressive campaign to try to seal its 200-km (130-mile) northeastern border, as it faced a debilitating financial crisis that has caused a swell in joblessness and a surge in racist attacks against immigrants with dark skin.
(AP, 8/6/12)(AP, 8/22/12)
2012 Aug 17, In Greece a local crowd on the island of Hydra attacked tax police after they detained a restaurant owner who did not provide receipts to clients. Riot police arrived the next day and the owner was transported to Athens by coast guard ship.
(AP, 8/19/12)
2012 Aug 20, In Greece firefighters battled a major forest fire on the island of Chios as it ravaged groves of the island’s famed mastic trees for a 3rd day.
(SFC, 8/21/12, p.A2)
2012 Sep 12, Greek justice minister Antonis Roupakiotis said Greece will toughen sentencing for hate crimes, following a surge in attacks against immigrants and violence involving members of a far-right political party. A fresh wave of anti-austerity strikes hit the country as the leaders of the governing coalition struggled to finalize further spending cuts for the coming two years — without which the country will lose its vital rescue loans.
(AP, 9/12/12)
2012 Sep 26, Greek police clashed with hooded rioters hurling petrol bombs as tens of thousands took to the streets of Athens in a general strike in Greece's biggest anti-austerity protest in more than a year.
(Reuters, 9/26/12)(Economist, 9/29/12, p.57)
2012 Sep 27, Greece's coalition government reached a "basic agreement" on a new round of harsh austerity cuts demanded by its international lenders.
(AP, 9/27/12)
2012 Oct 4, Greek police clashed with scores of protesting shipyard workers after they forced their way into the grounds of Greece's Defense Ministry in Athens. Workers from the Skaramanga Shipyards, which deals mainly with military contacts, say they have not been paid in months.
(AP, 10/4/12)
2012 Oct 5, National Bank of Greece, the debt-crippled country's biggest lender by assets, announced a public offer to merge with its largest domestic competitor, Eurobank.
(AP, 10/5/12)
2012 Oct 9, German chancellor Angela Merkel visited Greece and said the country has covered "much of the ground" required for recovery. Her arrival triggered protests attended by some 50,000 demonstrators in Athens.
(AP, 10/9/12)
2012 Oct 18, In Greece hundreds of youths pelted riot police with petrol bombs, bottles and chunks of marble as yet another Greek anti-austerity demonstration descended into violence. Some 70,000 protesters took to the street during the country's second general strike in a month.
(AP, 10/18/12)
2012 Oct 27, In Greece Costas Vaxevanis, publisher of Hot Doc magazine, printed a list of 2,059 Greek depositors at a bank in Switzerland. The list, dating from 2007, was allegedly given to the Greek government by French officials in 2010. Vaxevanis was arrested, faced trial and was acquitted. On Oct 8, 2013, he appeared in court again to stand trial again for violating privacy laws.
(SFC, 10/29/12, p.A2)(Econ, 11/3/12, p.54)(Reuters, 10/8/13)
2012 Nov 6, Greek trade unions started a general strike and nationwide protests against a new package of austerity measures to be voted on this week.
(SFC, 11/7/12, p.A2)
2012 Nov 7, Greece’s parliament passed a crucial austerity bill by a narrow margin hours after rioters rampaged outside Parliament during an 80,000-strong anti-austerity demonstration.
(SFC, 11/8/12, p.A2)
2012 Nov 12, Greek lawmakers approved the country’s 2013 austerity budget by a 167-128 vote in the 300-member Parliament.
(SFC, 11/12/12, p.A4)
2012 Nov 12, EU ministers agreed to giver Greece two more years to reform its economy, but failed to agree how to get the country’s bailout program back on track.
(SFC, 11/13/12, p.A2)
2012 Nov 20, Greek police said a man (35) has been arrested on suspicion of having stolen 9 million personal data files in what is believed to be the biggest breach of private information the country has ever seen.
(AP, 11/20/12)
2012 Nov 27, The 17 European Union nations that use the euro struck an agreement with the International Monetary Fund on a program to reduce Greek debt and put Athens on the way to get the next installment of its bailout loans. The first disbursement is set to take place Dec 13.
(AP, 11/27/12)
2012 Dec 14, A boat capsized early today off the northeastern island of Lesvos, near the Turkish coast. Greek coast guard officials found the bodies of 18 Asian people who were trying to cross illegally into Greece.
(AP, 12/15/12)
2012 Dec 31, Greece’s coalition government called for the indictment of former Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou for allegedly removing the names of 3 of his relatives from a list of Swiss bank account holders whose tax records were to be re-examined. Papaconstantinou said the names were removed without his knowledge.
(SFC, 1/1/13, p.A2)
2013 Jan 17, Greek lawmakers voted to investigate former Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou over his handling of data on Greeks with Swiss bank accounts.
(SFC, 1/17/13, p.A2)
2013 Jan 19, In Greece several thousand people marched through central Athens to protest a spate of anti-immigrant attacks, including the fatal stabbing by suspected right-wing extremists of Shehzad Luqman (27), a Pakistani immigrant who died Jan 17. Two men have been charged in the murder.
(AP, 1/20/13)
2013 Jan 20, In Greece a bomb exploded at a shopping mall in Athens, slightly wounding two security guards and forcing the evacuation of about 200 people.
(AP, 1/20/13)
2013 Jan 24, In Greece strikers protesting pay cuts refused to return to work, leaving Athens' subway system closed for an eighth day, despite a court decision declaring their protest illegal.
(AP, 1/24/13)
2013 Jan 25, Greek riot police stormed the Athens subway train depot before dawn to enforce a government emergency order forcing striking staff back to work in an escalating standoff over new austerity measures.
(AP, 1/25/13)
2013 Jan 28, Nikolaos Dertilis (94), the last jailed member of the Greek military dictatorship (1967-1974), died of a stroke at Athens' Erythros Stavros Hospital. He had spent the last 38 years in prison.
(AP, 1/29/13)
2013 Jan 31, Greek doctors, port workers and public transport staff in the country's capital walked off the job in strikes against deeply unpopular austerity measures that have seen incomes slashed as the country struggles to emerge from a deep financial crisis. Farmers in central Greece parked their tractors along the country's main highway for a second day, under the watchful eye of riot police, threatening to shut the road to protest spending cuts and high fuel taxes.
(AP, 1/31/13)
2013 Feb 2, In Greece more than 5,000 supporters of the extreme-right Golden Dawn party marched past the US Embassy in Athens, chanting anti-Turkish, anti-US and anti-immigrant slogans to commemorate a 1996 border incident that caused a crisis between Greece and Turkey.
(AP, 2/2/13)
2013 Feb 17, In Greece some 40 masked attackers raided the facilities of a prospective gold mine in the north overnight, setting machinery and offices alight. Some residents objected to what they say will be the destruction of the environment and of pristine forest at Skouries in the Halkidiki peninsula.
(AP, 2/17/13)
2013 Feb 19, Greek journalists walked off the job for 24 hours to protest austerity measures and income cuts, pulling radio and television news broadcasts off the air and leaving news websites without updates.
(AP, 2/19/13)
2013 Feb 20, In Greece a 24-hour protest by unions representing private and public sector workers disrupted flights, halted ferries and crippled public services, in a renewed confrontation between labor groups and the conservative-led government over policies aimed at curbing Greece's overspending.
(AP, 2/20/13)
2013 Feb 22, In Greece heavy rainfall caused two rivers to break their banks flooding the streets of Athens.
(SFC, 2/23/13, p.A2)
2013 Feb 24, In Greece a helicopter swooped down on the Trikala prison courtyard as armed men on board fired on guards and lowered a rope to help convicted killer Panagiotis Vlastos make his fourth attempt to escape from a Greek prison. Vlastos was wounded the helicopter was grounded in the failed escape.
(AP, 2/24/13)
2013 Feb 27, In Greece Vassilis Papageorgopoulos, the former mayor of Thessaloniki, was sentenced to life i8n prison along with 12 top aides after being found guilty of embezzling almost $23.5 million in state funds.
(SFC, 2/28/13, p.A2)
2013 Feb, In Greece the new street paper Schedia (Raft), to be sold by homeless people, began publication.
(Econ, 2/2/13, p.50)
2013 Mar 4, In Greece former defense minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos was sentenced to 8 years in prison for concealing assets.
(SFC, 2/5/13, p.A2)
2013 Mar 17, In Greece police lobbed chemicals inside a central prison, trying to smoke out Albanian Alket Rizaj, a convicted murderer who was holding five hostages. After a 24-hour standoff Rizaj surrendered to police at Malandrino prison.
(AP, 3/17/13)
2013 Mar 22, In Greece at least 11 Albanian inmates escaped from a prison near Trikala after gunmen brazenly attacked the site with grenades and automatic weapons, kicking off a nightlong standoff between police and prisoners. Two were soon captured.
(AP, 3/23/13)
2013 Apr 3, A Greek court convicted five people on terrorism-related charges rel ated to a militant anarchist group which claimed responsibility for a string of bombings over six years (2003-2009) and fired a rocket-propelled grenade into the US Embassy in Athens but caused no deaths. Nikos Maziotis and his wife Panagiota Roupa, were convicted in absentia.
(AP, 4/3/13)
2013 Apr 17, In Greece 3 strawberry plantation foremen allegedly shot and injured 29 Bangladeshi laborers protesting late pay. Greek officials the next day promised "swift and exemplary" punishment for the suspects.
(AP, 4/18/13)
2013 Apr 28, Greece, in its 6th year of recession, passed legislation allowing incompetent civil servants to be fire more easily. 15,000 civil servants will be sacked by the end of 2014.
(Econ, 5/4/13, p.57, 75)(http://tinyurl.com/o8kbthj)
2013 Apr 29, A cargo ship, the Pirireis, sank off southern Greece within minutes of colliding with another freighter in fair weather, leaving two Syrian seamen dead and 8 others missing. 7 sailors were rescued. It was not clear exactly why the Antigua- and Barbuda-flagged Consouth collided with the Cook Islands-flagged Pirireis.
(AP, 4/29/13)
2013 May 13, Greek civil servants' unions called a 24-hour strike for May 14 in reaction to the government's decision to use emergency powers to prevent protesting teachers from disrupting the May 17-31 exams for school leavers and university candidates.
(AP, 5/13/13)
2013 May 16, Flights in Greece were halted for four hours as the country's two largest labor unions staged work stoppages to protest austerity measures and the government decision to cancel a teachers' strike.
(AP, 5/16/13)
2013 May 28, The Greek government says small protests are blocking streets in central Athens at a rate of twice a day, and called on unions to help draw up new guidelines to keep traffic running.
(AP, 5/28/13)
2013 Jun 12, Greece's conservative-led government was facing a political crisis after its decision to shut down state-run TV and radio as part of spending cuts triggered a wave of strikes and fierce opposition from within the coalition government. The executive order to close ERT must be ratified by parliament within three months but is faced failure if not backed by all the coalition's members.
(AP, 6/12/13)
2013 Jun 13, In Greece thousands walked off the job in the 3rd general strike of the year. More than 10,000 protesters rallied outside the public broadcasting headquarters in Athens in support of fired staff, who for a third day occupied the building to continue broadcasts in defiance of the government.
(AP, 6/13/13)(SFC, 6/14/13, p.A3)
2013 Jun 18, State TV channels in Greece remained off-air as the political storm over the future of public broadcaster ERT raged on.
(AP, 6/18/13)
2013 Jun 21, Greece's fragile coalition government was left reeling after a junior party decided to pull its two cabinet ministers from the cabinet following a dispute over state broadcaster ERT.
(AP, 6/21/13)
2013 Jun 28, BP, at an official ceremony in Baku, Azerbaijan, confirmed that a new pipeline to bring gas to Europe from the Caspian Sea will go through Greece and then under the sea to Italy, a defeat for a rival project to bring gas through Bulgaria and into Austria.
(AP, 6/28/13)
2013 Jul 8, Greece's international debt inspectors reached a tentative agreement with the cash-strapped country on reforms needed to keep releasing vital bailout loans, although they warned it still faced an "uncertain" economic outlook and needed to sack thousands of state sector workers. Municipal workers went on strike to protest government plans to reduce the number of civil servants.
(AP, 7/8/13)
2013 Jul 16, A majority of Greek lawmakers voted early today to lift former finance minister George Papaconstantinou's immunity from prosecution over the fate of a list of about 2,000 names provided by French authorities in 2010 as Greece's economy was struck by a major crisis.
(AP, 7/16/13)
2013 Jul 16, Tens of thousands of Greek workers walked off the job and rallied in front of parliament in a noisy protest against government plans to fire public sector employees to satisfy foreign lenders.
(Reuters, 7/16/13)
2013 Jul 17, Greece's shaky coalition government scraped through a vote on a bill to sack public sector workers as thousands chanting anti-austerity slogans protested outside parliament.
(Reuters, 7/17/13)
2013 Jul 23, Greek shipowner Victor Restis was arrested on charges of money laundering and embezzlement, becoming one of just a few prominent businessmen to be detained by police since Greece sank into crisis.
(Reuters, 7/23/13)
2013 Aug 9, Greek Finance Ministry data showed that 731 of 1,465 companies — mostly restaurants, bars, coffee shops and clubs — checked from July 25 to Aug. 5 had violated tax laws. The highest rate of non-compliance, some 85% of those checked, was on the islands of Evia and Skyros.
(AP, 8/9/13)
2013 Aug 10, In Greece dozens of illegal immigrants being held in a detention center hurled stones at police guards and set mattresses on fire in protest over the extension of their detention. More than 50 out of 1,620 migrants held at the detention center of Amygdaleza, near Athens, were arrested over the clashes.
(Reuters, 8/11/13)
2013 Aug 13, Greek student Thanassis Kanaoutis (19) died after an argument with a bus ticket inspector in Athens. He quickly came to symbolize the plight of a population ground down by worsening poverty and unemployment.
(Reuters, 8/16/13)
2013 Aug 21, Greece's new state television channel began airing news programs, more than two months after the government's abrupt closure of state broadcaster ERT drew international condemnation and triggered an acute political crisis.
(AP, 8/21/13)
2013 Sep 2, A court in Cyprus ordered the extradition of Dinos Michaelides, a former Cypriot interior minister, to Greece for questioning related to corruption charges against Akis Tsohatzopoulos, a once-powerful Greek politician, who is now in jail.
(Reuters, 9/2/13)
2013 Sep 17, In Greece Pavlos Fissas (34), an anti-racism rapper, was stabbed to death in the Keratsini area west of Athens by a man sympathizing with the far-right Golden Dawn party.
(Reuters, 9/19/13)(SFC, 9/19/13, p.A2)
2013 Sep 18, Greek workers shut schools and forced hospitals to operate with only emergency staff at the start of a 48-hour strike against the latest plans to fire thousands of public sector employees.
(Reuters, 9/18/13)
2013 Sep 23, Greece suspended several senior police officers and launched an investigation into possible police links with a far-right party, after the killing of an anti-racism rapper raised concerns about the force.
(Reuters, 9/23/13)
2013 Sep 24, Greek public sector workers went on strike for the second time in a week, shutting schools and leaving hospitals with skeleton staff, as inspectors from Greece's foreign lenders checked whether the country was meeting its bailout targets.
(Reuters, 9/24/13)
2013 Sep 25, Greeks staged protests in Athens against the fatal stabbing of an anti-racism rapper by a supporter of the far-right Golden Dawn party, which a new poll found has lost a third of its support since the killing.
(Reuters, 9/25/13)
2013 Sep 28, Greek police arrested the leader and more than a dozen senior members and lawmakers from the far-right Golden Dawn party after the killing of an anti-fascist rapper by a party supporter triggered outrage and protests across the country.
(Reuters, 9/28/13)
2013 Sep 29, Greek lawmaker Christos Pappas surrendered to police, bringing to six the number of legislators from the extreme-right Golden Dawn party now in custody and accused of being members of a criminal organization with intent to commit crimes.
(AP, 9/29/13)(SFC, 9/30/13, p.A2)
2013 Oct 3, Nikos Michaloliakos, the leader of Greece's far-right Golden Dawn party, was sent to jail pending trial on criminal charges, the first time an elected party chief has been put behind bars since a military coup nearly five decades ago.
(Reuters, 10/3/13)(Econ, 10/5/13, p.56)
2013 Oct 7, In Greece Akis Tsochadzopoulos (73), former Greek defense minister, was jailed for 20 years after being found guilty o money laundering. 16 of 18 co-defendants were also found guilty.
(SFC, 10/8/13, p.A2)
2013 Oct 22, Greek lawmakers voted to suspend state funding for political parties accused of criminal activities, a measure targeting the Nazi-inspired Golden Dawn group.
(AP, 10/22/13)
2013 Oct 22, A top Greek prosecutor ordered an emergency nationwide investigation into birth certificates issued in the past six years after a girl was discovered living with alleged abductors at a gypsy camp.
(AP, 10/22/13)
2013 Oct 25, Greek authorities said DNA tests have confirmed that Sasha Ruseva, a Bulgarian Roma woman (35), is the mother of a mysterious girl in Greece known as Maria.
(AP, 10/25/13)(SFC, 10/25/13, p.A2)
2013 Oct 25, Greek police said they have arrested a childless couple in Athens on suspicion of buying an 8-month-old Roma girl and trying to register her as their own, amid international uproar over another little girl who was found living with unrelated Gypsies in Greece.
(AP, 10/25/13)
2013 Oct 31, In Greece thousands of protesters clogged Athens to demonstrate against a new property tax. The anger was registered across society, with retirees, disabled groups, shipyard workers and high school teachers among those taking part.
