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Home›World history

Greece and Rome

From the Greek city-states of the 8th century BCE to the end of the western Roman empire in 476 CE. Eight units cover Sparta and the colonies, Athenian democracy, the Persian Wars, Alexander the Great, the Roman Republic, the empire, Roman engineering and the fall of the West, with maps, timelines and flashcards. Ancient numbers such as army sizes come from writers like Herodotus and are often disputed; each unit says so where it matters.

Progress

About this course

Plutarch tells a story about the ostracism of Aristides, a general so honest he was nicknamed "the Just". An illiterate farmer who did not recognise him handed him an ostrakon and asked him to write "Aristides" on it. Aristides asked what the man had done wrong. "Nothing," the farmer said, "I don't even know him. I'm just tired of hearing him called the Just everywhere." Aristides wrote his own name and handed it back. He was ostracised in 482 BCE and recalled two years later when Xerxes invaded. That story captures what the course covers, from the Greek city-states of the 8th century BCE to the end of the western Roman empire in 476 CE.

The eight units run in order: Sparta, Corinth and the colonies, then Athenian democracy, where the vote to send a politician away for ten years counted only if at least 6,000 were cast. The Persian Wars include Herodotus counting 192 Athenians dead at Marathon in 490 BCE. In eleven years Alexander's army marched from Macedonia to the Indus and back to Babylon, where he died in 323 BCE at 32. The Roman Republic names each year after two consuls, elected for twelve months. The empire unit includes Hadrian's Wall, 80 Roman miles long, and the Pont du Gard in the technology unit has a channel that drops just 2.5 cm in 456 m. The last unit covers 4 September 476, when Odoacer deposed the boy emperor Romulus Augustulus and did not bother to name a new one.

Ancient numbers such as army sizes come from writers like Herodotus and are often disputed, and each unit says so where it matters.

Before you start

The Greek city-states first appear in the last units of Ancient civilizations, so that course is the natural lead-in. Dates switch from BCE to CE partway through, and a few questions subtract one year from another, so counting across the change of era is worth a moment's practice.

When you finish

You will be able to compare Sparta, Corinth and the Greek colonies, explain how Athenians chose officials by lot and sent politicians away by ostracism, and describe how the Greeks won at Marathon. You can follow Alexander's march and why he turned back in India, explain how the Roman Republic shared power between two consuls, and give reasons for the fall of the west in 476.

  1. 1Greek city-states: Sparta, Corinth and the coloniesIn Plato’s Phaedo, Socrates says that the people between the Strait of Gibraltar and the Black Sea live around the sea like ants or frogs around a pond.
  2. 2Athenian democracyTo send a politician away for ten years, Athenians scratched his name on a broken pot, and the vote counted only if at least 6,000 were cast.
  3. 3The Persian WarsHerodotus counted 192 Athenians dead at Marathon in 490 BCE, and the mound raised over them still stands on the plain.
  4. 4Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic worldIn eleven years Alexander’s army marched from Macedonia to the Indus and back to Babylon, where he died in 323 BCE at the age of 32.
  5. 5The Roman RepublicRomans named each year after two consuls, elected to share the top office for just twelve months.
  6. 6The Roman EmpireHadrian’s Wall ran 80 Roman miles, 73 modern miles, across northern Britain, and soldiers from three continents guarded it.
  7. 7Roman technology: aqueducts, roads and concreteOn top of the Pont du Gard the water channel drops just 2.5 cm in 456 m, a slope of about 1 in 18,000.
  8. 8The fall of the western empire, 476On 4 September 476 a general named Odoacer deposed the boy emperor Romulus Augustulus and did not bother to name a new one.

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Sources for this course (13)
  • The Met Heilbrunn Timeline essays "The Roman Republic" and "The Roman Empire (27 B.C. to 393 A.D.)" (metmuseum.org/essays)
  • British Museum collection records (Vindolanda birthday invitation, ostraka, Ilam pan)
  • Britannica: "The reforms of Cleisthenes", "Cleisthenes of Athens", "Greco-Persian Wars", "Delian League"
  • Hellenic Ministry of Culture exhibition "2500 years: The Battle of Marathon" (2500years.culture.gov.gr)
  • English Heritage: "History of Hadrian's Wall" and "Hadrian's Wall facts and FAQs" (english-heritage.org.uk)
  • MIT News 2023 "Riddle solved: Why was Roman concrete so durable?" and Seymour, Masic et al., Science Advances 2023 (doi 10.1126/sciadv.add1602)
  • MIT DMSE 2025 on the Pompeii building site
  • University of Chicago LacusCurtius: "The Life and Works of Frontinus" and Encyclopaedia Romana "Frontinus and the Quinaria" (penelope.uchicago.edu)
  • Brown University Joukowsky Institute course notes "Delian League"
  • Lumen Learning / SUNY world history "Odoacer and the Fall of Rome"
  • Livius.org "Royal Road"
  • EBSCO Research Starters "Legislation of Solon". Map coastlines: Natural Earth 1:110m (public domain)
  • routes are hand-placed approximations.

Checked: 2026-10-17