Greece capital city Name
The Greek people represent a civilization introduced in vanilla .
- Musical Theme: Epitaph of Seikilos (composed by Geoff Knorr)
- Music Set: European
- Architecture: Mediterranean
- Jason, Helena, Alexa, Cletus, Kassandra, Andres, Desdemona, Anthea, Aeneas, Leander
- Christianity or Eastern Orthodoxy
- Autocracy
The flag of Greece
The Greeks are excellent at diplomacy and influencing city-states. Their unique ability makes their influence with city-states degrade more slowly and recover faster. This ability is arguably more powerful than it looks. It is easy for them to maintain an Allied status with city-states once they achieve it. Use every opportunity throughout the game to do this, and Greece will not only be well on the way to a diplomatic victory, but also gain substantial other advantages. If all the policies in the Patronage tree are adopted, Greece will be able to maintain a stranglehold on city-state alliances that will be nearly impossible for rival civilizations to break. Religion can also play an important role in Greek diplomacy, because if its religion spreads to an allied city-state, Greece loses Influence with the city-state even slower (or not at all, if the Patronage opener was chosen).
The Greeks' other strength lies in their Companion Cavalry and Hoplites, both of which are available early in the game and significantly more powerful than the units they replace. Use them not only to repel any early attacks, but also to defeat Barbarians and perform city-state quests.
The early military advantage provided by Greece's unique units has great synergy with the Greeks' ability to recover Influence twice as fast, as they can more effectively demand tribute from city-states and then use the acquired Gold to buy more Influence and/or military units. Finding an Ancient Ruin that upgrades a Warrior to a Hoplite in the first few turns can give the Greeks an early advantage.
Finally, the Greeks have a hidden ability which is pretty useful: their units may enter and remain in city-state territory without causing a trespassing incident, and without lowering influence with the city-state.
History
It is difficult to overstate the impact that Greece has had upon Western culture and history. Classical Greece has given birth to some of the greatest artists, philosophers, scientists, historians, dramatists and warriors the world has known. Greek warriors and colonists spread their culture throughout the Mediterranean and into the Near and Far East. The heirs to Greece, the Romans, further promulgated Greek thought throughout Europe, and from there it spread across the oceans and into the New World.
Greece and her people are credited with an astonishing number of inventions and discoveries, including the first theatrical performance, work of history, and philosophic treatise. The Greeks provided the West's first recorded sporting event, poem, and building dedicated to theatre. In politics, the Greeks created the world's first known democracy and republic. In mathematics and engineering, the Greeks constructed the oldest known mechanical computer (the Antikythera mechanism). Greek influence is still all around us: today's doctors still take the Hippocratic Oath, and modern architects still look to classical Greek forms for inspiration. To a large degree, Western civilization is Classical Greek civilization.
Terrain
Greece occupies a large, wide peninsula which juts south from the Balkans into the Eastern Mediterranean, between the Ionian Sea and the Aegean. The peninsula is almost bisected by the Gulf of Corinth, which opens into the Ionian Sea and runs east almost all the way across the landmass, leaving only a narrow isthmus connecting north and south. Greece is quite mountainous, with narrow fertile valleys separated by imposing hills and peaks. Summers are warm and winters are mild in the coastal lowlands, but snowfall is not uncommon in the mountains.
