Ancient Greece is the civilisation of the Greek-speaking world from the Bronze Age to late antiquity. It begins with the palace cultures of the Minoans and the Mycenaeans in the second millennium BCE, followed by a dark age and the rise of independent city-states, such as Athens, Sparta and Thebes, in the Archaic period. In the fifth century BCE the Greeks repelled Persian invasions and Athens experienced a golden age that produced democracy, the tragedies of Sophocles, the philosophy of Socrates and Plato, and the historian Herodotus. Alexander the Great spread Greek culture from Egypt to India in the fourth century BCE, creating the Hellenistic world. Rome conquered Greece in the second century BCE, but Greek language and learning continued to shape the Roman and Byzantine empires.
Before and after
- from 14th century BCE to 4th century BCEMoab
- from c. 1,292 BCE to 1,189 BCENineteenth Dynasty of Egypt
- c. 1,274 BCEConstruction of Abu Simbel
- from c. 1,258 BCE to 1,180 BCETrojan War
- from 13th century BCE to 6th centuryAncient Greece
- from 13th century BCE to 6th century BCEAncient Israel and Judah
- from 13th century BCE to 4th century BCEMagadha
- 13th century BCEAncient Celts
- c. 1,201 BCEThe Olmec civilisation emerges at San Lorenzo
More in Evolution & life
- from c. 3,200 BCE to 1,050 BCECycladic civilization
- from 31st century BCE to 20th century BCECorded Ware culture
- from c. 2,300 BCE to 1,000 BCEAndronovo culture
- from c. 1,300s BCE to 500s BCEChavín culture
- 11th century BCEThe Bantu expansion begins
- from 1st century to 7th centuryNazca culture
The era
This moment belongs to the Ancient civilizations (3,200 BCE to 500 CE), writing, cities and empires.