There is a serious consensus among scholars that Ancient Greece, which is considered the cradle of our European civilisation, went through three periods in its development.
The first, the Archaic, began in the dark ages, sometime in the 8th century BC, and laid the foundations.
The Classic period followed, when what was planted bloomed and bore fruit.
Finally, in the Hellenistic period, which began with Alexander the Great and ended with the creation of the Roman Empire, the nuts of these fruits were spread throughout the Mediterranean, planted in fertile soil and ennobled new lands and people.
However, this classification is related to ambiguities and disputes, for example - when the middle, classical period begins. Some date back to 508 BC, when the last Athenian tyrant fell and Klisten's democratic reforms began.
Others round off the year to 500 BC, when the Ionian Uprising, the catalyst for the first Persian invasion, broke out.
Others believe that the beginning was in 479, after the battle of Plateia, when the combined Greek forces defeated Xerxes' armies and ended the second Persian invasion.
But, despite the controversy over the dating of the beginning, there is unanimity that at the center of the Classical period is the heyday of Athens during the time known as the Age of Pericles.
Its dating is also disputed. Some believe that it lasted 30 years - from Pericles entering politics in 461, to his first exit in 431. Others further reduce the length of the "era" in question to a handful of 14 years, during which Pericles was elected strategist of Athens 14 times in a row.
