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Greek City
Bronze 9mm (0.95 grams) circa 300-100 B.C.
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Lion left, A above.
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Ancient Greece is the civilization belonging
to the period of
Greek history
lasting
from the
Archaic period
of the
8th to 6th centuries BC to 146 BC and the
Roman
conquest of
Greece
after the
Battle of Corinth
. At
the center of this time period is
Classical Greece
, which
flourished during the 5th to 4th centuries BC, at first
under
Athenian
leadership
successfully repelling the military threat of
Persian invasion
. The
Athenian Golden Age
ends with the defeat of Athens at the hands of
Sparta
in the
Peloponnesian War
in
404 BC. Following the conquests of
Alexander the Great
,
Hellenistic civilization
flourished from
Central Asia
to the
western end of the
Mediterranean Sea
.
Classical
Greek culture
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
Western civilization
.
Chronology
There are no fixed or universally agreed upon dates
for the beginning or the end of
Classical Antiquity
. It
is typically taken to last from the 8th century BC until
the 6th century AD, or for about 1,300 years.
Classical Antiquity in Greece is preceded by the
Greek Dark Ages
(c.1100-c.750 BC), archaeologically characterised by the
protogeometric
and
geometric style
of
designs on pottery, succeeded by the
Orientalizing Period
, a
strong influence of
Syro-Hittite
,
Assyrian
,
Phoenician
and
Egyptian
cultures.
Traditionally, the
Archaic period
of
ancient Greece is taken in the wake of this strong
Orientalizing influence during the 8th century BC, which
among other things brought the
alphabetic script
to
Greece, marking the beginning of Greek literature (Homer,
Hesiod
). 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.
The
history of Greece
during Classical Antiquity may thus be subdivided into
the following periods
- The
Archaic period
(c.750-c.500 BC) follows, 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
in 510 BC.
- The Classical period (c.500-323 BC) is
characterised by a style which was considered by
later observers to be exemplary (i.e.
‘classical’)—for instance the
Parthenon
.
Politically, the Classical Period was dominated by
Athens
and the
Delian League
during the 5th century, 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
.
- The Hellenistic period (323-146 BC) is when
Greek culture and power expanded into the near and
middle east
. This
period begins with the death of Alexander and ends
with the Roman conquest.
-
Roman Greece
, the
period between Roman victory over the
Corinthians
at the
Battle of Corinth in
146 BC and the establishment of
Byzantium
by
Constantine
as the
capital of the
Roman Empire
in 330
AD.
- the
final phase of Antiquity
is the period of
Christianization
during the later 4th to early 6th centuries, taken
to be complete with the closure of the
Neoplatonic
Academy
by
Justinian I
in 529
AD.
Historiography
The historical period of ancient Greece is unique in
world history as the first period attested directly in
proper
historiography
, while
earlier ancient history or
proto-history
is known
by much more circumstantial evidence, such as annals or
king lists, and pragmatic epigraphy.
Herodotus
is widely
known as the “father of history”, his
Histories
being
eponymous of the entire
field
. Written between
the 450s and 420s BC, the scope of 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
alludes to some 8th-century ones such as
Candaules
.
Herodotus was succeeded by authors such as
Thucydides
,
Xenophon
,
Demosthenes
,
Plato
and
Aristotle
. Most of
these authors were either
Athenians
or
pro-Athenians, which is why far more is known about the
history and politics of Athens than of many other
cities. Their scope is further limited by a focus on
political, military and diplomatic history, ignoring
economic and social history.
History
Archaic period
In the 8th century BC, Greece began to emerge from
the Dark Ages which followed the fall of the Mycenaean
civilization. Literacy had been lost and
Mycenaean script
forgotten, but the Greeks adopted the
Phoenician alphabet
,
modifying it to create the
Greek alphabet
. From
about the 9th century BC written records begin to
appear.[6]
Greece was divided into many small self-governing
communities, a pattern largely dictated by Greek
geography, where every island, valley and plain is cut
off from its neighbours by the sea or mountain ranges.[7]
The
Lelantine War
(c.710-c.650 BC) was an ongoing conflict with the
distinction of being 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 result of the long
war, though Chalcis was the nominal victor.
