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History of Ancient Greece
The modern world owes a lot to ancient Greece.
This relatively small state has had a huge impact on the development of all areas of human life.
Take, for example, myths that are a reflection of a person's life, both at that time and today.
Ideas about the world – about man, medicine, politics, art, literature - were born on a global scale in Greece.
This state was located in the south of the Balkan Peninsula and on the islands of the Aegean Sea.
Accordingly, such a relatively small territory housed a small number of people, but, as Alexander the Great said, " One Greek is worth a thousand barbarians."
Greece stood out among other states Babylonia, Egypt and Persia and with good reason.
Map of Ancient Greece
The most ancient times of Ancient Greece
The territory of Ancient Greece is conventionally divided into three parts: Southern, Middle and Northern.
In the southern part was located Laconic, better known as Sparta.
Athens – the main city of Greece, was located in the Middle part of the state, along with such areas as Attica, Aetolia and Phocis.
This part was separated from the Northern part by almost impassable mountains and separated Athens and Thessaly, which today is a major historical center in itself.
The population of ancient Greece can be judged by numerous examples of art that have been preserved almost in its original form - these are sculptures, frescoes and elements of painting.
In any museum in the world you will find a hall of ancient Greek art, where you will see many images of tall, slender people with an ideal physique, with light skin and dark curly hair.
Ancient historians call them Pelasgians – a people who inhabited the islands of the Aegean Sea in the III millennium BC.
Despite the fact that their occupations were no different from those of other ancient peoples and included cattle breeding and agriculture, it should be noted that their land was difficult to cultivate and required the use of special skills.
The peoples of Greece and their development
The Pelasgians, who inhabited Greece almost five thousand years ago, were expelled from their lands exactly in the same millennium in which they appeared.
The reason for this was the Achaeans who invaded from the north, whose state was also located on the island of Peloponnese with its capital in Mycenae.
This conquest was epochal in nature, as it marked the beginning of the Achaean civilization, which suffered the same sad fate – at the end of the XIII century BC, just as the Achaeans invaded the Greek lands, the Dorians came to this territory.
Unfortunately, the conquerors destroyed almost all the cities and the entire Ahian population, although they themselves, at the same time, were at a lower stage of civilization development.
This fact could not but affect the culture of ancient Greece.
The oldest written language created by the Pelasgians was forgotten, not to mention the fact that the construction and development of tools stopped.
This period, which is deservedly called "dark" lasted no less than from the XII to IX centuries AD.
Among the cities, Athens and Sparta still stood out, where there were two antagonistic societies.
So, in Laconica (Sparta), the governors were two kings who ruled, passing their power by inheritance.
Nevertheless, despite this, the real power was in the hands of the elders, who passed laws and were engaged in judging.
The love of luxury was severely persecuted in Sparta, and the main task of the elders was to prevent the class stratification of society, for which each Greek family received an allotment of land from the state, which it had to cultivate without the right to receive additional territories.
Soon the Spartans were forbidden to engage in trade, agriculture and crafts, the slogan was proclaimed that "the occupation of every Spartan is war", which was supposed to fully provide the population of Laconia with everything necessary for life.
The fact that the soldiers could be expelled from the detachments only because he did not fully eat his portion of food at a common meal, which indicated that he had dined on the side, speaks eloquently about the customs of the Spartans.
Moreover, a wounded Spartan had to die on the battlefield in silence, without showing unbearable pain.
The main rival of Sparta was the current capital of Greece – Athens.
This city was the center of the arts, and the people who inhabited it were the complete opposite of the rough and tough Spartans.
Nevertheless, despite the ease and carefree life, it was here that the word "tyrant" appeared.
Initially, it had the meaning of "ruler", but when the authorities of Athens began to engage in outright robbery of the population, this word acquired the shade that it has to this day.
Peace was brought to the ruined city by King Solon – a wise and kind ruler who did a lot to improve the lives of citizens.
