Ancient Greece

==Chronology==
{{For timeline|Timeline of ancient Greece}}

[[Classical antiquity]] in the Mediterranean region is commonly considered to have begun in the 8th century BC<ref>{{cite book|last=Osborne|first=Robin|title=Greece in the Making: 1200–479 BC|publisher=Routledge|location=London|year=2009|page=xvii}}</ref> (around the time of the earliest recorded poetry of Homer) and ended in the 6th century AD.

Classical antiquity in Greece was preceded by the [[Greek Dark Ages]] ({{circa|1200}} – {{circa|800 BC}}), [[archaeologically]] characterised by the [[Protogeometric art|protogeometric]] and [[Geometric art|geometric styles]] of designs on pottery. Following the Dark Ages was the [[Archaic Greece|Archaic Period]], beginning around the 8th century BC, which saw early developments in Greek culture and society leading to the [[Classical Greece|Classical Period]]<ref>{{harvnb|Shapiro|2007|p=1}}</ref> from the Persian invasion of Greece in 480&nbsp;BC until the death of Alexander the Great in 323&nbsp;BC.<ref>{{harvnb|Shapiro|2007|pp=2–3}}</ref> The Classical Period is characterized by a "classical" style, i.e. one which was considered exemplary by later observers, most famously in the [[Parthenon]] of Athens. Politically, the Classical Period was dominated by [[Classical Athens|Athens]] and the [[Delian League]] during the 5th century, but displaced by [[Spartan hegemony]] during the early 4th century BC, before power shifted to [[Ancient Thebes (Boeotia)|Thebes]] and the [[Boeotian League]] and finally to the [[League of Corinth]] led by [[Macedon]]. This period was shaped by the [[Greco-Persian Wars]], the [[Peloponnesian War]], and the [[Rise of Macedon]].

Following the Classical period was the Hellenistic period (323–146 BC), during which Greek culture and power expanded into the [[Near East|Near]] and [[Middle East]] from the death of Alexander until the Roman conquest. [[Roman Greece]] is usually counted from the Roman victory over the [[Corinth]]ians at the [[Battle of Corinth (146 BC)|Battle of Corinth]] in 146 BC to the establishment of [[Byzantium]] by [[Constantine I|Constantine]] as the capital of the [[Roman Empire]] in 330&nbsp;AD. Finally, [[Late Antiquity]] refers to the period of [[Decline of Greco-Roman polytheism|Christianization]] during the later 4th to early 6th centuries AD, consummated by the closure of the [[Plato's Academy|Academy of Athens]] by [[Justinian I]] in 529.<ref>{{cite book |title=A History of Greek Literature |last=Hadas |first=Moses |year=1950 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-01767-1 |page=273 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dOht3609JOMC&pg=PA273}}</ref>