Ancient Greek civilization - Tragedy, Theatre, Mythology

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data-icon="toc"></em> <a class="font-serif font-weight-bold text-black link-blue" href="https://www.britannica.com/place/ancient-Greece">ancient Greek civilization</a> </div> <button aria-label="Close" class="js-sections-close-button btn-link btn-sm btn d-lg-none position-absolute top-0 p-10 right-0" > <em class="material-icons font-26" data-icon="close"></em> </button> </div> <div class="section-content pl-10 pr-20 pl-sm-50 pr-sm-60 pl-lg-5 pr-lg-10 pt-10 pt-lg-0 bg-gray-50 clear-catfish-ad"> <div class="toc mb-20"> <div class="font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mx-15 mb-15 mt-20"> Table of Contents </div> <ul class="list-unstyled my-0" data-level="h1"><li data-target="#ref1"><div class="pl-25"><a class="link-gray-900 w-100" href="/place/ancient-Greece">Introduction & Top Questions</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li><li data-target="#ref26479"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece#ref26479">The early Archaic period</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref26480"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece#ref26480">The post-Mycenaean period and Lefkandi</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref26481"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece#ref26481">Colonization and city-state formation</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref261063"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-Olympic-Games">The Olympic Games</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref261064"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-Olympic-Games#ref261064">Overseas projects</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref261065"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-Olympic-Games#ref261065">The beginnings of the polis</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref26482"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Early-Archaic-Greek-civilization">Early Archaic Greek civilization</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26483"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Early-Archaic-Greek-civilization#ref26483">The sources</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26484" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Early-Archaic-Greek-civilization#ref26484">Society and values</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261066"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Early-Archaic-Greek-civilization#ref261066">Bacchiadae and Eupatridae</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261067"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Early-Archaic-Greek-civilization#ref261067">Symposia and gymnasia</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261068"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Early-Archaic-Greek-civilization#ref261068">Formal relationships</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261069"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Early-Archaic-Greek-civilization#ref261069">The Lelantine War</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref26485"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-later-Archaic-periods">The later Archaic periods</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref26486"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-later-Archaic-periods#ref26486">The rise of the tyrants</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref261111"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-later-Archaic-periods#ref261111">The decline of the aristocracy</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref261112"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-later-Archaic-periods#ref261112">Changes in warfare</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref261113"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-later-Archaic-periods#ref261113">The early tyrannies</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref261114"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Sparta-and-Athens">Sparta and Athens</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref261115" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Sparta-and-Athens#ref261115">Sparta</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261116"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Sparta-and-Athens#ref261116">The distinctiveness of Sparta</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261117"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Sparta-and-Athens#ref261117">The Rhetra</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261118"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Sparta-and-Athens#ref261118">The helot factor</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261119"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Sparta-and-Athens#ref261119">The Peloponnesian League</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref261120" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Athens">Athens</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261121"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Athens#ref261121">The distinctiveness of Athens</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref26489"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Solon">Solon</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref26490"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Solon#ref26490">The Peisistratid tyranny</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref26491"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-reforms-of-Cleisthenes">The reforms of Cleisthenes</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref26492"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-world-of-the-tyrants">The world of the tyrants</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref261122"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-world-of-the-tyrants#ref261122">Intermarriage between the great houses</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref261123"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-world-of-the-tyrants#ref261123">Poetry and art</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref261124"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-world-of-the-tyrants#ref261124">International influences</a></li></ul></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref26493"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Classical-Greek-civilization">Classical Greek civilization</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref26494"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Classical-Greek-civilization#ref26494">The Persian Wars</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26495"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Classical-Greek-civilization#ref26495">The Ionian revolt</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref261131" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Classical-Greek-civilization#ref261131">Causes of the Persian Wars</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261132"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Classical-Greek-civilization#ref261132">Economic factors</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261133"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Classical-Greek-civilization#ref261133">Political factors</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref261134"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Athenian-support-of-Ionia">Athenian support of Ionia</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26496" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Athenian-support-of-Ionia#ref26496">The position of Sparta</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261135"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Athenian-support-of-Ionia#ref261135">Sparta’s foreign relations</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261136"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Athenian-support-of-Ionia#ref261136">The role of Cleomenes</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26497"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-Battle-of-Marathon">The Battle of Marathon</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26498" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-Battle-of-Marathon#ref26498">The administration of democracy</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261137"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-Battle-of-Marathon#ref261137">The appointment of