Ancient Greece (Greek: Ἑλλάς, translit.
Hellás) was a civilization belonging to a
period of Greek history from the Greek Dark
Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the
end of antiquity (c. AD 600). Immediately
following this period was the beginning of
the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era.
Roughly three centuries after the Late Bronze
Age collapse of Mycenaean Greece, Greek urban
poleis began to form in the 8th century BC,
ushering in the Archaic period and colonization
of the Mediterranean Basin. This was followed
by the period of Classical Greece, an era
that began with the Greco-Persian Wars, lasting
from the 5th to 4th centuries BC. Due to the
conquests by Alexander the Great of Macedonia,
Hellenistic civilization flourished from Central
Asia to the western end of the Mediterranean
Sea. The Hellenistic period came to an end
with the conquests and annexations of the
eastern Mediterranean world by the Roman Republic,
which established the Roman province of Macedonia
in Roman Greece, and later the province of
Achaea during the Roman Empire.
Classical Greek culture, especially philosophy,
had a powerful influence on ancient Rome,
which carried a version of it to many parts
of the Mediterranean Basin and Europe. For
this reason, Classical Greece is generally
considered to be the seminal culture which
provided the foundation of modern Western
culture and is considered the cradle of Western
civilization.Classical Greek culture gave
great importance to knowledge. Science and
religion were not separate and getting closer
to the truth meant getting closer to the gods.
In this context, they understood the importance
of mathematics as an instrument for obtaining
more reliable ("divine") knowledge. Greek
culture, in a few centuries and with a limited
population, managed to explore and make progress
in many fields of science, mathematics, philosophy
and knowledge in general.
== Chronology ==
Classical antiquity in the Mediterranean region
is commonly considered to have begun in the
8th century BC (around the time of the earliest
recorded poetry of Homer) and ended in the
6th century AD.
Classical antiquity in Greece was preceded
by the Greek Dark Ages (c. 1200 – c. 800
BC), archaeologically characterised by the
protogeometric and geometric styles of designs
on pottery. Following the Dark Ages was the
Archaic Period, beginning around the 8th century
BC. The Archaic Period saw early developments
in Greek culture and society which formed
the basis for the Classical Period. After
the Archaic Period, the Classical Period in
Greece is conventionally considered to have
lasted from the Persian invasion of Greece
in 480 until the death of Alexander the Great
in 323. The period is characterized by a style
which was considered by later observers to
be exemplary, i.e., "classical", as shown
in the Parthenon, for instance. Politically,
the Classical Period was dominated by Athens
and the Delian League during the 5th century,
but displaced by Spartan hegemony during the
early 4th century BC, before power shifted
to Thebes and the Boeotian League and finally
to the League of Corinth led by Macedon. This
period saw the Greco-Persian Wars and the
Rise of Macedon.
Following the Classical period was the Hellenistic
period (323–146 BC), during which Greek
culture and power expanded into the Near and
Middle East. This period begins with the death
of Alexander and ends with the Roman conquest.
Roman Greece is usually considered to be the
period between Roman victory over the Corinthians
at the Battle of Corinth in 146 BC and the
establishment of Byzantium by Constantine
as the capital of the Roman Empire in AD 330.
Finally, Late Antiquity refers to the period
of Christianization during the later 4th to
early 6th centuries AD, sometimes taken to
be complete with the closure of the Academy
of Athens by Justinian I in 529.
== Historiography ==
The historical period of ancient Greece is
unique in world history as the first period
attested directly in proper historiography,
while earlier ancient history or proto-history
is known by much more circumstantial evidence,
such as annals or king lists, and pragmatic
epigraphy.
Herodotus is widely known as the "father of
history": his Histories are eponymous of the
entire field. Written between the 450s and
420s BC, Herodotus' work reaches about a century
into the past, discussing 6th century historical
figures such as Darius I of Persia, Cambyses
II and Psamtik III, and alluding to some 8th
century ones such as Candaules.
Herodotus was succeeded by authors such as
Thucydides, Xenophon, Demosthenes, Plato and
Aristotle. Most of these authors were either
Athenian or pro-Athenian, which is why far
more is known about the history and politics
of Athens than those of many other cities.
Their scope is further limited by a focus
on political, military and diplomatic history,
ignoring economic and social history.
== History ==
=== Archaic period ===
In the 8th century BC, Greece began to emerge
from the Dark Ages which followed the fall
of the Mycenaean civilization. Literacy had
been lost and Mycenaean script forgotten,
but the Greeks adopted the Phoenician alphabet,
modifying it to create the Greek alphabet.
Objects with Phoenician writing on them may
have been available in Greece from the 9th
century BC, but the earliest evidence of Greek
writing comes from graffiti on Greek pottery
from the mid-8th century. Greece was divided
into many small self-governing communities,
a pattern largely dictated by Greek geography:
every island, valley and plain is cut off
from its neighbors by the sea or mountain
ranges.The Lelantine War (c. 710 – c. 650
BC) is the earliest documented war of the
ancient Greek period. It was fought between
the important poleis (city-states) of Chalcis
and Eretria over the fertile Lelantine plain
of Euboea. Both cities seem to have suffered
a decline as result of the long war, though
Chalcis was the nominal victor.
A mercantile class arose in the first half
of the 7th century BC, shown by the introduction
of coinage in about 680 BC. This seems to
have introduced tension to many city-states.
