Greece occupied the southern part of the mountainous Balkan Peninsula and the islands near it, in the Ionian Sea on the W and in the Aegean Sea on the E. To the S lay the Mediterranean. The northern boundary is indeterminate, particularly so since in the earlier periods the Javanites of Greece were not consolidated into a particular nation. However, in later times “Greece” is understood to have reached to the regions of Illyria, which bordered the Adriatic coast, and Macedonia. In actuality, the Macedonians may have been of the same basic stock as those later called Greeks.

The Javanites of Greece early became a seafaring people. The heel of Italy’s “boot” lay only about 160 km (100 mi) across the Strait of Otranto from NW Greece. To the E, archipelagoes (chains of islands formed by submerged mountains with their tops rising above the water’s surface) served as giant stepping-stones across the Aegean Sea to Asia Minor. At the NE corner of the Aegean a narrow passage, the Hellespont (also called the Dardanelles), led into the Sea of Marmara and then through the Bosporus strait into the Black Sea. Also, by sailing along the southern coast of Asia Minor, Greek ships early traveled to the shores of Syria and Palestine. A ship could cover as much as 100 km (60 mi) during a daylight period. The delivering of Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians in Macedonia, likely written in Corinth, might therefore have taken a week or more, depending on weather conditions (and the number of ports stopped at along the way).

Greek influence and settlements were by no means limited to mainland Greece. The numerous islands studding the Ionian and Aegean Seas were considered as much a part of Greece as the mainland. Southern Italy and Sicily were included in what was called Great Hellas or, in Latin, Graecia Magna. The historical evidence indicates that the Javanites of Greece maintained contact and trade relations with those of Tarshish (Spain), far surpassing the Phoenicians in this regard. Similar association is found between the Greeks and the Javanites of Cyprus.