Ancient Greece: Physical Geography of Greece

Mainland Greece consists of a mountainous peninsula jutting out into the sea at the southern end of the Balkans. It borders the republics of Albania, Macedonia, and Bulgaria to the north; and Turkey to the northeast. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of mainland Greece, the Ionian Sea to the west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south.

Northern Greece and Central Greece are separated from Southern Greece (=Peloponnese) a narrow canal cut across the Isthmus that separates the Corinthian Gulf to the west and the Saronic Gulf to the east. Southeast of the Peloponnese at the southern edge of the Aegean Sea is the island of Crete; and east of Boeotia/Attica is the island of Euboea, separated from the mainland by the Euripus Strait.

The Greek islands are divided into groups: the Saronic Islands (Salamis) in the Saronic Gulf near Athens; the Cyclades (Delos) in the centre of the Aegean; the North Aegean Islands (Chios, Lemnos, Lesbos, Samos) northwest of Turkey; the Dodecanese (Cos, Rhodes) southwest of Turkey; the Sporades (Skyros) off the coast of Euboea; and the Ionian Islands (Corcyra, Leucas) to the west of the mainland in the Ionian Sea.

The regions of Mainland Greece can be divided into three groups: Northern Greece (Epirus, Macedonia, Thessaly and Thrace); Central Greece (Acarnania, Aetolia, Attica, Boeotia Doris, Euboea, Locris (east), Locris (west), Malis, Megaris and Phocis); and Southern Greece (Achaea, Arcadia, Argolis, Corinthia, Elis, Laconia and Messenia). 

Eighty percent of mainland Greece consists of mountains that divide the country into large fertile plains in Thessaly, Boeotia and Attica, with some smaller plains elsewhere. The plains are mostly mountain basins or located along the coast between the mountains and the sea. 

The Pindus mountain range is often called ‘the spine of Greece’ because it runs from Albania/Macedonia in the north, through Northern and Central Greece and on to the Peloponnese in the south. It has a maximum elevation of 2637 metres (8632 ft) at Mount Smolikas near the Albanian border. The highest mountain in Greece is Mount Olympus, located on the border between Thessaly and Macedonia, and rising to 2917 metres (9570 ft) at the Mytikas Peak.