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Classical Greece
Sign in to saveAlso known as Hellenic World, The Hellenic World, Hellenic Greece, The Hellenic Greece, The Age of Classical Greece, Age of Classical Greece, Hellenic period
period of ancient Greece from 510 to 323 BC
Classical Greece was the period of ancient Greece from 510 to 323 BC, when Greek city-states like Athens and Sparta reached their peak of cultural and political influence. It matters because this era produced foundational achievements in democracy, philosophy, art, and literature that shaped Western civilization for centuries to come.
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- Commons category
- Classical Greece
- OpenStreetMap tag
- historic:period=classical_greece
- start time
- 0490-00-00
- end time
- 0323-00-00
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The Acropolis and Parthenon, in Athens, a temple to Athena
Classical Greece was a period of around 200 years (the 5th and 4th centuries BC) in Ancient Greece, marked by much of the eastern Aegean and northern regions of Greek culture (such as Ionia and Macedonia) gaining increased autonomy from the Persian Empire; the peak flourishing of democratic Athens; the First and Second Peloponnesian Wars; the Spartan and then Theban hegemonies; and the expansion of Macedonia under Philip II. Much of the early defining mathematics, science, artistic thought (architecture, sculpture), theatre, literature, philosophy, and politics of Western civilization derive from this period of Greek history, which had a powerful influence on the later Roman Empire. Part of the broader era of classical antiquity, the classical Greek era ended after Philip II's unification of most of the Greek world against the common enemy of the Persian Empire, which was conquered within 13 years during the wars of Alexander the Great, Philip's son.