Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece (Greek: Ἑλλάς, romanized: 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). This era was immediately
followed by the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine
period.[1] 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 age of Classical Greece,
from the Greco-Persian Wars to the 5th to 4th centuries
BC. The conquests of Alexander the Great of Macedon The Parthenon, a temple dedicated to Athena,
spread Hellenistic civilization from the western located on the Acropolis in Athens, is one of the
Mediterranean to Central Asia. The Hellenistic period most representative symbols of the culture and
ended with the conquest of the eastern Mediterranean sophistication of the ancient Greeks.
world by the Roman Republic, and the annexation of 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 throughout the Mediterranean and much of Europe. For this reason, Classical Greece is generally
considered the cradle of Western civilization, the seminal culture from which the modern West derives many of
its founding archetypes and ideas in politics, philosophy, science, and art.[2][3][4]

Contents
Chronology
Historiography
History
Archaic period
Classical Greece
Hellenistic Greece
Roman Greece
Geography
Regions
Colonies
Politics and society
Political structure
Government and law
Social structure
Slavery
Education
 Economy
Warfare
Culture
Philosophy
Literature and theatre
Music and dance
Science and technology
Art and architecture
Religion
Legacy
See also
Notes
References
Notes
Bibliography
Further reading
External links

Chronology
Classical antiquity in the Mediterranean region is commonly considered to have begun in the 8th century
BC[5] (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, which saw early developments in Greek culture and
society leading to the Classical Period[6] from the Persian invasion of Greece in 480 until the death of
Alexander the Great in 323.[7] The Classical Period is characterized by a "classical" style, i.e. one which was
considered exemplary by later observers, most famously in the Parthenon of Athens. 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 was shaped by the Greco-Persian Wars, the
Peloponnesian War, 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 from the death of Alexander until the Roman conquest.
Roman Greece is usually counted from the Roman victory over the Corinthians at the Battle of Corinth in 146
BC to 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,
consummated by the closure of the Academy of Athens by Justinian I in 529.[8]

Historiography
The historical period of ancient Greece is unique in world history as the first period attested directly in
comprehensive, narrative historiography, while earlier ancient history or protohistory is known from much
more fragmentary documents such as annals, 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 persons such as Candaules.
The accuracy of Herodotus' works is debated.[9][10][11][12][13]

Herodotus was succeeded by authors such as Thucydides, Xenophon,

Demosthenes, Plato and Aristotle. Most were either Athenian or pro-
Athenian, which is why far more is known about the history and politics
of Athens than of many other cities. Their scope is further limited by a
focus on political, military and diplomatic history, ignoring economic and
social history.[14]

History
The Victorious Youth (c. 310 BC),
Archaic period is a rare, water-preserved bronze
sculpture from ancient Greece.
In the 8th century BC, Greece
began to emerge from the Dark
Ages which followed the collapse of 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 inscribed with Phoenician writing 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
Dipylon Vase of the late Geometric
century.[15] Greece was divided into many small self-governing
period, or the beginning of the
Archaic period, c. 750 BC.
communities, a pattern largely dictated by its geography: every island,
valley and plain is cut off from its neighbors by the sea or mountain
ranges.[16]

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 a 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.[17] This seems to have introduced tension to many city-states, as their aristocratic regimes were
threatened by the new wealth of merchants ambitious for political power. From 650 BC onwards, the
aristocracies had to fight to maintain themselves against populist tyrants.[a] A growing population and a
shortage of land also seem to have created internal strife between rich and poor 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. This was an unprecedented act in ancient Greece, which led
to a social revolution[20] in which the subjugated population of helots farmed and labored for Sparta, whilst
every Spartan male citizen became a soldier of the Spartan army permanently in arms. Rich and poor citizens
alike were obliged to live and train as soldiers, an equality which defused 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
Political geography of ancient Greece in the
powers as well. Archaic and Classical periods

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 Greek colonies of Sicily, especially Syracuse, were soon drawn into prolonged conflicts with the
Carthaginians. These conflicts lasted from 600 BC to 265 BC, when the Roman Republic allied with the
Mamertines to fend off the new tyrant of Syracuse, Hiero II, and then the Carthaginians. As a result, Rome
became the new dominant power against the fading strength of the Sicilian Greek cities and the fading
Carthaginian hegemony. One year later the First Punic War erupted.

In this period, Greece and its overseas colonies enjoyed huge economic development in commerce and
manufacturing, with rising general prosperity. Some studies estimate that the average Greek household grew
fivefold between 800 and 300 BC, indicating a large increase in average income.

