"Classical antiquity, also known as the classical era, classical period, classical age, or simply antiquity, is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 7th century AD."
The period of the ancient Mediterranean world, which includes ancient Greece and Rome. It covers from the 8th century BCE to the 5th century CE.
Ancient Greece: The civilization that flourished in Greece from the ninth to the fourth century BCE. Topics for study include art and architecture, philosophy, literature, and politics.
Ancient Rome: The civilization that dominated the Mediterranean world from the fourth to the first century BCE. Topics for study include architecture, law, literature, religion, and politics.
Ancient Egypt: The civilization that developed along the Nile River from around 5000 BCE to the third century CE. Topics for study include art and architecture, belief systems, mythology, and science.
Classical Mythology: The study of the myths and legends of ancient Greece and Rome. Topics for study include gods and goddesses, heroes and heroines, and the role of mythology in ancient society.
Classical Literature: The study of the literature of ancient Greece and Rome. Topics for study include poetry, drama, epic, and rhetoric.
Classical Philosophy: The study of the philosophical traditions of ancient Greece and Rome. Topics for study include ethics, metaphysics, logic, and epistemology.
Classical Art and Architecture: The study of the visual arts of ancient Greece and Rome. Topics for study include sculpture, painting, pottery, and architecture.
Ancient History: The study of the history of ancient civilizations, including Greece, Rome, and Egypt. Topics for study include social, economic, and political systems, military strategy, and cultural achievements.
Classical Languages: The study of ancient Greek and Latin. Topics for study include grammar, syntax, vocabulary, and literary analysis.
Classical Reception: The study of how ancient civilization continues to shape modern culture. Topics for study include the influence of ancient mythology, literature, and art on modern literature, art, and popular culture.
Literature: The study of the perception and interpretation of classical literature, particularly poetry, drama, and epics, by later cultures.
Art: The examination of how classical art forms like painting, sculpture, and architecture influenced and were reinterpreted by later generations.
Philosophy: The study of classical Greek and Roman philosophy and its influence on later cultures, particularly in the Western tradition.
History: The perception and interpretation of classical history and events, particularly the lives of famous statesmen and warriors.
Religion & Mythology: The examination of classical mythology, religion, and cults, and their representation and reshaping in later cultures.
Reception Theory: A broad umbrella term that examines how classical ideas, meanings, and representations are perceived, appropriated, and adapted by later cultures across time and space.
"Comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome known as the Greco-Roman world."
"It wielded huge influence throughout much of Europe, North Africa, and West Asia."
"It is taken to begin with the earliest-recorded Epic Greek poetry of Homer (8th–7th-century BC)."
"It continues through the emergence of Christianity (1st–4th century AD) and ends with the fall of the Western Roman Empire (5th-century AD)."
"It is followed by a transition period called late antiquity (250–750)."
"Classical antiquity may also refer to an idealized vision among later people of what was, in Edgar Allan Poe's words, 'the glory that was Greece, and the grandeur that was Rome'."
"The culture of the ancient Greeks, together with some influences from the ancient Near East, was the basis of European art, philosophy, society, and education, until the Roman imperial period."
"The Romans preserved, imitated, and spread this culture over Europe until they were able to compete with it, and the classical world began to speak Latin along with Greek."
"This Greco-Roman cultural foundation has been immensely influential on the language, politics, law, educational systems, philosophy, science, warfare, poetry, historiography, ethics, rhetoric, art, and architecture of the modern world."
"Surviving fragments of classical culture led to a revival beginning in the 14th century which later came to be known as the Renaissance."
"Various neo-classical revivals occurred in the 18th and 19th centuries."