Introductory Note on
Classical Greece
[This note
has been prepared for students in Classics 101 by Ian Johnston, instructor at Malaspina University-College (now Vancouver Island
University). The text is in the public domain, released May 1999, last revised
February 2004.
The note
which follows concentrates on the historical and geographical background.
Those seeking a more wide-ranging introduction to Greek culture should try the
following link: Greek Culture.]
Preliminary Remarks on Names
Students of Classics 101 need to understand that the terms Greece
and Greek can be seriously misleading in the study of ancient
classical culture, if people understand by this term some more or less
homogeneous, politically united nation in a specific place. The following brief
background description should help to explain this point in more detail.
But first a short comment on Greek names rendered into English.
While a few names are easy to render (e.g., Zeus, Ares, Priam,
Paris, and so on), others create certain problems, and hence people tend to
turn Greek names into English equivalents in different ways. Some, for example,
prefer -c to -k (e.g., Attica and Attika;
Cassandra and Kassandra), -aus
to -aos (e.g., Menelaus and Menelaos), -ch to -kh (e.g., Achilles, Akhilles,
Akhilleus; Andromache, Andromakhe),
-ae to -ai (e.g.,
Clytaemnestra, Klytaimnestra). Until fairly recent
times, the conventional spelling tended to Latinize the names, preferring -us
or -aus, for example, to -os or -aos, -ae to-ai, using -c rather
than -k and -ch rather than -kh, and so on. Hence in English literature, the
common spellings reflect this tendency (e.g., Menelaus, Pandarus,
Clytaemnestra, Achaeans, Atreidae, and so on). These
pages follow that older tradition.
Sometime Greek names have more colloquial English equivalents.
Some common ones, for example, are Ajax (for Aias),
Hercules (for Herakles), and Greeks (for Hellenes).
In each of these options the first spelling is the more traditional.
Many Greek names have Latin equivalents (e.g., Jove for Zeus,
Ulysses for Odysseus, Venus for Aphrodite). These you
should never use, unless you are working with a Latin text which has
these Latin equivalents. Students of English literature should note that until
fairly recent times, writers commonly used the Latin names to refer to Greek
literary characters and gods.
A Note on the Geography of Greece
When we talk about Classical Greece we are generally referring to
a relatively small area in the Eastern Mediterranean, extending from present
day southern Italy to the shores of the Black Sea and Asia Minor (now Turkey).
This area includes various coastal regions, what we now recognize as Mainland
Greece, and a large number of islands, some large (e.g., Crete, Cyprus, Rhodes)
and some quite small.
Mainland Greece, which is an outward southern extension of the
Balkan Mountains, falls into a number of clear geographical divisions. In the
north is Macedonia (in classical Greek times not considered a full part
of Greek civilization), Thessaly (immediately to the south of
Macedonia), and Epirus (west of Thessaly, not labeled on the above map).
Below Thessaly lies Central Greece, the most important regions of which is Boeotia and the city state of Thebes (home
of Oedipus, Cadmus, Teiresias). Immediately off the
east coast of Central Greece is a large island, Euboea.
Central Greece leads to a large southern promontory, called the Peloponnese,
joined to the rest of Mainland Greece by a narrow isthmus, at the west end of
which is the important city state of Corinth. Hence, the isthmus is
called the Isthmus of Corinth, and it is a geographical feature of major
strategic importance, since any land army seeking to conquer the region or to move
from the Peloponnese to invade Attica or Boeotia must pass through this narrow
neck of land. The region immediately to the east of the Isthmus of Corinth is
called Attica, and the chief city of this region is Athens. Athens
is a few miles inland from the sea; its port is called Pireus.
South of the Isthmus of Corinth is the large area of Mainland
Greece called the Peloponnese. Immediately to
the south of the isthmus is an area called the Argolid,
a centre of Mycenaean civilization, with the important cities of Argos
(home of Agamemnon, Clytaemnestra, and Orestes) and Mycenae.
The southernmost portion of the Peloponnese is called Laconia,
and the chief city state of the region is Sparta, at some distance from
the sea and largely hemmed in by mountains. Note that the distance from
Macedonia to Sparta as the crow flies (i.e., the approximate length of Mainland
Greece) is about 350 miles. The distance from Sparta to Athens by road is about
150 miles. A famous runner is said to have covered that distance in two days.
