Archaic period (c. 8th to c. 6th centuries BC) The earliest period of classical antiquity occurs during a time of gradual resurgence of
historical sources after the
Late Bronze Age collapse. The 8th and 7th centuries BC are still largely
protohistorical, with the earliest
Greek alphabetic inscriptions appearing during the first half of the 8th century. The legendary poet
Homer is usually assumed to have lived during the 8th or 7th century BC, and his lifetime is often considered as the beginning of classical antiquity. During the same period is the
traditional date for the establishment of the
Ancient Olympic Games, in 776 BC.
Phoenicians, Carthaginians and Assyrians n (in yellow) and
Greek colonies (in red) about 8th to 6th century BC. The Phoenicians originally expanded from
ports in
Canaan, by the 8th century dominating trade in the
Mediterranean.
Carthage was founded in 814 BC, and the Carthaginians by 700 BC had established strongholds in
Sicily, Italy and
Sardinia, which created conflicts of interest with
Etruria. A
stele found in
Kition,
Cyprus, commemorates the victory of King
Sargon II in 709 BC over the seven kings of the island, marking an important part of the transfer of Cyprus from
Tyrian rule to the
Neo-Assyrian Empire.
Greece The Archaic period followed the
Greek Dark Ages, and saw significant advancements in
political theory, and the beginnings of
democracy,
philosophy,
theatre,
poetry, as well as the revitalization of the written language (which had been lost during the Dark Ages). In pottery, the Archaic period sees the development of the
Orientalizing style, which signals a shift from the
geometric style of the later Dark Ages and the accumulation of influences derived from Egypt,
Phoenicia and
Syria. Pottery styles associated with the later part of the Archaic age are the
black-figure pottery, which originated in
Corinth during the 7th century BC and its successor, the
red-figure style, developed by the
Andokides Painter in about 530 BC.
Greek colonies Iron Age Italy in north of Italy, 800 BC. The
Etruscans had established political control in the region by the late 7th-century BC, forming the aristocratic and monarchial elite. The Etruscans apparently lost power in the area by the late 6th-century BC, and at this time, the
Italic tribes reinvented their government by creating
republics, with greater restraints on the ability of individual rulers to exercise power.
Roman kingdom According to legend,
Rome was founded on 21 April 753 BC by twin descendants of the
Trojan prince
Aeneas,
Romulus and Remus. As the city was bereft of women, legend says that the Latins invited the
Sabines to a festival and stole their unmarried maidens, resulting in the integration of Latins and Sabines. Archaeological evidence indeed shows first traces of settlement at the
Roman Forum in the mid-8th century BC, though settlements on the
Palatine Hill may date back to the 10th century BC. According to legend, the seventh and final king of Rome was
Tarquinius Superbus. As the son of
Tarquinius Priscus and the son-in-law of
Servius Tullius, Superbus was of Etruscan birth. It was during his reign that the Etruscans reached their apex of power. Superbus removed and destroyed all the Sabine shrines and altars from the
Tarpeian Rock, enraging the people of Rome. The people came to object to his rule when he failed to recognize the rape of
Lucretia, a patrician Roman, by his own son. Lucretia's kinsman,
Lucius Junius Brutus (ancestor to
Marcus Brutus), summoned the Senate and had Superbus and the monarchy expelled from Rome in 510 BC. After Superbus' expulsion, the Senate in 509 BC voted to never again allow the rule of a king and reformed Rome into a
republican government.
Classical Greece (5th to 4th centuries BC) in 431 BC. The classical period of ancient Greece corresponds to most of the 5th and 4th centuries BC, in particular, from the end of the
Athenian tyranny in 510 BC to the
death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC. In 510, Spartan troops helped the Athenians overthrow the tyrant
Hippias, son of
Peisistratos.
