The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1921-01-11
GREECE; NEW NATION OF
AN ANCIENT PEOPLE.

GREECE; NEW NATION OF
AN ANCIENT PEOPLE.
The question Of succession to the
throne of King Alexander of Greece
turned world interest once more to
southeastern Europe The changes
Greece has undergone territorially and
the part 1t has played in the wars and
crises Of its corner of the world, are
discussed in the following bulletin is
sued by the National Geographic So
ciety:
"What is Greece?
SIN the light of the past the answer
might well be tentative, for defini-
ton of Greece's area at any time dur
ing the thousands of years of Its his
tory would have held good hardly for
a quarter century and in latter years,
SO swift have been the changes in the
new Greece, each decade has seen the
fixing of new boundaries.
mot until modern times-except
| during the momentary empire of Alex
ander--has Greece meant nation.
In the Grecian Golden Age, as well
as before and since, Greece was a
house divided against itself Its de-
tailed history would mean the history
of more than $50 separate states.
And yet there was at all times some
| feeling of Hellenic nationality even
| though the rivalries among the va
rious groups stood in the way Of fu-
sion into a single nation.
"While Great Britain may be de-
scribed as land surrounded by seas,
| Greece may be said to be "a sea sur
rounded by land The Hellenes have
always been a sea-faring folk, and
| the Mediterranean sea, and more par
ticuarly the Aegean have been their
own particular herring ponds The,
islands of the eastern Mediterranean
became Greek territory in their en-
tirety, and this was true also of the
| island-like Peloponnesus and some
other portions of the Greek peninsula.
But an equally important part of
| Greece-or better, of the land of the
Hellenes-were the settlements made
by its mariners on the shores of the
mainland that hem in the Mediter-
| ranean. These settlements consti-
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 Hi B. G. by way Of mu-
tual protection against the external
| aggression of Persia, which had
sort of Berlin-to-Bagdad ambition of
its 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 paradoxica1 empire
| of democracy, bereft even of the
| trappings of monarchy. At this pc
riod and under what may be termed
the empires of Sparta and Thebes, a
close approach to Greek nation may
be said to have existed; but in none
| of these eras were most of the terri
tories peopled by Greeks included, and
even large parts of the Greek penin-
sula itself were governed by other
Hellenic states. For brief period
under Alexander the Great. Greece
reached the status of a nation, but 1t
was a fusion forced by a virtual ont
slider and contained much territory in
habited by others than Greeks; and
on the death of the great military
genius the Hellenes separated again
into numerous governmental units.
"Greece, expanding from the city
state, had comprised for moment
almost the whole civilized world: but
the great dilation was followed by an
equally great contraction. Greece fell
under the rising power of Rome and
became a mere province in the west
ern empire.
"The military ability and power of
the Greeks died under the Roman
yoke; but when the Eastern empire
was formed with Constantfnople as its
seat. Greek culture conquered where
Greek arms could not, and Byzantium
became in reality great Greek state.
Once more the territory that. by con-
struction at least can be regarded rs
Greece, spread outward until 1t held
within its boundaries much of south
eastern Europe. It Is on reviving the
glory OF this period In Grecian history
that Greek ambition, when it could
live at ALL has dwelt."