Ancient Greek History
After the settlements of these new colonies, we embark into the most significant and accomplished era of Greece’s long, illustrious history; one which experienced a flowering of great culture and created important social mechanisms, yet also endured times of upheaval and instability. Ancient Greece has marked out its place in world history and is still admired and studied to this day, and her great achievements remain cemented in the annals of history.
Ancient Greece was the birthplace of democracy, with the city-states succeeding the fiefdoms and tribal states. The term ‘city-state’, even if its essence had already appeared in earlier years, was then founded, along with other significant political changes that took place in Greece. It was also during this time that the foundations for a democratic society were laid, with a free and vibrant citizenship, while important steps were also taken in the field of justice with the appearance of Draco’s Laws in the year 621 B.C., which became the basis of the legislative and legal system of later Greece.
The constructive result of these changes was a spiritual revival of society; the inevitable growth and integration, legal code and Greek alphabet all strongly contributed to the cultural development of later Greece. It was also during this time that first official Greek currency was put into circulation. The key cultural developments of the time centered around the athletic competition of the Olympic Games, music and later, prose, as well as the artistic craftsmanship designs that ornate the Parthenon, the Kouros statues and maidens. The great epics The Iliad and The Odyssey by the hand of Homer also appeared during this era of creativity and growth. These literary works are taught in schools today around the globe, as masterpieces in epic poetry.