Greece, officially known as the Hellenic Republic is a country situated in southeastern Europe.The capital city Athens is the largest city in the country. Greece lies at the crossroads of Africa, Asia, and Europe.Ancient Greece is known as one of the most influential societies in the world. Ancient Greeks were highly educated and enjoyed a rich life that was provided by the various city-states that the country had. The country was basically divided into small city-states of which Athens and Sparta were two of the most powerful. Athens, Sparta, and the other Greek regions have played a part in the rise of the Greek civilization with the introduction of philosophy, political awareness, and various arts and literature. Greece is home to world-renowned personalities that would change the course of the world. Some of the most famous Greeks are Archimedes, Pythagoras, Aesop, Aristotle, and Alexander the Great.With its diverse cultural heritage, Greece is one of the most historic countries in the world!If you like this article about Ancient Greece facts, be sure to check out articles about Ancient Africa facts and Ancient Indian facts too!What was ancient Greece called?Before it was known as Greece, the Greeks called the country “Hellada” or “Hellas”.The official name of the country was the “Hellenic Republic”. The name “Greece” comes from ancient Romans who referred to the land as Graecia, or the “the land of the Greeks” as it translates in Latin.What was ancient Greece famous for?Ancient Greece was one of the most influential countries to ever exist. Greece is famous around the world for various historical reasons.The city-states of Greece were so powerful that in all of its history, only one man was able to control Greece. Alexander the Great, a ruler from Macedonia conquered Greece in the year 300 BC. His ancient Greek empire stretched into South-West Asia, Egypt, and Europe.The Greeks are known for their Gods and Goddesses. The religion has 12 gods at the center and they were said to live on Mount Olympus. The Greek gods Zeus, Poseidon, Athena, Hermes, Ares, Hera, Apollo, Aphrodite, Artemis, Hephaestus, Demeter, and either Dionysus or Hestia were the Olympian Gods in ancient Greek mythology.After the Battle of Marathon, Athens began to expand its fleet and discovered rich silver mines near the ports. This helped Athens become the most dominant naval base during the Persian Wars. The Athenians defeated the Persian squadron and force King Xerses out of central Greece.Ancient Greeks lived a long life in some cases. This all comes down to the quality of life that they lived and the general physical activity that they performed, a good sanitation system also played a part in extending the lives of the Greek people. Isocrates, a renowned Greek speak was thought to have died at the age of 103 years! Plato, according to Seneca, a philosopher, died when he was 81 years old.The Ancient Greek civilization is thought to have started around 2,500 years ago. Settlers from North Africa, Italy, and France immigrated to the country. Ancient Greece is the birthplace of some of the finest thinkers that the world has ever seen. Classical Greece created philosophers like Aristotle, Plato, and Socrates.The Battle of Marathon was the only time when the Greeks showed their steel. In the year 480 BC, King Xerses I invaded Greece and the forces met each other on the Thermopylae mountain pass. A platoon of 7,000 Greek soldiers was led by King Leonidas and the platoon managed to keep the 150,000 Persian soldiers at bay for two days. Ephialtes, a traitor, showed the Persians a way around the Thermopylae mountain peak, on seeing it, Leonidas ordered 6,000 of his men to retreat. Leonidas and 1,000 remaining soldiers fought the Persian soldiers, giving his men time to retreat. Even though this fight was lost, Leonidas became a legend of the country. The movie 300 is a tribute to the bravery of King Leonidas.Theatre was invented by the Ancient Greeks. Some of the theaters in the country were large enough to hold 15,000 people. Boys and men were allowed to become actors, masks were worn to show the emotion of the character. Some masks came with two sides that let the actor change their emotion after the completion of a scene.Ancient Greece is credited with influencing various cultures with its art, literature, architecture, economy, political stance, and philosophy. The Parthenon is one such example of Greek architecture. The structure was created to honor the goddess, Athena.Pericles, a statesman from the Athenian Golden Age, paid the Acropolis to stage tragedies and comedies in it. The plays were a hit with the general populace and gave an idea of the cultural and social accomplishments that the ancient Greeks made. Public speaking, philosophy, and rational thinking were seen as a great capacity. This can be proved through the narrative of Thucydides and Herodotus, along with Hippocrates’ medical insights. The Ancient Greeks bore evidence of how advanced their craftsmanship became as they created various building techniques.Greece condoned slavery! Greece was one of the few countries in the world in their era that was against slavery. It is estimated that around 40-80% of the Classical Athens population was made up of slaves. State-owned slaves were known as “helots” and it is estimated that most families in Greece owned at least one slave. All the small city-states with their own laws and cultures were united under Alexander the Great as a single country.Weird Facts About Ancient Greece Ancient Greeks were known to have two conceptions of time in the form of Chronos and kairos. Chronos is how we measure time today. Kairos stood for a time of action, i.e., a suitable time to do something.The word “idiot” stemmed from ancient Greece! The word was used to refer to people who did not like to participate in political knowhow.The modern-day marathon event has its origins in ancient Greece. Legends claim that in 490 BC, a Persian invasion was ordered on Greece. The Persian force was met by the Greeks in Marathon and then eventually managed to thwart off the Persian invasion.Olympic events in Ancient Greece included events like long jump, chariot racing, discus, and boxing!Out of the many fun facts about Ancient Greece, the fact that Greece is the origin of Handshakes is remarkable! Early depictions of the handshake can be seen as early as the 5th century BC, the structure shows Athena, the goddess of war, and Hera, the goddess of marriage in Ancient Greek mythology, shaking hands.Who founded Greece?To think there was a time when Greece did not even exist!The early history regarding ancient Greece and the Greek Island stems from the belief that human settlements existed in Greece for over 40,000 years. These new settlers were hunter-gatherers or lived life in farming.The Minoans are thought to be the first great Greek civilization. Minoans live on the island of Crete instead of mainland Greece. The Minoans were recognized by the name of their legendary King Minos.The Mycenaean civilization emerged after the