Ancient Greece Civilization

The term ancient Greece refers to the periods of Greek history in Classical Antiquity, lasting ca. 750 BC[1] (the archaic period) to 146 BC (the Roman conquest). It is generally considered to be the seminal culture which provided the foundation of Western Civilization. Greek culture had a powerful influence on the Roman Empire, which carried a version of it to many parts of Europe.

The civilization of the ancient Greeks has been immensely influential on the language, politics, educational systems, philosophy, science, and arts, giving rise to the Renaissance in Western Europe and again resurgent during various neo-Classical revivals in 18th and 19th century Europe and the Americas.Contents [hide]

1 Chronology

2 History

2.1 Prehistory

2.2 Archaic period

2.2.1 8th century

2.2.2 7th century

2.2.3 6th century

2.2.4 Colonies

2.3 Classical Greece

2.3.1 5th century

2.3.2 4th century

2.4 Hellenistic Greece

2.4.1 3rd century

2.4.2 2nd century

2.5 Roman Greece

3 Society

3.1 Education

3.2 Ancient Greek Assembly

3.3 Economy

4 Culture

4.1 Philosophy

4.2 Literature

4.3 Sciences

4.4 Art

4.5 Religion and mythology

5 See also

6 References

7 Bibliography

8 External links

Chronology
There are no fixed or universally agreed upon dates for the beginning or the end of the ancient Greek period. In common usage it refers to all Greek history before the Roman Empire, but historians use the term more precisely. Some writers include the periods of the Greek-speaking Mycenaean civilization that collapsed about 1150 BC, though most would argue that the influential Minoan was so different from later Greek cultures that it should be classed separately.



In Greek school books, "ancient times" is a period of about 900 years, from the catastrophe of Mycenae until the conquest of the country by the Romans, divided into four periods based on styles of art and culture and politics. The historical line starts with Greek Dark Ages (1100–800 BC). In this period artists use geometrical schemes such as squares, circles and lines to decorate amphoras and other pottery. The archaic period (800–480 BC) represents those years when the artists made larger free-standing sculptures in stiff, hieratic poses with the dreamlike "archaic smile". In the classical period (490–323 BC) artists perfected the style that since has been taken as exemplary: "classical", such as the Parthenon. The years following the conquests of Alexander are referred to as the Hellenistic, (323–146 BC), or Alexandrian period; aspects of Hellenic civilization expanded to Egypt, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Persia and beyond.



Traditionally, the ancient Greek period was taken to begin with the date of the first recorded Olympic Games in 776 BC, but many historians now extend the term back to about 1000 BC. The traditional date for the end of the ancient Greek period is the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC. The following period until the integration of Greece into the Roman Republic in 146 BC is classed Hellenistic. These dates are historians' conventions and some writers treat the ancient Greek civilization as a continuum running until the advent of Christianity in the 3rd century.



Any history of ancient Greece requires a cautionary note on sources. Those Greek historians and political writers whose works have survived, notably Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, Demosthenes, Plato and Aristotle, were mostly either Athenian or pro-Athenian. That is why we know far more about the history and politics of Athens than of any other city, and why we know almost nothing about some cities' histories. These writers, furthermore, concentrate almost wholly on political, military and diplomatic history, and ignore economic and social history. All histories of ancient Greece have to contend with these limits in their sources.



History

Prehistory

Further information: Greeks and Helladic period

The Greeks are believed to have migrated southward into the Balkan peninsula in several waves beginning in the late 3rd millennium BC, the last being the Dorian invasion. Proto-Greek is assumed to date to some time between the 23rd and 17th centuries BC. The period from 1600 BC to about 1100 BC is known as the Mycenaean period and not usually included in "Ancient Greece" proper. The period from 1100 BC to the 8th century BC is a "Dark Age" following the Bronze Age collapse from which no primary texts survive, and only scant archaeological evidence remains. Secondary and tertiary texts such as Herodotus' Histories, Pausanias' Description of Greece, Diodorus' Bibliotheca, and Jerome's Chronicon contain brief chronologies and king lists for this period.



Archaic period

Main article: Archaic period in Greece



8th century



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 the 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. Greece was divided into many small self-governing communities, a pattern dictated by Greek geography, where every island, valley and plain is cut off from its neighbours by the sea or mountain ranges.



7th century

The Greek cities were originally monarchies, although many of them were very small and the term "king" (basileus) for their rulers is misleadingly grand. In a country always short of farmland, power rested with a small class of landowners, who formed a warrior aristocracy fighting frequent petty inter-city wars over land and rapidly ousting the monarchy. About this time the rise of a mercantile class (shown by the introduction of coinage in about 680 BC) introduced class conflict into the larger cities. From 650 BC onwards, the aristocracies had to fight not to be overthrown and replaced by populist leaders called tyrants (turannoi), a word which did not necessarily have the modern meaning of oppressive dictators.



Early Athenian coin, 5th century BC. British Museum.



In Sparta, the landed aristocracy retained their power, and the constitution of Lycurgus (about 650 BC) entrenched their power and gave Sparta a permanent militarist regime under a dual monarchy. Sparta dominated the other cities of the Peloponnese, with the sole exceptions of Argus and Achaia.



