The Secret History Behind Greece's Flag

Greece's flag has nine stripes — one for each syllable of "Freedom or Death".

According to tradition, the five blue stripes stand for the syllables of "Eleftheria" (freedom) and the four white stripes for "i Thanatos" (or death), the motto of the Greek Revolution. In the canton, a white cross.

The flag was adopted by the First National Assembly at Epidaurus on January 13, 1822 — although the provisional government issued three different patterns that year: a white cross on blue for land, the nine stripes for the sea, and a third for civil ships. It was only with Law 851/1978, on December 22, 1978, that the nine-striped design was definitively established as the sole national flag.

The date printed on every Greece design in our catalog, March 25, 1821, is the day traditionally celebrated as the start of the Greek War of Independence.

Nine stripes, nine syllables, and a motto you can count.

See the Greece Aegean Odyssey Tee → · Browse the South Europe collection → — or explore the story behind any other country's flag on our free Flag Story Cards page.