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“Hi! I’m Max…

Incredible athletes
The Ancient Greeks held many
… NG Kids’ time-travelling festivals in honour of their gods.
mouse! This month’s mini- To celebrate the god Zeus, for
histories magazine sees me example, the first Greek Olympics
were held in the city of Olympia in 776 BC
scuttling off across Europe and are thought to have inspired our own
to meet the Ancient Greeks. Olympic Games! The winners of each event
This clever civilisation is where were given a wreath of leaves, and when
they returned home, they would be given
Western culture began. For free meals and the best seats in the theatre!
example, the idea of democracy
(where a government is elected SCARY SPORTS
by its people) was invented by Events at the Greek’s Olympics
the Ancient Greeks! Read on to u included wrestling, boxing, long jump,
find out more… Did yo ? javelin, discus and chariot racing. But
…
knowates were those taking part in the wrestling
The y-st st event had to be the toughest, as there
British The cit t war, but jus, a
a were hardly any rules – and they had
Isles
often the Olympic d so

Amazing empire
e to compete naked. Eek!
before ould be call uld
o
truce weveryone c ia
that l to Olymp
The earliest Greek civilisations date back nearly Greece trave afely.
s
4,000 years, to around 1,600 BC. The Ancient

Brilliant boffins
Greek Empire spread from Greece through
Europe, and started when the Mycenaeans Mount Olympus

from Crete fought and won the Trojan War, thanks to Aegean
Sea
a clever trick involving a wooden horse (see below)! Delphi The Greek people were a clever lot, and came up with ingenious
Turkey
In 800 BC, the Greeks started to split their land Corinth ideas that changed their world – and also helped to shape ours…
Did you Olympia
Athens
– which included the Greek mainland, islands
and the countries we now call Bulgaria and know…? Sparta
ARISTOTLE
Turkey – into city-states, each with its own The Spart A great Greek philosopher and teacher,
laws, customs and rulers. Athens, Sparta and fearsome ans were Crete Aristotle also invented the ‘camera obscura’,
Corinth were the most powerful. – they sta warriors a sort of pinhole camera. Today, we use his
rt
training w ed their
h principles to make our televisions and cinemas.
were just en they
sev
years old en
!
HOMER
The Odyssey and the HIPPOKRATES
TOP TRICK! Iliad are two very
important works
This Greek doctor is often
called the ‘father of modern
A famous legend tells how the cunning
of Greek literature, medicine’. It’s believed that
Greeks conquered the city of Troy – by
and they were both he created the Hippocratic
hiding inside a giant wooden horse! written by Homer. Oath, which requires
The horse was left outside the city’s walls They’re about a doctors to promise to
and, thinking it a gift, the people of Troy warrior, Odysseus, always help, and never
wheeled it inside… only for the sneaky and his adventures during harm, their patients. And
Greek soldiers to creep out after dark and and sailing home from this oath is still used today!
The crafty Greeks hid seize the city. How clever! the Trojan War.
inside this huge horse!