In the second half of the 6th century BC, Athens fell under the tyranny of Peisistratos followed by 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. Sparta and Athens promptly turned on
each other, at which point Cleomenes I installed Isagoras as a pro-Spartan archon. Eager to secure Athens'
independence from Spartan control, Cleisthenes proposed a political revolution: that all citizens share power,
regardless of status, making Athens a "democracy". The democratic enthusiasm of the Athenians swept out
Isagoras and threw back the Spartan-led invasion to restore him.[21] The advent of democracy cured many of
the social ills of Athens and ushered in the Golden Age.

Classical Greece

In 499 BC, the Ionian city states under Persian rule rebelled against their Persian-supported tyrant rulers.[22]
Supported by troops sent from Athens and Eretria, they advanced as far as Sardis and burnt the city before
being driven back by a Persian counterattack.[23] The revolt continued until 494, when the rebelling Ionians
were defeated.[24] Darius did not forget that Athens had assisted the Ionian revolt, and in 490 he assembled an
armada to retaliate.[25] Though heavily outnumbered, the Athenians—supported by their Plataean allies—
defeated the Persian hordes at the Battle of Marathon, and the Persian fleet turned tail.[26]
 Ten years later, a
second invasion
was launched by
Darius' son
Xerxes. [27] The
city-states of
northern and
Early Athenian coin, depicting the
head of Athena on the obverse and
central Greece
her owl on the reverse – 5th century
submitted to the
BC Persian forces
without
resistance, but a
coalition of 31 Greek city states, including Athens and
Sparta, determined to resist the Persian invaders.[28] At Map showing events of the first phases of the
the same time, Greek Sicily was invaded by a Greco-Persian Wars.
Carthaginian force.[29] In 480 BC, the first major battle
of the invasion was fought at Thermopylae, where a
small rearguard of Greeks, led by three hundred
Spartans, held a crucial pass guarding the heart of Greece
for several days; at the same time Gelon, tyrant of
Syracuse, defeated the Carthaginian invasion at the Battle
of Himera.[30]

The Persians were decisively defeated at sea by a

primarily Athenian naval force at the Battle of Salamis,
and on land in 479 at the Battle of Plataea.[31] The
alliance against Persia continued, initially led by the
Spartan Pausanias but from 477 by Athens,[32] and by
460 Persia had been driven out of the Aegean.[33]
During this long campaign, the Delian League gradually
transformed from a defensive alliance of Greek states into Delian League ("Athenian Empire"), immediately
an Athenian empire, as Athens' growing naval power before the Peloponnesian War in 431 BC
intimidated the other league states.[34] 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.[35]

As the Athenian fight against the Persian empire waned, conflict grew between Athens and Sparta. Suspicious
of the increasing Athenian power funded by the Delian League, 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 this aid was rejected by the Spartans.[36] In the 450s,
Athens took control of Boeotia, and won victories over Aegina and Corinth.[37] However, Athens failed to
win a decisive victory, and in 447 lost Boeotia again.[38] Athens and Sparta signed the Thirty Years' Peace in
the winter of 446/5, ending the conflict.[39]

Despite the treaty, Athenian relations with Sparta declined again in the 430s, and in 431 the Peloponnesian
War began.[40] The first phase of the war saw a series of fruitless annual invasions of Attica by Sparta, while
Athens successfully fought the Corinthian empire in northwest Greece and defended its own empire, despite a
plague which killed the leading Athenian statesman Pericles.[41] The war turned after Athenian victories led
by Cleon at Pylos and Sphakteria,[42] and Sparta sued for peace, but the Athenians rejected the proposal.[43]
The Athenian failure to regain control of Boeotia at Delium and Brasidas' successes in northern Greece in 424
improved Sparta's position after Sphakteria.[44] After the deaths of Cleon and Brasidas, the strongest
proponents of war on each side, a peace treaty was negoitiated in 421 by the Athenian general Nicias.[45]
The peace did not last, however. In 418 allied forces of Athens and Argos were defeated by Sparta at
Mantinea.[46] In 415 Athens launched an ambitious naval expedition to dominate Sicily;[47] the expedition
ended in disaster at the harbor of Syracuse, with almost the entire army killed and the ships destroyed.[48]
Soon after the Athenian defeat in Syracuse, Athens' Ionian allies began to rebel against the Delian league,
while Persia began to once again involve itself in Greek affairs on the Spartan side.[49] Initially the Athenian
position continued relatively strong, with important victories at Cyzicus in 410 and Arginusae in 406.[50]
However, in 405 the Spartan Lysander defeated Athens in the Battle of Aegospotami, and began to blockade
Athens' harbour;[51] driven by hunger, Athens sued for peace, agreeing to surrender their fleet and join the
Spartan-led Peloponnesian League.[52]

Greece thus entered the 4th century BC under a Spartan hegemony, but it was clear from the start that this was
weak. A drastically dwindling population 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 helot 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 dominate the aftermath.

