Editing Classical antiquity (section)

==History==
{{Image frame|content={{Further|Classical antiquity#Timeline of classical antiquity|l1=Timeline of classical antiquity}}{{Compact timeline of classical antiquity}}|caption=Compact timeline of classical antiquity.|align=right}}

===Archaic period (c. 8th to c. 6th centuries BC)===
{{Further|Iron Age Europe}}

The earliest period of classical antiquity occurs during a time of gradual resurgence of [[historical]] sources after the [[Late Bronze Age collapse]]. The 8th and 7th centuries&nbsp;BC are still largely [[protohistorical]], with the earliest [[history of the Greek alphabet|Greek alphabetic]] inscriptions appearing during the first half of the 8th century. The legendary poet [[Homer]] is usually assumed to have lived during the 8th or 7th century BC, and his lifetime is often considered as the beginning of classical antiquity. During the same period is the [[traditional]] date for the establishment of the [[Ancient Olympic Games]], in 776&nbsp;BC.

====Phoenicians, Carthaginians and Assyrians====
{{Main|Phoenicia|Ancient Carthage|Ancient history of Cyprus}}
[[File:Griechischen und phönizischen Kolonien.jpg|thumb|265px|Map of [[Phoenicia]]n (in yellow) and [[Second Greek colonisation|Greek colonies]] (in red) about 8th to 6th century BC.]]

The Phoenicians originally expanded from [[port]]s in [[Canaan]], by the 8th century dominating trade in the [[Mediterranean]]. [[Carthage]] was founded in 814 BC, and the Carthaginians by 700 BC had established strongholds in [[Sicily]], Italy and [[Sardinia]], which created conflicts of interest with [[Etruria]]. A [[stele]] found in [[Kition]], [[Cyprus]],  commemorates the victory of King [[Sargon II]] in 709 BC over the seven kings of the island, marking an important part of the transfer of Cyprus from [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyrian]] rule to the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]].<ref>{{Cite web |url = https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=291290&partId=1 |title=The Esarhaddon Prism / Library of Ashurbanipal |website=British Museum }}</ref><ref>Yon, M., Malbran-Labat, F. 1995: "La stèle de Sargon II à Chypre", in A. Caubet (ed.), Khorsabad, le Palais de Sargon II, Roi d'Assyrie, Paris, 159–179.</ref><ref>Radner, K. 2010: "The Stele of Sargon II of Assyria at Kition: A focus for an emerging Cypriot identity?", in R. Rollinger, B. Gufler, M. Lang, I. Madreiter (eds), Interkulturalität in der Alten Welt: Vorderasien, Hellas, Ägypten und die vielfältigen Ebenen des Kontakts, Wiesbaden, 429–449.</ref><ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.ucl.ac.uk/sargon/essentials/countries/cyprus/
|title=The Cypriot rulers as client kings of the Assyrian empire
|date=5 November 2012
|work=The many kingdoms of Cyprus
|access-date=21 January 2016
}}</ref>

====Greece====
{{Main|Archaic Greece}}

The Archaic period followed the [[Greek Dark Ages]], and saw significant advancements in [[political theory]], and the beginnings of [[democracy]], [[philosophy]], [[theatre]], [[poetry]], as well as the revitalization of the written language (which had been lost during the Dark Ages).

In pottery, the Archaic period sees the development of the [[Orientalizing Period|Orientalizing style]], which signals a shift from the [[geometric style]] of the later Dark Ages and the accumulation of influences derived from Egypt, [[Phoenicia]] and [[Syria]].

Pottery styles associated with the later part of the Archaic age are the [[black-figure pottery]], which originated in [[Corinth]] during the 7th-century BC and its successor, the [[Red-figure pottery|red-figure style]], developed by the [[Andokides Painter]] in about 530&nbsp;BC.

====Greek colonies====
{{Excerpt|Greek colonisation}}

====Iron Age Italy====
[[File:Etruscan civilization map.png|thumb|300px|[[Etruscan civilization]] in north of Italy, 800 BC.]]

