Editing Classical antiquity (section)

{{Short description|Age of the ancient Greeks and Romans}}
{{For|the journal|Classical Antiquity (journal){{!}}''Classical Antiquity'' (journal)}}
{{Redirect|Classical world|the journal|Classical World (journal){{!}}''Classical World'' (journal)|other uses|Classical period (disambiguation)}}
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{{Classicism}}
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'''Classical antiquity''', also known as the '''classical era''', '''classical period''', '''classical age''', or simply '''antiquity''',<ref>{{cite book |last=Gruen |first=E. |date=2010 |title=Rethinking the Other in Antiquity |publisher=Princeton University Press |doi=10.1515/9781400836550 |isbn=9781400836550 |url=https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400836550}}</ref> is the period of cultural [[History of Europe|European history]] between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD{{Explanatory footnote|The precise end date of this period is disputed, with estimates ranging from the 3rd–8th centuries AD. Traditionally, it is given as the late 5th century AD.|name=Note 1|group=note}} comprising the interwoven civilizations of [[ancient Greece]] and [[ancient Rome|Rome]] known together as the [[Greco-Roman world]], centered on the [[Mediterranean Basin]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Costa |first=Daniel |title=Classical antiquity {{!}} Dates, Art, Literature, & Map {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Classical-antiquity |access-date=2025-03-24 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> It is the period during which ancient Greece and Rome flourished and had major influence throughout much of [[Europe]], [[North Africa]], and [[West Asia]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=McLaughlin |first=Raoul |title=The Roman Empire and the Indian Ocean: The Ancient World Economy and the Kingdoms of Africa, Arabia and India |publisher=[[Pen & Sword]] |date=11 September 2014 |isbn=9781473840959}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=McLaughlin |first=Raoul |title=The Roman Empire and the Silk Routes: The Ancient World Economy & the Empires of Parthia, Central Asia & Han China |publisher=[[Pen & Sword]] |date=11 November 2016|isbn=9781473889811}}</ref> Classical antiquity was succeeded by the period now known as [[late antiquity]].

Conventionally, it is often considered to begin with the earliest recorded [[Homeric Greek|Epic Greek]] poetry of [[Homer]] (8th–7th centuries BC) and end with the [[fall of the Western Roman Empire]] in 476 AD. Such a wide span of history and territory covers many disparate cultures and periods. ''Classical antiquity'' may also refer to an idealized vision among later people of what was, in [[Edgar Allan Poe]]'s words, "the glory that was Greece, and the grandeur that was Rome".<ref>Poe EA (1845). "[[To Helen#Revised 1845 version]]".</ref>