Cleomenes I, king of Sparta, established a pro-Spartan oligarchy conducted by
Isagoras. The
Greco-Persian Wars (499–449 BC), concluded by the
Peace of Callias ended with not only the liberation of Greece,
Macedon,
Thrace, and
Ionia from
Persian rule, but also with the dominance of
Athens in the
Delian League, which resulted in conflict with
Sparta and the
Peloponnesian League, resulting in the
Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), ending with a Spartan victory. Greece began the 4th century with
Spartan hegemony, but by 395 BC the Spartan rulers dismissed
Lysander from office, and Sparta lost its naval supremacy.
Athens,
Argos,
Thebes and
Corinth, the latter two of which were formerly Spartan allies, challenged Spartan dominance in the
Corinthian War, which ended inconclusively in 387 BC. Later, in 371 BC, the Theban generals
Epaminondas and
Pelopidas won a victory at the
Battle of Leuctra. The result of this battle was the end of Spartan supremacy and the establishment of
Theban hegemony. Thebes sought to maintain its dominance until it was finally ended by the increasing power of
Macedon in 346 BC. During the reign of
Philip II (359–336 BC), Macedon expanded into the territory of the
Paeonians, the
Thracians and the
Illyrians. Philip's son,
Alexander the Great, (356–323 BC) managed to briefly extend
Macedonian power not only over the central Greek city-states but also to the
Persian Empire, including
Egypt and lands as far east as the fringes of
India. The classical Greek period conventionally ends at the death of Alexander in 323 BC and the fragmentation of his empire, which was at this time divided among the
Diadochi.
Hellenistic period (323–146 BC) Greece began the Hellenistic period with the increasing power of
Macedon and the conquests of
Alexander the Great.
Greek became the
lingua franca far beyond Greece itself, and Hellenistic culture interacted with the cultures of
Persia, the
Kingdom of Israel and
Kingdom of Judah,
Central Asia and
Egypt. Significant advances were made in the sciences (
geography,
astronomy,
mathematics, etc.), notably with the
followers of
Aristotle (
Aristotelianism). The Hellenistic period ended with the increase of the
Roman Republic to a super-regional power during the 2nd century BC and the Roman conquest of Greece in 146 BC.
Roman Republic (5th to 1st centuries BC) The
Republican period of Ancient Rome began with the overthrow of the
Monarchy circa 509 BC and lasted more than 450 years until its
subversion through a series of
civil wars, into the
Principate form of government and the Imperial period. During the half millennium of the Republic, Rome increased from a regional power of the
Latium to the dominant force in Italy and beyond. The unification of Italy by the Romans was a gradual process, brought about by a series of conflicts of the 4th and 3rd centuries, the
Samnite Wars,
Latin War, and
Pyrrhic War. Roman victory in the
Punic Wars and
Macedonian Wars established Rome as a super-regional power by the 2nd century BC, followed by the acquisition of
Greece and
Asia Minor. This tremendous increase of power was accompanied by economic instability and social unrest, resulting in the
Catiline conspiracy, the
Social War and the
First Triumvirate, and finally the transformation to the Roman Empire during the latter half of the 1st century BC.
Roman Empire (1st century BC to 5th century AD) The precise end of the Republic is disputed by modern historians; Roman citizens of the time did not recognize that the Republic had ceased to exist. The early
Julio-Claudian Emperors maintained that the
res publica still existed, albeit protected by their extraordinary powers, and would eventually return to its earlier Republican form. The Roman state continued to term itself a
res publica as long as it continued to use Latin as its official language. Rome acquired
imperial character
de facto from the 130s BC with the acquisition of
Cisalpine Gaul,
Illyria,
Greece and
Hispania, and definitely with the addition of
Iudaea,
Asia Minor and
Gaul during the 1st century BC. At the time of the empire's maximal extension during the reign of
Trajan (AD 117), Rome controlled the entire
Mediterranean as well as Gaul, parts of
Germania and
Britannia, the
Balkans,
Dacia, Asia Minor, the
Caucasus, and
Mesopotamia. Culturally, the Roman Empire was significantly
Hellenized, but also incorporated syncretic "eastern" traditions, such as
Mithraism,
Gnosticism, and most notably
Christianity. Classical Rome had vast differences within their family life compared to the Greeks. Fathers had great power over their children, and husbands over their wives. In fact, the word family,
familia in Latin, actually referred to those who were subject to the authority of a male head of household. This included non-related members such as slaves and servants. By marriage, both men and women shared property. Divorce was allowed first during the first century BC and could be done by either man or woman.