4th century BC Greek gold and The exhaustion of the Greek heartland coincided with the rise of
bronze rhyton with head of Dionysus, Macedon, led by Philip II. In twenty years, Philip had unified his
Tamoikin Art Fund 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 Hellenic
League, allying them to him and imposing peace among them. Philip then entered into war against the
Achaemenid Empire but was assassinated by Pausanias of Orestis early in the conflict.

Alexander, son and successor of Philip, continued the war. In an unequalled series of campaigns, 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, 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
Alexander Mosaic, National Ptolemaic
Archaeological Museum, Naples. The major Hellenistic realms included the Diadochi
Kingdom (Egypt
kingdoms:
and adjoining
Kingdom of Ptolemy I Soter
North Africa),
Kingdom of Cassander
the Seleucid Empire (the Levant, Mesopotamia and
Persia) and the Antigonid dynasty (Macedonia). In the Kingdom of Lysimachus
intervening period, the poleis of Greece were able to Kingdom of Seleucus I Nicator
wrest back some of their freedom, although still Epirus
nominally subject to Macedon. Also shown on the map:
Greek colonies
During the Hellenistic period, the importance of "Greece Carthage (non-Greek)
proper" (the territory of modern Greece) within the Rome (non-Greek)
Greek-speaking world declined sharply. The great The orange areas were often in dispute after 281
capitals of Hellenistic culture were Alexandria in the BC. The Attalid dynasty occupied some of this
Ptolemaic Kingdom and Antioch in the Seleucid Empire. area. Not shown: Indo-Greek Kingdom.

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 of the
young and ambitious to the new Greek empires in the east.[53] Many Greeks migrated to Alexandria, Antioch
and the many other new Hellenistic cities founded in Alexander's wake, as far away as present-day
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 at war, often participating 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 fight 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
Greek independence to an end.

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 Map showing the major regions of mainland
northwest. Epirus stretched from the Ambracian Gulf in the ancient Greece and adjacent "barbarian" lands.
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,[54] 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, Orestae and the Elimiotae and to the West, beyond the Axius river, into Eordaia, Bottiaea,
Mygdonia, and Almopia, regions settled by Thracian tribes.[55] 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).[56]
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 Greek cities & colonies c. 550 BC.
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.[58]
Marble bust of Pericles with a
Thus, the major peculiarities of the ancient Greek political system
Corinthian helmet, Roman copy of a
were its fragmentary nature (and that this does not particularly seem to Greek original, Museo Chiaramonti,
have tribal origin), and the particular focus on urban centers within Vatican Museums; Pericles was a
otherwise tiny states. The peculiarities of the Greek system are further key populist political figure in the
evidenced by the colonies that they set up throughout the development of the radical Athenian
Mediterranean Sea, which, though they might count a certain Greek democracy.[57]
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.[59] 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
Inheritance law, part of the Law Code
archonship. Through each stage more power would have been
of Gortyn, Crete, fragment of the transferred to the aristocracy as a whole, and away from a single
11th column. Limestone, 5th century individual.
BC
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 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
Fresco of dancing Peucetian women in the Tomb
Slaves had no power or status. They had the right to have of the Dancers in Ruvo di Puglia, 4th–5th century
a family and own property, subject to their master's BC
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.[60] 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.[61]

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 Gravestone of a woman with her
slaves in the future to encourage slaves to work hard. Unlike in slave child-attendant, c. 100 BC
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 revolted against their masters several times
before in 370/69 they won their freedom.[62]

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.[63]

Only a small number of boys continued their education after

childhood, as in the Spartan agoge. A crucial part of a wealthy
Mosaic from Pompeii depicting
teenager's education was a mentorship with an elder, which in a few
Plato's academy
places and times may have included pederasty. 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 pre-industrial 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.[64]

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. Greek hoplite and Persian warrior
depicted fighting, on an ancient kylix,
The scale and scope of warfare in ancient Greece changed
5th century BC
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.

