greece's history is one of the richest in the world. the greeks were one of the most advanced civilizations. greece is famous for its many philosophers, like plato and aristotle, and kings like alexander the great and leonidas. greece is said to be the "birthplace of democracy", because city-states like athens, now the capital of greece, were the first to elect their leaders and not have kings. during the years of alexander the great, a huge greek macedonian empire was created that stretched from modern-day greece to egypt and iran, until the borders of india. because of the significant role that greek culture played during that time, it is called the hellenistic period (or "greek-dominated period"). during that time, the greek language became the 'lingua franca' of the middle east, which means the language that people who do not speak the same language use to communicate, like english is used today as an international language.