CLASSICAL GREECE

:''This article is on the term "Classical Greece" itself. For a narrative of Greek history during this period, see the relevant sections of Ancient Greece and Ancient Greek art.''
With regards to ancient Greece, 'classical antiquity' corresponds to most of the 5th and 4th centuries B.C. (i.e. from the fall of the Athenian tyranny in 510 BC to the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC).
The expression "classical antiquity" is name applied retrospectively to this chronological period. The Greeks were aware that the world which existed before Alexander the Great and the dilation of the Greek world can be considered a golden age. In a more contemporary way, "classical antiquity" is used to indicate the period during which the values and the fundamental institutions of the Greek world found their full expression and matured.
Considering being a period of reference, there is no rupture between the various periods. "Classical antiquity" is a historic expression for the historians studying or living in those times.