Greek Culture

Greek culture evolved over several thousand years, with its earliest known civilization being in the Mycenean and Minoan era, continuing into Classical Greece, the birth of the Hellenistic era and through the influence of the Roman Empire and its Greek Eastern successor the Byzantine Empire. The Ottoman Empire also had a significant influence on Greek culture, but the Greek war of independence is credited for the revitalization of Greece and establishing a single sovereign single entity, of its multi-faceted culture throughout the ages.

Greece is generally known as "the cradle of Western civilization."





Sports

The Greek national football team is the reigning UEFA European Champions having won the EURO 2004.[45] In the final, the team managed to beat their Portuguese opponents by 1-0.[45] They are as of February 2008 ranked 10th in the world,[46] and have recently qualified for Euro 2008 where they will get to defend their crown. The Greek Super League is the highest professional football league in the country. Currently sixteen clubs compete in that league, playing each other twice, once at home and once away. At the end of each season, the bottom three clubs are relegated to the Second National League only to be replaced by the top three teams from that particular league. The top three most known football clubs are Olympiacos, Panathinaikos, and AEK Athens.

The men's Greek national basketball team has a decades-long tradition of excellence in the sport. Greece is generally considered an important power in international basketball and the national team is regarded as one of the best in the world. They are as of January 2008 ranked 6th in the world,[47] They have won the European Championship twice, once in 1987 and again in 2005,[48] and have reached the final four in three of the last four FIBA World Championships (1994, 1998, 2006) taking second place in 2006. The domestic Greek basketball league, A1 Ethniki is composed of fourteen teams. The most successful Greek teams are Panathinaikos, Aris Salonica, Olympiacos, AEK Athens and PAOK.

Cricket is also popular in Greece, in particular in Corfu where the sport dominates due to its long connections with the British. The Greek National Cricket team is an associate member of the ICC.




source: Wikipedia