[grees] 
Greece (grēs)  (click for larger image in new window) A country of southeast Europe on the southern Balkan Peninsula and including numerous islands in the Mediterranean, Aegean, and Ionian seas. Settled by Achaeans, Aeolians, Ionians, Minoans, and Dorians by 1000 B.C., the region grew as an amalgam of independent city-states, many of which established colonies throughout the Mediterranean by the eighth century B.C.. Classical Greek culture, centered around Athens, reached a high point in the fifth century B.C. before being conquered by Philip II of Macedon in 338 B.C.. The area was later controlled by the Roman and Byzantine empires before being absorbed into the Ottoman empire (1456). In 1829, Greece gained its independence and established a constitutional monarchy. The king was deposed following a military coup in 1967, and a democratic republic was established in 1975. Athens is the capital and the largest city. Population: 10,700,000. |
Greece
orginally consisted of the four provinces of Macedonia, Epirus, Achaia, and Peleponnesus. In Acts 20:2 it designates only the Roman province of Macedonia. Greece was conquered by the Romans B.C. 146. After passing through various changes it was erected into an independent monarchy in 1831. Moses makes mention of Greece under the name of Javan (Gen. 10:2-5); and this name does not again occur in the Old Testament till the time of Joel (3:6). Then the Greeks and Hebrews first came into contact in the Tyrian slave-market. Prophetic notice is taken of Greece in Dan. 8:21. The cities of Greece were the special scenes of the labours of the apostle Paul.