The [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscans]] had established political control in the region by the late 7th-century BC, forming the aristocratic and monarchial elite. The Etruscans apparently lost power in the area by the late 6th-century BC, and at this time, the [[Italic peoples|Italic]] tribes reinvented their government by creating [[republic]]s, with greater restraints on the ability of individual rulers to exercise power.<ref>''Ancient Rome and the Roman Empire'' by Michael Kerrigan. Dorling Kindersley, London: 2001. {{ISBN|0-7894-8153-7}}. p. 12.</ref>

====Roman kingdom====
{{Main|Roman Kingdom}}

According to legend, [[Founding of Rome|Rome was founded]] on 21 April 753 BC by twin descendants of the [[Troy|Trojan]] prince [[Aeneas]], [[Romulus and Remus]].<ref>{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=9JJdqJ8YGH8C&pg=PA5|last1=Adkins|first1= Lesley |last2= Adkins|first2 = Roy|date = 1998| page= 3|title = Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome|publisher = Oxford University Press|location = New York|isbn = 978-0195123326}}</ref> As the city was bereft of women, legend says that the Latins invited the [[Sabines]] to a festival and stole their unmarried maidens, resulting in the integration of Latins and Sabines.<ref>[http://ancienthistory.about.com/cs/grecoromanmyth1/a/mythslegends_3.htm Myths and Legends – Rome, the Wolf, and Mars] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070529053414/http://ancienthistory.about.com/cs/grecoromanmyth1/a/mythslegends_3.htm |date=29 May 2007 }}. Accessed 8 March 2007.</ref>

Archaeological evidence indeed shows first traces of settlement at the [[Roman Forum]] in the mid-8th century BC, though settlements on the [[Palatine Hill]] may date back to the 10th century BC.<ref>{{cite book|last = Matyszak|first = Philip|date = 2003| page= 19|title = Chronicle of the Roman Republic: The Rulers of Ancient Rome from Romulus to Augustus|publisher = Thames & Hudson|isbn = 978-0500051214}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Duiker|first1=William|last2=Spielvogel|first2=Jackson|title=World History|date=2001|publisher=Wadsworth|isbn=978-0-534-57168-9|url=https://archive.org/details/worldhistoryto1500duik/page/129 |url-access=registration |page=129|edition=Third}}</ref>

According to legend, the seventh and final king of Rome was [[Tarquinius Superbus]]. As the son of [[Tarquinius Priscus]] and the son-in-law of [[Servius Tullius]], Superbus was of Etruscan birth. It was during his reign that the Etruscans reached their apex of power. Superbus removed and destroyed all the Sabine shrines and altars from the [[Tarpeian Rock]], enraging the people of Rome. The people came to object to his rule when he failed to recognize the rape of [[Lucretia]], a patrician Roman, by his own son. Lucretia's kinsman, [[Lucius Junius Brutus]] (ancestor to [[Marcus Brutus]]), summoned the Senate and had Superbus and the monarchy expelled from Rome in 510 BC. After Superbus' expulsion, the Senate in 509 BC voted to never again allow the rule of a king and reformed Rome into a [[Roman Republic|republican government]].

===Classical Greece (5th to 4th centuries&nbsp;BC)===
{{Main|Classical Greece}}
[[File:Map athenian empire 431 BC-en.svg|thumb|left|upright=1.4|Delian League ("Athenian Empire"), just before the [[Peloponnesian War]] in 431&nbsp;BC.]]

The classical period of ancient Greece corresponds to most of the 5th and 4th centuries&nbsp;BC, in particular, from the end of the [[tyrant#Athens|Athenian tyranny]] in 510&nbsp;BC to the [[death of Alexander the Great]] in 323&nbsp;BC. In 510, Spartan troops helped the Athenians overthrow the tyrant [[Hippias (son of Pisistratus)|Hippias]], son of [[Peisistratos (Athens)|Peisistratos]]. [[Cleomenes&nbsp;I]], king of Sparta, established a pro-Spartan oligarchy conducted by [[Isagoras]].

The [[Greco-Persian Wars]] (499–449&nbsp;BC), concluded by the [[Peace of Callias]] ended with not only the liberation of Greece, [[Macedonia (ancient kingdom)|Macedon]], [[Thrace]], and [[Ionia]] from [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian rule]], but also with the dominance of [[Athens]] in the [[Delian League]], which resulted in conflict with [[Sparta]] and the [[Peloponnesian League]], resulting in the [[Peloponnesian War]] (431–404&nbsp;BC), ending with a Spartan victory.

