Greece

===Ancient Greece===
{{Main|Ancient Greece}}
{{see also|Archaic Greece|Classical Greece|Hellenistic Greece}}

The collapse of the Mycenean civilization ushered the [[Greek Dark Ages]], from which written records are absent. The end of the Dark Ages is traditionally dated to 776 BC, the year of the first [[Ancient Olympic Games|Olympic Games]].<ref>{{Cite book | first = John R | last = Short | title = An Introduction to Urban Geography | page = 10 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=uGE9AAAAIAAJ&q=greek%20dark%20ages%20776%20BC&pg=PA10 | publisher = Routledge | year = 1987| isbn = 9780710203724 }}</ref> The ''[[Iliad]]'' and the ''[[Odyssey]]'', the foundational texts of [[Western literature]], are believed to have been composed by [[Homer]] in the 7th or 8th centuries BC.<ref>Vidal-Naquet, Pierre. ''Le monde d'Homère'' (The World of Homer), Perrin (2000), p. 19.</ref><ref name="The Odyssey 2003">[[D.C.H. Rieu]]'s introduction to ''The Odyssey'' (Penguin, 2003), p. ''xi''.</ref> With the end of the Dark Ages, there emerged kingdoms and [[city-state]]s across the Greek peninsula, [[Greek colonisation|which spread]] to the shores of the [[Black Sea]], [[Magna Graecia]] in [[southern Italy]] and [[Anatolia|Asia Minor]]. These states and their colonies reached great levels of prosperity that resulted in an unprecedented cultural boom, that of [[classical Greece]], expressed in [[Architecture of ancient Greece|architecture]], [[Theatre of ancient Greece|drama]], [[Ancient Greek science|science]], [[Greek mathematics|mathematics]] and [[Ancient Greek philosophy|philosophy]]. In 508 BC, [[Cleisthenes]] instituted the world's first [[Athenian democracy|democratic]] system of government in [[Athens]].<ref name="BKDunn1992">{{Cite book | first = John | last = Dunn | title = Democracy: the unfinished journey 508 BC&nbsp;– 1993 AD | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 1994 | isbn = 978-0-19-827934-1}}</ref><ref name="BKRaaflaud2007">{{Cite book | first1 = Kurt A | last1 = Raaflaub | first2 = Josiah | last2 = Ober | first3 = Robert W | last3 = Wallace | title = Origin of Democracy in Ancient Greece | publisher = University of California Press | year = 2007 | isbn = 978-0-520-24562-4 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6qaSHHMaGVkC}}</ref>

[[File:The Parthenon in Athens.jpg|thumb|The [[Parthenon]] on the [[Acropolis of Athens]], icon of classical Greece]]

By 500 BC, the [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian Empire]] controlled the Greek city states in Asia Minor and Macedonia.<ref>Joseph Roisman, Ian Worthington. [https://books.google.com/books?id=QsJ183uUDkMC&q=Achaemenid+Persians+ruled+balkans&pg=PA345 "A companion to Ancient Macedonia"] John Wiley & Sons, 2011. {{ISBN|144435163X}} pp 135–138, p 343</ref> Attempts by some Greek city-states of Asia Minor to overthrow Persian rule [[Ionian Revolt|failed]], and Persia [[First Persian invasion of Greece|invaded the states of mainland Greece]] in 492 BC, but was forced to withdraw after defeat at the [[Battle of Marathon]] in 490 BC. In response, the Greek city-states formed the Hellenic League in 481 BC, led by [[Sparta]], which was the first recorded union of Greek states since the mythical union of the [[Trojan War]].<ref name="Waterfield2018">{{cite book|author=Robin Waterfield|title=Creators, Conquerors, and Citizens: A History of Ancient Greece|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lLNSDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA148|date=19 April 2018|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-872788-0|page=148|quote=They formed an alliance, which we call the Hellenic League, and bound themselves not just to repel the Persians, but to help one another whatever particular enemy threatened the freedom of the Greek cities. This was a real acknowledgment of a shared Greekness, and a first attempt to unify the Greek states under such a banner.}}</ref><ref name="Fine1983">{{cite book|author=John Van Antwerp Fine|title=The Ancient Greeks: A Critical History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NjeM0kcp8swC&pg=PA297|year=1983|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-03314-6|page=297|quote=This Hellenic League – the first union of Greek states since the mythical times of the Trojan War – was the instrument through which the Greeks organised their successful resistance to Persia. }}</ref> A [[second Persian invasion of Greece]] followed in 480 BC. Following Greek victories in 480-79 BC, the Persians withdrew for a second time, marking their eventual withdrawal from all their European territories. The Greek victories in the [[Greco-Persian Wars]] are considered a pivotal moment in history,<ref name="Strauss2005">{{cite book|author=Barry Strauss|title=The Battle of Salamis: The Naval Encounter That Saved Greece – and Western Civilization|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nQFtMcD5dOsC|date=16 August 2005|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-0-7432-7453-1|pages=1–11}}</ref> as the 50 years of peace afterwards are known as the [[Fifth-century Athens|Golden Age of Athens]], the seminal period of development that laid many foundations of Western civilization.

