Portal:Ancient Greece/Selected location

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Athens (Greek: Αθήνα/Athina, Katharevousa: Αθήναι/Athinai), the capital and largest city in Greece, dominates the Attica periphery: as one of the world's oldest cities, its recorded history spans at least 3,000 years.In ancient Greek, the name of Athens was αἱ Ἀθῆναι Greek pronunciation: [hai̯ atʰɛ̂ːnaj], related tο ἡ Ἀθηνᾶ [hɛː atʰɛːnâː] and its dialectal variant ἡ Ἀθήνη [hɛː atʰɛ̌ːnɛː], the Attic and Ionic names respectively of the goddess Athena, the goddess of disciplined war and wisdom.




The city of Sparta lay at the southern end of the central Laconian plain, on the right bank of the Eurotas River. It was a strategic site, guarded on three sides by mountains and controlling the routes by which invading armies could penetrate Laconia and the southern Peloponnesus via the Langhda Pass over Mt Taygetus. At the same time, its distance from the sea—Sparta was 27 miles from its seaport, Gythium—made it difficult to blockade.




Hellespont (Greek Ἑλλήσποντοs; i.e. "Sea of Helle", variously named in classical literature Hellesponium Pelagus, Rectum Hellesponticum, and Fretum Hellesponticum) was the ancient name of a narrow strait, now known by the modern European term 'the Dardanelles'. It was so called from Helle, the daughter of Athamas, who was drowned here in the mythology of the Golden Fleece.




Macedon or Macedonia (Greek Μακεδονία Makedonía) was the name of an ancient kingdom in the northern-most part of ancient Greece, bordered by the kingdom of Epirus to the west and the region of Thrace to the east. For a brief period it became the most powerful state in the ancient Near East after Alexander the Great conquered most of the known world, inaugurating the Hellenistic period of Greek history.




Thebes Classic Greek: Θηβαι, Thēbai, Demotic Greek: Θήβα — Thíva; Katharevousa: ΘῆβαιThêbai or Thívai) is a city in Greece, situated to the north of the Cithaeron range, which divides Boeotia from Attica, and on the southern edge of the Boeotian plain.




Thermopylae /θərˈmɒpəli/ (Ancient and Katharevousa Greek Θερμοπύλαι, Demotic Θερμοπύλες: "hot gateway") is a location in Greece where a narrow coastal passage existed in antiquity.It derives its name from several natural hot water springs. It is primarily known for the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC in which an outnumbered Greek force of roughly 7,000 men temporarily held off advancing Persians under Xerxes, numbering in the hundreds of thousands, and the term since has been used to reference heroic resistance against a more powerful enemy




Pergamon or Pergamum (Greek: Πέργαμος, modern day Bergama in Turkey, 39°7′N 27°11′E / 39.117°N 27.183°E / 39.117; 27.183) was an ancient Greek city, in Mysia, north-western Anatolia, 16 miles from the Aegean Sea, located on a promontory on the north side of the river Caicus (modern day Bakırçay), that became an important kingdom during the Hellenistic period, under the Attalid dynasty, 281133 BC.




Corinth, or Korinth (Greek Κόρινθος, Kórinthos) is a city in Greece. In antiquity it was a city-state, on the Isthmus of Corinth, the narrow stretch of land that joins the Peloponnesus to the mainland of Greece. To the west of the isthmus lies the Gulf of Corinth, to the east lies the Saronic Gulf. Corinth is about 48 miles (78 km) west of Athens. The isthmus, which was in ancient times traversed by hauling ships over the rocky ridge on sledges, is now cut by a canal.