Ancient Greece

==History==
{{For timeline}}
{{Further|History of Greece}}

===Archaic period===
{{Main|Archaic Greece}}
[[File:Prothesis Dipylon Painter A517.jpg|thumb|Dipylon Vase of the late [[Geometric art|Geometric period]], or the beginning of the Archaic period, {{circa|750 BC}}.|239x239px]]
The archaic period, lasting from approximately 800 to 500 BC, saw the culmination of political and social developments which had begun in the Greek dark age, with the ''polis'' (city-state) becoming the most important unit of political organisation in Greece.<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2013|p=65}}</ref>  The absence of powerful states in Greece after the collapse of Mycenaean power, and the geography of Greece, where many settlements were separated from their neighbours by mountainous terrain, encouraged the development of small independent city-states.<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2013|pp=67&ndash;68}}</ref>  Several Greek states saw tyrants rise to power in this period, most famously at [[Ancient Corinth|Corinth]] from 657 BC.<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2013|p=103}}</ref>  The period also saw the founding of Greek colonies around the Mediterranean, with [[Euboea]]n settlements at [[Al-Mina]] in the east as early as 800 BC, and [[Ischia]] in the west by 775.<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2013|pp=69&ndash;70}}</ref>  Increasing contact with non-Greek peoples in this period, especially in the Near East, inspired developments in art and architecture, the adoption of coinage, and the development of the Greek alphabet.<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2013|pp=73&ndash;4}}</ref>

Athens developed its democratic system over the course of the archaic period.  Already in the seventh century, the right of all citizen men to attend the [[ecclesia (ancient Greece)|assembly]] appears to have been established.<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2013|p=108}}</ref>  After a failed coup led by [[Cylon of Athens]] around 636 BC, [[Draco (lawgiver)|Draco]] was appointed to establish a code of laws in 621.  This failed to reduce the political tension between the poor and the elites, and in 594 [[Solon]] was given the authority to enact another set of reforms, which attempted to balance the power of the rich and the poor.<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2013|pp=109&ndash;110}}</ref>  In the middle of the sixth century, [[Pisistratus]] established himself as a tyrant, and after his death in 527 his son [[Hippias]] inherited his position; by the end of the sixth century he had been overthrown and [[Cleisthenes]] carried out further democratising reforms.<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2013|pp=112&ndash;113}}</ref>

In Sparta, a political system with two kings, a [[gerousia|council of elders]], and five [[ephors]] developed over the course of the eighth and seventh century.  According to Spartan tradition, this constitution was established by the legendary lawgiver [[Lycurgus (lawgiver)|Lycurgus]].<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2013|p=96}}</ref>  Over the course of the [[First Messenian War|first]] and [[second Messenian war]]s, Sparta subjugated the neighbouring region of [[Messenia]], enserfing the population.<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2013|p=98}}</ref>  

In the sixth century, Greek city-states began to develop formal relationships with one another, where previously individual rulers had relied on personal relationships with the elites of other cities.<ref>{{harvnb|Osborne|2009|p=270}}</ref>  Towards the end of the archaic period, Sparta began to build a series of alliances, the [[Peloponnesian League]], with cities including [[Corinth]], [[Elis]], and [[Megara]],<ref>{{harvnb|Hammond|1982|p=356}}</ref> isolating Messenia and reinforcing Sparta's position against [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]], the other major power in the Peloponnese.<ref>{{harvnb|Osborne|2009|p=275}}</ref>  Other alliances in the sixth century included those between Elis and [[Heraea (Arcadia)|Heraea]] in the Peloponnese; and between the Greek colony [[Sybaris]] in southern Italy, its allies, and the Serdaioi.<ref>{{harvnb|Osborne|2009|p=271}}</ref>

===Classical Greece===
{{Main|Classical Greece}}
[[File:EarlyAthenianCoin.jpg|thumb|left|Early [[Athens|Athenian]] coin, depicting the head of [[Athena]] on the obverse and her owl on the reverse – 5th century BC.]]