The VI century brought new challenges to the inhabitants of Greece – the danger came from the Persians, who quickly conquered Egypt, Media and Babylonia.
In the face of the Persian power, the peoples of Greece united, forgetting about the centuries old strife.
Of course, the center of the army was made up of Spartans who devoted their lives to military affairs.
The Athenians, in turn, engaged in the construction of a flotilla.
Darius underestimated the power of the Greeks and lost the first battle, which is immortalized in history by the fact that a joyful messenger ran from Marathon to Athens to deliver the joyful news of victory, and, having overcome 40 km, fell dead.
It is remembering that event that athletes run the "marathon distance".
Xerxes, the son of Darius, enlisting the support and help of the conquered states, nevertheless, lost a number of important battles, and refused any attempts to conquer Greece.
Thus, Greece became the most influential state, which gave it a number of privileges, especially Athens, which became the capital of trade in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Sparta united with Athens the next time in the face of the Macedonian conqueror Philip II, who, unlike Darius, quickly broke the resistance of the Greeks, establishing power over all areas of the state, except Sparta, which refused to obey.
Thus, the Classical Period of the development of the Hellenic states ended and the flourishing of Greece as part of Macedonia began.
Thanks to Alexander the Great, the Greeks and Macedonians by 400 BC became the absolute masters of the entire Near Asia.
The Hellenistic era ended in 168 BC, when the large scale conquests of the Roman Empire began.
The role of Greek civilization in the history of the development of the world
Historians agree that the cultural development of the world would have been impossible without the heritage that ancient Greece left us.
It was here that the fundamental knowledge about the universe that modern science uses was laid.
The first philosophical concepts were formulated here, defining the basis for the development of spiritual values of all mankind.
The Greek philosopher Aristotle laid the foundations of ideas about the material and immaterial world, Greek athletes became the first champions of the first Olympic Games.
Any science or art sphere is somehow connected with this great Ancient state – be it theater, literature , painting or sculpture.
"The Iliad" is the main work that has come down to our days, it tells very vividly and colorfully about the historical events of those times, about the way of life of the ancient Eleans, and, more importantly, it is dedicated to real events.
The famous Greek thinker Herodotus, whose works were devoted to the Greco Persian wars, made a contribution to the development of history.
The contribution of Pythagoras and Archimedes to the development of mathematics cannot be overestimated.
Moreover, the ancient Greeks were the authors of numerous inventions that were used primarily during military operations.
Special attention should be paid to the Greek theater, which was an open area with a round structure for the choir and a stage for artists.
This architecture assumed the creation of excellent acoustics, and the audience, even sitting in the far rows, could hear all the replicas.
It is noteworthy that the actors hid their faces under masks, which were divided into comic and tragic.
Reverently honoring their gods, the Greeks created their statues and sculptures, which still amaze with their beauty and perfection.
The special place of Ancient Greece in the world's ancient history makes it one of the most mysterious and amazing states in the ancient world.
The ancestor of science and art, Greece still attracts the attention of everyone who is interested in world history.
The periods of ancient Greece.
History of development
Early period (1050-750 BC)
Following the final demise of the Mycenaean culture, which knew writing, the last of the glorious civilizations of the Aegean Bronze Age, mainland Greece and the islands off its coast entered an era called by some historians the "Dark Age".
However, strictly speaking, this term rather characterizes the break in historical information that concerns the time interval that began around 1050 BC, rather than the lack of knowledge or historical experience among the then population of Hellas, although writing was lost.
In fact, it was at this time, the time of transition to the Iron Age, that the political, aesthetic and literary features inherent in classical Hellas then began to appear.
Local leaders, who called themselves pari, ruled small, closely related communities — the forerunners of the ancient Greek cities of the state.
The next stage in the development of painted ceramics is obvious, which has become simpler in form, but at the same time stronger; its appearance, as evidenced by the vessel shown on the right, has acquired a new elegance, harmony and proportionality, which have become distinctive features of later Greek art.
