Classical antiquity

Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age)
is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterran
ean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient
Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world. It is the period in which Gr
eek and Roman society flourished and wielded great influence throughout Europe,
North Africa and Southwestern Asia.
Conventionally, it is taken to begin with the earliest-recorded Epic Greek poetr
y of Homer (8th 7th century BC), and continues through the emergence of Christiani
ty and the decline of the Roman Empire (5th century AD). It ends with the dissol
ution of classical culture at the close of Late Antiquity (300 600), blending into
the Early Middle Ages (600 1000). Such a wide sampling of history and territory c
overs many disparate cultures and periods. "Classical antiquity" may refer also
to an idealised vision among later people of what was, in Edgar Allan Poe's word
s, "the glory that was Greece, and the grandeur that was Rome."[1]
The culture of the ancient Greeks, together with some influences from the ancien
t Near East, was the basis of art, [2] philosophy, society, and educational idea
ls, until the Roman imperial period. The Romans preserved, imitated and spread o
ver Europe these ideals until they were able to competitively rival the Greek cu
lture, as the Latin language became widespread and the classical world became bi
lingual, Greek and Latin. [3][4] This Greco-Roman cultural foundation has been i
mmensely influential on the language, politics, educational systems, philosophy,
science, art, and architecture of the modern world: From the surviving fragment
s of classical antiquity, a revival movement was gradually formed from the 14th
century onwards which came to be known later in Europe as the Renaissance, and a
gain resurgent during various neo-classical revivals in the 18th and 19th centur
ies.
Archaic period (8th to 6th centuries BC)[edit]
Further information: Iron Age Europe
The earliest period of classical antiquity takes place before the background of
gradual re-appearance of historical sources following the Bronze Age collapse. T
he 8th and 7th centuries BC are still largely proto-historical, with the earlies
t Greek alphabetic inscriptions appearing in the first half of the 8th century.
Homer is usually assumed to have lived in the 8th or 7th century BC, and his lif
etime is often taken as marking the beginning of classical antiquity. In the sam
e period falls the traditional date for the establishment of the Ancient Olympic
Games, in 776 BC.
Phoenicians and Carthaginians[edit]
Main articles: Phoenicia and Ancient Carthage
The Phoenicians originally expanded from Levantine ports, by the 8th century dom
inating trade in the Mediterranean. Carthage was founded in 814 BC, and the Cart
haginians by 700 BC had firmly established strongholds in Sicily, Italy and Sard
inia, which created conflicts of interest with Etruria.
Greece[edit]
Main article: Archaic period in Greece
The Archaic period followed the Greek Dark Ages, and saw significant advancement
s in political theory, and the rise of democracy, philosophy, theatre, poetry, a
s well as the revitalisation of the written language (which had been lost during
the Dark Ages).
In pottery, the Archaic period sees the development of the Orientalizing style,
which signals a shift from the Geometric style of the later Dark Ages and the ac
cumulation of influences derived from Phoenicia and Syria.

Pottery styles associated with the later part of the Archaic age are the black-f
igure pottery, which originated in Corinth during the 7th century BC and its suc
cessor, the red-figure style, developed by the Andokides Painter in about 530 BC
.
Greek colonies[edit]
Main articles: Apoikiai and Magna Graecia
Iron Age Italy[edit]
Etruscan civilization in north of Italy, 800 BC.
The Etruscans had established political control in the region by the late 7th ce
ntury BC, forming the aristocratic and monarchial elite. The Etruscans apparentl
y lost power in the area by the late 6th century BC, and at this point, the Ital
ic tribes reinvented their government by creating a republic, with much greater
restraints on the ability of rulers to exercise power.[5]
Roman Kingdom[edit]
Main article: Roman kingdom
According to legend, Rome was founded on April 21, 753 BC by twin descendants of
the Trojan prince Aeneas, Romulus and Remus.[6] As the city was bereft of women
, legend says that the Latins invited the Sabines to a festival and stole their
unmarried maidens, leading to the integration of the Latins and the Sabines.[7]
Archaeological evidence indeed shows first traces of settlement at the Roman For
um in the mid-8th century BC, though settlements on the Palatine Hill may date b
ack to the 10th century BC.[8][9]
The seventh and final king of Rome was Tarquinius Superbus. As the son of Tarqui
nius Priscus and the son-in-law of Servius Tullius, Superbus was of Etruscan bir
th. It was during his reign that the Etruscans reached their apex of power.
Superbus removed and destroyed all the Sabine shrines and altars from the Tarpei
an Rock, enraging the people of Rome. The people came to object to his rule when
he failed to recognize the rape of Lucretia, a patrician Roman, at the hands of
his own son. Lucretia's kinsman, Lucius Junius Brutus (ancestor to Marcus Brutu
s), summoned the Senate and had Superbus and the monarchy expelled from Rome in
510 BC. After Superbus' expulsion, the Senate voted to never again allow the rul
e of a king and reformed Rome into a republican government in 509 BC. In fact th
e Latin word "Rex" meaning King became a dirty and hated word throughout the Rep
ublic and later on the Empire.[citation needed]
Classical Greece (5th to 4th centuries BC)[edit]
Main article: Classical Greece
Delian League ("Athenian Empire"), right before the Peloponnesian War in 431 BC
The classical period of Ancient Greece corresponds to most of the 5th and 4th ce
nturies BC, in particular, from the fall of the Athenian tyranny in 510 BC to th
e death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC. In 510, Spartan troops helped the Athe
nians overthrow the tyrant Hippias, son of Peisistratos. Cleomenes I, king of Sp
arta, put in place a pro-Spartan oligarchy conducted by Isagoras.
The Greco-Persian Wars (499 449 BC), concluded by the Peace of Callias gave not on
ly way to the liberation of Greece, Macedon, Thrace, and Ionia from Persian rule
, but also resulted in giving the dominant position of Athens in the Delian Leag
ue, which led to conflict with Sparta and the Peloponnesian League, resulting in
the Peloponnesian War (431 404 BC), which ended in a Spartan victory.
Greece entered the 4th century under Spartan hegemony. But by 395 BC the Spartan
rulers removed Lysander from office, and Sparta lost her naval supremacy. Athen
s, Argos, Thebes and Corinth, the latter two of which were formerly Spartan alli

