Ancient Greece is one of the main sources of Western civilization. It lasted for about 650 years and is the most important and direct source of Western civilization.
Western recorded literature, science, technology and art all began in ancient Greece. Ancient Greece is not a concept of a country, but the name of a region, located in southeastern Europe and the northeastern Mediterranean, including the Greek Peninsula, islands and archipelagos in the Aegean and Ionian Seas, the southwestern coast of Turkey, eastern Italy and Sicily east coast.
In the 5th and 6th centuries BC, especially after the Greco-Polish War, economic life was highly prosperous, science and technology were highly developed, and a splendid Greek culture was produced, which had a profound impact on later generations. The ancient Greeks had profound attainments in philosophy, poetry, architecture, science, literature, drama, mythology and many other aspects. After the destruction of ancient Greece, this civilizational legacy was continued by the ancient Romans, thus becoming the spiritual source of the entire Western civilization.
Start
In 2000 BC, the Aegean civilization originated on the island of Crete. Later, the center of civilization moved to the Greek Peninsula, and the Mycenaean civilization emerged. The Cretan civilization and the Mycenaean civilization, collectively known as the Aegean Civilization, lasted for 800 years and were the beginning of the ancient Aegean Civilization.
Ancient Greece is adjacent to the Mediterranean Sea and the Aegean Sea and is the source of marine civilization, so ancient Greek civilization is also called marine civilization.
Ancient Greece was located in the eastern Mediterranean, and its geographical scope was larger than today's Greek Republic, including the Greek Peninsula, the Aegean Islands, the Ionian Islands and the western coastal areas of the Asia Minor Peninsula. The Aegean Civilization was the earliest civilization in Greece. It is the general name for the bronze civilization in the Aegean Sea and its surrounding areas. Its centers were Crete and Mycenae. Around 2000 BC, the earliest state appeared on Crete.
Human activities have a long history in the Aegean Sea region of Greece. Early human skulls have been found in the Kasidis region of northern Greece and some scholars believe they were of the Neanderthal type.
Paleolithic cultural relics are scattered across the Greek peninsula. Knossos. In the Neolithic Age, residents also lived like this, growing crops such as barley, wheat, and beans, domesticating sheep, goats and other livestock, and worshiping clay statues symbolizing fertility. Agricultural technology was probably transmitted from West Asia by land and sea via the Asia Minor peninsula, possibly accompanied by agricultural immigrants. It is worth noting that Greece lacks hard flint, and many inhabitants of the Neolithic culture used obsidian to make sharp-edged stone tools. This stone is only produced in the Millo Valley of the Cyclades. This suggests that the exchange of needed goods began in the Aegean Sea between at least 6000 and 7000 BC.
As early as 800 years before the rise of ancient Greek civilization, the splendid Cretan and Mycenaean civilizations were born in the Aegean Sea region.
From 1100 BC to 1000 BC, the invasion of the Dorians destroyed the Mycenaean civilization, and Greek history entered the so-called "Dark Ages".
Because the knowledge of the Mycenaean period mainly comes from the Homeric years, bronzeware and maritime trade flourished again, and new city-states were established one after another. The holding of the first Olympic Games 776 years ago marked the heyday of ancient Greek civilization. Around 750 years ago, as the population grew, Greeks in Athens began colonizing the city. Over the next 250 years, new Greek city-states spread across the Mediterranean coast, including Asia Minor and North Africa. Among the city-states, Sparta and Athens had the greatest influence.
Persian War
While the Greek city-states were expanding to the Mediterranean coast, the Persian Empire in West Asia was also expanding. The powerful Persian Empire conquered the Greek city-state Ionia on the Asia Minor peninsula. .
In 499 BC, Miletus and other Greek city-states on the Asia Minor peninsula launched an uprising and received support from Athens. After suppressing the uprising, King Darius I of Persia prepared to attack Athens. In 490 BC, the Persian army crossed the sea and invaded westward, but was defeated by the Athenian heavy infantry at Marathon. The Greeks won the First Hippocratic War.
In 480 BC, King Xerxes I of Persia led an army of 500,000 to attack Greece again. Greek city-states also formed alliances to jointly defend against powerful enemies. The Greek coalition's army was dominated by the Spartans, and its navy was dominated by the Athenian fleet. The Greek army held off the Persian army at Thermopylae. Although defeated, it bought time for the Greek navy to assemble. The Persians invaded Athens and burned the city, but the Greek navy defeated the Persian navy at the Battle of Salami. The Persians faced the danger of being cut off from their supplies and had to retreat. The Greeks pursued the victory and liberated the Greek states in Asia Minor. The Second Greco-Polish War ended with a Greek victory.
The Decline and Fall of Greece
After the Greek War, Athens became the overlord of Greece. The Athenian navy was the most powerful military force among the Greek city-states, and Athenian democracy reached its golden age during the reign of Pericles. During the Greco-Persian War, Greek city-states established the Tyro League headed by Athens, which gradually became a tool for Athens to achieve hegemony after the war.
The Peloponnesian League, headed by Sparta, was dissatisfied with Athens' hegemony, and many frictions broke out between the two sides. In 431 BC, Sparta's ally Thebes attacked Athens' ally Pilate, officially triggering the Peloponnesian War. Athens relied on its powerful navy to conduct a blockade, while Sparta invaded Athens in an attempt to force it to fight.
Both sides won and lost, but failed to achieve a decisive victory, so a peace treaty was concluded in 421 BC. Peace cannot last long. In 415 BC, Athens launched a large-scale expedition against Syracuse, Sparta's ally in Sicily, and ended in a disastrous defeat. The Sicilian expedition weakened Athens and left it unable to resist the Spartan attack. In 405 BC, the Athenian navy was completely destroyed. The following year, Athens surrendered to Sparta, and Sparta became the new overlord of Greece. Sparta's hegemony did not last long, and the Greek city-states fell into chaos. The decline of Greece is inevitable. The corruption of the political power and the degeneration of the people's thoughts are the fundamental reasons for its decline.
The Empire Split
Ancient Macedonia was located in northern Greece, on the edge of Greek civilization, and was regarded as a barbarian by the Greeks. But starting from the 4th century BC, Macedonia gradually became an important country in northern Greece. In 359 BC, Philip II came to the throne. Under Philip's rule, Macedonia became the leading military power in the Balkans. Faced with the rise of Macedonia, Greece established an anti-Macedonian alliance headed by Athens. In 338 BC, Macedonia defeated the Greek coalition in Chalonia and gained control of all of Greece. In 336 BC, Philip was assassinated and his son Alexander came to the throne. Soon after Alexander took the throne, he put down the uprisings in various Greek city-states and consolidated his power. 334 years ago, Alexander led his army on an expedition across the sea, kicking off his conquest of the world. Alexander's greatest enemy was the powerful Persian Empire. Alexander defeated the Persian army at the Kas River, defeated Issus at Grani, and captured Syria and Egypt from the Persians. The Persian king Darius III tried to make peace, but the ambitious Alexander refused. 331 years ago, the decisive Battle of Myra broke out between Alexander and Darius III. Alexander was victorious again, taking Babylon and destroying the Persian Empire. Alexander continued east until the Indus River turned back. In 323 BC, Alexander died of illness, and his vast empire fell apart. The history of ancient Greece ended and the Hellenistic era began.