Greek language

The Greek Archaeological Service (Greek: Αρχαιολογική Υπηρεσία, romanised: Archaiologikí Ypiresía) is a state service, under the auspices of the Greek Ministry of Culture, responsible for the oversight of all archaeological excavations, museums and the country's archaeological heritage in general.

The Greek Archaeological Service is the oldest such institution in Europe: it was founded in 1833, on the back of state efforts to regulate antiquities that had been ongoing since at least 1825, and given its legal basis in 1834. Its officers were known as "ephors" for most of its history, and have included some of Greece's foremost archaeologists, including Christos Tsountas, Valerios Stais, and Semni Karouzou. Its directors, originally under the title of "Ephor General", have included Kyriakos Pittakis, Panagiotis Kavvadias and Spyridon Marinatos, and have been influential both in the excavation and conservation of Greek antiquities and in the shaping of archaeological law.

The Swiss School of Archaeology in Greece (ESAG) (French: École Suisse d'Archéologie en Grèce; German: Schweizer Archäologische Schule in Griechenland; Italian: Scuola Elvetica d'Archeologia in Grecia; Greek: Ελβετική Αρχαιολογική Σχολή στην Ελλάδα) is one of the foreign archaeological institutes operating in Greece. Since 1964, the Swiss archaeologists have been excavating the remains of the ancient site of Eretria (Euboea), a medium-sized city which has extensively contributed to the development and the influence of the Greek civilisation. Hosted in Switzerland by the University of Lausanne, the Swiss School has its head office in Athens, in an Art Nouveau building at Odos Skaramanga 4B. The school has also offices in a 19th-century neoclassical house in Eretria, Odos Apostoli 15.

The Byzantine Greeks, Byzantines or Eastern Romans (Greek: Ῥωμαῖοι, romanized: Rhōmaîoi) were the Greek-speaking people of the Byzantine Empire. They were Chalcedonian Christians who self-identified as Romans throughout Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Latin speakers identified them simply as Greeks or with the term Romaei. They were the main inhabitants of the capital Constantinople and lands of the Eastern Roman Empire, such as Asia Minor (modern Turkey), Cyprus, Greece, and portions in the rest of the southern Balkans and southern Italy; they also formed large minorities, or pluralities, in the coastal urban centres of the northern Black Sea coast, Levant, and northern Egypt.

Use of Greek was already widespread in the eastern Roman Empire when Constantine I (r. 306–337) moved its capital to Constantinople, while Anatolia had also been hellenized by early Byzantine times. The empire lost its predominantly non-Greek speaking provinces by the 7th century Muslim conquests and its population was overwhelmingly Greek-speaking by the 8th century. Unlike the early medieval West, the Greek education of the East was more advanced, resulting in widespread basic literacy. Success came easily to Greek-speaking merchants, who enjoyed a strong position in international trade.

Thasos (Greek: Θάσος [ˈθas̠os̠]) is a Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea. It is the northernmost major Greek island, and 12th largest by area.

The island has an area of 380 km and a population of about 13,000. It forms a separate regional unit within the East Macedonia and Thrace region. Before the local administration reform of 2011, it was part of the Kavala Prefecture. The largest town and the capital is Thasos, officially known as Limenas Thasou, "Port of Thasos", situated on the northern side. It is connected with the mainland by regular ferry lines between Keramoti and Thasos town, and between the regional centre of Kavala and Skala Prinou.

Filippoi (Greek: Φίλιπποι, Philippi), is a village and a former municipality in the Kavala regional unit, East Macedonia and Thrace, Greece built on the Via Egnatia. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Kavala, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 238.751 km. The 2021 census reported a population of 10,133 for the municipal unit and 796 for the village. The ruins of ancient Philippi are located in the municipal unit.

Eastern Macedonia and Thrace (/ˌmæsəˈdoʊniə/ MASS-ə-DOH-nee-ə; Greek: Ανατολική Μακεδονία και Θράκη, romanized: Anatolikí Makedonía ke Thráki, [anatoliˈci maceðoˈnia ce ˈθraci]) is one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It consists of the northeastern parts of the country, comprising the eastern part of the region of Macedonia along with the region of Western Thrace, and the islands of Thasos and Samothrace.

Ammianus Marcellinus, occasionally anglicized as Ammian (Greek: Αμμιανός Μαρκελλίνος; born c. 330, died c. 391 – 400), was a Greek and Roman soldier and historian who wrote the penultimate major historical account surviving from antiquity (preceding Procopius). Written in Latin and known as the Res gestae, his work chronicled the history of Rome from the accession of Emperor Nerva in 96 to the death of Valens at the Battle of Adrianople in 378. Only the sections covering the period 353 to 378 survive.

Pelagonia (Macedonian: Пелагонија, romanized: Pelagonija; Greek: Πελαγονία, romanized: Pelagonía) is a geographical region of Macedonia named after the ancient kingdom. Ancient Pelagonia roughly corresponded to the present-day municipalities of Bitola, Prilep, Mogila, Novaci, Kruševo, and Krivogaštani in North Macedonia and perhaps to small parts of the municipalities of Florina, Amyntaio and Prespes in Greece.

The Voras Mountains (Greek: Όρος Βόρας; also Boras), also known as Nidže (Macedonian: Ниџе, Turkish: Nice Dağı) are a mountain range situated on the border between Greece and North Macedonia. It separates the Pella regional unit on the Greek side in the south from the Mariovo region on the North Macedonia side in the north. The tallest peak in the range is Kaimakchalan at 2,524 m (8,281 ft). Adjacent peaks are Starkov grob (1,876 m) and Dobro Pole (1,700 m).

The mountain range hosts a ski resort and the hot springs at Loutra Loutrakiou (Pozar) on the Greek side.

Kajmakčalan (Kaimakchalan), Kaimaki, Kaimaktsalan or Voras (Greek: Καϊμακτσαλάν or Καϊμάκι or Βόρας, Macedonian: Каjмакчалан, romanized: Kajmakčalan), is a mountain on the border between Greece and North Macedonia. It is the southernmost and highest peak, 2,521 metres (8,271 ft), of a range known in Greek as the Voras Mountains and in Macedonian as Nidže. In terms of prominence, the Kaimaktsalan summit rises 1,758 metres above its surroundings. The frontier between the two countries runs across the summit. It is the third-highest peak in Greece after Mytikas and Smolikas and the fifth-highest in North Macedonia.