(AP, 10/31/13)
2013 Nov 1, In Greece two members of the far-right Golden Dawn party were killed and a third wounding. The gun used in the attack had not been used in previous terrorist attacks.
(AP, 11/2/13)
2013 Nov 3, The Greek government backed away from allowing retailers to trade on any Sunday after opposition from small retailers and the Orthodox Church. The government says more Sunday shopping would boost retail sales in a country struggling to pull itself out of a six-year recession.
(Reuters, 11/3/13)
2013 Nov 6, Greek schools shut and flights were disrupted as workers held a general strike to protest austerity imposed by foreign lenders.
(AP, 11/6/13)
2013 Nov 7, Greek riot police stormed the headquarters of former public broadcaster ERT in a pre-dawn raid, forcibly removing employees who had been occupying the site since its shock shutdown five months ago.
(AFP, 11/7/13)
2013 Nov 8, Greek authorities detained a cargo ship carrying large quantities of weapons and ammunition.
(Reuters, 11/8/13)
2013 Nov 15, In western Greece 12 migrants, believed to be Syrians, were found dead after a plastic boat still tied to rocks capsized in calm weather. 15 people survived the incident.
(AP, 11/15/13)
2013 Nov 30, In Greece about 1,000 supporters of the Golden Dawn party gathered outside parliament to protest against the pre-trial detention of their leader Nikolaos Mihaloliakos on charges of forming a criminal organization.
(Reuters, 11/30/13)
2013 Dec 17, Greek authorities said an oil tanker came under armed attack overnight about 35 nautical miles south of Nigeria, and the ship's Ukrainian captain and Greek first engineer have been kidnapped.
(AP, 12/17/13)
2013 Dec 21, Greece's coalition government pushed through parliament a new property tax required under the country's international bailout obligations, but saw its majority dwindle in the process.
(AFP, 12/21/13)
2013 Dec 30, In Greece unidentified assailants opened fire on the German ambassador's residence in Athens with a Kalashnikov assault rifle in an attack seen as an attempt to sour relations between debt-laden Greece and its biggest creditor nation.
(Reuters, 12/30/13)
2013 Dec 30, In Greece unidentified assailants opened fire on the German ambassador's residence in Athens with a Kalashnikov assault rifle in an attack seen as an attempt to sour relations between debt-laden Greece and its biggest creditor nation. Michalis Liapis (62), a former transport minister, received a four-year suspended sentence for driving an uninsured luxury car with fake license plates in an apparent tax dodge.
(Reuters, 12/30/13)(AP, 12/30/13)
2014 Jan 8, Greece formally assumed the European Union's rotating six-month presidency with a ceremony attended by EU commissioners.
(AP, 1/8/14)
2014 Jan 8, Greek authorities charged 25 people and arrested three following an investigation into allegedly inadequately secured loans from the former Hellenic Postbank to local businessmen.
(AP, 1/9/14)
2014 Jan 11, In Greece two Golden Dawn lawmakers were placed in pre-trial detention late in Athens in an ongoing crackdown against the far right group.
(AFP, 1/11/14)
2014 Jan 18, Police in central Greece said they had arrested seven people including five Bulgarians for attempted baby trafficking.
(AFP, 1/18/14)
2014 Jan 20, A small fishing boat crammed with 28 people entered Greece illegally from Turkey. The Greek Coast Guard said it was towing the boat to a nearby Greek island when it capsized. The mishap killed at least two and left 10 missing. Survivors later recounting in tears how they watched their children drown while coast guard officials looked on. Three Afghans who survived the sinking of a migrant boat later described how Greek authorities had tried to forcibly tow them back to Turkey.
(AP, 1/24/14)(Reuters, 1/24/14)(AP, 1/25/14)
2014 Jan 30, Greek police detained dozens of people during a protest at the merchant marine minister's office over the deaths of immigrants whose boat sank as it was being towed by the Coast Guard.
(AP, 1/30/14)
2014 Feb 10, Greek police arrested four foreigners and seized weapons and explosives in a raid by the country's anti-terrorist unit on residences in the greater Athens area. Media said they appeared to be Turkish nationals suspected of belonging to the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front, or DHKP/C.
(AP, 2/10/14)
2014 Feb 26, Greek dock workers across the country walked off the job in a 24-hour strike to protest plans to sell a stake in the Piraeus Port Authority, the country's largest port.
(AP, 2/26/14)
2014 Mar 6, The Bank of Greece said the country’s banking sector needs to raise 6.4 billion euros ($8.9 billion) to be able to cushion potential future losses. This prompted some of the banks to outline their plans.
(AP, 3/7/14)
2014 Mar 7, Greek Dr. Costas Kastaniotis (57) was convicted of breaking anti-racism laws for putting up a "Jews not welcome" sign outside his office and given a 16-month suspended sentence. The neurologist denied he was the one to have put up the sign, which was written in German, and said he took it down when it was brought to his attention.
(AP, 3/7/14)
2014 Mar 7, Macedonian police said they have arrested 13 people, including the head of a customs office at the Macedonia-Bulgaria border crossing, on suspicion of participating in a ring smuggling designer clothing from Greece and Bulgaria.
(AP, 3/7/14)
2014 Mar 12, In Greece thousands of striking public sector workers marched through Athens to protest against planned job cuts demanded by foreign lenders as unemployment in the country holds near record highs.
(Reuters, 3/12/14)
2014 Mar 18, Greek authorities said they have recovered the bodies of 7 immigrants, including 2 children, who drowned overnight when a boat sank in the eastern Aegean Sea after traveling illegally from nearby Turkey.
(AP, 3/18/14)
2014 Mar 19, Greek civil servants, including hospital and teaching staff, started a two-day strike against austerity measures imposed under the debt-mired country's international bailout commitments.
(AP, 3/19/14)
2014 Apr 1, In Greece eight Nigrita Prison guards were charged with torturing to death an Albanian convict accused of fatally stabbing a guard in another jail after being refused temporary release to visit his critically ill mother. Ilie Kareli (42) was found fatally injured in his cell last week after a severe beating.
(AP, 4/1/14)
2014 Apr 4, European Union foreign ministers gathered in Athens for two days of an informal meeting where attention focused on the crisis in Ukraine and the civil war in Syria.
(AP, 4/5/14)
2014 Apr 9, Greece announced it was returning to international bond markets for the first time in four years. Thousands of striking Greeks marched to parliament on to protest against job cuts and austerity measures imposed by the country's foreign creditors.
(AP, 4/9/14)(Reuters, 4/9/14)
2014 Apr 10, Greek officials hailed the country's return to the int’l. debt market after four years as an overwhelming success, with investors snapping up the 5-year bond in a sale that was eight times oversubscribed. A car bomb attack on a branch of the country's central bank in Athens damaged several buildings but caused no injury. The anarchist Revolutionary Struggle group later claimed responsibility.
(AP, 4/10/14)(AP, 4/25/14)
2014 Apr 15, Greek coast guard officials shot dead a man believed to be a migrant smuggler as they tried to intercept him on his speedboat heading towards neighboring Turkey.
(Reuters, 4/15/14)
2014 May 2, In Greece some 5,000 farmers' market vendors blocked traffic in central Athens and continued giving away food as part of anti-government protests. The vendors had closed their street markets indefinitely this week.
(AP, 5/2/14)
2014 May 5, A yacht and a dinghy crammed with immigrants trying to enter Greece capsized in the eastern Aegean Sea, leaving at least 22 dead, including 4 children, and potentially several more missing. 36 survivors were identified as 23 Somalis, nine Syrians and three Eritreans.
(AP, 5/514)
2014 May 18, Greeks began voting in the first round of local elections that mark PM Antonis Samaras's first big electoral test since coming to power two years ago.
(Reuters, 5/18/14)
2014 May 19, Greece's main opposition party Syriza declared a victory for its anti-austerity message after its candidates fared strongly in big local election races in Athens and the surrounding region.
(Reuters, 5/19/14)
2014 May 24, A magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck northern Greece and western Turkey. Over 250 people were reported injured.
(SSFC, 5/25/14, p.A4)
2014 May 25, In Greece the election for 21 seats in the European Parliament was held together with runoff voting for local government. The opposition Syriza won just two races for regional governor, while New Democracy won seven and four went to independents.
(AP, 5/26/14)
2014 May 26, Greece's main opposition party formally requested an early general election after winning the vote for the European Parliament, arguing that the country's conservative government now lacks the legitimacy to implement reforms related to international bailouts.
(AP, 5/26/14)
2014 Jun 4, The Liberia-flagged MT Fair Artemis lost contact with its owners off Ghana's capital Accra. The Greek tanker with 24 crew aboard was believed to have been hijacked.
(AFP, 6/6/14)
2014 Jun 12, Greek authorities seized a record 1.1 metric tons of heroin, worth more than 30 million euros ($40 million), near Athens and arrested 11 suspected traffickers.
(AP, 6/13/14)
2014 Jun 19, Chinese PM Li Keqiang arrived on an official three-day visit to Greece, which the Greek government hopes will lead to trade and investment deals that will boost the recession-plagued economy.
(AP, 6/19/14)
2014 Jun 25, Greek authorities said they have broken a massive lottery scam targeting Germans that tricked about 360,000 people into paying to take part in non-existent draws. Two German-born suspects were arrested a day earlier in Athens.
(AP, 6/25/14)
2014 Jul 3, Greeks were warned to expect brief power cuts as workers at the Public Power Corporation go on strike to protest government plans to sell part of the company.
(AP, 7/3/14)
2014 Jul 9, Greece's public sector workers began a 24-hour strike, shutting down public services and leaving state-run hospitals accepting only emergency cases to protest austerity policies imposed in return for the country's bailout. Public transport was not affected.
(AP, 7/9/14)
2014 Jul 11, Greek authorities said at least two people have drowned and about a further 20 are missing after a boat carrying immigrants trying to enter the country illegally sank off the Aegean Sea island of Samos.
(AP, 7/11/14)
2014 Jul 16, Greek police arrested one of the country's most wanted men during a shootout in Athens' central tourist district that left four people wounded. Nikos Maziotis (43) and his wife Panagiota Roupa were convicted in absentia last year and sentenced to 25 years for participation in Revolutionary Struggle, a group active between 2003 and 2009 and best known for firing a rocket-propelled grenade into the US Embassy and bombing the Athens Stock Exchange. Roupa was still at large.
(AP, 7/16/14)
2014 Jul 25, Campaigners on the Greek island of Crete launched a seaborne protest against the destruction of Syrian chemical agents in the Mediterranean. A US naval ship fitted with hydrolysis equipment, which helps break down lethal chemicals into a sludge, started the job of neutralizing the arsenal in international waters last week.
(AFP, 7/25/14)
2014 Aug 1, Greece safely evacuated embassy staff and more than one hundred Chinese and European nationals from Libya with a navy frigate sailing back to the Greek port of Piraeus.
(Reuters, 8/1/14)
2014 Oct 1, Greek police said an airline pilot and a ground crew staff member were among seven people arrested on suspicion of participating in a ring smuggling migrants onto flights from the city of Thessaloniki to other EU countries.
(AP, 10/1/14)
2014 Oct 5, In northern Greece a 35-car highway pileup killed 5 motorists and injured dozens near Veria. A Romanian truck driver (39) was soon remanded in prison pending trial for multiple manslaughter. The driver said his brakes had failed.
(AP, 10/9/14)
2014 Oct 15, Concerns that the Greek government could collapse next year, putting its bailout program in danger, caused a massive sell-off in the country's stock and bond markets, with the main stock index down 9.8 percent.
(AP, 10/15/14)
2014 Nov 11, Greek police said a man (48) was arrested in Karyes, administrative center of Mount Athos, the 1,000-year-old Greek Orthodox monastic community. The former accountant of an eastern Athens municipality was convicted in absentia in 2011 of involvement in embezzling 9 million euros, fraud and forgery. He had passed himself off as a novice monk for the last eight years.
(AP, 11/11/14)
2014 Nov 26, In Thailand a diplomat from the Greek Embassy died after she fell under a moving train.
(AP, 11/26/14)
2014 Nov 27, In Greece a 24-hour general strike shut down services across the country, forcing flight cancellations and school closures and leaving state hospitals functioning with emergency staff, while tens of thousands of protesters marched in central Athens.
(AP, 11/27/14)
2014 Dec 2, In Greece anarchists burned a bus and several cars in Athens following a demonstration in support of Nikos Romanos, a young anarchist convicted of involvement in an armed bank robbery. Romanos was on a hunger strike.
(SFC, 12/3/14, p.A2)
2014 Dec 5, The British Museum plunged into a geopolitical tempest by lending one of the disputed Greek Elgin Marbles to Russia’s Hermitage Museum.
(SFC, 12/6/14, p.A2)
2014 Dec 6, The leaders of Greece and Turkey glossed over key differences between the nations and expressed support for close affairs between the often irritable neighbors.
(http://tinyurl.com/nbyw5o6)
2014 Dec 7, In Greece a demonstration through central Athens to mark the 6th anniversary of the lethal police shooting of an unnamed teen quickly turned brutal as demonstrators damaged bus station and store fronts, and sets fire to clothing looted from a store.
(http://tinyurl.com/lur6csa)
2014 Dec 11, Greece's former finance minister, George Papaconstantinou, was indicted before a special court on criminal charges over his handling of data on Greeks holding Swiss bank accounts.
(AP, 12/11/14)
2014 Dec 28, The Italian-flagged Norman Atlantic ferry radioed for help after fire broke out on its lower deck 44 nautical miles northwest of the Greek island of Corfu. Italy's Coast Guard later said 477 people were rescued. At least 11 people were killed. On Dec 30 two Albanian seamen were killed during an operation to salvage the multideck car ferry. An Italian prosecutor later said up to 98 were unaccounted for while Greece put that number at 18 saying Italy's list is full of duplications and misspellings.
(AP, 12/28/14)(Reuters, 12/29/14)(AP, 12/30/14)(AP, 1/1/15)(SFC, 1/6/15, p.A2)
2014 Dec 29, Greece called for a snap general election for Jan 25.
(AP, 12/30/14)
2014 Dec 30, Greek PM Antonis Samaras formally requested that Parliament be dissolved following the failure by lawmakers to elect Greece's new president after three rounds of voting.
(AP, 12/30/14)
2014 Michael Scott authored “Delphi: A History of the Centre of the Ancient World."
(Econ, 6/14/14, p.77)
2015 Jan 2, In Greece a couple and their 12-year-old son were stabbed to death in their apartment in Thessaloniki. The alleged attacker (60) was arrested after being injured by falling from a balcony of the building.
(AP, 1/2/15)0
2015 Jan 3, Greek police arrested convicted terrorist Christodoulos Xiros, who had failed to return to prison while on a furlough almost a year ago.
(AP, 1/3/15)
2015 Jan 4, Forces loyal to Libya's internationally recognized government launched air strikes on the country's biggest steel plant at Misrata. A warplane from forces loyal to the internationally recognized government bombed a Greek-operated oil tanker anchored offshore, killing 2 crewmen. The Liberian-flagged ARAEVO was carrying 12,600 tons of crude oil when it was struck off the eastern port of Derna. No oil was spilled.
(Reuters, 1/4/15)(Reuters, 1/5/15)
2015 Jan 25, Greece held general elections. The left-wing Syriza party led by Alexis Tsipras won 149 seats in the 300-seat parliament, leaving it just two seats short of an outright majority and in need of a coalition partner. The Independent Greeks won 13 seats.
(AFP, 1/25/15)(Reuters, 1/26/15)
2015 Jan 26, Greek left-wing leader Alexis Tsipras was sworn in as the prime minister of a new hardline, anti-bailout government determined to face down international lenders and end nearly five years of tough economic measures.
(Reuters, 1/26/15)
2015 Jan 26, Greek singer Demis Roussos (b.1946) died in Athens. His often high-pitched pop serenades won him household recognition in the 1970s and 1980s across Europe and beyond and who sold more than 60 million records.
(AP, 1/26/15)
2015 Jan 26, In southeastern Spain a Greek F-16 fighter jet crashed into a hangar at the Los Llanos military base while it was participating in NATO maneuvers. Two pilots aboard the Greek F-16 were killed along with 8 French air force members on the ground. Another French airman died of wounds the next day.
(AP, 1/26/15)(AP, 1/27/15)
2015 Jan 27, Greece named radical left-wing economist Yanis Varoufakis its new finance minister, giving him the mammoth task of leading negotiations with international creditors over the country's bailout.
(AFP, 1/27/15)
2015 Jan 28, Leftwing Greek PM Alexis Tsipras threw down an open challenge to international creditors by halting privatization plans agreed under the country's bailout deal, prompting a third day of heavy losses on financial markets.
(Reuters, 1/28/15)
2015 Jan 30, Greece's finance minister Yanis Varoufakis said the government will not cooperate with the EU and IMF mission bankrolling the country and will not seek an extension to the bailout program. PM Alexis Tsipras' government sacked the heads of the state privatization agency after halting a series of state asset sales
(Reuters, 1/30/15)(Reuters, 1/31/15)
2015 Feb 12, Greece reported that tax revenues slumped 23 percent below target in January as citizens held off on paying taxes before a snap election, marking a setback for the new left-wing government as it seeks a deal with European partners to avert a financial crisis.
(Reuters, 2/12/15)
2015 Feb 13, Greece began tough negotiations with its creditors as hopes grew of a deal to replace its detested bailout after new PM Alexis Tsipras pushed his case at a European summit.
(AFP, 2/13/15)
2015 Feb 13, Germany condemned a cartoon published Feb 8 in a Greek leftist newspaper close to the new ruling party in Athens that depicts Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble in a Nazi uniform making comments that invoke the Holocaust.