The aristocratic regimes which generally governed
the poleis were threatened by the new-found
wealth of merchants, who in turn desired political
power. From 650 BC onwards, the aristocracies
had to fight not to be overthrown and replaced
by populist tyrants. This word derives from
the non-pejorative Greek τύραννος
tyrannos, meaning 'illegitimate ruler', and
was applicable to both good and bad leaders
alike.A growing population and a shortage
of land also seem to have created internal
strife between the poor and the rich in many
city-states. In Sparta, the Messenian Wars
resulted in the conquest of Messenia and enserfment
of the Messenians, beginning in the latter
half of the 8th century BC, an act without
precedent in ancient Greece. This practice
allowed a social revolution to occur. The
subjugated population, thenceforth known as
helots, farmed and labored for Sparta, whilst
every Spartan male citizen became a soldier
of the Spartan Army in a permanently militarized
state. Even the elite were obliged to live
and train as soldiers; this commonality between
rich and poor citizens served to defuse the
social conflict. These reforms, attributed
to Lycurgus of Sparta, were probably complete
by 650 BC.
Athens suffered a land and agrarian crisis
in the late 7th century BC, again resulting
in civil strife. The Archon (chief magistrate)
Draco made severe reforms to the law code
in 621 BC (hence "draconian"), but these failed
to quell the conflict. Eventually the moderate
reforms of Solon (594 BC), improving the lot
of the poor but firmly entrenching the aristocracy
in power, gave Athens some stability.
By the 6th century BC several cities had emerged
as dominant in Greek affairs: Athens, Sparta,
Corinth, and Thebes. Each of them had brought
the surrounding rural areas and smaller towns
under their control, and Athens and Corinth
had become major maritime and mercantile powers
as well.
Rapidly increasing population in the 8th and
7th centuries BC had resulted in emigration
of many Greeks to form colonies in Magna Graecia
(Southern Italy and Sicily), Asia Minor and
further afield. The emigration effectively
ceased in the 6th century BC by which time
the Greek world had, culturally and linguistically,
become much larger than the area of present-day
Greece. Greek colonies were not politically
controlled by their founding cities, although
they often retained religious and commercial
links with them.
The emigration process also determined a long
series of conflicts between the Greek cities
of Sicily, especially Syracuse, and the Carthaginians.
These conflicts lasted from 600 BC to 265
BC when the Roman Republic entered into an
alliance with the Mamertines to fend off the
hostilities by the new tyrant of Syracuse,
Hiero II and then the Carthaginians. This
way Rome became the new dominant power against
the fading strength of the Sicilian Greek
cities and the Carthaginian supremacy in the
region. One year later the First Punic War
erupted.
In this period, there was huge economic development
in Greece, and also in its overseas colonies
which experienced a growth in commerce and
manufacturing. There was a great improvement
in the living standards of the population.
Some studies estimate that the average size
of the Greek household, in the period from
800 BC to 300 BC, increased five times, which
indicates a large increase in the average
income of the population.
In the second half of the 6th century BC,
Athens fell under the tyranny of Peisistratos
and then of his sons Hippias and Hipparchos.
However, in 510 BC, at the instigation of
the Athenian aristocrat Cleisthenes, the Spartan
king Cleomenes I helped the Athenians overthrow
the tyranny. Afterwards, Sparta and Athens
promptly turned on each other, at which point
Cleomenes I installed Isagoras as a pro-Spartan
archon. Eager to prevent Athens from becoming
a Spartan puppet, Cleisthenes responded by
proposing to his fellow citizens that Athens
undergo a revolution: that all citizens share
in political power, regardless of status:
that Athens become a "democracy". So enthusiastically
did the Athenians take to this idea that,
having overthrown Isagoras and implemented
Cleisthenes's reforms, they were easily able
to repel a Spartan-led three-pronged invasion
aimed at restoring Isagoras. The advent of
the democracy cured many of the ills of Athens
and led to a 'golden age' for the Athenians.
=== Classical Greece ===
In 499 BC, the Ionian city states under Persian
rule rebelled against the Persian-supported
tyrants that ruled them. Supported by troops
sent from Athens and Eretria, they advanced
as far as Sardis and burnt the city down,
before being driven back by a Persian counterattack.
The revolt continued until 494, when the rebelling
Ionians were defeated. Darius did not forget
that the Athenians had assisted the Ionian
revolt, however, and in 490 he assembled an
armada to conquer Athens. Despite being heavily
outnumbered, the Athenians – supported by
their Plataean allies – defeated the Persian
forces at the Battle of Marathon, and the
Persian fleet withdrew.
Ten years later, a second invasion was launched
by Darius' son Xerxes. The city-states of
northern and central Greece submitted to the
Persian forces without resistance, but a coalition
of 31 Greek city states, including Athens
and Sparta, determined to resist the Persian
invaders. At the same time, Greek Sicily was
invaded by a Carthaginian force. In 480 BC,
the first major battle of the invasion was
fought at Thermopylae, where a small force
of Greeks, led by three hundred Spartans,
held a crucial pass into the heart of Greece
for several days; at the same time Gelon,
tyrant of Syracuse, defeated the Carthaginian
invasion at the Battle of Himera.The Persians
were defeated by a primarily Athenian naval
force at the Battle of Salamis, and in 479
defeated on land at the Battle of Plataea.
The alliance against Persia continued, initially
led by the Spartan Pausanias but from 477
by Athens, and by 460 Persia had been driven
out of the Aegean. During this period of campaigning,
the Delian league gradually transformed from
a defensive alliance of Greek states into
an Athenian empire, as Athens' growing naval
power enabled it to compel other league states
to comply with its policies. Athens ended
its campaigns against Persia in 450 BC, after
a disastrous defeat in Egypt in 454 BC, and
the death of Cimon in action against the Persians
on Cyprus in 450.While Athenian activity against
the Persian empire was ending, however, conflict
between Sparta and Athens was increasing.
