Editing Greeks (section)

===Sea: exploring and commerce===
{{Main|Greek shipping}}
[[File:Aristotle Onassis 1967cr.jpg|thumb|right|upright|[[Aristotle Onassis]], the best-known Greek shipping magnate worldwide]]

The traditional Greek homelands have been the Greek peninsula and the Aegean Sea, [[Southern Italy]] (the so called "[[Magna Graecia]]"), the [[Black Sea]], the [[Ionia|Ionian coasts]] of [[Asia Minor]] and the islands of [[Cyprus]] and [[Sicily]]. In Plato's ''[[Phaedo|Phaidon]]'', Socrates remarks, "we (Greeks) live around a sea like frogs around a pond" when describing to his friends the Greek cities of the Aegean.<ref>Plato. ''Phaidon'', 109c: "ὥσπερ περὶ τέλμα μύρμηκας ἢ βατράχους περὶ τὴν θάλατταν οἰκοῦντας."</ref><ref name=Harl>{{harvnb|Harl|1996|p=260: "Cities employed the coins of an empire that formed a community of cities encircling the Mediterranean Sea, which Romans audaciously called "Our Sea" (''mare nostrum''). "We live around a sea like frogs around a pond" was how Socrates, so Plato tells us, described to his friends the Hellenic cities of the Aegean in the late fifth century B.C."}}</ref> This image is attested by the map of the Old Greek Diaspora, which corresponded to the Greek world until the creation of the Greek state in 1832. The [[sea]] and trade were natural outlets for Greeks since the Greek peninsula is mostly rocky and does not offer good prospects for agriculture.<ref name=Roberts1/>

Notable Greek seafarers include people such as [[Pytheas|Pytheas of Massalia]] who sailed to Great Britain, [[Euthymenes]] who sailed to Africa, [[Scylax of Caryanda]] who sailed to India, the [[navarch]] of Alexander the Great [[Nearchus]], [[Megasthenes]], explorer of India, later the 6th century merchant and monk [[Cosmas Indicopleustes]] (''Cosmas who sailed to India''), and the explorer of the Northwestern Passage Ioannis Fokas also known as [[Juan de Fuca]].<ref>{{harvnb|Pletcher|2013}}; {{harvnb|Casson|1991|p=124}}; {{harvnb|Winstedt|1909|pp=1–3}}; {{harvnb|Withey|1989|p=42}}.</ref> In later times, the Byzantine Greeks plied the sea-lanes of the Mediterranean and controlled trade until an embargo imposed by the [[Byzantine emperor]] on trade with the [[Caliphate]] opened the door for the later Italian pre-eminence in trade.<ref>{{harvnb|Brown|2001|pp=30–32}}; {{harvnb|Postan|Miller|Postan|1987|pp=132–166}}</ref> [[Panayotis Potagos]] was another explorer of modern times who was the first to reach Mbomu and [[Uele River]] from the north.

The Greek shipping tradition recovered during the late Ottoman rule (especially after the [[Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca]] and during the [[Napoleonic Wars]]), when a substantial merchant middle class developed, which played an important part in the Greek War of Independence.<ref name=BritIdent/> Today, Greek shipping continues to prosper to the extent that Greece has one of the largest merchant fleets in the world, while many more ships under Greek ownership fly [[flags of convenience]].<ref name=EconWorld/> The most notable shipping [[magnate]] of the 20th century was [[Aristotle Onassis]], others being [[Yiannis Latsis]], [[Stavros G. Livanos]], and [[Stavros Niarchos]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Blyth |first=Myrna |title=Greek Tragedy: The life of Aristotle Onassis |work=National Review |date=12 August 2004 |access-date=19 December 2008 |url=http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NDRjYzJhMWI5ZjE3ZmNmOWQ0YWEyNjBkYmI1MjhiODI= |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081207011737/http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NDRjYzJhMWI5ZjE3ZmNmOWQ0YWEyNjBkYmI1MjhiODI%3D |archive-date=7 December 2008  }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Smith|first=Helena|title=Callas takes centre stage again as exhibition recalls Onassis's life|work=The Guardian|date=6 October 2006|access-date=13 May 2016|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/oct/06/arts.artsnews|archive-date=24 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190224231440/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/oct/06/arts.artsnews|url-status=live}}</ref>