The Ancient Greeks in 100 Facts

Paul Chrystal

• Publisher: Amberley Publishing
• Year: 2017
• eBook ISBN: 9781445656434
• Edition: 0
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: European History
• Index: History

Ancient Greece was never just one nation: it was a disparate collection of independent city-states, often embroiled in war with each other, with separate governments, their own armies and distinct politics, economies and societies. However, together these vibrant and diverse peoples made one of the greatest civilisations the world has ever known, endowing the western world with cuttingedge philosophy, science, literature, architecture, visual arts, military prowess and democracy – to name but a few of their enduring contributions to the modern world.The Ancient Greeks in 100 Facts tells the story of this fascinating civilisation, from its earliest Bronze Age beginnings as described by Homer and Hesiod, to the wars with and eventual subjugation by the Romans. Visit the Minoans and the Spartans, the Macedonians and the Athenians; meet Plato and Aristotle, Sophocles and Socrates; follow Alexander the Great to the end of the world; and witness the birth of historical writing through Herodotus and Thucydides.These 100 gripping facts provide an enjoyable and accessible introduction to one of the world's great civilisations.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Introduction
• 1 - The Early Ancient Greeks Fought No Wars
• 2 - Knossos Was the Minoan’s Principal City
• 3 - The Greek Alphabet Was Derived from the Phoenician Alphabet
• 4 - The Thera Earthquake Was Felt as Far Away as China
• 5 - Mycenaean Kings Were Tall, Bearded and Moustached
• 6 - The Mycenaeans Cultivated a Patriarchal Religion
• 7 - King Minos Was Scalded to Death in His Bath
• 8 - Michael Ventris Provided Evidence of a Greek-Speaking Minoan-Mycenaean Culture on Crete
• 9 - The Gods Started the Trojan War
• 10 - The Top Gods Formed an Elite Group Known as the Twelve Olympians
• 11 - Homer Places Doctors on a Social Standing Equal to Seers, Shipwrights and Musicians
• 12 - The Polis Was the Defining Political and Social Unit
• 13 - The Iliad is One of the Oldest Surviving Works of Western Literature
• 14 - The Odyssey: a Tale of Horizontal Collaboration and Other Trials
• 15 - There Was No Homer
• 16 - Hesiod Has Made Significant Contributions to the Literature on Farming, Economic Thought, Astronomy and Ancient Time-Keeping
• 17 - Our Word ‘Panic’ Comes from the God Pan
• 18 - More than Thirty Greek City-States had Colonies around the Mediterranean
• 19 - Greek Magic First Appears in Homer’s Odyssey Where Odysseus Meets the Sexy Circe
• 20 - Athens Started to Exert Itself in 632 BC When the Athenians Resisted the Tyranny of Cylon
• 21 - By 650 BC Sparta had Become the Dominant Military Land-Power in Ancient Greece
• 22 - Sparta Had a Very Well-Oiled War Machine
• 23 - Women are ‘Incomplete, Deformed Males’
• 24 - Hysteria Was Central to Greek Gynaecology
• 25 - Greek Gods and Goddesses Reflected All Human Life
• 26 - That to Produce a Male Child Rapid Thrusting During Sex at the End of the Woman’s Period Was Necessary
• 27 - Pericles Was Largely Responsible for Much of the Construction on the Acropolis
• 28 - The Amazons Have No Right Breasts
• 29 - The First Olympic Games Took Place in 776 BC
• 30 - Charon is a Euphemism for Death
• 31 - Cynisca Won the Four-Horse Race in 396 and 392 BC
• 32 - Sappho Was Commonly Regarded in Antiquity as One of the Greatest Lyric Poets and Was Called ‘The Tenth Muse’
• 33 - Draco Gives Us Our Word ‘Draconian’ to Describe Repressive Legal Measures
• 34 - Solon Undid All of Draco’s Bad Work
• 35 - Solon Had a Profound Influence on Athenian Sexual Mores
• 36 - The Greek Magical Papyri are a Veritable Vade Mecum of Potions and Spells
• 37 - Peisistratus Was Tyrant in 560 BC
• 38 - Greek Tyranny Was Not Necessarily a Bad Thing
• 39 - Male Bisexuality Was Widely Tolerated
• 40 - Pederasty Was the Sexual Pursuit of Boys by Men