Minoans and this time they came from mainland Greece. The Mycenaean population was made up of traders and builders. The famous battle of Troy was fought by the Mycenaean civilization.After the end of the Mycenaean age, the country entered a Dark Age. No information regarding this age can be found in the history of ancient Greece. The name Dark Age comes from this mysterious lack of any sort of knowledge of this period.Did You Know…According to legends, a competition between Gods was held to become the patron of a new city. Poseidon and Athena collided and both offered gifts to the city. Poseidon produced a spring of water as his gift but the citizens were not pleased. Athena, on the other hand, produced an olive tree, which the citizens thought was of much use. After this, the city of Athens was named after the Goddess Athena.The term ancient Greek or ancient Greece is not relevant to the period because Greece was divided into small self-governing city-states with their own laws. Corinth, Thebes, Sparta, and Athens were the largest. The thriving Athens population helped in making Athens the most powerful city-state in ancient times.Sparta and Athens are known for being two of the most dominant city-states in all of ancient Greece. The Peloponnesian War is one of the most famous wars that these city-states fought against each other. The cultural difference became clear when Athens began to spread its wing in the field of arts and learning while Sparta focused on fighting.Athens rose to prominence as the most powerful city-state in the country because of its influence in politics and the economy.Athens was the city that most ancient Greek philosophers resided in. The city was the birthplace of innovation and thought in Greece.Ostracism or exclusion was an important part of Athenian democracy. Exiles for politicians as long as 10 years were sometimes voted on. Athens and Sparta were two Greek cities that often fought amongst each other, however, they would keep their difference aside when facing a common enemy. The Sparta-Athens alliance worked together to thwart off the Persian Empire.The city of Sparta has no walls protecting the city whatsoever! The Spartan King Agesilaus prided in his soldiers who he depended on to protect the city from intruders.Spartan women enjoyed equal rights to men in the city. Spartan men were extremely fit as they trained their bodies for war. In ancient Greece, unlike Athenian women, Spartan women were allowed to own properties. The city set the maximum marrying age at 20 which helped in the city having a low childbirth and infant mortality rate in ancient Greece.Growing up in Sparta as a boy was tough as state-sponsored training regiments were introduced where boys as young as seven years participated in a strict training regiment to make great soldiers out of them. State-sponsored infanticide was carried out where babies were examined for physical defects. Babies who did not fill the criteria were abandoned on the hills. Thankfully, these babies were saved by the Spartan slaves.As an aftermath of Alexander’s conquests, Asian culture and Greek culture merged to form a new breed of culture. The Greek language became the common language among the intellectuals in the new culture. Art and architecture based on various Greek styles can be found in countries to the south of Greece like Egypt. Some of these styles can be found as far as in India. The sculptures of the Mauryan Empire have the Greek art style.Education was seen as a private matter in ancient Greece. Rich families could provide for this education by hiring private tutors. Schools funded by the city-states were set up during the Hellenistic period. Young girls were taught to write, read and solve basic math. Boys went under excessive military training.For the most part, education was a private affair and most well-off families could afford a private tutor. However, during the Hellenistic period, some city-states set up government-funded schools. Young men were taught how to write, sing, and play one melodic instrument and were prepared for a life of military administration. Many of them were upper-class citizens and did not need to work. Young ladies were taught how to write and do basic math to help them with running a household.Greece invented the ancient Olympics as a way to honor Zeus. Decrees were passed that prohibited the ancient Greeks from war because of the religious importance of the events. A one-month ceasefire was later tripled to a three-month ceasefire. Laws were passed to stop any sort of harm coming to the various athletes participating from other city-states.The Greek architecture of the Archaic period and Classic period can be found in Ionic, Corinthian, and Doric styles.Ancient Greek mathematics methods are still used to this day! The mathematicians from the Hellenistic and Classical periods have played a huge part in making math what it is today. Theories and formulas by Archimedes, Euclid, and Pythagoras are taught in schools today.The ancient Greece timeline is divided into three different sections by historians. The Archaic Period lasted from the birth of the Greek civilization until the foundations of democracy were installed in 508 BC. The Archaic period saw the birth of the Olympic games and Homer.The Classical Period is the most famous era as it defines the reputation of ancient Greece. Democratic governments ruled the city, philosophers like Plato and Socrates gained prominence. The classical period stopped with the birth of the legend of Alexandar the Great and his death in 323 BC.The Hellenistic Period endured events after the demise of Alexander the Great and it lasted until Egypt was defeated by Rome at the Battle of Actium. The name Hellenistic is derived from the word “Hellas” which was the origin of the name Greece in the ancient world.The Minoan civilization existed alongside the Mycenaean civilization before Greece was founded. Minoans were traders and visited nearby countries like Egypt. Not much is known about the Minoan civilization because their alphabets have still not been decrypted by archaeologists.The beginning of the Greek Dark Age is marked by the fall of the Mycenaeans from Southern Greece who lived in the city of Mycenae. The population was known for its warlike civilization and was constantly in wars with other regions like the Hittites in Anatolia, known as modern-day Turkey. The Mycenaeans dominated the Aegean for around 300 years before they fell.The Romans were obsessed with ancient Greek traditions! Ancient Greek literature, language, and even gods were copied by the Romans!There are various theories regarding the Dark Age that came from historians of the Classical age. Thucydides, an ancient historian, composed a sketch of the Trojan war of Greek history that was seen as a failure.Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for Ancient Greece facts then why not take a look at Ancient Japan facts or Ancient Mayan facts too!
Greece, officially known as the Hellenic Republic is a country situated in southeastern Europe.
