Ancient Greece

Each city-state wanted to have enough farmland to grow food.

Alexander the Great was on famous leader in Greece

Each ancient Greek city was independent, and many different cities made their distinctive contribution to Greek culture.

When we think of the Golden Age of Greece we normally mean primarily Periclean Athens.

Athens had established itself as the leader of a loose confederation of Greek states (the Delian league) which had initially banded together to protect themselves from Persian aggressions. Athens became treasurer of the League, and became rich enough to build the Parthenon and hold religious festivals at which playwrights like Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides competed.

But there was an alternative nexus of power in the west Peloponnese, arranged around Sparta. The Delian League was largely sea-based and led by Athens, but an important group of cities (including Thebes) distrusted what they saw as Athenian empire-building, and formed the Peloponnesian League (under Sparta's hegemony) to oppose Athenian expansion.

The friction between Sparta and Athens eventually erupted in the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC) which destroyed first Athens and then Sparta as serious military powers. This in turn left the way open for the rise of Macedonia, and Alexander the Great - but that would be a little later.

There were benches for onlookers.

Most of the sports that the ancient Greek people played were included in the ancient Olympics. Only free Greek men who spoke Greek were able to participate and spectate the ancient Olympic games.

Some of the games were:

Running

Discus throwing

Javelin Throwing

Wrestling

Boxing

Pankration

Chariot Racing Horse Riding

Hurtels

Running Long Jump

Racing by Foot

There were also some more brutal sports including wrestling to the death witch everything was allowed except eye gouging biting and pinching They also included Sword fighting and archery contests.

One of the most important influences of Egyptian architecture on greek and roman architecture was the establishment of basic elements of the column. The Egyptians established the basic design of a column, which consists of three parts: a pedestal (at the bottom), the column itself, and the capital (at the top). The Greeks stole the basic Egyptian design and took off with it. They developed three classical orders of architecture, distinguished by the style of the capitals and the shape and size of the columns. These three orders (Doric, Ionic and Corinthian), along with two more (Composite and Tuscan) added by the Romans, persist into this day.

Text quoted from History of architecture 1 handouts

I would add that the Greeks developed the fluted column (not completely round but 'scalloped'), which the Egyptians did not use. The Greek columns got smaller towards the top, so the column actually looks taller than it is. Also, note that the Greeks needed to place the columns close together, otherwise the flat stone held up by two neighboring columns would crack in the middle. The Romans invented the arch, unknown to the early Greeks and Egyptians, allowing more space between columns. The principle of the arch was the same as the domed roof, allowing a huge, empty space underneath. (Cf. the Parthenon in Rome). --- It is probable that Egyptian mathematics, highly developed for land-surveying in relation to Nile-irrigated agriculture, was a necessary precursor to the calculations necessary for building the Greek and Roman temples and other monuments.

Believe it or not, ancient Rome held the lion's share of Europe, north Africa and the levant, with roughly only 200,000 men. By contrast, armies fielded by the Celts, various Germanic tribes, and middle easterners were massive. I do not believe, even at its height, the total number of soldiers ever exceeded 200,000, half of which weren't even Roman. Roughly 100,000, were drawn from various parts of the Italian peninsula, the other half, were drawn from "the locals." France for example, was defended by Roman trained Gauls, Spain by Roman trained Celti Iberians, and Britain, by Roman trained Cymry (the Britonic Celts). The "armies of locals" followed orders from Roman generals though, the commanders were almost always from Rome herself.

Oh yeah, wanna know who burned Rome? In Nero's time I mean, wanna know who did it? Boudica. I'm serious, and its a valid theory;

1) Boudica was a ticked off mom, she was whiped and both her daughters raped in front of her.

2) She was defeated, but what happened to her is a mystery.

Only an angry mother, would burn Rome to the ground, that's all I'm going to say. If you are looking for the culprit of the most famous act of arson in human history, it was Boudica, the famous Scottish queen. Very few Scotsmen, while they would tell me the theory is stupid, they would nevertheless agree, that most women of Scotland WOULD burn a city to the ground, over their daughters being raped.

It was Boudica dude; let that "mystery" be put to rest. To further corroborate my theory, Rome was burned, only a very short time after Boudica's defeat, the time of the wars against Boudica, and Rome's burning, are not that far apart, and historians don't know what happened to her. I say, SHE, was the one who burned Rome to the ground; who else was angry enough? Who else had the cunning for it and the anger and hatred towards Rome for it? I ask again, who else? It had to be her man; the rage of an angry mother, is a very frightening thing, and the citizens of Rome, paid for her daughter's violation.