In Athens, by contrast, the monarchy was abolished in 683 BC, and the reforms of Solon established a moderate system of aristocratic government. The aristocrats were followed by the tyranny of Pisistratus and his sons, who made the city a great naval and commercial power. When the Pisistratids were overthrown, Cleisthenes established the world's first democracy (500 BC), with power being held by an assembly of all the male citizens. But only a minority of the male inhabitants were citizens, because this excluded slaves, freedmen and non-Athenians.



6th century

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. Athens and Sparta developed a rivalry that dominated Greek politics for generations.



The Greek world had become a cultural and linguistic area much larger than the geographical area of present Greece. Greek colonies were not politically controlled by their founding cities, although they often retained religious and commercial links with them. The Greeks both at home and abroad organized themselves into independent communities, and the city (polis) became the basic unit of Greek government.



In this period, huge economic development occurred in Greece and also her overseas colonies such as Cyme (Aeolis), Cyrene and Alalia which experienced a growth in commerce and manufacturing. There also 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.



Colonies

Further information: Greek colonies and Magna Graecia

Greek influence in the mid 6th century BC.

The population grew beyond the capacity of its limited arable land (according to Mogens Herman Hansen, the population of Ancient Greece increased by a factor larger than ten during the period from 800 BC to 400 BC, increasing from a population of 800,000 to a total estimated population of 10 to 13 million).[2] From about 750 BC the Greeks began 250 years of expansion, settling colonies in all directions. To the east, the Aegean coast of Asia Minor was colonized first, followed by Cyprus and the coasts of Thrace, the Sea of Marmara and south coast of the Black Sea. Eventually Greek colonization reached as far north-east as present day Ukraine and Russia (Taganrog). To the west the coasts of Illyria, Sicily and southern Italy were settled, followed by the south coast of France, Corsica, and even northeastern Spain. Greek colonies were also founded in Egypt and Libya. Modern Syracuse, Naples, Marseille and Istanbul had their beginnings as the Greek colonies Syracusae (Συρακούσαι), Neapolis (Νεάπολις), Massalia (Μασσαλία) and Byzantion (Βυζάντιον).

Ruins of Greek Theater in the colony at Taormina in present day Italy



Classical Greece

The classical period of Ancient Greece, corresponds to most of the 5th and 4th centuries B.C. (i.e. from the fall of the Athenian tyranny in 510 BC to the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC).



5th century

In 510, Spartan troops helped the Athenians overthrow their king, the tyrant Hippias, son of Peisistratos. Cleomenes I, king of Sparta, put in place a pro-Spartan oligarchy conducted by Isagoras.

Delian League ("Athenian Empire"), right before the Peloponnesian War in 431 BC.

The Greco-Persian Wars (499-449 BC), concluded by the Peace of Callias resulted in the dominant position of Athens in the Delian League, which led to conflict with Sparta and the Peloponnesian League, resulting in the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC).

At Mantinea Sparta defeated the combined armies of Athens and her allies. The resumption of fighting brought the war party, led by Alcibiades, back to power in Athens. In 415 BC Alcibiades persuaded the Athenian Assembly to launch a major expedition against Syracuse, a Peloponnesian ally in Sicily, resulting in a complete disaster.



Spartanow challenged Athenian naval supremacy, and had found a brilliant military leader in Lysander, who decisively defeated Athens at Aegospotami (405 BC). The loss of her fleet threatened Athens with bankruptcy. In 404 BC Athens sued for peace, and Sparta dictated a predictably stern settlement: Athens lost her city walls, her fleet, and all of her overseas possessions. Lysander abolished the democracy and appointed a council of thirty to govern Athens in its place.



4th century

Greeceentered the 4th century under Spartan hegemony. But by 395 BC the Spartan rulers removed Lysander from office, and Sparta lost her naval supremacy. Athens, Argos, Thebes, and Corinth, the latter two formerly Spartan allies, challenged Spartan dominance in the Corinthian War, which ended inconclusively in 387 BC.



Then the Theban generals Epaminondas and Pelopidas won a decisive victory at Leuctra (371 BC). The result of this battle was the end of Spartan supremacy and the establishment of Theban hegemony. Sparta remained an important power and some cities continued to turn against her. The confederal framework was artificial, for a confederacy mustered cities that could never agree. This was the case with the cities of Tegea and Mantinea which reallied in the Arcardian confederacy. The Mantineans received the support of the Athenians and the Tegeans that of the Thebans. The Thebans prevailed, but this triumph was short-lived, for Epaminondas died in the battle. In the end, the Thebans renounced their policy of intervention in the Peloponnesus. Xenophon thus ended his history of the Greek world in 362 BC. Thebes sought to maintain its position until finally eclipsed by the rising power of Macedon in 346 BC.



Under Philip II, (359–336 BC), Macedon expanded into the territory of the Paionians, Thracians, and Illyrians. Macedon became more politically involved with the south-central city-states of Greece, but it also retained more archaic features like the palace-culture, first at Aegae (modern Vergina) then at Pella, resembling Mycenaean culture more than the classic city-states.



