Included between the V and IV centuries a. C., the classic period is understood like one of the most significant phases of the Greek history for the western civilization. At this time we have the existence of several city-states, among which we give special attention to Sparta, Athens and Thessaly. These cities received this name, city-state, as each one of them had the political autonomy to create its own form of government.
From an economic point of view, we have the intensification of handicraft and commercial activities generating the conquest of other areas beyond the Balkan Peninsula and the growing demand for hand of work. Not by chance, it was in this context that slavery became a recurrent activity among many peoples. Greeks, who conquered this form of work through wars or through debt collection personal.
During the classical period, we noticed that Greek cities took on great importance in the organization of public space. It was in this space where, specifically, negotiations took place, philosophers were interested in debating their ideas and political issues were debated among citizens. Even though it has a different meaning from the present one, it was among the Greeks that the notion of democracy was initially formulated.
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Two major conflicts marked the classical Greek period. The first happened in the clash of the Greeks against the Persians, marking the so-called Medical Wars. This confrontation was of great importance for several city-states to improve their war apparatus and, in political alliances, interested in preventing further possible foreign invasions into the Greek world.
The other major conflict to be highlighted, unlike the Medical Wars, involved the political disputes developed between the city-states themselves. Having as main protagonists the cities of Athens, Sparta and Thebes, the Peloponnesian War ended up bringing serious damage to Greece. The wear and tear of the conflict ended up favoring the invasion caused by the Macedonians, a fact that ends the classical Greek period.
By Rainer Gonçalves Sousa
Brazil School Collaborator
Graduated in History from the Federal University of Goiás - UFG
Master in History from the Federal University of Goiás - UFG
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
SOUSA, Rainer Gonçalves. "Greece: Classic Period"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/historiag/grecia-periodoclassico.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.