A
mercantile class
rose
in the first half of the 7th century, shown by the
introduction of
coinage
in about 680
BC.[citation
needed] This seems to have
introduced tension to many city-states. The
aristocratic
regimes
which generally governed the poleis were threatened by
the new-found wealth of merchants, who in turn desired
political power. From 650 BC onwards, the aristocracies
had to fight not to be overthrown and replaced by
populist
tyrants
. The word
derives from the
non-pejorative
Greek
τύραννος tyrannos, meaning ‘illegitimate ruler’,
although this was applicable to both good and bad
leaders alike.
A growing population and shortage of land also seems
to have created internal strife between the poor and the
rich in many city-states. In
Sparta
, the
Messenian Wars
resulted
in the conquest of
Messenia
and enserfment
of the Messenians, beginning in the latter half of the
8th century BC, an act without precedent or antecedent
in ancient Greece. This practice allowed a social
revolution to occur. The subjugated population,
thenceforth known as
helots
, farmed and
laboured for Sparta, whilst every Spartan male citizen
became a soldier of the
Spartan Army
in a
permanently militarized state. Even the elite were
obliged to live and train as soldiers; this equality
between rich and poor served to defuse the social
conflict. These reforms, attributed to the shadowy
Lycurgus of Sparta
,
were probably complete by 650 BC.
Athens suffered a land and agrarian crisis in the
late 7th century, again resulting in civil strife. The
Archon
(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.
The Greek world in the mid 6th century BC.
By the 6th century BC several cities had emerged as
dominant in Greek affairs: Athens, Sparta,
Corinth
, and
Thebes
. Each of them
had brought the surrounding rural areas and smaller
towns under their control, and Athens and Corinth had
become major maritime and mercantile powers as well.
Rapidly increasing population in the 8th and 7th
centuries had resulted in emigration of many Greeks to
form
colonies
in
Magna Graecia
(Southern
Italy and
Sicily
),
Asia Minor
and further
afield. The emigration effectively ceased in the 6th
century by which time the Greek world had, culturally
and linguistically, become much larger than the area of
present-day Greece. Greek colonies were not politically
controlled by their founding cities, although they often
retained religious and commercial links with them.
In this period, huge economic development occurred in
Greece and also her overseas colonies which experienced
a growth in commerce and manufacturing. There was a
large improvement in the living standards of the
population. Some studies estimate that the average size
of the Greek household, in the period from 800 BC to 300
BC, increased five times, which indicates a large
increase in the average income of the population.
In the second half of the 6th century, Athens fell
under the tyranny of
Peisistratos
and then
his sons
Hippias
and
Hipparchos
. However, in
510 BC, at the instigation of the Athenian aristocrat
Cleisthenes
, the
Spartan king
Cleomenes I
helped the
Athenians overthrow the tyranny. Afterwards, Sparta and
Athens promptly turned on each other, at which point
Cleomenes I installed
Isagoras
as a
pro-Spartan archon. Eager to prevent Athens from
becoming a Spartan puppet, Cleisthenes responded by
proposing to his fellow citizens that Athens undergo a
revolution: that all citizens share in political power,
regardless of status: that Athens become a “democracy“.
So enthusiastically did the Athenians take to this idea
that, having overthrown Isagoras and implemented
Cleisthenes’s reforms, they were easily able to repel a
Spartan-led three-pronged invasion aimed at restoring
Isagoras.The advent of the democracy cured many of the
ills of Athens and led to a ‘golden age’ for the
Athenians.
Classical Greece
Early
Athenian
coin, depicting the head of
Athena
on
the obverse and her owl on the reverse – 5th
century BC
Attic
Red-figure pottery
,
kylix
by the
Triptolemos Painter
,
ca. 480 BC (Paris,
Louvre
)
Delian League (“Athenian Empire”),
immediately before the
Peloponnesian War
in 431 BC.
5th
century
Athens and Sparta would soon have to become allies in
the face of the largest external threat ancient Greece
would see until the Roman conquest. After suppressing
the Ionian Revolt
, a
rebellion of the Greek cities of
Ionia
,
Darius I of Persia
,
King of Kings
of the
Achaemenid Empire
,
decided to subjugate Greece. His invasion in 490 BC was
ended by the Athenian victory at the
Battle of Marathon
under
Miltiades the Younger
.