(Reuters, 2/13/15)
2015 Feb 15, In Greece some 18 thousand people rallied in Athens ahead of talks in Brussels on the new leftist government's bid to revise its massive bailout. Some 8,000 people also thronged the streets in Thessaloniki.
(AFP, 2/15/15)
2015 Feb 16, Greece offered to accept conditions on an extension to its loan agreements with the euro zone, and even an inspection by the European Commission, at a fraught meeting in Brussels.
(Reuters, 2/18/15)
2015 Feb 17, Greek PM Alexis Tsipras nominated Prokopis Pavlopoulos (64), a conservative lawmaker and former interior minister, to be the country's next president. If elected, he will replace Karolos Papoulias (85), whose five-year term ends next month.
(Reuters, 2/17/15)
2015 Feb 19, Greece said the EU had two choices, to accept or reject its request for a six-month extension to its EU loan program, as a row over the bailout crisis escalated.
(AFP, 2/19/15)
2015 Feb 20, Greece and its creditors in the 19-nation eurozone reached an agreement to extend the country's rescue loans for four months.
(AP, 2/21/15)
2015 Feb 24, Eurozone finance ministers announced they have approved a list of reforms submitted by Greece in exchange for a four-month extension to its international bailout.
(AFP, 2/24/15)
2015 Mar 6, A leaked document said the Greek government plans to hire an army of amateur tax sleuths, including tourists, in a bid to fill the gaping hole in the country's finances.
(AFP, 3/6/15)
2015 Mar 9, In Greece a panel of judges decided that 64 Greek and German nationals should stand trial for bribery or money laundering over an alleged bribery scandal 17 years ago, involving a telecom contract for German industrial giant Siemens AG.
(AP, 3/9/15)
2015 Mar 10, The radical left-led Greek government insisted that the debt-ridden country has never been fully compensated by Germany for its brutal World War II Nazi occupation, linking the issue with Greece's fraught bailout negotiations.
(AP, 3/10/15)
2015 Mar 17, Greek officials said police raids across the country last week smashed an international people trafficking ring that made $8 million in profit from smuggling Syrian migrants into Europe. 16 suspects were arrested.
(Reuters, 3/17/15)
2015 Mar 18, The Greek parliament overwhelmingly adopted a "humanitarian crisis" bill aimed at helping its poorest people, ignoring apparent pressure from the European Union to halt the legislation.
(AFP, 3/18/15)
2015 Mar 20, The EU committed 2 billion euros ($2.15 billion) to help Athens deal with what even EU leaders now call the "humanitarian crisis" hitting Greeks in the wake of the financial crisis that left the nation on the brink of bankruptcy.
(AP, 3/20/15)
2015 Mar 24, Greece's former finance minister, George Papaconstantinou (53), was acquitted on criminal charges over his handling of data on Greeks holding Swiss bank accounts. He was found guilty of a misdemeanor for doctoring a document and was not expected to spend time in jail.
(SFC, 3/25/15, p.A2)
2015 Apr 1, In Greece thousands of pensioners joined protest rallies to demand that the country's new left-wing government end cuts to their monthly payments.
(AP, 4/1/15)
2015 Apr 2, In Greece supporters of 21 hunger strikers in prisons said they have refused to give up their month-long protest against anti-terrorism laws, despite concessions promised by the country's new left-wing government.
(AP, 4/2/15)
2015 Apr 9, Greece repaid a roughly $485-million loan installment to the IMF.
(SFC, 4/10/15, p.A2)
2015 Apr 20, Greek coast guards struggled to save migrants from a vessel destroyed after running aground off the island of Rhodes. At least 3 people were killed.
(Reuters, 4/20/15)
2015 Apr 23, In Greece the Bank of Piraeus said it will wipe away the debts of clients who owe up to 20,000 euros ($21,600) in a one-off gesture to ease the burden on its crisis-hit customers.
(AFP, 4/24/15)
2015 Apr 24, Euro zone finance ministers warned Greece that its leftist government will get no more aid until it agrees a complete economic reform plan.
(Reuters, 4/24/15)
2015 Apr 27, Greek PM Alexis Tsipras reshuffled his team handling talks with European and IMF lenders. Embattled Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis faced calls to quit after returning from a meeting of euro zone finance ministers in Riga isolated and empty-handed.
(Reuters, 4/27/15)
2015 Apr 29, The leaders of Cyprus, Egypt and Greece agreed to step up cooperation on combatting terrorism amid fears that worsening security conditions in neighboring countries such as Libya could threaten the region.
(AP, 4/29/15)
2015 Apr 30, In southern Greece 23 wild horses were found killed with shotguns on a remote mountainside. 3 injured horses soon died. The motive for the attack remained unclear.
(AP, 5/4/15)
2015 May 4, In Greece a nationwide hunt for young Anny, a Bulgarian citizen reported missing by her mother on April 24, ended today when both her parents were arrested and her father charged with murder and defiling a body. The girl was believed to have been killed around April 8-9 and that her father (27) confessed to disposing of his daughter's remains over several days.
(AP, 5/5/15)
2015 May 6, Greece managed to make a 200 million-euro ($222 million) repayment to the International Monetary Fund, as its long-stalled bailout negotiations appeared to make some progress.
(AP, 5/6/15)
2015 May 11, Greece emptied an emergency IMF holding account to repay 750 million euros ($839 million) due to the IMF. Athens used about 650 million euros from the holding account and 100 million euros from its cash reserves to make the payment.
(Reuters, 5/12/15)
2015 May 12, The European Central Bank raised the cap on emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) that Greek banks can draw from the country's central bank by 1.1 billion euros, taking the ceiling to 80 billion euros.
(Reuters, 5/12/15)
2015 Jun 4, Greece said it is opting to bundle four payments due to the IMF this month into one payment on June 30.
(SFC, 6/5/15, p.C3)
2015 Jun 10, The EU urged its 28 nations to swiftly endorse its plan to relocate 40,000 migrants as 1,000 more migrants arrived in Greece in just one day.
(AP, 6/10/15)
2015 Jun 17, The Greek central bank warned for the first time that the country could suffer a "painful" exit from the eurozone and even the EU if it fails to reach a bailout deal with international creditors.
(AFP, 6/17/15)
2015 Jun 18, Greek police said they have arrested a former archaeologist suspected of forming a private collection of more than 500 artefacts allegedly pilfered from state-run excavations that he supervised.
(AP, 6/18/15)
2015 Jun 19, Greece got a temporary lifeline to help it cope with a bank deposit drain and turned its hopes to a European leaders' summit next week. The European Central Bank's governing council decided to provide more emergency credit for Greece's banks as Greeks withdrew some 2 billion euros ($2.3 billion) out of their accounts in the last three days.
(AP, 6/19/15)
2015 Jun 26, The EU decided to share 40,000 refugees landing in Greece and Italy.
(SFC, 6/27/15, p.A3)
2015 Jun 27, Angry eurozone ministers said Greece's shock decision to hold a referendum on its bailout had closed the door on the chances of a deal to save Athens from default and a possible euro exit.
(AFP, 6/27/15)
2015 Jun 28, Greece's parliament voted in favor of PM Alexis Tsipras' motion to hold a July 5 referendum on creditor proposals for reforms in exchange for loans. Greece’s Cabinet imposed capital controls and closed banks for six business days and limited cash withdrawals effective June 29.
(AP, 6/28/15) (SFC, 6/29/15, p.A5)
2015 Jun 29, China's Premier Li Keqiang said he wants to see Greece remain in the euro zone and promised that Beijing would make investments in the European Union's new infrastructure fund.
(Reuters, 6/29/15)
2015 Jun 30, Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis confirmed that the country will not make its 1.6 billion euro payment due today to the IMF. Greece requested a two-year rescue deal with the EU to save the crisis-hit country, just hours before its international bailout expires. Greek public debt was close to 180% of GDP.
(AP, 6/30/15)(AFP, 6/30/15)(Econ, 6/20/15, p.67)
2015 Jul 3, Greece's PM Alexis Tsipras defended a weekend referendum he hopes will reset bailout negotiations and demanded creditors forgive a third of the country's debt and allow delayed repayments for the rest.
(AFP, 7/3/15)
2015 Jul 5, Greeks voted overwhelming against austerity measures.
(AFP, 7/6/15)
2015 Jul 6, The European Central Bank maintained a key financial lifeline to Greek banks in the wake of Greece's historic referendum but with tougher conditions for liquidity. The IMF told Greece it could not provide funds to countries that had missed payments due to the international lender.
(AFP, 7/6/15)(Reuters, 7/6/15)
2015 Jul 7, Greek authorities said a sailboat carrying migrants sank in the Aegean sea between Turkey and Greece and at least 17 people were missing.
(Reuters, 7/7/15)
2015 Jul 8, Greece made a request for aid from Europe's bailout fund as it rushed to deliver details of its proposed economic reforms in time to secure the country's future in the euro and avoid a descent into financial chaos. Greece promised to implement pension and tax reforms as early as next week as the first step to securing a three-year rescue loan to cover debt obligations.
(AP, 7/8/15)(Reuters, 7/8/15)
2015 Jul 9, European Union chairman Donald Tusk joined growing international calls for Greece to be granted debt restructuring as part of any new loan deal if it delivers convincing reforms to avert imminent bankruptcy.
(Reuters, 7/9/15)
2015 Jul 10, Greek PM Alexis Tsipras appealed to his party's lawmakers to back a tough reforms package after abruptly offering last-minute concessions to try to save the country from financial meltdown.
(Reuters, 7/10/15)
2015 Jul 12, Euro zone leaders told near-bankrupt Greece at an emergency summit on that it must restore trust by enacting key reforms before they will open talks on a new financial rescue to keep it in the European currency area.
(Reuters, 7/12/15)
2015 Jul 13, Euro zone leaders made Greece surrender much of its sovereignty to outside supervision in return for agreeing to talks on an 86 billion euros ($95 billion) bailout to keep the near-bankrupt country in the single currency.
(AP, 7/13/15)
2015 Jul 15, In Greece municipal workers, pharmacists and others went on strike to protests the impact that new reforms will have on their livelihoods.
(Econ, 7/18/15, p.41)
2015 Jul 15, The European Commission published its assessment of Greece's bailout request, taking a different view of Athens' debt sustainability than the IMF, but also signaling a possibility of debt relief.
(Reuters, 7/15/15)
2015 Jul 16, Greek PM Alexis Tsipras won the backing of parliament in the early hours for the stringent reform measures demanded by creditors. Hours later Europe moved to re-open funding to Greece's stricken economy.
(AP, 7/16/15)
2015 Jul 16, EU finance ministers agreed to use the European Financial Stability Mechanism for a 7 billion euro bridge loan to Greece until the country negotiates its next full bailout.
(Reuters, 7/16/15)
2015 Jul 17, The EU approved a short-term loan of 7.16 billion euros ($7.8 billion) to Greece allowing it to meet a huge payment to the ECB and repay the IMF while a new bailout is still being ratified.
(AFP, 7/17/15)
2015 Jul 17, German lawmakers voted in favor of Berlin starting negotiations on a third bailout program for Greece, but a sizeable minority opposed the talks, in a setback for Chancellor Angela Merkel.
(Reuters, 7/17/15)
2015 Jul 20, Greece reopened its banks and started the process of paying off billions of euros owed to international creditors in the first signs of a return to normal after a deal to agree a new package of bailout reforms.
(Reuters, 7/20/15)
2015 Jul 30, Greek PM Alexis Tsipras called for his Syriza party to hold an emergency congress next month to overcome divisions but said a snap party referendum would be acceptable if leftist dissenters wanted a quicker solution.
(Reuters, 7/30/15)
2015 Aug 3, Greece's stock exchange closed with a record drop of 16.23 percent on reopening after a five-week shutdown caused by capital controls.
(AFP, 8/3/15)
2015 Aug 7, PM Alexis Tsipras said Greece's infrastructure cannot handle the thousands of people landing on its shores from places like war-torn Syria and Afghanistan and needs European Union help.
(AP, 8/7/15)
2015 Aug 7, The European Union appealed to member countries to live up to pledges to provide planes and other assets so that its border agency can help Greece and Hungary cope with a migrant influx.
(AP, 8/7/15)
2015 Aug 10, The European Commission approved 2.4 billion euros ($2.6 billion) of aid over six years for countries including Greece and Italy that have struggled to cope with a surge in numbers of immigrants.
(Reuters, 8/10/15)
2015 Aug 11, Greece and its international lenders reached a multi-billion euro bailout agreement after talking through the night, officials said, potentially saving the country from financial ruin. The agreement, reached after a 23-hour session of talks, must still be adopted by Greece's parliament and euro zone countries.
(Reuters, 8/11/15)
2015 Aug 11, Greek police used fire extinguishers and batons against migrants on the island of Kos, as tensions boiled over in a sports stadium where hundreds, including young children, had gathered to wait for immigration papers.
(Reuters, 8/11/15)
2015 Aug 14, Greek PM Alexis Tsipras faced the widest rebellion yet from his leftist lawmakers as parliament approved a new bailout program, forcing him to consider a confidence vote that could pave the way for early elections.
(Reuters, 8/14/15)
2015 Aug 14, Eurozone finance ministers approved a third bailout worth up to 86 billion euros to keep Greece in the single currency in return for an unprecedented package of reforms that Athens had previously rejected.
(AFP, 8/15/15)
2015 Aug 15, In Greece migrants desperate to get off the island of Kos fought each other while nearby a passenger ship chartered to house and process refugees lay empty 24 hours after it had arrived.
(Reuters, 8/15/15)
2015 Aug 18, The Greek government gazette said reported an agreement to sell to a German company the rights to operate 14 regional airports.
(AP, 8/18/15)
2015 Aug 19, Germany's parliament approved a third bailout for Greece after Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble argued the country should get "a new start", while in Athens the government agonized over whether to call a snap election.
(Reuters, 8/19/15)
2015 Aug 20, Greece's president gave the conservative opposition a chance to form a new government following the resignation of PM Alexis Tsipras, but the country appears almost certain to be heading for its third election in as many years next month.
(Reuters, 8/20/15)
2015 Aug 20, Greece repaid a huge slice of debt to the ECB, effectively starting its third mammoth bailout.
(AFP, 8/20/15)
2015 Aug 20, A car ferry carrying just over 2,400 Syrian refugees arrived on the Greek mainland as a wave of migrants fleeing conflict and poverty continued unabated.
(Reuters, 8/20/15)
2015 Aug 20, Macedonia stepped up security on its border with Greece, stranding thousands of migrants on a dusty field.
(AP, 8/20/15)
2015 Aug 21, In Greece far left Syriza members, who oppose the promises of yet more austerity and economic reform that PM Tsipras made to secure 86 billion euros ($97 billion) in bailout loans, broke away to form a new party.
(Reuters, 8/20/15)
2015 Aug 21, Macedonia said it would allow a limited number of "vulnerable" migrants to enter the country after sealing its border with Greece to them. At least 1,000 migrants and refugees pressed against Macedonian police lines on the Greek-Macedonian border and at least 10 people appeared to faint in the crush.
(AFP, 8/20/15)(Reuters, 8/20/15)
2015 Aug 22, In Macedonia thousands of rain-soaked, mostly Syrian migrants stormed across the border as police lobbed stun grenades and beat them with batons, struggling to enforce a decree to stem their flow through the Balkans to western Europe. Macedonian police finally re-opened the border with Greece, allowing thousands to travel north towards Serbia in the next stage of their bid to enter the European Union.
(Reuters, 8/22/15)(AFP, 8/23/15)
2015 Aug 27, Greece's top Supreme Court judge Vassiliki Thanou was named the head of a caretaker government to lead the country to elections expected next month.
(Reuters, 8/27/15)
2015 Aug 28, Greece's new caretaker government, led by the nation's first female prime minister, was sworn and headed straight into a cabinet meeting as the country faces an election next month.
(AP, 8/28/15)
2015 Aug 29, A shootout at sea between Greek port police and human smugglers killed a 17-year-old migrant off the island of Symi when a yacht carrying 70 migrants from Turkey's western shores tried to illegally enter Greek waters.
(AFP, 8/29/15)
2015 Sep 1, Greek authorities said a coast guard special unit raid has found a shipment of weapons on board a foreign-flagged cargo ship sailing near Crete. The ship was en route from Turkey to Libya. A Turkish foreign ministry spokesman soon confirmed the cargo included weapons but said it was fully documented and was destined for the Sudanese police force.
(AP, 9/1/15)(AP, 9/2/15)
2015 Sep 4, In Greece a fire broke out at the Dafni psychiatric hospital in western Athens killing at least 3 people.
(AP, 9/4/15)
2015 Sep 5, The Greek coastguard said that about 13,370 migrants and refugees had been ferried from Greece's eastern islands to Athens since Aug 31.
(Reuters, 9/5/15)
2015 Sep 6, Greece sent troops and police reinforcements to Lesbos after renewed clashes between police and migrants. Syrian refugees on the island were targeted with Molotov cocktail attacks.
(AFP, 9/6/15)
2015 Sep 7, A Greek official said the United States has asked Greece to deny Russia the use of its airspace for supply flights to Syria.
(Reuters, 9/7/15)
2015 Sep 8, Tens of thousands of migrants massed on Greek islands as EU President Donald Tusk warned the refugee crisis would last for years.
(AFP, 9/8/15)
2015 Sep 12, The Greek coastguard picked up 25 survivors after a dinghy carrying them and other migrants sank off the island of Samos. 4 children were missing. A vessel of the EU's Frontex border agency plucked 32 people out of the sea off the Greek island of Lesbos. A man believed to be about 20 years old was missing.
