Greece: The Ancient Land with a Modern Fight for Freedom

I grew up reading the Greek myths and stories of the gods to my children, but my knowledge of Greece didn’t travel much further than that. Of course, I knew that our own founding fathers studied Greek and Roman history to help shape American democracy but that’s where my understanding began and ended.

What struck me on this journey is that Greece, for all its ancient heritage, is actually a young country in modern terms. It won its independence only in the 1800s, after a long and brutal revolt against the Ottoman Empire, which had dominated Greece for over 400 years.

It was during this struggle for freedom that the Greek flag was born. First raised in 1822 at the First National Assembly of Epidaurus, its design carried deep meaning:

• The blue and white colors represented the sea and sky of Greece, paired with purity and faith.
• The white cross in the corner proclaimed the Orthodox faith that bound the people together during centuries of foreign rule.

Flying this flag was a bold act of defiance against Ottoman power, and it became the unifying symbol of a people reclaiming their identity and destiny.

So while Greece is celebrated for its ancient ruins and timeless myths, its modern story, like its flag,  is one of resilience, faith, and the hard-won fight for freedom just two centuries ago.