Ancient Greece

Greece, now a country in the Aegean, was a collection of independent city-states or poleis in antiquity that we know about archaeologically from the Bronze Age on. These poleis fought among one another and against bigger external forces, especially the Persians. Eventually, they were conquered by their neighbors to the north and then later became part of the Roman Empire. After the western Roman Empire fell, the Greek-speaking area of the Empire continued until 1453, when it fell to the Turks.

This page looks at topics specifically historical, rather than cultural.

An introduction to the wars the Greeks fought against the Persian great kings Darius and Xerxes.

Timeline and summary of the 3 stages of the Peloponnesian War, which was fought between those Greek poleis who were allied with Sparta against those allied with Athens.

Terms from the Greek used in describing Greek literature, science, philosophy and history, with short definitions.

Pictures of some of the luminaries of the fifth century B.C. mostly in Greece, but also Rome, and maps.

Both Greece and Rome were ancient Mediterranean countries, and Rome copied much of the Greek culture, but Rome and Greece (especially Athens) were very different. Here are some of the areas of difference.

Maps showing Mycenean Greece, Vicinity of Troy, Greece 700-600 B.C., Settlements, Greece 500-479 B.C., Athenian Empire, Reference Map of Attica, Peloponnesian War, Greece in 362 B.C., Macedonia 336-323, Kingdoms of the Diadochi, and Reference Map of Asia Minor.

Also see Geography of Ancient Greece.

The major gods and goddesses of Greek mythology were thought of as living on Mt. Olympus. Here's a starting point for information on the top 12.

Greek literature begins with the story of the Trojan War in the Iliad and the story of the returns of the Greeks contained in the Odyssey. Both of these epic poems are attributed to Homer.