(Reuters, 9/12/15)
2015 Sep 13, Greek authorities say 28 people have drowned, half of them children, after a wooden smuggling boat capsized in the southeastern Aegean Sea.
(AP, 9/13/15)
2015 Sep 19, A girl believed to be five years died and 13 other migrants were feared lost overboard after their boat sank in choppy seas off the Greek island of Lesbos.
(Reuters, 9/19/15)
2015 Sep 20, Greeks voted in their third national polls this year, called on to choose who they trust to steer the country into its new international bailout. Voters gave Alexis Tsipras and his Syriza party a second chance to tackle Greece's problems. Syriza's stronger-than-expected win secured it 145 of 300 parliamentary seats, meaning the party requires only one small coalition partner to form a government.
(AP, 9/20/15)(Reuters, 9/21/15)
2015 Oct 15, Seven migrants, 4 of them children, drowned near the Greek island of Lesbos after their boat collided with a Greek rescue vessel.
(AFP, 10/15/15)
2015 Oct 16, Four migrants, the oldest of them a young woman of 16, drowned and three other people were missing after their rubber boat capsized off the Aegean island of Kalymnos late today.
(Reuters, 10/17/15)
2015 Oct 17, The Turkish coastguard said 12 migrants thought to be from Syria and Afghanistan, including four children and a baby, drowned off the coast of Turkey as they tried to reach the Greek island of Lesbos.
(Reuters, 10/17/15)
2015 Oct 18, The Greek coastguard said 5 people, including a baby and two children, drowned early today and one was missing in two separate incidents of migrants trying to reach Greece from nearby Turkey.
(Reuters, 10/18/15)
2015 Oct 22, French Pres. Francois Hollande arrived in Athens for a two-day visit, as Greece seeks help from European rescue lenders for relief on its massive bailout debts.
(AP, 10/22/15)
2015 Oct 24, It was reported that Greece this week averaged 9,600 migrants arriving per day.
(SFC, 10/24/15, p.A2)
2015 Oct 25, At least three migrants, two children and a woman, drowned when their boat sank off the Greek island of Lesbos.
(AFP, 10/2515)
2015 Oct 25, Central and eastern European leaders met in Brussels to draw up a common approach to dealing with the thousands of migrants streaming into the EU every day from the Middle East, North Africa and Afghanistan. The leaders committed to bolster the borders of Greece as it struggles to cope with the wave of refugees from Syria and beyond who cross over through Turkey.
(Reuters, 10/2515)(AP, 10/2615)
2015 Oct 28, At least 29 people died and 274 people were rescued when a wooden boat they were on literally fell apart in rough seas off the Greek island of Lesbos.
(Reuters, 10/30/15)(SFC, 10/31/15, p.A2)
2015 Oct 29, Authorities on the Greek island of Lesbos searched for 38 people believed still missing after the sinking of a wooden boat carrying migrants. Greece rescued 144 refugees and recovered the bodies of 22, including 4 infants and 9 children, after their boats sank in two separate incidents in the Aegean sea.
(AP, 10/29/15)(Reuters, 10/30/15)
2015 Oct 30, In waters off Greece at least 27 people, more than half of them children, died trying to reach Europe.
(SFC, 10/31/15, p.A2)
2015 Oct, Trikala, a rural town in northern Greece, began testing a driverless bus in real traffic conditions for the first time, part of a European project to revolutionize mass transport and wean its cities off oil dependency over the next 30 years.
(AP, 10/8/15)
2015 Nov 1, Greek authorities said 11 more people have drown on the dangerous crossing from Turkey to Greece after a boat carrying nearly 30 refugees sank in heavy seas near the eastern island of Samos. The bodies of two men, one woman and a young boy, believed to be from refugee smuggling boats, were found early today washed up on beaches in the Skala area of northern Lesbos.
(AP, 11/1/15)
2015 Nov 5, Greek ferries started operating again after the seamen's union called off rolling 48-hour strikes.
(AP, 11/5/15)
2015 Nov 12, In Greece over 20,000 people demonstrated against fresh spending cuts in Athens, with a brief flare-up of violence marking the first general strike against the leftist government of Alexis Tsipras who came to power on an anti-austerity ticket.
(AFP, 11/12/15)
2015 Nov 17, Greece struck a deal with European creditors on economic measures it needs to make to get its next batch of bailout money.
(AP, 11/17/15)
2015 Nov 17, A plastic boat carrying migrants capsized in the eastern Aegean Sea near the Greek island of Kos, killing at least 9 people including 4 children.
(AP, 11/17/15)
2015 Nov 17, In Greece a magnitude 6.5 earthquake off the western coast killed 2 elderly women.
(AP, 11/17/15)
2015 Nov 18, In Greece police fired tear gas at dozens of farmers in Athens who pelted them with oranges and tried to storm parliament during a protest against planned tax increases.
(Reuters, 11/18/15)
2015 Nov 21, Migrants who have been blocked at the Greek-Macedonian border for three days, protested against being prevented from entering Macedonia after new restrictions were imposed.
(AFP, 11/21/15)
2015 Nov 23, In northern Greece Moroccans, Iranians and Pakistanis on the border with Macedonia blocked rail traffic and demanded passage to western Europe, stranded by a policy of filtering migrants in the Balkans that has raised human rights concerns.
(Reuters, 11/23/15)
2015 Nov 26, Hundreds of Algerians, Moroccans, and Pakistanis tried to storm the border between Greece and Macedonia, tearing down part of the barbed wire fence at the crossing and demanding to be allowed to carry on into northern Europe.
(Reuters, 11/26/15)
2015 Dec 3, In Greece public and private sector workers walked off the job in the second 24-hour general strike in a month against new austerity measures.
(AP, 12/3/15)
2015 Dec 9, A wooden smuggling boat carrying about 50 people sank in the eastern Aegean Sea. Greek authorities said at least 12 people drowned, including six children, and 12 others were missing.
(AP, 12/9/15)
2015 Dec 14, The EU pledged to spend $88 million to house migrants in Greece as it seeks tougher procedures for asylum-seekers traveling to the continent.
(SFC, 12/15/15, p.A4)
2015 Dec 22, Greece's parliament approved a resolution calling on the government to recognize the state of Palestine.
(AFP, 12/22/15)
2015 Dec 23, Greece's parliament approved a bill granting same-sex couples the right to a civil union, becoming one of the last European countries to give them legal recognition after years of opposition from the influential Orthodox church.
(AFP, 12/23/15)
2015 Dec 23, Greek police said least 13 people including seven children, drowned when their overloaded boat capsized overnight in the Aegean.
(AFP, 12/23/15)
2015 Dec 28, Greek police in Thessaloniki said they have arrested Simon Dutton (39), a man wanted in Britain on suspicion of running a large cocaine trafficking ring.
(AP, 12/28/15)
Go to Greece (B)
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The Greek Islands: http://www.the-greek-islands.co.uk/alonissos.htm
Lonely Planet: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/dest/eur/gre.htm
USDS: https://www.state.gov/p/eur/ci/gr/
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)
20Mil BC A volcanic eruption around this time smothered Lesbos island and its subtropical forest ecosystem in lava. In 2021 Greek scientists found a rare fossilized tree on Lesbos whose branches and roots were still intact.
(Reuters, 1/26/21)
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. In 2014 Eric Cline, an archaeologist from George Washington University, authored "1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed".
(AP, 7/8/11)(AP, 7/3/19)
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)
710BC-650BC The Lelantine War, according to Thucydides, was a war between Chalcis and Eretria and lasted over this period.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lelantine_War)
708BC Lampis of Sparta won the pentathlon becoming the 1st Olympic winner in the long jump. Javelin-throwing and wrestling were introduced in this year's games.
(NH, 6/03, p.12)(Econ., 6/27/20, p.10)
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)
632BC Cylon, an Athenian noble and Olympic champion, staged an attempted coup in Athens with the help of his father-in–law, the tyrant of Megara. In 2016 at least 80 skeletons were found in a mass grave, their wrists clamped by iron shackles in part of the Falyron Delta necropolis. It was thought that they had been supporters of Cylon.
(AP, 8/1/16)
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, The Persians landed at Marathon, Greece about this time. Phidippides of Athens was sent to Sparta to request help following the Persian landing. He ran about 240 km (150 mi) in two days and back. The Spartans were unwilling to help, until the next full moon, due to religious laws. Phidippides returned to Marathon without Spartan troops.
(https://www.ancient.eu/marathon/)(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pheidippides)
490BC Sep 12, Athenian and Plataean Hoplites commanded by General Miltiades drove back a Persian invasion force under General Datis at Marathon, Greece, about this time. 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!" In the Battle of Marathon the forces of Darius the Great of Persia were 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. The first known written account of a run from Marathon to Athens occurs in the works of the Greek writer Plutarch (46–120), in his essay On the Glory of Athens. Plutarch attributes the run to a herald called either Thersippus or Eukles. Lucian, a century later, credits one "Philippides."
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Marathon)(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pheidippides)
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)
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)
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, 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. This was later seen by many historians as a turning point in history that allowed ancient Greece to flourish.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Salamis)(WSJ, 4/26/99, p.A18)(AP, 7/18/20)
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)
480BC-406BC Euripides, Greek tragic dramatist, lived about this time. He authored "Medea," "Alcestis," "The Cyclops" and "The Trojan Woman." 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.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euripides)(V.D.-H.K.p.52)
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."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thucydides)(WSJ, 5/13/98, p.A20)(WSJ, 1/19/06, p.D8)
454BC Ten Greek cities failed to honor loads from the temple of Delos, making this the first recorded sovereign default. These defaults cost the temple dearly. So Pericles relocated the treasury to Athens.
(http://freemarketcafe.com/2014/02/delian-default/)(Econ, 6/28/14, p.63)
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 Herodotus, Greek historian, authored His “Histories" about this time. In 2013 a new translation by Tom Holland was published.
(Econ, 9/21/13, p.92)
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 Athens under Pericles imposed severe restrictions on Megara. The Megarian Decrees denied the city-state use of the Athenian empire’s harbors, cutting off its trade. But tiny Megara was an ally of Athens’ great rival Sparta, and disagreements over the sanctions were among the reasons that precipitated the Second Peloponnesian War between the two dominant powers.
(Bloomberg, 10/14/19)
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 Oedipus Rex, an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles, was first performed about this time.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oedipus_Rex)
429BC Pericles (b.490BC), Athenian statesman, died of the plague.
(WUD, 1994, p.1071)(NH, 6/97, p.10)
429BC - 428BC The Athenians won a naval battle against a Peloponnesian fleet of the coast of Patras.
(Econ, 3/28/20, p.72)
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)
425BC The Greek play “Acharnians" by Aristophanes was first performed. A charcoal burner named Dakaiopolis manages to bypass corrupt Athenian politicians and a pompous general to make peace with the Spartans.
(Econ, 8/22/15, p.45)
425BC - 400BC The original Hippocratic Oath was written in Ionic Greek, in the late Fifth Century BCE. It requires a new physician to swear, by a number of healing gods, to uphold specific ethical standards. Of historic and traditional value, the oath is considered a rite of passage for practitioners of medicine in many countries, although nowadays various modernized versions are often used.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippocratic_Oath)
424BC Brasidas (d.422BC), a Spartan general, proposed a plan to prevent the Athenians from using their navy to resupply their city. It called for a small Spartan army to join forces with King Perdiccas of Macedonia and conquer the northernmost allies of Athens. The campaign was successful and brought Athens to the negotiating table. Their armistice lasted only one year.
(ON, 6/12, p.7)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brasidas)
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)
422BC Apr, Spartan Gen. Brasidas was mortally wounded at the head of his troops as Athenians prepared to attack Amphipolis.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brasidas)
415BC In Athens the masculine street corner statues were dismembered in one night en masse.
(Econ, 12/1/12, p.89)
415BC Greece undertook its Sicilian Expedition. The overseas adventure destroyed Athenian power and freedom.
(WSJ, 1/19/06, p.D8)
412BC Greek physician Hippocrates described the “Cough of Perinthus." The most notorious episode related to infectious diseases in the Corpus Hippocraticum is the epidemic ‘Cough of Perinthus’, a winter epidemic of an upper respiratory tract infection and its consequences, extensively narrated in the seventh chapter of the sixth book of Epidemics.
(http://tinyurl.com/y74fpqoa)(Econ 5/27/17, p.75)
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 Athens' 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)
404BC Athens, weakened by a virulent disease, surrendered to Sparta.
(Econ, 3/28/20, p.71)
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)
403BC Athens decided to overhaul its institutions. A new body, the nomothetai (layers down of law), was chosen by lot to scrutinize the decisions of voters.
(Econ., 9/19/20, p.15)
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)
395BC Thucydides (b.~460BC), Greek general and historian, died about this time. His History of the Peloponnesian War recounts the 5th century BC war between Sparta and Athens to the year 411 BC. Thucydides used the war between Athens and Sparta to point out the problem of a rising power facing an established power. This later became known as the Thucydides Trap.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thucydides)(ON, 6/12, p.8)(Econ, 4/22/17, SR p.11)
393BC Phaedrus (b.~444), an Athenian aristocrat associated with the inner-circle of the philosopher Socrates, died. He was indicted in the profanation of the Eleusinian mysteries in 415 during the Peloponnesian War, causing him to flee Athens.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phaedrus_(Athenian))
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)
380BC Georgias, a Socratic dialogue, was written by Plato about this time. It examines the politics of manipulation and the skills of persuasion and lying.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgias_(dialogue))(Econ., 1/30/21, p.15)
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)
370BC Hippocrates of Kos (b.~460), Greek physician of the Age of Pericles, died about this time. He is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippocrates)
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)
354 BC Xenophon (b.430BC), Greek historian, died. His work included the “Cyropaedia," a biography of Cyrus the Great (580-530).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenophon)
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)
312BC 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)
c306BC Demetrius the Besieger (337-283), a mighty warrior king and one of Alexander the Great’s successors, built the Amathus harbor on Cyprus’ southern coast about this time to thwart a potential naval invasion from the ruler of Egypt, Ptolemy I, another of Alexander’s heirs.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demetrius_I_of_Macedon)(AP, 7/19/21)
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)
280BC The army of King Pyrrhus of Epirus, a Greek state, suffered irreplaceable casualties in defeating the Romans at Heraclea during the Pyrrhic War.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhic_victory)
279BC The army of King Pyrrhus of Epirus, a Greek state, suffered irreplaceable casualties in defeating the Romans at Asculum during the Pyrrhic War. The phrase Pyrrhic victory came to signify a victory gained at a devastating cost.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhic_victory)
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 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 A suspected influenza epidemic struck during Rome’s siege of Syracuse.
(Econ 5/27/17, p.75)
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 About this time Eratosthenes (c276-c194), a Greek mathematician, 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. He thereby calculated the radius of the Earth to be about 4,000 miles. The modern value is 3963 miles.
(SCTS, p.6)(Econ, 3/8/14, p.88)
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)
183BC Philopoemen (b.253BC), Greek general and statesman, died. He was the Achaean strategos on eight occasions.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philopoemen)
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)
60BC - 30BC Diodorus Siculus, Greek historian, wrote works of history during this period. His universal history, which he named Bibliotheca historica ("Historical Library"), was immense and consisted of 40 books.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diodorus_Siculus)(Econ, 12/21/13, p.126)
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)
120 Plutarch (b.~46CE), Greek historian, biographer, and essayist, died about this time. His work included “Lives of the Roman Emperors," “Parallel Lives" and “Moralia," a collection of seventy-eight essays. In his "Life of Theseus" Plutarch told the story of the ship that carried Theseus and his crew to Athens from their adventures in Crete.
(Econ, 12/22/12, p.26)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutarch)(Econ., 7/6/20, p.48)
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)
988 Prince Vladimir of Kiev, Volodymyr the Great, accepted Byzantine Orthodoxy. This is the traditional date for the beginning of Russian Christianity. The Kievan Rus ruler was baptized in the ancient Crimean Greek city of Chersonesus before bringing Christianity to the region.
(SSFC, 6/24/01, p.A14)(AP, 8/1/15)(AP, 7/28/18)
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)
1420 In Greece the Bayezid Mosque was completed in the town of Didymoticho close to the Greek-Turkish border. In 2017 a fire ripped through the Ottoman mosque causing extensive damage.
(Reuters, 3/22/17)
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 10, Michael T. Marullus, Greeks poet, drowned.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Tarchaniota_Marullus)
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). 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."
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celebration_of_the_Greek_Revolution)(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 The Greek town of Naoussa was razed by the Turks during Greece's war of independence.
(AP, 3/14/19)
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)
1826 The Ottoman Sultan eliminated the Janissaries by slaughtering them. Originally they were Greek boys forcibly taken from their families by the occupying Turks and raised and trained to be elite troops at the service of the Ottoman Empire. From the mid-17th century, this abduction of boys stopped and Janissaries became a hereditary corps.
(AP, 3/14/19)
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 Oct 9, Ioannis Kapodistrias (b.1776), the first head of state of independent Greece (1827–33), was assassinated. He is considered as the founder of the modern Greek State and the founder of Greek independence.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ioannis_Kapodistrias)
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)
1913 Three Russian ships sailed to the Greek island of Athos and bundled hundreds of Orthodox monks off to Odessa. The Russians feared that a dispute over reciting the name of Jesus Christ would lead to the expulsion of all Russians from Athos. The name dispute began in 1907 when the book “In the Mountains of the Caucasus" was written by a monk named Ilarion.
