Ancient

Ancient Greece was a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history from the Greek Dark
Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of antiquity (c. 600 AD). Immediately following this
period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era.[1] Roughly three
centuries after the Late Bronze Age collapse of Mycenaean Greece, Greek urban poleis began to
form in the 8th century BC, ushering in the period of Archaic Greece and colonization of the
Mediterranean Basin. This was followed by the period of Classical Greece, an era that began
with the Greco-Persian Wars, lasting from the 5th to 4th centuries BC. Due to the conquests
by Alexander the Great of Macedonia, Hellenistic civilization flourished from Central Asia to the
western end of the Mediterranean Sea. The Hellenistic period came to an end with
the conquests and annexations of the eastern Mediterranean world by the Roman Republic,
which established the Roman province of Macedonia in Roman Greece, and later the province
of Achaea during the Roman Empire.
Classical Greek culture, especially philosophy, had a powerful influence on ancient Rome, which
carried a version of it to many parts of the Mediterranean Basin and Europe. For this reason
Classical Greece is generally considered to be the seminal culture which provided the foundation
of modern Western culture and is considered the cradle of Western civilization.