Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece (Ancient Greek: Ἑλλάς,

romanized: Hellás) was a northeastern
Mediterranean civilization, existing from the
Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC
to the end of classical antiquity (c. 600 AD),
that comprised a loose collection of culturally
and linguistically related city-states and
communities. Prior to the Roman period,
most of these regions were officially unified
only once under the Kingdom of Macedon
from 338 to 323 BC.[a] In Western history, the
era of classical antiquity was immediately The Parthenon, a temple dedicated to Athena, located on
followed by the Early Middle Ages and the the Acropolis in Athens, is one of the most
Byzantine period.[1] representative symbols of the culture and sophistication
of the ancient Greeks.
Three centuries after the decline of
Mycenaean Greece during the Bronze Age
collapse, Greek urban poleis began to form in the 8th century BC, ushering in the Archaic
period and the colonization of the Mediterranean Basin. This was followed by the age of
Classical Greece, from the Greco-Persian Wars to the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC,
and which included the Golden Age of Athens and the Peloponnesian War. The unification of
Greece by Macedon under Philip II and subsequent conquest of the Achaemenid Empire by
Alexander the Great spread Hellenistic civilization across the Middle East. The Hellenistic
period is considered to have ended in 30 BC, when the last Hellenistic kingdom, Ptolemaic
Egypt, was annexed by the Roman Republic.

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]

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 BC until the death of Alexander
the Great in 323 BC.[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 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 330 AD. 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 BC historical figures such as Darius I of Persia, Cambyses
II and Psamtik III, and alluding to some 8th-century BC 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

Archaic period
The archaic period, lasting approximately from
800 to 500 BC, saw the culmination of political and
social developments which had begun in the Greek
Dark Age, with the polis (city-state) becoming the
most important unit of political organisation in
Greece.[15] The absence of powerful states in
Greece after the collapse of Mycenaean power, and
the geography of Greece, where many settlements
were separated from their neighbours by
mountainous terrain, encouraged the development
Dipylon Vase of the late Geometric period, or the
of small independent city-states.[16] Several Greek
beginning of the Archaic period, c. 750 BC.
states saw tyrants rise to power in this period,
most famously at Corinth from 657 BC.[17] The
period also saw the founding of Greek colonies around the Mediterranean, with Euboean
settlements at Al-Mina in the east as early as 800 BC, and Ischia in the west by 775.[18]
Increasing contact with non-Greek peoples in this period, especially in the Near East, inspired
developments in art and architecture, the adoption of coinage, and the development of the
Greek alphabet.[19]

Athens developed its democratic system over the course of the archaic period. Already in the
7th century, the right of all citizen men to attend the assembly appears to have been
established.[20] After a failed coup led by Cylon of Athens around 636 BC, Draco was appointed
to establish a code of laws in 621. This failed to reduce the political tension between the poor
and the elites, and in 594 Solon was given the authority to enact another set of reforms, which
attempted to balance the power of the rich and the poor.[21] In the middle of the 6th century,
Pisistratus established himself as a tyrant, and after his death in 527 his son Hippias inherited
his position; by the end of the 6th century he had been overthrown, and Cleisthenes carried
out further democratising reforms.[22]

In Sparta, a political system with two kings, a council of elders, and five ephors developed
over the course of the 8th and 7th centuries. According to Spartan tradition, this constitution
was established by the legendary lawgiver Lycurgus.[23] Over the course of the first and
second Messenian wars, Sparta subjugated the neighbouring region of Messenia, enserfing the
population.[24]

In the 6th century, Greek city-states began to develop formal relationships with one another,
where previously individual rulers had relied on personal relationships with the elites of
other cities.[25] Towards the end of the Archaic period, Sparta began to build a series of
alliances, the Peloponnesian League, with cities including Corinth, Elis, and Megara,[26]
isolating Messenia and reinforcing Sparta's position against Argos, the other major power in
the Peloponnese.[27] Other alliances in the 6th century included those between Elis and Heraea
in the Peloponnese; and between the Greek colony Sybaris in southern Italy, its allies, and the
Serdaioi.[28]