(Econ, 12/22/12, p.89)
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)
1921-1922 Following the Greco-Turkish war Turkey lost some 1.5 million Greeks in a population exchange that brought half a million ethnic Turks home from Greece.
(Econ, 2/6/15, SR p.10)
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, Greece said no to an ultimatum from Benito Mussolini who demanded that PM Metaxas allow the Italian army free passage to enter and occupy strategic sites in Greece unopposed. Italy invaded Greece, launching six divisions on four fronts from Albania, which it had occupied the previous year. Greece successfully resisted Italy's attack. From 1942 Greeks celebrated From 1942 Greeks celebrated October 28 as Ohi Day (No Day).
(www.ultimatehistoryproject.com/oxi-day.html)(AP, 10/28/97)(HN, 10/28/98)
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)
1941-1942 In Greece an estimated 300,000 people died from a winter famine.
(AP, 3/22/15)
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)
1942 Nazis forced Greece to make an interest-free loan of 568 million Reichsmark (7.1 billion euros or $7.7 billion). The Economist put the loan at 476 million Reichsmark.
(AP, 3/22/15)(Econ., 3/21/15, p.44)
1942 The Jewish community paid some 1.9 billion drachmas, around 50 million euros ($55 million) today, as ransom to German occupying authorities in Greece in return for 10,000 Jewish men being held as slave laborers. The men were released only to be sent to concentration camps the following year.
(AP, 3/22/15)
1943 Mar 15, In Thessaloniki, Greece, occupying German forces began founding up the first batch of Jews in Eleftherias (Freedom) Square. By August 1943, 46,091 Jews had been deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Of those, 1,950 survived.
(AP, 3/16/13)
1943 Aug 18, Final convoy of Jews from Salonika, Greece, arrived at Auschwitz.
(MC, 8/18/02)
1943 Sep 24, German forces executed 117 Italian officers on the Greek island of Cephalonia (Kefalonia). The massacre became the basis for the 1994 bestseller Captain Corelli's Mandolin by British writer Louis de Bernieres. On Oct 18, 2013 an Italian court handed a life sentence in absentia to former German army corporal Alfred Stork (90) for his role in the execution.
(AFP, 10/18/13)
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)
1943 British air strikes in Greece hit the railway station and port of Thessaloniki. Hundreds of local inhabitants died. One bomb that failed to detonate was discovered in 2017 and was successfully defused following an evacuation of tens of thousands.
(AFP, 2/12/17)
1944 Apr 14, 1st Jews transported from Athens arrived at Auschwitz.
(MC, 4/14/02)
1944 Jun 10, In Greece Waffen-SS troops of the 4th SS Polizei Panzergrenadier Division under the command of SS-Hauptsturmführer Fritz Lautenbach went door to door and massacred Greek civilians as part of a 'retaliation measure' for a partisan attack upon the unit. A total of 214 men, women and children were killed in Distomo, a small village near Delphi.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distomo_massacre)
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)
1952 Turkey and Greece joined NATO.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO)
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 Greece was among 22 countries that agreed to halve Germany's foreign debt at a conference in London.
(AP, 3/22/15)
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)
1960 Aug 16, Britain granted independence to the crown colony of Cyprus. Archbishop Makarios began serving as the 1st post-independence president. He chose Spyros Kyprianou (28) as foreign minister. Under the provisions of the independence settlement, Turkey, along with Greece and Britain, maintained a right to military intervention if the island’s constitutional order is threatened.
(AP, 8/16/97)(SFC, 3/13/02, p.A26)(Econ, 1/28/17, p.47)
1960 Germany paid 115 million Deutschmarks — equivalent to about $330 million in 2015 — as part of a treaty with Greece meant to compensate victims of Nazi atrocities, including Greek Jews.
(AP, 3/22/15)
1962 Apr 3, Manolis Kalomiris (78), Greek classical composer, died.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manolis_Kalomiris)
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 at least 24 people were killed in the military crackdown at the Athens Polytechnic. The left-wing November 17 terror group took this date for their name and engaged in over 23 killings through 2002.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athens_Polytechnic_Uprising)(AFP, 11/17/18)
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 22, Only one of the 28 Greek commandos and four crew members survived a fiery crash they came in to land at Nicosia airport in the pre-dawn hours. 19 soldiers were believed to be inside the Noratlas' incinerated fuselage. The plane went down under withering volleys of friendly fire from the airport's Greek Cypriot defenders, who were fearful of an imminent landing by invading Turkish forces to take the strategically important area. In 2015 excavations located the aircraft.
(AP, 8/6/15)
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 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)
1974 Cyprus was divided into Greek and Turkish sectors with a UN no-man’s land in between. Turkish troops had invaded the island after an Athens-based coup by Greek Cypriots. 1,619 Greek Cypriots were said to be missing following the July, 1974, Turkish invasion. 160,000 Greeks and 40,000 Turkish Cypriots were forced to abandon their homes.
(SFC, 6/4/96, p.A11)(Econ, 3/13/10, p.64)(Econ, 4/23/15, p.41)
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)
1976 Jun 27, An Air France Airbus flight AF139, from Tel Aviv to Paris, was hijacked shortly after departing Athens and taken to Uganda. It was hijacked by members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and a German radical group. The hijackers released 148 non-Israeli passengers after the plane landed in Uganda. French pilot Michel Bacos (d.2019) remained with the hostages despite offers of release.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_France)(AP, 3/27/19)
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 Jan 1, Greece joined the European Union. It joined the Eurozone on Jan 1, 2001, allowing it to be among the first group of countries that issued euro banknotes on Jan 1, 2002.
(http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/euro/countries/greece_en.htm)
1981 Oct 18, Greeks elected socialist Andreas Papandreou (1919-1996) as prime minister. He served a first term until 1989 and a second term from 1993-1996.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andreas_Papandreou)(Econ, 7/4/15, p.46)
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, Konstantinos 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)(Econ, 12/3/16, p.43)
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 16, Greece's ailing PM Andreas Papandreou resigned.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andreas_Papandreou)(WSJ, 1/16/96, p. A-1)
1996 Jan 18, Greek Socialists elected Costas Simitis to succeed Andreas Papandreou as prime minister.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andreas_Papandreou) (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 Oct 8, A pair of Greek Mirage 2000s intercepted a pair of Turkish F-16s (a single-seater C and a two-seater D) over the Aegean island of Chios. The F-16s were escorting 4 Turkish F-4Es on a simulated SEAD mission. After a long dogfight, one of the Turkish F-16s was allegedly shot down with a Magic II missile fired by a Greek Mirage 2000 piloted by Thanos Grivas. The Greek authorities said that the jet went down due to mechanical failure, while the Turkish Defense Ministry said, on 2014, that the jet had been shot down by the Greek pilot. America helped calm the crisis.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek%E2%80%93Turkish_relations)(Econ., 8/22/20, p.51)
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)
2000 German companies and the government established a fund to pay to former slave laborers from Greece. By 2015 about 13.5 million euros ($15 million) was paid out.
(AP, 3/22/15)
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 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. Dimitris Koufodinas was convicted of belonging to November 17, which assassinated 23 people, including Western diplomats, between 1975 and 2000.
(AP, 12/8/03)(AP, 6/14/18)
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. Dimitris Koufodinas was sentenced to 11 life terms.
(AP, 12/17/03)(AP, 6/14/18)
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. Ericsson’s phone exchanges used by Vodafone’s network in Greece were used for the spying.
(AP, 2/2/06)(WSJ, 6/21/06, p.A1)(Econ, 8/18/12, p.14)
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 hanged in his Athens apartment. In 2017 Europe's top human rights court faulted Greece for failing to fully investigate the death of the telecoms engineer.
(WSJ, 6/21/06, p.A1)(Reuters, 11/17/17)
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. 84 people died in Greek wildfires, that began in June.
(AP, 8/31/07)(AP, 9/8/07)(Econ, 9/1/07, p.47)(AP, 6/18/17)
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)
2008 Greece vetoed Macedonia's membership of NATO and has blocked negotiations on EU accession ever since the country became a candidate in 2005.
(AFP, 4/17/18)
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. The employees died when the Marfin Bank branch in Athens was firebombed by anarchists taking part in the march.
(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 12, Thieves broke into Greece's National Gallery in Athens and nabbed Picasso's 1939 painting "Woman's Head" and Mondrian's 1905 "Mill." In 2021 the paintings were recovered by Greek police who also arrested a man in connection with the heist.
(CBS News, 6/29/21)
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 17, In Greece two masked robbers stole artifacts from a museum In Patras. On Nov 23 three men were arrested after tried to sell a gold seal-ring dating back some 3,200 years. All the artifacts were found buried in a field 3 km (2 miles) from the museum.
(AP, 11/24/12)
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)
2012 May 6, Greeks cast ballots in their most critical election in decades. Greece voters let a far-right extremist group into Parliament and gave no party enough votes to govern alone. Conservative leader Antonis Samaras began trying to form a new coalition government. New Democracy came first with 18.85% and 108 of Parliament's 300 seats. The big winner was the anti-bailout Radical Left Coalition, or Syriza, whose unprecedented second place with 16.78% gave it 52 seats.
(AP, 5/6/12)(AP, 5/7/12)
2012 May 10, The Olympic flame was lit in Ancient Olympia in Greece, in a solemn ceremony filled with mystery and tradition that signals the final countdown to the start of this year's summer Games in London.
(AFP, 5/10/12)
2012 May 14, In Greece coalition government talks failed after nine days of discussions, meaning the country is heading for another election next month.
(AP, 5/15/12)
2012 May 19, G8 leaders meeting in Maryland backed keeping Greece in the euro zone and vowed to take all steps necessary to combat financial turmoil while revitalizing a global economy increasingly threatened by Europe's debt crisis.
(Reuters, 5/19/12)
2012 Jun 7, In Greece Ilias Kasidiaris (31), the extreme-right Golden Dawn party spokesman, caused an uproar by slapping one female politician on live TV and throwing a glass of water on another. On June 11 he sued the two women as well as the television channel that hosted the news show.
(AP, 6/11/12)
2012 Jun 17, Greece held national elections for the 2nd time in six weeks. Final results gave New Democracy 29.66% and 129 of 300 seats, followed by Syriza at 26.89% and 71 seats. The conservative New Democracy party lacked enough legislators to govern alone, and sought allies among the pro-bailout Socialists, who came in third at 12.3% and 33 seats.
(AP, 6/17/12)(AP, 6/18/12)(SFC, 6/18/12, p.A2)
2012 Jun 17, In Greece a major fire south of Athens raged for the second day, as gale-force winds were rekindling the flames and three new fronts broke out.
(AP, 6/17/12)
2012 Jun 18, Greek conservative leader Antonis Samaras launched coalition talks after coming first in a vote that follow weeks of uncertainty over whether the debt-crippled country could remain in the joint euro currency.
(AP, 6/18/12)
2012 Aug 6, Greek police say they have detained some 6,000 people in Athens during weekend roundups on suspicion that they have entered the country illegally and will deport more than 1,600 of them to their home countries. Greece launched an aggressive campaign to try to seal its 200-km (130-mile) northeastern border, as it faced a debilitating financial crisis that has caused a swell in joblessness and a surge in racist attacks against immigrants with dark skin.
(AP, 8/6/12)(AP, 8/22/12)
2012 Aug 17, In Greece a local crowd on the island of Hydra attacked tax police after they detained a restaurant owner who did not provide receipts to clients. Riot police arrived the next day and the owner was transported to Athens by coast guard ship.
(AP, 8/19/12)
2012 Aug 20, In Greece firefighters battled a major forest fire on the island of Chios as it ravaged groves of the island’s famed mastic trees for a 3rd day.
(SFC, 8/21/12, p.A2)
2012 Sep 12, Greek justice minister Antonis Roupakiotis said Greece will toughen sentencing for hate crimes, following a surge in attacks against immigrants and violence involving members of a far-right political party. A fresh wave of anti-austerity strikes hit the country as the leaders of the governing coalition struggled to finalize further spending cuts for the coming two years — without which the country will lose its vital rescue loans.
(AP, 9/12/12)
2012 Sep 26, Greek police clashed with hooded rioters hurling petrol bombs as tens of thousands took to the streets of Athens in a general strike in Greece's biggest anti-austerity protest in more than a year.
(Reuters, 9/26/12)(Economist, 9/29/12, p.57)
2012 Sep 27, Greece's coalition government reached a "basic agreement" on a new round of harsh austerity cuts demanded by its international lenders.
(AP, 9/27/12)
2012 Oct 4, Greek police clashed with scores of protesting shipyard workers after they forced their way into the grounds of Greece's Defense Ministry in Athens. Workers from the Skaramanga Shipyards, which deals mainly with military contacts, say they have not been paid in months.
(AP, 10/4/12)
2012 Oct 5, National Bank of Greece, the debt-crippled country's biggest lender by assets, announced a public offer to merge with its largest domestic competitor, Eurobank.
(AP, 10/5/12)
2012 Oct 9, German chancellor Angela Merkel visited Greece and said the country has covered "much of the ground" required for recovery. Her arrival triggered protests attended by some 50,000 demonstrators in Athens.
(AP, 10/9/12)
2012 Oct 18, In Greece hundreds of youths pelted riot police with petrol bombs, bottles and chunks of marble as yet another Greek anti-austerity demonstration descended into violence. Some 70,000 protesters took to the street during the country's second general strike in a month.
(AP, 10/18/12)
2012 Oct 27, In Greece Costas Vaxevanis, publisher of Hot Doc magazine, printed a list of 2,059 Greek depositors at a bank in Switzerland. The list, dating from 2007, was allegedly given to the Greek government by French officials in 2010. Vaxevanis was arrested, faced trial and was acquitted. On Oct 8, 2013, he appeared in court again to stand trial again for violating privacy laws.
(SFC, 10/29/12, p.A2)(Econ, 11/3/12, p.54)(Reuters, 10/8/13)
2012 Nov 6, Greek trade unions started a general strike and nationwide protests against a new package of austerity measures to be voted on this week.
(SFC, 11/7/12, p.A2)
2012 Nov 7, Greece’s parliament passed a crucial austerity bill by a narrow margin hours after rioters rampaged outside Parliament during an 80,000-strong anti-austerity demonstration.
(SFC, 11/8/12, p.A2)
2012 Nov 12, Greek lawmakers approved the country’s 2013 austerity budget by a 167-128 vote in the 300-member Parliament.
(SFC, 11/12/12, p.A4)
2012 Nov 12, EU ministers agreed to giver Greece two more years to reform its economy, but failed to agree how to get the country’s bailout program back on track.
(SFC, 11/13/12, p.A2)
2012 Nov 20, Greek police said a man (35) has been arrested on suspicion of having stolen 9 million personal data files in what is believed to be the biggest breach of private information the country has ever seen.
(AP, 11/20/12)
2012 Nov 27, The 17 European Union nations that use the euro struck an agreement with the International Monetary Fund on a program to reduce Greek debt and put Athens on the way to get the next installment of its bailout loans. The first disbursement is set to take place Dec 13.
(AP, 11/27/12)
2012 Dec 14, A boat capsized early today off the northeastern island of Lesvos, near the Turkish coast. Greek coast guard officials found the bodies of 18 Asian people who were trying to cross illegally into Greece.
(AP, 12/15/12)
2012 Dec 31, Greece’s coalition government called for the indictment of former Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou for allegedly removing the names of 3 of his relatives from a list of Swiss bank account holders whose tax records were to be re-examined. Papaconstantinou said the names were removed without his knowledge.
(SFC, 1/1/13, p.A2)
2013 Jan 17, Greek lawmakers voted to investigate former Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou over his handling of data on Greeks with Swiss bank accounts.
(SFC, 1/17/13, p.A2)
2013 Jan 19, In Greece several thousand people marched through central Athens to protest a spate of anti-immigrant attacks, including the fatal stabbing by suspected right-wing extremists of Shehzad Luqman (27), a Pakistani immigrant who died Jan 17. Two men have been charged in the murder.
(AP, 1/20/13)
2013 Jan 20, In Greece a bomb exploded at a shopping mall in Athens, slightly wounding two security guards and forcing the evacuation of about 200 people.
(AP, 1/20/13)
2013 Jan 24, In Greece strikers protesting pay cuts refused to return to work, leaving Athens' subway system closed for an eighth day, despite a court decision declaring their protest illegal.
(AP, 1/24/13)
2013 Jan 25, Greek riot police stormed the Athens subway train depot before dawn to enforce a government emergency order forcing striking staff back to work in an escalating standoff over new austerity measures.
(AP, 1/25/13)
2013 Jan 28, Nikolaos Dertilis (94), the last jailed member of the Greek military dictatorship (1967-1974), died of a stroke at Athens' Erythros Stavros Hospital. He had spent the last 38 years in prison.
(AP, 1/29/13)
2013 Jan 31, Greek doctors, port workers and public transport staff in the country's capital walked off the job in strikes against deeply unpopular austerity measures that have seen incomes slashed as the country struggles to emerge from a deep financial crisis. Farmers in central Greece parked their tractors along the country's main highway for a second day, under the watchful eye of riot police, threatening to shut the road to protest spending cuts and high fuel taxes.
(AP, 1/31/13)
2013 Feb 2, In Greece more than 5,000 supporters of the extreme-right Golden Dawn party marched past the US Embassy in Athens, chanting anti-Turkish, anti-US and anti-immigrant slogans to commemorate a 1996 border incident that caused a crisis between Greece and Turkey.
(AP, 2/2/13)
2013 Feb 17, In Greece some 40 masked attackers raided the facilities of a prospective gold mine in the north overnight, setting machinery and offices alight. Some residents objected to what they say will be the destruction of the environment and of pristine forest at Skouries in the Halkidiki peninsula.
