myth and historical greece, unearthed

amazed

Saturday March 7, 2009
Greece, unearthedStories by SONJA MUSTAFFA

Grecian archeological digs and discoveries are ongoing.


Greece is a remarkable holiday destination because of its history, mythology, arts, culture and natural environment. Did you know it is the birthplace of Homer, Plato, medicine and democracy?

Throughout our (travel agents and journalists) exploration, we were accompanied by tour guide Chariklia Contoyannides (Cleo) whose knowledge breathed life into the ruins we visited, (occasionally) Thanasis Prounarous of Tour Greece who good-humouredly put up with the group抯 cheeky jokes and driver Vasilis Papatheodosiou (Bill) who was courteous and got us to our stops in one piece.

Nature was kind and gave us mostly blue skies and sunshine. Winters (late November-April) here are normally cold and rainy.
The cheerful chirping of birds and bursts of pink and white cherry and almond blossoms, as well as the purples and yellows of wildflowers, heralded an early spring.


The Erechtheion and Caryatids


Everywhere we looked there was an olive, lemon and/or orange tree, even on balconies and lining the streets and pathways in Athens. Traditionally, oranges aren抰 harvested until Easter when they are enjoyed with a lamb dish.

We had our first close-up of an olive tree on the climb to the Acropolis (150m). The Acropolis is an ancient fortified city inhabited since 3500BC.
It is believed the olive tree was given to Athens by the goddess of wisdom, Athena, in a contest between Poseidon (the god of the sea) and her to decide on the protector of Athens.

The people chose the gift of the olive tree over the gift of a salty spring of water by Poseidon because the former symbolised peace.

The contest took place at the Erechtheion Temple (407BC). It is a striking building because of the Caryatids (six female statues) who bear the weight of a portico on their heads. The original statues are in the Acropolis Museum with other artefacts from the site.

A bigger Acropolis Museum, designed by New York-based Bernard Tschumi and Greek Michalis Photiadis, is under construction at the foothills and scheduled to open on June 20.

Opposite the Erechtheion Temple is the optical marvel Parthenon, dedicated to Athena (parthena).

The Parthenon has been rebuilt four times since the first foundation stone was laid in 8th Century BC. Every time it was rebuilt, it was made bigger and more beautiful with marble quarried from nearby Mt Penteli. The final rebuilding was by Pericles (a great statesman) after the Persian invasion in 480BC.

The Parthenon dedicated to the goddess Athena in the Acropoli.


Boundary ropes keep people out of the temple, but you may take pictures outside. Many of the buildings here, managed by an international team of archaeologists, are undergoing restoration using new methods.

Among some of the amazing facts about this marble building are that the columns surrounding it are tapered so that if they were lengthened by 2.5km they would meet to form a pyramid. The columns are spaced unevenly so that they look even from a distance. It was once a colourful building to attract seafaring pilgrims. It was a church during Roman occupation and a mosque during Turkish rule.

A 12m-high gold and ivory statue called Athena Parthenos, once housed in the cella (main room) but looted by the Turks, was unfortunately lost in a fire. A marble replica can be seen in the National Archeological Museum of Athens.

In this fort, whose ruined wall once stretched to the shores of the Saronic Gulf, you will also see the Propylea (the five gates to the heart of the temple) where the great thinker, Plato, held a symposium, and also the Temple of Athena Nike whose friezes depict scenes from the victorious Battle of Marathon (447BC). Across from it is the hill where the apostle Paul (a follower of Jesus) preached Christianity to the Athenians.

Below the fort are even more ruins like the Temple of Olympian Zeus, Hadrian抯 Arch and an agora (ancient marketplace). The Odeum (theatre) of Herod Atticus (a rich benefactor) which seats 5,000 is still in use in summer (July-mid-September) for the Athens Festival where the likes of Pavarotti and Liza Minnelli have performed.

In the distance you will see the Panathenaic Stadium a.k.a. Marble Stadium, where the Olympic Games were held in 1896. It can seat 69,000 spectators and is used as a theatre.

The modern Olympic stadiums are in Marousi (north-east of Athens). After the 2004 Olympics, the stadiums were opened to public for profit. The buildings are earthquake-proof.