Sparta was suspicious of the increasing Athenian
power funded by the Delian League, and tensions
rose when Sparta offered aid to reluctant
members of the League to rebel against Athenian
domination. These tensions were exacerbated
in 462, when Athens sent a force to aid Sparta
in overcoming a helot revolt, but their aid
was rejected by the Spartans. In the 450s,
Athens took control of Boeotia, and won victories
over Aegina and Corinth. However, Athens failed
to win a decisive victory, and in 447 lost
Boeotia again. Athens and Sparta signed the
Thirty Years' Peace in the winter of 446/5,
ending the conflict.Despite the peace of 446/5,
Athenian relations with Sparta declined again
in the 430s, and in 431 war broke out once
again. The first phase of the war is traditionally
seen as a series of annual invasions of Attica
by Sparta, which made little progress, while
Athens were successful against the Corinthian
empire in the north-west of Greece, and in
defending their own empire, despite suffering
from plague and Spartan invasion. The turning
point of this phase of the war usually seen
as the Athenian victories at Pylos and Sphakteria.
Sparta sued for peace, but the Athenians rejected
the proposal. The Athenian failure to regain
control at Boeotia at Delium and Brasidas'
successes in the north of Greece in 424, improved
Sparta's position after Sphakteria. After
the deaths of Cleon and Brasidas, the strongest
objectors to peace on the Athenian and Spartan
sides respectively, a peace treaty was agreed
in 421.The peace did not last, however. In
418 an alliance between Athens and Argos was
defeated by Sparta at Mantinea. In 415 Athens
launched a naval expedition against Sicily;
the expedition ended in disaster with almost
the entire army killed. Soon after the Athenian
defeat in Syracuse, Athens' Ionian allies
began to rebel against the Delian league,
while at the same time Persia began to once
again involve itself in Greek affairs on the
Spartan side. Initially the Athenian position
continued to be relatively strong, winning
important battles such as those at Cyzicus
in 410 and Arginusae in 406. However, in 405
the Spartans defeated Athens in the Battle
of Aegospotami, and began to blockade Athens'
harbour; with no grain supply and in danger
of starvation, Athens sued for peace, agreeing
to surrender their fleet and join the Spartan-led
Peloponnesian League.Greece thus entered the
4th century BC under a Spartan hegemony, but
it was clear from the start that this was
weak. A demographic crisis meant Sparta was
overstretched, and by 395 BC Athens, Argos,
Thebes, and Corinth felt able to challenge
Spartan dominance, resulting in the Corinthian
War (395–387 BC). Another war of stalemates,
it ended with the status quo restored, after
the threat of Persian intervention on behalf
of the Spartans.
The Spartan hegemony lasted another 16 years,
until, when attempting to impose their will
on the Thebans, the Spartans were defeated
at Leuctra in 371 BC. The Theban general Epaminondas
then led Theban troops into the Peloponnese,
whereupon other city-states defected from
the Spartan cause. The Thebans were thus able
to march into Messenia and free the population.
Deprived of land and its serfs, Sparta declined
to a second-rank power. The Theban hegemony
thus established was short-lived; at the Battle
of Mantinea in 362 BC, Thebes lost its key
leader, Epaminondas, and much of its manpower,
even though they were victorious in battle.
In fact such were the losses to all the great
city-states at Mantinea that none could establish
dominance in the aftermath.
The weakened state of the heartland of Greece
coincided with the Rise of Macedon, led by
Philip II. In twenty years, Philip had unified
his kingdom, expanded it north and west at
the expense of Illyrian tribes, and then conquered
Thessaly and Thrace. His success stemmed from
his innovative reforms to the Macedonian army.
Phillip intervened repeatedly in the affairs
of the southern city-states, culminating in
his invasion of 338 BC.
Decisively defeating an allied army of Thebes
and Athens at the Battle of Chaeronea (338
BC), he became de facto hegemon of all of
Greece, except Sparta. He compelled the majority
of the city-states to join the League of Corinth,
allying them to him, and preventing them from
warring with each other. Philip then entered
into war against the Achaemenid Empire but
was assassinated by Pausanias of Orestis early
on in the conflict.
Alexander the Great, son and successor of
Philip, continued the war. Alexander defeated
Darius III of Persia and completely destroyed
the Achaemenid Empire, annexing it to Macedon
and earning himself the epithet 'the Great'.
When Alexander died in 323 BC, Greek power
and influence was at its zenith. However,
there had been a fundamental shift away from
the fierce independence and classical culture
of the poleis—and instead towards the developing
Hellenistic culture.
=== Hellenistic Greece ===
The Hellenistic period lasted from 323 BC,
which marked the end of the wars of Alexander
the Great, to the annexation of Greece by
the Roman Republic in 146 BC. Although the
establishment of Roman rule did not break
the continuity of Hellenistic society and
culture, which remained essentially unchanged
until the advent of Christianity, it did mark
the end of Greek political independence.
After the death of Alexander, his empire was,
after quite some conflict, divided among his
generals, resulting in the Ptolemaic Kingdom
(Egypt and adjoining North Africa), the Seleucid
Empire (the Levant, Mesopotamia and Persia)
and the Antigonid dynasty (Macedonia). In
the intervening period, the poleis of Greece
were able to wrest back some of their freedom,
although still nominally subject to the Macedonian
Kingdom.
During the Hellenistic period, the importance
of "Greece proper" (that is, the territory
of modern Greece) within the Greek-speaking
world declined sharply. The great centers
of Hellenistic culture were Alexandria and
Antioch, capitals of the Ptolemaic Kingdom
and the Seleucid Empire, respectively.
