Greece. Organising the Material: Administrative divisions of the country

The best way to organise the material is from the larger to the smaller.

In the case of Greece it would be: Periphery - Prefecture (Nomos) - [Island] - Town/Village, following the administrative structure that came into force in 1987.

However, it should be noted that the periphery system produces some anomalies, in that what would be considered natural geographical entities are not always respected. Thus the periphery of "Eastern Macedonia and Thrace" covers what are parts of two different geographical entities, while the Periphery of the Peloponnese does not include two Prefectures (Achaia and Ilia) which are included in the Periphery of "Western Greece", which thus covers part of the (geographical) Peloponnese and part of central Greece.

To add to the confusion, the Archaeological Ephorates often cover prefectures that belong to different Peripheries!

Thus, for practical reasons in the titles of the posts I shall follow the administrative structure of the prefectures (but not the peripheries) described below.

As in the historical and archaeological descriptions I shall most probably use terms like "Macedonia", "Thrace" or "Peloponnese" in their original, historic and geographic sense (which is what is meant by most Greeks when they use the terms anyway...), I shall include these in the titles of each post. As far as the order of the region is concerned, I was tempted to follow Strabo's description of Greece, as some branches of Archaeology (i.e. Numismatics) do till this day. In the end I opted for the simple solution of numbering from the North to the South and the East to the West.

Thus the title will look like:

{No}. Geographical Region:Prefecture (Nomos):[Island]:Town or Village

For the Geographical Regions see table 3 below.

Table 1: Peripheries of Greece and Statistical Data:

Map No	Periphery	Capital	Area (km2)	Population
1	Attica	Athens	3,808	3,761,810
2	Central Greece	Lamia	15,549	605,329
3	Central Macedonia	Thessaloniki	18,811	1,871,952
4	Crete	Heraklion	8,259	601,131
5	East Macedonia and Thrace	Komotini	14,157	611,067
6	Epirus	Ioannina	9,203	353,820
7	Ionian Islands	Kerkyra (Corfu)	2,307	212,984
8	North Aegean	Mytilene	3,836	206,121
9	Peloponnese	Kalamata	15,490	638,942
10	South Aegean	Ermoupoli	5,286	302,686
11	Thessaly	Larissa	14,037	753,888
12	West Greece	Patras	11,350	740,506
13	West Macedonia	Kozani	9,451	301,522
-	Mount Athos (Autonomous)	Karyes	390	2,262

Table 2: Peripheries and Prefectures (Nomoi) of Greece:

