The History of Greece extends back to the arrival of the Greeks in Europe some time before 1500 BC, even though there has only been an independent state called Greece since Turkey, Italy and Libya. The conquests of Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC established Greek rule over Anatolia, Syria and Mesopotamia. As parts of the Byzantine Empire, these areas and others were part of the Greek world for many centuries. By the 15th century, however, nearly all the Greeks were living under the rule of the Ottoman Empire.
These articles therefore cover both the history of Greece and the history of the Greeks. It was only in the 19th and 20th centuries, with the establishment of a Greek state and the expulsion of the Greeks from Turkey in the 1920s, that these two histories have been reunited within one territory.
Greek art in particular was very influential in the development of Western art, and because knowledge of the Classical period is almost a prerequisite to observation of the evolution of Western art, the makers of this web page hope to promote appreciation of the GreekClassical period.
The Greeks believed that all men by nature desire to know, as stated by Aristotle; this philosophy was held by Greek sculptors.
The later rediscovery of Greek art and its drive for perfection of the human form resulted in the resurgence of classical tendencies in other cultures centuries after the fall of the Greek Empire.
She states that in classicalGreek society, "writing never appeared to be the prerogative of any elite, religious or governmental" (Wise, 104).
To the Greeks, worshiping Dionysus was a religious rite and necessity.
Greek tragedy has a lot to teach us in our time, and adapting it to our culture allows us the freedom to know and experience the philosophy, poetry, and wisdom of our ancestors while still exploring contemporary cultural and social issues.