Resources

Included here are links of particular interest (I might think) to students in CLAS 270 (Greek Civilization) and Classics 315i (Classical Themes: Democracy).

I have also put together a drafty glossary to go along with Greek civilization.

Classical Athens

Perseus
The mega-site on classics. Many texts, and thousands of images of art and architecture. Takes some time to learn your way about, but it's worth it. Warning: the Perseus home server at Tufts (in Boston) seems often to be slow these days. Try the mirror sites at Berlin, which seems a bit more reliable.

Here's the main Perseus page for Athens. It includes a brief archaeological history of the city, a nifty plan with buttons you can push to see views of the city, and lots of nice images. Here's a few favorites:

• An aerial view of the acropolis. The theater of Dionysus, where the great Greek tragedies were first performed, is down right. Above it to the left is the Roman period Odeion of Herodes Atticus, where Iannis played the Acropolis.
• The Acropolis from the Pynx (where the Athenian assembly met).
• The Olympeion with Acropolis in the background (the Olympeion is a temple to Olympian Zeus begun by Peisistratus but not finished until 700 years later: page 172).
• More "personal" favorites: Mount Lycabettos (a large hill, really, but it looks mighty impressive in this pic) which Dr. Johnson used to hike up a couple of times a week when he was living in Athens. Back when he was younger. And carefree. Here's the view from Lycabettos. On a clear day, which is rather rare. Magnified a bit.

Tom Martin's History of Greece
From Perseus (and sometimes up and running when the homepage is not). A concise history, also published in book form by Yale University Press. You may want to begin with what he says about the 5th century.

Stoa.org
A large site devoted to classical computing. It includes:

The Ancient City of Athens
"A photographic archive of the archaeological and architectural remains of ancient Athens . It is intended primarily as a resource for students and teachers of classical art & archaeology, civilization, languages, and history as a supplement to their class lectures and reading assignments and as a source of images for use in term papers, projects, and presentations. We also hope that this site will be useful to all who have an interest in archaeological exploration and the recovery, interpretation, and preservation of the past."

Demos: Classical Athenian Democracy
Wonderful site, with many informative and scholarly resources.

Diotima
The premier website on women in antiquity.

The Democratic Experiment
Overview from the BBC, by classical scholar Paul Cartledge

Politics
Primer on Athenian democracy from a site on Athenian daily life put together by Roger Dunkle of Brooklyn college.

Art

Greek and Roman antiquities at the British Museum
Images from the vast holdings of the British Museum, and information about them.

Greek art from the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

The Parthenon
Good-looking introduction from Reed College.

The Parthenon frieze
Amazing site with stunning photos of the Parthenon frieze, the best preserved part of the sculptural decoration of the Parthenon

The Nashville Parthenon
Not going to Athens anytime soon? Well, prepare for your visit to Nashville by visiting their fine Nashville Parthenon site. The site includes a nifty clickable image of the Athena Parthenos statue, the only full-scale replica in existence. Click on it to get descriptions (and further images) of the complex clothing, gear, etc. It's pretty impressive in person. Too bad the building is, like the real Parthenon, always under reconstruction, and, unlike the real item, it's not on a hill. They're planing on painting the statue (as the original was), which should be a hoot.

Dr. J's Illustrated Sites of Greece. A collection of images and other stuff put together by Doctor Janice Siegel of Hampton-Sidney College . No relation.

"Bearers of Meaning," an excellent introduction to what we can learn about the ancient world through its coins, from Lawrence University.

General Greek History & Culture (older links: may be defunct)

The University of Pennsylvania museum of archaeology and anthropology has some neat stuff, including an web exhibit on the ancient Greek world and one the Greek Olympics.

Speaking of the games, here's a nice site put together by the Perseus people on the Ancient Olympics.

How can one study the Greeks without a look or two at a symposium? But don't try this at home, or at least don't try without being aware of what's in store the morning after (or is it still the night before?) Here's a nifty drinking party site put together by the University of Pennsylvania museum. Click on the images to enlarge them. Speaking of wine, here's a link to the Penn page on the origins of wine drinking. We're talking 5000 BC here.

Too early in the day for wine? Try this site, devoted to olive oil. "Few things have done more to engage the intellect, the senses and the passions of the civilized world than the olive and its oil." Yesiree.

Film fan? Here's a list of movies related to ancient Greece. Most of them are complete garbage.

Prefer reading? Well, here's a big ol' list of fiction on ancient Greece.

Bronze Age

The Dilos Holiday site on Minoan Crete, with much good stuff on the Minoans.

For a whole course on Aegean prehistory, check out this Dartmouth College Course put together by Professor Jeremy Rutter, with ample scholarly text, images, links, and more.

A fine introduction to Minoan Crete by Ian Swindale, with images from many sites.

An excellent set of online resources for a class at Charles Stuart University in Australia on Minoan Society. A set of Mycenaean images from the same source.

Later Greece

Byzantium. A gateway site for those interested in the Greeks after the fall of the Western Roman Empire.