In 499 BC, the [[Ionia]]n city states under Persian rule rebelled against their Persian-supported tyrant rulers.<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2013|pp=126–27}}</ref> Supported by troops sent from Athens and [[Eretria]], they advanced as far as [[Sardis]] and burnt the city before being driven back by a Persian counterattack.<ref name="martin2013">{{harvnb|Martin|2013|p=127}}</ref> The revolt continued until 494, when the rebelling Ionians were defeated.<ref name="martin2013" /> Darius did not forget that Athens had assisted the Ionian revolt, and in 490 he assembled an armada to retaliate.<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2013|p=128}}</ref> Though heavily outnumbered, the Athenians—supported by their [[Plataea]]n allies—defeated the Persian hordes at the [[Battle of Marathon]], and the Persian fleet turned tail.<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2013|pp=128–29}}</ref>

[[File:Map Greco-Persian Wars-en.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|Map showing events of the first phases of the [[Greco-Persian Wars]].]]
[[File:Map athenian empire 431 BC-en.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|Delian League ("Athenian Empire"), immediately before the [[Peloponnesian War]] in 431 BC.]]

Ten years later, a [[Second Persian invasion of Greece|second invasion]] was launched by Darius' son [[Xerxes I|Xerxes]].<ref name="martin131">{{harvnb|Martin|2013|p=131}}</ref> The city-states of northern and central Greece submitted to the Persian forces without resistance, but a coalition of 31 Greek city states, including Athens and Sparta, determined to resist the Persian invaders.<ref name="martin131" /> At the same time, Greek Sicily was invaded by a Carthaginian force.<ref name="martin131" /> In 480 BC, the first major battle of the invasion was fought at [[Battle of Thermopylae|Thermopylae]], where a small rearguard of Greeks, led by three hundred Spartans, held a crucial pass guarding the heart of Greece for several days; at the same time [[Gelo]]n, tyrant of Syracuse, defeated the Carthaginian invasion at the [[Battle of Himera (480 BC)|Battle of Himera]].<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2013|pp=131–33}}</ref>

The Persians were decisively defeated at sea by a primarily Athenian naval force at the [[Battle of Salamis]], and on land in 479 BC at the [[Battle of Plataea]].<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2013|pp=134–36}}</ref> The alliance against Persia continued, initially led by the Spartan [[Pausanias (general)|Pausanias]] but from 477 by Athens,<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2013|pp=137–38}}</ref> and by 460 Persia had been driven out of the Aegean.<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2013|p=140}}</ref> During this long campaign, the [[Delian League]] gradually transformed from a defensive alliance of Greek states into an Athenian empire, as Athens' growing naval power intimidated the other league states.<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2013|pp=137–41}}</ref> Athens ended its campaigns against Persia in 450, after a disastrous defeat in Egypt in 454, and the death of [[Cimon]] in action against the Persians on Cyprus in 450.<ref name="martin147">{{harvnb|Martin|2013|p=147}}</ref>

As the Athenian fight against the Persian empire waned, conflict grew between Athens and Sparta. Suspicious of the increasing Athenian power funded by the Delian League, Sparta offered aid to reluctant members of the League to rebel against Athenian domination. These tensions were exacerbated in 462 BC when Athens sent a force to aid Sparta in overcoming a [[helot]] revolt, but this aid was rejected by the Spartans.<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2013|p=142}}</ref> In the 450s, Athens took control of Boeotia, and won victories over [[Aegina]] and Corinth.<ref name="martin147" /> However, Athens failed to win a decisive victory, and in 447 lost Boeotia again.<ref name="martin147" /> Athens and Sparta signed the [[Thirty Years' Peace]] in the winter of 446/5, ending the conflict.<ref name="martin147" />

