Ancient greece

One of the great paradoxes of history is that the next hesitant advance of European civilization - the development of the first city-states - took place not on the fertile open central European plains, but in a remote island to the south of the Aegean Sea which was completely lacking in metal resources. While the glittering mounted warrior-princes of central Europe dissipated their creative energy in warefare, a highly cultured yet peaceful society, built on trade and an agricultural…