Temporal features of the aftershock activities following twelve modera
te shallow earthquakes in Greece have been studied quantitatively, by
making use of the modified Omori's formula and Akaike's Information Cr
iterion (AIC). Although the earthquake sequences occurred in different
seismotectonic regions in Greece, similar seismic patterns before the
occurrence of large aftershocks have been observed. Aftershock activi
ty shows an appreciable decrease from the level expected from the modi
fied Omori formula before the occurrence of the large aftershock. Also
in some cases, the aftershock activity recovers to a normal level or
increases beyond it prior to the occurrence of the large aftershock, i
f the aftershock activity is monitored immediately after the occurrenc
e of the main shock. In such case, the observed pattern may be useful
in predicting a large aftershock.