Classical Greece: history, cities, wars and culture

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Classical Greece is much more than a handful of temples and mythsIt is a very long historical process that begins in the prehistory of the Aegean, passes through the Minoan and Mycenaean cultures, survives dark ages, and ends integrated into the Roman world. Along this path, the polisDemocracy, philosophy, the Greek theatre, an impeccable art and a way of understanding politics and war that we still study today.

When we talk about "classical Greece" we usually think immediately of Athens and SpartaThe Greeks, in the Greco-Persian Wars or in Alexander the Great conquering half the world, are just the tip of the iceberg. Behind it lies a very particular geography, diverse economies, opposing political systems, shared religions, striking social practices (such as pederasty or sacred prostitution), and a network of colonies that dotted the Mediterranean with Greek cities.

Chronological framework and major stages of classical Greece

Experts do not entirely agree on exactly where "ancient Greece" begins and ends.However, they operate within fairly clear boundaries. From the disappearance of the Mycenaean civilization (around 1200 BC) to the Roman conquest of Corinth (146 BC) we can speak, in a broad sense, of the ancient Greek world; within that framework, the “classical period” is usually delimited between the beginning of the 5th century BC (Persian Wars) and the death of Alexander the Great (323 BC).

To fully understand the classical period, it is helpful to keep in mind the preceding stages.because nothing appears from nothing:

• Dark Ages (1200-750 BC)Following the Mycenaean collapse, Linear B writing, the great fortresses, and the palatial administration were lost. The population declined, migrations increased, and the economy was reduced to subsistence agriculture. Pottery went through protogeometric and geometric phases.
• Archaic era (750-500 BC)Cities are reborn, and the use of Greek alphabet Derived from Phoenician, the first written laws appear, tyrannies and oligarchies are consolidated, and a massive colonization of the Mediterranean and Pontus is undertaken. The confrontation between Athens and Sparta begins to take shape.
• Classic period (500-323 BC): Greco-Persian Wars, Atlantic-Ionian Hegemony, Rise and Crisis of Athenian Democracy, Peloponnesian War, Spartan and Theban Hegemonies, Rise of Macedonia and Alexander's Campaigns.
• Hellenistic period (323-146 BC)Alexander's successors divided his empire into large kingdoms (Ptolemaic, Seleucid, Antigonid, etc.), Greek culture blended with Eastern traditions, the Greek cities of the mainland lost ground to centers like Alexandria or Antioch, and Rome gradually gained power.

Beyond 146 BC we usually speak of “Roman Greece”, a time when Greek cities lost political independence but retained enormous cultural weight within an increasingly Hellenized Roman Empire, especially in its eastern half.

Geography of the Greek world: Mainland Greece, Asia Minor and islands

The Greeks themselves called themselves Hellenes and the whole of their lands HellasThat space was not a compact territory, but a mosaic of mountainous regions, small plains, and indented coastlines, distributed among:

• La Balkan Peninsulawith regions such as Thessaly, Macedonia, Boeotia, Attica, Laconia, Argolis or Messenia.
• The coasts of Asia Minor (present-day Türkiye), with areas such as Aeolis, Ionia and Doris, full of Greek cities.
• The aegean islandsCrete, Euboea, the Cyclades, the Dodecanese, Chios, Lesbos, Rhodes, among many others.

Geography greatly influenced politics and economicsThe mountains fragmented the territory, hindered the formation of large kingdoms, and favored small, autonomous communities: the famous polisIn return, the long coastlines and abundance of natural harbors drew the Greeks to the sea, to trade, and to colonization.

Natural resources varied greatly from region to regionAttica had important silver mines; iron was mined in Laconia, Boeotia, and Euboea; Euboea also had copper, but needed to import tin. Macedonia was rich in gold. The abundance of quality clay gave rise to a powerful pottery industry, essential for foreign trade, while marble and stone allowed for monumental architecture that we still admire today.

The Aegean islands acted as strategic nodes for communication and tradeEuboea combined hills, fertile soils, and copper; in the Cyclades, some islands were volcanic and others excellent for vines and citrus fruits, and Paros and Siphnos thrived on marble and silver. In the Dodecanese, Samos, Ikaria, and Rhodes became key agricultural and commercial centers on the routes to Egypt and the East.

