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89-542: The Old Fortress of Corfu ( Greek : Παλαιό Φρούριο , Venetian : Fortezza Vecchia ) is a Venetian fortress in the city of Corfu . The fortress covers the promontory which initially contained the old town of Corfu that had emerged during Byzantine times. Before the Venetian era the promontory, which lies between the Gulf of Kerkyra to the north and Garitsa Bay to the south, was defended by Byzantine fortifications which

178-577: A Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the world's oldest recorded living language . Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now-extinct Anatolian languages . The Greek language is conventionally divided into the following periods: In the modern era, the Greek language entered

267-577: A basis for coinages: anthropology , photography , telephony , isomer , biomechanics , cinematography , etc. Together with Latin words , they form the foundation of international scientific and technical vocabulary ; for example, all words ending in -logy ('discourse'). There are many English words of Greek origin . Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European language family. The ancient language most closely related to it may be ancient Macedonian , which, by most accounts,

356-508: A faster, more convenient cursive writing style with the use of ink and quill . The Greek alphabet consists of 24 letters, each with an uppercase ( majuscule ) and lowercase ( minuscule ) form. The letter sigma has an additional lowercase form (ς) used in the final position of a word: In addition to the letters, the Greek alphabet features a number of diacritical signs : three different accent marks ( acute , grave , and circumflex ), originally denoting different shapes of pitch accent on

445-689: A group of 20 Muslim families petitioned for their planned exchange to be annulled. This small group was eventually allowed to remain in Parga via mediation by the League of Nations which made their status "non-exchangeable". During the Axis Occupation of Greece , in August 1943, Parga was targeted by the German anti-guerilla operation named 'Augustus'. The Wehrmacht units were actively assisted by units of

534-590: A lesser extent, in the Western Mediterranean in and around colonies such as Massalia , Monoikos , and Mainake . It was also used as the official language of government and religion in the Christian Nubian kingdoms , for most of their history. Greek, in its modern form, is the official language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population. It is also the official language of Cyprus (nominally alongside Turkish ) and

623-400: A limited but productive system of compounding and a rich inflectional system. Although its morphological categories have been fairly stable over time, morphological changes are present throughout, particularly in the nominal and verbal systems. The major change in the nominal morphology since the classical stage was the disuse of the dative case (its functions being largely taken over by

712-459: A mixed syllable structure, permitting complex syllabic onsets but very restricted codas. It has only oral vowels and a fairly stable set of consonantal contrasts . The main phonological changes occurred during the Hellenistic and Roman period (see Koine Greek phonology for details): In all its stages, the morphology of Greek shows an extensive set of productive derivational affixes ,

801-656: A part of the inhabitants in of the municipality which includes a much broader area than the immediate vicinity of Parga itself. In the settlements of the Fanari plain, Albanian is still spoken by a few people, while in some settlements like Anthousa and Kanallaki , the closest existing variants of Souliotic Albanian are still spoken by a few people in modern times. Various cultural and educational foundations in Parga were erected due to bequests by prominent locals, such as Athanasios Deskas. The modern town in general preserves its traditional architectural features. The Castle

890-548: A result of protests, a Mixed Commission under the League of Nations with representatives from Greece and Albania was formed. On February 2, 1926, Qenan Mesare, the Albanian representative protested against the forced relocations to Turkey from the region of Chameria , the worsening of the living conditions for the Cham community and specifically referred to the village of Parga, where the majority were transferred to Turkey. In 1927,

979-460: A state of diglossia : the coexistence of vernacular and archaizing written forms of the language. What came to be known as the Greek language question was a polarization between two competing varieties of Modern Greek: Dimotiki , the vernacular form of Modern Greek proper, and Katharevousa , meaning 'purified', a compromise between Dimotiki and Ancient Greek developed in the early 19th century that

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1068-682: Is closer to the town, was fortified by the Byzantines around the 12th century AD and was called Castel a Terra or "Castle near the Land" by the Venetians, who also called it Castel Nuovo or "New Castle". The eastern peak was called Castel a Mare (Castel by the Sea) or Castel Vecchio (Old Castle) by the Venetians and was also used as powder magazine for a time. Following the Gothic invasion and until

