Two particularly interesting periods in Greek history were the Archaic (between 750 B.C. and 500 B.C.) and the Classical periods (between about 500 B.C. and 336 B.C.), which comprise most of the era termed ‘Ancient Greece’ in the time line of western history. These periods of Greek history are notable because of the achievements in art, architecture, literature, and the socio-political developments that made Greek civilization unique. Prior to and during the Archaic period, formerly isolated Greek tribes began solidifying into more organized centers of government and population, forming what would become city-states, or ‘polis’, with their own authority but with strategic alliances defined among them.

Early in their evolution the city-states were frequently ruled by hereditary monarchies, called basileus, which then ceded to the oligarchic form of government, which was most typically a leadership of the wealthiest citizens. In oligarchies, political power was given to a council and only a select number of participants were designated by the constitution. If this form of government was overthrown, it was usually replaced by a tyranny, a form of usurping government through which wealthy leaders seized power unconstitutionally, although often with popular support. By the 6th century B.C., democracy as a form of government increased in popularity, though it remained rule by the few-only the free, male citizens of a state could vote to the exclusion of women, foreigners, and slaves.

The 6th century B.C. also was a period during which the Greek city-states colonized surrounding areas to accommodate growing populations. The Greek city-states spread to Italian and Sicilian lands and the surrounding islands. Although the city-states maintained their own identities to some extent, they also formed commercial and political alliances and set up trading posts throughout the Mediterranean Sea. Two forms of government in ancient Greece had particular influence over the region, the Spartan and the Athenian types of rule.

After the power of Sparta was nearly extinguished by revolting Messeneans during the Messenean War, Sparta reformed its government implementing an authoritarian, military rule over its territory. Its strict militaristic government secured the rule of native Spartans while subjugating their conquests by a system of serfdom, where the subjects, called helots, would be essentially bound to a landowner’s property and forced to work the land in order to provide for themselves and their patrons. The military tradition of the Spartan, crucial to the strength of their government, was also remarkable. Spartans were very careful in creating a strong and able citizenry, which fueled the military. It was government policy to filter the weak elements from the society-a government body would be in charge of effectively deciding whether a child should live or die according to the physical strength it demonstrated at birth. Females were also affected by these policies and, though not raised to be part of the military, were raised to be physically fit, fairly independent members of society and strong representatives of their family units while their husbands and fathers were away on military duty.

Alternately, the Athenian rivals of Sparta practiced a different form of government dictated by different circumstances. The evolution of a democratic system in Athens was due to a generally more favorable political climate surrounding Athens. It was not a city, as was Sparta,
continually threatened in its survival as it was situated near protective hills and rested on a harbor which made it easier to defend and also opened it to exchange and positive communication with its neighbors. The evolution of democracy in Athens allowed that eventually a broad swathe of the male citizenry would convene in assemblies that would have a significant pull in government through voting rights. Every male citizen could be a juror, vote in the Assembly, and be elected to state office. Decisions made by the Assembly, were carried out by	Ancient Greece Store Aphrodite of Melos Statue Parthenon Horse The Hippocratic Oath Museum Quality Replica Vase of Achilles & Ajax Playing Game
magistrates and the council. While Sparta became a symbol for a simple, disciplined and traditional society, Athens became a center of cultural, intellectual, and aesthetic development.

What historians typically designate as the ancient Greek period are the years between 1000 B.C. and 323 B.C. when Alexander the Great died or through the 3rd century C.E., when the Christian era began. The legacy of Greek civilization was greatly influential to the succeeding Roman Empire and to subsequent western cultures.

The Archaic Period and Classical periods (extending from roughly 750 - 323 BC) in Greece, which commenced after a period of altercation with the Dorian tribes from the north, marked a period of flourishing arts and letters in Greece. It was a period of time that produced such poets and dramatists as Homer, Sophocles, Euripides, Sappho arose and which would eventually produce great philosophers such as Aristotle, Plato, Socrates. It was also during this age that the Greeks developed the most influential political form - the city-state, or polis.