Greece began the 4th century with [[Spartan hegemony]], but by 395 BC the Spartan rulers dismissed [[Lysander]] from office, and Sparta lost its naval supremacy. [[Athens]], [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]], [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]] and [[Corinth]], the latter two of which were formerly Spartan allies, challenged Spartan dominance in the [[Corinthian War]], which ended inconclusively in 387&nbsp;BC. Later, in 371&nbsp;BC, the Theban generals [[Epaminondas]] and [[Pelopidas]] won a victory at the [[Battle of Leuctra]]. The result of this battle was the end of Spartan supremacy and the establishment of [[Theban hegemony]]. Thebes sought to maintain its dominance until it was finally ended by the increasing power of [[Macedon]] in 346 BC.

During the reign of [[Philip II of Macedon|Philip&nbsp;II]], (359–336&nbsp;BC), Macedon expanded into the territory of the [[Paeonians]], the [[Thracians]] and the [[Illyrians]]. Philip's son, [[Alexander the Great]], (356–323&nbsp;BC) managed to briefly extend [[Macedonia (ancient kingdom)|Macedonia]]n power not only over the central Greek city-states but also to the [[Persian Empire]], including [[Egypt]] and lands as far east as the fringes of [[India]]. The classical Greek period conventionally ends at the death of Alexander in 323&nbsp;BC and the fragmentation of his empire, which was at this time divided among the [[Diadochi]].

===Hellenistic period (323–146&nbsp;BC)===
{{Main|Hellenistic period}}

Greece began the Hellenistic period with the increasing power of [[Macedon]] and the conquests of [[Alexander the Great]]. [[Koine Greek|Greek]] became the ''[[lingua franca]]'' far beyond Greece itself, and Hellenistic culture interacted with the cultures of [[Seleucid Empire|Persia]], the [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Kingdom of Israel]] and [[Kingdom of Judah]], [[Greco-Bactrian Kingdom|Central Asia]] and [[Ptolemaic Egypt|Egypt]]. Significant advances were made in the sciences ([[Ancient Greek geography|geography]], [[Greek astronomy|astronomy]], [[Greek mathematics|mathematics]], etc.), notably with the [[Peripatetic school|followers]] of [[Aristotle]] ([[Aristotelianism]]).

The Hellenistic period ended with the increase of the [[Roman Republic]] to a super-regional power during the 2nd century&nbsp;BC and the Roman conquest of Greece in 146&nbsp;BC.

===Roman Republic (5th to 1st centuries&nbsp;BC)===
{{Main|Roman Republic}}
[[File:Extent of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire between 218 BC and 117 AD.png|thumb|upright=1.3|The extent of the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in 218 BC (dark red), 133&nbsp;BC (light red), 44&nbsp;BC (orange), 14&nbsp;AD (yellow), after 14&nbsp;AD (green), and maximum extension under Trajan 117 (light green).]]

The [[Roman Republic|Republican period]] of Ancient Rome began with the overthrow of the [[Roman Kingdom|Monarchy]] c.&nbsp;509&nbsp;BC and lasted more than 450 years until its [[subversion (politics)|subversion]] through a series of [[Roman Republican civil wars|civil wars]], into the [[Principate]] form of government and the Imperial period. During the half millennium of the Republic, Rome increased from a regional power of the [[Latium]] to the dominant force in Italy and beyond. The unification of Italy by the Romans was a gradual process, brought about by a series of conflicts of the 4th and 3rd centuries, the [[Samnite Wars]], [[Latin War]], and [[Pyrrhic War]]. Roman victory in the [[Punic Wars]] and [[Macedonian Wars]] established Rome as a super-regional power by the 2nd century&nbsp;BC, followed by the acquisition of [[Roman Greece|Greece]] and [[Asia (Roman province)|Asia Minor]]. This tremendous increase of power was accompanied by economic instability and social unrest, resulting in the [[Second Catilinarian conspiracy|Catiline conspiracy]], the [[Social War (91–88 BC)|Social War]] and the [[First Triumvirate]], and finally the transformation to the Roman Empire during the latter half of the 1st century&nbsp;BC.

