Daily Life In Ancient Greece
Greece (02/05)
Greece was inhabited as early as the Paleolithic period and by 3000 BC had become home, in the Cycladic Islands, to a culture whose art remains among the most evocative in world history. In the second millennium BC, the island of Crete nurtured the maritime empire of the Minoans, whose trade reached from Egypt to Sicily. The Minoans were supplanted by the Mycenaeans of the Greek mainland, who spoke a dialect of ancient Greek. During the Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman Empires (1st-19th centuries), Greece's ethnic composition became more diverse. Since independence in 1830 and an exchange of populations with Turkey in 1923, Greece has forged a national state that claims roots reaching back 3,000 years. The Greek language dates back at least 3,500 years, and modern Greek preserves many elements of its classical predecessor. ... [Read More]
US Department Of State Post Report
The arts have been integral to Greek life since ancient times. In summer, Greek dramas are staged in the ancient theaters where they were originally performed. Greek literature’s ancient heritage spans poetry, drama, philosophical and historical treatises, and travelogues. Western civilization’s mania for logic and “ideas” can be traced directly back to ancient Greek philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, and the West’s sciences, arts, and politics are also deeply indebted to classical Greece. ... [Read More]
2004 Country Report on Human Rights Practices in Greece
a. Arbitrary and Unlawful Deprivation of Life ... There were no reports of the arbitrary or unlawful deprivation of life committed by the Government or its agents. ... The Scientologists have not been able to register or build a house of prayer. Followers of the ancient Greek religions applied twice in the last 3 years for a house of prayer permit but have not received an official response to their applications, despite advice of the Ombudsman to the Ministry of Education and Religions to officially respond to their requests. ... [Read More]
The Federalist #63
It adds no small weight to all these considerations, torecollect that history informs us of no long-lived republic which had not asenate. Sparta, Rome, and Carthage are, in fact, the only states to whom thatcharacter can be applied. In each of the two first there was a senate for life.The constitution of the senate in the last is less known. Circumstantialevidence makes it probable that it was not different in this particular from thetwo others. It is at least certain, that it had some quality or other whichrendered it an anchor against popular fluctuations; and that a smaller council,drawn out of the senate, was appointed not only for life, but filled upvacancies itself. These examples, though as unfit for the imitation, as they arerepugnant to the genius, of America, are, notwithstanding, when compared withthe fugitive and turbulent existence of other ancient republics, veryinstructive proofs of the necessity of some institution that will blendstability with liberty. I am not un ... [Read More]
Macedonia (05/05)
The ancient territory of Macedon included, in addition to the areas of the present-day Macedonia, large parts of present-day northern Greece and southwestern Bulgaria. This ancient kingdom reached its height during the reign of Alexander III ("the Great"), who extended Macedon's influence over most of Asia Minor, the Levant, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, and even parts of India. After Alexander's death in 323 BC, the Macedon Empire gradually declined, until Rome conquered it in 168 BC and made it a province in 148 BC. ... [Read More]
US Department Of State Post Report
Historical Macedonia (from whence Alexander the Great set out to conquer the ancient world in the 4th century B.C.E.) is today contained mostly in present-day Greece, a point Greeks are always quick to make. The Romans subjugated the Greeks of ancient Macedonia in the mid-2nd century B.C.E., and when the empire was divided in the 4th century C.E., this region became part of the Eastern Roman Empire ruled from Constantinople. Slav tribes settled here in the 7th century, changing the ethnic character of the area. ... [Read More]
US Department Of State Post Report
AFN available on the Ridge as well as by private license. TVSH broadcasts in Albanian. Shows continue to run heavily toward local events, plus sports, musical entertainment, locally produced plays, educational broadcasts, movies, and a few old American TV shows (dubbed in Albanian or Italian). Local and international news is broadcast several times daily. There are now 50 local independent TV stations that also broadcast in Albanian. Italian, French, and German stations as well as EuroNews, EuroSport, and NBCEurope can be received in Tirana. Newspapers, Magazines, and Technical JournalsLast Updated: 9/30/2003 10:32 AM A continually expanding selection of Western newspapers and magazines is available in Albania. For example, The International ... [Read More]
US Department Of State Post Report
Five English-language daily newspapers are published in Tokyo—the Japan Times, the Daily Yomiuri, the Mainichi Daily News, the Asahi Evening News, and the U.S. Army’s Stars and Stripes. Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Japan’s major financial daily, has a weekly English-language edition. Home delivery is available for all of these newspapers. The Asian Wall Street Journal, published in Hong Kong, is also available daily. ... [Read More]
Latvia (05/05)
Health: Infant mortality rate--9.8/1,000. Life expectancy--65.4 yrs. male, 76.8 yrs. female. ... Since 9,000 BC ancient peoples of unknown origin had inhabited Latvia, but by 3,000 BC the ancestors of the Finns had settled the region. A millennium later, pre-Baltic tribes had arrived and within time evolved into the Baltic Couranian, Latgallian, Selonian, and Semigallian groups. These tribes eventually formed local governments independently from the Finno-Ugric Livian tribe until the 13th century when they were conquered by the Germans, who renamed the territory Livonia. ... [Read More]
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