The national flag of Greece has nine horizontal stripes. They alternate between blue and white, with five blue stripes and four white stripes, and a white Greek cross in a blue canton at the upper hoist side.
The modern design was officially adopted during the Greek War of Independence. The First National Assembly at Epidaurus approved the basic flag in January 1822, while a March 1822 decree specified the striped naval ensign. That design later became Greece’s sole national flag.
A popular interpretation connects the nine stripes with the syllables of “Eleftheria i Thanatos,” meaning “Freedom or Death,” a motto associated with the independence struggle. However, this symbolism is traditional rather than an officially assigned meaning. The stripes have also been linked to Greece’s regions and to its blue sky and sea.
The flag is sometimes mistaken for a design with eight stripes because historical Greek sea flags reportedly used that number before the official pattern was fixed. The current national flag has a 2:3 proportion and has been the sole national flag since 1978.