History of Greece 1

History of GreeceThe history of Greece encompasses the history of the territory of the modern state of Greece, as well as that of theGreek people and the areas they ruled historically. The scope of Greek habitation and rule has varied much throughthe ages, and, as a result, the history of Greece is similarly elastic in what it includes. Each era has its own relatedsphere of interest.The first (proto-) Greek-speaking tribes, known later as Mycenaeans, are generally thought to have arrived in theGreek mainland between the late 3rd and the first half of the 2nd millennium BC--probably between 1900 and 1600BC[1] When the Mycenaeans invaded there were various non-Greek-speaking, indigenous pre-Greek people,practicing agriculture, as they had done since the 7th millennium BC.[2]

At its geographical peak, Greek civilization spread from Greece to Egypt and to the Hindu Kush mountains inAfghanistan. Since then, Greek minorities have remained in former Greek territories (e.g., Turkey, Albania, Italy,and Libya, Levant, Armenia, Georgia etc.), and Greek emigrants have assimilated into differing societies across theglobe (e.g., North America, Australia, Northern Europe, South Africa, etc.) Nowadays most Greeks live in themodern state of Greece (independent since 1821) and Cyprus.

Prehistoric Greece

NeolithicThe Neolithic Revolution reaches Europe by way of Greece and the Balkans, beginning in the 7th millennium BC.Some Neolithic communities in southeastern Europe, such as Sesklo in Greece, were living in heavily fortifiedsettlements of 3,000-4,000 people. The Greek Neolithic ends with the arrival of the Bronze Age from Anatolia andthe Near East, by the end of the 28th century BC (early Helladic period).In about 1900 BC, the Indo-Europeans overran the Greek peninsula from the north and east.[3] TheseIndo-Europeans, known as Mycenaeans, introduced the Greek language to present-day Greece.[4]

Bronze Age

Cycladic and Minoan civilization

One of the earliest civilizations to appear around Greece was the Minoan civilization in Crete, which lasted fromabout 2700 (Early Minoan) BC to 1450 BC, and the Early Helladic period on the Greek mainland from ca. 2800 BCto 2100 BC.Little specific information is known about the Minoans (even the name is a modern appellation, from Minos, thelegendary king of Crete).[5] They have been characterized as a pre-Indo-European people, apparently the linguisticancestors of the Eteo-Cretan speakers of Classical Antiquity, their language being encoded in the undecipheredLinear A script. They were primarily a mercantile people engaged in overseas trade, taking advantage of their land'srich natural resources. Timber was then an abundant natural resource that was commercially exploited and exportedto nearby lands such as Cyprus, Syria, Egypt and the Aegean Islands.[4] During the Early Bronze Age (3300 BCthrough 2100 BC), the Minoan Civilization on the island of Crete held great promise for the future.[6]

The Mycenaean Greeks invaded Crete and adopted much of the Minoan culture they found on Crete.[7] The Minoancivilization which preceded the Mycenaean civilization on Crete was revealed to the modern world by Sir ArthurEvans in 1900, when he purchased and then began excavating a site at Knossus.[6]

History of Greece 2

Mycenaean civilization

Proto-Greek linguistic area according to linguist V. I. Georgiev.

The Proto-Greeks are assumed to havearrived in the Greek peninsula duringthe late 3rd to early 2nd millenniumBC.[8] The migration of the Ioniansand Aeolians resulted in MycenaeanGreece by the 16th century BC.[9][10]

The transition from pre-Greek to Greekculture appears to have been rathergradual. Some archaeologists havepointed to evidence that there was asignificant amount of continuity ofprehistoric economic, architectural,and social structures, suggesting thatthe transition between the Neolithic,Helladic and early Greek cultures mayhave continued without major rifts insocial texture.[11]

On Crete, however, the Myceneaninvasion of around 1400 BC spelled the end of the Minoan civilization. Mycenaean Greece is the Late HelladicBronze Age civilization of Ancient Greece. It lasted from the arrival of the Greeks in the Aegean around 1600 BC tothe collapse of their Bronze Age civilization around 1100 BC. It is the historical setting of the epics of Homer and ofmost Greek mythology. The Mycenaean period takes its name from the archaeological site Mycenae in thenortheastern Argolid, in the Peloponnesos of southern Greece. Athens, Pylos, Thebes, and Tiryns are also importantMycenaean sites.

Mycenaean civilization was dominated by a warrior aristocracy. Around 1400 BC the Mycenaeans extended theircontrol to Crete, center of the Minoan civilization, and adopted a form of the Minoan script called Linear A to writetheir early form of Greek. The Mycenaean era script is called Linear B.The Mycenaeans buried their nobles in beehive tombs (tholoi), large circular burial chambers with a high vaultedroof and straight entry passage lined with stone. They often buried daggers or some other form of military equipmentwith the deceased. The nobility were often buried with gold masks, tiaras, armour, and jeweled weapons.Mycenaeans were buried in a sitting position, and some of the nobility underwent mummification.Around 1100 BC the Mycenaean civilization collapsed. Numerous cities were sacked and the region entered whathistorians see as a dark age. During this period Greece experienced a decline in population and literacy. The Greeksthemselves have traditionally blamed this decline on an invasion by another wave of Greek people, the Dorians,although there is scant archaeological evidence for this view.

History of Greece 3

Early Iron AgeFurther information: Protogeometric artThe Greek Dark Ages (ca. 1100 BC–800 BC) refers to the period of Greek history from the presumed Dorianinvasion and end of the Mycenaean civilization in the 11th century BC to the rise of the first Greek city-states in the9th century BC and the epics of Homer and earliest writings in alphabetic Greek in the 8th century BC.The collapse of the Mycenaean coincided with the fall of several other large empires in the near east, most notablythe Hittite and the Egyptian. The cause may be attributed to an invasion of the sea people wielding iron weapons.When the Dorians came down into Greece they also were equipped with superior iron weapons, easily dispersing thealready weakened Mycenaeans. The period that follows these events is collectively known as the Greek Dark Ages.Kings ruled throughout this period until eventually they were replaced with an aristocracy, then still later, in someareas, an aristocracy within an aristocracy—an elite of the elite. Warfare shifted from a focus on cavalry to a greatemphasis on infantry. Due to its cheapness of production and local availability, iron replaced bronze as the metal ofchoice in the manufacturing of tools and weapons. Slowly equality grew among the different sects of people, leadingto the dethronement of the various Kings and the rise of the family.At the end of this period of stagnation, the Greek civilization was engulfed in a renaissance that spread the Greekworld as far as the Black Sea and Spain. Writing was relearned from the Phoenicians, eventually spreading north intoItaly and the Gauls.

