Ancient Greece was a Greek civilization belonging
to a period of Greek history that lasted from
the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries
BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following
this period was the beginning of the Early
Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included
in ancient Greece is the period of Classical
Greece, which flourished during the 5th to
4th centuries BC. Classical Greece began with
the repelling of a Persian invasion by Athenian
leadership. Because of conquests by Alexander
the Great, Hellenistic civilization flourished
from Central Asia to the western end of the
Mediterranean Sea.
Classical Greek culture, especially philosophy,
had a powerful influence on the Roman Empire,
which carried a version of it to many parts
of the Mediterranean Basin and Europe, for
which reason Classical Greece is generally
considered to be the seminal culture which
provided the foundation of modern Western
culture.
Chronology
Classical Antiquity in the Mediterranean region
is commonly considered to have begun in the
8th century BC and ended in the 6th century
AD.
Classical Antiquity in Greece is preceded
by the Greek Dark Ages, archaeologically characterised
by the protogeometric and geometric styles
of designs on pottery. This period is succeeded,
around the 8th century BC, by the Orientalizing
Period during which a strong influence of
Syro-Hittite, Assyrian, Phoenician and Egyptian
cultures becomes apparent. Traditionally,
the Archaic period of ancient Greece is considered
to begin with Orientalizing influence, which
among other things brought the alphabetic
script to Greece, marking the beginning of
Greek literature. The end of the Dark Ages
is also frequently dated to 776 BC, the year
of the first Olympic Games. The Archaic period
gives way to the Classical period around 500
BC, in turn succeeded by the Hellenistic period
at the death of Alexander the Great in 323
BC.
Ancient Periods
Astronomical year numbering
Dates are approximate, consult particular
article for details
The history of Greece during Classical Antiquity
may thus be subdivided into the following
periods:
The Archaic period, in which artists made
larger free-standing sculptures in stiff,
hieratic poses with the dreamlike "archaic
smile". The Archaic period is often taken
to end with the overthrow of the last tyrant
of Athens and the start of Athenian Democracy
in 508 BC.
The Classical period is characterised by a
style which was considered by later observers
to be exemplary i.e. "classical", as shown
in for instance the Parthenon. 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.
In the Hellenistic period 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, 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.
The final phase of Antiquity is 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
Athenians or pro-Athenians, 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.
From about the 9th century BC written records
begin to appear. 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
neighbours by the sea or mountain ranges.
The Lelantine War is the earliest documented
war of the ancient Greek period. It was fought
between the important poleis 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, 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
or antecedent in ancient Greece. This practice
allowed a social revolution to occur. The
subjugated population, thenceforth known as
helots, farmed and laboured 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 the shadowy Lycurgus of Sparta, were probably
complete by 650 BC.
Athens suffered a land and agrarian crisis
in the late 7th century, again resulting in
civil strife. The Archon Draco made severe
reforms to the law code in 621 BC, but these
failed to quell the conflict. Eventually the
moderate reforms of Solon, 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 had resulted in emigration of
many Greeks to form colonies in Magna Graecia,
Asia Minor and further afield. The emigration
effectively ceased in the 6th century 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 Rome 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, 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
5th century
Athens and Sparta would soon have to become
allies in the face of the largest external
threat ancient Greece would see until the
Roman conquest. After suppressing the Ionian
Revolt, a rebellion of the Greek cities of
Ionia, Darius I of Persia, King of Kings of
the Achaemenid Empire, decided to subjugate
Greece. His invasion in 490 BC was ended by
the Athenian victory at the Battle of Marathon
under Miltiades the Younger.
Xerxes I of Persia, son and successor of Darius
I, attempted his own invasion 10 years later,
but despite his larger army he suffered heavy
casualties after the famous rearguard action
at Thermopylae and victories for the allied
Greeks at the Battles of Salamis and Plataea.
The Greco-Persian Wars continued until 449
BC, led by the Athenians and their Delian
League, during which time the Macedon, Thrace,
the Aegean Islands and Ionia were all liberated
from Persian influence.
The dominant position of the maritime Athenian
'Empire' threatened Sparta and the Peloponnesian
League of mainland Greek cities. Inevitably,
this led to conflict, resulting in the Peloponnesian
War. Though effectively a stalemate for much
of the war, Athens suffered a number of setbacks.
The Plague of Athens in 430 BC followed by
a disastrous military campaign known as the
Sicilian Expedition severely weakened Athens.
Around thirty per cent of the population died
in a typhoid epidemic in 430-426 B.C..