From Aegean prehistory to the Dark Ages

The first traces of human presence in Greek territory date back to the Paleolithic periodHowever, it was around 7000 BC, during the Neolithic period, that settled communities practicing agriculture, livestock farming, and pottery were documented. Over time, they adopted bronze tools and came into contact with immigrant populations.

Between the end of the 3rd millennium and the 2nd millennium BC, the so-called Helladic period developed.which historians divide into several phases:

• Early Helladic (2600-2000 BC): agrarian pottery populations, probably speaking non-Indo-European languages, dominate the Aegean.
• Middle Helladic (2000-1600 BC): improved pottery, use of the horse and new funerary practices.
• Late Helladic or Mycenaean (1600-1150 BC): irruption of Indo-European peoples (Achaeans, Ionians), knowledge of metals, war chariots, monumental fortifications in Mycenae, Tiryns or Pylos, intense trade with Troy, Sicily or Italy and expansion through the eastern Aegean.

Meanwhile, in Crete, the Minoan civilization flourished, centered in Knossos.The Minoans and Mycenaeans maintained close relations; the latter probably assimilated many features of the former. Cretan palaces display a remarkable level of technical sophistication (sanitary facilities, ventilation systems, frescoes, decorative weapons), and their power was such that they were not even surrounded by walls.

Both civilizations collapsed around the 12th century BC.The causes of this collapse are still debated: invasions by the Dorians or Sea Peoples, natural disasters, or internal crises. This collapse gave way to what is known as the Dark Age (1200-750 BC), marked by the disappearance of Linear B writing, demographic decline, mass migrations, artistic impoverishment and abandonment of monumental architecture.

In the Dark Ages, the economy is reduced to the basics.Subsistence agriculture practiced by slaves, day laborers, and sharecroppers; limited livestock farming concentrated in the hands of a few; small communities of a few dozen people, with an increase in nomadism. Mycenaean cults survived, but pottery and the arts declined, and only gradually, in the Protogeometric and Geometric periods, did technical improvement begin to appear.

Birth of the polis and colonial expansion

Between the 8th and 6th centuries BC, Greece emerged from that "darkness" and saw the birth of the polis.The city-state as the fundamental political unit. Each polis is a community of citizens with its own institutions, laws, and customs, as well as a territory and dependent villages.

Family clan organization gives way to more complex urban communitiesThe mountains still separate valleys and plains, so the natural order is not a large unified kingdom, but a constellation of small, independent cities that, nevertheless, share language, religion, and many values. Herodotus could classify the poleis by tribes, but politically they were fiercely protective of their autonomy.

The initial regimes are usually monarchies of limited scopewhich are being replaced by aristocratic oligarchiesIn Athens, for example, the former king was reduced to archon, first for life and hereditary, then elected, and finally for one year. The aristocracy shared power, and the rest of the population was excluded from important decisions.

Population growth and a lack of land cause social tensionsIndebted peasants become dependents or slaves; wealthy merchants demand political power; old noble families try to maintain their privileges. In many cities, this results in the emergence of tyrantsLeaders who seize power outside the bounds of the law, often supported by popular sectors fed up with aristocratic abuses.

Between the mid-8th and late 6th century BC, a massive colonization took placeThis period is known as the expansion through Magna Graecia and Pontus. The Greeks founded cities in southern Italy and Sicily (Syracuse, Neapolis), on the southern coast of France (Massalia), on the northeastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Black Sea, in Cyrenaica (Libya), and in key locations such as Byzantium.

These colonies are not subordinate “branches”but rather autonomous city-states, although they often maintained close religious and commercial ties with the metropolis that founded them. Their role was crucial in spreading the Greek language and culture, opening long-distance trade routes, and partially relieving the demographic pressure on their cities of origin.

Athens and Sparta: two opposing models

Athens and Sparta became the two political poles of Greece during the Archaic period.with practically opposing models. This antagonism will mark a good part of classical history.

In Athens, Solon's reforms (early 6th century BC) attempted to defuse the social crisis Freeing peasants enslaved by debt, easing economic burdens, and providing a broader base for political participation, albeit still very limited by wealth, the city eventually fell under the tyranny of Pisistratus and his sons.

