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Pythagoras has the reputation of having taught a doctrine of reincarnation. His other teachings appear framed in pithy sayings, or sumbola, often in question-and-answer format. Some of these teachings took a simple form: "What is wisest?" "Number"; "What is truest?" "Most men are bad." Others were more cryptic: "What is the Delphic oracle?" "The tetraktys, in which the Sirens sing." Other sumbola related to sexual, dietary and other taboos, including the proper way to stir a fire or place one's shoes before going to sleep.

The Greek Constitution claims absolute freedom of religion. It also states that all persons living within the Greek territory shall enjoy full protection of their religious beliefs. Note however, that apart from Christian churches and Jewish synagogues, visibly operational temples of other religions do not exist in the capital, mainly due to opposition from the Greek Church. The Orthodox Church, as well as the secular state must approve any activities related to building official temples. The Constitution defines the "prevailing religion" of Greece as the Eastern Orthodox Church of Christ.

The history of the Greeks, however, extends far beyond the current borders of Greece. As early as the 7th century BC the Greeks were colonising parts of what are now Turkey, Cyprus, Italy and Libya. The conquests of Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC established Greek rule over Anatolia, Egypt, Syria and Mesopotamia. As parts of the Byzantine Empire, these areas and others were part of the Greek world for many centuries. By the 15th century, however, nearly all the Greeks were living under the rule of the Ottoman Empire.

Greek written history extends far back into Ancient Greece, and was a major part of ancient Greek theater. Later, influences from the Roman Empire, Eastern Europe and the Byzantine Empire changed Greek music.

It is certain that Greek philosophy, particularly Platonism, contributed to the early development of Christianity, which spread to Greece in the first century A.D. After the legalisation of Christianity by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in 313, the Christian faith became the dominant religion of the Roman Empire, of which Greece was a part. In the Great Schism of 1054, the Eastern and Western churches split, and Eastern Orthodox Christianity remains the predominant religion in Greece until this day. Since 1833, the Orthodox Church of Greece has remained an autocephalous church within the Eastern Orthodox Communion. The majority of modern Greeks (95 to 98 percent) remain at least nominally members of the Orthodox church.

Ancient Greek architects and artists have greatly influenced European art through the present day. Byzantine art and architecture also played an important role in early Christianity, and remains a significant influence in the Orthodox Christian nations of Eastern Europe. Yet, only a minor assortment of ancient Greek art has survived - most often in the forms of sculpture and architecture and minor arts, including coin design, pottery and gem engraving

The Ottomans ruled Greece until the early 19th century. In 1821 the Greeks rebelled and declared their independence, but did not succeed in winning it until 1829. The elites of powerful European nations saw the war of Greek independence, with its accounts of Turkish atrocities, in a romantic light (see, for example, the 1824 painting Massacre of Chios by Eugene Delacroix). Scores of non-Greeks volunteered to fight for the cause - including, for example Lord Byron - and indeed at times the Ottomans seemed on the point of almost entirely suppressing the Greek revolution but for the threatened direct military intervention of France, England or Russia. The Russian minister for foreign affairs, Ioannis Kapodistrias, himself a Greek, returned home as President of the new Republic following Greek independence. That republic disappeared when a few years later Western powers helped turn Greece into a monarchy, the first king coming from Bavaria and the second from Denmark. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, in a series of wars with the Ottomans, Greece sought to enlarge its boundaries to include the Greek-speaking population of the Ottoman Empire, slowly growing in territory and population until it reached its present configuration in 1947. In World War I Greece sided with the entente powers against a pro-German Turkey. In the war's aftermath the Powers awarded parts of Asia Minor to Greece, including the city of Smyrna (known as Izmir today) which had a large Greek population. At that time, however, the Turkish nationalists led by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, overthrew the Ottoman government, organised a military assault on the Greek troops and defeated them. Immediately afterwards, hundreds of thousands of Turks then living in mainland Greek territory left for Turkey as an exchange with hundreds of thousands of Greeks living in Turkey.