I'm using no sources other than Wikipedia, but I boast a good knowledge of Greek and Athenian history. Hopefully I still remember what I learned in school, heh!
Where do you live? City/State/country? Athens, Greece.
Prominent language spoken? Other languages/dialects? Greek (modern).
Is this rural or urban? Rough size? Urban area, the size of which depends on what you decide to count as Athens. The 2001 census gave a population of 745,514 for the Municipality of Athens and approximately 3.8 million for the metropolitan area, although if you count citizens registered in other areas that live in Athenian suburbs, plus immigrants, the population is estimated around 5 million. That's about half the total population of Greece, interestingly enough.
What do you like most/least about where you live? Well, I like the fact that it's a huge city, with variety in places and people - from purely urban areas with big buildings to open areas with small houses and parks. There's something here to satisfy every want and need. Also, the city is built in a basin, surrounded from three sides from mountains and from the south bordering to the sea, so there's easy access to many different landscapes
The biggest downsides are the pollution and the overabundance of cars. The greenery/cement ratio is much smaller than it should be, in some areas making for an ugly atmosphere. Also, sometimes you get the feeling that there's no respect for the city - graffitis, garbage thrown on the road and parks...
Most historically significant points about your town/country? The city of Athens has a long history that goes back to ancient times. The 5th century B.C. was when it peaked, economically, politically and culturally, becoming the most powerful Greek city of all. It has also been the capital of Greece since 1834.
The history of Greece goes even further back, with the first evidence of civilization appearing around 6000 BC in Peloponnese, Crete and the Cyclades islands. Greece, which was actually organized in a number of cities, was overtaken by the Romans in 146 B.C., when they won the battle of Lefkopetra. Since then, the area of Greece was under Roman reign. The Eastern Roman Empire later evolved into Byzantium, a state with a character rather close to the modern Greek one, since Greek language and Orthodox Christianism were prevalent. It was then overtaken by the Turks, officially in 1453 A.D. with the Fall of Constantinople. Eventually, Greece became an independent country in 1828, after a revolutionary war that started in 1821. Today's boundaries were set in 1947.
Climate? The mediterranean climate is characterized by hot, dry summers and mild winters, and it's pretty much what you'll find in Athens. During the past decades, we had a series of winters when, especially the northern suburbs, would systematically get temperatures around -5 to 0 degrees Celsius and an abundance of snow, a sight rather unusual in older times. Last winter, however, was warmer than that and quite dry. Summers keep getting hotter every year, hitting temperatures of over 40 degrees Celsius in the early afternoon many times over the course of the summer months.
The mediterranean climate is generally characteristic of Greece, with the average temperatures being lower in the mountainous or more northern areas.
Type of government? Name of current leader? The government is Parliamentary republic. The person with the most responsibilities in this type of government is the Prime Minister (currently Kostas Karamanlis of the Nea Demokratia party). The Parliament is comprised of 300 members and the president is Dimitrios Sioufas. Finally, the President of Democracy is Karolos Papoulias.
What are the major industries? Greece doesn't have heavy industry such as cars or electric appliances. I believe that the biggest part of the Greek industry is devoted to food and tobacco processing.
Major religion? Christian Orthodox.
Diversity of education? Do most people graduate high school? College? Most people graduate at least junior high school, since it's obligatory. There's a big number of people graduating high school and a relatively big number graduating universities or technical schools. A law first employed in 2006 introduced extra requirements for people who wanted to enter universities and technical schools, because the big number of admissions was judged as responsible for the decline in the quality of studies and the overabundance of educated but unemployed young people.
Most popular sport? Soccer, with basketball coming second.
Most popular trend at the moment? Uh, nothing springs to mind. I'll get back to you about that.
Most popular food? Everyone likes
souvlaki ! It's basically made by some kind of meat (usually pork or chicken) and vegetables (such as tomato, onion, fries) rolled in a fried, bread-like leaf called pita.
What do you feel is the most interesting/exciting thing about where you live? Everyone seems to think it's the history of the place, but I will have to reiterate how refreshing it is to live in a place where everything is accessible someplace
Are there any urban legends associated with your town/state/country? Well, there's plenty of mythological tales, in case those count. Here's the story of how Athens got its name:
Poseidon (God of the sea) and Athena (Goddess of wisdom) were fighting over who would be the protector of a new city, then called Kekropia after its king Kekropas, who was half human and half snake. They agreed that each of them would offer a gift to the city and that Kekropas would choose based on the gifts.
Poseidon offered a fountain with salt water, whereas Athena offered an olive tree. Kekropas judged that the olive tree was more useful, because of its edible fruit. So, he chose Athena as the protector of the city, and also named the city after her. The symbol of the city became the owl, the favourite animal of goddess Athena and symbol of wisdom.
As for Poseidon, he cursed the city never to have enough water - and it's true that Athens has never been rich in water.
Hope this helped!
AnnaBtG.