In centuries from now, these too will be venerated.




greece ni mcm2 historical building ada.. yg mmg aku nak pi tengok sangat  parthenon kat acropolis....  baca citer2 tentang greek gods and goddesses  mmg syok weyyyyyyy  lagi baca pasai  mount olympus...  zeus, heracles, hera...athena... cisssssss   mmg AWESOME  mcm aku gak ler... tee hee...   anyhoo..... nanti ada lagi citer hal  greece ni aku sambung ajer ler...   nanti...

tingat makan greek salad restoran acropolis masa study dulu... gila babas sedap feta cheese dia mate!!!  

p/s  greece ni pun... kena gempa bumi gak baru ni  tak silap aku kalu....  

amazed

Saturday March 7, 2009
A holiday in ruins

Many temples sit high on the hills because this is where the sky meets the earth and therefore believed to be the holy perch of the gods. To climb the hundreds of steps, you need a good pair of walking shoes and boundless energy.

Delphi, in the Parnassos mountains, is not only a ski resort but also the site of the ruins of the Temple of Apollo, where dwelled the oracle, an aged priestess who predicted the future.

Women were chosen for this role because Greeks believed women represented fertility and reproduction, so naturally they could predict the future.

According to legend, the navel of the earth, omphalos, is also located near here, in the Sacred Precinct. It was pinpointed by two eagles sent out by Zeus to circle the globe and find the centre of the world.

Many treasuries (vaults containing statues, carvings etc, from rich Greek cities) were built in the Sacred Precinct, and its contents are on display in the museum next door.

Amongst the exhibits are the Charioteer, a bronze sculpture with extraordinary detail, the winged Sphinx of the Naxians (a grave ornament from Egypt) and carved friezes.

It was here that we learnt that nakedness to the ancient Greeks represented heroism, which explains male nudity in paintings, carvings etc. This was material for ribald jokes on the bus

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Greece

                           
Flag                                             Coat of arms

[table][tr][td=2,1]Capital
(and largest city)[/td][td]Athens
[url=http://stable.toolserver.org/geohack/geohack.php?pagename=Greece&params=38_00_N_23_43_E_type:country(131,990)]38

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History

Greece was the first area in Europe where advanced early civilizations emerged, beginning with the Minoan civilization in Crete and then the Mycenean civilization on the mainland. Later, city-states emerged across the Greek peninsula and spread to the shores of Black Sea, South Italy and Asia Minor reaching great levels of prosperity that resulted in an unprecedented cultural boom, expressed in architecture, drama, science and philosophy, and nurtured in Athens under a democratic environment. Athens and Sparta led the way in repelling the Persian Empire in a series of battles. Both were later overshadowed by Thebes and eventually Macedon, with the latter under the guidance of Alexander the Great uniting and leading the Greek world to victory over the Persians, to presage the Hellenistic era, itself brought only partially to a close two centuries later with the establishment of Roman rule over Greek lands in 146 BC.
The subsequent mixture of Roman and Hellenic cultures took form in the establishment of the Byzantine Empire in 330 AD around Constantinople, which remained a major cultural and military power for the next 1,123 years, until its fall at the hands of Ottomans in 1453. On the eve of the Ottoman era the Greek intelligentsia migrated to Western Europe, playing a significant role in the Western European Renaissance through the transferring of works of Ancient Greeks to Western Europe.[12] Nevertheless, the Ottoman millet system contributed to the cohesion of the Orthodox Greeks by segregating the various peoples within the Ottoman Empire based on religion, as the latter played an integral role in the formation of modern Greek identity.