Xerxes I of Persia
, son
and successor of Darius I, attempted his own invasion 10
years later, but despite his larger army he suffered
heavy casualties after the famous rearguard action at
Thermopylae
and
victories for the allied Greeks at the Battles of
Salamis
and
Plataea
. The
Greco-Persian Wars
continued until 449 BC, led by the Athenians and their
Delian League
, during
which time the
Macedon
,
Thrace
, the
Aegean Islands
and
Ionia were all liberated from Persian influence.
The dominant position of the maritime Athenian
‘Empire’ threatened Sparta and the
Peloponnesian League
of
mainland Greek cities. Inevitably, this led to conflict,
resulting in the
Peloponnesian War
(431-404 BC). Though effectively a stalemate for much of
the war, Athens suffered a number of setbacks. The
Plague of Athens
in 430
BC followed by a disastrous military campaign known as
the
Sicilian Expedition
severely weakened Athens. An estimated one-third of
Athenians died, including
Pericles
, their leader.
Sparta was able to foment rebellion amongst Athens’s
allies, further reducing the Athenian ability to wage
war. The decisive moment came in 405 BC when Sparta cut
off the grain supply to Athens from the
Hellespont
. Forced to
attack, the crippled Athenian fleet was decisively
defeated by the Spartans under the command of
Lysander
at
Aegospotami
. In 404 BC
Athens sued for peace, and Sparta dictated a predictably
stern settlement: Athens lost her city walls (including
the Long Walls
), her fleet,
and all of her overseas possessions.
4th
century
Greece thus entered the 4th century under a
Spartan hegemony
, but
it was clear from the start that this was weak. A
demographic crisis meant Sparta was overstretched, and
by 395 BC Athens, Argos, Thebes, and Corinth felt able
to challenge Spartan dominance, resulting in the
Corinthian War
(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 suffered a decisive defeat at
Leuctra
in 371 BC. The
Theban general
Epaminondas
then led
Theban troops into the Peloponnese, whereupon other
city-states defected from the Spartan cause. The Thebans
were thus able to march into Messenia and free the
population.
Deprived of land and its serfs, Sparta declined to a
second-rank power. The
Theban hegemony
thus
established was short-lived; at the
battle of Mantinea
in
362 BC, Thebes lost her key leader, Epaminondas, and
much of her manpower, even though they were victorious
in battle. In fact such were the losses to all the great
city-states at Mantinea that none could establish
dominance in the aftermath.
The weakened state of the heartland of Greece
coincided with the
Rise of Macedon
, led by
Philip II
. In twenty
years, Philip had unified his kingdom, expanded it north
and west at the expense of
Illyrian tribes
, and
then conquered
Thessaly
and
Thrace
. His success
stemmed from his innovative reforms to the
Macedon army
. Phillip
intervened repeatedly in the affairs of the southern
city-states, culminating in his invasion of 338 BC.
Decisively defeating an allied army of Thebes and
Athens at the
Battle of Chaeronea (338 BC)
,
he became de facto hegemon of all of Greece,
except Sparta. He compelled the majority of the
city-states to join the
League of Corinth
,
allying them to him, and preventing them from warring
with each other. Philip then entered into war against
the Achemaenid Empire but was assassinated by
Pausanias of Orestis
early on in the conflict.
Alexander
, son and
successor of Philip, continued the war. Alexander
defeated
Darius III of Persia
and completely destroyed the Achaemenid Empire, annexing
it to Macedon and earning himself the epithet ‘the
Great’. When Alexander died in 323 BC, Greek power and
influence was at its zenith. However, there had been a
fundamental shift away from the fierce independence and
classical culture of the poleis—and instead
towards the developing
Hellenistic culture
.
Hellenistic Greece
The
Hellenistic period
lasted from 323 BC, which marked the end of the
Wars of Alexander the Great
,
to the annexation of Greece by the
Roman Republic
in 146
BC. Although the establishment of Roman rule did not
break the continuity of Hellenistic society and culture,
which remained essentially unchanged until the advent of
Christianity
, it did
mark the end of Greek political independence.
