Basic Greek History

The Ancient Greek civilization was located on the same land Greece is now, Ionian Islands, Asia Minor, South Italy, and Sicily. It is surrounded mountains and in the north by water. The Ionian and the Aegean seas, together with natural islands and bays, gave the Greeks the opportunity to develop their high level of commerce and their rich culture. The mountains, which surrounded Greece, gave them the advantage of being well protected.



From earlier times, the Geeks lived in independent settlements, and they were isolated from one another. Later, these settlements grew into bigger cities and/or formed city-states. The Greek civilization has made great contributions in many areas to western society. Greek Scientists have had revolutionary idea that changed its, and our, future dramatically. They also showed that organization and individuality plays a big roll in forming the perfect empire.



First I will talk about Sparta, which also played a great part in the history of ancient Greece. Sparta was one of the most powerful city states. They took over Messnia and used the land wisely, by making a government using the Code of Lycurgus. The Spartan women were given much more freedom, thus every person had a role and part in the flourishment of their city. The Spartans represented strength, freedom and discipline. They built a great city state well to protect themselves against from revolts and attackers, such as the Persians.



Athens, a city state that valued freedom a lot, was filled by people who were open to new ideas and wanted to be educated to become more intelligent. They were against violence and treid to avoid force. Two leading roles of Athens were, Solon and Cleisthenes who changed laws to improve their city and give the people more freedom. They let more male citizens vote and begin a new legal system. Cleisthenes invented lots of laws that gave the government full time democracy.  



In 520 B.C.,...