Greece Facts for Kids

Greece also known as the Hellenic Republic or historically Hellas, it is a South European country located between Africa, Europe and Asia. The country is fixed on the Balkan Peninsula southern tip and bordered by Bulgaria and Republic of Macedonia to the north, turkey to the northeast, Albania to the northwest, Sea of Ionian to the west, sea of Aegean to the east and to the south is the Mediterranean Sea and the Cretan Sea.

The country’s total land area is 131,957 sq km (50,949 sq miles) and the capital city is called Athens which is also the largest city.
The total population is 10,768,477. The official language is Greek.
The national anthem is “Ymnos eis tin Elfherian” (Hymn to liberty).
The national motto is “Eleftheria I thanatos” (Freedom or death).
The people of Greece are called Greek with the main religion being Eastern Orthodoxy.

The currency used is called Euro (€) (EUR).
The natural resources of the country includes marble, Lead, nickel, zinc, magnesite, lignite, salt, iron ore, petroleum and hydropower thermal.
The major industries are textile, food and tobacco processing, shipping and shipbuilding, mining, chemicals, petroleum and metal products.
The country makes €28.8718 billion (est. in 2017) on exportation of fruits, vegetables, pharmaceutical products, electrical and electronic equipment, plastics, aluminum, iron and steel products and petroleum oils while it spends €50.3107b billion (est. in 2017) on importation of electrical and electronic equipment, motor vehicle and parts, machinery, plastics and crude petroleum oils.
Ancient Greece refers to a timeline between Homer of 750 B.C and Ptolemaic Egypt Roman Conquest of which was Antony and Cleopatra in 30 B.C.
In 776 B.C, the very first Olympic Games were held and the first champion of the Olympic was a Greek cook called Coroebus, he won the sprint race.
The inventors of mathematics are considered to be ancient Greeks because of the facts that they made it a theoretical discipline. Modern day mathematics has the work of Greek mathematicians like Apollonius, Euclid, Pythagoras and Archimedes in them.
Many words have their origin in Greek, sometimes from the roman adaptation into Latin which is then further adapted into English. Some of these words include Siren, Typhoon, Academy, Marathon, Alphabet and Apology. The Greek word Barbaroi which actually means person or people who don’t speak any Greek is where the English word “barbarian” comes from, because whatever language they speak sounds like “bar-bar-bar”
In 534 B.C, The priest of Dionysus named Thespis preformed the first Greek tragedy. The traditional tragic chorus was written and played by him but he also added separate lines to the script, which made him the first actor ever. Thespian which is a word for actor was derived from his name. In ancient Greek plays, only men and boys were allowed to act. They would wear large masks that clear showed what part they were playing. The audience used to get excited sometimes and the theater staffs would carry big sticks to calm the potential riot.

Greek is one of Europe’s oldest languages; it has been spoken for almost 3000 years.
The country’s tourism generates almost 16% of the Gross Domestic Products (GDP) with Greece receiving almost double the population (16.5 million tourists) of the country to tourism. There are more international airports in Greece than any other country because of the amount of tourist that visit the country.
Greece is known for their cultivation of olive trees because in the 13th century, a few olive trees were planted. These olive trees are still producing olives now. The country is the third leading producer of olives in the world. The country also produces about 7% of all the marbles in the world.
It is said that according to Greek Mythology, Athena and Poseidon had a competition to see who could give the best gift and whoever won becomes the city’s guardian. The gift of water was given by Poseidon and an olive tree was given by Athena, the gods decided that Athena’s gift was the most valuable.
Before being a city, Greece was just an underwater mass of rocks but a collision between a tectonic plate which crashed into Europe created the mountain ranges of Greece. Earthquake all around the Aegean still happen as a result of the plates still moving.
The Spartan warriors were known to have beautiful long hair and they would regularly comb it before every battle. Any soldier that was deemed to be a coward would have his hair cut short.