It was Cleisthenes, at the end of the 6th century BC, who laid the foundations of future democracyIt reorganizes the population into demes (local constituencies) and new artificial tribes that mix city, coastal, and inland areas; expands the City Council (Boule) to 500 members chosen by lot; and establishes the ostracism, a mechanism to banish for ten years individuals considered dangerous to the system.

During the Pentekontaetia, between the Persian Wars and the Peloponnesian War, Athens completed the construction of its democracyEphialtes thoroughly curtailed the aristocratic powers of the Areopagus and strengthened the popular bodies; Pericles, in the middle of the 5th century BC, generalized the remuneration of public offices, promoted policies of charity and great public works (such as the Parthenon) financed with the tributes of the Delian League and defined a very restricted citizenship (son of Athenian father and mother).

In Sparta, on the other hand, a dual monarchy and a markedly aristocratic and militarized system were maintained.Society is divided into three main groups: the homoi (“equals”), full Spartan citizens; the periecos, free inhabitants but without political rights, dedicated to commerce and crafts; and the helots, a mass of subjugated population that works the land and serves as the economic base of the system.

The Spartan constitution, attributed to the mythical Lycurgus, combines monarchical, oligarchic, and popular elementsTwo hereditary kings share power (mainly military and religious), overseen by a college of five ephors elected annually; the Gerousia, a council of elders made up of 28 gerontes and the two kings, exercises high-level legislative and judicial functions; and the Apella (assembly of male citizens over 30 years of age) ratifies, with hardly any debate, the proposals of the higher bodies.

The Spartan state focuses obsessively on military training and internal control. The agogue It is an extremely rigorous public education system: from the age of seven, children live in groups, train naked and barefoot, sleep on makeshift beds, endure hunger and cold to toughen them up, and are closely watched by the ephors. After various phases and rites of passage (including tests such as ritual flagellation before the altar of Artemis Orthia), they only attain full citizenship at the age of thirty.

Adult male life revolves around communal meals (sisitias) and military serviceCitizens dine each night in closed groups, consuming frugal diets such as the famous "black broth," and only those who participate in these meals maintain their citizenship. The state controls even private life: marriage and procreation are encouraged, single people are punished, and unusual arrangements are permitted to ensure healthy offspring.

Greco-Persian Wars: Greece versus the Persian Empire

The spectacular start of the classical period is marked by the clash between the Greek city-states and the Persian Empire.Persians and Medes, Indo-European peoples settled on the Iranian plateau, created under the Achaemenid dynasty a territorial colossus stretching from the Indus to the Aegean. Cyrus the Great subdued the Medes, conquered Lydia and its Ionian cities, and annexed Babylon and much of Asia.

The Greek cities of Asia Minor, integrated into the Persian system, suffer heavy tax pressure and lose their commercial role at the hands of Phoenicians favored by the king. Furthermore, the Persians support tyrannical aristocratic regimes, which equates the struggle for local democracy with resistance against the eastern dominator.

In 499 BC the Ionian revolt broke out, with Miletus at its head.Aristagoras, their tyrant, after failing in an expedition to Naxos, leads an uprising that spreads throughout Ionia. Athens and Eretria send aid and even go so far as to burn Sardis, but the Persian response proves devastating: the Greek fleet is defeated at Lade, Miletus falls in 493, and the rebellion collapses.

Darius I decides to punish the city-states of the continent that have supported the revolt and, in the process, extend his dominionAfter a failed campaign in Thrace and a first unsuccessful attempt to penetrate from the north, he organized a large expedition that landed on the plain of Marathon in 490 BC. Sparta, occupied with its religious festivals, did not arrive in time; Athens, with Miltiades in command, and the small city of Plataea put up a fight and achieved a surprising victory.

Ten years later, Xerxes I prepares a much more ambitious invasionHe assembles a huge army and an impressive fleet, opens a canal in Mount Athos to avoid shipwrecks like those of Mardonius, secures support in Thessaly and Boeotia, and counts on the alliance of Carthage to distract the Greek colonies of Sicily.

Faced with this threat, the city-states formed a Panhellenic League under Spartan leadership.The decision was made to close the land pass at Thermopylae and the sea pass at Artemisium. Leonidas heroically resisted the Persian advance in the strait, but eventually fell with his 300 Spartans and some allies; with the passage lost, the Greek fleet retreated south.

