Greek language

Greek or Hellenic (Modern Greek: ελληνικά [eliniˈka], elliniká, "Greek", ελληνική γλώσσα [eliniˈci ˈɣlosa], ellinikí glóssa, "Greek language") is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to the southern Balkans, the Aegean Islands, western Asia Minor, parts of northern and Eastern Anatolia and the South Caucasus, southern Italy, Albania and Cyprus. It has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history; other systems, such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary, were used previously. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, Gothic and many other writing systems.

The Greek language holds an important place in the histories of Europe, the more loosely defined Western world, and Christianity; the canon of ancient Greek literature includes works of monumental importance and influence for the future Western canon such as the epic poems Iliad and Odyssey. Greek was also the language in which many of the foundational texts of Western philosophy, such as the Platonic dialogues and the works of Aristotle, were composed; the New Testament of the Christian Bible was written in Koiné Greek. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world, the study of the Greek texts and society of antiquity constitutes the discipline of Classics.

EuroBasket 2017

The EuroBasket 2017 will be the 40th edition of the EuroBasket championship that is organized by FIBA Europe. Beginning from 2017, the continental championships will take place every four years with a similar system of qualification as for the FIBA Basketball World Cup.

Host selection

Following the decision to relocate the 2015 tournament, original hosts Ukraine were offered the chance to host the 2017 edition, but they declined, citing the ongoing unrest in the country. Countries expressed interest in hosting were Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland (possible joint bid),Serbia, Republic of Macedonia, and Bulgaria (possible joint bid),United Kingdom,Israel,Poland,Slovenia,Belgium.

On 5 November 2015, FIBA Europe announced that five national federations have applied to organise the EuroBasket 2017: Finland, Israel, Poland, Romania and Turkey.

On 11 December 2015, FIBA Europe announced that the tournament will be hosted by four countries: Israel, Romania, Finland and Turkey with the knockout stage host at the Sinan Erdem Dome in Istanbul.

EuroBasket

EuroBasket, previously referred to as the European Basketball Championship, is the main basketball competition contested biennially by the men's national teams governed by FIBA Europe, the European zone within the International Basketball Federation. The championship was first held in 1935 and has been regularly contested every two years since 1947; starting in 2017, it will change to a four-year cycle. Through 2017, it also alternates between serving as a qualifying tournament for the Summer Olympic Games and the FIBA Basketball World Cup. The most successful nation is the now defunct Soviet Union with fourteen titles. Spain are the reigning champions, having won their third title on FIBA EuroBasket 2015.

Qualification

24 European teams take part in the final competition. The qualification format that existed until FIBA EuroBasket 2011 permitted 16 teams to compete. Eight spots were determined by the host nation and the top seven finishers of the previous EuroBasket. The remaining Division A teams compete in a qualification tournament. There, they were divided into four groups. Each group played a double round-robin. The top team in each group qualified for EuroBasket. The best three of the four runners-up also qualified.