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There is evidence of human activity in the Peloponnese going back to 100,000 B.C. Archaeological remains from the Old Stone Age and the New Stone Age have been discovered at Ilia, Nemea, Lerna and elsewhere. The Peloponnese reached its most flourishing period during the Mycenaean Age (1600–1100 B.C.), with the growth of such cities as Mycenae, Tiryns, Pilos and Sparta all of which enjoyed a high level of civilization.
From prehistoric times, the Olympic Games were held in Olympia for peaceful competition between athletes from cities from all over Greece and her colonies.
During the Classical period, the rivalry between Athens and Sparta led to the Peloponnesian War and the start of Ancient Greece's decline.
With the coming of the Macedonians, the Peloponnese lost its independence and Alexander the Great was recognized as the leader of a «united» Greece. But the region's decline continued despite a short interval of prosperity under the Achaian Confederation and the efforts towards further improvement by the kings of Sparta, Agis and Kleomenis. The final blow came in 146 В.С., when the armies of the Achaian Confederation were defeated by the Roman general Mummius. The Peloponnese together with the rest of Greece became a Roman province. From then onwards the r Petoponnese suffered a series of invasions by barbarians. During those years of desolation and barbarism the whole of the peninsula lived in obscurity. The Byzantines, following the Romans, made the Peloponnese one of their provinces.
The Prankish rule that followed in 1204 under Godfrey de Villehardouin saw the division of the Peloponnese int 12 fiefdoms governed by Baron from France, Flanders and Burgundy, which accounts for the region's several Medieval Prankish fortresses. The three largest castles were at Monemvassia, Maina and Mistras. This last one became later a Byzantine town and saw many years of glory and splendour. From Mistras the Emperor of the Byzantine Empire Constantine Palaeologo went to Constantinople in 1453 and he died fighting against the Turks of Mohammed the Second, who then occupied Byzantium and Greece.
For almost five centuries, the Peloponnese and other parts of Greece were under the Turkish occupation. In 1.821 the Greek War of Independence actually begun in the Peloponnese. Following the Greek liberation», Napoleon was for a few years until 1834 the capital of Greece.
6. Central Greece
This part of mainland Greece is one of the largest in the country, extending from the Aegean Sea in the east to the Ionian Sea in the west. In the south it embraces the Saronic and the Corinth Gulfs and reaches northwards as far as Thessaly. (For Attica see pages 17–35). Central Greece is mostly a mountainous region dominated by the massive ranges of Giona, Agrafa, Tymphristos, Vardoussia, Parnassus and Iti. Several small and fertile plains and valleys lie between these mountains, their formation determined by the rivers Sperchios, Acheloos, Kifissos, Asopos, and Mornos. The largest lakes are Trihonis and Amvrakia in western Greece am Iliki in eastern Greebe. The climate is not the same everywhere, for whereas the seaboard climate is Mediterranean, the inland and mountain regions experience bitter winters and pleasantly cool summers. The main products in Central Greece are olive oil, wine, cotton, cereals, rice and tobacco. In the mountain regions stock-raising is also well developed. Ore is mined too in many-places: lead and zinc at Lavrion, bauxite in the mountains of Parnassus an Giona, and marble from Penteli Central Greece was the birthplace of Hellenism in very ancient times. In fact, recorded hi-story begins in what later developed as the most important cities in the ancient world-Athens, Thebes, Delphi.
The region also flourished during the» Byzantine period, when cities like Thebes were densely populated, enjoying a thriving industry and trade.
During the Turkish occupation, Central Greece together with the Peloponnese played an important role in the fight for freedom, since the countless Greek insurgents could easily harry the enemy from hideouts on the untrodden mountains of the region.
7. Delphi
The grandeur of Delphi has to be seen to be believed. Nature and ancient ruins blend in an extraordinary way enhancing the beauty of one another against a setting of mountains, terraces and trees. Situated at a height of 700 meters and at a distance of 164 kms from Athens, Delphi is impressive in all seasons. It has none of the garish quality and noisiness that are so much a part of popular tourist centers. It is still a village with some very good hotels and restaurants and the usual souvenir shops.
The history of Delphi began when the first mysterious fumes, rising from the earth below the Phaedriades rocks, gave a sacred character to the site. Originally, the place was sacred to Gaea or Themis, the earth goddess. Later, seafarers from Crete introduced the cult of Apollo Delphinius. In time, the mysterious prophecies of its oracle exercised great influence in the amcient world.