This period in Greek history was not all calm, however. The many city-states that comprised the Greek culture were allies when having to defend themselves from external forces but could also become enemies of one another in their efforts to attain a dominant role among the Greek league of states. It was during this time that the Greeks fought the Peloponnesian War, wherein Athens and Sparta vied for supremacy in the region. The Spartans prevailed but, weakened by the war and an unhappy population, were soon defeated by another Greek population, the Thebans. The Thebans in turn were overcome by the Macedonian, as was the rest of the Greek league, with the rise of Philip II of Macedon and later his son, Alexander the Great.

Alexander the Great’s rule and expansionist vision, allowed Athens to reach its greatest political and cultural heights. Achievements during this period include the building of the Parthenon on the Acropolis, the creation of the tragedies of Sophocles, Aeschylus and Euripides and the founding of the philosophical schools of Socrates and Plato.

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The period between the conquest of the Persian Empire by Alexander the Great and the establishment of Roman supremacy is called the Hellenistic Period (336-146 BC) when Greek culture and learning were pre-eminent in the Mediterranean and Asia Minor. The death of Alexander the Great opened the door for unrest among the city-states again and the fragmented Greek territories became vulnerable to the incursions of the Roman Empire. Rome effectively attained dominance over Greek military might by 187 B.C., though Greek culture would prove to be extremely influential over Roman culture and subsequent Western Civilization.

Greece is a land of hard limestone mountains and deep valleys cut almost in two by the Corinthian Gulf. To the east the mainland is continued by islands, to the south by the greater island of Crete. Even including the islands, Greece is a small country that has never had more than a few million inhabitants. However, it has always played an important role in the history of Western civilization. Bound by the Ionian and Aegean seas, the Greeks have long been a maritime people, reliant on maritime trade and mobility to prosper. In ancient Greece central control over every district was difficult because areas were separated from one another by mountains or the sea. This largely determined the political make-up of ancient Greece, which was composed of city-states that continually sought to increase their boundaries to accommodate their inhabitants. The isolated nature of the city-states did not stem the flow of ideas, however, particularly aesthetic and philosophical ones, and ancient Greece gave rise to a rich tradition of thought.

During the Classical period of Greece’s history, Athens reached great heights in politics and culture. This was the period during which Pericles developed his democratic ideas, Sophocles, Aeschylus, and Euripedes wrote their great tragedies and Socrates and Plato set up their great philosophy schools.

Through philosophers such as Socrates the Greeks disseminated ideas about man’s existence and search for knowledge. Socrates’ questioning philosophy and his belief in the rational human mind guided other philosophers and established a fundamental base to western philosophical thought.

The Ancient Greek tradition in politics and the growing influence of these ideas throughout Western Civilization would eventually form the foundations of the democratic systems prevalent today. These political ideas, combined with their philosophical explorations of the human experience and the premise that liberty was a fundamental right for the individual - also found its representation in future political ideology. Just as a Greek inhabitant would have detested the thought of being subject to external powers, so his own circle a man claimed for himself the freedom to do all he was capable of in order to realize his full potential within society. Freedom of speech and freedom of movement were fundamental rights, the belief in freedom sustained by a deep respect for personal honor, nurtured by a love for action.

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The Greeks also had at their disposal a wonderfully subtle, expressive and adaptable language, and they made full use of it. Poetry was given a high place in the cultural life of the Greeks, evoking as much respect and admiration as the visual arts. A poet, said the philosopher Socrates, was “a light and winged and holy thing.” If a person had something important to say he often said it in verse - which would have meant that he said it in song, for almost all Greek poetry was originally sung or spoken with music.

The negotiations continued through the spring, but as summer approached the army of Mardonius was on the move. Sparta was not ready to meet the invader, and the Athenians once more took refuge on their ships, ten months after their return. Mardonius took possession of the city, and this time effectually destroyed it; but as nothing was to be gained by a further stay, he marched his army to Thebes, which became his headquarters. The Spartans were at length ready to march. They saw their city menaced, and their own safety demanded that the forces of Mardonius should be broken.

With the aid of their allies they put into the field an army, the largest that the Greeks ever mustered, variously reported as numbering one hundred thousand to one hundred and ten thousand men. These were under the command of the Spartan king, Pausanias. In September they set out for Thebes, and in a few days came up to the Persian army, which was stationed at Plataea, a short distance from Thebes. Here Mardonius had established a fortified camp to which he might retreat if defeated on the field. For eleven days the two armies confronted each other, neither anxious to strike the first blow. Then the supply of water for the Greek camp gave out, and Pausanias fell back to a better position.