Philip's son Alexander the Great (356–323 BC) managed to briefly extend Macedonian power not only over the central Greek city-states, but also to the Persian empire, including Egypt and lands as far east as present-day Pakistan. The classical period conventionally ends at the death of Alexander in 323 BC and the fragmentation of his empire, divided among the Diadochi.



Hellenistic Greece



The Hellenistic period of Greek lasts from 323 BC to the annexation of the Greek peninsula and islands by Rome 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.



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. See Hellenistic civilization for the history of Greek culture outside of Greece in this period.



The conquests of Alexander had a number of 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. 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.



3rd century

The Seleucid Empire disintegrated gradually, torn apart by the wars of the Diadochi 323-285 BC, by 247 BC giving way to Parthia.



Antigonus II died in 239 BC. His death saw another revolt of the city-states of the Achaean League, whose dominant figure was Aratus of Sicyon. Antigonus's son Demetrius II died in 229 BC, leaving a child (Philip V) as king, with the general Antigonus Doson as regent. The Achaeans, while nominally subject to Ptolemy, were in effect independent, and controlled most of southern Greece. Athens remained aloof from this conflict by common consent.



Spartaremained hostile to the Achaeans,, and in 227 BC Sparta's king Cleomenes III invaded Achaea and seized control of the League. Aratus preferred distant Macedon to nearby Sparta, and allied himself with Doson, who in 222 BC defeated the Spartans and annexed their city – the first time Sparta had ever been occupied by a foreign power.



In 215 BC, Philip V formed an alliance with Rome's enemy Carthage, which drew Rome directly into Greek affairs for the first time. Rome promptly lured the Achaean cities away from their nominal loyalty to Philip, and formed alliances with Rhodes and Pergamum, now the strongest power in Asia Minor. The First Macedonian War broke out in 212 BC, and ended inconclusively in 205 BC, but Macedon was now marked as an enemy of Rome. Rome's ally Rhodes gained control of the Aegean islands.



2nd century

In 202 BC Rome defeated Carthage,and was free to turn her attention eastwards, urged on by her Greek allies, Rhodes and Pergamum. In 198 the Second Macedonian War broke out for obscure reasons, but basically because Rome saw Macedon as a potential ally of the Seleucids, the greatest power in the east. Philip's allies in Greece deserted him and in 197 BC he was decisively defeated at the Cynoscephalae by the Roman proconsul Titus Quinctius Flamininus.



In 192 BC war broke out between Rome and the Seleucid ruler Antiochus III, who was defeated at Thermopylae in 191 BC. During the course of this war Roman troops crossed into Asia for the first time, where they defeated Antiochus again at Magnesia on the Sipylum (190 BC). Greece now lay across Rome's line of communications with the east, and Roman troops became a permanent presence. The Peace of Apamaea (188 BC) left Rome in a dominant position throughout Greece. When Philip V died in 179 BC he was succeeded by his son Perseus, who like all the Macedonian kings dreamed of uniting the Greeks under Macedonian rule. Macedon was now too weak to achieve this objective, but Rome's ally Eumenes II of Pergamum persuaded Rome that Perseus was a threat to Rome's position.



In 168 BC the Romans sent Lucius Aemilius Paullus to Greece, and at Pydna the Macedonians were crushingly defeated. Perseus was captured and taken to Rome, the Macedonian kingdom was broken up into four smaller states. Under the leadership of an adventurer called Andriscus, Macedon rebelled against Roman rule in 149 BC: as a result it was directly annexed the following year and became a Roman province, the first of the Greek states to suffer this fate. Rome now demanded that the Achaean League, the last stronghold of Greek independence, be dissolved. The Achaeans refused and declared war on Rome. The Roman consul Lucius Mummius advanced from Macedonia and defeated the Greeks at Corinth, which was razed to the ground. In 146 BC the Greek peninsula, though not the islands, became a Roman protectorate. Roman taxes were imposed, except in Athens and Sparta, and all the cities had to accept rule by Rome's local allies. In 133 BC the last king of Pergamum died and left his kingdom to Rome: this brought most of the Aegean peninsula under direct Roman rule as part of the province of Asia.



Roman Greece

Further information: Roman and Byzantine Greece



Roman Greece is the period of Greek history (of Greece proper as opposed to the other centers of Hellenism in the Roman world) following the Roman victory over the Corinthians at the Battle of Corinth in 146 BC until the reestablishment of the city of Byzantium and the naming of the city by the Emperor Constantine as the capital of the Roman Empire (as Nova Roma, later Constantinople) in 330.



During the 2nd and 3rd centuries, Greece was divided into provinces including Achaea, Macedonia, Epirus, Thrace and Moesia. During the reign of Diocletian in the late 3rd century, Moesia was organized as a diocese, and was ruled by Galerius. Under Constantine, Greece was part of the prefectures of Macedonia and Thrace. Theodosius I divided the prefecture of Macedonia into the provinces of Creta, Achaea, Thessalia, Epirus Vetus, Epirus Nova, and Macedonia. The Aegean islands formed the province of Insulae in the prefecture of Asiana.