The conquests of Alexander had numerous consequences
for the Greek city-states. It greatly widened
the horizons of the Greeks and led to a steady
emigration, particularly of the young and
ambitious, to the new Greek empires in the
east. Many Greeks migrated to Alexandria,
Antioch and the many other new Hellenistic
cities founded in Alexander's wake, as far
away as what are now Afghanistan and Pakistan,
where the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom and the Indo-Greek
Kingdom survived until the end of the first
century BC.
The city-states within Greece formed themselves
into two leagues; the Achaean League (including
Thebes, Corinth and Argos) and the Aetolian
League (including Sparta and Athens). For
much of the period until the Roman conquest,
these leagues were usually at war with each
other, and/or allied to different sides in
the conflicts between the Diadochi (the successor
states to Alexander's empire).
The Antigonid Kingdom became involved in a
war with the Roman Republic in the late 3rd
century. Although the First Macedonian War
was inconclusive, the Romans, in typical fashion,
continued to make war on Macedon until it
was completely absorbed into the Roman Republic
(by 149 BC). In the east the unwieldy Seleucid
Empire gradually disintegrated, although a
rump survived until 64 BC, whilst the Ptolemaic
Kingdom continued in Egypt until 30 BC, when
it too was conquered by the Romans. The Aetolian
league grew wary of Roman involvement in Greece,
and sided with the Seleucids in the Roman–Seleucid
War; when the Romans were victorious, the
league was effectively absorbed into the Republic.
Although the Achaean league outlasted both
the Aetolian league and Macedon, it was also
soon defeated and absorbed by the Romans in
146 BC, bringing an end to the independence
of all of Greece.
=== Roman Greece ===
The Greek peninsula came under Roman rule
during the 146 BC conquest of Greece after
the Battle of Corinth. Macedonia became a
Roman province while southern Greece came
under the surveillance of Macedonia's prefect;
however, some Greek poleis managed to maintain
a partial independence and avoid taxation.
The Aegean islands were added to this territory
in 133 BC. Athens and other Greek cities revolted
in 88 BC, and the peninsula was crushed by
the Roman general Sulla. The Roman civil wars
devastated the land even further, until Augustus
organized the peninsula as the province of
Achaea in 27 BC.
Greece was a key eastern province of the Roman
Empire, as the Roman culture had long been
in fact Greco-Roman. The Greek language served
as a lingua franca in the East and in Italy,
and many Greek intellectuals such as Galen
would perform most of their work in Rome.
== Geography ==
=== Regions ===
The territory of Greece is mountainous, and
as a result, ancient Greece consisted of many
smaller regions each with its own dialect,
cultural peculiarities, and identity. Regionalism
and regional conflicts were a prominent feature
of ancient Greece. Cities tended to be located
in valleys between mountains, or on coastal
plains, and dominated a certain area around
them.
In the south lay the Peloponnese, itself consisting
of the regions of Laconia (southeast), Messenia
(southwest), Elis (west), Achaia (north),
Korinthia (northeast), Argolis (east), and
Arcadia (center). These names survive to the
present day as regional units of modern Greece,
though with somewhat different boundaries.
Mainland Greece to the north, nowadays known
as Central Greece, consisted of Aetolia and
Acarnania in the west, Locris, Doris, and
Phocis in the center, while in the east lay
Boeotia, Attica, and Megaris. Northeast lay
Thessaly, while Epirus lay to the northwest.
Epirus stretched from the Ambracian Gulf in
the south to the Ceraunian mountains and the
Aoos river in the north, and consisted of
Chaonia (north), Molossia (center), and Thesprotia
(south). In the northeast corner was Macedonia,
originally consisting Lower Macedonia and
its regions, such as Elimeia, Pieria, and
Orestis. Around the time of Alexander I of
Macedon, the Argead kings of Macedon started
to expand into Upper Macedonia, lands inhabited
by independent Macedonian tribes like the
Lyncestae and the Elmiotae and to the West,
beyond the Axius river, into Eordaia, Bottiaea,
Mygdonia, and Almopia, regions settled by
Thracian tribes. To the north of Macedonia
lay various non-Greek peoples such as the
Paeonians due north, the Thracians to the
northeast, and the Illyrians, with whom the
Macedonians were frequently in conflict, to
the northwest. Chalcidice was settled early
on by southern Greek colonists and was considered
part of the Greek world, while from the late
2nd millennium BC substantial Greek settlement
also occurred on the eastern shores of the
Aegean, in Anatolia.
=== Colonies ===
During the Archaic period, the population
of Greece grew beyond the capacity of its
limited arable land (according to one estimate,
the population of ancient Greece increased
by a factor larger than ten during the period
from 800 BC to 400 BC, increasing from a population
of 800,000 to a total estimated population
of 10 to 13 million).From about 750 BC the
Greeks began 250 years of expansion, settling
colonies in all directions. To the east, the
Aegean coast of Asia Minor was colonized first,
followed by Cyprus and the coasts of Thrace,
the Sea of Marmara and south coast of the
Black Sea.
Eventually Greek colonization reached as far
northeast as present day Ukraine and Russia
(Taganrog). To the west the coasts of Illyria,
Sicily and Southern Italy were settled, followed
by Southern France, Corsica, and even northeastern
Spain. Greek colonies were also founded in
Egypt and Libya.
Modern Syracuse, Naples, Marseille and Istanbul
had their beginnings as the Greek colonies
Syracusae (Συράκουσαι), Neapolis
(Νεάπολις), Massalia (Μασσαλία)
and Byzantion (Βυζάντιον). These
colonies played an important role in the spread
of Greek influence throughout Europe and also
aided in the establishment of long-distance
trading networks between the Greek city-states,
boosting the economy of ancient Greece.
