古希腊位于欧洲南部，地中海的东北部，包括今巴尔干半岛南部、小亚细亚半岛西岸和爱琴海中的许多小岛。公元前5、6世纪，这里的经济生活高度繁荣，产生了光辉灿烂的希腊文化，并对后世有深远的影响。古希腊人在哲学思想、历史、建筑、文学、戏剧、雕塑等诸多方面有很深的造诣，这一文明遗产在古希腊灭亡后，被古罗马人破坏性地延续下去，从而成为整个西方文明的精神源泉。
1. Ancient Greece：A history both of wars and of civilization
Ancient Greece was a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Included in Ancient Greece is the period of Classical Greece， which flourished during the 5th to 4th centuries BC. Classical Greece began with the repelling of a Persian invasion by Athenian leadership. Because of conquests by Alexander the Great， Hellenistic civilization flourished from Central Asia to the western end of the Mediterranean Sea.
古希腊：一部战争史，也是一部文明史
古希腊是指从希腊历史上公元前8～前6世纪的古风时期开始，到远古时代结束的这段时间的希腊文明。古希腊还包括古典希腊时期，那是公元前5～前4世纪兴起的时代，古典希腊时期是随着雅典人领导的反抗波希侵略战争而开始的。在被马其顿国王亚历山大大帝征服后，古希腊文明在中亚和地中海西岸的大片地区扩散。
Chronology：A long history under theinfluence of the Oriental culture 年表：东方文化影响下的漫长历史There are no fixed or universally agreed upon dates for the beginning or the end of Classical Antiquity. It is typically taken to last from the 8th century BC until the 6th century AD， or for about 1，300 years.
Classical Antiquity in Greece is preceded by the Greek Dark Ages （c. 1100–c. 750 BC）， archaeologically characterised by the protogeometric and geometric style of designs on pottery， succeeded by the Orientalizing Period， a strong influence of Assyrian， Phoenician and Egyptian cultures.
Traditionally， the Archaic period of ancient Greece is taken in the wake of this strong Orientalizing influence during the 8th century BC， which among other things brought the alphabetic to Greece， marking the beginning of Greek literature. The Archaic period gives way to the Classical period around 500 BC， in turn succeeded by the Hellenistic period at the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC.
The history of Greece during Classical Antiquity may thus be subdivided into the following periods：
The Archaic period （c. 750 – c. 500 BC） follows， in which artists made larger free-standing sculptures in stiff， hieratic poses with the dreamlike"archaic smile".
The Classical period （c. 500–c. 323 BC） is characterised by a style which was considered by later observers to be exemplary—for instance the famous Parthenon. Politically， the Classical Period was dominated by Athens and the Delian League during the 5th century BC， displaced by Spartan hegemony during the early 4th century BC， before power shifted to Thebes and the Boeotian League and finally to the League of Corinth led by Macedon.
The Hellenistic period （323–146 BC） is when Greek culture and power expanded into the Near and Middle East. This period begins with the death of Alexander and ends with the Roman conquest.
Roman Greece， the period between Roman victory over the Corinthians at the Battle of Corinth in 146 BC and the establishment of Byzantium by Constantine as the capital of the Roman Empire in 330 AD.
The final phase of Antiquity is the period of Christianization during the later 4th to early 6th centuries， taken to be complete with the closure of the Neoplatonic Academy by Justinian I in 529 AD.
还没有确定或很多人公认的古希腊时期开始的时间，人们通常认为这是一段从公元前8世纪到公元6世纪的1300年的历史。
古希腊时期是在希腊黑暗时代（大约公元前1100～前750年），陶器的设计充分体现了东方化时代的原几何与几何的风格，那是受亚述文化、腓尼基文化和埃及文化的强烈影响造成的。
从传统上说，在公元前8世纪，古希腊古风时期受到这种东方化文化的影响颇大，将拼音字母连同其他的文化带到了希腊，标志着希腊文学的开端。古风时期让道于古典时期大约是在公元前500年，接下来是公元前323年亚历山大大帝去世后的希腊化时期。
古希腊时期的希腊历史可以分成以下几个时期：
古风时期（大约公元前750～前500年）。这一时期的艺术家开拓了制作更大且坚硬的自立雕塑的时代，其风格多呈现神圣姿势以及如梦般蒙眬之“古风的微笑”。
古典时期（公元前500～前323年）。此期堪称古希腊典范的艺术风格发展成熟期，此期著名的作品如帕特农神庙。在政治上，古典时期主要是由公元前5世纪的雅典和提洛同盟统治，他们在公元前4世纪被斯巴达统治解散了，权力转移到了底比斯和维奥蒂亚同盟，最后又交给了马其顿领导的科林斯同盟。
希腊化时期（公元前323～前146年）。此期希腊的文化和权力扩展到了近东和中东。这一时期开始于亚历山大大帝的驾崩，结束于罗马人的入侵。
希腊罗马时代。此期开始于公元前146年，以科林斯战争中的罗马人战胜科林斯人为标志，结束于公元330年，当时君士坦丁建立了拜占庭，并以此作为罗马帝国的首都。
古希腊的最后阶段是公元4世纪晚期至6世纪早期的皈依基督时期，这个时期结束于公元529年，以查士丁尼一世关闭柏拉图学院为分界点。
Greco-Persian Wars：Darius and his son fought in vain
The Greco-Persian Wars were a series of conflicts between the Achaemenid Empire of Persia and city-states of the Hellenic world that started in 499 BC and lasted until 449 BC. The collision between the fractious political world of the Greeks and the enormous empire of the Persians began when Cyrus the Great conquered Ionia in 547 BC. Struggling to rule the independent-minded cities of Ionia， the Persians appointed tyrants to rule each of them.
In 499 BC， the tyrant of Miletus， Aristagoras， embarked on an expedition to conquer the island of Naxos， with Persian support； however， the expedition was a debacle and， pre-empting his dismissal， Aristagoras incited all of Hellenic Asia Minor into rebellion against the Persians. This was the beginning of the Ionian Revolt， progressively drawing more regions of Asia Minor into the conflict. Aristagoras secured military support from Athens and Eretria， and in 498 BC these forces helped to capture and burn the Persian regional capital of Sardis. The Persian king Darius the Great vowed to have revenge on Athens and Eretria for this act. The revolt continued， with the two sides effectively stalemated throughout 497–495 BC. In 494 BC， the Persians regrouped， and attacked the epicentre of the revolt in Miletus. At the Battle of Lade， the rebellion collapsed， with the final members being stamped out the following year.