This lecture covers the best-known era of Ancient Greece: the so-called archaic period, the classical period, and the Hellenistic period. This is a time of great achievements in the field of art, political developments, and an intellectual quest for truth, which have profoundly influenced our European culture. But it also highlights the rivalry between Athens and Sparta and the difficulty in achieving unity.
NB : on some cruises, through lack of suitable lecture slots, I have to combine this lecture with the two on pre-classical Greece. Its title then becomes: “Who were the Ancient Greeks?”