(AP, 2/17/13)
2013 Feb 19, Greek journalists walked off the job for 24 hours to protest austerity measures and income cuts, pulling radio and television news broadcasts off the air and leaving news websites without updates.
(AP, 2/19/13)
2013 Feb 20, In Greece a 24-hour protest by unions representing private and public sector workers disrupted flights, halted ferries and crippled public services, in a renewed confrontation between labor groups and the conservative-led government over policies aimed at curbing Greece's overspending.
(AP, 2/20/13)
2013 Feb 22, In Greece heavy rainfall caused two rivers to break their banks flooding the streets of Athens.
(SFC, 2/23/13, p.A2)
2013 Feb 24, In Greece a helicopter swooped down on the Trikala prison courtyard as armed men on board fired on guards and lowered a rope to help convicted killer Panagiotis Vlastos make his fourth attempt to escape from a Greek prison. Vlastos was wounded the helicopter was grounded in the failed escape.
(AP, 2/24/13)
2013 Feb 27, In Greece Vassilis Papageorgopoulos, the former mayor of Thessaloniki, was sentenced to life i8n prison along with 12 top aides after being found guilty of embezzling almost $23.5 million in state funds.
(SFC, 2/28/13, p.A2)
2013 Feb, In Greece the new street paper Schedia (Raft), to be sold by homeless people, began publication.
(Econ, 2/2/13, p.50)
2013 Mar 4, In Greece former defense minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos was sentenced to 8 years in prison for concealing assets.
(SFC, 2/5/13, p.A2)
2013 Mar 17, In Greece police lobbed chemicals inside a central prison, trying to smoke out Albanian Alket Rizaj, a convicted murderer who was holding five hostages. After a 24-hour standoff Rizaj surrendered to police at Malandrino prison.
(AP, 3/17/13)
2013 Mar 22, In Greece at least 11 Albanian inmates escaped from a prison near Trikala after gunmen brazenly attacked the site with grenades and automatic weapons, kicking off a nightlong standoff between police and prisoners. Two were soon captured.
(AP, 3/23/13)
2013 Apr 3, A Greek court convicted five people on terrorism-related charges rel ated to a militant anarchist group which claimed responsibility for a string of bombings over six years (2003-2009) and fired a rocket-propelled grenade into the US Embassy in Athens but caused no deaths. Nikos Maziotis and his wife Panagiota Roupa, were convicted in absentia.
(AP, 4/3/13)
2013 Apr 17, In Greece 3 strawberry plantation foremen allegedly shot and injured 29 Bangladeshi laborers protesting late pay. Greek officials the next day promised "swift and exemplary" punishment for the suspects.
(AP, 4/18/13)
2013 Apr 28, Greece, in its 6th year of recession, passed legislation allowing incompetent civil servants to be fire more easily. 15,000 civil servants will be sacked by the end of 2014.
(Econ, 5/4/13, p.57, 75)(http://tinyurl.com/o8kbthj)
2013 Apr 29, A cargo ship, the Pirireis, sank off southern Greece within minutes of colliding with another freighter in fair weather, leaving two Syrian seamen dead and 8 others missing. 7 sailors were rescued. It was not clear exactly why the Antigua- and Barbuda-flagged Consouth collided with the Cook Islands-flagged Pirireis.
(AP, 4/29/13)
2013 May 13, Greek civil servants' unions called a 24-hour strike for May 14 in reaction to the government's decision to use emergency powers to prevent protesting teachers from disrupting the May 17-31 exams for school leavers and university candidates.
(AP, 5/13/13)
2013 May 16, Flights in Greece were halted for four hours as the country's two largest labor unions staged work stoppages to protest austerity measures and the government decision to cancel a teachers' strike.
(AP, 5/16/13)
2013 May 28, The Greek government says small protests are blocking streets in central Athens at a rate of twice a day, and called on unions to help draw up new guidelines to keep traffic running.
(AP, 5/28/13)
2013 Jun 12, Greece's conservative-led government was facing a political crisis after its decision to shut down state-run TV and radio as part of spending cuts triggered a wave of strikes and fierce opposition from within the coalition government. The executive order to close ERT must be ratified by parliament within three months but is faced failure if not backed by all the coalition's members.
(AP, 6/12/13)
2013 Jun 13, In Greece thousands walked off the job in the 3rd general strike of the year. More than 10,000 protesters rallied outside the public broadcasting headquarters in Athens in support of fired staff, who for a third day occupied the building to continue broadcasts in defiance of the government.
(AP, 6/13/13)(SFC, 6/14/13, p.A3)
2013 Jun 18, State TV channels in Greece remained off-air as the political storm over the future of public broadcaster ERT raged on.
(AP, 6/18/13)
2013 Jun 21, Greece's fragile coalition government was left reeling after a junior party decided to pull its two cabinet ministers from the cabinet following a dispute over state broadcaster ERT.
(AP, 6/21/13)
2013 Jun 28, BP, at an official ceremony in Baku, Azerbaijan, confirmed that a new pipeline to bring gas to Europe from the Caspian Sea will go through Greece and then under the sea to Italy, a defeat for a rival project to bring gas through Bulgaria and into Austria.
(AP, 6/28/13)
2013 Jul 8, Greece's international debt inspectors reached a tentative agreement with the cash-strapped country on reforms needed to keep releasing vital bailout loans, although they warned it still faced an "uncertain" economic outlook and needed to sack thousands of state sector workers. Municipal workers went on strike to protest government plans to reduce the number of civil servants.
(AP, 7/8/13)
2013 Jul 16, A majority of Greek lawmakers voted early today to lift former finance minister George Papaconstantinou's immunity from prosecution over the fate of a list of about 2,000 names provided by French authorities in 2010 as Greece's economy was struck by a major crisis.
(AP, 7/16/13)
2013 Jul 16, Tens of thousands of Greek workers walked off the job and rallied in front of parliament in a noisy protest against government plans to fire public sector employees to satisfy foreign lenders.
(Reuters, 7/16/13)
2013 Jul 17, Greece's shaky coalition government scraped through a vote on a bill to sack public sector workers as thousands chanting anti-austerity slogans protested outside parliament.
(Reuters, 7/17/13)
2013 Jul 23, Greek shipowner Victor Restis was arrested on charges of money laundering and embezzlement, becoming one of just a few prominent businessmen to be detained by police since Greece sank into crisis.
(Reuters, 7/23/13)
2013 Aug 9, Greek Finance Ministry data showed that 731 of 1,465 companies — mostly restaurants, bars, coffee shops and clubs — checked from July 25 to Aug. 5 had violated tax laws. The highest rate of non-compliance, some 85% of those checked, was on the islands of Evia and Skyros.
(AP, 8/9/13)
2013 Aug 10, In Greece dozens of illegal immigrants being held in a detention center hurled stones at police guards and set mattresses on fire in protest over the extension of their detention. More than 50 out of 1,620 migrants held at the detention center of Amygdaleza, near Athens, were arrested over the clashes.
(Reuters, 8/11/13)
2013 Aug 13, Greek student Thanassis Kanaoutis (19) died after an argument with a bus ticket inspector in Athens. He quickly came to symbolize the plight of a population ground down by worsening poverty and unemployment.
(Reuters, 8/16/13)
2013 Aug 21, Greece's new state television channel began airing news programs, more than two months after the government's abrupt closure of state broadcaster ERT drew international condemnation and triggered an acute political crisis.
(AP, 8/21/13)
2013 Sep 2, A court in Cyprus ordered the extradition of Dinos Michaelides, a former Cypriot interior minister, to Greece for questioning related to corruption charges against Akis Tsohatzopoulos, a once-powerful Greek politician, who is now in jail.
(Reuters, 9/2/13)
2013 Sep 17, In Greece Pavlos Fissas (34), an anti-racism rapper, was stabbed to death in the Keratsini area west of Athens by a man sympathizing with the far-right Golden Dawn party.
(Reuters, 9/19/13)(SFC, 9/19/13, p.A2)
2013 Sep 18, Greek workers shut schools and forced hospitals to operate with only emergency staff at the start of a 48-hour strike against the latest plans to fire thousands of public sector employees.
(Reuters, 9/18/13)
2013 Sep 23, Greece suspended several senior police officers and launched an investigation into possible police links with a far-right party, after the killing of an anti-racism rapper raised concerns about the force.
(Reuters, 9/23/13)
2013 Sep 24, Greek public sector workers went on strike for the second time in a week, shutting schools and leaving hospitals with skeleton staff, as inspectors from Greece's foreign lenders checked whether the country was meeting its bailout targets.
(Reuters, 9/24/13)
2013 Sep 25, Greeks staged protests in Athens against the fatal stabbing of an anti-racism rapper by a supporter of the far-right Golden Dawn party, which a new poll found has lost a third of its support since the killing.
(Reuters, 9/25/13)
2013 Sep 28, Greek police arrested the leader and more than a dozen senior members and lawmakers from the far-right Golden Dawn party after the killing of an anti-fascist rapper by a party supporter triggered outrage and protests across the country.
(Reuters, 9/28/13)
2013 Sep 29, Greek lawmaker Christos Pappas surrendered to police, bringing to six the number of legislators from the extreme-right Golden Dawn party now in custody and accused of being members of a criminal organization with intent to commit crimes.
(AP, 9/29/13)(SFC, 9/30/13, p.A2)
2013 Oct 3, Nikos Michaloliakos, the leader of Greece's far-right Golden Dawn party, was sent to jail pending trial on criminal charges, the first time an elected party chief has been put behind bars since a military coup nearly five decades ago.
(Reuters, 10/3/13)(Econ, 10/5/13, p.56)
2013 Oct 7, In Greece Akis Tsochadzopoulos (73), former Greek defense minister, was jailed for 20 years after being found guilty o money laundering. 16 of 18 co-defendants were also found guilty.
(SFC, 10/8/13, p.A2)
2013 Oct 22, Greek lawmakers voted to suspend state funding for political parties accused of criminal activities, a measure targeting the Nazi-inspired Golden Dawn group.
(AP, 10/22/13)
2013 Oct 22, A top Greek prosecutor ordered an emergency nationwide investigation into birth certificates issued in the past six years after a girl was discovered living with alleged abductors at a gypsy camp.
(AP, 10/22/13)
2013 Oct 25, Greek authorities said DNA tests have confirmed that Sasha Ruseva, a Bulgarian Roma woman (35), is the mother of a mysterious girl in Greece known as Maria.
(AP, 10/25/13)(SFC, 10/25/13, p.A2)
2013 Oct 25, Greek police said they have arrested a childless couple in Athens on suspicion of buying an 8-month-old Roma girl and trying to register her as their own, amid international uproar over another little girl who was found living with unrelated Gypsies in Greece.
(AP, 10/25/13)
2013 Oct 31, In Greece thousands of protesters clogged Athens to demonstrate against a new property tax. The anger was registered across society, with retirees, disabled groups, shipyard workers and high school teachers among those taking part.
(AP, 10/31/13)
2013 Nov 1, In Greece two members of the far-right Golden Dawn party were killed and a third wounding. The gun used in the attack had not been used in previous terrorist attacks.
(AP, 11/2/13)
2013 Nov 3, The Greek government backed away from allowing retailers to trade on any Sunday after opposition from small retailers and the Orthodox Church. The government says more Sunday shopping would boost retail sales in a country struggling to pull itself out of a six-year recession.
(Reuters, 11/3/13)
2013 Nov 6, Greek schools shut and flights were disrupted as workers held a general strike to protest austerity imposed by foreign lenders.
(AP, 11/6/13)
2013 Nov 7, Greek riot police stormed the headquarters of former public broadcaster ERT in a pre-dawn raid, forcibly removing employees who had been occupying the site since its shock shutdown five months ago.
(AFP, 11/7/13)
2013 Nov 8, Greek authorities detained a cargo ship carrying large quantities of weapons and ammunition.
(Reuters, 11/8/13)
2013 Nov 15, In western Greece 12 migrants, believed to be Syrians, were found dead after a plastic boat still tied to rocks capsized in calm weather. 15 people survived the incident.
(AP, 11/15/13)
2013 Nov 30, In Greece about 1,000 supporters of the Golden Dawn party gathered outside parliament to protest against the pre-trial detention of their leader Nikolaos Mihaloliakos on charges of forming a criminal organization.
(Reuters, 11/30/13)
2013 Dec 17, Greek authorities said an oil tanker came under armed attack overnight about 35 nautical miles south of Nigeria, and the ship's Ukrainian captain and Greek first engineer have been kidnapped.
(AP, 12/17/13)
2013 Dec 21, Greece's coalition government pushed through parliament a new property tax required under the country's international bailout obligations, but saw its majority dwindle in the process.
(AFP, 12/21/13)
2013 Dec 30, In Greece unidentified assailants opened fire on the German ambassador's residence in Athens with a Kalashnikov assault rifle in an attack seen as an attempt to sour relations between debt-laden Greece and its biggest creditor nation.
(Reuters, 12/30/13)
2013 Dec 30, In Greece unidentified assailants opened fire on the German ambassador's residence in Athens with a Kalashnikov assault rifle in an attack seen as an attempt to sour relations between debt-laden Greece and its biggest creditor nation. Michalis Liapis (62), a former transport minister, received a four-year suspended sentence for driving an uninsured luxury car with fake license plates in an apparent tax dodge.
(Reuters, 12/30/13)(AP, 12/30/13)
2014 Jan 8, Greece formally assumed the European Union's rotating six-month presidency with a ceremony attended by EU commissioners.
(AP, 1/8/14)
2014 Jan 8, Greek authorities charged 25 people and arrested three following an investigation into allegedly inadequately secured loans from the former Hellenic Postbank to local businessmen.
(AP, 1/9/14)
2014 Jan 11, In Greece two Golden Dawn lawmakers were placed in pre-trial detention late in Athens in an ongoing crackdown against the far right group.
(AFP, 1/11/14)
2014 Jan 18, Police in central Greece said they had arrested seven people including five Bulgarians for attempted baby trafficking.
(AFP, 1/18/14)
2014 Jan 20, A small fishing boat crammed with 28 people entered Greece illegally from Turkey. The Greek Coast Guard said it was towing the boat to a nearby Greek island when it capsized. The mishap killed at least two and left 10 missing. Survivors later recounting in tears how they watched their children drown while coast guard officials looked on. Three Afghans who survived the sinking of a migrant boat later described how Greek authorities had tried to forcibly tow them back to Turkey.
(AP, 1/24/14)(Reuters, 1/24/14)(AP, 1/25/14)
2014 Jan 30, Greek police detained dozens of people during a protest at the merchant marine minister's office over the deaths of immigrants whose boat sank as it was being towed by the Coast Guard.
(AP, 1/30/14)
2014 Feb 10, Greek police arrested four foreigners and seized weapons and explosives in a raid by the country's anti-terrorist unit on residences in the greater Athens area. Media said they appeared to be Turkish nationals suspected of belonging to the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front, or DHKP/C.
(AP, 2/10/14)
2014 Feb 26, Greek dock workers across the country walked off the job in a 24-hour strike to protest plans to sell a stake in the Piraeus Port Authority, the country's largest port.
(AP, 2/26/14)
2014 Mar 6, The Bank of Greece said the country’s banking sector needs to raise 6.4 billion euros ($8.9 billion) to be able to cushion potential future losses. This prompted some of the banks to outline their plans.
(AP, 3/7/14)
2014 Mar 7, Greek Dr. Costas Kastaniotis (57) was convicted of breaking anti-racism laws for putting up a "Jews not welcome" sign outside his office and given a 16-month suspended sentence. The neurologist denied he was the one to have put up the sign, which was written in German, and said he took it down when it was brought to his attention.
(AP, 3/7/14)
2014 Mar 7, Macedonian police said they have arrested 13 people, including the head of a customs office at the Macedonia-Bulgaria border crossing, on suspicion of participating in a ring smuggling designer clothing from Greece and Bulgaria.
(AP, 3/7/14)
2014 Mar 12, In Greece thousands of striking public sector workers marched through Athens to protest against planned job cuts demanded by foreign lenders as unemployment in the country holds near record highs.
(Reuters, 3/12/14)
2014 Mar 18, Greek authorities said they have recovered the bodies of 7 immigrants, including 2 children, who drowned overnight when a boat sank in the eastern Aegean Sea after traveling illegally from nearby Turkey.
(AP, 3/18/14)
2014 Mar 19, Greek civil servants, including hospital and teaching staff, started a two-day strike against austerity measures imposed under the debt-mired country's international bailout commitments.
(AP, 3/19/14)
2014 Apr 1, In Greece eight Nigrita Prison guards were charged with torturing to death an Albanian convict accused of fatally stabbing a guard in another jail after being refused temporary release to visit his critically ill mother. Ilie Kareli (42) was found fatally injured in his cell last week after a severe beating.
(AP, 4/1/14)
2014 Apr 4, European Union foreign ministers gathered in Athens for two days of an informal meeting where attention focused on the crisis in Ukraine and the civil war in Syria.
(AP, 4/5/14)
2014 Apr 9, Greece announced it was returning to international bond markets for the first time in four years. Thousands of striking Greeks marched to parliament on to protest against job cuts and austerity measures imposed by the country's foreign creditors.
(AP, 4/9/14)(Reuters, 4/9/14)
2014 Apr 10, Greek officials hailed the country's return to the int’l. debt market after four years as an overwhelming success, with investors snapping up the 5-year bond in a sale that was eight times oversubscribed. A car bomb attack on a branch of the country's central bank in Athens damaged several buildings but caused no injury. The anarchist Revolutionary Struggle group later claimed responsibility.