The major
Hellenistic
realms included the
Diadochi kingdoms
:
Kingdom of
Ptolemy I Soter
Kingdom of
Cassander
Kingdom of
Lysimachus
Kingdom of
Seleucus I Nicator
Epirus
Also shown on the map:
Greek
colonies
Carthage
(non-Greek)
Rome
(non-Greek)
The orange areas were often in dispute after
281 BC. The
kingdom of Pergamon
occupied some of this area. Not shown:
Indo-Greeks
.
During the Hellenistic period, the importance of
“Greece proper” (that is, the territory of modern
Greece) within the Greek-speaking world declined
sharply. The great centers of Hellenistic culture were
Alexandria
and
Antioch
, capitals of
Ptolemaic Egypt
and
Seleucid Syria
respectively.
The conquests of Alexander had numerous consequences
for the Greek city-states. It greatly widened the
horizons of the Greeks and led to a steady emigration,
particularly of the young and ambitious, to the new
Greek empires in the east.[13]
Many Greeks migrated to Alexandria, Antioch and the many
other new Hellenistic cities founded in Alexander’s
wake, as far away as what are now
Afghanistan
and
Pakistan
, where the
Greco-Bactrian Kingdom
and the
Indo-Greek Kingdom
survived until the end of the 1st century BC.
After the death of Alexander his empire was, after
quite some conflict, divided amongst his generals,
resulting in the
Ptolemaic Kingdom
(based upon Egypt
), the
Seleucid Empire
(based
on the Levant
,
Mesopotamia
and
Persia
) and the
Antigonid dynasty
based
in Macedon. In the intervening period, the poleis of
Greece were able to wrest back some of their freedom,
although still nominally subject to the Macedonian
Kingdom.
The city-states formed themselves into two leagues;
the
Achaean League
(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 usually at
war with each other, and/or allied to different sides in
the conflicts between the Diadochi (the successor states
to Alexander’s empire).
Territories and expansion of the
Indo-Greeks.
The Antigonid Kingdom became involved in a war with
the Roman Republic in the late 3rd century. Although the
First Macedonian War
was inconclusive, the Romans, in typical fashion,
continued to make war on Macedon until it was completely
absorbed into the Roman Republic (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-Syrian War
; when
the Romans were victorious, the league was effectively
absorbed into the Republic. Although the Achaean league
outlasted both the Aetolian league and Macedon, it was
also soon defeated and absorbed by the Romans in 146 BC,
bringing an end to the independence of all of Greece.
Roman
Greece
The Greek peninsula came under
Roman
rule in 146 BC,
Macedonia
becoming a
Roman province
, while
southern Greece came under the surveillance of
Macedonia’s praefect. However, some Greek
poleis
managed to
maintain a partial independence and avoid taxation. The
Aegean islands
were
added to this territory in 133 BC.
Athens
and other Greek
cities revolted in 88 BC, and the peninsula was crushed
by the Roman general
Sulla
. The Roman civil
wars devastated the land even further, until
Augustus
organized the
peninsula as the province of
Achaea
in 27 BC.
Greece was a key eastern province of the
Roman Empire
, as the
Roman
culture
had long been
in fact
Greco-Roman
. The
Greek language
served
as a
lingua franca
in the
East
and in
Italy
, and many Greek
intellectuals such as
Galen
would perform
most of their work in
Rome
.
Ancient Greece is the civilization belonging to
the period of
Greek history
lasting
from the
Archaic period
of the
8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity and
beginning of the
Early Middle Ages
with
the rise of the
Byzantine
era following
Justinian I
. At the
center of this time period is
Classical Greece
, which
flourished during the 5th to 4th centuries BC, at first
under
Athenian
leadership
successfully repelling the military threat of
Persian invasion
. The
Athenian Golden Age
ends with the defeat of Athens at the hands of
Sparta
in the
Peloponnesian War
in
404 BC. Following the conquests of
Alexander the Great
,
Hellenistic civilization
flourished from
Central Asia
to the
western end of the
Mediterranean Sea
.
Classical
Greek cultureee
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
Western civilization
.
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