Ancient Greece

"The safest general characterisation of theEuropean philosophical tradition is that it consists

of a series of footnotes to Plato." (Alfred NorthWhitehead, Process and Reality, 1929).

There are no fixed or universally agreed dates for the beginning or theend of the Ancient/Classical Greek period. In common usage it refersto all Greek history before the Roman Empire, but historians use theterm more precisely. Some writers include the periods of the Minoanand Mycenaean civilizations, while others argue that these civilizationswere so different from later Greek cultures that they should be classedseparately. Traditionally, the Ancient Greek period was taken to beginwith the date of the first Olympic Games in 776 BC, but mosthistorians now extend the term back to about 1000 BC.

The traditional date for the end of the Ancient Greek period is thedeath of Alexander the Great in 323 BC. The period that follows isclassed as Hellenistic. Not everyone treats the Ancient and Hellenicperiods as distinct, however, and some writers treat the Ancient Greekcivilization as a continuum running until the advent of Christianity inthe 3rd century AD.

Ancient Greece is considered by most historians to be the foundationalculture of Western Civilization. Greek culture was a powerfulinfluence in the Roman Empire, which carried a version of it to manyparts of Europe. Ancient Greek civilization has been immenselyinfluential on the language, politics, educational systems, philosophy,art and architecture of the modern world, particularly during the Renaissance in Western Europe and again duringvarious neo-Classical revivals in 18th and 19th century Europe and the Americas.

Archaic Greece

Further information: Orientalizing Period and Geometric Art

History of Greece 4

In the 8th century BC, Greece began to emerge from the Dark Ages which followed the fall of the Mycenaeancivilization. Literacy had been lost and Mycenaean script forgotten, but the Greeks adopted the Phoenician alphabet,modifying it to create the Greek alphabet. From about the 9th century BC, written records begin to appear.[12] Greecewas divided into many small self-governing communities, a pattern largely dictated by Greek geography, whereevery island, valley and plain is cut off from its neighbours by the sea or mountain ranges.[13]

The Archaic period can be understood as the Orientalizing period, when Greece was at the fringe, but not under thesway, of the budding Neo-Assyrian Empire. Greece adopted significant amounts of cultural elements from theOrient, in art as well as in religion and mythology. Archaeologically, Archaic Greece is marked by Geometricpottery.

Classical GreeceFurther information: Classical Athens

Herodotus (5th century BC), one of the earliestnameable historians whose work survives.

Leonidas at Thermopylae by Jacques-LouisDavid.

The basic unit of politics in Ancient Greece was the polis, sometimestranslated as city-state. "Politics" literally means "the things of thepolis". Each city was independent, at least in theory. Some cities mightbe subordinate to others (a colony traditionally deferred to its mothercity), some might have had governments wholly dependent upon others(the Thirty Tyrants in Athens was imposed by Sparta following thePeloponnesian War), but the titularly supreme power in each city waslocated within that city. This meant that when Greece went to war(e.g., against the Persian Empire), it took the form of an alliance goingto war. It also gave ample opportunity for wars within Greece betweendifferent cities.

Two major wars shaped the Classical Greek world. The Persian Wars(500–448 BC) are recounted in Herodotus's Histories. Ionian Greekcities revolted from the Persian Empire and were supported by some ofthe mainland cities, eventually led by Athens. The notable battles ofthis war include Marathon, Thermopylae, Salamis, and Plataea.)

To prosecute the war and then to defend Greece from further Persianattack, Athens founded the Delian League in 477 BC. Initially, eachcity in the League would contribute ships and soldiers to a commonarmy, but in time Athens allowed (and then compelled) the smallercities to contribute funds so that it could supply their quota of ships.Secession from the League could be punished. Following militaryreversals against the Persians, the treasury was moved from Delos toAthens, further strengthening the latter's control over the League. TheDelian League was eventually referred to pejoratively as the AthenianEmpire.

In 458 BC, while the Persian Wars were still ongoing, war broke outbetween the Delian League and the Peloponnesian League, comprisingSparta and its allies. After some inconclusive fighting, the two sides signed a peace in 447 BC. That peace, it wasstipulated, was to last thirty years: instead it held only until 431 BC, with the onset of the Peloponnesian War. Ourmain sources concerning this war are Thucydides's History of the Peloponnesian War and Xenophon's Hellenica.

The war began over a dispute between Corcyra and Epidamnus; the latter was a minor enough city that Thucydides has to tell his reader where it is. Corinth intervened on the Epidamnian side. Fearful lest Corinth capture the

History of Greece 5

Corcyran navy (second only to the Athenian in size), Athens intervened. It prevented Corinth from landing onCorcyra at the Battle of Sybota, laid siege to Potidaea, and forbade all commerce with Corinth's closely situated ally,Megara (the Megarian decree).There was disagreement among the Greeks as to which party violated the treaty between the Delian andPeloponnesian Leagues, as Athens was technically defending a new ally. The Corinthians turned to Sparta for aid.Fearing the growing might of Athens, and witnessing Athens' willingness to use it against the Megarians (theembargo would have ruined them), Sparta declared the treaty to have been violated and the Peloponnesian Warbegan in earnest.The first stage of the war (known as the Archidamian War for the Spartan king, Archidamus II) lasted until 421 BCwith the signing of the Peace of Nicias. The Athenian general Pericles recommended that his city fight a defensivewar, avoiding battle against the superior land forces led by Sparta, and importing everything needful by maintainingits powerful navy. Athens would simply outlast Sparta, whose citizens feared to be out of their city for long lest thehelots revolt.This strategy required that Athens endure regular sieges, and in 430 BC it was visited with an awful plague thatkilled about a quarter of its people, including Pericles. With Pericles gone, less conservative elements gained powerin the city and Athens went on the offensive. It captured 300–400 Spartan hoplites at the Battle of Pylos. Thisrepresented a significant fraction of the Spartan fighting force which the latter decided it could not afford to lose.Meanwhile, Athens had suffered humiliating defeats at Delium and Amphipolis. The Peace of Nicias concluded withSparta recovering its hostages and Athens recovering the city of Amphipolis.

Map of the Delian League ("Athenian Empire") in 431 B.C., just prior to thePeloponnesian War.

Those who signed the Peace of Niciasin 421 BC swore to uphold it for fiftyyears. The second stage of thePeloponnesian War began in 415 BCwhen Athens embarked on the SicilianExpedition to support an ally (Segesta)attacked by Syracuse and to conquerSicily. Initially, Sparta was reluctant,but Alcibiades, the Athenian generalwho had argued for the SicilianExpedition, defected to the Spartancause upon being accused of grosslyimpious acts and convinced them thatthey could not allow Athens tosubjugate Syracuse. The campaignended in disaster for the Athenians.

