During the next two centuries Miletus was far more active in colonization than any other city-state in the Greek world, founding a total of thirty cities around the Black Sea and its approaches in the Hellespont and the Sea of Marmara.

WSJ: 'Aladdin's Lamp'

Meanwhile other Greek cities had established colonies around the western shores of the Mediterranean, the densest region of settlement being in southern Italy and Sicily, which became known as Magna Graecia, or Great Greece.

WSJ: 'Aladdin's Lamp'

Buildings in some 800 Greek cities are depicted on coins minted during the time of the Roman empire.

ECONOMIST: Bluma Trell

Marches took place in Athens and other major cities as unions used the public holiday to protest against the Greek government's campaign of privatisation and pension reform.

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Under the oldest and most extensive fort, three consecutive Dilmun cities as well as a Greek city dating back to 200 BC have been unearthed.

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