Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece lasted from 800 B.C.E. to 480 B.C.E.. It was located mostly in modern day Greece, but during the reign of Alexander the Great, extended from Central Asia to the western end of the Mediterranean Sea. While there are a few periods during the Greek culture (Greek Bronze Age, Ancient Greece, Medieval Greece, Modern Greece), the Greek Empire only ruled a short time, during the Ancient Greek period.
The Greeks put huge importance on literature. Many consider the Iliad and the Odyssey the turning point for Greek literature's impact on the world. Aside from poetry and stories, Greeks made an enormous and important change to playwright. A Greek playwright Aeschylus introduced the idea of dialogue and interacting characters, which created the "drama" genre. He demonstrated these new techniques in the Oresteia trilogy, his crowning achievement. Aside from Aeschylus, there was Sophocles, who created irony, Euripedes, who gave plays the ability to change our perspective on propriety, gender, and war, and finally Aristophane, who, like Aeschylus, invented a new genre, comedy. Aside from stories and plays, Greek philosophy was also recorded.
The Greeks had an even greater influence over mathematics. With mathematicians like Pythagoras, Euclid, and Archimedes, advances in number theory, geometry, mathematical proof, analysis, and applied mathematics. The Greeks treated astronomy as a mathematical branch. Most of what we know about astronomy today was developed in ancient Greece, such as the idea that the planets rotate on individual axises. Using shadows, Eratosthenes calculated the circumference of the Earth- and was almost precisely accurate.
There is a definite crossover between Greek religion and mythology, and many people struggle to separate the two. The Greeks were polytheistic, meaning they had multiple Gods. They had twelve important Gods, Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Ares, Hermes, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Demeter, and Dionysus. Some of their other Gods were Hades, Hebe, Helios, Hestia, Persephone, and Hercules. Aside from their religious practices, many stories surround the Gods, describing affairs with humans, their demigod children, and adventures that they embarked on.
There is a lot of debate over how Greek came to an end. The most common theory is after Sparta's triumph of Athens, even though they were both Greek city-states. After that, Greece slowly faded out of history, unlike other civilizations ending with a bang.
The Greeks put huge importance on literature. Many consider the Iliad and the Odyssey the turning point for Greek literature's impact on the world. Aside from poetry and stories, Greeks made an enormous and important change to playwright. A Greek playwright Aeschylus introduced the idea of dialogue and interacting characters, which created the "drama" genre. He demonstrated these new techniques in the Oresteia trilogy, his crowning achievement. Aside from Aeschylus, there was Sophocles, who created irony, Euripedes, who gave plays the ability to change our perspective on propriety, gender, and war, and finally Aristophane, who, like Aeschylus, invented a new genre, comedy. Aside from stories and plays, Greek philosophy was also recorded.
The Greeks had an even greater influence over mathematics. With mathematicians like Pythagoras, Euclid, and Archimedes, advances in number theory, geometry, mathematical proof, analysis, and applied mathematics. The Greeks treated astronomy as a mathematical branch. Most of what we know about astronomy today was developed in ancient Greece, such as the idea that the planets rotate on individual axises. Using shadows, Eratosthenes calculated the circumference of the Earth- and was almost precisely accurate.
There is a definite crossover between Greek religion and mythology, and many people struggle to separate the two. The Greeks were polytheistic, meaning they had multiple Gods. They had twelve important Gods, Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Ares, Hermes, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Demeter, and Dionysus. Some of their other Gods were Hades, Hebe, Helios, Hestia, Persephone, and Hercules. Aside from their religious practices, many stories surround the Gods, describing affairs with humans, their demigod children, and adventures that they embarked on.
There is a lot of debate over how Greek came to an end. The most common theory is after Sparta's triumph of Athens, even though they were both Greek city-states. After that, Greece slowly faded out of history, unlike other civilizations ending with a bang.