Ancient Greek History

The ancient Greeks believed there were a great number of gods and goddesses. These gods had control over many different aspects of life on earth. In many ways they were very human. They could be kind or mean, angry or pleasant, cruel or loving. They fell in love with each other, argued with each other and even stole from each other.

The story of Jason and his crew of Argonauts is one of the best-known and most beloved myths of all time. Blockbuster movies have been made about it, and legendary explorer and historian Tim Severin even constructed a replica of the Argo in 1984 and succeeded in sailing it to Colchis (modern-day Georgia). In the ancient world too, this myth was told and retold time and again.

Greek Mythology is one of the most popular of mythologies. The creativity and imagination of the Greek has lingered through time and inspired as well as influenced many of the heroes of nowadays Western fiction.

Thanks to their enthralling narratives and relatable characters, Greek myths have captured our imagination for millennia. Despite being thousands of years old, these tales still manage to touch on something in the core of our souls, connecting humans from across all time periods and all stages of life. That is because myths speak to raw truths that are felt and observed by us all, and to study them is to study that which shapes our world and that which makes us human.

Magic - as opposed to religion, personal or otherwise - is a notoriously difficult concept to pin down. In ancient Greece, "magic was not distinct from religion, rather an unwelcome, improper expression of it." In other words, it's important not to think of it as a different definition of magic but to instead understand how the ancient Greeks believed certain aspects of magic functioned in their world.

Slavery was a universal and totally accepted feature of ancient Greek society, so much so that while the conditions under which slaves lived and worked varied considerably, many ordinary citizens kept at least one slave, often working alongside their owners, while larger commercial enterprises involved huge numbers, many of whom could rise to positions of authority and wealth. It was possible for some slaves to buy their freedom, while others lived and died in conditions of appalling brutality.

As we explore the ancient deities from Greece (also copied and somewhat altered by the Romans), we can find many fascinating stories and dramatic characteristics in them. Aside from looking at gods like Mercury and Hades, we will also look at stories that involve Eros (or Cupid), Psyche (the origin of a lot of our words in the dictionary), and the infamous and seductive nymphs and satyrs.

In 353 BCE, when King Mausolus of Halicarnassus passed away, his sister and queen Artemisia was inconsolable, but she found a way to honor him through finishing a project that they had started together during his life: the construction of a mausoleum that was so marvelous it would later be considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

Many people know about the glories of ancient Greece: the Acropolis, the Parthenon, the sculptures, the writings of Homer, and the adventures of Achilles and Jason and the Argonauts. They know about the Greek gods and goddesses, of Zeus, Athena, Apollo, Hermes, Aphrodite, Poseidon, and many others. Even the term “Trojan Horse", named after the trick that the Greeks played on the inhabitants of Troy, has made it into our language. Ancient Greece gave us philosophy, math, medicine, the roots of many languages, and so much more.

The Pan-Hellenic Games is the collective term for the four major sports festivals held in ancient Greece. These include the Olympic Games, held in honor of Zeus at Olympia every four years; the Pythian Games in honor of Apollo, held at Delphi every four years; the Nemean Games, held to celebrate Zeus and Heracles at Nemea near Corinth every two years; and the Isthmian Games, honoring Poseidon at Isthmia every two years. The main events at all of the games were chariot racing, wrestling, boxing, the pankration, the stadion, various other foot races, and the pentathlon.

In the third century BC, Stoicism arose in response to and under the influence of these older schools, combining many of the best theories from each into a more cohesive whole. With a greater flexibility and more practical application to everyday life, Stoicism quickly became a very popular school of thought, a growth made exponential by its introduction to the Romans.

To many in the ancient world, their gods and goddesses were all around them and could be seen daily in nature, which meant that nearly every kind of animal, both domestic and wild, was associated with a god or goddess. In places like Egypt and Greece, deities and other mythological characters were often depicted with human bodies and animal heads, and various Greek religious rituals relied on sacrificing animals. Animals were constantly involved in the core elements of Greek society and cults.

Modern perceptions of Classical Greece are almost invariably based on Athens and Sparta, but there are perhaps few areas as consistently undervalued as the island of Rhodes. Although solidly part of the Greek world for as long as there has been one, Rhodes, located just off the coast of Asia Minor, was also from its earliest times a port opening to the civilizations of the Eastern Mediterranean, and Rhodes was involved in every significant moment in ancient Greek history.

For those who seek inspiration from the great civilizations of the past, Golden Laurels, Silver Seas offers an accessible, comprehensive, and engaging survey of ancient Greek history. From the devastating Trojan War to the Hellenistic Greek Kingdoms fighting to succeed Alexander, here’s your chance to learn all the key events that marked the history and culture of the ancient Greeks.

For 10 years, the battle raged. Thousands of ancient Greece's best warriors battled their enemies, the Trojans, in a desperate attempt to win back King Meneleus' beautiful wife, Helen. After a decade of fighting and thousands dead, the Greek forces suddenly fell back. Cautiously the Trojans ventured out of the city walls, where they discovered a giant wooden horse and a messenger. Should they accept this peace offering? Or is the gift horse too good to be true?

In virtually all fields of human endeavor, Athens was so much at the forefront of dynamism and innovation that the products of its most brilliant minds remain not only influential, but entirely relevant to this day. In the field of medicine, the great physician Hippocrates not only advanced the practical knowledge of human anatomy and care-giving, but changed the entire face of the medical profession.

There's so much to digest when it comes to History - how do you know where to begin? These incredible short introductions are just the thing for listeners who are beginning to explore ancient history. Get to know the basics on Ancient Egypt, Rome, and Greece, from religious ceremonies to mummification and day to day life. And on Pirates from famous looters to scurvy and hygiene with easy-to-digest, humorous text that is reminiscent of the best-selling Horrible Histories series.

It seems to be a normal, modern-day practice to reduce all the gods of the ancient pantheons to their most basic abstract concepts: Ares represents war; Demeter, agriculture; Aphrodite, love; and so on. In the process, these characters lose any personality with which they might have been imbued over millennia of stories

Graeco-Roman relations in the ancient world are normally assumed to date, essentially, from 146 BC when Rome organized its supervision of Greece through its governors in Macedonia. In fact, the first direct interactions of any note between the two come about during the first Illyrian War in 229 B.C, although, of course there had been contacts of numerous kinds even prior to this date.

Ancient remains are evidence that a huge amount of goods was once moved from one land to another, systematically transported and traded across the Mediterranean. A network of this size, with hundreds of colonies and thousands of ships, had to be well coordinated, and it was thanks to important cities along the Mediterranean coast. One of the most crucial cities in the system was hidden beneath the Greek, Roman, and Crusader ruins of Lebanon: the ancient city of Tyre.