Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece

The Parthenon, a temple dedicated to Athena, located on the Acropolis in Athens, is one of the most representative symbols of the culture and sophistication of the ancient Greeks.

Ancient Greece was a Greek civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic periodof the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity (ca. 600 AD). Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era.[1] Included in ancient Greece is the period of Classical Greece, which flourished during the 5th to 4th centuries BC. Classical Greece began with the repelling of a Persian invasion by Athenian leadership. Because of conquests by Alexander the Great, Hellenistic civilization flourished from Central Asia to the western end of the Mediterranean Sea.

Classical Greek culture, especially philosophy, had a powerful influence on the Roman Empire, which carried a version of it to many parts of the Mediterranean region and Europe, for which reason Classical Greece is generally considered to be the seminal culture which provided the foundation of modern Western culture

Chronology

Further information: Timeline of ancient Greece

Classical Antiquity in the Mediterranean region is commonly considered to have begun in the 8th century BC (around the time of the earliest recorded poetry of Homer) and ended in the 6th century AD.

Classical Antiquity in Greece is preceded by the Greek Dark Ages (c. 1200 – c. 800 BC), archaeologically characterised by the protogeometric and geometric styles of designs on pottery. This period is succeeded, around the 8th century BC, by the Orientalizing Period during which a strong influence of Syro-Hittite, Assyrian, Phoenician and Egyptian cultures becomes apparent. Traditionally, the Archaic period of ancient Greece is considered to begin with Orientalizing influence, which among other things brought the alphabetic script to Greece, marking the beginning of Greek literature (Homer, Hesiod). The end of the Dark Ages is also frequently dated to 776 BC, the year of the first Olympic Games.[6] The Archaic period gives way to the Classical period around 500 BC, in turn succeeded by the Hellenistic period at the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC.

Ancient Periods

Dates are approximate, consult particular article for details

The history of Greece during Classical Antiquity may thus be subdivided into the following periods:[7]

• The Archaic period (c. 800 – c. 500 BC), in which artists made larger free-standing sculptures in stiff, hieratic poses with the dreamlike "archaic smile". The Archaic period is often taken to end with the overthrow of the last tyrant of Athens and the start of Athenian Democracy in 508 BC.

• The Classical period (c. 500 – 323 BC) is characterised by a style which was considered by later observers to be exemplary

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