Editing Greece (section)

===Ancient Greece===
{{Main|Ancient Greece}}
{{see also|Greek Dark Ages|Archaic Greece|Classical Greece|Hellenistic Greece}}

The collapse of the [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaean civilisation]] ushered in the [[Greek Dark Ages]], from which written records are absent. The end of the Dark Ages is traditionally dated to 776 BC, the year of the first [[Ancient Olympic Games|Olympic Games]].<ref>{{Cite book |first=John R. |last=Short |title=An Introduction to Urban Geography |page=10 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uGE9AAAAIAAJ&q=greek%20dark%20ages%20776%20BC&pg=PA10 |publisher=Routledge |year=1987 |isbn=9780710203724 |access-date=11 November 2020 |archive-date=10 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240610020158/https://books.google.com/books?id=uGE9AAAAIAAJ&q=greek%20dark%20ages%20776%20BC&pg=PA10 |url-status=live}}</ref> The ''[[Iliad]]'' and the ''[[Odyssey]]'', the foundational texts of [[Western literature]], are believed to have been composed by [[Homer]] in the 7th or 8th centuries BC.<ref>Vidal-Naquet, Pierre. ''Le monde d'Homère'' (The World of Homer), Perrin (2000), p. 19.</ref><ref name="The Odyssey 2003">[[D.C.H. Rieu]]'s introduction to ''The Odyssey'' (Penguin, 2003), p. xi.</ref> [[Ancient Greek literature|Poetry]] shaped beliefs to the [[Greek mythology|Olympian gods]], but [[ancient Greek religion]] had no priestly class or systematic dogmas and encompassed other currents, such as popular cults, like [[Cult of Dionysus|that of Dionysus]], [[Greco-Roman mysteries|mysteries]] and [[Magic in the Greco-Roman world|magic]].<ref>{{harvnb|Schuller|2008|pp=27, 88–89}}</ref> At this time there emerged kingdoms and [[city-state]]s across the Greek peninsula, [[Greek colonisation|which spread]] to the shores of the [[Black Sea]], [[Magna Graecia]] in [[southern Italy]], and [[Anatolia|Asia Minor]]. These reached great prosperity that resulted in an unprecedented cultural boom, that of [[classical Greece]], expressed in [[Architecture of ancient Greece|architecture]], [[Theatre of ancient Greece|drama]], [[Ancient Greek science|science]], [[Greek mathematics|mathematics]] and [[Ancient Greek philosophy|philosophy]]. In 508 BC, [[Cleisthenes]] instituted the world's first [[Athenian democracy|democratic]] system of government in [[Athens]].<ref name="BKDunn1992">{{Cite book | first = John | last = Dunn | title = Democracy: the unfinished journey 508 BC&nbsp;– 1993 AD | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 1994 | isbn = 978-0-19-827934-1}}</ref><ref name="BKRaaflaud2007">{{Cite book | first1 = Kurt A | last1 = Raaflaub | first2 = Josiah | last2 = Ober | first3 = Robert W | last3 = Wallace | title = Origin of Democracy in Ancient Greece | publisher = University of California Press | year = 2007 | isbn = 978-0-520-24562-4 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6qaSHHMaGVkC}}</ref>

[[File:The Parthenon in Athens.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Parthenon]] on the [[Acropolis of Athens]], icon of classical Greece]]