Society



Only free, land owning, native-born men could be citizens entitled to the full protection of the law in a city-state (later Pericles introduced exceptions to the native-born restriction). In most city-states, unlike Rome, social prominence did not allow special rights. For example, being born in a certain family generally brought no special privileges. Sometimes families controlled public religious functions, but this ordinarily did not give any extra power in the government. In Athens, the population was divided into four social classes based on wealth. People could change classes if they made more money. In Sparta, all male citizens were given the title of equal if they finished their education. However, Spartan kings, who served as the city-state's dual military and religious leaders, came from two families. Slaves had no power or status. They had the right to have a family and own property, however they had no political rights. By 600 BC chattel slavery had spread in Greece. By the 5th century BC slaves made up one-third of the total population in some city-states. Slaves outside of Sparta almost never revolted because they were made up of too many nationalities and were too scattered to organize.



Most families owned slaves as household servants and labourers, and even poor families might have owned a few slaves. Owners were not allowed to beat or kill their slaves. Owners often promised to free slaves in the future to encourage slaves to work hard. Unlike in Rome, slaves who were freed did not become citizens. Instead, they were mixed into the population of metics, which included people from foreign countries or other city-states who were officially allowed to live in the state.



City-states legally owned slaves. These public slaves had a larger measure of independence than slaves owned by families, living on their own and performing specialized tasks. In Athens, public slaves were trained to look out for counterfeit coinage, while temple slaves acted as servants of the temple's deity.



Spartahad a special type of slaves called helots. Helots were Greek war captives owned by the state and assigned to families where they were forced to stay. Helots raised food and did household chores so that women could concentrate on raising strong children while men could devote their time to training as hoplites. Their masters treated them harshly and helots often revolted.

Education
For most of Greek history, education was private, except in Sparta. During the Hellenistic period, some city-states established public schools. Only wealthy families could afford a teacher. Boys learned how to read, write and quote literature. They also learned to sing and play one musical instrument and were trained as athletes for military service. They studied not for a job, but to become an effective citizen. Girls also learned to read, write and do simple arithmetic so they could manage the household. They almost never received education after childhood.

Boys went to school at the age of seven, or went to the barracks, if they lived in Sparta. The three types of teachings were: grammatistes for arithmetic, kitharistes for music and dancing, and paidotribes for sports.

Boys from wealthy families attending the private school lessons were taken care by a paidagogos, a household slave selected for this task who accompanied the boy during the day. Classes were held in teachers' private houses and included reading, writing, mathematics, singing, and playing of the lyre and flute. When the boy became 12 years old the schooling started to include sports as wrestling, running, and throwing discus and javelin. In Athens some older youths attended academy for the finer disciplines such as culture, sciences, music, and the arts. The schooling ended at the age of 18, followed by military training in the army usually for one or two years.[3]

A small number of boys continued their education after childhood, as in the Spartan agoge. A crucial part of a wealthy teenager's education was a mentorship with an elder, which in few places and times may have included pederastic love. The teenager learned by watching his mentor talking about politics in the agora, helping him perform his public duties, exercising with him in the gymnasium and attending symposia with him. The richest students continued their education by studying with famous teachers. Some of Athens' greatest such schools included the Lyceum and the Academy. The education system of the wealthy ancient Greeks is also called Paideia.

Ancient Greek Assembly

The assembly of ancient Greece is one of the first known forms of Democratic government. Ecclesia or Ekklesia means “Greek assembly of a city state.” Its origins are from the Homeric Agora meaning “the meeting of people".[4] The first known assembly was held as early as the reign of Draco in 621 B.C.[4]



The assembly was held in the Pnyx (which was on a hill west of the Acropolis). This meeting place was said to hold at most 6,000 Athenian men based on calculations done with the average size of an Athenian male.[5] Assembly members meet four times every Prytany (about once a week).[6] At each meeting of the assembly certain topics were discussed and voted on. The assembly would also gather in cases of emergency and in cases of trials of law in which the assembly became a jury.[6]



Votes were taken by a tally of hands raised. After being tallied the majority decision ruled and carried. Although it was the first form of Democracy the only people allowed to vote in the assembly were free-born men. During the reign of Pericles (around the mid 400's B.C.) the assembly was given the sole power to veto or approve any and all matters concerning the Greek state.[7]



Economy



At its economic height, in the 4th century BC, ancient Greece was the most advanced economy in the world. According to some economic historians, it was one of the most advanced preindustrial economies. This is demonstrated by the average daily wage of the Greek worker which was, in terms of wheat, about 12 kg. This was more than 3 times the average daily wage of an Egyptian worker during the Roman period, about 3.75 kg.[8]



Culture



Philosophy



Greek philosophy focused on the role of reason and inquiry. In many ways, it had an important influence on modern philosophy, as well as modern science. Clear unbroken lines of influence lead from ancient Greek and Hellenistic philosophers, to medieval Muslim philosophers and scientists, to the European Renaissance and Enlightenment, to the secular sciences of the modern day.



Neither reason nor inquiry began with the Greeks. Defining the difference between the Greek quest for knowledge and the quests of the elder civilizations, such as the ancient Egyptians and Babylonians, has long been a topic of study by theorists of civilization.