To the west of Mainland Greece is the Ionian Sea,
containing a number of islands, some large like Corfu, and some smaller,
like Ithaca (home of Odysseus). To the east of Mainland Greece is the Aegean
Sea, with a chain of many islands between the mainland and the coast of
Asia Minor.
The largest and most important of the Aegean Islands are Crete,
Rhodes, Chios, and Lesbos. Another important Greek island,
Cyprus, lies further east. Because of these islands, it is possible to
sail from Mainland Greece to Asia Minor and stay within sight of land almost
all the way.
Note the prominent feature of the northern Aegean in the large
three-pronged promontory extending south just east of Macedonia. This important
area is called Chalcidice (birth place of Aristotle).
In the north-east corner of the Aegean is the narrow entrance to
the Propontis, an entrance called the Hellespont.
To the north-east of the Propontis is the Black
Sea, with the narrow channel, the Bosphorus,
separating Asia and Eastern Europe (the present site of Istanbul). Located on
the Asian mainland, just at the entrance to the Hellespont is the city of Troy
(Ilium or Ilion).
To the south of Troy, all down the coast of Asia Minor, is a
series of important Greek city-states (e.g., Miletus, Halicarnassus),
several originally established as colonies of cities on the mainland. Many of
the most important literary figures in classical Greek civilization came from
this coast of Asia Minor (called Ionia) or the islands immediately
adjacent to it (e.g., Thales, Anaximander, Sappho, Herodotus, Homer).
To the west of Mainland Greece, a number of Greek cities,
originating as colonies, developed in Sicily and southern Italy. The most
important of these is Syracuse, the largest city in Sicily.
We use the term Greece to include all these areas of Greek culture
and civilization. But it is important not to be misled into thinking that the
single name refers to a high degree of ethnic and political solidarity among a
homogeneous people, the Greeks. The classical Greeks in this area thought of
themselves as related and as superior to those who were not Greek, but the
city-states tended to be fiercely independent of each other, spent much of
their time fighting amongst themselves, and had distinctly different dialects.
At times of extreme danger (e.g., from an invasion of the Persians) the city
states might band together into a temporary alliance, but as soon as the danger
passed, the city-states resumed their independent and frequently quarrelsome
ways. The major cultural event they all celebrated together was the Olympian
Games. They did share a more or less common religion (but a very flexible one)
and regarded some of their traditions as common to all (e.g., Homer).
Within the people we call Greek were somewhat different cultural traditions and
dialects. One major difference is between the Dorians
(headed by Sparta) and the Ionians (led by Athens). Non-Greeks were
called barbarians, because their language sounded crude and unsophisticated to
Greek ears (like "bar-bar-bar" sounds).
Much of the territory included in the area we designate as Greek
territory is very mountainous, with small fertile valleys cut off from
neighbours. Land transportation was difficult and dangerous throughout the
classical period. Hence, within Greece there were many small, independent
city-states, fiercely protective of their territory and, as often as not, very
suspicious of and hostile to their neighbours. We cannot speak of the Greeks in
the classical period as a unified political entity. And it is almost impossible
to keep track of the frequently bewildering shifts in the various alliances
between city states from one year to the next.
The city-states (meaning the city and the adjacent land) were
generally quite small in area and population (made up of citizens, slaves,
resident aliens, women and children). The most populous city state, Athens,
with an area of about 1000 square miles, had in 431 BC a population of about
310,000 (about 45,000 of whom were citizens). Sparta, by contrast, although
occupying a larger and more fertile area of about 3000 square miles, had a
population of about 12,000, the majority of whom were not citizens. Most of the
city states were considerably smaller in area and population than Athens or
Sparta. The term city state (polis), incidentally, refers to the
city and the surrounding territory.
For many city states the natural form of transportation was by
sea. Hence, many city states quickly developed an expertise with ships,
fishing, and overseas trading. The latter activity was especially important for
those city states, like Athens, which had a relatively poor soil for
agriculture. Early in historical time, some parts of Greece, like Attica and
Corinth, were deforested. The resultant soil erosion and rapid off-flow of
water made agriculture difficult and unprofitable. The inhabitants, therefore,
imported grain from Euboea, Thessaly, and Sicily, and cultivated the olive and
vine, to export oil and wine, or developed manufacture (especially pottery).
Sparta, by contrast, located in a rich agricultural area, was much more
self-contained and less committed to trade as essential to its way of life.