Despite the treaty, Athenian relations with Sparta declined again in the 430s, and in 431 BC the [[Peloponnesian War]] began.<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2013|p=149}}</ref> The [[Archidamian War|first phase of the war]] saw a series of fruitless annual invasions of Attica by Sparta, while Athens successfully fought the Corinthian empire in northwest Greece and defended its own empire, despite a [[Plague of Athens|plague]] which killed the leading Athenian statesman [[Pericles]].<ref name="hornblower160">{{harvnb|Hornblower|2011|p=160}}</ref> The war turned after Athenian victories led by [[Cleon]] at [[Battle of Pylos|Pylos]] and [[Battle of Sphacteria|Sphakteria]],<ref name="hornblower160" /> and Sparta sued for peace, but the Athenians rejected the proposal.<ref name="hornblower162">{{harvnb|Hornblower|2011|p=162}}</ref> The Athenian failure to regain control of Boeotia at [[Battle of Delium|Delium]] and [[Brasidas]]' successes in northern Greece in 424 improved Sparta's position after Sphakteria.<ref name="hornblower162" /> After the deaths of Cleon and Brasidas, the strongest proponents of war on each side, [[Peace of Nikias|a peace treaty]] was negoitiated in 421 by the Athenian general [[Nicias]].<ref>{{harvnb|Hornblower|2011|p=163}}</ref>

The peace did not last, however. In 418 BC allied forces of Athens and Argos were defeated by Sparta at [[Battle of Mantinea (418 BC)|Mantinea]].<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2013|pp=198–99}}</ref> In 415 Athens launched an ambitious naval expedition to dominate Sicily;<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2013|p=200}}</ref> the expedition ended in disaster at the harbor of [[Syracuse, Sicily|Syracuse]], with almost the entire army killed, and the ships destroyed.<ref>{{harvnb|Hornblower|2011|p=177}}</ref> Soon after the Athenian defeat in Syracuse, Athens' Ionian allies began to rebel against the Delian league, while Persia began to once again involve itself in Greek affairs on the Spartan side.<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2013|pp=202–03}}</ref> Initially the Athenian position continued relatively strong, with important victories at [[Battle of Cyzicus|Cyzicus]] in 410 and [[Battle of Arginusae|Arginusae]] in 406.<ref>{{harvnb|Hornblower|2011|pp=186–89}}</ref> However, in 405 the Spartan [[Lysander]] defeated Athens in the [[Battle of Aegospotami]], and began to blockade Athens' harbour;<ref name="Martin 2013 205">{{harvnb|Martin|2013|p=205}}</ref> driven by hunger, Athens sued for peace, agreeing to surrender their fleet and join the Spartan-led Peloponnesian League.<ref>{{harvnb|Hornblower|2011|p=189}}</ref> Following the Athenian surrender, Sparta installed an oligarchic regime, the [[Thirty Tyrants]], in Athens,<ref name="Martin 2013 205"/> one of a number of Spartan-backed oligarchies which rose to power after the Peloponnesian war.<ref>{{harvnb|Hornblower|2011|p=203}}</ref> Spartan predominance did not last: after only a year, the Thirty had been overthrown.<ref>{{harvnb|Hornblower|2011|p=219}}</ref>

The first half of the fourth century saw the major Greek states attempt to dominate the mainland; none were successful, and their resulting weakness led to a power vacuum which would eventually be filled by Macedon under Philip II and then Alexander the Great.<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2013|pp=221, 226}}</ref> In the immediate aftermath of the Peloponnesian war, Sparta attempted to extend their own power, leading Argos, Athens, Corinth, and Thebes to join against them.<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2013|p=224}}</ref> Aiming to prevent any single Greek state gaining the dominance that would allow it to challenge Persia, the Persian king initially joined the alliance against Sparta, before imposing the [[Peace of Antalcidas]] ("King's Peace") which restored Persia's control over the Anatolian Greeks.<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2013|pp=224–225}}</ref>