Literature

Alfred North Whitehead once claimed that all of philosophy is but a footnote to Plato. To suggest that all of Western literature is no more than a footnote to the writings of ancient Greece is an exaggeration, but it is nevertheless true that the Greek world of thought was so far-ranging that there is scarcely an idea discussed today not already debated by the ancient writers.



Sciences

Main articles: Ancient Greek geography, Greek astronomy, Greek mathematics, Medicine in ancient Greece, Histories (Herodotus), and Aristotle



Art

Apollo and Nike in marble, a Roman copy from the 1 st century CE of the original hellenistic work

Main article: Art in ancient Greece

The art of ancient Greece has exercised a huge influence on the culture of many countries from ancient times until the present.

Religion and mythology

Main articles: Ancient Greek religion, Hellenistic religion, and Greek mythology



Greek mythology consists of stories belonging to the Ancient Greeks concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world and the origins and significance of their religious practices. The main Greek gods were the twelve Olympians, Zeus, his wife Hera, Poseidon, Ares, Hermes, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Demeter, and Hestia. Other important deities included Hebe, Helios, Hades, Dionysus, Persephone and Heracles (a demi-god). Zeus' parents were Kronos and Rhea who also were the parents of Poseidon, Hades, Hera, Hestia, and Demeter.



Greek Cities



I-Athens



The history of Athens is rich and varied. Athens had been occupied from 3,000 BC onward, but not until the height of Mycenean rule (1,400 BC to 1,200 BC), did the city begin to create the buildings commonly associated with it. Originally situated on the rocky mount known as the Acropolis, the city began to spread southward. As Athens expanded physically, so too did it expand from a political standpoint. As the Dorians and the Greek Dark Ages began to slowly relinquish their hold upon Greece, a change in political thought came to Athens. The aristocratic families which had lost most of their power due to the monarchy of the Dark Ages, elected a statesman who would represent the city for one year. This practice carried on to create a democratic tradition within Greece, the remnant of which still serves as a model within the present.



By 600 BC, the growth of Greece had lent itself to beautiful works of sculpture and architecture throughout the Acropolis. As the expansion of Greece continued, it was only halted by the Persians in 480 BC. The Persians ransacked the city, burning temples and homes. It wasn't until 449 BC that peace with Persia was attained and the destroyed temples and buildings were reconstructed. From 400 BC onward, the city of Athens began to take on the facade of classical Golden Age Greece. Within this time in Athens, the Agora, which is the area below the citadel, became the center of civic life. The Agora was the marketplace and meeting place where the Athenians could speak of civic and public affairs. On both sides of the Agora were important centers of Athenian life: the Areopagus and the Pnyx. The Areopagus was where the high court sat and the Pnyx was where the Athenian Assembly convened.

The Acropolis
The Acropolis rose above the city of Athens, where the city's true artistic and cultural achievements can be found. Amid the largest and most apparent achievement of Athens, is the marble Parthenon situated at the highest point of the Acropolis. The Parthenon, in total, held several temples to the goddess Athena, including temples to Artemis, Brauronia (Brauronia is a bear goddess who was worshipped by young women) and Zeus. The area surrounding the Acropolis was host to many events including, theater, ritual acts ,and sacrifices, as well as many other traditions of the Athenians. For more information click on the image map to the right.



Other Areas of AthensThe Arios Pagos The Arios Pagos is located NW of Acropolis. It is a rock with an artificially leveled top, lower than the Acropolis Rock. The ancient Parliament went to session here.

The Ancient Market The site of the Ancient Market is located on the bottom of the Holy Rock, Hifaistos' temple (Thisio) and Attalus' tunnel. The Persians destroyed all of the buildings in the Ancient Market 2500 years ago, however the buildings were rebuilt later.

Adrianus Library Located near the Roman Market, the Adrianus Library was a gift to Athens from Emperor Adrianos, built in the second century. The archaeological site is fenced, but all of the ruins are visible from the outside.

Ceramicus Ceramicus is the ancient graveyard of Athens. It includes part of the city's ancient wall.

Filopappou Hill Filopappou Hill was built opposite from the Acropolis in the second century. It houses the monument of the Roman benefactor of Athens, Gaius Julius Antiochus Filopappou.

LysikratousMonument , or Diogenis' Lantern Lysikratous Monument, also known as Diogenis' Lantern, is a monument built about 2400 years ago. It is in Plaka and is an open archaeological site.

Pnyka Located opposite of Arios Pagos right next to Filopappou Hill, Pnyka Hill was where the Municipality's sessions were held.

Adrianos' Gate Adrianos' Gate was built by Emperor Adrianus about 2200 years ago. Behind it remain the ruins of Olympian Zeus' Temple, the largest Temple of Ancient Greece.

Roman Market Located east from Aiolou Street, construction on the Roman Market was started by Julius Caesar but it was finished by Emperors Adrianus and Traianus.