Athens is evacuated and captured and burned by the PersiansBut the key will be at sea. The Greek fleet, formally commanded by the Spartan Eurybiades, actually follows Themistocles' strategy and lures the Persian fleet into the Strait of Salamis, where the enemy's numerical superiority becomes an obstacle and the Greek triremes achieve a resounding victory.

Xerxes returns to Asia and leaves Mardonius in Greece with a large army.After a campaign of probing and peace offers (rejected by Athens), both sides clashed on the plain of Plataea in 479 BC. There, the Spartan hoplites and their allies won a decisive victory. That same year, the Greek fleet triumphed at Mycale, off the coast of Asia Minor, and the Ionian cities rose up again.

Delian League and Athenian Hegemony

Once the great battles are over, the Persian threat does not disappear overnight.The cities of the Aegean and the Asian coast seek a stable defense structure and group themselves into a symmachia (alliance) based at the sanctuary of Apollo on Delos, the famous Delian League, led by Athens as hegemon.

In principle, each allied city contributes ships and/or a tribute (phoros) in moneycalculated according to their capacity. With these resources, they maintained a joint fleet that continued to harass the Persians on various fronts (Thrace, Hellespont, Cyprus, Egypt). However, over time, Athens transformed this alliance into a true maritime empire.

In 454 BC the League's treasury was moved from Delos to the Acropolis of AthensFrom then on, a substantial portion of the tributes funded Athenian monumental works and the functioning of its democracy (payments to juries, councilors, and magistrates). Cities that attempted to leave the League or reduce their contributions were punished with Athenian garrisons, destruction of city walls, or the imposition of cleruchies (Athenian settlers with plots of land in allied territory).

Athenian hegemony brings with it both advantages and tensionsOn the one hand, it guarantees a degree of security on maritime routes, standardizes monetary and legal aspects, and facilitates the movement of people and ideas. On the other hand, it drastically curtails the autonomy of many city-states and clashes with the interests of powers like Corinth and Aegina, allies of Sparta.

The Peace of Callias (449 BC) consolidated the Persian withdrawal from the AegeanHowever, this did not eliminate internal friction between Greek factions. The Thirty Years' Peace (446/445 BC) attempted to freeze the situation: Athens dominated the sea and the Ionian world; Sparta, mainland Greece and the Peloponnese. Even so, tensions continued to build.

The Peloponnesian War and the decline of the classical polis

The Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC), narrated in detail by Thucydides, is the great internal conflict of the classical Greek world.At its core, it pits the two major political and military blocs against each other: the Delian League, led by a democratic and thalassocratic Athens, and the Peloponnesian League, led by an oligarchic and land-based Sparta.

Thucydides distinguishes several phases, although the reality was very complicated.The so-called Archidamian War (431-421 BC) saw the Spartan king Archidamus II periodically invade Attica, while Athens avoided land battles and relied on its fleet. A devastating plague ravaged the city in the early years of the conflict and killed a large part of the population, including Pericles himself.

After years of attrition, the Peace of Nicias (421 BC) attempted to end the hostilities.But it is only an unstable truce. In 415 BC, Athens makes a huge strategic error: the expedition to Sicily. It enters a local war between Segesta and Selinus and sends a gigantic armada to attack Syracuse; the result, after political twists and turns (including the flight of Alcibiades), is a military and economic disaster.

From there begins what is sometimes called the Decelean War or Ionian phase (413-404 BC)Sparta occupies the Attic deme of Decelea, from where it harasses the Athenian camp year-round, and explicitly allies itself with Persia, which clearly sees the benefit of weakening Athens. Many cities of the League revolt, and Sparta helps them.

In Athens, oligarchic coups such as the Coup of the Four Hundred (411 BC) took place.They established a restricted government with Spartan and Persian support, although democracy would later be restored. The Athenian fleet still achieved some brilliant victories, such as that of Arginusae (406 BC), but its capacity was waning.

The naval battle of Aegospotami (405 BC), in the Hellespont, marks the point of no returnLysander, the Spartan admiral, destroyed virtually the entire Athenian fleet and cut off the grain supply arriving via the straits. In 404 BC, Athens capitulated: it tore down its Long Walls, surrendered its few remaining ships, and accepted a brief oligarchic regime under the Thirty Tyrants.

