The story of ancient Greece began in the Bronze Age (3000–1100 BC). During this time, the Cycladic civilization developed in the Cyclades islands of the Aegean Sea, while the Minoan civilization occupied the island of Crete and the Helladic civilization rose on the Greek mainland. The Mycenaean era emerged from the Helladic civilization in around 1600 BC. It is also the called the “Age of Heroes”, because it provided the setting for Greek mythology, including the Trojan War. The Mycenaeans took control the islands of the Aegean and Ionian seas, Crete and the coast of Asia Minor, but after 1100 BC, their civilization collapsed. It took 300 years (the “Dark Ages”) for the Greeks to restore their great civilization, which was eventually to flower in the age of Classical Greece (480–323 BC).

Minoan civilization

One of the earliest civilizations to appear in Greece was the Minoan civilization of Crete. This lasted from about 3000 BC to 1400 BC. Little is known about the Minoans—the name is a modern one, taken from Minos, the legendary king of Crete. The Minoans were traders, their merchants travelling throughout the Mediterranean region.

​​​​​​​Minoan civilization was affected by a number of natural disasters such as the volcanic eruption at Thera (around 1600 BC) and earthquakes that came just before it. In 1425 BC, all the Minoan palaces, except that at Knossos, were devastated by fire as the Mycenaean Greeks took over Crete.

Mycenean civilization

The Mycenaean civilization emerged in around 1600 BC on mainland Greece. Mycenaean Greece is the historical setting of the epic poems of Homer along with most of the other Greek myths. The period takes its name from the archaeological site at Mycenae in the Peloponnese of southern Greece. Mycenaean Greece was dominated by noble warriors. They sought to expand their influence by conquering neighbouring lands.

Dark Ages

During the Dark Ages, the Greek population declined dramatically and writing skills were forgotten. The collapse of the Mycenaean civilization coincided with the arrival of peoples in the region, including a group traditionally called the Dorians, who had discovered how to make iron weapons—far superior to the Mycenaeans’ bronze weapons. The Greeks lived in small groups moving from one part of the country to the other tending their livestock herds. Between 950 and 700 BC, some Greeks learned how to write once again, adopting the alphabet used by the Phoenicians. It forms the basis of the alphabets used across Europe today.

Democracy

In the second half of the 6th century BC, Athens fell under the tyrannical rule first of Peisistratos and then of his sons Hippias and Hipparchos. With the help of Sparta, Athenians overthrew the dictators in 510 BC, but had to accept a Spartan ruler in return. To ensure that Athens would not now become a Spartan puppet, the Athenian noble Cleisthenes proposed a radical change to how Athens should be governed in future: all citizens would share in political power, regardless of their status: Athens would become a democracy. Athenians quickly adopted Cleisthenes’ ideas and overthrew Spartan rule. The Golden Age for democratic Athens was about to begin.

Classical Greece

Early in the Classical era, from around 480 BC, Athens and Sparta dominated the Greek world in an uneasy peace. The two were opposites. Sparta had a government led by kings. Its extremely powerful army kept both internal revolt and outside invaders at bay. Athens, on the other hand, had a democratic government and thrived through commercial activity. Under Pericles’ leadership, massive building projects, such as the Acropolis, were undertaken.

War against the Persian Empire

Athens decided to go to the aid of the Greek colonies in Ionia, western Asia Minor, that were rebelling against the powerful Persian Empire. In 498 BC, Greek forces burned down the capital of Lydia, Sardis. Although the Ionian Revolt was eventually suppressed, the Persian king, Darius I, vowed revenge on Greece.
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Xerxes I of Persia, son of Darius I, attempted another invasion 10 years later in 480 BC, but his massive forces faced a determined alliance of Greek city-states. At Thermopylae, Leonidas, with a force of just a few thousand Greeks, held back the mighty Persian army for three days. Although the Persians briefly overran northern and central Greece, including Athens itself, the Greek navy tricked the Persian navy into launching an attack off Salamis and countered with a devastating attack of its own.

​​​​​​​The following year, 479 BC, the Persian army was finally defeated at the Battle of Plataea by an alliance of Greek states under the Spartan general Pausanias, putting an end to Persian attempts to conquer Greece.

Peloponnesian War

Athens now ruled an empire made up of its Greek city-state allies. Its dominant position threatened Sparta and its own allies, known as the Peloponnesian League. This led to armed conflict between Athens and Sparta: the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC).

Sparta possessed the stronger land forces, but Athens dominated at sea with its navy of triremes. Athens suffered a number of setbacks. The Plague of Athens in 430 BC, followed by a defeat to Syracuse in Sicily, severely weakened Athens.
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Spartan dominance

Sparta won the Peloponnesian War and emerged as the dominant power in Greece. But this dominance was short-lived. While Sparta fought against other Greek city-states in the Corinthian War (395–387 BC), Athens began to restore its military power.

Sparta was then defeated by the Thebans, first in Leuctra in 371 BCE and again at Mantinea in 362 BC. The victorious Thebans suffered massive losses themselves, however, including their leader Epaminondas, and so failed to build on their military dominance.

The rise of Macedonia

The weakened state of Greece coincided with the emergence of Macedonia, led by Philip II, who became king in 359 BC. He unified his kingdom, then, with the help of his powerful army, expanded it north and west into Ilyria, northeast into Thrace and south into Thessaly. He defeated the allied forces of Thebes and Athens at Chaeronea in 338 BC. Now the dominant power in Greece, Philip went to war against the Persian Empire, but was assassinated in 336 BC.

Alexander the Great

Alexander, son of Philip, continued the war against the Persians. In 334 BC, he led his army across the Hellespont into Asia and achieved successive victories against the Persian Empire, forcing King Darius III to flee for his life. The subsequent conquests of Miletus, Tyre and Egypt gave the Greeks total control of the eastern Mediterranean. After his decisive victory over the Persians at the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BC, Alexander proclaimed himself King of Asia.
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Hellenistic period

Following the death of Alexander, three major kingdoms gradually emerged. Egypt and parts of the Middle East came under the rule of the Ptolemies, the Seleucids controlled Syria and the remnants of the Persian Empire, while Macedonia, Thrace and parts of northern Anatolia came under the rule of Antigonus. This period in Greek history, called the Hellenistic period, saw a shift from the dominance of the Greek city-states to the rule of large kingdoms over different peoples. The Greek way of life, art and literature dominated the Hellenistic world and Greek was established as the official language in all three kingdoms. The chief centres were not in Greece, however, but at Alexandria and Antioch, capitals of Ptolemaic Egypt and Seleucid Syria respectively.