Greece has had a long, turbulent and incredibly varied history. The main periods include:

• Ancient Greece generally refers to the period from 12-9th century B.C to the end of AD600. It includes the period in which the Acropolis of Athens was built and the Minoan civilisation thrived and leaving us the Minoan Palace of Knossos. It was also a time when the Ancient Greeks consider the centre of the earth to be in Delphi which they accordingly covered in temples.

• Roman Greece; covering a period from the Roman conquest of Greece in 146 BC to AD 324. You can walk over ruins from this period in the Acropolis Museum.

• The Middle Ages which included a Byzantine Period between A.D. 324 until the fall of Constantinople in 1453 and a Venetian Period. Like much of Europe this was a period in which monasteries, such as that at Meteora and Hosios Loukas thrived.