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After the Greek War of Independence, successfully fought against the Ottoman Empire from 1821 to 1829, the nascent Greek state was finally recognized under the London Protocol. In 1827, Ioannis Kapodistrias, a noble Greek from the Ionian Islands, was chosen as the first governor of the new Republic. However, following his assassination, the Great Powers soon installed a monarchy under Otto, of the Bavarian House of Wittelsbach. In 1843, an uprising forced the King to grant a constitution and a representative assembly. Due to his unimpaired authoritarian rule, he was eventually dethroned in 1863 and replaced by Prince Vilhelm (William) of Denmark, who took the name George I and brought with him the Ionian Islands as a coronation gift from Britain. In 1877, Charilaos Trikoupis, a dominant figure of the Greek political scene who is attributed with the significant improvement of the country's infrastructure, curbed the power of the monarchy to interfere in the assembly by issuing the rule of vote of confidence to any potential prime minister.
As a result of the Balkan Wars, Greece successfully increased the extent of her territory and population, a challenging context both socially and economically. In the following years, the struggle between King Constantine I and charismatic prime minister Eleftherios Venizelos over the country's foreign policy on the eve of World War I dominated the country's political scene, and divided the country into two opposed groups.
In the aftermath of WW I, Greece fought against Turkish nationalists led by Mustafa Kemal, a war which resulted in a massive population exchange between the two countries under the Treaty of Lausanne. Instability and successive coups d'etat marked the following era, which was overshadowed by the massive task of incorporating 1.5 million Greek refugees from Asia Minor into Greek society. On 28 October 1940 Fascist Italy demanded the surrender of Greece, but Greek dictator Ioannis Metaxas refused and in the following Greco-Italian War, Greece repelled Italian forces into Albania, giving the Allies their first victory over Axis forces on land. The country would eventually fall to urgently dispatched German forces during the Battle of Greece. The German occupiers nevertheless met serious challenges from the Greek Resistance.



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After liberation, Greece experienced a bitter civil war between Royalist and Communist forces, which led to economic devastation and severe social tensions between its Rightists and largely Communist Leftists for the next 30 years.[13] The next 20 years were characterized by marginalisation of the left in the political and social spheres but also by a significant economic growth, propelled in part by the Marshall Plan.

In 1965, a period of political turbulence led to a coup d抏tat on 21 April 1967 by the US-backed Regime of the Colonels. On November 1973 the Athens Polytechnic Uprising sent shock waves across the regime, and a counter-coup established Brigadier Dimitrios Ioannides as dictator. On 20 July 1974, as Turkey invaded the island of Cyprus, the regime collapsed.

Former premier Constantine Karamanlis was invited back from Paris where he had lived in self-exile since 1963, marking the beginning of the Metapolitefsi era. On the 14 August 1974 Greek forces withdrew from the integrated military structure of NATO in protest at the Turkish occupation of northern Cyprus.[3][14] In 1975 a democratic republican constitution was activated and the monarchy abolished by a referendum held that same year. Meanwhile, Andreas Papandreou founded the Panhellenic Socialist Party, or PASOK, in response to Constantine Karamanlis' New Democracy party, with the two political formations dominating Greek political affairs in the ensuing decades. Greece rejoined NATO in 1980.[3] Relations with neighbouring Turkey have improved substantially over the last decade, since successive earthquakes hit both nations in the summer of 1999 (see Greece-Turkey earthquake diplomacy), and today Athens is an active supporter of Turkey's bid for EU membership.

Greece became the tenth member of the European Union on 1 January 1981, and ever since the nation has experienced a remarkable and sustained economic growth. Widespread investments in industrial enterprises and heavy infrastructure, as well as funds from the European Union and growing revenues from tourism, shipping and a fast growing service sector have raised the country's standard of living to unprecedented levels. The country adopted the Euro in 2001 and successfully organised the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.



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[tr][td][/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Terusan Corinth




FAKTA: Greece

• Sebahagian dari Empayar Uthmaniyah yang menguasai negara itu kira-kira 400 tahun sebelum dibebaskan pada 1829
• Dikuasai pemerintahan Jerman dari 1941 hingga 12 Oktober 1944.
• Kemerdekaan sepenuhnya dicapai pada 1975 apabila sistem monarki dihapuskan dan demokrasi mengambil alih corak pemerintahan
• Dikenali sebagai 慴uaian kepada tamadun barat抂*]Melalui peristiwa sejarah yang panjang dan mewarisi pengaruh dari negara di Eropah, Amerika Utara dan Timur Tengah.
• Terletak di Semenanjung Balkan, bersempadan dengan Turki di bahagian timur, Albania, dan bekas Republik Yugoslavia iaitu Macedonia dan Bulgaria di utara
• Di sepanjang pantai timur dan selatannya terdapat Lautan Aegean manakala Laut Ionian di barat.
• Dikenali sebagai tempat kelahiran Sukan Olimpik
• Pelancong boleh merasai suasana di dua dunia berbeza apabila melawat ke stadium baru, tempat berlangsungnya Olimpik 2004 dan melawat Olympia, lokasi asal bermulanya Sukan Olimpik pada 776 Sebelum Masihi (SM)

