Ancient Greece: Holiday Guide 101

La Grèce antique est une civilisation de l’Antiquité des peuples de langue et de culture grecque développée en Grèce et dans la partie occidentale de l’Asie Mineure, puis, à la suite de plusieurs phases d’expansion, dans d’autres régions du bassin méditerranéen (Chypre, Sicile, Italie du sud, Égypte, Cyrénaïque) et du Proche-Orient (Syrie, Palestine), constituant des points d’implantation jusqu’en Espagne et en France à l’ouest et en Afghanistan (Bactriane) à l’est.

This civilization of Greek culture developed during the last part of the “dark centuries” (1200-800 BCE), from the rubble of the Mycenaean civilization, and took shape in particular during the archaic era (800-480 BCE), and fully developed during the Classical period (480-323 BCE) and the Hellenistic period (323-31 BCE). The Roman conquest (between 220 and 31 BCE) marks the end of Greek political independence, but ancient Greek culture retained real dynamism under Roman domination, gradually evolving towards Byzantine civilization from the 4th century onwards.

Ancient Greek civilization exercised considerable influence in the ancient world, particularly after the conquests of Alexander the Great and during the Hellenistic era when it dominated and influenced the civilizations of the Middle East, where significant centers of Greek culture (Alexandria, Antioch). In the Mediterranean basin, Greek culture played a decisive role, through the influence it exerted on the civilization of ancient Rome, where Greek became the language of knowledge used by the elites, to the point that we speak regularly of “Greco-Roman” culture. It is through this means that many political and cultural productions of the ancient Greek world had a major role in the development of Western civilization.

The Greek world therefore remained very dynamic culturally under Roman domination, and the cities remained the fundamental framework of political and social life. During Late Antiquity (c. 250-700) the Eastern Roman world, of Greek culture, gradually took on its autonomy around Constantinople, which became the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire (or Byzantine Empire) and the new pole culture of the Greek world. Christianization, which led to the disappearance of the Greek polytheistic religion, and the progressive disintegration of the institutions of ancient Greek cities, at the same time, marked the end of ancient Greek civilization.

Greek cultural influence was also exerted on the intellectual life of the medieval Arab-Muslim world, and especially in the West where its status as a reference was confirmed on numerous occasions subsequently, several of the aspects of ancient Greek culture having served as sources of inspiration. Often idealized, it is commonly invested with the status of founding culture for the Western world. The archaeological rediscoveries made on Greek soil since the 19th century and new perspectives on ancient Greek texts transmitted to the modern era have made it possible to deepen and renew the knowledge and understanding of this civilization.