Hence, its social and political structure remained far more static and
conservative than in Athens, where the shifting population and the large number
of resident aliens brought about constant pressures for political reform.
To the south of Greece lay Egypt, for much of the time the richest
and most centralized culture in the Mediterranean area. To the east of the
Ionian cities on the coast of Asia Minor, the Persian Empire developed in the
6th and 5th centuries. The complex relationship between this empire and the
various Greek states is a key feature of Greek history up to the point where
Alexander the Great (of Macedon) defeated the Persian Empire in the fourth
century BC.
Throughout Classical Greek times, the Romans were expanding
slowly, consolidating their hold on Italy and the central Mediterranean. But
they did not challenge the Greeks seriously until after the time of Alexander,
finally overcoming the Greek city states in the mid-second century (BC).
The most important geopolitical fact about this area—in Classical Greek times up until modern times—is that it is the traditional meeting place of
Europeans and Asians, often marked by the pressure of Eastern empires pushing
to control the coast of Asia Minor and enter Europe across the Hellespont or of
European powers to extend their control into Asia Minor.
The Origin of the Greeks
Minoan Civilization
Prior to what we call Archaic or Classical Greece, in addition to
the highly developed Egyptians to the south, there existed flourishing
non-Greek Bronze Age civilization in the Aegean. Especially significant is the
Cretan civilization, called the Minoan after the legendary King Minos. This culture seems to have originated with a
migration from Asia Minor to Crete about 3000 BC.
Minoan civilization prospered on Crete. The people built very
large palaces (most famously, the palace of Knossos), developed a form of
hieroglyphic and later linear writing (Linear Script A, not yet deciphered),
created outstanding art (especially pottery and frescoes), and established a
thriving trade over the eastern Mediterranean. The Minoans were obviously very
wealthy and secure; they built their huge palaces without defensive walls. They
also possessed a sophisticated religion which may have featured a Nature
Goddess as its chief deity and a priest-king as the most important official.
In Greek legend, the most famous fact about Minoan civilization
was the notorious labyrinth, at the centre of which was a ferocious wild beast,
half bull, half human (the Minotaur), to whom human sacrifices were made. The Minotaur
was alleged to the result of the sexual union between a fierce bull and queen Pasiphaea, the wife of Minos, the
king. This beast was supposedly killed by the Athenian King Theseus,
with the help of Ariadne, daughter of king Minos. Whatever the truth of this legend, the Minoans do
seem to have practiced a form of bull jumping, with acrobats vaulting over the
horns, either as a religious ceremony or for public entertainment. It seems
highly unlikely, however, that this exercise involved the virtually impossible
stunt of leaping through the bull's horns and along the animal's back (although
that scene is depicted in Minoan frescoes).
One of the great mysteries of Minoan civilization is its sudden
annihilation near the end of the 15th century (BC). Around 1600 BC the palaces
were destroyed and rebuilt, and Minoan civilization reached its peak. Suddenly,
however, around 1400 BC the great palaces were destroyed by fire again, and,
although Crete remained an important force in the Aegean, it never regained the
glory of the Minoan Age. The cause of the final destruction has been variously
explained as an invasion by the Mycenaeans (from
mainland Greece), a civil war, or a massive volcanic explosion of the island of
Thera about 1500 BC (perhaps the greatest natural
disaster to occur since settlements began and a possible source of the legend
about Atlantis).
Civilization of Mycenae
Following the destruction of the Minoan palaces, the people of
Mycenae, in the Peloponnese, came to dominate much of the Aegean. This culture
was centred at Argos and Mycenae (in the Argolid).
Where the Mycenaeans came from and whether or not
they were among the first Greek-speaking peoples to reach Mainland Greece are
disputed questions. It seems that they probably came from Anatolia (now in
Western Turkey) either to escape or as part of the first great wave of
Indo-European people (who in other places became the Hittites).
The Mycenaeans were clearly different
from the Minoans, although much influenced by them. They were a more warlike
people, physically larger, patriarchal in social structure, and with different
burial customs. They had a form of writing, derived from the Minoans, Linear
Script B, which in 1952 was deciphered as a form of Greek (but this fact is
disputed).
