The national flag of Greece, popularly referred to as the Blue-and-White (, ) or the Cyan-and-White (, ), is officially recognised by Greece as one of its national symbols and has 9 horizontal stripes of alternating blue and white. There is a blue canton in the upper hoist-side corner bearing a white cross; the cross symbolises Christianity. The blazon of the flag is azure, four bars argent; on a canton of the field a Greek cross throughout of the second. The shade of blue used in the flag has varied throughout its history, from light blue to dark blue, the latter being increasingly used since the late 1960s. It was officially adopted by the First National Assembly at Epidaurus on 13 January 1822.
While the nine stripes do not have any official meaning, the most popular interpretation says that they represent the syllables of the phrase (Freedom or Death): the five blue stripes for the syllables in , the four white for those of . White and blue might symbolize the colours of the Greek sky and sea.The Flag Bulletin, Volumes 15–17, Flag Research Center, 1976, p. 63: "One hypothesis is that the Greeks wanted this color for their flag because they have always looked at the blue sky and the blue ocean." Furthermore, these stripes represent each of the nine geographical regions.
Historical background
It has been suggested by historians that the current flag derived from an older design, the virtually identical flag of the powerful Cretan Kallergis family. This flag was based on their coat of arms, whose pattern is supposed to be derived from the standards of their claimed ancestor, Byzantine Emperor Nicephorus II Phocas (963–969 AD). This pattern (according to not easily verifiable descriptions) included nine stripes of alternating blue and white, as well as a cross, assumed to be placed on the upper left.N. Zapheiriou, Η Ελληνική Σημαία από τους αρχαίους χρόνους μέχρι σήμερα (The Greek Flag from Antiquity to Present), Eleftheri Skepsis, Athens 1995 (reprint of original 1947 publication) . Although the use of alternating blue and white – or silver – stripes on (several centuries-old) Kallergis' coats of arms is well documented, no depiction of the above described pattern (with the nine stripes and the cross) survives.
A number of sources describe, since at least 1810 and through the revolution, a flag consisting of eight horizontal alternating blue and white stripes used by Greeks as a sea flag, suggesting a connection with the original naval flag, and subsequent national flag.L. S. Skartsis, Origin and Evolution of the Greek Flag, Athens 2017
Antiquity and the Byzantine Empire
The Byzantines, like the Romans before them, used a variety of flags and banners, primarily to denote different military units. These were generally square or rectangular, with a number of streamers attached.Emperor Maurice, Strategikon, II.14. Most prominent among the early Byzantine flags was the . In the surviving pictorial sources of the middle and later Empire, primarily the illustrated Skylitzes Chronicle, the predominating colours are red and blue in horizontal stripes, with a cross often placed in the centre of the flag. Other common symbols, prominently featuring on seals, were depictions of Christ, the Virgin Mary and saints, but these represent personal rather than family or state symbols. Western European-style heraldry was largely unknown until the last centuries of the Empire.
There is no mention of any "state" flag until the mid-14th century, when a Spanish atlas, the Conosçimiento de todos los reynos depicts the flag of "the Empire of Constantinople" combining the red-on-white Cross of St George with the "tetragrammatic cross" of the ruling house of the Palaiologoi, featuring the four betas or pyrekvola ("fire-steels") on the flag quarters representing the imperial motto ("King of Kings Reigning over those who Rule"). The tetragrammatic cross flag, as it appears in quarters II and III in this design, is well documented. In the same Spanish atlas this "plain" tetragrammatic cross flag is presented as (among other places in the Empire) "the Flag of Salonika" and "the real Greece and Empire of the Greeks (la vera Grecia e el imperio de los griegos)". The (quartered) arrangement that includes the Cross of St. George is documented only in the Spanish atlas, and most probably combines the arms of Genoa (which had occupied Galata) with those of the Byzantine Empire, and was most probably flown only in Constantinople. Pseudo-Kodinos records the use of the "tetragrammatic cross" on the banner (phlamoulon) borne by imperial naval vessels, while the megas doux displayed an image of the emperor on horseback.
Ottoman period
During the Ottoman rule several unofficial flags were used by Greeks, usually employing the Byzantine double-headed eagle (see below), the cross, depictions of saints and various mottoes.
A military leader, Yiannis Stathas, used a flag with white cross on blue on his ship since 1800. The first flag featuring the design eventually adopted was created and hoisted in the Evangelistria monastery in Skiathos in 1807. Several prominent military leaders (including Theodoros Kolokotronis and Andreas Miaoulis) had gathered there for consultation concerning an uprising, and they were sworn to this flag by the local bishop.Alexander-Michael Hadjilyra: Η καθιέρωση της ελληνικής σημαίας ("The adoption of the Greek flag"), Hellenic Army General Staff, 2003.
War of Independence
Revolutionary flags
Adoption
European monarchies, aligned in the so-called "Concert of Europe", were suspicious towards national or social revolutionary movements such as the Etaireia. The First Greek National Assembly, convening in January 1822, thus took steps to disassociate itself from the Etaireias legacy and portray nascent Greece as a "conventional", ordered nation-state. As such, not only were the regional councils abolished in favour of a central administration, but it was decided to abolish all revolutionary flags and adopt a universal national flag. The reasons why the particular arrangement (white cross on blue) was selected, instead of the more popular blue cross on a white field, remain unknown.
