Greece is a country in southeastern Europe made up of thousands of islands spread across the Aegean and Ionian Seas. Greece has the longest coastline in the Mediterranean basin and the eleventh longest coastline in the world, with a length of 13,676 km (8,498 mi), with a large number of islands, of which 227 are inhabited. Greece is full of many islands, including Santorini, Mykonos, Rhodes and many others. Although known for its highly developed tourism and stunning landscapes, Greece offers a rich history dating back from the Stone and Bronze Ages to the 20th century, captivating social and political events, and interesting literature. Shown through architecture and landscapes, Greece contains a vast history that many are familiar with today. The island of Santorini, or Thira, was one of the main outposts of Crete. We know much of this civilization from the ruins of Akrotiri as well as the ruined palaces of Knossos and around Crete. These are believed to have been destroyed by the eruption of the Santorini volcano around 1600 BC, which created a huge tidal wave. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Some believe that it was this wave that destroyed the Minoan civilization, however, technological advances, such as carbon dating, show that the Minoan civilization did not collapse until around 1450 BC , one hundred and fifty years after the eruption of Thera. So while the calamity may have led to a decline in the Minoans' fortunes (there was certainly a lot of damage and they lost a trading partner), it was not what destroyed them. In Crete, people from Anatolia arrived on the island around 6,500 BC and settled in the area around Knossos. These people were mostly farmers and lived in small communities. This changed between 2400 and 1500 BC, when the Minoan civilization, named after the legendary King Minos, flourished. Life in Bronze Age Crete revolved around a series of palaces, scattered throughout the island, unlike anything that preceded it in Greece in design and complexity. During the same period, another Minoan group, known as the Achaean or Mycenaean civilization, was centered in the Peloponnesos Argolis. During the Bronze Age, between 2100 and 1900, this area was invaded by peoples from the East who introduced an advanced culture to the primitive local population who had been there since the Neolithic period. These ancient Hellenes had fortresses as far west as Pylos and as far north as Iolcus in Thessaly. Mycenaean princes used the Linear B script to track their possessions and businesses throughout the Mediterranean. The walls of their fortress were made of stones so large that it was difficult to imagine a mortal lifting them and so they were nicknamed Cyclopean walls, after the race of one-eyed giants from Homer's Odyssey. the Mycenaeans and Minoans were probably economic competitors in the Mediterranean. It was the Hellenic people of this era that the Achaean heroes of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey were born. The Iliad is the epic poem about the kidnapping by Paris, a Trojan prince, of Helen, wife of King Menelaus of Sparta, and about the alliance of Greeks, led by King Agamemnon who visited the city of Troy (Illium) in Asia Minor and fought for 10 years, ultimately destroying the city, just to get it back. The Odyssey is the story of King Odysseus of the island of Ithaca and his journey home after the war. For many years these stories were considered a myth, but in 1870 Henrich Schliemann discovered the.'.