Greek language

Rio (Greek: Ρίο, Río, formerly Ῥίον, Rhíon; Latin: Rhium) is a town in the suburbs of Patras and a former municipality in Achaea, Western Greece, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Patras, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 98.983 km. The municipal unit had a population of 14,219 in 2021. The campus of the University of Patras and the Casino Rio is located in Rio.

The Rio–Antirrio Bridge (Greek: Γέφυρα Ρίου–Αντιρρίου), officially the Charilaos Trikoupis Bridge, is one of the world's longest multi-span cable-stayed bridges and longest of the fully suspended type. It crosses the Rion Strait between the Gulf of Corinth and Gulf of Patras, linking the town of Rio on the Peloponnese peninsula to Antirrio on mainland Greece by road. It opened one day before the Athens 2004 Summer Olympics, on 12 August 2004, and was used to transport the Olympic flame.

Oxeia (Greek: Οξεία) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. As of 2011, it had no resident population. It is the chief island in the southern group (the Ouniades) of the Echinades, part of the Ionian Islands. Oxeia possesses the highest point in the Echinades, 421 metres (1,381 feet). It is situated near the mouth of the river Acheloos, off the coast of Aetolia-Acarnania. The island is around 5 kilometres (3 miles) in length and its width is approximately 2 km (1 mile). The Battle of Lepanto took place near the island in 1571.

In April 2012, it was bought by Qatar Holdings.

Cape Araxos (Greek: Ακρωτήριον Άραξος), also known as Cape Pappas (Άκρα Πάππα), is a cape in the northwest of the Peloponnese in Greece. It is the northwesternmost point of Peloponnese and separates the Gulf of Patras from the Ionian Sea. It lies at a distance of 30 km (19 mi) west of the city of Patras and very close to the village of Akrotirio Araxou. In 1877 a stone lighthouse was built, but it was destroyed during the Second World War and a modern lighthouse was installed after some years. The waters in the area are dangerous because of the continuous additions of sediments, eroding from the uplands of Aetolia-Acarnania via the rivers Acheloos and Evinos, The waters are quite shallow in some parts.

Kefalonia or Cephalonia (Greek: Κεφαλονιά), formerly also known as Kefallinia or Kephallenia (Κεφαλληνία), is the largest of the Ionian Islands in western Greece and the 6th-largest island in Greece after Crete, Euboea, Lesbos, Rhodes and Chios. It is also a separate regional unit of the Ionian Islands region. It was a former Latin Catholic diocese Kefalonia–Zakynthos (Cefalonia–Zante) and short-lived titular see as just Kefalonia. The largest cities of Cephalonia are Argostoli and Lixouri.

Missolonghi or Mesolongi (Greek: Μεσολόγγι, pronounced [mesoˈloɲɟi]) is a municipality of 32,048 people (according to the 2021 census) in western Greece. The town is the capital of Aetolia-Acarnania regional unit, and the seat of the municipality of Iera Polis Mesolongiou (Greek: Ιερά Πόλις Μεσολογγίου, lit. 'Sacred Town of Missolonghi'). Missolonghi is known as the site of a dramatic siege during the Greek War of Independence, and of the death of poet Lord Byron.

Stephen (Greek: Στέφανος, romanized: Stéphanos, lit. 'wreath, crown'; c. AD 5 – c. 34) is traditionally venerated as the protomartyr or first martyr of Christianity. According to the Acts of the Apostles, he was a deacon in the early church at Jerusalem who angered members of various synagogues by his teachings. Accused of blasphemy at his trial, he made a speech denouncing the Jewish authorities who were sitting in judgment on him and was then stoned to death. Saul of Tarsus, a Pharisee and Roman citizen who would later become an apostle, was also involved as a witness in Stephen's execution.

The only source for information about Stephen is the New Testament book of the Acts of the Apostles. Stephen is mentioned in Acts 6 as one of the Greek-speaking Hellenistic Jews selected to administer the daily charitable distribution of food to the Greek-speaking widows.

A martyr (Greek: μάρτυς, mártys, 'witness' stem μαρτυρ-, martyr-) is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In colloquial usage, the term can also refer to any person who suffers a significant consequence in protest or support of a cause.

In the martyrdom narrative of the remembering community, this refusal to comply with the presented demands results in the punishment or execution of an individual by an oppressor. Accordingly, the status of the 'martyr' can be considered a posthumous title as a reward for those who are considered worthy of the concept of martyrdom by the living, regardless of any attempts by the deceased to control how they will be remembered in advance. Insofar, the martyr is a relational figure of a society's boundary work that is produced by collective memory. Originally applied only to those who suffered for their religious beliefs, the term has come to be used in connection with people killed for a political cause.

Koine Greek (ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinḕ diálektos, lit. 'the common dialect'), also variously known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek, Septuagint Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-regional form of Greek spoken and written during the Hellenistic period, the Roman Empire, and the early Byzantine Empire. It evolved from the spread of Greek following the conquests of Alexander the Great in the fourth century BC, and served as the lingua franca of much of the Mediterranean region and the Middle East during the following centuries. It was based mainly on Attic and related Ionic speech forms, with various admixtures brought about through dialect levelling with other varieties.

Koine Greek included styles ranging from conservative literary forms to the spoken vernaculars of the time. As the dominant language of the Byzantine Empire, it developed further into Medieval Greek, which then turned into Modern Greek.

The Rhodopes (/ˈrɒdəpiːz/; Bulgarian: Родопи, Rodopi; Greek: Ροδόπη, Rodopi; Turkish: Rodoplar) are a mountain range in Southeastern Europe, and the largest by area in Bulgaria, with over 83% of its area in the southern part of the country and the remainder in Greece. Golyam Perelik is its highest peak at 2,191 meters (7,188 ft). The mountain range gives its name to the terrestrial ecoregion Rodope montane mixed forests that belongs in the temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome and the Palearctic realm. The region is particularly notable for its karst areas with their deep river gorges, large caves and specific sculptured forms, such as the Trigrad Gorge.

A significant part of Bulgaria's hydropower resources are located in the western areas of the range. There are a number of hydro-cascades and dams used for electricity production, irrigation, and as tourist destinations.