1157-471: Is found on the top of a hill overlooking the town and was used to protect the town from invasions from the mainland and the sea. It was initially built in the 11th century by the residents of Parga to protect their town from pirates and the Ottomans. In the 13th century, as their control of the region increased, the Venetians rebuilt the castle to fortify the area. In 1452, Parga and the castle were occupied by

1246-409: Is linked with direct suburban buses ( KTEL ) to other Greek cities and towns such as Igoumenitsa and Preveza . There are also indirect connections with Athens , Thessaloniki and Ioannina Tourists arriving in Parga fly in from Aktio (65 km) with seasonal direct flights connecting Parga with Athens, Thessaloniki and other domestic and international destinations. Tourists also arrive via

1335-442: Is situated across the bay. Lichnos Beach, one of the beaches of Parga, is located in western Greece 3 km from Parga and Spread in the area of 2 hectares. Agios Sostis is a small beach on the northwest side of Anthoussa village. A small church, built in the 14th century, stands nearby. Sarakiniko is a well-known beach, located on the west side of Agia village, near a small river and olive trees, approximately 12 km from

1424-834: Is sometimes called aljamiado , as when Romance languages are written in the Arabic alphabet. Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Greek: Transcription of the example text into Latin alphabet : Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in English: Proto-Greek Mycenaean Ancient Koine Medieval Modern Parga The present municipality of Parga

1513-763: Is still used internationally for the writing of Ancient Greek . In Greek, the question mark is written as the English semicolon, while the functions of the colon and semicolon are performed by a raised point (•), known as the ano teleia ( άνω τελεία ). In Greek the comma also functions as a silent letter in a handful of Greek words, principally distinguishing ό,τι ( ó,ti , 'whatever') from ότι ( óti , 'that'). Ancient Greek texts often used scriptio continua ('continuous writing'), which means that ancient authors and scribes would write word after word with no spaces or punctuation between words to differentiate or mark boundaries. Boustrophedon , or bi-directional text,

1602-576: Is to modern spoken English ". Greek is spoken today by at least 13 million people, principally in Greece and Cyprus along with a sizable Greek-speaking minority in Albania near the Greek-Albanian border. A significant percentage of Albania's population has knowledge of the Greek language due in part to the Albanian wave of immigration to Greece in the 1980s and '90s and the Greek community in

1691-640: The Birkenau extermination camp via rail. Out of those who were forced to leave Corfu, 120 eventually returned. The Fortress houses the Public library of Corfu which is located in the old British barracks. The fortress grounds are also used for various types of art and culture exhibits. The Hellenic Music Research Lab of the Ionian University is also located at the Old Fortress. The Fortress

1780-562: The British Overseas Territory of Akrotiri and Dhekelia (alongside English ). Because of the membership of Greece and Cyprus in the European Union, Greek is one of the organization's 24 official languages . Greek is recognized as a minority language in Albania, and used co-officially in some of its municipalities, in the districts of Gjirokastër and Sarandë . It is also an official minority language in

1869-726: The Byzantine Empire . During the Epirote rebellion of 1338/39 against the Byzantine emperor Andronikos III Palaiologos , Parga remained loyal to the emperor. The town came under the control of Albanian ruler Gjin Bua Shpata of Arta in the 1390s. Vonko , who was also vassal of the Venetians in Fanari , was the governor Parga at this time. After Shpata's death, he tried to carve his own fiefdom in 1400. The townspeople considered his rule tyrannical, overthrew him and asked

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1958-657: The European canon . Greek is also the language in which many of the foundational texts in science and philosophy were originally composed. The New Testament of the Christian Bible was also originally written in Greek. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world , the Greek texts and Greek societies of antiquity constitute the objects of study of the discipline of Classics . During antiquity , Greek

2047-516: The Indo-Iranian languages (see Graeco-Aryan ), but little definitive evidence has been found. In addition, Albanian has also been considered somewhat related to Greek and Armenian, and it has been proposed that they all form a higher-order subgroup along with other extinct languages of the ancient Balkans; this higher-order subgroup is usually termed Palaeo-Balkan , and Greek has a central position in it. Linear B , attested as early as