By 500 BC, the [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian Empire]] controlled the Greek city states in Asia Minor and Macedonia.<ref>Joseph Roisman, Ian Worthington. [https://books.google.com/books?id=QsJ183uUDkMC&q=Achaemenid+Persians+ruled+balkans&pg=PA345 "A companion to Ancient Macedonia"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240330042424/https://books.google.com/books?id=QsJ183uUDkMC&q=Achaemenid+Persians+ruled+balkans&pg=PA345#v=snippet&q=Achaemenid%20Persians%20ruled%20balkans&f=false |date=30 March 2024 }} John Wiley & Sons, 2011. {{ISBN|144435163X}} pp 135–138, p 343</ref> Attempts by Greek city-states of Asia Minor to overthrow Persian rule [[Ionian Revolt|failed]], and Persia [[First Persian invasion of Greece|invaded the states of mainland Greece]] in 492 BC, but was forced to withdraw after defeat at the [[Battle of Marathon]] in 490 BC. In response, the Greek city-states formed the Hellenic League in 481 BC, led by [[Sparta]], which was the first recorded union of Greek states since the mythical union of the [[Trojan War]].<ref name="Waterfield2018">{{cite book|author=Robin Waterfield|title=Creators, Conquerors, and Citizens: A History of Ancient Greece |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lLNSDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA148 |date=19 April 2018|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-872788-0|page=148|quote=They formed an alliance, which we call the Hellenic League, and bound themselves not just to repel the Persians, but to help one another whatever particular enemy threatened the freedom of the Greek cities. This was a real acknowledgment of a shared Greekness, and a first attempt to unify the Greek states under such a banner.|access-date=1 September 2018|archive-date=10 June 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240610020158/https://books.google.com/books?id=lLNSDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA148#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Fine1983">{{cite book|author=John Van Antwerp Fine|title=The Ancient Greeks: A Critical History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NjeM0kcp8swC&pg=PA297 |year=1983|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-03314-6|page=297 |quote=This Hellenic League – the first union of Greek states since the mythical times of the Trojan War – was the instrument through which the Greeks organised their successful resistance to Persia.|access-date=1 September 2018|archive-date=10 June 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240610020202/https://books.google.com/books?id=NjeM0kcp8swC&pg=PA297#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[second Persian invasion of Greece]] was decisively defeated in 480&ndash;479 BC, at [[Battle of Salamis|Salamis]] and [[Battle of Plataea|Plataea]], marking the eventual withdrawal of the Persians from all their European territories. The Greek victories in the [[Greco-Persian Wars]] are a pivotal moment in history,<ref name="Strauss2005">{{cite book|author=Barry Strauss|title=The Battle of Salamis: The Naval Encounter That Saved Greece – and Western Civilization|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nQFtMcD5dOsC|date=16 August 2005|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-0-7432-7453-1|pages=1–11|access-date=29 October 2015|archive-date=29 April 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240429045458/https://books.google.com/books?id=nQFtMcD5dOsC|url-status=live}}</ref> as the 50 years of peace afterwards are known as the [[Fifth-century Athens|Golden Age of Athens]], a seminal period that laid many foundations of Western civilisation. Lack of political unity resulted in frequent conflict between Greek states. The most devastating intra-Greek war was the [[Peloponnesian War]] (431–404 BC), which marked the demise of the [[Delian League|Athenian Empire]] and the emergence of [[Spartan hegemony|Spartan]] and later [[Theban hegemony]].{{Sfn|Worthington|2015|pp=42–43}} Weakened by constant wars among them during the 4th century BC, the Greek ''poleis'' were subjugated to the [[Rise of Macedon|rising power]] of the [[kingdom of Macedon]] under king [[Philip II of Macedon|Philip II]] into an alliance known as the [[League of Corinth|Hellenic League]].<ref>{{harvnb|Walbank|1993|pp=13–14, 29–30}}, {{harvnb|Schuller|2008|pp=49–51, 52–53}}, {{harvnb|Hornblower|2011|pp=268–270, 285–9}}.</ref>

{{multiple images
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After Philip's assassination in 336 BC, his son and [[king of Macedon]], [[Alexander the Great|Alexander]], set himself leader of a [[Panhellenism|Panhellenic]] [[Wars of Alexander the Great|campaign]] against the [[Persian Empire]] and abolished it. Undefeated in battle, he marched, until his untimely death in 323 BC, to the banks of the [[Indus]].<ref>{{harvnb|Walbank|1993|pp=31–2, 34–5, 36–7}}, {{harvnb|Gehrke|1995|pp=10–3, 16–7, 21, 24–5, 28–9}}</ref> Alexander's empire fragmented, inaugurating the [[Hellenistic period]]. After [[Wars of the Diadochi|fierce conflict]] amongst themselves, the [[Diadochi|generals that succeeded Alexander and their successors]] founded large personal kingdoms in the areas he had conquered, such as that of the [[Ptolemies]] in [[Ptolemaic Kingdom|Egypt]] and of the [[Seleucids]] in [[Syria (region)|Syria]], [[Mesopotamia]] and [[Iranian plateau|Iran]].<ref>{{harvnb|Walbank|1993|pp=46–48, 59, 74–75}}, {{harvnb|Gehrke|1995|pp=30, 32, 45–48, 54–55}}</ref> The newly founded ''poleis'' of these kingdoms, such as [[Alexandria]] and [[Antioch]], were settled by Greeks as members of a ruling minority. As a result, during the centuries that followed a vernacular form of [[Ancient Greek language|Greek]], known as ''[[Koine Greek|koine]]'', and Greek culture was [[Hellenization|spread]], while the Greeks [[Hellenistic religion|adopted Eastern deities and cults]].<ref>{{harvnb|Walbank|1993|pp=62–3, 133–9}}, {{harvnb|Gehrke|1995|pp=63–65, 73, 75–6}}.</ref> Greek science, technology, and mathematics reached their peak during the Hellenistic period.<ref>{{Cite book | first1 = Cynthia | last1 = Kosso | first2 = Anne | last2 = Scott | title = The Nature and Function of Water, Baths, Bathing, and Hygiene from Antiquity Through the Renaissance | publisher = Brill | year = 2009 | page = 51 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=UTkXFLfmLTkC&q=hellenistic%20mathematics%20science%20technology&pg=PA51 | isbn = 978-9004173576 | access-date = 11 November 2020 | archive-date = 18 March 2024 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20240318020442/https://books.google.com/books?id=UTkXFLfmLTkC&q=hellenistic%20mathematics%20science%20technology&pg=PA51#v=snippet&q=hellenistic%20mathematics%20science%20technology&f=false | url-status = live }}</ref> Aspiring to maintain their autonomy and independence from the [[Antigonid dynasty|Antigonid kings]] of the [[Ancient Macedonians|Macedonians]], many ''poleis'' of Greece united in ''koina'' or ''[[sympoliteia]]i'' i.e. federations, while after the establishment of economic relations with the East, a stratum of wealthy ''[[Euergetism|euergetai]]'' dominated their internal life.<ref>{{harvnb|Walbank|1993|pp=79–80, 91–2, 141–2, 151–2}}, {{harvnb|Gehrke|1995|pp=68–70}}.</ref>