Transcript City States of Greece

City States of Greece
Geography of Greece
• Peninsula into the
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Mediterranean Sea
Made up of over 4000
islands
Surrounded by three
seas
– Mediterranean Sea
– Ionian Sea
– Aegean Sea
• The Greeks became
great sailors
The Land of Greece
• Rugged mountains,
•
deep valleys
Terrain shaped politics
of Grecians
– Divided cities from
each other (physical
independence)
– Led to many different
forms of government
– Made communication,
overland trade difficult
• Only 16-18% of land
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was good for farming
Like the Minoans,
trade was lifeblood!
Central Greece – very rugged
terrain, not good for agriculture
Rise of City States
• Terrain was very Polis were ind. cities
difficult (no
roads)
Made their own FP
Acropolis – fortified hill
Acropolis of
Athens
Political Structures of Polis
“Different strokes for
different folks”
– Tyranny: one person
w/ absolute power to
rule
– Monarchy /
Aristocracy: king w/
advisor nobles
– Oligarchy: small group
rules
– Democracy: people
rule
Armies of Greece
• Iron weapons were
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cheap; very common,
owned by everyone
Led to the rise of the
citizen-soldier
Called “hoplite”
– Armed with long (6-8’)
spear (no other weapon)
– Armored with breast plate,
helmet, shield
– Fought together with
friends from young age
(lower chance to run away)
Phalanx: Fact . . .
• Group of hoplites fighting in
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formation
Formation essentially a solid
block of spears, men
Each man protected the man
to his left with his shield
Formations tended to drift to
the right
Battles between phalanxes
became shoving matches
Relatively few casualties
Phalanx: . . . and Fiction
The Phalanx
The 300 phalanx
The City State Sparta
• Located in Peloponnese
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peninsula, made up of five
villages
Dominated neighboring
Messenans, enslaving them
Around 600 BC, they
revolted
– Spartans almost defeated
– Made radical changes to
government, way of life
– Purpose: rule conquered
people
– State was supreme, made all
decisions for citizens
Territory of Sparta
The City State Sparta
• Class structure: two
classes
– Helots = Messenians
• Conquered people were
property of state
• Subject to cruel, brutal
treatment by all
– Spartans (“Spartiates”)
• Any resident of original five
villages who want through
agoge
• Life was dedicated to
protecting the state
The City State Sparta
• Government
– Two kings (hereditary
rulers; agoge; military,
political, religious leaders
– Five Ephors
• Any spartiate
2 Spartan
Kings
Ephors
(Overseers)
• Responsible for best
Council of Elders
(Senate)
– Council of Elders (Senate)
Assembly of Spartiates
interests of state
• Indep. of king, senate,
assembly (beat king)
• 28 spartiates, 60+ years
• Day to day decisions
– Assembly
• All spartiates, 18+
• Vote yes or no only
Non Spartans (Periokoi, Helots) – no political rights
The City State Sparta
• Education (“Agoge”)
– Male education dedicated to
developing physical, mental,
moral, social Spartan
– Brutal training lasted 13 years
– Left home at age 7 to begin
training
– Taught how to fight,
steal, live off land, endure
terrible hardship
– They were simply the best
in Greece
– Spartiates = 9000 out of
225,000 pop.

Women were
t treated = to
men
The City State Athens
• Located on mainland,
near coast
– Oldest continuously
inhabited city in Europe
(3000+ years)
– Originally a Mycenae hill
fort that survived Dark
Ages
• City was a port, only 8
km from sea
“Long Wall” fortification between
Athens, Piraeus – port of Athens
City State of Athens
• Frequent clashes
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between aristocrats and
poor
Led to rise of the
occasional peasant
revolt, put down harshly
by king, nobles
Developed into an
oligarchy (landowning
nobles replaced king)
The City State Athens
• Written code of law
around 621 BC
Draco - Lawgiver
– Unfair law written by
Draco (“Draconian”)
• Aristocrats favored
• Most punishments = death
– People reject, threaten
war
• New code written in 594
BC by Solon
Solon – lawgiver
– Allowed more land to
poor farmers
– No more debt slavery
– Encouraged trade,
commerce (middle class)
The City State of Athens
• Rebellion of farmers
finally brought new
government
•Tyranny = one person who
seizes power by force
The City State of Athens
• Tyranny not a
negative idea in
Greece
• Series of tyrants rule,
starting with
Peisistratus in 541 BC
• Very popular ruler
who built up Athens
• Rival invited Spartans
in to fight against his
successors (family)
Peisistratus
Athenian Democracy
• Spartans: fix your government!!!
• Athenian Democracy resulted
– All citizens split into ten “tribes”
– Each tribe elected 50 representatives
to central assembly
– Assembly was both a legislature and
a supreme court
– Offices filled by lot (random chance)
– Ten Strategos (generals) elected for
1 year terms
– Assembly had power to ostracize, or
banish, citizens for 10 years
The City State Athens
Organization of Athenian Democracy
Other City States
• Thebes
– Often fought with Athens
– “Sacred Band”
• 150 homosexual couples
• Professional soldiers
• Beat Spartans twice
• Corinth
– Strategic location astride
isthmus
– Often allied with Sparta