Athens' Ionian possessions rebelledwith the support of Sparta, as advisedby Alcibiades. In 411 BC, an oligarchical revolt in Athens held out the chance for peace, but the Athenian navy,which remained committed to the democracy, refused to accept the change and continued fighting in Athens' name.The navy recalled Alcibiades (who had been forced to abandon the Spartan cause after reputedly seducing the wifeof Agis II, a Spartan king) and made him its head. The oligarchy in Athens collapsed and Alcibiades reconqueredwhat had been lost.

In 407 BC, Alcibiades was replaced following a minor naval defeat at the Battle of Notium. The Spartan general Lysander, having fortified his city's naval power, won victory after victory. Following the Battle of Arginusae, which Athens won but was prevented by bad weather from rescuing some of its sailors, Athens executed or exiled eight of

History of Greece 6

its top naval commanders. Lysander followed with a crushing blow at the Battle of Aegospotami in 405 BC whichalmost destroyed the Athenian fleet. Athens surrendered one year later, ending the Peloponnesian War.The war had left devastation in its wake. Discontent with the Spartan hegemony that followed (including the fact thatit ceded Ionia and Cyprus to the Persian Empire at the conclusion of the Corinthian War (395–387 BC); see Treatyof Antalcidas) induced the Thebans to attack. Their general, Epaminondas, crushed Sparta at the Battle of Leuctra in371 BC, inaugurating a period of Theban dominance in Greece. In 346 BC, unable to prevail in its ten-year war withPhocis, Thebes called upon Philip II of Macedon for aid. Macedon quickly forced the city states into being united bythe League of Corinth which lead to the conquering of the Persian Empire and the Hellenistic Age had begun.

Hellenistic Greece

Coin showing Demetrius I Poliorcetes.

The Hellenistic period of Greek history begins with the death ofAlexander the Great in 323 BC and ends with the annexation of theGreek peninsula and islands by Rome in 146 BC. Although theestablishment of Roman rule did not break the continuity of Hellenisticsociety and culture, which remained essentially unchanged until theadvent of Christianity, it did mark the end of Greek politicalindependence.

During the Hellenistic period the importance of "Greece proper" (thatis, the territory of modern Greece) within the Greek-speaking worlddeclined sharply. The great centres of Hellenistic culture wereAlexandria and Antioch, capitals of Ptolemaic Egypt and SeleucidSyria. (See Hellenistic civilization for the history of Greek cultureoutside Greece in this period.)

Athens and her allies revolted against Macedon upon hearing that Alexander had died, but were defeated within ayear in the Lamian War. Meanwhile, a struggle for power broke out among Alexander's generals, which resulted inthe break-up of his empire and the establishment of a number of new kingdoms (see the Wars of the Diadochi).Ptolemy was left with Egypt, Seleucus with the Levant, Mesopotamia, and points east. Control of Greece, Thrace,and Anatolia was contested, but by 298 BC the Antigonid dynasty had supplanted the Antipatrid.

Macedonian control of the city-states was intermittent, with a number of revolts. Athens, Rhodes, Pergamum andother Greek states retained substantial independence, and joined the Aetolian League as a means of defending it andrestoring democracy in their states, where as they saw Macedon as a tyrannical kingdom because of the fact they hadnot adopted democracy. The Achaean League, while nominally subject to the Ptolemies was in effect independent,and controlled most of southern Greece. Sparta also remained independent, but generally refused to join any league.In 267 BC, Ptolemy II persuaded the Greek cities to revolt against Macedon, in what became the ChremonideanWar, after the Athenian leader Chremonides. The cities were defeated and Athens lost her independence and herdemocratic institutions. This marked the end of Athens as a political actor, although it remained the largest,wealthiest and most cultivated city in Greece. In 225 BC Macedon defeated the Egyptian fleet at Cos and brought theAegean islands, except Rhodes, under its rule as well.Sparta remained hostile to the Achaeans, and in 227 BC invaded Achaea and seized control of the League. Theremaining Acheans preferred distant Macedon to nearby Sparta, and allied with the former. In 222 BC theMacedonian army defeated the Spartans and annexed their city—the first time Sparta had ever been occupied by adifferent state.

History of Greece 7

The major Hellenistic civilizationHellenistic realms included the DiadochiDiadochkingdoms:   Kingdom of Ptolemy I Soter  Kingdom of Cassander  Kingdom ofLysimachus  Kingdom of Seleucus I Nicator  EpirusAlso shown on the map:

  Greek colonies  Carthage (non-Greek)  Ancient RomeRome (non-Greek)Theorange areas were often in dispute after 281 BC. The kingdom of Pergamon

occupied some of this area. Not shown: Indo-Greeks.

Philip V of Macedon was the last Greekruler with both the talent and theopportunity to unite Greece and preserve itsindependence against the ever-increasingpower of Rome. Under his auspices, thePeace of Naupactus (217 BC) broughtconflict between Macedon and the Greekleagues to an end, and at this time hecontrolled all of Greece except Athens,Rhodes and Pergamum.

In 215 BC, however, Philip formed analliance with Rome's enemy Carthage.Rome promptly lured the Achaean citiesaway from their nominal loyalty to Philip,and formed alliances with Rhodes andPergamum, now the strongest power in Asia Minor. The First Macedonian War broke out in 212 BC, and endedinconclusively in 205 BC, but Macedon was now marked as an enemy of Rome.

In 202 BC, Rome defeated Carthage, and was free to turn her attention eastwards. In 198 BC, the SecondMacedonian War broke out because Rome saw Macedon as a potential ally of the Seleucid Empire, the greatestpower in the east. Philip's allies in Greece deserted him and in 197 BC he was decisively defeated at the Battle ofCynoscephalae by the Roman proconsul Titus Quinctius Flaminius.

Luckily for the Greeks, Flaminius was a moderate man and an admirer of Greek culture. Philip had to surrender hisfleet and become a Roman ally, but was otherwise spared. At the Isthmian Games in 196 BC, Flaminius declared allthe Greek cities free, although Roman garrisons were placed at Corinth and Chalcis. But the freedom promised byRome was an illusion. All the cities except Rhodes were enrolled in a new League which Rome ultimatelycontrolled, and aristocratic constitutions were favoured and actively promoted.

