Ancient Greece was an incredible marvel in politics, architecture, and philosophy. Lasting from 800 B.C.E. to 146 B.C.E., Ancient Greece revolutionized the ancient world by introducing concepts such as trial by jury, the process to diagnose and treat illnesses, and even theater.

The Ancient Greeks were polytheistic with hundreds of minor gods and twelve main gods and goddesses called the Olympians. The head of the Olympians is Zeus, god of lightning, and the rest of the members are related to him as either children, brothers, or sisters: Hera (his wife and goddess of marriage, motherhood, and family), Poseidon (god of the sea), Hades (god of the Underworld), Athena (goddess of wisdom), Ares (god of war), Hestia (goddess of the hearth), Apollo (god of the sun, music, healing, and archery), Artemis (goddess of the moon and animals), Demeter (goddess of the harvest), Aphrodite (goddess of love), Hephaestus (god of blacksmithing), Hermes (god of traveling), and Dionysus (god of wine). They would create temples to worship these gods and participate in festivals to ensure the gods’ favor.

Ancient Greece was separated into over a thousand different city states with their own cultures, traditions, and governments. For most of Ancient Greece, the man was the only member of the house with a role in public society as the woman managed household tasks. Many of the Ancient Greek citizens worked as farmers, fishers, soldiers, scholars, or traders. The Ancient Greek loved poetry, pottery, theater, and music. Sport was also an important part of Ancient Greek life with the creation of the Olympic Games in 776 B.C.E.

As stated previously, Ancient Greece was separated into thousands of city-states that had their own governments, mostly monarchies ran by kings. One city-state, Athens, was actually a direct democracy where every male citizen would vote on individual issues.

Ancient Greece was located along the coast of the Mediterranean in present-day Greece, the coasts of Turkey, North Macedonia, Kosovo, and parts of Bulgaria. Ancient Greece also had some colonies in Northern Africa, Western Europe, and Eastern Europe.

Ancient Greece wildly advanced the world of art with the creation of theater and some Greek tragedies are still told today. Many philosophies have their basis in Ancient Greek philosophers: Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates. Athens direct democracy introduced the Western world to democracy and would led to representative democracy. Ancient Greece improved mathematics and science with Pythagoras creating Pythagorean Theorem to solve right triangles. Ancient Greek physician Hippocrates created the process in which modern-day physicians use to diagnosis patients and even the Hippocratic oath, which is still used today. Ancient Greek architecture is even still used today with their style of columns being used in buildings such as the U.S. capitol and the Supreme Court.