希腊(Greece)
正式名称希腊共和国（Hellenic Republic）
希腊语作Ellás
古称Hellas
欧洲南部巴尔干半岛国家。面积131,957平方公里。人口约10,975,000（2001）。首都︰雅典。人民以希腊人占大多数。语言︰希腊语（官方语）。宗教︰希腊正教（国教）。货币︰欧元。地形与海洋紧密相关，有岛屿2,000多个，海岸线逾4,000公里。境内多山，只有不到1/4的地方是低地，大多为爱琴海沿岸的沿海平原或山谷及河口附近的小平原。内陆地形主要是班都斯山脉，从西北部的阿尔巴尼亚边界处延伸至伯罗奔尼撒，奥林帕斯山是全国最高峰。主要岛屿有爱琴群岛、爱奥尼亚群岛和克里特岛。属地中海型气候。为进步的开发中经济，主要是以农业、制造业和旅游业为基础的民营企业。政府形式为多党制共和国，一院制。国家元首为总统，政府首脑是总理。
大约西元前2000在克里特岛上达於顶峰的以宫殿为中心的米诺斯文明，是希腊最早的城市社会。其後随着印欧民族的入侵，在西元前1600年左右兴起了大陆本土的迈锡尼文明。1200年左右第二波入侵摧毁了青铜时代诸文化，随之而来的是荷马史诗中多次提到的黑暗时代。这一时期末，古希腊以一个独立城邦的联合体开始形成（西元前750?年），包括伯罗奔尼撒的斯巴达和阿提卡的雅典。这一文明在西元前5世纪初击退波斯人入侵（参阅Greco-Persian Wars）後达於顶峰，但在该世纪末的伯罗奔尼撒战争的内战纷扰中开始走下坡。西元前338年马其顿的腓力二世占领了希腊诸城邦，其子亚历山大大帝将希腊文化传遍整个帝国。西元前2世纪深受希腊文化熏陶的罗马人征服了希腊诸城邦，罗马覆亡後，希腊仍是拜占庭帝国的一部分，直到西元15世纪中叶，成为日益扩大的鄂图曼帝国的一部分。1832年获得独立。第二次世界大战期间被纳粹德国占领，其後内战爆发，持续到1949年共产党军队战败方告结束。1952年加入北大西洋公约组织。1967年发生军事政变，到1974年才恢复民主制度，同年公民投票废除了希腊的君主政体。1981年加入欧洲共同体（参阅European Union），是第一个加入的东欧国家。1990年代的巴尔干动乱，使得希腊与邻近国家的关系趋於紧张，包括原为南斯拉夫一部分的马其顿共和国。
English version：
Greece
GreekEllásancientHellas.Country, Balkan Peninsula, southern Europe. Area: 50,949 sq mi (131,957 sq km). Population (2000 est.): 10,562,000. Capital: Athens. The people are mainly ethnic Greek. Language: Greek (official). Religion: Greek Orthodoxy (official). Monetary unit: euro. The land, with its 2,000-odd islands and 2,500-mi (4,000-km) coastline, is intimately linked with the sea. It is mountainous, with less than a fourth in lowland, much of this as coastal plains along the Aegean or mountain valleys and small plains near river mouths. The country's interior is dominated by the Pindus Mountains, which extend from Albania on Greece's northwestern border into the Peloponnese. Mount Olympus is the country's highest peak. Among its islands are the Aegean and Ionian groups and Crete. Greece has a Mediterranean climate. It has an advanced developing, mainly private-enterprise economy based on agriculture, manufacturing, and tourism. It is a multiparty republic with one legislative house; the chief of state is the president, and the head of government is the prime minister. The earliest urban society in Greece was the palace-centered Minoan civilization, which reached its height on Crete c. 2000 BC. It was succeeded by the mainland Mycenaean civilization, which arose c. 1600 BC following a wave of Indo-European invasions. In c. 1200 BC a second wave of invasions destroyed the Bronze Age cultures, and a dark age followed, known mostly through the epics of Homer. At the end of this time, classical Greece began to emerge (c. 750 BC) as a collection of independent city-states, including Sparta in the Peloponnese and Athens in Attica. The civilization reached its zenith after repelling the Persians at the beginning of the 5th century BC (see Persian Wars) and began to decline after the civil strife of the Peloponnesian War at the century's end. In 338 BC the Greek city-states were taken over by Philip II of Macedon, and Greek culture was spread by Philip's son Alexander the Great throughout his empire. The Romans, themselves heavily influenced by Greek culture, conquered the Greek states in the 2nd century BC. After the fall of Rome, Greece remained part of the Byzantine empire until the mid-15th century, when it became part of the expanding Ottoman empire; it gained its independence in 1832. It was occupied by Nazi Germany during World War II. Civil war followed and lasted until 1949, when communist forces were defeated. In 1952 Greece joined NATO. A military junta ruled the country from 1967 to 1974, when democracy was restored and a referendum declared an end to the Greek monarchy. In 1981 Greece joined the European Community (see European Union), the first eastern European country to do so. Upheavals in the Balkans in the 1990s strained Greece's relations with some neighboring states, including the former Yugoslav entity that became the Republic of Macedonia.