Roman GreeceMilitarily, Greece itself declined to the point that the Romans conquered the land (168 BC onwards), though Greekculture would in turn conquer Roman life. Although the period of Roman rule in Greece is conventionally dated asstarting from the sacking of Corinth by the Roman Lucius Mummius in 146 BC, Macedonia had already come underRoman control with the defeat of its king, Perseus, by the Roman Aemilius Paullus at Pydna in 168 BC.The Romans divided the region into four smaller republics, and in 146 BC Macedonia officially became a province,with its capital at Thessalonica. The rest of the Greek city-states gradually and eventually paid homage to Romeending their de jure autonomy as well. The Romans left local administration to the Greeks without making anyattempt to abolish traditional political patterns. The agora in Athens continued to be the centre of civic and politicallife.Caracalla's decree in AD 212, the Constitutio Antoniniana, extended citizenship outside Italy to all free adult men inthe entire Roman Empire, effectively raising provincial populations to equal status with the city of Rome itself. Theimportance of this decree is historical, not political. It set the basis for integration where the economic and judicialmechanisms of the state could be applied throughout the Mediterranean as was once done from Latium into all Italy.In practice of course, integration did not take place uniformly. Societies already integrated with Rome, such asGreece, were favored by this decree, in comparison with those far away, too poor or just too alien such as Britain,Palestine or Egypt.

History of Greece 8

Caracalla's decree did not set in motion the processes that led to the transfer of power from Italy and the West toGreece and the East, but rather accelerated them, setting the foundations for the millennium-long rise of Greece, inthe form of the Eastern Roman Empire, as a major power in Europe and the Mediterranean in the Middle Ages.

Byzantine Empire (4th century - 1453)

Empress Theodora and her retinue (mosaic from Basilica of San Vitale,Ravenna, 6th century).

Depiction of the Greek fire by John Skylitzes' Chronicle (late 11thcentury).

The history of the East Roman or Byzantine Empireis described by Byzantinist August Heisenberg as thehistory of "the Christianized Roman empire of theGreek nation".[14] The division of the empire intoEast and West and the subsequent collapse of theWestern Roman Empire were developments thatconstantly accentuated the position of the Greeks inthe empire and eventually allowed them to becomeidentified with it altogether. The leading role ofConstantinople began when Constantine the Greatturned Byzantium into the new capital of the RomanEmpire, from then on to be known as Constantinople,placing the city at the center of Hellenism a beaconfor the Greeks that lasted to the modern era.

The figures of Constantine the Great and Justiniandominated during 324–610. Assimilating the Romantradition, the emperors sought to offer the basis forlater developments and for the formation of theByzantine Empire. Efforts to secure the borders ofthe Empire and to restore the Roman territoriesmarked the early centuries. At the same time, thedefinitive formation and establishment of theOrthodox doctrine, but also a series of conflictsresulting from heresies that developed within the boundaries of the empire marked the early period of Byzantinehistory.

In the first period of the middle Byzantine era (610–867) the empire was attacked both by old enemies (Persians,Lombards, Avars and Slavs) as well as by new ones, appearing for the first time in history (Arabs, Bulgars). Themain characteristic of this period was that the enemy attacks were not localized to the border areas of the state butthey were extended deep beyond, even threatening the capital itself. At the same time, these attacks lost theirperiodical and temporary character and became permanent settlements that transformed into new states, hostile toByzantium. Those states were referred by the Byzantines as Sclavinias.

Changes were also observed in the internal structure of the empire which was dictated by both external and internalconditions. The predominance of the small free farmers, the expansion of the military estates and the development ofthe system of themes, brought to completion developments that had started in the previous period. Changes werenoted also in the sector of administration: the administration and society had become immiscibly Greek, while therestoration of Orthodoxy after the iconoclast movement, allowed the successful resumption of missionary actionamong neighboring peoples and their placement within the sphere of Byzantine cultural influence. During this periodthe state was geographically reduced and economically damaged, since it lost wealth-producing regions; however, itobtained greater lingual, dogmatic and cultural homogeneity.

History of Greece 9

From the late 8th century, the Empire began to recover from the devastating impact of successive invasions, and thereconquest of Greece began. Greeks from Sicily and Asia Minor were brought in as settlers. The Slavs were eitherdriven out or assimilated and the Sclavinias were eliminated. By the middle of the 9th century, Greece was Greekagain, and the cities began to recover due to improved security and the restoration of effective central control.

Economic prosperity

Imperial flag during the Palaiologosdynasty. The four Bs, or pyrekvola,represent the initials of the family's

motto.

When the Byzantine Empire was rescued from a period of crisis by theresolute leadership of the three Komnenoi emperors Alexios, John andManuel in the 12th century, Greece prospered. Recent research has revealedthat this period was a time of significant growth in the rural economy, withrising population levels and extensive tracts of new agricultural land beingbrought into production. The widespread construction of new rural churchesis a strong indication that prosperity was being generated even in remoteareas.

A steady increase in population led to a higher population density, and thereis good evidence that the demographic increase was accompanied by therevival of towns. According to Alan Harvey in his book ‘’Economicexpansion in the Byzantine Empire 900-1200’’, towns expanded significantlyin the twelfth century. Archaeological evidence shows an increase in the sizeof urban settlements, together with a ‘notable upsurge’ in new towns.Archaeological evidence tells us that many of the medieval towns, including Athens, Thessaloniki, Thebes andCorinth, experienced a period of rapid and sustained growth, starting in the 11th century and continuing until the endof the 12th century.

The growth of the towns attracted the Venetians, and this interest in trade appears to have further increased economicprosperity in Greece. Certainly, the Venetians and others were active traders in the ports of the Holy Land, and theymade a living out of shipping goods between the Crusader Kingdoms of Outremer and the West while also tradingextensively with Byzantium and Egypt.

History of Greece 10

Artistic revival

Mosaic of Virgin Mary (11th century).

The 11th and 12th centuries are said to be the Golden Age ofByzantine art in Greece. Many of the most important Byzantinechurches in and around Athens, for example, were built duringthese two centuries, and this reflects the growth of urbanisation inGreece during this period. There was also a revival in the mosaicart with artists showing great interest in depicting naturallandscapes with wild animals and scenes from the hunt. Mosaicsbecame more realistic and vivid, with an increased emphasis ondepicting three-dimensional forms. With its love of luxury andpassion for color, the art of this age delighted in the production ofmasterpieces that spread the fame of Byzantium throughout theChristian world.

Beautiful silks from the work-shops of Constantinople alsoportrayed in dazzling color animals—lions, elephants, eagles, andgriffins—confronting each other, or representing Emperorsgorgeously arrayed on horseback or engaged in the chase. Theeyes of many patrons were attracted and the economy of Greecegrew. In the provinces, regional schools of Architecture beganproducing many distinctive styles that drew on a range of cultural influences. All this suggests that there was anincreased demand for art, with more people having access to the necessary wealth to commission and pay for suchwork.

