Transcript Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece
Tara Madsen
The Development of Greek City-States
and overview
• Most of the Greek peninsula and nearby islands are
mountainous.
• In some areas, river valleys cut through the mountains,
then there are some areas that have small plains.
• In ancient times, groups began to settle in these valleys and
plains and due to the mountainous region, these groups
were isolated from each other.
• Over time, these isolated groups developed independent
city-states.
• Many Greeks earned their living from the sea and
thus they became excellent sailors.
• Their trading network spread the length and
width of the Mediterranean Sea… this eventually
caused people to set up colonies along the
Mediterranean.
• Merchants moved to new colonies in order to
start up trading businesses and between 1100
BCE and 750 BCE, Greece’s population saw great
decline. (Probably because of invasion) DARK
AGES
Ancient Civilizations
•
Pre Dark Ages= 2800-1450 BCE: Minoans
1600-1100 BCE: Mycenaean's
1100-750 BCE: Dark Ages
Minoans: Developed on the island of Crete, ruled by a king and its economy was based on
trade. Minoan paintings detail their lives and they were eventually conquered by the
Mycenaean's from the Greek Mainland.
Mycenaeans: This civilization was made up by a number of independent royal centers,
each was headed by a king who lived in a walled palace on a hill. The people lived in
scattered settlements around the palace. Their civilization was based on trade… they
traded gold, bronze daggers, beads and pottery. They collapsed because of warfare
among rival kings and invaders from the north.
Dark Ages: They are called the Dark Ages because few records have been found about this
time period. The Iliad, however, may be rooted in truth. The Iliad is a poem by Homer
about the Trojan War. Archaeologist have not been able to prove or disprove its story.
The Greeks won the war by hiding soldiers in a huge wooden horse that was went to
Troy as a “gift”. The Trojans wheeled the horse inside their city walls and at night the
Greek soldiers crawled out of the horse, seized the city, and burned it down.
Greek City-States
•
The Greek city-states was called a polis… it was both a place and a
governing body.
• The English word politics actually comes from the Greek word polis.
• City-states were built on a hill… at the top of the hill was an area
called the acropolis.
• Temples and public buildings were built there… the rest of the city
was built below the acropolis on flat land.
• One area of the city was kept as open space… it was called the
agora… citizens assembled there for meetings and used it as a
marketplace
• The earliest city-states were monarchies ruled
by kings… some men actually became wealthy
because of the amount of land they owned.
• Land = Wealth = Power…. These wealthy land
owners were known as aristocrats, they were
able to over throw the king and set up an
Oligarchy.
• Generally the rulers of the Oligarchy were
selected by other members of the aristocracy
and only ruled for a certain term (President)
• In the 500s BCE, tyrants rose to power.
• Although we typically think of a tyrant as being a cruel
ruler, this was not always the case.
• In ancient Greece, A tyrant was a government ruled by
one man.
• This was actually the first step towards Democracy…
Tyrants were typically caring and fair rulers. In some
cities like Athens, tyrants made important reforms to
help the poor…
• Overall, Greeks left absolute rule in favor of Democracy
Sparta: The Military Polis
• Over time, Sparta and Athens became the most
important city-states in Greece.
• During the 700s BCE, Sparta became a military polis.
• Harsh laws governed all parts of Spartans’ lives.
• Boys were trained to be military soldiers from
childhood… starting at age 7 they would be sent to live
in barracks.. They lived their whole lives there and at
age 20 they could marry and become actual sodiers.
• Women and girls also had roles in the military state… their
job was to marry and have strong healthy children.
• Women had to take part in vigorous exercise to ensure a
healthy fetus.
• Sparta’s government and army were headed by two kings…
the real power lay with a council of five men called ephors.
• These men managed the government… there was also a
council of elders made up of 2 kings and 28 citizens over
the age of 60… they could vote (not discuss issues)
• Only native born men over the age of 30 were considered
citizens
• The only job for a Spartan citizen was a soldier.
• Other jobs, such as farming, was done by helots…
these were people captured in battle and enslaved.
• In order to protect their way of life, Sparta cut itself off
from the rest of the world… travel was forbidden and
visitors from the outside were not welcome.
• The study of literature, arts and philosophy were not
encouraged because they felt as if new ideas could be
dangerous.
Athens (Limited Democracy)
•
The earliest government of Athens was a Monarchy. In the 700s BCE, an
oligarchy of aristocrats replaced the king.
• 9 of the wealthiest families in Athens made up this ruling council. As
assembly of citizens elected the nine oligarchs who served for a period of
time.
• Between 560 and 510 BCE, tyrants ruled over Athens. By 512 BCE,
Cleisthenes had enough support to gain control of the government.
• He reorganized Athens’ government and is regarded as the founder of
Athenian democracy.
• Native born women were considered citizens but they could not vote…
slaves were not considered citizens.
Government set up by Cleisthenes
members
duties
Assembly:
Council of 500:
male citizens… 18 yrs +
500 citizens chosen by a lottery…
50 people from each tribe
Law Court :
600 citizens chosen by lottery
Board of Generals:
10 generals elected by the Assembly
debate/pass laws… elect officials..
Decide on war and foreign policy
Prepare laws for debate by the
assembly and carry out decisions
serve as a judge/jury for trials
advise the Assembly/
lead army and navy
• Most families in Athens could afford a slave or
two… many worked in homes cooking and
cleaning.