• 41 - Aristophanes Scorns the Idea of a Visit to the Underworld
• 42 - The Pre-Socratics Were Rational; They Asked Searching Questions Like ‘Where Does Everything Come From?’
• 43 - The Atomists and their Materialistic System Was Formed by Leucippus and Democritus of Abdera
• 44 - Many Men and Women Turned to and Embraced the Emerging, Oriental, Mystery Religions
• 45 - Herodotus Cannot Resist Involving Magic to Add Spice to His Anecdotes
• 46 - Cleisthenes Abolished Patronymics and Replaced Them with Demonymics
• 47 - The Persians Posed the First Real External Threat to the City-States of Ancient Greece
• 48 - The Battle of Marathon Gave Proof That the Mighty Persians Could Be Defeated
• 49 - Pheidippides Takes News to Athens Regarding the Outcome of the Battle
• 50 - Purveyors of Black Magic Were a Feature of Everyday Greek Life
• 51 - The Hoplite and Phalanx Were the Defining Characteristics of the Athenian Army
• 52 - Xerxes Amassed the Largest and Most Well-Equipped Fighting Force Ever Put into the Field
• 53 - Xerxes Ordered His Men to Give the Hellespont Three Hundred Lashes
• 54 - The Persians Sack Athens
• 55 - Circe is the First ‘Classical’ Witch
• 56 - Herodotus Was a ‘Barbarian Lover’
• 57 - The Battle of Salamis Rendered the Greek Mainland More or Less Safe from the Persians
• 58 - Aeschylus Wrote Seventy or so Plays
• 59 - The Battles of Plataea and Mycale Formed the Climax of the Wars with Persia
• 60 - Orpheus and Pythagoras Were Magic Men
• 61 - Greek Women Were Seen and Not Heard
• 62 - Dress Was Very Important to the Ancient Greeks
• 63 - Sophocles Died of Sheer Happiness after Winning His Final Victory at the City Dionysia
• 64 - The Greeks Have Four Main Words for Love
• 65 - Pericles Was ‘the First Citizen of Athens’
• 66 - The Ancient Greeks Believed in Bogeywomen
• 67 - The Funeral Oration of Pericles is One of the World’s Greatest Speeches
• 68 - The Delian League: To ‘Avenge the Wrongs They Suffered by Ravaging the Territory of the King [of Persia]’
• 69 - Euripides: ‘the Most Tragic of Poets’
• 70 - Was Aspasia of Miletus a Prostitute?
• 71 - Phidias – the Greatest of All Greek Sculptors
• 72 - Hippocrates Was the Father of Western Medicine
• 73 - Aristophanes Gives a Unique Picture of the Athens of His Day and of the Athenians
• 74 - Voodoo Dolls: the Greeks Stuck Needles in Their Brains
• 75 - Prostitution Was Just as Important as the Institutions of Marriage and Slavery
• 76 - Avoiding Pregnancy for a Prostitute Was Paramount
• 77 - The Peloponnesian War Marked the End of Athens as a Political and Military Force
• 78 - Thucydides Was the Father of ‘Scientific History’
• 79 - Plague in Athens: Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever?
• 80 - Plato is the Heart of Classical Greek Philosophy
• 81 - Socrates Never Wrote a Word
• 82 - Aristotle is the World’s First Great Polymath
• 83 - The Stoics and the Epicureans Founded the Academy and the Garden
• 84 - Sex Was Often Never Far Away at a Symposium
• 85 - Philip II of Macedon Introduced the Phalanx
• 86 - Alexander the Great Was Undefeated in Battle
• 87 - Tarentum Was Once One of the Largest Cities in the World
• 88 - Pyrrhus Gave His Name to a Pointless Victory
• 89 - The Elephant Was the First Weapon of Mass Destruction
• 90 - Pyrrhus Was Crowned King of Sicily
• 91 - Pyrrhus Laid Seige to Fortress Lilybaeum
• 92 - Cross-Dressing Agnodice Was the First Professional Midwife of Ancient Greece
• 93 - Archimedes of Syracuse: One of the Greatest Mathematicians, Physicists, Engineers, Inventors, and Astronomers of All Time
• 94 - The Accidental Death of Archimedes is One of History’s Most Notorious Cases of Mistaken Identity
• 95 - The First Macedonian War Was Indecisive; the Second Macedonian War Less So
• 96 - The Battles of Cynoscephalae and Thermopylae Were Decisive
• 97 - Perseus Antagonised the Romans by Invading Thessaly
• 98 - Uscana, Scodra, Pythium and Pydna Saw the End of the Third Macedonian War
• 99 - The Gymnasium Was the Place to Go
• 100 - The Achaean War: Rome Gained Hegemony over All of Greece