archons</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261138"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-Battle-of-Marathon#ref261138">The system of ostracism</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26500" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-last-Persian-Wars">The last Persian Wars</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261139"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-last-Persian-Wars#ref261139">Greek preparations for war</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261140"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-last-Persian-Wars#ref261140">Greek alliances</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261141"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-last-Persian-Wars#ref261141">Thermopylae</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261142"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-last-Persian-Wars#ref261142">Salamis</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261143"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-last-Persian-Wars#ref261143">Plataea</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref26502"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-Athenian-empire">The Athenian empire</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref261081" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-Athenian-empire#ref261081">Emerging Athenian independence</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261082"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-Athenian-empire#ref261082">The fortification of Athens</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261083"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-Athenian-empire#ref261083">The ambition of Pausanias</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26503" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-Athenian-empire#ref26503">The Delian League</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261084"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-Athenian-empire#ref261084">Paying tribute to Athens</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261085"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-Athenian-empire#ref261085">Strains on Greek unity</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26504" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Mounting-Athenian-aggression">Mounting Athenian aggression</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261086"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Mounting-Athenian-aggression#ref261086">Cimon’s actions</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261087"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Mounting-Athenian-aggression#ref261087">Athens’s moves against other Greeks</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261088"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Mounting-Athenian-aggression#ref261088">Athens’s moves northward</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261089"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Mounting-Athenian-aggression#ref261089">Sparta’s responses</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26505" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-reforms-of-Ephialtes">The reforms of Ephialtes</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261090"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-reforms-of-Ephialtes#ref261090">Legal reforms</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261091"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-reforms-of-Ephialtes#ref261091">Political reforms</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261092"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-reforms-of-Ephialtes#ref261092">The rejection of Cimon</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref261093" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-reforms-of-Ephialtes#ref261093">Athenian expansion</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261094"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-reforms-of-Ephialtes#ref261094">Friction between Athens and Corinth</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261095"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-reforms-of-Ephialtes#ref261095">The subjugation of Aegina</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261096"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-reforms-of-Ephialtes#ref261096">The scale of Athenian ambition</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261097"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-reforms-of-Ephialtes#ref261097">Sparta’s resistance</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261098"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-reforms-of-Ephialtes#ref261098">Peace with Persia</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref261099" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Revolts-of-Athenss-tributary-states">Revolts of Athens’s tributary states</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261100"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Revolts-of-Athenss-tributary-states#ref261100">Economic sources of resentment</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261101"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Revolts-of-Athenss-tributary-states#ref261101">Political and legal sources of resentment</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261102"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Revolts-of-Athenss-tributary-states#ref261102">The Euboean revolt</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26507"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Revolts-of-Athenss-tributary-states#ref26507">Greek communities in Italy and Sicily</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref26508"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-Peloponnesian-War">The Peloponnesian War</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26509"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-Peloponnesian-War#ref26509">Causes</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26510" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-Peloponnesian-War#ref26510">The initial phase, 431–425</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261070"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-Peloponnesian-War#ref261070">Pericles</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261071"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-Peloponnesian-War#ref261071">Sparta’s role</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261072"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-Peloponnesian-War#ref261072">Continuing strife</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261073"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Mytilene-and-Plataea">Mytilene and Plataea</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261074"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Mytilene-and-Plataea#ref261074">Speculation and unease</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26511" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Mytilene-and-Plataea#ref26511">The years 425–421</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261075"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Mytilene-and-Plataea#ref261075">Spartan calls for peace</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261076"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Mytilene-and-Plataea#ref261076">Cleon’s influence</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261077"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Mytilene-and-Plataea#ref261077">Spartan recovery</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26512" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Athenian-aggression-outside-the-Peloponnese">Athenian aggression outside the Peloponnese</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261078"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Athenian-aggression-outside-the-Peloponnese#ref261078">Entanglement with Persia</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261079"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Athenian-aggression-outside-the-Peloponnese#ref261079">Harsh treatment of Melos</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261080"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Athenian-aggression-outside-the-Peloponnese#ref261080">The Sicilian disaster</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26515"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Athenian-aggression-outside-the-Peloponnese#ref26515">The second phase