(AP, 4/10/14)(AP, 4/25/14)
2014 Apr 15, Greek coast guard officials shot dead a man believed to be a migrant smuggler as they tried to intercept him on his speedboat heading towards neighboring Turkey.
(Reuters, 4/15/14)
2014 May 2, In Greece some 5,000 farmers' market vendors blocked traffic in central Athens and continued giving away food as part of anti-government protests. The vendors had closed their street markets indefinitely this week.
(AP, 5/2/14)
2014 May 5, A yacht and a dinghy crammed with immigrants trying to enter Greece capsized in the eastern Aegean Sea, leaving at least 22 dead, including 4 children, and potentially several more missing. 36 survivors were identified as 23 Somalis, nine Syrians and three Eritreans.
(AP, 5/514)
2014 May 18, Greeks began voting in the first round of local elections that mark PM Antonis Samaras's first big electoral test since coming to power two years ago.
(Reuters, 5/18/14)
2014 May 19, Greece's main opposition party Syriza declared a victory for its anti-austerity message after its candidates fared strongly in big local election races in Athens and the surrounding region.
(Reuters, 5/19/14)
2014 May 24, A magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck northern Greece and western Turkey. Over 250 people were reported injured.
(SSFC, 5/25/14, p.A4)
2014 May 25, In Greece the election for 21 seats in the European Parliament was held together with runoff voting for local government. The opposition Syriza won just two races for regional governor, while New Democracy won seven and four went to independents.
(AP, 5/26/14)
2014 May 26, Greece's main opposition party formally requested an early general election after winning the vote for the European Parliament, arguing that the country's conservative government now lacks the legitimacy to implement reforms related to international bailouts.
(AP, 5/26/14)
2014 Jun 4, The Liberia-flagged MT Fair Artemis lost contact with its owners off Ghana's capital Accra. The Greek tanker with 24 crew aboard was believed to have been hijacked.
(AFP, 6/6/14)
2014 Jun 12, Greek authorities seized a record 1.1 metric tons of heroin, worth more than 30 million euros ($40 million), near Athens and arrested 11 suspected traffickers.
(AP, 6/13/14)
2014 Jun 19, Chinese PM Li Keqiang arrived on an official three-day visit to Greece, which the Greek government hopes will lead to trade and investment deals that will boost the recession-plagued economy.
(AP, 6/19/14)
2014 Jun 25, Greek authorities said they have broken a massive lottery scam targeting Germans that tricked about 360,000 people into paying to take part in non-existent draws. Two German-born suspects were arrested a day earlier in Athens.
(AP, 6/25/14)
2014 Jul 3, Greeks were warned to expect brief power cuts as workers at the Public Power Corporation go on strike to protest government plans to sell part of the company.
(AP, 7/3/14)
2014 Jul 9, Greece's public sector workers began a 24-hour strike, shutting down public services and leaving state-run hospitals accepting only emergency cases to protest austerity policies imposed in return for the country's bailout. Public transport was not affected.
(AP, 7/9/14)
2014 Jul 11, Greek authorities said at least two people have drowned and about a further 20 are missing after a boat carrying immigrants trying to enter the country illegally sank off the Aegean Sea island of Samos.
(AP, 7/11/14)
2014 Jul 16, Greek police arrested one of the country's most wanted men during a shootout in Athens' central tourist district that left four people wounded. Nikos Maziotis (43) and his wife Panagiota Roupa were convicted in absentia last year and sentenced to 25 years for participation in Revolutionary Struggle, a group active between 2003 and 2009 and best known for firing a rocket-propelled grenade into the US Embassy and bombing the Athens Stock Exchange. Roupa was still at large.
(AP, 7/16/14)
2014 Jul 25, Campaigners on the Greek island of Crete launched a seaborne protest against the destruction of Syrian chemical agents in the Mediterranean. A US naval ship fitted with hydrolysis equipment, which helps break down lethal chemicals into a sludge, started the job of neutralizing the arsenal in international waters last week.
(AFP, 7/25/14)
2014 Aug 1, Greece safely evacuated embassy staff and more than one hundred Chinese and European nationals from Libya with a navy frigate sailing back to the Greek port of Piraeus.
(Reuters, 8/1/14)
2014 Oct 1, Greek police said an airline pilot and a ground crew staff member were among seven people arrested on suspicion of participating in a ring smuggling migrants onto flights from the city of Thessaloniki to other EU countries.
(AP, 10/1/14)
2014 Oct 5, In northern Greece a 35-car highway pileup killed 5 motorists and injured dozens near Veria. A Romanian truck driver (39) was soon remanded in prison pending trial for multiple manslaughter. The driver said his brakes had failed.
(AP, 10/9/14)
2014 Oct 15, Concerns that the Greek government could collapse next year, putting its bailout program in danger, caused a massive sell-off in the country's stock and bond markets, with the main stock index down 9.8 percent.
(AP, 10/15/14)
2014 Nov 11, Greek police said a man (48) was arrested in Karyes, administrative center of Mount Athos, the 1,000-year-old Greek Orthodox monastic community. The former accountant of an eastern Athens municipality was convicted in absentia in 2011 of involvement in embezzling 9 million euros, fraud and forgery. He had passed himself off as a novice monk for the last eight years.
(AP, 11/11/14)
2014 Nov 26, In Thailand a diplomat from the Greek Embassy died after she fell under a moving train.
(AP, 11/26/14)
2014 Nov 27, In Greece a 24-hour general strike shut down services across the country, forcing flight cancellations and school closures and leaving state hospitals functioning with emergency staff, while tens of thousands of protesters marched in central Athens.
(AP, 11/27/14)
2014 Dec 2, In Greece anarchists burned a bus and several cars in Athens following a demonstration in support of Nikos Romanos, a young anarchist convicted of involvement in an armed bank robbery. Romanos was on a hunger strike.
(SFC, 12/3/14, p.A2)
2014 Dec 5, The British Museum plunged into a geopolitical tempest by lending one of the disputed Greek Elgin Marbles to Russia’s Hermitage Museum.
(SFC, 12/6/14, p.A2)
2014 Dec 6, The leaders of Greece and Turkey glossed over key differences between the nations and expressed support for close affairs between the often irritable neighbors.
(http://tinyurl.com/nbyw5o6)
2014 Dec 7, In Greece a demonstration through central Athens to mark the 6th anniversary of the lethal police shooting of an unnamed teen quickly turned brutal as demonstrators damaged bus station and store fronts, and sets fire to clothing looted from a store.
(http://tinyurl.com/lur6csa)
2014 Dec 11, Greece's former finance minister, George Papaconstantinou, was indicted before a special court on criminal charges over his handling of data on Greeks holding Swiss bank accounts.
(AP, 12/11/14)
2014 Dec 28, The Italian-flagged Norman Atlantic ferry radioed for help after fire broke out on its lower deck 44 nautical miles northwest of the Greek island of Corfu. Italy's Coast Guard later said 477 people were rescued. At least 11 people were killed. On Dec 30 two Albanian seamen were killed during an operation to salvage the multideck car ferry. An Italian prosecutor later said up to 98 were unaccounted for while Greece put that number at 18 saying Italy's list is full of duplications and misspellings.
(AP, 12/28/14)(Reuters, 12/29/14)(AP, 12/30/14)(AP, 1/1/15)(SFC, 1/6/15, p.A2)
2014 Dec 29, Greece called for a snap general election for Jan 25.
(AP, 12/30/14)
2014 Dec 30, Greek PM Antonis Samaras formally requested that Parliament be dissolved following the failure by lawmakers to elect Greece's new president after three rounds of voting.
(AP, 12/30/14)
2014 Michael Scott authored “Delphi: A History of the Centre of the Ancient World."
(Econ, 6/14/14, p.77)
2015 Jan 2, In Greece a couple and their 12-year-old son were stabbed to death in their apartment in Thessaloniki. The alleged attacker (60) was arrested after being injured by falling from a balcony of the building.
(AP, 1/2/15)0
2015 Jan 3, Greek police arrested convicted terrorist Christodoulos Xiros, who had failed to return to prison while on a furlough almost a year ago.
(AP, 1/3/15)
2015 Jan 4, Forces loyal to Libya's internationally recognized government launched air strikes on the country's biggest steel plant at Misrata. A warplane from forces loyal to the internationally recognized government bombed a Greek-operated oil tanker anchored offshore, killing 2 crewmen. The Liberian-flagged ARAEVO was carrying 12,600 tons of crude oil when it was struck off the eastern port of Derna. No oil was spilled.
(Reuters, 1/4/15)(Reuters, 1/5/15)
2015 Jan 25, Greece held general elections. The left-wing Syriza party led by Alexis Tsipras won 149 seats in the 300-seat parliament, leaving it just two seats short of an outright majority and in need of a coalition partner. The Independent Greeks won 13 seats.
(AFP, 1/25/15)(Reuters, 1/26/15)
2015 Jan 26, Greek left-wing leader Alexis Tsipras was sworn in as the prime minister of a new hardline, anti-bailout government determined to face down international lenders and end nearly five years of tough economic measures.
(Reuters, 1/26/15)
2015 Jan 26, Greek singer Demis Roussos (b.1946) died in Athens. His often high-pitched pop serenades won him household recognition in the 1970s and 1980s across Europe and beyond and who sold more than 60 million records.
(AP, 1/26/15)
2015 Jan 26, In southeastern Spain a Greek F-16 fighter jet crashed into a hangar at the Los Llanos military base while it was participating in NATO maneuvers. Two pilots aboard the Greek F-16 were killed along with 8 French air force members on the ground. Another French airman died of wounds the next day.
(AP, 1/26/15)(AP, 1/27/15)
2015 Jan 27, Greece named radical left-wing economist Yanis Varoufakis its new finance minister, giving him the mammoth task of leading negotiations with international creditors over the country's bailout.
(AFP, 1/27/15)
2015 Jan 28, Leftwing Greek PM Alexis Tsipras threw down an open challenge to international creditors by halting privatization plans agreed under the country's bailout deal, prompting a third day of heavy losses on financial markets.
(Reuters, 1/28/15)
2015 Jan 30, Greece's finance minister Yanis Varoufakis said the government will not cooperate with the EU and IMF mission bankrolling the country and will not seek an extension to the bailout program. PM Alexis Tsipras' government sacked the heads of the state privatization agency after halting a series of state asset sales
(Reuters, 1/30/15)(Reuters, 1/31/15)
2015 Feb 12, Greece reported that tax revenues slumped 23 percent below target in January as citizens held off on paying taxes before a snap election, marking a setback for the new left-wing government as it seeks a deal with European partners to avert a financial crisis.
(Reuters, 2/12/15)
2015 Feb 13, Greece began tough negotiations with its creditors as hopes grew of a deal to replace its detested bailout after new PM Alexis Tsipras pushed his case at a European summit.
(AFP, 2/13/15)
2015 Feb 13, Germany condemned a cartoon published Feb 8 in a Greek leftist newspaper close to the new ruling party in Athens that depicts Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble in a Nazi uniform making comments that invoke the Holocaust.
(Reuters, 2/13/15)
2015 Feb 15, In Greece some 18 thousand people rallied in Athens ahead of talks in Brussels on the new leftist government's bid to revise its massive bailout. Some 8,000 people also thronged the streets in Thessaloniki.
(AFP, 2/15/15)
2015 Feb 16, Greece offered to accept conditions on an extension to its loan agreements with the euro zone, and even an inspection by the European Commission, at a fraught meeting in Brussels.
(Reuters, 2/18/15)
2015 Feb 17, Greek PM Alexis Tsipras nominated Prokopis Pavlopoulos (64), a conservative lawmaker and former interior minister, to be the country's next president. If elected, he will replace Karolos Papoulias (85), whose five-year term ends next month.
(Reuters, 2/17/15)
2015 Feb 19, Greece said the EU had two choices, to accept or reject its request for a six-month extension to its EU loan program, as a row over the bailout crisis escalated.
(AFP, 2/19/15)
2015 Feb 20, Greece and its creditors in the 19-nation eurozone reached an agreement to extend the country's rescue loans for four months.
(AP, 2/21/15)
2015 Feb 24, Eurozone finance ministers announced they have approved a list of reforms submitted by Greece in exchange for a four-month extension to its international bailout.
(AFP, 2/24/15)
2015 Mar 6, A leaked document said the Greek government plans to hire an army of amateur tax sleuths, including tourists, in a bid to fill the gaping hole in the country's finances.
(AFP, 3/6/15)
2015 Mar 9, In Greece a panel of judges decided that 64 Greek and German nationals should stand trial for bribery or money laundering over an alleged bribery scandal 17 years ago, involving a telecom contract for German industrial giant Siemens AG.
(AP, 3/9/15)
2015 Mar 10, The radical left-led Greek government insisted that the debt-ridden country has never been fully compensated by Germany for its brutal World War II Nazi occupation, linking the issue with Greece's fraught bailout negotiations.
(AP, 3/10/15)
2015 Mar 17, Greek officials said police raids across the country last week smashed an international people trafficking ring that made $8 million in profit from smuggling Syrian migrants into Europe. 16 suspects were arrested.
(Reuters, 3/17/15)
2015 Mar 18, The Greek parliament overwhelmingly adopted a "humanitarian crisis" bill aimed at helping its poorest people, ignoring apparent pressure from the European Union to halt the legislation.
(AFP, 3/18/15)
2015 Mar 20, The EU committed 2 billion euros ($2.15 billion) to help Athens deal with what even EU leaders now call the "humanitarian crisis" hitting Greeks in the wake of the financial crisis that left the nation on the brink of bankruptcy.
(AP, 3/20/15)
2015 Mar 24, Greece's former finance minister, George Papaconstantinou (53), was acquitted on criminal charges over his handling of data on Greeks holding Swiss bank accounts. He was found guilty of a misdemeanor for doctoring a document and was not expected to spend time in jail.
(SFC, 3/25/15, p.A2)
2015 Apr 1, In Greece thousands of pensioners joined protest rallies to demand that the country's new left-wing government end cuts to their monthly payments.
(AP, 4/1/15)
2015 Apr 2, In Greece supporters of 21 hunger strikers in prisons said they have refused to give up their month-long protest against anti-terrorism laws, despite concessions promised by the country's new left-wing government.
(AP, 4/2/15)
2015 Apr 9, Greece repaid a roughly $485-million loan installment to the IMF.
(SFC, 4/10/15, p.A2)
2015 Apr 20, Greek coast guards struggled to save migrants from a vessel destroyed after running aground off the island of Rhodes. At least 3 people were killed.
(Reuters, 4/20/15)
2015 Apr 23, In Greece the Bank of Piraeus said it will wipe away the debts of clients who owe up to 20,000 euros ($21,600) in a one-off gesture to ease the burden on its crisis-hit customers.
(AFP, 4/24/15)
2015 Apr 24, Euro zone finance ministers warned Greece that its leftist government will get no more aid until it agrees a complete economic reform plan.
(Reuters, 4/24/15)
2015 Apr 27, Greek PM Alexis Tsipras reshuffled his team handling talks with European and IMF lenders. Embattled Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis faced calls to quit after returning from a meeting of euro zone finance ministers in Riga isolated and empty-handed.
(Reuters, 4/27/15)
2015 Apr 29, The leaders of Cyprus, Egypt and Greece agreed to step up cooperation on combatting terrorism amid fears that worsening security conditions in neighboring countries such as Libya could threaten the region.
(AP, 4/29/15)
2015 Apr 30, In southern Greece 23 wild horses were found killed with shotguns on a remote mountainside. 3 injured horses soon died. The motive for the attack remained unclear.
(AP, 5/4/15)
2015 May 4, In Greece a nationwide hunt for young Anny, a Bulgarian citizen reported missing by her mother on April 24, ended today when both her parents were arrested and her father charged with murder and defiling a body. The girl was believed to have been killed around April 8-9 and that her father (27) confessed to disposing of his daughter's remains over several days.
(AP, 5/5/15)
2015 May 6, Greece managed to make a 200 million-euro ($222 million) repayment to the International Monetary Fund, as its long-stalled bailout negotiations appeared to make some progress.
(AP, 5/6/15)
2015 May 11, Greece emptied an emergency IMF holding account to repay 750 million euros ($839 million) due to the IMF. Athens used about 650 million euros from the holding account and 100 million euros from its cash reserves to make the payment.
(Reuters, 5/12/15)
2015 May 12, The European Central Bank raised the cap on emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) that Greek banks can draw from the country's central bank by 1.1 billion euros, taking the ceiling to 80 billion euros.
(Reuters, 5/12/15)
2015 Jun 4, Greece said it is opting to bundle four payments due to the IMF this month into one payment on June 30.
(SFC, 6/5/15, p.C3)
2015 Jun 10, The EU urged its 28 nations to swiftly endorse its plan to relocate 40,000 migrants as 1,000 more migrants arrived in Greece in just one day.
(AP, 6/10/15)
2015 Jun 17, The Greek central bank warned for the first time that the country could suffer a "painful" exit from the eurozone and even the EU if it fails to reach a bailout deal with international creditors.
(AFP, 6/17/15)
2015 Jun 18, Greek police said they have arrested a former archaeologist suspected of forming a private collection of more than 500 artefacts allegedly pilfered from state-run excavations that he supervised.
(AP, 6/18/15)
2015 Jun 19, Greece got a temporary lifeline to help it cope with a bank deposit drain and turned its hopes to a European leaders' summit next week. The European Central Bank's governing council decided to provide more emergency credit for Greece's banks as Greeks withdrew some 2 billion euros ($2.3 billion) out of their accounts in the last three days.
