Ancient Greek was spoken by people in Greece and the eastern Mediterranean from around the 9th century BCE to the 6th century CE. It is the language of many foundational texts in Western philosophy, science, and literature, including works by Homer, Plato, and Aristotle. Ancient Greek culture, with its emphasis on democracy, theater, and the arts, profoundly influenced Western civilization. The language uses the Greek alphabet and features a highly inflected grammar with multiple cases, tenses, moods, and a free word order.