Using vague memories of the history of the Mycenaeans, Trojans and other Ancient states, wandering singers composed narratives about gods and ordinary mortals, giving a poetic imagery to Greek mythology.
By the end of this period, the Greek speaking tribes borrowed the alphabet from the Phoenicians and adapted it to their language, which made it possible to record many legends that were long preserved in the oral tradition: the best among them from the extant Homeric epics " 776 BC, is considered to be the beginning of the subsequent continuous rise of Greek culture.
Archaic period (Archaic) (750-500 BC)
In the eighth century, driven by the growth of population and prosperity, emigrants from ancient Greece in search of new agricultural land and trade opportunities spread throughout the Mediterranean.
Greek settlers in foreign countries, however, became not just subjects of the cities that founded colonies, but separate, autonomous political entities.
The spirit of independence that possessed the settlers, as well as the need for joint actions to maintain each community, gave rise to such a political unit as the polis.
Throughout the Greek world, there were supposedly up to 700 similar city states.
The foreign cultures with which Hellas came into contact during this period of expansion affected the Greeks in a variety of ways.
The geometric painting of ceramics has given way to images of animals and plant drawings in the Oriental style, as well as detailed mythological scenes of the new black figure style of vase painting (see below in the photo gallery below).
Artists who worked with stone, clay, wood and bronze began to create monumental sculptures of a person The typical Archaic statue of Kouros (photo on the left) bears obvious traces of the Egyptian influence, but at the same time demonstrates the nascent desire for symmetry, lightness and realism.
In the seventh century, the first truly Greek temples appeared, decorated with extended friezes and columns of the Doric order (see the photo gallery below).
Lyrical and elegiac poetry, deeply personal and emotionally saturated, is replacing the high flown poems of the past.
The development of trade contributes to the widespread use of coinage invented by the Lydians.
At the same time, on the mainland, Sparta introduced a political system in which special importance is attached to strict management and discipline, and as a result became the largest and most powerful city state of that period.
Athens, on the contrary, is changing and codifying laws, taking care of justice and equality, opening access to the ruling bodies to an increasing number of citizens and laying the foundations of democracy.
Classical period (500-323 BC)
The classical period in ancient Greece, when arts, literature, philosophy and politics flourished incredibly quickly here, is limited by the time of wars with two foreign powers — Persia and Macedonia.
The victory of the Hellenes over the Persians gave rise to a new spirit of cooperation between different city states and Athens, whose fleet played a decisive role, providing a favorable turning point in the fight against the so called barbarians.
The tribute that went from the allies to the Athenian treasury in exchange for military protection provided the Athenians with the opportunity to increase their already considerable wealth and guaranteed this city political, cultural and economic supremacy throughout the Mediterranean.
Almost all citizens of Athens, regardless of their financial situation, were provided with access to elected positions, and they received remuneration for the performance of their respective duties.
At the state expense, sculptors, architects and playwrights worked on works that still remain the highest creative achievement of mankind.
Shown, for example, on the right, a bronze statue of Zeus with a height of 213 centimeters gives a concentrated view of the skill of the artists of classical Hellas (ancient Greece), who reproduced the human body in their works with extraordinary dynamism.
Greek philosophers, historians and specialists in the field of natural sciences have left examples of rational theoretical analysis.
In 431, the old enmity between Athens and Sparta resulted in a war that lasted for almost 30 years and ended with the defeat of the Athenians.
Decades of continuous battles led to a weakening of political influence in many city states, where violent strife did not stop.
The prudent and ambitious Macedonian king Philip II managed to profit from such chaos and soon became the master of the entire territory of ancient Greece.
Philip failed to complete the construction of the empire, he was killed, and his son Alexander ascended the throne.
Just 12 years later, Alexander the Great (Macedonian) died, but left behind a power that stretched from the Adriatic to Media (see below in the photo gallery).