The war leaves all of Greece exhaustedSparta enjoyed a short and troubled hegemony; internal inequalities within its own citizenry worsened. New alliances, such as the League of Corinth and the Boeotian League, and new hegemonies, such as Theban one after the victory at Leuctra (371 BC) and the liberation of Messenia, soon emerged.

Macedonia, Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic world

In this context of weakened cities, a new power emerges: MacedoniaMacedonia, a kingdom in northern Greece, with a Greek language and culture but considered "barbaric" by many southern Greeks. Philip II (359-336 BC) thoroughly reformed his army (the famous Macedonian phalanx with long sarissas), unified his kingdom, and embarked on a systematic expansion.

In twenty years Philip dominated Thessaly, Thrace and much of central GreeceThe Battle of Chaeronea (338 BC) dealt a final blow to the system of autonomous city-states: the Macedonian army defeated the allied forces of Athens and Thebes. Shortly afterward, Philip convened the League of Corinth, a federation of cities under Macedonian hegemony, with the official objective of waging a pan-Hellenic war against Persia.

Philip was assassinated in 336 BC and succeeded by his son AlexanderEducated by Aristotle, Alexander resumed the campaign against Persia and in a few years achieved a string of spectacular victories (Granicus, Issus, Gaugamela), overthrew the Achaemenid dynasty, conquered Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, and reached the Indus River. His empire stretched from the Balkans to India.

The premature death of Alexander in Babylon (323 BC) opens a long period of wars between his generals, the Diadochi.Finally, his empire fragmented into several Hellenistic kingdoms: the Ptolemaic in Egypt, the Seleucid in the Levant and Inner Asia, the Antigonid in Macedonia, and smaller entities in Central Asia and India.

In the Hellenistic world, "Greece proper" loses prominenceThe great cultural centers were Alexandria, Pergamon, and Antioch, with their libraries, philosophical schools, and royal patronage. Literature became dominant. KoineGreek, a common variety of Greek that served as a lingua franca from Egypt to Central Asia. Greek culture blended with local traditions in a rich syncretism.

Rome enters the scene as an increasingly influential playerFrom the 3rd century BC onwards, the Macedonian wars and interventions in Greece (always employing the "divide and conquer" strategy) gradually eroded the autonomy of the city-states and the Hellenistic kingdoms themselves. Perseus' defeat at Pydna (168 BC) marked the end of independent Macedonia, and the destruction of Corinth (146 BC) signified the full integration of Greece into the Roman system.

Society, slavery and daily life in classical Greece

Classical Greek society was structured around citizenship.But not everyone enjoys it. In Athens, only adult males, sons of Athenian parents and registered in a deme, are full citizens. Female citizens count towards the transmission of status, but they do not participate in politics.

Below the civic body are the metics and the slaves. The metics They are resident foreigners with formal permits and specific tax obligations; many are merchants, artisans, or bankers and live comfortably, but without political rights and, with few exceptions, without full access to real estate ownership. slaves They are a huge part of the population, especially in wealthy cities: they may be prisoners of war, people reduced to servitude due to debt in other contexts, or children of slaves.

Slavery takes on different forms depending on the polis.In Sparta, helots were state slaves assigned to citizen families; in Athens, most slaves worked in homes, workshops, mines, or as public servants (for example, detecting counterfeit currency). In many cases, they could start families, accumulate some wealth, and even buy their freedom, but they remained, by definition, the property of others.

Daily life is heavily influenced by gender and statusMale citizens alternated between political obligations (attendance at the assembly, juries, magistracies), military duties (service as hoplites or sailors), and social obligations (banquets, gymnasiums, religious rites). Free women were primarily occupied with the home, childcare, and the internal management of the household, with varying degrees of visibility depending on the city (Spartan women, for example, enjoyed greater autonomy and public presence than Athenian women).

In matters of sexuality and gender, the Greek world is more varied than stereotypes suggest.There are no general laws that punish specific orientations, but there are norms regarding age, roles, and contexts; male pedophilia, for example, is presented as an educational relationship between an adult and a pubescent adolescent, with strong social codes. Relationships between women appear in literature (Sappho, certain myths), although less visible.

Prostitution is very prevalent and can range from marginal to high-class.. The hetairai They are cultured courtesans, often foreigners or freedwomen, who pay taxes, receive an education, and frequent symposia; figures like Aspasia of Miletus actively participate in the informal intellectual and political life of Athens. At the same time, there is common prostitution and, in some sanctuaries of Aphrodite and her eastern predecessors, forms of sacred prostitution associated with rituals.

