Civilization · c. 800 BCE – 146 BCE
Ancient Greece
Inventors of democracy, philosophy, drama and the Olympics.
Capital: Athens, Sparta, Thebes · Western Europe
Overview
Greek city-states — Athens, Sparta, Corinth, Thebes and hundreds more — created the classical foundations of Western civilization. Their culture spread through Alexander's conquests to shape the Hellenistic world.
Timeline
- c. 800 BCEHomeric epics; alphabetic writing
- 508 BCECleisthenes' democratic reforms in Athens
- 499 – 449 BCEGreco-Persian Wars
- 431 – 404 BCEPeloponnesian War
- 336 – 323 BCEAlexander the Great
- 146 BCERoman conquest of Greece
Rulers
Statesman of the Athenian Golden Age
Spartan king at Thermopylae
Unified Greece
Conqueror of the Persian Empire
Wars & conflicts
- Trojan War (legendary)
- Greco-Persian Wars
- Peloponnesian War
- Wars of Alexander
Architecture
Doric, Ionic and Corinthian orders; Parthenon; theaters; stadia.
Religion
Olympian polytheism; oracles at Delphi and Dodona; mystery cults.
Economy
Olive oil, wine, silver mining, maritime trade throughout the Mediterranean.
Technology
Antikythera mechanism, catapults, water clocks, geometry.
Art
Kouros and kore sculpture, red- and black-figure pottery, tragic and comic drama.
Influence
Foundational to Western philosophy, mathematics, science, politics and art.
Decline
Roman conquest ended political independence; Greek culture continued to flourish under Rome and Byzantium.
Key sites
- Acropolis of Athens
- Delphi
- Olympia
- Epidaurus
- Mycenae