The Growth of Civilizations
c. 2000 B.C. – A.D. 476
Greece
www.portoveneziano.gr/ crete-map-en.jsp
Geographically
 Southern part of the
Balkan Peninsula
 Key geographical
feature …
Aegean Sea
www.hfac.uh.edu/ mcl/classics/greec.jpg
 Most jobs of Greek
civilization were sea
based
– Traders
– Fishermen
Early Greek Peoples
Minoans
www.cretashop.gr/br/ imagesbr/minoan%20fresco.gif
 Located on island of
Crete
 Economy – trade
 Volcano 1628 –
empire starts to
decline
 Defeated by the
Mycenaeans
Map of Ancient Greece
This map shows the Greek settlements c550 BC
Mycenaeans
www.wsu.edu:8080/.../ MODULES/MINOA/TITLE2.GIF
 Located on Greek
mainland
 Controlled Greece
from 1600-1200 B.C.
Greek City-States
Polis – A Greek city-state
Characteristics of city-states
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



Small (in terms of land)
Populations of < 10,000
Forts built on hills of cities (Acropolis)
Agora= Market
Politically independent
Greek speaking
Saw non-Greeks as barbarians
Religious Life
 Religion was used to explain nature
 Used to explain why emotions caused
people to lose control
 Explains the unexplainable
 Gods have human qualities
 Benefits:Long life / Good afterlife experience
– Good Fortune
– Good harvests
Greek Gods
Zeus
www.madisonastro.org/ astrophotos/play/zeus.gif
 Chief God
 Lived on Mount
Olympus
Apollo
www.students.sbc.edu/.../ apollo%20belvedere.jpg
 Son of Zeus
 God of Light
Athena
web.mit.edu/.../www/ Europe2002/080402/Athena.JPG
 Daughter of Zeus
 Protector of Athens
 Goddess of Wisdom
and Womanly
Goodness
Dionysus
brainstorm-services.com/ wcu-lit/oedipus-stept...
 God of fertility and
wine
Hermes
www.watson.org/~leigh/hermes.jpg
 Messenger of the
Gods
 Also the god of
thieves, travelers,
shepherds, and
merchants
Ares
www.eduteka.org/proyectos/psique/images/ares.jpg
 God of War
Greek God Family Tree
www.angelfire.com/.../ familytree.html
Governing City-States
 Each city-state ruled by a chieftain from hilltop
fortresses
 Needed wealthy nobles because they had money
to buy chariots, horses,and weapons to fight
 Thus, the aristocracy (rule by the upper class) was
born
Sparta vs. Athens
Sparta
 Located on
Peloponnesus
 Militaristic
– Whole life built around it
 Class system
– Equals – decended from
invaders – rulers
– Half-Citizens
– Helots - slaves
 Ruled by two
kings/Council of Elders
 Boys and Girls attend
school
Athens
 Located on the Attic
Peninsula
 Mostly sea traders
 Society
– Citizens – All Athenian
born men, only male
education
– Metics – born outside –
paid taxes – but could
not participate in gov’t or
own land
– Slaves
 Early government
– Governed by nine
archons
The Four Founding Dictators
Draco
www.auburn.edu/~downejm/ sp/alpcontents.html
 Believed to have
created Athen’s first
code of law
 Law harsh and severe
 Any laws now
considered harsh
today are referred to
as “Draconian”
Solon
www.nimispauci.com/ Laerce/SeptSages/Solon.jpg
 Erased debt of poor
 Settled disputes
between rich and poor
 Outlawed slavery for
debt
Peisistratus
www.learnline.de/angebote/ realideal/apotheose...
 Ruled Athens as tyrant
with support of lower
classes
 Economy improved
Cleisthenes
www.pbs.org/.../characters/ cleisthenes_p8.html
 Began democracy in
Athens
– Divided Athens’ citizens
into 10 tribes they
chose 50
representatives ->
formed Council of Five
Hundred
Greek Expansion
Persian Wars
500-479 B.C.
Trouble begins in…
ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/ ~perlman/myth/lecture15.html
 Ionia, a Greek Colony
 Conquered by
Persians
 Ionian (Greek citizens
in Asia Minor) rebel
against Persian rule.
 Rebellion crushed –
but….