2136-780: The United Kingdom , and throughout the European Union , especially in Germany . Historically, significant Greek-speaking communities and regions were found throughout the Eastern Mediterranean , in what are today Southern Italy , Turkey , Cyprus , Syria , Lebanon , Israel , Palestine , Egypt , and Libya ; in the area of the Black Sea , in what are today Turkey, Bulgaria , Romania , Ukraine , Russia , Georgia , Armenia , and Azerbaijan ; and, to

2225-468: The genitive ). The verbal system has lost the infinitive , the synthetically -formed future, and perfect tenses and the optative mood . Many have been replaced by periphrastic ( analytical ) forms. Pronouns show distinctions in person (1st, 2nd, and 3rd), number (singular, dual , and plural in the ancient language; singular and plural alone in later stages), and gender (masculine, feminine, and neuter), and decline for case (from six cases in

2314-538: The great siege of 1537 , the siege of 1571 and the second great siege of Corfu in 1716 . The town of Corfu got its Western name from the twin peaks of the fortress ("Coryphe" in Greek). The earliest indication of fortifications on the site presently occupied by the Old Fortress dates from around the 6th century AD, after the destruction of the ancient city of Corcyra by the Ostrogoths . The Gothic invasion forced

2403-536: The inutili (useless) by the Venetians, were turned away and left outside the fort to die or be enslaved. The rejection of the people at the gates angered the Corfiots who lost faith in the effectiveness of Venice's defensive plans. The Corfu fortress was successfully defended by its garrison, as was Angelokastro. As it was retreating from Corfu, the Ottoman army devastated the undefended areas of both Corfu city and

2492-417: The syntax of Greek have remained constant: verbs agree with their subject only, the use of the surviving cases is largely intact (nominative for subjects and predicates, accusative for objects of most verbs and many prepositions, genitive for possessors), articles precede nouns, adpositions are largely prepositional, relative clauses follow the noun they modify and relative pronouns are clause-initial. However,

2581-502: The 13th century, the medieval town of Corfu developed within the boundaries of the peninsula which today is occupied by the Old Fortress. In the early 15th century the Venetians started replacing the old Byzantine fortifications. Following the first siege of Corfu by the Ottomans in 1537, the Venetian governor ordered the construction of new defensive zones incorporating new bastions and towers which exist to this day. Venetian military engineers Savorgnan and Martinengo designed bastions for

2670-399: The 16th century, Parga was part of the Venetian holdings in coastal Epirus. In 1570, anti-Ottoman rebels commanded by Emmanuel Mormoris that temporarily managed to overthrow Ottoman rule from the coastal regions of Epirus used Parga as a base of operations. Venetian-controlled Parga was in this period in frequent property-related conflict with neighboring, Ottoman-controlled Margariti and

2759-566: The 20th century on), especially from French and English, are typically not inflected; other modern borrowings are derived from Albanian , South Slavic ( Macedonian / Bulgarian ) and Eastern Romance languages ( Aromanian and Megleno-Romanian ). Greek words have been widely borrowed into other languages, including English. Example words include: mathematics , physics , astronomy , democracy , philosophy , athletics , theatre, rhetoric , baptism , evangelist , etc. Moreover, Greek words and word elements continue to be productive as

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2848-632: The Corcyreans to seek shelter inside fortifications on the peninsula at the tip of the city. Following a hiatus where no political or military developments in the citadel are known between the 7th-10th centuries AD, the first report of renewed fortifications occurs in early 11th century when Anna Komnene refers to it as the "very strongly fortified city of Corfu" in her book the Alexiad . The citadel features two peaks which were fortified by strong towers for centuries. The western and higher peak, which

2937-477: The Corfu city castle stood firm, the rest of Corfu was destroyed and the defenseless civilian population outside the castles suffered heavy casualties. Homes, churches and public buildings were burned in the city suburbs. In 1716, during the last Ottoman–Venetian War , the Ottomans made plans to attack Corfu again. In anticipation of the attack, Venice appointed Count Johann Matthias von der Schulenburg in charge of

3026-544: The Greek alphabet since approximately the 9th century BC. It was created by modifying the Phoenician alphabet , with the innovation of adopting certain letters to represent the vowels. The variant of the alphabet in use today is essentially the late Ionic variant, introduced for writing classical Attic in 403 BC. In classical Greek, as in classical Latin, only upper-case letters existed. The lower-case Greek letters were developed much later by medieval scribes to permit

