Ancient Greek Colonies

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Greek colonies in the north Black Sea According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, “Ancient Greek colonization began at an early date, during the so-called Geometric period of about 900 to 700 B.C., when many seminal elements of ancient Greek society were also established, such as city-states, major sanctuaries, and the Panhellenic festivals. The Greek alphabet, inspired by the writing of the Phoenician sea traders, was developed and spread at this time. [Source: Collete Hemingway, Independent Scholar, Seán Hemingway, Department of Greek and Roman Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, July 2007, \^/]

“Greece is a country surrounded by water and the sea has always played an important role in its history. The ancient Greeks were active seafarers seeking opportunities for trade and founding new independent cities at coastal sites across the Mediterranean Sea. By the seventh and sixth centuries B.C., Greek colonies and settlements stretched all the way from western Asia Minor to southern Italy, Sicily, North Africa, and even to the coasts of southern France and Spain. Regional schools of artists exhibited a rich variety of styles and preferences at this time. The major Ionian cities along the coast of Asia Minor prospered. They cultivated relationships with other affluent centers like Sardis in Lydia, which was ruled by the legendary King Croesus in the sixth century B.C. Indeed, by this time, the eastern Greeks controlled much of the Aegean Sea and had established independent cities to the north along the Black Sea. This region, in particular, opened up further trade connections to the north that gave access to valuable raw materials, such as gold.” \^/

John Porter of the University of Saskatchewan wrote: “In order to head off revolution and the rise of a tyrannos, various poleis began to adopt measures designed to ease the social and economic hardships exploited by the tyrannoi in their bid for power. One measure that became increasingly popular, beginning c. 750-725, was the use of colonization. A polis (or a group of poleis) would send out colonists to found a new polis. The colony thus founded would have strong religious and emotional ties to its mother city, but was an independent political entity. This practice served a variety of purposes. First, it eased the pressure of overpopulation. Second, it provided a means of removing the politically or financially disaffected, who could hope for a better lot in their new home. It also provided useful trading outposts, securing important sources of raw materials and various economic opportunities. Finally, colonization opened up the world to the Greeks, introducing them to other peoples and cultures and giving them a new sense of those traditions that bound them to one another, for all of their apparent differences. [Source: John Porter, “Archaic Age and the Rise of the Polis”, University of Saskatchewan. Last modified November 2009 *]

Places Colonized by the Ancient Greeks

Greek colonies were founded around the Mediterranean and Black Sea shores (Cumae in Italy 760 B.C., Massalia in France 600 B.C.) Metropleis (mother cities) founded colonies abroad to provide food and resources for their rising populations. In this way Greek culture was spread to a fairly wide area. ↕

reconstruction of the Kyrenia oikas from the 4th century BC

John Porter of the University of Saskatchewan wrote: “The principal areas of colonization were: (1) southern Italy and Sicily; (2) the Black Sea region. Many of the poleis involved in these early efforts at colonization were cities that, in the classical period, were relatively obscure — an indication of just how drastically the economic and political changes entailed in the transition from Dark Age to Archaic Greece affected the fortunes of the various poleis. *\ [Source: John Porter, “Archaic Age and the Rise of the Polis”, University of Saskatchewan. Last modified November 2009 *]

“The Black Sea Region. Numerous colonies were established as well along the shores of the Sea of Marmara (where colonization was particularly dense) and the southern and western shores of the Black Sea. The main colonizers were Megara, Miletus, and Chalcis. The most important colony (and one of the earliest) was that of Byzantium (modern Istanbul, founded in 660). Greek myth preserves a number of tales concerning this region (perhaps the distant echoes of stories told by the earliest Greeks to explore the area) in the legend of Jason and the Argonauts, who sail to Colchis (on the far eastern shores of the Black Sea) in search of the Golden Fleece. The adventures of Jason came to be celebrated in epic quite early: several of Odysseus' adventures in the Odyssey seem to be based on tales originally told of Jason.” *\

Magna Graecia: Greek Colonies in Italy

The Greek city states set up a number of colonies in Italy, known then as Magan Graecia (Great Greece), on the site of established town. The first known Greek settlement was established on Pithekoussai, an island off of present-day Naples, in 770 B.C. A few years later colonies were established in Sicily and southern Italy. Many of the early settlers were poor farmers looking for a better life the same way immigrants from Europe came to America in the 19th century to seek their fortune.

