Greece

Silver and blue waters surround Greece in this true-color image acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite on August 19, 2004. This year, Athens is host to the 2004 Olympic Games, which first started in Greece over 2,800 years ago (in 776 BCE). Athens is the greyish spot roughly in the center of this image on the southern end of the Grecian mainland. Anciently, the Olympic games were held in the city of Olympia, which was located on the northwestern side of the Peloponnese island.

Modern-day Greece is a nation of many islands, but in ancient times, Greece was a loose confederation of city-states that usually only came together as a whole to defend themselves from invaders. Ancient Greece is often noted for being the birthplace of Western philosophy. Socrates, Isocrates, Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras, and Gorgias are just a few of the most famous philosophers to come out of Greece.

Athens, the modern-day capital of Greece and one of the strongest city-states in ancient times, sits across the bay from Peloponnese island (lower left of center). Peloponnese was home to Sparta, a city-state that was often at odds with Athens. Sparta was located just north of the center of the three south-facing fingers of the island.

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Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC

Published August 24, 2004
Data acquired August 19, 2004

Source:

Terra > MODIS