3115-549: The Greek language was the Cypriot syllabary (also a descendant of Linear A via the intermediate Cypro-Minoan syllabary ), which is closely related to Linear B but uses somewhat different syllabic conventions to represent phoneme sequences. The Cypriot syllabary is attested in Cyprus from the 11th century BC until its gradual abandonment in the late Classical period, in favor of the standard Greek alphabet. Greek has been written in

3204-593: The Indo-European language family. It is native to Greece , Cyprus , Italy (in Calabria and Salento ), southern Albania , and other regions of the Balkans , Caucasus , the Black Sea coast, Asia Minor , and the Eastern Mediterranean . It has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning at least 3,400 years of written records. Its writing system is the Greek alphabet , which has been used for approximately 2,800 years; previously, Greek

3293-634: The Italian army and armed Cham Albanian groups under Nuri Dino, Mazar Dino and Abdul Qasim resulting in several Greek settlements to being burnt to the ground and the murder of civilian Greek population. On August 10, 1943, the National Republican Greek League (EDES) and the Cham Balli Kombëtar (BK) held a meeting in Parga, attended by representatives of the two organizations including Mazar Dino. EDES asked for

3382-568: The Muslim community were saved by units of EDES. In general violent incidents in Summer-Autumn 1944 were quite limited and the civilian Muslim community was not found in danger. During the conflicts that resulted in the German retreat, the Axis troops around Parga had the armed support of Cham units. At the end of the war, the remaining Muslim Chams fled to Albania. Albanian is still spoken by

3471-584: The Ottomans for two years; part of the castle was demolished at that time. In 1537, Ottoman admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa burned and destroyed the fortress and the houses within. Before the reconstruction of the castle in 1572 by the Venetians, the Turks demolished it once again. The Venetians rebuilt it for the third and last time creating a stronger fortress that stayed impregnable until 1819, despite attacks, especially by Ali Pasha of Ioannina . Provisions for

3560-474: The Venetians for protection. The town passed under Venetian control in 1401, and was administered as a mainland exclave of the Venetian possession of Corfu , under a castellan. Ottoman raids were particularly heavy in the mid 15th century, as the senate gave the citizens of the town a 10-year tax exemption in 1454. A Romaniote Jewish community was recorded in 1496 in Venetian Parga. Throughout

3649-648: The Venetians largely replaced with fortifications of their own design. As part of their defensive plans the Venetians separated the promontory from the rest of the city of Corfu by creating the Contrafossa , a moat which is a sea channel connecting the Gulf of Kerkyra to the North with the Bay of Garitsa to the South, converting the citadel into an artificial island. The fort successfully repulsed all three major Ottoman sieges:

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3738-404: The acute during the late 20th century, and it has only been retained in typography . After the writing reform of 1982, most diacritics are no longer used. Since then, Greek has been written mostly in the simplified monotonic orthography (or monotonic system), which employs only the acute accent and the diaeresis. The traditional system, now called the polytonic orthography (or polytonic system),

3827-572: The area around Parga itself. In the 17th century, their relations worsened and Parga was a frequent target of attacks by the beys of Margariti, in particular in 1640-42. During these two years, the representative ( bailo ) of Venice in the Ottoman court submitted an official note of protest for the attacks of Margariti against Venetian Parga. During Ottoman rule in Epirus, the inhabitants of Parga displayed continuous support for Greek revolutionary activities. Apart from brief periods of Ottoman possession,

3916-479: The arrival of Proto-Greeks, some documented in Mycenaean texts ; they include a large number of Greek toponyms . The form and meaning of many words have changed. Loanwords (words of foreign origin) have entered the language, mainly from Latin, Venetian , and Turkish . During the older periods of Greek, loanwords into Greek acquired Greek inflections, thus leaving only a foreign root word. Modern borrowings (from

4005-698: The castle including the palace of the Captain General of the fortress, and many city buildings. The Venetian commander of the fortress, Captain Andrea Pisani, brother of the Doge of Venice Alvise Giovanni Mocenigo , was killed along with members of his staff. Hundreds of others died in the explosion, in "one of the greatest catastrophes" in the history of Corfu. Schulenburg rebuilt the Old Fortress and constructed two new forts on Avrami and Sarocco hills by 1721. These were eventually demolished when Corfu