Religion, mythology and Panhellenic festivals

Greek religion is polytheistic, civic, and closely linked to public life.Each polis has its own patron gods and festivals, but there is a shared pantheon in which the following stand out: twelve Olympians: Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Ares, Hermes, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Demeter and Dionysus.

Alongside these major gods there are a multitude of minor deities, heroes, and daemons.Figures like Hades and Persephone rule the underworld; Hestia watches over the hearth; Nike personifies victory; Heracles and Achilles, semi-divine heroes, embody models of strength and courage. Mythology offers accounts of the origin of the world, the gods, and human institutions, and its repertoire includes legendary animalsMythology is transmitted primarily through poetry (Homer, Hesiod) and theater.

Religious practices include sacrifices, processions, athletic and musical competitions, ritual banquets, and oracles.The great Panhellenic sanctuaries (Olympia for Zeus, Delphi for Apollo, Nemea or Isthmia, among others) are centers of worship, prestige, and political and cultural exchange.

The Panhellenic athletic competitions are a distinctive feature of Greek culture. The OlympicsDocumented since 776 BC, these games bring together athletes from multiple poleis every four years; during their celebration a sacred truce is proclaimed to guarantee the safe journey of participants and spectators, and the victors received laurel wreaths. There are also Pythian Games in Delphi, Nemeans in Nemea and Isthmians on the Isthmus of Corinth, all with programs of athletic, equestrian and often musical or poetic events.

Women also participate in specific competitions, such as the Heraean Games in honor of Herawith races by age categories. In addition, many civic festivals, such as the Panathenaea in Athens, combine ritual, processions, sporting and artistic competitions, and reinforce civic identity.

Culture, education, philosophy and art

Education in classical Greece, except in Sparta, was primarily private.From the age of seven, boys from well-to-do families attend different schools: with the grammatistes They learn reading, writing, and arithmetic; with the kitharistesMusic and singing; with the paedotribesPhysical exercise. A slave teacher accompanies and supervises them. From the age of twelve, physical training becomes more important (wrestling, running, discus, javelin) and some young people continue higher studies in philosophical academies.

The ideal paideia aims to form well-rounded citizens, not specialists in a trade.General knowledge, the ability to speak well in public, physical proficiency through sports, and familiarity with poetry and music were considered essential. In the 4th century BC, schools such as Plato's Academy and Aristotle's Lyceum offered comprehensive programs in philosophy, science, ethics, and politics.

Greek philosophy, which began with the pre-Socratics, reached a brutal development in the classical periodFrom the attempts to explain the cosmos by Thales, Anaximander, Heraclitus, or Parmenides, we move on to Socrates' ethical and political reflectionand then to the great systems of Plato and Aristotle, which will address almost all fields of knowledge: metaphysics, logic, ethics, politics, biology, physics, aesthetics.

At the same time, a very rich literature is developingHomer, although earlier than the strict classical period, continues to define the canon with the Iliad and the OdiseaAeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides created tragedies that explored to the limit the tensions between individual, law, fate, and gods, and helped to define the dramatic workAristophanes cultivated political and social comedy with biting wit. Historians such as Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon invented different ways of recounting the past.

Classical art reached its zenith in the Age of PericlesSculpture evolves from archaic rigidity to the idealized naturalism of the Classical period, with masters such as Myron, Polyclitus, and Phidias; Doric and Ionic architecture is perfected in temples such as the Parthenon; black and red figure pottery displays an inexhaustible repertoire of mythological, warlike, and everyday scenes.

Music, although less preserved in terms of scores, had an enormous impact on Greek life.Scales, modes, and harmonies are theorized; string instruments (lyre, zither, pandura), wind instruments (aulos, double flutes), and percussion are used. Professional musicians' associations exist, and musical proficiency is a sign of social refinement.

Classical Greece is a laboratory in which political forms are tested, philosophical traditions are established, and artistic models are created. that would continue to inspire the Renaissance, Neoclassicism and, in one way or another, Western culture to this day, even when that political Greece disappeared as an independent whole and was diluted first into the Hellenistic world and then into the Roman world.