of the war, 413–404</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref26516"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Greek-civilization-in-the-5th-century">Greek civilization in the 5th century</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref261053" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Greek-civilization-in-the-5th-century#ref261053">Intellectual achievements</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261054"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Greek-civilization-in-the-5th-century#ref261054">The effect of the Persian Wars on philosophy</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261055"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Greek-civilization-in-the-5th-century#ref261055">The rise of democracy</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261056"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Greek-civilization-in-the-5th-century#ref261056">Hippocrates and the fluidity of genres</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261057"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Greek-tragedy">Greek tragedy</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref261058"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Greek-tragedy#ref261058">The liturgy system</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref261059" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Greek-tragedy#ref261059">The roles of slaves and women</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261060"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Greek-tragedy#ref261060">Slaves</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref261061"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Greek-tragedy#ref261061">Women</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref261062"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Greek-tragedy#ref261062">Military technology</a></li></ul></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref26519"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-4th-century">The 4th century</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref26520"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-4th-century#ref26520">To the King’s Peace (386 <span class="text-smallcaps">bce</span>)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref261103"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-4th-century#ref261103">Dionysius I of Syracuse</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref261104"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-Corinthian-War">The Corinthian War</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref261105"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-Corinthian-War#ref261105">The King’s Peace</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref26522"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/From-386-bce-to-the-decline-of-Sparta">From 386 <span class="text-smallcaps">bce</span> to the decline of Sparta</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref261106"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/From-386-bce-to-the-decline-of-Sparta#ref261106">Spartan adventures</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref261107"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/From-386-bce-to-the-decline-of-Sparta#ref261107">The Second Athenian Confederacy</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref261108"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Theban-expansion">Theban expansion</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref261109"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Theban-expansion#ref261109">Athens and Thebes</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref26524"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-rise-of-Macedon">The rise of Macedon</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref261110"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/The-rise-of-Macedon#ref261110">Macedonian supremacy in Greece</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref26526"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Alexander-the-Great">Alexander the Great</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26527"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Alexander-the-Great#ref26527">Alexander and the Greeks</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26528"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Alexander-in-Egypt">Alexander in Egypt</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26529"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Alexander-in-Egypt#ref26529">To the Persian Gates</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26530"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Alexander-in-Egypt#ref26530">The conquest of Bactria and the Indus valley</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26531"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Alexander-in-Egypt#ref26531">The final phase</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref26532"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Greek-civilization-in-the-4th-century">Greek civilization in the 4th century</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26533"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Greek-civilization-in-the-4th-century#ref26533">Historical writings</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26534"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Greek-civilization-in-the-4th-century#ref26534">Architecture and sculpture</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26535"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Greek-civilization-in-the-4th-century#ref26535">Social and commercial exchanges</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref26536"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/ancient-Greece/Greek-civilization-in-the-4th-century#ref26536">Organized settlements</a></li></ul></li></ul></div></li><li 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Ancient Greece</a></li> <li><a class="external" href="https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/thegreeks_ep2_clip02/thegreeks_ep2_clip02/" target="_blank" rel="noopener ">PBS LearningMedia - Emergence of Cities and the Prophecies of Oracles | The Greeks</a></li> <li><a class="external" href="https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-1/pages/6-2-ancient-greece" target="_blank" rel="noopener ">OpenStax - World History Volume 1, to 1500 - Ancient Greece</a></li> <li><a class="external" href="https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/thegreeks_ep2_clip01/thegreeks_ep2_clip01/" target="_blank" rel="noopener ">PBS LearningMedia - Homer and the Gods - The Greeks</a></li> <li><a class="external" href="https://www.natgeokids.com/za/discover/history/greece/10-facts-about-the-ancient-greeks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener ">National Geographic Kids - Facts about Ancient Greece for kids</a></li> <li><a class="external" href="https://illinois.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/nvmm-math-mathmusic/ancient-math-music/" target="_blank" rel="noopener ">PBS LearningMedia - Ancient Math & Music</a></li> <li><a class="external" href="https://www.academia.edu/37499569/HIST_395_002_Ancient_Greek_Civilization_The_Ancient_Aegean_World_from_Homer_to_Alexander_the_Great" target="_blank" rel="noopener ">Academia - HIST 395.002 – Ancient Greek Civilization: The Ancient Aegean World from Homer to Alexander the Great</a></li> <li><a class="external" href="https://illinois.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/thegreeks_ep3_clip05/thegreeks_ep3_clip05/#.W36GHpN9jcc" target="_blank" rel="noopener ">PBS LearningMedia - The Rise of Alexander the Great</a></li> <li><a class="external" href="https://illinois.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/thegreeks_ep2_clip04/thegreeks_ep2_clip04/" target="_blank" rel="noopener ">PBS LearningMedia - The Birth of Democracy | The Greeks</a></li> <li><a class="external" href="https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/hum100/chapter/chapter-4-city-states-and-ancient-greece/" target="_blank" rel="noopener ">Open Library Publishing Platform - The Development of Western Thought 1 - City States and Ancient Greece</a></li> <li><a class="external" href="https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/world-history/ancient-medieval/classical-greece/a/greek-culture" target="_blank" rel="noopener ">Khan Academy - Classical Greek culture</a></li> <li><a class="external" href="https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/thegreeks_ep3_clip02/thegreeks_ep3_clip02/#.Wk29gFOYPcd" target="_blank" rel="noopener ">PBS LearningMedia - Building the Navy | The Greeks</a></li> <li><a class="external" href="https://illinois.