== Politics and society ==
=== Political structure ===
Ancient Greece consisted of several hundred
relatively independent city-states (poleis).
This was a situation unlike that in most other
contemporary societies, which were either
tribal or kingdoms ruling over relatively
large territories. Undoubtedly the geography
of Greece—divided and sub-divided by hills,
mountains, and rivers—contributed to the
fragmentary nature of ancient Greece. On the
one hand, the ancient Greeks had no doubt
that they were "one people"; they had the
same religion, same basic culture, and same
language. Furthermore, the Greeks were very
aware of their tribal origins; Herodotus was
able to extensively categorise the city-states
by tribe. Yet, although these higher-level
relationships existed, they seem to have rarely
had a major role in Greek politics. The independence
of the poleis was fiercely defended; unification
was something rarely contemplated by the ancient
Greeks. Even when, during the second Persian
invasion of Greece, a group of city-states
allied themselves to defend Greece, the vast
majority of poleis remained neutral, and after
the Persian defeat, the allies quickly returned
to infighting.Thus, the major peculiarities
of the ancient Greek political system were
firstly, its fragmentary nature, and that
this does not particularly seem to have tribal
origin, and secondly, the particular focus
on urban centers within otherwise tiny states.
The peculiarities of the Greek system are
further evidenced by the colonies that they
set up throughout the Mediterranean Sea, which,
though they might count a certain Greek polis
as their 'mother' (and remain sympathetic
to her), were completely independent of the
founding city.
Inevitably smaller poleis might be dominated
by larger neighbors, but conquest or direct
rule by another city-state appears to have
been quite rare. Instead the poleis grouped
themselves into leagues, membership of which
was in a constant state of flux. Later in
the Classical period, the leagues would become
fewer and larger, be dominated by one city
(particularly Athens, Sparta and Thebes);
and often poleis would be compelled to join
under threat of war (or as part of a peace
treaty). Even after Philip II of Macedon "conquered"
the heartlands of ancient Greece, he did not
attempt to annex the territory, or unify it
into a new province, but simply compelled
most of the poleis to join his own Corinthian
League.
=== Government and law ===
Initially many Greek city-states seem to have
been petty kingdoms; there was often a city
official carrying some residual, ceremonial
functions of the king (basileus), e.g., the
archon basileus in Athens. However, by the
Archaic period and the first historical consciousness,
most had already become aristocratic oligarchies.
It is unclear exactly how this change occurred.
For instance, in Athens, the kingship had
been reduced to a hereditary, lifelong chief
magistracy (archon) by c. 1050 BC; by 753
BC this had become a decennial, elected archonship;
and finally by 683 BC an annually elected
archonship. Through each stage more power
would have been transferred to the aristocracy
as a whole, and away from a single individual.
Inevitably, the domination of politics and
concomitant aggregation of wealth by small
groups of families was apt to cause social
unrest in many poleis. In many cities a tyrant
(not in the modern sense of repressive autocracies),
would at some point seize control and govern
according to their own will; often a populist
agenda would help sustain them in power. In
a system wracked with class conflict, government
by a 'strongman' was often the best solution.
Athens fell under a tyranny in the second
half of the 6th century. When this tyranny
was ended, the Athenians founded the world's
first democracy as a radical solution to prevent
the aristocracy regaining power. A citizens'
assembly (the Ecclesia), for the discussion
of city policy, had existed since the reforms
of Draco in 621 BC; all citizens were permitted
to attend after the reforms of Solon (early
6th century), but the poorest citizens could
not address the assembly or run for office.
With the establishment of the democracy, the
assembly became the de jure mechanism of government;
all citizens had equal privileges in the assembly.
However, non-citizens, such as metics (foreigners
living in Athens) or slaves, had no political
rights at all.
After the rise of the democracy in Athens,
other city-states founded democracies. However,
many retained more traditional forms of government.
As so often in other matters, Sparta was a
notable exception to the rest of Greece, ruled
through the whole period by not one, but two
hereditary monarchs. This was a form of diarchy.
The Kings of Sparta belonged to the Agiads
and the Eurypontids, descendants respectively
of Eurysthenes and Procles. Both dynasties'
founders were believed to be twin sons of
Aristodemus, a Heraclid ruler. However, the
powers of these kings were held in check by
both a council of elders (the Gerousia) and
magistrates specifically appointed to watch
over the kings (the Ephors).
=== Social structure ===
Only free, land owning, native-born men could
be citizens entitled to the full protection
of the law in a city-state. In most city-states,
unlike the situation in Rome, social prominence
did not allow special rights. Sometimes families
controlled public religious functions, but
this ordinarily did not give any extra power
in the government. In Athens, the population
was divided into four social classes based
on wealth. People could change classes if
they made more money. In Sparta, all male
citizens were called homoioi, meaning "peers".
However, Spartan kings, who served as the
city-state's dual military and religious leaders,
came from two families.
==== Slavery ====
Slaves had no power or status. They had the
right to have a family and own property, subject
to their master's goodwill and permission,
but they had no political rights. By 600 BC
chattel slavery had spread in Greece. By the
5th century BC slaves made up one-third of
the total population in some city-states.
Between forty and eighty per cent of the population
of Classical Athens were slaves. Slaves outside
of Sparta almost never revolted because they
were made up of too many nationalities and
were too scattered to organize. However, unlike
later Western culture, the Ancient Greeks
did not think in terms of race.Most families
owned slaves as household servants and laborers,
and even poor families might have owned a
few slaves. Owners were not allowed to beat
or kill their slaves. Owners often promised
to free slaves in the future to encourage
slaves to work hard. Unlike in Rome, freedmen
did not become citizens. Instead, they were
mixed into the population of metics, which
included people from foreign countries or
other city-states who were officially allowed
to live in the state.
