Photographs by James L. Stanfield / Text by Caroline Alexandar

"You will find everything sold together in the same place in Athens," wrote one Greek poet. "Figs, witnesses to summonses, grapes, turnips, pears, apples, givers of evidence, roses, medlars, porridge, honeycombs, chickpeas, lawsuits…lambs, water clocks, laws, indictments." The marketplace of Agora symbolizes the open, diverse society of Athens. But its imperfect democracy contrasted with that of its rival city to the south – Sparta. After quelling the Messenian rebellion in the mid-seventh century B.C., the Spartans modified their political system to that of a totalitarian, militaristic state with one aim – to produce the best warriors in all of Greece. Their differences ultimately led to the Peloponnesian War – a 27-year war in which Greek slaughtered Greek.

The Classical Age of Greece, from 500 B.C. until the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C., also brought about the histories of Herodotus, tragedies of Sophocles, sculptures of Pheidias, and philosophical inquiries of Socrates. The spreading of Greek culture throughout the Near and Middle East by Greece’s last conqueror, Alexander, is the subject of our last installment in this series.

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