Introduction to

People lived in Greece from earliest times. Different groups of people organized their lives in different ways. They did not think of themselves as Greeks. By 800 BC, villages began to grow into towns. Some of the Greeks made city-states. They traded with each other and with other countries. Some of the city-states like Athens became very rich. Much of the evidence we have from Ancient Greece is from Athens. The people made beautiful vase paintings and statues. They wrote stories, poems and plays. They knew about science and maths. We still use many of their ideas. Some of the letters in our alphabet come from Greek letters.

Sometimes the city-states fought each other. Sometimes they fought together against other countries. In 499 BC they started to fight against Persia. Alexander the Great ruled all of Greece but when he died his land was split up.