Darius
home.att.net/ ~tabriz/newpage1.htm
 Wanted to punish
Athens for the
rebellion
 Invade Greece
 1st major battle…
Battle of Marathon
 490 B.C.
 Major upset –
Athenians although
outnumbered win
 Phalanx
 Role of Pheidippides
Second Invasion
www.2frompars.com/ Xerxes%20(Khashayar%20Shah).htm
 480 B.C.
 This one led by
Xerxes, son of Darius
 Two major battles
– Battle of Thermopylae
– Battle of Salamis
Battle of Thermopylae
www.barca.fsnet.co.uk/ punic2-after-greece.htm
 Land battle which
united all Greeks
 Persians attack
through narrow
mountain passeventually find way
around
 300 Spartan soldiers
killed while Athenians
returned home to save
Athens
joseph_pod.com/.../ id28.html
Battle of Salamis
www.livius.org/he-hg/ herodotus/logos8_24.html
 Naval Battle of coast of
the island of Salamis
 Athens won because
their smaller ships
were more mobile than
the larger Persian
ships
 Major victory for
Athens
Effects of the Persian Wars
 Persia weakens – no longer the power of
the area
 Athenian power increases – leader of the
new Delian League (league of independent
Greek city-states) purpose was the
protection of each of the city-states
 Athens got rich – from Delian League
monies
Delian League
 This Organization was formed by Athens to
Rule over other City States
 Members had to pool their money in
Athenian banks
 Members relied on Athenian Military
defense
 Members had to use Athenian laws
Age of Pericles
24.24.31.212/literature/ POL-HS-Pericles.htm
 1st citizen of Greece –
world
 Began massive building
projects
– Parthenon
 Took democracy to a new
level
 Used Delian League
money for building projects
The Peloponnesian War
Sparta vs. Athens
431 B.C. – 404 B.C.
Strengths
Sparta
 Had greatest army in
Greece
 Had won over allies
opposed to Athenian
Delian League
Athens
 Had the strongest
navy in Greece
 Had allies through
Delian League
 Had Allies through fear
of Sparta.
Purpose of War
The Peloponnesus (Sparta) and Athens were
both full of young men whose inexperience
made them eager to take up arms.
Thucydides
Early Years of War
 Sparta begins invasion of Attica Peninsula
 Athenians withdraw behind walls of city
 Most cities would be besieged – but not
Athens
– Great Navy
– Long Walls
 Athens is decimated by a plague – killing
thousands including Pericles
Athens begins to fall
 Athens attacks Syracuse (Sicily) – driven
back – begins downward spiral of Athens
 Aristocracy overthrown – democracy
restored – government weakened
 Eventually food supply cut off – Athens
forced to surrender in 404 B.C.
Effects of the Peloponnesian Wars
 Greece becomes politically unstable
 Athens becomes second class city
 Sparta and Thebes try unsuccessfully to
unite Greece
 Will eventually be united by an outside
power
Greece’s Golden Age
The Arts
Architecture
 Showed the love of beauty in the buildings
– Temples
– gymnasiums
– Theatres
 Types of architecture are still used today
 Examples….
Theatre in Athens
www.spudles.com/travels/ Europe2002Pics/Athens...
Painting
 Most original artwork has been lost or
destroyed
 Pottery was two toned using a combination
of black, ochre (red), yellow, or orange.
 Pottery and paintings recorded events,
scenes of life, or mythology.
Sculpture
 Greatest sculptors= beauty of body-nudes,
mythology
– Myron
 The Discus Thrower
– Phidias
 Zeus
– Praxiteles
 Showed Greek love for the human body
Greek Ideals
 Expressed in Art in four ways:
1. Greek art glorified human beings
2. Art of Golden Age symbolized Greek pride
in their city-states
3. Expressed Greek beliefs in harmony,
order, and moderation
4. Expressed the Greek belief in combining
beauty and usefulness
Greek Philosophers
Lovers of Wisdom
Socrates
lilt.ilstu.edu/jhreid/frenchculture/socrates.jpg
 Fell victim of
frustrations of Athens’
loss in the
Peloponnesian War
 Forced to drink
hemlock for “corrupting
the minds of youth”
 Best known for
Socratic Method=
teach by asking
questions
Plato
www.uh.edu/~cfreelan/courses/Plato.JPEG
 Began school called
the Academy –
continues for 900
years
 Believed in an
aristocracy
 Student of Socrates
but disagreed with his
teachings
Aristotle
www.hao.ucar.edu/.../ sp/images/aristotle.html
 Student of Plato
 Based everything on
logical thought and
processes
 Emphasized science
and nature
Mathematics
Pythagoras
www.uncletaz.com/norsktaz/pythagoras.jpg
 Came up with the
Pythagorean Theory
 A2 + B2 = C2
Euclid
 Father of Geometry
Medicine
Hippocrates
historical-studies.ncl.ac.uk/images/aux_images/hippocrates.jpg
 Father of Medicine
 Hippocratic Oath
History
Herodotus
www.losttrails.com/media/Herodotus/athens35-30b.jpg
 First known historian
 Used stories handed
down through time
Thucydides
www.livius.org/a/1/greeks/thucydides.jpg
 Historian whose
greatest works
surround the
Peloponnesian War
 Differed from
Herodotus by using
primary sources and
recording stories from
veterans of the war
Drama
Tragedies --day
Comedies– night
Entertainment and worship
Macedonian Conquests of
Greece
Phillip II of Macedon
etc.usf.edu/clipart/1200/1254/philip2_1_lg.gif
 Called on by Isocrates
(Greek Philosopher) to
invade Greece for the
purposes of unification
 Became Macedonian
king in 359 B.C.
 Builds great army
– New phalanx
 Begins take over of
Greece
Downfall of Phillip II
 337 B.C. Phil divorces wife and mother of
Alexander and marries daughter
of high ranking noble who has
son to challenge Alexander’s right
to throne
 Former guardsman, Pausanias stabs Phillip
 Alexander takes the throne
Alexander the Great and his
horse Beusephalis
murugan.org/research/alexander-m.jpg
 Builds great empire
– South to Egypt and east to
India
 Spreads Hellenistic culture
– Combination of Greek and
eastern customs
 Dies in 328 B.C. after
ruling only 12 years and 8
months
 Empire begins to
dismantle
Alexander’s Empire
www.ancientanatolia.com/historical/maps/Image1b.gif
Hellenistic Achievements
Architecture
Alexanderia, Egypt
www.touregypt.net/village/alex3.jpg
Astronomy and Geography