City-states legally owned slaves. These public
slaves had a larger measure of independence
than slaves owned by families, living on their
own and performing specialized tasks. In Athens,
public slaves were trained to look out for
counterfeit coinage, while temple slaves acted
as servants of the temple's deity and Scythian
slaves were employed in Athens as a police
force corralling citizens to political functions.
Sparta had a special type of slaves called
helots. Helots were Messenians enslaved during
the Messenian Wars by the state and assigned
to families where they were forced to stay.
Helots raised food and did household chores
so that women could concentrate on raising
strong children while men could devote their
time to training as hoplites. Their masters
treated them harshly (every Spartiate male
had to kill a helot as a rite of passage),
and helots often resorted to slave rebellions.
=== Education ===
For most of Greek history, education was private,
except in Sparta. During the Hellenistic period,
some city-states established public schools.
Only wealthy families could afford a teacher.
Boys learned how to read, write and quote
literature. They also learned to sing and
play one musical instrument and were trained
as athletes for military service. They studied
not for a job but to become an effective citizen.
Girls also learned to read, write and do simple
arithmetic so they could manage the household.
They almost never received education after
childhood.
Boys went to school at the age of seven, or
went to the barracks, if they lived in Sparta.
The three types of teachings were: grammatistes
for arithmetic, kitharistes for music and
dancing, and Paedotribae for sports.
Boys from wealthy families attending the private
school lessons were taken care of by a paidagogos,
a household slave selected for this task who
accompanied the boy during the day. Classes
were held in teachers' private houses and
included reading, writing, mathematics, singing,
and playing the lyre and flute. When the boy
became 12 years old the schooling started
to include sports such as wrestling, running,
and throwing discus and javelin. In Athens
some older youths attended academy for the
finer disciplines such as culture, sciences,
music, and the arts. The schooling ended at
age 18, followed by military training in the
army usually for one or two years.A small
number of boys continued their education after
childhood, as in the Spartan agoge. A crucial
part of a wealthy teenager's education was
a mentorship with an elder, which in a few
places and times may have included pederastic
love. The teenager learned by watching his
mentor talking about politics in the agora,
helping him perform his public duties, exercising
with him in the gymnasium and attending symposia
with him. The richest students continued their
education by studying with famous teachers.
Some of Athens' greatest such schools included
the Lyceum (the so-called Peripatetic school
founded by Aristotle of Stageira) and the
Platonic Academy (founded by Plato of Athens).
The education system of the wealthy ancient
Greeks is also called Paideia.
=== Economy ===
At its economic height, in the 5th and 4th
centuries BC, ancient Greece was the most
advanced economy in the world. According to
some economic historians, it was one of the
most advanced preindustrial economies. This
is demonstrated by the average daily wage
of the Greek worker which was, in terms of
wheat, about 12 kg. This was more than 3 times
the average daily wage of an Egyptian worker
during the Roman period, about 3.75 kg.
=== Warfare ===
At least in the Archaic Period, the fragmentary
nature of ancient Greece, with many competing
city-states, increased the frequency of conflict
but conversely limited the scale of warfare.
Unable to maintain professional armies, the
city-states relied on their own citizens to
fight. This inevitably reduced the potential
duration of campaigns, as citizens would need
to return to their own professions (especially
in the case of, for example, farmers). Campaigns
would therefore often be restricted to summer.
When battles occurred, they were usually set
piece and intended to be decisive. Casualties
were slight compared to later battles, rarely
amounting to more than 5% of the losing side,
but the slain often included the most prominent
citizens and generals who led from the front.
The scale and scope of warfare in ancient
Greece changed dramatically as a result of
the Greco-Persian Wars. To fight the enormous
armies of the Achaemenid Empire was effectively
beyond the capabilities of a single city-state.
The eventual triumph of the Greeks was achieved
by alliances of city-states (the exact composition
changing over time), allowing the pooling
of resources and division of labor. Although
alliances between city-states occurred before
this time, nothing on this scale had been
seen before. The rise of Athens and Sparta
as pre-eminent powers during this conflict
led directly to the Peloponnesian War, which
saw further development of the nature of warfare,
strategy and tactics. Fought between leagues
of cities dominated by Athens and Sparta,
the increased manpower and financial resources
increased the scale, and allowed the diversification
of warfare. Set-piece battles during the Peloponnesian
war proved indecisive and instead there was
increased reliance on attritionary strategies,
naval battle and blockades and sieges. These
changes greatly increased the number of casualties
and the disruption of Greek society.
Athens owned one of the largest war fleets
in ancient Greece. It had over 200 triremes
each powered by 170 oarsmen who were seated
in 3 rows on each side of the ship. The city
could afford such a large fleet—it had over
34,000 oars men—because it owned a lot of
silver mines that were worked by slaves.
== Culture ==
=== Philosophy ===
Ancient Greek philosophy focused on the role
of reason and inquiry. In many ways, it had
an important influence on modern philosophy,
as well as modern science. Clear unbroken
lines of influence lead from ancient Greek
and Hellenistic philosophers, to medieval
Muslim philosophers and Islamic scientists,
to the European Renaissance and Enlightenment,
to the secular sciences of the modern day.
Neither reason nor inquiry began with the
Greeks. Defining the difference between the
Greek quest for knowledge and the quests of
the elder civilizations, such as the ancient
Egyptians and Babylonians, has long been a
topic of study by theorists of civilization.
Some of the well-known philosophers of ancient
Greece were Plato and Socrates, among others.