es, challenged Spartan dominance in the Corinthian War, which ended inconclusive
ly in 387 BC. Later, in 371 BC, the Theban generals Epaminondas and Pelopidas wo
n a victory at the Battle of Leuctra. The result of this battle was the end of S
partan supremacy and the establishment of Theban hegemony. Thebes sought to main
tain its position until it was finally eclipsed by the rising power of Macedon i
n 346 BC.
Under Philip II, (359 336 BC), Macedon expanded into the territory of the Paeonian
s, the Thracians and the Illyrians. Philip's son, Alexander the Great, (356 323 BC
) managed to briefly extend Macedonian power not only over the central Greek cit
y-states, but also to the Persian Empire, including Egypt and lands as far east
as the fringes of India. The classical period conventionally ends at the death o
f Alexander in 323 BC and the fragmentation of his empire, which was at this tim
e divided among the Diadochi.
Hellenistic period (323 BC to 146 BC)[edit]
Main article: Hellenistic period
Further information: Hellenistic philosophy and Hellenistic religion
Classical Greece entered the Hellenistic period with the rise of Macedon and the
conquests of Alexander the Great. Greek becomes the lingua franca far beyond Gr
eece itself, and Hellenistic culture interacts with the cultures of Persia, Cent
ral Asia, India and Egypt. Significant advances are made in the sciences (geogra
phy, astronomy, mathematics etc.), notably with the followers of Aristotle (Aris
totelianism).
The Hellenistic period ended with the rise of the Roman Republic to a super-regi
onal power in the 2nd century BC and the Roman conquest of Greece in 146 BC.
Roman Republic (5th to 1st centuries BC)[edit]
The extent of the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in 218 BC (dark red), 133 BC (
light red), 44 BC (orange), 14 AD (yellow), after 14 AD (green), and maximum ext
ension under Trajan 117 (light green)
Main article: Roman Republic
Further information: culture of ancient Rome
The republican period of Ancient Rome began with the overthrow of the Monarchy c
. 509 BC and lasted over 450 years until its subversion, through a series of civ
il wars, into the Principate form of government and the Imperial period. During
the half millennium of the Republic, Rome rose from a regional power of the Lati
um to the dominant force in Italy and beyond. The unification of Italy under Rom
an hegemony was a gradual process, brought about in a series of conflicts of the
4th and 3rd centuries, the Samnite Wars, Latin War, and Pyrrhic War. Roman vict
ory in the Punic Wars and Macedonian Wars established Rome as a super-regional p
ower by the 2nd century BC, followed up by the acquisition of Greece and Asia Mi
nor. This tremendous increase of power was accompanied by economic instability a
nd social unrest, leading to the Catiline conspiracy, the Social War and the Fir
st Triumvirate, and finally the transformation to the Roman Empire in the latter
half of the 1st century BC.
Roman Empire (1st century BC to 5th century AD)[edit]
Main article: Roman Empire
The extent of the Roman Empire under Trajan, AD 117
Determining the precise end of the Republic is a task of dispute by modern histo
rians;[10] Roman citizens of the time did not recognize that the Republic had ce
ased to exist. The early Julio-Claudian "Emperors" maintained that the res publi
ca still existed, albeit under the protection of their extraordinary powers, and
would eventually return to its full Republican form. The Roman state continued
to call itself a res publica as long as it continued to use Latin as its officia
l language.

Rome acquired imperial character de facto from the 130s BC with the acquisition
of Cisalpine Gaul, Illyria, Greece and Hispania, and definitely with the additio
n of Iudaea, Asia Minor and Gaul in the 1st century BC. At the time of the empir
e's maximal extension under Trajan (AD 117), Rome controlled the entire Mediterr
anean as well as Gaul, parts of Germania and Britannia, the Balkans, Dacia, Asia
Minor, the Caucasus and Mesopotamia.
Culturally, the Roman Empire was significantly hellenized, but also saw the rise
of syncratic "eastern" traditions, such as Mithraism, Gnosticism, and most nota
bly Christianity. The empire began to decline in the crisis of the third century