Although Boudica stands guilty of the crime of arson, I doubt any modern jury would convict her.

I am sorry for changing the subject but, in case you decide to become a historian, just throwing this out there. Rome was burned by Boudica she had;

1) The motivation.

2) The means to get there.

3) and yes she had it in her to do it. You want to know what Boudica is famous for in Scotland? Screaming "BURN IT TO THE GROUND!!!" at the top of her lungs. She was very fond of burning things that were Roman.

Now, between her daughters being sexually assaulted, her being whiped and humiliated, seeing her people crushed and psychologically broken, and Boudica's battle pattern being burning everything to the ground let me ask you, what are the odds, SHE was the one who burned Rome? Or at least "lit the match?"

What are the odds?

The people of Scotland may find a point of national pride that Nero's Rome, was burned not by an army, but by one of their women.

The Athenians developed a Democracy where only certain classes of people could vote.

direct democracy.

Each was established on a tract of arable land with water sources and a high fortress around which developed a city. Greek terrain is mountainous so these tracts of land were separated by mountains and rivers.

The idea of a unified Greece under one government is a modern construction. Ancient Greece was a region, not one country. The various cities, such as Athens, Thebes, Sparta, Corinth, Megara, Delphi, Pylos, etc. each ruled themselves independently of one another, leading each to be called a city-state, since the city and the surrounding countryside were independent of other states. Since the city-states were all independent, they each had their own form of government.

it was like it is today 183m long (true)

They called themselves Hellenes.

As the Romans spread down the Italian peninsula they ran into a tribe called the Graeci. As they went further, they ran into a lot of Hellenic cities, and thinking them the same people, called them the Great Graeci (Greeks). The name has stuck, but the 'reeks' today still think of themselves a Hellenes.

Roman culture was shaped by both the Greek and Etruscan cultures.

Roman culture was shaped by both the Greek and Etruscan cultures.

Roman culture was shaped by both the Greek and Etruscan cultures.

Roman culture was shaped by both the Greek and Etruscan cultures.

Roman culture was shaped by both the Greek and Etruscan cultures.

Roman culture was shaped by both the Greek and Etruscan cultures.

Roman culture was shaped by both the Greek and Etruscan cultures.

Roman culture was shaped by both the Greek and Etruscan cultures.

Roman culture was shaped by both the Greek and Etruscan cultures.

A Hoplite was a Greek armoured foot soldier (hopla= panoply of arms, ie the primary weapon, the spear, sword, shield, sword, cuirass, shield, greaves and helmet). These armaments were expensive, costing probably as much as a small farm, and were either passed from father to son, or acquired from defeated enemy on the battlefield (hence in the epics the struggles for the armour of the fallen). This type of warrior is first depicted on pottery in the late 8th Century BCE. They were drawn from the farming class (mostly poor small-farmers) who formed the city-state militias to defend their land. The Hoplite was displaced in the 4th Century by the Phalangites (soldiers who formed the phalanx and consequently were less heavily armoured as the phalanx itself was an armoured formation). Also, at this stage, professional soldiers progressively supplanted the militias for those cities and kingdoms which could afford them.

There was running, discus, javelin, races with armour on, triple jump, double jump, wrestling, boxing, chariot racing and fighting.

I'm pretty sure they were conquered by Rome when the war between Athens and Sparta was finished. Those were the two strongest countries, so when they became really weak after their war, Rome took the advantage and conquered Greece... I think. I'm not too sure.

So, basically, the answer to your question is that they became a part of Rome. I think.

Yes and his mother and father were part of the family.

Nothing, the Greeks believed the human body was beautiful. And therefore many of the competitors wore little or nothing during the Olympics, artifacts discovered like vases and drawing depict competitors in the nude.

An agora was a marketplace in which people would trade, own a buisness and could sell goods, products and slaves. The agora was possibly the most busiest part of any city as people would work and visit it everyday.

Western thought of today originated in Greece and Rome. This happened during a very long period in which there was great thought and exchanges of ideas with other cultures.

Herodotus
Herodotus. He was the first that tried to verify his sources and to separate myths and folklore from historical facts.

Helios rode his chariot across the sky each morning to bring in the new day. He was the god of the sun but did not have a large cult following.