On 15 March 1822, the Provisional Government, by Decree Nr. 540, laid down the exact pattern: white cross on blue (plain) for the land flag; nine alternate-coloured stripes with the white cross on a blue field in the canton for the naval ensign; and blue with a blue cross on a white field in the canton for the civil ensign (merchant flag)."Σημαία", from the site of the Presidency of the Hellenic Republic. On 30 June 1828, by decree of the Governor Ioannis Kapodistrias, the civil ensign was discontinued, and the cross-and-stripes naval ensign became the national ensign, worn by both naval and merchant ships.
On 7 February 1828 the Greek flag was internationally recognised for the first time by receiving an official salutation from British, French, and Russian forces in Nafplio, then the capital of Greece.
National flags
Historical evolution
After the establishment of the Kingdom of Greece in 1832, the new king, Otto, added the royal coat of arms (a shield in his ancestral Bavarian pattern topped by a crown) in the centre of the cross for military flags (both land and sea versions). The decree dated 4 (16) April 1833 provided for various maritime flags such as the war flag or naval ensign (set at 18:25), pennant, royal standard (set at 7:10) and civil ensign (i.e. the naval ensign without coat of arms).
In 1863, the 17-year old Danish prince William was selected as Greece's new king, taking on the name George I. A royal decree dated 28 December 1863 introduced crowns into the various flags in place of the coat of arms.royal decree dated 28 December 1863. Gazette 5/1864, 3-2-1864, pages 16-17 Similar arrangements were made for the royal flags, which featured the coat of arms of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg on a square version of the national flag. A square version of the land flag with St. George in the centre was adopted on 9 April 1864 as the Army's colours. The exact shape and usage of the flags was determined by Royal Decree on 26 September 1867. By a new Royal Decree, on 31 May 1914, the various flags of Greece and its military were further regulated. By this decree, the flag with the crown was adopted for use as a state flag by ministries, embassies and civil services, while the sea flag (without the crown) was allowed for use by private citizens.
On 25 March 1924, with the establishment of the Second Hellenic Republic, the crowns were removed from all flags. On 20 February 1930, the national flag's proportions were established at a 2:3 ratio, with the arms of the cross being "one fifth of the flag's width". The land version of the national flag was to be used by ministries, embassies, and in general by all civil and military services, while the sea flag was to be used by naval and merchant vessels, consulates and private citizens. On 10 October 1935, Georgios Kondylis declared that the monarchy had been restored. By decree of 7 November 1935, the 31 May 1914 decree was restored.
The Greek flag was a forbidden symbol, especially during the triple Axis occupation of Greece, German, Italian and Bulgarian, in the period 1941–1944. It was a symbol of National Resistance and struggle against the occupying forces. In September 1944 in Prosotsani, and while the wider Eastern Macedonia was under the occupation of Bulgarians, the public school teacher Konstantinos Kazanas together with Asterios Asteriadis lowered the Bulgarian flag and raised the Greek one, in the central square of the town, despite the terrorism and threats of the occupiers. The event is unique for the entire conquered Europe as it involved the lowering of the conqueror's flag in broad daylight and the raising of the national flag.Ο Μικρασιάτης δημοδιδάσκαλος και αντιστασιακός Κώστας Καζάνας, ergasia-press.gr, 27/12/2020Πρωινός Τύπος, σελ. 4, 31/07/2020Papayiannou, A. (2020). Women in the National Resistance and the Civil War: The example of Larisa [Master’s thesis, University of Western Macedonia]. OpenArchives. https://www.openarchives.gr/aggregator-openarchives/edm/uowm/000126-1966
Military dictatorship (1967–1974) The legal provisions went unaltered for a relatively long period of time. In 1967, a new Compulsory Law (198) regulated the declaration of regional flag days, but did not alter the flag. However, on 18 August 1969, the sea flag was established as the sole national flag and on 18 August 1970, the flag ratio was changed to 7:12 from 2:3. Flags flying in ministries, embassies and public buildings had the crown in the centre of the cross until the official abolition of the monarchy on 1 June 1973 and the use of the crown was officially discontinued on July 16.Legislative Decree 53/1973 On the amendment of certain provisions of the L.D. 254/69 "Regarding the National Flag and War Flags" (Government Gazette Issue A 144/1973)
After the restoration of democracy, Law 48/1975 and Presidential Decree 515/1975, which entered into effect on 7 June 1975, reversed the situation and designated the former "land flag" as the sole flag of Greece, to be used even at sea. The situation was once again reversed in 1978, when the sea flag once again became the sole flag of Greece and all previous provisions were abolished.
Theories regarding the blue and white colours Several Greek researchersV. Tzouras, Η Ελληνική Σημαία, Μελέτη Πρωτότυπος Ιστορική (The Greek Flag, Original Historic Study), A. Lantzas, Kerkyra 1909E. Kokkoni and G. Tsiveriotis, Ελληνικές Σημαίες, Σήματα-Εμβλήματα (Greek Flags, Signs and Emblems), Athens 1997 have attempted to establish a continuity of usage and significance of the blue and white colours, throughout Greek history.