Ancient Greece was a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history from the

Greek Dark Ages of the 12th9th centuries BC to the end of antiquity (c.?600 AD).
Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and
the Byzantine era.[1] Roughly three centuries after the Late Bronze Age collapse of
Mycenaean Greece, Greek urban poleis began to form in the 8th century BC, ushering
in the period of Archaic Greece and colonization of the Mediterranean Basin. This
was followed by the period of Classical Greece, an era that began with the Greco-
Persian Wars, lasting from the 5th to 4th centuries BC. Due to the conquests by
Alexander the Great of Macedonia, Hellenistic civilization flourished from Central
Asia to the western end of the Mediterranean Sea. The Hellenistic period came to an
end with the conquests and annexations of the eastern Mediterranean world by the
Roman Republic, which established the Roman province of Macedonia in Roman Greece,
and later the province of Achaea during the Roman Empire.

Classical Greek culture, especially philosophy, had a powerful influence on ancient

Rome, which carried a version of it to many parts of the Mediterranean Basin and
Europe. For this reason Classical Greece is generally considered to be the seminal
culture which provided the foundation of modern Western culture and is considered
the cradle of Western civilization.[2][3][4]

Contents [hide]
1 Chronology
2 Historiography
3 History
3.1 Archaic period
3.2 Classical Greece
3.3 Hellenistic Greece
3.4 Roman Greece
4 Geography
4.1 Regions
4.2 Colonies
5 Politics and society
5.1 Political structure
5.2 Government and law
5.3 Social structure
5.3.1 Slavery
5.4 Education
5.5 Economy
5.6 Warfare
6 Culture
6.1 Philosophy
6.2 Literature and theatre
6.3 Music and dance
6.4 Science and technology
6.5 Art and architecture
6.6 Religion and mythology
7 Legacy
8 See also
9 References
10 External links
Chronology
Further information: Timeline of ancient Greece
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. The Archaic Period saw early developments in Greek
culture and society which formed the basis for the Classical Period.[6] After the
Archaic Period, the Classical Period in Greece is conventionally considered to have
lasted from the Persian invasion of Greece in 480 until the death of Alexander the
Great in 323.[7] The period is characterized by a style which was considered by
later observers to be exemplary, i.e., "classical", as shown in the Parthenon, for
instance. 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 saw the Greco-Persian Wars and
the Rise of Macedon.

Following the Classical period was the Hellenistic period (323146 BC), during
which 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
is usually considered to be 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 AD 330. Finally, Late Antiquity
refers to the period of Christianization during the later 4th to early 6th
centuries AD, sometimes taken to be complete with the closure of the Academy of
Athens by Justinian I in 529.[8]

Historiography
Main article: Greek historiographers

The Victorious Youth (c. 310 BC), is a rare, water-preserved bronze sculpture from
ancient Greece.
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 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 historical figures such as
Darius I of Persia, Cambyses II and Psamtik III, and alluding 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 Athenian or pro-Athenian, which is
why far more is known about the history and politics of Athens than those of many
other cities. Their scope is further limited by a focus on political, military and
diplomatic history, ignoring economic and social history.[9]

History
Further information: History of Greece
Archaic period
Main article: Archaic period in Greece

Dipylon Vase of the late Geometric period, or the beginning of the Archaic period,
c. 750 BC.

Political geography of ancient Greece in the Archaic and Classical periods

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. Objects with Phoenician writing on them may have been available
in Greece from the 9th century BC, but the earliest evidence of Greek writing comes
from graffiti on Greek