The sanctuary of Apollo was surrounded by a wall and within it the sacred site was filled with monument's, statues, and some twenty treasuries – replicas of temples–which housed valuable trophies from wars, archives and treasures. Also in the sanctuary were a small theatre, with a seating capacity of 5,000 and the Temple of Apollo (510 B.C.). In its «Adyton», the «Holy of Holies», Pythia (the High Priestess) sat on a tripod and delivered oracles in a state of intoxication from the fumes emanating from the chasm below. Delphi was consulted on all matters concerning religion, politics, and even individual morality.
Delphi was also the centre of meetings of the Amphictyonic League (the nearest equivalent to the United Nations Organization for the isolated ancient Greek city-states).
Just below the main road and opposite the sanctuary there is a group of ancient ruins called Marmaria, or the Marbles, which consists of the remains of two temples of Athens, and a Tholos, a round Doric temple. There are also traces of the Gymnasium where athletes taking part in the famous Pythian Games trained.
Delphi was plundered and its treasures carried away to adorn the capitals of its invaders, but the final blow came in 385 A.D., when the emperor of Byzantium Theodosius ordered its abolition.
The Museum of Delphi contains excellent pieces from the Archaic and Classical periods. Among them the Charioteer, the pediments from the temple of Apollo, the metopes from the treasury of the Sicyonians the «navel of the earth», the exquisite archaic statues («Kouroi») of Kleovis and Viton, the Winged Sphinx of the Naxians and the metopes from the treasury of the Athenians, among others They are all priceless finds that fill the visitor with wonderment and admiration for the art and the civilization that flourished at Delphi.
8. Crete
Crete, the largest of the Greek islands, offers yet another acceptable impression of life – enhancing friendliness, beauty, fertility and the accumulated spoils of time. An island of larger space and population (500,000 inhabitants), Crete has almost unlimited advantages for a holiday. The obvious ones are well known by now, but less common is the knowledge that it is fast developing into a splendidly planned holiday island, providing excellent accommodation in first class hotels, holiday villages and garden-enclosed beach bungalow resorts designed to suit their picturesque settings. Soft sandy beaches and seas as gentle and vividly blue-to-green as any in the Mediterranean are a special delight for carefree relaxation in the sun. Yet for all the progress Crete has made in recent years, it still remains a rugged and unspoiled island., The Cretans still live a simple life in the wild mountainous regions, or downland where vineyards and vast orchards of oranges and citrus fruit slope gently to villages and townships.
A mountainous, elongated island, averaging about 55 km in width and stretching for some 264 km from east to west, Crete is as diverse in character as the rest of Greece. A chain of high mountains (Dikti 2,142 m, Idi 2,456 m and the White Mountains or Lefka Ori 2,454 m), divide it into four distinct regions whose alternating scenery combines to form the impressive beauty of the Cretan landscape. These high mountain ranges, with their natural divisions, form the island's four provinces: Chania, Rethymnon, Heraklion and Lassithi.
An east to west road roughly follows the northern coast with well-surfaced access roads branching off at various points to lead to towns and places of historical and sightseeing interest. Remains of every period of Crete's history lie scattered everywhere, dating from the early Cretan and Minoan cultures to the more recent shelled buildings of the epic Battle of Crete in May 1941.
One can get to Crete either by air from Athens or by ship from Piraeus. The superb Minoan civilization, destroyed sometime in 1400 B.C., was developed in Crete. The many ruins of that civilization which exist on the island have^ stirred world interest for many years. In comparison with that ancient civilization and the heights it reached we can say that the later Classical and Roman ages were periods of decline for Crete.
In 824 A.D. it was captured by the Arabs who turned it into a Saracen Pirates' lair from where they launched their raids in the Mediterranean regions. They were driven away by the Byzantine General Nicephoros Phocas (who later became Emperor of the Byzantine Empire). About 250 years later the Venetians came to Crete. Under their rule the island knew economic and intellectual development, but this was curtailed when the Turks occupied the island in 1699. For as long as the Turkish yoke lasted the Cretans never ceased fighting for their freedom – which they finally regained in 1912, when the island became part of the Greek nation.
Conclusion
Greece is the country with the visual splendor, its contrasting landscapes, the treasures of its parts, the people, the incredible brightness of its light, its sculptural coasts and blue seas, and the present; screenland, uniquely attractive. Not the most beautiful, not the most famous, not the most important – just the one people enjoy most. There is no place like home. But there are some place which you can love too. I think that Greece is one of the least places which everyone admires and consider on of the bests.
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