Who were the ancient Greeks?

The Ancient Greeks lived thousands of years ago and became one of the most important civilisations in history. They were group of people living together with their own cities, culture and ways of life.

They built city-states which were small, independent communities in ancient Greece each with its own laws and leaders. They created new ideas about government. They told stories known as myths to explain parts of their early history. These myths often feature gods or the supernatural and are still well-known today.

Their art, writing and inventions shaped the world and continue to influence people today.

Important words who the Ancient Greeks were.

Archaeologists, who are historians that learn about the past by finding the remains of where people lived long ago, have found ruins of temples, theatres and houses that tell us about Greek buildings and daily life.

Pottery has been discovered which gives clues about religion, entertainment and family life as it was often decorated with scenes of everyday activities, sports and myths. Greek myths are traditional stories about gods, heroes and the world around them.

Ancient writers such as Homer recorded stories, histories and events.

We know about the Greeks from the buildings, art and writing they left behind.

Ruins still standing today give us clues about buildings and religion.

About 2,500 years ago Greece was one of the most important places in the ancient world.

The Greeks were great thinkers, warriors, writers, actors, athletes, artists, architects and politicians.

The Greeks called themselves Hellenes and their land was Hellas.

The name “Greeks” was given to the people of Greece later by the Romans. These people lived in mainland Greece and on the Greek islands, but they also lived in colonies, which were settlements controlled by another country, scattered around the Mediterranean Sea.

There were Greeks in Italy, Sicily, Turkey, North Africa, and as far west as France.

They sailed the sea to trade and find new lands.

The Greeks took their ideas with them and they started a way of life that's similar to the one we have today.

People have been living in Greece for over 40,000 years.

The earliest settlers mostly lived a simple hunter-gatherer or farming lifestyle, similar to people in Prehistoric Britain.

The Minoans were the first great Greek civilisation, they didn't live on mainland Greece but on the nearby island of Crete, between 2200BC and 1450BC.

They were known as the Minoans after their legendary king, Minos.

After the Minoans came the Mycenaean civilisation, from mainland Greece, they were fine builders and traders, but they were also great soldiers.

They famously fought in the Trojan War.

Homer, an important Greek writer, told stories of the Mycenaean age in his books The Iliad and The Odyssey.

After the Mycenaean age ended in about 1100BC, Greece entered a Dark Age, it is known as a Dark Age because nobody knows much about what happened - most written language and art disappeared.

The period of time in Greece's history after the Dark Age is split by historians into three periods. Find out more about them in this table.

There was never one country called ‘Ancient Greece’, instead, Greece was divided up into small city-states, like Athens, Sparta, Corinth and Olympia.

The Greeks lived in city-states near the sea because the mountains made it hard to travel across the land. Each city-state ruled itself, they had their own government that organised how it was run, laws and army.

They set up colonies on islands in southern Italy and Sicily, around the Black Sea and in Africa.

The Greeks travelled and traded across the Mediterranean and Black Seas, swapping goods like olive oil, pottery and wine for wheat and other supplies.

Someone living in the city-state of Sparta would call themselves Spartan first, and Greek second. A person's identity was shaped mostly by the city state they came from.

It was well known that the city-states didn’t get on very well and often fought each other.

However, sometimes they joined together to fight against a bigger enemy, such as the Persian Empire.

Only a very powerful ruler could control all of Greece. One man did in the 300s BC, he was Alexander the Great, from the Greek colony of Macedon. He led his army to conquer an empire that stretched as far as Afghanistan and India.

Have a look at the thinking points below and think about your answers to the questions. You could even write them down on a piece of paper or discuss them with somebody else if you want to.

• How were city-states like Athens or Sparta different from a whole country?

• What were some key differences between Athens and Sparts?

• How did living around the Mediterranean Sea shape Greek travel, trade and ideas?

Click on the map to find out about some of the cities of Ancient Greece.

Let's find out what you know about Ancient Greece.

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