The Myths of Athens
The Myth of Athens begins with Athena (also known as the Roman god Minerva) and Poseidon (god of the seas). Athena and Poseidon both wanted to be the protectors of Athens. To keep the two from arguing, Kekrops (also called an earth child who was a demigod), was pronounced as an arbitrator. The two gods, Athena and Poseidon, had to create something valuable for Athens. Poseidon created a well (though some sources say he gave the city a horse) and Athena created the olive tree. In the end it was the olive tree which won out as a symbol of peace and prosperity, and Athens was thenceforth named after the Goddess Athena, and Kekrops became the first king of Athens. Athens was also blessed with the vine tree, given by the god Dionyssos (god of wine). Wine, being integral to trade and life in Athens, was not native to mainland Greece, but migrated originally from Crete. Wine was used in many religious ceremonies, and was fundamental to many of the wine cults which formed through out Greece.

The myths and traditions about the ancient and continuous history of Attica (the cultural area surrounding Athens), and Athens have been, in part, substantiated by the findings of prehistoric artifacts retrieved from the Acropolis and around other parts of Attica. The old myths of Athens and Attica, are thought to reflect the wars which the leaders of Acropolis led in order to achieve total ruling of the territories around Athens. The total merging of the territories in Attica with Athens happened in roughly 1400 BC. This merging is reflected in the myths of Theseus and the portrayal of the population of Athens in the myths.

II-Sparta
Sparta(also known as Lacedaemeon) is situated on the southern Peloponnesus, and was originally founded during the Dorian invasions. Where the Dorians had in some cities managed to enmesh themselves into a place of aristocratic neutrality with the general populace, in other cities, the Dorians held tight rule which relegated the native citizens to the status of serfs. Sparta was one such a city, where strict dominion was held over the city, and its occupants.

Aries- God of war was a patron god of the city, of wars, battles, and warriors, and also of fearlessness in battle.

Artemis of the animals - Artemis was a patron Goddess of Sparta, also associated with warriors, and adolescence, specifically when dealing with changes from childhood to adulthood.

The city of Sparta was originally founded during and after the Mycenaean War, in which the Dorian Spartans crossed the Taygetus mountains and took the territory of the Messenia. However, the original occupants of Messenia did not easily submit to the Spartans' rule, and thus, in 640 BC the Messenians revolted. The revolt nearly defeated the Spartans, but they managed to hold strong and continued their rule over the Messenian region. However, obviously outnumbered by the native population of Messenia, and accompanied by other political stresses, the Spartans responded by enacting a military government, or a military oligarchy, formulated by, according to the Spartans, Lycurgus. In such an oligarchic polis, the native population of Messenia was relegated to the status of agricultural slavery, or helots, which only amounted to a life of meek serfdom. Above the helots in status were the perioeci. The perioeci were, as near as scholars can tell, the traders, merchants, and foreigners of Spartan society, who were allowed a larger amount of freedom than the helots. It is thought that they were, perhaps, the Messenian nobles. Atop both the helots, and the perioeci, were the Spartiate. A Spartiate could trace their lineage through to the cities original Dorian occupants, was required to serve in the army, and could vote. They were the only people who were allowed full political rights of the state itself.


Unlike Athens, Sparta was a military oligarchy, monarchy, democracy, and timocracy all rolled into one. Originally founded with aristocratic interest, Sparta managed to keep its lineage of kings throughout its existence. The kings themselves came from two great aristocratic houses. From these two great houses and the aristocratic influence of early Sparta, the city survived under the edict of "dependence of the small on the great." The two kings (dual monarchy) of Sparta however held little rule over Sparta, rather it was the counsel below the kings, composed of 28 nobles (all past age 60, and therefore their mandatory service in the military), and the two kings which made many of the political decisions for Sparta. Just below the Counsel was the assembly of the Spartiate (composed of Spartan males). The assembly was run democratically and could veto or approve the rulings of the counsel above it. However, beyond the counsel and beyond the assembly, was the Ephorate. The ephorate was a group of five men who practically guided all aspects of Spartan life. Along with ruling over the military, it held the power to veto any ruling made by the Counsel or the assembly. Regardless of how odd such a political system may seem in the twentieth century, and how opposite it may have been in comparison to the democracy of Athens, Spartan culture flourished through out the Aegean. Known almost exclusively for its military strength, and its role within the Persian Wars, the Spartans believed themselves to be of "true" Greek lineage and tradition. Their reign, extended with the aid of alliances and invasions, covered most of the Peloponnesus, until the Spartans eventually rivaled Athens.

Siege of Troy
Such were the accounts which the Greeks believed of their own early days. We come now to their great story of the Siege of Troy, which in its general outlines is real history, the actions attributed in it to the gods being only such as a religious man would naturally accept as explaining the doings of the mortals. Homer begins the tale with the gods, explaining how they sowed enmity among mankind. Jupiter had decided that men were once more growing too numerous and powerful, so he resolved not only to plunge them into war, but also to involve the gods themselves in the quarrel, that it might be pursued to the bitter end. Therefore, in the counsel of the gods he introduced a golden apple to be given "to the fairest." Naturally, his wife Juno claimed it. So also did Venus, the beautiful goddess of love, and Minerva, the sternly fair goddess of wisdom. They agreed to refer the question to the decision of a young shepherd lad, Paris, who was really a son of the king of Troy. Each of the goddesses tried to bribe their young judge with promises of gifts. Venus proffered him the fairest woman in the world to be his wife for ten years; and Paris decided in her favor. The other two goddesses determined to be avenged upon him.