The heroes of Homer's epics and the legends of Troy are based on
Mycenaean oral history. The Greeks and modern scholarship date the Trojan War
near the end of the 12th century (BC), traditionally ending in 1184 BC. Given
the fundamental importance of these legends to the history of Greece, one can
understand why the Greeks themselves and so many modern scholars have
identified the Mycenaeans as early Greeks. However,
the evidence for this is not conclusive.
Mycenaean civilization has left many outstanding archaeological
treasures, largely because the Mycenaeans buried
their dead in shaft graves and beehive tombs with a great many rich
possessions. The discovery of these tombs by Schliemann in the late nineteenth
century is one of the most outstanding achievements in archaeology and has led
to a complete reinterpretation of pre-classical Greek history. Schliemann
thought that he had uncovered the grave of Agamemnon. In fact, however, what he
found is probably from about two hundred years before the traditional date for
the Trojan War.
Mycenaean civilization flourished in the 14th and 13th centuries
(BC). Near the end of the 12th century Mycenae and other centres were violently
destroyed, perhaps by the Indo-European Greek-speaking invaders, or the latest
wave of them. Following this destruction (around 1100 BC), the history of
Greece enters what has been called the dark ages. The art of writing was lost.
Of this era, we know almost nothing. The silence is not broken until the 8th
century (BC), when the Homeric epics were composed.
The Arrival of the Greeks
Around 2500 to 2000 BC large groups of Indo-European peoples moved
away from the Pontic regions near the Black Sea to
the west and south, arriving in Macedonia around 2200 BC. In the thousand years
which followed, scholars conjecture, three waves of Indo-Europeans populated
Mainland Greece: the Ionians, the Aeolians, and the Dorians
(the names indicate different dialects of Greek, which persisted throughout
Classical times).
The actual development of the Greek language is disputed. It seems
unlikely that the immigrants brought Greek (in one or more dialects) with them
in a well-developed form. More likely, the language they had was fundamentally
altered in the new territory by contact with the indigenous people, so that
what we call Greek, in effect, evolved as a new language out of this mixture
(rather like English emerging out of the indigenous language, Latin,
Anglo-Saxon, Danish, French, and so on). According to this view, the different
Greek dialects may not represent different languages of the invaders but may be
the result of linguistic developments once the invaders had settled in the new
lands.
The arrival of the Dorians (around 1100
BC) forced the earlier Ionians into the poorer sections of Mainland Greece
(i.e., Attica) and beyond Attica into the islands and the coast of Asia Minor.
The Dorian invaders settled largely in the fertile areas of the Peloponnese,
subjugating or displacing the inhabitants, the Messenians.
Central to much of what we study in
classical Greek literature evokes a contrast between the Spartan Greeks (of
Dorian stock) and the Athenians (of Ionian stock). It is worth remembering
that, in terms of their origins, the Athenians were Ionians, naturally related
to many of the inhabitants of the Aegean Islands, and that the Spartans were Dorians. This ethnic difference was reinforced by the
difference between the agricultural and conservative society in the Peloponnese
and the more dynamic trading society of Attica.
A Brief Chronological Table
2500 to 2000 BC
Invasion of Greek-speaking
Indo-Europeans into northern Greece (Macedonia) and gradual movement south in
three waves (Ionians, Aeloians, Dorians);
displacement of earlier Ionians into Attica and the Aegean Islands.
2000 to 1500 BC
The island of Crete was unified under one or two dynasties, which
flourished in trade (with Egypt) and in art. Rise of Macedonian power in the
Peloponnese.
Minoan Palaces constructed. Linear A Script developed, and later
Linear B Script (Greek?)
1400 BC (approximately)
The destruction of the Minoan
palaces, perhaps by the power of the Mycenaeans.
1184 BC
Traditional date for the Trojan
War, an expedition of Mycenaean powers against Troy.
1100 BC
Destruction of the Mycenaean
palaces (by Dorian invaders?). The Dorian
invasion of southern Mainland Greece.
1100 to 750 BC
The Dark Ages. One
important artistic legacy from this period is the development (around 900 BC)
of the Geometric Style of pottery decoration, which emphasized a formal
abstract repeating pattern of lines, bands, and shapes. Athens was the most
important centre for this art, an important activity for trade.
800 to 600 BC
Extensive colonization from Mainland Greece to Asia Minor and the
islands, fostered by distress and food shortages and by ruling aristocrats in
the city states.
