Ancient Greece, the cornerstone of Western civilization, was a northeastern Mediterranean society that flourished from the 12th century B.C. to approximately A.D. 600. Through the centuries, Ancient Greece was the cradle of Western thought and culture as the ideals of philosophy, medicine, mathematics, theater, democracy, and others were conceived and flourished at various times. Ancient Greece was also involved in numerous wars, both as city-states such Athens and Sparta vied for supremacy, and as foreign invaders sought to dominate the Peloponnese, the geographic peninsula that was its nexus.
Ancient Greece
Astounding news swept through Greece in the summer of 371 bc. In Boeotia, a crossroads for armies that was usually littered with the dead of its own citizens, the invading Spartans had been beaten, and one of their two kings had been slain in battle. Read more
Ancient Greece
The Macedonian soldiers stood transfixed on the flood plain as the Pauravan army advanced toward them. The ground shook with each step the great lumbering war elephants took as they advanced toward the wide-eyed Greeks. Read more
Ancient Greece
Persian King Xerxes I “The Great” was a man who liked to solicit different opinions before he made a decision on any important matter. Read more
Ancient Greece
In the spring of 334 bc, Alexander of Macedon paused with his army on the western side of the Granicus River. Read more
Ancient Greece
It was raining, raining with a force and intensity few had ever experienced. The Macedonian army was marching upstream near the northern banks of the Hydaspes River in India (now Pakistan), trying to reach a ford under the cloak of darkness. Read more
Ancient Greece
While not a major military power today, from the time of the classical age through the Middle Ages, Greece was the center of several major military dynasties. Read more
Ancient Greece
The kapu kulu, made up of the regularly paid troops, provided the backbone of the Ottoman Empire army. Read more
Ancient Greece
The Greek trireme combined grace, speed, and maneuverability, and it was these qualities, together with its powerful bronze ram, that made it the most powerful warship of its day. Read more
Ancient Greece
The age of Alexander is one of the most celebrated epochs in history, the subject for such Greco-Roman writings as Diodorus, Arrian, and Plutarch. Read more
