Greece Introduction

            After looking over ancient Egypt we must face the inevitable truth. Civilization does move on. Luckily for us, civilization takes a turn for the better. The Egyptians were hard to compete with – decide for yourself. After Egypt’s civilization had to come to an end, though it was a successful run, the next “Egypt” is ancient Greece! Home of Greek philosopher Socrates, Greece had much potential and lots of individuality – so much to offer!

            Around the year 2500 barbarians began to emerge. A barbarian is a person whose values were centered on farming and warfare. Barbarians were very common in Western Europe. Initially Greece started out as one of the various European barbarian people. Around 800 B.C. Greece and its individuality began to emerge. Greece was the first to practice active participation from citizens – in government! What a large step for man-kind, not to mention politics. The numerous city-states traded lots of products since Greece itself wasn’t super rich in natural resources. They also brought something else to the table – new warfare methods.  Some of the earliest Europeans were quite handy in archaeology  They constructed massive stone structures to make up monuments and tombs. These are called megalithic structures.

            Over time Indo-European nomads migrated and eventually settled in Greece. These people are from the grass lands that surround the Eastern side of Europe. These people had much influence on the Greeks, a lot through language. It took much time for this to become the commonly spoken language.  Another new idea arose – tribes. A tribe is a group of people, in villages or whatnot who share common interests. Along with this, Greece also became the first civilization to be considered Western. We often don’t realize how much we owe the Greeks in gratitude - new ideas for government, advancing warfare, and the famous megalithic structures such as Stone Henge.