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/greek_guide_religion/greek_guide_religion/#.WkZe7jeheUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener ">PBS LearningMedia - Greek Guide to Greatness: Religion | The Greeks</a></li> <li><a class="external" href="https://illinois.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/greek_guide_economy/greek_guide_economy/#.Wk3D6lOYPcd" target="_blank" rel="noopener ">PBS LearningMedia - Greek Guide to Greatness: Economy | The Greeks</a></li> <li><a class="external" href="https://boisestate.pressbooks.pub/arthistory/chapter/ancient-greece/" target="_blank" rel="noopener ">Boise State Pressbooks - Ancient Greece</a></li> <li><a class="external" href="https://www.worldhistory.org/greece/" target="_blank" rel="noopener ">Ancient History Encyclopedia - Ancient Greece, Eurasia</a></li> </ul> </div> <div class="md-websites-ebk-title">Britannica Websites</div> <div class="md-websites-ebk-subtitle">Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.</div> <ul class="list-unstyled bps-topic-web-sites lh-lg"> <li><a class="external" href="https://kids.britannica.com/kids/article/ancient-Greece/353213" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ancient Greece - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)</a></li> <li><a class="external" href="https://kids.britannica.com/students/article/ancient-Greece/274648" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ancient Greece - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="toc-header-marker"></div> <button class="ai-ask-button btn border-2 js-header-ai-ask-button d-none btn-sm btn-outline-red-400 border-red-400 mr-0 mr-lg-10 ml-5 ml-sm-10 ml-lg-0 p-10"> Ask the Chatbot a Question </button> <div class="md-byline module-spacing "> <div class="font-serif font-12"> <span class="written-by text-gray-700"> Written by </span> <div class="editor-popover popover p-0"> <a class="d-block p-20 gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor" href="/contributor/Simon-Hornblower/3823" > <div class="editor-title font-16 font-weight-bold">Simon Hornblower</div> <div class="editor-description font-12 font-serif mt-5 clamp-description text-black">Professor of Classics and Ancient History, University of Oxford.</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor text-decoration-underline"> Simon Hornblower</span></div> <div class="font-serif font-12 text-gray-700"> <span class="qa-fact-checked-by">Fact-checked by</span> <div class="editor-popover popover p-0"> <a class="d-block p-20 font-12" href="/editor/The-Editors-of-Encyclopaedia-Britannica/4419" > <div class="editor-title font-16 font-weight-bold">The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</div> <div class="editor-description font-12 font-serif mt-5 text-black">Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link font-12 "> The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</span></div> <div class="last-updated font-12 font-serif"> <span class="text-gray-700"> Last Updated: <time datetime="2024-10-27T00:00:00CDT" >Oct 27, 2024</time> •</span> <a class="byline-edit-history" href="https://www.britannica.com/place/ancient-Greece/additional-info#history" rel="nofollow">Article History</a> </div></div> </div> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm mobile-toc-button gtm-mobile-toc-inline-button d-none d-sm-block js-sections-inline-button module-spacing btn d-lg-none"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Table of Contents </button> <div class="d-flex d-sm-none flex-row"> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm mobile-toc-button gtm-mobile-toc-inline-button js-sections-inline-button module-spacing"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Table of Contents </button> <button class="ai-ask-button btn border-2 ai-ask-button btn border-2 module-spacing btn-sm js-inline-ai-ask-button btn-outline-red-400 border-red-400 p-10 ml-5"> Ask the Chatbot a Question </button> </div> <div class="js-qf-module qf-module px-40 px-sm-20 py-15 mx-auto module-spacing font-14 bg-gray-50 rounded"> <div class="qf-title font-weight-bold font-14 mb-10 text-center"> Quick Facts</div> <div class="facts-list mt-10"> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Date: </dt> <dd>1200 BCE - 323</dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Major Events: </dt> <dd><a href="/event/Hellenistic-Age" topicid="260307">Hellenistic age</a></dd> <dd><a href="/event/Greco-Persian-Wars" topicid="244117">Greco-Persian Wars</a></dd> <dd><a href="/event/Peloponnesian-War" topicid="449362">Peloponnesian War</a></dd> <dd><a href="/event/Classical-antiquity" topicid="2212976">Classical antiquity</a></dd> <dd><a href="/event/Battle-of-Thermopylae-Greek-history-480-BC" topicid="591710">Battle of Thermopylae</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Key People: </dt> <dd><a href="/biography/Aristotle" topicid="34560">Aristotle</a></dd> <dd><a href="/biography/Socrates" topicid="551948">Socrates</a></dd> <dd><a href="/biography/Plato" topicid="464109">Plato</a></dd> <dd><a href="/biography/Euripides" topicid="195618">Euripides</a></dd> <dd><a href="/biography/Pericles-Athenian-statesman" topicid="451685">Pericles</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Related Topics: </dt> <dd><a href="/sports/Olympic-Games" topicid="428005">Olympic Games</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/Greek-philosophy" topicid="244703">Greek philosophy</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/Greek-religion" topicid="244768">Greek religion</a></dd> <dd><a href="/art/Neoclassicism" topicid="408739">Neoclassical art</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/Greek-mythology" topicid="244670">Greek mythology</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Related Places: </dt> <dd><a href="/place/Turkey" topicid="609790">Turkey</a></dd> <dd><a href="/place/Italy" topicid="297474">Italy</a></dd> <dd><a href="/place/Greece" topicid="244154">Greece</a></dd> <dd><a href="/place/Athens" topicid="40773">Athens</a></dd> <dd><a href="/place/Sparta" topicid="558311">Sparta</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class="facts-item-none d-none"> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>On the Web: </dt> <dd><a href="https://www.academia.edu/37499569/HIST_395_002_Ancient_Greek_Civilization_The_Ancient_Aegean_World_from_Homer_to_Alexander_the_Great" target="_blank">Academia - HIST 395.002 – Ancient Greek Civilization: The Ancient Aegean World from Homer to Alexander the Great</a> (Oct. 27, 2024)</dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> <div class="text-center"> <a class="btn btn-sm btn-link p-0" href="/facts/ancient-Greece"> See all related content </a> </div> </div> </div> <button class="facts-list-show-more-btn mt-15 p-0 mx-auto btn font-14 d-block font-weight-normal"> <span class="material-icons" data-icon="expand_more"></span> <span class="show-more-label">Show More</span> </button> </div><span class="marker before-article"></span><section data-level="1"><span class="marker before-article"></span><section data-level="2"><span class="marker before-article"></span><section data-level="3"><span class="marker before-article"></span><section data-level="4" id="ref261057"> <span class="marker PREMOD1 mod-inline"></span><div class="assemblies"><div class="w-100"><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="241967" data-asm-type="image"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media " data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/95/184695-050-CAAE5A95/Greek-mask-statue-tragedy-sculpture-Euripides.jpg" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center media-overlay-link card-media" data-href="/media/1/244231/241967"><picture><source media="(min-width: 680px)" srcset="https://cdn.britannica.com/95/184695-050-CAAE5A95/Greek-mask-statue-tragedy-sculpture-Euripides.jpg?w=300"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/95/184695-050-CAAE5A95/Greek-mask-statue-tragedy-sculpture-Euripides.jpg?w=300" alt="Euripides" data-width="1052" data-height="1600" loading="eager"></picture><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/95/184695-050-CAAE5A95/Greek-mask-statue-tragedy-sculpture-Euripides.jpg" data-href="/media/1/244231/241967">Euripides</a><span>Euripides holding the mask of tragedy, sculpture, <em>c.</em> 480–406 <span class="text-smallcaps">bce</span>.