Great Greeks
On this day in 1821, Greece declared itself independent from the Ottoman Empire, starting the Greek War of Independence. We join in celebrating this national day by giving you some Greek classics from our database:
Deepest canal
The Corinth Canal, Greece, opened in 1893, is 6.33 km (3.93 miles) long, 8 m (26 ft) deep and 24.6 m (81 ft) wide at the surface and has an extreme depth of cutting of 79 m (259 ft). It is still in use today.
Largest battle at sea
The greatest of ancient naval battles in recorded history was the Battle of Salamis, which took place in the straits at Salamis, between the island of Salamis and the port city of Piraeus, (the city-port of Athens), Greece in September 480 BC. There were an estimated 800 vessels in the defeated Persian fleet and 370 in the victorious fleet of the Athenians and their allies, with a possible involvement of 200,000 men. The Greeks sank about 300 Persian vessels and lost about 40 themselves.
Largest collection of movie cameras
The largest unique collection of movie cameras belongs to retired postman Dimitrios Pistiola, of Athens, Greece. He has accumulated 600 movie camera dating from 1901 to the present day and has created a small museum for them.
Largest pita bread
Georgios Mavroleon and Nektarios Fintikakis made the world's largest pita bread weighing 50 kg (110.2 lb) in Crete, Greece on 19 May 2001.
Oldest person to complete a marathon (male)
The oldest man to complete a 26-mile marathon was Greek runner Dimitrion Yordanidis, in Athens, Greece on 10 October 1976. At age 98, he finished in 7 hr 33 min.
25 March 2008