Classical Greece
In 499 BC, the Ionian city states under Persian rule
rebelled against their Persian-supported tyrant rulers.[29]
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.[30] The revolt
continued until 494, when the rebelling Ionians were
Early Athenian coin, depicting the head of defeated.[30] Darius did not forget that Athens had
Athena on the obverse and her owl on the assisted the Ionian revolt, and in 490 he assembled an
reverse – 5th century BC armada to retaliate.[31] 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.[32]

Ten years later, a second invasion was

launched by Darius' son Xerxes.[33] The city-
states of northern and central Greece
submitted to the Persian forces without
resistance, but a coalition of 31 Greek city
states, including Athens and Sparta,
determined to resist the Persian invaders.[33]
At the same time, Greek Sicily was invaded by
a Carthaginian force.[33] 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 Events of the first phases of the Greco-Persian Wars
of Syracuse, defeated the Carthaginian
invasion at the Battle of Himera.[34]

The Persians were decisively defeated at sea by a primarily Athenian naval force at the Battle
of Salamis, and on land in 479 BC at the Battle of Plataea.[35] The alliance against Persia
continued, initially led by the Spartan Pausanias but from 477 by Athens,[36] and by 460 Persia
had been driven out of the Aegean.[37] During this long campaign, the Delian League gradually
transformed from a defensive alliance of Greek states into an Athenian empire, as Athens'
growing naval power intimidated the other league states.[38] Athens ended its campaigns
against Persia in 450, after a disastrous defeat in Egypt in 454, and the death of Cimon in
action against the Persians on Cyprus in 450.[39]
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 BC when Athens sent a force to aid
Sparta in overcoming a helot revolt, but this
aid was rejected by the Spartans.[40] In the
450s, Athens took control of Boeotia, and won
victories over Aegina and Corinth.[39]
However, Athens failed to win a decisive
victory, and in 447 lost Boeotia again.[39] The Delian League immediately before the
Athens and Sparta signed the Thirty Years' Peloponnesian War in 431 BC
Peace in the winter of 446/445, ending the
conflict.[39]

Despite the treaty, Athenian relations with Sparta declined again in the 430s, and in 431 BC the
Peloponnesian War began.[41] 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.[42] 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.[43] After the deaths of Cleon and
Brasidas, the strongest proponents of war on each side, a peace treaty was negotiated in 421
by the Athenian general Nicias.[44]

The peace did not last, however. In 418 BC allied forces of Athens and Argos were defeated by
Sparta at Mantinea.[45] In 415 Athens launched an ambitious naval expedition to dominate
Sicily;[46] the expedition ended in disaster at the harbor of Syracuse, with almost the entire
army killed, and the ships destroyed.[47] 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.[48] Initially the Athenian position continued
relatively strong, with important victories at Cyzicus in 410 and Arginusae in 406.[49]
However, in 405 the Spartan Lysander defeated Athens in the Battle of Aegospotami, and
began to blockade Athens' harbour;[50] driven by hunger, Athens sued for peace, agreeing to
surrender their fleet and join the Spartan-led Peloponnesian League.[51] Following the
Athenian surrender, Sparta installed an oligarchic regime, the Thirty Tyrants, in Athens,[50]
one of a number of Spartan-backed oligarchies which rose to power after the Peloponnesian
war.[52] Spartan predominance did not last: after only a year, the Thirty had been
overthrown.[53]
The first half of the 4th century saw the major Greek states attempt to dominate the mainland;
none were successful, and their resulting weakness led to a power vacuum which was
eventually filled by Macedon under Philip II and then Alexander the Great.[54] In the
immediate aftermath of the Peloponnesian war, Sparta attempted to extend their own power,
leading Argos, Athens, Corinth, and Thebes to join against them.[55] Aiming to prevent any
single Greek state gaining the dominance that would allow it to challenge Persia, the Persian
king initially joined the alliance against Sparta, before imposing the Peace of Antalcidas
("King's Peace") which restored Persia's control over the Anatolian Greeks.[56]

