Classical Greece: Key Concepts and Timeline

Time Frame

• Begins around July; ends around March; roughly $400$ years.

City-States and Core Places

• After the Dark Age, Greek city-states form (polis).

• Polis = city-state; Metropolis = city; Acropolis = elevated fort/temple; Agora = open market; Necropolis = city of the dead ruins.

Power Centers

• Sparta = military power; Athens = early organized democracy.

Religion and Culture

• Polytheism; Mount Olympus; gods like Zeus.

Philosophy and Thought

• Socrates: moral questions; Plato: existence and physical things; Aristotle: physics, psychology, and why we do things.

Conflicts and Decline

• Peloponnesian War: Athens vs Sparta; Delian League; Sparta opposition.

• Macedonian rise; Alexander the Great; end of golden age.

Legacy

• Democracy origins; modern governance influence.

• Philosophical and artistic contributions; enduring curiosity.