Flag of Greece
The blue and white colors of the Greek flag were first used in the 1820s and 1830s during the country’s war of independence against the Turkish Ottoman Empire. The nine blue and white stripes are said to represent the nine syllables of the national motto, Eleutheria a Thanatos <E-lef-the-ri-a i Tha-na-tos > (‘Liberty or Death’), the Greek battle cry during the war. The white colored cross in the canton represents Orthodox Christianity. The flag was adopted in its present form in 1978. It was used previously, often with another flag, as plain blue with a white cross, now seen only in an unofficial capacity within the country.
The current design was formally adopted by the First National Assembly at Epidaurus on 13 January, 1822. The ratio of the flag is 7:12.
