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The Greeks....
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The Ancient Greeks were the people who lived in Greece about 3,500
years ago. Greece is a country in south east Europe. It has an area of
mainland, which is very mountainous, and hundreds of small islands dotted
around in the Aegean and Ionian seas.
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The first civilization to develop in this area was on the
island of Crete. This was called the
Minoan civilisation and from 2000 to
1450 BC this civilisation was very successful. Its people traded far and
wide and became very wealthy. However, many of the Minoan towns and palaces
were destroyed by the earthquakes which still shake this area of Europe
today, and by 1450 BC people from mainland Greece were taking control of the
area. These people were called the Mycenaean's. |
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The Greeks had four national sports festivals, where
athletes from different city states competed against one another. There
would be running races, wrestling, boxing, javelin and discus throwing, long
jump and the pentathlon (a contest where the athletes took part in five
different sports). The most important of the sports contests was the Olympic
Games. These were played at Olympia, every four years, in honor of Zeus.
The Games started at dawn, and the contestants had to swear not to cheat.
The first Olympics took place in 776 BC, and one of the most popular, but
dangerous races, was the chariot racing. |
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The Acropolis in the
Greek capital, Athens.
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Alexander died in 323 BC and his generals, the Diadochi,
began to split the empire between them. Seleucids took control of Persia,
Antigonas of Macedonia and Ptolemy of
Egypt. However, by 146BC, Greece and
Macedonia had been conquered by the Romans. The Romans stole many statues
and works of art from the Greek temples, and by 30 BC had also conquered
Persia and Egypt. The Romans admired many things about the Greek way of
life, and they copied many of the ideas to use in Rome, which helped the
Greek ways to continue. |
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