Yet the marvelous expansion of Byzantine art during this period, one of the most remarkable facts in the history ofthe empire, did not stop there. From the tenth to the 12th century Byzantium was the main source of inspiration forthe West. By their style, arrangement, and iconography the mosaics of St. Mark's at Venice and of the cathedral atTorcello clearly show their Byzantine origin. Similarly those of the Palatine Chapel, the Martorana at Palermo, andthe cathedral of Cefalu, together with the vast decoration of the cathedral at Monreale, prove the influence ofByzantium οn the Norman Court of Sicily in the 12th century.Hispano-Moorish art was unquestionably derived from the Byzantine. Romanesque art owes much to the East, fromwhich it borrowed not only its decorative forms but the plan of some of its buildings, as is proved, for instance, bythe domed churches of south-western France. Princes of Kiev, Venetian doges, abbots of Monte Cassino, merchantsof Amalfi, and the Norman kings of Sicily all looked to Byzantium for artists or works of art. Such was the influenceof Byzantine art in the 12th century, that Russia, Venice, southern Italy and Sicily all virtually became provincialcenters dedicated to its production.

History of Greece 11

The Fourth Crusade

The division of the Byzantine Empire after the Fourth Crusade.

The year 1204 marks the beginning ofthe late Byzantine period, whenprobably the most important event forthe Empire occurred. Constantinoplewas lost for the Greek people for thefirst time, and the empire wasconquered by Latin crusaders andwould be replaced by a new Latin one,for 57 years. In addition, the period ofLatin occupation decisively influencedthe empire's internal development, aselements of feudality entered aspects of Byzantine life.

In 1261 the Greek empire was divided between the former Greek Byzantine Comnenos dynasty members (Epirus)and Palaiologos dynasty (the last dynasty until the fall of Constantinople). After the gradual weakening of thestructures of the Greek Byzantine state and the reduction of its land from Turkish invasions, came the fall of theGreek Byzantine Empire, at the hands of the Ottomans, in 1453, when the Byzantine period is considered to haveended.

It must be pointed out that the term "Byzantine" is a contemporary one established by historians. People used to callthe Empire from the 10th century on the Greek Empire as well as Romeo-Greek before that time; that's why Greekssometimes call themselves Romioi, in a colloquial form. The Romeo term was used sometimes because of the legaltradition left in many aspects of the political administration of the Empire. It must also be added that many empiresall around Europe had used this term, along with the Greek Byzantines, like the Carolingians, or the HeiligesRömisches Reich (Latin Sacrum Romanum Imperium) of the Germans who looked at themselves as the legitimateheirs of the Roman Empire.

Ottoman rule (15th century - 1821)

The Battle of Navarino, on October 1827, marked theeffective end of Ottoman rule in Greece.

When the Ottomans arrived, two Greek migrations occurred.The first migration entailed the Greek intelligentsia migratingto Western Europe and influencing the advent of theRenaissance. The second migration entailed Greeks leavingthe plains of the Greek peninsula and resettling in themountains.[15] The millet system contributed to the ethniccohesion of Orthodox Greeks by segregating the variouspeoples within the Ottoman Empire based on religion.

The Greeks living in the plains during Ottoman dominationwere either Christians who dealt with the burdens of foreignrule or Crypto-Christians (Greek Muslims who were secretpractitioners of the Greek Orthodox faith). Some Greeks became Crypto-Christians to avoid heavy taxes and at thesame time express their identity by maintaining their ties to the Greek Orthodox Church. However, Greeks whoconverted to Islam and were not Crypto-Christians were deemed Turks in the eyes of Orthodox Greeks, even if theydidn't adopt Turkish language.

The Ottomans ruled Greece until the early 19th century.

History of Greece 12

Modern Greek state (1821-)

Territorial evolution of Kingdom of Greece until1947.

In the early months of 1821, the Greeks declared their independencebut did not achieve it until 1829. The Great Powers first shared thesame view concerning the necessity of preserving the status quo of theOttoman Empire, but soon changed their stance. Scores of non-Greeksvolunteered to fight for the cause, including Lord Byron.

On 20 October 1827, a combined British, French and Russian navalforce destroyed the Ottoman and Egyptian armada. The Russianminister of foreign affairs, Ioannis Kapodistrias, himself a Greek,returned home as President of the new Republic. After hisassassination the European powers helped turn Greece into amonarchy; the first King, Otto, came from Bavaria and the second,George I, from Denmark.

During the 19th and early 20th centuries Greece sought to enlarge its boundaries to include the ethnic Greekpopulation of the Ottoman Empire. The Ionian Islands were returned by Britain upon the arrival of the new KingGeorge I in 1863 and Thessaly was ceded by the Ottomans. As a result of the Balkan Wars of 1912-13 Epirus,southern Macedonia, Crete and the Aegean Islands were annexed into Kingdom of Greece. Another enlargementfollowed in 1947, when Greece annexed the Dodecanese Islands from Italy.

World War I and Greco-Turkish War

Map of Greater Greece after the Treaty of Sèvres,when the Megali Idea seemed close to

fulfillment, featuring Eleftherios Venizelos.

Greek cavalry attacking during the Greco-TurkishWar (1919–1922).

In World War I, Greece sided with the Entente powers againstOttoman Empire and the other Central Powers. In the war's aftermath,the Great Powers awarded parts of Asia Minor to Greece, including thecity of Smyrna (known as İzmir today) which had a Greek populationof significant size.

However, the Turkish nationalists, led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk,overthrew the Ottoman government, organised a military assault on theGreek troops and defeated them. Immediately afterwards, over onemillion native Greeks of Turkey had to leave for Greece as apopulation exchange between Greece and Turkey.

History of Greece 13

World War II

American 1942 poster, during the WW2, insupport of Greece.

Despite the country's numerically small and ill-equipped armed forces,Greece made a decisive contribution to the Allied efforts in World WarII. At the start of the war Greece sided with the Allies and refused togive in to Italian demands. Italy invaded Greece by way of Albania on28 October 1940, but Greek troops repelled the invaders after a bitterstruggle (see Greco-Italian War). This marked the first Allied victoryin the war.

Primarily to secure his strategic southern flank, German dictator AdolfHitler reluctantly stepped in and launched the Battle of Greece. Troopsfrom Germany, Bulgaria, and Italy successfully invaded Greece,through Yugoslavia, overcoming Greek, British, Australian, and NewZealand units.

On 20 May 1941, the Germans attempted to seize Crete with a largeattack by paratroops—with the aim of reducing the threat of acounter-offensive by Allied forces in Egypt—but faced heavyresistance. The Greek campaign might have delayed German militaryplans against Soviet Union, and it is argued that had the German

invasion of the Soviet Union started on 20 May 1941 instead of 22 June 1941, the Nazi assault against the SovietUnion might have succeeded. The heavy losses of German paratroopers led the Germans to launch no furtherlarge-scale air-invasions.

