Which country has the longest national anthem in the world?

In 1823 Dionysios Solomos, drawing inspiration from the Greek War of Independence, composed the poem the Hymn to Liberty consisting of 158 verses making it the longest national anthem in the world by lyrics. The poem chronicled the suffering that the Greek people underwent during Ottoman rule and their thirst for liberty. Nikolaos Mantzaros composed the music to go with the poem in 1865.

Due to the length of the poem, the Greek government adopted the first two stanzas as the country’s official anthem in 1865. On November 16, 1966, Cyprus adopted the Greek national anthem as their own after inter-community violence had rocked the country. During the official closing ceremony of every Olympic Games, the Greek national anthem is played to pay homage to Greece where the Olympic Games originated.