The [[culture]] of the [[Ancient history|ancient]] [[Greeks]], together with some influences from the [[ancient Near East]], was the basis of art,<ref>{{Interlanguage link multi|Helga von Heintze|de|vertical-align=sup}}: Römische Kunst (''Roman art''). In: [[Walter-Herwig Schuchhardt]] (1960): Bildende Kunst I (Archäologie) (''Visual arts&nbsp;I – archaeology''). {{Interlanguage link multi|Das Fischer Lexikon|de|vertical-align=sup}}. [[S. Fischer Verlag]]. p.&nbsp;192. "Bestimmend blieb (...) der italisch-römische Geist, der sich der entlehnten Formen nur bediente. (...) Ohne [die] Begegnung [mit der griechischen Formenwelt, author's note] hätte der italisch-römische Geist sich wohl kaum in künstlerischen Schöpfungen ausdrücken können und wäre nicht über die Ansätze, die wir in den ''Kanopen von Chiusi'' (...), der ''kapitolinischen Wölfin'' (...), dem ''Krieger von Capestrano'' (...) erhalten haben, hinausgekommen. Auch die gleichermaßen realistische wie unkünstlerische Auffassung der ''Porträts'' im 2. und 1. J[ahr]h[undert] v[or] Chr[istus] konnte sich nur unter dem Einfluß griechischer Formen ändern." (''"Determinant remained the Italic-Roman spirit, that just availed itself of the borrowed forms. (...) Without having come across [the world of the Greek forms], the Italic–Roman spirit would hardly have been able to express itself in works of art and would not have got beyond the starts that are preserved in the canopic jars of Chiusi, the Capitoline Wolf, the Warrior of Capestrano. Also the likewise realistic and inartistic conception and production of the portraits in the second and the first centuries&nbsp;BC could only change under the influence of Greek forms."'')</ref> philosophy, society, and education in the Mediterranean and Near East until the [[Roman Empire|Roman imperial period]]. The Romans preserved, imitated, and [[Campaign history of the Roman military|spread]] this culture throughout Europe, until they were able to compete with it.<ref>[[Brockhaus Enzyklopädie|Der Große Brockhaus]]. 1. vol.: A-Beo. Eberhard Brockhaus, Wiesbaden 1953, p.&nbsp;315. "Ihre dankbarsten und verständnisvollsten Schüler aber fand die hellenistische Kultur in den Römern; sie wurden Mäzene, Nachahmer und schließlich Konkurrenten, indem sie die eigene Sprache wetteifernd neben die griechische setzten: so wurde die antike Kultur zweisprachig, griechisch und lateinisch. Das System dieser griechisch-hellenistisch-römischen Kultur, das sich in der römischen Kaiserzeit abschließend gestaltete, enthielt, neben Elementen des Orients, die griechische Wissenschaft und Philosophie, Dichtung, Geschichtsschreibung, Rhetorik und bildende Kunst." (''"The Hellenistic culture but found its most thankful and its most understanding disciples in the Romans; they became patrons, imitators, and finally rivals, when they competitively set the own language beside the Greek: thus, the antique culture became bilingual, Greek and Latin. The system of this Greco-Latin culture, that assumed its definitive shape in the Roman imperial period, contained, amongst elements of the Orient, the Greek science and philosophy, poetry, historiography, rhetoric and visual arts."'')</ref><ref>[[Veit Valentin]]: Weltgeschichte – Völker, Männer, Ideen (''History of the world – peoples, men, ideas''). {{Interlanguage link multi|Allert de Lange|de|3=Allert de Lange Verlag|vertical-align=sup}}, Amsterdam 1939, p.&nbsp;113. "Es ist ein merkwürdiges Schauspiel&nbsp;– dieser Kampf eines bewussten Römertums gegen die geriebene Gewandtheit des Hellenismus: der römische Geschmack wehrt sich und verbohrt sich trotzig in sich selbst, aber es fällt ihm nicht genug ein, er kann nicht über seine Grenzen weg; was die Griechen bieten, hat soviel Reiz und Bequemlichkeit. In der bildenden Kunst und in der Philosophie gab das Römertum zuerst den Kampf um seine Selbständigkeit auf&nbsp;– Bilden um des Bildes willen, Forschen und Grübeln, theoretische Wahrheitssuche und Spekulation lagen ihm durchaus nicht." (''"It is a strange spectacle: this fight of a conscious Roman striving against the wily ingenuity of Hellenism. The Roman taste offers resistance, defiantly goes mad about itself, but there does not come enough into its mind, it is not able to overcome its limits; there is so much charm and so much comfort in what the Greeks afford. In visual arts and philosophy, Romanism first abandoned the struggle for its independence&nbsp;– forming for the sake of the form, poring and investigation, theoretical speculation and hunt for truth were by no means in its line."'')</ref> This Greco-Roman cultural foundation has been immensely influential on the language, politics, law, educational systems, [[philosophy]], science, warfare, literature, historiography, ethics, rhetoric, art and architecture of both the [[Western world|Western]], and through it, the modern world.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Traces of Ancient Rome in the Modern World |url=https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/traces-ancient-rome-modern-world |access-date=30 July 2023 |website=education.nationalgeographic.org |language=en}}</ref>

Surviving fragments of classical culture helped produce a revival beginning during the 14th century which later came to be known as the [[Renaissance]], and various [[Neoclassicism|neo-classical]] revivals occurred during the 18th and 19th centuries.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |date=1 June 2023 |title=Neoclassical architecture {{!}} Definition, Characteristics, Examples, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/art/Neoclassical-architecture |access-date=30 July 2023 |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Classical / Classical Revival / Neo-Classical: an architectural style guide |url=https://www.architecture.com/knowledge-and-resources/knowledge-landing-page/classical-classical-revival-neo-classical |access-date=30 July 2023 |website=architecture.com}}</ref>