15 Fascinating Facts About Ancient Greece

15 Fascinating Facts About Ancient Greece

Location of Greek ancient by Maplab – Wikimedia Commons

Ancient Greece was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity, that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically related city-states and other territories. 

Most of these regions were officially unified only once, for 13 years, under Alexander the Great’s empire from 336 to 323 BC though this excludes a number of Greek city-states free from Alexander’s jurisdiction in the western Mediterranean, around the Black Sea, Cyprus, and Cyrenaica. In Western history, the era of classical antiquity was immediately followed by the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine period.

In this article, we highlight 15 fascinating facts about Ancient Greece.

1. Classical Greece is generally considered the cradle of Western civilization

Classical Greek culture, especially philosophy, had a powerful influence on ancient Rome, which carried a version of it throughout the Mediterranean and much of Europe. For this reason, Classical Greece is generally considered the cradle of Western civilization, the seminal culture from which the modern West derives many of its founding archetypes and ideas in politics, philosophy, science, and art.

Western culture, also known as Western civilization, Occidental culture, or Western society, is the heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, belief systems, political systems, artefacts and technologies of the Western world.

2. Classical antiquity in Greece was preceded by the Greek Dark Ages

Greek mythology systematized by Scull – Wikimedia Commons

The term Greek Dark Ages refers to the period of Greek history from the end of the Mycenaean palatial civilization, around 1100 BC, to the beginning of the Archaic age, around 750 BC. Archaeological evidence shows a widespread collapse of Bronze Age civilization in the Eastern Mediterranean world at the outset of the period, as the great palaces and cities of the Mycenaeans were destroyed or abandoned.

Classical antiquity in Greece was preceded by the Greek Dark Ages c. 1200 – c. 800 BC, archaeologically characterised by the protogeometric and geometric styles of designs on pottery. Following the Dark Ages was the Archaic Period, beginning around the 8th century BC, which saw early developments in Greek culture and society leading to the Classical Period[6] from the Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BC until the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC.

3. The Greek Dark Ages lead to the Classical Period

Classical Greece was a period of around 200 years the 5th and 4th centuries BC in Ancient Greece, marked by much of the eastern Aegean and northern regions of Greek culture such as Ionia and Macedonia gaining increased autonomy from the Persian Empire; the peak flourishing of democratic Athens; the First and Second Peloponnesian Wars; the Spartan and then Theban hegemonies; and the expansion of Macedonia under Philip II. 

Much of the early defining politics, artistic thought architecture, sculpture, scientific thought, theatre, literature and philosophy of Western civilization derives from this period of Greek history, which had a powerful influence on the later Roman Empire. Read more on the Coolest Facts About Greece. 

4. Alexander the Great became one of the youngest kings of the ancient Greek kingdom 

Alexander the Great mosaic – Wikimedia Commons

He succeeded his father Philip II to the throne in 336 BC at the age of 20 and spent most of his ruling years conducting a lengthy military campaign throughout Western Asia and Egypt. By the age of 30, he had created one of the largest empires in history, stretching from Greece to northwestern India.

He was undefeated in battle and is widely considered to be one of history’s greatest and most successful military commanders.

5. Herodotus is widely known as the father of  writing Ancient Greece history

The historical period of ancient Greece is unique in world history as the first period attested directly in comprehensive, narrative historiography, while earlier ancient history or protohistory is known from much more fragmentary documents such as annals, king lists, and pragmatic epigraphy.

Herodotus is widely known as the father of history. His Histories are eponymous of the entire field. Written between the 450s and 420s BC, Herodotus’ work reaches about a century into the past, discussing 6th century BC historical figures such as Darius I of Persia, Cambyses II and Psamtik III, and alluding to some 8th century BC persons such as Candaules.

6. Greeks adopted the Phoenician alphabet, modifying it to create the Greek alphabet

Greek alphabet by Nerd271 – Wikimedia Commons

In the 8th century BC, Greece began to emerge from the Dark Ages, which followed the collapse of the Mycenaean civilization. Literacy had been lost and the Mycenaean script was forgotten, but the Greeks adopted the Phoenician alphabet, modifying it to create the Greek alphabet. 

Objects inscribed with Phoenician writing may have been available in Greece from the 9th century BC, but the earliest evidence of Greek writing comes from graffiti on Greek pottery from the mid-8th century.

7. The Lelantine War is the earliest documented war of the ancient Greek period

The Lelantine War was a military conflict between the two ancient Greek city-states Chalcis and Eretria in Euboea which took place in the early Archaic period, between c. 710 and 650 BC. The reason for the war was, according to tradition, the struggle for the fertile Lelantine Plain on the island of Euboea. 

