Ancient Greece - Hellas

Ancient Greece was a world of poleis, sea trade, wars, philosophy, theatre, crafts and cults. Its history includes the Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic periods and its influence on Rome, making it essential for understanding ancient clothing, weapons, mythology and political institutions.

In brief:

• the polis was the core of Greek civic life;
• key themes include Athens, Sparta, wars, religion, daily life and art;
• Greek culture strongly influenced Rome.

Ancient Greece, or Hellas (Ἑλλάς), refers to the lands and city-states of the ancient Greek world. Shared language and religious traditions coexisted with regional differences, local identities and political divisions. Settlement patterns and populations changed throughout antiquity.

The history of the ancient Greek world spans the Aegean Bronze Age, the development of poleis and Hellenistic states, and their incorporation into Roman rule. Early Cretan palace centres belong to the second millennium BCE; Roman conquests transformed the eastern Mediterranean in the second and first centuries BCE. These developments should not be confused with Greek colonisation in the eighth to sixth centuries BCE.

The extent of the Greek world changed over time. Its core comprised the southern Balkans, the Aegean islands and western Asia Minor. Greek settlements also reached Thrace, Cyprus, the Black Sea straits, the Black Sea and Sea of Azov coasts, Cyrenaica, southern Italy, Sicily, southern Gaul and northeastern Spain. This world was much larger than modern Greece.

The polis developed during the Archaic period; the fifth and fourth centuries BCE are usually called the Classical period.

The Greeks called themselves Hellenes and their homeland Hellas. The name “Greeks” derives from Latin Graeci: the Romans extended a name associated with a particular Greek community to the Hellenes as a whole. Ancient traditions linked it with Graia and early Greek contacts with Italy.

Historical Periods

The following periods provide a framework for the history of ancient Greece:

I. The Minoan and Mycenaean Bronze Age

• Minoan Crete: history and culture in the third and second millennia BCE

• Achaean states in the second millennium BCE

II. The Homeric Period

• The economy, society and political organisation of Homeric Greece

III. The Archaic Period

• Economic and social development in the eighth to sixth centuries BCE

• Greek colonisation in the eighth to sixth centuries BCE

• Early Greek tyranny

• The emergence of the Spartan state

• The formation of the Athenian state

• Political change in Attica: Solon’s reforms

• Tyranny in Athens

• The reforms of Cleisthenes

IV. The Classical Period

• The Greco-Persian Wars: the Ionian Revolt and the Persian campaigns of 492–490 BCE

• Xerxes’ invasion: Salamis in 480 and Plataea and Mycale in 479 BCE

• The Delian League

• Slavery in Classical Greece

• Athenian democracy in the fifth century BCE: Themistocles, Ephialtes and Pericles

• The Peloponnesian War

• Oligarchic movements in Athens during the Peloponnesian War

• The struggle for hegemony in early fourth-century Greece

• Macedonia in the fifth and early fourth centuries BCE

• Philip II: domestic policy, foreign policy and the struggle for Greek hegemony

• The Congress of Corinth in 338/337 BCE and the formation of a Greek–Macedonian alliance

V. The Hellenistic Period

• Alexander the Great: government and the organisation of his empire

• Alexander’s eastern campaigns

• Hellenistic Egypt

• The Seleucid Empire

• Social movements in Hellenistic Greece: the reforms of Agis and Cleomenes at Sparta

Religious Context

Religion was an important part of the life of the Greek polis. Mythology explained the origins of gods, heroes, and cities; civic cults united citizens around common festivals and sanctuaries; and the Olympian gods shaped the language of art, poetry, and public memory. Oracles, especially Delphi, held a special place: they were consulted before wars, colonization, and major political decisions. See also Religion of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome.

Roman Greece

After defeating Macedon at Cynoscephalae in 197 BCE, Rome became increasingly involved in Greek affairs. In 196 BCE, Titus Quinctius Flamininus proclaimed the “freedom of the Greeks” at the Isthmian Games. The declaration briefly won Rome considerable support, but Roman influence continued to grow.

The defeat of Andriscus in 148 BCE ended the attempt to restore Macedonian independence. The Achaean League was defeated in 146 BCE, bringing the Greek mainland firmly under Roman control. Greece was later organised as the province of Achaea, although some cities, including Athens, retained privileged status. From the fourth century CE, the Greek lands formed an important part of the Eastern Roman Empire.

Related topics

• Antiquity
• Macedonian Wars

Literature and sources

1. Yu. V. Andreev. “The Cretan–Mycenaean World”. History of the Ancient World: Early Antiquity. Moscow, 1983, pp. 312–331 (in Russian).

2. World History: An Encyclopedia in 14 Volumes. Vol. 3. OLMA Media Group, 2008. 240 pp. (in Russian).

3. E. D. Frolov, Yu. A. Shichalin et al. “Ancient Greece”. Great Russian Encyclopedia, 2007, pp. 705–729 (in Russian).

4. K. M. Kolobova. “Ancient Greece”. Great Soviet Encyclopedia, vol. 7. Moscow, 1972 (in Russian).

5. A. A. Novik. “Greeks”. Great Russian Encyclopedia. Accessed 16 May 2019 (in Russian).

6. History of Ancient Greece. Moscow State University: http://www.hist.msu.ru/ . Accessed 16 May 2019 (in Russian).

7. T. V. Kudryavtseva, ed. History of the Ancient World: Textbook and Practical Course. 2018. 437 pp. (in Russian).

8. I. M. Diakonoff, V. D. Neronova and I. S. Sventsitskaya, eds. History of the Ancient World. Vol. 1. Nauka, 1983. 384 pp. (in Russian).

9. Γ. Χατζιδάκης. Ελλάς και Έλληνες. Ημερολόγιον της Μεγάλης Ελλάδος, 1925, p. 97 (in Greek).

10. Μάρκος Αυγητίδης. Γραικός, Γραικοί και Έλληνες. Portal for the Greek Language and Language Education, 1998. Accessed 16 May 2019 (in Greek).