Ancient Greek Civilization: The Golden Age
I. Introduction
At least 2000 years before Christ, on the Island of Crete emerged the first Greek Civilization. Under the leadership of a general name, Pericles, Greece reached its Golden Age or Classical Period, which was later believed to be among the greatest civilizations ever existed. During that period, the Greek culture flourished and the city-state of Athens became the world’s first democracy. Nonetheless, similarly to others, the Greek Civilization declined after invaded by outsiders; for the Greek case, it was the Kingdom of Macedonia.
II. The Emergence of Greek Golden Age 2.1. Art & Literature Ancient Greeks were shaped by religion, thus building massive and breathtaking temples or sculptures …show more content…
There were two roots that triggered the wars. One was when Athens started collecting money from other city-states to improve its military strength against Persian's invasion and built its state’s temples, such as Parthenon, without collecting taxes from the Athenians (Dr. K.E. Carr, 2015). Athenians also bullied Spartan allies such as Sicily Island. Its actions outraged the inferior states which later asked for Sparta assistance to stop Athens. Another cause was the Spartan jealousy and desires of more itself and the unhappiness of military glory (N.S.Gill, 2015). As a result, 3 unavoidable Peloponnesian Wars broke out between Athens and Sparta. The first one was in 431 B.C. (Dr. K.E. Carr, 2015) and it was called the Archidamian War. It was led by a Spartan King, Archidamus II, on Attica area to deliberate the Greece from Athens' control. However, it just an accusation of Sparta (Lendering). The war forced many people from rural areas overflowing into Athens and caused one-fourth of Athens' armies, along with wise leaders, to die. Moreover, the death of Pericles by Plague epidemic during that time also wrecked Athens. In 425B.C, Athens was weakened further as Sparta captured Amphipolis, an Athens’ colony, to finance them in the battle against its colonizer. Second, the Sicilian War that Athens joined Nicias to attack a Spartan alliance, the Eastern Sicily. It was to gain more support from the Far East and the sources of grain. As a result, Athens left thousands of its armed forces dead and weaken the state, and it defeat the battle about 40,000 armies, and 200 warships (Papakyriakou/Anagnostou, 2014). Last but not least, the Ionian or Decelean War in 414 B.C led Athens to surrender to Sparta, whose militants and navies were backed by the Persian Empire. Having attacked constantly by Sparta, Athens lost a large number of armies; its finance and food supplies
I. Introduction
At least 2000 years before Christ, on the Island of Crete emerged the first Greek Civilization. Under the leadership of a general name, Pericles, Greece reached its Golden Age or Classical Period, which was later believed to be among the greatest civilizations ever existed. During that period, the Greek culture flourished and the city-state of Athens became the world’s first democracy. Nonetheless, similarly to others, the Greek Civilization declined after invaded by outsiders; for the Greek case, it was the Kingdom of Macedonia.
II. The Emergence of Greek Golden Age 2.1. Art & Literature Ancient Greeks were shaped by religion, thus building massive and breathtaking temples or sculptures …show more content…
There were two roots that triggered the wars. One was when Athens started collecting money from other city-states to improve its military strength against Persian's invasion and built its state’s temples, such as Parthenon, without collecting taxes from the Athenians (Dr. K.E. Carr, 2015). Athenians also bullied Spartan allies such as Sicily Island. Its actions outraged the inferior states which later asked for Sparta assistance to stop Athens. Another cause was the Spartan jealousy and desires of more itself and the unhappiness of military glory (N.S.Gill, 2015). As a result, 3 unavoidable Peloponnesian Wars broke out between Athens and Sparta. The first one was in 431 B.C. (Dr. K.E. Carr, 2015) and it was called the Archidamian War. It was led by a Spartan King, Archidamus II, on Attica area to deliberate the Greece from Athens' control. However, it just an accusation of Sparta (Lendering). The war forced many people from rural areas overflowing into Athens and caused one-fourth of Athens' armies, along with wise leaders, to die. Moreover, the death of Pericles by Plague epidemic during that time also wrecked Athens. In 425B.C, Athens was weakened further as Sparta captured Amphipolis, an Athens’ colony, to finance them in the battle against its colonizer. Second, the Sicilian War that Athens joined Nicias to attack a Spartan alliance, the Eastern Sicily. It was to gain more support from the Far East and the sources of grain. As a result, Athens left thousands of its armed forces dead and weaken the state, and it defeat the battle about 40,000 armies, and 200 warships (Papakyriakou/Anagnostou, 2014). Last but not least, the Ionian or Decelean War in 414 B.C led Athens to surrender to Sparta, whose militants and navies were backed by the Persian Empire. Having attacked constantly by Sparta, Athens lost a large number of armies; its finance and food supplies