Now, the most beautiful woman in the world was Helen, the daughter of the king of Sparta in Greece. All the princes of Greece were wooing her. Chief among the wooers was Agamemnon, prince of Mycenae, which you will remember was at this time the most powerful city of Greece, the main seat of the Achaean power. Then there was Menelaus, the brother of Agamemnon, and a host of others. Helen chose Menelaus, who wedded her and became king of Sparta. Then Venus, in fulfilment of her promise, sent Paris to Sparta. He, the handsomest man of his time, and Helen, the most beautiful woman, fell in love with each other at sight; and she fled with him to Troy. Menelaus summoned the other Greeks to his aid. All the princes who had wooed Helen had vowed to aid her husband if any one injured him, so now all of them gathered for the war with Troy. Agamemnon, as king of Mycenae, was-chosen as their leader.



Let us pause to review the situation. Troy was not a fancy of the poets; it was a really existing city. Its remains have been discovered and explored. They lie on the coast of Asia Minor close to Europe, just across the narrow strait which we call the Hellespont, leading from the Aegean Sea toward the Black Sea. Troy, then, we know to have been a rich metropolis, which was actually plundered and destroyed about the time assigned for the Trojan war (1184 B.C.). Its people were of the old Aegean race, akin therefore to the Greeks, though possibly less touched by the Cretan culture, and with no mixture of Achaean blood. We may take for granted these chief facts, that the European Greeks attacked Troy, that they were led by Agamemnon, an Achaean, king of Mycenae, and that most of their chieftains were of Achaean race. They destroyed Troy; they laid waste all of the surrounding region; and after ten years of rapine they returned to Greece, carrying many captives, and leaving the Aegean peoples of the Asiatic coast exhausted and well-nigh exterminated.



Of the minor details of the story, we can not feel equally assured. The chief figures of the war as later Greeks knew them were those already mentioned, and the two poetical heroes, Achilles, who dominates Homer's "Iliad," and Ulysses, or Odysseus, who is the centre of his "Odyssey." Achilles is the only superhuman figure of the tale. He was the son of Peleus, of Thessaly, one of the Argonauts, and of Thetis, a sea-nymph. At his birth his mother held him in the fire to sear away the mortal part of him and make him all immortal like herself. Or, according to another legend, she dipped him in the River of Death, and thereby made him impervious to weapons. In either case she held him by the heel, so that his heel remained mortal or unprotected, and there alone could he be injured.



Achilles is the great fighting hero of the Greeks. While his compatriots were besieging Troy, he led his own Thessalian troops against the other Asiatic cities, the allies of Troy. These he captured and destroyed one after another, and then at last, after nine years of fighting, joined the other Greeks. Hitherto they had barely held their own against the mighty Trojans; but now, with Achilles' help, they renewed the contest, confident of victory. Achilles, however, quarrelled with King Agamemnon and remained brooding in his tent. Without him the Greeks proved no match for the Trojans and their great warrior leader, Hector. He put them to flight and slew the bosom friend of Achilles. Then at last the mighty Greek warrior roused himself, and, coming forth in fiercest anger, fought with Hector. All of the gods took part in the combat. Juno and Neptune had previously aided the Greeks. Minerva, the enemy of Paris and of Troy, now aided Achilles. Apollo sought to shield Hector. At last Jove himself enforced his decree that final victory must rest with the Greeks. Hector was slain; and with this victory of Achilles, Homer ends his song of Troy.

From other poems we gather further details. The Trojans continued to resist. Their aged king, Priam, had many sons, and, though Hector, the greatest of them all, was slain, there remained Paris, who was no mean warrior. Then there was AEneas, whom the Roman poet, Virgil, represents as the founder of Rome. These held the Greeks in check. The Ethiopians came to aid the Trojans. So also did the Amazons; and though the queen of these latter was slain by Achilles, he himself perished soon afterward. He was shot in that vulnerable heel of his by an arrow from Paris; or perhaps the fatal dart was sent by the god Apollo himself, the archer of the sun, who had befriended Hector.

The capture of Troy was at last brought about by Ulysses, the hero of Homer's second great poem. Ulysses was the wisest and shrewdest of all the Greeks. He was king of the island of Ithaca, which lies on the west coast of Greece. He had been one of the suitors of Helen, but soon withdrew from the contest for her hand, perceiving that she who was wooed by so many was likely to prove a most unsatisfactory wife for any one. Instead, Ulysses turned to Penelope, the cousin of Helen, less dazzlingly beautiful, but far more admirable.

Happy in his kingly home and his devoted wife, Ulysses had been most unwilling to leave both for the siege of Troy. When the messengers came to summon him in accordance with the oath which he and the other suitors had made to protect Helen's husband, Ulysses put them off by pretending to be insane. He yoked a horse and a bull to a plow, and began plowing up the sand of the seashore and sowing it with salt, crying out that soon he would have a fine crop of salt waves. The messengers despaired of holding this madman to his promise. But Palamedes, who, next to Ulysses, was accounted the shrewdest of all the Greeks, took the little infant son of Ulysses and Penelope and laid the babe in the path of the father's plow. Ulysses turned his team aside to save the child, and then the messengers saw that this supposed madman knew very well what he was doing. So he had to go with them; but he never forgave Palamedes, and long afterward brought about his death.