Due to the economic importance of the two participating poleis, the conflict spread considerably, with many further city states joining either side, resulting in much of Greece being at war. Read more on the 10 Most Famous Historical events that happened in Greece.  

8. Democracy was invented by the ancient Greeks and first practised in Athens 

The Acropolis of Athens from the Pnyx on March 2, 2020 by George E. Koronaios – Wikimedia Commons

Athens fell under tyranny in the second half of the 6th century BC. When this tyranny was ended, the Athenians founded the world’s first democracy as a radical solution to prevent the aristocracy from regaining power. A citizens’ assembly, for the discussion of city policy, had existed since the reforms of Draco in 621 BC; all citizens were permitted to attend after the reforms of Solon, in the early 6th century, but the poorest citizens could not address the assembly or run for office. 

With the establishment of democracy, the assembly became the de jure mechanism of government; all citizens had equal privileges in the assembly. However, non-citizens, such as metics with foreigners living in Athens or slaves, had no political rights at all. Read more on the best cities to visit in Greece. 

9. The Trojan War is one of the most defining events in Ancient Greek History

In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans Greeks after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology and has been narrated through many works of Greek literature, most notably Homer’s Iliad. 

The core of the Iliad (Books II – XXIII) describes a period of four days and two nights in the tenth year of the decade-long siege of Troy; the Odyssey describes the journey home of Odysseus, one of the war’s heroes.

10. Zeus was regarded as the king of the gods of Ancient Greece

Bust of Zeus in the British Museum – Wikimedia Commons

Zeus is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. His name is cognate with the first element of his Roman equivalent Jupiter. His mythology and powers are similar, though not identical, to those of Indo-European deities such as Jupiter, Perkūnas, Perun, Indra, Dyaus, and Zojz.

Greek art depicts musical instruments and dance. The word music derives from the name of the Muses, the daughters of Zeus who were patron goddesses of the arts. Read more interesting facts about Zeus in Greek Mythology. 

11. Parthenon was an example of the intricacy of Ancient Greek Architecture

Parthenon is a former temple on the Athenian Acropolis, Greece, that was dedicated to the goddess Athena during the fifth century BC. Its decorative sculptures are considered some of the high points of Greek art, an enduring symbol of Ancient Greece, democracy and Western civilization. 

The Parthenon was built in thanksgiving for the Hellenic victory over Persian invaders during the Greco-Persian Wars. Like most Greek temples, the Parthenon also served as the city treasury.

12. Athena is an ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft

Bust of Athena Greek original by Kresilas – Wikimedia Commons

Athena was regarded as the patron and protectress of various cities across Greece, particularly the city of Athens, from which she most likely received her name.

The Parthenon on the Acropolis of Athens is dedicated to her. Her major symbols include owls, olive trees, snakes, and the Gorgoneion. In art, she is generally depicted wearing a helmet and holding a spear.

13. Ancient Greek mathematics contributed many important developments to the field of mathematics

These include the basic rules of geometry, the idea of formal mathematical proof, discoveries in number theory, mathematical analysis, applied mathematics, and approached close to establishing integral calculus. 

The discoveries of several Greek mathematicians, including Pythagoras, Euclid, and Archimedes, are still used in mathematical teaching today.

14. Socrates  was the Greek Philosopher also considered the father of Western philosophy

Portrait of Socrates by Copy of Lysippos – Wikimedia Commons

The first known philosophers of Greece were the pre-Socratics, who attempted to provide naturalistic, non-mythical descriptions of the world. They were followed by Socrates, one of the first philosophers based in Athens during its golden age whose ideas, despite being known by second-hand accounts instead of writings of his own, laid the basis of Western philosophy. Socrates’ disciple Plato, who wrote The Republic and established a radical difference between ideas and the concrete world, and Plato’s disciple Aristotle, who wrote extensively about nature and ethics, is also immensely influential in Western philosophy to this day. The later Hellenistic philosophy, also originating in Greece, is defined by names such as Antisthenes cynicism, Zeno of Citium stoicism and Plotinus Neoplatonism.

15. The ancient Greeks also made important discoveries in the medical field

Hippocrates was a physician of the Classical period and is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine. He is referred to as the father of medicine in recognition of his lasting contributions to the field as the founder of the Hippocratic school of medicine. 

This intellectual school revolutionized medicine in ancient Greece, establishing it as a discipline distinct from other fields that it had traditionally been associated with notably theurgy and philosophy, thus making medicine a profession.