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Library
Archaic (Pre-Classical) Period
1000 BC - 480 BC
After the 8th Century BC, Greece emerged from a period of disorder following the collpse of Mycenean civilization. The Archaic Age was a kind of renaissance marked by the rise of colonization and the nascence of commercial activity. These developments brought about civil strife and social inequality along with opportunity. These struggles led to new forms of governance like tyranny and the greater participation in political life. In this period, a kind of self-conscious poetry developed in which the role of the author and his personality her more marked. Simultaneously, this new poetry brought about new inquiries into the nature of things, a sort of archaic philosophy couched in a poetical, quasi-religious framework.
Classical Period
479 BC - 338 BC
The Classical Period was a 200 year period in Greek culture lasting from the 5th through 4th centuries BC. This era had a powerful and lasting influence on the Roman Empire and greatly influenced the foundations of Western Civilization. Much of modern Western politics, artistic thought, such as architecture, scientific thought, literature, and philosophy derives from this period of Greek history. This is the age of the great historians Herodotus and Thucydides, great dramatists like Sophocles, Euripides and Aeschylus, and the brilliant philosopher Socrates. The 5th century is also regarded as the age when the Greeks embraced their brilliant experiment in direct democracy. Amazing monuments to human achievement were constructed in Athens and other Hellenic city-states. It is an age of human discovery and achievement – an age which proudly bears the name classical.
Hellenistic Period
337 BC - 146 BC
The Hellenistic Period began with the ascension of Alexander and lasted into the beginnings of Roman dominion in Greece. The name “Hellenistic” is meant to describe the Hellenizing process non-Greek countries experienced in the wake of Alexander's conquests. This era also saw movement away from Athens being the center of Greek culture with other cities like Alexandria in Egypt eclipsing Athens. In Alexandria, the great Alexandrian Library was built, a storehouse of all cumulative Greek knowledge. In the Hellenistic world, where the city-state dissolved, literature became more independent of politics. Philosophers began moving away from the Republic of Plato to a more individualistic interpretation of being. The wise man said there was “no homeland”. Only until the genre of history reemerged at the end of Hellenistic Period did the concerns of states and governance regain prominence.