By 371 BC, Thebes was in the ascendancy, defeating Sparta at the [[Battle of Leuctra]], killing the Spartan king [[Cleombrotus I]], and invading Laconia. Further Theban successes against Sparta in 369 led to Messenia gaining independence; Sparta never recovered from the loss of Messenia's fertile land and the helot workforce it provided.<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2013|pp=225–226}}</ref> The rising power of Thebes led Sparta and Athens to join forces; in 362 they were defeated by Thebes at the [[Battle of Mantinea (362 BC)|Battle of Mantinea]]. In the aftermath of Mantinea, none of the major Greek states were able to dominate. Though Thebes had won the battle, their general Epaminondas was killed, and they spent the following decades embroiled in wars with their neighbours; Athens, meanwhile, saw its second naval alliance, formed in 377, collapse in the mid-350s.<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2013|p=226}}</ref>

The power vacuum in Greece after the Battle of Mantinea was filled by Macedon, under [[Philip II of Macedon|Philip II]]. In 338 BC, he defeated a Greek alliance at the [[Battle of Chaeronea (338 BC)|Battle of Chaeronea]], and subsequently formed the [[League of Corinth]]. Philip planned to lead the League to invade Persia, but was murdered in 336 BC. His son [[Alexander the Great]] was left to fulfil his father's ambitions.<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2013|p=221}}</ref> After campaigns against Macedon's western and northern enemies, and those Greek states that had broken from the League of Corinth following the death of Philip, Alexander began his campaign against Persia in 334 BC.<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2013|pp=243–245}}</ref> He conquered Persia, defeating [[Darius III]] at the [[Battle of Issus]] in 333 BC, and after the [[Battle of Gaugamela]] in 331 BC proclaimed himself king of Asia.<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2013|pp=245–247}}</ref> From 329 BC he led expeditions to Bactria and then India;<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2013|p=248}}</ref> further plans to invade Arabia and North Africa were halted by his death in 323 BC.<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2013|p=250}}</ref>

===Hellenistic Greece===
{{Main|Wars of Alexander the Great|Hellenistic period}}
[[File:Alexander the Great mosaic.jpg|thumb|left|[[Alexander Mosaic]], National Archaeological Museum, Naples.]]

The period from the death of Alexander the Great in 323 until the death of [[Cleopatra]], the last Macedonian ruler of Egypt, is known as the Hellenistic period. In the early part of this period, a new form of kingship developed based on Macedonian and Near Eastern traditions. The first Hellenistic kings were previously Alexander's generals, and took power in the period following his death, though they were not part of existing royal lineages and lacked historic claims to the territories they controlled.{{sfn|Martin|2013|p=253}} The most important of these rulers in the decades after Alexander's death were [[Antigonus I]] and his son [[Demetrius I of Macedon|Demetrius]] in Macedonia and the rest of Greece, [[Ptolemy I Soter|Ptolemy]] in Egypt, and [[Seleucus I]] in Syria and the former Persian empire;{{sfn|Martin|2013|pp=254–255}} smaller Hellenistic kingdoms included the [[Attalid]]s in Anatolia and the [[Greco-Bactrian kingdom]].{{sfn|Martin|2013|p=256}}

[[File:Diadochen1.png|thumb|right|upright=1.35|The major [[Hellenistic civilization|Hellenistic]] realms included the [[Diadochi|Diadochi kingdoms]]:
{{legend|#787CAD|Kingdom of [[Ptolemy I Soter]]}}
{{legend|#50A249|Kingdom of [[Cassander]]}}
{{legend|#C38833|Kingdom of [[Lysimachus]]}}
{{legend|#C3B933|Kingdom of [[Seleucus I Nicator]]}}
{{legend|#AF3662|[[Epirus]]}}
Also shown on the map:
{{legend|#85AB54|[[Greek colonies]]}}
{{legend|#A361BD|[[Carthage]] (non-Greek)}}
{{legend|#70A9BE|[[Ancient Rome|Rome]] (non-Greek)}}

The orange areas were often in dispute after 281 BC. The [[Attalid dynasty]] occupied some of this area. Not shown: [[Indo-Greek Kingdom]].
]]

