Transcript Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece
3000 BCE-336 BCE
Pages 382-391
The Aegean World ( includes Greece, Crete and Rhodes,
and lands of Ionia)
• Physical Geography
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Greece is a peninsula and a group of islands in the Mediterranean Sea
Mountainous, rocky
Only fertile soil in valleys near the coast
Climate: Summers tend to be hot, winters mild
With little farmland, Greeks depended on the sea for food.
Most people settled in valleys near the coast to farm and fish.
The Rise of City-States
• Minoans-lived on the island of Crete beginning around 3000 BCE
• Skilled sailors, developed a writing system, traded with Greece, Egypt, and
Sicily
• Mycenaeans-lived on the mainland
• 1400 BCE Mycenaeans conquered the Minoans, borrowed their writing
system and built fortified homes
• City-States-(a city or town that controls surrounding villages and farmland
nearby) form
• Each independent, fought with each other
• Ran by aristocracies- wealthy land owners
Athens VS Sparta: Brains vs Brawn
Athens
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Sparta
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Tyranny to Democracy
• In many city-states, farmers and merchants rebelled against the
aristocrats.
• To restore order tyrants (leader who gains power by force) to control
• Some replaced by an Oligarchy-government in which a small group of
people rule
• Trade Networks Expand-Sea trade was a link to the outside world
• Asia Minor, Egypt, Mesopotamia
• Traded gold, silver, iron, olive oil, and spread Greek culture
• Greece became a cultural hearth or center of new practices and ideas
• Athenian Democracy-stop the abuse of power, encourage political
freedom
Athenian Democracy
• Solon- early reformer
• Ended the practice of enslaving people who could not payoff debts
• Granted all citizens the right to vote
• Adult males-women could not vote
• Foreign residents were denied citizenship
• Pericles-more democratic reforms
• Set up salaries for public officials so poor people could serve
• Athens became the first direct democracy-citizens take part in the
government
A New Form of Government and Justice pg 386
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What was the Athenians political system called and what does it mean?
T or F There were no judges or lawyers in Athens?
How was the kleroterion used?
What were the 4 basic elements of democracy that originated in Athens?
5. Who was part of the Ecclesia and what war their roll in government?
6. How was the Boule chosen?
7. What was the task of the Magistrates?
8. How many jurors were in the people’s court?
9. What role did the people’s court play in the justice system?
10. Why is debate important in a democracy?
Life in Ancient Greece-Classical Period
500 BCE-323 BCE
Great Advances in learning and art.
Athens(named for the goddess Athena) was the cultural center of Greece.
• Greek Religion
• Believed in many deities-beings with supernatural powers
• No religious books
• Used mythology, or collection of stories about history and gods
• Love of Wisdom
• Studied Philosophy, or love of wisdom
• Greek Philosophers-Socrates, his student-Plato; Plato’s student-Aristotle whose student
was Alexander the Great
• Debated government, ethics and the meaning of life
Math, Science and History
• Through Mathematics and observation the ancient Greek astronomer
Aristarchus concluded the Earth circles the sun
• Historian, Herodotus was the considered the father of Greek history
• Historians and soldiers, Thucydides wrote the history of the
Pelopponesian Wars, Xenophon wrote about Greek history and the
sayings of Socrates.
Greek art and leisure
• Greek Plays
• Playwrights: Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides wrote great tragedies
• Playwright: Aristophanes’ plays were comedies
• Architecture
• Temples most impressive buildings-long chamber with columns
• Parthenon in Athens is the most famous
• Olympics
• Started as a festival to honor Zeus
• Games included running, wrestling and jumping
Greek Life
• Housing
• Most people lived in simple homes made from mud bricks.
• Food
• Meals consisted of bread, cheese, olives and fish
• City
• Agora-at the center of the city, includes: council house, religious shrines, and
market
• Slavery
• 1/3 of population of Athens
• Captured during battle or children of enslaved people
• Could buy their freedom
Conflict and Decline
• The Persian Wars
• 1st led by Darius, king of Persia. Greeks won
• 2nd led by Xerxes, son of Darius. Sparta and Athenians join together to defeat
Persia again
• Decline of City-States
• Peloponnesian War-Sparta VS Athens 431 BCE
• 27years, Sparta defeats Athens-ending the Golden Age of Athens
• Alexander the Great defeats Greece adds Greece to his empire (map pg 388)
• Spread of Greek culture
• As a result of Alexander’s conquests, Greek culture spread to Asia, Europe and
North Africa.