Welcome back, time travellers!
Yesterday we visited the four oldest civilisations. Today we go to a place that gave us lots of things we still use today: the Olympic Games, democracy, the alphabet for many words, and amazing myths with gods and heroes.
Welcome to Ancient Greece!
Where and when?
Greece is a country in southern Europe. It has lots of mountains, beaches and islands. Today it is a small country, but in Ancient times it was VERY important.
Ancient Greece was a long time ago — about 2,500 to 3,000 years ago.
| Time | What happened |
|---|---|
| 800 BC | Ancient Greece begins |
| 776 BC | The first Olympic Games |
| 508 BC | Democracy starts in Athens |
| 480 BC | War with Persia (the Battle of Thermopylae!) |
| 432 BC | The Parthenon is finished |
| 336 BC | Alexander the Great becomes king |
| 146 BC | Romans take over Greece |
Lots of city-states
Ancient Greece was NOT one big country. Instead it was made up of many city-states. A city-state is a city that is also like its own little country. Each city-state had:
- Its own king or rulers
- Its own laws
- Its own army
- Its own money
There were over 1,000 city-states! The two most famous were:
- Athens
- Sparta
Athens — clever and creative
Athens was a big city in southern Greece. The people of Athens loved:
- Reading and learning
- Talking about ideas
- Plays in big theatres
- Beautiful buildings like the Parthenon (a marble temple on a hill)
- Art, music and poetry
Athens gave the world lots of things:
- Mathematics (people like Pythagoras and Euclid)
- Philosophy (people like Socrates, Plato, Aristotle)
- Theatre plays
- Architecture (look at the columns on banks and museums today — that’s Greek!)
Democracy — Athens’ biggest gift
In 508 BC, Athens had a brilliant idea. They started democracy.
The word democracy comes from two Greek words: – “Demos” = people – “Kratos” = power
So democracy means “power to the people”.
In Athens, all male citizens (sadly NOT women, and NOT slaves) could vote. They:
- Met together on a hill called the Pnyx
- Voted with a show of hands
- Or used stones (white stone = yes, black stone = no)
- About 5,000 men could vote at once!
This was the first time in history people could choose their own laws.
Today, almost every country in the world is a democracy. Britain is. Japan is. The USA is. We all got the idea from Athens!
Sparta — strong and tough
Sparta was very different from Athens. The people of Sparta were warriors.
Spartan boys had a tough life:
- At age 7, boys left their families and went to a soldier school
- They got only one shirt and no shoes
- They had to steal food to learn to be sneaky
- They had to fight other boys
- They were soldiers from age 20 to 60
Spartan girls were also tough! They did wrestling, running and gymnastics — unusual for girls in those days.
When a Spartan went to war, his mother said: “Come back with your shield, or on it.” That meant: come back as a winner, or come back dead. (Yikes.)
The 300 Spartans
In 480 BC, the Persians (a huge empire from where Iran is today) tried to invade Greece. A Spartan king called Leonidas with 300 of his best soldiers held back the Persian army of 100,000+ at a narrow pass called Thermopylae.
The 300 Spartans all died, but they slowed Persia down so much that the rest of Greece could win the bigger war.
Their bravery is still talked about today.
The first Olympic Games
The Olympics that we watch on TV today come from Ancient Greece!
The first Olympic Games were held in 776 BC at a place called Olympia. The Greeks believed in many gods, and the games were to honour their chief god, Zeus.
What was different?
- Only men could compete (women couldn’t even watch!)
- Athletes competed naked
- The winner got a wreath of olive leaves as a prize (no medals!)
- During the Games, all wars stopped. This was called the Olympic truce.
What sports were there?
- Running (the most important)
- Long jump
- Discus (throwing a heavy disc)
- Javelin (throwing a spear)
- Wrestling
- Boxing
- Chariot racing
- A wild combat sport called pankration (a mix of wrestling and boxing — almost no rules!)
The Olympics happened every 4 years (just like today). They went on for over 1,000 years!
In 1896 the modern Olympics started in Athens, where it all began. Now they happen every 4 years all around the world.
Greek gods and myths
The Greeks believed in many gods. They thought the gods lived on top of the highest mountain — Mount Olympus.
