Many Greeks went down in history for their contributions to science and art.
From the Latin graecus , the word Greek refers to that which is natural, belonging to or relating to Greece , a nation in southeastern Europe. This country is bordered to the south and west by the Ionian Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, to the east by Turkey and to the north by Albania and Macedonia .
The current Prime Minister of Greece is Kyriakos Mitsotakis , who was elected following the 2019 parliamentary elections. Mitsotakis leads the government of a democratic republic, with a unicameral legislature (with 300 members) and a judiciary represented by three higher courts.
The Greek territory covers an area of 132,562 km² and is home to approximately 11,244,000 inhabitants , spread across its mainland and its 9,000 islands, islets and rocky outcrops.
Greek characters of historical relevance
In addition to all the above, we cannot overlook the fact that world history is full of Greek figures who have had a notable influence on different scientific, cultural and social fields. Thus, we find, for example, that the history of philosophy would not be the same without the role played by figures of the stature of Aristotle and Plato .
In the same way, we should also highlight the role in literature of personalities such as Homer , who wrote two of the most important classical works in history ( "The Odyssey" and "The Iliad" ), and Sophocles , who became the reference in what is tragedy.
Science also has several Greeks as fundamental pillars. This would be the case of Pythagoras , who invented the multiplication table and the hypotenuse theorem, and Archimedes , who established the value of pi, principles of geometry and also the law of the lever.
Other important Greeks in world history are the sculptor Phidias who left his mark on the Acropolis of Athens , Pericles who was a pioneer in the establishment of democracy, Hippocrates who is considered the father of medicine, or the great emperor Alexander the Great .
There are Greek cities and towns that receive a large number of tourists.
Education
In Greece , education is compulsory for children between the ages of 6 and 15.
Compulsory education is divided between Primary ( Dimotiko ) and Lower Secondary Education ( Gymnasio ).
Greek language
The Greek language , as we know it today, originated from Ancient Greek. According to its historical development, a distinction can be made between Ancient Greek , Medieval Greek and Modern Greek . Modern Greek is the official language of Greece and Cyprus .
Around fifteen million people around the world speak Greek as their mother tongue. In addition to the two countries mentioned above, there are also minorities of Greek speakers in other parts of the world, such as Italy , Albania , Canada , Chile , France , England and Germany .
To write in Greek, the Greek alphabet is used, developed in the 9th century BC based on the Phoenician alphabet . Currently, the Greek letters are Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, Dseta, Eta, Theta, Iota, Kappa, Lambda, My, Ny, Xi, Omicron, Pi, Ro, Sigma, Tau, Upsilon, Phi, Ji, Psi and Omega . Other letters, however, have fallen into disuse.