Late antiquity (4th to 6th centuries AD) and
Eastern Roman Empires by 476 the provinces of Syria and Egypt. At the same time
early Slavs settled in the Balkans. The Roman Empire began to weaken as a result of the
crisis of the third century. During
Late antiquity Christianity became increasingly popular, finally ousting the
Roman imperial cult with the
Theodosian decrees of 393. Successive invasions of
Germanic tribes finalized the
weakening of the Western Roman Empire during the 5th century, while the
Eastern Roman Empire persisted throughout the
Middle Ages, in a state called Romania by its citizens, and designated the
Byzantine Empire by later historians. Hellenistic philosophy was succeeded by the continued development of
Platonism and
Epicureanism, with Neoplatonism in due course influencing the
theology of the Christian
Church Fathers. Many writers have attempted to name a specific date for the symbolic "end" of antiquity, with the most prominent dates being the deposing of the last
Western Roman Emperor in 476, the closing of the last
Platonic Academy in Athens by the
Eastern Roman emperor Justinian I in 529, and the
conquest of much of the Mediterranean by the new
Muslim faith from 634 to 718. These Muslim conquests, of Syria (637), Egypt (639), Cyprus (654), North Africa (665), Hispania (718), Southern Gaul (720), Crete (820), Sicily (827), Malta (870), as well as the sieges of the Eastern Roman capital (
first in 674–78 and then in
717–718) severed the economic, cultural, and political links that had traditionally united the classical cultures around the Mediterranean, ending antiquity (see
Pirenne Thesis). The original Roman Senate continued to express decrees into the late 6th century, and the last Eastern Roman emperor to use
Latin as the language of his court in Constantinople was emperor
Maurice, who reigned until 602. The overthrow of Maurice by his mutinying Danube army commanded by
Phocas resulted in the Slavic invasion of the Balkans and the weakening of Balkan and Greek urban culture (resulting in the flight of Balkan Latin speakers to the mountains, see
Origin of the Romanians), and also provoked the
Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628 in which all the great eastern cities except Constantinople were lost. The resulting turmoil did not end until the
Muslim conquests of the 7th century finalized the irreversible loss of all the largest Eastern Roman imperial cities besides the capital itself. The emperor
Heraclius in
Constantinople, who reigned during this period, conducted his court in Greek, not Latin, though Greek had always been an administrative language of the eastern Roman regions. Eastern-Western associations weakened with the ending of the
Byzantine Papacy. The Eastern Roman Empire's capital city
Constantinople remained the only unconquered large urban site of the original Roman Empire, as well as being the largest city in Europe. Yet many classical books, sculptures, and technologies survived there along with classical Roman cuisine and scholarly traditions, well into the Middle Ages, when much of it was "rediscovered" by visiting Western crusaders. Indeed, the inhabitants of Constantinople continued to refer to themselves as Romans, as did their eventual conquerors in 1453, the
Ottomans (see
Romaioi and
Rûm.) The classical scholarship and culture that was still preserved in Constantinople were brought by refugees fleeing its conquest in 1453 and helped to begin the
Renaissance (see
Greek scholars in the Renaissance). Ultimately, it was a slow, complex, and graduated change of the socio-economic structure in
European history that resulted in the changeover between classical antiquity and medieval society and no specific date can truly exemplify that. == Political revivalism ==