Get Flocabulary - Ancient Greece

The name 'Hellenes,' which was commonly used to refer to the Greeks, came from Hellen, the son of Pyrrha and Deucalion. These two individuals were the sole survivors of a disastrous flood (similar to the one from the story of Noah's Ark).

But there were three important, yet slightly different civilisations that existed throughout this period that pre-dated ancient Greece. These are the Cycladic, Minoan, and Mycenaean civilisations.

Greek. The Greek language dates to around 1300 BCE. Ancient Greek survives not only in the language spoken throughout Greece, the Greek Isles, Turkey and Cyprus today, but in other western languages as well. ing to classics professor Tamara M.

The Greeks called their land Hellas and themselves Hellenes. It was the Romans who called them Greeks- (Graeci ) and that is the name by which we know them. The Greek historian Herodotus wrote that “ Egypt is the gift of the Nile ” but he never came up with an expression so memorable to describe his own country.

Also serving as the Hebrew name for Greece or Greeks in general, יָוָן Yavan or Yāwān has long been considered cognate with the name of the eastern Greeks, the Ionians (Greek Ἴωνες Iōnes, Homeric Greek Ἰάονες Iáones; Mycenaean Greek *Ιαϝονες Iawones).

Ancient Greece goes back to Mycenaean culture of the second half of the second millennium BC. However, Egyptian civilization is much earlier than that: in the mid-second millennium BC, it was at its height (the “New Kingdom”), but its origins go right to the third millennium BC, or even earlier.

The Greeks called themselves 'Hellenes' and their land was 'Hellas'. The name 'Greeks' was given to the people of Greece later by the Romans.

Koine Greek was the common language of Greeks. It was Attic Greek mixed with several other dialects. Homer spoke and wrote in an old dialect that was somewhat different from Attic Greek. The Iliad and the Odyssey are long poems that tell exciting stories about warfare, travel and the Greek gods.

The ancient and modern name of the country is Hellas or Hellada (Greek: Ελλάς, Ελλάδα; in polytonic: Ἑλλάς, Ἑλλάδα), and its official name is the Hellenic Republic, Helliniki Dimokratia (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία [eliniˈci ðimokraˈti. a]).