By 371 BC, Thebes was in the ascendancy, defeating Sparta at

the Battle of Leuctra, killing the Spartan king Cleombrotus I, and
invading Laconia. Further Theban successes against Sparta in
369 led to Messenia gaining independence; Sparta never
recovered from the loss of Messenia's fertile land and the helot
workforce it provided.[57] The rising power of Thebes led Sparta
and Athens to join forces; in 362 they were defeated by Thebes
at the Battle of Mantinea. In the aftermath of Mantinea, none of
the major Greek states were able to dominate. Though Thebes
had won the battle, their general Epaminondas was killed, and
they spent the following decades embroiled in wars with their
neighbours; Athens, meanwhile, saw its second naval alliance,
formed in 377, collapse in the mid-350s.[58]

The power vacuum in Greece after the Battle of Mantinea was

filled by Macedon, under Philip II. In 338 BC, he defeated a The Victorious Youth (c. 310 BC)
is a rare, water-preserved bronze
Greek alliance at the Battle of Chaeronea, and subsequently
sculpture from ancient Greece.
formed the League of Corinth. Philip planned to lead the League
to invade Persia, but was murdered in 336 BC. His son
Alexander the Great was left to fulfil his father's ambitions.[59] After campaigns against
Macedon's western and northern enemies, and those Greek states that had broken from the
League of Corinth following the death of Philip, Alexander began his campaign against Persia
in 334 BC.[60] He conquered Persia, defeating Darius III at the Battle of Issus in 333 BC, and
after the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BC proclaimed himself king of Asia.[61] From 329 BC he
led expeditions to Bactria and then India;[62] further plans to invade Arabia and North Africa
were halted by his death in 323 BC.[63]

Hellenistic Greece
The period from the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC until the death of Cleopatra, the
last Macedonian ruler of Egypt, is known as the Hellenistic period. In the early part of this
period, a new form of kingship developed based on Macedonian and Near Eastern traditions.
The first Hellenistic kings were previously Alexander's generals, and took power in the period
following his death, though they were not part of existing royal lineages and lacked historic
claims to the territories they controlled.[64] The most important of these rulers in the decades
 after Alexander's death were Antigonus I and his son
Demetrius in Macedonia and the rest of Greece, Ptolemy
in Egypt, and Seleucus I in Syria and the former Persian
empire;[65] smaller Hellenistic kingdoms included the
Attalids in Anatolia and the Greco-Bactrian kingdom.[66]

Alexander Mosaic, National

Archaeological Museum, Naples

In the early part of the Hellenistic period, the

exact borders of the Hellenistic kingdoms
were not settled. Antigonus attempted to
expand his territory by attacking the other The major Hellenistic realms included the Diadochi
successor kingdoms until they joined against kingdoms:
him, and he was killed at the Battle of Ipsus Kingdom of Ptolemy I Soter
in 301 BC.[67] His son Demetrius spent many Kingdom of Cassander
years in Seleucid captivity, and his son, Kingdom of Lysimachus

Antigonus II, only reclaimed the Macedonian Kingdom of Seleucus I Nicator

throne around 276.[67] Meanwhile, the Epirus

Seleucid kingdom gave up territory in the Also shown on the map:

Greek colonies
east to the Indian king Chandragupta Maurya
Carthage (non-Greek)
in exchange for war elephants, and later lost
Rome (non-Greek)
large parts of Persia to the Parthian
The orange areas were often in dispute after 281 BC.
Empire.[67] By the mid-3rd century, the
The Attalid dynasty occupied some of this area. Not
kingdoms of Alexander's successors was shown: Indo-Greek Kingdom.
mostly stable, though there continued to be
disputes over border areas.[66]

The great capitals of Hellenistic culture were Alexandria in the Ptolemaic Kingdom[68][69] and
Antioch in the Seleucid Empire.[70][71]

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.[72] 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 1st century BC.