According to Josiah Ober, Greek city-states faced approximately a one-in-three chance of destruction during
the archaic and classical period.[65]

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.
The stadium of ancient Olympia,
Neither reason nor inquiry began with the Greeks. Defining the home of the Ancient Olympic Games
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.[66] The earliest Greek
poet known is Homer, although he was certainly part of an existing
tradition of oral poetry.[67] 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.[68] tragedy developed, around the end of the archaic period,
The theatre of Epidauros, 4th century
taking elements from across the pre-existing genres of late archaic
BC
poetry.[69] 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.[70]
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.[71] 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.[72] Prose as a genre reached
maturity in the classical era,[73] and the major Greek prose genres—
philosophy, history, rhetoric, and dialogue—developed in this
period.[74]

The Hellenistic period saw the literary centre 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.[75] 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.[76] 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,[77] and
Hellenistic poetry tended to be highly intellectual,[78] blending
different genres and traditions, and avoiding linear narratives.[79] The A scene from the Iliad: Hypnos and
Hellenistic period also saw a shift in the ways literature was Thanatos carrying the body of
consumed—while in the archaic and classical periods literature had Sarpedon from the battlefield of Troy;
typically been experienced in public performance, in the Hellenistic detail from an Attic white-ground
period it was more commonly read privately.[80] At the same time, lekythos, c. 440 BC.
Hellenistic poets began to write for private, rather than public,
consumption.[81]

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.[82] The period of
greatest innovation in Greek literature under Rome was the "long second century" from approximately AD 80
to around AD 230.[83] 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.[84]

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
The Antikythera mechanism was an revives Aristarchus' hypothesis that "the fixed stars and the Sun
analog computer from 150–100 BC remain unmoved, while the Earth revolves about the Sun on the
designed to calculate the positions of circumference of a circle". Otherwise, only fragmentary descriptions
astronomical objects. of Aristarchus' idea survive.[85] Eratosthenes, using the angles of
shadows created at widely separated regions, estimated the
circumference of the Earth with great accuracy.[86] 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"[87][88] 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.[89][90]

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
The Temple of Hera at Selinunte,
technical standards of Greek art inspired generations of European
Sicily
artists. Well into the 19th century, the classical tradition derived from
Greece dominated the art of the western world.

Religion
Religion was a central part of ancient Greek life.[91] Though the
Greeks of different cities and tribes worshipped similar gods, religious
practices were not uniform and the gods were thought of differently in
different places.[92] The Greeks were polytheistic, worshipping many
gods, but as early as the sixth century BC a pantheon of twelve
Olympians began to develop.[92] Greek religion was influenced by
the practices of the Greeks' near eastern neighbours at least as early as
the archaic period, and by the Hellenistic period this influence was
seen in both directions.[93]
Mount Olympus, home of the Twelve
The most important religious act in ancient Greece was animal Olympians
sacrifice, most commonly of sheep and goats.[94] Sacrifice was
accompanied by public prayer,[95] and prayer and hymns were
themselves a major part of ancient Greek religious life.[96]

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-Hellenistic 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
Outline of ancient Egypt
Outline of ancient Rome
Outline of classical studies
Classical demography
History of science in classical antiquity
Regions in Greco-Roman antiquity

Notes
a. This word derives from the non-pejorative Greek τύραννος tyrannos, meaning 'illegitimate
ruler', and was applicable to both good and bad leaders alike.[18][19]

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Further reading
Shanks, Michael (1996). Classical Archaeology of Greece (https://www.academia.edu/403278
8). London: Routledge. ISBN 0-203-17197-7.
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 (http://www.civilization.ca/c
mc/exhibitions/civil/greece/gr0000e.shtml)
Ancient Greece (http://www.ancientgreece.co.uk) website from the British Museum
Economic history of ancient Greece (https://web.archive.org/web/20060502201333/http://eh.ne
t/encyclopedia/article/engen.greece)
The Greek currency history (http://www.fleur-de-coin.com/currency/drachma-history)
Limenoscope (https://web.archive.org/web/20110511090038/http://www.limenoscope.ntua.gr/in
dex.cgi?lan=en), an ancient Greek ports database
The Ancient Theatre Archive (http://www.whitman.edu/theatre/theatretour/home.htm), Greek
and Roman theatre architecture
Illustrated Greek History (http://people.hsc.edu/drjclassics/lectures/history/history.shtm), Dr.
Janice Siegel, Department of Classics, Hampden–Sydney College, Virginia

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