Ancient/Classical history focuses mainly on the Romans and the Greeks. The Greeks lived in the area on the southern part of the Balkan peninsula (generally, but not categorically, south of Epirus and Thessaly), in the Peloponnese, in islands around the Aegean Sea, along the coast of Asia Minor where many Ionian Greeks lived, and in a region known as Magna Graecia in the southern area of Italy and its islands. The Greeks are generally counted as the descendants of Hellen, but in the Homeric version of the Trojan War, the Greeks referred to by more than their individual cities are called mainly Argives or Danaans or Achaeans.
The term Graecia is the Latin for Greek, but the Greeks called themselves Hellenes; their country even today, Hellas.
Eventually, the Roman Empire spread eastward, setting up a new capital city at Constantinople. For the next few centuries, this Greek center grew in importance, while Rome became less powerful. By the late period of the Roman/Byzantine Empire, the people might be referred to as Romans or Greeks. As Christianity took over as the official state religion, "Greeks" might also refer to the pagans.
