The history of ancient Greece begins with intellectual and political achievements that stand as a self-sufficient cultural revolution, but that also established the foundations of the later classical revolution. This history stretches from early Crete through the rise of hundreds of autonomous city-states that spread Greek culture across the Mediterranean, up to the establishment of the democracy in Athens. Poets and other intellectuals brought heroism and a respect for wisdom into the cultural forefront, spreading a respect for reason that formed the soil for the rise of philosophy.

This course delves into four aspects of this period: political and military history, religion and the view of man, a budding scientific outlook and literary culture. This is the first of three ancient Greek history courses planned for Objectivist summer conferences; the second will take us into the fifth-century intellectual revolution, and the third into the fourth century and the Macedonian conquests.