Transcript greece the greek polis

GREECE
THE GREEK POLIS
SSWH3 The student will examine
the political, philosophical, and
cultural interaction of Classical
Mediterranean societies from 700
BCE to 400 CE.
• The polis was the ancient Greek city-state.
• The word politics comes from this Greek word.
• In the ancient world, it was the central urban
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area that could also have controlled the
surrounding countryside.
The word polis could also refer to the city's body
of citizens.
polis is often translated as "city-state.“
Athens, Sparta, Thebes, Corinth, etc.
• Independent and self governing; 30,000 to
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300,000 in population
All spoke Greek, believed in the pantheon of
gods, practiced forms of government, and had
the same culture.
PARTS/ELEMENTS OF POLIS
• Self-governance, autonomy and independence
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(city-state)
Agora: the social hub and financial marketplace,
on and around a centrally located large open
space
Acropolis: the citadel on highest point in city
GREEK FORMS OF GOVERNMENT
• Political Structures Found in Greece
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Monarchy: rule by a single person
Aristocracy: gov’t ruled by a small group of families
Oligarchy: gov’t ruled by a few powerful people
Tyrants: leaders for the interest of ordinary people
II. Athens and Sparta
A. Athens:
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Larger than Sparta
Democracy: rule by the people
Wealthy boys only ones educated
Many of the Greek artistic and intellectual
achievements came out of Athens
5. Economy based on trade; city open to
outsiders
6. Women were subordinate and kept out of
public
7. Strong Navy
Athens
• Education
– Focused on the arts and philosophy
– From age 7 to age 14
• Privatized – parents had to pay
– Studied grammar, arithmetic, geometry,
music and gymnastics, the Iliad and Odyssey
• At later ages, rhetoric was added
– 2 years of military training at age 18
Athens and Sparta (cont’d)
B. Sparta:
1. Small with a huge slave population called
helots
2. Military state – Strong Army
3. Boys and Girls trained physically
4. Economy based on farming/war
5. Oligarchy
6. women considered equals – Why?
7. Closed society- very paranoid- did not like
outsiders
8. No city walls
Sparta
• Education/Military Training
– All Spartan male citizens were required to
become soldiers
• Birth to age 7: all children raised by mother
• Age 7: male children taken from their homes; all
live in barracks and are organized into groups of
60; children play games, learn about Spartan
customs, and learn how to survive
• Age 12: each student received an older Spartan
soldier as a mentor; continue to live in barracks
Sparta
• Education/Military Training
• Age 20: Allowed to marry, but lived in barracks
• Age 30: Became member of Assembly, allowed to
live at home
• Age 60: Retired from army, eligible to be elected
member of Council of Elders
Sparta
• Status of Women
– More free than in other parts of Greece
• Could own property, move about the city, etc.
• Could not participate in politics
– Married later (19 as opposed to 14)
– Received an education and physical training
– Were expected to manage husband’s affairs
during war
GREEK WARS
• Persian Wars
1. Greece vs. Persia at Ionia; coast of Anatoli
2. 10,000 Greeks (Athenians) vs. 25,000
Persians
3. Battle of Thermopylae (480 B.C.E.)
 “300” Spartans
4. Athenians arranged in Phalanx: ea. Soldier
stood side by side with spear and shield
5. Pheidippides runs from Marathon to Athens
6. Greeks win!
GREEK WARS
• Peloponnesian Wars
1. Athens vs. Sparta
2. Sparta eventually wins
3. Sparta tears down Athens’ walls & eliminates
the navy
4. Sparta then dominated the other Greek citystates
Battle of Thermopylae. Modern
memorial to Leonidas and the 300..
Famous Greeks
• Philosophy
– Socrates (469 B.C.E. – 399 B.C.E.)
•Taught by questioning his followersSocratic Method
•Believed in absolute Truth
•Virtue of the unexamined life –
questioning of everything?
•Convicted of corrupting the youth of
Athens and sentenced to death; drank
hemlock to commit suicide
SOCRATES
• Rather than upholding a status quo and accepting the
development of what he perceived as immorality within
his region, Socrates questioned the collective notion of
"might makes right" that he felt was common in Greece
during this period. Plato refers to Socrates as the
"gadfly" of the state (as the gadfly stings the horse into
action, so Socrates stung various Athenians), insofar as
he irritated some people with considerations of justice
and the pursuit of goodness. His attempts to improve
the Athenians' sense of justice may have been the
source of his execution.
Death of Socrates
Jacques-Louis David (1748–1825)
Famous Greeks, cntd
• Plato
• Socrates most famous student
• Founded and taught at the Academy-1st
institution of higher learning in world
• Wrote of a perfectly governed society: Only
the elite would vote for what was best for
all of the people
• Appearances are deceiving, only through
search for truth can you find it
• Most famous works:
– Republic – philosophical look @
government; best is by the learned
PLATO’S REPUBLIC
• The Republic
• Socratic dialogue written by Plato around 380 BC
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concerning the definition of justice and the order
and character of the just city-state and the just
man
MAIN IDEA: HIS VISION OF A PERFECTLY
GOVERNED SOCIETY
ANTI-DEMOCRACY
SOCIETY OF 3 GROUPS
1 FARMERS AND ARTISANS
2 WARRIORS
3 RULING CLASS
A PHILOSOPHER-KING WOULD BE CHOSEN
FROM THE RULING CLASS.
Famous Greeks, cntd
• Aristotle
– Student of Plato; teacher of Alexander the
Great
– Founded and taught at the Lyceum
– Taught about the importance of logic
– Major Works:
• Physics – earth as center of solar system;
observed information and classified by
similiarities/differences
• Politics – practical look @ politics; perfect
system put power in middle class &
classified all types of gov’t
Greek Culture
• Philosophy
–S
ocrates – absolute truth
Taught
–P
lato – appearances are deceiving
Taught
–A
ristotle – trust logic
ALEXANDER THE GREAT
• July 356 – June 323 BC
• King at age 20
• By the age of thirty, he had
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created one of the largest
empires of the ancient world,
stretching from the Ionian Sea to
the Himalayas
He was undefeated in battle and
is considered one of history's
most successful commanders
Died at age 32 (Malaria?)
• Alexander's legacy includes the cultural diffusion
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(spread of cultural beliefs and social activities
from one group to another) his conquests
engendered
He founded some twenty cities that bore his
name, most notably Alexandria in Egypt
Alexander's settlement of Greek colonists and
the resulting spread of Greek culture in the east
resulted in a new Hellenistic civilization
Hellenistic Culture
• Hellenistic Culture
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Greek (Hellenic) blended with Egyptian,
Persian, and Indian influences
Scholars
• Provided most scientific knowledge
• Euclid: mathematician (geometry)
• Archimedes: pi, lever, screw, and pulley
Art
– Colossus of Rhodes
– sculpture
Polytheism
• The Greeks and
Romans practiced
polytheistic religions
with numerous gods
and goddesses whose
origins were
established through
traditional stories of
mythology.
Polytheism in the Greek and Roman world
• The Greeks and
Romans shared many
of the same religious
concepts –including
the personification of
deities. Deities typically
had power over
specific areas of the
natural or social worldfor example, god of
war, god of love, god
of wisdom, god of the
sea, etc