[/td][/tr]

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Government and politics

Greece is a parliamentary republic.[15] The head of state is the President of the Republic, who is elected by the Parliament for a five-year term.[16] The current Constitution was drawn up and adopted by the Fifth Revisionary Parliament of the Hellenes and entered into force in 1975 after the fall of the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_military_junta_of_1967-1974]military junta of 1967

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Political Parties

Since the restoration of democracy, the Greek two-party system is dominated by the liberal-conservative New Democracy (ND) and the social-democratic Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK).[25] Other significant parties include the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) and the Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS). The current prime minister is Kostas Karamanlis, president of the New Democracy party and nephew of the late Constantine Karamanlis, who won a second term on 16 September 2007, acquiring a slimmer majority in the Parliament with only 152 out of 300 seats.





Eleftherios Venizelos (1864

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Foreign relations

Greece is a member of the European Union since 1981,[8] a member of the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union since 2001, NATO since 1952,[26] the OECD since 1961,[27] the WEU since 1995, a founding member of Black Sea Economic Cooperation and a member of ESA since 2005.[11]

Prominent issues in Greek foreign policy include the enduring dispute over Cyprus and differences with Turkey over the Aegean sea also the dispute over the name of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).

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Geography

Greece consists of a mountainous peninsula mainland jutting out into the sea at the southern end of the Balkans, the Peloponnesus peninsula (separated from the mainland by the canal of the Isthmus of Corinth), and numerous islands (1400, 227 of which are inhabited), including Crete, Euboea, Lesbos, Chios, the Dodecanese and the Cycladic groups of the Aegean Sea as well as the Ionian Sea islands. Greece has the tenth longest coastline in the world with 14,880 km (9,246 mi); its land boundary is 1,160 km (721 mi).

Four fifths of Greece consist of mountains or hills, making the country one of the most mountainous in Europe. Western Greece contains a number of lakes and wetlands and it is dominated by the Pindus mountain range. Pindus has a maximum elevation of 2,636 m (8,648 ft) and it is essentially a prolongation of the Dinaric Alps.



Pontikonisi and Vlaheraina monastery from the island of Corfu.

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The range continues through the western Peloponnese, crosses the islands of Kythera and Antikythera and find its way into southwestern Aegean, in the island of Crete where it eventually ends. The islands of the Aegean are peaks of underwater mountains that once constituted an extension of the mainland. Pindus is characterized by its high, steep peaks, often dissected by numerous canyons and a variety of other karstic landscapes. Most notably, the impressive Meteora formation consisting of high, steep boulders provides a breathtaking experience for the hundreds of thousands of tourists who visit the area each year.
The Vikos-Aoos Gorge is yet another spectacular formation and a popular hotspot for those fond of extreme sports. Mount Olympus, a focal point of Greek culture throughout history is host to the Mytikas peak 2,917 m (9,570 ft), the highest in the country. Once considered the throne of the Gods, it is today extremely popular among hikers and climbers. Moreover, northeastern Greece features yet another high-altitude mountain range, the Rhodope range, spreading across the periphery of East Macedonia and Thrace; this area is covered with vast, thick, ancient forests. The famous Dadia forest is in the prefecture of Evros, in the far northeast of the country.



Mount Olympus: View from Litochoro

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Expansive plains are primarily located in the prefectures of Thessaly, Central Macedonia and Thrace. They constitute key economic regions as they are among the few arable places in the country.Rare marine species such as the Pinniped Seals and the Loggerhead Sea Turtle live in the seas surrounding mainland Greece, while its dense forests are home to the endangered brown bear, the lynx, the Roe Deer and the Wild Goat.

Phytogeographically, Greece belongs to the Boreal Kingdom and is shared between the East Mediterranean province of the Mediterranean Region and the Illyrian province of the Circumboreal Region. According to the World Wide Fund for Nature and the European Environment Agency, the territory of Greece can be subdivided into six ecoregions: the Illyrian deciduous forests, Pindus Mountains mixed forests, Balkan mixed forests, Rodope montane mixed forests, Aegean and Western Turkey sclerophyllous and mixed forests and Crete Mediterranean forests.