(AP, 6/19/15)
2015 Jun 26, The EU decided to share 40,000 refugees landing in Greece and Italy.
(SFC, 6/27/15, p.A3)
2015 Jun 27, Angry eurozone ministers said Greece's shock decision to hold a referendum on its bailout had closed the door on the chances of a deal to save Athens from default and a possible euro exit.
(AFP, 6/27/15)
2015 Jun 28, Greece's parliament voted in favor of PM Alexis Tsipras' motion to hold a July 5 referendum on creditor proposals for reforms in exchange for loans. Greece’s Cabinet imposed capital controls and closed banks for six business days and limited cash withdrawals effective June 29.
(AP, 6/28/15) (SFC, 6/29/15, p.A5)
2015 Jun 29, China's Premier Li Keqiang said he wants to see Greece remain in the euro zone and promised that Beijing would make investments in the European Union's new infrastructure fund.
(Reuters, 6/29/15)
2015 Jun 30, Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis confirmed that the country will not make its 1.6 billion euro payment due today to the IMF. Greece requested a two-year rescue deal with the EU to save the crisis-hit country, just hours before its international bailout expires. Greek public debt was close to 180% of GDP.
(AP, 6/30/15)(AFP, 6/30/15)(Econ, 6/20/15, p.67)
2015 Jul 3, Greece's PM Alexis Tsipras defended a weekend referendum he hopes will reset bailout negotiations and demanded creditors forgive a third of the country's debt and allow delayed repayments for the rest.
(AFP, 7/3/15)
2015 Jul 5, Greeks voted overwhelming against austerity measures.
(AFP, 7/6/15)
2015 Jul 6, The European Central Bank maintained a key financial lifeline to Greek banks in the wake of Greece's historic referendum but with tougher conditions for liquidity. The IMF told Greece it could not provide funds to countries that had missed payments due to the international lender.
(AFP, 7/6/15)(Reuters, 7/6/15)
2015 Jul 7, Greek authorities said a sailboat carrying migrants sank in the Aegean sea between Turkey and Greece and at least 17 people were missing.
(Reuters, 7/7/15)
2015 Jul 8, Greece made a request for aid from Europe's bailout fund as it rushed to deliver details of its proposed economic reforms in time to secure the country's future in the euro and avoid a descent into financial chaos. Greece promised to implement pension and tax reforms as early as next week as the first step to securing a three-year rescue loan to cover debt obligations.
(AP, 7/8/15)(Reuters, 7/8/15)
2015 Jul 9, European Union chairman Donald Tusk joined growing international calls for Greece to be granted debt restructuring as part of any new loan deal if it delivers convincing reforms to avert imminent bankruptcy.
(Reuters, 7/9/15)
2015 Jul 10, Greek PM Alexis Tsipras appealed to his party's lawmakers to back a tough reforms package after abruptly offering last-minute concessions to try to save the country from financial meltdown.
(Reuters, 7/10/15)
2015 Jul 12, Euro zone leaders told near-bankrupt Greece at an emergency summit on that it must restore trust by enacting key reforms before they will open talks on a new financial rescue to keep it in the European currency area.
(Reuters, 7/12/15)
2015 Jul 13, Euro zone leaders made Greece surrender much of its sovereignty to outside supervision in return for agreeing to talks on an 86 billion euros ($95 billion) bailout to keep the near-bankrupt country in the single currency.
(AP, 7/13/15)
2015 Jul 15, In Greece municipal workers, pharmacists and others went on strike to protests the impact that new reforms will have on their livelihoods.
(Econ, 7/18/15, p.41)
2015 Jul 15, The European Commission published its assessment of Greece's bailout request, taking a different view of Athens' debt sustainability than the IMF, but also signaling a possibility of debt relief.
(Reuters, 7/15/15)
2015 Jul 16, Greek PM Alexis Tsipras won the backing of parliament in the early hours for the stringent reform measures demanded by creditors. Hours later Europe moved to re-open funding to Greece's stricken economy.
(AP, 7/16/15)
2015 Jul 16, EU finance ministers agreed to use the European Financial Stability Mechanism for a 7 billion euro bridge loan to Greece until the country negotiates its next full bailout.
(Reuters, 7/16/15)
2015 Jul 17, The EU approved a short-term loan of 7.16 billion euros ($7.8 billion) to Greece allowing it to meet a huge payment to the ECB and repay the IMF while a new bailout is still being ratified.
(AFP, 7/17/15)
2015 Jul 17, German lawmakers voted in favor of Berlin starting negotiations on a third bailout program for Greece, but a sizeable minority opposed the talks, in a setback for Chancellor Angela Merkel.
(Reuters, 7/17/15)
2015 Jul 20, Greece reopened its banks and started the process of paying off billions of euros owed to international creditors in the first signs of a return to normal after a deal to agree a new package of bailout reforms.
(Reuters, 7/20/15)
2015 Jul 30, Greek PM Alexis Tsipras called for his Syriza party to hold an emergency congress next month to overcome divisions but said a snap party referendum would be acceptable if leftist dissenters wanted a quicker solution.
(Reuters, 7/30/15)
2015 Aug 3, Greece's stock exchange closed with a record drop of 16.23 percent on reopening after a five-week shutdown caused by capital controls.
(AFP, 8/3/15)
2015 Aug 7, PM Alexis Tsipras said Greece's infrastructure cannot handle the thousands of people landing on its shores from places like war-torn Syria and Afghanistan and needs European Union help.
(AP, 8/7/15)
2015 Aug 7, The European Union appealed to member countries to live up to pledges to provide planes and other assets so that its border agency can help Greece and Hungary cope with a migrant influx.
(AP, 8/7/15)
2015 Aug 10, The European Commission approved 2.4 billion euros ($2.6 billion) of aid over six years for countries including Greece and Italy that have struggled to cope with a surge in numbers of immigrants.
(Reuters, 8/10/15)
2015 Aug 11, Greece and its international lenders reached a multi-billion euro bailout agreement after talking through the night, officials said, potentially saving the country from financial ruin. The agreement, reached after a 23-hour session of talks, must still be adopted by Greece's parliament and euro zone countries.
(Reuters, 8/11/15)
2015 Aug 11, Greek police used fire extinguishers and batons against migrants on the island of Kos, as tensions boiled over in a sports stadium where hundreds, including young children, had gathered to wait for immigration papers.
(Reuters, 8/11/15)
2015 Aug 14, Greek PM Alexis Tsipras faced the widest rebellion yet from his leftist lawmakers as parliament approved a new bailout program, forcing him to consider a confidence vote that could pave the way for early elections.
(Reuters, 8/14/15)
2015 Aug 14, Eurozone finance ministers approved a third bailout worth up to 86 billion euros to keep Greece in the single currency in return for an unprecedented package of reforms that Athens had previously rejected.
(AFP, 8/15/15)
2015 Aug 15, In Greece migrants desperate to get off the island of Kos fought each other while nearby a passenger ship chartered to house and process refugees lay empty 24 hours after it had arrived.
(Reuters, 8/15/15)
2015 Aug 18, The Greek government gazette said reported an agreement to sell to a German company the rights to operate 14 regional airports.
(AP, 8/18/15)
2015 Aug 19, Germany's parliament approved a third bailout for Greece after Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble argued the country should get "a new start", while in Athens the government agonized over whether to call a snap election.
(Reuters, 8/19/15)
2015 Aug 20, Greece's president gave the conservative opposition a chance to form a new government following the resignation of PM Alexis Tsipras, but the country appears almost certain to be heading for its third election in as many years next month.
(Reuters, 8/20/15)
2015 Aug 20, Greece repaid a huge slice of debt to the ECB, effectively starting its third mammoth bailout.
(AFP, 8/20/15)
2015 Aug 20, A car ferry carrying just over 2,400 Syrian refugees arrived on the Greek mainland as a wave of migrants fleeing conflict and poverty continued unabated.
(Reuters, 8/20/15)
2015 Aug 20, Macedonia stepped up security on its border with Greece, stranding thousands of migrants on a dusty field.
(AP, 8/20/15)
2015 Aug 21, In Greece far left Syriza members, who oppose the promises of yet more austerity and economic reform that PM Tsipras made to secure 86 billion euros ($97 billion) in bailout loans, broke away to form a new party.
(Reuters, 8/20/15)
2015 Aug 21, Macedonia said it would allow a limited number of "vulnerable" migrants to enter the country after sealing its border with Greece to them. At least 1,000 migrants and refugees pressed against Macedonian police lines on the Greek-Macedonian border and at least 10 people appeared to faint in the crush.
(AFP, 8/20/15)(Reuters, 8/20/15)
2015 Aug 22, In Macedonia thousands of rain-soaked, mostly Syrian migrants stormed across the border as police lobbed stun grenades and beat them with batons, struggling to enforce a decree to stem their flow through the Balkans to western Europe. Macedonian police finally re-opened the border with Greece, allowing thousands to travel north towards Serbia in the next stage of their bid to enter the European Union.
(Reuters, 8/22/15)(AFP, 8/23/15)
2015 Aug 27, Greece's top Supreme Court judge Vassiliki Thanou was named the head of a caretaker government to lead the country to elections expected next month.
(Reuters, 8/27/15)
2015 Aug 28, Greece's new caretaker government, led by the nation's first female prime minister, was sworn and headed straight into a cabinet meeting as the country faces an election next month.
(AP, 8/28/15)
2015 Aug 29, A shootout at sea between Greek port police and human smugglers killed a 17-year-old migrant off the island of Symi when a yacht carrying 70 migrants from Turkey's western shores tried to illegally enter Greek waters.
(AFP, 8/29/15)
2015 Sep 1, Greek authorities said a coast guard special unit raid has found a shipment of weapons on board a foreign-flagged cargo ship sailing near Crete. The ship was en route from Turkey to Libya. A Turkish foreign ministry spokesman soon confirmed the cargo included weapons but said it was fully documented and was destined for the Sudanese police force.
(AP, 9/1/15)(AP, 9/2/15)
2015 Sep 4, In Greece a fire broke out at the Dafni psychiatric hospital in western Athens killing at least 3 people.
(AP, 9/4/15)
2015 Sep 5, The Greek coastguard said that about 13,370 migrants and refugees had been ferried from Greece's eastern islands to Athens since Aug 31.
(Reuters, 9/5/15)
2015 Sep 6, Greece sent troops and police reinforcements to Lesbos after renewed clashes between police and migrants. Syrian refugees on the island were targeted with Molotov cocktail attacks.
(AFP, 9/6/15)
2015 Sep 7, A Greek official said the United States has asked Greece to deny Russia the use of its airspace for supply flights to Syria.
(Reuters, 9/7/15)
2015 Sep 8, Tens of thousands of migrants massed on Greek islands as EU President Donald Tusk warned the refugee crisis would last for years.
(AFP, 9/8/15)
2015 Sep 12, The Greek coastguard picked up 25 survivors after a dinghy carrying them and other migrants sank off the island of Samos. 4 children were missing. A vessel of the EU's Frontex border agency plucked 32 people out of the sea off the Greek island of Lesbos. A man believed to be about 20 years old was missing.
(Reuters, 9/12/15)
2015 Sep 13, Greek authorities say 28 people have drowned, half of them children, after a wooden smuggling boat capsized in the southeastern Aegean Sea.
(AP, 9/13/15)
2015 Sep 19, A girl believed to be five years died and 13 other migrants were feared lost overboard after their boat sank in choppy seas off the Greek island of Lesbos.
(Reuters, 9/19/15)
2015 Sep 20, Greeks voted in their third national polls this year, called on to choose who they trust to steer the country into its new international bailout. Voters gave Alexis Tsipras and his Syriza party a second chance to tackle Greece's problems. Syriza's stronger-than-expected win secured it 145 of 300 parliamentary seats, meaning the party requires only one small coalition partner to form a government.
(AP, 9/20/15)(Reuters, 9/21/15)
2015 Oct 15, Seven migrants, 4 of them children, drowned near the Greek island of Lesbos after their boat collided with a Greek rescue vessel.
(AFP, 10/15/15)
2015 Oct 16, Four migrants, the oldest of them a young woman of 16, drowned and three other people were missing after their rubber boat capsized off the Aegean island of Kalymnos late today.
(Reuters, 10/17/15)
2015 Oct 17, The Turkish coastguard said 12 migrants thought to be from Syria and Afghanistan, including four children and a baby, drowned off the coast of Turkey as they tried to reach the Greek island of Lesbos.
(Reuters, 10/17/15)
2015 Oct 18, The Greek coastguard said 5 people, including a baby and two children, drowned early today and one was missing in two separate incidents of migrants trying to reach Greece from nearby Turkey.
(Reuters, 10/18/15)
2015 Oct 22, French Pres. Francois Hollande arrived in Athens for a two-day visit, as Greece seeks help from European rescue lenders for relief on its massive bailout debts.
(AP, 10/22/15)
2015 Oct 24, It was reported that Greece this week averaged 9,600 migrants arriving per day.
(SFC, 10/24/15, p.A2)
2015 Oct 25, At least three migrants, two children and a woman, drowned when their boat sank off the Greek island of Lesbos.
(AFP, 10/2515)
2015 Oct 25, Central and eastern European leaders met in Brussels to draw up a common approach to dealing with the thousands of migrants streaming into the EU every day from the Middle East, North Africa and Afghanistan. The leaders committed to bolster the borders of Greece as it struggles to cope with the wave of refugees from Syria and beyond who cross over through Turkey.
(Reuters, 10/2515)(AP, 10/2615)
2015 Oct 28, At least 29 people died and 274 people were rescued when a wooden boat they were on literally fell apart in rough seas off the Greek island of Lesbos.
(Reuters, 10/30/15)(SFC, 10/31/15, p.A2)
2015 Oct 29, Authorities on the Greek island of Lesbos searched for 38 people believed still missing after the sinking of a wooden boat carrying migrants. Greece rescued 144 refugees and recovered the bodies of 22, including 4 infants and 9 children, after their boats sank in two separate incidents in the Aegean sea.
(AP, 10/29/15)(Reuters, 10/30/15)
2015 Oct 30, In waters off Greece at least 27 people, more than half of them children, died trying to reach Europe.
(SFC, 10/31/15, p.A2)
2015 Oct, Trikala, a rural town in northern Greece, began testing a driverless bus in real traffic conditions for the first time, part of a European project to revolutionize mass transport and wean its cities off oil dependency over the next 30 years.
(AP, 10/8/15)
2015 Nov 1, Greek authorities said 11 more people have drown on the dangerous crossing from Turkey to Greece after a boat carrying nearly 30 refugees sank in heavy seas near the eastern island of Samos. The bodies of two men, one woman and a young boy, believed to be from refugee smuggling boats, were found early today washed up on beaches in the Skala area of northern Lesbos.
(AP, 11/1/15)
2015 Nov 5, Greek ferries started operating again after the seamen's union called off rolling 48-hour strikes.
(AP, 11/5/15)
2015 Nov 12, In Greece over 20,000 people demonstrated against fresh spending cuts in Athens, with a brief flare-up of violence marking the first general strike against the leftist government of Alexis Tsipras who came to power on an anti-austerity ticket.
(AFP, 11/12/15)
2015 Nov 17, Greece struck a deal with European creditors on economic measures it needs to make to get its next batch of bailout money.
(AP, 11/17/15)
2015 Nov 17, A plastic boat carrying migrants capsized in the eastern Aegean Sea near the Greek island of Kos, killing at least 9 people including 4 children.
(AP, 11/17/15)
2015 Nov 17, In Greece a magnitude 6.5 earthquake off the western coast killed 2 elderly women.
(AP, 11/17/15)
2015 Nov 18, In Greece police fired tear gas at dozens of farmers in Athens who pelted them with oranges and tried to storm parliament during a protest against planned tax increases.
(Reuters, 11/18/15)
2015 Nov 21, Migrants who have been blocked at the Greek-Macedonian border for three days, protested against being prevented from entering Macedonia after new restrictions were imposed.
(AFP, 11/21/15)
2015 Nov 23, In northern Greece Moroccans, Iranians and Pakistanis on the border with Macedonia blocked rail traffic and demanded passage to western Europe, stranded by a policy of filtering migrants in the Balkans that has raised human rights concerns.
(Reuters, 11/23/15)
2015 Nov 26, Hundreds of Algerians, Moroccans, and Pakistanis tried to storm the border between Greece and Macedonia, tearing down part of the barbed wire fence at the crossing and demanding to be allowed to carry on into northern Europe.
(Reuters, 11/26/15)
2015 Dec 3, In Greece public and private sector workers walked off the job in the second 24-hour general strike in a month against new austerity measures.
(AP, 12/3/15)
2015 Dec 9, A wooden smuggling boat carrying about 50 people sank in the eastern Aegean Sea. Greek authorities said at least 12 people drowned, including six children, and 12 others were missing.
(AP, 12/9/15)
2015 Dec 14, The EU pledged to spend $88 million to house migrants in Greece as it seeks tougher procedures for asylum-seekers traveling to the continent.
(SFC, 12/15/15, p.A4)
2015 Dec 22, Greece's parliament approved a resolution calling on the government to recognize the state of Palestine.
(AFP, 12/22/15)
2015 Dec 23, Greece's parliament approved a bill granting same-sex couples the right to a civil union, becoming one of the last European countries to give them legal recognition after years of opposition from the influential Orthodox church.
(AFP, 12/23/15)
2015 Dec 23, Greek police said least 13 people including seven children, drowned when their overloaded boat capsized overnight in the Aegean.
(AFP, 12/23/15)
2015 Dec 28, Greek police in Thessaloniki said they have arrested Simon Dutton (39), a man wanted in Britain on suspicion of running a large cocaine trafficking ring.
(AP, 12/28/15)
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