4094-488: The castle of Parga. Because of its clear waters and proximity to the town it attracts many tourists. Kastro Point, which is located in the same beach, is popular among surfers due to its excellent surfing conditions. However, the level of skill required is high and the spot is best suited to more advanced surfers. Krioneri Beach, the main beach of Parga, lies a short distance from the town centre. The small island of Virgin Mary

4183-592: The castle were transported via two bays at Valtos and Pogonia. When Parga was sold to the Ottomans , Ali Pasha made structural additions to the castle, including a Turkish bath and his harem quarters which he built at the top of the fortress. On the arched gate at the wall of the castle entrance, the winged lion of Agios Markos is visible. Other entrance details include, the name “ANTONIO BERVASS 1764”, emblems of Ali Pasha, two-headed eagles and related inscriptions. The city of Parga, built amphitheatrically, stands between

4272-662: The citadel was by a drawbridge , which in modern times has been replaced by a permanent one. The fort successfully repulsed all three major Ottoman sieges: the great siege of 1537, the siege of 1571 and the second great siege of Corfu in 1716. In 1537, during the Third Ottoman–Venetian War , Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent dispatched a force of 25,000 men under the command of admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa to attack Corfu. The Ottomans landed at Govino Bay, present day Gouvia, and proceeded toward Corfu town, destroying

4361-410: The citadel. After fierce fighting with the Ottomans during which Schulenburg and the local Corfiote garrison distinguished themselves in battle, the Ottomans finally abandoned their plans of capturing the castle and departed Corfu on 19 August 1716 after a siege which lasted seven weeks. In the aftermath of the siege, the Venetians under Count Schulenburg developed plans to expand the fortifications of

4450-504: The city and a decision was taken to construct new forts atop the Avrami and Sarocco hills to prevent any future bombardment against the old fort. They also built an arsenal at Gouvia to service and repair their fleet. In 1718 lightning struck the powder magazine at Castel da Mare causing an explosion which created a chain reaction during which three secondary ammunition facilities also exploded, this in turn destroying most buildings inside

4539-796: The country. Prior to the Greco-Turkish War and the resulting population exchange in 1923 a very large population of Greek-speakers also existed in Turkey , though very few remain today. A small Greek-speaking community is also found in Bulgaria near the Greek-Bulgarian border. Greek is also spoken worldwide by the sizable Greek diaspora which has notable communities in the United States , Australia , Canada , South Africa , Chile , Brazil , Argentina , Russia , Ukraine ,

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4628-441: The dative led to a rise of prepositional indirect objects (and the use of the genitive to directly mark these as well). Ancient Greek tended to be verb-final, but neutral word order in the modern language is VSO or SVO. Modern Greek inherits most of its vocabulary from Ancient Greek, which in turn is an Indo-European language, but also includes a number of borrowings from the languages of the populations that inhabited Greece before

4717-461: The defence of the fort. In preparation for the Turkish siege, Schulenburg further strengthened the defences of the Old Fortress. On 6 July 1716 Kara Mustafa Pasha brought the Ottoman fleet to Corfu to lay siege to the fort. The Ottomans upon landing in Corfu established themselves in strategic positions and installed artillery situated on the nearby hills of Avrami and Sarocco and started bombarding

4806-734: The disarmament of the Cham units and for their activity to pass under EDES command. These demands were met with refusal by the Cham BK. After orders by the British Allied Command the EDES undertook operations around the coast of Parga. Control of the region was vital for logistical reasons. On 28 June 1944, EDES took the village and killed 52 Cham Albanians. The following month the left wing National Liberation Front (EAM) arrested 40 local Muslims and executed them. The remaining members of

4895-528: The earliest forms attested to four in the modern language). Nouns, articles, and adjectives show all the distinctions except for a person. Both attributive and predicative adjectives agree with the noun. The inflectional categories of the Greek verb have likewise remained largely the same over the course of the language's history but with significant changes in the number of distinctions within each category and their morphological expression. Greek verbs have synthetic inflectional forms for: Many aspects of