Lack of political unity resulted in frequent conflict between Greek states. The most devastating intra-Greek war was the [[Peloponnesian War]] (431–404 BC), won by Sparta and marking the demise of the Athenian Empire. Athens and Sparta were later overshadowed by [[Ancient Thebes (Boeotia)|Thebes]] and eventually Macedon, with the latter uniting most city-states of the Greek hinterland in the [[League of Corinth]] under [[Philip II of Macedon|Philip II]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P98aXmGsFxcC&pg=PA79 |title=Global History Volume One: The Ancient World to the Age of Revolution |last1=Willner |first1=Mark |last2=Hero |first2=George |last3=Wiener |first3=Jerry |last4=Hero |first4=George A. |date=2006 |publisher=Barron's Educational Series |isbn=9780764158117 |page=79 |language=en}}</ref> Despite this, the Greek world remained fragmented and would not be united under a single power until the Roman years.<ref name="walbank">{{Cite book |last=Walbank |first=Frank W. |title=Selected Papers: Studies in Greek and Roman History and Historiography |date=26 August 2010 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5z_vUPABapoC&q=League%2520of%2520Corinth&pg=PA1 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |language=en |isbn=9780521136808 |page=1 |access-date=8 September 2018}}</ref>

{{multiple images|image1 = Napoli BW 2013-05-16 16-24-01.jpg|image2 = MacedonEmpire.jpg|footer=[[Alexander the Great]], whose conquests led to the [[Hellenistic Age]]|align=right|total_width=400}}
After Philip's assassination in 336 BC, his son and [[king of Macedon]], [[Alexander the Great|Alexander]], set himself leader of a [[Panhellenism|Panhellenic]] [[Wars of Alexander the Great|campaign]] against the [[Persian Empire]] and abolished it. Undefeated in battle, he marched, until his untimely death in 323 BC, to the banks of the [[Indus]],<ref>{{harvnb|Walbank|1993|pp=31–2, 34–5, 36–7}}, {{harvnb|Gehrke|1995|pp=10–3, 16–7, 21, 24–5, 28–9}}</ref> creating one of the largest empires in history. Alexander's empire fragmented after his death, inaugurating the [[Hellenistic period]]. After [[Wars of the Diadochi|fierce conflict]] amongst themselves, the [[Diadochi|generals that succeeded Alexander and their successors]] founded large personal kingdoms in the areas he had conquered, such as that of the [[Ptolemies]] in [[Egypt]].<ref>{{harvnb|Walbank|1993|pp=46–8, 59, 74–5}}, {{harvnb|Gehrke|1995|pp=30, 32, 45–8}}</ref> Many Greeks migrated to [[Alexandria]] and the other new Hellenistic cities in Asia and Africa.<ref>{{cite web|author=Ian Morris|url=http://www.princeton.edu/~pswpc/pdfs/morris/120509.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060222022546/http://www.princeton.edu/~pswpc/pdfs/morris/120509.pdf |archive-date=22 February 2006 |url-status=live|title=The growth of Greek cities in the first millennium BC|publisher=[[Princeton University]]|date=December 2005}}</ref> As a result of the settlement of Greeks as members of a ruling minority, during the centuries that followed a vernacular form of [[Ancient Greek language|Greek]], known as ''[[Koine Greek|koine]]'', and Greek culture was [[Hellenization|spread]], while the Greeks [[Hellenistic religion|adopted Eastern deities and cults]].<ref>{{harvnb|Walbank|1993|pp=62–3}}, {{harvnb|Gehrke|1995|pp=63–65, 73, 75–6}}.</ref> Greek science, technology, and mathematics reached their peak during the Hellenistic period.<ref>{{Cite book | first1 = Cynthia | last1 = Kosso | first2 = Anne | last2 = Scott | title = The Nature and Function of Water, Baths, Bathing, and Hygiene from Antiquity Through the Renaissance | publisher =Brill | year = 2009 | page = 51 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=UTkXFLfmLTkC&q=hellenistic%20mathematics%20science%20technology&pg=PA51| isbn = 978-9004173576 }}</ref> The [[Antigonid dynasty]], descended from one of Alexander's generals, established its control over Macedon and most of the Greek city-states by 276 BC.<ref>{{cite book | last = Spielvogel | first = Jackson | title = Western Civilization | volume = I: To 1715 | publisher = Thomson Wadsworth | year = 2005 | pages = 89–90 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=xcNIBlwrjMsC&pg=PA89 | isbn = 978-0-534-64603-5}}</ref> Aspiring to maintain their independence from the [[Ancient Macedonians|Macedonians]], much of Greece united in ''koina'' or ''[[sympoliteia]]i'' i.e. federations.<ref>{{harvnb|Walbank|1993|pp=79–80, 91–2, 141–2, 151–2}}, {{harvnb|Gehrke|1995|pp=68–70}}.</ref>
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