ancient greece

ANCIENT GREECE.

Ancient Greece refers to a civilization that belongs to a period of Greek history from the Dark Ages of the Greek (between 12^th and 9^th century BC) to the end of antiquity (600 AD). The period that immediately followed this period is the Byzantine era and the Early Middle Ages. Approximately three centuries after the collapse of the Late Bronze Age of Mycenaean Greece, Greek urban poleis started to form in the 8^th century BC. This ushered in what is known as the Archaic period as well as the colonization of the Mediterranean Basin. Again, this was followed by a Classical Greece’s period, an era that started with the so called Greco-Persian wars, that lasted from the 5^th to the 4^th centuries BC. As a result of the conquest by Macedon’s Alexander the Great, Hellenistic civilization grew from central Asia to the Mediterranean’s sea western end. The end of the Hellenistic period was brought about by annexations and conquests of the eastern Mediterranean by the Roman Republic. It established the Roman province, Macedonia in Roman Greece. Later on, during the Roman Empire, the province of Achaea was also established.

The Parthenon, a temple that was dedicated to the Athe and was located in Athens on the Acropolis, is among the major representative symbols of the ancient Greeks’ culture. The religion that was practiced during this period was the Ancient Greek religion. Some of the important things to note about the ancient Greece include:

• Between 338 BC and 337 BC, Philip II was the ruler.
• At around 336 BC, Alexander III, the Great was the ruler.
• It was established between 12^th and 9^th century BC.
• It was disestablished at around 600 AD.
• They had their own currency.

Classical Greek culture such as philosophy, had a strong influence on Ancient Rome, which carried with it a version of it to very many parts of Europe and Mediterranean Basin. This explains why the Classical Greece is considered the seminal culture responsible for providing the foundation of the current Western culture and it is also considered to be the cradle of Western civilization.

The Classical Greek culture is believed to have given a lot of importance to knowledge. Religion and science were the same and this meant that getting closer to the truth is the same as getting closer to the gods. It was believed in this context that; the importance of mathematics was as an instrument that would be used for the purposes of getting more reliable (divine) knowledge. This culture (Greek), with a limited population and in a few centuries, managed to research and make progress in very many fields such as mathematics, science, knowledge and philosophy in general.

HISTORIOGRAPHY.

The ancient Greece’s historical period is unique in the history world. This is due to the fact that it is the first period that is directly attested in proper historiography. Earlier ancient history or proto-history on the other hand is known by circumstantial evidence, like pragmatic epigraphy and king lists or annals.