4984-412: The extent that one can speak of a new language emerging. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than a foreign language. It is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, " Homeric Greek is probably closer to Demotic than 12-century Middle English

5073-530: The following siege against Parga. In 1815, with the fortunes of the French failing, the citizens of Parga revolted against French rule and sought the protection of the British. In 1819, the British ceded control the city to Ali Pasha of Ioannina (the subject of Francesco Hayez 's later painting The Refugees of Parga ) in exchange for a monetary settlement, and it later passed to full Ottoman rule. This decision

5162-429: The fortress between 1545 and 1555, which are considered masterpieces of military engineering . As part of their defensive plans for the peninsula of the citadel, and to secure its perimeter, the Venetians created the Contrafossa , a moat which transformed the citadel into an artificial island. The moat exists to this day and is still known to the locals under its Italian name. Since the creation of Contrafossa, access to

5251-421: The island. In total about 20,000 people who were unable to find shelter in either castle were killed or carried off as slaves. In August 1571, the Ottomans made another attempt at conquering Corfu. Having seized Parga and Mourtos on the Greek mainland, they attacked the Paxoi islands, landing a force there. An Ottoman force, on its way to the city, first occupied and destroyed the village of Potamos. Although

5340-449: The language show both conservative and innovative tendencies across the entire attestation of the language from the ancient to the modern period. The division into conventional periods is, as with all such periodizations, relatively arbitrary, especially because, in all periods, Ancient Greek has enjoyed high prestige, and the literate borrowed heavily from it. Across its history, the syllabic structure of Greek has varied little: Greek shows

5429-414: The late 15th century BC, was the first script used to write Greek. It is basically a syllabary , which was finally deciphered by Michael Ventris and John Chadwick in the 1950s (its precursor, Linear A , has not been deciphered and most likely encodes a non-Greek language). The language of the Linear B texts, Mycenaean Greek , is the earliest known form of Greek. Another similar system used to write

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5518-415: The locals of the village who according to Venetian reports harassed Parga on a daily basis. Relations between the two factions oscillated depending on political interests. The General Commander of the Venetian Fleet, Sebastiano Vernier (d. 1578) preferred a cautious policy of conflict resolution with the inhabitants of Margariti , as well as friendly relations with the Albanians loyal to Venice who controlled

5607-400: The many other countries of the Greek diaspora . Greek roots have been widely used for centuries and continue to be widely used to coin new words in other languages; Greek and Latin are the predominant sources of international scientific vocabulary . Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around the 3rd millennium BC, or possibly earlier. The earliest written evidence is

5696-465: The morphological changes also have their counterparts in the syntax, and there are also significant differences between the syntax of the ancient and that of the modern form of the language . Ancient Greek made great use of participial constructions and of constructions involving the infinitive, and the modern variety lacks the infinitive entirely (employing a raft of new periphrastic constructions instead) and uses participles more restrictively. The loss of

5785-400: The mountainous coastal region of Preveza and Igoumenitsa. It is known as the "Bride of Epirus". In the summer, tourists arrive from Paxos, Antipaxos, and Corfu by boat. Parga attracts thousands of tourists. In its vicinity there are beaches including Valtos, Kryoneri, Piso Kryoneri, Lichnos, Sarakiniko and Ai Giannaki. Valtos Beach is one of the longest beaches of Parga. It is located near

5874-413: The other to commit treason against the republic. In 1923 the Old and New Fortresses were bombarded by the Italian Air Force during the Corfu Incident . The Fortress was used at the end of World War II by the Nazis to imprison the Jews of Corfu prior to their deportation from the island. On 8 June 1944 the Jews of Corfu were told to present themselves the next morning at the old Fort. When they heard

5963-439: The predominant language in Parga was Greek since even the local Muslim element spoke Greek, while some of them also spoke Albanian. In the early 20th century, apart from Albanian speakers, a considerable part of the Parga Muslims were Greek speakers and Romani, many of whom had immigrated to the area from southern Greece after the Greek war of independence in 1821. Ottoman rule in Parga and the rest of Epirus ended in 1913 following