=== Roman Empire (1st century BC to 5th century&nbsp;AD) ===
{{Main|Roman Empire}}
[[File:RomanEmpire 117.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|left|The extent of the Roman Empire under Trajan, AD&nbsp;117.]]

The precise end of the Republic is disputed by modern historians;{{NoteTag|The precise event which signaled the transition of the Roman Republic into the [[Roman Empire]] is a matter of interpretation. Historians have proposed the appointment of [[Julius Caesar]] as [[perpetual dictator]] (February 44&nbsp;BC), the [[Battle of Actium]] (2&nbsp;September 31&nbsp;BC), and the [[Roman Senate]]'s grant of [[Augustus|Octavian]]'s extraordinary powers by the [[Augustus#First settlement|first settlement]] (16&nbsp;January&nbsp; 27&nbsp;BC), as candidates for the defining [[Epoch|event]].}} Roman citizens of the time did not recognize that the Republic had ceased to exist. The early [[Julio-Claudian dynasty|Julio-Claudian]] [[Roman Emperor|Emperors]] maintained that the ''[[res publica]]'' still existed, albeit protected by their extraordinary powers, and would eventually return to its earlier Republican form. The Roman state continued to term itself a ''res publica'' as long as it continued to use Latin as its official language.

Rome acquired [[Imperialism|imperial]] character ''de facto'' from the 130s&nbsp;BC with the acquisition of [[Cisalpine Gaul]], [[Illyria]], [[Roman Greece|Greece]] and [[Hispania]], and definitely with the addition of [[Iudaea Province|Iudaea]], [[Asia (Roman province)|Asia Minor]] and [[Roman Gaul|Gaul]] during the 1st century&nbsp;BC. At the time of the empire's maximal extension during the reign of [[Trajan]] (AD&nbsp;117), Rome controlled the entire [[Mediterranean]] as well as Gaul, parts of [[Germania]] and [[Roman Britain|Britannia]], the [[Balkans]], [[Dacia]], Asia Minor, the [[Caucasus]], and [[Mesopotamia]].

Culturally, the Roman Empire was significantly [[Hellenization|Hellenized]], but also incorporated syncretic "eastern" traditions, such as [[Mithraism]], [[Gnosticism]], and most notably [[Origins of Christianity|Christianity]].

Classical Rome had vast differences within their family life compared to the Greeks. Fathers had great power over their children, and husbands over their wives. In fact, the word family, ''familia'' in Latin, actually referred to those who were subject to the authority of a male head of household. This included non-related members such as slaves and servants. By marriage, both men and women shared property. Divorce was allowed first during the first century BC and could be done by either man or woman.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Wiesner-Hanks|first1=Merry E.|title=Gender in History Global Perspectives|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|isbn=978-1-4051-8995-8|edition=2nd|date=6 July 2010}}</ref>

===Late antiquity (4th to 6th centuries&nbsp;AD)===
{{Main|Late antiquity|Migration period|Fall of the Western Roman Empire}}
[[File:Roman Empires 476AD.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|The [[Western Roman Empire|Western]] and [[Eastern Roman Empire|Eastern]] [[Roman Empire]]s by 476.]]

The Roman Empire began to weaken as a result of the [[crisis of the third century]]. During [[Late antiquity]] [[Early Christianity|Christianity]] became increasingly popular, finally ousting the [[Roman imperial cult]] with the [[Theodosian decrees]] of&nbsp;393. Successive invasions of [[Germanic tribes]] finalized the
[[Decline of the Roman Empire|weakening of the Western Roman Empire]] during the 5th century, while the [[Eastern Roman Empire]] persisted throughout the [[Middle Ages]], in a state called Romania by its citizens, and designated the [[Byzantine Empire]] by later historians. Hellenistic philosophy was succeeded by continued development of [[Platonism]] and [[Epicureanism]], with Neoplatonism in due course influencing the [[Christian theology|theology]] of the Christian [[Church Fathers]].

