Transcript The Ancient Greeks

Founders of Western civilization
Ancient Greece was not
a unified country. It was
made up of many “citystates”, each of which
was made up of a city
and the surrounding
countryside. The two
most important citysates were Athens and
Sparta. Even though all
people in these states
spoke the same
language, wore the same
styles of clothes and ate
the same kinds of food,
they frequently fought
with each other.
Athens
Athens was the most powerful of the
city-states. It was built around a high,
rocky hill called the Acropolis. At the
top of the Acropolis was the
Parthenon, a temple sacred to Athena,
goddess of wisdom, who was the
patron of Athens.
Athens was a democracy. Citizens met
n the Agora (marketplace) to debate
important issues and to vote on them.
Women, foreigners and slaves had no
vote. Women in Athens had to do as
they were told by their fathers and
husbands. If the people of Athens felt
that a politician was becoming too
powerful, they wrote his name on
piece of pottery (called ostrakon) and
if he got enough of these, he was
exiled for 10 years.
Athens had a strong army and a very
powerful navy. It was a great trading
centre
Sparta
Sparta was the other centre of power
in Greece. Sparta was very different
from Athens. The Spartans kept a
huge number of slaves, called helots,
who outnumbered them about 10 to 1.
The helots were treated very badly,
and the Spartans feared they would
revolt. As a result, all male Spartans
were expected to be warriors. When a
child was born, a committee would
order it to be put to death if they
thought it would be weak. Spartan
boys left home at the age of seven,
and went to live in army barracks.
They were beaten, starved and badly
treated. They had to train hard in the
martial arts. Women in Sparta had
moe rights than women in most parts
of Greece. They were educated and
could own their own property. They
were expected to keep themselves fit
and healthy.
Religion
The Ancient Greeks believed in
many gods and goddesses. The
ruler of the gods, Zeus, ruled from
Mount Olympus, the home of the
gods. His wife was Hera. Other
important Greek gods and
goddesses were:
Apollo, god of the sun, music and
poetry
Artemis, goddess of the moon,
young girls and hunting
Athena, goddess of wisdom
Aphrodite, goddess of love
Ares, god of war
Hades, god of the underworld
Poseidon, god of the sea
The Greeks said prayers to their
gods, built temples for them, and
offered food as a sacrifice.
Greek clothes
Greek men and women both wore a
tunic, called a chiton, made from
wool or linen. They frequently
went barefoot, although they had
sandals for summer wear and boots
for winter wear. They had hats and
cloaks to protect them when the
weather was bad.
Men normally wore their hair
short. They frequently had beards,
which they shaved off in times of
mourning. Women wore their hair
elaborately dressed and often
decorated it with ribbons. Women
wore tunics down to their ankles,
whereas most men’s tunics were
knee-length. Children dressed like
their parents.
Greek homes
The Greeks built their homes from
brick and stones. Men and women
lived in different parts of the house.
Houses were frequently built
around a central courtyard. As you
can see from the pictures, there was
a considerable difference between
the homes of he rich and poor.
Temples were decorated with
marble, with relief (3D) carvings as
decoration. Houses were often
whitewashed.
Greek Food
Bread was the main food of all
classes. Olives, grapes, apples, peas
and beans were also common
foodstuffs. The main meats eaten
were goat and lamb. Wine was
drunk by everyone, even children!
In fairness, the wine wasn’t as
strong as today’s wines, and
children added plenty of water to
their wine! Olive oil was used for
cooking and cleaning. Cheese made
from sheep’s milk was also
popular
Education
Schools were private businesses,
and the teachers were paid per
pupil per day. In Athens, only the
boys went to school. They learned
reading, writing, arithmetic and
rhetoric (public speaking) Girls
stayed at home and learned
domestic skills (cooking, weaving,
spinning etc.) from their mothers,
although many of them also
learned to read and write. In
Sparta, both boys and girls were
educated. Discipline was strict, and
children were beaten with a cane if
they misbehaved or did not pay
attention. Our alphabet is based on
the Geek alphabet, and takes its
name from the first two Greek
letters, Alpha and Beta.
Sports and pastimes
The Greeks practiced a lot of sport,
for fun, to train for war, and to
honour their gods. They practiced
running, jumping, throwing the
discus and the javelin, boxing,
wrestling and pankration which
was a bit like modern cage-fighting.
They exercises naked, as sports
gear hadn’t been invented! Their
training areas were called
gymnasiums. After training, they
would take a bath or sauna and get
a massage from a slave, who would
scrape them down with olive oil
and a strigil ( a piece of bone or
ivory). Greeks also enjoyed going
to the theatre to watch actors and
musicians. They also went to
taverns (pubs) to talk and drink
wine.
Myths and legends
The Greeks enjoyed telling stories
about their gods and heroes. One
famous tale, made into a poem by
the blind port Homer, was the
Illiad, the tale of how Menelaus,
king of Sparta, invaded the great
city of Troy after his wife Helen ran
away with a Trojan prince. The war
lasted for 10 years. The main Greek
hero was Achilles. Eventually, the
Greeks pretended to sail away, and
left a huge wooden horse, which
the Trojans thought was a gift from
the gods. They brought it into their
city, but Greek soldiers were hiding
inside. They opened the gates and
Troy was destroyed. They also told
stories about the great hero
Hercules, son of Zeus, and about
monsters such as the Minotaur and
the Gorgon Medusa.
The Greek Legacy
Much of our Western European
civilization is based on the
civilization of the ancient Greeks.
They gave us democracy, modern
politics, sports, music, plays and
great works of art that we still
enjoy today.
Ancient Greece flourished about
2500 years ago. It was eventually
conquered by Rome, but the
Romans were so taken with Greek
ideas that they adopted a lot of
them, passing them down to us.