775 BC
The Dark Ages ended in the eighth century with a Renaissance of
sorts, marked above all by the appearance of Homer's epics (composed as oral
literature) and the works of Hesiod. Writing was rediscovered about this time.
It is not clear whether or not Homer could or did write. By this time Greek
colonies in Asia Minor were well established, and in this century the great panhellenic athletic festival at
Olympia, the Olympian Games, started (first recorded celebration was in 776
BC).
683 BC
The hereditary kingship was abolished at Athens and the kingship
was made into an annual office. The greatest power in the state was the Areopagus Council, made up of the nobles.
650 to 500 BC
Tyrannies arose in Greece, in which ambitious individuals,
capitalizing on the distress of the majority of citizens seized power from the
aristocrats. The tyrants tended to work against the interests of the big, rich
families and to lessen racial differences. Most tyrannies were relatively short
lived (about forty years). Sparta consistently opposed tyrannies.
610 BC
The Reforms of Lycurgus at Sparta made the state a severely
military one, with a built-in conservative leading group and virtually no
mechanism for change. This constitution lasted virtually unchanged for about
500 years.
600 BC
By this period the Athenians had developed the black-figure
style in pottery decoration (a design established in dark paint on reddish
clay background). Cultural figures of this age include Thales,
traditionally the founder of philosophy (fl. 585), Anaximander, an
important materialist philosopher (610 to 540), and the great poetess Sappho
(b. circa 612). Only fragments of their work remain.
594 BC
The reforms of Solon at
Athens cancelled all debt and reformed the constitution to make it more
democratic, shifting much power from the Areopagus
Council to a democratic assembly. This period is traditionally the time in
which Pythagoras (581 to 497) established his school of philosophy.
561 BC
Pisistratus made himself tyrant at Athens. He was expelled
but returned in 546. He organized a number of the more important festivals and
inaugurated building programs to celebrate the greatness of Athens. Under his
rule, the Homeric epics were probably written more or less in the form which
they have come down to us.
535 BC
Thespis, traditionally the first actor, won the first prize when tragedy
was first performed in Athens at the feast of the Dionysia.
This is the period of the philosopher Heraclitus (544 to 483).
530 BC
In Athens the red-figure style was introduced in pottery
technique, in which the background is filled in with black, and the figures
left in the original clay colour. This technique provided greater freedom for
detail on the pottery designs. This is the period of Parmenides (b.
circa 515) and Anaxagoras (500 to 428).
511 BC
Under the reforms of Cleisthenes, an Athenian statesman,
the city became more democratic, breaking the power of the old families, by
undercutting the regional or economic basis for selection to office. This step
is generally taken as the decisive step in the establishment of democracy at
Athens. The start of the fifth century ushers in what is referred to in the
history of Greek art as the Classical Period.
498 BC
The Ionian cities on the coast of Asia Minor revolted against
Persia (which had expanded to take them over). Athens sent some help to the
Ionian cities, but the revolt was crushed by the Persians. This is the period
of the famous poet Pindar (520 to 447).
493 BC
The Athenian statesman Themistocles began to fortify the Pireus (the port of Athens), linking Athens and Pireus with defensive walls, so as to protect the city
against military invasion.
490 BC
In retaliation for the Athenian
assistance to the Ionian cities in the revolt against Persia (see entry for 498
BC), the Persian king, Darius, sent an expedition by sea to attack
Athens. The Persians landed in Euboea, and the Greek force there, under
the leadership of Athens, defeated the Persians at the Battle of Marathon
(490). The Spartans missed the battle because they had to observe a religious
rite and were delayed. The messenger Pheidippides
is said to have run from the battlefield to Athens, shouted out "Rejoice,
we conquer!" and fallen dead. The defeat of the Persians at this battle
was, for many Greeks, the most outstanding achievement of their culture. The
length of the marathon race in modern athletics derives from this distance.
Around this time lived Empedocles (490 to 430) and contests in comedy
began in Athens (in 486).
480 BC
In order to avenge his father's defeat, Darius's son, Xerxes, King
of Persia, launched a second invasion of Greece. He marched across the Hellespont
with a huge army, down into Greece from the north, defeating the Spartans at
the Battle of Thermopylae, and started laying Attica to waste. The Athenians
defeated Xerxes's navy at the Battle of Salamis (480)
and the combined Greek forces (under Spartan leadership) defeated the Persian
army at the Battle of Plataea (479) and, in Ionia, the Battle of Mycale (479),
thus ending the second major threat from Persian invasion.
