Description
Object description
whole: the eight images occupy the majority, with the seven upper images each held within a narrow brown border. The title
is separate and positioned in the upper fifth, in red and in brown, held within a decorative red and brown border. The text is separate and
placed in the upper centre and lower centre, in brown, and as captions, in red. All set against a white background.
image: the seven upper images are photographic depictions relating to the land and people of Greece; such as Mount Olympus, a Greek
shepherd, a road-side tavern in the mountains of Oeta, the Bay of Salamis, Greek peasant women harvesting in a field, a fishing boat, and
the town of Kea. The lower image illustrates a design used in a Greek hand-woven rug.
text: LAND AND PEOPLE: 4
GREECE
BRED in a land of Sea and Mountain the Greek spirit has grown in hardiness and independence. Greece, invaded by Persians, Franks,
Venetians, under Turkish rule for 450 years until she freed herself in 1828 (the War of Independence with which the name of Byron is always
associated), under the Nazis in World War II, from which bitter time she has yet to recover, still retains intact her language, way of
life, and nationhood.
The Throne of Zeus on Mount Olympus, home of the ancient gods.
A mountain shepherd of Arcadia.
She has never forgotten the glories of her Golden Age, when European civilization began. Her language too remains essentially the tongue of
Pericles. Every educated Greek reads the New Testament in the original, and this continuity of language has done more than anything else to
keep Greek nationhood alive. But independence of spirit has made political wrangling the chief pastime; always dissension has been rife,
and Greece has much to do yet to put her house in order. Today her problem is the world's: to learn that the interests of groups of men
must give way before the wider needs of Man.
The Bay of Salamis, where the Greek fleet defeated the Persian navy of Xerxes in 480 B.C. against odds of five ships to one.
A road-side tavern in the mountains of Oeta near Thermopylae.
Peasant women harvesting in Boeotia.
A fishing boat with nets on the shore of Argolis.
The hill-top town of Kea in the Aegean islands of the Cyclades.
THE life of Greece is that of the shepherd and the peasant wresting a living from scarce soil. He grows currants and tobacco for export,
grapes for the wine industry, olives for oil, soap and fuel; lemons, onions, maize and figs all thrive in this land of sun, even dates and
oranges in the southern Peleponnese. The many mulberry trees mean silk for weaving. The Greeks, especially the Aegean Islanders, have
always been hardy seafarers, born fishermen, and traders over the world; their merchant princes return with fortunes to their homeland.
This generous, hospitable people has more than a casual understanding of the art of living, delighting in colour and pattern, in song and
dance. To the world Greece has already given much; that there is more to come we may be certain
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: Photographs by courtesy of the Greek Ministry of Press and Tourism.
The design below is from a hand-woven rug from Arachova, Parnassus.
Pictorial Review
No. 79
Crown Copyright reserved
Army Education, M.E.L.F.
Printed by The Printing and Stationery Services, M.E.L.F.-24-8-46
Physical description
Pictorial Review No. 79.
Produced as part of the 'Land and People' series of posters (see PST 16931, PST 16940, PST 16943, PST 16948 and PST
16949).