</span><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div></figcaption></figure></div></div><p class="topic-paragraph"><span id="ref298198"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/Ancient-Greek-literature" class="md-crosslink ">Greek tragedy</a> was not itself intended as an immediate contribution to political debate, though in its exploration of issues, sometimes by means of rapid question-and-answer <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/dialogue" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">dialogue</a>, its debt to <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="rhetoric" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rhetoric" data-type="MW">rhetoric</a> is obvious (this is particularly true of some plays by <span id="ref298200"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Euripides" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Euripides</a>, such as the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Phoenician-Women" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true"><em>Phoenician Women</em></a> or the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Suppliants-play-by-Euripides" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true"><em>Suppliants</em></a>, but also of some by <span id="ref298201"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sophocles" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Sophocles</a>, such as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Oedipus-Rex-play-by-Sophocles" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true"><em>Oedipus the King</em></a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Philoctetes-play-by-Sophocles" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true"><em>Philoctetes</em></a>). It is true that sometimes the <em><span id="ref298202"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/choragus" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">chorēgoi</a></em>, or rich men appointed by one of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/archon-ancient-Greek-magistrate" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">archons</a> to finance a particular play, were themselves politicians and that this is reflected in the plays produced. (<a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Themistocles" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Themistocles</a> was <em>chorēgos</em> for Phrynichos, one of whose plays caused a political storm, and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pericles-Athenian-statesman" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Pericles</a> paid for the <em>Persians</em> of Aeschylus.)</p><span class="marker MOD1 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD2 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">One play with a clear contemporary <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="resonance" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/resonance" data-type="MW">resonance</a> in its choice of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Areopagus-Greek-council" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Areopagus</a> as a subtheme, the <em>Eumenides</em> of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Aeschylus-Greek-dramatist" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Aeschylus</a> (458), however, had for its <em>chorēgos</em> a man otherwise unknown; nor is it agreed whether Aeschylus was <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="endorsing" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/endorsing" data-type="MW">endorsing</a> the recent reforms or voicing reservations about them. The play treats the theme of the vengeful dead (<a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Orestes-Greek-mythology" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Orestes</a> is pursued by the Eumenides—Erinyes or <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Furies" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Furies</a>—for killing his mother on <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Apollo-Greek-mythology" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Apollo</a>’s instructions because she killed his father, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Agamemnon-Greek-mythology" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Agamemnon</a>). Such preoccupation with the vengeful dead was <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="illuminated" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/illuminated" data-type="MW">illuminated</a> by the publication in 1993 of a remarkable mid-5th-century law from <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Selinus-ancient-city-Sicily" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Selinus</a> in western <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Sicily" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Sicily</a>, which mentions the Eumenides and gives <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Zeus" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Zeus</a> the obviously related but hitherto unattested cult title Zeus Eumenes. The inscription deals with the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/purification-rite" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">steps</a> to be taken to cope with pollution after bloodshed.</p><span class="marker MOD2 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD3 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The <em><span id="ref930561"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Suppliants-play-by-Euripides" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Suppliants</a></em> of Euripides contains much in apparent praise of democratic institutions, but it also includes some harsh words for the kind of politician that the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="democracy" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/democracy" data-type="MW">democracy</a> tended to produce. Euripides’ associations with the Sophists (the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="oligarchs" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/oligarchs" data-type="MW">oligarchs</a> Cleitophon and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Theramenes" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Theramenes</a> are specifically linked to him) are another <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/reason" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">reason</a> why it is difficult to treat his <em>Suppliants</em> as a straightforward endorsement of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/democracy" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">democracy</a>. The political relevance of <em>Suppliants</em> has always been noted; but the <em>Ion</em> of Euripides, produced in perhaps 412, has at least as strong a claim to be regarded as a political play, because it treats and <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="reconciles" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reconciles" data-type="MW">reconciles</a> the two crucial Athenian <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="myths" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/myths" data-type="MW">myths</a> of Ionianism and autochthony—i.e., the essentially anti-Dorian and therefore anti-Spartan idea that the Ionian Athenians were not immigrants (unlike the arriviste Dorians) but had occupied the same land always.</p><span class="marker MOD3 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD4 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The views, political or otherwise, of playwrights themselves cannot be straightforwardly inferred from what they put into the mouths of their characters. But it must be significant that the festival of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Great-Dionysia" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Dionysia</a>, at which the plays were produced, was designed to reinforce civic values and <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="ideology" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ideology" data-type="MW">ideology</a> in various ways: war orphans featured prominently in a demonstration of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/hoplite" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">hoplite</a> solidarity, and there was some kind of parade exhibiting the tribute of the subject allies—all this taking place before the plays were actually performed. Not even this, however, entailed that the content of the plays was necessarily expected to reinforce those civic values. The opposite may even (it has been argued) be true of some plays; for example, both the <em>Ajax</em> and the <em>Philoctetes</em> of Sophocles question the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="ethic" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ethic" data-type="MW">ethic</a> of military obedience, and his <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Antigone-Greek-mythology" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true"><em>Antigone</em></a> stresses the paramount claims of family in the sphere of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/burial-death-rite" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">burial</a> at a time when the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/polis" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">polis</a> had made large inroads in this area. In general, however, it is hard to believe that Sophocles, who was a friend of Pericles and served as <em>stratēgos</em> and imperial treasurer, was a kind of subversive malcontent.