How did such a small place over such a short period of time create so much?

polis - fortified place = city and city states

Issue of "Black Athena" - Martin Bernal
Egyptian and Semitic influences on ancient Greek culture

tyrants
Sparta and Athens

Sparta - helots, military society
    austere lifestyle
    sought to impose order by military means

Athens - estab democracy in time
    sought to impose order by negotiation between various constituencies

citizenship - not women, not slaves, not foreigners

Solon
Pericles

Acropolis
Pan Hellenic festivals, including that at Olympus

written language, from "Linear B"

rich cultural traditions
especially philosophy
Socrates, Plato, Aristotle