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MODERN GREECE

What we all consider as the cradle of Western civilization, home of the world's greatest philosophers, emerging dramatists and sculptors, is today basically a second-rate nation, best known to us as the home of the 2004 Olympics and for its many sunny island vacation destinations. While covering the land, its people and its economy, more attention must be paid to the two-faced attitude of many Greeks- one Westernized, the other looking eastward. "'Inside every Greek,' observed travel writer Patrick Leigh Fermor, 'dwell two figures in opposition.' The Hellenic Greek celebrates ancient Athens as the cradle of Western civilizationa. The other Greek looks east, to Constantinople (now Istanbul)a'"Chastris 37).

Greece today is the Southernmost of the Balkan nations, with a 2003 population at 10,665,000 (TIME Almanac 765). Greece also contains two major island groups, named according to location: the Ionian Islands, consisting of Corfu, Cephalonia, and Leucas; and the Aegean Islands, including Euboea, Samos, Chios, Lesbos and Crete. North-central Greece, Epirus and Western Macedonia are mountainous. Greece contains about "131,000 sq. kilometers of land, a little smaller than the state of Alabama" (CIA Fact Book 1). While we in the U.S. pride ourselves on our "rainbow" of ethnic diversity, "The Greek government states that there are no ethnic divisions in Greece" (CIA Fact Book 4) Only 2% of Greece's population is considered non-Greek. 99% of the Geek people are Greek orthodox, and a little over 1% considered themselv3es Muslims. "The male and female roles of the Greek family have not changed much since the days of old. In modern Greece, one can still find a very strong patriarchal society. Women since the middle to late 1970's have been fighting for their rights, but still are burden with a male dominant society. Only men are in political power, thus making it very difficult for women to find their independence" (Vranas-West 1).....

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MODERN GREECE. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 05:25, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1694599.html