Historical Overview:
– Classical antiquity period encompasses ancient Greece and Rome from 8th-7th century BC to 476 AD.
– Greco-Roman culture influenced language, politics, art, philosophy, and science in Europe, North Africa, and West Asia.
– Revivals of classical culture occurred in the 14th, 18th, and 19th centuries, leading to the Renaissance.
– The Archaic Period (8th-6th centuries BC) saw advancements in Greek alphabetic inscriptions, political theory, democracy, and arts.
– Iron Age Italy witnessed the rise of Etruscans, Roman Republic transition, and Rome’s establishment in 753 BC.
Greek and Roman Empires:
– Classical Greece (5th-4th centuries BC) witnessed key events like the Greco-Persian Wars and Peloponnesian War.
– Naval supremacy in Ancient Greece shifted from Spartan dominance to Theban hegemony and later Macedonian expansion under Philip II and Alexander the Great.
– The Hellenistic Period (323–146 BC) saw Greek cultural influence expanding beyond Greece, leading to significant scientific advancements.
– The Roman Republic (5th-1st centuries BC) gradually transitioned into the Roman Empire due to economic instability and social unrest.
– The Roman Empire (1st century BC-5th century AD) controlled vast territories and culturally Hellenized regions, incorporating Christianity and distinct family life.
Late Antiquity and Political Influence:
– Late Antiquity (4th-6th centuries AD) marked the decline of the Roman Empire, the rise of Christianity, and invasions by Germanic tribes.
– Political revivalism included the influence of the Late Roman Empire on politics and Christianity, the formation of the Holy Roman Empire, and Byzantine Emperor’s sovereignty.
– The cultural legacy of classical antiquity influenced various aspects like politics, philosophy, and architecture, with revivals in epic poetry, philosophy, and architecture.
Legacy and Influence:
– The legacy of the Roman Empire includes lasting secular authority in Europe, revival of Roman virtues in the Renaissance, and influence on revolutions in the US and Latin America.
– Neoclassical architecture reflects Greco-Roman styles, and the Cypriot rulers were influenced by the Assyrian Empire.
– Various historical sources detail the impact of Ancient Rome and the Greco-Latin culture, with further reading suggestions on Roman and Hellenistic history.
Academic and Cultural Aspects:
– The Doric Hexapolis and the Hellenistic World represent specific historical periods and cultural blends.
– Harvard University Press, established in 1913, is a prominent academic publisher known for its rigorous editorial process and global influence.
– Classical Antiquity, spanning from the 8th century BC to the 6th century AD, contributed to the development of Western civilization through democracy, philosophy, and art.
– The concept of a Revised Edition ensures accuracy and relevance in academic publishing, reflecting advancements in research and scholarship.
Classical antiquity, also known as the classical era, classical period, classical age, or simply antiquity, is the period of cultural European history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD comprising the interwoven civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome known together as the Greco-Roman world, centered on the Mediterranean Basin. It is the period during which ancient Greece and ancient Rome flourished and had major influence throughout much of Europe, North Africa, and West Asia.
Conventionally, it is often considered to begin with the earliest-recorded Epic Greek poetry of Homer (8th–7th-century BC) and ends with the end of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD. Such a wide span of history and territory covers many disparate cultures and periods. Classical antiquity may also refer to an idealized vision among later people of what was, in Edgar Allan Poe's words, "the glory that was Greece, and the grandeur that was Rome".
The culture of the ancient Greeks, together with some influences from the ancient Near East, was the basis of art, philosophy, society, and education in the Mediterranean and Near East until the Roman imperial period. The Romans preserved, imitated, and spread this culture throughout Europe, until they were able to compete with it. This Greco-Roman cultural foundation has been immensely influential on the language, politics, law, educational systems, philosophy, science, warfare, literature, historiography, ethics, rhetoric, art and architecture of both the Western, and through it, the modern world.
Surviving fragments of classical culture helped produce a revival beginning during the 14th century which later came to be known as the Renaissance, and various neo-classical revivals occurred during the 18th and 19th centuries.