</p><span class="marker MOD4 mod-inline"></span></section></section> <section data-level="3" id="ref261058"><h2 class="h3">The liturgy system</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD5 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The <span id="ref298203"></span>choragic system is one aspect of a (for this period) very unusual institution by which individuals paid for state projects. The 5th-century Athenian economy, though it continued to draw on the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/silver" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">silver</a> of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Laurium" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Laurium</a> and was underpinned by the more recently acquired assets of an organized empire, nevertheless looked to individuals to finance both necessary projects like <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/trireme" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">triremes</a> and strictly unnecessary ones like tragedies. It is worth asking whether such distinction between necessary and unnecessary projects is too sharp: there was a sense in which the trireme, a noble achievement of human <em>technē</em> (art or craft), was an object of <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="legitimate" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/legitimate" data-type="MW">legitimate</a> pride, which might have its <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="aesthetic" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aesthetic" data-type="MW">aesthetic</a> aspect. That, at least, is the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="implication" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/implication" data-type="MW">implication</a> of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thucydides-Greek-historian" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Thucydides’</a> unforgettable account of the rivalry between the trierarchs en route to Sicily in 415. Thucydides describes the splendid flotilla, for which publicly and privately no expense had been grudged, racing from <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Athens" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Athens</a> as far as Aegina out of sheer pride, joy, and enthusiasm.</p><div class="module-spacing"> </div><span class="marker MOD5 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD6 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The psychology of contributions of this sort, the so-called <span id="ref298204"></span>liturgy system, was complicated. On the one hand, the system differed from the kind of tyrannical or individual patronage the poetry of <span id="ref298205"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pindar" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Pindar</a> shows still existed in, for example, 5th-century Sicily or at Dorian <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Cyrene-ancient-Greek-colony-Libya" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Cyrene</a>, which still had a <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="hereditary" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/hereditary" data-type="EB">hereditary</a> <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/monarchy" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">monarchy</a> (the Battiads) until the second half of the 5th century. Athenians themselves liked to think that the system was somehow anonymous and that glory was brought on the city. That assumption was true of athletic as well as cultural success: Thucydides makes <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alcibiades-Athenian-politician-and-general" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Alcibiades</a> claim the military command in Sicily because his Olympic chariot victories have brought glory on the city. Consistent with this, Athenian victors in the Panhellenic games were given free meals in the Prytaneium (the town hall), alongside the descendants of the tyrannicides <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Harmodius" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Harmodius and Aristogiton</a>. The evidence for this is an inscription of the 430s.</p><span class="marker MOD6 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD7 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">On the other hand, the liturgy system was exploited for individual gain. Thus, Alcibiades’ plea for political recognition was an individual and traditional one, recalling the 7th-century Olympic victor Cylon, who also sought political success by his attempted tyrannical coup. It was not altogether surprising that Alcibiades’ contemporaries suspected that he too was aiming at <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="tyranny" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tyranny" data-type="MW">tyranny</a>. Alcibiades, it may be felt, can be written off as an exception and an <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="anachronism" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anachronism" data-type="MW">anachronism</a>. Far-less-famous speakers, however, in tight situations in the lawcourts, made comparable reference to their individual expenditure on behalf of the state, one of them frankly admitting that his motive in spending more than was necessary was to take out a kind of insurance against <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="forensic" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/forensic" data-type="MW">forensic</a> misfortune. And generally the <em>History</em> of Thucydides does show awareness that athletic success still went hand in hand with political prominence.</p><span class="marker MOD7 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD8 mod-inline"></span><div class="assemblies"><div class="w-100"><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="208078" data-asm-type="image"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media " data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/03/179003-050-D2469DBE/Propylaea-entrance-gate-ruins-Athens-Acropolis.jpg" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center media-overlay-link card-media" data-href="/media/1/244231/208078"><picture><source media="(min-width: 680px)" srcset="https://cdn.britannica.com/03/179003-050-D2469DBE/Propylaea-entrance-gate-ruins-Athens-Acropolis.jpg?w=300"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/03/179003-050-D2469DBE/Propylaea-entrance-gate-ruins-Athens-Acropolis.jpg?w=300" alt="Propylaea" data-width="1600" data-height="1030" loading="eager"></picture><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/03/179003-050-D2469DBE/Propylaea-entrance-gate-ruins-Athens-Acropolis.jpg" data-href="/media/1/244231/208078">Propylaea</a><span>Tourists exploring the Propylaea, the entrance gate at the ancient ruins of the acropolis, Athens.