Overview of Ancient Greece

Age of Myths and Legends to the Hellenistic Age

The Foundation of Western Culture—The study of the Ancient Greeks can be a very attractive introduction to history, even for younger students. Greek history is rich in mythology and some of its more romantic conflicts, including the Greco Persian Wars and Conquests of Alexander the Great are interesting to students of all ages. In addition to being romantic and enjoyable to study, Greek history is a pillar of Western Civilization, and has influenced the leading thinkers of Western Civilization for over 2000 years, from the Apostle Paul to the founders of the United States.

From the Middle Ages until recent times, almost all educated westerners studied the Ancient Greeks and strove to emulate their best institutions. Even the Romans, who conquered the Greeks in the second century B.C., recognized the value of Greek philosophy, science, and literature, and emulated it. The New Testament was written in Greek because it was the language of learning throughout the eastern Mediterranean from the Age of Alexander until the collapse of the Roman Empire. Even the resurgence of Western art and science during the early Middle Ages came about largely due to the rediscovery of classical learning by medieval scholars. In short, the Greeks are rightly credited with laying the foundation of Western Culture in realms as diverse as art, science, philosophy and government and any student who wants to understand the genesis of Western Civilization will benefit from an introduction to Greek History.

Historical Divisions of Ancient Greece—The Ancient Greek study program is divided into eight units, three of which cover mythical and legendary periods of Greek History. The earliest history of Ancient Greece is shrouded in legend, and mythological characters play such an important role in its culture and literature that it is impossible to really understand Greek Civilization without a knowledge of Greek mythology. The legendary history of Greece extends from creation stories involving primordal Gods and Goddesses to the Trojan War.

Overview of Greek History— Ancient Greece was not a unified nation, but a collection of Greek city-states and colonies centred in mainland Greece and extending throughout the Aegean Sea, Asia Minor, and Italy. They shared a common language, religion, and culture, and were a sea-faring as well as an agriculturally based society. By about the seventh century B.C. a written Greek language had developed to such as extent that the stories of many cities-states were written down, and a reasonably reliable history of Greece is given from that time.

The authentic history of Greece begins in about 800 B.C. with stories of some of the most important Greek city-states,—including Sparta, Athens, Corinth, and Samos—in the centuries before the Greco Persian Wars. The Persian War (500-479 B.C.) was a watershed event in Greek History, during which a remote and disorganized collection of city-states arose to defeat the invasion of a far larger and wealthier empire. The battles of the Persian War and the stories and personalities associated with them are among the most famous and inspirational in the history of warfare.

The prestige and prosperity which fell to the Greek states after their victory over the Persians was ultimately concentrated in the hands of the Athenian Empire, which came to dominate most of the Greek sea-faring states scattered throughout the Aegean Sea. Many of the most famous personalities, writings, and relics of classical Greece are dated to this Golden Age of Greece. Eventually, however, the non-aligned Greeks, fearful of Athenian hegemony rose against her, and after the terribly destructive Peloponnesian War (431-404 B.C.), the dominance of Athens was broken for good.

After the fall of Athens, other powers arose: first Sparta, then Thebes and finally Macedonia. The sixty years following the Peloponnesian War still produced many works of great genius, but the decline of Greece during the Late Classical period was evident and by 338 B.C. most Greek city-states in the east fell under the rule of Macedonia. Although Macedonia had been a small, semi-barbaric country, its conquests under Philip of Macedonia and his son Alexander the Great brought about the fall of the Persian empire and the spread of Greek culture throughout the Mediterranean. The Hellenistic Era lasted from the conquest of Persia until the second century, when Romans conquered the entire region. Even then, Greek culture was so well established that Greek remained the language of commerce and learning throughout the eastern Mediterranean, even during the seven centuries that Greece was a province of the Roman Empire.