The city-states within Greece formed themselves into two leagues; the Achaean League
(including Corinth and Argos)[73][74] 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 prominent features 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, consisting of the regions of Laconia (southeast), Messenia
(southwest), Elis (west), Achaia (north), Korinthia (northeast), Argolis (east), and Arcadia
(center). These names survive to the present day as regional units of modern Greece, though
with somewhat different boundaries. Mainland Greece to the north, nowadays known as
Central Greece, consisted of Aetolia and Acarnania in the west, Locris, Doris, and Phocis in the
center, while in the east lay Boeotia, Attica, and Megaris. Northeast lay Thessaly, while Epirus
lay to the northwest. Epirus stretched from the Ambracian Gulf in the south to the Ceraunian
Mountains and the Aoos river in the north, and consisted of Chaonia (north), Molossia
(center), and Thesprotia (south). In the northeast corner was Macedonia,[75] 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.[76] 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
Major regions of mainland ancient Greece and
During the Archaic period, the Greek population
adjacent "barbarian" lands
grew beyond the capacity of the limited arable
land of Greece proper, resulting in
the large-scale establishment of
colonies elsewhere: according to one
estimate, the population of the
widening area of Greek settlement
increased roughly ten-fold from 800
to 400 BC, from 800,000 to as many as
71⁄2–10 million.[77] This was not
simply for trade, but also to found
settlements. These Greek colonies
were not, as Roman colonies were,
Ancient Greek colonies in the archaic period
dependent on their mother-city, but
were independent city-states in their
own right.[78]

Greeks settled outside of Greece in two distinct ways. The

first was in permanent settlements founded by Greeks,
which formed as independent poleis. The second form
was in what historians refer to as emporia; trading posts
which were occupied by both Greeks and non-Greeks and
which were primarily concerned with the manufacture
and sale of goods. Examples of this latter type of
settlement are found at Al Mina in the east and
The Temple of Concordia, Valle dei
Pithekoussai in the west.[79] From around 750 to 500 BC, Templi, Magna Graecia, present-day Italy
Greeks settled 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, Southern Italy (called "Magna Graecia") were
settled, followed by Southern France, Corsica, and even eastern 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
Marble bust of Pericles with a
when, during the second Persian invasion of Greece, a group of
Corinthian helmet, Roman copy
city-states allied themselves to defend Greece, the vast majority of a Greek original, Museo
of poleis remained neutral, and after the Persian defeat, the Chiaramonti, Vatican Museums;
allies quickly returned to infighting.[81] Pericles was a key populist
political figure in the
Thus, the major peculiarities of the ancient Greek political development of the radical
system were its fragmented nature (and that this does not Athenian democracy.[80]
particularly seem to have tribal origin), and the particular focus
on urban centers within otherwise tiny states. The peculiarities
of the Greek system are further evidenced by the colonies that they set up throughout the
Mediterranean, which, though they might count a certain Greek polis as their 'mother' (and
remain sympathetic to her), were completely independent of the founding city.
Inevitably smaller poleis might be dominated by larger neighbors, but conquest or direct rule
by another city-state appears to have been quite rare. Instead the poleis grouped themselves
into leagues, membership of which was in a constant state of flux. Later in the Classical
period, the leagues would become fewer and larger, be dominated by one city (particularly
Athens, Sparta and Thebes); and often poleis would be compelled to join under threat of war
(or as part of a peace treaty). Even after Philip II of Macedon conquered the heartlands of
ancient Greece, he did not attempt to annex the territory or unify it into a new province, but
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.[82] 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
Inheritance law, part of the Gortyn code, finally an annually elected archonship by 683 BC.
Crete, fragment of the 11th column. Through each stage, more power would have been
Limestone, 5th century BC transferred to the aristocracy as a whole, and away from
a single individual.

Inevitably, the domination of politics and concomitant aggregation of wealth by small groups
of families was apt to cause social unrest in many poleis. In many cities a tyrant (not in the
modern sense of repressive autocracies), would at some point seize control and govern
according to their own will; often a populist agenda would help sustain them in power. In a
system wracked with class conflict, government by a 'strongman' was often the best solution.

Athens fell under a tyranny in the second half of the 6th century BC. 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.[83]

Women in Ancient Greece appear to have primarily performed domestic tasks, managed
households, and borne and reared children.