In the early part of the Hellenistic period, the exact borders of the Hellenistic kingdoms were not settled. Antigonus attempted to expand his territory by attacking the other successor kingdoms until they joined against him, and he was killed at the [[Battle of Ipsus]] in 301 BC.{{sfn|Martin|2013|p=255}} His son Demetrius spent many years in Seleucid captivity, and his son, [[Antigonus II]], only reclaimed the Macedonian throne around 276.{{sfn|Martin|2013|p=255}} Meanwhile, the Seleucid kingdom gave up territory in the east to the Indian king [[Chandragupta Maurya]] in exchange for war elephants, and later lost large parts of Persia to the [[Parthian Empire]].{{sfn|Martin|2013|p=255}} By the mid-third century, the kingdoms of Alexander's successors was mostly stable, though there continued to be disputes over border areas.{{sfn|Martin|2013|p=256}}

During the Hellenistic period, the importance of "Greece proper" (the territory of modern Greece) within the Greek-speaking world declined sharply. The great capitals of Hellenistic culture were [[Alexandria]] in the [[Ptolemaic Kingdom]] and [[Antioch]] in the [[Seleucid Empire]].

The conquests of Alexander had numerous consequences for the Greek city-states. It greatly widened the horizons of the Greeks and led to a steady emigration of the young and ambitious to the new Greek empires in the east.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6930285.stm Alexander's Gulf outpost uncovered]. BBC News. 7 August 2007.</ref> Many Greeks migrated to Alexandria, Antioch and the many other new Hellenistic cities founded in Alexander's wake, as far away as present-day [[Afghanistan]] and [[Pakistan]], where the [[Greco-Bactrian Kingdom]] and the [[Indo-Greek Kingdom]] survived until the end of the first century BC.

The city-states within Greece formed themselves into two leagues; the [[Achaean League]] (including Thebes, Corinth and Argos) and the [[Aetolian League]] (including Sparta and Athens). For much of the period until the Roman conquest, these leagues were at war, often participating in the conflicts between the [[Diadochi]] (the successor states to Alexander's empire).

The Antigonid Kingdom became involved in a war with the Roman Republic in the late 3rd century. Although the [[First Macedonian War]] was inconclusive, the Romans, in typical fashion, continued to fight Macedon until it was completely absorbed into the Roman Republic (by 149 BC). In the east, the unwieldy Seleucid Empire gradually disintegrated, although a rump survived until 64 BC, whilst the Ptolemaic Kingdom continued in Egypt until 30 BC when it too was conquered by the Romans. The Aetolian league grew wary of Roman involvement in Greece, and sided with the Seleucids in the [[Roman–Seleucid War]]; when the Romans were victorious, the league was effectively absorbed into the Republic. Although the Achaean league outlasted both the Aetolian league and Macedon, it was also soon defeated and absorbed by the Romans in 146 BC, bringing Greek independence to an end.

===Roman Greece===
{{Main|Greece in the Roman era}}
{{Further|Byzantine Greece}}

The Greek peninsula came under Roman rule during the 146 BC conquest of [[Greece]] after the Battle of Corinth. [[Macedonia (Roman province)|Macedonia]] became a [[Roman province]] while southern Greece came under the surveillance of Macedonia's [[prefect]]; however, some Greek ''poleis'' managed to maintain a partial independence and avoid taxation. The [[Aegean Islands]] were added to this territory in 133 BC. [[Athens]] and other Greek cities revolted in 88 BC, and the peninsula was crushed by the Roman general [[Lucius Cornelius Sulla|Sulla]]. The Roman civil wars devastated the land even further, until [[Caesar Augustus|Augustus]] organized the peninsula as the province of [[Achaea (province)|Achaea]] in 27 BC.

Greece was a key eastern province of the Roman Empire, as the [[Roman culture]] had long been in fact [[Greco-Roman world|Greco-Roman]]. The [[Koine Greek|Greek language]] served as a ''[[lingua franca]]'' in the East and in [[Italia (Roman province)|Italy]], and many Greek intellectuals such as [[Galen]] would perform most of their work in [[Rome]].