presentation of our country/town

1. Let us introduce ourselves
1st
GYMNASIUM OF RHODES, GREECE
ERASMUS+: “Passport to the future”

2. Greece (Hellas)
Greece is located in the
Southeastern Europe.
It has a land surface
130.647 km2
and it has
13.676km of coastline.
There are about 6.000 small
or big islands and rocky islets.
Only 117 from them are
inhabited.
Population:
10.773.253 people.
It’s a member of EU since
2001.

3. Greece (Hellas)
Our country is surrounded from
the Mediterranean Sea which is
divided in smaller seas such us
Aegean sea, Ionian sea, etc.
The border countries are:
Albania
Former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia
Bulgaria
Turkey
The capital of Greece is
ATHENS.
Currency: euro (€)
Climate: Mediterranean with
mild, wet winters and hot, dry
summers.

4. Greek history briefly
• Greece has a history stretching
back almost 4.000 years. The
people of the mainland, called
Hellenes, organised great
naval and military expeditions,
and explored the
Mediterranean and the Black
Sea, going as far as the Atlantic
Ocean and the Caucasus
Mountains. One of those
expeditions, the siege of Troy,
is narrated in the first great
European literary work,
Homer's Iliad. Numerous
Greek settlements were
founded throughout the
Mediterranean, Asia Minor
and the coast of North Africa
as a result of travels in search
of new markets.

5. • During the Classical period
(5th century B.C.), Greece
was composed of city-
states, the largest being
Athens, followed by Sparta
and Thebes. A fierce spirit
of independence and love
of freedom enabled the
Greeks to defeat the
Persians in battles which
are famous in the history of
civilization - Marathon,
Thermopylae, Salamis and
Plataea.

6. In the second half of the 4th century B.C., the Greeks, led by
Alexander the Great, conquered most of the then known
world and sought to Hellenize it.

7. • In 146 BC Greece fell to the Romans. In 330 A.D.
Emperor Constantine moved the Capital of the
Roman Empire to Constantinople, founding the
Eastern Roman Empire which was renamed
Byzantine Empire or Byzantium for short, by
western historians in the 19th century.
Byzantium transformed the linguistic heritage of
Ancient Greece into a vehicle for the new
Christian civilisation.

8. • The Byzantine Empire fell to the Turks in 1453 and
the Greeks remained under the Ottoman yoke for
nearly 400 years. During this time their language,
their religion and their sense of identity remained
strong.
• On March 25, 1821, the Greeks revolted against the
Turks, and by 1828 they had won their
independence. As the new state comprised only a
tiny fraction of the country, the struggle for the
liberation of all the lands inhabited by Greeks
continued. In 1864, the Ionian islands were added to
Greece; in 1881 parts of Epirus and Thessaly. Crete,
the islands of the Eastern Aegean and Macedonia
were added in 1913 and Western Thrace in 1919.
After Word War II the Dodecanese islands were also
returned to Greece.

9. Greek Monuments and Archaeological sites
Acropolis Herodium Theater Kerameikos
Stoa Attalou Hephaestus TempleOlympius Zeus Temple
ATHENS

10. Greek Monuments and Archaeological sites
Vergina’s tomb
and museum
Macedonia

11. Greek Monuments and Archaeological sites
Epidaurus Theatre
Archaeological site of Olympia
Mycenae
Delphi

12. Greek Monuments and Archaeological sites
Knossos
Palace, Crete

13. Rhodes : our island
It’s located in the Southeastern
Aegean sea.
It’s the largest island of the
DODECANESE islands.
It has 115.490 inhabitants
(2011).
Highest elevation 1.216m
(Attavyros mountain).

14. Rhodes: our city
Rhodes is the principal
town of the capital.
Coordinates: 36o
10΄ Ν,
28o
E.
The city of Rhodes has
50.636 inhabitants (2011).

15. Rhodes
The island of Rhodes is also
called the “Island of Sun” (Helios).
According to mythology, the god
Helios had fallen in love with
the nymph Rhodes, and when he
shone his light on her, she
transformed into the island.
Another name that the island has
had is Ofioussa ("Snake island")
as well as the island had many
snakes.
The most well known name of
Rhodes is “The island of the
Knights” which is related with the
history of the island.

16. Rhodes’ History
(briefly)
The ancient city of Rhodes was
founded in 408 BC at the
northern tip of the island and laid
out on a regular grid according to
the principles of Hippodamus of
Miletus. The ancient city was
much reduced in size in
Byzantine times, and was
protected by fortifications from
the 7th century. The early walls
contained the area later known as
the Collachio. In the early 12th
century, however, a new wall
enclosed a rectangular area of
17.5 hectares. This was the town
conquered by the Knights of St.
John (Knights Hospitaller) in
1309.

17. Rhodes’ History
(briefly)
From this time until 1522
the town was the
headquarters of the Order's
island state, which also
included most of the other
Dodecanese islands and
had to face, apart from
internal matters, the
increasing pressure of
Islam. The sophisticated
fortifications of the town
repelled even the might of
Ottoman sultan Mehmed II
the Conqueror in 1480.

18. Rhodes’ History
(briefly)
In 1522, a landmark for the
history of Rhodes, sultan
Suleiman II the Magnificent
managed, after a lengthy siege,
to drive the Knights
Hospitaller out of Rhodes.
They eventually ended up in
Malta, leaving behind a host of
monuments that testify to their
presence on the island. Rhodes
remained under Ottoman
occupation until 1912. They
were driven away by the
colonial expansion of Italy who
held the Dodecanese islands
until the surrender of Italy to
the Allies in World War II. In
1948 Rhodes became formally
part of Greece.

19. Places of interest - Lindos

20. Lindos

21. Places of interest – The valley of butterflies

22. The valley of butterflies

23. Places of interest - Filerimos

24. Filerimos

25. Places of interest – Piges of Kalithea

26. Piges of Kalithea