The 12 Olympian gods
| God / Goddess | What they did |
|---|---|
| Zeus | King of gods, lord of the sky and thunder |
| Hera | Queen of gods, Zeus’s wife |
| Poseidon | God of the sea |
| Hades | God of the underworld (where dead souls go) |
| Athena | Goddess of wisdom and war |
| Apollo | God of the sun, music and healing |
| Artemis | Goddess of the moon and hunting |
| Ares | God of war (mean!) |
| Aphrodite | Goddess of love and beauty |
| Hermes | Messenger god, has wings on his sandals |
| Hephaestus | God of fire and metalworking |
| Demeter | Goddess of harvest and farming |
Famous Greek myths
A myth is an old story. The Greeks loved telling them. Here are a few you might know:
- Hercules (Greek: Heracles) — the strong man with 12 hard tasks
- Pegasus — a flying horse
- Medusa — a woman with snakes for hair who turned people to stone
- The Trojan Horse — Greeks hid soldiers inside a wooden horse to sneak into the city of Troy
- Perseus — a hero who killed Medusa
- Theseus and the Minotaur — Theseus killed a half-man, half-bull monster in a maze
- Icarus — a boy who flew too close to the sun on wax wings
- Persephone and the seasons — the story of why we have spring, summer, autumn and winter
These stories have been told for 3,000 years. Many books, films and games still use them today (like Disney’s Hercules, or Percy Jackson books).
Alexander the Great (336-323 BC)
The most famous Ancient Greek of all was Alexander.
He was a prince of a Greek kingdom called Macedonia, in the north. His teacher was the famous philosopher Aristotle.
When his dad died, Alexander became king at just 20 years old. Then he did something amazing:
- He invaded Persia and won (the Persians had been their enemy!)
- He marched all the way to Egypt (where they made him a pharaoh!)
- He marched to Afghanistan
- He marched all the way to India
- His army said “STOP! We are tired!” and went home
In just 12 years, Alexander made the biggest empire the world had seen. From Greece all the way to India!
He died at age 32, probably from a fever. His empire fell apart.
But his name lives on. The city of Alexandria in Egypt is named after him. Even today, lots of boys are called Alexander because of him!
What did Greek life look like for kids?
A child in Athens around 450 BC might:
- Wake up in a small white house
- Drink goat’s milk for breakfast
- Boys: go to school. Learn reading, music and sport.
- Girls: stay home. Learn to cook, weave cloth, and sometimes read.
- Play with clay dolls, toy chariots, spinning tops and knucklebones (similar to jacks)
- Eat bread, olives, cheese and fish
- Sleep on a small bed in a shared room
Life was simple but happy.
Why does Ancient Greece matter today?
A LOT of things we use today come from Ancient Greece:
- Democracy — every time you vote, thank the Greeks!
- The Olympics — every 4 years, thank the Greeks!
- Plays — every theatre and movie, thank the Greeks!
- Maths — Pythagoras’ theorem (you’ll do this in secondary school!)
- Lots of words — “telephone”, “school”, “museum”, “marathon” all come from Greek!
- The alphabet — our letters come from Greek and Roman letters
- Stories — Greek myths are still everywhere
Fun facts
- The marathon running race comes from a Greek man called Pheidippides. He ran 26 miles from Marathon to Athens to bring the news that Greece had won a battle. Then he died! Today’s marathon races are 26.2 miles.
- Greek temples had bright colours on them! We see them as white today, but they used to be painted red, blue and gold.
- Spartan men ate “black soup” — a horrible meal of pork, blood and salt. People said you had to be very brave to eat it.
- Aesop’s Fables (like the Tortoise and the Hare) are Ancient Greek stories.
Words to remember
- City-state: a city that runs itself like a country
- Athens: the clever city-state, home of democracy
- Sparta: the warrior city-state
- Democracy: government where people vote
- Olympic Games: games started in Olympia in 776 BC
- Myth: an old story, often about gods and heroes
- Mount Olympus: where the Greek gods lived
- Alexander the Great: a Greek king who made a huge empire
Talk about it
- Athens had democracy — but only men could vote. Why is it better today that everyone can vote?
- In Sparta, boys went to soldier school at age 7. Would you want to do that?
- Pick a Greek god. If you had their power for one day, what would you do?
- Alexander made a huge empire by 32 — and died young. Was that a happy life?
Quick summary
- Ancient Greece was about 2,500 years ago.
- It had many city-states — Athens (clever) and Sparta (warriors) were the most famous.
- Democracy started in Athens in 508 BC.
- The Olympic Games started in Olympia in 776 BC.
- The Greeks believed in many gods on Mount Olympus.
- Alexander the Great built a huge empire from Greece to India.
Next article
Tomorrow we will visit three faraway civilisations that didn’t get talked about in the British history books for a long time: the Mayans in Central America, the Kingdom of Benin in Africa, and Baghdad in the Islamic Golden Age. The last article in our series. See you then!