Transcript CityStates-Greece G6 GLE36

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
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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.
Now that’s tough!
Polis = City-State
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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
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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
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Each polis was built around an
acropolis, a fortified hill with the temple
of the local god at the top.
Structure of the Polis
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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
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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
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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. . .
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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
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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
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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.
Spartan Goal
The Delian League
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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.
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The other city-states became resentful of
Athens’ power over them. A group of
city-states 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.
The Delian League
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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.
Greek Decline
Geography In History
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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.