6052-480: The region, invited the people of Parga to return to their homeland. During the first year of the Greek War of Independence (1821) the Ottoman garrison of Parga was unsuccessfully attacked by a small force of Souliotes and men of the local diaspora. In 1831 some Muslim refugee families from the Peloponnese were resettled in Parga by Reşid Mehmed Pasha According to a 1877 report by the Greek vice-consul, in Parga lived 365 Christian and 180 Muslim families. In 1877

6141-417: The regions of Apulia and Calabria in Italy. In the framework of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages , Greek is protected and promoted officially as a regional and minority language in Armenia, Hungary , Romania, and Ukraine. It is recognized as a minority language and protected in Turkey by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne . The phonology , morphology , syntax , and vocabulary of

6230-437: The stressed vowel; the so-called breathing marks ( rough and smooth breathing ), originally used to signal presence or absence of word-initial /h/; and the diaeresis , used to mark the full syllabic value of a vowel that would otherwise be read as part of a diphthong. These marks were introduced during the course of the Hellenistic period. Actual usage of the grave in handwriting saw a rapid decline in favor of uniform usage of

6319-428: The town centre. Small boats connect the beach with the port of Parga. Parga experiences a hot-summer mediterranean climate ( Köppen Csa ). Precipitation falls mainly in the winter months, with little in the summer. The town experiences mild winters and hot, dry summers. The average annual temperature is 16.5 °C or 61.8 °F, with about 1219 mm or 48.0 inches of precipitation annually. The town of Parga

6408-534: The town remained in Venetian hands until the Fall of the Republic of Venice in 1797. It then passed to France. As the relations of France with Ali Pasha deteriorated over his ambitions against the mainland exclave of Parga, the French twice considered using the men of their Albanian regiment against the mainland, but nothing came of these plans. The leading figure of political life of Parga in this transitional period

6497-784: The ultimatum, some Jewish people escaped to the countryside of Corfu but most, fearing for their families, went the morning of the 9th of June to the old Fort, as they had been told. There, the Nazis forced them to hand over their jewelry and keys to their properties, and subsequently they were led to the prison inside the Fortress. The incarceration of the Jews at the jail of the castle, under harsh conditions and without rudimentary amenities, lasted for days until finally they were transported to Lefkada and then in succession to Patras , Piraeus and Haidari , after which 1,800 Corfiot Jews were deported to

6586-620: The victory of Greece in the Balkan Wars , and the town became part of Greece. As a result of the Population exchange between Greece and Turkey , the state of Greece in November 1924 transported to Turkey, 1,500 Albanian-speaking Muslims from Parga, as not being of Albanian origin. The Muslims of Parga had acquired Ottoman citizenship in 1913, but had later renounced it. On this basis, the Greek government considered them to be Turkish. As

6675-468: The village of Potamos as they made their way toward the city. The Old Fort, Corfu city's only fortification during that period, and the castle of Angelokastro were the only two places on the island not in the hands of the invaders at the time. In undefended parts of the island, people were killed or captured as slaves by the Sultan's army. Even at the Old Fortress, women, children and the elderly, called

6764-473: Was Hasan Çapari, strong adversary of Ali Pasha and very wealthy landowner from nearby Margariti , who in 1807 sought Russian support, claiming that the Royal Navy "were harassing the residents of Parga". In 1812 the adjacent settlement of Agia that belonged to Parga was captured by Ottoman general Daut Bey, the nephew of Ali Pasha. He then massacred and enslaved the local population. Daut was killed during

6853-574: Was a distinct dialect of Greek itself. Aside from the Macedonian question, current consensus regards Phrygian as the closest relative of Greek, since they share a number of phonological, morphological and lexical isoglosses , with some being exclusive between them. Scholars have proposed a Graeco-Phrygian subgroup out of which Greek and Phrygian originated. Among living languages, some Indo-Europeanists suggest that Greek may be most closely related to Armenian (see Graeco-Armenian ) or

6942-557: Was also used in Ancient Greek. Greek has occasionally been written in the Latin script , especially in areas under Venetian rule or by Greek Catholics . The term Frankolevantinika / Φραγκολεβαντίνικα applies when the Latin script is used to write Greek in the cultural ambit of Catholicism (because Frankos / Φράγκος is an older Greek term for West-European dating to when most of (Roman Catholic Christian) West Europe

