Ancient Greeks A-Z

The goddesses of Greek mythology: Aphrodite | Athena | Artemis | Hera | Hestia | Demeter and their Roman equivalents: Venus, Minerva, Diana, Juno, Vesta, and Ceres.

An index of occupations of famous people in ancient history. Occupation should be thought of loosely as what the individuals, human, legendary, or divine, spent their time on.

Ancient Greek posts wrote in a variety of styles that evolved over time. Here is a list of ancient Greek poets timeline during the archaic period divided according to genre of ancient Greek poetry.

Students came from all over the Mediterranean world to learn at the Library of Alexandria, which produced several of the ancient world's most renowned scholars.

This list of important people to know does not names that are disputed by most reputable classical scholars.

Aesop - The Life of Aesop

Agesilaus was one of the few kings of Sparta who experienced the Spartan public education system -- the agoge. Not only was he not the first legitimate son of the ruling king, but he was lame. Lysander, the great Spartan general during the Peloponnesian War, helped him gain power.

Alcibiades had it all: looks, charm, money, brains, good family. Amongst his many admirers was Socrates, and they each saved the other's life in battle. After the death of Cleon in 422, Alcibiades became the leading figure amongst those who wished to continue with the war, and was one of the prime instigators of the Sicilian Expedition (415).

Anacreon of Teos was a 6th century B.C. Greek lyric poet.

Aristarchus of Samos was an important astronomer with a lunar crater named for him.

Aristides the son of Lysimachus was a supporter of Cleisthenes, and a political opponent of Themistocles. He was noted for his sense of justice and often referred to as Aristides the Just.

Bacchylides (fl. c. 470 B.C.) wrote epigrams and was the nephew of Simonides.

Profile of Callinus of Ephesus.

Cassandra was a princess of Troy.

Cimon gave up his illicit lover when an opportunity presented to marry her off to someone who could pay off a family debt. Cimon is one of the few Athenians who was actually ostracized, but he was also a leading Athenian general and probably a cousin of the historian Thucydides.

Cleisthenes was an Athenian statesman credited with a major set of democratic reforms.

Demophon is the name of a king of Athens during the legendary period of Greece.

Demosthenes was a famous Greek orator known for writing the Phillipics.

Diphilus was a Hellenistic Greek who wrote new comedy.

A brief look at the mysterious figure in the history of Athenian democracy called Ephialtes.

Eudoxus was an important mathematician who lived around the time of Plato and Aristotle.

Eumenes was a military commander under Alexander the Great.

Hippocrates of Chios, who lived about the same time as the medical Hippocrates, wrote the first known work on geometry.

Icarus was the victim in the cautionary legend about flying too close to the sun.

Spartan general Lysander put an end to the Peloponnesian War.

Menander wrote Greek New Comedy.

When the people of Lemnos laughed at Miltiades, telling him they would gladly do what he asked and permit their island to become a colony of Athens, but only if Miltiades could get there by sailing from home with a north wind, Miltiades little thought that he'd find a way around this impossible wind direction.

Mimnermus of Colophon was an archaic Greek elegiac poet.

Nestor is an old mythological king of Pylos, who appears in the Iliad and Odyssey.

Nicias of Athens - Nicias was an Athenian of the fifth century B.C. Getting credit for a victory in war wasn't important enough for this general to let two soldiers lie unburied.

Pelopidas came from a wealthy family, but was noted for his generosity and the frugal lifestyle he adopted from his lifelong friend, Epaminondas, another Theban general and statesman. Their relationship dated from at least the battle of Mantinea (385), when Epaminondas saved Pelopidas' life.

Pittacus was one of the 7 sages and a statesman.

Profile of Plutarch.

Philopoemen of Megalopolis in Arcadia was orphaned at an early age and brought up by one of his father's friends, Cleander. He was attracted to the military life from childhood, despising the then fashionable athletics on the grounds that the training for athletics ran contrary to the training needed for soldiering.

The Epirot royal family, from which came Pyrrhus, claimed descent from Achilles.

Semonides was an iambic poet not to be confused with the lyric poet Simonides.

Simonides of Ceos, B.C. 556-467, was an important lyric poet and the writer of epigrams.

Theseus encountered Sinis on his journey from Troezen to Athens after he had killed the so-called club-man Periphetes.

Sisyphus is the name of a legendary king who was condemned to eternal punishment in Tartarus.

Telesilla was a fifth century B.C. Greek poet.

Information on Terpander, from Lesbos, who is credited with having creating the seven-string lyre.

Themistocles was an Athenian leader during the Persian War.

Biography of the Athenian leader Themistocles who led the Greeks during the Persian War. Themistocles biography by Bingley.

Theognis was probably born in the mid sixth century B.C. Unlike most of the early Greek poets, much of Theognis' elegiac poetry survives.

Timoleon was a Fourth century Corinthian politician and general. In the late 360s Timoleon's brother, Timophanes, was put in command of 400 mercenaries hired to defend Corinth, but used them instead to make himself tyrant. Timoleon couldn't just stand by.

Theophrastus was a Greek philosopher and pupil of Plato's and Aristotle's, known for his Characters.

Zeno of Citium, a philosopher, was the founder of the Stoic philosophy.

Zeno of Elea was a Pre-Socratic philosopher known for his puzzling paradoxes.