Slavery
Slaves had no power or status. Slaves 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 40 and 80% of
the population of Classical Athens were slaves.[84] 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 Gravestone of a woman with her slave
culture, the ancient Greeks did not think in terms of child-attendant, c. 100 BC
race.[85]

Most families owned slaves as household servants and laborers, and even poor families might
have owned a few slaves. Owners were not allowed to beat or kill their slaves. Owners often
promised to free slaves in the future to encourage slaves to work hard. Unlike in Rome,
freedmen did not become citizens. Instead, they were mixed into the population of metics,
which included people from foreign countries or other city-states who were officially allowed
to live in the state.

City-states legally owned slaves. These public slaves had a larger measure of independence
than slaves owned by families, living on their own and performing specialized tasks. In
Athens, public slaves were trained to look out for counterfeit coinage, while temple slaves
acted as servants of the temple's deity and Scythian slaves were employed in Athens as a
police force corralling citizens to political functions.
Sparta had a special type of slaves called helots. Helots were Messenians enslaved en masse
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. In 370/369 BC, as
a result of Epaminondas' liberation of Messenia from Spartan rule, the helot system there
came to an end and the helots won their freedom.[86] However, it persisted in Laconia until
the 2nd century BC.

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.[87]

Boys went to school at the age of seven, or went to the

Mosaic from Pompeii depicting Plato's
barracks, if they lived in Sparta. The three types of
Academy
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.[88]

Some of Athens' greatest such schools included the Lyceum (the so-called Peripatetic school
founded by Aristotle of Stageira)[89][90] and the Platonic Academy (founded by Plato of
Athens).[91][92] The education system of the wealthy ancient Greeks is also called
Paideia.[93][94]
Economy
At its economic height in the 5th and 4th centuries BC, the free citizenry of Classical Greece
represented perhaps the most prosperous society in the ancient world, some economic
historians considering Greece one of the most advanced pre-industrial economies. In terms of
wheat, wages reached an estimated 7–12 kg (15–26 lb) daily for an unskilled worker in urban
Athens, 2–3 times the 3.75 kg (8.3 lb) of an unskilled rural labourer in Roman Egypt, though
Greek farm incomes too were on average lower than those available to urban workers.[95]

While slave conditions varied widely, the institution served to sustain the incomes of the free
citizenry: an estimate of economic development drawn from the latter (or derived from urban
incomes alone) is therefore likely to overstate the true overall level despite widespread
evidence for high living standards.

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
five percent of the losing side, but the slain often Greek hoplite and Persian warrior
included the most prominent citizens and generals who depicted fighting, on an ancient kylix, 5th
century BC
led from the front.

The scale and scope of warfare in ancient Greece

changed dramatically as a result of the Greco-Persian Wars. To fight the enormous armies of
the Achaemenid Empire was effectively beyond the capabilities of a single city-state. The
eventual triumph of the Greeks was achieved by alliances of city-states (the exact composition
changing over time), allowing the pooling of resources and division of labor. Although
alliances between city-states occurred before this time, nothing on this scale had been seen
before. The rise of Athens and Sparta as pre-eminent powers during this conflict led directly to
the Peloponnesian War, which saw further development of the nature of warfare, strategy and
tactics. Fought between leagues of cities dominated by Athens and Sparta, the increased
manpower and financial resources increased the scale and allowed the diversification of
warfare. Set-piece battles during the Peloponnesian war proved indecisive and instead there
was increased reliance on attritionary strategies, naval battles 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 oarsmen—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.[96]

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
The carved busts of four ancient Greek of the modern day.
philosophers, on display in the British
Museum. From left to right: Socrates, Neither reason nor inquiry began with the ancient
Antisthenes, Chrysippus, and Epicurus. 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.