7031-490: Was by far the most widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world . It eventually became the official language of the Byzantine Empire and developed into Medieval Greek . In its modern form , Greek is the official language of Greece and Cyprus and one of the 24 official languages of the European Union . It is spoken by at least 13.5 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey , and

7120-472: Was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the former municipalities of Fanari and Parga that became municipal units. The municipality has an area of 274.796 km , the municipal unit 68.903 km . In antiquity the area was inhabited by the Greek tribe of the Thesprotians . Mycenean tholos tombs have been discovered in the vicinity of Parga. The ancient town of Toryne

7209-573: Was highly unpopular among the population of Parga, a predominantly Greek inhabited and extremely pro-Venetian settlement. Parga then ceased to provide a refuge for Klephts and Souliotes and many residents of Parga moved to nearby Corfu rather than live under Ottoman rule. As such Parga was completely abandoned by its inhabitants after the British departure and its handover to Ali Pasha in 1819. Ali Pasha brought local Albanian speakers from Chameria to repopulate Parga. In 1830, Ottoman general Kutahi pasha, in his attempt to restore rule and justice in

7298-547: Was located there during the late Hellenistic Age . It owes its name due to the shape of its beach ( Greek : Τορύνη ladle in Greek). Parga itself is mentioned for the first time in 1318; the name is most likely of Slavic origin. Two years later, the town and its sugarcane plantation proceeds were unsuccessfully offered by Nicholas Orsini , the Despot of Epirus , to the Republic of Venice in exchange for Venetian aid against

7387-485: Was recorded in writing systems such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary . The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin , Cyrillic , Coptic , Gothic , and many other writing systems. The Greek language holds a very important place in the history of the Western world. Beginning with the epics of Homer , ancient Greek literature includes many works of lasting importance in

7476-571: Was the location of a scene from the James Bond film For Your Eyes Only in which the Mercedes of the evil adversary of Bond, Emile Locque , gets pushed off a cliff by Bond. Greek language Greek ( Modern Greek : Ελληνικά , romanized :  Elliniká , [eliniˈka] ; Ancient Greek : Ἑλληνική , romanized :  Hellēnikḗ ) is an Indo-European language, constituting an independent Hellenic branch within

7565-400: Was the target of constant raids. The cause of friction has to do with the conflicting interests of the Venetians and the Albanian beys of Margariti for the control of the agricultural territory between the town of Parga and the inland territory. Such an attack against the coastal port was organized in 1558 by the formerly Christian spahi of Agia (today part of the municipality of Parga) and

7654-580: Was under the control of the Frankish Empire ). Frankochiotika / Φραγκοχιώτικα (meaning 'Catholic Chiot') alludes to the significant presence of Catholic missionaries based on the island of Chios . Additionally, the term Greeklish is often used when the Greek language is written in a Latin script in online communications. The Latin script is nowadays used by the Greek-speaking communities of Southern Italy . The Yevanic dialect

7743-486: Was united with Greece as required by the Treaty of London (1864) . The governors of the old and new fortresses were elected by the Venetian senate and they were appointed for a period of two years. Both captains were sworn before the senate and part of their oath was never to communicate with each other during their two-year tenure as governors of the fortresses. This was for security reasons in case one captain could persuade

7832-637: Was used for literary and official purposes in the newly formed Greek state. In 1976, Dimotiki was declared the official language of Greece, after having incorporated features of Katharevousa and thus giving birth to Standard Modern Greek , used today for all official purposes and in education . The historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of the Greek language are often emphasized. Although Greek has undergone morphological and phonological changes comparable to those seen in other languages, never since classical antiquity has its cultural, literary, and orthographic tradition been interrupted to

7921-673: Was written by Romaniote and Constantinopolitan Karaite Jews using the Hebrew Alphabet . In a tradition, that in modern time, has come to be known as Greek Aljamiado , some Greek Muslims from Crete wrote their Cretan Greek in the Arabic alphabet . The same happened among Epirote Muslims in Ioannina . This also happened among Arabic-speaking Byzantine rite Christians in the Levant ( Lebanon , Palestine, and Syria ). This usage

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