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Brief Overview of
Ancient Greek Culture
Greek Geography
Greek History
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Bronze Age (~3000 – 1200 BC)
Epic Age (1200 – 700 BC)
Archaic Period (700 – 500 BC)
Classical Period (500 – 300 BC)
Hellenistic Period (300 – 30 BC)
Bronze Age Greece
• Inhabitation by Indo-Europeans
• Minoan civilization on Crete
• Rise of the Mycenaeans on mainland
Greece
Epic Age Greece
• Loss of written technology
• Composition of epic poetry
Archaic Period
• Reinvention of writing using Phoenician
alphabet
• Development of the polis
• Growth in seaborne commerce
• Rise of Persian Empire
Classical Period
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Foundation of the Athenian Democracy (508)
Persian invasion of Greece
Battle of Marathon (490)
Battle of Salamis (480)
Growth of Athenian culture and empire
Peloponnesian War (431-404)
Hellenistic Period
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Rise of Macedon under Philip
Conquests of Alexander the Great
Fracturing of Alexander’s empire
Rise of Rome
Greek Society
• Political and social life dominated by male
citizens
• Important elements:
– War
– Symposia
– Athletics
– Politics
Women in Greek Society
• Lack of sources hinders full appreciation
• Responsible for maintaining household
• Monogamy increased importance of bearing
children
• Several women only festivals
Religion and Beliefs
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Gods had personalities like humans
Main method of worship was sacrifice
Could consult oracles
Supernatural world interacts with natural world:
– Magic
– Spirits and ghosts of the dead
– Dreams
Greece and Rome
• Greek and Roman cultures begin to meld
(Greece becomes a Roman province in 146 BC)