View of the Meteora in central Greece

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Climate



The climate of Greece can be categorised into three types (the Mediterranean, the Alpine and the Temperate) that influence well-defined regions of its territory. The Pindus mountain range strongly affects the climate of the country by making the western side of it (areas prone to the south-westerlies) wetter on average than the areas lying to the east of it (lee side of the mountains). The Mediterranean type of climate features mild, wet winters and hot, dry summers. The Cyclades, the Dodecanese, Crete, Eastern Peloponessus and parts of the Sterea Ellada region are mostly affected by this particular type of climate. Temperatures rarely reach extreme values along the coasts, although, with Greece being a highly mountainous country, snowfalls occur frequently in winter. It sometimes snows even in the Cyclades or the Dodecanese.

The Alpine type is dominant mainly in the mountainous areas of Northwestern Greece (Epirus, Central Greece, Thessaly, Western Macedonia) as well as in the central parts of Peloponnese, including the prefectures of Achaia, Arcadia and parts of Laconia, where extensions of the Pindus mountain range pass by). Finally, the Temperate type affects Central Macedonia and East Macedonia and Thrace; it features cold, damp winters and hot, dry summers. Athens is located in a transitional area featuring both the Mediterranean and the Temperate types. The city's northern suburbs are dominated by the temperate type while the downtown area and the southern suburbs enjoy a typical Mediterranean type.



View of the Myconos windmills during summer.

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Economy

After World War II, Greece experienced the "Greek economic miracle"; GDP growth averaged 7% between 1950 and 1973. Since then Greece has implemented of a number of structural and fiscal reforms while receiving considerable European Union funding. In 2001, Greece joined the Economic and Monetary Union. Annual growth of Greek GDP has surpassed the respective levels of most of its EU partners.[28] Today, the service industry makes up the largest, most vital and fastest-growing sector of the Greek economy, followed by industry and agriculture.[29] The tourism industry is a major source of foreign exchange earnings and revenue accounting for 15% of Greece抯 total GDP[29] and employing ,directly or indirectly, 16.5% of the total workforce.



View of Oia at the holiday island of Santorini.
Greece is a leading investor in all of her Balkan neighbors with the National Bank of Greece in 2006 acquiring the 46% of Turkish Finansbank and 99.44% of Serbia's Vojvođanska Bank.The manufacturing sector accounts for about 13% of GDP with the food industry leading in growth, profit and export potential. The public sector accounts for about 40% of GDP, with the government however taking measures to decrease it further. High-technology equipment production, especially for telecommunications, is also a fast-growing sector. Other important areas include textiles, building materials, machinery, transport equipment, and electrical appliances. At 10% of GDP, construction is one of the main pillars of the economy, with the sector experiencing a boom due to the Athens Olympics of 2004. Agriculture, at 7%, is the final important sector of Greek economic activity. The Greek labor force totals 4.9 million, and it is the second most industrious between OECD countries, after South Korea.[30] The Groningen Growth & Development Centre has published a poll revealing that between 1995 - 2005, Greece was the country with the largest work/hour ratio among European nations; Greeks worked an average of 1,900 hours per year, followed by the Spanish (average of 1,800 hours/year).[31] In 2007, the average worker made around 20 dollars, similar to Spain and slightly more than half of average U.S. hourly income. Immigrants make up nearly one-fifth of the work force, occupied mainly in agricultural and construction work.
Greece's purchasing power-adjusted GDP per capita is the world's 28th highest. According to the International Monetary Fund it has an estimated average per capita income of $30,661 for the year 2008,[32] comparable to that of Germany, France or Italy and approximately equal to the EU average. Greece ranks 18th in the 2006 HDI,[33] 22nd on The Economist's 2005 world-wide quality-of-life index.[34] According to a survey by the Economist, the cost of living in Athens is close to 90% of the costs in New York; in rural regions it is lower

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Maritime industry

The shipping industry is a key element of Greek economic activity dating back to ancient times. Today, shipping is one of the country's most important industries. It accounts for 4.5% of GDP, employs about 160,000 people (4% of the workforce), and represents 1/3 of the country's trade deficit.
During the 1960s, the size of the Greek fleet nearly doubled, primarily through the investment undertaken by the shipping magnates Onassis and Niarchos.The basis of the modern Greek maritime industry was formed after World War II when Greek shipping businessmen were able to amass surplus ships sold to them by the United States Government through the Ship Sales Act of the 1940s. According to the BTS, the Greek-owned maritime fleet is today the largest in the world, with 3,079 vessels accounting for 18% of the world's fleet capacity (making it the largest of any other country) with a total dwt of 141,931 thousand (142 million dwt). In terms of ship categories, Greece ranks first in both tankers and dry bulk carriers, fourth in the number of containers, and fourth in other ships.However, today's fleet roster is smaller than an all-time high of 5,000 ships in the late 70's.