During the years of Occupation of Greece by Nazi Germany, thousands of Greeks died in direct combat, inconcentration camps, or of starvation. The occupiers murdered the greater part of the Jewish community despiteefforts by the Greek Orthodox Church and many other Christian Greeks to shelter the Jews. The economy of Greecewas devastated.When the Soviet Army began its drive across Romania in August 1944, the German Army in Greece beganwithdrawing north and northwestward from Greece into Yugoslavia and Albania to avoid being cut off in Greece.Hence, the German occupation of Greece ended in October 1944. The Resistance ELAS seized control of Athens on12 October 1944. British troops had already landed on 4 October in Patras, and entered Athens at 14 October1944.[16]

Greek Civil WarThe Greek Civil War (Greek: Eμφύλιος πόλεμος Emfílios pólemos), was fought between 1944 and 1949 in Greecebetween the Governmental forces of Greece supported by the United Kingdom at first, and later by the USA, and theDemocratic Army of Greece; the military branch of the Greek communist party. According to some analysts, itrepresented the first example of a post-war West interference in the political situation of a foreign country.[17] Thevictory of the British—and later US-supported government forces led to Greece's membership in NATO and helpedto define the ideological balance of power in the Aegean for the entire Cold War.The civil war consisted on one side of the armed forces of the postwar non-Marxist Greek administrations, and onthe other, communist-led forces, and key members of the former resistance organization (ELAS), the leadership ofwhich was controlled by the Communist Party of Greece (KKE).The first phase of the civil war occurred in 1942-1944. Marxist and non-Marxist resistance groups fought each other in a fratricidal conflict to establish the leadership of the Greek resistance movement. In the second phase (1944) the ascendant communists, in military control of most of Greece, confronted the returning Greek government in exile, which had been formed under Western Allied auspices in Cairo and originally included six KKE-affiliated ministers.

History of Greece 14

In the third phase (commonly called the "Third Round" by the Communists) (1946–1949), guerrilla forces controlledby KKE fought against the internationally recognized Greek Government which was formed after electionsboycotted by KKE. Although the involvement of KKE in the uprisings was universally known, the party remainedlegal until 1948, continuing to coordinate attacks from its Athens offices until proscription.The civil war left Greece with a legacy of political polarization; as a result, Greece also entered into alliance with theUnited States and joined NATO, while relationships with its Communist northern neighbours, both pro-Soviet andneutral, became strained.

Postwar recoveryIn the 1950s and 1960s, Greece developed rapidly, initially with the help of the U.S. Marshall Plan's grants andloans, and later through growth in the tourism sector. New attention was given to women's rights, and in 1952suffrage for women was guaranteed in the Constitution, full Constitutional equality following, and Lina Tsaldaribecoming the first female minister that decade.In 1967, the Greek military seized power in a coup d'état, overthrew the centre right government of PanagiotisKanellopoulos.[18] It established the Greek military junta of 1967-1974 which became known as the Régime of theColonels. In 1973, the régime abolished the Greek monarchy. In 1974, dictator Papadopoulos denied help to the U.S.After a second coup that year, Colonel Ioannides was appointed as the new head-of-state.Ioannides was responsible for the 1974 coup against President Makarios of Cyprus.[19] The coup became the pretextfor the first wave of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974 (see Greco-Turkish relations). The Cyprus events andthe outcry following a bloody suppression of Athens Polytechnic uprising in Athens led to the implosion of themilitary régime. An exiled politician, Konstantinos Karamanlis, returned and became interim prime minister on July23, 1974[20] and later gained re-election for two further terms at the head of the conservative Nea Dimokratia party.On August 21 1971, Greek forces withdrew from the integrated military structure of NATO in protest at the Turkishoccupation of northern Cyprus.[21]

Restoration of democracyIn 1975, a referendum voted 69%-31% to confirm the deposition of King Constantine II. A democratic republicanconstitution came into force.[22] Another previously exiled politician, Andreas Papandreou also returned and foundedthe socialist Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) party, which won the elections in 1981 and dominated thecountry's political course for almost two decades.[23]

Since the restoration of democracy, the stability and economic prosperity of Greece have grown remarkably. Greecerejoined NATO in 1980. Greece joined the European Union in 1981 and adopted the euro as its currency in 2001.New infrastructure, funds from the EU and growing revenues from tourism, shipping, services, light industry and thetelecommunications industry have brought Greeks an unprecedented standard of living. Tensions continue to existbetween Greece and Turkey over Cyprus and the delimitation of borders in the Aegean Sea but relations haveconsiderably thawed following successive earthquakes—first in Turkey and then in Greece—and an outpouring ofsympathy and generous assistance by ordinary Greeks and Turks (see Earthquake Diplomacy).

Economic crisis of 2009-2012From late 2009, fears of a sovereign debt crisis developed among investors concerning Greece's ability to meet itsdebt obligations due to strong increase in government debt levels.[24][25] This led to a crisis of confidence, indicatedby a widening of bond yield spreads and risk insurance on credit default swaps compared to other countries, mostimportantly Germany.[26][27] Downgrading of Greek government debt to junk bonds created alarm in financialmarkets. On 2 May 2010, the Eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund agreed on a €110 billion loanfor Greece, conditional on the implementation of harsh austerity measures.

History of Greece 15

In October 2011, Eurozone leaders also agreed on a proposal to write off 50% of Greek debt owed to privatecreditors, increasing the EFSF to about €1 trillion and requiring European banks to achieve 9% capitalization toreduce the risk of contagion to other countries. These austerity measures have proved extremely unpopular with theGreek public, precipitating demonstrations and civil unrest. There are widespread fears that a Greek default on itsdebt would have global repercussions, endangering the economies of many other countries in the European Union,threatening the stability of the European currency, the euro, and possibly plunging the world into another recession.It has been speculated that the crisis will force Greece to abandon the euro and bring back its former currency, thedrachma.