Ulysses was noted for other qualities as well as craft. In the games held at the siege of Troy, he outran the swiftest of the Greeks. After the death of Achilles he outmatched the strongest of the Greeks in battle; and the armor of Achilles was awarded to him as having achieved more than any one else against the Trojans. Finally it was Ulysses who hit upon the stratagem by which Troy was captured.

At his command the Greeks built a huge horse of wood, in which he and as many other warriors as possible concealed themselves. The rest of the Greeks pretended to give up the siege, and withdrew from the city. The exultant Trojans rushed out to explore, and roamed through the abandoned camps. Gathering round the gigantic horse, they stared at it in wonder and amazement. then a Greek, who had remained behind for that purpose, came out of his hiding-place, and declared himself a deserter from his countrymen. He told the Trojans that the colossal horse was a magic animal, and that so long as they kept it their city could not be captured. The delighted Trojans seized hold of the monstrous thing to drag it within their walls, though numerous warnings came to stay their folly.

Cassandra, one of King Priam's daughters, possessed the power of looking into the future, but unhappily she always seemed to be prophesying evil, and therefore was discredited. Sometimes you hear a person called a "Cassandra," which is another way of saying she is a prophet of evil. When Cassandra saw the intention of her countrymen, she wrung her hands, and begged them to leave the huge structure alone; but they were so happy over the seemingly triumphant ending of the long war that they only laughed at her wailing.

Among the Trojan priests was Laocoon, who added his warnings to those of Cassandra, saying that he distrusted the Greeks always, but most when they left gifts. The priest drove his spear into the wooden horse, and all were startled by hearing a groan from within. In truth, one of the hidden Greeks had been wounded by the spear. Then Jupiter, having determined on the destruction of the city, bade Neptune send two enormous serpents, which came gliding up out of the sea, and strangled Laocoon and his two sons in their coils.

Nothing could check the infatuated Trojans. The great wooden horse was dragged into the city. The guilty Helen suspected what it contained, and, lingering near the monster in the twilight, she called to the various Greek chieftains alluringly, imitating the voices of their wives. One of them called out in answer; but meanwhile, in the darkness of the night, the Grecian army had again silently surrounded the walls. The Greeks within the wooden horse rushed out and opened the gates to their comrades, who burst into Troy. The celebrated city was thus captured and reduced to ashes.

Many and savage were the outrages committed by the ravaging Greeks upon the foes who had so long withstood them. Helen, however, whom one would have thought the worst offender, was pardoned. Varied excuses for her were offered by the later Greek poets. She had been under a spell laid on her by Venus; or she had been a helpless victim; or, most remarkable of all, she never went to Troy at all, but was carried off by Venus and kept hidden in Egypt while a magic image of her was given to Paris and deceived the Greeks. At any rate, she was restored to Menelaus, the reunited pair visited Egypt together in harmony and then returned to a peaceful life of domesticity in Sparta.

Few of the other Greek leaders were so fortunate. Almost every one of them, having been absent from his own kingdom for over ten years, returned to find tragedy of one sort or another. Agamemnon was murdered by his wife, who had found another love. As for Ulysses, the god Neptune had taken offence at him, and would not let him cross the seas at all to return to his beloved Penelope. One storm after another drove him from his course. One by one his followers succumbed to privation and disaster, until he alone returned to their native home, after an absence of twenty years. He had been in the country of the lotos-eaters, a dreamy land, where fruit fell constantly around the people for their sustenance, and none ever worked, but drowsed in idleness until old age and death ended their worthless existence. He had been among the cannibals, among the Cyclops, great giants with only a single eye. He had withstood the enchantments of Circe, a famous sorceress, who turned all men who visited her into beasts; and he had even visited the underworld of Hades.



During all this time his wife Penelope had even sadly awaited his return, watching across the waters; and her pathetic figure has become typical to us of all wives who have to watch and wait. Her friends tried to persuader her that he must be dead, and many suitors gathered in the palace. They became clamorous, insisting that she choose a husband from among them, to take Ulysses' place and rule the country. To evade them, she said she must finish a wonderful shroud she was weaving for her aged father; and on this she undid each night what they had seen her finish in the day. So that now, any work always being labored on, but never advancing, is called "Penelope's web."



At last the suitors would not longer be put off. They declared there should be a great feast, and they would force her to wed whichever of them proved able to bend Ulysses' great bow. At the trial an old beggar-man came in; and, in drunken sport, amid sneers and taunts, they allowed him also to try the bow. The beggar was Ulysses himself, home at last, though ragged, worn, and solitary; and he, who had matched himself against giants, was not likely to be awed or overcome by these idle roisterers. He bent the bow and sent an arrow through their leader. His weeping wife recognized him. His young son, Telemachus, joined him, and together they drove the drunken mob from the palace. Ulysses was the last survivor of all the great chiefs who had fought against Troy.