Is a country in Southern Europe, Greece is

strategically located at the crossroads

of Europe, Western Asia, and Africa, and shares
land borders with Albania to the northwest,
the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria to the
north and Turkey to the northeast. The country
consists of nine geographic
regions: Macedonia, Central Greece,
the Peloponnese, Thessaly, Epirus, the Aegean
Islands (including
the Dodecanese and Cyclades), Thrace, Crete,
and the Ionian Islands.
Modern Greece traces its roots to the civilization
of Ancient Greece, which began with the Aegean
Civilizations of the Bronze Age. Considered the cradle of
all Western civilization, Greece is the birthplace
of democracy,

Western philosophy, the Olympic
Games, Westernliterature and historiography, political
science, major scientific and mathematical principles,
and Western drama,

including
both tragedy and comedy. The cultural and
technological achievements of Greece greatly influenced
the world, with many aspects of Greek civilization being
imparted to the East through Alexander the Great's
campaigns, and to the West through its incorporation into
the Roman Empire.
Greece is a democratic, developed
country with an advanced high-income
economy, a high standard of living and a very
high Human Development Index.

Greece is a
founding member of the United Nations, a
member of what is now the European
Union since 1981 (and the eurozone since
2001), and is also a member of numerous other
international institutions, including the Council
of Europe, NATO, OECD, OSCE and the
WTO. Greece's economy is also the largest in
the Balkans, where Greece is an important
regional investor.
The numerous gods of the ancient Greek religion as well as the
mythical heroes and events of the ancient Greek epics (The
Odyssey and The Iliad) and other pieces of art and literature
from the time make up what is nowadays colloquially referred to
as Greek mythology. Apart from serving a religious function, the
mythology of the ancient Greek world also served a
cosmological role as it was meant to try to explain how the world
was formed and operated.
The principal gods of the ancient Greek religion were
the Dodekatheon, or the Twelve Gods, who lived on the top of
Mount Olympus. The most important of all ancient Greek gods
was Zeus, the king of the gods, who was married to Hera, who
was also Zeus's sister. The other Greek gods that made up
the Twelve
Olympians were Demeter, Hades, Ares, Poseidon, Athena, Diony
sus,Apollo, Artemis, Aphrodite, Hephaestus and Hermes. Apart
from these twelve gods, Greeks also had a variety of other
mystical beliefs, such as nymphs and other magical creatures.