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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
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What did most Greek city states start out like?
The grew on a tract of agricultural land with a fortress hill (acropolis) as defensive refuge, and a clean water supply, all of which allowed a community to live with food and physical security. As population grew, a city grew up around the acropolis and walls around the city. Proximity to the sea promoted growing trade and provided a source of seafood protein.
As the breeding rate was proportional to the lack of television, the city population outstripped the ability of the limited land to support it, even with the casualties from incessant inter-city warfare, and surplus people were shipped off to other sites around the Mediterranean and Black Seas, where they seized land and established new cities, and the process began over again.
Ancient Greece is the foundation of western civilization. Even the Romans borrowed from the Greeks and our world is based on Greek myths, art, government, buildings, and philosophy. If you have gone to any of the Marvel films those stories are based on Greek myth. The Swish on the Addas shoes are wings of the Greek goddess Nike. Look at your city hall pictures of the state capital or national capital the buildings are copied from the Greeks with their use of columns and the dome was invented by Ancient Rome.
Who were the leaders of the peloponnesian war?
The generals on either side who changed during the course of the 27-yer war - scores of them.
The five ephors were the senior magistrates of Sparta, and responsible for running day-to-day affairs.
In his book The Histories.
An on-line copy link is in the separate window Sources and related links below.
An Analogeticist is a disciple of the Ancient Greek philosopher Ammonius Saccas.
Aristotle died from an unknown stomach sickness in Euboea island, Greece in 322 B.C.
Were the serfs in Sparta known as Hoplites?
No. The Serfs were called "Helots" and were mainly based in Messenia. They worked to provide food for the Spartiates, the elite Spartan class.
Hoplites were the Spartan warriors. The common image of these men in helmets, with a large shield and spear each, arranged in rows was called the Phalanx.
There are a number of different techniques utilised by archaeologists to date items, be they ancient or more modern. The method most well-known outside academia is radiocarbon dating, also known as carbon-14 dating or merely carbon dating. Carbon-14 is a radioisotope found within all living things. Once an organism dies, the carbon-14 decays exponentially; so by measuring the levels in a sample, the death of an organism can be dated with reasonable accuracy.
Dendrochronology is another well-known technique, used to date the felling of timber. Over the years, humankind has amassed a vast amount of data on weather patterns, volcanic eruptions and other events that cause noticeable effects in tree rings (the rings that can be seen in the trunk of a felled tree). This allows us to establish the precise date that a tree was felled. However, it is not necessarily an accurate method of dating a building or other construction, since old timbers are frequently re-used in new buildings.
There are several other methods including radiometric dating (similar to radiocarbon dating but uses other isotopes instead of carbon-14) such as rhenium-osmium dating, uranium-thorium dating and potassium-argon dating; fluorine absorption dating (which allows archaeologists to establish how long an item has been in the soil); thermoluminescence dating (which establishes the elapsed time since a crystalline structure - ie; a ceramic - was heated, allowing archaeologists to estimate when a clay pot was fired in a kiln) and a number of more limited methods such as astronomical chronology (used to date objects relating to known astronomical events); paint analysis (which dates an item according to the chemical composition of paint used on it) and amino acid dating, used to date organic samples.
Finally, many items will fit into categories of objects that have already been dated. For example, if you were to excavate a red pot with pictures of eagles on it in Athens and you already know that red pots with pictures of eagles were the height of fashion in Athens circa 1500 BCE (BC), there is a high likelihood that your put dates from that period. Contrary to what many people believe, archaeologists are not merely treasure-hunters or people who spend their lives digging stuff up - a very large amount of their time is spent either meticulously recording fine details of their discoveries to allow this dating method to be used, whereas others spend their days in laboratories using the scientific dating methods outlined above.
If Sparta's army became weak what probably staged rebellion?
The serfs of subjected Messenia who worked the land and gave half their produce to Sparta. For that reason, when the Spartan army left on a military expedition, it took seven helots (serfs) for every Spartan hoplite (armoured warrior) not only to use as light infantry, but to prevent them rising in their absence when Sparta was left unprotected.
What happened to Greek democratic practices when Philip of Macedonia conquered Greece?
By the time Philip gained control of the Greek city-states, the failures of direct democracy (liberalism & mob rule) had reduced the number and scope of democratic governments. This saw resurgence in monarchy, oligarchy and tyrannies. Democracies existed at the pleasure of the king and then his son Alexander, and then their successor generals split the empire into kingdoms of their own.
