A Lydian gold coin King Gyges About 687 BC, according to the Greek historian Herodotus, King Gyges started the new country of Lydia (LID-ee-ah), in modern Turkey where the Hittites had ruled before the [...]
Phoenician ship In 480 BC, the Persian king Xerxes was attacking Greece. Things looked very bad for the Greeks, when the Greek navy, under the command of the Athenian general Themistocles, wrecked the Persian fleet [...]
What is an oracle? The Greek oracle at Dodona in northern Greece Greek oracle definition: What is an oracle? The definition of the word oracle is actually pretty tricky. The [...]
Kleobis and Biton Kleobis and Biton: examples of happy lives The Greek historian Herodotus tells a story about two young men named Kleobis and Biton (KLEE-oh-biss and BYE-ton) who lived near [...]
Herakles as a baby, on a red-figure vase from Athens (400s BC) Herakles/Hercules You might think you already know all about Hercules (the Greeks called him Herakles) from watching the Disney [...]
Temple of Apollo at Delphi How old was the shrine at Delphi? Delphi (DELL-fee), in central Greece, seems to have been a sacred shrine even before the Greeks arrived in [...]
The god Apollo was a sun god Apollo's family ties Apollo is a younger god, the son of Zeus and the nymph Leto, and the twin brother of Artemis. Apollo's [...]
Oedipus Rex: The shepherd tells his story to Oedipus, while Jocasta listens in horror (now in the Getty Museum) Sophocles wrote this very famous play in the 400s BC. It [...]
Alcmaeonid curse: These skeletons of men who were killed with their hands tied may be some of Cylon's supporters. Who were the Alcmaeonids? The Alcmaeonids (alk-MEE-oh-nids) were a very rich [...]
Obol minted under Pisistratus with the head of Medusa At first people were happy with Solon's changes. They had their farms back, and they didn't owe any money, and they [...]
