Transcript The Evolution of the Greek Polis

Two Wars; Two Turning Points
in Greek History
Over 600 poli made up the Hellenic world
Spartan warriors, c. 450 BC
The ruins of Ancient Sparta
Athens, cradle of democracy
• The polis
developed into
a self-governing
community that
expressed the
will of free
citizens, not the
desires of gods,
hereditary kings
or priests.
The great Greek contribution to political life:
• Individual members shared a sense
of belonging to and participating in
the polis.
• Community problems are caused by
human beings and require human
solutions.
• Laws expressed the rational mind of
the community to insure its will and
needs are met.
Draco
620’sBC
Solon
570’sBC
Pisistratus,
540’s BC
Cleisthenes,
500’s BC
Herodotus: Persian Wars
and …
Thucydides: Peloponnesian Wars
Cyrus the Great and his sons after him effectively administered their
large empire by:
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Divided into 20 provinces (satrapies)
Special agents who answered only to the king
Use of an official language (Aramaic)
Network of roads and postal system
Common system of weights and measures
Empire wide coinage
Fusion of Near Eastern cultural traditions
Promoted one religion: Zoroastrianism
(Ahura Mazda & Ahriman)
The Ionian Revolt, 499-493 BC
King Darius I, 521-486 BC
• Decided to
punish the city
of Athens for
assisting the
rebels during
the Ionian
Revolt of 499
BC.
Marathon
The Hoplite: Greek footsoldiers
Battle of Marathon, 490 BC
Battle of Marathon, 490 BC – Phaedippas brings the news to Athens
Themosticles:
• Rushed the construction of 200 triremes
• Organized Greek city-states into a defensive
alliance that included Sparta
King Xerxes, 486-465 BC
• He sought to avenge
his father’s defeat.
• In 480 BC, his army
of 360,000 foot
soldiers and 800
ships marched over a
bridge across the
Dardanelles
Thermopylae
King Xerxes & the Second Persian War, 480-479 BC
The Athenians fled the
city which was sacked
and burned to the
ground by the Persians
• But, the Athenians
had a plan…
Battle of Salamis
• The Persian Wars were decisive in the
history of the West. Had the Greeks
been defeated, the cultural and political
vitality we associate and inherit from the
Greeks would never have evolved.
• The confidence and pride from these
victories propelled Greece and Athens,
in particular, to its “Golden Age.”
Pericles, 499-429 BC
• Pericles was the
central figure in
Athens during its
Golden Age
The creation of the Delian League, 478 BC
The corruption of the Delian League
429 BC Plague strikes down Athens
The Peace of Nicias, 421-415 BC
The destruction of Melos, 416 BC
The Final Blow to Athens…
• The Spartan admiral,
Lysander captured the
Athenian fleet in the
Dardanelles …cutting of
its food supplies
• Athens was required to
tear down its walls and
agreed to be ruled by a
government appointed
by Sparta
Effects of the Peloponnesian Wars, 431-404 BC
• Despite the restoration of democratic
government, Athens never returned to its
former power…
• A spirit of pessimism and disillusionment
prevailed among intellectuals & the young
• Constant warfare among other states
continued…
• In 371, Sparta lost its first war to Thebes
• The loss of manpower on both sides
weakened all of Greece
Philip II of Macedon 359-336 BC
• An ambitious
and
resourceful
ruler of
Macedonia
who built up
his army and
planned to
conquer the
Greeks and
the Persians.
“The Philippics”
• A series of
fiery speeches
by Demosthenes
• In 338 BC,
Philip defeated
Athens and its
allies and
created “The
League of
Corinth”
Alexander the Great,
r 336-323 BC
• Succeeded his father
• Destruction of Thebes