OH KECK 



389 



t | to join ill.- latter league, which then-oil 

 invoked ill. a-sistance of Macedonia. Macedonia*! 

 mi.-iiciciice ln'tween Koine ami Carthage led to 



icfiMt of Philip V. at Pydna, 168 H.c. ; and 

 mtli \\as de-tro\cd I iv Miiiniiiius, and 



.- became iii fact, if not at once in form, a 

 proNinceof the Roman empire. As Mich there is 

 imtliin^ lu-re to say of it. Nor at a later time has 



. 



nstory separate from that of the Byzantine 

 mpire iq.v.). 1" 330 A.D. Constantine was con- 

 I to Christianity, and founded a ' new Rome' 

 in Constantinople, 'in 395 Greece was ravaged 

 by tin- Goths under Alarie. In 747 a great 

 pestilence depopulated large parts of tlie country, 

 into \vlii.-li Slavonic tril>68 immigrated. In 1018 

 tin- Unitarians laid the country waste, but were 

 finally defeated by Basil II. The final separation 

 ni (lie eastern and western churches took place in 



In the year 1453 Mohammed II. made himself 

 master of Constantinople and, amongst other por- 

 li'ins of the empire of the East, of Greece proper. 

 ( '\ prns and Crete ( which had been in the possession 

 .if the Venetians) and the other GreeK islands 

 gradually passed into the hands of the Turks, 

 Crete coining into their power in 1669. Twenty 

 after, the Venetians again began war in the 

 ope of regaining their Greek possessions, and 

 Mii-.-eeded in winning back the Peloponnese only 

 M lose it again in 1715. Under Turkish rule the 

 Greek* were allowed to become comparatively 

 wealthy, as in the Turkish empire the function of 

 the subject races is to provide for the sustenance 

 of the ruling Turks. With wealth came the spread 

 of education and culture, and a revived conscious- 

 ii'--- in the Greeks of what mighty dead they were 

 the descendants. Thus the soil was gradually and 

 nut u rally prepared for the seeds sown by the French 

 Involution; and in 1821 the war of independence 

 broke out. In less than a year the Turks were 

 turned out, and Greek liberty recovered. But 

 civil war ensued; nor was this unnatural. The 

 leaders of the revolution were men who had 

 acquired what capacity they had for leading in the 

 service of the Turks, and had acquired it therefore 

 in a bad school. The cold suspicion with which 

 the struggle for liberty had at first been watched 

 by Kurope was eventually exchanged for warm 

 sympathy and pity, owing to the horrible cruelties 

 perpetrated by the Turks ; so that when in 1824 

 the latter, by the aid of troops from Egypt, 

 sii ......... led in regaining possession of Greece, there 



were not wanting volunteers from England and 

 elsewhere to lead and light amongst the Greek 

 In lv_>7 the Turkish fleet was destroyed at 

 V-ivarino by the fleets of England, France, and 

 llussia; by French aid the Turks were driven out 

 of Greece, and in 1828 the Greeks had once more 

 re-ained their liberty. In 1832 Otho of Bavaria 

 was made king; but he ruled despotically, and in 

 \ *<- had to leave Greece in consequence. A son 

 of t lie king of Denmark, born in 1845, was then made 

 king under the title of George I., when the Ionian 

 Islands (q.v.) were given back to Greece. He lost 

 popularity by bis unwillingness to be furced by the 

 popular will into war with Turkey. The Berlin 

 'y added a large area in Kpirus and Tbessaly 

 to Greece (see TURKEY); and under George the 

 country, in spite of mismanaged and embarrassed 

 finances and freuiient ministerial crisis, \\asfaiilv 

 prosperous till tile disastrous war with Turkey iii 

 iviti. hiiring the troubles in Crete the Greeks 

 sent an expedition thither (in February) : early in 

 April 1500 irregular Greek troops Crossed the 

 Macedonian frontier; and the Sultan declared war 

 on 18th April. The Turks not merely drove the 

 invaders out of Macedonia and Epirus, but after 

 a brief series of engagements, disastrous for the 



Greeks, occupied Larisna and other main point* in 

 The-saly. The war came to an end afraut the 

 middle of May, and peace was ultimately arranged, 

 with a slight rectification of the frontier in Turkey's 

 favour, and the payment of a war indemnity of 

 4,000,000, guaranteed by the Powers the Greek 

 customs meanwhile to be controlled by an inter- 

 national commission. 