Sparta was able to foment rebellion amongst
Athens's allies, further reducing the Athenian
ability to wage war. The decisive moment came
in 405 BC when Sparta cut off the grain supply
to Athens from the Hellespont. Forced to attack,
the crippled Athenian fleet was decisively
defeated by the Spartans under the command
of Lysander at Aegospotami. In 404 BC Athens
sued for peace, and Sparta dictated a predictably
stern settlement: Athens lost her city walls,
her fleet, and all of her overseas possessions.
4th century
Greece thus entered the 4th century 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. 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 suffered a decisive
defeat 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 Macedon 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, 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, 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.
During the Hellenistic period, the importance
of "Greece proper" within the Greek-speaking
world declined sharply. The great centers
of Hellenistic culture were Alexandria and
Antioch, capitals of Ptolemaic Egypt and Seleucid
Syria 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 1st
century BC.
After the death of Alexander his empire was,
after quite some conflict, divided amongst
his generals, resulting in the Ptolemaic Kingdom,
the Seleucid Empire and the Antigonid dynasty
based in Macedon. 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.
The city-states formed themselves into two
leagues; the Achaean League and the Aetolian
League. 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 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.
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-Syrian 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 praefect;
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, Messenia, Elis,
Achaia, Korinthia, Argolis, and Arcadia. 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, Molossia, and Thesprotia. 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.
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.
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, Neapolis, Massalia and Byzantion.
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
more or less independent city-states. 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 centres 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',
were completely independent of the founding
city.
Inevitably smaller poleis might be dominated
by larger neighbours, 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;
and often poleis would be compelled to join
under threat of war. 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, 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 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,
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 racked 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, 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, 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 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 dynasty founders
were believed to be twin sons of Aristodemus,
a Heraclid ruler. However, the powers of these
kings was trammeled by both a council of elders
and magistrates specifically appointed to
watch over the kings.
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 given the title of equal if
they finished their education. 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.
Most families owned slaves as household servants
and labourers, 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, 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 and the Platonic Academy. 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. 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, allowing the
pooling of resources and division of labour.
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 well-known philosophers of ancient Greece
were Plato, Socrates, and many others. They
have aided in information about ancient Greek
society through writings such as The Republic,
by Plato.
Literature and theatre
Ancient Greek society placed considerable
emphasis upon literature. Many authors consider
the western literary tradition to have begun
with the epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey,
which remain giants in the literary canon
for their skillful and vivid depictions of
war and peace, honor and disgrace, love and
hatred. Notable among later Greek poets was
Sappho, who defined, in many ways, lyric poetry
as a genre.
A playwright named Aeschylus changed Western
literature forever when he introduced the
ideas of dialogue and interacting characters
to playwriting. In doing so, he essentially
invented "drama": his Oresteia trilogy of
plays is seen as his crowning achievement.
Other refiners of playwriting were Sophocles
and Euripides. Sophocles is credited with
skillfully developing irony as a literary
technique, most famously in his play Oedipus
the King. Euripedes, conversely, used plays
to challenge societal norms and mores—a
hallmark of much of Western literature for
the next 2,300 years and beyond—and his
works such as Medea, The Bacchae and The Trojan
Women are still notable for their ability
to challenge our perceptions of propriety,
gender, and war. Aristophanes, a comic playwright,
defines and shapes the idea of comedy almost
as Aeschylus had shaped tragedy as an art
form—Aristophanes' most famous plays include
the Lysistrata and The Frogs.
Philosophy entered literature in the dialogues
of Plato, who converted the give and take
of Socratic questioning into written form.
Aristotle, Plato's student, wrote dozens of
works on many scientific disciplines, but
his greatest contribution to literature was
likely his Poetics, which lays out his understanding
of drama, and thereby establishes the first
criteria for literary criticism.
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, 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 until the present,
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 artes
/ intulit agresti Latio
"Captive Greece took captive her fierce 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
Citizenship in ancient Greece
Macedonia
Toynbee's law of challenge and response.
References
Notes
Bibliography
Charles Freeman. Egypt, Greece and Rome. Oxford
University Press. 
Paul MacKendrick. The Greek Stones Speak:
The Story of Archaeology in Greek Lands. St.
Martin's Press. 
Thomas Wardle. The history of ancient Greece,
its colonies and conquests from the earliest
accounts till division of the Macedonian Empire
in the East.
Further reading
Goodrich, S. G.. A pictorial history of Greece:
Ancient and modern. New York: Huntington & Savage
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