Map No	Periphery	Prefectures (Nomoi)
1	Attica
2	Central Greece	a. Euboea, b. Evrytania, c. Phocis, d. Phthiotis, e. Boeotia
3	Central Macedonia	a. Chalkidiki, b. Imathia, c. Kilkis, d. Pella, e. Pieria, f. Serres
4	Crete
5	East Macedonia and Thrace	MACEDONIA: 1. Drama, 2. Kavala, THRACE: 3. Xanthi, 4. Rhodope, 5. Evros
6	Epirus	1. Thesprotia, 2. Ioannina, 3. Arta, 4. Preveza
7	Ionian Islands	ISLANDS: 1. Kerkyra (Corfu), 2. Paxi 3. Lefkada, 4. Ithaki, 5. Kefalonia, 6. Zakynthos, 7. Kythira
8	North Aegean	a. Chios, (1. Chios, 2. Oinousses, 3. Psara), b. Lesvos (1. Lesvos, 2. Lemnos, 3. Agios Efstratios), c. Samos (1. Samos, 2. Ikaria, 3. Fournoi)
9	Peloponnese	a. Arcadia, b. Argolis, c. Corinthia, d. Laconia, e. Messinia
10	South Aegean	Cyclades (1. Naxos, 2. Andros, 3. Paros, 4. Tenos, 5. Melos, 6. Kea, 7. Amorgos, 8. Ios, 9. Kythnos, 10. Mykonos, 11. Syros, 12. Thera – Santorine, 13. Serifos, 14. Siphnos, 15. Sikinos, 16. Anafe, 17. Kimolos, 18. Antiparos, 19. Folegandros, 20. Makronisos, 21. Herakleia*, 22. Gyaros, 23. Polyaigos, 24. Keros*, 25. Reneia, 26. Donousa*, 27. Therasia, 28. Antimelos, 29. Despotiko, 30. Schoinousa*, 31. Koufonisia*, 32. Delos; SMALLER ISLANDS and ISLAND GROUPS: 33. Antiparos group, 34. Makares Isles, 35. Anydros (or Amorgopoula), 36. Aspronisi, 37. Nea Kameni, 38. Palaia Kameni, 39. Askania, 40. Eschati, 41. Christiani, 42. Nikouria, 43. Kardiotissa, 44. Kitriani, 45. Seriphopoula, 46. Avelonisia group, 47. Schinonisi. (*The Koufonisia – Upper and Lower -, Herakleia, Schinousa, Donousa and Keros comprise the Little Cyclades – Mikres Kyklades). Dodecanese: 1. Rhodos, 2. Carpathos, 3. Cos, 4. Calymnos, 5. Astypalaia, 6. Kasos, 7. Telos, 8. Syme, 9. Leros, 10. Nisyros, 11. Patmos, 12. Chalke, 13. Saria, 14. Leipsoi, 15. Pserimos, 16. Agathonisi, 17. Levitha, 18. Kastelorizo (or Megisti). SMALLER ISLANDS: 19. Alimia, 20. Arkoi, 21. Gyali, 22. Kinaros, 23. Nimos, 24. Syrna, 25. Telendos, 26. Pharmakonisi, 27. Makry, η Χήνα, η Αγία Κυριακή, το Αυγό, το Γλυνό, ο Ζαφοράς, οι Κουνούποι, το Κουτσομύτι, το Μεσονήσι, η Οφιδούσσα, η Πλακίδα, η Ποντικούσα, τα Στεφάνια, τα Φωκιονήσια, το Χονδρό, το Χονδρονήσι, η Ίμια - Λιμνιά δύο, η Ίμια - Λιμνιά ένα, η Καλαβρός, η Καλόλιμνος, το Μαυροπινάκι, τα Νερά, η Πλάτη, το Σαφονήδι, το Χτένι, τα Αρμάθια, το Μακρονήσι, η Φράγκος, ο Αρχάγγελος, η Βελόνα, ο Γλάρος, η Μαύρα, το Μεγάλο Λιβάδι, η Πηγανούσσα, η Πλάκα, η Στρογγυλή, η Τρυπητή, ο Άγιος Γεώργιος, η Αγριέλαια, το Μαύρο Ποινί, η Πολύφαδος δύο, η Πολύφαδος ένα, η Ρω, η Στρογγυλή, το Ψωμί, η Ψωραδιά, η Κανδελιούσσα, ο Άγιος Αντώνιος, η Παχειά, η Περγούσσα, το Αγκαθονήσι, η Αγρελούσσα, το Άνυδρο, η Καλόβολος, ο Κόμαρος, το Μακρονήσι, η Μάραθος, τα Νερά, το Τραγονήσι, το Χιλιομόδι, το Γιαλεσίνο, οι Διαβάτες, ο Κουλούνδρος, ο Μαρμαράς, το Σεσκλίον, ο Χονδρός, ο Γάιδαρος, η Αντίτηλος, ο Άγιος Θεόδωρος, τα Κρεβάτια, το Μαελονήσι, η Τραγούσα, ο Γλάρος, το Κουνέλι,το Ψαθονήσιο, η Αστακίδα, το Ατσακιδόπουλο, η Διβούνια, η Χαμηλή.
11	Thessaly	a. Karditsa, b. Larissa, c. Magnesia, d. Trikala
12	West Greece	a. Achaea, b. Ilia, c. Aetolia-Acarnanania
13	West Macedonia	a. Grevena, b. Kastoria, c. Kozani, d. Florina
-	Mount Athos (Autonomous)

Table 3: Geographical Regions and their Prefectures (Nomoi):

Map No	Geographical Region	Prefectures (Nomoi)
1	Thrace	a. Evros, b. Rhodope, c. Xanthi
2	Macedonia	a. Drama, b. Kavala (incl. Thasos), c. Serres, d. Kilkis, e. Thessalonike, f. Chalkidike, g. Emathia, h. Pella, i. Pieria, j. Florina, k. Kozane, l. Kastoria, m. Grevena
3	Epeirus	a. Ioannina, b. Thesprotia, c. Preveza, d. Arta,
4	Ionian Islands
5	Thessaly	a. Larissa, b. Trikala, c. Magnisia, d. Karditsa
6	Central Greece (Sterea Ellada)	a. Euboia, b. Phthiotida (Phthiotis), c. Evritania, d. Aitoloakarnania, e. Attica, f. Boiotia, g. Fokida (Fokis)
7	Peloponnese	a. Korithia, b. Achaia, c. Elis, d. Arkadia, e. Argolis, f. Laconia, g. Messinia
8	Crete
9	Cyclades
10	N. Aegean Islands	a. Lesvos, b. Chios, c. Samos
11	Dodekannese
12	Islands of the Argosaronic Gulf	a. Aigina, b. Salamina, c. Spetses, d. Hydra, e. Poros, f. Angistri, g. Dokos

See also:
Wikipedia: List of Municipalities in Greece