According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, “The Greek colonies in Sicily and southern Italy, a region known as Magna Graecia, comprised politically independent entities that maintained religious ties and trade links with their mother cities. Up until the mid-sixth century B.C., Corinth dominated trade in the West. For the most part, it exported Corinthian vases, which were often filled with olive oil, in return for grain. Some city-states, such as Syracuse and Selinus in Sicily, erected major temples that rivaled those in the eastern part of Greece. Unlike the Aegean islands and mainland Greece, where marble was plentiful, Sicily and southern Italy had few local sources of high-quality marble. Thus, the artists in Magna Graecia established a strong tradition of working with terracotta and limestone. Many of the colonies in the West minted their own silver coins with distinctive designs and emblems.” [Source: Collete Hemingway, Independent Scholar, Seán Hemingway, Department of Greek and Roman Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, July 2007]

Two important concepts in the development of mankind — democracy and the construction of cities in a grid pattern — are believed to have evolved in the Greek colonies in Italy. Archimedes and Pythagoras came from Italy and many of the great Greek philosophers that preceded Socrates, were also from the west. The Sicilian city state of Syracuse crushed an invasion from Athens in 413 B.C.

John Porter of the University of Saskatchewan wrote: The fertile resources of Southern Italy and Sicily “attracted intensive colonization, beginning c. the third quarter of the 8th century with the foundation of Cyme (near Naples), a colony of Chalcis, Eretria, and Cyme — neighboring poleis on the island of Euboea. [Originally the colonists settled on the island of Pithecusae, just off the coast of Cyme. They later established the settlements that were to become Puteoli and Naples (originally: "Neapolis" — the "New City").] Colonization in the following years led to the area of southern Italy and eastern Sicily becoming, in effect, an extension of Greece itself, which it was to remain until the rise of Rome in the 3rd and 2nd centuries B.C. [Source: John Porter, “Archaic Age and the Rise of the Polis”, University of Saskatchewan. Last modified November 2009 ]

“Thus this region came to be known (in Latin) as Magna Graecia or "Great Greece," rather as we today speak of the "greater metropolitan" area of a major city. Settlement was limited by the other two great powers in the region: Carthage (which controlled western Sicily, Sardinia, and the coastal regions of Spain and Africa) and the Etruscans (who dominated northern Italy: today we still refer to the body of water off the west coast of Italy as the Tyrrhenian Sea, "Tyrrhenian" being the Greek for "Etruscan").

Ancient Greece and its colonies in 550 BC

Battles of Himera

The Mediterranean was a turbulent place and Greeks were involved in conflicts in other places. Himera in Sicily was the site of two important battles between Greeks and Carthaginians that proved vital to Greece expanding and holding on to its colonies. In 480 B.C. Carthage, in present-day Tunisia, sent an army against the Greek colony of Himera on Sicily. Greeks and Carthaginians fought a bloody battle in the plain under the town walls, with the Greeks and people from Himera prevailing in the end. In 409 B.C., Carthage waged a new war against Himera, conquered, and razed the town. "All the people were slaughtered or deported and the colony never rose again," one archeologist said.

On the 480 B.C. battle, John W.I. Lee wrote in Archaeology magazine, “It was one of the ancient world’s greatest battles, pitting a Carthaginian army commanded by the general Hamilcar against a Greek alliance for control of the island of Sicily. After a fierce struggle in 480 B.C. on a coastal plain outside the Sicilian city of Himera, with heavy losses on both sides, the Greeks eventually won the day. As the years passed, the Battle of Himera assumed legendary proportions. Some Greeks would even claim it had occurred on the same day as one of the famous battles of Thermopylae and Salamis, crucial contests that led to the defeat of the Persian invasion of Greece, also in 480 B.C., and two of the most celebrated events in Greek history. [Source: John W.I. Lee, Archaeology magazine, January/February 2011]

Nonetheless, for such a momentous battle, Himera has long been something of a mystery. The ancient accounts of the battle, by the fifth-century B.C. historian Herodotus and the first-century B.C. historian Diodorus Siculus (“the Sicilian”), are biased, confusing, and incomplete. Archaeological work led by Sefano Vassallo of the Archaeological Superintendency of Palermo has helped pinpoint the battle’s precise location, clarified the ancient historians’ accounts, and unearth new evidence of how classical Greek soldiers fought and died.

