Ancient Greeks

Who were the ancient Greeks?

About 2,500 years ago, Greece was one of the most important places in the ancient world. The Greeks were great thinkers, warriors, writers, actors, athletes, artists, architects and politicians.

How was Greece ruled?

There was never one country called ‘ancient Greece’. Instead, Greece was divided up into small city-states, like Athens, Sparta, Corinth and Olympia.

Each city-state ruled itself. They had their own governments, laws and army. So, ancient Greeks living in Sparta considered themselves Spartan first, and Greek second.

How did the Olympic Games begin?

The Greeks loved sport and the Olympic Games were the biggest sporting event in the ancient calendar.

The Olympic Games began over 2,700 years ago in Olympia, in south west Greece. Every four years, around 50,000 people came from all over the Greek world to watch and take part. The ancient games were also a religious festival, held in honour of Zeus, the king of the gods.

There were no gold, silver and bronze medals. Winners were given a wreath of leaves and a hero's welcome back home. Athletes competed for the glory of their city and winners were seen as being touched by the gods.

How did the ancient Greeks do for us?

The Greeks used democracy that we still use here in the U.K and they brought the Olympics to us,they added more events like football,archery and gymnastics.

They created modern maths,sculptures,philosophy,science and even medicine.

They used some of their knowledge to create alarm clocks,water wheel,catapult and even the vending machine