The official 2016 blister of the Hellenic Republic is dedicated to “Peloponnese” and includes all 8 euro coins (1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 cents and 1, 2 euros).
The Peloponnese or Peloponnesus is a peninsula and geographic region in southern Greece. It is separated from the central part of the country by the Gulf of Corinth. It was here that the Greek War of Independence began in 1821. In 2016, Lonely Planet voted the Peloponnese the top spot of their Best in Europe list.
The peninsula has been inhabited since prehistoric times. The Mycenaean civilization dominated the Peloponnese in the Bronze Age from its stronghold at Mycenae in the north-east of the peninsula. The Mycenean civilization collapsed suddenly at the end of the 2nd millennium BC. Archeological research has found that many of its cities and palaces show signs of destruction. The subsequent period, known as the Greek Dark Ages, is marked by an absence of written records.
In 776 BC, the first Olympic Games were held at Olympia, and this date is sometimes used to denote the beginning of the classical period of Greek antiquity. During the Roman period, the peninsula remained prosperous but became a provincial backwater, relatively cut off from the affairs of the wider Roman world.
Issue date: 24 June 2016 |