They have aided in information about ancient
Greek society through writings such as The
Republic, by Plato.
=== Literature and theatre ===
The earliest Greek literature was poetry,
and was composed for performance rather than
private consumption. The earliest Greek poet
known is Homer, although he was certainly
part of an existing tradition of oral poetry.
Homer's poetry, though it was developed around
the same time that the Greeks developed writing,
would have been composed orally; the first
poet to certainly compose their work in writing
was Archilochus, a lyric poet from the mid-seventh
century BC. tragedy developed, around the
end of the archaic period, taking elements
from across the pre-existing genres of late
archaic poetry. Towards the beginning of the
classical period, comedy began to develop
– the earliest date associated with the
genre is 486 BC, when a competition for comedy
became an official event at the City Dionysia
in Athens, though the first preserved ancient
comedy is Aristophanes' Acharnians, produced
in 425.
Like poetry, Greek prose had its origins in
the archaic period, and the earliest writers
of Greek philosophy, history, and medical
literature all date to the sixth century BC.
Prose first emerged as the writing style adopted
by the presocratic philosophers Anaximander
and Anaximenes – though Thales of Miletus,
considered the first Greek philosopher, apparently
wrote nothing. Prose as a genre reached maturity
in the classical era, and the major Greek
prose genres – philosophy, history, rhetoric,
and dialogue – developed in this period.The
Hellenistic period saw the literary epicentre
of the Greek world move from Athens, where
it had been in the classical period, to Alexandria.
At the same time, other Hellenistic kings
such as the Antigonids and the Attalids were
patrons of scholarship and literature, turning
Pella and Pergamon respectively into cultural
centres. It was thanks to this cultural patronage
by Hellenistic kings, and especially the Museum
at Alexandria, which ensured that so much
ancient Greek literature has survived. The
Library of Alexandria, part of the Museum,
had the previously-unenvisaged aim of collecting
together copies of all known authors in Greek.
Almost all of the surviving non-technical
Hellenistic literature is poetry, and Hellenistic
poetry tended to be highly intellectual, blending
different genres and traditions, and avoiding
linear narratives. The Hellenistic period
also saw a shift in the ways literature was
consumed – while in the archaic and classical
periods literature had typically been experienced
in public performance, in the Hellenistic
period it was more commonly read privately.
At the same time, Hellenistic poets began
to write for private, rather than public,
consumption.With Octavian's victory at Actium
in 31 BC, Rome began to become a major centre
of Greek literature, as important Greek authors
such as Strabo and Dionysius of Halicarnassus
came to Rome. The period of greatest innovation
in Greek literature under Rome was the "long
second century" from approximately AD 80 to
around AD 230. This innovation was especially
marked in prose, with the development of the
novel and a revival of prominence for display
oratory both dating to this period.
=== Music and dance ===
Music was present almost universally in Greek
society, from marriages and funerals to religious
ceremonies, theatre, folk music and the ballad-like
reciting of epic poetry. There are significant
fragments of actual Greek musical notation
as well as many literary references to ancient
Greek music. Greek art depicts musical instruments
and dance. The word music derives from the
name of the Muses, the daughters of Zeus who
were patron goddesses of the arts.
=== Science and technology ===
Ancient Greek mathematics contributed many
important developments to the field of mathematics,
including the basic rules of geometry, the
idea of formal mathematical proof, and discoveries
in number theory, mathematical analysis, applied
mathematics, and approached close to establishing
integral calculus. The discoveries of several
Greek mathematicians, including Pythagoras,
Euclid, and Archimedes, are still used in
mathematical teaching today.
The Greeks developed astronomy, which they
treated as a branch of mathematics, to a highly
sophisticated level. The first geometrical,
three-dimensional models to explain the apparent
motion of the planets were developed in the
4th century BC by Eudoxus of Cnidus and Callippus
of Cyzicus. Their younger contemporary Heraclides
Ponticus proposed that the Earth rotates around
its axis. In the 3rd century BC Aristarchus
of Samos was the first to suggest a heliocentric
system. Archimedes in his treatise The Sand
Reckoner revives Aristarchus' hypothesis that
"the fixed stars and the Sun remain unmoved,
while the Earth revolves about the Sun on
the circumference of a circle". Otherwise,
only fragmentary descriptions of Aristarchus'
idea survive. Eratosthenes, using the angles
of shadows created at widely separated regions,
estimated the circumference of the Earth with
great accuracy. In the 2nd century BC Hipparchus
of Nicea made a number of contributions, including
the first measurement of precession and the
compilation of the first star catalog in which
he proposed the modern system of apparent
magnitudes.
The Antikythera mechanism, a device for calculating
the movements of planets, dates from about
80 BC, and was the first ancestor of the astronomical
computer. It was discovered in an ancient
shipwreck off the Greek island of Antikythera,
between Kythera and Crete. The device became
famous for its use of a differential gear,
previously believed to have been invented
in the 16th century, and the miniaturization
and complexity of its parts, comparable to
a clock made in the 18th century. The original
mechanism is displayed in the Bronze collection
of the National Archaeological Museum of Athens,
accompanied by a replica.
The ancient Greeks also made important discoveries
in the medical field. Hippocrates was a physician
of the Classical period, and is considered
one of the most outstanding figures in the
history of medicine. He is referred to as
the "father of medicine" in recognition of
his lasting contributions to the field as
the founder of the Hippocratic school of medicine.
This intellectual school revolutionized medicine
in ancient Greece, establishing it as a discipline
distinct from other fields that it had traditionally
been associated with (notably theurgy and
philosophy), thus making medicine a profession.
