Transcript The City-States of Greece

The City-States of Greece
Sparta and Athens
The Persian Wars
The Delian League
The Decline of Athens
The City-States of
Ancient Greece
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Sparta and Athens
The Persian Wars
The Delian League
The Decline of Athens
Now that’s tough!
• There is a story about a Spartan boy who, in order to conceal a
fox which he had stolen, hid it beneath his cloak and allowed the
fox to gnaw him rather than let the theft be revealed. He died of
the wounds. If he had been discovered, the disgrace would not
have been in the stealing, but in allowing it to be detected. The
boy's action illustrates the main purpose of the Spartan
educational system, which was to produce men capable of
showing such bravery as soldiers. Military strength was felt to be
necessary to Sparta for their very survival.
Polis = City-State
• Greece was divided into
city-states, each known as
a polis. The two main
city-states were Sparta and
Athens. The greatest of
these was Athens which
was a center of intellectual
and cultural development “the nursery of western
civilization.” What do
you think that means?
Government & Education
• Athenian democracy
was for free, male
Athenians only.
Education for men
was highly valued.
Only boys of wealthy
families attended
schools. The term
academy comes from
Athens.
Structure of the Polis
• Each polis was built around an acropolis, a
fortified hill with the temple of the local god at the
top.
Structure of the Polis
• At the foot of the acropolis was the agora, an open area
used as a marketplace. By 700 B.C. this inner part of the
polis had become a city. With the villages and farmland
around it, it made up a city-state.
Athens
• Athens was knows for its great navy and was a
rival of Sparta. Its ships were known as triremes
because they had three levels of rowers.
Battle of Marathon
• The Persians were defeated by the Athenians at the
Battle of Marathon. The Athenians were so joyful
in victory that they sent a professional runner,
Pheidippides, back to Athens.
A run extraordinaire. . .
• Pheidippidies ran
about 26 miles to
Athens to report the
victory. When he
arrived, he cried out,
“Nike!” and died from
exhaustion. Nike is
the goddess of victory.
The Marathon
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The 1896 Olympic marathon distance of
24.8 miles was based on the distance run by
Pheidippides. At the 1908 Olympic Games
in London, the marathon distance was
changed to 26.2 miles to cover the ground
from Windsor Castle to White City Stadium,
with the 2.2 miles added on so the race
could finish in front of royal family's viewing
box. This added two miles to the course, and
is the origin of the Marathon tradition of
shouting "God save the Queen!" (or other
words relating to the Queen) as mile post 24
is passed. After 16 years of sometimes
angry discussion, this 26.2 mile distance
was established at the 1924 Olympics in
Paris as the official marathon distance.
Sparta
• Sparta was known for its
great army and was a rival
of Athens. Their army
was known for holding off
the Persian army of
250,000 at Thermopylae
for three days with only
7000 soldiers. This gave
the people of Athens time
to escape before the
Persians invaded there.
Thermopylae
Spartan Goal
• Sparta tried to become the strongest people
in Greece. They also disliked change. This
would later prove to be a weakness for
them. Spartans preferred actions to words.
A “Spartan lifestyle” both then and today is
one that is simple and highly disciplined
with few luxuries.
The Delian League
• The Delian League, based on the island of Delos, was
formed to unite the Greek city-states to defend against the
Persians. Athens lead the league and gained more and
more power over the other city states. Sparta refused to
join.
The Delian League
• The other city-states became resentful of
Athens’ power over them. A group of citystates led by Sparta waged the
Peloponnesian War against Athens for 30
years until Athens surrendered to Sparta.
Later, under Spartan control, the Athenians
revolted and once more set up a democracy;
but they never regained the power they once
had.
Greek Decline
• The Greeks began to lose their sense of
community and fought with one another. In
338 B.C. Philip II of Macedonia north of
Greece (Alexander the Great’s father)
conquered Greece.
Geography In History
• The ancient Greek
city-states never
united because the
land was very
mountainous and hilly
making travel difficult.
This is one case where
geography influenced
history.
The End.
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