The Greeks were led by Gelon; the Carthaginians by Hamiclar. In some accounts of the battle Gelon ordered some of his own cavalry to impersonate Hamiclar’s arriving forces and bluff their way into Hamiclar’s seaside camp. The ruse worked. At sunrise the disguised Greek cavalry rode up to the Carthaginian camp, where unsuspecting sentries le them in . Gelon’s horsemen killed Hamilcar (Heredotus said Hamilcar killed himself) and set fire to ships drawn up on the beach. At that signal Gelon advanced on Himera and fought a pitched battle against the Carthaginians. At first the Carthaginians fought hair but when they learned f Hamilcar’s death, many lost their will to fight. Many Carthaginians were cut down as they fled. Others sought refuge in a nearby stronghold but were forced to surrender due to lack of water. After the defeat the Carthaginians gave up their claim on Himera and paid 2,000 talents, enough to support an army of 10,000 men for three years. They also built two temples still visible in Himera today.

Herodotus on the Carthaginian Attack at Himera

On the Carthaginian attack at Himera, Herodotus wrote in Book VII of “Histories”: “They, however, who dwell in Sicily, say that Gelo, though he knew that he must serve under the Lacedaemonians, would nevertheless have come to the aid of the Hellenes, had not it been for Terillos, the son of Crinippos, king of Himera; who, driven from his city by Thero, the son of Ainesidemos, king of Agrigentum, brought into Sicily at this very time an army of three hundred thousand men — Phoenicians, Libyans, Iberians, Ligurians, Helisykians, Sardinians, and Corsicans, under the command of Hamilcar the son of Hanno, king of the Carthaginians. Terillos prevailed upon Hamilcar, partly as his sworn friend, but more through the zealous aid of Anaxilaos the son of Cretines, king of Rhegium; who, by giving his own sons to Hamilcar as hostages, induced him to make the expedition. Anaxilaos herein served his own father-in-law; for he was married to a daughter of Terillos, by name Kydippe. So, as Gelo could not give the Hellenes any aid, he sent (they say) the sum of money to Delphi. [Source: Herodotus “The History of Herodotus” Book VII on the Persian War, 440 B.C., translated by George Rawlinson, Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Greece, Fordham University]

Mercenaries

“They say too, that the victory of Gelo and Thero in Sicily over Hamilcar the Carthaginian fell out upon the very day that the Hellenes defeated the Persians at Salamis. Hamilcar, who was a Carthaginian on his father's side only, but on his mother's a Syracusan, and who had been raised by his merit to the throne of Carthage, after the battle and the defeat, as I am informed, disappeared from sight: Gelo made the strictest search for him, but he could not be found anywhere, either dead or alive.

“The Carthaginians, who take probability for their guide, give the following account of this matter: Hamilcar, they say, during all the time that the battle raged between the Hellenes and the barbarians, which was from early dawn till evening, remained in the camp, sacrificing and seeking favorable omens, while he burned on a huge pyre the entire bodies of the victims which he offered.

“Here, as he poured libations upon the sacrifices, he saw the rout of his army; whereupon he cast himself headlong into the flames, and so was consumed and disappeared. But whether Hamilcar's disappearance happened, as the Phoenicians tell us, in this way, or, as the Syracusans maintain, in some other, certain it is that the Carthaginians offer him sacrifice, and in all their colonies have monuments erected to his honor, as well as one, which is the grandest of all, at Carthage. Thus much concerning the affairs of Sicily.”

Mass Graves of Soldiers and Babies in Himera

More than 10,000 graves containing ancient amphorae, "baby bottles," and the bodies of soldiers who fought the Carthaginians were found near Himera archaeologists announced in 2008. "It's probably the largest Greek necropolis in Sicily," Stefano Vassallo, the lead archaeologist of the team that made the discoveries, told National Geographic. [Source: Maria Cristina Valsecchi, National Geographic News, December 17, 2008]

The ancient burial ground was uncovered during the construction of a railway extension and appears to have been situated right under the Himera battlefield. "The remains of Himera's buildings had been known and studied for a long time, and we knew there should be some graves. We didn't expect so many graves", said Vassallo, who works for the Italian province of Palermo's government.

"Each [mass grave] contains from 15 to 25 skeletons. They were all young healthy men and they all died a violent death. Some of the skeletons have broken skulls and in some cases we found the tips of the arrows that killed them," Vassallo said. He thinks the human remains are from soldiers who died fighting the Carthaginians in a famous 480 B.C. battle described by Greek historian Herodotus. Evidence for mass burials of war dead is extremely rare in the ancient Greek world. Some archeologist have suggested that so many died there was the time or resoruces to give them proper burials.

