Yu Yinghai 
Minimalist History of Ancient Greece for Teenagers 

Wilde once said: "Everything in our modern life has benefited from the Greeks." It is hard to imagine that on that barren island surrounded by Egyptian civilization and Near Eastern civilization, the greatest culture in the world can be bred. The ancient Greek peninsula, like a beacon in the night, illuminates the ignorant childhood of mankind. There is the sacred Mount Olympus, where Zeus looks down on the whole world from the top of the mountain; there are lush green olive trees under which Homer sits and plays the harp, telling the joys and sorrows of heroes and beauties in troubled times. There are magnificent temples, where people enjoy carnivals and drinks to worship the gods; there is a spacious open-air theater where the audience can purify their souls or relax their emotions in the stands. There are marathon ruins, where the Greeks used their wisdom and courage to defeat the aggressive Persian Empire; there are dangerous hot springs, and the Spartan warriors regarded death as home until the last man fell on the battlefield… How many admirable achievements, how many songs and tears In the past, it was an era of full glory in literature and philosophy, sculpture and architecture, technology and politics. It was also an era of portraying heroes, expressing individuality, and singing freedom. People remember Greece because of the gods who pursue love and beauty and the heroes who are constrained by fate, because of the temperament of Athens and the power of Sparta. Without Greece”s victory over Persia, there would be no Europe today. From the battle for hegemony to the melee, from Alexandria to the Roman Empire, the form of ancient Greece dissipated into the dust of history, but the legacy it left to mankind was inexhaustible.