The Mediterranean climate of Greece is subject to a number of regional and local variations based on the country’s physical diversity. In winter the belt of low-pressure disturbances moving in from the North Atlantic Ocean shifts southward, bringing with it warm, moist, westerly winds. As the low-pressure areas enter the Aegean region, they may draw in cold air from those eastern regions of the Balkans that, sheltered by the Dinaric mountain system from western influences, are open to climatic extremes emanating from the heart of Eurasia. This icy wind is known as the boreas. Partly as a result, Thessaloníki (Salonika; Thessalonica) has an average January temperature in the low 40s F (about 6 °C), while in Athens it is in the low 50s F (about 10 °C), and in Iráklieo (Candia) on Crete it is in the low to mid-50s F (about 12 °C). Occasionally the warmer sirocco (shilok) winds are drawn in from the south. The western climatic influences bring plenty of precipitation to the Ionian coast and the mountains behind it; winter rain starts early, and snow lingers into spring. On Corfu, January temperatures average in the low 50s F (10 °C), and the island’s average annual precipitation is about 52 inches (1,320 mm), compared with that on Crete of about 25 inches (640 mm) and that at Athens of about 16 inches (400 mm). Few populated areas have lasting snowfalls, but snow is commonly found on the highest peaks.

In summer, when the low-pressure belt swings away again, the climate is hot and dry almost everywhere. The average July sea-level temperature approaches 80 °F (27 °C), although heat waves can push the temperature well above 100 °F (38 °C) for a day or so. Topography is again a modifying factor: the interior northern mountains continue to experience some precipitation, while along the winding coast the afternoon heat is eased slightly by sea breezes. In other regions, such as Crete, the hot, dry summers are accentuated by the parching meltemi, or etesian winds, which become drier as they are drawn southward.

In all seasons—perhaps especially in summer—the quality of light is one of Greece’s most appealing attractions. However, atmospheric pollution has become a serious problem in the cities, notably Athens, obscuring the sky and posing a hazard to the ancient monuments.

Plant and animal life

As in other Balkan countries, the vegetation of Greece is open to influences from several major biogeographic zones, with the major Mediterranean and western Asian elements supplemented by plants and animals from the central European interior. The subtle but complex vegetation mosaic is a product of the climatic effects of elevation, the contrast between north and south, local relief, and eight or nine millennia of human settlement and land use. Degraded plant associations (areas where the variety and size of species and the density of plant cover are reduced) and soil erosion are common.

Vegetation types from central Europe prevail on the mountain flanks and generally in the north. In central and southern regions and in the narrow belts along the valleys of the mountains, about half the land is under scrub of various kinds; and maquis—the classic Mediterranean scrub, with oleander, bay, evergreen oak, olive, and juniper—is especially prevalent in the Pelopónnisos. Evergreen trees and shrubs and herbaceous plants are found in the lowland, their flowers offering brilliant patterns in springtime. Pines, plane trees, and poplars line the rivers, the higher slopes, and the coastal plains. Forests and scrub are found at the highest elevations; black pine forests cover Mount Ólympos. Oak, chestnut, and other deciduous trees are found in the north, giving way at higher elevations to coniferous forests dominated by the Grecian fir, in which clearings are carpeted in spring and summer with irises, crocuses, and tulips. Greece is home to about 6,000 species of wildflowers, of which some 600 are endemic.

The forested zones, especially in the north, harbour such European mammals as wildcats, martens, brown bears, roe deer, and, more rarely, wolves, wild boars, and lynx. Animals of the Mediterranean regions include hares, wild goats, and porcupines, all adapted to the heat and lack of moisture. Birds include owls, vultures, pelicans, storks, and herons, and many varieties from farther north spend the winter in Greece, while others stop on Greek land and water while migrating to and from Africa. Reptile and marine life have come under increasing pressure, the former by overdevelopment and the latter by exhaustive fishing.

Ethnic groups

The population of Greece, in particular that of northern Greece, has always been characterized by a great deal of ethnic, religious, and linguistic diversity. Migrations, invasions, imperial conquests, and 20th-century wars all contributed to this cultural diversity, which continues to characterize modern Greece—in spite of several instances of population exchanges, which occurred as a result of treaties between Greece and Bulgaria in 1919 and between Greece and Turkey in 1923, along with long-standing government policies of assimilation, or Hellenization. According to the dominant ideology of the Greek state, all the people of Greece are, or should be, Greek. As a result, the existence of ethnic and national diversity in the country has remained a sensitive issue. The Greek government’s official position is that there are no ethnic or national minorities in the country and that virtually the entire population is Greek. The only minority officially recognized by the Greek government is a religious minority, the Muslim minority of Thráki (Thrace), whose existence was acknowledged in the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne. Nonetheless, the population of Greece includes people who identify themselves as Turks, Macedonians, Albanians, Aromanians (Vlachs), and Roma (Gypsies). Greek is the language of the majority of Cyprus’s population, and enclaves of Greeks—as defined by the language they speak—are to be found to different degrees in southern Albania, southern Italy, Turkey, and Bulgaria. Greek expatriate communities play a distinctive role in Europe, North and South America, Australia, and South Africa.

Languages

The Greek language is one of the oldest attested Indo-European languages, its earliest written form (Linear B) dating to about the 15th century bce. Koine (the language of the New Testament) and Byzantine Greek represent the middle phases of Greek. Those ultimately gave way in the 19th century to Modern Greek (except in the liturgy of the Greek Orthodox Church, which still uses Koine), although from roughly the 15th century onward, the language had a very modern aspect to it. Modern Greek comprises Standard Modern Greek and the various regional dialects. Standard Modern Greek is the official state language, and it is an amalgamation of two historical forms: Demotic, which is widely spoken, and Katharevusa, a deliberately archaizing form that was primarily written, appearing in official government documents and newspapers until the mid-1970s. Separate transliteration tables are generally used for Classical and Modern Greek; however, changes in the pronunciation of the Greek language and conflicting transliteration conventions have resulted in widespread discrepancies, even in the rendering of Modern Greek names in Roman orthography. Although not officially recognized, minority languages spoken in the country include Turkish, Macedonian, Albanian (especially in the dialect known as Arvanítika, a variety of Tosk Albanian taken to Greece in the 15th century by settlers from what is now Albania), Bulgarian, Romany, Aromanian (a form of Eastern Romance, akin to Daco-Romanian, spoken by the Aromanians and also called Macedo-Romanian), and Megleno-Romanian (another form of Eastern Romance, spoken in a few villages in the north). The form of Greek known as Tsakonian is different enough from other varieties that it could be considered a separate language too, and a similar claim could be made for the Pontic variety and the Cappadocian variety as spoken now in Greece (these last two occurring in Greece as a result of the population movements mandated by the Treaty of Lausanne).