Greece, officially known as the Hellenic Republic, has such a rich history.
Yes, it really does.  The cradle of democracy.  I studied a lot of Greek philosophy in school.
Oh, same, I learned about the Greco-Persian Wars which lasted from 5th to 4th centuries BC. What about you?
The wars are fascinating. Thermopylae and the Spartans stand are very cool.  
Yes, haha, Sparta was a prominent city-state in ancient Greece
Sparta based their military and way of life upon Stoic philosophy I believe.  They were very different from other city-states, like Athens.
Epictetus—emphasized that because "virtue is sufficient for happiness", a sage would be emotionally resilient to misfortune. This belief is similar to the meaning of the phrase "stoic calm", though the phrase does not include the "radical ethical" Stoic views that only a sage can be considered truly free, and that all moral corruptions are equally vicious.
Stoicism flourished throughout the Roman and Greek world until the 3rd century AD, and among its adherents was Emperor Marcus Aurelius. It experienced a decline after Christianity became
, an era that began with the Greco-Persian Wars, lasting from the 5th to 4th centuries BC. Due to the conquests by Alexander the Great of Macedon, Hellenistic civilization flourished from Central Asia to the western end of the Mediterranean Sea. The Hellenistic period came to an end with the conquests and annexations of the eastern Mediterranean world by the Roman Republic, which established the Roman province of Macedonia in Roman Greece, and later the province of Achaea during the Roman Empire.
Classical Greek culture, especially philosophy, had