Greece is a country in southeastern Europe with thousands of islands in the Aegean and Ionian seas. Greece has the longest coastline in the Mediterranean basin and the 11th longest coastline in the world at 13,676 km (8,498 mi) in length, with a large number of islands, of which 227 are inhabited. Greece is filled with many islands including Santorini, Mykonos, Rhodes and many more. Although known for its highly developed tourism and beautiful 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 holds a vast history that many know today. The island of Santorini, or Thira, was one of Crete's main outposts. We know much of this civilization from the ruins of Akrotiri and the ruined palaces of Knossos and around Crete. These were supposedly destroyed by the eruption of the Santorini volcano around 1600 BC which created a huge tsunami. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an 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 Thira eruption. 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), this was not what destroyed them. In Crete, people from Anatolia arrived on the island around 6500 BC and settled in the area around Knossos. These people were mostly farmers and lived in small communities. This changed between about 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 across the island, whose design and complexity are unlike anything that preceded it in Greece. During the same time period as the Minoans another group known as the Achaean or Mycenaean Civilization was based in the Argolis of the Peloponnese. During the Bronze Age, between 2100 and 1900, this area was invaded by people from the east who introduced an advanced culture to the primitive local populations who had lived there since the Neolithic. These ancient Hellenes had fortresses as far as Pylos in the west and as far as Iolcus in Thessaly in the north. Mycenaean princes used the Linear B script to keep track of possessions and their exploits throughout the Mediterranean. The walls of their fortresses were made of stones so large that it was difficult to imagine a mortal man lifting them and they were therefore nicknamed Cyclopean walls, named after the race of one-eyed giants in Homer's Odyssey. the Mycenaeans and Minoans were probably economic competitors in the Mediterranean. It was the Hellenic people of this period who constituted the Achaean heroes of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. The Iliad is the epic poem about the kidnapping of Helen, wife of King Menelaus of Sparta, by Paris, the Trojan prince, and the alliance of the Greeks, led by King Agamemnon, who went to the city of Troy (Illium) in Asia Minor and fought for 10 years, finally destroying the city, only to regain it. The Odyssey is the story of King Odysseus of the island of Ithaca and his journey home from war. For many years these stories were thought to be a myth, but in 1870 Henrich Schliemann found the ruins of the ancient city and evidence of its destruction during the period in which Homer's epic would have taken place. Greek literature is very well known throughout the world. Among the earliest Greek literary works are the epic poems of Homer,.'.