Ancient Greece was divided among different city-states. Athens was the main city of ancient Greece during the 1st millennium BC. The culmination of its long and fascinating history came in the fifth century BC, under the rule of Pericles, that is why this century is called Pericles' Century. It was then when its values and its civilization extended beyond the geographical limits of the city to encompass the Mediterranean region and, later, became universal. Political thought, theater, arts, philosophy, science, architecture and many other aspects of thought reached their epic apogee in a temporal coincidence, with a unique intellectual plenitude in the history of humanity. Geniuses like Socrates, Plato, Pericles, Sophocles, Thucydides, and many others lived in Athens during the late 500's BC.
<span>Egypt, Turkey, Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, and Israel all border the Mediterranean Sea. Because of this, maybe it isn't fair to call it a "European sea."</span>