=== Art and architecture ===
The art of ancient Greece has exercised an
enormous influence on the culture of many
countries from ancient times to the present
day, particularly in the areas of sculpture
and architecture. In the West, the art of
the Roman Empire was largely derived from
Greek models. In the East, Alexander the Great's
conquests initiated several centuries of exchange
between Greek, Central Asian and Indian cultures,
resulting in Greco-Buddhist art, with ramifications
as far as Japan. Following the Renaissance
in Europe, the humanist aesthetic and the
high technical standards of Greek art inspired
generations of European artists. Well into
the 19th century, the classical tradition
derived from Greece dominated the art of the
western world.
=== Religion and mythology ===
Greek mythology consists of stories belonging
to the ancient Greeks concerning their gods
and heroes, the nature of the world and the
origins and significance of their religious
practices. The main Greek gods were the twelve
Olympians, Zeus, his wife Hera, Poseidon,
Ares, Hermes, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Athena,
Apollo, Artemis, Demeter, and Dionysus. Other
important deities included Hebe, Hades, Helios,
Hestia, Persephone and Heracles. Zeus's parents
were Cronus and Rhea who also were the parents
of Poseidon, Hades, Hera, Hestia, and Demeter.
== Legacy ==
The civilization of ancient Greece has been
immensely influential on language, politics,
educational systems, philosophy, science,
and the arts. It became the Leitkultur of
the Roman Empire to the point of marginalizing
native Italic traditions. As Horace put it,
Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit et artis
/ intulit agresti Latio (Epistulae 2.1.156f.)
"Captive Greece took captive her uncivilised
conqueror and instilled her arts in rustic
Latium."Via the Roman Empire, Greek culture
came to be foundational to Western culture
in general.
The Byzantine Empire inherited Classical Greek
culture directly, without Latin intermediation,
and the preservation of classical Greek learning
in medieval Byzantine tradition further exerted
strong influence on the Slavs and later on
the Islamic Golden Age and the Western European
Renaissance. A modern revival of Classical
Greek learning took place in the Neoclassicism
movement in 18th- and 19th-century Europe
and the Americas.
== See also ==
Outline of ancient Greece
Regions of ancient Greece
Outline of ancient Rome
Outline of ancient Egypt
Outline of classical studies
Regions in Greco-Roman antiquity
Classical demography
History of science in classical antiquity
== 
References ==
Notes
BibliographyBowersock, G. W. (1985). "The
literature of the Empire". In Easterling,
P. E.; Knox, Bernard M. W. The Cambridge History
of Classical Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Bulloch, A. W. (1985). "Hellenistic Poetry".
In Easterling, P. E.; Knox, Bernard M. W.
The Cambridge History of Classical Literature.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Handley, E. W. (1985). "Comedy". In Easterling,
P. E.; Knox, Bernard M. W. The Cambridge History
of Classical Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Hornblower, Simon (2011). The Greek World:
479–323 BC (4 ed.). Abingdon: Routledge.
Kirk, G. S. (1985). "Homer". In Easterling,
P. E.; Knox, Bernard M. W. The Cambridge History
of Classical Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
König, Jason (2016). "Literature in the Roman
World". In Hose, Martin; Schenker, David.
A Companion to Greek Literature. John Wiley
& Sons.
Martin, Thomas R. (2013). Ancient Greece:
From Prehistoric to Hellenistic Times (2 ed.).
New Haven: Yale University Press.
McGlew, James (2016). "Literature in the Classical
Age of Greece". In Hose, Martin; Schenker,
David. A Companion to Greek Literature. John
Wiley & Sons.
Mori, Anatole (2016). "Literature in the Hellenistic
World". In Hose, Martin; Schenker, David.
A Companion to Greek Literature. John Wiley
& Sons.
Power, Timothy (2016). "Literature in the
Archaic Age". In Hose, Martin; Schenker, David.
A Companion to Greek Literature. John Wiley
& Sons.
== Further reading ==
Brock, Roger, and Stephen Hodkinson, eds.
2000. Alternatives to Athens: Varieties of
political organization and community in ancient
Greece. Oxford and New York: Oxford Univ.
Press.
Cartledge, Paul, Edward E. Cohen, and Lin
Foxhall. 2002. Money, labour and land: Approaches
to the economies of ancient Greece. London
and New York: Routledge.
Cohen, Edward. 1992. Athenian economy and
society: A banking perspective. Princeton,
NJ: Princeton Univ. Press.
Hurwit, Jeffrey. 1987. The art and culture
of early Greece, 1100–480 B.C. Ithaca, NY:
Cornell Univ. Press.
Kinzl, Konrad, ed. 2006. A companion to the
Classical Greek world. Oxford and Malden,
MA: Blackwell.
Morris, Ian, ed. 1994. Classical Greece: Ancient
histories and modern archaeologies. Cambridge,
UK, and New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.
Pomeroy, Sarah, Stanley M. Burstein, Walter
Donlan, and Jennifer Tolbert Roberts. 2008.
Ancient Greece: A political, social, and cultural
history. 2d ed. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
Rhodes, Peter J. 2006. A history of the Classical
Greek world: 478–323 BC. Blackwell History
of the Ancient World. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Whitley, James. 2001. The archaeology of ancient
Greece. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge
Univ. Press.
== External links ==
The Canadian Museum of Civilization—Greece
Secrets of the Past
Ancient Greece website from the British Museum
Economic history of ancient Greece
The Greek currency history
Limenoscope, an ancient Greek ports database
The Ancient Theatre Archive, Greek and Roman
theatre architecture
Illustrated Greek History, Dr. Janice Siegel,
Department of Classics, Hampden–Sydney College,
Virginia