</span><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div></figcaption></figure></div></div><p class="topic-paragraph">Individuals might pay for the equipping of triremes, or even (like Alcibiades) own their own trireme. They might even help finance buildings like the Stoa Poikile of Peisianax (a relative of Cimon). But a building program such as that undertaken after 449 called for the full resources of the imperial state. The architects commissioned, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Callicrates" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Callicrates</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ictinus" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Ictinus</a>, and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mnesicles" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Mnesicles</a>, worked under the general supervision of the sculptor <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Phidias" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Phidias</a>; most of these men had personal connections with Pericles himself and with aspects of Periclean policy (Callicrates, for example, was involved in the building of the Long Walls). The main works on the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/acropolis-ancient-Greek-district" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Acropolis</a> were temples, but even the great ceremonial gateway of Mnesicles (the Propylaea) was a lavish and expensive effort, though a <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="secular" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/secular" data-type="MW">secular</a> one. The financial <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/history" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">history</a> of these buildings can be reconstructed with the help of inscriptions, though firm evidence for the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Parthenon" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Parthenon</a> is lacking. Nonetheless, an inscription shows that the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/chryselephantine" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">chryselephantine</a> (gold and ivory) cult statue of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Athena-Greek-mythology" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Athena</a> by Phidias cost somewhere between 700 and 1,000 talents, and the Parthenon itself, which housed the statue, may have cost about the same.</p><span class="marker MOD8 mod-inline"></span></section> <section data-level="3" id="ref261059"><h2 class="h3">The roles of slaves and women</h2> <section data-level="4" id="ref261060"><h2 class="h4">Slaves</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD9 mod-inline"></span><div class="assemblies"><div class="w-100"><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="119797" data-asm-type="image"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media " data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/76/125576-050-EAF6C320/Caryatids-porch-Erechtheum-Athens-Acropolis.jpg" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center media-overlay-link card-media" data-href="/media/1/244231/119797"><picture><source media="(min-width: 680px)" srcset="https://cdn.britannica.com/76/125576-050-EAF6C320/Caryatids-porch-Erechtheum-Athens-Acropolis.jpg?w=300"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/76/125576-050-EAF6C320/Caryatids-porch-Erechtheum-Athens-Acropolis.jpg?w=300" alt="Erechtheum" data-width="1600" data-height="1200" loading="eager"></picture><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/76/125576-050-EAF6C320/Caryatids-porch-Erechtheum-Athens-Acropolis.jpg" data-href="/media/1/244231/119797">Erechtheum</a><span>Caryatids supporting the porch of the Erechtheum, on the acropolis of Athens.</span><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div></figcaption></figure></div></div><p class="topic-paragraph">From the accounts of the <span id="ref298206"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Erechtheum" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Erechtheum</a>, the temple of Athena on the Acropolis (built 421–405), it is known that highly skilled slaves as well as metics (resident foreigners) participated in the work on the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/frieze-architecture" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">friezes</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/column-architecture" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">columns</a>. The <span id="ref298208"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/slavery-sociology" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">slaves</a>, whose work on the building can hardly be distinguished from that of their free coworkers, received payment like the rest (but the money was presumably handed over to their owners). These slaves and those used as agricultural and domestic workers (e.g., the occasional nurse-companions mentioned by 4th-century orators) can be placed at one end of a spectrum. At the other end are the mining slaves working in the thousands under dangerous and deplorable conditions. Their <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/life-expectancy" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">life expectancy</a> was short. It has been held that only condemned criminals were used in the mines, but the evidence for such “condemnation to the mines” is Roman, not Classical Athenian.</p><span class="marker MOD9 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD10 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Slaves were thus necessary for the working of the economy in its mining and agriculture aspects, and they also provided skills for the architectural glorification of the Acropolis. It is disputed how much <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="chattel" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chattel" data-type="MW">chattel</a> slaves were needed as part of the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="infrastructure" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/infrastructure" data-type="MW">infrastructure</a> of Athenian life in that they provided the political classes, down to and including the <em><span id="ref298209"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/thetes" class="md-crosslink ">thētes</a></em>, with the leisure for politics and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/philosophy" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">philosophy</a>. The answer depends on population figures, which are far from certain; perhaps the total slave population approached six figures (the adult male population in 431 was 42,000). Probably many <em>thētes</em> did own slaves. Although slaves were used for military purposes only rarely, they might exceptionally have been enrolled in the fleet. Slaves were always considered a dangerous weapon of war, but they occasionally figure prominently in descriptions of political struggle within cities; for example, at Corcyra in 427 the slaves were promised freedom by both sides but went over to the democrats. One cannot adduce this as support for an interpretation of Greek politics in terms of class struggle because the democrats may simply have made the more handsome offers.</p><span class="marker MOD10 mod-inline"></span></section> <section data-level="4" id="ref261061"><h2 class="h4">Women</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD11 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">One Athenian group that can without absurdity be called an exploited productive class was the <span id="ref930560"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/women" class="md-crosslink ">women</a>. They were unusually restricted in their <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/property-law" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">property rights</a> even by comparison with the women in other Greek states. To some extent the peculiar Athenian disabilities were due to a desire on the part of the polis to ensure that estates did not become concentrated in few hands, thus undermining the democracy of smallholders. To this social and political end it was necessary that women should not inherit in their own right; an heiress was therefore obliged to marry her nearest male relative unless he found a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/dowry" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">dowry</a> for her. The prevailing <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/homosexuality" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">homosexual</a> <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="ethos" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ethos" data-type="MW">ethos</a> of the gymnasia and of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/symposium-ancient-Greek-banquet" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">symposium</a> helped to reduce the cultural value attached to women and to the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/marriage" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">marriage</a> bond.