Founded in 648 B.C. by Greek settlers, Himera was a rich seaport trading colony. The city was situated on the northern coast of Sicily, a few miles from the Phoenician outpost of Solunto. "Himera had a privileged role in commercial exchanges between Phoenicians, Greeks, and Etruscans," said Clemente Marconi, professor of Greek art and archaeology at the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University. Based on the study of skeletons found in the graves, Vassallo said, "People from Himera were very tall, about 175 centimeters [69 inches], unusual for the times."

Archaeologists at Himera also unearthed the skeletons of many newborn babies in some of the mass graves. "Infant mortality was very high at the times," Vassallo said. "We found the tiny skeletons placed inside funerary amphorae, like in a womb, alongside small terracotta vases called guttus, with spouts like present-day feeding bottles."

Ancient Greeks in Spain

Emporion (Empúries) on the Catalan coast of Spain is the westernmost ancient Greek colony documented in the Mediterranean. Stella Tsolakidou wrote in the Greek Reporter: “Empúries, formerly known by its Spanish name Ampurias, was a town on the Mediterranean coast of the Catalan comarca of Alt Empordà in Catalonia, Spain. It was founded in 575 BC by Greek colonists from Phocaea with the name of Emporion, meaning “market”. It was later occupied by the Romans, but in the Early Middle Ages, when its exposed coastal position left it open to marauders, the town was abandoned. The ruins are midway between the Costa Brava town of L’Escala and the tiny village of Sant Martí. [Source: Stella Tsolakidou, Greek Reporter, March 29, 2012 /*]

“Empúries was founded on a small island at the mouth of the river Fluvià, in a region inhabited by the Indigetes. This city came to be known as the Palaiapolis, the “old city” when, around 550 BC, the inhabitants moved to the mainland, creating the Neapolis, the “new city”. After the conquest of Phocaea by the Persian king Cyrus II in 530 BC, the new city’s population increased considerably through the influx of refugees. In the face of strong pressure from Carthage, the city managed to retain its independent Hellenic character. Political and commercial agreements were concluded with the indigenous population long settled in the nearby city of Indika. Situated as it was on the coastal commercial route between Massalia (Marseilles) and Tartessos in the far south of Hispania, the city developed into a large economic and commercial centre, as well as being the largest Greek colony in the Iberian Peninsula./*\

“During the Punic Wars, Empúries allied itself with Rome, and Publius Cornelius Scipio initiated the conquest of Hispania from this city in 218 BC. After the conquest of Hispania by the Romans, Empúries remained an independent city-state. However, in the civil war between Pompey and Julius Caesar, it opted for Pompey, and after his defeat it was stripped of its autonomy. A colonia of Roman veterans, named Emporiae, was established near Indika to control the region. /*\

“The first excavations at Emporion began in 1908. Now it is a tourist site, welcoming around 200,000 tourists and 35,000 students a year, mostly from Spain and neighboring France. The is looked after and promoted by the Iberia Graeca centre, which is affiliated with the Spanish Ministry of Culture, through its National Archaeological Museum, and the Ministry of Culture of the Generalitat of Catalonia, and through its Archaeological Museum of Catalonia, with the collaboration of l’Escala Town Council (Girona). /*\

Greek Colonies in Cyrene (Libya)

“Herodotus wrote in “Histories”, “Book IV (c. 430 B.C.) “Grinus (they say), the son of Aesanius, a descendant of Theras, and king of the island of Thera, went to Delphi to offer a hecatomb on behalf of his native city. On Grinus consulting the oracle about sundry matters, the Pythoness gave him for answer, "that he should found a city in Libya." When the embassy returned to Thera, small account was taken of the oracle, as the Therans were quite ignorant where Libya was. [Source: Herodotus, “Histories”, Book IV,''150-151, 153, 156-159 translated by George Rawlinson, New York: Dutton & Co., 1862]

“Seven years passed from the utterance of the oracle, and not a drop of rain fell in Thera: all the trees in the island, except one, were killed with the drought. After a while, everything began to go wrong. Ignorant of the cause of their sufferings, they again sent to Delphi to inquire for what reason they were afflicted. The Pythoness in reply reminded them reproachfully "that if they and Battus would make a settlement at Cyrene in Libya, things would go better with them." So, as there was no help for it, they sent messengers to Crete, to inquire whether any of the Cretans, or of the strangers living amongst them, had ever travelled as far as Libya: and these messengers fell in with a man named Corobius, a dealer in purple dye. In answer to their inquiries, he told them that contrary winds had once carried him to Libya, where he had gone ashore on a certain island which was named Platea. So they hired this man's services, and took him back with them to Thera. A few persons then sailed from Thera to reconnoiter. Guided by Corobius to the island of Platea, they left him there with provisions for a certain number of months, and returned home with all speed to give their countrymen an account of the island.

