The Genius of the ANCIENT GREEKS INNOVATIONS FROM PAST CIVILIZATIONS IZZI HOWELL CRABTREE PUBLISHING COMPANY WWW.CRABTREEBOOKS.COM
the Ancient Greeks Who The first great Greek civilizations were the Minoans who lived on the island of Crete from 3000 to 1450 b c e and the Mycenaeans who lived on mainland Greece from 1650 to 1100 b c e After the Mycenaeans Greece entered a 300-year period known as the Dark Ages No one is sure why but the Greeks of the Dark Ages stopped writing creating detailed artworks and building large settlements Bulls were very important in Minoan culture This stone carving was found in a palace in Knossos Crete Around 800 b c e small villages began to grow into cities Each city became a separate city state controlled by its own ruler This is partly because Greece’s geography of islands and mountains physically separated different areas so they developed independently During this time known as the Archaic period a more advanced civilization started to return to Greece This map shows some of the important places and city states in ancient Greece There were over 1,000 city states across the Greek world 4
The height of the ancient Greek civilization was the Classical period from 508 to 323 b c e This was a time of innovations scientific discoveries new ideas about philosophy and theater and the beginnings of democracy During the Hellenistic period 323 to 30 b c e the ancient Greeks controlled a huge territory across the Mediterranean and the Middle East This jar was given as a prize during the Panathenaic Games in which different city-states competed against each other see pages 28 29 What happened Beginning around 146 b c e the Romans and other groups started to take control of Greece and Greek territories The civilizations that took over the Greek world were highly influenced by many aspects of Greek culture including science and literature The legacy of ancient Greece can be seen today around the world in modern politics architecture and language The remains of this temple can be seen in Delphi Greece There are ruins of many ancient Greek buildings across Europe and the Middle Eas t 5