The cultural life of this period is marked by the major figures of
Aeschylus (525 to 456), Sophocles (496 to 406), Herodotus (484 to 420). The Oresteia
was first performed in the dramatic contest in 458..
479 to 432 BC
In this period the Athenians, under the leadership of Pericles
(495 to 429), created their empire from an alliance of states first formed
to combat the Persians. The Spartans, in response, developed their own system
of alliances. The Athenians sought to bolster democracy at home by paying
judges (assemblies of citizens). The cultural energy of the previous decade
continued with the work of Hippocrates (b. 460), Democritus (b.
460), Euripides (485 to 406), Thucydides (460), Socrates (469 to 399). Sophocles's
Antigone was performed in 443. Many of the major architectural buildings
were created in this period: e.g., Zeus's Temple at Olympia (470 to
456), the Parthenon (447 to 433),
Pericles commissioned the building of the Parthenon and other
buildings on the Acropolis using the money gathered as tribute from the allies
of Athens. The leading sculptor was Phidias (500 to 435); the architects
were Ictinus and Callicrates.
431 to 404 BC
The Peloponnesian War between the Greek city states broke
out in 431, with Athens and its allies fighting Sparta and its allies. Right
after the outbreak of war, there was a plague in Athens, in which Pericles died
(in 429). During the war, a number of major works of literature were created
including Euripides' Medea (431), Sophocles' Oedipus
the King (429), Herodotus' Histories, and a number of plays by Aristophanes
(The Clouds in 423, The Birds in 414, The Frogs in
405).
In 411 the oligarchs in Athens (a group of rich and powerful
citizens) set up the Council of Four Hundred, trying to overthrow the
democracy. But the Athenian fleet would not agree, so the attempted coup failed
and democracy was restored quickly.
In 404, the oligarchs tried again, this time under the rule of the
Thirty Tyrants. They subverted the democracy, seized power, and instituted a
reign of terror against the democratic parties. This oligarchy was destroyed and
democracy restored by the summer 403. Meanwhile, however, the Spartan navy had
defeated the Athenian navy, bringing the Peloponnesian War to an end with the
defeat of the Athenians. In the aftermath of all this political upheaval,
Socrates was tried, condemned, and executed in 399 BC.
387 to 343
Plato began writing his Socratic dialogues, traveled to Italy and
Sicily, and returned to Athens to found the Academy, the first
"university" in Europe. Aristotle came to Athens (from Macedonia) in
367 to study at the Academy. He stayed until Plato's death in 348 BC.
Philip, King of Macedon, began extending his power, capturing
Olynthus in 348. Philip invited Aristotle to become the tutor of his son Alexander
(b. 356).
338 BC
Philip of Macedon defeated the Greeks at the Battle of
Chaeronea, thus effectively making Macedon the major controlling power on
the Greek mainland.
336 BC
Philip of Macedon was assassinated (perhaps by his wife).
Alexander became king of Macedon. Greek city states rose in rebellion.
Alexander destroyed Thebes (335) and left a garrison army (under Antipater) to
control Greece while he prepared to invade Persia.
335 BC
Aristotle returned to Athens to found a school, the Lycaeum. While in Athens he composed the Nicomachean Ethics and the Politics
(or the notes on which those works are based).
333 to 323 BC
Alexander the Great invaded Asia, defeated the Persian King Darius
as Issus (335), conquered Tyre and Jerusalem (332), defeated the
Persians again and finally at Gaugamela (331), occupied Babylon, Susa, and
Persepolis (330), invaded India (327). Forced by his army to turn back, he died
in Babylon in 323. The Greeks rebelled against the Macedonian authorities in
Greece. Aristotle was forced to leave Athens. He died the following year in
Epirus.
The period following the death of Alexander the Great is called
the Hellenistic Age (lasting until 30 BC). The centre of Greek Hellenism
was Alexandria, in Egypt, founded by Alexander the Great and taken over by
Ptolemy, one of Alexander's surviving generals.
321 to 311 BC
Wars among Alexander's successors over the division of his empire
led to a break up of Alexander's achievement.
This chronology ends here since the literature we study belongs to
the period outlined above. In the 4th and 3rd centuries (BC) Rome grew in
power, until Roman armies overpowered the Greek city states, so that by about
150 BC Greece was a Roman province.