Thermopylae was a pass that the Greeks tried unsuccessfully to defend in battle against the Persians led by Xerxes in 480 B.C. shortly after that year's Olympic games. Although the Spartans who led the defense were all killed, their courage provided inspiration to the Greeks, many of whom otherwise might have willingly become part of the Persian Empire.
Read more about the Battle at Thermopylae
Thermopylae was a pass that the Greeks tried unsuccessfully to defend in battle against the Persians led by Xerxes in 480 B.C. shortly after that year's Olympic games. Although the Spartans who led the defense were all killed, their courage provided inspiration to the Greeks, many of whom otherwise might have willingly become part of the Persian Empire.
Read more about the Battle at Thermopylae
Greece is a mountainous on the Balkan Peninsula of southeastern Europe that includes hundreds of islands mostly in the Aegean Sea and also in the Ionian Sea. The most famous group of Greek islands are
the Cyclades Islands, in the Aegean. A partial list of the Cylcaldes islands includes Amorgos, Anafi, Andros, Antiparos, Delos, Ios, Kea, Kimolos, Folegandros, Milos, Mykonos, Naxos, Paros, Santorini, Serifos, Sikinos, Sifnos, Syros and Tinos.
The climate of Greece is Mediterranean, temperate, and Alpine, depending on where in Greece you go, but in general, it is characterized by mild winters and warm summers with little rain. There is little arable land because of the hills and mountains as well as the forests.
Cecrops or Kekrops -- not to be confused with the black-bottomed Hercules' foe Kerkopes, was the person(?) responsible for instituting monogamous marriage among the Athenians. He was an early king, before Athena had gained her city and actually helped decide that it would be Athena's instead of Poseidon's.
Greek Marriage
In ancient Athens, a woman couldn't own property on her own, so if she were orphaned or widowed and left with the property of her guardian, the next closest male relative would marry her. If she didn't have any property, the nearest male relative might be legally compelled to marry her.
Counting on one's fingers seems a natural way to compute numbers, but the Greco-Romans didn't just count "on" their fingers. They counted with their fingers, and not to be quick and accurate with the finger symbols could be embarrassing.
Comparisons Between Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome
Both Greece and Rome are Mediterranean countries, but the terrain of the two is very different. The ancient Greek city-states were separated from each other by hilly countryside and all were near the water. Rome was inland, on one side of the Tiber River, but the Italic tribes (in the boot-shaped peninsula that is now Italy) did not have the natural hilly borders to keep them out of Rome.
Historic maps of the ancient Mediterranean Sea and surrounding areas of Asia Minor, Northern Africa (Egypt), and Europe (primarily, Greece and Rome).
After the Peloponnesian War - 30 Tyrants
When Athens surrendered at the end of the Peloponnesian War, democracy was replaced by the oligarchic rule of the Thirty Tyrants. From 404-403 B.C., during the start of the period known as the Spartan hegemony (404-371 B.C.), hundreds of Athenians were killed, thousands exiled, and the number of the citizens was severely reduced.
The Long Walls linking Athens to the port of Piraeus were begun during the time of Themistocles, after his victory at Salamis, in the mid-fifth century B.C.
