For many different reasons, the Greek empire under Alexander the Great was eventually conquered by a different force. The Hellenistic Age did not last forever, though. This led to wonderful advancements in philosophy, mathematics, physics, and astronomy, just to name a few. Instead of just being a time when Greek culture was expanding, the Hellenistic Age was a time when Greek culture mixed with Egyptian, Persian, and Asian cultures. This period of time was a lot like the Greek Renaissance, but it was a little bit different. The Greeks called themselves Hellenes, and because Alexander was based in Greece, and had conquered most of the Western world, the whole area controlled by Alexander was called the Hellenistic World. This led to a period of time called the Hellenistic Age. After conquering Greece, Alexander went on to conquer Egypt, Persia, and a big part of Asia Minor, which is east of Persia. The king of Macedonia, an area north of Greece, declared war on Greece and his son, Alexander, continued the conquest of Greece. This led to the next great era in Greece history, after it was conquered by Alexander the Great.ĪLEXANDER THE GREAT AND HELLENISTIC GREECEĪfter the Peloponnesian War, Greece was weak. One of these wars was called the Peloponnesian War, which left the economy and government of Greece weak. This was one of the reasons for different wars with Persia. If Greece had control of the areas next to the sea, then that meant that Greece could control most of the Mediterranean Sea.
Persia was an area to the East of Greece. The arts, including painting, sculpture, mosaic, and metalworking were developed into some of the most beautiful examples of artwork in history.įrom around 500 to 400 BC, Greece went to war with Persia. The government and economy were structured into a form of democracy that we are familiar with today. Philosophy, and the love of thinking and argument was developed and large schools of philosophers asked themselves about the meaning of life.Īrchitecture and the creation of beautiful buildings were important. Pottery was created with beautiful and elaborate designs.
Literature was written, and included everything from detailed histories of Asia Minor to love poetry and public documents. Greeks adopted and utilized a new alphabet, which is very similar to the one we use today. Public games, sporting, and athletic events were an important past time, which eventually led to the creation of the Olympic Games that we still celebrate today! This was a time when Greek religion was important, and the beliefs of the Olympian Gods and Goddesses and the building of temples and shrines dedicated to these gods was important. Greeks broke into new frontiers of culture and entered a period of intellectual vibrancy, or a time when thinking and new ideas and inventions were all over the place! This was a time when Greek culture came back with a vengeance. The time period after the Dark Ages is called the Greek Renaissance. Greeks were not able to trade, but they still kept alive by farming, weaving, and making pottery.Īfter the Dark Ages, Greek culture revived and came back to life. Some historians think that the decline, or fall, in culture was due to invaders called sea-people (like pirates!) who made it impossible for the Greeks on the mainland to trade anything in the Mediterranean Sea, and hurt the Greek economy.Įven though the Greek economy was so weak during the dark ages, Greek culture survived. This period is referred to as the Dark Ages of Greece. Historians aren’t sure why, but in from 1100 to 800 BC, the Mycenaean (or Greek) culture went into a period where we have little evidence of culture, art, reading, and writing. Because the geography of Greece is made up of small valleys, many independent communities developed, rather than one unified state.
The people on the Greek mainland began settling there around 2000 BC. The civilization based on the mainland is called the Mycenaean civilization. Even though the people from Crete were not Greek, they had an important impact on Greek civilization and culture.Ĭrete was a powerful and wealthy empire, and Greeks on the mainland absorbed much of their culture and products, like myths, pottery, writing, and painting styles.
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