Transcript Ancient Greece - Duluth High School

GREECE:
THE BIRTHPLACE OF
DEMOCRACY AND MUCH,
MUCH MORE!!!
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– ¾ of land is mountains
– Mt. Olympus is the highest (home of the gods)
– Made transportation difficult (took Sparta nearly a
week to travel 60 miles to Olympics)
– Affected political life with a collection of small
independent city-states, not one large government
No navigable rivers—the people could not trade
over land
Great weather
The men stayed mostly outdoors in the market
(agora), gymnasium, political meetings, civic and
religious meetings, theatre
Easy to take part in civic life
MINOANS
• The Minoans were a seafaring civilization that
thrived on trade. The isolation of the island
created safety.
• Women enjoyed more equality than in other
civilizations.
• Had a very advanced society
– Flushing Toilets
– Used Bronze
– Festivals and Sporting Events
WHO WERE THE MYCENAEANS?
• Migrants from India and Mesopotomia
• The Kings had advanced weapons and tools of
bronze, but ordinary people still used wood
and stone tools.
• The villages of the Myceneans were ruled by
warrior kings who built stone fortresses and
lived within them.
THE MYCENEANS WERE CONSTANTLY
AT WAR THE MOST FAMOUS OF WHICH
WAS THE TROJAN WAR.
GREEK RELIGION
• The Olympics were held in honor of the gods
• The Greeks imagined their gods to be a lot like
humans
• They had their passions/weaknesses (love,
hate, fear, jealousy)
• They were quarrelsome, but they were
immortal.
• Greeks developed myths about their gods and
goddesses and used these myths to understand
the mysteries of nature/life.
GREEK CITY-STATES
• After the Dark Ages, the “polis” developed that is a city-state (a city and its surrounding
land).
• All citizens (free adult males) were expected
to serve the polis
– Meetings were held in the agora (market
place) or the Acropolis (the fortified hilltop).
– Armies of citizens formed and made iron
weapons.
– Every citizen was expected to be a soldier
for his polis.
– Hoplites (foot soldiers with armor, spear,
and shield) developed.
– The phalanax developed - the most powerful
fighting machine of its day.
Sparta
• Spartans worked to create a strong city-state:
– only healthy children were allowed to live
– boys were trained for the army at 7
– life in army training was harsh to toughen the
soldiers up
– men remained in the army until the age of 30;
then in reserves
– women were healthy and vigorous; exercised
and played sports; could not vote
– created such a strong army, left little time to
be creative in the arts
Athens
Athens created a democracy through the
reforms of two men.
• Solon 594 BC
– all male citizens were allowed to attend
assembly
– all citizens were responsible for justice
• Cleisthenes 508 BC
–increased the power of the assembly
–created the Council of Five Hundred to
propose new laws and advise the
Results of the Persian War
• Persian invaded Athens and the Athenians
won.
• Athens emerged as the most powerful
city-state.
• Athens became the leader of the Delian
League with the purpose of preventing
future Persian attacks.
Golden Age of Greece
Around 461 BC, Pericles (a hero from the
Persian wars) became the leader of
Athens.
– He strengthened democracy
• increased the number of paid government
positions
– Increased the wealth and power of Athens
• used the Delian League’s dues to build up the
navy
– Beautified Athens
• built the Parthenon (built in classical architecture
Peloponesian War
City-states began to resent Athens. In 431
BC Sparta invaded Athens. In 404 BC,
Athens was defeated by the Spartans.
This brought an end to the Golden Age of
Greece.
Socrates believed you could find truth by
asking questions - Socratic method.
Philosophers
Plato: one of Socrates pupils; searched for
answers to questions like, “What is love? What
is ethical behavior? and What is the best kind of
government?” Writings are in the form of
dialogues; a famous dialogue is The Republic.
Aristotle: one of Plato’s students; tried to find
truth by studying the natural world around him;
used scientific method.
Peloponnesian War
• Seriously Weakened
the two strongest citystates in Greece
• Sparta and Athens
• However, since many
city-states aided them
as well, they too
became embroiled in
the fierce conflict
• The Delian League
and the
Peloponnesian
League
Philip II of Macedon
•Became King at age 23
•Brilliant General and ruthless
politician
•He created a powerful army
out of peasant farmers
•Increased the number of
infantry in the phalanx and
doubled the length of the
spears
•He then augmented his
infantry with cavalry
•He used this to unify
Macedonia then he turned to
the rest of Greece
“For the Sake of ruling and
wielding power, he has had an eye
gouged out, his shoulder crushed,
both his hand and his leg
mutilated; he jettisons whatever
part of his body fate wants to take
away so long as he can live in honor
and glory with what is left. . .”
Demosthenes
So why do we not remember
Philip?
• Because his son just
happens to be one of the
greatest conquerors the
world has ever seen!
• Alexander, the Great
• Became king at the age
of 20
• Taught by Aristotle
• He would conquer the
Persian Empire, the
ancient enemy of
Greece
• Here
Alexander is
depicted
riding his
legendary
horse
Bucephalus
• Here Darius
III is
depicted at
the Battle of
Gaugamela
• He looks
sad
Alexandrian Legacy: Hellenism
• While Alexander was a
Great General, his
most lasting
achievement was a
melding of Greek and
Eastern Culture called
Hellenism
• Could it be argued that
while Greece
conquered Persia,
Persian Culture
conquered Greece?
Greek
Persian
Hellenistic
Culture
Egyptian
Indian
Antigonus, Seleucus, and Ptolemy divided Alexander’s
empire. Why do you think that they scorned the
traditional Greek methods of democratic governance
and chose to rule with complete power?
Alexander also
fostered huge city
building projects
such as the City of
Alexandria
This is the legendary
Pharos or light tower of
Egypt
Match-up:
•Proposed that the earth and
other planets revolve around
the Sun
•Taught that the greatest good
and pleasure can come only
from virtuous conduct and
absence of pain
•Invented the study of geometry
•Accurately estimated the value
of pi
•Calculated the Earth’s true size
•Believed that People should
live harmonious lives in
communion with natural law
Look in section 5 to
find each Hellenistic
thinker!