This movement threw the Greek army into disorder, and the three main divisions became separated from one another. Perceiving this the next morning, Mardonius hastened with his Persians toward the higher ground, where the Spartan troops might be seen winding along under the hillside, for from the river-banks he could not catch sight of the Athenians, who were hidden among the low hills which rose from the level plain.

The last momentous strife had now begun. It was the custom of the Spartans before beginning a battle to offer sacrifice, and to wait for an omen or sign from heaven on the offering. Even now, when the Persians had advanced to within bow-shot and were pouring flights of arrows upon the Spartans, Pausanias offered sacrifice. But the omens were bad, and forbade any action except in self-defence. The Spartans knelt behind their shields, but the arrows pierced them, and the bravest men died sorrowfully, lamenting not for death, but because they died without striking a blow for Sparta. In his distress Pausanias called upon the goddess Hera, and the omens suddenly became favorable, and the Spartans with their Tegean allies threw themselves upon the enemy.

But the disparity of forces rendered the attack desperate. Fifty-three thousand Greeks in all were opposed to the overwhelming numbers of Mardonius. The Athenians were engaged elsewhere and could afford no assistance. The Persians had made a palisade of their wicker
shields, behind which they could securely and effectually use their bows and arrows. By the first fierce onset of the Greeks this palisade went down, but the Asiatics, laying aside their bows, fought desperately with javelins and daggers. But they had no metal armor to defend them; and the Spartans, with their lances fixed and their shields touching each other, bore down everything before them.

The Persians fought with almost Hellenic heroism. Coming to close quarters, they seized the spears of their enemies and broke off their heads. Rushing forward singly or in small groups, they were borne down in the crush and killed; still they were not dismayed; and the battle raged more fiercely on the spot where Mardonius, on his white horse, fought with the flower of his troops. At length Mardonius was slain, and when his chosen guards had fallen around him, the remainder of the Persians made their way to their fortified camp, and took refuge behind its wooden walls.

In the mean time the Athenian army had been confronted by the Persian-Theban allies. Here it was not a conflict between disciplined valor and barbaric hordes, but between Greek and Greek. The battle was long and bloody, but in the end the defenders of Greek liberty were victorious over those who would destroy it. The Theban force was not only defeated but annihilated, and then the Athenians hastened to the support of Pansanias. While the Spartans were the best-drilled soldiery in Greece for the field, they had little skill in siege operations, and the wooden walls of the Persian camp opposed to them an effective barrier.

While the Spartan force was engaged in abortive attempts, the Athenians and their allies came up fresh from their victory over the Thebans. Headed by the Tegeans, they burst like a deluge into the encampment, and the Persians, losing all heart, sought wildly to hide themselves like deer flying from lions. Then followed a carnage so fearful that out of two hundred and sixty thousand men not three thousand, it is said, remained alive.

Thus ended this formidable invasion, which threatened the very existence of Greece. The great wave of Oriental despotism had spent its force without submerging freedom. Thenceforth the wonderful Greek energy and creative power might be turned away from matters military and expended upon the arts of peace.

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The Athenians returned to their city and found everything in ruins. Fire and hate had destroyed home and temple alike. All the accumulated wealth of generations was gone. Nothing was left but the indomitable energy which had been tested on so many trying emergencies, and the wonderful skill of eye and hand which came of inherited aptitude and long personal experience. Upon the old site a new city grew in a single generation, marvelous in its splendor of temple and palace, so light and airy, yet so strong and enduring, that after the lapse of twenty-five centuries the marble skeletons, though in ruins, stand, the admiration of all men and of all ages.

Previous Articles in Series:
The Greco-Persian Wars Part I: The Persian Empire
The Greco-Persian Wars Part II: Battle of Marathon
The Greco-Persian Wars Part III: Battle of Thermopylae
The Greco-Persian Wars Part IV: Battle of Salmis

Source: Ten Great Events in History, James Johonnot, 1887.