• The enslaved were also used for farm work
• By 400s BCE, Athens was an important trading
center… it grew much of its own food but it also
imported grain in large amounts.
• Some good that they traded were wine and olive
oil.
QUICK QUESTIONS
• What forms of government were developed
by the Greek city-states?
• What was life like for Spartans?
• Why is Athenian democracy called limited
democracy?
Classical Greece
• Between 500 BCE and 338 BCE, the Greeks
developed a Classical civilization…
• They made great contributions to the arts and
science… they also increased their power and
fought in two costly wars.
War with Persia
•
By the mid 500s BCE, Persia had taken control of the Greek colonies of Iona (what
is now Turkey)
•
The war between Greece and Persia began over the control of these colonies…
•
In 499 BCE, the Athenian navy helped the Ionian colonies to rebel… the Persians
crushed the revolt.
•
Darius, the Persian king, was angered that Athens had sent ships to help the
rebels… in 490 BCE he sent the Persian army to DESTROY Athens.
•
They ended up meeting on the plain of Marathon… 480 BCE, Darius’ son Xerxes
ordered the Persian army/navy to go to war with Athens again… Athens along with
its allies won.
•
The following year, Athens formed the Delian League… it was an alliance with
other Greek City-States… its purpose was to take back control of the colonies.
Age of Pericles
• Athens reached its greatest glory in the years between the
Persian wars and the Peloponnesian War. (Age of Pericles)
• Pericles was a general (Board of Generals) and was a public
speaker.
• Although he was an aristocrat, he focused on reforms that
helped the poor people.
• He was a supporter of the arts and during this time the
Parthenon was built.
• Under Cleisthenes, Athens became a direct
democracy with citizens taking part in
governing.
• The Assembly met every 10 days to discuss
and vote on issues… the meetings were held
where people could attend…
• This is considered a limited democracy since
women and children could not vote.
The Peloponnesian War
• While the Delian League was freeing the Greek colonies, Athens
was attempting to create an empire…. They ended up moving the
treasury to Athens.
POWER OF THE PURSE= whoever has the money, has the power…
remember this…
Instead of using money for the Delian League… Athenians used it to
rebuild their city… if a city-state tried to leave the League, they
were stopped by soldiers.
Because of this, Sparta quickly became an enemy of Athens. Sparta
formed the Peloponnesian League and in 431 BCE, they went to
war.
• Athenian leaders decided to keep its army within the city
walls and out last the Spartans.
• The Spartans were obviously stronger fighters, they waited
around the city walls for 2 years!
• In the second year, a plague broke out and killed 1/3 of the
Athenian population… (Killed Pericles)
• Sparta joined with Persia and prevented the city from
getting any food… the city finally surrendered in 404 BCE
• Greek literature began with Homer’s two epics about the
fall of Troy (Iliad and Odyssey), they also had plays that
depicted tragedies and comedies. They used these plays to
discuss world ideas and philosophies from guys like
Socrates, Plato and Aristotle
Philosophers
• Socrates (470-339 BCE): he used questions to get people to
think… teaching by asking questions is known as the
Socratic method… it is still used by colleges and HS today.
• Plato (427-347 BCE): Taught that reality is made up of
ideals… ideal governments would have 3 things, kings…
soldiers… and workers. He also thought that women and
men should be equal. His famous writing is called The
Republic
• Aristotle (348-322 BCE): He rejected Plato’s concepts of the
three ideals… Based on his research, he felt that the best
ways to govern were: Monarchy, aristocracy and
constitutional government (constitution being the best) His
ideas influenced the west until around 1600 CE.
QUICK QUESTIONS
• How did the leaders of Athens use the Persian Wars to
benefit Athens?
• How did Pericles expand the Athenian Democracy?
• What effect did the Peloponnesian War have on the Greek
City-States?
• What contributions did classical Greece make to world
culture?
• How did the desire for territory and power cause both
Persian and Peloponnesian wars?
Alexander the Great and Hellenism
• The Peloponnesian war weakened all of the Greek citystates.
• Over the next 60 years, they fought with one another…
(Internal dissent causes invasion)
• King Philip II of Macedonia took advantage of the conflict
and in 338 BCE, his army defeated Athens and its ally
Thebes… he had bribed all of the other city-states with
money… Athens is the only one he had to go to war with.
• After conquering Greece, his next goal was the Persian
Empire… unfortunately he was assassinated before he
could attack.
• Philip’s son Alexander became king at age 20.
• He was well trained and also a student of Aristotle.
• He launched an invasion of the Persian Empire… between
334 and 326 BCE, Alexander brought under his control all
the modern nations of Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Israel, Lebanon,
Syria, Egypt, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and
Kazakhstan.
• He then attacked India… fighting Indians on elephants was
too much for the Macedonians, they refused to continue
and Alexander agreed to go back.
• He died three years later from a fever and his empire was
divided by four generals.
Hellenistic World
•
Hellenism was the adoption of the Greek language and culture by the peoples
Alexander conquered.
•
Alexander spread Greek culture and ideas wherever he went and the result was a
Hellenistic Era.
•
Achievements of the Hellenistic Era:
Pythagoras figured out how to find the sides of a right triangle,
Euclid developed the basic principles of geometry,
Eratosthenes determined that the Earth was a sphere and figured out its
circumference,
Archimedes determined the value of pi,
Aristarchus determined that the Earth rotated on an axis and orbited around the
sun.
Quick Questions
How did Philip II gain control of Greece?
How large was Alexander’s empire?
What is Hellenism?