Greece Brief of Greek history The Greek story is old and glorious, known almost worldwide after the Greek culture and Greek spirit examined by schools and universities worldwide. The fact is that Greece gave the lights of culture in several Nations around the world and that is revealed by the show signs that saved monuments and until today or by the cultural influences that still exist. This was a result of the spread and colonization of the Greeks in various parts of the world but mainly in countries around the Mediterranean, as a result of trade and shipping which involved. The colonization of Greece is about 6000 BC and the first of the inhabitants were the Pelasgians and the Proellines. In 3000 BC new races invading Greek territory and develops valuable culture (the Aegean civilization). The same time is developed the Minoan civilization in Crete. In 2000 BC first Greek tribes were appeared. First the Ionians and 200 years after the Achaeans and Aeolians. The Achaeans also develop their own valuable culture based in Mycenae (Mycenaean civilization) and samples of excavations reveal the enormous progress for the time.The famous Trojan War falls in this period.

The 1200 BC begins a wave of invasion of different groups of Mycenaean Greek world, known as the descendent of Dorieon (due to its

origin by Doris, area of the Sterea Hellas). The inhabitants of captured regions receive new effects and created cities – member (that is the autonomous cities) and due to the layout of the country, geophysical communication of residents was not easy and therefore the creation of a single State were not feasible. So, many cities-members that were developed wrote their own history in Greek territory. The ancient Greek history refers to the history of the various cities – member and not in the history of Greece as a unitary State. The main cities developed after 776 BC was Sparta, Athens, Argos, Corinth, Miletus, Knossos, Biota and Ephesus. The 8th century BC Greek colonization begins, and so formed new cities within and outside of Greece such as Trabzon, Odessa, Abydos, Corfu, Naykratis in Egypt, Marseilles in France, the Gelas and Syracuse in Sicily, Byzantium, Rigio, Pompeii, Tares and Crotone in Italy, Alalia in Corsica, Apollonia, Epidamnos, etc. The establishment of colonies led to the influence of Greek thought and Greek culture in the lives of local populations, the Greek alphabet is known and the Greek products and artworks penetrate foreign markets. While the Greeks accept several influences from the culture and the culture of other peoples and this coupled with the economic development of the colonies was an important factor for further development of Greek culture. Then cut and the first Greek currency by Phidias in Argos and begins to be used in transactions. And while the period of economic boom has soared, begin rivalries and the civil wars between various cities of Greece, which weakens their strength and makes them vulnerable and easy target for foreign conquerors specifically Persians. The war between the two nations lasted 43 years (492 – 449 BC) years with the victory of Greece, while in Greek history was written golden heroic deeds pages as the battle of Marathon, the battle at Thermopylae with the sacrifice of the King of Sparta, Leonida and the 300, the battle of Salamis, and the battle of Platees where all the Greek army was joined and it was a total victory against the Persians and they managed to forfeited this threat. The next ten years there is again a new period of prosperity and reconstruction of the Greek cities, but disturbed again from a long-standing civil war (431-404 BC) between Athens and Sparta which lasted for 27 years and ended with the victory of Sparta. At the same time comes to the fore the Macedonian State and the King Fillips the second, manages to make the idea of a Union of Greek cities as essential for the survival of Hellenism. It reached 337 BC and begins a new period for unified Greece. Great Alexander who successes his father, manages to lengthen the borders of the Greek State and to spread culture until the depths of the East. Unfortunately his premature death weakened the great empire because his successor’s generals proved not able to preserve its integrity.

The Romans as the new power managed to subjugate the largest portion of the great State in 146 BC, and established the Roman Empire divided around the 2nd century in East based in Istanbul and Western based in Rome.The Western Empire lasted until 476 BC and the Eastern known as the Byzantine Empire until 1453 BC. For 1000 years Greece was at the top and created amazing progress projects. After the conquest of Constantinople by the Turkey, the whole Greece collapses. Four hundred years later the Greeks tried to escape and the Greek State was instauration in 1827 with capital Nafplio and later in 1834, Athens. Due to its geographical position tangled several times with neighbors but it was also involved occasionally in intrastate conflicts, but nearly 70 years, Greece is going through a period of calm on and tries to recover in many areas.

The position of Greece within the world history is important because the ancient Greek spirit nourished and educated the whole civilized world with the ideas and lessons.Is the country where the idea of democracy and of the Olympic Games was born, which first took place in ancient Olympia in 776 BC.

Greece is the hometown of heroes, glorious politicians and generals and reputable people of letters and arts. It is the birthplace of remarkable speech makers, significant philosophers, scientists and inventors.

Important poets, writers, speech makers and comedians, such as Homer, Hesiod, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, Pindar, Demosthenes, Lycia, Aeschines, Aristotle, Herodotus and Thucydides, philosophers in whose wise words bow our heads up until today such as Diogenes, Heraclitus, Socrates and Platon, eminent mathematicians such as Pythagoras, Thales Thrasybulus, Archimedes, Euclid, and Hippocrates, the father of medicine Asclepius, the pioneering architects Damon and Phidias, sculptors who made masterpieces such as Praxiteles, Lysippus, Peonies and Myron born in this country and have won the respect and esteem throughout the world.

Remarkably and with amazing beauty specimens of Greek culture is the masterpiece of ancient architecture of the Parthenon, the Herodium, Erechtheio, the Temple of Sounio and Olympia, the Temple of Apteryx Nikes, the palaces of Knossos until now and Phaistos, the statue of the Nikes of Samothrace and the Aphrodite of Milos (located in the Louvre in Paris), Hermes of Praksitelous, the diskobolos of Myrwna, the Caryatid and thousands of other findings that decorate the museums not only in Greece but also of several European countries. These works of art and the open-air museums in each part of the Greek land reflects the splendor of ancient Greek culture and Greek spirit and cause worldwide admiration. Of course, the country's history is not written in a few pages nor ends here. New pages will be added continuously and there are a lot of Greeks who excel in the fields of science and letters, but also in other areas both in Greece and internationally.

The Odeum of Herod Atticus

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