Hellenistic period (323-31 BC)
On the ruins of Alexander's empire, after almost 50 years of fierce struggle for his inheritance, three major powers emerged: Macedonia, Ptolemaic Egypt and the Seleucid state, which stretched from modern Turkey to Afghanistan.
It is striking that from the Macedonian capital of Pella in the west to Ai Khanum in the east, the language, literature, political institutions, fine arts, architecture and philosophy in the cities and settlements that arose as a result of Alexander's campaigns remained unquestionably Greek after his death.
Subsequent kings emphasized their kinship with Hellas, especially with Alexander: the picture on the left shows a Thracian silver coin, on which he is depicted with the ram horns of Zeus Amon — a god with roots in both the East and the West.
Having a common language, Nakhodka, under the influence of constant trade contacts, preserving written texts and attracting numerous travelers, the Hellenistic world became more and more cosmopolitan.
Education and enlightenment flourished, libraries were created — among them was the Great Library of Alexandria, where there were about half a million volumes.
But the Greek ruling classes refused to admit ordinary subjects into their ranks, and the vast new kingdoms were everywhere shaken by internal troubles.
Steadily weakening and impoverished Macedonia fell under Roman rule in 168 BC.
One after another, the provincial governors of the Seleucid empire declared themselves independent, forming many small states with a dynastic form of government.
Of the kingdoms into which Alexander's empire collapsed, Ptolemaic Egypt was still a bastion.
Cleopatra VII, the last of this family (and the only one who learned the language of the subject population), committed suicide when the Romans won at Actium.
However, although ancient Rome managed to subdue the entire Mediterranean, the domination of the Latins did not mean the end of Greek influence: the Romans absorbed the culture of ancient Greece and perpetuated the Hellenic heritage in a way that the Greeks themselves could not.
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Comments
Ivan Tsarevich
You're probably right.
All the conquerors always assert themselves and glorify themselves in all kinds and ways, and those whom they expelled from the places inhabited and enriched by the work of generations (for example, the Pelasgians, who then found shelter in the Slavic lands), on the contrary, are represented as barbarians..
Alas!
History has an eternal tendency: those peoples who do not have a history compose legends about their past, but live on lands cultivated from the wild by others.
So the history of the Slavic peoples of Europe, who raised it from the darkness of forests and the abyss of swamps, is a vivid confirmation of this
Ivan Tsarevich
Everything is fine in the history of Greece, but they are also not the indigenous people of Europe, How can we explain that even 150-200 years ago there were Slavic settlements and a language in the Greek lands?
and WHY does Herodotus call the Scythians the farmers of the Dnieper region who grew and sold wheat to Athens through Greek trading posts (colonies), etc., and why does he cover up the Greek expansion into the Northern Black Sea region with an absurd legend about the origin of the" Scythians " from Hercules and the Snake?
Not everything is so familiar with the history of the Greeks, as well as the Scythians.
Where are the Greeks from?
Where are the Scythians from?
Why was everyone so drawn to the lands of the Dnieper and the Black Sea region ?
Why is our history so little studied and what is the main thing not told or hidden?
The answer is probably clear, in the self sufficiency and well being of the autochthons the offspring, the CHILDREN of THIS earth
England London
Navernoe Greki Khoteli ochen stat visokimi i skulpturi vozdvigali.
Greki bili nizskogo rosta ,smesheniya naciy im udostoilo chest ne vsem a nekotorim stat visokimi,nu a vostalnom ne znau chto skazat ?
Tupee khitree i gryaznee ne vidala.zhenshini rasputnie u nikh do bezobraziya sovesti netu ne gramotnie ,krome sebya nikogo ne vidyat i ne uvazhaut nu i mnogoe drugoe .
Varvari odnim slovom i khami.
Muzhiki zdes kak babi pidarasi,+vsegda pod komandoy zhenshiny + zhenshina pokupaet sebe muzha i on kak kozel na pobegushkakh u vsey ee semii.
Krasivye skazki!
naverno kogda to bila takaya naciya kotoroy uzhe net ,ischezli oni s lica zemli.
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