Further reading• Boardman, John, et al. The Oxford History of Greece & the Hellenistic World (2002)• Brewer, David. Greece: The Hidden Centuries: Turkish Rule from the Fall of Constantinople to Greek

Independence (I.B. Tauris, 2010) 308 pages.• Burn, A.R. The Penguin History of Greece (1966)• Cartledge, Paul. The Cambridge Illustrated History of Ancient Greece (2002)• Chadwick, John (1976). The Mycenaean World. Cambridge UP. ISBN 0-521-29037-6.• Demand, Nancy H. A History of Ancient Greece in Its Mediterranean Context (2006)• Grant, Michael. A Social History of Greece and Rome (1993)• Koliopoulos, John S., and Thanos M. Veremis. Modern Greece: A History since 1821 (2009)• Pomeroy, Sarah B., et al. A Brief History of Ancient Greece: Politics, Society and Culture (2009)• Woodhouse, C. M. Modern Greece: A Short History (2000)

References• Chadwick, John (1976). The Mycenaean World. Cambridge UP. ISBN 0-521-29037-6.• Mountjoy, P.A. (1986). Mycenaean Decorated Pottery: A Guide to Identification. Studies in Mediterranean

Archaeology 73. Göteborg: Paul Åströms Forlag. ISBN 91-86098-32-2.• Mylonas, George E. (1966). Mycenae and the Mycenaean Age. Princeton UP. ISBN 0-691-03523-7.• Podzuweit, Christian (1982). "Die mykenische Welt und Troja". In: B. Hänsel (ed.), Südosteuropa zwischen 1600

und 1000 v. Chr., 65-88.• Taylour, Lord William (1964). The Mycenaeans. Revised edition (1990). London: Thames & Hudson.

ISBN 0-500-27586-6.• Latacz, J. Between Troy and Homer. The so-called Dark Ages in Greece, in: Storia, Poesia e Pensiero nel Mondo

antico. Studi in Onore di M. Gigante, Rome, 1994• Vacalopoulos, Apostolis. The Greek Nation, 1453-1669. Rutgers University Press, 1976.

Footnotes[1] Carl Roebuck,The World of Ancient Times (Charles Scribner's Sons: New York, 1966) pp. 77 & 113.[2] Carl Roebuck, The World of Ancient Times, p. 13.[3] Carl Roebuck, The world of Ancient Times (Charles Scribner's Sons: New York, 1966) p. 77.[4] Carl Roebuck, The World of Ancient Times, p. 101.[5] Carl Roebuck, The world of Ancient Times (Charles Scribner's Sons: New York, 1966) p. 101.[6] Carl Roebuck, The World of Ancient Times, p. 108.[7] Carl Roebuck, The World of Ancient Times, p. 107.[8] Bryce 2006, p. 91; Cadogan & Langdon Caskey 1986, p. 125[9] "The Greeks". Encyclopædia Britannica. US: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc.. 2008. Online Edition.[10] Chadwick, John (1976). The Mycenaean world (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=RMj7M_tGaNMC& dq). Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press. pp. 1–3. ISBN 0-521-29037-6. .

History of Greece 16

[11] Runnels, Curtis Neil; Murray, Priscilla (2001). Greece before history: an archaeological companion and guide (http:/ / books. google. com/books?id=rg4rTjo0OCQC& dq). Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press. p. 64. ISBN 0-8047-4050-X. .

[12] Hall Jonathan M. (2007). A history of the archaic Greek world, ca. 1200-479 BCE (http:/ / books. google. com/books?id=WGNH-oxXiAUC& dq=). Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-0-631-22667-3. .

[13] Sealey, Raphael (1976). A history of the Greek city states, ca. 700–338 B.C. (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=kAvbhZrv4gUC& dq=).University of California Press. pp. 10–11. ISBN 978-0-631-22667-3. .

[14] Winnifrith, Tom and Murray, Penelope. Greece Old and New. Macmillan, 1983, ISBN 0-333-27836-4, p. 113. "For August Heisenberg theByzantine empire was 'the Christianised Roman empire of the Greek nation'."

[15] Vacalopoulos, p. 45. The Greeks never lost their desire to escape from the heavy hand of the Turks, bad government, the impressment oftheir children, the increasingly heavy taxation, and the sundry caprices of the conqueror. Indeed, anyone studying the last two centuries ofByzantine rule cannot help being struck by the propensity of the Greeks to flee misfortune. The routes they chiefly took were: first, to thepredominantly Greek territories, which were either still free or Frankish-controlled (that is to say, the Venetian fortresses in the Despotate ofMorea, as well as in the Aegean and Ionian Islands) or else to Italy and the West generally; second, to remote mountain districts in theinterior where the conqueror's yoke was not yet felt.

[16] Churchill, S.W. (1953). The Second World War (Volume 6). p. 285.[17] Chomsky, Noam (1994). World Orders, Old And New. Pluto Press London.[18] Richard Clogg (2002). A Concise History of Greece (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=H5pyUIY4THYC& pg=PA159). Cambridge

University Press. p. 159. .[19] Barry Bartmann (2003). De Facto States: The Quest For Soverignty (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=uIbah-giC0EC& pg=PA167).

Psychology Press. p. 167. .[20] NATO Update 1974 (http:/ / www. nato. int/ docu/ update/ 70-79/ 1974e. htm)[21] Dr Fo Moustakis (2003). The Greek-Turkish Relationship and NATO (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=YAJ91tgEE_MC& pg=PA33).

Taylor & Francis. p. 33. .[22] Geoffrey Pridham (1990). Securing Democracy: Political Parties and Democratic Consolidation in Southern Europe (http:/ / books. google.

com/ books?id=u2L2Fq5I404C& pg=PA182). Psychology Press. p. 182. .[23] Harry Coccossis; Yannis Psycharis (2008). Regional Analysis and Policy: The Greek Experience (http:/ / books. google. com/

books?id=x9TG0Q0xKJYC& pg=PA45). Springer. p. 45. .[24] George Matlock (16 February 2010). "Peripheral euro zone government bond spreads widen" (http:/ / www. reuters. com/ article/

idUSLDE61F0W720100216). Reuters. . Retrieved 28 April 2010.[25] "Acropolis now" (http:/ / www. economist. com/ node/ 16009099). The Economist. 29 April 2010. . Retrieved 22 June 2011.[26] "Greek/German bond yield spread more than 1,000 bps" (http:/ / www. financialmirror. com/ News/ Cyprus_and_World_News/ 20151).

Financialmirror.com. 28 April 2010. . Retrieved 5 May 2010.[27] "Gilt yields rise amid UK debt concerns" (http:/ / www. ft. com/ cms/ s/ 0/ 7d25573c-1ccc-11df-8d8e-00144feab49a. html). Financial

Times. 18 February 2010. . Retrieved 15 April 2011.

