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Where Western civilisation beganAncient Greece is called 'the birthplace of Western civilisation'. About 2500 years

ago, the Greeks created a way of life that other people admired and copied.

The Romans copied Greek art and Greek gods, for example. The Ancient Greeks

tried out democracy, started the Olympic Games and left new ideas in science, art

and philosophy (thinking about life).

The Ancient Greeks lived in mainland Greece and the Greek islands, but also in

what is now Turkey, and in coloniesscattered around the Mediterranean sea coast.

There were Greeks in Italy, Sicily, North Africa and as far west as France. Sailing

the sea to trade and find new land, Greeks took their way of life to many places.

The timeline will show you some of the important events in the history of Ancient

Greece.

What was ancient Greece like?Ancient Greece had a warm, dry climate, as Greece does today. People lived by

farming, fishing, and trade. Some were soldiers. Others werescholars, scientists or

artists. Most Greeks lived in villages or in small cities. There were

beautiful templeswith stone columns and statues, and open-air theatres where

people sat to watch plays.

Many Greeks were poor. Life was hard because farmland, water and timber for

building were all scarce. That's why many Greeks sailed off to find new lands to

settle.

How Greece was ruledThere was not one country called "Ancient Greece." Instead, there were

small 'city-states'. Each city-state had its own government. Sometimes the

city-states fought one another, sometimes they joined together against a

bigger enemy, the Persian Empire.Athens, Sparta, Corinth and Olympia

were four of these city-states, and you can find out more about them on

this site. Only a very powerful ruler could control all Greece. One man did in

the 300s BC. He was Alexander the Great, from Macedonia. Alexander led

his army to conquer not just Greece but an empire that reached as far as

Afghanistan and India.

The Olympic Games begun in 776 BC. This was the start of "Archaic" Greekcivilization.

Around 480 BC the "golden age" of Greece began. This is what historianscall

"Classical" Greece

The Greek gods

The Greeks believed that gods and goddesses watched over them. The gods

were like humans, but immortal (they lived for ever) and much more

powerful.

A family of gods and goddesses lived in a cloud-palace above Mount

Olympus, the highest mountain in Greece The gods looked down to watch

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what people were doing, and from time to time, interfered with what went

on.

The gods did not always behave very well. Their king, Zeus, was always

being unfaithful to his wife Hera. He appeared on Earth as a human or an

animal to trick women he had fallen in love with.

What were Greek temples like?

The Greeks put statues of the gods inside temples. Some temples were

quite small, others very large and beautiful, with amazing decorations. The

most famous temple in Greece is the Parthenon (which you can still see

today) inAthens. Every city in Greece had a 'patron' god or goddess - a

special god whom people believed protected them from harm.

People went to a temple to pray for help - perhaps when they were sick,

going on a journey, or worried about the harvest. To please the gods, they

brought gifts of money, flowers, food and drink, which were offered

assacrifices. Temple priests kept the most valuable gifts under guard in thetemple treasury. Animals, such as cattle, were killed as sacrifices, and then

people feasted on the roasted meat.

Greeks at home

Most Greek houses were small, with a walled garden or yard in the middle.

The house was made of sun-dried mud brick. Mud houses crumbled away in

a few years, and had to rebuild. Soarchaeologists do not dig up the ruins of

Ancient Greek homes. What we know comes mostly from writings and

pictures. The house had a roof of clay tiles, and small windows, with no

glass, but wooden shutters to keep out the hot sun.

Rich Greeks had slaves - sometimes 50 slaves worked for a rich family.

Slaves did the hard work, on the farm, in the fields and workshops and in

the house too.