“The Therans who had left Corobius at Platea, when they reached Thera, told their countrymen that they had colonized an island on the coast of Libya. They of Thera, upon this, resolved that men should be sent to join the colony from each of their seven districts, and that the brothers in every family should draw lots to determine who were to go. Upon this the Therans sent out Battus with two penteconters, and with these he proceeded to Libya; but within a little time, not knowing what else to do, the men returned and arrived back off Thera. The Therans, when they saw the vessels approaching, received them with showers of missiles, would not allow them to come near the shore, and ordered the men to sail back from whence they came. Thus compelled, they settled on Platea.

“In this place they continued two years, but at the end of that time, as their ill luck still followed them, they went in a body to Delphi, where they made complaint at the shrine to the effect that they prospered as poorly as before. Hereon the Pythoness made them the following answer: "Know you better than I, fair Libya abounding in fleeces? Better the stranger than he who has trod it? Oh! Clever Therans!" Battus and his friends, when they heard this, sailed back to Platea: it was plain the god would not hold them acquitted of the colony until they were absolutely in Libya. So they made a settlement on the mainland directly opposite Platea, fixing themselves at a place called Aziris.

Greek colonies in 431 BC

“Here they remained six years, at the end of which time the Libyans induced them to move, promising that they would lead them to a better situation. So the Greeks left Aziris and were conducted by the Libyans towards the west, their journey being so arranged, by the calculation of their guides, that they passed in the night the most beautiful district of that whole country, which is the region called Irasa. The Libyans brought them to a spring, which goes by the name of Apollo's Fountain, and told them, "Here, Hellenes, is the proper place for you to settle; for here the sky leaks."

“During the lifetime of Battus, the founder of the colony, who reigned forty years, and during that of his son Arcesilaus, who reigned sixteen, the Cyreneans continued at the same level, neither more nor fewer in number than they were at the first. But in the reign of the third king, Battus, surnamed the Happy, the advice of the Pythoness brought Greeks from every quarter into Libya, to join the settlement. Thus a great multitude were collected together to Cyrene, and the Libyans of the neighborhood found themselves stripped of large portions of their lands.

Strabo wrote in “Geographia” (c. A.D. 20): “Cyrene was founded by the inhabitants of Thera, a Lacedaemonian island which was formerly called Calliste, as Callimachus says: Calliste once its name, but Thera in later times, the mother of my home, famed for its steeds. The harbor of Cyrene is situated opposite to Criu-Metopon, the western cape of Crete, distant 2000 stadia. The passage is made with a south-southwest wind. Cyrene is said to have been founded by Battus, whom Callimachus claims to have been his ancestor. The city flourished from the excellence of the soil, which is peculiarly adapted for breeding horses, and the growth of fine crops. [Source: Strabo, “Geographia”, Fred Morrow Fling, ed., “A Source Book of Greek History,” Heath, 1907, pp. 38-39]

Black Sea Colonization by the Ancient Greeks

Colchis, the destination of Jason and the Argonauts, is said to have been on the Black Sea in present-day Georgia There is little archeological evidence to support the existence of Colchis and Greeks in the region in the 13th century B.C., when the story is said to have taken place, but there is evidence of Greeks in Colchis from the mid 6th century B.C. onward. Some historians and archeologist believe the Argonauts myth reflects the earliest Greek explorations even though there is no physical evidence that the Greeks were exploring the Black Sea in 13th century B.C.