The first known philosophers of Greece were the pre-Socratics, who attempted to provide
naturalistic, non-mythical descriptions of the world. They were followed by Socrates, one of
the first philosophers based in Athens during its golden age whose ideas, despite being known
by second-hand accounts instead of writings of his own, laid the basis of Western philosophy.
Socrates' disciple Plato, who wrote The Republic and established a radical difference between
ideas and the concrete world, and Plato's disciple Aristotle, who wrote extensively about
nature and ethics, are also immensely influential in Western philosophy to this day. The later
Hellenistic philosophy, also originating in Greece, is defined by names such as Antisthenes
(cynicism), Zeno of Citium (stoicism) and Plotinus (Neoplatonism).

Literature and theatre

The earliest Greek literature was poetry and was composed for performance rather than
private consumption.[97] The earliest Greek poet known is Homer, although he was certainly
part of an existing tradition of oral poetry.[98] 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-7th
century BC.[99] Tragedy developed around the end of the archaic period, taking elements from
 across the pre-existing genres of late archaic poetry.[100]
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.[101]
Like poetry, Greek prose
The ancient Theatre of Epidaurus, 4th
had its origins in the
century BC
archaic period, and the
earliest writers of Greek
philosophy, history, and medical literature all date to the 6th
century BC.[102] 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.[103] Prose as a genre
reached maturity in the classical era,[102] and the major Greek
prose genres—philosophy, history, rhetoric, and dialogue—
developed in this period.[104]

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.[105] It was thanks to this A scene from the Iliad: Hypnos
cultural patronage by Hellenistic kings, and especially the and Thanatos carrying the body
Museum at Alexandria, that so much ancient Greek literature of Sarpedon from the battlefield
has survived. [106] The Library of Alexandria, part of the of Troy; detail from an Attic

Museum, had the previously unenvisaged aim of collecting white-ground lekythos, c. 440 BC

together copies of all known authors in Greek. Almost all of the

surviving non-technical Hellenistic literature is poetry,[106] and
Hellenistic poetry tended to be highly intellectual,[107] blending different genres and
traditions, and avoiding linear narratives.[108] The Hellenistic period also saw a shift in the
ways literature was consumed—while in the archaic and classical periods literature had
typically been experienced in public performance, in the Hellenistic period it was more
commonly read privately.[109] At the same time, Hellenistic poets began to write for private,
rather than public, consumption.[110]

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.[111] The period of greatest innovation in Greek literature under Rome was the "long
second century" from approximately 80 AD to around 230 AD.[112] 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.[112]
Music and dance
In Ancient Greek society, music was ever-present and considered a fundamental component of
civilisation.[113] It was an important part of public religious worship,[114] private ceremonies
such as weddings and funerals,[115] and household entertainment.[116] Men sang and played
music at the symposium;[117] both men and women sang at work; and children's games
involved song and dance.[118]

Ancient Greek music was primarily vocal, sung either by a solo singer or a chorus, and usually
accompanied by an instrument; purely instrumental music was less common.[119] The Greeks
used stringed instruments, including lyres, harps, and lutes;[120] and wind instruments, of
which the most important was the aulos, a reed instrument.[121] Percussion instruments
played a relatively unimportant role supporting stringed and wind instruments, and were
used in certain religious cults.[122]

Science and technology

Ancient Greek mathematics contributed many important
developments to 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

The Antikythera mechanism was an branch of mathematics, to a highly sophisticated level.
analog computer from 150 to 100 BC The first geometrical, three-dimensional models to
designed to calculate the positions of
explain the apparent motion of the planets were
astronomical objects.
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.[123] Eratosthenes, using the angles
of shadows created at widely separated regions, estimated the circumference of the Earth with
great accuracy.[124] 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"[125][126] 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.[127][128]

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 The Temple of Hera at Selinunte, Sicily
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
Religion was a central part of ancient Greek life.[129]
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. The Greeks were polytheistic,
worshipping many gods, but as early as the 6th
century BC a pantheon of twelve Olympians began to
develop.[130] 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 Mount Olympus, home of the Twelve
period this influence was seen in both directions.[131] Olympians

The most important religious act in ancient Greece was

animal sacrifice, most commonly of sheep and goats.[132] Sacrifice was accompanied by public
prayer,[133] and prayer and hymns were themselves a major part of ancient Greek religious
life.[134]