Ancient Greece 

                            The bronze age gave way to the Iron age, and on the Greek peninsula
                            a unique culture began to grow and thrive.  By 500BC, that society had
                            developed  into the culture we call Greece.

                            Greek culture centered around balance and beauty.  The art, most
                            notably the literature, produced by the early Greeks impacted the
                            centuries that came after them.  Homer the blind poet composed the
                         Iliad  and  Odyssey which are acknowledged as the greatest epic
                            poems of all time. The figures sculpted in this period also represent a
                            growing understanding of the human form and the way it moved.

                            Greek culture was, however, not completely passive and artistic.
                            Greece was organized as a series of  Polis or city-states. Each
                            city state operated on a semi-democratic system.  Between city
                            states, however, fierce competition existed, and war often broke
                            out.  An outside threat appeared at the beginning of the 5th
                            century BC, and between 490 and 479 BC, the Greeks waged
                            war against the Persians. In 479, they emerged triumphant,
                            bolstering their confidence, and assuring the security of their culture.