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Ancient Greece
The ancient greek civilization starts around 3200 BC with the Cycladic civilization [followed by the Minoan (2700 BC) and the Mycenean civilization (1600 BC)] and flourished from the 7th century BC to the 2nd century AD, especially in the 5th century BC with the city-states of Athens and Sparta.
10,833 Questions
What is the different between Solon and Cleisthenes?
Solon was appointed to reduce class warfare in Athens at the beginning of the 5th Century BCE. The city-state was taken over by a tyrant to attempt to rectify the problems which Solon had not fixed, and after this regime was expelled Cleisthenes in 507 BCE took over to prevent a return of oligarch and established a democracy.
What was the name of the war fought between all of Greece's city state between 460BC to 400BC?
Ιt is called Pelopponesean War (431-404 BC)
What god was honored during greek theater festivals?
Theaters in ancient Greece were temples to the god, Dionysys. He was an important god because he embodied the idea of rebirth and death. Dionysys is the god of wine, patron of the arts and fertility.
He limited the changes to providing some rights for the lower classes, and establishing fairer laws including abolishing debt-slavery. He compromised, giving a little to as many people as possible in order not to bring down the wrath of the oligarchs who were the main losers.
What kind of labor did ancient Athenians do?
An Athenian meant a citizen of Athens. To be a citizen you had to be of Athenean ancestry. Athenians didn't work. Being a citizen meant you shared in the profit of the silver mines. The work was done by slaves and their major job was working the crops.
Ancient Macedonia which today is the province of Macedonia on the northern Greek peninsula, is a historical, geographic, cultural and ethnic identity of Greece.
What language did Olympias speak?
Olympias spoke ancient Greek. She was the princess of the city state of Molossoe, Hepirus, Greece. She was married to the Greek king Philip of the city state of Macedon. Philip and Olympias were the parents of Alexander the Great, the king of the city state of Macedonia.
When did the Greeks build the temples?
The Greeks begin to build temples back in the early 7th century BC, with the transition stone architecture around 600BC.
They built temples to most of their gods. We build churches. Same thing.
Did people before the Greeks think of the shadow theory?
Yes, before the Greeks, various ancient cultures had concepts related to shadows and light. For instance, in ancient Egypt, shadows were often associated with the soul and the afterlife, while in India, early philosophers contemplated the nature of reality and perception, which included discussions about shadows. However, it was the Greeks, particularly philosophers like Plato, who systematically explored the relationship between shadows and reality, famously illustrating this in his Allegory of the Cave.
How did mountains affect the location of Greek settlements?
It divided Greece into different regions-travel and communication were difficult.
Why was crete so important in Ancient Greece history?
Well, Crete was the largest city state in Greece and it was very mountainous. According to Greek Mythology, Crete was the place where Zeus (The god of Gods) grew up.
How were members of the boule selected to represent the city-state in Athens?
Each of the 10 tribes elected 50 of their members to represent them in the boule.
What were the characteristics of the Greek city-state?
By approximately 600 BC/BCE there were about 300 independent Greek city states. The characteristics of these states varied, however, most can be described as having several commonalities. The center of the city state was built on or within the confines of fortified hills for security purposes. In the outlying areas were small villages and farms and pastured animals. Most of the city states had small populations. An exception to this was the great city state of Athens. Athens became a large city state, that at its peak contained a population of almost 400,000. The citizens of these city states took great pride in their small civilizations and were loyal to the state and their neighbors. As mentioned, Athens was a large city state and only perhaps Sparta can be compared to it.
These two Greek city states stand out in history books due to their important places in ancient Greek history. To a lessor extent, smaller city states shared many of the values of either Athens or Sparta.
Sparta was known for its military strength and was ruled by a small oligarchy.
Athens was larger and as time passed gradually developed a system of government called a "democracy".
In a sense these two leading city states had fundamental differences. In Sparta, the city state demanded total allegiance to the militaristic policies of the government. Military training began at an early age and many historians classify Sparta as warrior based civilization ruled by a small select group of citizens.
In theory, laws created by the elite oligarchy had to be approved in a popular assembly of lessor citizens. As with many ancient civilizations prior to the time when Sparta became a dominating military force, voting by citizens outside the elite power structure was deceptive.
On the other hand, Athens began as an city state ruled by an aristocratic king. The monarchy style government was overthrown and Athens became a city state ruled by an oligarchy, much in the same fashion as Sparta. As time passed, however, what can be called a democracy, became the government structure of Athens. This term is used loosely as Athens had the characteristics of a limited democracy. Of the total population perhaps 50% had political rights.
The economies of the Greek city states are more easily defined. Agriculture was a source of food and for trade among the city states. Small scale industry consisting of crafters and mining were sources of revenue and for domestic use.
Commerce, by trading routes or by sea, brought in wealth and new products the city states could not produce themselves.
Why were Greek victories in the Persians Wars unexpected?
They are not at all unexpeced. They were carefully planned by the Greek commanders. I suggest you took at some of the more popular questions in Ancient Wars, where the Greek strategies are explained. Start looking up the answer to the question:
How did the Persians lose the Persian wars
What is the name of the long wooden cylinder used in ancient history to break down doors?
I believe it is called a battering ram.
Why did the Persians give money to Sparta?
This enabled the defeat of the anti-Persian Athenian Empire, and enabled Persia to reestablish control of its western province of Asia Minor which was disrupted by the independence of the Greek cities there under the auspices of the Athenians to whom they paid protection money.