</p><span class="marker MOD11 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD12 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Against all this, one has to place evidence showing that, whatever the rules, women did as a matter of fact make dedications and loans, at Athens as elsewhere, sometimes involving fairly large sums. And the Athenian orators appealed to the informal pressure of domestic female opinion; one 4th-century speaker in effect asked what the men would tell the women of their households if they acquitted a certain woman and declared that she was as worthy to hold a priesthood as they were.</p><span class="marker MOD12 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD13 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">In fact, priesthoods were one area of public activity open to women at Athens; the priestess of Athena Nike was in some sense appointed by lot “from all the Athenian women,” just like some post-Ephialtic magistrate. (Both the inscription appointing the priestess and the epitaph of the first incumbent are extant.) The Athenian priests and priestesses, however, did not have the political influence that their counterparts later had at Rome; only one <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="anecdote" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anecdote" data-type="MW">anecdote</a> attests a priestess as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/conscientious-objector" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">conscientious objector</a> on a political issue (Theano, who refused to curse Alcibiades), and it is suspect. It is true that Athenian women had cults of their own, such as that of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Artemis-Greek-goddess" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Artemis</a> at Brauron, where young Athenian girls served the goddess in a ritual capacity as “little bears.” Such activity, however, can be seen as merely a taming process, preparatory to marriage in the way that military initiation was preparatory to the male world of war and fighting.</p><span class="marker MOD13 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD14 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Nevertheless, it was arguably in religious associations that the excluded situation of Classical Athenian women at the political level was <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="ameliorated" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ameliorated" data-type="MW">ameliorated</a>. At Athens and elsewhere, the rules about women and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/sacrifice-religion" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">sacrifice</a> seem to show that the political definition of female status was more restricted than the social and religious. As always, however, there is a problem about evidence. Much of it comes from Athens, yet there is reason to suppose that the rules circumscribing Athenian women were exceptional; the “Gortyn code” from mid-5th-century <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Crete" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Crete</a>, for example, seems to imply that women held more property there than was usual at Athens in the same period.</p><span class="marker MOD14 mod-inline"></span></section></section> <section data-level="3" id="ref261062"><h2 class="h3"><span id="ref298210"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/military-technology" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Military technology</a></h2> <span class="marker PREMOD15 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Military technology remained surprisingly static in the 5th century. The 7th century, by contrast, had witnessed rapid <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="innovations" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/innovations" data-type="MW">innovations</a>, such as the introduction of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/hoplite" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">hoplite</a> and the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/trireme" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">trireme</a>, which still were the basic instruments of war in the 5th. The 4th century was to be another period of military change, although some of the new features were already discernible in the period of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Peloponnesian-War" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Peloponnesian War</a> (such as the more-intelligent use of light-armed troops, as in the northwest and at Sphacteria in the 420s; the more-extensive use of mercenaries; and the deepened right wing in the formation of the hoplite army used at Delium). But it was the development of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/artillery" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">artillery</a> that opened an epoch, and this invention did not predate the 4th century. It was first heard of in the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="context" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/context" data-type="MW">context</a> of Sicilian warfare against <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Carthage-ancient-city-Tunisia" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Carthage</a> in the time of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Dionysius-I" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Dionysius I of Syracuse</a>.</p><span class="marker MOD15 mod-inline"></span></section></section></section><span class="marker end-of-content"></span><span class="marker after-article"></span></div> <div id="chatbot-root"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="ai-dialog-placeholder"></div> </div> </div> <aside class="col-md-da-320"></aside> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article></div> </div></div> </div> </main> <div id="md-footer"></div> <noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-5W6NC8" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript> <script type="text/javascript" id="_informizely_script_tag"> var IzWidget = IzWidget || {}; (function (d) { var scriptElement = d.createElement('script'); scriptElement.type = 'text/javascript'; scriptElement.async = true; scriptElement.src = "https://insitez.blob.core.windows.net/site/f780f33e-a610-4ac2-af81-3eb184037547.js"; var node = d.getElementById('_informizely_script_tag'); node.parentNode.insertBefore(scriptElement, node); } )(document); </script>  <script> window.ap3c = window.ap3c || {}; var ap3c = window.ap3c; ap3c.cmd = ap3c.cmd || []; ap3c.cmd.push(function() { ap3c.init('ZO4siT4cLwnykPnzZWJtd3Byb2Q', 'https://engage.email.britannica.com/'); ap3c.track({v: 0}); }); ap3c.activity = function(act) { ap3c.act = (ap3c.act || []); ap3c.act.push(act); }; var s, t; s = document.createElement('script'); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = "https://engage.email.britannica.com/app.js"; t = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; t.parentNode.insertBefore(s, t); </script> <script class="marketing-page-info" type="application/json"> {"pageType":"Topic","templateName":"DESKTOP","pageNumber":22,"pagesTotal":31,"pageId":244231,"pageLength":2200,"initialLoad":true,"lastPageOfScroll":false} </script> <script class="marketing-content-info" type="application/json"> [] </script> <script src="https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/js/libs/jquery-3.5.0.min.js?v=3.130.14"></script> <script type="text/javascript" data-type="Init Mendel Code Splitting"> (function() { $.ajax({ dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: 'https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/dist/topic-page.js?v=3.130.14' }); })(); </script> <script class="analytics-metadata" type="application/json"> {"leg":"B","adLeg":"B","userType":"ANONYMOUS","pageType":"Topic","pageSubtype":null,"articleTemplateType":"PAGINATED","gisted":false,"pageNumber":22,"hasSummarizeButton":false,"hasAskButton":false} </script> <script type="text/javascript"> EBStat={accountId:-1,hostnameOverride:'webstats.eb.com',domain:'www.britannica.com', json:''}; </script> <script type="text/javascript"> ( function() { $.ajax( { dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: '//www.britannica.com/webstats/mendelstats.js?v=1' } ) .done( function() { try {writeStat(null,EBStat);} catch(err){} } ); })(); </script> <div id="bc-fixed-dialogue"></div> </body> </html>

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