Mml, rn Greece. The legislative power is vested 

 in a single chamber, which consists of at least 150 

 paid representatives, elected under the ballot by 

 universal suffrage for a period of four years. Greece 

 is divided into sixteen nomarchies or departments, 

 whi.-h are again subdivided into eparchies and 

 demarchies. The Greek Orthodox Church is estab- 

 lished by law, and to it the great mass of the 

 people belong (see GREEK CHURCH ) ; but there are 

 some 25,000 Mohammedans in Thessaly and Epiruft. 

 There are some 160 monasteries and nunneries, with 

 2600 monks and f>00 nuns. Elementary education 

 is compulsory for children between five and twelve ; 

 but the law is not enforced outside the towns. Of 

 the army recruits 30 per cent, are illiterate, and 

 only 15 per cent, can read. The revenue is between 

 3,000,000 and 4,000,000 ; but usually the actual 

 expenditure has greatly exceeded the revenue. 

 The total debt amounts to 33,000,000, with- 

 out the last war indemnity. Fully a third of 

 the expenditure is absorbed by the interest on 

 the debt, and a fifth by the ministries of war and 

 marine. The nominal strength of the army on a 

 peace footing is 25,000 which in war is raised to 

 100,000 ; all able-bodied males are liable to service. 

 The navy consists of four small ironclads, sixteen 

 gunboats, twenty-one torpedo boats and launches, 

 with nearly 3000 officers and men. 



In 1879 the area of Greece was 19,809 sq. m., with 

 a population of 1,679,775 (1,457,894 in 1870); the 

 Thessalo-Epirot districts incorporated with the 

 kingdom in 1881 (as an outcome of the Berlin 

 Treaty) added to this a territory of 5161 sq. in., 

 with a population of 299,677 ; total, 24,970 sq. m. 

 (less than half the area of England), with 1,979,452 

 inhabitants. At the census of 1889 the population 

 was 2, 187,208. Besides the Greeks of the kingdom, 

 the Greeks in various parts of the Ottoman empire 

 notably in Constantinople, Macedonia, the 

 western parts of Asia Minor, Crete, Cyprus, and 

 the smaller islands number above 6,000,000. Most 

 of the Albanians who have migrated intoGreecehave 

 been completely Hellenised ; the non-Hellenised Al- 

 banians in Greece number about 100,000. In Greece 

 there is an excess of males over females in the pro- 

 portion of 107-6 to 100. Athens, the capital, has a 

 population of 1 10,000 ; the towns next in size being 

 Patras, Piraeus, Hermupolis, and Corfu, all above 

 20,000 ; and there are four others between 20,000 and 

 10,000. Greece, although one-half of its area is pas- 

 ture-land or waste, is mainlyan agricultural country; 

 but the land is mostly in tne hands of peasant pro- 

 prietors; agricultural machinery isunknown in many 

 districts, and the implements of husbandry areof the 

 most primitive type. Besides cereals, fruits, sugar, 

 tobacco, cotton, and dyestuffs are raised. The chief 

 articles of export are currants (about half of the 

 total, though depression in this trade has of late 

 years caused great distress), lead and other ores, 

 olive oil, wine, honey, sponges, &c. The principal 

 imports are cereals 'and textile goods. The ex- 

 ports have an annual value of about 3,000,000; 

 the imports are valued at 4,400,000 a year. 

 Nearly a third of the total trade is with Britain, 

 and about one-seventh each with Russia and 

 France. The herding of sheep (3,465,000) occupies 

 about 9 per cent, of the people ; the sponge and 

 coral fisiieries employ more than 900 Inmts. The 

 minerals of Greece include lignite, argentiferous 

 lead, zinc, magnetic iron, ana marble. In 1895 



