Transcript Chapter 4 Power

Chapter IV:
Ancient Greece
Geography
• Mountainous peninsula and numerous islands
• The mountain ranges caused independent
city-states to emerge instead of one
centralized civilization
• Greeks became seafarers
• Where is Modern Greece located?
Southern edge of Europe
Large peninsula
Size of Alabama or England
In 1990, had 10,000,000 people
• 80% mountainous mainland
20% islands (437 islands)
tallest mountain = Mount Olympus (9,500') =
home of gods
no major rivers or lakes
many good harbors (every point of land is within
85 miles of the coast)
little farm land (soil = sand and pebbles)
little fresh water during growing season (couldn't
irrigate much)
few natural resources
• What impact did the terrain have on Greece's
development?
Little contact between villages
Overland travel difficult
Overland trade impossible
Sea trade routes lead to colonies
Sea trade was source of natural resources
(food, metals, fiber) and ideas
(alphabet, Egyptian art, Eastern technologies)
• What is the legend of Greece's creation?
God used sieve to strain soil to surrounding
countries, the stones that were left in the
sieve were dumped into the sea. Those extra
rocks were what became Greece.
What is the land like of Ancient Greece prior
to expanding to entire Mediterranean?
Origins
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Minoan civilization/ Knossos
Bronze Age civilization
Named after the Crete king Minos
Palace at Knossos= elaborate art
1450BC were they defeated by the Mycenaeans or a tidal wave
from a volcanic eruption from the island of Thera???
Mycenae: the first Greek state
Discovered by German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann
Thrived between 1600 and 1100 BC
Made up of an alliance of powerful monarchies
Warrior culture
Poetry of Homer
Began to fight each other…1100BC collapsed
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The Polis
• By 750 BC the city-state became the central
focus of Greek life
• Greek Colonization: Cause and Effect
• Lack of farmland
• Colonization
• Spread of culture
• Increased trade/ wealth
• Three classes
• Citizens with political rights (adult males)
• Citizens without political rights (women and
children)
• Noncitizens (slaves and resident aliens)
• Acropolis= fortified place and religious center
• Agora= open area used as a market and
meeting place
• Cleisthenes= brought democracy to Athens
• Phalanx= when hoplites (infantry soldiers)
went into battle, they would march shoulder
to shoulder
• Age of Pericles= the period of history which
saw the height of Athenian power and
brilliance
Athens v. Sparta
• Sparta needed more land
• It gained through conquest
• The captured peoples of the Spartans became
serfs called helots.
• To maintain control of the helots, Sparta became
a military state
• Rigid lifestyle
• Sparta closed itself off from the outside world.
Travelers and travel were discouraged.
• In Sparta, the five elected officials who were
responsible for the education of youth and
the conduct of all of the citizens were ephors
• The government of Sparta was an oligarchy(
ruled by a few)
• Sparta: boys - 8 years old into army, learned
war skills, beaten to learn
"Spartan existence" = harsh housing, meager
meals, slept outside, comforts made men soft
women - ran everyday activities, had
economic power
dominated by war and fear of rebellion
because there were 10 slaves for every 1
citizen
• King ruled early Athens
• Cleisthenes= reforms laid the foundation for
Athenian democracy
• The government of Athens after Cleisthenes
became the foundation for Athenian
democracy
• Athens: boys 7-18 went to school (reading, math, history,
music)
s - no school
men = must never lose face in public, always defend and
never disgrace family, very strong family loyalty
men spent time at agora (center of social life, politics,
market, shrine, debate, sports)
women = "a woman should be everything inside the home
and nothing outside"
marriage = grooms about 30 years old, brides about 16
years old
spouses had little in common (age difference, education
level, worldly experiences)
1/3 of population were slaves (could earn their freedom)
Greek Religion
• Mount Olympus= home of the Greek Gods
The Influence of Homer
• Arête= the excellence of courage and honor
• Homer used the Trojan War to create two epic
poems: The Iliad and the Odyssey
• The Iliad was about the Trojan War itself, but
mainly concerned the Greek hero Achilles, and
how the anger of Achilles led to disaster.
• The Odyssey recounts the journeys of another Greek
hero, Odysseus, as he returned home after the fall of
Troy.
• Homer’s epic poems did not so much record Greek
history as they did create it. The Greeks looked on the
Iliad and the Odyssey as true history.
• These masterpieces gave the Greeks an ideal past with
a cast of heroes. The epics came to be used as basic
texts for the education of generations of Greek males.
• Homer taught the values of courage and honor, giving
to later generations a model of heroism.
Greek Contributions
• Philosophy
• Socrates: “the unexamined life is not worth living”
• Plato’s ideas about reality and government= there is a
higher world of eternal, unchanging Forms that has
always existed. These forms make up reality and only a
trained mind could understand them. What we see is
but a reflection of that reality, a shadow of the true
form (Plato’s Cave). Government works best when
divided into three groups= at the top: philosopher
kings who must rule with wisdom and inspiration,
warrior kings, and everyone else…Also***men and
women should have access to these positions
• According to Plato…individuals could not
achieve a good life unless they lived in a just
and rational state
• Aristotle=scientific
• Other Contributions Include:
Alphabet
Words
Way of teaching
(Socratic Method, teacher asks questions, students work
out the answers)
Public buildings have columns
Government/politics/voting
Art - shape of our paintings, proportions
Understanding of nature
sun = burning rock, not a god
medicine = Hippocratic oath
Greek Politics
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How did Greek politics change over time?
1100 BCE conquered by Dorians with iron tools (Greeks had bronze)
Dark ages, little writing, unorganized politics
800-500 BCE small villages and nearby farms grew into city/states
Walled forts (acropolis = high city) for defense, became religious centers
Market surrounded acropolis
Banded together for defense from Persians
Originally ruled by king or tyrant (took by force, ruled alone)
500 BCE = Athenian Golden Age = Classical Period
400 BCE birth of democracy
Democracy = rule by the people
Every free male over 20 had one vote and full rights and participated in assembly
Decision by majority vote, (no representatives like USA version of democracy)
Athens still capital of Modern Greece
146 BCE conquered by Rome
Parthenon - temple from 500 BCE
Christian Church from 400 AD
Muslim Mosque from 600 AD
Blew up when Turks used it to store ammunition
(1895 full sized copy built in Nashville Tennessee)
Alexander the Great
• Taught by Aristotle
Wanted to fulfill his dad (Philip II of
Macedonia) to ruler entire world
135,000 soldiers attacked Persia
Freed Greek colonies from Persian control set
up democracies
Alexander was ruler
Set up learning and Greek culture
• Spread Greek language and religion
Center of learning became Alexandria Egypt,
500,000-scroll library
Adopted local customs
Control broke up after his
No one strong leader available as replacement
so generals fought for control
Didn't groom anyone like Alexander had been
groomed