Igor V. Bondyrev, a Georgian geographer, wrote: Different ancient Greek city-states began exploring and settling the coastal areas of Black Sea region (Pontus) because of its accessibility by water, it abundant of natural resources as well as the political and ecological situations in Greece itself. The first documented Greek voyages to the north of Greece were around the 11th and 10th centuries B.C. Over time there information on region’s resources and the most suitable sailing routes were established [Source: Igor V. Bondyrev, Vakhushti Bagrationi Institute of Geography, Georgian Academy of Sciences, Tbilisi, Georgia, July 24, 2004]

By the middle of the 8th century B.C., Greeks had penetrated the Bosporus and founded three main colonies: on the south-west coast: Appolonya in the south, Sinopa and Heraklya. At the end of 8th century B.C. to the east of Pontus, another colony, Apsar (modern Gonio), appeared. Milesians — from Miletus, an ancient Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia — played a primary role in the colonization of western coasts of the Black Sea in 8th and 7th centuries B.C. They founded Fasis and Amis on eastern coasts (close to modern Samsun). Athenians founded Guenes and Dioskurya. In the 5th century B.C. a second period of colonization took place and relatively powerful city-colonies were established at Herakleya, Vizantya, Kolkhidon and Sinopa. Bondyrev believes that one reason the colonization of the Black Sea region took place is that the Greeks city states had exhausted their wood supplies to build huge numbers of ships to carry out military campaigns and trade, and needed new supplies of wood which the forests of the Blask Sea region provided.

Greek colones on the Black Sea

The Greek colonization of the Black Sea took place in western and eastern directions in part because of .water currents, river run-off patters, prevailing wind directions and the influence of the mountains and topography framing the Black Sea. When Greeks were colonizing the region the sea level was lower than it is now and the climate was more humid. It is said that ancient seafarers were engaged mainly in coastal sailing (Odyssey). However the analysis of paleohydrology and paleoclimate of the Black Sea, knowledge of the business relations of the cities of the Black Sea (Peripl Arrianna) showed that they sailed in the open sea as well. The most suitable route for sailing to the northwest and north coasts of Pontus was via a route through the centre of west ring of currents or its east arc, allowing ships to reach ports of north Pontus in a short period of time (1,5- 2.5 day). The most suitable route for sailing towards Kolkhida coasts was the route along the south coast which took approximately the same time.

Greeks in Southwest Russia

Eric A. Powell wrote in Archaeology magazine: Archaeologists have discovered a bronze Corinthian helmet in the burial of several fifth-century B.C. Greek warriors in southwestern Russia. This type of helmet, which completely covers the head and neck, is depicted on iconic statues of such figures as the Athenian statesman Pericles and the goddess Athena, but is rarely found during modern excavations. The recently unearthed example was uncovered at a necropolis on the Taman Peninsula, which, together with parts of Crimea, formed the territory of the Bosporan Kingdom, a Greek state that was founded around 480 B.C. [Source: Eric A. Powell, Archaeology magazine, September-October 2018]

In addition to the helmet, the burial also included the men’s weapons, as well as an amphora and other ceramics. Bridled horses were interred nearby, suggesting that the warriors may have been cavalrymen. Roman Mimokhod of the Russian Academy of Sciences, who leads the excavations at the site, speculates that the warriors all fell during the same battle, perhaps during a conflict with one of the nearby nomadic tribes. But the men’s lives were evidently not completely consumed by warfare. Mimokhod’s team found that one of the warriors was buried with his harp.

Greeks Control over Israel-Palestine

In the late Fourth century B.C., after Alexander the Great conquered the Middle East, Judea fell under the control of the Hellenistic (Greek) world. The Greeks concentrated temporal as well as religious power in the hands of the high priest. To ensure their control, the Greeks also established colonies throughout the vast area they came to control after Alexander the Great's conquests. [Source: Paul Mendes-Flohr Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices, 2000s Encyclopedia.com]

The Jews grew in strength throughout the 300 period after their exile, under the Persians and Greeks, despite their lands being ruled by foreign powers. At the same time they became more able to practice their faith freely, led by scribes and teachers who explained and interpreted the Bible.

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons except the Africans, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Text Sources: Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Greece sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Hellenistic World sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; BBC Ancient Greeks bbc.co.uk/history/; Canadian Museum of History, Perseus Project - Tufts University; perseus.tufts.edu ; MIT Classics Online classics.mit.edu ; Gutenberg.org, Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, New York Times, Washington Post, Live Science, Discover magazine, Natural History magazine, Archaeology magazine, The New Yorker, Encyclopædia Britannica, "The Discoverers" and "The Creators" by Daniel Boorstin. "Greek and Roman Life" by Ian Jenkins from the British Museum, Wikipedia, Reuters, Associated Press, The Guardian, AFP and various books and other publications.

Last updated September 2024