Aerial view of the central districts of Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest city and a major economic and industrial center.

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Science and technology

Because of its strategic location, qualified workforce and political and economic stability, many multinational companies such as Ericsson, Siemens, SAP, Motorola and Coca-Cola have their regional R&D Headquarters in Greece.

The General Secretariat for Research and Technology of the Hellenic Ministry of Development is responsible for designing, implementing and supervising national research and technological policy.

In 2003, public spending on R&D was 456.37 million euros (12.6% increase from 2002). Total research and development (R&D) spending (both public and private) as a percentage of GDP has increased considerably since the beginning of the past decade, from 0.38% in 1989, to 0.65% in 2001. R&D spending in Greece remains lower than the EU average of 1.93%, but, according to Research DC, based on OECD and Eurostat data, between 1990 and 1998, total R&D expenditure in Greece enjoyed the third highest increase in Europe, after Finland and Ireland.

Greece's technology parks with incubator facilities include the Science and Technology Park of Crete (Heraklion), the Thessaloniki Technology Park,the Lavrio Technology Park and the Patras Science Park.Greece has been a member of the European Space Agency (ESA) since 2005.[11] Cooperation between ESA and the Hellenic National Space Committee began in the early 1990s. In 1994, Greece and ESA signed their first cooperation agreement. Having formally applied for full membership in 2003, Greece became ESA's sixteenth member on 16 March 2005. As member of the ESA, Greece participates in the agency's telecommunication and technology activities, and the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security Initiative.

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Tourism

An important percentage of Greece's income comes from tourism. In 2004 Greece welcomed 16.5 million tourists. According to a survey conducted in China in 2005, Greece was voted as the Chinese people's number one choice as a tourist destination,[39] and 6,088,287 tourists visited only the city of Athens, the capital city. In November 2006, Austria, like China, announced that Greece was the favourite destination.[40] In 2007, Greece welcomed more than 19 million tourists, and climbed to the top ten tourist destinations worldwide. The island of Rhodes was announced the best European tourist destination. Other famous tourist hotspots include the capital Athens, the northern Chalkidiki peninsula, the Ionian island of Corfu and the island resorts of Myconos, Santorini, Paros and Crete.



View of section of the harbour of the City of Rhodes.

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International relations

Greece is a major participant in most large scale international bodies, with the geographic significance of the region proving advantageous for diplomatic, trade and political crossroads.

BIS, BSEC, CCC, CE, EAPC, EBRD, ECA (associate), ECE, ECLAC, EIB, EMU, EU, FAO, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, International Maritime Organization, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, NATO, OECD, OSCE, UN, UN Security Council, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, WEU,WHO, WIPO, WMO.

Most recently, Greece was elected by the United Nations General Assembly to the United Nations Security Council, on 15 October 2004, as a non-permanent member for 2005 and 2006.

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Numismatics

In Greece, the euro was introduced in 2002. As a preparation for this date, the minting of the new euro coins started as early as 2001, however all Greek euro coins introduced in 2002 have this year on it; unlike other countries of the Eurozone where mint year is minted in the coin. Eight different designs, one per face value, was selected for the Greek coins. In 2007, in order to adopt the new common map like the rest of the Eurozone countries, Greece changed the common side of their coins. Before adopting the Euro in 2002 Greece had maintained use of the Greek drachma from 1832.
Greece has one of the richest collection of collectors' coins in the Eurozone, with face value ranging from 10 to 200 euro, mainly issued to commemorate the 2004 Summer Olympics. These coins are a legacy of an old national practice of minting of silver and gold commemorative coins. Unlike normal issues, these coins are not legal tender in all the eurozone. For instance, a