In southern Europe, the Greeks, Carthaginians and other peoples have colonized the coasts and islands of the Mediterranean sea, and hundreds of small city-states (among them the as-yet-insignificant city of Rome) have sprung up.
The emergence of the Classical city-state in the Mediterranean world, with its usually republican form of government, has allowed one of the most brilliant civilizations in all human history to develop, that of ancient Greece. The city-states provide a fruitful environment for advances in many branches of endeavour, artistic, intellectual and political. In them, the foundations for future Western civilization are being layed.
To the north, the Celts now cover western Europe from Spain in the west, through Gaul to Britain in the north. Peoples closely related to them, both ethnicaly and culturally, dominate central Europe.
Related Articles:
Ancient Greece Homepage
Expansion and Change
The Revolution in Art and Ideas
Athens and Sparta
The Persian Wars
Ancient Rome Homepage
The Origins of Rome
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Timeline of World History
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