Many writers have attempted to name a specific date for the symbolic "end" of antiquity, with the most prominent dates being the deposing of the last [[Western Roman Emperor]] in 476,<ref>Clare, I. S. (1906). Library of universal history: containing a record of the human race from the earliest historical period to the present time; embracing a general survey of the progress of mankind in national and social life, civil government, religion, literature, science and art. New York: Union Book. p. 1519 (cf., Ancient history, as we have already seen, ended with the fall of the Western Roman Empire; [...])</ref><ref>United Center for Research and Training in History. (1973). Bulgarian historical review. Sofia: Pub. House of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences]. p. 43. (cf. ... in the history of Europe, which marks both the end of ancient history and the beginning of the Middle Ages, is the fall of the Western Roman Empire.)</ref> the closing of the last [[Platonic Academy]] in Athens by the [[Byzantine Empire|Eastern Roman emperor]] [[Justinian&nbsp;I]] in&nbsp;529,<ref>{{cite book |title=A History of Greek Literature |last=Hadas |first=Moses |year=1950 |publisher= Columbia University Press |isbn= 0-231-01767-7 |page= 273 of 331 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=dOht3609JOMC&q=%22end+of+antiquity%22&pg=PA273}}</ref> and the [[Muslim conquest of the Maghreb|conquest of much of the Mediterranean]] by the new [[Muslim]] faith from 634 to 718.<ref name=Pirenne>[[Henri Pirenne]] (1937). [https://archive.org/details/MohammedAndChalemagne ''Mohammed and Charlemagne''] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150408092705/https://archive.org/details/MohammedAndChalemagne |date=8 April 2015 }} English translation by [[Bernard Miall]], 1939. From [[Internet Archive]]. The thesis was originally discussed in an article published in ''[[Revue Belge de Philologie et d'Histoire]]'' 1 (1922), pp. 77–86.</ref> These Muslim conquests, of Syria (637), Egypt (639), Cyprus (654), North Africa (665), Hispania (718), Southern Gaul (720), Crete (820), Sicily (827), Malta (870), as well as the sieges of the Eastern Roman capital ([[Siege of Constantinople (674–78)|first in 674–78]] and then in [[Siege of Constantinople (717–718)|717–18]]) severed the economic, cultural, and political links that had traditionally united the classical cultures around the Mediterranean, ending antiquity (see [[Pirenne Thesis]]).<ref name=Pirenne/>

[[File:Byzantiumby650AD.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|The Byzantine Empire in 650 after the [[Early Muslim conquests|Arabs conquered]] the provinces of Syria and Egypt. At the same time [[early Slavs]] settled in the Balkans.]]

The original Roman Senate continued to express decrees into the late 6th century, and the last Eastern Roman emperor to use [[Latin]] as the language of his court in Constantinople was emperor [[Maurice (emperor)|Maurice]], who reigned until 602. The overthrow of Maurice by his mutinying Danube army commanded by [[Phocas]] resulted in the Slavic invasion of the Balkans and the weakening of Balkan and Greek urban culture (resulting in the flight of Balkan Latin speakers to the mountains, see [[Origin of the Romanians]]), and also provoked the [[Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628]] in which all the great eastern cities except Constantinople were lost. The resulting turmoil did not end until the [[Early Muslim conquests|Muslim conquests]] of the 7th century finalized the irreversible loss of all the largest Eastern Roman imperial cities besides the capital itself. The emperor [[Heraclius]] in [[Constantinople]], who reigned during this period, conducted his court in Greek, not Latin, though Greek had always been an administrative language of the eastern Roman regions. Eastern-Western associations weakened with the ending of the [[Byzantine Papacy]].

The Eastern Roman empire's capital city [[Constantinople]] remained the only unconquered large urban site of the original Roman empire, as well as being the largest city in Europe. Yet many classical books, sculptures, and technologies survived there along with classical Roman cuisine and scholarly traditions, well into the Middle Ages, when much of it was "rediscovered" by visiting Western crusaders. Indeed, the inhabitants of Constantinople continued to refer to themselves as Romans, as did their eventual conquerors in 1453, the [[Ottoman Turks|Ottomans]] (see [[Romaioi]] and [[Rûm]].) The classical scholarship and culture that was still preserved in Constantinople were brought by refugees fleeing its conquest in 1453 and helped to begin the [[Renaissance]] (see [[Greek scholars in the Renaissance]]).

Ultimately, it was a slow, complex, and graduated change of the socio-economic structure in [[European history]] that resulted in the changeover between classical antiquity and medieval society and no specific date can truly exemplify that.