The Bolivar County Democrat., 1921-01-08
rprrcE: NEW NATION OF
'N. n ANCIENT PEOPLE.


lns ~ King Alexander Of Greece
uuO ad world interest once more ~
turneu .'arn Europe. The changes
s0u'ne's hos Undergone territorially ana
u'e.s a., # has played in the wars anu anu
'ns aS 20 If lis corner of the world u,e
erlses oa ~ in the following bulletin Is
.asd 'lss by BY the National Geographic 81
cety:
aWhat is Greece!
an the light of the past the answer s3,
u,gh, we'll be tentative Tor uenn d,r-
nsp' creece's area at any time dur
.lon .Sa tbousands of years of Its MS
.uzv ns ", would have held good hardly ior
wy ausrter century and in latter years
% swift have been the changes III .he
new Greece. each decade has seen '''e
sying of new boundaries.
M aNot until modern times-eNcep'
@rring the momentary empire OF AieA-
.uder-has Greece meant nation,
- III tho Grecian Golden Age, as well
hofore and since, Greece was
sorse divided against itself. Its de-
.sed tailed history would mean the history
- more than $50 separate states.
And vet there was at all tlmes some
ealing of Hellenic nationality even
tbough the rivalries among the va
lions groups stood in the way OF Iu-
sion into single nation.
aWbile Great Britain may be de-
.cr,hed as a land surrounded by SEAS
Greece may be said to be "a sea sur
rounded BY land The Hellenes nave
slwavs been sea-faring folk. ana
tbe Mediterranean sea, and more par
t,cularly the Aegean have been their
own particuar herring ponds The
,.,onds of the eastern Mediterranean
became Greek territory in their en-
|tirety, and this was true also or the
Ijslapt.like Peloponnesus and some
other portions of the Greek peninsula.
but an equally important part OF
IGreece-or better, of the land of the
{Hellenes-were the settlements made
Inv It's mariners on the shores OF the
mainland that hem in the Mediter-
ranean. These settlements constl-
tuted an unbroken fringe of Hellas
along the shores of Asia Minor, and
scattered communities on the shores
of Italy, in Sicily, even In northern
[Africa and what Is now southern
France. This was the loose Greece
or Hellas at Its greatest-a domain
of one people but of many states.
Greece gave the world its first
League of Nations, the Delian league.
organized in Ali B. C. by way Of mu-
tual protection against the external
aggression of Persia, which had
Bort Of Berlin-to-Bagdad ambition Of
lts own in those days. Athens was
the only principal power in this
league, and was the recognized leader
of the organization.
Later came the hegemony of Ath-
ems by force. the paradoxical empire
cf democracy, bereft even of the
trappngS Of monarchy. At this Pc
flod and under what may be termed
fne empires Of Sparta and Thebes, a
CLOSE approach to Greek nation may
pc said to have existed; but in none
q these eras were most Of the terri
torles peopled by Greeks included, and
Even large parts of the Greek penin-
ula Itself were governed by other
nelenlc states. For a brief period
under Alexander the Great. Greece
eacned the status Of nation, but 1t
vas a fusion forced by a virtual out
.ioer and contained much territory in
paolled by others than Greeks; and
y tne death of the great military
senlus the Hellenes separated again
NV numerous governmental units.
ureece, expanding from the city
,a'e' mad comprised for a moment
'most the whole civilized world: but
~ great dilation was followed by an
.s great contraction. Greece fell
nuer the rising power of Rome, and
e''lle mere province in the west
en empire.
Inc military ability and power of
~ ureeks died under the Roman
OAe, but when the Eastern empire
10, I,lnea n with Constantinople as its
sa'' Greek culture conquered where
49, eA arms could not, and Byzantium
n.a sane IN reality great Greek state.
trne. me more the territory that, by con-
s,s"a as.ion at least, can be regarded as
r,th,. spread outward until it held
sas. n us boundaries much of south
rlo.s Europe. 1t is on reviving the
MI ' VI this period in Grecan history
a., a' creek ambition. when II cou,d
I've at all, has dveltn " N