External links• Jeremy B. Rutter, "The Prehistoric Archaeology of the Aegean" (http:/ / projectsx. dartmouth. edu/ classics/

history/ bronze_age/ index. html): chronology, history, bibliography• History of Greece: Primary Documents (http:/ / eudocs. lib. byu. edu/ index. php/

History_of_Greece:_Primary_Documents)• A short history of Greece (http:/ / www. ahistoryofgreece. com/ )

Article Sources and Contributors 17

Article Sources and ContributorsHistory of Greece  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=512082983  Contributors: &hearts:Madelynn&hearts:, 16@r, 1locs, 1o8, 3rdAlcove, A little insignificant, A.M.962, ABF,AGiganticPanda, Abeg92, Abrech, Access Denied, Action st, Adam Bishop, Adam Carr, Addshore, Adia, Aeusoes1, Ahoerstemeier, Aitias, Akanemoto, Alansohn, Aldux, Alexikoua, Alexius08,AlexiusHoratius, Ali@gwc.org.uk, Amethystus, Anastasios, Andonic, Andrew Gwilliam, Andrewpmk, Andycjp, Andygill09, Angela, Angusmclellan, Animum, Anonymous Dissident,Antandrus, Appenzeller, Arakunem, Argos'Dad, Ari21, Aris Katsaris, Arnon Chaffin, Arthur Holland, Athenean, Atilla44, Attilios, AuburnPilot, Austin7861, Av99, Avoided, BACbKA, BD2412,BallistaBuffalo, Baristarim, Battem, Bcrowell, BeautifulFlying, Before My Ken, Beland, Benwing, Big Bird, Bigdaddy1204, Binabik80, Biruitorul, Bletch, BlueEyedCat, Bluemoose,Bluewizardd, Bobbo, Bobo192, BokicaK, Bolchazy101, Bongwarrior, Boomshadow, Breawycker, Brougham96, Bruxism, CUSENZA Mario, Calvin 1998, Cam, Can't sleep, clown will eat me,Capricorn42, CardinalDan, Carolinadude101, Catgut, Cerberus™, Chaleyer61, Chamal N, Chantal 07, Ched, Children.of.the.Kron, Chris 73, Chris G, ChrisGualtieri, Chrishmt0423, ClaretAsh,ColdShine, Colossus, Cometstyles, Common Man, CommonsDelinker, ConCompS, Conscious, ContiAWB, Coolguy71, Cplakidas, Crash Cove, Cutrupi04, D, D14b0ll0s, D6, Damac, Dan653,Danblum, DarkLink, Darrelljon, Darth Panda, Davewild, David Levy, Dbachmann, Dcottom, DeadEyeArrow, Deanos, Deor, DerHexer, Deucalionite, Deville, Dhouk91, Dimboukas, Dirkbb,Discospinster, Dlebouc, Dlohcierekim, Dmitri Lytov, Dmyersturnbull, DoctorW, Dominic, Domitius, Dpv, Dr Chatterjee, Dreadstar, DreamGuy, Drmies, DuncanHill, E (Insecure Account),E2eamon, ERcheck, Edderso, Eddylyons, Edward, El C, ElationAviation, Eleassar777, Elipongo, EmilJ, Emj, Emperordarius, Epbr123, Ephestion, Erebus555, Esemono, Evanreyes, Everyking,Ewx, Excirial, Fabullus, FayssalF, Felyza, Fenice, Fhw, Flamarande, Floddinn, Foant, Foxj, Franciscoh, Frankenpuppy, Future Perfect at Sunrise, Fxer, Fæ, Gail, Gakrivas, GeneralCheese,Generalboss3, Georgios, Giler, Gilliam, Glacialfox, GraemeL, Graham18490, Gramaic, Greasy Cohns of Clay, Greco22, Grenavitar, Grouf, Ground Zero, Gunmetal Angel, HIDECCHI001,HaeB, HangingCurve, Hectorian, Heron, HexaChord, HiDrNick, Historyguy99, Hmains, Hu12, Husond, Hut 8.5, I dream of horses, IRP, Iamlegend123, Infrogmation, Insanity Incarnate,Insineratehymn, Interchangeable, Invisifan, Ioannes Tzimiskes, Ithinkchaos, Itisonlyone, Ixfd64, J.delanoy, JForget, Jack99878, Jagged 85, Jared Preston, Jbower47, Jebba, Jenda, Jibal, JimmB,Jimtaip, Joel7687, JohnDoe0007, Johnbrownsbody, Jordanbstudios, Josefrancisco.lerena, Jovianeye, Joyous!, Jpbowen, Jusdafax, Jwy, Jóhann Heiðar Árnason, K.Nevelsteen, KRBN,Kammsimmy, Karmafist, Keegan, Keithb, Kemiv, Kewp, Khoikhoi, Kiba, Kimon, King of Hearts, Kingpin13, Kirill Lokshin, KnowledgeOfSelf, Kozuch, Kralizec!, Krellis, Kross, Kukini,Kungfuadam, Kuru, Kurykh, Kurzweil4, LOL, Lambiam, Lambros40, Lapsed Pacifist, Lawrence H K, LcawteHuggle, Leszek Jańczuk, Levalley, LilHelpa, Linnell, Lolojore, Loren.wilton,Lynntoniolondon, M5891, MC10, MDfoo, MK8, MMS2013, MPS, Macedonian, Magioladitis, Mandarax, Markussep, Marudubshinki, Master Bigode, Materialscientist, Mattbrundage, MattieTK,Maxim, McSly, Meeflay, Megaman en m, Megistias, Merlion444, Merope, Metropolitan90, Mhklein, Michalis Famelis, Mightycord, Mike Hollis, Mike s, Milos2904, Minimac, Miskin,Mitchitara, Mmernex, Moderate2008, Mogism, Moondyne, Morgy j, Mortdefides, Mozzan, Mrg3105, Mwilso24, NTox, NYCJosh, Nascigl, Naufana, Nebkaneil, Neurolysis, Nightshift Bagelcart, Ntelekos, Oblivious, Ohsonosy, Onepebble, Oxymoron83, P3Pp3r, PKM, Pairadox, PamD, Papergis, Part Deux, Patstuart, Paul August, Paul Barlow, Paul-L, Pelister, Peripitus,Peruvianllama, Petrouchka, Pgk, Phil Boswell, Phoenix2, Piano non troppo, Pilotguy, Pinethicket, Piotrus, Pmanderson, Poetaris, PoeticVerse, Pol098, Politis, Porfyrios, Possum, PostmodernBeatnik, Project2501a, Pseudo-Richard, QuiteUnusual, Quoth the Raven, RA0808, RJC, RJaguar3, Rastko Pocesta, Recurring dreams, Redbird 41, ReinforcedReinforcements, RevRagnarok,RexNL, Rich Farmbrough, Rjd0060, Rjensen, Rjwilmsi, Robskin, Romanm, Ronhjones, Rorschach, Roux-HG, Rrburke, Ryulong, SDC, SEWilco, Saltmarsh, Savidan, Schyler, Sciurinæ,Seaphoto, Shadowjams, Shakko, Shanes, Shinpah1, SimonP, Sionus, Slakr, Slon02, Smalljim, Smart Guy12345, Sonic3KMaster, Sophie, SorryGuy, Sp3000, Spitfire, Splash, Srfprice, Srikeit,Stars4change, Stavrs, Steven J. 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